The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-17 00:00:00

be allowed to state that no body of men ever mourne,

the existence of palpable and remediable evils more
decorously, than did the clergy of the Established
Church the evils of. pluralities and non-residence.
Their grief must have been so intense as to stifle all
attempts at utterance ; for we can safely challenge the
Bishop of , GLOUCESTER to state a single instance in
which the Episcopal Bench petitioned the Legislature
for the removal of those abuses, over which the cham-
pions of the Church have shed so many tears of sor-
rowing self-humiliation.
In the course of his charge his Lordship took notice
of certain measures which the Episcopal Commission,
appointed to inquire into the state of the Church, was
prepared to recommend to the adoption of the Legis-
lature. After stating that he was himself .a 'member
of that Commission, and consequently fully cognizant
of all the evidence which had come before it, the Right
Rev. Prelate said :—" I can have no difficulty in
thatsay-
it is • designed to make the revenues of the
•
Church more extensively available to Ecclesiastical
purposes. The revenues of sinecure stalls in Cathe-
drals will, it is expected, be applied to the better en-
dowment of parishes ; all sinecure rectories will pro,
bably become parochial benefices, and the Com-
missioners have hopes of being enabled to raise
the emoluments of the smaller livings so as to
afford a decent income to the ministers, without
infringing on other rights of property. Pluralities,
where still permitted to exist, will be regulated by the
annexation of parishes so immediately adjoining as to
remove all cause of complaint. The system of non-
residence will be effectually altered ; but not by such
cruel measures as have been threatened. As the law
now stands, although there are upwards of three thou-
sand livings which have no glebe house, or, at least,
none in which a Clergyman- could reside, yet, if he
cannot reconcile himself to living in the hovel which is
called a .glebe-house, the Clergyman is set down as a
non-resident, and assailed with Clamour. The asser-
tion contained in the concluding sentence is, we are
persuaded, the very reverse of true ; and we are con-
fident that the Bishop of GLOUCESTER must hive
been imposed upon, else he never would have given
utterance to it. Clergymen residing within, and doing
the duty of their parishes, are not, and have not been,
" set' down as non-residents, and assailed with clamor."
In fact, the people are universally over-in-
dulgent to the , Priesthood, and never give vent
to a complaint, unless the neglect of duty
in the Clergy amounts to a charge of public scandal.
The " strange combination between the Dissenters
and Roman Catholics, for the obvious purpose of se-
parating the Church from the State," seems to have
seriouslyalarmed the good Prelate ; but if he would
know the cause of this combination, we beg to tell
'rim that it is because the Church Commissioners did
'ot do ten years ago what they purpose doing next
We will further add, that the only plea-
sure which the people of England derive from
a knowledge of the Reforms which the Episcopal
Cominissioners intend proposing next year, is the
satisfaction of knowing that the Church is pre-
pared for some change ; and, consequently, the
future steps taken by the House of Commons will not
come unawares on the most bigotted friends and de-
pendents of the Establishment. The case would have
been very different two years ago ; but the people
having been once under the necessity of calling the
attention of the Legislature to Church abuses, we are
very certain that they will not be deterred from what
they regard as a sacred and incumbent duty, by any
promised Reforms, originating from an Ecclesiastical
Commission appointed by the House of Lords.

Tar.

We inserted yesterday a copy of the last Report
male by the Commissioners appointed to enquire into
the Post-office department on the subject of Mail-
coach contracts. As we live in times of transition,
and everything that relates to progression possesses a
certain hold upon our attention, it will perhaps be
read with some interest.

It will be seen that a saving of 12,0001. a-year to
the public ought to result from the new contract.
The horse-contractors, however, and not the Post-
office, always paying the mileage to those who provide
the carriages, the saving cannot, perhaps, in strict-
ness, be set down at that sum, although there cannot
be much difficulty, say the Commissioners, in securing
to the public the full benefit of the reduction. 'We
are not disposed to over-rate the importance of this
saving, still 12,0001. a-year saved is something; and if this
sum can be gained in an infinitetessimally small branch
of that immense and widely-ramified establishment,
we may perhaps not unreasonably infer, that further
and larger savings may be effected in some other
department of the Post-office, without in anywise
impairing its efficiency.
The country is under deep obligations to the Ho-
nourable and patriotic Member for Greenock for the
zeal and industry with which he brought to light the
numerous faults, defects, and anomalies of a system
which the public—solely, as it would seem, because the
Post-office is a department of the State not quite so bad
as some others—regarded with more indulgence and re-
spect than it deserves. Everybody knows that the
entire business• of the Postmaster-General is done
by deputy, and it may in time, perhaps, be dis-
covered, that this sort of sinecure may cease
without any disadvantage to the public service.
As affairs are now managed, we have a new Post-
master-General with every change of Ministry—
almost with every post—equally well paid, and neces-
sarily ill qualified for any duty useful to the public.
We recollect, last July, what a host of Postmasters-
General took up arms against Mr. WALLACE for
presuming to inquire into Post-office affairs. The
patriotic Member for Greenock, however, challenged
them all to a discussion, and although excluded from
those official sources of information which were open
to and made use of by his opponents, he still most
triumphantly established the truth of his facts, and
demonstrated the necessity of a thorough reform in
the system.
We are, however, digressing. To return to the
Mails. - Scientific men, and indeed all persons who
have had any experience of any kind connected with
carriages, will fully assent to Mr. MACNEIL'S asser-
tion, that " a great deal is to be done in the mode of
hanging carriages." With, respect to the building of
mail coaches, this gentleman is of opinion that no im-
provement has been effected correspondent to that