The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-17 00:00:00

TREATMENT OF' THOROGOOD'S

CASE.

(From the Examiler.)

Oa the case' of Thorogood, Lord John Russell
has delivered a speech of supreme bun ton, which,
for the occasion at least, quite separates him from
the low party, and wonderfully exalts him in the
opinion of the High Church. The Times praises
his Lordship's performance as " smart and sensi-
ble ;" but smart is not the word for it, it was
dainty and disdainful, It was seasoned with con-
tempt of weakness and poverty, and a lofty scorn
of grievances. It was thus thoroughly aristocratic,
and what in Tory coteries would be emphatically called
gentlemanly. The speech indeed seems to have been
made for the recovery of the speaker's favour with his
caste, and fur his restoration to the bosom of the
Church.
How fine, in the low-life-above•stairs sense of the
word fine, is this mention of Thorogood and account of
his case—
, " This man had been detained thirteen months in pri-
son, for refusing to pay the sum of five shillings and six-
pence (for Church Rates)—not an important sum—only
because he was determined to support his rir„ht not to pay
obedience to the legal Court before which 1-,e wen summon-
ed, and to place his defiance on record i% opposition to the
law of the land."
This is, as the story-books say', all mighty grand, but
it is not quite original. Lori', John has borrowed the
scornful allusion to the mars"s determination to support
his rights from the maid in Hood's " Last Shilling,"
who says of the coachmar pleading for his fare, " Here's
an impudent fellow a-st•,uwding on his rights."
Contrast the cont.vmptuous mention of this man, suf-
fering, as he think-.3, for conscience sake, with the terms
in which the Slie.feifs are spoken of, the compliments to
their conduct and to the sense of duty on which they
are given crr;di•. for acting. But the Sheriffs are rich
men, and supp orted by a powerful body, and Tborogood
is a poor she maker.

How fine , again, is that parenthetic valuation of five
shillings a- nd sixpence—" of an important sum"—that
is to sr,y, not an important sum in the eyes of an im-
portant personage. But the non-importance goes to the
root ,of the whole matter ; the case of Thorogood is
trea.bsd as it is, because Thorogood is not an important
Persian, and because he belongs to not an important
lsoJy—the recent instances of want of vigour on the
part of the Dissenters, when propositions for their relief
bare been in discussion, having very much shaken the
opinion of their strength and influence.
That " Heaven helps those who help themselves" is
a golden maxim, but the Dissenters latterly have neither
moved to help themselves, nor to help others who were
striving to help them. Their inertness, when the excel-
lent Ministerial project for the abolition of Church-rates
was attacked with every foul weapon by the High
Church party, seriously impaired their importance. The
inference was that their strength had been overrated.
Hence the cavalier treatment which they new experi-
ence. This conduct is not magnanimous. The princi-
ples of justice arc the same, whether the claimants of re-
dress be the strong or the weak, and a high mind would
be scrupulously respectful in its treatment of weakness
under wrongs fancied or real.
For our own parts, we do not believe that the Dis-
senters have lost strength, but their energy has been
sleeping. When they depended only on themselves
they worked wonders, and made themselves respected ;
but just in proportion as others have come to their aid,
and Government has exerted itself for the relief of one
of their main grievances, they have relaxed their own
efforts, and become passive and helpless.
But to return to Lord John Russell's non-import-
ance of a five-and-sixpenny scruple cf conscience.
In Ireland claims for tithes of less amount and import-
ance than the despised fly e-and-sixpence were resisted,
and the process of Courts disputed by main force; but
Lord John Russell did not hold that that case of de-
fiance of the law did not call for remedy, because it was
the case of thousands of Thorogoods instead of one.
The difference, then, is precisely the difference between
the strong and the weak.
Having in one part or his speech so emphatically
pronounced judgment of non-importance on five and
sixpence, in another passage the same sum rose to such
importance and so powerful an influence, that truth
would melt before the temptation of it in the human
breast, like snow in the sun. In opposition to Mr.
T. Duncombe's proposal, that persons making a decla-
ration of dissent should be exempt from Church-rates,
Lord John answered—

" Here was obviously a pecuniary snare. A man might
be ostensibly a member of the Established Church ;
)-int
he might be a lukewarm member or indifferent,
Ytl"... the
temptation was held out to him to relieve himself f-ann the
payment of the 53. 6d. Church-rate, by
simply 'making a
declaration that he conscientious ly dissented .rom the do
trines of the Church.—(4 Hear,' from .
Hume.) Th-
e
Hon. Member for Kilkenny mig ht poss;:r;ty have some very
good argument to or in contr adietio.
John Russell) had said ; but h o
of what he (Lord
could be urged in support of t could not see what
e'd. thus setting up a bribe
to induce persons of a lukew-,
m attachment to the Church
to abandon it."
Lord John may
k..ave doubts whether the Archbishop
of Canterbury
inimself cou d resist such a snare—he
(asmight
. ' Jr._, Lushington showed in a humbler instance)
clecl". nirnself a Dissenter to save the five and sixpence
--not now " not an important sue—and he might take
his seat on the cathedral throne the next moment.
Lord John pays the Church the compliment of supposing
that it has amongst its communicants many so indifferent,
both to it and to truth, that for five and sixpence they
would tell a lie in the false renouncement of it. What
an honour and glory it must be to the Church to retain
the false show of this portion of its congregations.
Dr. Lushington did not go so far as Lord John Rus-
sell. He was not sure that men would deny their
Church for five shillings and sixpence, but with two
pounds ten or five pounds he thought the temptation
might alarmingly begin :
" It was said that no person would make a false decla-
ration for the sake of si. Gd. ; but there might be cases
in which the sum required was Si. or 505., and this might
operate as a temptation to a man in distressed circum-
stances to make a false declaration. According to the
plan of the Hon. Member a man might might make a de-
claration one day and go to the church the next, and laugh
at the churchwarden."

Lord John Russell acknowledges that the Ecclesias-
tical Courts should not have cognizance of suits for
Church-rates, and that the remedy should not be
against the person but against the goods—and in satis-
faction of the demand for the Church the seizure of the
family Bible has been not an uncommon nor inappro-
priate choice.

Mr. flume made an excellent speech in reply to
Lord John.
Will Lord John Russell hold as tt) the Scotch Church
the principle which he ridicules in his parody of John-
son ?

" He could understand, with regard to the lighter arts,
the principle embodied in those lines of Dr. Johnson :
The drama's laws the d.:•ama's patrons give,
For those who live to please must please to live,'
But sorry would he be to hear that
The pulpit's 1.7.ws the pulpit's patrons give,
And those who live to preach must preach to live.'"
This may do all very well south of the Tweed, but
how will it comport with Ministerial politics north ?
Lord John Russell's ardour for the Church on 'l'ucs•
day was the delight of the Tories. He declared—
" As long as that House recognised the laws by which a
State religion was established in this country, and so long
as such was the law, no individual was at liberty to dis-
obey it."

Finding this sentiment loudly cheered by the Tories,
his Lordship was moved to go farther
He would go further than that, and declare his belief
that the Established Church of England was feunded on
just, wise, and fair principles."
Here we have before us the crow, the cheese, and the
fox. At the first note of the crow, reynard is in rap-
tures. He claps his paws, he wags his bushy tail in
an ecstasy, he cries " Bravo, bravissimo ! what a
voice ! what execution! how he takes the C above the
line !" Upon this, quoth the delighted crow, ‘‘ I can
go farther than that—higher than that," and he
strains another harsh discord to the'unbounded delight
of reynard. But beware, oh Corby, lest you drop the
cheese—it trembles in your mouth while you arc in-
dulging in those half-note shakes which make all your
party shake, ay, and your opponents shake, too, in
other fashions—your friends with fear, and your foes
with laughter.

(From the Nottingham Review.)
From our report of the proceedings of Parliament, it
will be seen that the principal debate of the week took
place upon the motion of Mr. T. Duncombe, for the
discharge of John Thorogood, and also for leave to in-
troduce a Bill to exempt every individual from the pay-
ment of Church-rates, who should make declaration of
his dissent from the established religion of the country.
The proposition of IMr. Duncornbe was moderate, just,
and in perfect accordance with the precepts of the New
Testament. We should have thought so reasonable a
proposal would have been at once acceded to by the
Ministerial leader of the House of Commons ; but to
the surprise of all the Dissenting supporters of Govern-
ment, Lord John Russell vindicated the imprisonment
of Thorogood, and expressed his belief that the
law by which Church-rates are levied was
founded upon " just, wise, and scriptural principles !"
Not contented with this statement, his Lordship insi-
nuated that the Dissenters were a querulous body; and
this, too, in the face or the well-known:fact, that rathe