The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-05 00:00:00

ABOLITION OF CHURCH-RATES.

(From, the Times.)

In answer to a question from Sir John Trelawny,
and to a more searching interrogation by Sir John
Pakington, Lord Palmerston last night announced
an intention, or rather expressed a hope, of intro-
ducing a bll for the abolition of church-rates
" before long"—that is, " of course, in the present
sersion." If "abolition" is the measure really in-
tended, a bill might be brought in next week for
the purpose, seeing that nothing can be easier than
to put the whole of this metropolis in the same
position, as respects the maintenance of its churches,
as the greater part is already. If the churches of
the greater part of the metropolis were falling out
of repair, and evidently in want of their periodical
washing, glazing, slating, painting, marbling, and
gilding ; if the walls were bulging, gaping, and
tottering, and the rain. beating on the cus'fi.ions and
hassocks; if anything whatever were lacking to
the usual order of the service, and on inquiry it
were found to be owing to the refusal of church-
rates, that would be some reason against extending
and regularising such a state of things. At least, it
would be a reason for stopping to consider what
substitute could be found. The abolitionists would
be met at .once with the exclamation, " What !
would you have our beautiful old churches, fall to
ruin '?" The fact, however, is, that it makes no
difference to the churches whether rates are col-
-1 cted or not. Pass from street to street, or,
if you bare a turn, for spirit-dal vagraincy,
-enter a as- many , as -1319481,:f on
a Sunday, and you will not be able to.,
infer anything- as to the sourde of the Eniffitient
and sometimes rather profuse expenditure of which
you see such pompous and glittering prof. You
cannot guess whether it is a rate, or a general sub- ,
scription, or'an estate, or pew-rents, or the libera-
lity of the incumbent, or of some other individual.
So our churches will not go to ruin in this metro-
poi's, or anywhere else, that we know of. Indeed,
there is no substantial difference in this respect be-
tween the present state of the law, according to
recent decisions, and entire abolition. If the ma-
jority of a vestry refuse t) authorise a rate, it can
no longer b 3 leviel from a reluctant householder ;
in other words, it becomes a voluntary subscrip-
tion. Church-rates may have been levied in that
parish by quiet and undisputed prescription for five
hundred yews, but without a majority of the vestry
they can be levied no longer. Tnis is not only
possible, but a matter of daily occurrence. " What,
then, will become of the churches ? Will they be
allowed to fall down ? Are they to he left to the
ravages of time till the roofs fall in, till glass grows
in the aisles, winds burst the windows, and the
frost splits the walls ?" For the answer to such
pathetic inquiries we have only to refer to the next
parish, or the next town, or perhaps all the parishes
in the neighbourhood, where the churches are kept
in capital order by voluntary paymelit=.
The only pretence for delay is the hope of de-
vising what is called a " substitute" for church-
rates. The natural and only substitute is found
already in more than half this metropolis, and in
most other large towns, where church people, so far
from being at any loss for means to keep their
churches iu substantial and decorative repair, are
everywhere competing for the honour of doing so,
and thinking it hard to be denied. All other sub-
stitutes are mere temporising expedients, suggested
by a weak le)pe of retaining the impost, if not
gener ,11y, at least in the rural parishes. Yet those
rural parishes are the very ones in which the
Church has the least to hope from compulsory rates,
and the most from private taste and generosity.
Of all the parishes in the kingdom it is at least
worth standing out for the supposed benefit of
those where the wretched impost, after discharging
a few fees, just pays the parish bricklayer, the
" wasoner," the carpenter, the plumber, and the
glazier their 10s. 61. or ss. 9d. a piece. The great
balk of the rates is collected in certain towns and
large parishes where the church and the gentry are
strong, or where there are many professionals or
old-fashioned tradespeople. Of course, this is
a comparatively pleasant state of things, for
till a man feels any positive scruple as to Church-
rates' or any hearty dislike of the sys'em, he
would rather there was no dispute on the sub-
ject. But to the best of our belief, whether the
parish be rich or poor, populous or otherwise, town
or country, it is an oval waste of labour and good
churchmanship to stand out for this tax. No case
c in be imagined in which the fabric may not safely
be left to the generosity of churchgoers. Here
and there a church may get out of repair, but that
will be nothing new. Most churches were getting
continually out of repair the greater part of the last
century, when Church-rates were undisputed. If
the fabrics are now generally in beautiful order,
it is owing to voluntary subscriptions.
It is the peculiarity of this impost that it has
never even been adapted to the growth and changes
of our social system. The Church-rate is still paid
to the parish church, and to it a'one, though it is
no longer able to contain hal, or a tenth, or even
a hundredth of the whole population. It is still paid,
or demanded, for the parish church, though there
is another church, or, may be, twenty other
churches, in the parish ; and, while these other
churches are maintained by their pew-renters or
some liberal landowners, those same pow-renters
and landowners are held legally liable to pay rates
to the "parish church." There is no country in the
world, except England, where such an extortion
would be endured for a twelvemonth ; just as Eng-
land is the only country under the sun where two
hundri d thousand people would endure to be pro-
hibited from marrying in their own churches ,and
compelled to . f equent one alone for this purpose,
simply and solely to m ike a piece of preferment for
the Deau and Canons of St. Paul's. We talkin this
country of emperors, of priests, of inquisitors, of
wooden idols, and other stupidities and cruelties,
but there are certain impostures, of the vested
interest clas., which grow no where else to so
venerable an age and such magnificent dimensions
as in this green old island. Church ra'es, in their
present capricious, unjust, and incorrigib!e form,
illustrate this popular weakness of our tax-paying
race. Of course, if people would go on paying
them for ever, then, on the principle that volenti
non, fit injuri4, we should have no right to inter-
fere. But people do very naturally object to pay-
ing for a thiug they don't like when they are no
longer obliged t do so ; to paying to a church they
don't go te, besides paying for one they do go to ;
to paying for a church three miles off, or where
they cannot get a comfortable seat. As the law is
now stated, nobody need pay a Church-rate under
these circumstances unless a majority of his neigh-
bours lay their heads together and resolve that he
shall pay it, whether he likes it or not. There are
not many parishes in the kingdom, we should ima-
gine, where a majority can be got together for such
a purpose ; but it is better, at least more in accord-
ance with the rest of our institutions, that a man
should not be placed at the mercy even of his
neighbours. It is quite possible that a vestry may
even now think it either doing God's service, or at
least very good sport, to screw a Church-rate out of
people with churches or chapels of their own ; so,
to provide against that bare possibility, Parliament
should finally dispose of the question.

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