The Sun.
London, England, 1836-02-19 00:00:00

1;4, let: Las' tendet to exeite tie propthees of the people against
the bilreh of Engltind.
That a determination tut the part of the Legislature to bind
this system on the people of Irclarid must perpetuate every
evil order which Ireland labours, and place the minister of
Christ in a p'o'sitiou alike injurious to themselves and to the
interests of religfon.
That petitioner desires to tct relleYed from the position of
being obliged either to want the means or support for himself
and family, and to sacrifice his legal rights, or else to extort
themremedies he Conscientiously disapproves of.
pietitioner believes the opposition to pay tithes arises
frpm their apprOPtiation, and not from their amount—and that
if properly appropriatt;fl the interposition of landlords would
be untieTen!nry,,ind desires that no part of the tithe property
should be absorbed b the landlords.
petitioner prays therefore that the State do t?sume tithe
and all of Occicsiastical property, id bo." vested in the Corn.
missioners of National Alucation for the followirif purposes

Ist. To satisfy all existing' Individual claims of of Ec-
clesiastical Proprietors—after all just deductions have be6V
made.
Id. To provide for the decent maintenaage of the Protes-
tant Episcopal Clergy—in Parishes where requited, and in
proportion to the extent-of those services.
3d. To provide for the Clergy of every Christian Congre-
gation whose numbers entitle them to support, and who desire
ES state provision.
4th, Th 4 everplus, if any, to be applied to National
Education. _ _ _

Never was there taken a more correct view of the effects
of the present tithe system in Ireland than is here exhi-
bited. That system—inseparable from the oppressive
measures by which it has been enforced—has done more to
preittit the growth of Protestantism in Ireland than all the
labours of the filtrst zealous servants of the Vatican. The
Church has had no enemy so deadly as the British Parlia-
ment, the Law Officers of the Crown, and the Orange
ascendancy—or ti its Members delight to be called, " the
Protestant boys." The frame of mind in which the
Catholics have been constantly kept by these contemners of
their religion, is such as has ever prevented men from
adopting a creed opposed to their own. It was morally im-
possible that they could recognize in such agents of a per-
secuting Government, the instruments of divine mercy.
They were constantly kept in a state of suffering ; but such
suffering only made them cling closer to a creed which they
imagined themselves punished for having perilled by reason
of their sins. The conduct of the Protestant Clergy con-
firmed the Catholics in a belief that they were themselves
the objects of divine chastisement, rather than of mercy.
Judged by its fruit the eccicsiastial tree was evil.
Had a course the reverse of what has been so madly
followed up in Ireland been adopted when the Reforma-
tion was first preached there, we question much whether
there would have been, at this time of day, a single Ca-
tholic in the kingdom. And yet, with the experience fur-
nished by three centuries of persecution before their eyes,
many of the Dignitaries of the Irish Church propose to
collect their Tithes by Commissions of Rebellion. But the
persecuting spirit of the Priesthood has been expelled
the House of Commons by the people of England.
The Government is no longer the mere tool of the
Bench of Bishops. Parliament needs no Prelatical
Confessors, to direct it in the course which the
Constitution requires it to pursue. We have learned
without surprise the freaks of some of these most reve-
rend personages with respect to the Tithe system in Ire-
land. We have been confidently assured that they have
repeatedly used intimidation in the case of several of the
inferior Clergy, who, disgusted with the persecution carried
on against the peasantry for tithes, have prayed to be
allowed to petition Parliament in favour of the
principles laid down by the Reverend Mr. HAN.•
COCK. In point of fact the working clergy have
never opposed any reform in the Establishment,except when
under the coercion of the Bishops. It is the rich lazy in-
cumbents, who do nothing, or the ambitious Dignitaries—in-
tent upon elevating the rank of their families by alliances
with the Aristocracy, who are perpetually confounding the
Gospel of CHRIST with the peasant's pig.

We cannot conclude these brief observations without
noticing a_compliment unintentionally paid to the Rector of
Clontarf by the Learned Recorder for the city of Dublin.
When Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD concluded the brief but
eloquent speech with which he prefaced the presentation of
the Rev. W. HANCOCK'S petition, Mr. SHAW observed,
that he had never heard of the Gentleman! Now, there is
in this sentence a Volume of praise. Mr. HANCOCK is no
Tithe-hunting Parson—no itinerant reviler of Popery—no
red-hot Orange Magistrate—no Brunswick Clubbist—or
the Learned Recorder would have heard of him—
have known him—and have given a voucher for his
piety, his learning, his zeal, his wisdom, his repeated mar-
tyrdoms in the cause of Orangeism, besides a long list of
other virtues by right of which he was entitled to the first
vacant bishopric. No oration delivered in praise of the
many virtues of the Rev. Mr. HANCOCK could raise him
so high in our good opinion, as an exemplary Christian
priest, as the fact of his being unknown to the bigoted Re-
corder of Dublin.

Mr. WARD alluded last night in the Commons to the
present careless mode of taking divisions, and pro-
posed some judicious resolutions on the subject, which were
agreed to without a division. He observed, " all were
aware of the inaccuracy of the present lists. One re-
markable instance occurred last night on a division, when
in the list, not less than fifty-seven names were omitted,
and his Hon. Friend, the Member for Exeter, was put
down as having voted on both sides. Another case oc-
curred last Session, which implicated a Gallant and Hon.
Friend of his, who no longer had a seat in the House.
When a division took place on the Impressment of Sea-
men, there were no less than eleven lists produced, in which
he was put down as having voted with the majority, though
he was not in the House at all." A system which engen-
ders absurd blunders like these surely deserves the
promptest remedy. We are surprised, therefore, to find
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, who must be as familiar with its
inconveniences as any man in the House, giving Mr.
AV/lan's measure such a cold, qualified, and we m ly even
add, reluctant support.

In the House of Commons last night,'a very important
debate arose on Mr. SHIEL'S motion for a Return of all
tithe processes issued out of the Irish Court of Exchequer
since the first of August 1834. The " Lay Association'
for the oppression of the unfortunate tithe defaulters, found
a strenuous advocate in Mr. Serjcant JACKSON. This
learned prop of the Irish Church militant could discover
nothing out of the usual legal course in a writ of rebel-
lion, when the subject of it happened to be a Papist, who
conscientiously, or from inability, declined to _support the
ministers of a creed hostile to his own. It would have
been much better for the legal reputation of the learned
Serjeant had he remained among his constituents at Bandon,
instead of attempting the office of a legal professor i❑ Parlia-
ment. Mr. O'CoNNELL might well express a wish to know
where the Learned Gentleman had left his law. We who know
less of Mr. JACKSON than does the Member for Dublin,
are only prevented by a respect for the coif from ex-
pressing it as our opinion, that any person who could have
uttered the speech attributed to the Hon. and Learned
Member for Bandon could never have had much law to
leave behind him. His temerity was, however, amply pu-
nished. The castigation inflicted upon him by Mr.
O'CONNELL and the Irish ATTORNEY-GENERAL will be
remembered by him as long as he lives. Nor did the
Chief Barons of the Irish Exchequer fare better in this
strife, between the just moderation of the Government, and
the bigotry of the Orange ascendancy faction. Both the
Chief Secretary for Ireland and the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER denounced the conduct of the Lay Asso-
ciation, and the Barons of the Irish Exchequer, in issuing
Commissions of rebellion against tithe defaulters. We
are glad to find the Members of the Government thus
prepared to speak out in the face of the country. We
are rejoiced to learn, that they have not been parties to
those acts of cruelty and oppression of which the Irish
peasantry have recently been the victims.

The question of agricultural distress was brought before
the House of Lords last night, by Lord WyNFono. The
Noble and Learned Lord, on this occaaion, omitted the
customary formality of an introductory speech—whether
because he had nothing to say, or because he thought the
motion would speak for itself, we cannot tell—and simply
moved for a Committee, in the same words in which the
motion was made in the House of Commons, viz.:—
" That a Select Committeebe appointed to inquire into the
state of agriculture, and into the causes and extent of the dis-
tress which pressed on some important branches thereof, and
that the Committee should report their opinion thereon."

The motion was, as a matter of course, not opposed by
Ministers. Lord MELBOURNE stated, that though the