The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-01 00:00:00

Catholics and the political Dissenters. If they refused
this grant they would consign thousands of immortal souls
to a state of heathenism and ignorance. In no country
was it of more importancc than in England that the
powerful should teach the humble their duty towards God

and man, and that could be only done by a religious edu-
cation, according to the rites of the Established Church.

Of this he was sure, if they allowed the people to remain
in the ignorance they were at present of the real truths of
religion, the worst results would be the consequence.
The Honourable Baronet thanked the House for the

patience with which they had listened to him in bringing
forward this important subject, and concluded by moving
the following resolution :—" That on Wednesday, the 15th
day of July next, this House will resolve itself into a
Committee of the whole House to consider of the follow-

in;; address to her Majesty, that is to say, that an humble
address be presented to her Majesty, praying that her Ma-
jesty will be graciously pleased to take into consideration
the deficiency which exists in the number of places of
worship belongiog to the Established Church when com-
pared with the increased and increasing population of the
country, the inadequate provision therein for the accom-
modation of the poorer classes in large towns,

and the insuilici,nt endowment thereof vin other

places, as such facts have been severally set forth
in the Reports of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners;
to assure her Majesty that this House is deeply
impressed with a just sense of the many blessings which
this country, by the favour of Divine Providence, has long
enjo)ed, and with the conviction that the moral and religious
hahus of the people arc the most sure and firm foundation
of national prosperity ; to state to her Alajesty the opinion
of this IlouF,e, that no altered distribution of the revenues
of the Established Church could remove the existing and
augmenting evil arising from the notorious fact, thnt an
addition of more than six million souls has been made to

the population of England already since the commence-
ment of the present century, and that the rate of this in•
crease is u.pidly progressive ; that the grants made by the
wisdom of Parliament, on the recommendation of the
Crown, in 1818 and 1824, have been inadequate
to supply the national wants, and that, though private and
local liberality has been largely manifest, in Lid of parti-
cular districts, the greatest wants exist where there are the
least moans to meet and relieve them ; to assure her Ma-
jesty that this [mouse, feeling that God has entrusted to
this nation unexampled resources, is satisfied that it is
the duty of the Government to employ an adequate portion
of the wealth of the nation to relieve the spiritual desti-
tution of large masses of the people, by whose labour that
wealth has been enlarged, and humbly to represent to her
Majesty that this (louse will cheerfully make good such
measures as her Majesty may be pleased to recommend, in
order to provide for her people in England and Wales
further and full means of religious worship and in-

striae:ion in the Established Church."
Lou.! SA ND ON seconded the motion.
The question was then put. by the Speaker, and
strangers were ordered to withdraw, when
Mr. G. KNIGHT rose. lie wished to know whether
the lion. Member for Kilkenny had given up his amend-
ment, as he had not risen to propose it upon the original
question being put? Unless he stated to the contrary,
he was bound to suppose that he had done so, being con-
vinced by the excellent arguments of the lion. Bart who
had beought foe ward the motion.—( Hear, hear.) He was
strongly in favour of the motion ; he had along been of opi-
nion that tile Church should do something for herself, but
he was likewise of opinion that that the State was bound
to do something fur her too. lie agreed with the Hon.
Baronet, that there was great demand for Church Exten-
sion, and it was idle to say that the country had not the
means to afford that extension, when it was recollected the
vast sums that were exp.nded on railroads and at the shrine ,
of Mammon.—( Hear, hear.) Two great objects were to
be accomplished by this grant, one was the increase of the
number of churches, and the other of the resident clergy.
He admitted that a considerable sum of money would be
required to offset this object, and such being the case, the
State ought, in hie opinion, to step forward and preserve
the people from the demoralized condition in which they
were at present placed. He thought little good would be
effected without some permanent fund was provided for the
building and endowing churches. In conclusion, he had
only to say that the motion had his most hearty concurrence.
Strangers were again ordered to withdraw, hut no divi-
sion took place, and on our re-admission to the gallery, we
founi
Mr. V. STUART on his legs, stating it to be his con-
scientious belief that the present subject ought to be
argued, and expressing his surprise that no person on his
side of the House had risen for that purpose.
Lord DUNGANNON regretted that upon such
question as the present they had not been favoured with
the opinion of any Member cf her Majesty's Goverment.
Mr. WARD said, in answer to what had fallen from
tile Noble Lord, he wished to observe that ten minutes
ago there were not twenty Members on the benches on the
other side—(Cheers)—and moreover that the Right lion.
Baronet (Sir R. Pecl)—(Cheers)—the Right Hon. Mern•
ber for Pembroke ( Sir J. Graham )—( Cheers)—the Noble.
Lori (Lord Stanley)—(Cheers)—the lion. Gentleman
the Member for Cambridge (Mgr. Goulburn)—(Cheers)
—and he believed he might add the Noble Lord himself
__( Loud cheers)--who appeared to have come down just
in time to complain of lion. Gentleman's non-attendance,
bed not honoured the speech of the lion. Baronet with
their presence and attention.—(Cheer.) He did not
think the Honourable Baronet had brought for-
ward this question fairly. It was admitted there
was a want of religious edueaion in the coun-
try. but without referring to the vast endowments
and possessions of the Church the lion. Baronet called
on the House to tax those who were supporting
their own religious establishments for the support of a
wealthy sect to whom they were opposed. The Right
Hun. Baronet might object to the Church of England
being called a sect, but was it anything more than a sect
established by Act of Parliament ?—( Hear, hoar.) The •
Hon Bart. had referred to the present state of Glasgow,
and described it as being in the lowest state of destitu ion
—and yet lie called on the House to grant money for
building a Church which the inhabitants of Glasgow,
being Peesbvte dans would never enter.—( Hear, hear.)
The Hon. Baronet had said, that if he had been born a
subject of the Turkish empire, he should obey the laws of
that empire ; and it would appear from what had fallen
wfrmoouiderhavocce occasion,
en one
ed
of he t
ebe esstsurdbioersnt
afroDmisisleimnteronhea
Dissenters that ever lived. But it would appear that the
Honourable Baronet's lot had fallen on the sunny side of
the hedge. The lion. Baronet, when he assumed the
propriety of submission to the majority, should remember
11 that majorities were varying and temporary, nod that a
person who acted constantly on that rule would be fre-
quently changing his principles, or at least his practice.
He (Mr. Ward) must differ from the lion. Baronet. that the
Dissenters did not oppose this motion, and he felt justified
in doing so, by the number of petitiouz they had
presented on the subject, and it would appear
that Hon. Gentlemen around the lion. Baronet were not
very anxious for its success, or he would not, on a for-
mer occasion, have found himself " alone in his glory,"
and " deserted at his utmost need " by these to whom he
might naturally have looked for support, both on that and
on the present occasion.—( Hear, hear.) Hors. Gentle-
men, before they voted for this measure, should consider
whether they were prepared to defend this vote before
their constituents.—( Opposition cheers.) What was this
" Grant ?" Was it for a small suns not worth talking
about, of ten or twenty thousand pounds ?—or would no
Gentlemen act up to their principles, and vote a sum
amounting to at least three or four hundred
thousand a year? Let the House know this, that lion.
Gentlemen might vote with a safe conscience; not but
that he ( Mr. Ward) would vote conscientiously without
this knowledge, for he had made up his mind to vote
against the motion.—( Cheers )
Mr. R. M. NIILNE S said that, notwithstanding the
able and eloquent speech of his Right Hon. Friend, he
should not have voted for his motion, did he not think
that he had common sense and reason on his side.—( Hear,
hear. ) His Right Hon. Friend had been taunted with
not having proposed the sum which would be necessary
for his purpose, but it was well known that, by the forms
of the House, he was not able to do so.—( Hear, hear.)
The speech of the Han. Member fo: Sheffield had been
the only one which they had been favoured with from
the other side, the eloquence of his Hon. Friend appearing
to have been so convincing that the Hon. Member for
Kilkenny had forborne to move the amendment of which
lie had given notice.—( Laughter.) 0: all the means
that had ever been devised for grappling with moral evils
the most effectual was thai of a resident minister of the

Christian religion.—(Hear.) The Hon. Member for
Sheffield had defended the grants necessary for war on
the ground of their great exigency. But was not
this a war, and with a greater and a more
dangerous enemy ?—( Loud cries cf Hear, hear.) He
would not extend this vote to Ireland, not wishing at
present to tax that country any further for the support of
the Established Church. It was absolutely necessary the
people of this country should be saved from that infidelity,
or fanaticism, into which., without a round religious C. u-
cation, they would inevitably fall. It was as nesessaly to
guard against the one as against the other, for what feel-
ing is so strong as religious fanaticism, which had ever
borne on its side the genius and philosophy which adorned
the Commonwealth, and which at the present day, induced
a handful of Spanish peasants to bare their; breas's to the
bayonets of an army, while the Chartists had thrown down
their arms and deserted their miserable Charter and its
points at the fire of a handful of soldiers. He entreated
the House to put a favourable construction on the rarity
of Members on his side of the House. This was not a
party question—( Loud cheers from the Ministerial side)
—but one which he thought it incumbent on all who desired
the welfare of the nation to suliport.-7( Cheers. )
Mr. BAINES said he did not rise for the purpose of
interposing any obstacle in the way of Church Extension,
• but to inquire into the destitution complained of, and the
appropriate remedy for that destitution. In the Report of
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners it was stated that the
number of pari-lies in England and Wales amount to
10,742, and it is said that the defects which cripple the
energies of the Established Church in the large and popu-
lous districts of the kingdom is the want of churches and
ministers, and the following facts would illustrate this po-

sition
:
That in the 34 parishes of the metropolis there
is a populaton of 1,137,000
And church room for only
In the diocese of Chester there are 36 parishes
(principally in Lancashire) with a popula-
tion of

816,000
07,700

And church room for only
Or about one eighth.
In twenty parishes and districts, each with a
population of 10,000 at least, in the diocese
of York, there is an aggregate population of 402,000
With church accommodation, fur only 48,000
The proportion varying from 1-6:h to 1-30th,
And in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry
there are sixteen parishes or districts, with
an average population of 235,000
Church room for about
The proportion varying from 1-6th to 1-14th,
From these reports there appears to he a deplorable
deficiency of accomodation for public worship in all the
populous districts of the kingdom, and as far as
the Church Commisthonors aro ooncerneti, it vrae pericaly