The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-15 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Six,—Allow me, as a Dissenter, to thank you for the power-
ful manner in which you have noticed the imprisonment of Mr.
John Childs, for non-appearance in the Ecclesiastical Court
at Norwich to resist the payment of Church Rates. No sooner
is this flairrart enmmittod. though 100 miles from the
metropolis, than it is exposed aidi. 7,1 yo,:r ever
active and rapidly distributed columns. Indeed, much as wo
owe to the press, you have, by the energy which secures to the
distant counties the immediate knowledge of the many matters
involving their dearest rights and interests, given an astonish-
ingly increased addition to its power and usefulness.-
The understandings of the Bishops and Ministers of the
Established Church are evidently darkened, or they never
could expect, in this day of religious knowledge, to succeed
in forcing men to worship at their shrine. Now, what are
the facts of this case, as they appear in the excellent letter of
Mr. Childs, junior, to the worthy persecutors ?
The father of a large family, at the head of a large print-
ing establishment, employing numbers of workmen who spend
thousands of pounds annually in the town in which he re-
sides, who has lived thirty years in the same town, publicly
known to his friends and neighbours as the head of a
Dissenting family, is taken into custody in his own
house, carried forty miles from thence to the county jail,
and is there incarcerated for the constructive contempt
of not appearing to resist the payment of 17s. 6d., a
Church-rate assessed upon him to support a Worship in
which he cannot join, and which is applied, amongst other
things, to the payment of choristers to sing music for an-
other sect, and to wash the surplices of their minister—whilst
bail, though tendered to any amount, is refused.
Verily men who can thus act, must be labouring under that
infatuation which is preparatory to their downfall. But this
is not all, as it regards the persecutors.
The Legislature, to Check the oppression of the Eccle-
siastical Courts, provided by the 57th George 111.,
c. 127, that for sums under 10/. the justices might
enforce the payment by a summary and cheap process,
and at a few shillings' expense the Churchwardens could have
levied the amount and the expenses, upon his property. He
is, and during the maturer period of his life has been, an ac-
tive and zealous distributor of the Scriptures, and of such
religious works as " Henry's Commentary on the Bible,"
" Doddridge's New Testament," and various other standard
works ; in the production of cheap editions of which works,
he has invested a large property, and ho has been further ac-
-1 tive, as most conscientious Dissenters are, in establishing
schools in his locality, and communicating knowledge to the
rising generation. To this be has added that which all who
read the New Testament for themselves usually do add—the
love and the desire to promote the civil, social, and political
rights of his fellow men.
When Sectarian tyranny, under the name of an Established
Church, has sought to oppress those who differed from them—
when corruption has pleaded the right divine to do wrong
within the circle of his influence—he has stood up to repel or
assist in repelling the oppression, or exposing the corruption.
The image makers have shouted in his ears, " Great is
Diana of the Ephesians," but they have not been able to make
him fall down and worship their idol. Hence he has been
pursued not for the 17s. 6d., but that, if it were possible, the
dominant sect might crush in Suffolk and Norfolk the spreading
resistance to their spiritual and legal, but unscriptural
exactions.

The Dissenters must expect nothing from the Establish-
ment. A slave might as well expect concession from a
planter ; the possession of the power to oppress blinds the eyes
of the oppressor to the justice of the principle ; and it would
be folly to expect that he who has the power will yield it,
whilst those who suffer from it submit unresistingly to it.
The Ecclesiastical Court embodies and shews forth the
spirit which animates the Established Clergy, and such is the
spirit of that Court, that it punishes a man for not resisting,
just the same as those who do resist.
Mr. Childs is actually now in prison, not for the 17s. 6d.
assessed upon him—though that gives rise to the suit—but for
not appearing and resisting the payment. Such is the practice
of the Court called the Court CHRISTIAN.
Such proceedings lead one to thank God that the fires of
Smithfield cannot be lighted in our day. We cannot doubt
that those who have recourse to such proceedings would im-
molate the Dissenters now, as the Established Clergy of
former times destroyed their non-conforming ancestors, but
that we now enjoy the benefit of the noble struggles of those
ancestors in their day ; and let us bear in mind that our duty as
religious men is to follow in their steps, to advocate the same
principles, to maintain and increase the influence of those
principles, and so to labour that we may each feel, when sum-
moned to his account, that he is leaving the world better than
he found it, and something the better for his having lived
himself.

To you who were, as usual, the first to notice, in terms o
just condemnation, this instance of violence and injustice,
again tender the grateful thanks of' A DISSENTER.

PARLIAMENTARY SUMMARY.

In the LORDS last night several petitions were pre-
sented. Lord BROUGHAM presented one signed by nearly
12,000 persons, against any grant for procuring additional
Church accommodation in Scotland. It was stated that
there was more than enough of accommodation, and that
in Edinburgh alone there were 5,000 unoccupied sittings.
The Noble and Learned Lord postponed till to-day the
presentation of the petition from the City of London for the
repeal of the Newspaper Stamp duty.
In the HOUSE of COMMONS Committees were formed,
by Ballot, to try the merits of the Canterbury and Carlow
election petitions. Petitions in support of a grant-to the
Scotch Church were presented. Mr. M. O'CONNELL
postponed his motion relative to General DARLING'S con-
duct. Mr. DIVETT also postponed his resolution for the
extinction of Church Rates in England and Wales. Mr.
HUME intimated his intention of asking this evening
what course the Government meant to adopt on this
question. Lord MANDEVILLE moved for a return
of Reports relating to the outrages committed last year at
Armagh Races. The allegations made by the Hon. Mem-
ber were met by Dr. LUSHINGTON, who triumphantly re-
futed the charges brought against Lord GOSFORD'S impar-
tiality. • It will be recollected that the Noble Lord insti-
tuted an enquiry into the Orange outrages at Armagh.
Of the 37 Magistrates who were summoned by the Lord
Lieutenant of Armagh to attend that enquiry, 24 of them
were of politics adverse to his Lordship's. Of the first day, of
twenty
magistrates who attended, sixteen were Orangemen ;
and on the last, the difference was as ten to one. The
whole of the Magistrates were satisfied with the manner in
which the evidence was taken. Lord MANDEVILLE was
P'
resent and did not make any protest or even objection at
the time. Mr. S. RICE suggested the withdrawal of the
motion, and Mr. HUME moved an amendment to the
effect, that. there was no foundation for the charges
made against Lord GOSFORD. After a lengthened
and interesting discussion, Lord MANDEVILLE'S mo-
tion was negatived, and Mr. Humes motion put and
carried. Mr. HUME then moved for a return of the num-
Ex-Lord Chancellors in the receipt of pensions, and
ber of
the amount of those pensions. The CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER did not object to the return. Mr. HARVEY
alluded to the putting the Great Seal in Commission. The
SOLICITOR-Gi ENERAL said that no inconvenience had re-
sulted from t, and that the arrangement would soon cease.
Mr. PEASE noticed the long list of Iknsioned law functiona-
ries. The motion was agreed to. Mr. HUME gave notice
that he should this evening move for a return of the amount
of Fees payable by the Lord Chancellor or the Commis-
sioners on taking the custody of the Great Seal, and on
assuming the office of Speaker of the House of Lords,
with an account of the patronage, lay and ecclesiastical,
exercised by those functionaries. The Orders of the Day
were then disposed of, and the Rouse adjourned,