The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-21 00:00:00

Parliament assembled.

The humble Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of Bun-
gay, in the County of Suffolk, Members of the Church ,f
England, and liable to assessments for Church-rates ;
Sheweth,
That your Petitioners are deeply impressed with the convic-
tion, that is the bounden duty of the Inhabitants of this Land,
to maintain in the greatest possible efficiency an Established
Church. _ _

That, under the Divine blessing, the Church of England es-
tablished by Law, has been the means of imparting Religious
Instruction to a vast majority of the People, and that it has
been highly conducive to the spiritual and temporal welfare of
the Nation at large.
That under its influence, our free Institutions, our rights, and
privileges, civil and religious, have been fostered and matured.
That to recitice the National Church from the position of an
Establishment, or to diminish its revenues would be injurious to
the service of God, and prejudicial to the best interests of the
people.
That, with these sentiments, your Petitioners approach your
Hon. House, to express their earnest hope, that no measure
which shall have for its object the abolition of Church.rates,
may pass into a Law, WITHOUT adequately providing,from other
public sources, for the maintenance of the Established Institu-
tion ; and that all possible means may be taken to extend its
usefulness and for increasing its resources, to enable it in some
measure to meet the pressing wants of an increased and in-
creasing population.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, &c. &c.
Bungay, March 15, 1837.

OPPOSITION TO CHURCH-RATES.

PARISI! OF KENSINGTON.-1,200 PERSONS SUMMONED FOR NON-

PAYMENT.

During the past week great excitement has prevailed in the
parish_oPSt. Mary Abbott's, Kensington, in consequence of
summonses having been issued against 1,200 rate-payers, at
the instance of the Churchwardens, for non-payment of the
rates made for the support of the Church during the years
1835, 1836, and 1837.
Saturday having been appointed for hearing the reasons
of the defaulters in the Board-room Of the workhouse, in the
Gloucester-road, the following Magistrates assembled :—Mr.
H. G. Codd, Mr. F. P. Barlow, Mr. R. W. Pilkington, and
Mr. E. Halswell ; and from an early hour the room was lite-
rally besieged by the inhabitants.
Among the most interesting and important of the cases were
the following
\lr. Stratford, gardener, objected to pay Church-rates upon
principle.
Mr. Conn—Are you a D'esenter?
Mr. Stratford—Yes, I am.
Mr. Conn.—Then we must order a distress-warrant to issue.
We sit here to administer the law as it is.
Mr. Stratford—l've no seat in the church allowed me. My
family had one some years since, but a late Vicar (the Rev.
Mr. Ormcrod) took it away. It was situated behind Lady
Warwick's pew. I also object on the ground of the illegality
of the rate, as well as on principle.
Mr. Conn—We have nothing to do with the religious ob-
jections of parties; payment of the rates must be enforced.
Mr. Bloomfield Webb, cheesemonger, High-street, objected
on the ground of being a Dissenter.
Mr. Coon—You know that by the law of the land you are
bound to pay these rates.
Mr. Webb—l am riot satisfied of that.

Mr. Conn—We, however, are aware of it, and therefore
must order you to pay the amount. Mr. Codd then, turning
to Mr. Chesterton, one of the Churchwardens, said, " 1111
Churchwarden, when gentlemen object upon principle alone,
you must see that warrants of distress are issued."
Mr. Richardson, cutler, High-street, objected because he
does not partake of the benefits of the rate, never having had
a seat given him in the church, although he had paid Church-
rates for 21 years. He knew that the pews in the old church
were let out like the stalls in Smithfield, many a non-parishi-
oncr having a front scat, while he was deprived of any. He,
therefore, thought it a shame that the aristocracy, who do not
of themselves maintain the church, should have the best seats,
the poor having the worst left for them, or none at all; while
their Maker, whom they went to worship, looked on them all
on an equality.
Mr. Conn-Then you object because you have no seat ?
Mr. Richardson—No. I deny the legality of the rate al-
together, as well as objecting from not having a seat in the
•hurch. _

Mr. CODD —We must direct our warrant of distress to issue.
Mr. Richardson—Then, if it is executed, I shall bring an
action against you.
Mr. George Henry Sasse, baker, High-street, objected be-
cause he considered the imposition of Church-rates as unjust,
unnecessary, and dishonourable. He trusted that his objec-
tions would not be construed into anything like disrespect by
the Bench ; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer having in
the House of Commons expressed a similar opinion, he thought
his doing so was not in bad keeping. He was determined not
to pay any more Church-rates but what the Bench, as the ex-
ecutive, might think fit to compel him to do. Ile considered
there were lands in the bands of the Church quite sufficient to
maintain the expenses of Divine worship without calling on the
parish at large so to do.
Mr. CORD—Do you wish us to understand that the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer has designated the enforcement of
Churc'.:-tons as " unjust, unnecessary, and dishonest?"
Mr. Sasse—He has stated that the enforcement of Church-
rates on persons who dissent from the Church is unjust, and I
think it dishonest that I should be called upon to pay these
rates while so many occupy seats without paying any rent for
them. _ _

Mr. Cono--You have expressed your objections with much
good feeling, but you must be aware that we cannot attend to
such reasons. The rate must be enforced.
Mr. Sasse—And you must likewise be aware that there arc
cases in which opposition becomes a virtue.
The Rev. Mr. Broad, of Hornton-street, a Baptist minister,
objected on conscientious principles, because, as a Dissenting
Minister, he looked upon the demand as an infraction of his re-
ligious scruples. His opposition was not a factious one, but
emanated from conscientious convictions.
Mr. Coon-Then we shall consider it necessary, as we are
merely administering the law, to order it to be enforced.
The Rev. Mr. Meadows, of Kensington-square, objected
because, being a Dissenting Minister, he conaidered it quite
iniquitous to require Church-rates from him. The Chairman
(Mr. Codd) had made a remark which he did not wish should
go forth to the world without some explanation, and that was
that " the churchwardens should and ought first to enforce
the distress warrants on those who objected on conscientious
principles." His objections to the impost were not factious,
nor out of opposition to the Church.
Mr. Coup—l had no intention that my observation should
apply as you have construed it. I meant it to apply to all de-
faulters in general.
Mr. Meadows—lt was understood as I have stated by all
near me.

Mr. Conn—l am happy you have drawn my attention to
the point, as I had no such meaning. I have every respect for
Dissenters and their ohjeCtions, but when we have to go through
1,200 summonses, we can have nothing to do with conscien-
tious scruples.
Mr. Meadows—l am glad I have enabled you to enter into
an explanation. It appeared to me very invidious, as thereby
conscientious scruples appeared a crime.
The payment was then ordered to be enforced.
The U.ev. Dr. Vaughan, of Notting-hill-square, Minister of
Hornton- street Independent Chapel, and Professor of Ancient
History at the London University, was the next case called
on, when the following letter from that gentleman was read :
" Gentlemen,—The sudden decease of one of my children,
in the afternoon of yesterday, has left me in no state of mind
to attend personally to your summons for this morning, as it
was my intention otherwise to have done. The main cause
of my refusing to pay the Church-rates levied upon me by the
Kensington parish vestry may be stated in a few words. The
body of professing Christians, who call themselves Church-
men, includes, I presume, the majority of the people of Eng-
land—certainly the greater portion of its wealth, and nearly
the whole cf those classes who rank above persons in the mid-
dle station of society. This body of professing Christians is
further distinguished as possessing the whole of the endow-
ments which the state has connected with religion, existing
in
the shape of tithes and extensive landed property, which in
substance were once devoted, with every sanction of law and
religion, to Popish uses, and has since been devoted by acts of
the English Legislature to Protestant Episcopalian uses. In
the mean time, the parties who conscientiously dissent from
the endowed church cheerfully proVide their own chapels, sup-
port their own ministers, and defray the expenses of their own
worship. It thus appears, that in the exaction of Church-
rates the poverty of the poorer party is made to serve as a re-
lief to the opulence of the more wealthy ; and the comparative
needy are, therefore, after the payment of their own debts,
made to assist their richer neighbours, and this, too, for the
support of religious forms and doctrines which the more needy
party cannot avoid regarding as not a little irreligious in many
i
respects, both n their nature and tendency.
The body of Protestant Dissenters have always regarded
forced contributions for the service of religion as contrary to
the letter and spirit of Christianity ; but my objection—and
that, as I believe, of the great mass of the class of persons to
which I belong—to the law of Church-rates, has respect to its
manifest social injustice, as above stated. lam also influenced
to this course of proceeding by the unwelcome conviction that
so long as the weaker party shall continue quietly to pay, so
long will the stronger party continue to exact. The congre-
gation of which I have been the Minister has been accustomed
to raise for my support, or for the general purposes of religion,
education, and charity, from 8001. to 1,0001. yearly. That
we have always conducted ourselves peaceably, having little
taste for becoming distinguished in parish strife, must be suffi-