The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-02 00:00:00

speakL
Ofßo for themselvesjO
/NR
:UoSuSrELL.
reporters in Exeter
Several hand-bills have just been circulated in Devon-
ghire—they
have forwarded them to us, that we and the public might
know and see all that is taking place respecting this really
NATIONAL contest. Lord J. Russell's address, in reply to
the Bishop of Exeter's (alleged) composition, is particularly
worthy of notice, after the artful and jesuitical efforts made
to arouse the WESLEYANS against Lard J. Russell, as if
they had any thing to expect front Mr. Parker, or the
Bishop, or their party.
" ro THE ELECTORS OF THE SOUTIIERN DIVISION OF THE COUNTY
OP MON.
" Gentlemen,—The gratifying receptinn I have met with
since my return to this county, as a candidate, is doubly grate-
ful, as it proves how little impress;_on has been made by mis-
representation and slander.
" Having seen, however, last night, for the first time, an
address from the Ce ;
r:..rai Committee for conducting Mr.
Parker's election, 3;..gned, Baldwin Pafford, jun., Chairman,'
I think it neces..,,ry-to warn you against statements, which, put
forth with
a"
, p .. air of authority, might otherwise obtain credit.
ae statements to which I allude, are contained in the
paragraph:—
Ask Lord John Russell whether the purport of his
solution is to supply, first—the wants of the Protestants
in Ireland ; to provide first, for the inculcation of the
truths of the Bible upon the eternal principles of the Pro-
testant faith and practice ; and then to make the best use
of the surplus, should any surplus be found to exist, for the
moral education of the people ; and he must tell you, for
he has already declared in his place in the House of Com-
mons that such is not his purpose, that the effect of his
resolution is utterly to suppress, in those parts and parishes
where the Roman Catholic population predornirotes, the
means of Protestant instruction, and to apply those means,
which he chooses then to call surplus, to the education of the
people. Gentlemen, the education designed is education in
the gross errors and superstitions of the Church of Rome."
" Here, Gentlemen, are two principal ass:‘:•l:..us---the one,
that I intend to suppress, in tho_3 parts and parishes where
the Roman Catholic population predominates, the means of
Protestant instruction ;' the other, that the education of the
people designed by me is education in the gross errors and
superstitions of the Church of Rome.' These assertions are
supported by a reference to what it is pretended I said in the
House of Commons.
•
" Gentlemen, the whole statement is utterly unfounded.
4, With respect to the first assertion, as to suppressing the
means of Protestant instruction, the best explanation I can
give of my intentions is contained in the letter of a Protestant
Curate, addressed to a Member of Parliament after the late
debates. In answer to an argument used in the House of
Commons, he says, Irish parishes are so various in extent,
and so dove-tailed into one another, that there is no occasion
for a clergyman in every parish, as at present defined, but in
every district—take my own neighbourhood :
Income compounded
A .£B5O
B 5OO
C
D
£2,025 ,
" These are not Unions ; all the rectors, four in number,
are absentees. The curate of A, and myself did all the duties
of the four parishes for these twenty years, at 751. each. The
two churches are about six miles asunder. Now, if these four
parishes are made into two districts, two clergymen would do
all the duty for 5001., leaving (after 5001., for 25 per cent. de-
duction) 1,0001. for education. All Munster and Connaught
might be divided in the same way.'
" Without pledging myself to the sums to be allotted for
each purpose, this extract sufficiently shews how the means of
Protestant instruction might be provided for, and a surplus re-
main for the purposes of education.
" Next, as to the nature of the education to be given to the
people. It is not education in the gross errors and super-
stitions of the Church of Rome.' It is not an education in
which the Bible is excluded, interdicted, forbidden,' accord..
ing to the words of the hand-bill. It is an education compris-
ing, together with extracts from the Bible, religious and moral
works of instruction, from which the Protestants and Catholics
can equally have benefit. No book is used in the schools
which is not sanctioned by that eminent and truly Christian
Prelate, the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin. for this edu-
cation funds were allotted by Lord Stanley, and the design of
Sir Robert Peel was to increase the grant for this purpose,
proposed by Lord Giey's Administration. Do the Committee
for conducting Mr. Parker's election mean to charge Sir R.
Peel, or Lord Stanley, with promoting education in the
gross errors and superstitions of the Church of Rome ?'
" I am sorry that the Chairman of Mr. Parker's Com-
mittee should have put his name to this paper. A little atten-
tion to the Parliamentary debates would have saved him from
the reproach of adopting and circulating the trash which, no
doubt, must have been written by some very ignorant, or very
unscrupulous partizan.
" I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
" Your faithful servant,
" Mount Boone, Dartmouth, " J. RUSSELL."
" April 29, 1835."

"TO THE ELECTOLS OF SOUTH DEVON.
" An Address:to the Electors of the Southern Division of the
County of Devon has just been issued by Mr. Parker's Com-
mittee. Its object, of course, is to misrepresent Lord John
Russell's opinions, and to prevent the electors from giving him
their support at the ensuing contest. It would be natural to
suppose that, in a laboured attempt to influence a body of men
in the exercise of a political franchise, some allusion would at
least be made to the political questions which now so power-
fully agitate the public mind. Nothing, however, of that kind
appears in the address in question. It refers entirely to reli-
gious subjects, and though the name of the chairman of Mr.
Parker's Committee is tagged to it at the end, it is evidently
the production of some religious fanatic, whose zeal so far over-
steps his judgment, as to see in the corruptions and sinecures of
the Irish Church, the only public question on which our politi-
cal existence ought to hinge.
" It is difficult to determine whether craft or ignorance were
the predominant feelings of the writer of the Address. He
might, indeed, be aware that Lord John Russell's political
opinions were so excellent, and so perfectly in accordance with
the great majority of the electors, that any attempt to traduce
them must necessarily recoil on the head of the assailant ; or
he may, indeed, be so conscientiously enamoured of the beau-
ties of the Irish Church as to believe, that on a mere assertion,
without the least proof, all persons must immediately feel the
same pious emotions. and be actuated by the same enthusiastic
desire to support in its career of usefulness and perfection that
immaculate establishment.
" The Address sounds big with declamations relative to the
' domination of the Church of Rome,' with ' awful considera-
tions,' and similar slang ; but the brunt of the whole refers to •
the Irish Church, on which Englishmen know but little, and
care less. The all-absorbing questions of Commutation of
Tithes, Municipal Reform, Relief of Dissenters—in short,
the
alluded to in the most trifling manner.
" The Address frankly admits, that in political experience
and well-known talents Lord John Russell has the vantage
ground ; but then comes the rub, his Lordship wishes to over-
throw the Irish Church Establishment, and in the estimation
of the electors of South Devon, that opinion, if indeed enter-
tained, must not merely neutralize their votes, but render them
at once his most decided opponents. Now, before I conclude,
I hope to prove to the satisfaction of every one, even of the
writer of the Address himself, that Lord John Russell is de-
cidedly friendly to the Irish Church ; and so far from wishing
to injure it, is desirous of doing his utmost to render it an
essential service, by making it an effective organ for pro-
moting Christianity, according to its own doctrines and dis-
cipline.
" Two charges are brought against his Lordship. The
first, that he has propitiated the aid of Mr. O'Connell and his
party in the House of Commons, for the purpose of obtaining
a majority to turn out the late Ministry; and, secondly, that
he has carried a resolution that will destroy the Established
Church in Ireland.
" Now, with regard to the first charge, I will challenge any
individual whatever, to point out any speech of his Lordship's
delivered since the commencement of the present Session, in
which he has either requested the assistance of the Irish
Members of Mr. O'Connell's party, or thrown out any im-
proper lure to gain their support ; or in any way whatever has
associated them with him as partizans. But if his Lordship
brought forward motions in accordance with the views. -
tain Irish Members, they, as independent Members o the
House of Commons, had an undoubted right to vote as they , .
liked. Mr. O'Connell has as much a right to vote in the
House as Sir Robert Peel; and Mr. O'Dwyer as Sir Henry
Hardinge. But it should be borne in mind, that a number of
Irish Members, as a party, voted constantly with the late Ad-
ministration ; they were known to be Orangemen, a party
more violent and outrageous in their opinions than even the
Catholic Members were in theirs ; and yet the Addresser,
when he complains of Mr. O'Connell and his party voting
with Lord John, never once alludes to a number equally
notorious, that formed a considerable section of the Irish
Members, including the Recorder of Dublin, Mr. Conolly,
Colonel Verner, and many others, who as constantly sup-
ported Sir Robert Peel as Mr. O'Connell did Lord John
Russell. To set this point, however, completely at rest, Lord
Melbourne, the head of the Administration of which Lord
John Russell is a Member, has declared in his place in tho
House of Lords, that he has no connection at all with Mr.
O'Connell, and that he is in no way whatever associated with
him in political measures, that he disapproves of his general
public conduct; that he neither fears his enmity, nor repu-
diates his friendship. Now it ought to have required a greater
portion of assurance than even the addresser possesses, after
this to assert that Lord John Russell was in any improper
manner connected with Mr. O'Connell and his party in the re-
cent struggles in the House of Commons.
" The next charge against Lord John is, that by the reso-
lution he has proposed, and which fortunately was carried, re-
lative to the surplus revenue of the Irish Church, he intends
to subvert the Church, to injure the cause of religion, and to
bring back Popery t( these realms. That the men of Devon
should have a " No Popery" cry rung in their ears again, after
the Emancipation Bill has been so long passed, is rather an
astounding fact. We all 1.t.0w how the county was agitated
on the subject a few years ago; but of late every acrimonious
f_,Ciitig has entirely subsided. and religious violence has en-
tirely ceased ; how far it may be Christian-like or politic to

~ M~,.

Our reporters mention that it is stated here that Mr. Fulford
dined with Bishop Phiilpotts the day before this address appeared ;
and further, that the Bishop is not wholly ignorant of the hand
that wrote the address. Such are the rumours, and, as rumours,
we give them.