The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-04 00:00:00

Ex-ise awl Cu-toms.

STamps
AA-es,4t4i Taxes,

a.ner,illy spe.kkinz. the Churchmen vin B-itain con.
sist of ilo rich aod the very poor, in Ireland of the ri .h
only. Tne Dissenters in Brita.n are composed of the
middle class,s and the better circumstanced of the
working classes, in I. e land of the middle classes and the
poor. We may therefore assume, that under the
heads of Excise , Customs, and Post-office, the Church-
men and Dissent, rs pay in proportion to their numbers,
that is, whe a the Churchmen pay 55., the Dissenters
pay 7s. Ir., on a few artich 5, such as wine and tea, the
rich pay more, on others, such as spirits, malt, and
tobacco., they pay less. Of the stamps, and assessed
taxes,w.e assume, for reasons to be afterwards mentioned,
that the Churchmen, though only 5-12ths of the popu-
lation, pay 8-12ths of these taxes, and the Dissenters
4-12ths. Their respective contributions will therefore
stand thus:—

Of the Excise, Customs, and Post
Office revenue, amounting to
36,500,000/ , the Churchmen
pay 5- 12ths, or £15,250 000
The Dissenters pay 7-12ths, or £21,250,000
Of Stamps and Assessed Taxes,

amounting to 10 500.000/ , the
ChurAinerk pay 8-12ths, 0r..... 7,000,000
The Dissenters ply 4-12ths, or ...

Total paid by Cb urcbtriPn....... .£22,25-0 000

3,500,000

Total paid by Dissenters ...
If we divide the whole revenue into 100 on-, as
mentioned in a previous paragraph, the propor ions paid
by Churchmen and Dissenters will be as follow :

CHURCHMEN PAY. Per Cent.
U(43Pr the heads of Excise, Customs, and Post
Office
Under the heads of Stamps and A• ses,ed TAzes 14

---:- 47

DISAHNTERS PAT.
Under the h cads of Excise. Customs, and Post
Office
Under the heads of Stamps and Assessed Taxes 7f

100
We think these calculations are made on fair
cipies, and we are not conscious of having indulged in
any exaggeration, either as to the numbers or tl-e con-
trip,utions of the rrspective parties. Some will Gink
we have erpsd in assuming that the Churchmen pay in
dividually about three times as much as flit' Di,setrer.,
under the head of stamps and ass—sect taxes. But it
must he kept in mind, that the 7,900.000 D,ssenter, in
Ireland pay no assessed taxes at a.l, :ind only a small
sum in s' amp duties. I: was to cos er this leficietiey io
the number of pavers that so high a proportion w
assumed. It may be said that a large mass of th•
labouring classes crensuine neither to nor sugar. Tru,.
but they consutn.e whisky or beer ; and to counter-
balance this, there are fifty thousand persons, English,
Scotch, and Irish, of the upper classts, who spend
their entire income on the Continent, and escape all our
tuxes togeth. r.

' Toe preceding facts and c,.loulations establish, we
think, several important conclu‘ions.
• First, a great majority of the population of Britain
a!d Ireland are Dissenters. Th. y are more numerous
than the Uheirchmen ny nearly ore-wilt, or, more cor-
rectly, in the. proportion of 14 to 10.
• Second, in consequence chi, fly of so large a part of
our taxation falling on articles of consumption which
are in universal use, more than one-half of the public
revenue tomes from the pockets of Dissenters.
Third, when grants of money are made to the Esta
bliahed Church from the national treasury, the major
part of such grants is paid by the Dissenters.
When a grant of money is made to the Church,
fourteen Dissenters and ten Churchmen are taxed to
raise the money. And such a grant is mainly a tax on
the middle classes, for the benefit of the wealthy. The
Church, indeed, is called the Church of the poor, but
it should be remembered that one-half of the poor,
those who live in Ireland, reap no benefit from it, while
they are taxed for its support
In the eye of reason, tithes and church-lands must
be regarded as a fund set. apart for the support of reli
pion, and not for the propagation of particular opi-
nions. Assuming the expediency of endowments, and
that every man has an equal right to select the creed
be prefers, it is plain that, upon the most obvious prin-
ciples of justice, the fund should be divided among all
the existing sects in proportion to their numbers. Were
the question open, and a convention, fairly chosen.
called at this day to adjudicate upon it, this would
undoubtedly be the plan of appropriation adopted.
All the great legal arrangements, however, respectine
religion, were made in a remote and comparatively dark
age, and when, owing to the struggle of adverse fac-
tions, alight usurped the place of right. The conse-
quence is, that the fund for the support of religion
generally has been monopolized by the partisans of two
sects, which happened to be the most numerous at the
time, but now compose only a minority of the popula-
tion. This original act of injustice has been the p 'rent
of a long series of others. The favoured sect in two
parts of the United Kingdom claimed a monopoly of all
civil offices : it imposed its rites upon persons n..t within
its pale, in the articles of marriage and burial : by its
Ecclesiastical Courts it thrust its hands into sundry
civil affairs: it extorted money from those unconnected
with it for the repair of its places of worship : and no
it claims an unlimited right to tax the majority of the
people of Britain for the propagation of doctrines which
they reject.
Such things might pass unheeded when the Dissenter.
were a mere handful of the people ; but at thi4 (lay,
when they constitute a clear and great majority, the
pretensions of the Church, to say nothing of their pal pable injustice, are a proof of unparalleled effrontery.
The accidents of the sixteeeth century gave the
Established Churches their monopoly of a fund which
now yields six millions, or more, per annum. One
would think this piece of good fortune might content
them. So far from it,the money they have got, coupled
with the fact that their Members form a majority of
the Legislature, is the very foundation of their demands.
The argument, stripped of disguise, may be stated in this form :
Why do you tax those who reject your doctrines, to
extend your Church ? First, because, by an act of in-
justice, three centuries ago, we obtained the whole of
a fund, which should have been shared with others ;
and, Pcoadly, because, having a majority in Parlia-
ment, we keep what we have got, and take more when
we want it. This, we say, is the essence of the argu.
ment. The Church demands money because it is cs.
tablished by law ;" and, being established by law, just
means that the ruling power favoured it, at the expense
of justice, three centuries ago, and continues to favour
it at the expense of justice still. The pretext that the
English Church was selected (by the ruffian Henry
VIII,) as being the depository of immutable truth, is
too ridiculous to be mentioned. This is just the Pope's
ietallibility in different words ; and every professing
Protestant who maintains it, must be either idiot or

1.40.

liji 4:11.1.101. 4,i :1,- C;,nr, ti it; ;!
:,w.sk.tr2 tiN pt,l
VolUitt S, and ',ink t tido • in,,ts t,t ;,1)1 Wort]
but p ritAllt.Ui.

E,er,) s..tlut.k.., extorted b) t :x' tion from ilo• itct•%..rs
of those sects who rceeivi• not cling from it,c
th, benufit ot the two favoured sews which ii.o.c.‘ity
eeive six millions per annum, we hold to be doworigi,t
robbery.

We observe that a Bill has been introduced for riking
the decennial census next year. It includes a provisimi
foi ascertaining the amount of assessable property " in
England." As it is plain that the claims anti preten-
sions of the Church will occupy a large space in ev, ry
session for years to come, we hope some Member will
get a clause inserted giving the census such a fot m as
will exhibit the religious professions of the whole people
of Britain. In Ireland this has been already accom-
plished. It is now an element of first-rive importance
in a multitude of public questions. The queries Might
be very few, simply requiring parties to say whether
they were "Churchmen, Protestant Dissenters, Catho-
lics," or of " other sects," The three first cla,ses would
comprehend forty-nine persons of every fifty.