The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-02 00:00:00

Zif)A' '5-.1t1.1,.

LONDON:
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1840.

When we instituted, some weeks ago, a compa-
rison between the contests in Edinburgh and Lon-
don for the chair of the Civic Magistracy, and
stated that both Mr. HARMER and Mr. BLACK
Were to be excluded on account of their opinions,
We were taken to task by more than one Liberal
Journal, which affirmed that there was no resem-
blance between the two cases, and justified the ex-
clusion of Mr. HARMER• The Scotsman, for
example, then said—

The Sun, in a recent article, endeavoured to draw a
Parallel between the opposition to Mr. Harmer and the
attempt making in this city to exclude Mr. Adam Black
fm4";_ci the Provostship, and to prove that in both cases
throe object was to render religious opinion a ground of
exclusion from civil office. Were this the case, then
the result of the contest just concluded would be a
Matter for deep regret, and a lasting disgrace to the
,city of London. But we should be sorry to assign the
triumph wholly to bigotry. Mr. Harmer is a member
• of the Church of England, and is, we have no doubt,
• al sincere as many who enjoy the reputation of good
Churchmen. Still it is questionable whether the pro-
prietor of such a paper as the Dispatch is a man on
whom the highest civic honours should be conferred.
.True he disclaims the sentiments advocated in its co-
. lumns, but he yet derives a vast annual profit from its
circulation, and must necessarily have some control,
sot of course over individual passages, but over its
• eteeral tone and character. Although, therefore, we
should not have regarded the election of Mr. Harmer as
ittlY very serious calamity, as, from the testimonies borne
to his character, we have no doubt he would have dis-
ellarged the duties of the office in an efficient manner,
we yet cannot regard his defeat us the defeat of a great
Principle. It is his connection with a disreputable Jou, ,
and not his religious opinions, which have operated
against him. The Dispatch cont ,
contains, we believe, much
Itteng, and sometimes good writing, and pays perhaps
U.S much regard to the decencies of life as some of the
ioureels who have been abusing it ; but it is neverthe-
less allied to that class of periodicals which address
themselves to the lower passions of the vulgar, and
it manifests a wholesome tendency on the part of
the Public to stamp with disapprobation.
It has, however, been affirmed at the dinner at
Edinburgh, given to Mr. BLACK, that he
was excluded because he was a Dissenter. He
was, in fact, kept out of the Provostship on ac-
c4unt of not belonging to the State sect. 'Much
of, the proceedings at the dinner turned on his ex-
cl, 113 ion being the revival of the Test Act. It was
described by Lord DUNFERMLINE as placing the
I)issenters beyond the pale of the law. Mr. BLACK
hiMself said—
Shall man take it upon him to say to his fellow-worm
-1 will tolerate von to worship God according to your
eQnsoience, and be thankful for my clemency ; but, if
you will not worship in the way that I think best, or in
the Way that the State directs, you must not presume to
to public office ; at least you mutt be excluded
reen the higher offices of the State.—(Great cheering.)
It h 43 been argued that there is no persecution in this ;
sad reference to the late contest one of the Edin-
urgh journals says,
Civ." The man is persecuted whom the
„ 'Magistrate requires to recant his religious opinions ;
'e Magistrate has in this case overstepped his province,
she
interferes where Divine authority should be para-
. "et but the Magistrate and Legislature may right-
„-"slY exclude from certain functions those who cannot
`0"-IPIY with the conditions which grow out of them"—
r., in other words, we acknowledge that the old fashion
u
burning at the stake to make a man recant his reli-
gious opinions, is persecution, but to attempt the same
thing by excluding him from offices, or by branding
him as a member of a degraded cause, is a righteous
act in the Magistrate, or in the people who resort to such
measures. Such doctrines are so monstrous, that they
only require to be exhibited in their naked deformit to
secure the reprobation of every right-hearted man. y
Mr. BLACK then was excluded from the Lord
Provostship because hisz- religious opinions were
not agreeable to the dominant sect ; Mr. HARMER
was excluded from the Mayoralty, because he is
the proprietor of a newspaper which cxpresses opi-
nions not agreeable to the dominant sect. Both
Were punished because certain opinions were not
agreeable to the electors. In Mr. BLACK'S case,
the opinions were his own ; in Mr. HARMER'S
case, they were those of another, which he dis-
tt,, claimed. The Livery were appealed to, on the
' 4illground that some opinions promulgated in the
Dispatch were inimical to civil order ; and during
.N‘ that contest a writer in the Times appealed against
Ir. BLACK on the very same grounds. The com-
‘\: Parison is really much in Mr. HARMER'S favour,
441-ryr4 and he is of the two the more injured man, for lie
was kept out of office on account of the opinions of
a successful editor, who, as the Editor of the Scots-
rna
th_n must know, is not likely to be controlled by
e monied proprietor, tenacious only of his re-
ceipts. The same principle was violated in both
eases, but more outrageously in the case of Mr,
HARMER. If Mr. BLACK had been excluded be-
r. cause lie has in his time made a profit of opinions
UtifaVOUrablC to religion, published in the Encvclo-
li
',lt;
4 jl,-1/ Pa'dia Britannica or the Edinburgh Review, the
• e,,
-rnparison would have been strictly accurate ; but
lttSl4ft tl'en the denunciations against the citizens of Edin-
burnt
c. b by the Liberal Scotch press for excluding
kthk4*.ti„, ,r' BLACK on such grounds would have been ten-
snore severe than at present.
114.,. The SCO!SM(//1 describes the Dispatch as a dis-
lal/44:101€- l'eputabl
e journal, which addresses itself to the
110r1 S'" oi Ist passions of the vulgar. It offends the
_ sown, and that journal, so averse from perse-
utiun in the case of Mr. BLACK, has no objec-