The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-27 00:00:00

ment. should be removed ? Does he demand a pledge
of Sir Robert Inglis or Mr. Goulburn to a particular
measure for the attainment of that very_desirable end ?
No ; he leaves it in perfect and full security to the
excellent men who represent his interests, convinced
that whatever can be executed by integrity and abi-
lity, will be effected by the combined zeal and
energy which characterise the proceedings of their
public life. We have thus, we think, fully illus-
trated the fact, whose value and importance no
reasonable person can deny. What remains to be
done ? Time should be granted, freely and liberally,
by the constituency of the empire for the enactment of
the measures about to be proposed by the executive
body to the great council of the nation. No greater
civil calamity can befal a State than hasty and inconsi-
derate legislation, for to the positive injury of evil
done by this course is to be added the negative mis-
chief of good neglected. Better, then, a little delay
in the first instance than crude and undigested plans,
pretty and specious in theory, but impracticable when
applied to the real purposes of life. We, indeed, en-
tertain, a full, perfect, and entire confidence, a confi-
dence shown by the great majority of the people of
England, that the new Administration will effect more
real reforms, work out more solid and permanent ad-
vantages to the British nation, than any preceding
Ministry for many years past. Our confidence is based
on a sound foundation—on the characters of the men
composing the present Government—on their intellect,
station, and vast stake in the welfare of the country.—
Mornino- Post.

The project of the Church of England Reform, of
which we gave an abridged account from the Standard
on Saturday last, and which has since been re-echoed
through the columns of the Tory press, as the basis,
at least, of the Ministerial plan, if not also a com-
plete and fair outline of the whole of it—is, notwith-
standing the pretensions with which it is put forward
and promulgated, in order that it may be seen how the
clergy, on the one hand, and the laity, on the
other, may be disposed towards its adoption—
is precisely the sort of measure which might have
been expected from an Administration struggling
for existence—hampered by previous professions
and previous practice—afraid of going too far
in the way of Church Relorm, lest the Church
should turn and rend it in pieces, as, with the aid of
the Court, it tore, and rent, and destroyed the last
Administration—still more afraid of being expelled
from office by the voice of a disappointed and indignant
people, and therefore yielding something to them, in the
hope of procuring thereby some mitigation of their re-
sentment—and, in consequence, so sunk in difficulties,
and so devoid of my other stable purpose but the mere
retention of power; as to have produced a scheme
which will satisfy no one—
Monstrum horrendum atque informo,
Cui lumen ademptum!
—a thing without a name—a double-faced monster,
full of hypocrisy and fraud—stroking down the Church
with one hand, and with the other cutting its throat—
exclaiming, with one voice to the people, " See how I am
about to hew down the high places of iniquity I" and
with another, " Behold how ye shall be made to feed
on the green pastures, and to drink out of the re-
freshing streams which flow from the persevering toil
of an industrious and already overburdened people !"
That such is the true character of the measure
will be seen at once, when stripped of the vague
explanations which accompany it, and the unmeaning
froth of words in which it is enveloped. What of
good there is in it, belongs to the public voice, not of
to-day, but of more than the last half century—what
of evil, is purely the offspring of Toryism, and so far
overbalances the good as to excite,astonishrnent that
Sir Robert Peel, who is neither a fanatic nor a fool,
but a man of common sense, should have ever dreamed
either of lending his sanction to it, or of imagining
that it would ever be agreed to by the people of a free
and enlightened country. The secret, however, of
such a strange jumble it is not so very difficult to find
out. The common-sense part of the scheme belongs
unquestionably to Sir Robert—the other, the fanatical
project of proselytism, to that section of the Cabinet
which rejoices in the names of Knatchbull and Roden,
and has now, if we mistake not, inflicted a deadly
blow not only upon a measure which might otherwise
have commanded some portion of the respect of the
country, but upon its more liberal section, which
boasts of Peel and Lyndhurst for its chiefs. Thus
has the monster been begotten which, alike hateful to
friends and foes, is destined, like its imaginary proto-
type, Frankenstein, not only to affright from their
propriety, but to pursue to their very death, those by
whom it has been begotten. To come to particulars,
however, the scheme is as follows :
" 1. Provision for the ultimate extinction, and for the pre-
sent diminution, as far as respect for existing interests will
permit, of the practice of pluralism.
" 2. Respect being still had to existing interests, the
friends of chapters and other collegiate institutions, not con-
nected with the Universities, may be rendered available to a
certain extent ; still reserving enough to provide for the re-
wards of learning, exertion, and piety.
" 3. The abolition of commendams hereafter, by an equaliza-
tion of the labours of the several bishops, and the adjustment of
incomes, in due proportion to these equalized duties."
So far so well. If the above project come short of
what the public has a right to expect, there is nothing
in it which can be objected to, except that it is a theft
from the Whig book of Church Reform, and is impu-
dently
rf:llmed upon the public as of Tory origin and
T:6ry manufacture. But for what follows, the most
ample credit is to be given to the Tories. It is theirs
by birth and by adoption, and Heaven forbid that we,
or our friends, should lay claim even to the smallest
shred of the garments in which the new Guy Fawkes
has been swaddled !

" 4. The providing or resident, accessible, and efficient re-
ligious teachers for every family in England and Wales, whe-
ther congregated in manufacturing towns, or dispersed through
agricultural districts."
That is to say, the mission of an additional band of
Church of England crusaders into all those pacts of
the kingdom where the Church is at a discount—dis-
sent from its discipline and doctrines triumphant—
and the erection of more new churches, curaeles, rec-
tories, &c.—at the expense of whom ? Why, of a
people overburthened with taxation—groaning under
the oppression of a national debt—not favourable
to the extension of the domination of the Church of
England—and of whom nearly two-thirds are Dis-
senters, feeling that they have no right to con-
tribute to the support of a clergy, and a faith, and a
discipline, of which they do not approve, and who
will assuredly lift up their voices as one mane not
only in order to oppose such a notorious scheme of ex-
action and proselytism, but to get rid of all the mani-
fold grievances of which they have so much just right
to complain I Let them cry aloud and spare not—
for, verily, the enemy is come nigh unto their gates !
But on what pretence is this notable scheme brought
forward ?—for what purpose ? 'Why, on the one
hand, that dissent prevails, because there is not suffi-
cient accommodation in the national churches for those
who are friendly to the national church—and, on the
other, that Dissenters and Church of England
men may come to blows for the sole purpose
of dividing their strength, and placing their uni-
ted power in the hands of the Government !
Divide et impera is the basis of it, on the part of one
section of the Cabinet—propagandism on that of the
other. But is it the fact that there is not a sufficient
number of churches to accommodate those who be-
long to the Church of England ? Look around,
friends of the Church, and say that such is the fact.
Where is it that the casual and willing hearer can-
not find a seat ? Where is it that there are not more
churches than hearers ? 'Where is it that there
ate hearers sufficient to fill the churches which are
already built ? In making these observations, we
beg to be understood as not making a part of those
who are unfriendly to a national Church Establish-
ment. We are friendly to such an establishment,
based on a proper foundation ; and it is because we
are unfriendly either to any invasion by such an esta-
blishment of the just rights of others, or any invasion
of wha.t we deem to be its just rights, that we de-
nounce the misbegotten monster of the Peel and Roden
school. Do justice to the working clergy—equalise
the incomes as far as, consistently with the discharge
of duties, and the proper reward or genius and talent,
they can be equalised—let talent In the Church be
rewarded as talent is rewarded in all other professions
—let every Clergyman of the Church have, as he
ought to have, the income which befits a gentleman
wily has ten.pended a large sum upon his education—.