The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-21 00:00:00

Wlli:ehall, 12th Feb., 1e39. •
Sir—l am directed by Lord John Russell to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of the 11th inst., relative to ecr.
Lain property ktt for charitable purposes with:n the Bo_
rough of Newport, ( Momii)uthshire,) and to inform you
that it is entirely a question of law, on which Lord John
Russell can give no opinion.
I am, Sir, your obedient S2rvant,
ions FROST, Esq. F. MAcI.E.
My Lord, my Lord, does your Lordship suppose that
if it were a question of law, that I would consult Lotj
John Russell? Not while a soveregt, could be found in
my pocket. I would, 1 assure your Lordshie, apply to a
very different qnartt-r.
What, my Lord, are the facts of the case In. the year
1700, a gentleman of the name of Roger tt kft
a house in Newport, in Monmouthshire, to six poor rieople
for ever." To each of these poor people he-lett ftur
pounds a year, secured on certain estates in the cout.ty of
Monmouth. These annuities were paid for more than a
hundred years. About the year 1817 the Annuities
mere discontinued, and with the exception of a trifling
sum or two, the payments have, from that time ceased.
About the year 1834, the Charity Commisfioners
came to Newport ; I waited on thorn, and la.d
the case of the poor people before these Gentlemen.
They promised redress. In May, 1835, a letter was ad-
dressed to the Vicar of Newport, who imme brought
it tome.

Westmitliter, 21, Great G:t Jr:ze Street,
May 21.
ROGER WILLIAMS' ALAISIIOUSTS

SIR—I take the liberty of troubling you upon the 5u!,j,,,,t.
of this Charity, the particulars of which resulting from
investigation of it by the CommissknerS for inquiring iuta
Charities having been certified by them to His IThijesty'
Attorney-General with a view to his instituting proetn d.
ins to recover the arrears of toe Annuity of twenty-four
pounds, left under the will of the late Roger Wiluaul,
for this charity, and to establish the same.
An information was in contequence prepared, and would
have been filed in the Court of Chancery against Messrs.
J. M. Richards, J. Homfray, and J. Wood, ti
owners of the property chargeable with the Annuity
had I not been informed that Mr. E. P. Richards, Soii
citor, had sent a letter to the Charity Commissioners,
stating that those Gentlemen had arranged to discha,ge
the arrears of and to pay the annuity regularly in future.
I have since (a few days ago) received a letter from him to
ti.e same effect, and the twitter is now under the Attomey.
General's consideration.

IL is v,ry desirable, to prevent any difficulties hereafter
with the present or future owners, or any confesien
gards the property chargeable e it'd the annuity, that
tees should be appointed, and the ennuity eseee-ee
them, and that the future rtateigereent of the C
should he
Court, the expense
regulatedby " seine plan or scheme to be er
bythe of which must be defrayeu Ley
of the arrears. It is also desirable that the residue of the
arrears should be invested in the funds, and the ieterest ap-
plied towards increasing the allowances to the alrepeepte,
and raising a fund to met any extra.orditiary expenses
of future repairs of the almshouses, " and of conveeanecs
to new trustees." But to effect this it will be necessary that
the alms-houses, now in a very bad condition, and which have
hitherto been repaired by the parish, should be put into
complete repair, by and at the expense of the parish, and,
as in all probability it will be the last tax on the parish, I
hope there will be no difficulty in obtaining the assent of
the parishioners.
The purport of my present application, therefore is, to
inform you of the above circumstances, and to request you
to be good enough to see the parish authorities, with a
view of getting the parish to put the almshouses into com-
plete repair as suggested.
I am your obedient servant,
JOSEPH PARKE:S.
Solicitor for the Attorney- General in Charity Matters.
When the Vicar of our Borough, who is a Tory, but a very
benevolent man, banded me this letter, I told him, there
Sir, you see the effect of Reform. See what the Re-
formers do. We have a Reform Ministry ; the Attorney
General is a Reformer ; Mr. Parkes is a Reformer. I ain.
going to London in a few days, I shall receive the money,
for I dare say that I shall be able to convince Aft 2.
Parkes, that schemes and plans, and going into the
Court of Chancery will be unnecessary, and the poor old
people cull have their money. I called on Mr. Parkes,
and after a few minutes' conversation, 1 found that I 'nd
made a mistake as to that gentleman ; fur it appeared that
1 could as easily move St. Paul's, as move Mr. Parkes
from the Court of Chancery and from his schemes and
plans. I pointed, or rather attempted to point out, the in-
justice of laying out the money of these poor people in law
expenses, or in adding to the amount of future annaitancs.
I told him, that as the corporate bodies would be under po-
pular influence, that the Corporation of the Borough would,
in future, see that the poor people should have justice. /
could not succeed. Mr. Parkes was determined that if there
should be no Chancery suit, there should be no money. I
cftoro
u3r. t
what
shhe be Borough,c
Memberso tlod aditpolpr;i. .ng7t
wrote to the Commissioners; I wrote to the Atti:rue
~1-tt,erbtartt
General ; I wrote to your Lordship ; I wrote to Lord
In-aolpiciettyh liable to
Melbourne; but all my applications were fruitless. I
arc ready
gMASloirrrt Williams,Boauerrnk ca then
am vn a oneii.lmi aemrl of
ourbveet Member
immoveable, and thus7stands the. matter
the'setthleebnilii%;
present. The Gentlemen, who own file
the annuities, are ready to pay the arrears
amount regularly in future ; the poor oldppueiekpele.
abtoidth,tlyerteermisinNeldr. t e yearly
former,to e e e receive tehde
m betweenoney,
shall not take place, unless there be heavy lewveets
ls
and the consequences are extreme poverty on the van
of
the poor people, while more than fifty Pounds arc dt
to some of them on the poor rates of the borough of Nuve
'
port. Let me ask your Lordship, through The
,Sun lien'san-
paper, extensively read in our part of the countretl,
y, se
Mr. Parkes thus treat the General Convention note d
in Bolt-court? No, my Loid, nor would IT have 11.slai1uLlsr
acted, if six of the members, svhom I could mine, bad scats
in the House of Commons. They would soon teach Mr.
Parkes a lesson which he would not easily forges, It is
useless, I am afraid, to appeal to your Lordship in favour of
these poor people ; sour Lordship has no feeling for their
sufferings ; but I eau assure your Lordship, that while I
I can bold a pen, their cause shall not want an advocate.
Your Lordship is in favour of a moral and religions
education. Aly paper is full, I must conclude for tha
present,

a t•>

I am, your Lordship's obedient servant,
JOHN ',Rosy

__-
SEIZURE FOR CHUR.Cii-RATES.
PUBLIC SALE.

• (FRost A CORREspONDENT.)
The town of Chesterfield has now become as notorious
for agitation on the Church-rate question,
her Majesty's dominions. The first indicationa
e anyo townftheris ining
storm was in 1837, when Mr. Sayer,a gentleman very
extensively engaged in the drapery business,s and several
other respectable tradesmen, made a
conscience-tax party, and in speeches taoef(.l considerable
troble
the
ability, exhibited the impoliey and injustice of taxing
Dissenters for the support of a Church whose tenets
and practices they disapprove. There was a large
attendance of rate. payers from the surrounding
Hamlets as well as from the town, who raised their voices i
against the grievance, consequently the preposition for a s
rate was negatived by a show of hands.
The Church
party did not demand a poll, but commenced a volu)dar y
subscription, which was responded to very liberally by Dij_
senters. In 1838, the Church patty, the more bigotted
of whom carry their rancour into private circles, re. I
solved to try their strength. They were sick of voltin. 1
taryism, because it inflicted a little humility. Mr. Sayer.
Mr. Bingham (Quaker), and other respectable trades. I
men, again came forward to oppose the rate, which was
again negatived by a show of hands, but lost in tht,pueri,llt:
in consequence of intimidation, and the use of undue in.
fluence on the part of their opponents. . Messrs. H
Sayer, and Cantrell resolved to allow thei law. to take its
course ; they refused to pay the tax,toetr, goods ~ele
seized, and advertised for sale on ....aturuay last, the
a cheap
no
16th instant. At the hour appointed an immense con_
Course of people assembled in the.avoMarket.place, some
of i'them evidently anxious to h
bargain,ote
and others as positively determinedN that no bargain should
be made. The auctioneer (Mr. ic G Son) had
mounted the rostrum, than he seas saluted
übitoi'
:allivtsocerlirl.l.teoy.f
yells and groans, which ratherdisturbedthe
and good nature of the worthy gentleman's
He shortly recovered himself, and jocularly proceeded to do
his duty by offering some of the articles for a " biddieL,
well might he have asked for twenty thou,'.',.',
but as
" bid" in that vast crowd, guineas, as for a
was received with the most horrid yells and hirisshees, (Tin‘cd‘rt
every succeeding attempt on his part was utterly ho
less, for tho noise drowned the sounds of hisvinogiceh,earrnadi.
prevented anything in the shape of words be
No attempt at violence or rioting was made ; the sole
ob_
ject of the populace appeared to be to shout the auctione, e
down, mid frustrate the intentions of the High Church'
party (1 say High Church party, for there are many .Lib,.
rat churchmen in Chesterfield who look. upon the conduct
of their bigoted brethren with pity and disgust), Seeing
the utter hopelessness of his situation, adr. Nicholson
moved off towards the Angel Inn, whither the Crowd f,,1
lowed him, under the idea that his object was to baffle
them. The shouting and groaning was kept up, as the
lwathee ld)ritsl-3-
followed him from place to place ; untila ant 4
length
d. i
dently took refuge in the Angel Inn, n
persion of the crowd.
Never, perhaps, does the oldest inhabitant recollect a
scene half to upro.trious in the ancient borough of Chester
field ; and it will be well if the High Church party ' taL.
warning from this popular outburst of feeling, and never
again satiate their bigotry and intolerance by seizing the
goods of peaceable citizens, The strumitilbeehnaso commencedi
in earnest in Chesterfield. and there w
for Mother Church trntil the iniquitous law is blotted cut.
ace
Ottetlac, disser.lients opposed the tax this year ;Ie yen.
hire to say that next year there will be three times twenty-
_
I three.

The goods were disposed of in the evening by private
contract,