The Sun.
London, England, 1822-11-12 00:00:00

112-1.2:4,

'l' Y 'l' E S.

We. resume with great pleasure our notice of
the pamphlet, written by the Reverend Mr.
CAMPBELL, Rector of: Wallasey, dheshire„ in an
answer to one, in which the Rights of Tithes
were attacked by all the fallacious arguments
that faction and irreligion could advance, but
which are effectually refuted by Mr. CAMPBELL,
with candour, judgment, and learning.
"As the pages of the Remarks' " (continues the Rev. Au-
thor in reply to the work on the consumption of wealth by the
Clergy)," are crowded with quotations from the writings and
speeches of renegade Spanish priests, Portuguese journalists,
Sicilian .economists, theoretical Emperors, and English Re-
publicans, I will beg permission to •enlist on my side a Whig
of no small celebrity, and claim the weight of his venerable
name and powerful arguments in behalf of a cause tbo likely
to suffer by the insignificance and weakness of my own. 0
church property, Mr. Burke, speaking as the representative of
die English nation, says, we maintain that some part of the
wealth of the country is as usefully employed in, contributing
to the modest splendour of religion and the dignity of its mi-
nisters, as in fomenting the luxury and swelling the pride of
laymen ; that we attach-our gentry to religion, and liberalize
churchmen, by enabling them to live upon an equality with the
leading characters of the country; that the teachers of religion
will have but little influence with aristocratic wealth, and much
less so with new-born greatness, if they appear in a manner no
way assorted to those with whom they must associate, and whom
occasionally they are bound to censure and reprove, in a coun-
try where even voluntary poverty has lost its credit, and where
constrained mediocrity would breed contempt. For these
reasons,' says he, we will not banish religion, like something
we are ashamed to shew, to obscure municipalities and rustic
villages; no, we will have her to exalt- her mitred front in
' Courts and Parliaments, we will have her mixed throughout'
the whole mass of life, and blended with all the classes of so.-
ciety. 'When the Commonwealth has once established the
estates of the church as property, it can consistently hear
nothing of the more or the less ; too much or too little
is treason against property. What evil can arise while
the Supreme authority has the full superintendence over .it to
4 prevent any species of abUse, and whenever it notably de- 1
viates to give it a :direction agreeable to .the purposes of its ,
institution ? In England most of us conceive that it is envy
• and-malignity towards those who. are often the beginners of
their own fortune, and- not a love of the self-denial and inorti-
tication of the ancient church, that makes some men look
askance at the distinctions, and honours, and, revenues,
which, taken from no person, are set 'apart for virtue
We shall believe these reformers to be then honest enthu-
siasts, not as we now think them cheats and deceivers, when
we see them throwing their own goods into common, and sub-
' mitting their own persons to the austere discipline of the early
church.'
" Thus says Burke, and Kneed not fear to place his name in
opposition to any one cited in the Remarks, or be ashamed of
those arguments in which he maintains the sacredness of private
property. The primitive property-of the Clergy was supported
by the primitive purity of the laity; and when the believers had
all things in corm-non, there was but little need of a settled main-
tenance for the pastors ; but whin poverty and zeal began to
go out of fashion, and God had withdrawn his miraculous in-
fluence from the church, leavingit thenceforth to the less assist-
ed co-operation of matr, it was soon found necessary to supply
the defect of voluntary oblations by legal provisions. The
English clergyman is, and may ever remain so, an English
gentleman ; once turn bins into a pensioner at -2501--or 3501.
a-year, and this is lost. It is the inequality which is complained
of, thiLlottery of the church, that induces so many to qualify
themselves for orders by so lohg, laborious, and expensive an
education. Do but level these•preferments,' says Bentley,'
and they will soon become as level in their learning ; for in. ,
stead of the flower of English youth, you will only have the
refuse sent to your academics, ani those too cramped and
crippled in their studies for the want of aim and emulation.—
' A few shining dignities in our -church, prebends, deaneries,
and bishopricks, are the pious fraud that indtices and-decoys
4 the parents to risk their child's •fortune in it.'* God forbid,
that I should recommend the meanness and wicltedness of
turning religion into a trade, or propose the ministry merely as
a means of getting a livelihood. The great object of it should
be the communication of religious- knowledge, and the hn-
provement of mankind. But constituted as the.world is, I
know that it must at the same time be considered as a means
of getting a maintenance in the honest and faithful discharge
of it ; and' that all idea of gratuitous service or inadequate pro-
vision is theoretical and absurd, even when sincere ; but is
much worse than absurd when, as is too, frqUently the case, -it'
proceeds from the cold-blooded intention of overturning religion
itself by the destruction of an established church ; and-from.
the hostility which some must always feel against those who
are paid to support the cause of religious truth, and who, to the
confusion of their adversaries, have hitherto proved themselves
worthy of their hire.
" The English church is, like her king and her nobility, in-
dependent, and God grant she may ever remain so, without
having to trust to the precariousboutty oflukewarm professors,
or the fluctuating value of a pecuniary tax. By means of the -
lay advowsons her Clergy are neither dependent on the mitre or
the crown ; by the inequality of her livings, they are suited to
all classes of society ; while the prospect of distant emoluments
induces many to devote their talents to a service which other.
wise they must decline. Were its income degraded to the pro-
posed level, its offices would then devotee upon men of meaner
abilities, rank and education, to whom these reduced dnolu-
ments would be an object ; and what in process of time
would be the state of religion in this wealthy and fastidious
country they. may easily enough divine, who witness the
supercilious indifference with which the poorer Clergy are re-
garded,. by those who are most disposed to grudge the
church her honours and her wealth • and however much
we might thereby be made to resemble the Clergy of Scotland,
Geneva, France, or Rome, I do not think we should, gain much
in manners, or the laity in morals, by the change. It is the
cant of the present day to complain of the secular habits of the
English Clergy, and to uphold the necessity of excluding them
from all civil employments ; their Bishops from Parliament,
and themselves from every office but the cure of souls. For a
good reason, no doubt, as the spoliation of their property would
be much more easily effected. But this is the only benefit that
could arise from it. Ido not mean .to assert, God forbid I
should, that the Clergy should be men of pleasure, or men of
the world a that they should be Bath 'loungers, or London
rakes. Abate the nuisance of pluralities, and keep them in
their parishes, and prevent them, when there, from becoming
'mere farni6rs or mere squires; but do not think you serve the
cause of morals or religion by excluding them from secular
affairs. •_ _

" It has always been considered as one of the greatest bless-
ings of this country to have a class of country Gentlemen of
moderate properties, rce;dent upon their estates, and the gene-
ral residence of such small proprietors has been looked upon as
one of the chief causes of our prosperity, and upon this prin-
ciple I say that, it would be subversive of the best interests of
the state to suppress (for, according to this plan, it would be a
suppression) a whole class of men who have at east a right to
be considered as country Gentlemen ; and who, as far as re-
sidence and general utility are concerned, are, even in a secular
view, as valuable a body often as any in the kingdom. The
Clergy,• generally speaking, (and I need not here advert to the
dishonourable exceptions) combine the useful qualities of the
private Gentleman and the parish Priest. --They fill ,all such
civil offices as their local knowledge peculiarly qualifies them
for, and at the same time they are able, and I hopegenerally
not unwilling, to follow the footsteps of their blessed Master in
the proper work of an Evangelist, to preaCh the Gospel, and
superintend the education of the poor—to alleviate the mental
agonies of struggling penitents—to smooth the bed of death,
and administer the consolations of religion to incurable and
otherwise hopeless infirmity. Their civil empl6yrrients, and
consequent intercourse with the world free them from sectarian
bigotry and vulgar enthusiasm, from the monkish and ascetic
habits of some Christian Ministers, while their religious duties
prevent theM from becoming mere men of the world. If the
are disposed to do good, their means of doing so are two-fold.
If they fail in this they ought to be made. to do, it ; and there

" P.lileleutherus Lipsier.sis.

PRICE SEVENPENCE:

is no want of laws, if duly executed, to compel the perform-
ance of it. More than this, for the sake of my present argu--
ment, Ido not ask you to grant me-1 do not ask you to
acknowledge that there are amongst them not unfrequent
instances, of men who do no less honour to humanity than
to the pure and perfect religion they profess ; who show them,
selves, by fervent faith and unostentatious zeal, to be the
genuine disciples of our Lord and Saviour; that their writings
have served, beyond that of any other set of men, to check the
mad career of blasphemy and atheism, and that in spite of
their secular habits, here has not been a more learned body in
the world.

"As to the non-residence of wealthy pluralists, and the
shamefullyinadequate salaries of stipendiary curates, a remedy
has been applied, certainly not before it was wanted, and pos-
sibly jot altogether commensurate with the evil it is intended
to correct. Thereaders of the Remarks should know, that by
the last Residence Act a gradation of salaries, the lowest of
which is 801., if the living shall be so much, and varying in
amount according to the value and population of the parish, is
peremptorily enjoined upon all future incumbents; and thus
the wealthy pluralists are forced to provide handsomely for
their curates, while the small livings are, in the case of non-
residence; not worth holding, so that such an abuse as is men-
tioned, in p. 17 of the Remarks, will not again be permitted to
exist.

" Judge then of the effects which this plan for transferring
the property of the Clergy to the Laity would produce. The
rriOney which now must generally, and ought always.' -to he
spent in the parishes, might be carried off to London, Bath,
Paris, Rome, or Naples. The blessing which is derived from
a resident Clergy deriving income froni land, and spending it
where it is drawn, would be lost; and that equal and immee
. diate diffusion which ensues, and which is so highly beneficial
to the productive classes, and consequently to the state, would
be gone for the sake -of swelling the pride, and fomenting the'
luxury of lay, fundholders, squires, and peers. What benefit
does Scotland derive from the poverty of her Clergy ? Her
' rents are high ; her landlords are worse off than ours ; her
labourers are driven to emigration ; and the income spent in
her is diminished by almost every shilling taken from the
Clergy.' The landed proprietors profit by the abolition of
tithe, and spend that profit perhaps in England, It is calcu-
lated by the author. of the. Letter to the present Lord Mary-
borough in 1810, that if the Scotch Clergy had better incomes,
and from tithe, more than 500,0001. would be annually spent in
Scotland, and in the places froin which it is drawn ; while the
fanner, from whose „land the income was derived, would be
benefited by having it spent in his neighbourhood, instead of
its being taken to London or Edinburgh. Of the Highlands,
Col. Daoid Stewart says—' Owing to the want of resident'pro-
' prietors, the inhabitants are left without a man of talent, or of
sufficient influence from rank or education, to settle the most
ordinary disputes, or capable of acting as a instice of the
peace, or of signing those certificates and affidavits- which
the law requires. In extensive districts, containing two,
three, and four thousand persons each, not more than one
or two, or perhaps none, of the ancient rank of gentle-
' men tacksmen remain: these few are the only individuals
capable of acting as justices of the peace; and pensioners
and others, who wish to make affidavits, must travel thirty
' or forty miles for that purpose.
" The want of magistrates, however, is a trifling grievance
in comparison of leaving a population so numerous and. virtuous
open to an inundation of political and religious tracts of igno-
rant and pretended teachers of the gospel, and of agents of the
' white slave trade. The itinerant preachers of the new light
disseminate hostility to the character and doctrines of the es-
' tablished clergy ; while the agents of the emigrant vessels are
' most active in contrasting the boasted happiness, ease, and
4 freedom, to be enjoyed in America, with what they call the
4, oppression of their landlords.'°
" It is far from being true, that the church and people of
Scotland are in that state of virtue and religious peace that the
enemies of. the Church of England describe. Schism has not
certainly reached that orgasm of vulgarity and fanaticism that
it has in this country ; but the peace of most parishes is dis-
turbed by intrusive gospellers, and the chapel rises in most
ominous opposition to the .kirk ; while in the Jighlands, by
Col. Stewart's account, the number of the clergy is shamefully
indequate to the wants of the people.
" 111 r. Brougham says, in his speech on the education of the
poor, that in Scotland there arc parishes fifteen miles in length,
and six in breadth. This, if the object is to get rid of clerical
interference, must be the ite plus ultra of excellence, as a cler-
gyman would be.puzzled to superintend the spiritual concerns of
such a district. The same g,entleman attributes the orderly ha-
bits of the Scotch peasantry to the parochial schools and the non-
existance of poor laws, observing, that if the English schools
were better regulated, he would not say that there would not
he-a pauperor a criminal in England, but he could say that
Scotland or Switzerland would not have fewer than England,
even in seaport towns.' Previous to 1803, the amount of
education in Scotland was nearly I.loth of the population—in
England, I-21st ; which is sufficient to account for a differ-
ence of character without laying it on the clergy. -
"." Suppose Ireland had, no tithes, the rents would immedi-
ately rise, and the annual absentee expenditure, which is
rated at 3,000,000/. would no doubt be increased by one-fifth
of the rent, and 600,0001. would thus be added to the sums al-
ready drawn annually from that hapless country by absentees.'
These are the blessings which would accrue to England in the
present madness for foreign residence, by the adoptidn of a plan
which has for its object an increase of the public weal ;
,and to
the millions which are already drawn from her bosom to be la-
vished upon foreigners, would be added, by this act of spolia-
tion, a portion of that property which, by the present laws,
must be spent at home. What the public revenue, or the pri-
vate happiness of the community, would gain by the transfer, I
am still unenlightened enough to be utterly unable to conceive."
* Sketches, &c. of the Highlands, vol. i. p. 136.

FROM SATURDAY'S GAZETTE.

DIVIDENDS.

Nov. 30,J. Wolff and J. Dorville, New Bridge-street, mer-
chants—Nov. 30, G. Daniel and W. Cross, Birniinghain, mer-
chants—Dec. 5, J. Garrison, Gainsborough, mercer—Dec. 6, J.
Crowther, Liverpool, merchant—Dec, 3, C. Topham, Stour-
port, Worcestershire, draper—Nov. 30, J. L. and G. Baker,
Leeds, merchants—Dec. 4, D. Bartlett, Bath, peruke-maker—
Nov 28, J. Durtnall, Dover, ironmonger—Dec. 9, 11. Leach
and J. Ambrose, Bristol, linen-merchants--Nov. 25, J. Gough,
Bath, painter—Dec. 3, 11. Fulstone, Cottenham, Cambridge-
shire, auctioneer—Mc. 3, R. Hoyle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
merchant-_Nov. 30, T. Amsinck, Turnham-green, Middlesex,
merchant—Dec. 5, T. Hewitt, Carlisle, draper—Nov. 30, J. J.
Corbyn, Pilgrim's Hatch, Essex, master-mariner—Dec. 2, R.
Turner, Liverpool, butcher—Nov. 30, H. Dowsland, jun. and
T. R. 'Davison, Old Broad-street, shipbrokers—Nov. 30, T.
Lynn, Jerusalem Coffeehouse, Cornhill, merchant—Nov. 30,
J. Baillie, Aylesbury-street, Clerkenwell, ironfounder—Ncv.
30, W. Thomson, Manchester-buildings, Westminster, mer-
chant—Dec. 9, A. Seward, New Sarum, clothier,
CERTIFICATES, Nov. 30.
J. Collins and R. Capell, Northampton, connnori carriers—
H. Tomkips, Bromyard, Herefordshire, innholder-i-F. Brothers
and J. Leith, King-street, Covent-garden, navy-agents—J.
Waterhouse and J. Green, Ropemaker-street, builders.—J.
Granger, Took's-court, Cursitor-street, press-maker —W.
Braithwaite, Leeds, manufacturer—G. Chapman, Old Bond-
street, fruiterer—H. Trigg and J. Ratcliff, Hertford, timber-
merchants—T. Davies, Whitechatiel High-street, baker—J.
Cuff, Regent-street, Westminster, jeweller.
PARTNERSHIPS. DISSOLVED.

P. Fenwick and J. and A. Reed, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
wine-merchants—A. and J. Reed and P. Fenwick, Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, woollen-drapers—R. Corke, and R. Burnett, Tun-
bridge Wells, linen-drapers—E. and W. Howard, St. Paul's
church-yard, furnishing ironmongers—G. and G. Dawson,
Bridlington, Yorkshire. surgeons—S. B. -Crapper and 11. B.
Holgate, Stockport, milliners—N. V. Lee, W. Dennis, and IV.
Huxtable, Ilfracombe, Devonshire, merchants—J. Richardson,
R. H. Turnley, and R. Crowther, High-street, Southwark—
D. Campbell and C. R. K. Dallas, King's Arms-yard, Cole-
man-street, merchants—W. Yorke and H. I. Hair, Bromley,
Kent, tallow-chandlers—J. Scott and W. Jackson, Carlisle,
joiners—S. R. Dawson, A. Boyle, and R. Bailie, Lombard-
street, general commission-merchants, so far as regards R.
Bailie—J. Parker and W. Jones, Kirby-street, Hatton-garden,
working jewellers—J. Davidson, T. and J. Flatman, and G.
Hough, Hampton Wick, maltsters.

AVERAGE PRICE OF CORN IN ENGLAND AND WALES.
Wheat, 38s. sd. ; Barley, 275. 3d. ; Oats, 19s. 11d, ; Rye,
20s. 6d. ; Beans, 265. Id„; Peas, 30s. Od.

The Average price of Brown or Muscovado Su computed
from the Returns mole in the Week ending the 6th day of
November, 1022, is 30s. 4d. per cwt.