The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-22 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSALLTS.—YESTERDAY.
The odds quoted below as the last laid or offered, differ
in several respects from those at which a considerable por-
tion of the business was transacted • for instance, the
Rosalie colt, which opened at 12 to 1, dropped a point early
in the afternoon, and, after being backed for several hun-
dred pounds. fell to 14 to 1, laid to nearly 2001. Coro-
nation also fluctuated, , 1000 to 45, 22 to 1, and at the
close 21 to 1, to 1501., having been laid
against him. The last offers about Eringo were to bet
20 or take 22 to 1, both prices having been accepted in the
course of the afternoon. Camelion averaged 22 to 1, but
one patty was bold enough to advance a couple of points,
and had no difficulty in finding a customer. We heard
only mall bet asst
miarshaitsoulalp
iZt,shir 22an to 1,
s,and Prince
nothing
neeearadoouct:
Palaemon's friends took 25 to 1 eagerly and would have
gone on, and the layer of 4,000 to 100 agst Wahab might
have been accommodated to a large amount, had he been
disposed to increase his outlay at the same figure. The
mat ket price cannot fairly be stated at more than 35 to 1.
In the outside class Simoom was most in request, the
odds against him mentioned below were taken repeatedly.
As busy an afternoon as could reasonably be expected,
closed as under :-
14 to. 1 agat Rosalie c.—taken
18 to 1 agst Marshal Soult
20 to 1 agst Eringo
21 to 1 agst Coronation—taken
22 to 1 agst Ralph—taken
22 to 1 agst Camelion
25 to 1 agst Prince Caradoc
25 to 1 agst Sir Hans
25 to 1 agst Palmmon—taken freely
30 to 1 agst Joachim—taken
33 to 1 agst Gilbert
35 to 1 agst Mongolian
35 to 1 agst Wahab
40 to 1 agst Duke of Wellington—taken
40 to 1 agst Van Amburgh
2000 to 30 agst Protection—taken
1000 to 15 agst Simoom—taken freely
1000 to 15 agst The Nob—taken
2000 to 25 agst Mustapha—taken
4000 to 40 agst Warlock—taken
1000 to 10 agst Finchley
1000 to 8 agst Sylph taken
30 to 1 agst Heathcote's lot—taken
2000 to 100 agst Greville's lot—taken
1000 to 50 agst All the mares—taken
2000 to 50 agst Sadler's lot—taken
1000 to 100 agat Marshal Soult anal Ralph—taken
1000 to 100 agst Marshal Soult and Palmmon—taken
300 to 25 agst Prince Caradoc and Paleemon—taken
500 even between Wahab and Duke of Wellington—tn
300 to 200 on Eringo agst Sir Hans—taken

Lord and Lady Lyndhurst returned to George-
street, Ilanover-square, on Saturday evening from Middle-
ton Park, where they had been passing ten days :with the
Earl and Countess of Jersey.
DISTRESSING lIIPIVRECK IN TORBAY.—
The melancholy shipwreck of two vessels o2curred Lear
Brixham on Thursday night or early on Friday morning.
The wind, which had for some days previous been blowin
from the south-west, suddenly chopped round to the east, ,
when two vessels, out of many that were riding at anchor
in Torbay, parted their cables, and were driven away be-
fore the wind towards the shore. The sea running vary
high, and the wind increasing to a gale, little or no assistance
could be rendered the poor fellows on shipboard,
notwithstanding their cries were heard on the sur-
rounding hills. After driving for about en hour the
vessels were dashed against the rocks at Broad Sands,
near Churston (the residence of Sir J. Y. Buller), and
soon shivered to atoms. One of them was a fine brig bound
to some port in the Levant with coals, the other an Eng-
lish schooner from Hull, bound to Zante. Three poor
fellows belonging to the Frenchman, met with a watery
grave, having been swept overboard by the tremendous
breakers, their ages being 18, 20, and 30. Sir J. Yarde
Buller and his Lady, in the most humane manner,
afforded the poor sufferers every accommodation in their
power. To the Kev. J. R. Hogg, curate, Brixham, much
praise is due, he having, at the risk of Lis own life, rescued a
sailor from drowning, by dashing into the water, and
seizing him by the coat. The Hon. Baronet permitted
the shipwrecked crews to occupy a house built for the con-
venience of sea bathing, in which fires were kindled, and
clothes, provisions, &c., sent from Churston Court for
their immediate use.—North Devon Advertiser.
INTERESTING CHASE.-011 the farm of Tul.
lodale, on the banks of Loch Maree, Ross-shire, a singular
chase was lately witnessed betwixt an eagle and a black
cock. The latter was flying across the lake, to one of
the wild and shaggy islands in the centre of that noble
sheet cf water,' when a large eagle glided down from one
of the cliffs, and darted off in pursuit of the bird. The
latter, aware of his danger, flew with the utmost speed
and turned against the breeze, in the hope of baffling his
pursuer. Turn after turn was made—at one time they
rose to a great height in the air, and at another descending
to the bosom of the water; when, at last, in wheeling
round, close to the surface of the lake, both fell in, about
a yard from each other, the eagle having, apparently,
fallen with great force. They swam ashore, fully a quar-
ter of a mile distant, but they were no longer visible to
tire spectator, though it was concluded that the eagle would
prove victorio4s-

ADDRESS OF THE CENTRAL BOARD.
The Scottish Central Board for Vindicating the
Rights of Dissenters, are induced by certain recent
occurrences, which clearly prove the existence either of
gross ignorance of those rights, or an utter contempt for
em, in a portion of the community by whom it has
hitherto been supposed that they were held as sacred and
inviolable, to address their constituents and country-
men in general, partly in the hope of averting the evil
consequences of the occurrences referred to, and partly
to free themselves and their constituents from all re-
sponsibilities, if they shall prove inevitable.
As the institutions of countries which confer peculiar
powers and wealth on one religious denomination, inflict
upon those who dissent from it political injustice, and
expose them to political oppression, so they tend to
throw them into a distinct political party, having for its
peculiar and paramount object, the abrogation of the Es-
tablishment, which is the cause of their injuries and
dangers. The Dissenters in Scotland have as much
reason as the Dissenters in the other parts of the empire,
to make this the ruling aim of their political conduct. But
hitherto they have not done so, having rather chosen to
act in politics along with the common body of liberal-
minded men, without resorting to any separate organi-
zation, or pressing any measures but what were
agreeable to the whole. Whether the postponement
of their own peculiar claims, and the temporary ob-
livion of their own peculiar principles, which this con-
duct implies, have been quite consistent with their duty
to themselves and to the great cause of Religious Free-
dom, may perhaps be doubted. It has, however, served
the good purpose of showing, that the Dissenters are,
as politicians, actuated by no narrow, sectarian, or sel-
fish spirit ; and it has established for them a clear title
to the confidence and consideration of all the true friends
of liberty.
The alliance of Dissenters with the Liberal party is
not of recent origin, but dates from at least the k io-
rious Revolution,—since which period especially, it is
notorious that one chief element of its strength in Eng-
land, has been the spirit and energy of the Nonconfor-
mists. Hence the friends of liberty Lave ever laboured
to preserve, as a thing essential to her interests, a good
understanding between liberal Churchmen and Dissen-
ters, which have been effected by the moderation and
self-denial of the Dissenters en the one hand, and by the
prudence and justice of the Churchmen on the other,
prompting them to oppose, as an injury to themselves,
civil disabilities founded on religious opinions, and to
make it a prime object of the libral policy, to remove,
as much as possible, all civil incon%eniences from the
state of Dissent. The measures which with this view
have been pursued by the Liberal party, have varied at
different periods, with the changes in the laws, in the
number of Dissenters, in the temper of the times, and
other circumstances in our condition.

At the present time the Dissenting body in the three
kingdoms is more numerous than ever, and more con-
siderable and important, both socially and politically.
Men's opinions, also, are now more enlarged, and their
spirit higher respecting religious freedom ; while the
activity and liberality of the various religious denomina-
tions are a sure guarantee that, whatever the State may
do, religion will be amply cared for. In these circum-
stances, Dissenters would not be arrogant or unreason-
able, if they were to expect that the political party to
which they belong, should advance somewhat beyond
their old defensive policy in religious affairs, and begin
the removal of every constitutional distinction between
religious bodies. But this they have not asked. They
have not attempted to make the abolition of the Esta-
blishment a term of agreement of the Liberal party,
nor ever required its aid towards any one measure which
ca❑ truly be called an act of aggression upon the legal
r fights of the Established Churches.

-They had, however, come to be strongly of opinion,
that they might now count on the whole Liberal party
resisting, as one man, all acts either of legislation or
administration, which went to strengthen or increase the
existing distinctions between the Church and Dissent-
in.. denominations as societies, and between Ceurchinen
and' Dissenters as individual. If these distinctions
were not to be assailed, it was at least manifest that
they should not be fortified or augmented. lii what-
ever shape such augmentation might be attr:mpted—
whether by enlarging the endowments, by extending the
juraiction, or by exalting tin) prerogatives arid dignity
of the Church Establishment, it was equally unjustifi-
able, and equally to be opposed ; and that not with a
feeble and timid resistance, but as a thing intolerable,
and with the whole energy of the Liberal party.
Entertaining such opinions and expectations, they
have seen, with surprise and indigation, the following
recent acts of positive aggression upon their rights and
privileges. In 1838, a Bill was introduced by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, for the endowment,
from the Consolidated Fund, of forty schools in the
Ilighlands. The Dissenters strongly urged that this
Bill should be framed on the principle of respecting
the rights of conscience, the only sound principle of
a national system of education, and consequently should
neither allow of any religious tests in these schools,
nor place them and the schoolmasters under the con.
trol of the Established clergy, like the old parochial
schools and schoolmasters. But all their remonstrances
were unheeded. The Government carried the Bill by
large majorities at every stage, placing these schools,
supported from national funds, as completely under
the control of the Established Clergy as the parochial
schools, by vesting the appointment and removal of
teachers in the same authorities, and excluding Dis-
seriters from the office of schoolmasters. It is true,
Government promised that an inquiry would be in•
stituted into the state of the parochial schools, and
that a general measure of reform would be brought for-
ward ; but no inquiry has been instituted, and no re-
form has ever been attempted. During the same year,
a patent was issued by the Crown, creating a Board
having authority to grant licences for printing the
Bible in Scotland. In this country, as in England, the
right of printing the authorised version is a prerogative
of the Crown ; which prerogative, whatever may have
been its origin, had no peculiar relation to the Esta-
blished Church, and had been all along administered,
accordingly, upon the most common and secular prin-
ciples, by means of a monopoly granted to printers,
chosen with no regard to their religious opinions. But
in the commission to the new Board it was specially
provided that the Commissioners and their suc-
cessors in office must be members of the Esta-
blishment. And thus, for serving the Crown in
this public secular office, citizens are incapacitated
solely because they are Dissenters, and that most
unconstitutionally, if not illegally, not by Act of
Parliament, but by an act of the Queen in Council.
' The same principle of exclusion was again acted on in
the following year, when a Bill was carried through by
the Under Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment, for the laudable purpose of improving prisons and
prison discipline in Scotland. In it a clause was in-
serted in the House of Lords, excluding Dissenters
from the office of prison chaplains. This clause was
not opposed by the Government, and on its becoming
law, a Dissenter, who had held the office of chaplain in
the Bridewell of Edinburgh, was necessarily removed
from his situation for the sole crime of being a as-
senter,—it being admitted by all, that in every other
respect he was admirably qual:fied for the office.
Lastly, in 1840, the office of inspector of schools was
created by the authority of the Crown ; this functionary
was required to visit c:rtain new schools of which Go-
vernment had defrayed half the expense of building, and
permitted to visit the parochial schools when requested
to do so by the Presbyteries of the Established Church;
but it was spa-,ia ly piosided, that a Committee of the
General Assem could have a veto on the nominat;
of the Crown ; and it was thus, in effect, declared that
no Dissenters is el ible, although the salary is payable
out of the public revenues of the country. In this
case there was no apology fir the exclusion of Dis-
smter Vecause of religious opinion ; for the inspectors
are debarred from interfering with or reporting on
either the quantity or quality of the religious instruction
communicated in the schools which they visit.
These instances, in which the principle of equal
rights, irrespective of religious opinion, has been vio-
lated, although few in number, are, it is believed, more
numerous than have occurred for a century and a half,
1 and they are more annoying as having been committed
under a Government indisputably the best in other re-
spects which we have yet seen. Indeed, the practice
of making a distinction between Churchmen and Dis- •
sonters, in regard to their eligibility to civil offices, is a
novelty in the management of Scotch affairs, for since
the Revolution settlement, no religious test has beet,
required, excepting iu relation to professorships in the
Universities and parochial Sehodmasters ; and the dis-
abilities of Scottish Dissenters ma. therefore be said to
have commenced .inder Lord I.llolhourre,:ag4rGki,soiti•oerniis-,
Govern-
ment in 1838 But in addition tf, the a i
attempts:ha, e been made to engage the natty 3 and
credit of the Liberal party in schelees of Church ae•
grandisement ; for the accomplishment of which prig
ciples have been avowed, and acts done, of the most
dangerous and intolerant character. First, Some in-
dividuals, whose close connection with Governmen.
makes it unlikely that they
, would take and
important step without its knowledge andconcurrence,
in order to carry a Parliamentary
election, stooped to
bargain for the support of a party who were acting ie
open defiance o the law, as declared by the Supreme
Courts, at the price of promising to assist them to effect
what never has been or can be effected without danger
to the best interests of society, the securing for a reli-
gious sect the exclusive right to
appoint about one thou-
sand public functienesties whose stipends are paid from
funds belonging equally to the whole community, and
the irresponsible management of a large portion of pub-