The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-14 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14. 1849.

The division and debate last evening in the House
of Commons on the subject of church-rates were dis-
creditable alike to the House and the Ministry. The
debate was commenced by Mr. TRELAWNT, who
moved " that it is the opinion of the House that
effectual measures should be immediately taken for
the abolition of church-rates," upon which Mr. %V. P.
WOOD moved as an amendment—
" That the words for the abolition of church-rates,'
at the end of the resolution, be omitted, and that there
be inserted in lieu thereof the words for discharging all
persons dissenting from the Church, as by law estab
lished, from contributing church-rates, and from taking
any part in levying, assessing, or administering the
same.' "

which was supported by Mr. Hyrax on the
express ground that it had given " general satisfaction

both to the Established Church and Dissenters;" yet this
amendment, which appears to have been, what com-
promises so seldom are, a compromise founded on
justice—this proposition which had given general sa-
tisfaction both to the members of the Established
Church and to the Dissenters, was rejected by the
House of Commons by a majority of 163, the num•
hers being—
For the amendment... ...
Against it ...
Majority ...

... 20
-. 183
...----163

The House then divided on the original motion, when
:here appeared—
For the motion ... ..
Against it
Majority...

". 84
". 119
..----35

It is to be hoped that the Dissenters will not again
offer or accept any compromise on this subject. The
supporters of church-rates are now in a situation
similar to that occupied by the Protectionists in 1841,
and they must be met in a similar manner. They
have rejected a compromise which was declared to be
satisfactory by the great majority of the Established
Church themselves, and such rejection should be
treated as final. The Dissenters must now go for the
total and immediate abolition of church-rates, and
should accept of nothing less. But if the decision
arrived at last evening was discreditable to the
House, still more discreditable to the Ministry
were the sayings and doings of various of the
members of the Cabinet; and the most dis-
creditable speech of all was the speech of the Prime
Minister himself—a speech which, as Mr. GEORGE
THOMPSON justly observed, "would throw a chill over
the hearts of those who were seeking relief from a
grievous burden, greater than anything which could
have fallen from any other gentleman on the Treasury
bench," while Mr. HENLEY lauded it to the skies as being
even more in opposition to the principles of religious
liberty than that of Mr. GLADSTONE himself. All
the old fallacies with regard to church-rates were
reproduced in this trimming, shuffling speech, which
will certainly tend more to damage the Whigs than
anything that has occurred since their return to
office. The speech has, however, some value ; it dis-
closes the ulterior purposes of the motion of Lord
ASHLEY for the subdivision of parishes, to carry
which into effect Lord ASHLEY ostentatiously de-
clared he should ask no money, thus leaving the
country to imagine that the proposed subdivision
would entail no burden either on the Consolidated
Fund or on the rate-payers The real object of this

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