The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-12 00:00:00

CHURCH .RATES BSFUSED.

( From The Monthly Christian Spectator.)
It may be within the recollection of most
of our readers, that in the month of July
last a deputation of noblemen and gentlemen
beaded by Lord Shaftesbury, waited upon the
Premier for the purpose of laying before him
certain statements purporting to be based upon the
return of " Church Rates Refused," moved for by.
Lord Cecil, and presented to the House of Com-
mons iu the early part of the present session.
Amongst other statements made by the deputation
was one to the effect, that only 408 out of 8,672
parishes in England and Wales, or about " five per
cent." of the whole. number, were proved to have
refused Church rates. This assertion, when first
made, considerably surprised alt classes of politi-
.thang. It is believed so to have influenced the Pre-
Junior as to have caused him to reconsider his en-
gamment to bring in a bill for the settlement of
this: question during the current session. Dr. Fos-
ter, on behalf of the Religious Liberation Society,
endeavoured to counteract its effect by exposing
the imperfection and inadequacy of the returns.
The Church party had a perfect " glorification"
over it—The Record especially treating its readers
to a series of articles, written in a ludicrously
jubilistic strain on the weakness of Dissent, and the
stanch attas,:hment of Englishmen to Mother Church.
As to the di eontation they appear to have retired
into private I:10, evidently believing that they had
settled the question for ever, and that no one would
again dare to laav hands on this great buttress of
the Estalishment.
Now, we are sorr v to spoil a triumph of any kind,
but in this instance truth and justice demand it.
Since reading the report of the interview of the
committee of laym en with Lord Palmerston, we
have taken the troub.le to go through the whole of
" 8,672" returns, and we have found them to tell
a very different tale: to that to which Lord Palmer-
ston listened. The assertions made by the com-
mittee of laymen are false in every particular. They
have neither. given the nniritler of parishes correctly,
nor have they stated their caee in any way so as to
make a truthful impression. Reading the address
of the committee, one would imagine that ninety-
five per cent. of the parishes of England Wales
were in favour of church-rates, and that these
imposts were still upheld by the opinion of the
great body of the people. We find the truth to be
in the one case exactly the reverse of this, and in
the other so glaringly at variance with the state-
ment of the committee, as to excite the greatest sur-
prise that any respectable body of men should com-
mit themselves to such an assertion. How the case
really stood at the date of the Church-rate returns
will be found from the following summary, in which
the parishes are grouped in counties, and the popu-
lations of both classes of returns given :

SUMMARY OF RETURNS OF " CHISICCII RATES REFUSED," &C.
No. FOR. No. AGAINST.
Parishes. Popula- Parishes. Popula-
tion. tion.
57,932 15 39,605
98,752 12 21,873
83,486 18 22,100
67,225 26 37,014
175,347 28 151,994
215,264 36 80,174
113,113 4 4,471
115,615 18 53,079
239,185 31 133,336
79,034 19 29,693
279,350 7 57,105
204,597 30 83,764
208,035 40 121,959
176,641 19 141,216
61,859 6 10,382
95,512 9 17,622
28,426 12 7,996
364,249 22 116,987
175,336 89 1,259,024
102,159 13 70,608
226,144 42 57,738
482,162 40 828,382
91,690 10 74,287
233,120 68 65,461
92,950 32 67,498
133,472 11 123,367
100,612 21 113,028
103,755 15 14,228
15,734 1 530
162,259 3 32,100
266,813 22 59,291
197,094 45 332,602
192,799 45 32,549
231 695 12 84,471
151,145 16 76,969
99,935 23 258,994
30,267 3 19,595
141,416 10 22,479
131,408 16 29,830
631,749 103 1,117,020

COUNTY.

Bedford
Berks
Bucks
Cambridge
Chester
Cornwall
Cumberland
Derby
Devon
' Dorset
Durham
Essex
GI )ucester .
Hants
Herefprd
Hertfp
Huntingdon
Kent 284
Lancaster lll
Leicester

110
122
89

376
67
77
316
185

Lincoln
Monmouth
Norfolk
Northampton
Northumberland
Notts
Oxford 163
Rutland
Salop
Somerset 341
Salford
Suffolk 3Ol
Surrey
Sussex 290
Warwick 145
Westmorland
Wilts
Worcester l3O
York 523

TOTALS 6,677

6,657,341 997

5,860,301

Wales

423,908 133

265,850

England and Wales 7,090 7,081,249 1,139 6,126,151
This, as will be perceived, gives a widely diffe-
rent result to that published by the committee of
laymen. Instead of only 408 parishes being re-
turned as having refused church rates, we find no
fewer than 1,130 where they were not levied.
These places contained a total population, accord-
ding to the "Blue Book," of 6,126,151; the parishes
levying rates containing only 7,081,249. But this
is not all the truth. The " Blue Book" on which
this summary has been based is deficient in returns
from 3000 or 4000 parishes, containing a gross po-
pulation of 4,720,209. We know for a fact that in
many of these parishes Church-rates have for years
ceased to be levied. The returns do not include
lexester ; they omit a great part of Reading, the
greater portions of Southampton, Bristol, and
many other large towns, where public opinion is
known to be against the continuation of this ini-
quitous system. Indeed, as far as we have been
able to ascertain, the omissions are nearly altoge-
ther on the side of Church rates refused, so that we
axe justified is saying that Church rates are levied
with the consent of only a small minority of the in-
habitants of parishes. The utmost number
that the " Blue Book" accounts for is 7,081,249,
the population of England and Wales being
17,927,609. This, we take it, is a little less than
ninety-five per cent !
The table we have given will be sufficient to in-
dicate the character as well as the number of the
parishes ranged on the two sides of this contro-
versy. It will be noticed that the average popula-
tion of parishes approving Church rates is not quite
1,000 ; while the average population of those re-
fusing is rather more than 5,000. The intelligence
of towns being generally pretty fairly proportioned
to their population, it wilt be seen at a glance on
which side of the question the more advanced por-
tion of the community is ranged. As a further
illustration of this mode of argument, we subjoin
an alphabetical list of the principal towns in the
kingdom where Church rates are now abolished.
We take them from the Parliamentary Return,
where they are arranged according to their coun-
ties
Aberdare Halifax Newcastle
Amersham Hartlepool Nottingham
Alberstoko Hitchin Newport, I.W.
Almondbnry Hanley Oldham
Ashton-under-Lyne Huddersfield Plymouth
Aston Illingworth Poole
Blackburn Jarrow Pcrtsea
Bolton Kendall Rochdale
Bury Keighley Reading
Birkenhead Kirkheaton Southampton ..
Bowden Kildwick Stoke
Bristol Kirkbtirton Stroud.
Basford Leeds Stockport (partial)
Brighton Leicester Sainford
Bradford ' Liverpool Sheffield
Birmingham 'Leominster Swansea
Chelmsford Lancaster Tynemouth
Cardigan Luton Trowbridge
Carraarthen Manchester Wisbcach
Chatham Maidstone Wareham
P,evonport Middlesborough Whalley
'Dowlais Melbourne Wigan
Falmouth Merthyr West Bromwich
Promo Norwich Walsall
Gateshead Northampton Worcester
And the following amongst metropolitan parishes :
Chelsea St. Pancras
Clerkenwell Christ Church, Spitalfiekls
St. George's-in-the-East Mile-end Old Town
St. Mary, Islington St. Philip's, Stepney
St. Paul's, Knightsbridge St. Sepulchre
St. Anne, Limehouso St. George's, Southwark
St. Margaret's, Westminster
The4e places will be acknowledged to be without
9neition, the most important in the kingdom. They
include almost every county town and large borough,
and they represent the greater portion of the rely
Ziloi1151! theu moral, and the intellectual activity of
(3° trY• And their politcal power, as we,
judge Lord Palmerston will be made to feel, is
quite equal to their intellectual • and we have no
doubt, will be 3 1
feundamply sufficient to carry a bill
for the total and unconditional abolion of church-
va' es as soon as Parliament shall again meet.
Meantime, we think it will be
advisable, in order
t o c ,interact the effect of the statement
uiittee of the laymen, and to strengthen
of the com
taheliands
raf thy advocates of abolition, both within d
with-
out the wdls of Parliament, to give as widen a e
ciliation as possible to the actual facts regarding the-
rf.tes now refused.

TLIE MIRO OF THE RSDAN.--General Windham had
just changed his clothes before going to the colonel's to
dine, His servant showed them to me ; they were
covered with blood and dust. I followed hint to Colonel
Wood's hut, and found General Windham walking
quickly to and fro in the hut, apparently much pre-
- occupied and excited. His eyes emitted. flashes of
fire, his open countenance had assumed its usual majestic
Calm 14501 dignity, his lips were parched, his proud
brow betokened much restlessness, and though his fore-
lea?, was covered with glory, you could perceive through
tire wreath ot laurel which had only a few hours before
heen deposited there by Mars, a deep shadow of
thoughtfulness and ears, His physiognomy told p. tale.
Victory of him made a great hero, without having had
time to put her final seal to his martial and petulant
a •dour. Another battle was yet to be fought—igo.Ver's
Culinary Campaign.