The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-26 00:00:00

•
..K__,.
.i. ':i...-. .
cy,
.... .
:,,.1,r4. A
j, _ r,
..,,
,_ .•qkt,ittst
./.4' N.,. '''
'----
----ik..---------7.V..,__:, ,
r‘.---,. .
....%''."--1---------)..".,.,2,
40.....xt
to:
Pi 4
. -1)
4A).
.4. f.i..' • -4, •, .
a.
•k\9fr, Is ' ska •vf . ,'l , ih,---i,.., ~,ft;
, , • I,4,xif) j.,,, • 4.--troAl 11::•_
,:. a 4 2jjjk 1 'l' .t.., (?, :• 2 . ~- '' • ,
~ p , -4.8%. ,4: tv. e-7.,,,,Rt .•-‘ - I
~'
, ,‘,,, \\., i • • •5ta....,1
__-- tv
.....,/,...
-4., ite
~,,,,., __ „, , ,
1.., - _.,.........„,„...,
, _
','_:-,-,04--, .0, _ ~ ,
-",,: • s---
~ Go :,4„...... ~ . -Avl
' 11
;*-1>
ra74.
;,..,, -, i^,,
if ..' ';". 14' ,t 4,4, w -
~, • ', 1,14
p, -) .44421,
,-..
, ,-..-
-C-7,.
~..,
~ +,
jil
• rd? ‘, igr- . ' .-, ~,, , ;,.. 4*o ' iv:J(o_4,
. . ,
..,,,..-,-,---, ' ~..cis, .
, lip- w-q i
~.,...,...,..- .
L,.. 0, 15,',;..,.. ,
---0r...'4A a) *\. --fi rt:*46.-,_ ,i ,
..,,....
-4)".
:20p, ..," ~"

)ur petitioners submit to the considerationW,,yout
. house that, if it be thought adviaable 'te 6x4-1 -r:-'•1:t.
end the existing system of pew-rents;ra-paynfe.4
...'''..:* '\\
6d. per quarter on each of 3,ooo,ooo,;4titigs--- . '''' ...`S7
raise £300,000, and would still leavkiniiifih-14401 ,
~‘,Y.:,1
number of sittings free to the pc:Or:MO*oA* - ali.a
ti>
any reason to suppose they actuallynteitili ". ,a,r,z,...
"18. That your petitioners find \it :',:dite-iglit :4V,,,
I
imagine that the abolition of ehurchNratea lar.:tjaVa4:' ../
parishes where they are still levied wouWin idly S
degree injure the poorer parishioners ; that it would
give direct relief to many ratepayers ill able to pay
the rate ; and that, assuming, as your petitioners
do, as much readiuess on the part of the members
of the Church of England as that displayed by
members of other communions to provide the means
of divine worship according to their ability, they
do not perceive any respect in which the services of
the Church would be less available for the poor
than they now are.
" 19. That for many years pasta general anxiety
i has prevailed to effect a final settlement of this
' much controverted question. That your petitioners,
sharing this anxiety, were willing in 1856 to
acquiesce in arrangements then believed to be
likely to pass into law, although such arrangements
were not in perfect accordance with their own views.
That, on the other hand, the supporters of the rating
system have never agreed among themselves as to
the principles which should govern any modifica-
tion of the existing law. That every proposal of
modification has been regarded with disfavour by
your hon. house, but that the bill of the hon. mem-
ber for Tavistock, for the simple and immediate
abolition of church-rates, has received the approval
of your hon. house in three successive Parliaments
—a sufficiently convincing proof, as your petitioners
submit, that it is a measure in harmony with the
views and wishes of the public.
" 20. That the persevering, earnest, and costly
efforts which have been mad of late years for the
abolition of church rates have been made with a
view to put an end to a system which is sincerely
believed—wheresoever and upon whomsoever it
may operate—to be injurious to religion, and not
with any intention of claiming exemption for such
only as may object to compulsory exactions for
ecclesiastical objects.
21. That, in the opinion of your petitioners, the
association of the public authority of law with a
permission to large classes of her Majesty's sub-
jects to obey it Or not,- as they may individually
prefer, would be an impolitic and even dangerous
novelty in the jurisprudence of the country, and
would involve the injustice ofcompelling a large class
cf citizens to make personal claims for exemption
from a tax to which they ought not to be subject.
" 22. That, in rural parishes especially, the pro-
posed exemption would fail to give the relief in-
tended, inasmuch as the undue but irresistible in-
fluences which now prevent opposition to the mak-
ing a rate in vestry would operate quite as power-
fully to deter individual objectors from claiming
exemption ; and that, even if such exemption were
largely claimed, it would necessarily increase the
amount payable by those who absent themselves
from all places of worship, and would probably in-
crease their indifference or antipathy to religion.
" 23. That, for these and other reasons, your peti-
tioners believe that no law for the exemption of
themselves only would be accepted by the opponents
of church rates in the parishes as a final settlement
or the question ; and that, therefore, the ill will oc-
casioned by the exaction wouldstill continue.
" 24. That your petitioners cannot discover any
reason which is not equally good for all other
Christian communions why Protestant Episcopa-
lians should be enabled to use the machinery of
public law for the purpose of defraying the cost of
their religious worship; and that the extension of
sucbipower to churches of every other denomina-
tion would be perilous as a precedent, and might in
the end prove disastrous to the general as well as
the religious interests of the country.
" 25. That your petitioners, in seeking the aboli-
tion of church rates, are influenced by no feeling of
hostility to Protestant Episcopalians, nor are they
desirous of effecting any change in their doctrines,
their formularies, or their discipline ; on the contrary
they firmly believe that the extinction of this coin•
pulsory ecclesiastical exaction, besides tending to
promote the general good of the people and the
interests of religion, would stimulate, rather than
check, the prosperity of the Episcopalian body.
" 26. That, while your petitioners do not conceal,
but, on the contrary, have always avowed, their
desire to bring about, in a constitutional manner,
other changes in the laws affecting the relationship
of the State to religious bodies, they declare their
unaffected belief that the abolition of church rates
would restore peace to the parishes in which they
are now the occasion of lamentable dissensions, and
would thus leave the discussion of other and larger
measures to be carried on under circumstances far
less likely to excite personal animosities and local
strifes.

" Your petitioners therefore humbly pray your
honourable house to satisfy the just expectations
of the country by once more passing the bill for the
entire abolition of the church rates. And your
petitioners will ever pray.
" Signed on behalf of the petitioners,
" IVILLIAM EDWARDS, Chairman."