The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-08 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

CHURCH-RATES.

(Abridged from the Leicestershire _Mercury.)
SALE OF CHURCH PLUNDER—RESISTANCE
uF THE PEOPLE, AND STRONG DISPLAY
OF FEELING AGAINST THE CHURCH—
ONLY TWO LOTS SOLD our OF NINE-
TEEN.
It havine.b been ase-rtained on Monday that the goods
•
seized in St. Martin's parish for Church-rates would he
sold by public auction, at the Town Hall, at four o'clock
in the afternoon of the following day, a handbill was is-
sued, containing, in addition to the time and place of sale,
&c., the subjoined rAnarks:—
" Another illustration of the Christian spirit and char-
table conduct of the Establathed Church has occurred to
stir up ill blood and disturb the peace of the town. The
Chetrchtvars of St. Martin's perish (Mr. Berridge the
grocer, and Mr. Moron, the tailor,) by and with the sane.
lion and consent of the Honourable and Reverend Henry
D,vid Erskine, the Vicar, shrouding their deeds under the
cloak of an unjust law, have seized the goods of their
neighbours for the support of a form of worship which the
owners of them neither countenance nor participate in, but
which, on the contrary, they conscientiously renounce.
" It is with pain and reluctance, and yet with the
strangest feelings of disgust and abhorrence, that attention
is celled to the anoealcrus situation in which the above
Reverend Gentleman is now placed. lie is the only mi..
nister of the National Church in Leicester professing
liberal principles, and he is also the only one in this large
and populous town who at the present time persists in
compelling the enforcement of this impost upon his dis-
senting parishioners ! We earneay recommend to his
careful perusal she speech of Dr. 104fver, of Wolverhamp-
ton, and believing that it must commend itself to his
judgmcat, would say to him, • Go thou and do likewise.'
" Men of Leicester ! attend the sale ! Not to pur-
chase fie plunder, but be a manifestation of silent con-
tern,. indignant scorn to put to shame the clergy, the
churchwardens, and all other supporters and abettors of an
odious a4a,d disgraceful impost."
On Thesday afternoon, for some time previous to the
hour of sale, the people began to congregate round the
Hall, anxious, with flew exceptions, to express their dis.
approbation of so disreputable and anomalous. a proceeding
—though one springiag naturally from the union of Church
and State—as the sale of property forcibly taken from 12
respectable parishioners for the support of the dominant—
that is, for the time being, the episcopalian—form of re-
ligion in the parish; which they do not recognise, with
which they have no connexion, and from which they derive
no more benefit than from the worship of Juegernaut, or
the ministrations of The expounders of the Koran. As
soon as the doors were opened the assembled crowd rushed
in with great eagerness, and the Old Hall was soon crowded
to excess.
The Auctioneer was one who had but recently taken
up the hammer, a staunch Tory, rejoicing in the peculiarly
appropriate cognomen of " .Bonner."
When this functionary made his appearance, be was
greeted with a storm of hisses, yells, groans, and cries of
" Bishop Bonner the Second." After several calls to or-
der from the Bench, the tumult partially subsided, and
The AUCTIONEER said—Gentlemen, eilence, if you
please.—( A voice, " Bishop, put on yeur gown.") Some
conversation here passed between Mr. Winks and the
Auctioneer of no interest to lie readers of The Sun ;
after which,)
The first lot, being a copper tea-kettle, seized from Mr.
Baines, High-street, was produced, and held up, amidst
an uproar of hisses, awful groans, yells, whistling, and in-
describable sounds of various kinds.
AUCTIONEER—an excellent copper tea-Kettle, gentle-
men, 11;0 bids ?
After a momentary interval, the kettle was snatched by
some one near the table, and passed down the hall, and
the lid thrown up amidst loud cheers. It was obtained
again, however, eawajblip:aarne difficulty by the aid of 8 or 10
policemen, but veTrlrach the worse for the handling it had
reeeivied ; and 25., and then 2s. 2d. were bid by persons
in the crowd whom we could not distinguish.
Mr. Scat—The name of the bidders ought to be
known.

AucTioNsra—The name of the buyer will be sufficient.
" Two shillings" was again bid, followed by groans and
cries of " Who is it ?" The next bidding was 2s. 3d.—
(Great noise. " Half.a-crown."—(Great confusion, and
cries of " who is it ?")
AUCTIONEER—Geing at 23. 6d.—(Cries of "
shame," and " The Church is in Danger.")
Accri23EEß—No Duty. Going at half. a-crown—
going—ng—gone.
The conscienceless individual who had perpt,trated the
base act of buying thi3 article of eeele,iaßtical plunder was
now discovered to be a Tory, named Coltman, a dealer
in " " horses. Toe popular indignation was very
unecuivocally displayed against him, but ha chuckled at
the cheap bargain he had got.
Lot 2, being a second copper tea-kettle, also the pro-
perty of Mr. Baines, was now produced and held up for
inspection by the auctioneer's assistant.
Mr. SEAL said—l have a strong inclination to bid for
the next article, but I would first remind you that this pro-
perty has been plundered from the parishioners, at the
instance of the Vioar of St. Martin's and the Churchwar-
dens. I shall, then, bid first Dr. Howley, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and Primate of all England ; next, Dr.
Blom:1dd, Bishop of London.--(A voice " Bishop Bon-
nor.") The next is that most notorious pamphleteering
Prelate, Toby Philpotts, Bishop of rxeter.--(Cheers.)
The fourth is staggering Irvine, of St. Margaret's.—(Loud
cheers and laughter.) The fifth is, that very liberal
Whig, David Erskine, of St. Martin's, and with him you
may put the 301. a-year which he has for the parsonage
house that ought to stand yonder—(pointing to St. Mar-
tin's charch.yerd dorm by)—and the 101. a-year for de-
livering a lecture to the corporation, or, anther, for not
delivering one.---( Hoar, hear.) A well-known indivi-
vidual, named Shaw, here exclaimcd, " Oh, bless my soul ;
I did net think he had been that character."—(Loud
lauf;hter.) I bid all these for the tea-katics.
AUCTIONEER—A shilling has been bid for this kettle.
An unsuccessful attempt was here made to seize the
kettle.

A UCTIONEER—Two shillings has been bid. Two and
sixpence. —( Cries of " Who is it ;" and " Lift him up.")
ACCTIONEER--II is honestly worth 7s.—(Loud laughter
at hearing the word " honestly") and it is going for 23.6 d.
—(boud cries of "Let's look at him ;" " hand him
over ;" " show him up ;" " turn him out ;" " shame on
him," &c. followed by a rush to the right of the table, it
being understood that Coltman was again the bidder. The
police here interfered, to preserve order, and the people
having given way, the Superintendent took him ander his
pratecthut. 'Coltman was thoroughly frightened, and
clung to the table in order to be under the protection of
the Superintendent of Police.---k Great confusion.) Some
one kers exclaimed, " The tender mercies of the wicked
are eruel."--:( Lughter.) In a short time Coltman reco-
vered his composure, sufficiently to say, " I pay for all I
buy," and then, ns if to prove this, handed up Is., which
he said was all the money he had, in part payment for the
first kettle, adding that he did not care how the things
were got so he got a cheap bargain. This was followed
by cries of " Shame." " has the Bishop got his apron on,"
&c. " Two and nine-pence" was now bid.—( Shame.)
" Three shillings."—( Shame, artd " Who is it ?")
"'Three and threeepenee."—( Hisses.) Coltman's hat was
then pulled off, but returned to him almost immediately.
AucTrNerta—This is worse than robbery, selling things
so low.--( Loud and derisive laughter.)
Coltman's hat was then knocked over his eyes, which
called forth the remark, " That's too bad ;" answered ha-
trorliately by " Nothing's too bad for him." The heat
had now become very -oppressive, and a cry was raised of
" Adjourn to the Market-place;" followed by general
cen!'usion. After a pause of some rainates,
Seat. said—The Churchmen plunder 03 twice over.
They plunder us first by the seizure, and again when the
goods are sold, by sot giving more than one-third of the
price.— ( Noise atid tumult.)
Tbe Po:ica Superintendent, perceiving that Coltman
was in imminent danger of the vengeance of those areund
him, etterapted to pull him on the table, on which he
himself was standing ; but Coltman was forcibly held back
In this position, while clinging almost convulsively to the
hand,ef the Superintendent, the expression of his counte-
nance was ludicrously won; Tho attempt to save him,
kowever, n'us in vain, for a rush was made to the
place, and amidst the storm of lii7ses and yells,
cries of " Take him out," and the cracking of the
table, this myrmidon of the high Church faction was
dregged away, and would di.ibtless havo bad 511M-
mary punishment inflicted upon him, but for the
immodiato aid of flee poic:•mo, who rescued
him. !hough not without consider.lble resistance, and got
him out of the hall : the hind put of a long coat which he
had o having been torn otfjest b:low the shoulders.. The
loss of the culprit, however, did not quiet the meeting,
which Iv:Linton, one scene t.f general conclusion, varied by
exefitnatious of " Adjourn to Nlartin',4 Church ;" " ltobeit
Owen is coming ;" " The Ci.orch is is danger ;" " The'
13ishop's himself again ;" " The Church will tumble ;"
"‘Where'a tiae mitre for Bishop Rootlet- •" " The teakettle
-will do to boil the sacramental wine in t
Toe AUCTIONEETt made an attermt t - .c°
gentlemen, 33. (« who ;.3it ??ceed, and said
,) pro
8031 3 one here said that it was. Palm 1., the auctioneer's
avis,4l,t, who stood on the :able holding up the
for inspection. He. denied it; but the :8 ;ci:ion " peat-eil, he bid 3s. 3 which raised a storm of dssrPs-
yells, And gre.ans, ard a rush was made towarcis the place
which induct hint to make for the side-door which, under
the protection of the pnlice, he succeeded in reachinm and
ge made his exit amidst nnera! execration. The lid of the
kettle was now, by some means, snatched, and thrown up
from one side of the hall to the other. A torn jacket and
no old hat were then tossed about. The police succeeded
in recovering the lid, but it was much bent, and the knob
was broken a, and some one exclaimed as it was being
pat on the kettle, " It's a shocking bad hat."
kettle was not sold. The last bid-
ding was 3s. 31. Going at 3:. 31. It's a rascally price.
--(lronical cheers.) I will sell no more at this price.
The kettle was then knocked down to Squires Palmer,
_ _•. .

a g-a.ter at an :nn.
Lot 3. Rein;a large Red Garden Watering-pan, also
•
the property of Mr. Mines, was now exhibited.
- 13ean7N—That's to consecrate the ground.
A variety. of observations were freely made in various
p-rla of the Hall. Among them we heard the following:
The Bishop's more rogue than fool ;" " The Church
Las got so dry, they're going to water it;" " Tho founda-
tions h got the dry rot."
The a being no biddtr, the pan was taken away amidst
loud cheers.

[Mr. Mines's rate was 63.1
Lot 4, a Dozen of Marble Worsted t seized from
Mr. Pochin, Cmhk-,,:srect, were exhibitledlnlidst shout-
biisieg, and groaning; but there bein
they were tiriten away again. g no bidder,
Lot 3, SIZ Pairs Hcsc of the same kind, being slen-
der men's, 20 girage, were exhibited amidst great u roar,
and and removed, in consequience of there being no biddi'
~Sore ono here exclairneg, " This is a step to the n"r
Charter,'
[Mr. Pochin's rate 1M 53. 41.]
Lot 6, was a Peir of Scales and Beam, seized from Mr,
'Weser, butcher, Markot whcso, shop is welliknown
for the excellent meat ;acre sold. Rate 33. 101 The
appear.ince of the scales called forth cries of "Justice,
justice;" The Church is weighed in the balance, and