The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-29 00:00:00

Let us, however, before we proceed to the evidence

caution the reader to discriminate, in the general
prosperity
has
sbeen ff
and generaleta iwthe priesthood, iho
progress of theest nation,
a,
id
between
h
what
has not been effected by them, so that not they may
claim the merit of an improvement, which has'
co-
existed in conjunction with their almost unbounded
power, and their neglect. 'We have certainly been
a most thriving and prosperous people ; our laws
have been humanized, science has been cultivated,
and art extended ; life has become amazinolv
secure ; most of the had pas ions, except the
greediness which the priesthood bave encouraged
and cultivated by their example, have been chas-
tened and tamed ; life has become more valuable
as well as more safe, and those comforts which con-
tribute to cleanliness and health have been diffused,
notwithstanding there are yet many classes who
justly complain of grievous wants, to a degree never
known in society before. Of all these advantages,
however, few or none can be traced to the influence
of the priesthood. No man dreams of attributing
to them the invention of the steam-engine and of
gas-lights, which have so amazingly augmented our
power, and by excluding darkness from our
streets and thoroughfares, increased our per-
sonal security. The main source of modern
improvements is the science of chemistry, to
which the priesthood have in nowise contributed.
Should it be asserted that their doctrines have
triumph of quieted men's minds, and given occasion for the
calmt scientific thoughts, the assertion
must be me
by a positive denial, for they have
preached bigotry, and encouraged polemical
strife. They have promoted a disturbed and un-

settled condition of the public mind, hostile to scien-
tific investigation. It is only by neglecting pulpit
studies and pulpit duties that any priest has been
distinguished as a man of science, and that any
layman has found himself capable of prosecutinL,
laborious mental investigations.
We know that the priesthood have, to the utmost
of their power, discouraged science, because sci-
ence is truth and nature, and constantly militates
against their singular, exceptional, and mystical
doctrines. We know, too, that they have decryed
many arts ; and, as a priesthood, none, except per-
haps the art of cookery, have they patronised
and promoted.
In that great and marked improvement which 1'
has taken place in our national and private mo-
rality, they have had, we affirm, no part. They
did not originate, nor much promote the abolition of
the slave trade; they did not take the lead in putting
an end to the punishment of death for trifling of
fences ; they took no conspicuous part in that ame-
lioration of our sanguinary code,which has at the same
time ameliorated the disposition of the people, and
made them more careful of life. In fact, the mo-
rality of the priesthood is stationary, while man,
even in his morality, is progressive, and so little
have they aided his advancement, that their whole
study and doctrines have been directed to fashion the
morality of the moderns on the morality of the ig-
norant and heathen ancients. Their business is to
hold men to the faith, doctrines, and knowledge of
a past age, and they cannot be the heralds or pio-
neers of progressive improvement.
Admitting and even glorying in the vast amelio-
rations which have taken place in the condition of
man, as he exists in modern society, we affirm that
we arc not indebted to the priesthood for any of
them, and we tell our readers to give the clergy
no credit for social improvements which have taken
place in conjunction with their power, but which they
have done their utmost to oppose. Our commerce,
our manufactures, our arts, our modes of commu-
nication are the glory of the country and the won-
der of surrounding nations ; our school education,
our theology, in short, all that exclusively apper-
tains to i.he priesthood, are the 'opprobrium of Great
Br;tain, and excite the contempt of all foreigners,
To carry off our arts is a great object with the
most enlightened nations of Europe, to seduce our
artisans they offer many temptations, but who ever
heard of their imitating our Church Establishment,
borrowing our theology, or seducing our parsons
to leave us, as a means of adding to their greatness
and their happiness ?
This preliminary matter, we see, has carried us
so far, that we shall stop for the present, and shall
to-morrow prosecute our comparison between the
services rendered to education and morality by our
own priesthood and the priesthoods of the Conti-
nental nations.

The real question involved in the IVlinisterial
measure for National Education is—whether th:,
people of this country are to enjoy liberty of con-
science, or to be condemned to a system of barba-
rous persecution for their religious opinions. This
sacred right of freemen—guaranteed to us by the
Revolution that placed WILLIAM 111. on the
throne of this realm—interwoven with all our insti-
tutions—and forming the basis on which the super-
structure of Protestantism is erected—this right

the Tories are labouring incessantly to destroy, -by
the grossest fabrications, the most dishonourable
sophistry, and by incredible perjuries against the
religion they profess to venerate and defend.
Evading the true principle at issue, they endeavour
to divert the attention of the people by reviving the
cry of " No Popery ;" but the time is passed when
this war-whoop of bigotry could have taken effect
in England. We care no longer to be scared by
phantoms, whose unreal terrors vanish in the broad
light of investigation. The thunders of the Vati-
can possess no more influence over us than the
legends of AGRIPPA'S sorceries, or the miracles of
HOHENLOIIE.
The introduction of Popery into the question
is a fraud. Popery has nothing to do with it, and
those who make such a base use of the lingering
superstitions of the ignorant and the timid, know
this as well as we do. They know also that, the
plan is essentially Protestant in principle—that it
proceeds upon the first distinctive prerogative
asserted by the Reformation, the right of private
judgment—and that it is calculated practically to
establish that glorious privilege which the Church
of England proudly maintains in theory—full and
perfect liberty of conscience. They know this ;
and it is because they desire to tyrannise over this
liberty that they endeavour to get rid, by a side
wind, of the measure in which it is embodied and
confirmed. The Tories abhor the principles in
which the Protestant Faith is founded. They
abhor its freedom, its right of examination, and
interpretation ; its popular independence of human
authority, its resistance to arbitary power. Had
they lived in the days of LUTHER, they would
have burned him at the stake.

They accuse the Church of Rome of sinister
designs and priestly stratagems to increase its power
—of keeping the people in darkness—and opposing
the progress of civilization and knowledge ; and all
the time they exhibit an unwearied zeal in enacting
the very same iniquities themselves. While they
charge the Papists with nurturing a secret spirit
of proselytism, they themselves seek to proselytize
the Papists through the agency of an exclusive sys-
tem of instruction. In all this there is not only
rank injustice and rampant despotism, but a la-
mentable ignorance of human nature and human
institutions. Both Churches are proselytizing—
all hwuorrckhaerse mduiffsterbeents,oin Beountfotlrime
ittnyo
with
hi nthwehi
ge-
niusch
they
of their tenets ; and if the Church of Rome
endeavours to make converts by inflaming the ima-
gination,stahme
efeaernsd, they Churcht
nogf
Eitgland olarboaucrtisngforupthoen
the doctrines of the Church with secular advan-
tages. The Tories proselytize by threats and
bribes—they will extend education to those who
embrace Church of Englandism, and refuse it
to those who have the courage and integrity to re-
ject a preliminary condition which fastens an insult
upon their sense and honesty.
Those who do not belong to the Established
Church must forswear their faith before they re-
ceive the benefits of education. They are first to
become apostates and hypocrites in order to
bring them within the pale. Is this the way to
make proselytes ? Is the Church of England in-
deed a Magdalen Asylum that will admit none
but the guilty ?
Another very obvious consequence of permitting
this sinister spirit of persecution to enter into a
scheme of National Education would be to defeat the
end proposed. Persecution has always recoiled upon
itself in matters of religion. The martyr makes more
converts than the executioner. If the Tories had their
own way we should have the fires of Constance re-
kindled in England, and the struggles and sacrifices
of men for conscience sake would rapidly increase
their ranks, and surround their cause with intense
popular enthusiasm. This has been the case in
Ireland, where the Catholics, suffering under pains
and penalties, have made an unexampled numerical
advance, and the Protestants, who inflicted the
wrong, have diminished in a similar proportion.
Can the Tories deny this fact ? Can they deny
that so long as any benefit or advantage is held out
to a convert, it becomes a point of honour with
him to maintain the faith of hs fathers—a truth
illustrated by ten thousand examples in the annals
of history ? No man will expose himself to the
suspicion of having
Sheen seduced by a reward. But
throw open the field to all—remove the stigma of
interested motives—and your generous labours bill
be crowned with triumphant success.
Is not Protestantism a religion of reason and in-
quiry ? Does it not subsist by the force of truth ?
What, then, are the means by which it ought to be
supported ? Fraud, force, oppression, proscrip-
tion? Are not these means literally abhorrent to
its spirit ? AN they not the very monsters of cor-
ruption which Protestantism was ordained to extir-
pate ? Are we to employ in its support the very
abuses against which its whole creed and practice
present one uniform and energetic protest ? Do
we not assert the right of investigation, and indi-
vidual judgment ? Are not these, in fact, the very
bases of our religion ? Was it not for these rights
that the early Reformers died on the rack and
in the flames ? But how are we to induce inves-
tigation if we prescribe arbitrary limits, and insist,
beforehand, upon the conclusions which must be
adopted ? Is this investigation ? Is this Protes-
tantism ? Is this the religion of that Divine
Teacher " whose service is perfect freedom ?"
No ; the people of England, front one extremity
of the island to the other, answer No. This is not
Protestantism ; it is tyranny in disguise ; it is a Tory

crusade against liberty of conscience, and in this
sense ev; ry Reformer of every shade of opinion un-
derstands it. We call upon the Reformers to do
their duty upon this question--to invoke the intel-
ligence of the country—and to support the Admi-
nistration strenuously and heartily, in a manner
which is not only wise in principle, but imperative
in policy, flowing as an irresistible corollary from
the Emancipation Act, and the repeal of the Test
and Corporation Acts.

At Marylebone Police-office, on Monday, the
following case occurred
THE POLICE AND THE BASKET PEOPLE.—David Wood-
bridge was placed at the bar, having been locked up all
night in the station-house, charged by police constable
155 D, who stated that on the previous day he saw the
prisoner standing on the pavement with his basket of fruit,
and as he objected to go away, witness took him into
custody.

Mr.° Rawlinson—Where was this ? Constable—ln
York-court, your Worship.
Mr. Rawlinson—What this man has done may be all
very wrong, but I like to see the law hit every one, rich
and poor, alike ; I don't approve at all of the small fry
being laid hold of, while shopkeepers, such as green-
grocers, fishmongers, and others in a good way of business
all the week, are suffered to send out their goods to the
nobility and gentry on the Sabbath, without any notice
whatever being -taken of their doings. It is not fair that
you should pounce upon these humble dealers alone and
lock them up, while tradesmen are permitted to desecrate
the Lord's day with impunity. .
The prisoner was discharged, on his promising not to
offend again.

We quote this for the sake of the judicious
and graphic observations made by the Magistrate.
Every one will approve of not laying bold of the
small fry of sinners, and allowing the large green-
grocers and fishmongers who serve the nobility to
desecrate the Lord's Day with impunity. But
what we especially like in the report is the manner
in which Mr. RAWLINSON describes the law and
the people—it is a hitting instrument, and they
a small fry or a large fry to be hit. In
his mouth the law appears like a reeling boxer
ready for a row, and knocking down right and
left, little and big, ladies and gentlemen, but certainly
and indiscriminately hitting all. Society according
to the Magistrate, would appear to be a fight, and
the law is a life-guardsman blindly mixing in the
melee, and cutting away at all whom his sword can
reach. Such a graphic description of the law
serves, however, at once to explain why it does not
hit equally the almost houseless basket-woman and
the very opulent green-grocer. The latter is a
certain fraction of the Legislature ; he contributes
to make the hitting instrument, and of course he
will not, if he can help it, hit himself. It is a fact
abhorrent to reason that a man should do so,
and all coroners' inquests give the suicide the be-
nefit of a verdict of temporary insanity. An Irish-
man attempting to strike a salmon with a scythe
and cutting off his own head, is very generally
quoted as an emblem of extreme folly. Thus, on
Mr. RAWLINSON'S theory, law being a convenient
kind of bludgeon, we comprehend at once, so much
force lies in one graphic word, why it rarely hits
opulent shopkeepers, who share in making and
wielding it ; and why it never hits the upper
classes, who have a much larger share in manu-
facturing and managing it.
In the Journals of yesterday, which contain the
report we have quoted, there is an illustration of
the bludgeon-makers taking care that it shall not
hit themselves. We copy the illustration :
On Sunday, parties were given by the Duke of Cleve-
land, in St. James's-square; 'the Duchess of Cannizzaro,
in Hanover-square 2 • the Earl of Yarborough, in Arling-
ton-street ; the Earl of Rosslyn, in Grosvenor-place; the
Duke of Norfolk, in St. James's-square ; Lord Saltoun,
in Great Cumberland-street ; Sir John Hobhouse, in Berk-
ley-square; Mr. Quintin Dick, in Curzon-street; and
Sir William Curtis, in Portland-place.
This desecration of the Sabbath is recorded in
the fashionable columns of the Morning Post, to
the honour and glory of those who make the instru-
ment which never hits themselves. About the hour
when their parties were probably causing a great
deal of labour—roasting, boiling, and baking,
getting carriages ready, cleaning horses, waiting at
table, &c., &c., a humble man was selling a cigar,
and he was thus treated :—.
On Monday, at Hatton-garden, Mr. Hill, tobacconist, was
summoned to this office by the Parish Authorities of
Islington, charged with having exercised his worldly call-
ing on the Lord's Day. Mr. Hill did not deny the charge,
but said that be had been before summoned under similar
circumstances and convicted before Mr. Benett, who said
that his was a very hard case, and that the parish ought
to take a liberal view of such cases, as the tavern (White
Conduit-house) opposite which he lived was allowed to sell
tobacco and cigars on Sunday without being prosecuted. He
had been before the Committee of the parish, who required
him to keep his shutters up all day. He always kept perfectly
closed until one o'clock on Sundays, and during the re-
mainder of the day he merely kept-down one shutter.
During the whole of the week he got scarcely any custom,
and the Sunday traffic enabled him to live and pay his rent
and taxes; but if he were to keep bis shop closed on Sun-
days it would be his ruin, and he could not consent to do so.
A solicitor for the parish said that it was only required
of the defendant to keep his shutters up all day in order
to prevent the exposure of his goods, and the officers would
not be justified in entering his shop fur the purpose of lay-
ing an information.

Defendant—The parish are acting in an unfeeling man-
ner towards me, and such prosecutions will tend to my
ruin. They preach up virtue and religion, and call them-
selves gentlemen, and still they want to prevent a man
obtaining an honest living for himself and family. Their
conduct is inconsistent, and if there is a law to sanction
their proceedings it is unjust; they will allow a tradesman
to sin in private if he keeps his shutters up, and prosecute
him if he is seen to sell a cigar. Why not prosecute the
publicans as well as me for selling cigars and tobacco on
Sundays?
Mr. Bennett said he deemed it hard upon such persons
as the defendant, but the parish had the law upon their
side, if they wished to press it. A law might be severe
and bad, but, however severe and bad, as long as it was in
existence it must be obeyed. If the tradespeople felt ag-
grieved, it became their duty to petition Parliament for the
repeal of the law.
Mr. Burrell concurred with Mr. Benett, and said that
as the case had been substantiated, he had no alternative
but to convict the defendant in the penalty of bs. and
costs, making 9s. 6d.
The defendant said he would resist the parish prosecu-
tion, and he would never yield to close his shop in the
afternoon of Sunday. He would also consult with his
brother tradesmen to petition Parliament for the repeal of
the law. He eventually paid the penalty and costs.
Several other shopkeepers were prosecuted and con-
victed under similar circumstances. They also expresssed
their determination not to close their shops, and the
greatest discontent was manifested by the parties. They
threatened to institute prosecutions themselves against the
rector and other parties going to Church in their carriages,
&c., on the Sunday, if the parish officers persisted in pro-
secuting trades-people for not closing their shops during
the whole of the day.
So Mr. HILL was fined for doing what the
servants of the law-making classes were compelled
to do. The footmen, butlers, ladies'-maids, &c.
were, we must admit, hardly treated to be con-
strained to commit sin, and submit, as the Bishop
of LONDON might say, to the toils of an earthly
master, instead of doing the sweet service of their
heavenly LORD. Some persons may imagine a
difference between the occupation of Mr. HILL
and those of the gentry, but none can possibly exist
between his and those of the servants. They were
following their worldly calling by administering to
the pleasures of their masters on the Lord's Day.
For our parts, we think the party-giving mistresses
and masters were also following their worldly call-
ing. What on earth have they to do but to spend
their revenues, treat their friends, go out to parties,
o
and give parties ? They were
haven thein
Sabbath in exercising the only calling
the world ; but as they male the hitting instru-
ment, which felled poor Mr. HILL to the earth,
and then extracted 9s. 6d. from his pocket, an,
as
they are neither so stupid as the Irishman mu en_
tioned above, nor so insane as a self-murderer, we
need not be surprised that they take good care it
never shall hit thernselveq.

a letter
There will be found in another column
from a Wesleyan Methodist, animadverting on the
course which some of the ministers of that So-
ciety are-pursuing with respect to the Government
plan of education. It deserves the serious atten-
tion of the Wesleyan Methodists, and indeed of the
public at large. To the former nothing can he of
more importance than that the character of the
Society should
not be compromised by the unau-
thorised and factious misconduct of a few men, who
are stepping out of their proper province, which is
altogether religious, and mixing themselves up
with political agitation, which the Wesleyan mi-
nisters have always professed above all
things to

avoid.
It appears from the statement of our Corres-
pondent that a large majority of the Wesleyans
cordially approve of the plan for extending the be-
nefits of education to the humbler classes of the
c3mmunity, which has been proposed by her
MAJESTY'S Ministers, while an underhand
plot has been hatched in London by certain other
ministers, the object of which is to make it appear
that the Methodists are to a man opposed to the
plan in question. The said London ministers,
it seems, have sent down orders to the Superintend-