The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.---There is probably no question upon
which the country is more sincerely desirous to ob-
tain a permanent settlement than that of church
rates, which was yesterday discussed in the House
of Commons. For more than 30 years, as Mr.
Hardcastle reminded his hearers, has the subject
been debated, and as many as 36 distinct attempts
have been made to settle it. It has been discussed
with equal vehemence out of the house and in the
house. The nature of the right has been brought
before courts of law until it has been reduced to a
mere skeleton of legality. Governments, Parlia-
mentary committees, and private members have all
endeavoured to bring the struggle to a conclusion,
and every form of settlement has been proposed.
Compromises of all sorts, commutation, transmuta-
tion, personal exemption, have each had their turn,
and each, so far, has failed. Total abolition, to
which the question was finally narrowed, appeared
to share at length the fate of all other proposals.
The majority in favour of that measure gradually
dwindled during the seven years' existence of the
last Parliament, and at last became a minority.
Upon this the proposals of compromise again reap-
peared, but, it was evident, with no better chance
of success. The struggle has hitherto resembled
the early phases of the American war, in which it
seemed that either party was strong enough to de-
feat the attacks of the other, and neither was able
to gain a decisive victory. The question has, in
fact, been in abeyance during the last two sessions,
for Mr. Newdegate's Commutation Bill scarcely re-
ceived or deserved serious discussion. The strong
feeling, however, which had prompted the struggle
was by no means allayed by the temporary armistice,
and the opening of the present Parliament was
anxiously looked forward to as the period for re-
commencing the war. The debate, accordingly, was
reopened yesterday on a motion by Mr. Hardcastle
for the total abolition of the rate, and the dis-
cussion afforded ample evidence that the interest
taken in the subject was by no means diminished in
warmth. We wish it were possible to add that
the division holds out a favourable prospect of a
settlement. A majority of 33 in a very full house
furnishes unquestionably a distinct decision in favour
of total abolition, but it is scarcely so overwhelming
a victory as might have been expected in the new
House of Commons. The strange uncertainty,
moreover, thrown over the point at issue by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, who spoke on one side
but voted on the other, renders the significance of
the division somewhat obscure. As Mr. Gladstone
declared he could not consent to an unconditional
abolition of church rates,. it must be supposed that
he voted In favour of the bill with, the idea of intro-
ducing some compromise in committee, and,.as Mr.
Bright spoke in something of the same sense, it is
impossible to say how far a similar feeling may have
affected the votes of other members. Before the
house rose, Mr. Waldegrave Leslie gave notice of
his intention to propose in committee some clauses
to this effect, and we can hardly expect, therefore,
that the division of yesterday has advanced us very
far in the solution of the difficulty. Whether or no,
however, the question be at length approaching its
practical solution, it is clear from the debate that
there is one point on which all parties are at length
agreed. Almost every one confesses that those who
conscientiously object to the payment of the rate
ought to be exempted from it. The Conservatives
who spoke yesterday were anxious to take credit for
having held out the olive branch to Dissentersuntil,
-as Mr. Du Cane said, " their arms ached ;" but if the
Dissenters would clutch it they profess their readi-
ness to hold it out again. Every one, in short, pro-
fessed his wish for a compromise ; and every one
knows that a compromise means, in some form or
other, the exemption of Dissenters. One would have
thought that, with this point settled, there could
be no practical difficulty in coming to a conclusion.
To say that no one should be taxed against his will
is to say that compulsory taxation ought to be
abolished ; and it is difficult to see how those who
accept the former proposition can refuse to admit
the latter. The debate seems to be reduced to a
'question of "what's in a name ?" The subtle pro-
posal which suspended Mr. Gladstone on a razor's
edge, and which Mr. Bright claims the credit of
having originated, would abolish the reality, but
leave the name. Mr. Bright would be content to
have the rate rendered no longer compulsory ; he
would " abolish the magistrates, the summonses,
and the bailiffs," but would leave to church people
the power, which they would equally possess were
there no law on the subject at all, of taxing them-
selves. Mr. Gladstone, it seems, would go somewhat
further than this, and would not be content with-
out " a definite enactment" that those who did not
contribute to the rate should have no right to inter-
fere in the management of the money that was col-
lected. It must be obvious that such a provision
would be more significant than the simple abolition,
on the brink of which Mr. Gladstone hesitates. The
Legislature has hitherto most carefully abstained
from any act which would involve a denial that all
Englishmen are members of the National Church ;
but legally to exclude half the inhabitants of a
parish from interfering, it Church naa,tters would prat-

tically create a strong line of demarcation between
Churchmen and Dissenters. Such a proposal could
hardly be considered of the nature of a compromise.
If, however, the minds of Churchmen can be con-
ciliated by the other ingenious suggestion, it would
appear, from Mr. Bright's speech, that Dissenters,
on their part, would be contented with such a sur-
render of the reality, and would willingly leave
Churchmen the enjoyment of the name. Rates levied
after such an alteration would, indeed, be neither
more nor less than voluntary, and it is difficult to
see what greater security for the revenue of the
Church would be furnished by the retention of
such a shadow. But if the suggestion would con-
ciliate opposition, by all means let it be adopted.
When there is this general agreement that, under
whatever form the fact may be veiled, Church
Rates must in future be levied only from those who
are willing to contribute, it becomes superfluous to
discuss the question as though it involved any ma-
terial issue to the Church in a pecuniary point of
view. If Mr. Hope and Mr. Walpole are both ready
to exempt all who object to pay, they must both be
ready to throw the Church upon the voluntary sup-
port of those who are willing pay. to It is in fact
impossible reasonably to maintain that the Church
derives the slightest pecuniary security from the pre-
sent law. It depends, in the first place, on the mere
will of the parishioners whether the rate shall be
levied at all ; and the law, moreover, is so difficult
to observe as to render it notoriously probable that
almost any church rate in the country might be up-
set if there were a Dissenter in the parish rich
enough and pertinacious enough to contest the ques-
tion in the ecclesiastical courts. The law, for the
most part, provides nothing but a threat, not the
less obnoxious because ineffectual, and supplies a
practical power of compulsion only in those cases
where it is at once cruel and useless to exercise it.
It is possible to sell up a poor man's chairs and tables
for a sum of 21, but practicallyimpossible to extract
a farthing from the squire if he be determined to
resist the demand. To deny that the Church could
solely rely upon voluntary contributions is an ad-
mission which the opponents of the bill are com-
pelled to repudiate in one sentence while they assert
it another. Mr. Walpole, while arguing for the
necessity of the provision, is yet compelled to fur-
nish from his experience as Ecclesiastical Commis-
sioner the most conclusive evidence of the unbounded
extent of private liberality ; and Mr. Gathorne
Hardy does not scruple to speak of the annual pro-
duce of the church rate as " a trumpery £270,000."
Moreover, by the sweeping considerations which
Mr. Walpole and Mr. Hardy introduced into the
discussion it was rendered abundantly plain that
the real objection lies in the idea of surrendering
a sort of outwork of Ecclesiastical supremacy. It
is a point of honour, and not a point of material
importance, that really animates the. Opposition.
From this point of view it would be impossible to
adopt a more unfortunate policy. If the position of
the Church were really threatened, what could be
more suicidal than to stake its defence upon a point
where considerations of common justice are con-
fessedly on the side of the attacking party ? The
question is really one of simple comm on sense. Is
it worth while on a mere point of dignity to keep
open a perpetual sore, to challenge defeat on the
shadow when the substance is confessedly secure,
to irritate opponents with an annoying pretence
when the reality may be enjoyed without the
slightest opposition ? The Church possesses, not
by her confession merely, but by her boast, all the
reality of church rates. She is only asked, for the
sake of her own peace and the satisfaction of the
community, to give up a name, or, as the demand
has now been put, only half a name. We will hope
that when the matter is again discussed wiser
counsels will prevail, and that we may at length see
a practical settlement of a 30 years' controversy.
POST.—Cambridge, by the death of the Master of
Trinity, loses her ripest scholar, her most influential
administrator, and her grandest don. For half a
century Whewell figured amongst that learned
body a man of mark. Towering in stature over all
his fellows, carrying a head of extraordinary mas-
siveness upon shoulders of vast breadth, and looking
down on all below with eyes that could search or
scorch, as need might be, he was a man who, once
seen, could never be forgotten. In him physical,
mental, and moral strength were combined in such
measure and force as could not fail to raise him to
any position to which he might reasonably aspire.
There are men who seem to have been born to
win, and he was one of them. His great
industry was seconded by a hardheadedness that
had no rival ; and though he did not achieve
the highest of all honours—the senior wrangler-
ship—he took the next place, and was also
second Smith's prizeman. From that splendid
degree to a fellowship of Trinity and a tutorship
was an easy and natural promotion. Then his
brilliant career of study and authorship may be said
to have begun. He had surmounted the disadvan-
tages of humble birth and north country schooling,
and had placed himself on that high table-land
whence the loftiest heights of learning and eminence
might not only be descried but reached. With
wonderful energy he devoted himself to the study
of the natural and moral sciences. He enlarged
his observation by foreign travel, and gave the world
the benefit of his experience. What he saw that
was worth remark he noted, and what he noted he
printed. And hewent.on printing to the end of
his long and laborious life. The books that he has
published prove the versatility of his mind and the
extent of its cultivation. He had an eye for art and
beauty in every form. He was a more than respect-
able classic, and a devoted lover of science in all its
branches. Amongst all his books those on the
History and Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences
will perhaps live longest, and be the surest witnesses
of his genius. He was not a discoverer like New-
ton, nor a critic like Bentley, but he was a *student
of profound research, a conscientious scholar, a deep
thinker, a powerful writer, and a contributor of the
very first class to the scientific progress of his age.
-His elevation to the mastership of Trinity probably
satisfied his ambition. In no other post could he
have been so much at liberty to devote himself to
those pursuits which were at once the business and
the recreation of his life. It used to be said that
he was disappointed at not being raised to the
Episcopal bench, but this is more than doubtful.
A bishopric was no place for him. It would have
brought him a vast amount of work for which he
had had no sort of training, and placed him amongst
men with the larger portion of whom he would have
had no sympathy, and for whose society he had no
aptitude. Fond of dignity, he might have liked
the grander side of the Episcopal position, the seat
in the Lords, and the entree of the houses of the
great. But of pastoral duties, as bishops are now
expected to discharge them, he had not a notion.
It was wise, therefore, to leave him in the dignified
possession of his lodge at Trinity, where he was in
every sense a king, and immensely greater than he
could possibly have been in any Episcopal palace
ever built. His interest in the affairs of the uni-
versity was most earnest and constant. There have
been few changes for the better of which he might
not say " quorum magna pars fui." He viewed
with great delight the process of science in
the university, and warmly supported the introduc-
tion of the new Triposes. He loved learning, and
he wished to give it every chance in the university.
If he had had his way, he would have gone on mul-
tiplying subjects and increasing the severity of the
examinations till undergraduate nature could endure
no longer. But he was equally sensitive of the
value of the rewards of learning, and was glad to
recognise merit, though not always in a very
gracious way. For many years no man was more
unpopular in Cambridge than Whewell. He had
no idea of an undergraduate's life being other than
one of severest study. Never having addicted him-
self to any kind of sports, he looked with impatience
at the lighter side of university life, and grudged
the men their frolics and amusements. As a
disciplinarian, he was severe almost to sourness.
His frown was frightful, and there was a latent
power in his voice, like suppressed thunder, avail-
able at any moment, that struck terror into the
soul of any unlucky junior who came into un-
favourable contact with him. As a vice-chancellor
he was despotic, and perhaps there were no prouder
moments in Ins life than when he strode ma-
jestically down from Trinity Lodge to Great St.
Mary's, or the Senate House, attended by the
bedells and bull-dogs, and followed by a terrible
volume of university statutes. He knew that he
was at the top of the tree, he felt it, and he liked
it. But Cambridge has much to thank him for,
and his name will live as her benefactor when the
temporary accidents of his sway are forgotten. In
spite of donnishness that was never surpassed, and
a stern nature and a strong consciousness of his own
powers and attainments, he was universally ad-
mired, and his greatness was confessed even in the
worst days of his unpopularity. He was beyond
doubt a great contributor to the thought of the day,
and to accurate thought. He was singularly impa-
tient of even slight inaccuracies. " Inaccurate
knowledge," he used to say, " is no knowledge.
What a man does not know accurately he does not
know at all." His books are a great aid to real
thinking, and are systematic and logical beyond all
their rivals. One of his latest works was a transla-
tion of Plato's Dialogues, worked up with wonder-
ful power, and showing how thoroughly his own
strong mind entered into the niceties of the great
philosopher. No mind less philosophical than
Whewell's could have made Plato intelligible to
English readers, or have presented the Greek
method in a form appreciably by the totally diffe-
rent process of modern English thought. Ifesides
the enduring monument which his works.
.supply
he has left another most noble in its munificence,
and worthy in its beauty, in the new hostel which
he built at his own sole expense for the accommoda-