The Sun.
London, England, 1834-02-26 00:00:00

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considered that it was the duty of the government to provide
religious instruction for the people, and he believed that it
would net be well supported if it was divorced from tha
state.—(Hear, hear.) He would, however, support any
neasure which.Wouldrelievc all classe. from thedirect payment
of church rates, but the relief that he would support must be
3 general measure. As for a registrati•in of births and mar-
riages, that he would concede. The next prayer of the peti.

ton related to the exclusion of Dissenters from the uni-
versities. Now, he held that nothing could possibly lead
oso much laxity, as the present system. A young
man going to the university was first called upon to
swear the to truth of 39 articles, not one of which he had ever
read. True, they were explained to him by his tutor, but in.
99 out of every 100 cases the pupil at the time of his swear-
:ng knew nothing about them. He considered that learning
should not be made a monopoly of, and that the Dissenters were
entitled to the best Education the country could afford.
Sir 0. MOSLEY then presented a petition from the nor-
thern division of the county of Stafford, complaining of the
enormous increase of the county rates, which the petitioners
considered was occasioned by the building and repairing of
bridges, and the great expense of public prosecutions.
They also complained of being taxed for the county rate without
being represented. The hon. baronet said that, from expe-
rience, he could state there was no county in which the rates
were better managed than in the county of Stafford, where all
proceedings were held in open court.

Mr. BULLER supported the prayer of the petition.
The agricultural interest was not suffering so much from
'arllamentary as from local taxation. He, t..ero.fore, hoped an
.nquiry would be granted.
After a few words from Sir H. VERNEY and Mr. F. O'Cox-
Noir, the petition was laid on the table.

Sir 0. MOSELEY then presented a petition from the same
)lace for the better observance of the Sabbath.

Mr. A. JOHNS f ONE presented several petitions from place;
in Scotland against church patronage. One from a place in
Fifeshire, and one from the city of St. Andrew's, which
he had the honour to represent. At the latter place
the petition was agreed to at a public meeting,
with only two dissentient Voices. The question was gaining
ground daily ; and as it was to be brought forward in that
house on the following night, he begged to call their particular
attention to these petitions. The people of Scotland were not
actuated by any political feeling in the presentation of these pe.
titions, but he trusted some reform would be effected.

•
Mr. MAXWELL supported the petition.
Mr. WYNDHA M presented a petition from the ungis.
'rates of the county of Norfolk, praying that a tax might be
I ,id upon beer shops.
An HON. HEysßßhoped his Majesty's m,nisters would come
come forward to-morrow night with some proposition tbr the
repeal of the malt tax.

Mr. WYNDHAM presented several petitions from places in
Norfolk against the malt-tax, and two petitions from dissenters
in the county of Norfolk, and the town of Norwich, praying to
he rel;(v..id from the disabilities under which they laboured.
T. .e petitions were very numerously and respectably signed.
Mr. GROTE presented a petition from the inhabitants of
St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, in the city of London. The number
of rate payers in that parish was 655 ; the number of signa-
tures to the petition was 360, so that the majority was of an
opinion with the contents of the petition.—(Hear, hear.)
That parish laboured under a grievance peculiar to itself

—the rector enjoyed 2,5001. a year, and was empowered;
by an act passed in the year 1825, to seize on the property of
thirty of the inhabitants in case of a deficiency in the amount
of his income. That was a great hardship, and the peti-
tioners were entitled to call on the house for relief. The pe-
tition prayed for the immediate abolition of this act. He (Mr,
Grote) supported its prayer.

Mr. PENLEAZE brought up a report on the Southampton
roads.—Referred to a committee.

An HON. MEMBER brought up a report on the Lincoln
roads, and obtained leave to bring in a bilL
At three o'clock the SPEAKER left the chair.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sllta-Being a constant reader of your excellent Journal,
and general admirer of its principles, it was with much
.iirprise and pain that I read, in your observations upon
Mr. O'Connell's proposed Bill upon the Libel Laws, a
remark, that you could not understand, how the publica-
rion of " Truth" could in any case he injurious, as Lord
Althorn had pronounced it to be, in many. I think, if
you had more fully considered the subj-ct, you would have
felt differently. Putting aside inexpediency, clangtr to
public morality, po'itical caution, &c., &c., I will rake a
case more immediately affecting individual, and general
sodetv. Few are the individuals or families that have not
confited within their own circle many painful and unTrea-
sant recollections, known only to themselves, and with
which the public have no concern. Who is there that at
some period of their lives (for instance in early youth,
before the character bee been formed) that has not fallen
into error and indiscretions, nay, even into more serious
tr insgr salons, of which they have felt the consequences,
and evinced their sorrow by a subsequent amended alai
h mourahle course of life, through which they have re-
covered their station in society, and are now esteemed and
respected. Yet with all this, and without having even
given any fresh cause of offence to society, or their friends,
it is, under this Bill, to be permitted to every unprincipled
scoundrel, or enemy (through the medium of the tress),
to rake up all their former errors, expose them tit public
scorn and hatted, end, by driving them from society,
en 'anger their very means of existence. The worst of
villains will thus find an excellent harvest in this pro-
vs 03 of Mr. O'Connell's Bill. They will have only to
pry into th- secrets of families, find out their failinee, real
or supposed, and, by constant threats of expesure, terrify
th .m out of their last shilling, and irreparably ruin them;
Or what is more probable, drive them to sel-destruction,
or exile in is foreign land. If such a species of tyranny,
cruelty, and injustice is to he the offspring of the boasted
liberty of the press, who that can live elsewhere woul,l
desire to continue in England a single hour ? I have
no doubt that these consequences were foreseen by Lord
Althorp, when he remarked upon its injurious effects
upon society; and I do hope, that in its further progress
through the House, care will be taken to provide effec-
tually against such abuse, that the Press may he the
guardian of real freedom, and not converted into an en-
gine of oppression, injustice, and malice. If you concur
in these ideas, by giving them insertion at your earliest
convenience, you will greatly oblige, Mr. Editor,
Your obedient. l.mrible servant,
A FRIEND TO THE PRESS.

Feb. 20.

LONDON AND GREENWICH RAILWAY.---So
intense is the interest excited by the commencement of this
important undertaking that the mere excavations tor tkt
foundations of the ht ickwork have been sufficient to attract
thousands of spectators to the spot where operations have
commenc,d. The work is proceeding with the utmost
vigour, and from the ability and energy displayed, we may
expect to see it completed in a much shorter time t..'n in
w 43 originally contemplated. From the contracts ...treacly
entered into there is no doubt that the whole of the capital
will not be required.
INCENDIARISM.—NearIy the wb:dle of last
year's barvest, belonging► to Mr. Saucrters, at Cranhorne
Upper Farm, near Sutton Scotrev, Bears, was destroyed
b fire on Wedne•day last. ►l'he property consumed in
ea mated at 3,0001.

On the morning of Saturday last, one of the
large boatsbv)-anging to Portnoy, put to sea with the ne..
ce.,stkry tlnipments used in &bine, and returned again in
the afternoon of that day with no less than 189 down, or
1,268 haddocks, besides a variety of other kinds of fish of
excellent quality. Such a fishing in the course of tug same
tin.e is not re:r.llect din this quarter.—Aberieen Herald.
ELGIN GAOL.—At the present moment
Noble, the young man committed on a charge of tnortler,
is the only prisoner in the Elgin gaol : a similar circom-
-- •nce has not occurred for the last twelve years.—Elgin
Courier. [By a singular coincidence we remark, in the
same paper, a meeting called for devising ways and me
to assess the inhabitants for the purpose of erecting a liter
aol ! !—Aberdeen Herald.]
FLOWERS.—An interesting work is on the
•-ve of publication, entitled " The Linguaee of Flowers."
Ps object is to covey a knowledge of Floral language,
or lather an interpretation of the meinings attac/•ed to
variou• flowers. Its study has lone been familiar to the
inhabitants of Eastern countries, "where," observes L lily
Wortley Alontague, " they send letters of passion, blend_
or even netve, without inking their flog, rs; net
fruit or flower, bud or blossem, being without its sentitr.,,,,,,.
UXBRIDGE, EEL 21.—A man, named
Green, was brought before the Magistrate::, at our Petty
Sessions oe Monday last, on suspicion of being the incen-
diary who caused the destructive ko on Mr. Cane's pre-
moes at Heathrow, on Thurtele4. evening ;mit. The Ma-
t"' oc the case, remanded
tgiisetri.rtiess,..aefrtetrillaAsihoonr4t a lyfiliexi. 4at,
It is related, a Mr. Wilberforce that, though
:o many Yea" titan unnected with public aff.irm, the oily
Praek'4l favour h.. ever asked of the Government was fur
leave I.f entre through the Park while dliving down to
the House, 'request which he forbore to pr..s., when lie
found that.
boon; impoitance was attached to so insignificant a

MR. LODGE'S NEW PEERAGE FOR 1834.
arraigem,nt of this work ha., we conceive, attained
th, ne plus ultra of perfection : one volume being deviated
to the deceased, and the other ,o the present or existing
steerage ; the yearly chanties end creaii ,ns that occur in the
'utter are tibtainrd at a trifling expense, and the necessity
,f annually purchasing the eetteaLigical volutne, the con.
,nts of which sre p, rinanent and unchanging, obvia ed.
The dictionary form also in which the work is publish, I,
enders it extremely useful as a book of se'erence,