The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-04 00:00:00

INTOLERANCE IN CARDIGANSHIRE.

The following communication was published in
the Carmarthen Journal of Sept: 7 :-
" As I firmly believe the principles of our Church which
I have embraced to be in strict accordance with the Word
of iaod, I therefore take great interest in the church situated
in the parish of Llanddeinol, and feel it a duty incumbent

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upon me to do all I can for its success. Having been plaoed
by Divine Providence here as a landowner; I feel the re-
sponsibilityof my situation, and have come to the conclu-

sion of making that use of the property entrusted to my care
which. I deem consistent with the religion of our blessed
Saviour, by conscientiously choosing those persons to be my
tenants who qui and will support our Church from principle
and conscience. Deeply impressed with these considerations
I feel myself morally bound to set before you two alterna •
tives, and you are at liberty to choose for yourself, namely,
either to attend our church services with your family,
and thus to support its principles or otherwise; if your con-
sciences will not allow you to comply with my request, you
must quit the farm which' you hold of me ; because my
conscience also forbids me to allow you to make use of the
advantages which you derive from your connection with
my property as a tenant to the support of those principles
which are at variance and hostile to those of your land-
lady. Far be it from me to make the attempt of forcing or
compellingany of my tenants to become Church people,
and far be it from them also to be so inconsistent with
with themselves as to expect they shall continue to be my
tenants unless they are church-going persons, because by
so acting I should consider myself doing nothing else than
patronising and encouraging what is contrary to my own
views. I trust, also, that, as far as religion is concerned,
you will be generous enough to allow me that liberty of
conscience in the use of what I can claim to be my own
which you yourselves take in the use of the same, and thus
we shall be mutually progressing towards keeping that
golden rule of justice—' Whatsoever yo, would that men
men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' I have
thus thought it proper so far to explain myself that you
may know the nature of the ground upon which it is my
intention to proceed, and may see the fairness of the course
of conduct which I mean to adopt.
" MARY Mouxcu, Carrog."

The above letter, which was sent by Miss Morice to some
of her tenants a fow months ago, constitutes what is termed
in the Welsh Dissenting papers " The Persecution in Car-

diganshire ;" but, according to my humble opinion, any
one that will read it carefully and entirely free from pre-
judice will at once perceive that it has nothing of the na-
ture of persecution. It is assorted by many Dissenters
that the most prominent feature in it is compulsion ; but
let them who suppose so (and it can be nothing but a sup-
position) point out oven a sentence or a line which has
the least tendency to anything of the kind; yea, I
defy any man to prove to the public that any portion
of this letter contains anything even approaching to a per-
secution or compulsion. It is quite the reverse in its prin-
ciples, in its tendency, in its spirit, and the whole tenor of
it. Here you will find the author declaring her belief in
the scripturalness of our Church principles, and in conse-
quence evincing the great zeal and the deep interest which
she has for the church of the parish in which her property
is principally situated. She is fully persuaded that our
National Church is the Church which is built, in our days,
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and, from
this consideration, is full of anxiety to do all in her power
for the promotion of its interests and success. She looks
upon her high and advantageous position in life as divinely
and providentially ordained to the accomplishment of some
particular and worthy object. She considers herself respon-
sible for all the advantages with which she is favoured by the
providence of God, and feels it her incumbent duty to exert
herself to the utmost of her ability In behalf of that Church
in which alone the word of God and the Christian religion
are kept pure and undefiled, and it is much to ba regretted
that landed proprietors generally, who profess great re-
gards for the Church, do not feel the same desire, and wish
to follow her example, by adopting the same plan and by
taking the same steps, and thus to come out strongly in
defence of their own Church, which Dissenters of different
denominations combine together in their exertions and en-
deavours to undermine and to pull down even to the
ground. It is to be hoped that better times are at hand,
VOA QW lAndoilen Will PO and feel, On AeoiefortitY of

that she has as much power and authority thus to act in
reference to her property as they have to choose theichapel.
rather than the church, and that it is quite as reasonable,
as fair, as lawful, and as consistent with the spirit anal prin-
ciples of the Christian religion, for her to do all the good
she can with her estate to support and promote the interests
of Christianity in the Church as it is for her tenants to do
what they can with what they possess for the support and
promotion of Methodism in the chapel ; and in doing so she
can and ought to be as conscientious as, they pretend to be,
and the same liberty of conscience ought to be allowed for
both sides. There is no more force or compulsion used by
her towards them than there is by them towards her. Both
parties are free agents, and can act freely. She has a claim
to the farms which they occupy, and can do as she pleases
with them ; she feels her moral responsibility, and in con-
sequence has made up her mind to rent them to persons
who will, from principle and conscience, support the same
views as herself; and I am fully persuaded that the spirit
of the Christian religion is quite as much evinced in this as
it is in the fact of her Dissenting.tenants making use of
those advantages which they derive from their connection
withher land as such to support principles and views which
are quite contrary to those of their landlady ; and it is very
surprising to see in the Banner and dmserau Cymru a
great deal of blame laid upon Miss Morice for insisting upon
the tenants attending the Catholic Church. Surely there is
nothing wrong in this easy command when they see thou-
sands of the best, wisest, and most learned mon in the na-
tion attending constantly there. Are such persons as these
not able to be competent judges in religious matters as well
as the followers of the meeting-house ? And do we not
frequently see the strictest Dissenters, of their own free will,
bringing up their darling sons to be ministers of that church
which they themselves will not vouchsafe to enter? Let
them then refrain from blaming a lady for consistently doing
what she considers to be her duty in upholding that Church
which has been for ages the delight and comfort of the best
of men.