The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-01 00:00:00

EVE NING EDITION,

proper that they should present these statements, but when
Parliament called upon to legislate not for a sect,
but for a nation, it behoves them to enter more deeply
into the inquiry, and to ascertain what is the real defi.
cieney. According to ;the Reports of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, there are 10,742 parishes in England and
Wales, and from the population returns of 1831, we learn
that there are _

8,000 parishes with a population varying
from 10 individuals to l,OOO
2,430, with a population from l,OOO to .5,000
__ _ _

200

5,000 to 10,000

110, above
Each of these parishes contains a parish church, and it may
be fairly assumed that 10 000 of them at least have ample
church accommodation, while in many of the parishes
where the population exceeds 5,000 there is, undoubtedly,
a deficient supply ; but even in tlise selected by the
Commissioners, each with a population exceeding
10.000, the deficiency is by no means to the extent
that these reports might seem to indicate. Let
us next inquire as to the large towns and manufac-
turing districts selected by the Commissioners, and first of
the metropolitan parishes,with their population of 1,137,000,
and in which there are now 194 churches and episcopal
chapels which affird accommodation to 126,480 persons ;
nod 256 chapel:,, not of the Establishment, which, accord-
ing to tile Rev. Baptist Noel, will accommodate an equal
number of hearers. So that in reality there is double the
quantity of accommodation for religious wolship to that
stated by the Church Commissioners
Of tue districts in Lancashire in the diocese of
Chester, with a population of
there is Church room for .........97,700
Chapel accommodatior 97,700

195,400

In the County of Lancaster there are 68 ptris'aes, con-
tainn.r,'32l Churches and Episcopal Chapels, and 530
Chapels not of the Establishment.

LIVERPOOL.

Episcopal Churches and Chapels
Other places of Worship .16
The estimate of average attendance is as follows :
In the Establishment
Dissenting Congregations
Roman Catholics (communicants) 12,000

Population, 168.175.

bO,OOO

95,000

rc'urn nearly corresponds with that made by the
Town Clerk of Liverpool, and is independent

of Sunday School Scholars, of whom there are
belonging to the Cliurch 6,000
To the Dissenters, Methodists, and Catholics 13,000

MANCHESTER AND sALroHu.
Population 272,761.

Accommodation.
29 Churches and Chapels of the Establishment 33,000
71 Chapels not of the Establishment 43,700

SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
In the Borough of Manchester.

25 Sci,oolg of the EEtabli3hedlurch
6l Schools not of the EstabLstancht

In tile Town of Leeds there are—

76,700

Scholars.
10,2'37
22,909

33,196

Accommodation.
13;235

Churches 9 ...
Independent Chapels
Catholics
Wesleyan Methodi,ts
Methodists not Wesleyans 9 ... 4,980
Miscellaneous

29 39,73 i
As appears from the statistical returns made in the year
1839:

Population, 82,121.
In the Sheffield Union there is Church and Ch" Tel
accommodation, from the Returns made by the C.,.rks
of the Poor-law Union in 1838, as follows :
Churches. Accommodation.
In Sheffield
Attencliffo and 13rightsidc 1 ... ,000
Flandsworth

Dissenting places.

In Sheffield IB
At tenclifie and Brigiaside 8 ...
Har,:is worth

16.095
3 520
1 OSO

20,695

31.4:a

Population, 71,720.
NOTTINGHAM.
Return made by Oz. Town Clerk to Parliament.
Churches
Dis,,enting Chapels
These fire Churches are estima:ed to contain... 5,800
And the Dissenting Chapels l2 000

17,600

Population, 56,680.
Exclusive of 6,726 Sunday-school Scholars; of
1,678 belong to the Established Church, and 5,048 to
the Dissenters. tt
a'gMlNc."A,t.
In the Diocoe of Lichfield and Coventry there arc
17 Churches and Chapels of the Esta-
blishment, accommodating 23.600 persons.
44 Chapels not of the E:tahlishment,
which accommodate

34,700

The population of Birmingham according to the Census
of Ibsl amounted to 146,956 and it has since increased
considerably.
There are 15 Sunday Schools of the Establishment
giving instruction to 4,565 Scholars.
There are 41 Sunday Schools not of the Establish-
ment, giving instruction to 12,101 Scholars.
From these R turns it appears that the accommodation
at Public Worship in the large manufacturing districts of
the kingdom is by no means so defisient as the House
will be led to suppose from the Retu-na of the
Chiveh Commissioners, upon which the Hon. Baronet
wishes the House to legislate. These exam-
ples might be multiplied to almost any extent
with similar result,., and, I must say, that w thin my own
experience, I scarcely ever knew an instance of any family
poor, or rich, who had a desire to attend a place of rcic--
gious worship, and who showed that desire by their con-
duct, that did not succeed in obtaining accommodation, and
who did not prove the truth of the observation of the old
divines, that '' where there is a will there is a way."
The Ecclesiastical Statistics of this couatry arc
most reprehensibly deflecnt, but according to the
best calculations made upon the subject, there is church
1, and chapel accommodation for about one half the wholc
j number of the population, and of that accommodation
nearly one half is furnished by the Dissenters, the Metho-
dists, and the Roman Ca:holics. In the year 1639 re-
turns were made to the Poor-law Commissioners front
246 Unionq, comprehending something more than one-
, thitd of the population of England and Wales. These
returns have not yet been laid before Parliament, and
they are described as not very accurate in their details,
but they arc said to exhibit the following results :
RETURNS MADE TO THE FOOR-LAW COMMISSIONERS IN 1838.
Churches and Chapels of the .Esta-
blishment
Dissenting Placas, probably includ-
ing Licensed R-)onas 4,900
Accommodation in Church's,

1, 730,C0n

for
Ditto in Dissenting and other Cha-
pels not of the Establishment for 1,530,000
In ordrr to show what has been effected by the various
classes of l'r,-)testant Dissenters to supply the people of
this country with religious instruction, and at what cost
they have effected that object, it may be stated from tho
most authentic sources of information, that the number of
Dissenting Chapels in England and Wales amount to up-
wards of 8,000, as follows :

Congregat;ollq.

Congr, gationalists or Independents :>,060
B.ptists 1,460
Presb)

3.t)52

Wesleyan and other Methodists 3 720
Calvanistic Methodists

Welsh Methodists

8,072
Exclu-ire of 500 Roman Catholic chapels, and 4b3 Home
Missionary stations, and a vast number of rooms licensed
for preaching, The cost of erecting these chapels, and
the purchase of the land upon which they stood, has varied
from 500/. to 10,0001., and may be fairly,taken at an avc-
r3ge of 1,000/. each, making an aggregate expenditure
of £8,000,00i1

The stipends paid to Dissenting ministers by
their congregations, vary from SOL to 4001.
a year, and average 150/. each, making in
the whole
The contributiot,s to the poor of their respec-
tive congregations, the cist of repairs, and
other expenses of places of public worship,
with their theological seminaries, and con-
tributions to Missionary and other reli4ious
Societies, and to the education of the poor
children in their Sunday and day schools, is
estimated at

Nicking, in the whole an expenditure of £2,000,000
Su that the different denominations of Christians not of the
Established Church, after having expended from eight to
nine millions sterling in building places of worship for the
religious instruction of the people of this country, impose
upon themselves a voluntary tax of two millions a-year for
one of the noblest objects by which man can be actuated,
namely, a desire to impart moral and religious instruction
to his fellow-man, and that without receiving or asking
from the State, or from the Church, any part of their
rovcnues. If these be facts, and they are incontrovertible,
I would ask this House if it is wise, or if it is jest, to force
from those who do so much of their own free-will, contri-
butions for the erection of edifice*, and for the support of
ministers, to whose doctrine or discipline they have con-
scientious objections ? As to the quality of instruction
given by the D;ssenters to that part of the people who
ehooce to receive at their hands religious knowledge,
I shall only say this, that such is the effect of that instruc-
tion, that very rarely indeed are Disset,ters to be found
either in your prisons or your workhouses. From the
first they are kept by the cultivation of religious habits
and moral principles, and from the last by that prudence
which is inculcated upon them in their youth, and which
regulates their conduct in their riper years. It was
totally unnecessary, it would be a total waste of the
public money to provide religious accommodation for all
the people. Many would not go to Church even if it
were brought home to them; there were many who
could not attend, and a very large class who would attend
their own eharels, The ii.igbt Hon. 17)-aronot I'o srokeu