The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-16 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Duke of Cumberland left town on Saturday for ibis
residence at Kew, and in the evening had a small dinner patty.
The. Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria, and their
Royal Highnesses' Household, attended divine serviceyester-
day. The service was performed by the Dean of Chester.
The Lord Chancellor entertained his Royal Highnessthe
Duke of Cumberland at dinner on Friday evening, at his resin
dente in Hyde Park-terrace. His Excellency Count Pozzo
di Borgo, Sir Robert Peel, and a select party were present to
meet the Royal 'Duke.
The Third Vocal Concert, to be given this evening at the
King's Concert-rooms, Hanover-square, it is expected, will be
attended by their Royal Highnesses the Duclpse of Kent and
the Princess Victoria.
The members of the Church Commission met on Saturdiy,
and remained three hours in deliberation. There were present
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the
Bishops of London, Lincoln, and Gloucester ; Sir Robert Peel,
Mr. Secretary Goulburn, Mr. C. Wynn, Sir Herbert Jenner,
ar.d the Right Hon. H. Hobhouse.
Baron Bulow, the Wissian Minister. M. de Morns Sar-
mento, the Portuguese Minister, and M. Pontois, the French
Charg-6 d'Affaires, visited the Dulte of Wellington on Satur-
day, at the Foreign Office:
Despatches were received at the Colonial °lce on Satur-
day from the Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land.
M. Brenier, Secretary to the French Embassy, has left
town for Dover, to meet General Sebastiani, the new French
Ambassador, on his arrival.

The Duke of Wellington had a dinner party on Saturday
evening at Apsley-house. Amongst the company were Count
Pozzo di Borgo, the Russian Ambassador, Count Medem (late
Russian Chargé d'Affaires), the Earl of Aberdeen, Sir Robert
and Lady Peel, Lord and Lady Burghersh, Lord and Lady
Mahon, and Mr. Under- Secretary Baclamuse.
The Right Hon. Charles Grant returned to town on Satur-
day from Scotland.

ELECTION OF SPEA K ER.—Lord F. Egerton,
M. P. for Sointh Lancashire, will propose the re-election of
Sir Charles Manners Sutton as Speaker of the House of
Commons, of the success of which motion there is not the
slightest doubt.—Bucks Herald. •
Mr. Denison, the Member for West Surrey, will
propose Mr. Abereromby as the most fit person to fill the
Chair of the Muse of Commons, and Mr. Orde-will second
the tr;mination.—Observer:

ADDRESS TO THE THRONE.—The address to the
King in reply to the Speech from the Throne will be moved
in the House of Commons by Lord Sandon, M. P. for Liver-
pool, and seconded by Mr. Bramston, for Essex—
Bucks Herald.

REPEAL OF THE MALT TAX.—The Marquis of
Chandos will bring forward his motion for the total repeal and
immediate reduction of the duty on malt on the earliest con-
venient day after the opening of Parliament, and will be se-
conded by H. Handley, Esq., M. P. for the Kesteven and
Holland parts of Lincolnshire.--Bucks Herald.
We lament to announce the death of the Countess
of Winehilsca, who expired early on Friday morning, the 13th
of February, at Haverholm Priory, Lincolnshire, deeply re-
gretted by her family and friends.
Lord and Lady Heytesbury and family are sojourn-
ing until their embarkation for India in the splendid suit of
apait:nents at the Clarendon overlooking Albemarle-street.
The Hon. Mr. and Mrs. A'Court Holmes have taken a tem-
porary residence in Park-street.
It is affirmed that in the speech with which the
British Parliament will be opened on the 19th of this month
there will be a paragraph on the affairs of the Netherlands, in
which the expectation will be expressed that they will be
shortly arranged in a satisfactory manner.—Dutch Peper.
The late Earl of Darnley was a nobleman of consi-
derable merit. He distinguished himself at Eton ; and whilst
at Oxford he was chosen to recite some Greek verses which he
-composed on the visit of the Allied Sovereigns to the Univer-
sity. He afterwards took a first class. The Noble Lord mar-
ried a daughter of Sir Henry Parnell, a lady of great beauty
and personal accomplishments, by whom he has left several
children.
The Serjeant-at-Arms, IL Seymour, Esq., has
summoned all the officers and messengers of the House of Com-
mons to assemble at half-past ten o'clock on Tuesday morning,
for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements pre-
viously to the meeting of Parliament on Thursday. The
meeting is to take place in the new House of Commons. 'We
understand that a similar order has been issued to the mes-
sengers, &c., of the House of Lords. This proceeding is
rendered necessary in consequence of the very great alteration
in their respective duties, which must result from the vast
changes made in the locality of their various offices.
When the present Ministry first entered upon office,
we cautioned the agriculturists against ant:cipating any very
large immediate amount of relief. Happily the agriculturists
felt with us, and contented themselves with an expression of
confidence that Sir R. Peel and his colleagues would use
their, utmost exertions in their behalf. We may now state,
that there is very strong reason for believing that three:fourths
of the Malt Tax will be taken of An able report from the
Excise, containing a great variety of calculations, is now
before the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and the subject
has been so far discussed that the great point remaining for
consideration is the choice of a substitute. It is thought,
and in well-informed quarters, that a low duty will be im-
posed on beer. Upon this part of the subject, however, no
decision has yet been come to, but our readers may rest
assured that the greater part of the Malt Tax will speedily
be repealed.— Old England.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS.
THIS DAT. Statistical Society
(Linnatan Society
TUESDAY. .• Horticultural Society
(Institution of Civil Ingineers 'Eight, r. si,
«'E„ cc. { Royal Society of Literature Three, p.m
Society of Arts ...
{Royal Society
i
4 P. 8, P.m.
Tnumsn.
Society of Antiquaries
Fitin Av. Royal Institution.,T p. 8, P.m.
SATURDAY Royal Asiatic Society Two, P.M.

Auber's Opera, forthcoming on Saturday at Covem
garden Theatre, is called Lestocq ; or, the Hie of the Her.
mitage, and is founded on the revolution which placed Eliza-
beth on the Russian throne. There are two grand scenes in
it—one exhibiting the insurrection, and the other the fete, at
which—on the principal of the Continental Theatres—the
Nobility and Gentry will have the privilege of appearing in
fancy costume.
Southey, the Poet Laureat, has, it is said, refused
the Baronetage which the Peel- Wellington Administration
offered him in his return for his good and faithful services to
the Tories. The ex- Secretary to the Admiralty has the credit
of recommending a similar honour to be conferred upon John
Barrow, Esq., whose eldest son is married to Miss Croker, the
adopted daughter of the ex-Secretary, and who is a fixture on
the Pension List to the amount of 3001. per annum. —Morning
Paper.

•
A correspondent wishes to be informed, if it should
so happen that, in the event of an election for a Speaker of
the House of Conimons, if there should be two Members no-
minated for the Speakership, and they had an equal number
of suffrages, who would have the casting vote ? Mr. Ley,
the First Clerk of the House, will be addressed on the nomina-
tion, but he cannot give the casting vote, not being a Member
of the House.

The Irish Anti-Tory Association on Saturday
passed the following resolution :—" That if any Member re-
turned by a popular constituency will not be in London either
upon the 17th or 18th, to vote for the election of a Speaker,
he will be considered as having betrayed his duty." The
Dublin Evening Post, in summoning the Reformers to their
duty on the Speakership, says--" To your tents, 0 Israel I
Ireland expects that every man that day will do his duty. Not
a single Reformer must be absent. Sickness won't do, or
mar-nage."
The Gazette du Bas-Languedoc announces that
at Aigucmortes there has lately been discovered, at seven feet
under the ground, a galley seventy-two feet long and nine
wide, having eighty-one thick planks on each side in a state of
perfect preservation. Its construction leads to the supposition
that it was abandoned at the time of St. Louis's last crusade.
We understand that it is intended to light the mail-
coaches with portable . gas, the reservoirs for which will be
placed under the body of the coaches.

The Court of Cassation, at Brussels, has just de-
cided that homicide, or wounds resulting from duels, are pu-
hishable under the Penal Code of 1810.

It appears now that the arrangements necessary for
Holding the Assizes at Liverpool not having been yet com-
pleted, the Assizes will not be held there till next summer,
when, we understand, it is proposed to hold Courts both at
Lancaster and Liverpool.

- •
M. POL I GNAC AND HIS FELLOWS.--The Ga-
zette de France has the following :—A person just returning
from Ham relates that he found the four prisoners there sus-
taining their confinement with .a dignity which ought to con-
ciliate all parties. They are constantly endeavouring to pre-
vent their friends from petitioning for their liberation. They
are determined not to solicit any favour. They have not the
most trifling indulgences granted even to the most ordinary
prisoners. They are guarded by 600 men, and every night no
fewer than 75 sentinels are posted round their chambers. As
to the Prince de Polignac, though this is the 16th year of his,
life that he has passed in durance, the noble resignation of the
man must cause those who are the most prejudiced against the
-Minister to become the friend of the prisoner. Z. de Pey-
ronnet has not quitted his chamber for two years; still his spi-
rit is not broken, nor is his mind idle, and he supports his cap-
tivity with the greatest firmness."

LONGEVITY IN AUSTRIA.--I 0 the Austrian do-
minions last year there died 450 persons above 100 years of age.
A small Roman coin of brass, in excellent preserva-
tion, was found a few days since in Fordington-field, bearing
on the obverse the Emperor's head looking to the right, and
wearing the radiated crown, legend " Imp. C. Val. Maxi-
mianus Aug. 1." and on the reverse a figure holding in his
rig‘bt hand a thunderbolt, and the legend " Herculi Pacifero."
The Emperor Diocletian associated Maximian with him in the
empire, and when the former resigned the Purple, A.D. 304,
he compelled Maximian to do the same. Maximian came into
Britain to quell an insurrection, but was unsuccessful. This
coin is not less than 1,500 years old.—Dorset chronicle.

LATELY BEFORE THE VICE-CHANCELLOR.
In a debate in the House of Lords, the 16th April last, on
the subject of education, the late Lord Chancellor Brougham
touched on a nice question, that of the extent to which effect
ought to be given to the intentions of Founders. His Lord-
ship's observations had reference to the foundations of free
grammar schools throughout the country, the very large in-
come belonging to which he thought might have been applied
much more usefully than. it is ; and the drift of his a"gument
was to induce the trustees of These numerous establishments
not to adhere strictly to the regulations which the Founders
had laid down for their government, but to adopt the course of
instruction to the wants of the present generation, and to con-
sider,
not so much what had been formerly prescribed; under
different circumstances, as what would be useful at present,
and what the Founders themselves if now living might approve,
and his Lordship proceeded to hint very intelligibly, that if the
Trustees of these Institutions did not adopt such a course, the
Legislature might interfere to compel them.
How far Trustees, where a direct rule or limitation is laid
down, can with propriety set it aside, and conduct a charitable
establishment upon principles different from the express direc-
tions of the Founder, may however be doubted ; and it may
be questioned whether a Court of Justice ought to permit such
a departure from his intentions upon the plea of greater uti-
lity, or whether, upon complaint being made of misapplication
of the funds, the Courts ought not to interfere, and to bring
back the foundation to its original design. The Legislature
may, indeed, interfere in a different way, and in cases of im-
portance, perhaps, ought to do so, in order to accommodate
restitutions to the varying circumstances and Wants of man-
kind. But this is another question. What we treat cf at
present concerns the duties of Trustees, and of the ordinary
Courts of Justice. And here one thirg seems certain ; consi-
dering what a great innovator Time is, and how inapplicable
provisions which might be proper 'enough in one age may be
to the circumstances of another, it can neither be just nor poli-
tic to attempt to tie up foundations within stricter rules than
the Founders themselves have prescribed, and to hunt about
in the regions of conjecture to discover intentions which they
have not expressed.
Now, this is exactly what the Vice-Chancellor has done in
the case of Lady Hewley's Trustees. A more inconsequent
judgment was never, perhaps, delivered in a Court of Justice.
After a great deal of talk about the demerits of the book
called "An Improved Version of the New Testament," an
unauthorized, and totally false, pretence that it was imposed as
a creed on the Presbyterian Dissenters, and a trifling and a
vain attempt to connect the Trustees with that publication, he
abandons that ground altogether, probably feeling it to Le un-
tenable. And what ground, then, does his Honour take ?
Why, he assumes two points of theological controversy as ne-
cessary to be believed by all persons who are to participate in
Lady Hewley's charity, viz., the Divinity of our Saviour's per-
son, and the doctrine of Original Sin ; in short, he makes a
creed for her, and limits her bounty to such only as will sub-
scribe to it. Nay, further, he removes all the Trustees, both
of the Fund and of her Hospital for poor old women, upon the
same ground, one gentleman of the latter set excepted, who is
removed, on the ground of his being a Churchman.
Lady Hewley says nothing in her trust-deeds of the doc-
trines of the Divinity of our Saviour's; person, or of Original
Sin. Had she limited her charities to persons who would-sub-
scribe to these points of doctrine, or to any other formula, no
doubt, the Trustees, as gentlemen of honour, would have ad-
hered to her instructions. But she left them a latitude. Her
object was to benefit poor and Godly preachers of Christ's
Gospel, their widows, and others included in her trust-deed,
who would be supporters of the doctrine of the sufficiency of
Scripture. The Trustees acted up to these liberal intentions,
not confining their distribution of her bounty to the Ministers
who agree most nearly with their own religious views, but
bestowing a large, in fact, the larger part on those from whom
they probably differ very widely, but whom they considered,
notwithstanding, as Godly Ministers of Christ's Gospel. Not
so the Vice-Chancellor. He will have nobody connected with
the Fund or the Hospital who will not comply with his own
arbitrary mandate, and submit to his two points of belief.
• Having thus briefly, but, as I hope, sufficiently, shown that
the Vice-Chancellor, in delivering this judgment, tied up the
Lady Hewley's foundation within stricter rules than she herself
had prescribed, upon the arbitrary assumption that her inten-
tions must have been so and so, I proceed to point out another
course which lay open to his Honour, and which, if he had taken
his seat upon the Bench as an impartial Civil Judge, and not as
a polemic anxious to promote his own peculiar religious views,
he could hardly have failed to perceive. He would have been
more in his proper character if, instead of giving a critique
oa a translation of the first chapter of the Epistle to the He-
brews, and dwelling on the demerits of the book called an
Improved Version of the New Testament, he had referred to
certain Acts of Parliament which bear upon the question at
issue, but of which he took no notice at all.
The question which his Honour had to decide was—who
are to be considered as " godly preachers of Christ's Holy
Gospel ?" to whom Lady Hewley directed her bounty to be
applied. She has not defined the meaning of these terms
herself, so the Vice-Chancellor has given a definition agree-
able to his own fancy and religious predilections ; but he ought
to have inquired whether the law had not defined them. I
believe it has, as I shall now endeavour to prove.
From the passing of the Act of Uniformity in the'reig.a. of
King Charles 11. to that of the Act of Toleration (1 Will.
and Mary,.e. 18), no person, I conceive, could be considered
in law as a godly preacher of Christ's Gospel, unless lie were
in strict communion with the Church of England ; and if
Lady Hewley's Charity had existed in those timss, no Court
of Law or of Equity, it is apprehended, would have sanc-
tioned the application of her bounty to any Nonconformist
whatever. But this was not the case. When her trust was
established, the English Dissenters enjoyed the protection of
the Toleration Act, and their worship was authorized upon
certain conditions ; the principal of which are, that their
preachers or teachers shall take the, oaths of allegiance and
supremacy, and subscribe a declaration against certain Popish
doctrines, and shall also declare their approbation of; and sub-
scribe, the Articles of Religion mentioned in the statute 13
Eliz. c. 12, (that is; the Thirty-nine- Articles of the Church
of England) except the 34th, 35th, and 36th, and these words
of the 20th Article : " The Church bath power to decree rites
and ceremonies, and authority in controversies of faith, and
yet "—and further, that their places of worship are not to have
the doors looked or barred ; and by another clause in the same
Act, Dissenting teachers, qualified as aforesaid, were exempted
from serving parish offices, &c. Such was the situation of the
Dissenting Body at the time when Lady Hewley's trust com-
menced ; and Dissenting Ministers qualified as aforesaid were
then, I apprehend, to be considered in law as godly preachers
of Christ's Gospel, to whom, and to whom only—legally
speaking, could her bounty, intended for poor Ministers, be
applied.
This was the state of things till the year 1779, when an im-
portant change was made by the Act 19 Geo. 111. c. 44.
wherein it is stated, with reference to the Toleration Act (1
of William and Mary), that " Whereas many preachers or
teachers of Dissenting Protestants scruple to declare their aps
probation of and to suscribe the said Articles not excepted as
aforesaid, for the ease of such scrupulous persons it is enacted,
that every person dissenting from the Church of England—
being a preacher or teacher of any congregation of Dissenting
Protestants, who, if he scruple to declare and subscribe as afore-
said, shall take the oaths and make and subscribe the declara-
tion against Popery required by the Act (1 William and Mary)
to be taken, made, and subscribed by Protestant Dissenting
Ministers, and shall also make and subscribe a declaration in
the words following : " I, A. 8., do solemnly declare, in the
presence of Almighty God, that I am a Christian and a Pro.-
testant, and as such, that I believe that the Scriptures of the
Old and New Testament, as commonly received amongst Pro-
testant Churches, do contain the revealed will of God, and
that I do receive the same as my rule of doctrine and prac-
tice ;" such person shall be entitled to all the privileges granted;
by the said Toleration Act (1 William and Mary) to Protes-
tant Dissenting Ministers and shall be exempted from serving
in the Militia." From the passing of this Act, therefore, a
general declaration of belief in the divine authority of the
Scriptures was to be taken in lieu of the subscription to the
35i Articles of the Church of England required by the Ist of
William and Mary ; and Dissenting Ministers making such
declaration, ' and complying with the other forms required by
the last mentioned Act, were to be considered in law as godly
preachers of Christ's Gospel, unless cause to the contrary could'„
be shown.

But though Dissenting Ministers were thus relieved in the
matter of subscription, they were not at liberty to interpret the
Scriptures according to what might be their own views of re-
ligious truth. For in the Toleration Act itself there was an
exception, by which it was declared that no ease, benefit, or
advantage should be thereby given to persons denying the doc-
trine of the Trinity; and by an Act of the 9th and 10th King
William HI., entitled an Act for the more effectual suppres-
sing of blasphemy and profaneness, it was enacted that " If
any person or persons, having been educated in, or any time
having made profession of, the Christian Religion, shall, by
writing, printing, teaching, or advised speaking, deny any one
of the persons in the Holy Trinity to be God, or shall assert
or maintain that there are more Gods than one, or shall deny
the Christian Religion to be true, or the Holy Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament to be of Divine authority, and
sball; upon indictment or information in any of his Majesty's
Courts at Westminster, be thereof lawfully convicted by the
oath of two or more credible witnesses, such person or persons
shall, for the first offence, be adjudged incapable and disabled
in law, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, to have or enjoy
any office or offices, employment or employments, ecclesias-
tical, civil, or military, or any part of them, or any profit or
advantage appertaining to them, or any of them. And if any
person or persons so convicted as aforesaid shall, at the time of
his or their conviction, enjoy or possess any office, &c., such
office, &c., shall be void, and is hereby declared void; and if
such person or persons shall be a second time convicted as
aforesaid, then he or they shall from thenceforth be disabled
to sue, prosecute, plead, or use any action or information in
any Court of Law or Equity, or to be guardian of any child,
or executor, or administrator of any person, or capable of any
legacy or deed of gift, or to bear any office civil or military,
or benefice ecclesiastical, for ever within this realm, and shall
also suffer imprisonmcni for the space of three years, without
bait or mainprize, from the time of such conviction."
The extreme severity of this penal statute was somewhat
softened by the provisos, that for any words spoken the infor-
mation must be given on oath before a magistrate within four
days, and the prosecution commenced within three months.
Also, for the first offence, if the party make acknowledgment,
and renunciation of the offence, within four months after con-
viction, that the penalties should not attach. But it was a
very harsh and persecuting law, and though it fell into disuse
—thanks to the increasing spirit of toleration which pervaded
the public mind—it is certain that no Dissenting Minister who