The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-01 00:00:00

because—let men be as disinterested as they will,
and no doubt hundreds of men would be found
ready to suffer for their master's cause—they
are men ; and men who cannot eat must die,
and food cannot be got without money. Now,
conscientious Dissenters know this, and whether
they may think a State Church good or not, or
whether they may entirely agree with the Eng-
lish Church cr not, they still allow that it teaches
the truth in the main ; and they had rather have
the truth taught by the Church of England than
not at all." In the main we think the writer is
not far wrong. The very able author of " The
Case of the Dissenters," instances Wales and
Cornwall, two of the poorest parts of the king-
dom, in which the spiritual wants of the people
are abundantly supplied by Dissenters; as a
proof that, in every situation an established
Church may be dispensed with. But mining
neighbourhoods are much higher in the scale of
civilization than mere agricultural districts, and
Cornwall (to say nothing of Wales) may almost
be classed with the manufacturing districts.
And in the next place, the edifice of dissent in
Cornwall and \Vales is the work of many gene-
rations. Admitting that in time the religious
wants of every part of England and \Vales
might he supplied by ministers chosen and paid
by the people themselves, yet great inconveni-
ence would be felt for a long period in many
parts of the country, till the new state of things
took root. Dissent has established itself in
Wales and Cornwall during the existence of the
State Church ; and it probably will establish itself
ere long throughout the agricultural counties.
The fact of such establishment will be the best
proof that a State Church may be dispensed with.
In the mean time, the non-existence of dissenting
congregations will be deemed by many con-
clusive as to the impossibility of their existence,
and urged as an argument for the necessity of
an establishment. But while we would advise
the Dissenters to be satisfied with a payment
to account of their claims for the present, we
are quite satisfied that their numbers and
weight in the community are much under-
rated by the advocates of the Church of Eng-
land. The writer in the British Magazine, for
instance, represents the Dissenters as " a party
who do not, when fairly brought to account,
dare themselves to claim more than one fourth
of the population, and who, by very competent
judges, are placed at not one-sixth of it. But call
them, as they call themselves, one-fourth—a
calculation which comprises all the nominal as
well as real partisans of dissent—what is it then
that these moderate and decent persons say ?
Simply this—' We, the fourth part, mean to
dictate to you, the three-fourths. You
mean to have a Church ; we mean you
shall not.' " Now a man must have paid
very little attention to what is going on
in the world who supposes the Dissenters
to be only one-fourth of the population. In a
few parts of the country there are, we admit,
comparatively few Dissenters. But in all the
rich and populous parts of the country, in all
the populous towns and large villages, the Dis-
senters are to the Church population as at least
three to one. In the Times of yesterday a Mr.
Richard Hopper gives an account of a paper
read by him the other evening to the Literary
Society of Nottingham, on national education,
containing a statistic of all the different congre-
gations of churches and chapels in that town, in
which he,controverts a statement in the last
Edinburgh Review, that not above a third or a
fourth are sectarians in England. From his
communication, it appears that in Nottingham
there are five congregations of Churchmen, con-
taining a total of 5,800 (of whom 830 arc com-
municants and members) ; and that there are 20
congregations of Dissenters, containing a total
of 12,000 (of whom 4,534 are communicants).
Taking the Sunday schools, the total num-
ber of Dissenters educated in them is 5,048,
of Church people, 1,678. " People (says
Mr. Hopper) are asleep with respect to
the declining interest of the Established
Church, and the growing magnitude of dissent."
In all the towns of which accounts have been
published, the result is nearly the same. In
the History, Directory, and Gazette of the
County of York, published in 1822 (we believe
there is a later edition), on turning to Sheffield,
we find four places of worship of the Esta-
blishment, and fifteen places of worship of
Dissenters and Catholics. The Independents
alone are more numerous than the Churchmen.
In Leeds the churches are four, and the chapels
nineteen. In the Hull Directory, published in
1826, there are five churches, and twenty
chapels of Dissenters. If we take Lancashire,
we find corresponding results. In Baines's
History (1825), sixteen churches and three
chapels are assigned to the Establishment, and
forty places of worship to the Dissenters. The
other towns exhibited the same proportions. In
the Lincolnshire Directory, we find in Boston
a church and chapel of ease, and eight Dissenting
places of worship, and a Catholic chapel. The
Dissenting congregations are, with few excep-
tions, much more numerous than those of the
Establishment. There are upwards of 8,000 Dis-
senting congregations in England and Wales.
There are, it is true, a greater number of parishes;
but a number of the parishes of the south
and west of England contain few inhabitants ;
while a dissenting congregation must be of a
magnitude to support a minister. We do not
believe that any single sect is as numerous as
that which is established, but we are quite cer-
tain that at present the Dissenters, taken toge-
ther, exceed in number the members of the
Church. By a fiction the Church counts all
her followers who do not belong to any congre-
gation of Dissenters ; but even with this addi-
tion, the Dissenters are the most numerous.
Wherever there is a town population, they are
as three to one to the Church. But every year
the Dissenters gain and the Church loses. In
King William's time, the Dissenters were a mere
handful, as may be seen from the return found
in his chest, which Sir John Dalrymple pub-
lished. Even since the revolutionary war the
Dissenters have increased enormously, ill com-
parison with the Church. We remember,
when in several counties, of the South of
England, the attempt to build dissenting cha-
pels, led to riots. There arc now chapels
in abundance in all these counties. The people
are fond of the consequence which they derive
from their share in the management of Dissent-
ing Chapels and the rearing of one is sure to
be followed by the desertion of the neighbouring
Church.
Whether Ministers, by reforming the
blaring
abuses of the Church, will be able to
counteract the progress of dissent, we know not.
We are inclined to doubt whether any reform
will ever enable a Church, over the clergy of
which the people have no control, to compete
with a clergy chosen by the people. It is,
therefore, more than probable that many years
will not elapse when the Church will be left with
kw followers, except in remote and thinly-popu-

lated districts. This is one reason why the Di s-
senters ought not to be impatient, becaus e
justice may not be done to them now. The
Church is without the Lying principle, to which
they owe their growth.—Morning Chronicle.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

Yesterday four young men who serve in the shop
of Mr. John Simpson, haberdasher, of Bishopsgate-
street, were summoned before the LORD MAYOR,
under the following rather remarkable circum-
stances :

A Mr. Timothy stated that as he and his clerk
were passing through Bishopsgate-street, they saw
several children's dresses ticketed in Mr. Simpson's
shop at ss. I Id. each. Witness sent his clerk in
to purchase one, but the latter returned and said
that the shopman refused to let hint have the dress
for less than 7s. 6d. Witness then went in himself
and asked for the dress at the ticketed price, but the
shopman he addressed said " I suppose you are
some -- Jew," used other language of an offen-
sive nature, and, assisted by others of the servants
of the establishment, tried to push him out of the
shop. He said that if they laid hands upon him he
would retaliate violently. One of them immediately
struck him, he returned the blow, and was at once
surrounded by nine or ten of the shopmen, who
got him down, and beat him when down. A mob
then crowded round the door, cried " Shame " and
said if witness had committed a robbery he ought
not to he treated in such a manner. Some persons
at length entered the shop from the street and inter-
fered to extricate him, but he lost his hat and three
half crowns, out of his waistcoat pocket, in the
scuffle.

Mr. Simpson had witnesses to disprove the truth
of the accusation, to deny every word of it, and he
had discharged the two young men who had been
concerned.

The LORD MAYOR—If you believe every word to
be untrue, you have treated the two persons you
have dismissed with great injustice.
The complainant requested that the Lord Iklayor
would direct Mr. Simpson to let him (complainant)
see the other shopmen, as he might identify some of
them as participators.
Mr. Simpson would from courtesy permit Mr.
Timothy to see them.
The LORD MAYOR—From courtesy I What ! a
man is to be knocked down in your shop by your
servants, and you will be so courteous as to allow
him to identify his assailants I Would you not
assist him from justice ? The complainant—There
is very little disposition to oblige in that way.
The LORD MAYOR then directed Leadbitter, the
Marshalman, to accompany Mr. Timothy to the
shop in order to take a view of the shopmen.
The Marshalman, on his return, said that when
the complainant entered the shop, one of the shop-
men said to him, " You rascal get out of the
shop."
Mr. Simpson then requested that his Lordship
would postpone the case for a day, in order that op-
portunity might be given of refutation, and his
Lordship consented to adjourn it.
The defendants appeared yesterday, accompanied
by two others, and the complainant said he did not
at all wish to detain any of whose identity he or his
witnesses were not fully convinced. Two were, in
accordance with this suggestion, discharged.
The complainant and defendants were attended
by attorneys.
Mr. Timothy having repeated his evidence, and
undergone a cross-examination, which did not in the
slightest degree cause him to vary it,
Ellis, his clerk, was called, arid stated that the
shopmen had surrounded the complainant and beaten
him down.

Two persons, who were passing at the time, de-
posed to nearly the same effect.
Mr. Timothy stated, that Mr. Simpson appeared
in the shop after the violence had been committed,
and caused him to be conveyed to the watchhouse.
The constable, however, upon hearing the charge,
refused to de;uin witness in custody.
The solicitor to the defendants said that he could
prove that the complainant was the first aggressor,
and called a young man who was also shopman to
Mr. Simpson.
This witness stated, that Mr. Timothy wanted a
Foolah dress instead of a Shelley dress, and offered
only ss. l Id., the price of the latter, which was in-
ferior. The complainant, upon being refused, used
the most violent lauguage, said it was a complete
" take in," and that they were a set of humbugs
altogether. One of the shopmen, in order to stop
the annoyance, put his hand gently upon the com-
plainant, who immediately retaliated with a most
yioletA blow. Another of the shopmen then went
up to extricate his companion.
The defendants were ordered to find bail, which
was accordingly done.
The examination brought together a very numer-
ous assemblage.
MARLBORO UGH.STREET.

Yesterday Eliza Frisbee, an under nurse-maid,
charged Martha Brown, the upper nurse-maid,
with having scratched a very pleasing countenance,
of which she was the possessor.
The complainant had recently been engaged in
the nursery of Mr. Crawford, at the York Hotel,
Albemarle-street ; but she had " progressed" sur-
prisingly in the good graces of her master and mis-
tress in a short period, much to the annoyance of
the upper maid, Martha Brown. Squabbles accord-
ingly arose betwixt them, which ended in the de-
fendant threatening to " do" for her, and on two
occasions scratching and pushing her violently.
Mr. Crawford spoke very much in favour of his
pretty maid, and announced his intention of parting
with his plain one.
In defence Martha said the quarrel occurred be-
cause Eliza Frisbee refused, as in duty bound, she
being the under nurse-maid, to carry the biggest
child, through which the little dear had caught a
violent cold.
The Bench having been satisfied that the assaults
complained of had been committed, fined the defen-
dant 10s. for each offence.

Miss Emily Lavinia Herbert and Miss Julia
Laura iVyndhant were put to the bar, charged with
having been disorderly the over-night.
The " ladies" were enveloped in splendid opera
cloaks, trimmed with the most expensive fur, which
served to conceal the appropriate costume of Virgins
of the Sun, the characters they had adopted for the
purpose of enjoying the masquerade festivities at the
King's Theatre. Some difference concerning a par-
ticular friend having occurred at the masquerade,
the ladies adjourned to the Haymarket, and there
continued to attack each other with the fury of
" two wild cats in a saw-pit," until the combat was
put an end to by the police.
Miss Emily Lavinia Herbert appeared to treat the
affair with nonchalance, pleading in excuse the extra
quantity of fine she had imbibed.
Miss Julia Laura Wyndham, on the other hand,
appeared like Niobe, all tears, and when desired to
allege something in excuse, she threw herself
into the most approved attitude of stage hy-
sterics, and murmured out in sobbing accents her
sorrow for the little indiscretion she had been
guilty of. _ .

The ladies were allowed to depart after having
paid the fee of ss. to his Majesty.

Q UEEN-S Q UARE.

Yesterday Silvester Cadham, of No. 21, Broad-
wall, Blackfriars-road, a workman employed for the
last twenty-three years at the soap-manufactory of
Benjamin Hawes, Esq., M.P., was brought up in
the custody of the police•constables of the L divi-
sion, and placed at the bar before Messrs. GRE-
GORIE and litirtitELL, charged with a most dreadful
and brutal assault on his wife, Jane Cadham, and
wounding her in the side, whereby her life is in
danger.
The Magistrates asked the prisoner if he wished
to say any thing.
Cadham was very sorry for what had occurred.
Ilia wife had been out all day drinking, and he was