The Sun.
London, England, 1838-05-05 00:00:00

give their suffrages for the maintenance of a national Church establish-
ment as well as that Divine authority which has prescribed the lessons
of our education flamn Heaven, as on the ground of that human judg-
ment which tells of the best education for the virtue of good citizenship
in Europe. We know it has been made the object of satire and ridicule
that Parliament should entertain a theological question. I can see no
extravagance in the notion of its being competent for the Legis-
lature to give their suffrages for the maintenance of the clergy.
There might have been some truth in the statement had the proposition
been to devolve on civil rulers, or to devolve on Parliament, the office of
settling and of filling up the national creed even to its minutest articles,
or of framing the whole polity of a Church, from the higheA to the
lowest of its offices, from the most• solemn of its rituals to the most in-
significant of its forms. The settlement of these is the business of
ecclesiastics; but the great question between Protestantism and Popery
does not hinge on these—a question to which the public mind in many
countries of Europe, and particularly in our own, is always awake, and to
which the representative mind in the body of legislators was alike sensible.
libis is not a question to be resolved in an assembly of priests and
ecclesiastics, but may be entertained and decided upon also in any
assembly of well-educated Englishmen—(Cheers);—and we cannot
imagine a more testing evidence of the incompetence of a Parliament
than that it should not be qualified to decide a question between the
merits of Protestantism and Popery—(Loud cheers),—or which of the
two systems, not in respect of policy, but in respect of the absolute truth
and sacred obligation, is most worthy of being upholden as the national
faith of these realms.—(Cheers.) This is not an abstruse, nor is it a
manifold controversy, but one on which there do shine the brightest
lights of moral and spiritual evidence—whether the Scriptures, as being
of Divine authority, are the only rule of faith and practice in religion ;
or whether the decisions of Councils, or Governments, can be admitted to
an equal or superior lordship over the consciences of men ?—(Cheers.)
This, of all countries in the world, is not the land where it should
be difficult to find hundreds, or even thousands, of the
upper and middle classes in society, with information enough and scho-
larship enough, to decide intelligently upon this qu6stion—(Cheers)—
a land the richest in Christendom in the literature—(accessible to
WO—the literature of the Christian evidences—the land of the Stilling-
fleets, the Clarkes, the Butlers, the Lardners, the Paleys, or, if any re-
coil from these ecclesiastical names, the land of those deep reasoners in
philosophy :—Bacon, and Newton, and Milton, and Locke, and Boyle,
and Sir Gilbert West, and Lord Littleton—all of whom have done pro-
foundest homage to Christianity—(Cheers)—men who have told with
irresistible weight upon the argument that the voice in Scripture is
the only voice which speaketh truth.—(Cheers.) In this nation, of all
others, there are none with the ordinary schooling of gentlemen, who
could not thoroughly inform themselves by the reading of a few weeks
on this great question, so as to decide between the authority of the Bible
and the authority of Rome's " Apostolical" Church—(Loud cheer-
Ing)—between the miracles of the Gospel performed in the face
of the then civilized world, and the mummeries of Papal superstition
transmitted to us from the cells and convents which overspread Europe
through tile dark and dreary millenium of the middle ages.—(Continued
cheers.) We owe to the Protestant Church, and its Universities to-
gether, that this knowledge is so rife in this land—familiar as household
words in so many accomplished circles and ancestral halls, and that not
because of any professional interest in theology as a science, but in
virtue alone of a full and finished education.—(Hear, hear.) It is thus
that we have abundant material for a Parliament that could decide the
question on its high and proper merits. We only need a Parliament of
England's best principled and best educated men.—(Loud cheers.) But
should we not be so fortunate—(Laughter)—should the disgrace ever
befall us of vulgar, arithmetical politicians becoming lords of the as-
cendant—(Hear, hear)—should an infidel, or demi•infidel Governmen I
wield for a season the destinies of this mighty empire, which would be
willing, at the shrine of its own wretched partizanship, to make a sacri-
fice of those great and hallowed institutions which are consecrated to
the maintenance of religious truth, and religious liberty—(Loud cheers)
should, in particular, the monstrous proposition ever be entertained, to
endow Popery—not to abolish, perhaps, but to abridge the legal funds
for the support of Protestantism,—at all events, to uphold an anti-scrip-
tural,—with this aggravation, that it is at the expense, and with the
diminution of a scriptural faith—let us hope, that there is still enough—
not of fiery zeal, but of calm, resolute, and withal, intelligent principle
in the land, to resent the outrage—(Cheers)—and enough of energy, to
meet and to overwhelm it.—(Loud cheers.) Speaking of the compe.
tency of men, not ecclesiastics, to decide the question, which hinges
altogether on the authority and the evidence of the Bible,
there is a striking difference, we apprehend, between the lay mind of
France and England in this respect. You see a most remarkable dis-
play of this when Voltaire—(we shall take two most learned savans in
both countries, thinking that they well represent the aggregate state
of the lay mind in the two countries, as to the literature of what may
be termed the Deistical controversy)—when Voltaire, in the examples
he has quoted of the aberrations of the human understanding, along
with the case of Roger Bacon, having written a book on witchcraft,
brought forward also that of Sir Isaac Newton, who, in his later years,
wrote a commentary on the book of Revelations. Now as to one great
philosopher who transferred his mighty intellect from the study of the
works of God to the study of his Wm d, this may have taken
place at the decline of his life—but not, most certainly,
at the decline of his understanding.—(Hear, and cheers.) He
found a conviction between his old and his new contemporaries, and
having seen further than all who went before him into the Godlike har-
monies of the world, he was tempted to search for, and at length did
find, the traces of a wisdom no less marvellous in the Godlike harmo-
nies of the word,—and after having looked with steadfastness for years
upon the majestic face of heaven, and calculated the lofty and magnifi.
cent cycles of astronomy, he then turned him to the Scriptures, and
found in the midst of an untravelled expanse the cycles of a system
equally magnificent—whether he cast his regards over the Book of Re-
velation, or the Book of Daniel—who, placed on the eminence of a sub-
lime antiquity, looked through the vista of descending ages, and
eyed from afar the structure of society in modern Europe,
and he whose capacious mind had so long been conversant with
the orders of astronomical economy could not but acknowledge the
indications of the same presiding divinity, in the still higher ordinances
of that spiritual economy which is unfolded in the Bible.—(Cheers.)
And although we cannot but lament the deadliness of the injuries which
have been done. by greatly philosophical infidels to the inferior spirits
of our world, we feel it almost a proud thing for Christianity that all the
giants, and the men of might in other days,—the Newtons, the Boyles,
the Uockes, the Bacons, have worshipped so profoundly at her shrine.—
(Loud cheers.) But chief of all is our great Sir Isaac, who, throned
though he be by universal consent as the very prince of philoso-
pliers—(Hear, hear, hear)—is still the most attractive specimen
of humanity which the world ever saw; and just because the meekness
of his Christian worth so softens while it irradiates the majesty of his
genius ; and never was there realized in the character of man so rare,
so beautiful a harmony—that he who stands forth to a wondering species
as the loftiest of philosophers, moved so gently and gracefully among
his fellow-men, not more honoured for the glory he shed on the proud
add of discovery, than loved by all for the milder glories of his nature

HER MAJESTY'S DRAWING-ROOM.

The Queen held a Drawing Room on Thursday afternoon at St. James's
Palace. Her Majesty came in state from the new Palace, attended by
her suite.

The Duchess of Kent came in state to the Drawing Room, escorted
by a party of Life Guards. Her Royal Highness was attended by Lady
Flora Hastings, General Sir George Anson, Major-General Hill, and
Captain the Hon. Frederick Spencer.
Her Royal Highness entered the Palace by the Colour Court. Her
Royal Highness's dress, on this occasion, was composed entirely of
British manufacture.

Their Royal Highnesses the Princess Augusta (attended by Lady
Mary Pelham), the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of,Sussex, the
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince George of Cambridge
were present at the Drawing Room, and entered the Palace by the pri-
vate entrance.

A Guard of Honour of the 2d Life Guards, with the band in state
uniforms, were on duty in the large court.yard of the Palace, and the
Queen's Guard, with their band, were stationed in the Colour Court.
The two bands played alternately during the afternoon.

Her Majesty's Hon. Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms were on duty in
the Portrait Gallery, the Presence Chamber, and the state rooms. The
corps were commanded by their standard-bearer, Mr. Reeve.
Her Majesty stood in the centre of the Throne Room, a few paces i❑
advance of the Throne. In attendance on the Queen were the Mar-
chioness of Lansdowne (First Lady), the Marchioness of Tavislock, Lady
Portman, and the Countess of Charlemont, Ladies in Waiting; Hon.
Misses Cocks, Murray, Cavendish, Spring Rice, Paget, and Dillon,
Maids of Honour; Hon. Mrs. George Campbell; Lady Gardiner, and
the Hon. Mrs. Brand, Bedchamber Women; the Duke of Argyll, Lord
Steward ; the Marquis Conyngbana, Lord Chamberlain; the Earl of
Albemarle, Master of the Horse; Viscount Torrington, Lord In Wait-
ing : the Earl of Surrey, Treasurer of the Household ; Hon. Colonel
Cavendish, Clerk Marshal; Sir Frederick Stovin, Groom in Waiting;
Lord Alfred Paget, Equerry in Waiting; Lord Kilmarnock and Mr.
Cowell, Pages of Honour.

_ .
In the circle the following (foreign) presentations to the Queen took
place :

Countess de Maltzan, by Madame Dedel ; Countess de Montrelas,
by Baroness de Cetto ; Count Raczynski, late his Prussian Mjesty's
Minister at the Court of Copenhagen, by Baron Bulow.
'The presentations to her Majesty at the Drawing room were very nu-
merous.

The Drawing-room was attended by the Austrian and. Russian Am-
bassadors ; the Neapolitan, Prussian, and Wurtemberg -Ministers ; the
Bavarian Minister and Baroness Cetto ; Madame Dedel, the Lady of
the Netherlands Minister; the United States, Spanish, Sardinian, Hano-
verian, and Saxon Ministers; Baron de Bourqueney, French Charge
d'Affdres ; Baron Rehausen, Swedish Charge d'Affaires; Chevalier
Itebello de Carvalho, Portugtv: e Charge d'Affaires; Banni Bentinck,
Netherlands Charge d'Affaires ; Count de Forben Janson, Attache to
the French Embassy; Baron Werther, Secretary to the Prussian Lega_
tion ; Mr. Richard Vaux, Private Secretary, and Mr. Henry B. Living-
ston, Attache to the United States Legation ; Baron Bertouch, Attache
to the Danish Legation ; G. Capece Galeota dei Duchi di Regina, Secre_
tary of the Sicilian Legation ; the Chevalier J. de Sandoval, and F. lam.
pillo, Attache to the Spanish Legation ; Mr. Colquhoun, Agent and Con-
sul General for the Hanse Towns ; Le Prince Don Livio Odewalchi,
Duke de Syrniie, Baron de Zandt, Chamberlain of his Majesty ',he King
of Bavaria ; Count de Montgelas, Chamberlain to the King o'.' Bavaria ;
Count Maltzan, Chamberlain to his Prussian Majesty ; Bamn de Lagos,
Count and Countess Zicky Ferraris, Le Comte de Somrnery, Major of
Cavalry in the Austrian service and Chamberlain of his Imperial Ma.
jesty ; Lieutenant Charles Langton. .Massingberd, (Austrian service) ;
the Bishop of London, the Captain of the Hon. Corpse of Gentlemen at
Arms, Viscount Combermere, Gold Stick in waiting; the Master of the
Ceremonies, Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, Bart., Serjeant-Surgeon ; Sir
William Burnett, K.C.11., Physician-General of the Navy ; Sir Edwin
Pearson, Lieutenant of the Yeomen of the Guard ; Colonels Sir Robert
Gardiner and Sir James Reynett, Aides.de-Camp to the Queen; Rev.
Dr. Dakins, Principal Chaplain to her Majesty's Forces ; the Dean
of Hereford, Deputy Clerk of the Closet in waiting; Capt. Houl-
touts, Ensign of the Yeoman Guard ; Major Hyde, A',sistant Master and
Marshal of the Ceremonies ; Sir Thomas Horsl,4 Curties, Exon in
Waiting of the Yeomen Guard ; Mr. James Bue,ce Curling, Clerk of the
Cheque of the Gentlemen-at-Arms, Capt. Belf,drs, Exon of the Yeomen
Guard ; Count Baptiste Metaxa, Lieut.-Col. :douverie, Silver Stick ; the
Groom of the Robes, Capt. Courtenay Boy'.e, R.N., Groom of the Privy
Chamber in Waiting ; Mr. Strachan, Geittleman Usher (in Waiting) to
the queen, &c. &c.

—his, the modest, unpretending excellence of a child-like temper—
his, the pious simplicity of a cottage patriarch.—(Loud and long con-
tinued cheering.) Now, if all this knowledge is propagated among the
people of England, well might we say there is material enough for a
Parliament that could entertain a question between Protestantism and
Popery on the theological merits of the question. Let us imagine, for a
moment the concession made—though we think it neither probable nor
just—that it is too much for a Parliament to decide between Protes-
tantism and Popery on any argument with respect to the truth—we
recur to another argument, which it is surely competent for the most
secular assembly to entertain; and that is, the argument grounded on
that experience which tells es, with evidence too plain to be resisted,
under which of the two systems it is that we can best provide for the
moral and economical well-being of a population.—(Hear, hear.) We
will not speak of the impolicy of France in her expulsion of the Hu-
guenots, who carried into other countries the arts and the habits by
which thcy might have enriched their own. I will not speak of the con-
trast which strikes at a glance the traveller, between the Catholic and
Protestant Cantons of Switzerland—l will not speak of the morality
and industry of the population of the United Provinces, giving
them an immeasurable superiority in every thing that makes to
the well being of a nation, over the people of Spain—(Hear, hear)—
that land of darkest superstition and despotism—the land of their
former oppressors, against whom they nobly rebelled, and did so nobly
triumph—the lesson may be learnt nearer home—literally, " he who
runs may read" it in Ireland—(Hear, hear) —even with one cursory
glance, in the course of a few days' rapid travelling. It is as the light
of day; that same geography, which makes the distinction between the
two faiths, also marks the distinction between, on the one hand, a po-
pulation of thriving families, and on the other hand, a land teeming
with all political and moral disorders—a land of midnight tumults,
whose " violence is abroad in the streets and highways"—and at home
in the wretched hovels of squalid destitution, which marks the " finest
peasantry on the earth."—(Hear, hear.) Give us the names of the
Papal and Protestant countries, and we will draw a line upon the
map xhich marks the districts where reign dominant a fierce and re.
lentless agitation, and the homes of peaceful and industrious and
orderly families decent and reputable even at the lowest
grades of poverty.—(Cheers.) The truth is open to us all—
the contrast between the province of Ulster and all the other
districts of Ireland—in the difference of military force required
in its two departments—in the vagrancy that meets us everywhere in
one territory, and is comparatively rare in the other; these facts speak I
for themselves to Statesmen afraid of the theological question; and we
ask them to take up and meet the question on the ground of polity, and
to tell us, in the name of all that is dear to patriotism, whether it were
better to have a nation of Papists or a nation of Protestants in that
island ?—(Cheers.) We arc fully aware of the hopelessness of such an
appeal to politicians, who would barter away a bargain for the faith of
whole countries just as they would barter away a bargain for the protec-
tion and encouragement of their commerce. There is a " volume of
power" to be adjusted at home as well as in the broad theatre of Euro-
pean p and what takes place In the war of States may also Like
place in the war of parties, when the temptation to make some useless
sacrifice may occur, and when the best policy, and the moral interests
of a nation are disregarded.—(Cheers.) If anything can add to this
atrocity, it is when it is perpetrated—not by the simple adoption
of that which is evil—but by the transmutation of good
into evil—(Hear, and loud cheering)—not merely to plant a
corrupt Establishment, but to change a better Establishment for a worse
—in other words, to'root out Protestantism, to make room for Popery.
--(Cheers.) We can imagine nothing so marking the utter absence and
abjuration of all virtue in public men, as, with their eyes open, not to
persist in what is bad, but—greatly worse--to retrograde into what is bad
—(Cheers)--and lavish the resources of a nation on the maintenance of a
faith which, of every form of religion, is the most fitted to degrade and
vitiate a population.—(Cheers.) But when we observe that without the
forfeiture of principle, but rather in compliance with its dictates—with
the kindest and most upright policy—for the clergy to accept a national
provision, and undertake in return the Christian education of the people;
in like manner would we speak of the Established Church of Ireland,
and of the task which, more than a century ago, they virtually under.
took to perform—the Christian education of the people. lel that respect
we speak only of the generations which are past; they have not ac.
quitted themselves of that undertaking—(Hear, hear)—and it is in
the spirit of even-handed justice that we make the avowal, for though
it ,never can vindicate, it at least explains, perhaps in some degree pa-
hates, the indifference, nay, in some, the hostility, even unto death, of
many of our statesmen, to the Church of the sister kingdom. It cannot
be disguised that, with some illustrious and honourable exceptions, the
clergy, as a body, have not, during the whole of the last century, done
what they ought, or done what they might—(Loud cries of " Hear,
hear")—for the cultivation of the vineyard made over by the State to
their care, in return for their maintenance, and which they should by
this time have put into and been keeping in good order.—( Hear, hear,
hear) But we 'Must not lose sight of the utility of a machine
in the badness of its working.--(Hear, hear.) We must see where the
defect lies—not in the magnitude of its revenues, which the wayward
politicians of one age are now labouring so hard to reduce—(Cheers)--
not in the number of its Protestant labourers, whom, by a strange per-
version of all sound policy, now that they are doing their uttermost to
do good "in things pertaining to Godliness," are grappling with all
kinds of economical reforms—( Hear, hear)—but in the corrupt exercise
of the patronage of the Church in former times.—(Hear, hear.) Had
the Church been what it ought to have been—a home mission—with its
ministers acting like devoted missionaries, we should by this time have
been rid of all embarrassment—there would have been no Catholic ques-
tion to perplex, because there might have been none or few Catholics.—
(Hear, hear.) But matters there have not been so ordered—we need
not-speak of pluralities and of, sinecures, and all the evils of clerical ab.
senteeisin—these are the latent corruptions of the Protestant hierarchy
in Ireland, and perhaps the only ones that strike public observation.
But over and above these, there was a mistaken policy maintained and
avowed even by the best clergymen, in the form of an honest though
still a palpably erroneous principle, that it was to go beyond their legi-
timate field of labour at all to meddle with the Catholics of Ireland,
which is just tantamount to supposing that the primitive Christians
went beyond their legitimate province when they meddled with ire
Pagans of the Roman empire.—(Loud cheers.) Even the most vene-
rated of their Prelates, Bishop Jebb, remarks this in one of The Duchess and Lady Augusta Somerset were
his letters, as if it were one of the principles of Protestant artaong the rathionables at the Haymarket Theatres on Thursday even.
ministers in Ireland—e, maAim, 'we do not say unimsally, Dirt

Her Majesty and Suite returned to the New Palace after the Drawing.
room.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent honoured Mr. W. Ross, on
Thursday, at the New Palace, with a first sitting for a miniature portrait.
The Queen honoured the performance of Norma, at her Majesty's
Theatre, on Thursday evening, with her presence.

, .„,

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but generally acted upon by them. Under the infi
elide we need not wonder at the stationary ProtestaL
almost unbroken Popery of Ireland.—(Cheers.)
consequences of the misgovernment of the politicians
Cons ; it may be traced to the want of public principle
in. the men of bygone ages—those reckless Statesmen, g
patronage of the Irish Church the mere instrument of subserviency to
their party politics—(Hear, hear)—those reckless Clergymen, who held
parishes as sinecures, and lived in utter indifference to the condition, or
the interests of the people—(Hear, hear)—and even alter we have
allowed the full share that belongs to the demagogues and agitators of
the day, there still remains to these a heavy amount of the responsibility
for the miseries of Ireland.—(Hear, hear.) But there is the distinc-
tion between the use of a machine and the goodness of its work.
ing—(Hear, hear)—and if the latter has not been satisfactory, that
is no reason for giving up the former.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
Nor can I imagine a wider distinction than exists between the tem-
perate Reformers of 300 years back, who wisely retained the system of
a religious Establishment, only committing it to better hands, and the
" Reformers" of the present day, who have abridged, and would destroy,
the Protestant Church ; and that, at the moment of a manifest revival
In the zeal, in the devoted missionary spirit of its clergymen—
(Cheers)—who, unlike their predecessors, are consecrating their whole
time and talents to the moral interests of their country—we trust the
agents of its coming regeneration.—(Cheers.) The truth is, that among
the Established Churches of the empire, that of Ireland is, in revival of
spirit and zeal, now the most prosperous of the three.—(Hear, hear.)
While its "outward man is decaying," its " inward man is renewed and
strengthened."—(Loud cheers.) It may be stripped of its temporalities ;
but we trust that its high, indomitable spirit in the cause of a •
pure, scriptural faith, will not so easily be quelled.—(Continued
cheers.) Though despoiled of its rights, it will not abandon
its duties—it will profit by the discipline of adversity—it will
arise in its strength, and effecting the conquest of truth over the darkness
of superstition, will add another victory to the triumphs of former
generations.—(Loud cheers.) But though by the economy of things
under which we live, it often occurs that the greatest moral and spi_
ritual good comes out of evil—that is no reason why we should do evil
that good may come.—(Cheers.) Better that the injustice be not per.
petrated—better that the ministrations of a scriptural Church be
upheld.—(Cheers.) Man is to proceed not on that which is hidden, but
on that which is revealed;—that which is palpable—and lie is to do all
the good which he has the present opportunity of doing.—(Hear, hear.)
And there is nothing more instructive in the philosophy of public
affairs, than to observe that in those seasons when the Government is
weak, and the spirst of the country is strong and wayward, the "pressure
from without"—(Laughter)—carries it over the will and principle
within—(Hear, hear)—and in those seasons when the governors and the
governed may be said to have changed places, there is nothing more in-
structive than to notice the almost constant misdirection of the popular
zeal, and so the misuse of that power, with which for a time the people
may he said to be invested.—(Hear, hear.) Islowever good may be the
Institutions of a country, that the country may have the full benefit of
them it is indispensably necessary that they should be placed in the
hands of able and upright functionaries, lest they become the instru
ments of evil—not, however, because of the machinery, but because of
the men to whose hands it is entrusted.—(Hear, hear.) What is the
right object of reform ? (it may seem strange to ask the question)—the
distinction of the machinery, or appointment of right men for working
it ?—(Hear, hear)--yet it is to the former of these objects that the
efforts of the Reformers of the present day are directed—they must have
a fling at the machinery.—( Hear, hear.) There may be energy—there
may be irresistible momentum—there maybe the impulse of good feeling
and honest design ; but there is no discrimination in the masses.—
(Hear, hear.) But what salutary influence one is apt to think, may be
brought to bear upon the country, were its rulers virtuously and wisely
to administer patronage ;*then, every good institution of the country,
the Church among the rest, would be placed in far more advantageous
circumstances for the general welfare of the community.—(Cheers.)
But this is almost never the use to which the popular will is turned, and
so when let loose upon the commonwealth, careless, either to purify or
to correct, it is found prevailing only to destroy.—(The Reverend Doc_
tor finished amidst general cheering.)