The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1840.

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

In the forthcoming number of Tait's Magazine
there is an interesting and conclusive article on the
Veto question, which is now agitating Scotland from
the Tweed to John O'Groat's. The writer endeavours
to prove, and it must be admitted he does so with
some effect, that the great object of Dr. Chalmers and
his party is not to give the people the choice of their
ministers, but to increase the ecclesiastical and civil
power of a party, and place the whole Church patro-
nage of Scotland in the hands of the clergy. In se-
veral instances strong evidence is afforded that this
imputation is well founded. The clergy, who call out
for the Veto, claim the power of excluding all whom
they consider improper persons from their communion.
In some of the Highland parishes many of the most
respectable inhabitants have been deprived of
Church privileges. In one the number of com-
municants has been reduced to ten, and in an-
other, to five or six, all the favourites and creatures
of the clergyman, and these will 'nave the sole privi-
lege of filling up the next vacancy. The writer of
the article naturally asks, " Why limit the right of
dissent to the heads of families in communion with
the Church ? These are generally but few in number
—in the case of Daviot they amounted to only ten—
why should not the whole congregation—nay, why
should not the whole parish join in the choice ? The
Churchman will smile at this, for he has his reasons,
and they are very cogent. Church ordinances are not with
us, as they are in England, privileges to which the people
are entitled, they are boons which the Church confers,
and which she may refuse when she thinks fit." We
have heard much of the cunning of the Jesuits—sti 1
more of the tyranny and absolutism of Catholic priests,
but of all the attempts to delude the people and to
introduce, under the cloak of religious privileges, the
most complete ecclesiastical despotism, the attempt of
Dr. Chalmers appears the most daring, cunning, and
Jesuitical. Why, if the principle on which he acts
were carried out—and if not checked the Kirk will
carry it out, for the priesthood, whether Jewish, Catho-
lic, Protestant, or Presbyterian, have ever aimed at
supreme power—Scotland would be placed in a worse
condition than any of the most priest-ridden com-
munities in the world. The majority of the
Scottish clergy at present are in fact calling
on the Legislature to give them power to op-
press the people. If the non-intrusion principle is
ceded, no man could vote fora Clergyman without the
consent of the Church. The whole Ecclesiastical fran-
chise would be in her hands. The minister of the pa-
rish, in order to strike off communicants, may say to
one, " thou art a drunkard," to another, " thou dost
not perform family worship," to a third, " thou encou-
ragest dancing and singing," and, in short, he may al-
lege a pretence for depriving a man of his vote without
any one to gainsay him. The same party would
have Church Extension, thus burdening Dissenters,
Catholics, and Episcopalians, for a State Re-
ligion, over which they have supreme con-
trol. Nay, more ; compensation must be made to
the present patrons if the scheme is carried into effect,
and the whole of the country must be mulcted to gratify
the worldly ambition of men who profess to have in
view only the eternal welfare of the people and the
purification of a Church that has long held the first
rank among the Christian Churches of Europe. We
are quite convinced that no Government can succeed in
any scheme like that proposed by the General As-
sembly. If they propose a reform, and we admit it is
wanted, let it be a Radical reform. Let there be uni-
versal suffrage—let the whole male inhabitants of every
parish have a vote in the election of the clergyman,
and let compensation be made to the patrons, who have
enjoyed the right of presenting to livings for the last cen-
tury and a half. At present the people of Scotland are
placed, in consequence of the pretensions of the Clergy,
in the most humiliating condition. The Missionaries
sent forth by the Commission, but interdicted by the
Court of Session, have issued handbills (better named
Presbyterian Bulls) in several parishes, warning the
parishioners not to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper, the rite of marriage, nor baptism for their chil-
dren, from their own pastors, as the ceremonies would
be void and null. The article in the Magazine thus
sums up the mischievous results which must ensue
from the combined aggressions of the English as well
as the Scottish Church :

" To zealous and conscientious supporters of the Church
of Scotland, who are not too much infatuated by partizan-
ship to see the obvious tendency of these incidents, the
prospects of their favourite establishment must assume the
most gloomy and disastrous hue. To the friends of
Voluntary Church principles, the whole tissue of events is
merely a phase of the natural workings of an Established
Church, leading to this satisfactory conclusion, that such
institutions, when their powers are unscrupulously stretched,
are found to contain the elements of self-destruction in
their bosoms. These are not times when vigorous ex-
periments can be tried upon such aged subjects; and we
think we can perceive signs, that the more majestic esta-
blishment of our neighbours is beginning to exhibit internal
symptoms prognosticating a similar result."

THE WHALE FISHERY.—The only vessels
about to proceed from the port of Hull for the Northern whale
fishery this season are, the Abraham, Comet, Swan, and
Truelove. The Ellison and Duncombe, which were out last
year are not going. It seems from this, that this trade, which
once engaged nearly 70 ships from Hull, is now all but aban-
doned. Had it been so earlier it would have been all the better
for the prosperity of the port, —Hill Observer.
MR. BAILLIE ERASER'S NEW TRAVELS TN
THE EAST.—We are requested to state that the New Work
under the title of " Travels in Koordistan and Mesopotamia,
including an account of the parts of those countries hitherto
unvisited by Europeans, with Sketches of the character and
manners of the Koordish and Arab Tribes," by J. BaMie
Fraser,
.1.., with engravings)
. i Et sg,
Author
is
publishedr
of"'h
thiseKuzzi daylbasli,' &e. (in 2 vole
Bvby'
Mr. Bentley,
New Burlington- street, publisher in ordinary to her Majesty,
and can now be had of all Booksellers. Agents : for Scotland,
Messrs. Bell and Bradfute, Edinburgh ; for Ireland, Mr.'
J. Cumming, Dublin.