The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-30 00:00:00

MR. PORT MAN.

(From the Morning Chro=!cle.)
The announcement of Mr. Portman's inten-
tion to rerign his seat, in consequence of a sup-
:osed obligation, from some observations made
by him on the eve of the late contest, has pro-
duced a great sensation. The determination is
greatly regretted and a wish is generally enter-
tained that he. may be persuaded by hls friends
to abandon it.

The Anti-I ef:;.in Papers are in ectasy at the
annotincetnent: and endeavour to turn it. to the
best account. Onr contemporat7 tile Standard)
takes occasion from to read a lecture on Whig
arrogance. wtti atteknpts to persuade the Dorset.
shire keholders to show their independentt,,,
resenting all objection to their right to exercise
their franchise in a thant'ie't which proves both
their want of prlncple and their degradation'!—
" Ample (says our contemporary) as [mist k the esti-
mate of Whig arrogance, funned Pty 'every one conversant
with the history of pubic atairs during the last half cen-
tury, we suspe,:t nobody is capabh^ of anticipa,mg its
latest disptay. The display, as we learn from the Mornine
01-onic/e, has hem male in the county of Dorsen by its
late Whig Member, Mr. Portman, wont loks attnally filing
thc representation of this great and independent county in
the faces of his electeer., ln•lause they, forsooth. dared to
exercise s of their own in the selection of a second
Member- Talk of Re:orm, talk of noreitation boroughs
after this. Ilere is this Mr. Portman, who, no
doubt, most heroic:oly voted against Schedule A and Sche-
dule B, offering the p,rcat county of Dor-et the [nest
contenlptuous insult imaainable, and the opiy :vault in his
pnwer to offer, because he cannot tr..it it as the closest of
nomination boroughs. Alt.rSeii e, indeed, is set up, that
Mr. Portman sem ty,inr only in redemption of a pledge
given bv t.':l7. at the suns:Tier election ; but how does this
menu the matter? The insf•lence of March is not miti-
gated by nine months of slelibetatien. Insolence in March
and June differ in nothing, except, prhaps, that the
latter was committed as a threat for the purpose of coil •
trolling the freetinnt of election, and is therefore greatly
more criminal than a mere peevish expre!,aion of disap-
appointed presumption, offerAs,'c and intoltrabk as such
expression ii..
_ _

Will the P.-eeholders of Dorsetshire re-elect Mr.
Portman' .`o; thanks to that gentleman's resolute self 7
ittportance, he wi.l not he re-elected by them. Will
they send another Whig to Parliament, to turn them off
without a character, if they refuse to !et him nominate to
boil.) seats, as trey have been turned cff by that gentle-
man ? the last election ftlbitis us to su-pet-t the men
rf Dorset hire of mut+ meanness and folly. They h •ve
Flown th 0, Rim months ago, they s through the wicked
injustkT threatened to the agricultural interest by the
W±;ig Bill, anti they are scarcely tutors reconciled to its
authors by the sample of their feelings and spirit furnished
by Mr. Portman."
We have a very short answer to give to this
tirade. The freeholders of DerstA cannot con-
scientiously return tenth a Reform and an Anti-
Reform Member. If they have any opinion at
all on the question of Reform, they must be-
lieve it either beneficial to the country, or the
reverse. If they believe Reform a healing mea-
sure, they must believe the loss of the Reform
Bill a national calamity. The men who vote
for a Reformer out day, and vote for an Anti-
Reformer the next, either are in a condition, in
point of understanding, little elevated above that
of the brutes that perish, or they sacrifice their
principles on the altar of interest. The very
utmost that can be said in favour of those who
vote against their conscience is, that the state of
dependence in which they are placed is such, that
they Irv; conceive a conscientious exercise of the
f:anchise would involve them in irretrievable ruin.
The observations of our contemporary are an
insult to the understanding of the Dorsetshire
electors. It supposes them utterly unable to
comprehend the nature of the trust reposed in
them by the Constitution. They were not con-
ferrin, a favour on Mr. Portman in returning
einevous consequences of the system of corrup-
tion which has so long prevailed in this country,
that they who are in possession of the franchise
too often look on it as a right entitling them to
a certain share of the taxes. The candidate
advances to the electors a sum equivalent to
their respective titles to the public plunder, for
which they convey to him by his return a right
to indemnify himself with interest. If the
freeholders of Dorsetshire view the franchise
in this low and degrading light, and exclude
from their thoughts ail ideas of honour and
duty, then they may consistently find fault with
Mr. Portman's objecting to their voting as they
please, as in this case they may deem themselves
as much entitled as the Duke of Newcastle to do
what they will with their own. If it was a fa-
vour conferred on Mr. Portman to return him,
they may think it insolence in bins to find fault
with conferring a similar favour on Mr. Bankes.
A man on w'hom a courtezan confers her fa-
yours, has no right to find fault with her con-
ferring Favours on others. But Mr. Portman
thought. more favourably of the freeholders of
Dorsetshire than to believe they entertained this
low and degraded idea of the trust reposed in
them. He supposed them rational beings, capa-
ble of understanding the high import of the du-
ties they were called on to discharge at a crisis
like the present.
But while we cannot think so poorly of the
Dorsetshire electors as to believe for one mo-
ment that they will pride them-elves on the li-
berty of manifesting their utter indifference to
all principle by voting for men of opposite
principles, we yet cannot help regretting that
Mr. Portman should subject the liberal electors
to the sacrifice attendant on a fresh contest at
this time. Dorsetshire is a county in which
the Tory interest is necessarily strong, because a
large proportion of the gentry, magistrates, and
parsons, are of that party. A man who
opposes that party does it at a considerable
sacrifice of interest. It is hard on the
Dorsetshire Freeholders that they should be
so often called on to testify their liberal principles
at the expense of sacrifices of this sort. And,
in truth, experience does not warrant us in ex-
pecting that the generality of men will continue
to make such sacrifices. Mr. Portman, we
trust, will take these things into consideration.
The defeat of a W hig candidate in Dorsetshire
would not prove that the freeholders had changed
their opinions, but merely that they were no
longer disposed to bear further sacrifices. Yet,
as advantage might be taken from the event, it
were as well not to presume too much on the
virtue of the Dorsetshire electors.

'The forthcoming number of " The Standard
Novels" will consist of Mr. Cooper's tale of " The Pioneers, or
the Sources of the Susquehanna," the scenes of which are laid
in the haunts of the author's early youth. On this account, as
he himself declares, the work gave him more pleasure in the
composition than any other product of his pen.

REFUSAL OF THE HOUSEKEEPERS OF ST.
GILES'S-IN-THE-FIELDS TO PAY CHURCH( RATES.—Yesterday
the following Public Notice was exhibited at the houses of
several respectable housekeepers in the parish of St. Giles's-in-
the-Fields :
ST. GILES'S-LW-THE-FIELDS.
Whereas, John Le Merchant, of Holborn, in the company
with one J. Barter, of No. 1 Stone-cutters-buildings, in the
parish of Sr. Giles's-in-the-Fields, have di-trained the goods of
two housekeepers in the said parish for the amount said to be
due from them for a church rate, or pretended church rate,
made on the 16th day of November, 1830.
Notice is hereby given, that the said church rate is alto-
gether illegal, and that all persons who may be distrained, or
threatened with a distraint for the same, are requested to
apply to the Househilders Union.
. which is established for the
mutual protection of the parishioners against the Select Vestry
oppression.
0. ROGERS, Chairman.
The meetings are held every Thursday evening, at eight
o'clock, at the Angel Inn, High.strett, St. Giles's.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMEN C.

HOUSE OF LORDS, MARCH 29.

Lord TEYNHAM moved for returns of the importa-
tion and use of hemp and flax in the Royal navy, and also
for the reenit of experiments with the j'Crihiun; tenax, or
New Zealmd flat.
Et:l GREY apirebetided there multi he no objection
to the returns moved for by the Noble Lord, rtlitive
hemp ind 11-ix. But he did not consider that a cis,
lrul he, .n made out to show the necessity thst the re-
sults ,:fexp•riments M.;“le I,,•',_th the forrnium tenax should
be laid ,:sr tFe ''.;.,Lle.—(l-Irar.) They would requiie both
cn.asinerable time and expense before they could he kid
on the nble, and he could see nom,e to which they could
be put.
L-rd TEYNFIAM said, from c:lntt had fallen from the
Noble Earl, he ”76.1,,a withdraw the litter part of his too
tier.. titt, rebrns relative to hemp and flax were th:n

ordered.
Viscount .GODERICH laid a Tee.nti;.'y of papers on the
table r,leting to o.t'tte-y.
hiri of ROI)EN presented petitions against the
new system of education in !rebind, from the Sunday-
School teachers of Dublin, front Bridport, Dorchest r,
Shafteshury, and St. Paul's, Deptford.
The NlarrAuis nf LAY.SDOWNE presented copies of two
°Telef., !n whiCh were lately prostinleated.
le Earl of WINCI4ILSEA rope to present a petition
of which he had given notice, from the eastern part of
Kent. against th'e proposed system of education in Ireland.
In his opinion no question had ever come before the Le-
Legislature since the Refornattion of more importance,
or one from which if it were founded on wrong
principles, greater injure, would arise, He disclaimed
for the petitidn-Liii, and for himself, being actuated
by a'ey party-feeling on this question. Indeed there
were many names cttached to the petition who were
the fiiends and admirers of Government, and who
he was sure would never be induced to act
upon such a question from motives of party feelings. The.
Nob:e Earl contended that the question was, whether the
Legislature should in any way and a system of education in
any part of the eneire, of which the Tree and unrestricted
use of the Scriptures was not the foundation. The faith
of the Protestant was founded solely on the Scriptures,
but the faith of the Roman Catholic was not founded on
the entire Bible. Ile Roman Catholic creed denied to
its disciples the free exercise of religious opinion, and
he could not help thinking, that in the system proposed
by his Majesty's Government touch attention had been
paid to the Roman Catholic, and but little to the Pro-
testant. As regarded the Committee upon Irish Educa-
tion, ho war of opinion, that constituted as that Commit.,
tee was, of persons of different religious persuasions, their
labours would never he brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
A Rght Rev. Prelate (Chichester) had attributed the op-
position raised to this measure of Government, to factious
motives. He would scern to appeal to that Right Rev.
Prelate after what he had said relative to the division hit
had taken place in October last on another subject.
A more malignant and unfounded aspetsion he would
however say, had never been cast on the conduct of
Lords in that House. But he would call on their Lord-
ships to give as the basis of national education free' circu-
lation to the Scripiures, which was the characteristic
of Protestantism. He did not think that Government
would ddioerately act against the best interests of the
country. He was rather inclined to believe that they ha I
been ihfiu need by the opinion and advice of desienmg
tri• n. But in the name of God arid of Protestants,
he called on the Noble Earl at the head of his Majes-
ty's Government, for the love he bore hi country,
and the duty he owed to his God, to retrace his steps and
abandon his system, or he was confident the results would
he most alarming to tine pe ice and prosperity of Ireland.
He recominermbil the withdrawal of all Parliamentary as•
sistance whatever for the purpose of religious education in
Ire and, [ache' than a perseverance in the proposed system.
The petition from the inhabitants of Canterbury was then
read.

Earl GREY regretted extremely that the Noble Earl
had not been present at the dehate on this subject
on Thursday 1 ist, when it hid been regularly in-
troduc:A on a motion, and when he might have
had a full opportuni'y of expressing his sentiments.
He thou4ht that a continual allusion to questions 01 this

nature on the presentation 4 of petitions, mere partieu:arly
when intrigiured with so much heat, as on the present
occ,ion, coul I not but be attended with disadvantage

and danger to the general peace of society. H iving ad-
dre,,sed himself to the H. use in the Decision to which he
had alluded, he was very unwilling to say any thing more
at present. But Adjured as he had been by the Notife Lord,
uftaniti • lJ V 140h1.-111.% .1..0,4via from
which the Noble Lord expected such evils, it was itnpos-
sible for him not to say a few words. The Node Earl
did not ascribe to Government any intention to overthrow
the ins:itutinns of the country, but lie believed their con-
sciences had b.-en surpris.d by designing persons, and
that this system hail oeen taken up with too little
consideration. Who the designing persons were to whom
the Noble Earl alluded, he was nut able even to
guess. But he would confidently state that so
far tram the system b ing taken on with little consideta
Lion, it was taken up after the most deliberate attention to
" "

all the interests concerned, after an exaorination of Re-
ports made under Commissions, and R.:Torts made by Par-
liament, and with a serious and earnest sod anxious hope
that by introducing this art-m, not only the general
peace of Ireland !night be promoted, but that the interests
of religion itself be mater Tally assisted. He must in the
first place begin by contradicting what the No le Earl
had assumed, that it was the intention of Government to
riebar the whole of the k chooN from the use of the
Scriptures. This, wisby no means the case. But
what was the ansxer to the statement that the WI
had been withdrawn from the schools? Much clamour
had been raised a:lout withdrawin4 the Scriwures from
t;:e Protestants,—tile present syweni took no pill
of the Scriptures from any person, nor did it lay
any thing in t' e way of children reading the Bible,
whose parents tuna Ale wished them to read it.—

(liar, hear.) lie c;ust disclaim the construction dial

had been put most erroneoust) upon this measure ; its
only object being to relieve the mind of th- Cath ,lie► from
thee false religious notions which they at present entertain.
From what did that arise? Why, the state of ignorance

in which the present system of education in Ireland l ft
them. Such was the system which so un.feservedly m, t
with the Noble Earl's reprolia'ion. So far from the pre-
,ent system excludii,g the use of the Bible, certain days
in the week were appropriated for the reading; o
it. It was true selections were made from the Bible
for the purpose of education, but that never could be
considered as a mutilation. (Hear, hear.) Th,. Noble
Earl then referred to the opinions of Dr Magee, who con-
sidered the plan propii-ed as calculated to impress on
the mind of children the sacredness of the Word of God.

Ile (the Noble Earl) did not mean to deny that the neigh.
hours of the Kildare-street Socie,y had been in much re.
lute, but lae Inuit deny that it Wll operating
in the general promotion of that religious education that
was so essent,al to Irela❑d.

The Bishop of CHICHESTER entered into an ex-
planation and defence of some opinions of his which had
been attacked by some Noble Lords on the opposite side of
the House. He admitto that he had expressed doubts of
the propriety and advantage of putting the whole of the
Bible into ti.e hands of children as an ordinary school
b.,ok, but he begged to deny that he haft at any time ex-
pressed opinions favourable to the doctrines of the sect re-
ferred to, tor the more he reflected, an the more he read
upon religious subjects, the more was he convinced of the
excellence of the Church of England.

The Earl of RODEN defended the statements of the
Kildare-place Society, and strenuously contendA that the
new plan of education did amount to a practical denial of
the !Mile to the t4reat body of the people, for it went to
say, you shall be handed over to the Priests, and they, it
is well known, will give you no Bible.
The Archbishop of ARMAGH asked the Howe, was
it wise or politic to destroy an institution that had effected
touch good, in order to pursue a theoretical project,
which had been tried before, and had signally failed ? His
objection to the plan of the Government Wa., that a Pro-
t.starit Legislature should neither directly nor indirectly
Tend itself to the practical exclusion of the Bill, arid upon
that be would take his stand.

The Earl of WICKLOW denied eenerally the state-
ments and inferences of the Noble Earl opposite, after
which the convenatio❑ dropped ; and the several Bills
upon their Lordship' Table haying been forwarded a st.ige,
the House adjourned.