The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, .JULY 25, 1853,

six churches and chapels belonging to the Estab-
lishment are nearly deserted.
I Now, one would have supposed that a legisla-
tor's course would have been pretty clear in such
a case. The least he ought to do would be to
place things as they were before 1808 (of course
reserving life interests), cutting down the 18
clergymen to 6 ; which, as Mr. MACAULAY
(who could see no difference between fifteen
and six, because both were reductions) was
told, adjusts exactly the disproportion he had
represented as an enormous grievance. And
considering the size of the flocks, the old stipend
of 3301. a-year would have been munificent.
Instead of this Government proposes, Ist, to
retain 15 clergymen at 5501. each ; 2dly, and of
course justly, to abolish the odious privilege of
the College of Justice ; 3dly, to reduce the pre-
sent rate of 6 per cent, to 3 per cent., and to
make it henceforth- a municipal rate ; 4thly, to
apply in aid of the fund the proceeds of the
Royal Deaneries,. about 1,500/., which are pure
sinecures at present ; sthly, to have all the
money paid into the Consolidated Fund !—from
which the ministers are to draw their stipends.
This last graceful and delicate device is to save
the annuity tax payers the feeling that they are
paying their 3 per cent, to a hostile Church !
Really, then, are Scotchmen after all to be caught
with such chaff? Our far north fellow-country-
men approve one thing no doubt, the shuffling off
the responsibilty of paying the Edinburgh parsons
unto the Imperial Exchequer ; but the Imperial
Parliament gives marked signs of pretty strong
repugnance to settling a Scotch squabble at the
cost of the Empire. There is a scandalous
little addition to the Government plan we had
almost forgotten. One church, has been burnt
down, the congregation of which numbered thirty-
five. Another has been taken by a railway com-
pany, whose congregation actually amounted to
nineteen persons. Instead of applying the com-
pensation money to lessening the annuity tax, under
this bill the latter useless church is to be rebuilt
at a cost of 10,1461,, and the other is to be re-
built also. Two new churches for 54 persons! Our
readers will probably think that no clerical job-
bing on this side the Tweed, and we can exhibit
some fine samples in that line, can well surpass
the grossness of this Presbyterian scheme to re-
tain sinecure salaries.

It is, however, useless altogether for any Go-
vernment to force ecclesiastical arrangements upon
the people —at least upon the British people. One
would think we had had enough of that in Canada,
and that after having been compelled, and
righteously, to repeal one Clergy Reserves Act
there, we should have been slow to concoct an-
other compromise, sure to become the subject of a
fresh agitation, in Edinburgh ; above all, slow to
hazard bringing such annuitants as preachers to
congregations of 20 or 30 souls upon our Con-
solidated Fund. Admirably did Mr. MACAULAY
observe, when dwelling on the general aspects of the
question, "Consider how widely the unpopularity
of this tax differed in its essential nature from the
unpopularity of other taxes. A police or an army
might be unpopular, still the one preserved our
property from the midnight attacks of the dishonest,
and the other from the
aggressions of a foreign
foe. A coast-guard might be hated ; still it did
its duty, and protected us from illicit frauds.
But a Church which was hated was worse than
useless; and if it inspired feelings opposed to
affection and respect, better that it should not
exist at all. He did implore the House, there-
fore, not to support an institution, which would
be useless unless it were loved, by the only means
which must occasion tt to be hated." The marvel
is that Mr. MACAULAY could suppose three per
cent. collected for it under a new title, could at
best do more than diminish the hate by the three
per cent, remitted. To cut the whole thing down
to the real wants of the case is what his eloquent
observation plainly demanded.