The Sun.
London, England, 1836-02-29 00:00:00

amount is laid upon the well-farmed land, and of a very
small amount upon the ill-farmed land. This does
not seem very like justice to begin with ; but how will
it operate afterwards ? By and by the land which has
been ill-farmed gets into better hands, and better
crops are raised from it than from the now well-farmed
piece of land—or say that the crops of both pieces of
land become exactly equal. But the rent charge in
lieu of tithe is not equal—it is very low upon the newly-
improved
piece compared with the other, because it is
calculated upon its former neglected condition. A
premium in
.futuro is thus given to present neglect, and
a fine in futuro is imposed upon present industry and
diligent application of capital I This cannot be
considered a just and sound principle of commutation.
See, also; how the tillage farmer will be hampered by
the composition, while the owners and occupiers of grass
lands will be too much favoured. The land which has

grown wheat, barley, and oats, for the last seven years,
will be burdened with a perpetual rent charge in pro-
portion to those valuable crops ; and though it may be
the advantage (in other respects) of the owner to turn
these lands into grass, he will still have to pay the
charge calculated upon a tillage crop. On the other
hand, lands which have been in grass for the last seven
years, will have a perpetual charge of a small amount
laid upon them, because the tithe collected from them
is small. But in a few years these lands may be broken
up, and very expensive tillage crops may be raised from
them, still the rent charge in lieu of tithe will be very
slight, because it will be upon the old grass land valua-
tion. To carry this further. Let us suppose grass
land now paying 2s. an acre to the Church, upon a
produce worth 2/. per acre, and tillage land paying 10s.
upon a produce worth 10/. A -perpetual rent charge
is fixed upon these lands accordingly. In a few years
the grass land becomes tillage, and the tillage land is
laid down in grass. How does the commutation work?
Why, in that case, the produce w or th 2/. will be paying
10s. a-year, and the produce wortilh 101. will be paying
2s. a-year. Surely this cannot lbe a sound principle
of commutation ! Such are a few of the practical
hints which we think it right to throw out at present
respecting the new Tithe Bill. The more the measure
is considered, the greater will be tiee number of similar
considerations that will start up. In the mean time,
we have shown some of the difficulties which practice]
men have found in it.—Morning Herald.
We expressed on Thursday se'nnight our belief
that the first effect of Lord Me lbotline s conduct in
forcing upon the University of axford a Regius Pro-
fessor of Divinity, who is known to entertain and to
have publicly proclaimed sentirn,ents repugnant to
some of the most important articles of the faith of
the Church of England, would be some vigorous,
and effectual step on the part of the University, to
protect its students from the danger to which such
an appointment evidently exposed them, of having
their religious opinions perverted or unsettled by
hearing the creed of the Cheirch, into whose mi-
nistry they arc preparing to enter, impugned and
disavowed from that chair to which they are di-
rected to resort for the purposes: of being strengthened
in the holy faith of the Church of England,
and instructed as to the means by which they
may best impart, to others a fa?l and assured con-
viction of its truth. The belief we confidently
expressed at the moment when we first receive
information of the disgraceful fact that Dr. Hamp-
den's appointment had beers confirmed in
position to the strong rem one trances of
all the most eminent men erho are engaged, at th,
University of Oxford, in the important business of in-
struction. It was a belief which necessarily sprung
out of our habitual sentiments of respect and esteem
for this great seat of learning and piety, or, to spealr
of it more correctly, it was idenical with the persue-
sion that the University of Oxicrd would not, in any
Circumstances, however difficult and painful, desert its
duty and betray the great interests committed to its
charge. The University, unfortunately, has not the
means to annul the appointm,mt made by the Minister
of the Crown. It did its entire duty, so far as that
appointment was concerned, \ vhen it laid before his Ma-
jesty's Government a statement of its opinion that the
religious sentiments which had been expressed by the
pert on 'upon whom it was supposed the appointment
was about to be conferred, wore of such a nature that, as
honest guardians of the purity of that Christian faith
which is embodied in the creeds and articles of the
Church of England, they could not conscientiously, re-
frain from remonstrating against it. The appointment
however, having been made in defiance of their will-
folvded and solid objections, the leading members of
the University of Oxford now feel that another and
still more painful duty devolves upon them. They are
reduced to the alternative of permitting in silence the
lecture room of the Regius Professor of Divinity to
be converted into a school of " false doctrine, heresy,
and schism," or of exerting their authority and influence
to divest it of the character of a school altogether, to
leave the Professor without a class, and to change an
office hitherto so useful and valuable into an idle amid
worthless sinecure. It cannot, we think, be doubted
that, in preferring the latter course, the University au-
thorities have chosen the lesser of two evils. It is tin.
questionably better that Dr. Hampden should, for the
remainder of his life, be an unattended Professor of
Di-
vinity, if he can persistin holding office, in circumstances
so humiliating, than that the • Church should be weak-
ened, agitated, discredited, and endangered by the in-
troduction into her pulpits, through the influence of
his teaching, of an indefinite number of sceptical or
heretical Ministers. The following resolutions, una-
nimously adopted by meetings of members of the Ox-
ford Convocation, very numerously attended, indicate
the course which the University is about to pursue.
It is not merely a just and prudent course, but it is
the only just and prudent course which could have
been adopted under the circumstances. Lord Mel-
ba
loldu r nme hostar in
indispensable
d is
pfaecnt, left
sable no choice.ecessity I
that
att
theirca s of t
u University
first
vre
rs
ity,
should do what it is about to do. To have done less
would have been to throw away its own character and
usefulness for ever, and to have brought the Church
of England and the cause of true religion in this coun-
try into a situation of the most imminent peril :
At a meeting of members of Convocation holden this
day, it was unnnimously resolved—
" That a respectful requisition be signed and presented to
the Rev. the Vice-Chancellor, praying that . he will be
pleased to convene a meeting of the Heads of Colleges and
Halls for the purpose of considering the propriety of sub-
mitting to Convocation an Address from the University of
Right
O x
from
That
ah
nta
det
Reverendtat l
their
eee si
rforthe
Lordships Most
holyßeverendßishooprds e
orwfsa uhottlechdeeuri:Archbishops
at
eapleaseddteoc hfdurat
Church,
ande,
n d o
following effect :
,
at the lectures of the Lady Margaret's Professor of
Di-
vinity in the same University of Oxford, in lieu of the cer-
tificate of attendance at the lectures of the Regius Professor
of Divinity in the same University, so long as the chair ti,ssor
o
the
Regius Professor of Divinity continues to be filled by one
University
can the soundness of whose doctrinal opinions the U •
versity
can place no confidence.'
" Oxford, Feb. 24, 1836."
" At a meeting of members of convocation, holden this
day, it was resolved unanimously.
o
" That a respectful requisition be signed and presented
acceptt
a t the
e
n ce
to the Rev. the Vice-Chancellor, that he would be pleased
to summon a meeting of Heads of Houses to take into con-
sideration the best means of giving Convocation an oppor-
tunity of disavowing and condemning the evil principles and
doctrines contained in the Bampton Lectures and other
Writings of Dr. Hampden.
" Oxford, Feb. 25, 1836."
That the convocation will be convened, that its de-
cision will ,be in conformity with the object of the
numerous and respectable requisitionists, and that the
Right Reverend Bench will, with very few exceptions,
co-operate with the Oxford Convocation in guarding
the Church from the danger with which it is threatened,
are anticipations, with respect to which it would be
unreasonable to entertain any doubt, although the whole
weight of Government influence, and every engine of
corruption at the disposal of Ministers, will be strenu-
ously and actively employed to avert the discomfiture
and disgrace which so evidently await them. How
unscrupulous the present-Ministers of the Crown are
as to the means by which their objects are attained—
so that they be but attained—is evident from the
following anecdote relating to the subject in hand,
which we find in the columns of our vigilant, able, and
well-informed contemporary, John Bull
The Archbishop of Canterbury having been requested
to submit
in
thethis appeal and petition (the address which ap-
peared Morning Post of Thursday last), to hii Ma-
jesty, his Grace, who uniformly acts with hononr and can-