The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-24 00:00:00

F, VEN 11414 P. ON

-_~~_.

pose. Man, in all grades and varieties) exists by
the will of his CREATOR ; if he be happyi
and
he exists for no purpose of society or of the law-
giver. The priesthood are the creatures of the
law, and are maintained to teach the people reli-
gion and morality. Beautifully to a certain extent'
though with some little drawbacks of danger, have
the railways answered their purposes. Astonish'
ing is the celerity with which they convey
gers and goods from one end of the empire t° the
other. But numerous and opulent as are the
priest-
hood, long as they have been in existence, she'.
tercd and protected by the law, honoured by an ahlwr
compulsory attendance on their preaching, it is
their complaint that the people are Plunge
in heathenism, and it is a known fact that Or
passen
criminal calendars extend month by month and Year,
by year. The purpose, then, for which the priestllo
is instituted is not answered, and those terribler
evils we have mentioned, and which were Pwe:
fully adverted to at Norwich, are inflicted on society
,_
in vain. They are without compensation. if the
priesthood do not cause, as we believe they do, br
their avaricious example, and by their practice es
at variance with their preaching, many of the crilliog
and much of the heathenism of society, theY d 0

prevent them.
How should they ? They are divided am
ongal
themselves in opinion, and only agree in .stretehini.g
their consciences to subscribe the
their
they
scription to which secures them
What they care for is the wealth which the!
obtain by their vows. Amongst them there are qui!
Papists, Puseyites, Arminians, Calvinists, whoh
as the Scoters
are as much opposed to each other
Presbyterians and the followers of Rome.
From'
Articles, suo
the source of their calling they have none, they can
have none, of that holy enthusiasm valid' bes Pea
a deep, a solemn, and an abiding conviction.. TirY
d like
are paid like lawyers for what they teach, an
of tho
them, are regarded by the reflecting part
community, as taking fees to tell falsehoods'-'
nent
adhering to one formula, while they avow otherdifferent
opinions, and take different sides, can have n° tho
effect than to make the community believe
it is nothing but the bribery of the StaLe.esi
dowment which makes them teach the a'f°rme
cut and dry doctrines they coldly expound' ".enc:f
in ipite
of
in spite of all the bolstering of the law,
large incomes perpetually growing larger, in aVhteood
new churches and new endowments, the Priehst the
are falling into contempt, and are regarded 4 au.
multitude, whom it is desirable they should in
ence, with aversion and disgust. Their open,
pable, and heartless insincerity renders them utteth:
and hopelessly unfit to obtain any mastery over
minds of the people. matter
Now this is, we affirm, a most important
It under'
for the consideration of the Leaislature•To
takes to check crime and promote morality.
a.
this end it employs the whole of the terrible aPPits
ratus of criminal jurisprudence, inflicting by
tninala
penalties, perhaps, as much misery as the cri it
actually inflict on society ; and for doing Which
_0
that mote
can only answer on the supposition tig
misery would otherwise be inflicted their, if
actually suffered. If such be its function, anu t.
to attain that end it institute and support a Pries
hood, how can it answer to itself for still m
the derided priesthood of the Establishment? hTbelyd
affirm that they are most useful, but whY
they be implicitly confided in and believed, vest,
the railroad directors, who have a personal inter
a strong motive for good behaviour, are trot for one
moment to be trusted, but must be watched and ple„.ce„
under public control? Beyond their affirmation ,1"
c 911-
7;
is not the shadow of a proof that theyany benefit on society, in return for the vast iv
come annually bestowed on them. In the absence
of all such proof beyond the interested assertions
of the priesthood, Parliament cannot answer
to its conscience, if it have one, for con-
tinuing to
trust the safety of society
to such a bat-
tered, degraded, broken, and antiquated contrivance
as the endowed priesthood. Like railway dirge;
tors, it undertakes to conduct society to the end 0.
°
its journey ; and it is now plain that the expels to
machinery of the priesthood, which it em
floors
all
this end—bouncing at one time away
control, and at another crushing the people-..-Me
`not and cannot be made to answer the purpose.

M. GuezoT emphatically declared, in the speec"
which we yesterday published, " that the great
policy,—the superior interest of all the Powers ot
Europe is the maintenance of peace everywhere and
always." Such enlightened sentiments in tha
mouth of a French statesman, and now, we hope,
the ruling statesman of that empire, must give un
mixed satisfaction to all the peace-loving ptpeople 0
England. It was coupled with another stement
of which we have always felt the force, and which
teaches our statesmen a lesson,
tha
osing
t the con.
test in the East did not justify exp
the great interest of peace to the hazard uf
interruption. That gteat interest he said had ben
sacrificed to the minor interest of the East.
fie
did not say by whom sacrificed, but whoever flight
have been in fault, no possible circumstances could
justify any English Minister for entering
into
war with France, which would involve all Europe
for the interest, or even integrity, of the
Turkish
empire. Let us hope that the danger may now be
considered over ; and that the alarm which the
threatened interruption of peace has spread through
the whole empire, will only inspire our statesmen
with double caution, while it su enothens the
urinationdate
sucii
as willof there
speopleerve t
ht e
blessings
n so Ministers Ipienai :tee: s trio
is;t:ereuer(citnezgt
jotiteiTlh appreciatesto his
country.
peace
T The
es
atghreibcrunietaunies, o
theg
fostering smt earnilulgfactures, the roads of France, Inuc"
hands of peace and liberty; and lie
will not, we presume, remain at the head of affairs'
after providing for the continuance of tratiqillitY'
•
without attempting to promote the improvement °I
the peaceful arts, and so make France at
strong within herself, once
and a blessing to
social family of which she is so distinguised
the
hg re at
member.

The Times of to-day contains a great eulogt.
on the Whigs, and a severe condemnation of the
Tories, and it will not be less grateful to the former:
nor less grating to the latter, that it is unclesigOeti;
and, therefore, sincere. It says " that the force of
events would have assuredly secured Corpora'
tion Reform under a Tory Government, as much as
under a Whig one." According to this statement th•
Whigs in carrying that reform through only complied
with a necessity of society. They took counsel
of events, and endeavoured at least to make the
municipal institutions of the country conform
to, the wants of the people, and the circuity'
Nances of the times. But what did the Tories ?
Why they opposed that reform nearly by all the
means in their power. They carried evidence to
the Bar of the House of Commons against it, ana
rendered it as little efficient, when they could not stop
it, as possible Unwittingly the Tory Journal ha'
again given an accurate description of the 'foriel
They are not merely like the bandy-legged drum"
mer in the rear of the regiment or society, but
when its onward march is necessary for saft3S,
they command it to halt, and try to make it face..
about, in order to keep it plunged in the sands
of corruption, till the rising tide of ppp,...--
lar indignation overwhebm it. The Tories re-
sist, all they can, the force of circuuri