The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-20 00:00:00

THE TYRANNY OF NONCONFORMITY.

The John Bull says the peers would do well to read
carefully the Nonconformist papers. There is a great
desire in these days to settle everything, and those who
only take a superficial view of questions imagine that
concessions secure at least a temporary respite from
trouble. Let those who are so easily misled arouse them-
selves before it is too late. Their lordships may read in
the English Independent instructions given by the ruling
powers, the Nonconformists of England, by whom, and
not by Queen, Lords, and Commons it appears are we
now governed. We commend to the notice of members
of the Upper House, as additional reasons for rejecting
the Universities Tests Bill, the following modest observa-
tions of. the English Independent :—" At first we con-
tended only for the abolition of University Tests, and
that was fiercely opposed, only with the result of in-
creasing our demands, and leading us to insist that the
colleges and fellowships should be thrown open to men of
all creeds. If the bill pass even in its present shape,
much more if it be improved in the way we have
indicated, we shall secure more than we have even con-
tended for prior to the present session, and we can
afford to wait for some other concessions which are neces-
sary to secure complete religious equality, and which we
have no doubt will follow at no very distant period."
As to the coming census the organ of our dictators yet
more peremptorily (the italics are not ours) denounces a
religious census :—The Anglicans reckon that an immense
number of people who never enter a place of worship of
any kind would register themselves as Church of England
men, and so they could muster a plausible majority,which
should for a while bolster up the Establishment and
gratify the vanity of the clergy, though that would be
done at the expense of misleading the country as to the
real religious condition of the population. The trick is so
transparent that it cannot be played. In 1861 we had
some difficulty in preventing such a hoax ; the task would
be less difficult now, and it may just as well be understood
that the Nonconformists will not permit it. Our antagonists
know that when we say that they may as well give up
the attempt.—Surely apathy has not become so ingrained
in the English nature that we shall submit not only to be
governed by the Irish and Scotch vote, but to allow a
number of noisy Nonconformists to make us bow down
to their tyrannical and impertinent decrees.

Apropos of the experiments which are continually
being made in gunnery, the Broad Arrow hears a rumour
that the whole of the chilled shot are to be withdrawn
from the service and replaced by projectiles chilled only
at the point, and having bodies cast in sand.

On Friday a poptilar demonstration took place
in the town of Ramsgate to celebrate the decision of the
Lord Chief Justice against the local magistrates, in a recent
case of the " Queen v. Stevens," tried before the Court of
Queen's Bench, on Thursday last. The expressions of satis-
faction-were universal, speeches made, resolutions passed,
generally condemnatory of the local administration of jus-
tice, and more especially of the system of the magistrates'
clerk's salary, arising in a great measure from the fines of
the convicted. The meeting broke up amidst cheers for
Mr. Purcell, the counsel for the prosecution, and Mr.
Welby Pugin, through whose instrumentality the case has
been brought into the London Courts.
THE METROPOLITAN POLICE.—It is stated in
well-informed quarters that a number of resignations have
been sent in during the past week by members of the
metropolitan police force, and that those resignations do
not apply to one class of men only, but include station-
inspectors as well as ordinary constables. The cause
assigned with respect to the former is that, while granting
a trifling increase of pay to the general body of the force,
Colonel Henderson has withheld it from the station- •
inspectors, who, although they do not perform out-door
duty, occupy the responsible position of dealing with the
charges as they are presented by the constables, which
often involve points requiring sound judgment to decide
upon. The constables are dissatisfied at the abolition of
their two days' leave of absence to a month of duty, and
and do not consider the mere trifling addition of pence to
their pay compensates for the loss.

THE VOLUNTEERS.

There is every prospect of an unusually successful
meeting at Wimbledon Camp this year. The National
Rifle Association have received a larger number of
entries for all the principal prizes than they did last
year. There is an excess of about fifty entries for the
Queen's Prize, and 140 for the St. George's Challenge
Vase, while for the All Comers' Prizes the entrance fees
are in excess of those of last year by £377.
The " extra prizes " given by tradesmen and
others are more numerous than in former years,
and many handsome articles have been already
received. The applicatiohs for space in the exhibition
tent and bazaar were twice as numerous as the council
could find room for, and now every stall and plot is allot-
ted. The regimental camp will be about as large as last
year. Two new corners, the 3rd London Rifles and the
6th Tower Hamlets Rifles, take the place of two cerps,
the London Engineers and 19th Surrey Rifles, which have
not applied for space. All the entries for the contests of
the National Artillery Association must be made on or
before July 1.