The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-22 00:00:00

THE SU'N, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 22, 1854.

VISIT OF THE KING OP PORTUGAL AND THE
DUKE OF OPORTO TO WOOLWICH.

His Majesty the King of Portugal, and his Royal Highness
the Duke of Oporto, with Vimunt Carreira, Baron de Sar-
mento, Chevalier de Mello, Lord do Tabley, and Colonel
Wylde, arrived at Woolwich yesterday, at 12 o'clock noon,
in two carriages and four, having passed throng Blackheath.
and along the Dover-road to Woolwich-common, where the
Royal Horse Artillery, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bloomfield,
and the field•batteries, under Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson,
were drawn up in line in light marching order to receive the
Royal visitors. A salute of 21 guns from a 12-pounder field
battery wets fired-in front of the Repository to announce the
arrival of the King and his Royal brother, and the Royal
standard was run up on the garrison flag-staff at the mortar
battery.
The •Royal visitors, with the members of their suite, on
alighting from their carriages, immediately mounted horses,
and proceeded, accompanied by the Commandant and staff,
to review the troops and batteries. They were received with
the usual salute, the brass band playing " God save the
Queen."
His Majesty and the Royal Duke rode down the front of
the line and up the centre. The troops then broke into open
columns to the right, and marched past at a walk iu columns
of divisions and half-batteries. The Royal Horse Artillery
afterwards passed at a trot, changed front by wheeling about
inwards, returned back at a
gallop, then formed line on the
original ground, and went through the evolutions of a field-
-day, 40 rounds of ammunition having been previously served
out to each gun. At the conclusion of the review his Majesty
rode up to Lieutenant-Colonel Bloomfield and expressed his
high opinion of the manner in which the troops went through
the evolutions, and of the celerity of their movements.
His Majesty and the Duke of Oporto then proceeded to
the Royal Military Academy, where the Gentlemen Cadets
were drawn up in line, and received them with presented
arms. The Gentlemen Cadets then entered the College, that
his Majesty might witness the manner in which their studies
were conducted.

IMPERIAL
HOUSE OF COMMONS—(YESTE ,D AY. )
CHURCH RA.TES ABOLITION- BILL.
The following is a more complete report of Lord J.
Russell's speech than that given last evening :
Lord J. RUSSELL.—The speech which the honour.
able gentleman the member for Manchester has just
made, and the expressions which he has attributed to
me, compel me to take part in this debate. The hon.
gentleman said that he takes exceptions to two argu-
ments which he states that I used on a former occasion.
One was that au unqualified and unconditional conces-
sion on the subject of church rates would lead to other
demands. Well, all that I can say upon the subject is,
that we have heard today, as we have upon former oc-
casions, that this is a question of principle, that it is a
question between the establishment and the voluntary
principle, and that this is only one part of the proposal
of those who wish us to exchange an establishment for
the voluntary principle. It is not my fault, therefore,
if following the honourable member for Southwark (Mr.
Pellatt), and following the honourable member him-
self, I say that this unqualified and unconditional
repeal of the present law is a proposal intended
to forward the schemes of those who are the enemies
of an establishment, and are in favour of the volun-
tary principle. Now, be it observed, Ido not make it a
charge against them that such are their opinions. I
only say that, not holding those views —not partaking
the opinion that the destruction of the Church Estab-
ment, and the admission of all sects to an equality in
respect of the voluntary collection of funds, would be
advantageous—they cannot expect me to consider it as
any inducement to vote for this bill, that it will lead me
step by step to that total destruction of the Church which
I deprecate. But then the hon. member for Manchester
says that I employed another argument, namely, that
some "compensation" should be given if church rates
were taken away. Now, I do not believe that I ever
used that word. I spoke, certainly, unexpectedly on
that occasion, for I thought the debate would have gone
on much longer than it did, and I may have used the
word unadvisedly, but I cannot charge my memory
with having done so, and it was certainly not within
the scope of my argument to use the word " compensa-
tion." What I maintainedthen was what I maintainnow,
thatin abolishing church rates you should make some pro-
vision for the maintenance of the fabric of the church. Is
that inconsistent with the notion of an Established
Church ? On the contrary, it appears to me that it is
essential. The State may choose to have no establish.
ment. It may, as the hon. member suggests, totally
abolish such an establishment if it exists ; but if the
State chooses to have an establishment, there should be
in connection with it persons with a sufficient income
for their maintenance, and with sufficient learning and
qualifications to give religious instruction, and likewise
there should be a fabric maintained in which divine ser-
vice may be performed, and in which the instructions
and ministrations of these persons may have their due
effect. It appears to me that a clergy with a sufficient
maintenance, and sufficiently qualified, and a fabric in
which their ministrations are to take place, are essential
to a Church Establishment. Then I say that if you propose
entirely to abolish the provision by which the fabric of the
Church is now supported, it becomes you, if you mean to
support an establishment, to make some other provision
loss objectionable and less productive of evil and of heart-
burning, but at all events to make some provision for the
maintenance of the church. The hon. member (Mr.
Bright) talks of " washing of surplices," and " sweeping
of floors," but that does not seem to me to comprehend
the whole of what is intended to be provided for by
church rates. What, sir, was the original state of
things ? Our Catholic ancestors raised heaven-directed
spires and venerable towers, not simply that the build-
ings to which they belonged! might receive the congre-
gations resorting to them • they thought it belonged to
piety that they should make for the whole people an
edifice for them to worship in, and worthy of the religious
purpose to which it was devoted. This is therefore not
a question of " washing surplices" and of " sweeping
floors," but of maintaining those fabrics. As time went
on there were those who said that they could not con-
scientiously resort to eburches although they were in-
tended for the national worship, but that their con-
science led them to a different form of service and
of Church government, and that, therefore, they
wished that other buildings should be erected. At
first, under Charles and James, they were persecuted ;
they were driven forth from the towns ; they were not
allowed liberty of conscience ; but the time came when
the Act of Toleration passed, and they were permitted
to have that liberty which no doubt was their right.
But the dissenters of those days, having got those rights,
did not consider, like the hon. member and many dis-
senters of the present day, that they were debarred, as
he says, by the Georges from the exercise of their rights
of conscience. I happened the other day to be looking
at a book, which is now before me, the life of a most
distinguished, pious, and learned man—Calamy; and so
far from complaining of the existence of church rates, he
thus announces the accession of George I. : " He began
his reign with a noble declaration for liberty of con-
science, and never could be charged with acting incon-
sistently with it. At his first appearance in council,
September 22, he made a declaration, in which he ex-
pressed himself in the following words—' I take this occa-
sion to express to you my firm purpose to do all that is
in my power for supporting and maintaining the churches
of England and Scotland as they are by law established,
which I am of opinion may be effectually done without
in the least impairing the toleration allowed by law to
Protestant dissenters, so agreeable to Christian philan-
thropy." He then sets forth the addresses presented to
the king by the dissenting ministers of the several deno-
minations, in which they declared that "Your Majesty's
wise and gracious declaration, for which we render our
unfeigned thanks, does sensibly relieve us under our
present hardships, and gives us ground to hope that, as
we are inseparably united in interest, and even in
safety, with the succession to the monarchy, as by law
established, so we shall share in that protection and
favour which will make us happy with the rest of your
subjects." So little was this eminent man—this emi-
nent dissenter —disposed to find fault with a declaration
which began by saying that the King intended to do
all in his power for supporting and maintaining the
Churches of England and Scotland. The dissenters
of those days considered the Church of England as a
great support to the Protestant interest, and continually
expressed their wish to see it maintained on that ground.
And let me here say that I believe that to the dissenters
of those days we owe very great benefits ; to them we
owe the constant support of the House of Hanover, so
inseparably connected with the liberty of this country ;
and to them we owe enlightened views of toleration and
of civil and religious liberty, for which we cannot be
sufficiently grateful. For my own part, therefore, in
consideration of the character of Protestant Dis-
senters in those days, as well as of the efforts
they have made in our own day to advance re-
ligion and to promote education, and many other
good works, I should be most anxious that any con-
cession should be made to them which would be con-
sistent with the safety of the Established Church. But
we now come to that which has been the quarrel
of late days ; indeed, we may say for the last quar-
ter of a century, and, in some degree, for half a cen-
tury before that. That has arisen not, I believe, with
respect to those ancient parochial churches of which I
have spoken, but in consequence of the great number
of new churches which have been built in towns
where the Dissenters are very numerous, and of the
attempt which has been made to increase the church
rates. On that account a very natural resentment has
been felt by Dissenters ; and from this has arisen a great
struggle which we have to deplore. The preamble of this
bill sets forth that " whereas church rates have for some
years ceased to be made and collected in many parishes
by reason of the opposition thereto, and that in many
parishes where they are laid, their levying has given rise
to litigation and ill-feeling, &c." Now, so far as that
goes, I agree with the statement in the preamble, and I
think it Desirable, not specially for the sake Of the Dis-
senters or of the Church, but for the sake of the com-
munity generally, that some remedy for this should be
found. The whole dispute at the present day is not
with regard to the evil, and to the social calamity,
caused by church rates, but with respect to the remedy
we should apply. Now, I have spoken of those
ancient churches which were intended for all.
The Dissenters, however, have left those churches.
They have their own places of worship, erected
according to their wants—large where there is a large
congregation, small where there is a small congregation,
but in no instance requiring those expensive repairs
which are necessary when you have an ancient building
with a great deal of ornamental architecture, and erected
of a size not in proportion to the wants of the particular
congregation, but such as the whole parish necessarily
requires. Well, the theory of the law is that the parish
is bound to repair that church ; the practice of the law—
and it is one for which there is no remedy—is, that a
majority of the pariphioners may refuse the church rate.
The remedy proposed by the hon. baronet fer the exist-
ing state of things is to abolish church rates altogether.
I do say that in that case a hardship will be imposed
upon those who attend church. They have not, like
dissenters, built places of worship to suit their own wants,
and it certainly appears to me that if the existing paro-
chial churches are left without some means of legal sup-
port, it will, in the first place, be inconsistent with
the principle of an Established Church, and in the
next place it will throw a hardship upon those who attend
church. There are, however, various other remedies
suggested. One is that there should be a voluntary col-
lection on the part of the Church. Now I think that
in many parishes that voluntary collection would not be
sufficient. I think it is possible that if a voluntary col-
lection were made over the whole Kingdom, sufficient
means would be raised for the repair of the fabrics of
the churches. But then comes the question to which
my right lion. friend (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
adverted —that when that money was collected, every
person who belonged to the pariah, whether they had
contributed to it or not, whether they attended the Es-
tablished Church or some other place of worship, would
have a right to a voice in the disposal of the money.
There, again, is a case of hardship to the Church. Then
it is proposed to separate Dissenters from others, and to
make all contribute to church rates who do not de-
clare themselves Dissenters. To that, however, I
must strongly object. Another method proposed is to
levy pow rents. I think that objectionable in the first
place, because it would be repugnant to the feelings
of the agricultural population generally, who ever have
been accustomed to enter a church as a free and open
place. Besides, I think the poor generally would have
a right to complain if you establish pew rents. My right
honourable friend (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) has
stated another plan, which I think was not understood
by the honourable member for Manchester, and perhaps
ps
not by the house. I understand his suggestion
this—that there should be the same power as now of
imposing church rates, and that that rate should con-
tinue to be imposed in the rural parishes, because the
great majority there approve of church rates. It would
not, however, be imposed there for ever, but in

lAMENT.

On leaving the Royal Military Academy, the Royal visitors
rode across the common to the Royal Military Repository,
where they were received by Lieutenent-Colonel Hardinge,
who conducted them over the Rotunda, and pointed out the
objects of interest in that large depository of ancient and
modern arms and specimens of the munitions of war, with
models of the most celebrated fortifications in the world,
and the means of defending them, as well as the mode of at-
tacking them during warfare. On leaving the Repository,
his Majesty and the Duke of Oporto proceeded to the mess-
room of the officers of the Royal Artillery, where they were
received by a guard of honour consisting of six seijeatits, 100
rank and file, with two buglers, under the command of Cap-
tain Marryat, Royal Artillery, with three subalterns. The
Royal party then partook of an elegant dejeuner.
Shortly after 3 o'clock his Majesty and his Royal brother
proceeded, accompanied by a large staff, to the Royal Arsenal,
where they were received by the heads of the various depart-
ments, and Colonel Blanchard, Commandant of the
Royal Engineers and Royal Sappers and Miners. The illus-
trious visitors alighted at the Dial-square, where the boring
of brass gnus and finishing them is carried on. They were
conducted over the department by Colonel Chalmer, Inspector
of Artillery, and witnessed the whole of the processes from
rough casting to the highly finished field-pieces. His Ma-
jesty also visited the foundry department, and witnessed the
moulds laid for casting ten 24-pounder brass guns, which will
require about 116 tons of metal to be melted at one time
to make the casting. From the foundry, his Majesty and
the Duke of Oporto proceeded to the laboratory department,
over which they were conducted by Lieutenant-Colonel
Wilson, director, and Captain Boxer, firemaster. The Royal
visitors appeared much gratified at the rapidity with which
the percussion caps are manufactured, each boy with a die-
press making 10,500 caps per day. After a short inspection
of the mode of making spherical musket balls by compression,
and Minis balls by self-acting machinery, and the fitting of
the fuzee screw to 8-inch shells, his Majesty left the labora-
tory and proceeded to the carriage department, where he was
received by Lieutenant-Colonel Tulloh. The King appeared
surprised with some of the uew machinery, especially a bolt-
making hammer, which strikes 700 blows per minute on the
redhot malleable iron, and enables one man with the aid of
a circular saw, to execute the work of four men. The ma-
chinery was so interesting to his Majesty that he had not
time to go over the whole, and he, left the Royal Arsenal for
town, after shaking hands cordially with Colonel Whinyates,
at 20 minutes past 4 o'clock.

those parishes, as well as in others, the parishioners,
would have the power of acting either according to the
old or according to the new law. When, however, they
decided to act according to the new law, and nct to
levy rate, there would be a provision that those alone
who contributed to tl,e repairs of the church should
have the disposal of the funds raised for that pur-
pose. There is 0110 principle, indeed, to which I
think the house should adhere in any legislation on this
subject. Whatever plan ',may be proposed, I think we
should retain for the church, or rather for the nation,
the right to call upon the land to maintain the parochial
church in repair. (Hear, hear.) I consider these edi-
fices not as belonging to a sect but as a national pro-
perty ; and so considering them, I think they should be
inseparably connected with the land, by which the
Church has hitherto been supported. I believe that it
would be the worst possible policy on the part
of the land to consent to any law by which we should
incur any hazard that our village churches should fall
into decay. Such is the principle which, as against my
honourable friend, I am disposed to maintain. The
honourable gentleman the member for Manchester says,
in opposition to this principle, that great effects have
been produced by the voluntary principle in the United
States of America. lam not disposed to question that
assertion. I know that great effects have been produced
by the voluntary principle alone in the United States of
America. I know that great effects have been pro-
duced in this country by the voluntary principle, in
connection with the principle of an established church.
The institutions of the United States are, however,
wholly different from ours. While they adopt the
voluntary principle as to the church—while they have
universal suffrage—while they have no primogeniture
as to the land, and while they have an elective Senate
and an elective President, all their institutions harm°.
nise together, and produce a free and great nation,
whose greatness and whose freedom I should be the last
to question and the first to respect. But in this country
we have other institutions. We have a national church
—we have an hereditary aristocracy—we have an he-
reditary monarchy—and all these things stand together.
(Hear, hear) My opinion is, too, that they would de-
cay and fall together. (Hear, hear.) I see no reason
why we should prefer to these institutions those of the
United States of America ; and I must, therefore, op-
pose this bill, as, in my opinion, tending to subvert one
of the great institutions of the State. (Cheers.)
Sir W. CLAY having briefly replied,
The house divided, when there were—
For the second reading lB2
Against ... 209-27
The bill was therefore lost.
The Literary and Scientific Institutions Bill was read
a second time.
The Bankruptcy (Ireland) Bill was read a second time.
• The house then adjourned shortly before six o'clock.