The Sun.
London, England, 1823-10-11 00:00:00

[13111'11611 ESL]

The system of forgery recently introduced in-
to the banking and commercial world, by extract-
Mg the, entire written substance of a draft or
check, leaving only the name of the drawer,
which, being the authority for the payment, can-
not fail to give effect to the fraud, is extending
itself in a manner that excites a daily increase
of alarm, it being attended with consequences
the most ruinous in every branch of the mer-
cantile. world. Checks in several instances,
as low as fifteen and twenty pounds, have been,
through this means, made payable for sums as
high as twelve and fifteen hundred. We saw
yesterday the blank checks of a banking-house
in the thy, which, in order to guard against this
new [node of forgery, were printed upon a light
rose.coloured paper, in consequence of which
the chemical liquid applied to take out the
written contents must at the same time extract
the colour from the paper, which, as far as applies
to bankers' drafts, is, perhaps, the best preven-
tive that can. be derived. But, unfortunately, it
is protective of bankers' drafts only. 'While this
species of forgery is replete with the roost terri.
sfyidiengr
itci,
l,y
reflectionspl and anticipations to all who con-
in all its bearings, what a danger-
ous power does it place in the hands of any Ws-
, honest individual to whose care wills are entrusted,
or who has the confidential custody of any legal eon.
veyance or written instrument connected ,with the
transfer of property whether Iryet,iuuresat :ay
e I)ytl ee
or by any one of the, endless e,o transac-
tions of any kind •that. are confirmed by authen-
ticated signiture I We really think that mecha-
nical ingenuity and chemical skill cannot be
.better, or even more profitably employed, than in

contriving some mode by which this dangerous
power may be effectively counteracted. As it
exists at present ; and, we deeply regret to add,
exists' with increasing temptation, it goes to
the neutralizing the security of all written
instruments, and to shake the confidence of
commercial dealing in the attestation of all ne-
gociable instruments. If carried to the extent
of which it is obviously capable, it tends gra-
dually to destroy all the value of paper currency
as a circulating medium.' The important ques-
tion, whether the bankers, or the party keep-
ing cash with them, are to s ustain the loss,
under the many forgeries already committed,
by obliterating the sum drawn for by the
original bill, and substituting one of much
higher amount, the genuine signature remaining,
will be soon submitted to the verdict of a court
of law. The question is one of the deepest in-
terest to both parties. In the mean time we most
earnestly recommend the subject to the serious
attention of all those whose pursuits may lead
them to the discovery of some means of putting a
stop, if possible, to a species of fraud, the most
mischievous in itself and fatal in its operation, to
which the confiding security of human intercourse
has ever yet been exposed.

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

[From the Dublin Correspondent.]
THE REFORMATION—MIL COBBET'r —THE PRE-
LATES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
[Pala VII.]
That portion of the public Press which es•
pouses the cause of the Roman Catholics, uniformly employs
the language of vituperation and offence whenever the Church
of England, its property, or its ministers, happens to be subject
of an animadversion. The Protestants of Ireland do not suffer
those things to escape them ; and they rarely fail to draw just
inferences from the multitude of' examples of this sort, which
are perpetually apprising them of the grand attack which is me-
ditated against their religion. If the observations of the press
were the only indications extant of enmity to the Established
Church, they would not deserve any notice—they could be ac,
counted for upon many grounds, more likely to excite contempt
than resentment. But appearing in times like the pre-
sent, when the title of the Protestant Church to existence
is challenged—when one Roman Catholic Prelate brands her
as " the mother of iniquity"—when another reproaches
her Dignitaries with want of clerical ordination, and of
any claim to either the ministry of the gospel, or the enjoy-
ment of their property, when another refers to her unauthorised
usurpations, as calling for the miraculous manifestations of
the divine favour to console the Church of Rome in its humi-
lity—when a dominant overbearing spirit is abroad, polemical
in every sense, and impatient to disown the little compromises
of its hostility and hatred ; in such times and circumstances,
the language of this part of the Press, to which allusion has
been made, must be taken as one of the units in the aggrega
tion of force which is drawn out against the Established Church
in particular, and Protestantism in general. We must agree
with a contemporary Journal in the reality of that interne feel-
ing, and ardent sensibility, which prevail throughout the Em-
pire upon the subject of religion, and which away with over-
ruling influence the members of the Churches of England and
Rome especially ; for, indeed, if there were no other reason,
the denunciation fulminated against the former by Mr. Cobbett
would be sufficient almost to account for the troubled and ex-
cited sensation which prevades the entire mass of British So-
ciety. The public advice given to annihilate the Protestant
Church in Ireland, as a iece of essential policy, may well ac_
count for sonic share of the feeling which at present shews itself
p
so portentously. We cannot agree with our contemporary in any
other respect; and we marvel much that the reproachful lan-
guage employed in derogation of the Ministers of the Church of
Ireland, should be, conceived by our contemporary to be one of the
medicaments forassuaging the feverish antipathies of sects, or
one of the emolietits far the malady, the depth and extent of
which he testifies with so much ingenuousness and candour.
It is now the fashion to assert, that the property of the Church
was conferred for masses and various devotional acts, which
are not observed by the Church of England, and that therefore
this Church has no title to her possessions. in the first place;
it is not true that this is the origion of the manner in which the
Church became a kOprietary--in the next place, if it were, the
deduction isa fallacy. The largest endowments of the Church
were made before the ritual of the Church of Rome had exist-
.ence—before political ingenuity adjusted the discipline and
practice of that Church, in the manner and most likely to ex-
tend its temporal authority and power. The Syrian Christian
Churches, which Vasco de Game discovered in Malabar in
1503, and which had then existed for thirteen hundred years
under a succession of Bishops appointed by the Patriarch of Antioch, retained some of the fundamentals of the original
Church, which the Church of Rome laid aside, and the
revival of which, since the Reformation., she has con-
demned as heresy. The Portuguese, on their arrival,
says Dr. Claudieus Buchannan, " were agreeably Bur-
prised to find upwards of a hundred Christian churches
then on the coast of Malabar. But when they became ac.
quaintest with the purity and simplicity of' their worship, they
were offended. c 'These churches,' said the Portuguese, be-
long to the Pope.' Who is the Pope ?' said the natives we never heard of him.' The European Priest were yet mole
alarmed, when they found that these Hindoo Christains main-
tained the order and discipline of a regular Church under
Episcopal jurisdiction; and that, for 1,300 years past, they had
enjoyed a succession of Bishops appointed by the Patriarch of
Antioch. We,' said they, are of the true faith, whatever
you from the West may be ; fbr we come from the place
where the followers of Christ were first called Christiana.'_..
When the power of' the Portuguese became sufficient for
their purpose, they invaded some of those tranquil Churches,
seized some of the Clergy, and devoted them to the death
of heretics. Then the inhabitants heard, for the first
time, that there was place called the Inquisition; and that
its res had been lately lighted at Goa, near their own land,"
At a compulsory Synod, )r. Buchannan states, one hundred
and fifty of the Syrian Clergy appeared ; and
whet were the
'charges brought against them by their intolerant and cruel ac-
cusers ? Let those who talk of the novelty of the Church of
England and her tenets, mark them, and be silent. Those
Bishops were accused of practices and opinions which they had
maintained from a few years after the passion of our Saviour to
the year 1503—namely, " that they married wives ; that they
owned but two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper;
that they neither invoked Saints, nor worshipped images, nor
believed in purgatory, &c." The spirit of to-day in Ireland
is what it was in Portugal in 1503 ; but it cannot prevail, we
should hope, here, as it did on the coast of Malabar, when the
Inquisition was ascendant, and overcast the pure and genuine Churches of Christ with its dark and dreadful terrors.—
The Clergy of the Church of England are told that they
are to stand mute while they possess the goods which
Elo not belong to them—" the goods the Clods provide them"
is the admonitory phrase. They are permitted perhaps to
quake in silence, while the insolent clamour of a lying hosti-
lity is thundering in their cars ; they are admonished to lick
the hand just raised for their spoliation, in meek and humble
deference—and they are vigorously upbraided for daring to
manifest, even in the compromising way, their sense of their
danger—and the impending contest is generally expressed with
the feelings and sentiments of human beings. One of the
strongest Journals any where in its zeal for the Roman Catho.
lic claims, rails at the Protestant Prelates for chewing some
slight indications of their opinions at the enorthous lies:circu-
lated concerning their properties, and the innumerable mis-
representations of themselves and of their Church ; while the
hunger And cupidity of fatiaticisin and civil rapine are enlarged
front the kennel, and hallooed against them. Let the Protes-
tant Prelates shape their course by this ignominious and das-
tardly counsel—let them tremble in silence while they are
hunting clown with the full cry of calumny—let them be re-
creant to the example which their Noble Army of Martyrs
have bequeathed thern—let them palpitate, not for their
goodsfaith, but far " the goods the Gods provide them,"--and
they will be trampled under foot, we tell them—and none
will say, God save them. lint let them he really that,
for which they are undemervedly, reproached—Act them faint
not in the glorious task assigned them—let them be in
the van of, e eembatants, at their predecessors of old
Powerful, and indefatigable. .14et them
were--and their followers will be numerous enough for
victory, faithfid,
not tear to visit their- dioceses, to instruct them boldly in
their conscientious teak, to keep their Clergy firm, encouraged,
and etedfast in their zeal, and their lay flocks religiously warm-
:et! in the noble cease for which their forefathers obtained the
palms of holy triumph, anti the living laurel of liberty—and
they will be supported ; there will be no want of learning and
talent, and reason, and constancy to sustain the mighty cause of
the Church, when her Prelates act their parts. The world is
too quick-31014A now for - compromises, every day men are
destroyed in public character by their hot and cold fits. Once
for all, then, let men take their parts, as a celebrated Barrister

advises his " Catholic" friends. And of all things we would
humbly say to our revered Prelates, that they should avoid the
pestiferous liberality, which, like the narcotic poison, numbs
and paralyses, and causes such as imibe it to think themselves
sound, when they are only insensible.b Let them look with calm
and serene composure upon all the worshippers of thatdebauch•
ins phantom called popularity, which intoxicates even wiseand
l men sometimes—for its false and faithless rewards
are only bestowed on those who act as if they had no principle.•
but such as a Roman Catholic junta may sanction. Let our,
Prelates not deport themselves as if they held their power and
their property tortiously from others--let them assert themselves
with mild and manly constancy in all things becoming their,
holy and pre-eminent functions, and they will gather around
them, at this eventful period, thousands upon thousands, *ha •
are up to the crisis, and courageous enough to grapple with the
litter of abominations with which it is pregnant. England must
soon wake to these things which are passing—and which, should
they. run to their probable extremity, would shake the United
hmgdom to its fotindations, and rend it into its primitive dis-
tinctions of territory, and consign its parts to relentless alai-
pathies.