The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-14 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON,

TO THE SECRE I'A It Y OF TH E BRADFORD
BEFuRM ASSOCIATION.
(EVERY MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY.)
Sir,—On Wednesday the 9:.h, nn into Com-
mittee on the Colonial Property Qualification Bill, Mr.
Tufnell moved •' That it be an ins ruction to the COM..
mittee to provide for the abJlition of any property qua-
lification for the Eli ction of Members to serve in
Parliament " The motion brought out a good deal of
discussion on the uses and non-uses of a property quali-
fication. It was pret.y clearly established, that the in-
vention of a qualification in landed property originated
with the Jacobite Squire Westerns after the Revolution
of 1688, and that Scotland was omitted because Scot-
land Was thought to be Jacobite enough without. Then,
as now, the strength of conservatism was among the
landed interest, and of liberal principles among the cum-
mercial. And the object was to exclude the commercial
interest as far as possible from Parliament, and bring
back the Stuarts. No very favourable parentage fur the
property qualification, you will allow.
Sisice that time the efficiency of the excluaion has
been much worn down. particularly by chat is known
by the title of Mr. Warburt n's Act. But Liberal
Members who are richer in popularity than in Three pi-r
Cents. are made to do something like taking the fig from
under the mule's tail; though in point of pecuniary ex-
pense the process costs only five-and-twenty pounds.
Fur five acd-twenty pounds any man of decent habits
can be set up with a landed property, and a title suffi-
ciently valid to enable him to pass the wicket by swear
ing he has the land. Not a soul ever was, or perhaps
ever will be, kept out of Parliament by it; but still
there is a kind of stigma in being obliged to resort to
artifice, and that is worth something to the proji ctors.
Die proposal before the Committee was to quel.fy for
property in the Colonies; a thing to which in itself no
reasonable objection could be made. But the motion of
Mr. Tufnell threw such light on the inefficirncy and
u.elessness of qualification altogether, that all parties
threw up their briefs, and first the motion and then the
Bill was withdrawn.
During the discussion, allusion was made to the super-
fluous article and born out of due time, with which the
latter-day supporters of the Charter have burthened
their cause in the shape of a demand for Payment of
Members; the invention palpably of men who look no
further than that they would like to be sent to Parlia-
ment and paid. The objections to which are, first that
if anybody likes to pay them, it can be done now; and
next, that the general result, supposing even the law to
be that Tories should pay a Radical Member when he
had a majority of votes and Rsdicals a Tory, would

be that Members who are now only asked to subscribe to
the Infirmary and in rare instances to a horse-race,
would systematically make a point of honour of return-
ing their pay and most probably something more, in the
shape of donations to their constituenc,es. So that on

the whole the system of donations would be doubled and
trebled, and the relative weakness of those who de-
pended on their pay would be greater than ever. In the
present question the allusion served only to throw a
vague discredit on the plans and wishes of the Re-
formers; but as far as it went, its operation was un-
favourable.

On Thursday the Inhabited House Duty Bill was read
a third time and passed. This brought up the Member
for Buckinghamshire (Mr. Disraeli), whose speech, how-
ever cautiously worded and judiciously chastened, de-
monstrated that the fears of the party he represents,
are lest the Government by lightening the indirect
'axes which fall unfairly on the men of small incomes,
should pave the way to a necessity next session for lay-
ing more of direct taxes, which mean taxes that shall
tall fairly on the rich. The hobgoblin of direct taxa-
tion was clearly what they bad In sight. The men of
small incomes are not yet equal to the subject; and
their counsellors still less. But it is not the first time

the march of intellect has set things to rights.
On Friday in the debate on Supply, a vote on the sub.
ject of Public Education brought out from the Minister
a declaration of considerable importance as to his future
intentions with respect to the promotion of that object.
The friends of non-priestly education could not let
well alone, nor refrain from comments which forced the
Minister do something swallowing up his words.
But every body knows that in a question of this nature,
'leads are not dependent upon words, but on the
contrary form an under• current of their own, which
would lead to great error in calculating the ship's place,
►f the upper surface of words alone were taken into view.
The same contest that is going on iu Piedmont and other
continental countries, is going on here, with modifica-
tions corresponding to the difference of latitude. The
question is, whether the knowledge of the country shall
be framed on its religion as it may happen to be estab -
fished, or its religion be framed upon its knowledge.
Our forefathers took the latter course; they gained know-
ledge and thence the Reformation. In these days of re-
urn to mediaeval imbecility, the battle is sore for causing
the process to be reversed.
The debate on Friday was for a long time conducted
with singular moderation; but the arrival of some of
of the diners-out introduced the "post-prandial" zeal
for religion which Milton appears to have suspected in
the peerage and priesthood of Philistia. For all this,
the world moves on, and neither here nor i❑ Piedmont
will religion be much longer used as the nail to be thrown
into the movements of the State's educational machine.

On Saturday the HOMO met at twelve, and atter some
hours' debate passed the Civil Bills (Ireland), and
other Bills.

I am, Sir, yours very sincerely,
AN OLD REFORMER.

London, 14th July, 1851.

MR. COBDEIV, MP, versus THE CORPO-

RATION OF LONDON.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—The "Ecclesiestical Toles" Bill being still under
consideration of the Imperial Parliament, I am induced
to recall the following portion of the Hon. Member for
the West Riding's speech at Manchester (previous to
the commencement of the present session), which I should
have done some months earlier, but for the hope that so
odious a comparison would have attracted the attention
of men better qualified than myself for the task:—
" W hen has there been such a spectacle, even so ab-
surd a spectacle exhibited, as that which was shown
when the London Corporation took that great ginger-
bread coach, the pattern of 200 years ago, and clothed
themselves in that Batholowew Fair dress of theirs, and
took a man with a fur cup, whose pattern dates back
rive centuries, with a long sword in his band, and all the
other set of paraphernalia of the city of London, and went
down by the railroad to Windsor to present an address
to the Queen, in order to put down Popish mummeries.—
(Immense cheers, followed by roars of laughter.)" The
lion. Gentleman then informed his captivated audience
,hat he had seen " the most gorgeous religious ceremonies
Hof the Church of Rome, but that he hod not seen any-
thing half so absurd or gorgeous as the mummeries in
which the Corporation of London indulge every year."
Now, I would ask any man in his senses what con-
sistent analogy can there be between the time-honoured
pageantry attendant upon an inauguration, state, or ofs-
- visit of the chief magistrate of London and the
pompous display of religious insignia connected with
the Roman Catholic religion in these realms—the one
being an exercise of its, universally admitted, civil
rights and customs, the other a violation of its, as uni
verbally admitted, constitutional rights?
Is it a question of external decoration, or of internal
ibfluence? The former in either case may be summarily
disposed of, "it makes good for trade," as does the
barbarous splendour (of which the Hon. Member has
mien a primitive horror) surrounding our priceless gems,
Victoria and Albert. With regard to the internal in•
licence, then, of a " Lord Mayor's Show," of what pa-
tient industry, what years, of toil. and anxiety, what in-
estimable social virtues, what participation in the main-
enance of the commercial greatness of this kiegdom,
does it not speak? and should its glittering equipages
and gorgeous liveries, or even those types of the olden
time, the "cap and sword," make converts to their
shrine, is there aught "offensive to common sense and
inti iligence in stimulating the rising generation to "go
and do likewise." I would remind the Hon. Member
that external decorations have been admitted by all
writers, who possessed any knowledge of human nature,
to be necessary badges of distinction, whether in the
court, the camp, the council, courts judicial, or civic in.
stitutions. Does the Corporation of the city of Loudon
attic by its internal influences to enthral alike the
thoughts and actions of mankind ? Has the existence of
its institution been an impediment to, or a promoter of,
" the safely, honour, welfare of our Sovereign, and her do-
minions,"
minions, and, lastly, are either its institutions, or its
functionaries capable of being made political agents for
any or every Roman Catholic State in Europe; or can it,
or its votaries, be compared to the potent spells and
seductive charms of the Roman Catholic Church for again
disseminating the seeds of religious discord amongst us ?
It occurs to me that bad the Honourable Gentleman
taken a more comprehensive view of the motives which
induced the corporation of the city of London to present
an address to her Majesty against the Papal aggression,
there would have been no need to remind him that popu-
larity, like printed paper, may be put to " base uses,"
and as being more lenient to his principles than to his
judgment. -I would conclude, by remarking to him that
" there are more things between heaven and earth than
are dreamed of in his philosophy." Hoping that he and
his colleagues will Ft fleet ere they vomit forth again
such crude ideas upon points so important as these,
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
ONE OF THE YOUNG BULLS.
London, July 12, 1851.

GRAND MILITARY MUSICAL FESTIVAL.—The
sgerve
ea
nt it,/ 1a t
thew
mh iocaht ac
rt taecnkd
re
edg ti hme performance e
otesiormnthaenscee of the bands
rviceatchelljeoat
C liege-gardens last month, on behalf of the Consumption
Hospital, Brompton, has, it appears, induced the committee
to try an encore on a similar extent, but in a more pic-
turesque position, possessing higher charms insylvan scenery
than the college gardens,. Lord Ranelagli having allowed the
hospital the use of his grounds at Mulgrave-house, on the
river -ide, Fulham, for the purpose. The event comes off
on
.Thursday and Friday next; and we congratulate the
committee on having provided against every contingency of
the weather.
RAILWAY. The Bill of this company has passed the House
Companyin
gW
rT: tHa, ri
Finally
gohlt n . WFXFOND, WICKLOW, AND DUBLIN
osa t:
2,
do Lordsui :
ou
I It: foraum
Tl
hi
tneoe
Dtt raroanmyd. r Kingstownualn
acno mestimated
B Brayfißill
further
tafhonerdr
aW il ci
outlaynk elu Wicklow,
Bray has also passed, the powers to make being alterna-
-0 l.dlelr
se
and Bills l
awnedroewor
alterna-
tive. The Committee commenced sitting on Monday last,
and after the case for the Bills had finished intimated their
intention to pass them, and recommended the opposition to
pieprzefdorbwyhtolime Kminrglistoeawtn.
Hill, Mr. D. D. Keane, and Mr. Nash ap•
the Committee inserted a clause for a
of both lines, from Bray to Kingstown
geared. agree
The United States' Mail steam-ship Arctic,
' Luce, which would leave New Yolk on the sth in-
Captain
asinduDltuanbelionu.s °I-ening
staut, may be otpected to arrive in the Mersey on Wellnes-
s dap oat.