The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-14 00:00:00

of a case which illustrates the way of- thinking
,
of tne Clergy on this subject. A Noble
Earl, now deceased, a Deputy Lieute-
nant in one of our principal counties,
proposed to his brother Magistrates a gen-
. tleman of excellent character, distinguished abi-
lities, and great influence in his neigUoui hood,
as one who would be of great service in the Com-
mission. The Magistrates of the Division, who
were all parsons. discovered, that though the
gentleman himself was a church-goer, yet his fa-
ttier had been a Dissenting Clergyman, and they
thought that the stain of dissent could not b
wiped out in the second generation. By these
means have the Clergy come to lose their in-
fluence, and to be associated in the minds of the
people with the idea of hostility to everything
calculated to promote the benefit and increase
the prosperity of the nation. The history of
tithes is a very curious one. In the learned
work of Thomasinus, " Vetus et nova Ecclesice
Disciplina circa Beneficia et Bencficiarios," in
three folio volumes, there is an ample store of
materials for those who take an interest in such
things. In almost all countries, the first intro-
duction of tithes led to rebellions and insurrec-
tions. In the year 1180 the peasantry of the
greater part of Sweden rose on account of the
attempt to impose tithes on them. The Church
of Rome on such occasions, always temporised,
and if we may use the phrase, sought to get in
the small end of the wedge. It would appear as
if the end were to be like the beginning. So-
ciety was convulsed at their birth, and is con-
vulsed at their death. Happy is the country
that is freed from such a fertile cause of mis-
chief.—Morning Chronicle.
The Lord Advocate left town on Sunday, for
Edinburgh. His Lordship and Mr. Aber-
cromby are the liberal candidates fbr that city ;
and if they be returned, as we hope and believe
they will, the Edinburgh electors will have just
reason to be proud of their representatives.—
They will not, however, be allowed to walk
over the course. The Conservatives have put
forward a Mr. Forbes Blair, a respectable enough
private individual, but without any claim what.
ever to public support, except that he is the no-
minee of the Dundas family, and of the majo-
rity of the Town Council ! We hardly think
that this will be a sufficient recommendation to
the suffrages of the 8,000 electors that now form
the constituency of Edinburgh ; but if it be, it
will indicate such a debased and servile spirit, •
that we shall almost regret that the peaceru
reign of the Thirty three should have been dis-
turbed. It is said that the Lord Advocate is
not so popular in Edinburgh as formerly ; but
the statement cannot, we should think, be true.
At all events, we are certain, that if the render-
ing of great and signal services to his country-
men should make any man. popular, few
were ever more justly entitled than the
Lord Advocate to that distinction. He
had the entire management of the Scotch
Bill ; and those who compare it with the
English or Irish Bills, will be satisfied of its
great superiority. Justice will never be done to
the firmness, sagacity, and tact evinced by the
Learned Lord in the conducting of this delicate
affair. The difficulties he had to encounter
were formidable in the extreme ; and nothing
could exceed the address with which they were
obviated. That his Lordship may not have
made so many set speeches as some of his su-
perficial admirers in Edinburgh expected, is pro-
bably true. But this, if a fault at all, which may
be doubted, is a very venial one. He has ma-
naged his own department with singular skill ;
and had his health been more robust, we have
no doubt he would have made a more promi-
nent figure in the debates. But is Mr. Blair,
whose whole life has been spent in the counting-
house, and who never so much as attempted to
speak in public, a man to be sent to Parliament
to repair the deficiencies of the Lord Advocate ?

The idea is absolutely ludicrous. The Learned
Lord may not in all respects come up (who
does ?) to the ideal model of a perfect representa-
tive ; but we are bold to say that there is not an in-
dividual in Scotland who approaches it so nearly.
It is, perhaps, the least of his Lordship's merits,
that for thirty-five years he has been the unflinch-
ing advocate of liberal principles, and that it is
owing infinitely more to his exertions and his ex-
ample, than to those of any one else, that Scot-
laud has roused herself from her lethargy, and
has so zealously co-operated with England in
securing the triumph of Reform. His return
for his native city in the first Reformed Parlia-

ment may be deemed the more appropriate, and
the highest reward that his fellow-citizens can
bestow on his Lordship. Much, however, of
its value will depend on the selection of his col-
leage. If the citizens mark their sense of the
services rendered by Francis Jeffrey to the cause
of Reform, and of the distinction which his
talents and character have conferred on Edin-
burgh, by giving their second votes to Mr. Aber-
cromby, they will do honour to themselves, to
the Lord Advocate, and to their country. But
if, at the same that they elect the individual who
has been most instrumental in procuring for
them the right of election, they elect one who
did all he could to prevent their acquiring such
right, his Lordship will not have much reason to
be proud of his return, and the electors will de-
serve the contempt of every really independent
man.—Morning Chronicle.

The civility of the Emperor Nicholas to our
Ambassador Extraordinary, Lord Durham, has
been ostentatiously dwelt upon by some Minis-
terial JGurnals, and they would fain have the
public believe that the politeness of the Calmuc
betokens a prosperous issue to his Lordship's
mission. They are either very simple-minded
who argue in this way, or they presume upon a
very abundant portion of credulity and ignorance
in the British public. We have heard of the
‘, smooth barbarity" of Courts, and no Court
ever possessed a larger share of that commodity,
so much used in diplomatic intercourse, than
that of St. Petersburgh. What could be more
civil than the conduct of the Autocrat and his
minions to our Ministry during the whole of
the solemn farce of the protocol negociations,
which were undertaken with the professed in-
tention of making a speedy and satisfactory
settlement of the disputes between Belgium
and Holland, but in which Belgium' has been
perpetually duped, and our Foreign Minister
made the "cat's-paw" of the insidious and
overreaching policy of Russia ?—lbr during
those negociations, which were never meant
by the Holy Alliance to have any other object
than to hoodwink England and France, while
they prepared their armies to put down both the
Belgic and French revolutions, the levying of
Prussia, and Austria, went on.
Positions forces by R
Isu'esrsia, eOCCUpled to facilitate the grand
object in view. Poland was crushed as much by
Prussian intervention and by bench intrigue as
by Russian arms. Italy was sacrificed not more by
the bayonets of Austria than by the pusillanimity
of the French and English Governments ; and
now, as the natural consequence of their sub-