The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-30 00:00:00

PAROCHIAL ABUSES.

PARISH of St. JAMES' S,CLERKENTVELL.
Last evening a very numerous meeting of the
rate-payers of St. James's, Clerkenwell, Was held in
the church.

Mr. TURNER, the senior churchwarden, having
been called to the chair,
The Vestry Clerk read the minutes of the last
meeting, from which it appeared that considerable
dissatisfaction having prevailed in the parish, in cons
sequence of the trustees having applied certain mo-
nies raised under the Church Building Act to other
purposes than were directed by the Act, it was
agreed that a committee should be appointed to in-
quire into the matter, and obtain the legal opinion of
two members of the Chancery bar upon the case.
The case was then read. It was asked whether
the right to repair the parish churches is not vested
at this time in the parishioners, in the same manner
as it existed before the passing of the Local Acts ?
Whether the conduct of the trustees in applying
monies raised by rates levied under the said Acts,
namely, 500/. for the building of the charity Fehools,
large sums paid to the vestry clerks over arid above
their salaries, and balances paid to the churchwar-
dens for the expenses of conducting divine service in
Pentonville chapel, are not illegal payments, anti - •
great breaches of trust ? Whether the trustees are
not liable to be called upon to refund the monies so
applied, or whether, having published their accounts
yearly, the parishioners were not precluded from
taking proceedings against them, and if nor, what
proceedings should be resorted to for the recovery. of.
Ihe said sums, and by and against Whom ? Fur:
titer, whether the trustees had the power to raise
!he sum of 21,000/., in addition to .5,0004 in bands,
for the erection of the church and chapel, or whet
ther the five thousand pounds must not be consi-
dered as included in the twenty-one thousand
pounds. Lastly, whether the trustees have the
power to make a twopenny rate, proposed for the
repairs of the church, and what remedy the pa-
rishioners have against the trustees.
The opinion was to the following effect :
These acts are so loosely worded, that it is diffi-
calt to put a positive construction upon them ;
but we think the clause which directs the trustees
to pay to the churchwardens any balances due to
them, would be construed to refer to balances
arising from payments made by the churchwardens
in respect to property vested in them, and would,
therefore, he the subject of account between the
churchwardens and trustees. This being the only
clause under which the trustees could claim a
right to interfere with the repair of the churches,
except that of St. James, we are of opinion the
right to repair the other churches remains in the
parishioners. As to the church of St. James,
there is some doubt whether the trustees do not
hold the right, so long as the Act shall continue
in force, for other purposes than those of Penton-
vide Chapel; but the Act not specifying that
the repairs of that church are to he done by
the trustees, we think the right still vested
in the parishioners. Assuming the five hundred
pounds to be properly applicable for the charity
school, we think the trustees were justified in pay-
ing that sum; but as to the other sums, we think
they were not justified in paying them. They,
however, appear to have been paid by the sanction
of the parishioners; it is clear, therefore, that they
cannot complain. As to those payments made with-
out their sanction, we are of opinion that the trus-
tees cannot be compelled to refund; for to compel
them to do so would be to exonerate the present
parishioners at the expense of their predecessors.
We think the trustees have no power to make a
rate under the first act, but they have under the
second, for the purposes therein mentioned. We
are of opinion, also, that they have a right to raise
26,000/. for the erection of the church of Si, James,
and the purchase of Pentonville Chapel ; and that.
they have a right to make the proposed rate, but not
the repairs of the church or the payment of La-
lances not arising from the accounts between them,
and the parishioners must, if they resist the rate,
pursue the course prescribed by the Act.
E. B. SUGDEN.
G. J. TURNER.
After some opposition, the case and opinion were
directed to be entered on the minute-book.

A prolonged discussion ensued, pro and con.,
upon the merits of the opinion of Coungel, after
which the vestry adjourned.

ANNUITY TAL—Yesterday evenin2 a great
multitude of our citizens assembled in Princes's-street, and
also on the Calton-hill and the Mound, to witness a pro-
cession got up for the purpose of escorting from the Calton
Gaol a Mr. Johnston, who kid chosen to submit to a
temporary loss of liberty rather than to the exaction of the
annuity tax. To this odious and oppressive impost we ore
as unrelentingly opposed as either Mr. Johnston or Mr.
Tait ; but we look for redress, not to processions of the
populace, but to constitutional means—petitioning the
Legislature. Sure we are that such exhibitions were not
required to demonstrate the sense of the citizens of Edin-
hut glt on the subject of the annuity tax ; and, at all events,
their repetition is worse than supererogatory, and tends to
seen any influence which they might be supposed to have.
he obnoxious impos', we feel confident, will, nay must,
toe removed; but still we hold, that by legal means alone
ought legal wrongs to be redressed. With respect to the
tax itself, it is denounced alike both by the friends and
enemies of the church. We du Lot deem it necessary to
detail the proceedinizs, further than mentioning the in-
convenience and annoyanee occasioned to the inhabitants,
there being a complete cessation of business in Prince's-
Weet and the other streets through which the procession
passed. However, we sincerely hope that this will be this
last exhibition of the kind.—Edinburgh Observer.
The new Board under the Irish Church Bill
will be composed of the following persons, in addition to
ti.ose who, ex officio, are to have seats at it : —The Arch-
bishop of Cashel, the Bishop of Derry, the B sip of
M-ath, the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Sadlier, and `,lessrs.
Qain and Erck. The two latter to receive salaries.—
Dublin Mail.

With the exception of a few pieces of bark),
and oats, which are not yet ripe, the harvest may he said
to be finished in this neighbourhood, and we scarcely ever
remember one housed at so small an expanse to the
I,riner. The long continuance of dry weather has com •
pletely parched up the ground, and grass is so scarce that
many graziers are now obliged to give their heroics hay.
The turnips on most soils are quite dried up, and unle,,o
rain comes soon, will not recovrr. The follows are clear,
and the dressing in the weald is nearly all on the land. A
great deal of clover is laid up for seed, but we bear it is
getting full of maggots. Young pheasants ate dying in
great numbers:—Brighton Gazette.

THE LATE EDMUND KEAN.—The friends
of this illustrious tragedian and remarkable man, it is con-
j,-ctured, will have a rich treat afforded them by the pe-
rusal of an article which is to appear in the Sivember
number of Mr. Colburn's " New Monthly Magazine."
The paper is entitled "My Acquaintance with the live
Edmund Kean," and it is from the graphic pen of Mr.
Grattan, who enjoyed opportunities of famili tr inter couNr
with the great actor at various periods of his eventful
career, and whose admiration of his genius, it is said, has
not betrayed him into the too common mistake of insensi-
bility to the follies which. unhappily accompaniA it.

We rejoice to find that emigration increase;
as the season advances, and before it closes we hope a
large additiOn will be made to the wealth and population
of this province. -More than 300 emigrants landed at
our port in the la'st week, a number infinitely beyond the
proportion which found their way to the bead of the lake
in any former season.—Hamilton Paper.
CURIOUS PIIENOMENON.—AS
pot, of Maidstone, was tiding in his gig, on tho 12111
instant, near Horton Kirby, he saw a very large quantity
of hay taken up from a field into the air by a whiriwii,d,
anti carried off in a south-easterly direction as far as the eye
coal reach. The changing positions of these ma":",
while in the air, had a most singular appearance.,
,a;;;
although they passed within 100 yards of Mr. Peifflj.a...
head, he felt little or no wind stirring....../Ifaidston
SUSPECTED MURDER. t rclay another
.
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long investigation took p
death of .Tine Sutton. IT7ecaran
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that the young mail who i.ia
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issCrla' :I%,ioscul:Tgragdainthebeyotuankgennen'ivaant),o.
tn"r"'ntg. •inj- hat if any itdditional evidence Mild
but informed !inn,
teeisttzu,ght aoraitict