The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-27 00:00:00

IMPRISONMENT OF THE REV.

JAMES SHORE.
The persecution of the Rev. James Shore has excited
a feeling which will not be readily allayed. Large
meetings have been held in London during the past
week—one in the Tower Hamlets, at which Sir Wrn.
Clay, Bare, presided; and another at Exeter Hall, Mr.
Lushington, the Member for Westminster, presiding,
and who on being called away on parliamentary busi-
ness, was succeeded in the chair by the Right Hon. the
Earl of Ducie. At the former meeting, 1)r. Reed, who
had made a flying visit to his imprisoned brother, nar-
rated the' circumstances of the case; and in the latter,
the Rev. Mr. Blaney gave a most lucid and interesting
narrative of the whole case, placing the facts before the
London public in such a way as to render them patent to
the dullest hearer. The Hon. Baptist Noel and the
Rev. Dr. Beaumont, a distinguished Wesleyan minister,
also took part in the proceedings at Exeter Hall, and
such an array of influential parties assembled at the
meeting as has never been surpassed, even in this focus
whence have originated so many important religious,
we might almost say national, movements. Meetings
have also been held in various' parts of the country, and
the agitation has only just begun. Several deputations
have visited Mr. Shore, Dr. Reed last Friday, the Rev.
and venerated Dr. Raffles, of Liverpool, on Tuesday.
A deputation is also to come from Exeter Hall, as the
bearer of an address of condolence written on vellum,
and beautifully framed, as a memento of this remarkable
event, yhiCh is both disgraceful to the Church and the
civilisation of the country. The important Plymouth
meeting, briefly' noticed elsewhere, have also voted a de-
putation, and deputations have likewise been sent from
evitrious religious bodies. Mr. Shore has also had the
most gratifying offers of more substantial sympathy.
On Sunday he received a munificent offer from a gentle.
man to 'pay the whole of the Bishop's demand. On Wed-
nesday another benevolent individual remitted a draft for
the amount of the Episcopal "attachment" under which
Mr. Shore is imprisoned, and on mentioning it to the
governor of the gaol, that worthy gentleman informed
him of the tender forethought exercised in his behalf—
that notwithstanding that specious and very candid
letter of Mr. Ralph Barnes last week, which was in-
tended to convey the impression, that he would be let
out on payment of the attachment of the Privy Council,
another detainer was now lodged against him in the
event of the first being paid. So much for Mr. Secre-
tary Barnes's candour; we had a very high opinion of
this gentleman for a considerable period, notwithstanding
that many shrewd people would shake their heads and
declare their belief that the prelatical agent was fit for
the episcopal work.
It will he seen by public announcement that a meet-
ing will be convened in this city for Wednesday next,
when the celebrated Sir Culling Eardley will take the
chair. We have no doubt, from the state of feeling in
the town, that a full and enthusiastic meeting will
convey to the empire at large the public feeling of Exe-
ter on this great outrage, committed by the laws, at the
instance of a Bishop of the Established Church, upon
one of the humbler clergy. Enough has been said, per-
haps, upon the personal part of the matter, and the ex-
tent to which the Bishop has compromised himself
therein. It is known that the Bishop took a dislike to
Mr. Shore, that he forbade him to preach at Chudleigh,
apprised the new vicar of his dislike of him in Bridge-
town—that' the vicar, adopting a course which was
pleasing to the episcopal mind, refused to give Mr. Shore
his nomination, and that the Bishop, not ignorant of
this refusal, pressed Mr. Shore for the nomination, ace
tunny writing that ho had " been waiting in vain expec-
tation of receiving it." That, however, is not now the
question—whether a revengeful spirit was seeking satis-
faction by the most discreditable means, or whether the
alleged impediment was the true cause of shutting Mr.
Shore out of Bridgetown Chapel, we need not now dis-
cuss—public opinion has pretty well determined that
point. But assuming that the Bishop hath " done nought
in hate, but all in bcnour"—in either case, honest, in-
dependent' Churchmen will come forward to free the
Church from this most signal opprobrium with which
she is loaded. Those who believe that the Bishop
has acted in conformity with the law, • that ho was
bound 'to enforce the 'law, and that it has given him
great pain to shut a brother clergyman in prison, will
attend this meeting with alacrity, in order to establish
the Bifhop's good faith, and to correct the law's evil
structure. We hope that Mr. Ralph Barnes will appear
at this meeting -on Wednesday, and that he will enter
upon a 'plain and honest defence of his master, and give
same account of. the feelings of the Right Rev. Prelate,
so that in this Cathedral city the people may know whe-
ther it would be right to entrust him with a petition to
th? House of Lords, to correct this great evil. They
might also moi e a vote of sympathy and condolence,
under circumstances which they may charitably
assume must have been very painful to his feelings.
In either case" the 'Bishop is an object of more
sincere pity than the reverend object of Episcopal
attachment. Mr. Shore is sustained by the high
impulses of an honest nature, and cheered with
the approbation of every honest and right-minded
man, of all creeds and classes. He is not
only soothed by the kindest expressions of heartfelt sym-
pathy, but he is sustained by the most substantial tokens
of generous esteem. The Bishop, on the other hand, is
in an infinitely more degraded and inferior position. If
he have sought an opportunity to enforce this barbarous
law for revengeful purposes, how miserable must he
feel, what bitter disappointment must harass him in
in his hours of solitude and constrained reflection, when
he witnesses the earnest indignation of a generous people'
on the one side, and the lofty courage of the victim on
the other, whose prison is a palace, illumined by the
sunshine of a rising triumph, and where the halo of sus-
tained patriotism adorns the bare walls, and gilds the
meanest article of the furniture of his narrow abode.
It is the old story of the pound of flesh, without the drop
of blood; the knife is keen and the scales adjusted, but
there is not one drop of blood within the due and forfeit
of the bond.
We pity the Bishop,— Western Times.