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 God, I therefore take great interest in the church situated
in the parish of Llanddeinol, and feel it a duty incumbent
upon me to do all I can for its success. Having been plaoed
by Divine Providence here as a landowner; I feel the re-
sponsibility of 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 can 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
compelling any of my tenants to become Church people,
and far be it from thew 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 ye 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 MORICE, Carrog."
The above letter, which was sent by Miss Morice to some
of her tenants a few 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 asserted 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 even 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 anal the Christian religion
are kept pure and undefiled, and it is much to be 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,
when, ow landowners will see and reel the necessity of