The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-01 00:00:00

THE CHURCHMAN.

The first article in this Number is on " Detrac-
tion of Ministers" (of the Gospel), and it is not at
all merciful or charitable to those who find fault
with them. It, in fact, assumes at the very com-
mencement, that ministers of the English Church
are set apart to practically observe the words of the
Supreme Being, and that any one who stigmatizes
a clergyman, is guilty of rising up against the
Church of God. Now the writer ought to have
known that this is all assumption—that he is guilty
of the very act which he condemns, and that while
he defends his Church against the attacks of other
Churchmen, he shows the greatest want of charity
to all those who differ from her. He, in fact, assumes
what the Roman Catholic has always rested his faith
upon, the stability of his Church, " because it is
founded on a rock." He infers also that these mi-
nisters perform what they profess—that they live
in obedience to the commands of their master, " love
their enemies," and " live in charity with all men,"
while no inference ever was further from the truth.
Most Churchmen, we mean the ministers of the
Church, are the most uncharitable of mankind, and,
to be convinced of this, it is necessary only to listen
to the wicked attacks made by the M'Ghees and
O'Sullivans on men of as pure morals as them-
selves, and the cheers with which their attacks are
re-echoed by men calling themselves a charitable
and Christian people. The article is very charac-
teristic, and though professedly written by a layman,
is certainly as pure a specimen of Church dog-
matism as ever was indited by a bigoted priest.
The article on " Dante" is of a different stamp,
and the " Observations on Bishop Burnett's Cha-
racter of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn," are not
destitute of impartiality and truth.

THE QUEEN AND THE 14Tu

DRAGOONS.

On Saturday last, during the progress of her Majesty
and Prince Albert from Windsor Castle to Buckingham
Palace, the following laughable incident alarmed the
town of New and Old Brentford, from its propriety,
and for a minute or two occasioned feelings of excitement
amongst the inhabitants. It appears that on the arrival
of the Royal cortege opposite the Coach and Horscs
Inn, nearly adjoining the seat of his Grace the Duke of
Northumberland, where a relay of horses is customarily
stationed, it was found that the fresh escort of the 14th
Dragoons, which ought to have met them there to con-
duct her Majesty to London, was not in attendance.
Colonel Cavendish, on observing the omission,
immediately acquainted her Majesty with the
circumstance, who directed that the escort which
ought to have been relieved should continue
their attendance to town. After a delay of
about ten minutes they accordingly proceeded on
their route, but had not advanced more than 500 yards
before the expected escort was observed in the rear,
coming at full gallop from Hounslow barracks, having
mistaken the time appointed, and had been made aware
of their error by seeing the Royal carriages pass along
the road. Just as the Royal carriage had crossed the
bridge, and entered New Brentford, her Majesty was
made acquainted with the approach of the relief escort,
and she ordered her carriage to be stopped, which was
done opposite the Church, where the first escort
drew up on each side of the road, with the exception
of the advanced guard, who kept posting on in the
direction of town. Inspector Marquard, of the 'F
division, who was on horseback in advance of the
Royal carriage, instantly galloped after them to
fetch them back, closely followed by a private of
the Dragoons, the horses of both being at their utmost
speed. That portion of the road where the Rlyal
cortege had drawn up being by an angle hidden from the
view of the other parts of the town, the cireumstanc,
of seeing an advanced guard galloping with drawn
swords along the road, followed by a mounted Inspec-
tor of Police, who was shouting after them, and lie fol-
lowed by a another dragoon at a still greater speed, urg-
ing his steed and as it were trying to ride over the Inspec-
tor, brought all the inhabitants to their doors and win-
dows, numbers of whom followed in the wake as far as
the cage in the centre of Old Brentford, where the
single dragoon having headed the advanced guard, op-
posed their further progress until his comrades could be
made to understand that they were relieved. So rapid
was the speed at which the escort, on discovering the
mistake, proceeded from Hounslow, that on the arrival
of the Royal cortege at Turnham Green, one of the
horses was found to be dead beat, and was obliged to be
left in the stables of the White Hart Inn, and the
horses of the remainder on their arrival in London were
covered with foam and scarcely able to stand.

A GIANT.—A young man named Joseph
Stones, died a short time since at Disley, Lancashire, of the
extraordinary height of seven feet three inches, with strength
;11 proportion. He was in his 26th year. This gigantic youth
exhibited himself in the Zoological Gardens, near Manchester,
a few months back.

MR. O'CONNELL ON THE CONDI-
TION OF ENGLISHMEN.

TO MESSRS. WARREN AND NIGHTINGALE,
WHO PRESIDED AS CHAIRMEN AT THE
DINNER AND PUBLIC MEETING OF THE
ANTI-CORN-LAW OPERATIVES OF THE
TOWN OF MANCHESTER.
DUBLIN, APRIL 21, 1840.
Gentlemen—The courtesy as well as the talent which
each of you displayed as chairmen of one of the Anti-
Corn-law operative dinners—the good sense as well as
the civility which distinguished your conduct on these
occasions—justify the confidence I repose in the sound-
ness of your understanding and the honesty of your in-
tentions. I witnessed with heartfelt satisfaction the
demeanour of one of you—l read with great pleasura
the conduct of the other. And, being desirous to sub-
mit, with unfeigned respect and deference, my opinion
upon the course which I deem incumbent upon the
moral and peaceable classes of operatives in England
to adopt at the present period, I think I cannot place
my sentiments before those intelligent operatives under
better auspices than those of your names.
My anxious desire is to address to your understand-
ings, and to those of the English and Scotch operatives,
what I deem the duty they owe to themselves and
their country at the present crisis of public affairs.
That there are great sufferings and many privations
endured by the British operative classes—great toil for
insufficient wages—great industry and great intelligence,
without adequate employment or remuneration—the
pressure of the national burthens heavy upon all, but
crushing to ruin the humbler and poorer classes—the
insulting robbery of these classes by the nefarious bread
tax—these and multitudinous other evils are suffered,
and becoming permanent, in a manner too plain to ad-
mit of contradiction, and too manifest to be denied, even
by the most audacious of the master class !
It is the duty of every honest man—it is the bounden
duty of every intelligent man—it is the sacred duty of
every parent and of every patriot—to exert all his
faculties in order to discover the causes of the existing
evils and oppressions, and, if possible, to trace out the
remedy most likely to mitigate, if not entirely to extin-
guish those evils.
It seems to me that the great source of all the mis-
chief, the degradation, the oppression, of the intelligent
and active British operatives, consists in the defects of
our political institutions. The operatives belong to a
slave class—they are totally unrepresented—they have
no votes, no choice of, nor control over, the framers of
our laws—the men to whom is committed the care of
ameliorating our institutions—and who, being unin-
fluenced by the operative classes, are quite at liberty to
consult the sinister interests of the master class who
hate votes, and by whom they are elected.
Yes!—in proud and palmy Britain, boasting of her
civil and political institutions, as based upon the free-
dom of all—Britain, whose jurists and whose judges
proclaim that the only reason why the severe penalties
of the law are justly inflicted upon persons convicted of
violating, the ordinances of the Legislature, consists in
this—that these laws are made by their representatives!
—in Britain, whose jurists and judges also proclaim that
all taxation would be robbery unless it were assented to
by the representatives of the men who pay the taxes—
in Britain, I say, these are the theories of the consti-
tution, sanctioned by the highest judicial authority—
but what is the practice .9
Englishmen ! ask yourselves this question, and blush
at the answer which every rational man is bound to give
you ! It is this—that in practice the people of England
are not represented I—the overwhelming majority of
them are not represented ; on the contrary, the people
of England are divided into two classes ; a MASTER
CLASS, having votes and influence in the making of laws ;
a SLAVE CLASS, having no votes, and nothing to do with
the laws but to obey them, at the penalty of fine, for-
feiture, imprisonment, or death.
The MASTER CLASS impose the taxes, and participate
largely in what may well be called public plunder.
Amongst the SLAVE CLASS are the principal producers
of wealth, and consumers of taxed articles. The SLAVE
CLASS, therefore, pay, either directly or indirectly, the
far greatest part of the taxes.
Amongst the MASTER CLASS are to be found the
great landed and other proprietors, who have generally
hitherto had the absolute dominion of the lives and for-
tunes of the British people ; and who, of course, con-
verted that power into an instrument of obtaining for
themselves honours and emoluments. With this aris-
tocratic party have originated, and been supported, un-
necessary and sanguinary wars—enormous taxation—
overwhelming national debt ; fetters on the liberty of
the press ; restrictions on freedom of conscience : grind-
ing laws for the oppression of the poorer classes ; and,
amongst the worst, the Corn-laws, which make bread
dear to the artisan, in order to put the profits into the
pockets of the aristocracy.
These are only a specimen of the tyranny which the
oligarchy of England have exercised in Great Britain,
to say nothing, for the present, of the fantastic and
sanguinary tyranny they have exercised in Ireland : be-
cause this address is intended for the people of Great
Britain alone.
The Reform Bill was intended to check the despotic
authority of the oligarchy, by taking from them the
direct power which they had theretofore possessed over
the House of Commons, and by making that House
the organ of the public sentiment, and the representa-
tive of the wants and wishes of the British nation.
But the Reform Act has proved a total failure. The
House of Lords has regained fay indirect means, and
by the participation of part of its power with the
monied aristocracy, the entire, if not a greater power,
than it had before the passit.g of the Reform Bill. The
refusal to augment the franchise, and diminish the
burthens of the British people, is distinct and peremp-
tory. Nay, we arc threatened with a new war, and
with increased taxation whether there shall be a war
or not !
Above all, the bread tax is pertinaciously continued
by a combination of Whig and Tory parties—without
the least hope or prospect of repeal! The burthens of
the State press too heavily upon the working and
poorer classes. Long-continued labour with small re-
muneration! Great misery—want of adequate sub-
sistence. Listless idleness arising from no criminal
neglect, but from the want of sufficient employment—
the agricultural labourer less employed and worse paid
than the manufacturing operative—both, at the utmost,
earning with unretnitti 'g toil a scanty and cheerless
subsistence—no consolation or comfort for the present
—no hope for the future—working their sad end
melancholy way cheerless, disconsolate, from the cradle
to the grave, the poorer classes bitterly and indi-
vidually feel that the Reform Bill has done them little
service ; and, that from the present House of Com-
mons they can expect no rebel, no alleviation of their
distress. In the meantime foreign nations are rivalling
us in manufactures, and, alas ! exceeding us in arts
and sciences ; and the means of giving adequate em-
ployment to our operatives must thus diminish ; and
unless measures are adopted to abelish existing evils,
the sun of England's commercial, manufacturing, and
agricultural brightness will sink for ever in the sight of
the nations.
But, are the people of Britain to despair ? Are that
people, who never blenched before the foe in the bloodiest
battle-field, or amidst the wildest surges of the stormy
ocean, to sink into despair ? Are that people, whose
ingenuity and patient labour have multiplied, almost
beyond calculation, the powers of productive industry—
are that people who have invented and improved machi-
nery until it has done all but think ; who have made
machinery perform all the functions of sentient beings—
are such a people to acquiesce in apathy or even to
tend towards despondency ?
" No, no f—a thousand times—no!"
Up, then, Englishmen! up! Arise, slave-class, and
flingfrom you your fetters. Arise not in tumult, in vio-
lence, in outrage, in blood! Arise in peaceful, legal,
constitutional combination! Stand up, as men who will
commit no offence against the law of God or of man,
but who, in their moral strength and peaceful vigour,
are too many and too good to remain any longer classed
amongst the willing slaves of the world, but who are en.
titled and determined to be freemen!
1 think you ought to he tiwoughly convinced that all
the political evils that afflict this country flow from the
want of adequate representation in the House of Com-
mons ; from that House not being the organ of public
sentiment ; from that House representing but a class,
and that class but a small one, of the British people.
It is ascertained that there are not so many as twenty
out of every one hundred of the male adult population
' entitled to the suffrage ; four-fifths, therefore,
of tl
British people are iniquitously deprived of all right, all
power, all representatlons. Four-fifths are in the
slave-class. What a reproach. what a disgrace, what
a cruel mockery on the part of the aristocracy ! What
an unbearable insult to the common sense of the English
people !

Again ; at the elections the open mode of voting en-
ables the rich, the powerful, and vicious, to control or
to purchase the suffrages of the voters. Corruption can
make its bargain in the security of knowing that it will
get the iniquitous value it stipulates for. Intimidation
in a thousand shapes—by landlords—by employers—by
customers—by money-lenders—and by magistrates,
whose power in England is felt in ten thousand ramifica-
tions—intimidation by these and every other influential
class is employed to terrify the voter, and to compel him
to sell his country's rights for the gratification of his per- - -- _
sonal interests and in submission to his personal fears.
DEATH OF SIR It. SEPPINGS.--It iS with
Again, the duration of Parliament is at present so
sincere regret that we have to announce the death of the dis-
long that the representative is tempted, and often in- tinguished naval architect to whose science old England stands
duced, to prefer his own interest to that of his consti- indehtebderftorsso many of her "mlio.den walls ;" we allude to
,rtforso many years
tuents. There can be no adequate reform that does Sir
Survßeo•or of theennlrsitish NaVy Sirl.lßo.bGe. not include a short and precise duration for each Par-commenced his
career as a naval architect under the late Sir John Henslow,
liament. and served his country faithfully in that capacity for nearly 50
Above all, there is not the slightest possibility of re- years. His improvements in ship building were numerous and
pealing the bread tax, without obtaining more popular Important, andhis exertions on several occasions were honoured
zrkeed approval of both Houses of Parliament. The
influence over the House of Commons—that is, without wßiothalthgiol
!lea
a further reform, in which the operative classes wilt
their and
dals t. he
and Royal osyeavleSocietyseveral
?of At2;s4boomthasa wwserrdee d
from him
obtain votes, and be enabled to exercise constitutional
time to time conferred upon him. foreign
He diedl in this tom', on
influence over the representatives of the people.
Saturday, the 25th inst., aged 72 years.— Taunton Courier.
to press on ,our
This point I beg most emphatically
On the 95th instant the Senatus of the Univer-
attention, and on the attention of you fellow-operatives.
sity of St. Andrew's tonferredthe degree of Doctor of Divinity
THE BREAD TAX MUST CONTINUE! All your other on the Rev. Robert Balmer, of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Pro-
burthens MUST continue, nod MUST augment, unless i fewer of Systematic Theology to the United Secession Church.