The Sun.
London, England, 1834-03-04 00:00:00

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LONDON,
TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 4, 1834.

The Army Estimates were again proceeded
with in the Commons last night, and after some
sharp discussion, and two divisions, in which
Ministers had large majorities, considerable pro-
gress was made.
The resolution on the Sugar Duties was re-
ported, and a Bill ordered to be brought in.

No man who attended to the subject could
rationally conclude that nothing was to be done
for the Dissenters this session but the repeal of
the Marriage Act. The voice of public feeling,
the numerous petitions on the subject, the
result of interviews with Ministers, and the
almost unanimous conviction of the Lower
House that sweeping and general measures must
be adopted for redressing the grievances of
that body, convinced us that the repeal of
the Marriage Act could be regarded only as
the beginning. No Ministry could be so
utterly blind to consequences as to stop
short there. Lord JOHN RUSSELL may
be guilty of very foolish conduct, and the
affair of Mr. GLETG proves it , but if we could
have supposed for a moment that he would
have risked his well-earned fame, and, after doing,
so much, have betrayed the cause of the Dis-
senters at last, we should have put him down
as more fit for Bedlam than a seat in the Ca-
binet. Lord GREY has all along admitted that
the Dissenters had a right to extensive relief.
He repeated the assertion last evening,
and justly complained that, because only one
measure had been introduced, the public
had jumped to the conclusion that no-
thing more was to be done. We have already
given our opinion of that measure, and see no
reason to alter it. The bill might have been
more simple, but, as a beginning, it cannot
justly be complained of. It allows the dissenter
to be married by his own clergyman, in his own
church, and it relieves him from the necessity
of listening to a ceremony part of which is offen-
sive to female modesty. That is some-
thing gained. It is, however, but a beginning,
and other reforms must follow in its train.
There must be reform in the celebration of
baptism, in the burial of the dead, and, above
all, in the church rates. The latter have been
long and justly complained of, and have added
not a little to the outcry raised against the
Church. How could it be otherwise ? The
revenues of the English and Irish Church are
the richest, or next to the richest, in the
world, but they are distributed in such a way
that they are of little benefit to the community
The influence of the aristocracy and the higher
class of the commons has diverted to thei r own
purposes the wealth of the Church, instead of mak-
ing it answerable for all ecclesiastical purposes.
They have reserved the Church lands and the
tithes for their sons, or brothers, or tutors, and
have left the people to pay for marriages, bap-
tisms, funerals, repairs of churches—for every-
thing, in short, down to organs, beadles, and
bell-ringers. The Church is rich enough to sup-
port the clergy, and keep the churches in repair,
eymi, t__recourse being had to the odious practice
7,-.. , _ . 71. rings or fees, or church rates of any
i - ----disseriiirt4.,o4, he public will not be satisfied
' gill: ibese %'-atei done away with, and we are
''... - lierela`glid! to find that Lord ALTHORP
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