The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-25 00:00:00

THE CHURCH-SPIRITUAL AND

PHYSICAL DESTITUTION.

(From the Durham Chronicle.)
There are thousands, perhaps milllions, of the peo-
ple, living very much as human beings should live ; but
there are millions over which the reflecting heart
sickens as to their condition—a condition that has never
been, that can never be, stated in print ; because they
who suffer it are unequal to the statement, and they who
suffer not have not the necessary experience. Attempts
have been made to depict the St. Giles of London ;
but have fallen much short of the reality. We remem-
ber a literary Newcastle man, of the name of Bell,
falling into distress in the metropolis, sojourning in St.
Giles', and coming out to write a most exciting descrip-
tion of it ; but the keen eye that walks through that
region can detect effects much more harrowing in
the contemplation of the causes, in the mere out-of-
door exhibition, to say nothing of what may he seen
within, than tongue can utter or pen describe. It
may be objected, that this is chiefly an Irish popu-
lation. More the pity ! it is made English by its
locality, and is a disgrace on all Police, all Magis-
trtcy, all Churches, all Legislature, and all Govern-
ment—on all humanity. It is not confined to degraded
Irish habits ; every manufacturing district, and many
of the lower states of English society, hare sunk into
this national and religious degradation. We say " reli-
g'ous," because the Church shoul.l have been an insti-
tution to have saved every portion of the people from
this state ; and we are making the statement with the
view of bringing back the Church to be a moral
power in the state equal to this desired correction. The
parish of St. Giles is near to, if not contiguous, at some
point, with the parish of St. J.imes, or Royalty—of St.
George, or Aristocracy—of St. Paul's, or the Church.
Add St. Andrews' Holborn, or St. Clement in the
Strand, for the middle classes, and the five parishes
mentioned, in the metropolis, within a five mile circuit,
contain a complete specimen and picture of English so-
ciety, from the highest to the lowest, mingling all that is
delightful with all that is horrible in human association.

There is a moral poison running through the frame
of our society that is the cause of this distressing con-
trast, bringing hell and heaven together in one commu-
nity ! Heaven shuns hell—St. James' shuns St. Giles',
as much as practicable ; but the same government, laws,
and Church, embrace both, and should protect St.
Giles' from such a direful and disgraceful sinking. St.
James' ought not to be heaven while St. Giles' is hell ;
or, we would rather reverse it, and say St. Giles'
' ought not to be hell while the other is heaven.
Make both parish( s a picture of heaven, if you please ;
to that we have no objection ; but we do object to the
association, where the naked and neglected savages of
St. Giles' are found howling with hunger and rage
after the chariot wheels of St. James'. We do object
to such a Church as one that bows to the wealth, and
cares not for the spiritual health of the country—that
would spurn from its congregations the miserable in-
habitants of St. Giles, after having, through neglect
of education, engendered that miserable condition. The
moral poison to which we allude is mixed up with the
religion of the country ; and it consists in the perver-
sion of the Gospel from the poor to the rich—in making
religion altogether a rich man's gospel, and not at all a
gospel for the poor. This is the great political evil of
the day—the crying sin of the nation. The poor man
is neglected, and eschewed as an evil in the State, by
the Church ; tvhile that man is made and kept poor by
an abuse of the Church.

The city of Durham has lately formed an Additional
Curates' Society. This is good as far as it goes ;
but if ten thousand curates were added, without
the addition of other duties than Curates now have
assigned to them, there would be no additional
good done. The spiritual destitution is rather in
than out of the Church ; and when the spirituality
is within, it is a fountain that yields well ; even to
the last drop, it is sure to come out. Its absence without
is caused by its previous absence within. The old well
is dry, filled up with dead men's bones, and all manner of
corrupt things. There is no living water found in it—none
to be had for love, none for money. The stagnant well
is poisoned—the spring is cut off—the reservoir is empty'
and man is parched with spiritual thirst.
We have written so far preparatory to 'the conside-
ration of the state of society in Stockport and the ma-
nufacturing district. It is time that the poor and des-
titute should have a voice in the country ; that they
should not be neglected, as no other animal is neglected ;
that they should not feed worse than the cattle of the
field, and fare worse, in shelter, than the birds of the
air. The malaria of St. Giles' renders impure the
heated atmosphere of St. James' we can see the evil
corrupting the good by its contiguity ; and we are not
content, that after the Church has assigned to every
man an immortal soul, it shall then pass on in revelry,
and heed not that soul's salvation.

RIGHT OF RAILWAY COMPANIES

TO DESTROY PUBLIC ROADS.

At a recent meeting of the Croydon bench of Ma-
gistrates three labourers in the employ of the London
and Brighton Railway Company were convicted of hav-
ing unlawfully injured a public road, with a view to ex-
clude the public altogether from the use of it, without
the Company first making another road to the satisfac-
tion of the Board of Trustees.

( At the last meeting of the Bench, Mr. Harman, the
Chairman of the Board of Directors, accompanied by
Mr. Sutton, the solicitor to the Company, attended be-
fore Messrs. Warrington and Sutherland, for the pur-
pose of entering into an explanation in reference to the
conviction above referred to.

Mr. Sutton said he attended before the Bench in
consequence of the coeviction of three of their la-
bourers, and he had, in the first instance, to corn-
plain that the Company had not received any notice of
the intended proceeding, or they would have attended,
and he had no doubt he should have been able to show
the Magistrates that they had no jurisdiction in the
matter.

Mr. WARRINGTON said he did not see how any no-
tice could have been given to the Company. The
charge was against the labourers for having wilfully da-
maged a public road, and it was for that offence they
were convicted,

Mr. SUTTON said that the whole question involved
was whether the road was a public road or not. The
case had been decided ex parte, and the question now
was, whether the Bench would enforce their decision by
issuing distress warrants, in the event of the non-pay-
ment of the penalty. If he had been present when the
summonses were heard, he should have stopped the pro-
ceedings, in limme, by showing that the Magistrates had
no jurisdiction.

Mr. WARRINGTON said that the Company must have
known of the proceedings, and be might have attended.
Mr. Sutton said they had no notice.

. The Clerk said it was not usual to give notice. The
Company might appeal if they thought proper to do so.
Mr. Sutton said that an appeal was not the course
that would be adopted. They had another mode, viz.,
by proceeding against the Magistrates if they issued dis-
tress warrants, and then tryins, the legality of their deci-
sion. The Company were, awever, anxious to have
the matter amicably settled, and to give the Bench an
opportunity of reviewing their decision.
Mr. WARRINGTON said he did not see how the Bench
could go into the case again. The distress warrants had
not yet b( en issued, and if the Company could come to
an amicable arrangement with the trustees of the
Roads, the Magistrates would, of course, not take any
further steps in the matter.
Mr. Harman said that it was a most important
matter to the Company, and the property involved in
it, and it had been decided in their absence.
The CHAIRMAN said that was not the fault of the
Bench. They had decided upon the case as it appeared
before them, and according to the evidence adduced.
After some further conversation, the Bench con-
sented that the distress warrants should not be issued
for the present, to give the Company an opportunity of
entering into fresh negotiations with the Trustees, but
the Magistrates would not pledge themselves as to what
ultimate course would be adopted by them in reference
to the conviction.

THE MAIL.—In reference to the rumour which
has b7rn some time prevalent in Berwick and neighbour-
hood, as to its being the intention of the Post-Office au-
thorities to change the route travelled by the London mail,
a letter from James Campbell, Esq., Secretary to the
Post-Office, Edinburgh, in reply to a memorial on the sub-
ject from the Berwickshire road trustees, has been received
by Mr. Bowhill, Eyemouth, intimating, by authority, that
the Postmaster-General does not contemplate any change
at present in the arrangements for the transmission of the
mail through Berwick. This notification Mr. Bowhill has
transmitted to Mr. Willoby, for the information, we pre-
sume, of all concerned. The rumour in question arose
from the circumstance of its having been intimated by the
Post-Office to the mail contractors on the line of road that
their services would not be required after April next—a
fact which naturally suggested the inference that the trans-
mission of the mail by its present route was, therefore, to
be difcontinued.—Be-wick Warder.

,
AIARLBOROUGH-STREET.—Just previously to
this office closing on Monday attcrnoon, Captain John
O'Meara, of Manchester.strect, Manchester-square, was
brought before Mr. Long, the presiding Magistrate, on a
peace warrant, obtained against bim by Ralph James
Thomas Williamson, Esq , now stay ing at Stevens's
Hotel, New 13.)nd-street, "for threatening to slap his face
wherever he met him.' The circumstances under which
the threat was made use of were not gone into, as Captain
O'Meara came forward to enter into any recognizance that
might he required of him to keep the peace. Mr. Long
directed Capt. O'Meara to enter into his own recognizance
in 1001., with one surety in 1001. to keep the peace towards
all her Majesty's liege subjects, and especially towards
St. John's Wood, became surety for Captain
Mr. Williamson, for twelve months. Lord Dunboyne, of
Molina-place,
O'Meara.
NON-ARRIVAL OF THE PRESIDENT.-14 to
a late hour last night nothing had been heard respecting
this vessel, which, according to arrangement, was to have
sailed from New York on the 2d of November. Unless
she remained till the sth to bring the President's message,
she is much more than due, and even if she did she is still
fully due. Should she arrive in the course of the day, we
shall announce the fact in our second erlition......Liverpool
Times. A