The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-03 00:00:00

OATienins Alit

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1844,

The Post of this morning will be read with exceed-
ing satisfaction by all who have a taste for grumbling,
and a quick conception of a grievance, for our Con-
temporary is in one of his most dismal moods, and sighs
and groans, and shakes his head and wrings his hands,
through two columns and upwards of the gloomiest
twaddle it was ever our lot to peruse. Some of our
readers may perhaps remember that diverting scene in
the " Miseries of human Life," wherein the author re-
presents one of his characters as sitting down by his fire-
side on a dull winter evening, with the deliberate inten-
tion of making himself as miserable as possible, by con-
juring up all sorts of real and fancied misfortunes.
Following the example of this hypochondriacal gen-
tleman, and inspired apparently with the glorious
ambition of rivalling, if not of surpassing, him in the
grievance line, our afflicted Contemporary has sat
down with the cool determination, not only to make
himself as miserable as possible, but his readers
also ; and if he have not succeeded in his bene-
volent intentions, except among political Quidnuncs
of his own turn of temperament, but has elicited
smiles where he had hoped to draw forth teats,
the fault is not so much with him as
his subjects—which, as he has been compelled to treat
them—are calculated only to excite emotions of
laughter. Lord WHARNCL/FFE, Sir ROBERT PEEL,
and DANIEL O'CONNELL--theBe are the burdens of
his song; and JEREMIAH himself never bewailed in
more touching terms the errors of the Ninehvites,
than does the Post the backslidings of this notable
triumvirate. His Lordship, it seems, like another
MELBOURNE, has inflicted a " heavy blow and great
discouragement" on poor dear old Mother Church
by his late education speech at Leeds ; the Premier
by his " economical policy" has brought the
country to the brink of ruin ; and as for Mr. O'CoN-
NELL, he is preparing to get himself proclaimed King
of Ireland, by the style and title of DANIEL the
First Serious grievances these, arid well worthy
the attention of the hypochondriacal ; but the at
being somewhat problematical, and having, moreover,
a little improbability attached to it, our Contem-
porary does not state it of his own knowledge in his
editorial capacity, but has recourse to an
accommodating correspondent, yclept " Censor,"
who enunciates it hypothetically in these
terms Let Sir ROBERT PEEL now concede
one atom to O'CONNELL, and the scene on the hill of
Tara will be a reality, and Europe will hear with
wonder and awe the Proclamation of King DANIEL
the First I" This will indeed be awful news to
Europe, and will doubtless set her- quaking like a
man in an ague-fit, especially as his Majesty King
DANIEL is known to be no very enthusiastic admirer
of ancient royalties or aristocracies in the abstract ;
but is imbued with such democratic tendencies as
cannot fail to make him peculiarly distasteful
to his royal brothers of Austria., Prussia, and
Russia. Of course there can be no doubt of the
Proclamation of this new Milesian Monarch, for it is
evident that the Premier intends to make further
concessions to Ireland ; and therefore, on the Post's
own showing, the result must inevitably be, the ele-
vation of O'ComtELL to the throne of the old Kings
of Tara! But to be serious. " What," asks our
Contemporary's Correspondent, "what have expe-
diency and concession hitherto done for the sister
country ?" Our answer is, little or nothing
compared to what they would have done, and ought
to have done, had they been resorted to at the proper
season ; but who at this time of day needs to be told
that concessions were never made to Ireland till is
was all but too late, and they had lost half their magic
influence ? Catholic Emancipation, which oug

to have been carried at the commencement if
the century, in accordance with PITT'S wishes
and implied promises to the Irish, was delayed till tilt
year 1829 ; and even then it was not yielded as a
matter of conscientious conviction by Ministers, but
was wrung from them as a matter of necessity—

because, in fact, they could not help themselves.
Never yet has an English Government accorded s
boon to Ireland of its own free hearty will, and who
can wonder, therefore, that that country still remains
in a state of sullen dissatisfaction, and evinces an in-
veterate distrust of its rulers?

The Episcopal Free Church, which of late has ex-
cited so much attention in the West of England, was
opened on Friday morning at Exeter by the Rev.
H. B. BULTEEL who, it appears, is a gentleman well-
known in Devonshire, being first cousin to the late
Member for the Southern Division of that county.
In stating his reasons fur consenting to open a place
of worship for the use—we quote his own words—
of such persons as saw fit, from motives of con-
science, to free themselves from the communion of the
Church by law established," the preacher mentioned.
as one of the principal motives that induced him to
separate himself from the Establishment, the com-
plete state of bondage to which her members, and
especially her ministers, were reduced—a state so
much unlike that of the primitive Church, as to ren-
der it impossible that both Churches could derive
their constitution from the same original. The inde-
pendence and liberty of the Church of England were,
he insisted, nothing more than a name—a shadow.
She herself could do nothing. It was the SOVEREIGN
who did everything. To him belonged the supre-
macy in all matters whatever. Doctrine—discipline
—all alike were subject to him, and nothing was safe
from his touch, except the preaching of the Word and
the administration of the Sacraments. Another of the
Rev. Gentleman's grievances was the acknowledged
inability of the Church to alter one word of the Book
of Common Prayer. "The minister," he said, "had
frequently to declare with his lips what in his heart
he disbelieved—the beautiful service, fitted only fur
those who die in the LORD, was prostituted day by
day to the ungodly and the profane." Mr. BULTEEL
then proceeded to point out the dilemma in which a
clergyman was placed, "in,consigning to Heaven one
whom the language of Scripture would assign to a
a very different destination ; or else he must pacify
his conscience by leaving out a portion of the service,
for doing which neither the State nor the Church
gave him authority." We can by no means acquiesce
in the justice of this complaint of the Rev. Gentle-
man, for, to our thinking, it savours not a little of
bigotry. There is nothing of Christian benevolence
or humility about it—nothing of that Divine spirit
of charity which our SAVIOUR declared to be among
the greatest of the virtues, which he inculcated in his
Sermon on the Mount, and which he took every
opportunity of impressing on his Disciples. Why
should the funeral service, which is so truly and
touchingly catholic in its character, be read only
over those who—to use Mr. Buvreees somewhat
vague expression—" die in the Lord ?" We are all
sinners, even the best of us; and one of the chief
redeeming excellencies of the Church is the readiness
with which she offers up her prayers and her interces-
sion above the ashes of those whose lives may not have
been altogether as immaculate as could have been
wished. But the Rev. Gentleman strenuously protests
against this compassionate and mediating spirit on the
part of the Establishment. He would have her with-
hold her charity from the poor handful of dust and
ashes which she is called on to consign to the tomb ;
and objects to her that she will not carry her displea-
sure beyond the grave into the awful presence of the
Eternal ! We trust the day is far distant when intole-
rant doctrines like these shall prevail among the religious
community ; and fervently hope that our Established
Church, which has—or should have—its foundation
in charity, will ever continue to intercede with Heaven
for the souls of even the most erring of her flock, and
consign their ashes to the grave with the expression of
a meek and reverent hope that their • SIRS may be
forgiven them. We have infinitely more sympathy

with Mr. BULTEEL'S complaint that the humbler or-
ders of the clergy are left at the " arbitrary will of
their superiors," without the power to help themnelves ;
and would gladly see a reform effected in this respect,
and the despotic—and in a great degree, irresponsible
—authority of the Bishops reduced within just and be-
coming limits. In the course of this sermon, which is
as remarkable for its boldness as its eloquence, the
Rev. Gentleman indulged in the following stinging
comments on Doctor PIiILLPOTTS'S ecclesiastical ca-
reer :—" His zeal has prompted him to run to the
extent of what the law allows him ; and in the per-
formance of his episcopal functions, he has the merit
of having deprived more clergymen of their licenses,
and of having pronounced more ecclesiastical cen-
sures, than perhaps all the other Bishops together."
Doctor PELLLPOTTS is, indeed, the model of a stiff-
necked Prelate, such as LAUD was. Ile rules his dio-
cese as NAPOLEON ruled France, with an iron land,
allowing neither freedom of thought nor action among
his clerical subordinates ; and possesses every apteto-
heal recommendation except meekness, charity, and
toleration of nature.

The important benefit which Captain Burpocir,
R.N., has, for the second time, conferred on the in-
terest of the Channel navigation, by re-erecting on
the " treacherous Goodwins" a beacon and a refuge,
for the double purpose of warning vessels of the
dangerous vicinity they are approaching, and of
affording a temporary refuge to the unfortunate
mariners whose devoted vessels may have perished on
those fatal sands, we are happy to find beaming
duly appreciated. A nobler object was never achieved
with more intense constancy of purpose, under almost
every species of discouragement; and few more effec-
tive services, by the aid of very limited means, have
ever been rendered to humanity at large. The day
will come, we may now trust, when this " intfamous
locality "—the theatre of so many disastrous ship-
wrecks, the grave of so many gallant hearts, the de-
struction of so many brave vessels, although it will
still be in the direct track, as it were, of the trade
of the Port of London with all the world, will be as
readily and easily avoided, by night as well as by
day, as the surge-lashed rocks that sustpari the
Eddystone or the Whitehaven lights. But is e are
reminded by this prompt and happy remedy of the
destruction of its predecessor—occasioned by some
foreign merchant craft coming in collision with it—
that the application of Captain BULLOCK'S ingenious
principle, as developed in the foundation of his
beacon on a quicksand is likely to be carried out in
fortifications, to be erected in the immediate vicinity
of this beacon, and at many other analogous stations
along the coast, for the purposes both of defence and
of offence. Our readers cannot have forgotten the
important evidence incidentally given by his Grace
the Duke of WELLINGTON in his examination before
the Committee of the House of Commons on Har-
bours of Refuge. His Grace demonstrated tlha,t, in
the present defenceless state of our coasts—of those
more particularly at the south-eastern extremity of
England—it would be possible, at any time, for the
French (having that advantage of geographical posi-
tion which places them, in relation to ourselves,
" with the sun at their backs") to see, from their
heights on the coasts of Picardy or Normandy, al-
most every vessel which entered or quitted the mouth
of the Thames ; and that French steamers, by run ning
down on these merchantmen, might, if unopposed by
certain precautionary measures, most seriously injure
and cripple the whole trade of the Port of London. It
was after this evidence had been given that the Prince
DE JoucTILLE published his celebrated pamphlet. We
are far from arguing that " post hoc, ergo proptes
hoc :" but still there are some remarkable coincidences
between these sagacious forecastings of his Grace
and the preliminary hypothesis assumed by his Royal
Highness the French Prince, in order to found the
plan of hostile operations against England which he
conditionally advocates. For it is but fair to remark
that the Prince is wronged by those who do not keep
this fact in sight. He can, with no show of reason
or candour, be said to have instigated the state of
things to which his hypothesis applies. " Given," he
says, "certain conditions of facts, as—the outbreak
of a war between France and Great Britain ;—then
:he course of action it would be proper for the :former
to adopt would be what I am about to describe." The
Prince, at the outset, admits that not only could not
the French naval force for a long time hope to. com-
pete with that of England, without signal discomfi-
ture, but that, if it engage in the contest at all, it
must do so at the inevitable price of severe defeats at
the commencement, and of exciting in our own people
the most enormous and instantaneous efforts for the
organisation of a force of still more overwhelming
disproportion, as to the marine of France, than that
which at present exists. But he is of opinion that
armed French steamers, well manned and worked,
and carrying detachments of troops on board, might
wage a species of privateering warfare on our com-
merce, of which the mischief and annoyance would
be ultimately its destruction. Now this notion, we
have no doubt, is a well-founded one. The theory on
which it proceeds omits only the important element
of countervailing forces. If France, with her infant
iteam-marine, so small in its numerical, so inferior in

its material, farce—could make a very serious impres-
sion on the commerce, vex the coasts and harass the
outports of England; what would be the annihilation
which England, with a war-steamer navy so vast,

and of armament so terrible, as that which sails under
the QUEEN'S commission, would pour over the coast-
ing and foreign trade of France, and launch against
her ports and arsenals T By a recent survey of the
Commission appointed by our Government, to report
on the tonnage, equipment, and capacity of adaptation
to the character of war-steamers, of the steam-boats
belonging to some few of our own ports having the
largest home and carrying trade, it was found, a few
weeks ago, only, that of between 100 and 200 such
steamers not less than 67 could be immediately con-
verted into steam-frigates and war-steamers of various
ratings, and the most complete and powerful arma-
ment; and that of the remainder, the larger propor-
tion of those employed as tugs in the towage in and
out of harbour of merchantmen, might with equal
facility be rendered most formidable gun-boats. 'We
feel, therefore, as little apprehension about the scheme
of the Prince DE Joravitmz, and attribute to it as
little efficiency as—we are convinced he himself

does. But we shall not cease, with the most earnest
solicitude, to press upon the Government the fact,
that not a day ought to be lost in carrying out the

plan of defending our coasts, in conformity with the
recommendation of the Duke of WELLINGTON, and
other the highest authorities.
The ingenious project to which we have so often
had occasion to recur, of erecting forts, or log-
houses, with even barracks attached, on screw-pile
iron foundations, seems to be now adjudged quite

feasible. We trust to see it carried into immediate
execution. If any still doubt of the possibility of
constructing them, as it is proposed to do, on such
dangerous points as the Goodwin Sands themselves,
or other coasts adjacent to estuaries, like that of the
Thames, by forcing the metal piles through the sands
till they become embedded in the stratum beneath it,
the successful experiment of Captain BuLLocx on
these very Goodwins, by throwing down chalk ballast
till the mass has found a bearing base, and so conso-
lidated itself as to bear perfectly well being worked
upon, at is surface above the level of the sea, this

experiment ought to satisfy any such misgivings

on their part. It tends to prove that the mass depo-

sited has subsided down to the firm stratum ; and thus,

;he ultimate results of an experiment dictated by an

active humanity, intent on the rescue of a few ship-
wrecked mariners, bids fair to determine in the

acquisition of A site for one of those coast defences,
the deficiency of which has long been one of the most

signal and natural disadvantages that, in time of war,
we have had to contend with. It is because we want

to postpone to the most distant day possible—if we
may not wholly avert--the calamity of a war be-
tween the two greatest nations of Europe, that we
would recommend the accomplishment of truly na-
tional works like these in a time of peace.

The Madrid Gazette of the 25th ult. contains the
following decree for the conversion of the outstanding
Treasury Bonds into Three per Cents. :
" With the view of freeing the contributions, and the
public revenue from the engagements
.that weigh on
them, as being the only means of facilitating the prompt
reorganisation of the system of the national finances,
and to provide in the mean time for the punctual pay-
ment of the urgent obligations of the State—seeing the
successful result of the conferences that have taken place
between the Minister of Finances and the creditors who
are holders of Treasury Bonds, issued in virtue of the
law of the 29th of March, 1842—taking into considers- ,
dm the advice given by the commission appointed to