The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LOA DON, THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 5, 111860:,

the Home Secretary observed last evening, the
definition in the bill was so ample, or rather so
loose, that under it every blacksmith immediately
came within the category of the marine-store
dealer ! So too with the plumber, so too with the
silversmith, &c. But, as Sir GEORGE LEWIS
added, there was already a distinct statutory defi-
nition of the marine-store dealers, who are thus
defined in the 9th and 10th Viet., ch. 99—namely,
as " all persons who shall trade or deal in buying
and selling anchors, cables, sails, or old junk, old
iron, or old marine stores of any kind or descrip-
tion." A better definition perhaps than even
this might have been suggested to the right
hon. gentleman, not certainly from the statute
book, but from the hand of a late rev. canon of St.
Paul's—not SYDNEY SMITH, but one in his way
' almost equal to SYDNEY SMITH as a humorist—the
Rev. THOMAS BARHAM, who has sung thus, in the

voice of THOMAS INGOLDSBY—
" In the Edgeware-road there's an old marine store,
And a great black doll hangs over the door ;
There are musty bones and fusty rags,
And rusty locks and dusty bags."
&c

&c. &c.
Running on (certainly irrelevantly to the question
under discussion yesterday in committee in the

Jommons)—
" And a lusty old woman called Thirsty Nan,
And her crusty old husband's a hairy-faced man."
At any rate the Commons might just as lief have
been quoting from the " Ingoldsby Legends,"
the immortally ridiculous " Legend of Hamilton
Tighe," as pottering over the provisions of Mr.
SPOONER'S pet Marine Stores Bill—for all the
good that eventually came of it. For at the close
of that lengthy discussion—what is the brief but
sufficient intimation that we read in the Parlia-
mentary
reports ? " The Chairman then left the
chair and the Bill dropped." Another of the poor
little Innocents—" gone to its long home" (as Mrs.
GAMP would say) in the waste paper basket. It is
not only in reference to the Poor Litttle Bill about
Reform that might be quoted the quaint couplet—
" Since so soon that I was done for,
I wonder what I was begun for." _

Hardly had Mr. SPOONER realised the fact that
his Marine Stores Bill had really dropped, after all
that " pother," when Mr. CRAUFURD'S Highways,
Roads, &c., Bill is brought to the verge of the
same stage, viz., committee—when, who but Mr.
SPOONER (as though it were in sheer spleen and
spite at his own discomfiture) moved, and moved
successfully, that the Bill about Highways,
Roads, &c., should go into committee on that day
three months ! And so that innocent received its
quietus ! The yearly appetite for destructiveness
is increasing again betimes upon the Commons.
They are beginning to taste the blood of the little
innocents so frequently that we have a, fair prospect
of coming now all the sooner upon the grand, in-
evitable massacre.

To-morrow we hope to learn the final decision
of the Government in regard to the Census Bill, or
rather the "Religious Profession" columns which
the public were to be required to fill up under a
penalty. The penalty is, indeed, now acknow-
ledged to be untenable. It was felt, as soon as
mentioned, that to fine a man for not declaring his
own religious profession, and that of each of the
inmates of his dwelling, was much more than the
country would submit to. Persons even who had
no objection to write down their" religious profes-
sion" had the innate objection of every Englishman
to doing it under a threat. But beyond this it is
now quite apparent that there is a strong feeling,
very widely diffused, against being asked our reli-
gious profession in the name of the Government.
at all.

What has the State to do with my religion any
more than with my banker's balance ? is the ques-
tion indignantly asked by all men of independent
minds. The fact that 169 gentlemen of the House
of Commons could unite, on their own behalf and
that of their constituents, and on behalf of the
Liberal cause generally, fo memorialise Lord PAL-
MERSTON against the inquisitorial words, is suffi-
cient proof that the objection to them is no crotchet,
We need hardly repeat that we view the whole
business as a shabby job concocted by High
Churchmen to reverse, if they could, the
to them mortifying testimony of the last census.
An attempt was lately made to throw the onus of
the clause on Lord SIIAFTEiBURY and the Low
Church, but the philanthropic lord indignantly
denounced the rumour as unfounded ; and the
clause as, in his opinion, useless and objection-
able. We believe, therefore, we were right in our
conjecture on the first appearance of the proposal.
We referred to the Bishop of OXFORD and his
clique—we did so because they had showed such
extreme mortification with the census religious
returns on their first appearance. We can under-
stand why their religious pride should be mor-
tified—they are the Regulars, the religious
troops of the line ; they take all the State
honours and all the State pay, and they are annoyed
that the Religious Volunteers should appear to quite
equal, almost to surpass them in usefulness. But
the country is not mortified. Ecclesiastically, it is
proud of its Religious Volunteers, just as for mili-
tary purposes, it is so proud of its Rifle Volunteers
—and let these sour ecclesiastics learn a lesson
from the officers and soldiers of the line. They do
not want, now they see what Volunteers can do, to
throw cold water on the Volunteer movement. One
and all they praise, they even excuse slight
mishaps, they exult with their QUEEN and coun-
try, in witnessing the success of voluntary zeal.
They would to a man proudly fight shoulder to
shoulder with the volunteers. Amongst the eccle-
siastics, on the contrary, we see nothing but the
unworthiest jealousy. Instead of rejoicing that,—
while they are doing their regular, stately work,
with all the dignity of Apostolical succession, of
Palaces and Peerages—an equal number at least
are doing quite as much with no reward in the
world, butthat of doing what good they can—instead
of rejoicing in this, they are doing their best to de-
preciate all this noble volunteerahip in religion !
Much as if General BURGOYNE, instead of exulting,
as he did in the presence of her MAJESTY, had
endeavoured to make out that the numbers of the
Rifle Corps were but few, and their drill inefficient.
We have already exposed the dishonesty of
the device to magnify the number of Churchmen
compared with those of Dissenters, and the paltry
character of the objections to the mode of
taking the religious Census in 1851 by counting
attendants at each place of worship. Indeed, as a
contemporary whom we have quoted today re-
marks, they are all objections which tell equally
on both sides. Even if taken on the same plan,
however, the next census will not be so trustworthy
as the last ; there will he more efforts made to fill
places of worship on the Census Sunday. The
country clergy especially will allure or forcielaelmloasstt
all the parish to church on that day.
Religious Census was the least artificial one we are
evEr likely to have.

CHRISTY'S MINSTRELS.—Mr. G. W. Rayno
at r, themanager and proprietor, takes his farewell benefitthe
St. James's Hall, on Monday next, the Oth inst., under the
patronage of Royalty and other distinguished persons,
when two Raynor
will be given, morning and even-
mg. Mr. Raynor being a great favourite with the public
as a manager and singer, we doubt not that the hall will be
i crowded on both occasions.