The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-08 00:00:00

ment ; but there is a certain indolence, so to speak, of
the understanding, that even after the assent of that
faculty has been given to a proposition, requires to be
roused and quickened by the active operations of the
will. Many Dissenters, and not a few Churchmen,
before the imprisonment of Mr. CHILDS, complained
of the grievance of Church-rates, and many without,
perhaps, complaining or entering much into the ques-
tion of religious liberty, involved in the compulsory
support of a system of religion , by those who do not
hold that system, disapproved of this mode of sup-
porting a Church overflowing with wealth ; but when
a man of acknowledged worth, of exemplary con-
duct in all the relations of life, is seized by force,
dragged from the bosom of his family, and immured
in a dungeon with felons for his companions, because
he will not violate his conscience, people ask them-
selves, " how can such things be ?" Those are com-
pelled to think who never thought before, the feelings
of humanity are enlisted in the cause of truth, the
irresolute become determined, the formerly passive spec-
tator is converted into an energetic agitator, and all
agree that the " accursed thing" shall be removed from

the land.
It is truly gratifying to the Mends of Christianity
to see the rapid progress which this spirit has made of
late. In all parts of the country the people have
roused themselves to oppose the levying of Church-
rates ; and, in every instance, except where the popular
voice was borne down by that infamous system of voting
which gives a multiplicity of votes to one individual,
they have been successful. Church-rate agitation is
in full activity throughout the land. The delegates from
all quarters are appointed by the Anti-church-rate Com-
mittee to meet in London on the day after the meeting
of Parliament, in order to take such measures as may
be necessary to proinote the success of the measure
about to be introduced into the House of Commons ;
and we may, without being very sanguine, trust that
the next Session will see the total extinction of this

most unrighteous impost.
In the meantime it is not a little edifying to observe
the motions of the worthies of Bungay. They have
got a hint from their superiors to be more cautious,
and less violent in their proceedings. Instead of re-
sorting to the fetter and the dungeon, they have had
recourse to underhand artifices and tricks in which
they seem to be equally expert. Finding that the
Messrs. CHILDS are inflexible in their determination
not to pay Church-rate, they have got-one of their own
kidney to send anonymously a parcel to the Church
Wardens of Bungay, containing the exact amount
of the various sums placed against the names of
those gentlemen in the rate-book ! They are now
going about among the other objectors, and entrapping
them into payment, by stating that Mr CHILDS has
submitted, and paid the rates due by him. Such are
the unworthy means practised by these godly supporters
of a State Church. It is needless to say, that
the Messrs. CHILDS have protested against and ex-
posed these proceedings. These gentlemen have cir-
culatea a statement of this pious transaction among
the inhabitants of Bungay and its vicinity, but we
think it deserves to be more generally known, and have
• therefore published it in another column.

The whole of the Paris Papers of Tuesday have
been received. Bilboa continued to hold out on the
Ist instant, against the utmost exertions of the Carlists
to make themselves masters of it. EGUI A had no
longer a hope of being able to take the city by assault;
and the proximity of so strong a force under ESPAR-
TER°, rendered it impoSsible for him to think of

changing the siege into a blockade. As fast as the
Carlists succeeded in battering down one wall, they

"ound that the Christinos had raised another imme•

diately behind it. Nor have the garrison acted wholly
on the defensive. Their sallies have been frequent

and well:conducted. They re-took the Bruzegua point,
from which they had been at first driven by the Car-

lists ; and they irave so defended the part of the town
exposed to the fire from the Convent of San Augus-
tin, as to render the occupation of that fort of
trifling importance to the besiegers. The French
Journals state that General HARISPE sent from
Bayonne the bridge, by means of which ESPARTERO
effected the passage of the river of Bilboa. We know
not whether this statement be correct or not ; but, if
so, it appears to us rather extraordinary. The French
Government must have resolved upon a change of its
recently adopted system of non-intervention, thus to
co-operate with the Chtistinos in the preservation of
the capital of the Basques.
In the journals before us we find an allusion made
to an offer of Marshal MOLITOR to put down the in-
surrection in Spain with 25,000 French troops—to
which La Presse assures us the Government will not

concede. The KING has, however, thought proper
to reward the valour of the Marshal by giving him the
command of three military divisions on the French
frontier, by means of which he will be enabled to ob-
serve more minutely the aspect of affairs in Spain.
Should the French Chamber of Deputies press the
necessity of active co-operation on the part of France,
Ministers have determined to ground their defence
upon the plea of a rigid economy, and an unwilling-
ness on the part of the KING to increase the pecu-
niary burthens of his people. The Chamber must be
composed of fools indeed, if such a mockery be for an
instant attended to. The expenses of the late
tom-foolery affair, called a camp, at Compiegne,
got up, the Devil only knows for what pur-
pose, except to mock the people of France, would
have nearly defrayed the cost of a Spanish expedition,
which if undertaken in 1834, would have cleared the
country of every trace of rebellion, and permanently
established the internal repose of the Peninsula.
There was no thought of economy on the KING'S
part, when the expensive gew-gaw of a temporary
Criminal Hall was erected, in which the Peers were to
figure as the public and notorious violaters of the
Charter of 1830. Neither did the KING'S love of
economy, nor his paternal commiseration for the suf-
ferings of his people trouble him' much, when barri-
calks were to be erected round Paris—when the second
city in the world was to be converted into one vast
Bastile, of which he desired to become the abso-
lute Governor. The KING'S love of economy—
his fear of imposing burdens upon his people too
grievous to be borne—prevents him from sending
25,000 men into Spain, to give freedom and personal
security to twelve millions of Spaniards ; but it does not
prevent him from keeping an army of 100,000 men in
Paris, for no other purpose but that of coercing and
intimidating a people too high-minded to ;acquiesce
willingly in the destruction of their liberties. The
KING's adoption of a non-intervention system from
economical considerations is all humbug. Louis
PHILIPPE
cares not a rush for any motive of the kind.
Blindly and fatally infatuated with his past successes
—over-calculating the extent of his own abilities
as an intriguer—and trusting that the character
0)f the leading men of all parties will be so coin-
-lon
it their interest to unite
r tis ed as ingt
make
with him in all cases of emergency, the King of
the Ftt E Ncii indulges the delusive hope that were
absolutism established in g
—pain, in the person of
Don CARLos) it would be
Possible for him to roll
back the popular tide of Liberal principles in France.
This idea is ever uppermost in his thoughts. He
fancies that, by caution ; by watching for and seizing
upon all opportunities that may offer of curtailing the
liberties of the people; by plots judiciously contrived,
and treasons fortuitously discovered ; by false alarms
of every kind ; by displays of a spurious philanthropy,
and declarations of a regal and political disinterested-