The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-16 00:00:00

our very life's blood as a nation depended upon it; and e
what duty, then, could rest more solemnly, more per-
manently on the English Minister than the duty of de-
fending the Church, and preserving not only her. ancient
.
rights and privileges, but also supplying her deficiencies
and increasing her resources, and making it coextensive
with the increasing wants of the people?—(Cheers.)
That was what a British Minister would do if he under-
stood his duty to the Church, to the monarchy, to the
Constitution, to the poor.—(Much cheering.) He would
not consent to alienate the already scanty revenues of
that Church from ecclesiastical reception. He would
not deprive that Church of her most sacred and essential
right of superintending the national education. They
were told that the Church could not be the true Church
of Christ if it required support from the State.
With the true Church of Christ its Divine head would
remain even to the end of the world, and against it the
gates of hell should not prevail. But what promise was
there that the ark of Christ should abide for ever within
our island ? They had no promise that infidel ascen-
dancy should never prevail amongst them, or that the
throne of Satan should never be set in this kingdom.
Was there not, then, reason that the national altar should
be defended and supported, and that the struggle for
that purpose should be a determined one ? It was com-
plained that people ought not to be taxed for a Church
to which they did not belong. However, he (Dr. Ken-
nedy) believed that to be the great political heresy of
the day. He believed that to be the grand Anti-Conser-
vative principle, and if concession were made to that
principle, then farewell to the Church of England ; fare-
well to the national name and national happiness.
Believing that the growth of ecclesiastical
power, accompanied. as it is with much legal ex-
tortion and many appeals to supernatural terror,
is dangerous to the peace and well-being of so-
ciety, because it is opposed to the progress of
knowledge, we deplore and condemn that earnest-
ness and activity in every priesthood which our
Contemporary rejoices to behold.
To what it tends, and at what it aims, may be
inferred from a discourse lately delivered by the
Rev. Mr. CLOSE to the Members of the Church
of England Tradesmen and Workmens' Asso-
ciation at Cheltenham, in which he asserted that
" the mind of man is the great fountain of sin,
and the curse of the human race." " There is
no human knowledge which is not the basis of all
wickedness." It is well known to the profane,
and acutely felt by the priesthood, that their ex-
istence and the progress of knowledge are incom-
patible; and, therefore, like the Reverend
Mr. CLOSE, they teach that knowledge is the
basis of wickedness, and the mind of man
the great fountain of sin. Of course the doc-
trine is supremely false, for sin and wickedness
have faded away as knowledge has advanced,
as the mind has been opened and expanded,
and has poured forth more of the treasures of
observation. But the priesthood claim to be the
chosen depositaries of a peculiar saving grace ;
and to ensure the belief in their own power, they
must preach that the mind is the great curse of
the human race, and knowledge the basis of all
wickedness. What a doctrine for the country-
men of NEWTON and WATT to adopt ! The
earnestness and activity of the clergymen in
preaching such doctrine rejoices the Morning
Chronicle; and it must therefbre be incumbent
on all Liberals, and particularly on all good
Whigs, to aid the Church in trampling know-
ledge out of existence, and sealing up the " foun-.
taro of sin" in darkness and night for ever.

One of the faults of the Whigs when in office
was that they kept their plans secret till they

brought them forward in Parliament; and there-
fore they very often failed to secure public sup-
port for propositions which timely discussion
would probably have made universally accept-
able. While they were in office we censured
that course, and we advocated the principle of
discussing measures by the public before they
were presented. to Parliament tq bE.. ratified.
The justification of such a course is obvious.
The measures are intended for the public benefit;
and in this country, to make them efficacious
they must be supported ; and indeed they can

only be carried into effect by public opi-

nion. To secure that support, it is not
sufficient that the measures have the appro-
bation of Parliament, they ought also to be
discussed and approved of by the public.
That is the doctrine of every free Government,

and the doctrine of common sense. It was the
original practice, too, for all great measures
were originally debated in numerous assemblies
of the 1-2,-eople, and the representative system,
howfrier convenient, is only an approach to des-
Tv3tism, if the representatives are finally to de-
,
cide, exclusive of the people.
But if such a course were reprehensible in

the Whigs, what are we to say to the Tories?
The country is in a state of deep distress; the
finances are dilapidated; the measures which
were suggested to relieve commerce and re-

plenish the public coffers, were unceremoniously
rejected without examination; the Tories have
been upwards of two months in possession
of the Government, and they disdain even
to hint, with anything like authority, at
the measures to which public attention

ought to be directed. Go on with the
present system of commercial regulations,
the present system of taxation, and the
present scale of expenditure, the country cannot.

Sir R. PEEL and his faction have said that the
commercial regulations shall not be altered in
any beneficial sense; and the public, which does
not confide exclusively in him, has a right to
know at least something of the principles on
which he means to act. The nation looks with
anxiety to the future ; and it is treating the
people too much like slaves, to give them no in-.
formation as to what their rulers mean to
propose.

Sir R. PEEL will not be persuaded, by those of
Lis colleagues who were parties to bringing in
the Reform Bill, to lay a measure on the table
of Parliament, which will take away the breath
of the Liberals with delight, and he would do
well, therefore, to secure the co-operation of the
public for that plan he is to stake his reputation
on, by divulging, as speedily as possible, its lead-
ing features.
Such a course would not diminish the confi-
dence of his own friends, and it might secure
the support of some Liberals. If, for example,
he contemplates a comprehensive plan of emi-
gration, we can promise him the zealous co-ope-
ration of a great number of the journals that arc
theoretically Liberal. They would prepare the
people to enter heartily into such a plan; and
Sir ROBERT would find, by the time he brought
it forward, that it might be carried with ease.
In this country it is less the business of a Mi-
nister to carry measures in spite of his opponents,
than with their reluctant and sulky admission that
his measures are useful. While the public are
insulted, therefore, by such a marked and
studious concealment of projects, which are to
affecty d
votheirul dearest interests, the Ministers lose,
by their secresy, the advantages of that support
he
be sure to receive for honest and
wise measures.
If it be intended, indeed, to give the public
no time for deliberation, though the Ministers
have taken so much for themselves ; and if
it be expected that, by thrusting off all
knowledge of the Ministers' projects till the
very last moment, they must be carried,
whatever they may be, because longer delay
will be impossible, such a cunning cotrivance
will be felt as a studied insult, and will irritate
even those who, like Mr. WAKLEY, are uro-ent
to give Sir ROBERT PEEL a fair trial, and make
them his determined foes. We repeat, in con-
clusion, that measures intended to benefit the
public, and of which the public must be the ulti-
mate judges, cannot be too soon laid before them.

We learn with pleasure from a Correspondent
at Leeds, that the Parliamentary Reform Asso-
ciation in that town has formed a library and a
news-room,
well supplied with periodical litera-
ture, and proposes to have lectures delivered on
political subjects in the course of the winter.
The beginning was made by Mr. HAMER STANS-
FELD on yesterday week, who spoke on machi-
nery and monopoly-. His lecture has been
printed. Other gentlemen will deliver lectures
on some similar subjects, and it is to be hoped
that by such exertions great progress will be
made in extending sound political knowledge.
%Ye ugree with our Correspondent, that, at (110
present time, associations for the diffusion of such