The Sun.
London, England, 1838-06-23 00:00:00

LAW APPOINTMENTS.

(From the Dublin Evening Post.)
The public will learn with great pleaswe that the Attorney..
General has been appointed Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
Mr. Ball succeeds to the office of Attorney-General, and
having vacated his seat, by the acceptance of the office, is
now on his way to Clonme!, once mere to address his con-
stituents.

Mr. Curry, the Member for Armagh, is to be the new
Sergeant. The Seargeantcy being rather a post of honour
than of profit, the Learned Gentleman will not have to meet
his constituents on the hustings.
That these appointments will be welcomed with satisfaction
—we might say, indeed, with delight—by every man whose
opinion is worth having on the subject, admits of no question.
* # * We should have closed this paragraph here,
had we not another and a very important communication to
make on the subject of these appointments—had we not to
detail circumstances which the public, we are satisfied, will
think highly honourable to all the parties concerned.
On the death of the late Chief Baron, Mr. Woulfe commu-
nicated his readiness to waive the claim which, as Attorney-
General, he had to the vacant place on the bench, in favour of
Mr. O'Connell. We must say, we think this conduct highly
creditable to Mr. Woulfe ; but, indeed, it is such as we might
naturally have expected from the manly character of the Right
Honourable Gentleman. He felt that the public services of
Mr. O'Connell were worthy the highest honours the Adminis-
tration had it in their power to bestow, and he placed her Ma-
jesty's Ministers in a position to evince their high esti-
mate of those services, by tendering the high office
vacant to, certainly far and away, the most important
Representative that Ireland sends to the Imperial
Parliament. The offer was, accordingly, made in the
handsomest and most cordial terms; and the very fact
is sufficient to show the utter futility of the rumours
previously put into circulation by the Tories, that Go-
vernment, forsooth, would not have the courage to make
such an offer to a man so thoroughly—to his honour be it
spoken—so cordially hateful in Tory eyes. For our own parts,
as ardent advocates for the present system of policy, or, if the
reader will, as partizans of the Government, we are glad the
offer has been made and pressed. It will silence a world of
silly rigmarolery, which we have been compelled to hear and to
read upon the subject.
It was, in one word, an offer worthy of the Government
to make, and of Mr. O'Connell to receive. But the Hon.
and Learned Gentleman declined the offer, partly on the
ground of the nature of the business regarding tithes, with
which the Court of Exchequer has so long been occupied, and
in the discussion of which, as a public man, Mr. O'Connell
had taken so very prominent a part.
It was then intimated to the Honourable Gentleman, that
this difficulty might be removed, by elevating Mr. O'Lough.
len to the Exchequer, and placing Mr. O'Connell in the
Rolls. It is well known to the profession, and to his friends,
that the Rolls was precisely the Court which Mr. O'Connell
would have selected. It was understood, in fact, to be when
he was engaged in the active duties of his profession, the le-
gitimate object of his professional ambition. And, consider-
ing the active, the exciting life of Mr. O'Connell, the pro-
digious wear and tear of his physical powers—(his mental
energies appear to defy the assaults of labour and of time)—
the office of Master of the Rolls would seem to be the one pre-
cisely suitable to the man who had fought the good fight for his
country, and for whom his country was ready to provide an
honourable, but, at the same time, an active retirement.
But Mr. O'Connell is of opinion that the battle is not yet
won. He thinks his services in Parliament necessary for the
promotion of his country's interest and honour—for the esta-
blishment of her tranquillity and freedom. He has, therefore,
sacrificed his own personal interests—we may say himself—to
the paramount sense of the duty which he feels—of the affec-
tion which he bears to Ireland. Mr. O'Connell, it is but too
well known, is not rich—it is, too, notorious that the sums
which his grateful countrymen subscribed, as a tribute for his
services in the public cause, have been dissipated in the politi-
cal struggles in which he has been engaged to promote that
cause ; and yet he throws all these considerations aside—the
ease and tranquillity—which men prize as the reward for an
active life, in the evening of their career—the income of office,
and the dignity of the Bench.

We confess (but it is Parmenius that speaks and not
Alexander) that were we in the position of the Hon. Gentle-
man, we should think that we had fully earned the reward—
and that we were entitled to a splendid retirement. We are
further of opinion, that every reasonable and prudent man
would approve the choice. But, we do believe, at the same
time, and we are hound in candour to state the opinion, that
the Irish public would be deeply grieved—pained, perhaps—
by Mr. O'Connell's retirement at this crisis. They think
him necessary in the House—they regard his services as indis-
pensable. And, in this, the general opinion, he has proved to
demonstration, by the heavy sacrifices he has made, that he
concurs.

VESTRY MEETING at GREENWICH.

REFUSAL OF A CHURCH-RATE—AND VOTE
• OF CENSURE ON THE VICAR.
On Thursday evening a Vestry was held at the Grey Coat
School-room. The VICAR in the Chair.

• Mr. Churchwarden HARDING—Having been elected to the
office of Churchwarden, in a manner unprecedented in the
parish of Greenwich, he (Mr. Harding) was determined to do
his duty faithfully.---(Cheers.) It was generally the good
fortune of the warden to be in the receipt of a balance which
enabled him to carry on the business for some time. That
was not his case. He was compelled to state to the parsih
that he was without means to discharge the duties of his office.
Church-rates were by law established.—(No, no. Yes, yes.)
If the law did not establish Church-rates, it recognized one if
they made it.-,(Cries of " Ah, ah !" you'll not get one.")
If any gentleman would propose a rate for him, he should feel
greatly obliged.—( Cheers. )
Mr. HALE moved that the question of making a Church-
rate be adjourned to that day twelvemonths.—( Cheers.)
Mr. HAITRAFT seconded the motion.
Mr. C. A. SMITH would not enter into the abstract ques-
tion.—( Laughter.) That was not a question for vestries
(Oh, oh !) The question was whether a church-rate was *re-
quired, and if so, of what amount ?—( None, none.) Any
body might as well move that the question be adjourned for eec
hundred years, as for twelve months. Church-rates were held
by as good a title as any gentleman held his land by at this
moment.—(No, no.) He moved that a Church-rate of two-
pence in the pound be granted.—( Cheers from the Tories )
Mr. BROWNFIELD seconded the motion.
W. S. NORTHOUSE, Esq., said they (the opponents of the
rate) had been asked to name a single text of Scripture that
justified their proceedings. Was there not one text, founded
on the greatest principle that ever knit society together
" Do unto- others, as ye would that others should do unto you "
It was said that the adjournment was set aside, because one
churchwarden had gone out, and another was come in. Never
k‘ as there a more miserable sophism.—(Loud cheers.) if
that meeting agreed to make any rate, that rate would be
decidedly illegal.—(Tremendous cheers.) He took the same
s,round that Hampden took in the matter of ship money, When
l'.le declared that he would not submit to be taxed without his
own consent.—(Cheers. ) This paltry amount—this two-
penny rate—this establishment of a great despotic principle_
they were bound to resist to the utmost.-4 Cheers.) A
Church-rate was contrary to the very character of Protest-
antism. Was not the term Protestant given in consequence
of a protest made against an edict of the Emperor Charles V.,
requiring all his subjects to support the Church. of Rome ?
Such was the origin of Protestantism. hat was the con-
duct of the Protestant Church of England? They said to
Dissenters, we will impose on you a compulsory Church-rate
to support our Protestant Establishment ; if you refuse to
pay, we will immediately take your goods; and if you have
no goods, we will take yonr bodies, and immure them in
our ecclesiastical dungeons.---(Loud and long continued
cheering.) The power to make a rate was in them-
selves. Before the Reformation all Church property was
devoted to four purposes----first, to maintain the poor; se-
condly, to repair the Churches ; thirdly, to maintain the
Bishop ; and, fourthly, to support the Resident Minister. If
the supporters of the rate argued from Judaism, he would de-
feat them by its practice—if from Christianity, by the maxims
of our Saviour.—(Cheers. ) The great vice of the Church of
England was adherence to these compulsory rates. She had
produce I men such as Tillotson, Jeremy Taylor, and Barrow,
who would be an honour to any cause : but when, instead of
looking to such men, she looked to warrants and executions,
and became the friend of lawyers, and the employer of lawyers,
he could not help regarding her with contempt and scorn._
( Cheers.) He would read the words of one of that " army
cf martyrs," whom the Church honoured in her Liturgy, but
did not honour in her law. The words of one who expired in
the flames were surely better authority than the miserable
quibbling they had heard to-night.--( Great cheering.) Mr.
N. proceeded to read the following extract from Bishop La-
timer's sermons :—" Take heed and beware of covetousness!
Take heed and beware of covetousness ! Take heed and beware
ofeovetousness ! And what if I say nothing these three or
four hours but these few words ? Great complaint there was
against it, much crying out, and much preaching—but little
a
mendment. Covetousness is the root of all evil : therefore,
strike at that root—aye, out with your axes, ye preachers, and
strike at that root. Stand not ticking and toying at the
branches, for new branches may spring forth again, but strike
at the root. Fear not these great men, these men of power,
but strike at the root." Mr. N. concluded an eloquent and
argumentative speech, to which we regret our inability to do
justice, by moving (amidst tremendous cheering), two resolu-
tions, to the effect that compulsory Church-rates were bad in
principle and worse in practice, and that a voluntary subscrip-
tion should be commenced to defray the expences attendant on
the Old Church.
After some further discussion the Vestry decided, as we
yesterday stated, against the rate.

General Goblet, the Belgian Ambassador in Portu-
gal, is daily expected in England. Apartments are engaged for his Ex-
cellency and suite at the Brunswick Hotel, JerMyn.strcet.
CURIOUS CASE OF BIGAMY.—A man, appa-
rently upwards of fifty years of age, named William Roberts, blacksmith,
of Ridgeway. street, Islington, was brought up at the New Bailey, OR
Saturday, charged with bigamy, under the following circumstances :
A woman, who appeared to be not more than half as old as the prisoner,
stated that she was married to him at the Collegiate Church in March
last ; but lie told her before they were married that he had another wife
living. The prisoner, in his defence, said that was quite true; but his
marriage to his first wife was illegal, because she had another husband
living at the time he was married to her; and after his marriage, the
first husband was continually coming to his house, in Newton-lane, and
"bothering him." The prisoner's first wife, a woman of fifty, then
came forward, and said that the prisoner was her third husband, and her
second husband was living at the time she married him ; but she left
him, because she found that he (the second husband) had another wife.—
As, under these circumstances, both the first and second marriage of the
prisoner was illegal, he was, of course, discharged.—Manchcster
Guardian.