The Sun.
London, England, 1836-04-16 00:00:00

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LONDON,
SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 16, 1836.

The Registration and Marri•age Bills were both read
a second time last night in the House of Commons.
On the first of these measures little discussion took
place. Sir R. PEEL put some questions to Lord J.
RUSSELL, the answers to which completely satisfied
the Right Hon. BP:ronet, that there could be no ob-
jection to the principle of the Bill, As matters
stand at present, neither 'oirths nor deaths arc
registered. The ba:fatsms and . burials which take
place within tht pale of the Church are recorded; but
when it is considered that the Church embraces not
more perhaps than half the community, it must be
evident that such a register is little better than a
mockery, for any purpose of national utility. The Bill
now before the House affords a complete remedy for
the evil, by establishing a general system of registra-
tion without distinction of sects-. Every birth, mar-
tiage, and death occurring in the kingdom is to be in-
serted in the natioral register ; and to save the dignity
or the scruples, as the case may be, of the members of
the sect estP:olished by law, they are to be allowed, if
they choose, to register in the old way also, at least as
far a.z, regards baptisms and burials, with a slight modi-
fication in the case of marriages, in consequence of the
proposed changes in the marriage law.
Mr. GOULBURN and Sir ROBERT INGLIS made
some nonsensical objections to the Marriage Bill,
which were very soon disposed of by Dr.LusIIING TON,
who showed, in a luminous and ablespeeeh, that the ma in
objection urged against the measure, namely, that it
would facilitate clandestine marriages, was ten times
more applicable to the law as it exists at present, it
being a well known fact that almost all such mar-

riaes are celebrated by banns--the great security,
according to such wise-acres as Mt. aouLuuttN,
crainst that evil ! The parish-church might have ,
been a proper enough place to publish banns and
other tnatters, when all the inhaliitants of the parish
frequented it ; but is that the case now, when the''
churches of the Establishment exhibit rail.c.o f
empty, or at best half empty, pews &Ilay 2
Sir ROBERT PEEL stated thAt When the Bill went
into Committee, he would decidedly oppose the clause
which permitted those who objected to a religious cere-
mony to be married without it, a provi!Fion which he
considered dangerous to the membets o the Chtorth, and
not necesary to accomplish the obicet t,hc Bill which
was to relieve the conscientious sctufr.s of the Dissenters.
When pressed, however, by the ATTORNEY -61;NE-
11A L to state whether he \Y:Yuld wish the parties about
to enter into the '.."..'arriage state to take an oath that they
did not l':.ong to the Church, the Right Hon. Baronet

et it was very difficult to answer the question. We
apprehend it will be found no less difficult to make
any alteration in this part of the measure that will
satsfy Sir ROBERT'S scruples on this point.

The Stafford Disfranchisement Bill was brought
under the consideration of the House of Lords last
night by the Marquis of CLANRICARDE, who moved
the second reading, observing, in justification of his
motion, that " it was impossible for any one to deny
that the grossest bribery had prevailed at elections for
the borough of Stafford. The Report of the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons which gave rise to
the Bill, stated that the corrupt practices of the elec-
tors, and the extent of the bribery, were fully borne
out by evidence ; and the Committee consequently
came to a resolution, that it was their opinion that the
borough of Stafford should cease to return Members
to Parliament. That Report was followed up by a
vote of the House. Their Lordships also appointed
a Committee, the Report of which was, that bribery
had been clearly established, not only at the last, but
at previous, elections." And yet notwithstanding
this, Lord LYNDIIURST opposed the second reading,
of the Bill in question, on the plea that his con-
science would not permit him to disfranchise a bo-
rough without first hearing evidence on oath at the
bar I It is surprising—if, indeed, anything that
occurs in the Upper House could surprise us—
what an affectionate, what an intense interest, their
Lordships take in the cases of electioneering corrup-
tion. No matter how overwhelming be the proof of a
borough's rottenness, they are always full of faith in
its immaculate purity. Spotless themselves, they can-
not be brought to see spot or stain in others. The
electors of Stafford have, it is well known, been no-
torious for their ready acceptance of bribes for forty
years and upwards ; there has been no effort at con-
cealment ; votes have been bought and sold as pub-
licly as cattle in the market-place ; yet their Lordships
are still unconvinced—still require to have proofs of
the fact laid before them I Lord HOLLAND ob-
served " the present was not a judicial proceeding ; it
was purely a legislative act of remedial application,
which they were called upon to assent to." We have
little doubt that it was this very word 44 remedial" that
induced their Lordships to decide against the second
reading of the Stafford Disfranchisement Bill. They
have an instinctive horror of anything like a remedy.
The Reform Bill was a remedy ; the Appropriation
Clause was a remedy ; the Irish Constabulary Bill
was a remedy ; the Local Courts Bill was a remedy :
what wonder then that their Lordships entertain an in-
vincible dislike to the phrase I The discussion of
last night is another proof how little is to be expected
from the Honse of Lords, in the way of efficient re-
form. In the present instance, however, their reluc-
tance to do an' act of common justice, is of no great
moment either one way or the other ; for Stafford is al-
ready, if not ♦irtually disfranchised, at any rate in a
state of suspended animation, by the judicious refusal
of the House of Commons to issue a writ for the

borough.

The Lewes Conservative Club had a dinner last
Thursday, at which BEN D'ISRAELI, the Younger—
but assuredly not, the Wiser—announced..his intention,
in the event of a new election, of starting as a candi-
date for the borough. Whatever other faults we may
find with this young gentleman, want of effrontery and
perseverance is assuredly not of the number. His
speech at Lewes was an admirable specimen of assur-
ance, especially that portion of it wherein he talked of
his perfect readiness " to die" in defence of the glorious
Constitution, having previously stated;at Buckingham,
where he was rejected, and more recently at Taunton,
where he was also rejected, that there was no Consti-
tution left, for a patriot, like himself, to die for. Of
course the Reformers of Lewis, while they do justice
to Mr. D'ISRAELI'S powers of face, will do equal jus-
tice to his consistency, and refuse to have any political
connection with him. He is not the wood out of which
a statesman is hewed. He may be competent enough to
string fine sentences together, and furnish the trunk-
makers and pastry-cooks with materials for their business,
in the shape of " Vyvian Greys" and " Revolutionary
Epics ;" but as for playing the part of a Legislator,
he has no more talent for such a vocation than
LISTON has for tragedy. We should as soon expect
to see the Bishop of EXETER play Columbine, as
Mr. D'ISRAELI take his seat in the House of
Commons,

There is no real friend of the Church, who has de-
voted any length of time to the examination of the
causes of the increasing growth of religious dissent in
this country, and more especially to the widely-diffused
spirit of aversion in which the Hierarchy is regarded,
but must have come to the conclusion that, without a
radical reform of our whole ecclesiastical institutions, it
will be shortly impossible to prevent-the total destruc-
tion of the Establishment. It may serve the sinister
purposes of time-serving promotion-hunters ; it may
fall in with the fears or the fancies of bigoted and
gloomy fanatics ; it may correspond with the impres-
sions of fierce enthusiastic zealots ; it may gratify the
vanity of the titled great—save the constitutionally in-
dolent a world of troublesome reflection—and rouse
the dormant prejudices of the working classes to shout
out lustily " Thieves in the Sanctuary !"—" Ra-
dicals I"—" Robbers !"—" Atheists !"—" The
Church is in danger !" There may be indeed a great
temporary excitement created : crowds may run in all
directions, crying out " Where ! where !" almost mad-
dened• at the thought of the horrid profanation ;
but while they are ignorant that the desecrators of the
sanctuary are the priests—that the robbers of the
shrine are those who have been appointed to guard its
sacred treasures—that the scandal is but the natural
consequence of an inbred and inherent evil in the
system—they must remain powerless for any efficient
purpose of defence. Now, such is the condition of
the Church of England at the present moment. The
wolves that devour her flocks, and devastate her pas-
tures, are clothed in the goodly garments of shepherds.
Her enemies wear the badges of her spiritual de-
fenders ; and her most bitter and relentless foes are
Otaily protesting, that there is nothing under Heaven
'3O beautiful as the punctures which they themselves
have.raised upon her countenance. Her real friends
xe neither ignorant of, nor blind to, her imperfec-
tions ; her pretended friends, but real enemies, affect
t o see in her very
weaknesses
the strongest evidences
of her Oren,
ath—in her errors the most irrefragable