The Sun.
London, England, 1831-06-02 00:00:00

," A' II

LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 2, 1831.

It is confidently reported in the City that an
express has arrived from Berlin, with an account
of the defeat of the Russian grand army ; that
the Poles have got into the rear of the Russians,
cut off the Imperial Guard, and intercepted their
provisions. Most devoutly do we hope that this
glorious news is true

By the Brussels Papers we find that the elec-
tion of Prince LEOPOLD to the Throne of Bel-
gium is not yet decided. There is little doubt,
however, that it will be shortly secured, as the
majority of votes are in his Royal Highness's
favour.

The speech lately made by Mr. RUSSELL,
the Member for the county of Durham, is re-
markable as the first public declaration by a gen-
tleman of large landed property, of the necessity
o f Parliamentary interference with the revenues
of the Church. Mr. RUSSELL stated, without
reserve, his opinion of the shameful inequality
of the distribution of the Church property, and
in proclaiming that opinion openly, Mr. Rus-
SELL is, in truth, a far better friend to Christi-
anity than his neighbours, the Dcan and Chap-
ter, whose enormous wealth is a perpetual scan-
dal to the system of religion, whose founder
declared " that his kingdom was not of this
world."

We have never been able to find any satis-
factory reason why tithes are not just as much
a matter proper for Parliamentary regulation as
any other species of property, the title to which
is derived through an Act of Parliament. The
Legislature having once taken them from their
then lawful owner, the Catholic Church, and ap-
propriated them to a purpose different from that
to which they were originally dedicated, it fol-
lows, that if need be, the same Legislature has
an undoubted right, if it please, a second time
to exercise its supreme authority. The Church
property is, at present, it is true, upheld by the
sanction of law ; but so is the property of the
West India planters—so was that of the brewers—
and so is that of many other interests which have
been, or are likely to be, forced to yield to the
superior considerations of public advantage.
The late ARTHUR YOUNG, in his " Six
Months' Tourithrough Great Britain," published
in 1771, says :—" The number of places in
which tithes are gathered is very great ; a
" discouragement to agriculture that is ircon-
" ceivable. Of all the oppressive taxes the wit
" of man could devise, none throws such a
" damp on the culture of the earth as those
" which increase in proportion to the produce,
" being literally taxes on improvement ; but at
" every place where I made enquiries, all ranks
" agreed, the clergy as well as others, that tithes
" were universally found a great discouragement
" to husbandry. Compositions are not the reme-
" dies they at first sight appear, for they are
" often proportioned to the good or bad hus-
" bandry of particular farmers, and always de-
If
" pend on the will of the rector.
The commutation of tithes for a fixed land
tax would be a measure of signal benefit to the
agricultural interest.
redeemable in the same way as the should be
old land tax
has been, for the mostpart, redeemed. Composi-
tions, however extended, will never do. The
tithe must be utterly abolished, and a new kind
of payment substituted for it, as a compensation
to those to whom tithe is at present payable.
The rate of that compensation must be a matter

for grave consideration, for whilst on the one
hand the general interest may appear to require
a sacrifice on the part of the tithe owner, yet the
antiquity of his title confers on him as valid a
iegal claim as the possessor of any other species
of property.

There is but one sound doctrine in regard to
legal rights and vested interests, viz. that they
must always give way to the public good. The
problem is how to overcome the impediments Li
Reform which existing institutions and rights
present, at as small a sacrifice as possible of in-
dividual interests. But to say that a rotten-
borough Church, like the Church of Ireland,
cannot be meddled with because of the vested
interest of its priests, is almost as absurd as to
say that the spiritual welfare of Ireland requires
its continuance. We tell those ignorant priests
both in England and Ireland, who from their
own perverse folly have lost those affections
which spiritual pastors may at all times so easily
secure, that a reformed Parliament will make
them smart for their conduct during the present
crisis. We know which way the wind blows in
regard to Mother Church, and when we see the
mass of the Clergy taking pains in the educa-
tion of the people—identifying themselves with
the people—and furthering their wants and
wishes—when we see them eschewing political
strife, avoiding connection with the borough-
mongers—and engaging themselves in the Chris-
tian duties of the instruction, the comfort, and
the relief of their poorer brethren—when in
short, they shall cease to regard tithes snd Chris-
tianity as synonymous terms—then, and not till
then, will we admit that the unpopularity of our
established priesthood is undeserved.

The Constitutionnel gives some interesting
particulars respecting the journey of Colonel
LANGERMAN, lately first aide-de-camp to
General LAMARQUE, and at present a volunteer
in the service of the Poles, from Paris to War-
saw. This brave soldier met with innumerable
difficulties in his progress, but surmounted them
all by the skill and activity of his guide, who
refused to accept the slightest remuneration, be-
cause the Colonel " had braved so many dangers
to come and fight with the Poles." The same
Journal gives an encouraging account of the
Polish army, and the straights to which the
Russian barbarians are reduced. An extract
from a private letter also, to which we refer our
readers, is filled with details respecting the
fiendish cruelty of DIEBITSCH and his banditti.
Surely France and England will interfere in be-
half of the high-minded Poles, and not suffer
them to be butchered by thousands by the most
detestable and atrocious set of scoundrels that
ever disgraced the name of man ! If these two
great Powers do not interfere, and that promptly
and effectually, they well deserve to be branded
to all posterity as traitors to the noblest cause in
which a nation was ever engaged.

The French Papers contain no intelligence
of moment, with the exception that the Ordi-
nance for the dissolution of the Chamber of
Deputies is postponed to the 3d (to-morrow.)

At a late hour we received the following
Papers. We have no time for comments :

WARSAW, MAY 23.—Our State Gazette contains
some particulars of the movements of our troops north of
the Narew. It was on the 18th that they entered Ostro-
lenka. The advanced posts there extended to Miastkows
but a division is said to have since gone farther and occu-
pied the town of Loinza, in the palatinate of Au-
gustowo. Narew on the Bug is also occupied by our
troops. These redorts say that cur troops took
at Ostrolenka some magazines, about 15,000 florins in
money, several vessels laden with provisions, 400 or 500
prisoners, 3,0110 tons of salt, and the very valuable baggage
of General Bvstrun, of the Russian Guard. It is said
that 3,000 Russians were taken prisoners at Loma, and
that our troops did not stop here but advanced to Stowicki.
Thus it seems clearly intedsd to give new confidence
to the insurgents in Augustowo, who received so severe a
check at the end Of April, near Mariampol. It is how-
ever affirmed that the army at the same time retains its
frontiers about Sierilec. The State Gazette observes that
no official accounts of all these events had reached War-
saw on account of the distance.

The Diet has resolved that the army shall be aug-
mented as soon as possible by a new regiment from each
province.

The Warsaw Gazette says that the whole Russian
army is now in motion in different directions. The Field
Marshal's head-quarters were, a few days ago, at Zukowa,
(not Lukowo,) near Siedlec. General Chrzanowski is still
near LiIIICAC, front which place the post has arrived in
Warsaw. We have no official accounts of the operations
of the army on the left wing, but it is certain
Ostronenka was taken on the 18th by Gen. Dembinski's
corps, in spite of the resistance of the corps of Sacken,
which occupied the place. There are reports that Gee.
Rudiger, who was to join the Field-Marshal with his
corps, is returning to Volhynia, which gives rise to various
conjectures.
BERLIN, Mai- 26.—The fears entertained that the
insurgents in Samagitia might fly into the Prussian
territory from the pursuit of the Russian corps
have proved unfounded, as they have returned southwards
to the interior of the province of Wilna and Augustowo.
Roscienna, Newatad, and Tauroggen, are already occu-
pied by the Russians. Count Tolstoy, Commander of
the reserve, arrived on the 10th May at Dunaburg, with
20,000 men, of which we detached 8,000, under Gen.
Stroganoff, to Riga. The Russian naval force, in the Baltic,
is reinforced since the navigation has began. In the night
of the 20th some Polish Cracovites appeared on our fron-
tier near Johannisburg, and seemed disposed to pass the -
frontier, though warned off by the soldiers of the quaran-
tine. A few musket-shot were fired off on both sides, but
no one was killed or wounded.