The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-24 00:00:00

Zille 'lll,.

LONDON:
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1840.

One of the offences with which the Times charges
the Dispatch, is a depreciation of Christianity.
The oldest form of Christianity known is the Ro-
man Catholic Church. Though there may be cor-
ruptions in that Church, as in the Church of Eng-
land, it is undoubtedly a Christian Church, closely
resembling the Church of England, venerable from
its great antiquity, and its extensive influence over
many countries. I It was the great instrument for
spreading Christianity through Europe ; and in the
barbarous ages did more to hurnanise the
people, than ever has been done by the Church of
England. If any Church have a right to claim
the exclusive merit of being a Christian Church, it

is the Church of Rome, which, from the beginning
of Christianity, has preserved the faith alive in its
bosom, however mutilated. Now, it would be
hopelessly impossible for the Dispatch, were it to
try, from week to SvCCI:, to surpass the vilification
which the Times and the Standard have heaped
on that form of Christianity, calling its priests
surpliced ruffians, and declaring that its services
and its sacraments were abominations. Seeing
those Journals have done that, it is clear that they
have no respect in the abstract for Christianity
but for a political and party purpose they espouse
the cause of the Church of England ; and because
the Dispatch has said of that Church a tithe of
what they have said of the Romish Church, these
two hypocritical journals decry the Dispatch as the
enemy of religion. It is altogether a sectarian
quarrel, and though the Dispatch attacks the
Church of England, it is no more opposed to reli-
;ion than the Times and the Standard which daily
vituperate the Church of Rome.
The Livery of London must, on this occasion,
be reminded that the intolerant persecuting sect, of
which the Times and the Standard are the organs,
have kept TllonocooD in gaol for many months for
ss. 6d.; that they seek in every parish in the kingdom
to levy a tax on Dissenters to put it into their
pockets ; that tl:c Church of England is the key-
stone of the Tory policy,
and the barrier a.c;tinst all
political and social improvement ;
that partly for its
advantage the Ccrn-la,A
are maintained, and jie,tice
denied to Ireland ; that it has embroiled Canada,
and actually devastated Ireland ; and it is to eratify
this Church that the Livery are called on by the
Tory Journals to reject Mr. IIAtIIER from the
Mayoralty. Till we gee the call effectually an-
swered we will not believe that' it is possible for the
.
Livery of Loudon to countenance, by
rejecting 'ri
HARMER, the most mischievous spiritual tyranny
that ever was fixed on the necks of a leng-s fferirg
people.
The Tories pretend to have an exclusive venera-
tion for the Bible. It is their rule of conduct.
Whenever they cart find anything in it which

serves tile purpose of their tyranny, they quote it,
and conclude that its authority must overbear
human reason. Be it so for this occasion. We
require to know what part of it authorises them to
describe free discussion as wickedness. The De-
calogue denounces murder, but it commands men
to speak truth. It forbids bearing false-witness,
which is daily done by the Tories ; but it
commands men to worship the one true GOD,
and prohibits them from having any other gods.
The Church of England, however, worships CRAN-
MER ; it is enslaved by EDWARD VI., and is
given up, body and soul, to the authors
of the Thirty-nine Articles. To say nothing of the
Golden Calf it worships in every Bishop, it has in
saints and apostles and inspired men an immense
number of idols whom it continually interposes
between man and GOD, and whom it superstitiously
worships, making these dead men the lords of the
living generation. The Decalogue forbids many
things which are done by the Church, but it no
where forbids men to expose false pretensions,
to tear the mask from hypocrisy, to discuss
systems of Governments, or Church Establish-
tnents, or to examine into the foundations
of any merely political contrivance. Nevertheless
the Tories cry out wickedness against the Dis•
patch for writing against their corruptions. They
are cunning, and expect, by shouting against others,
that they will be left at liberty to practise their own
peculiar wickedness unchecked. For the idola-
trous, irreEgious, tyrannical Tories to accuse the
Dispatch of wickedness, when it has violated no
one of the Divine commands, while they habitually
violate several, is the height of hypocrisy and im-
pudence.

We rejoice to see that The Sun will not have to
fight this great battle alone. We have a powerful
auxiliary in the Morning Advertiser. The morn-
ing and evening Journals which are most closely
connected with the Ministry, have not vet spoken a
word in opposition to the nefarious scheme of the
Tories. We hope that their silence is not to be
construed as another evidence of the talked-of coali-
tion, to the success of which Mr. HARMER is to
be sacrificed.

We referred, a few days ago, to the gradual
limitation of Bank-notes in use, as a specimen of
the silent and unobserved alterations going on in
society, which make such inquiries as that lately
instituted by the House of Commons into Banks
of Issue, and such projects as that of having only
one Bank of Issue, little better than matters of
moonshine. Since then, we notice that the sub-
ject has occupied the attention of the British As-
sociation at Glasgow ; and Mr. LEATHAm, whose
pamphlet we some time ago reviewed, astonished
the President of a Section, Colonel SYKES, by
stating the probable amount of bills in circulation,
and what a vast proportion they form of the circu-
lating medium. A pamphlet containing some re-
marks confirming these views, and entitled " Sketch
of Country Bank Practice," &c., has just
reached us, from which we quote the following

passage :
The circulation of notes has of late years undergone,
and is still undergoing, considerable changes by the- ge-
neral introduction of cheques ; in former times they were
but a small portion of the circulating medium ; few per-
sons, except professional men and others residing in
towns, kept banking accounts, and even these were in the
habit of drawing cheques of large amount only, receiving
notes in exchange,. and circulating them in payment' of
smaller accounts. The practice now is for persons of
almost every rank in life, gentry, farmers, tradesmen,
and dealers of every description, to open banking ac-
counts, and draw an indefinite number of cheques of
almost any amount, so that in the exchanges constantly
had among bankers, two-thirds of the amount arc now
in cheques, the remainder only in notes, whereas a few
years ago the proporthms would have been just the Ceti-
trary. In truth the nottr.eirettlation ' i4' ndw'anclllary
only to the far larger amount of niseqtiei: "Theeffeets
of this change are beneficial to all' parties.; it`givii:.the
banker a clearer insight into the extent and character
of his customers' business, it enables him to judge better
of the nature of their transactions, and it is the hest, and
surest ground on which a customer can found his appli-
cation for just and proper accommodation, in addition
to forming in him habits of order and cco-,oiny in his
money transactions. I need hardly dwell on the subject
to slim how intimately and directly system of cheques
bears on the note-circulation, an, therefore I shall add
one only familiar instance.
Formerly when a fari,:ier sold cattle or grain to the
amount' of, say, lON, he went to his banker, and ex-
changed whatewle he received in payment into country
notes, and ce:;ried them home, circulating them one by
one, as b. is occasion required ; now he pays the money
into Lis banker's hands on account, and draws cheques
at pleasure, which to all intents and purposes perform
the part and take the place of the notes.
The facility of remittance now inclines persons to
take drafts on London for the purpose of making pay-
ments even at short distances from their homes, and the
opportunity of compounding for stamps enables bankers
to afford the public the advantages and security of a bill
of exchange for this purpose at a very short date ; this
again has a direct bearing on the circulation, and much
resembles cheques in its nature and effect.
All these operations being fully carried out and fami-
liar to a large class of persons, renders banking transac-
tions very extensive, and vast sums daily change hands
with perfect order and security.
Those who undertake to regulate the currency
will hardly meddle with checks and bank accounts,
and unless they do, they will not succeed in re-
straining the circulation within due and proper
limits. We shall reserve for another occasion the
description which this author gives of the utility of
country bankers, which may possibly contribute to
make those daring men who are eager to regulate
that of which they scarcely know the existence,
pause in their mad career, and deem it as prudent
to let the business of banking be regulated by the
wants of the community as by Act of Parliament,

The Times has published, in a second edition,
the following important news from Spain, copied
from the official columns of the Moniteur Pc..risien
of Tuesday night, received by extraordinary express
from Paris :

" By a decree of the, Hith inst., the Queen has ac-
cepted the resignation of the &man Ministry.
" By a decree of the same day she has named Gene-
ral Espartero :President of the Council of Ministers,
conferring on him the powers necessary to enable him to
form the Cabinet himself.

" General Espartero has accepted the office."
The nomination of ESFARTERO to the Presi-
dency of the Council, may avert, for a time at
least, the danger apprehended from a change in the
Regency. From the Madrid papers of the 15th
inst. it appears that the project of a National Con-
vention, composed of delegates from all the Spanish
provinces, was contemplated by the Junta of the
capital ; and that one of the first acts of such a
convention would have been to join as Co-Regent
with Queen CHRISTINA, ESPARTERO and some
other Spaniard of distinction. It was, moreover,
known that some members of the Madrid Junta
were ready to proclaim Spain as a Republic in the
event of the QUEEN refusing to conjoin any persons
with her in the Regency during the minority of
ISABELLA 11. 'These projects will, we trust, k
now abandoned. The presence of EspAnTErto iln
the Ministry will constitute a sufficient guarantee
that the machine or Government will no longer
move in a retrograde direction. The first act of tile
illustrious President of the Council will naturally
he the dissolution of the Cortes, which will afra rd
Constitutional Spain an opportunity of returning
representatives incapable of voting away the liber-
ties of their country at the instigation of a corrupt
faction behind the Throne. A Liberal Cabin et,
ando tan honest presentative Assembly, can have
h no. to
fear Re
from the intrigues of a Court.
n
which has forfeited popular confidence. Under
such circumstances, Queen CHRISTINA will
be less dangerous as Regent than she woult
be if sent into exile. As regards herself she will
be be t a mere cipher, but even as a cipher she will
incra se ten-fold the influence of the Cabinet in