The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-13 00:00:00

THE SUN

science, he deemed most fitting—but it was due to
..the exemplary: conduct, the unwavering loyalty of
the parties themselves during a period of persecution
which, if it could not justify, would go far to palliate
the adoption of a very different course.
All disputes, however, had been happily terminated,
the torch of discord had been quenched, society was no
longer divided into two great classes, the persecutors
and the persecuted. For the first time for centuries
we might be regarded as a;united people, nay, more, an
attempt was made to draw the nations and creeds of
the earth into closer communion—the admirable
suggestion of our illustrious PRINCE CONSORT was
about to be carried out on a scale of magnitude and
splendour befitting its vast importance—a congress
was about to assemble in the British metropolis, not
of despots or their tools for the purpose of restraining
the liberties of any ceuntry, or retarding " the march
of intellect,".but of the people themselves, in order to
promote universal peace and civilization, improve-
ment in the arts and sciences, and that friendly emu-
lation that is always productive of the most satisfac-
tory results ; and yet it was on the eve of this great
solemnity that PIO NONO, who had so recently been
restored to his throne and palace at the Vatican by
the intervention of foreign bayonets, who found
himself powerless to control his own subjects, thought
proper to rekindle the extinguished brand, to fling
the fatal apple on our peaceful shores, and to
revive the forgotten dissensions by an act, or rather
acts—for; we have already shown that the division of
England into Romish sees was the third aggression
perpetrated within the present year—which he must
have well known would be not merely distasteful, but
absolutely repugnant to the feelings of the great ma-
jority of the British nation. This was an injudicious,
an ill-advised movement. A more impolitic course,
one less to be justified under the peculiar circumstances
of the case, can scarcely be imagined. There was
everything against nothing in its favour
unless the schism created in the Established Church
by the persecution of the Rev. Mr. Gonmam, and the
Puseyiie predilections of a certain portion of the
clergy, could have led to the supposition that the
Church of England was tottering ou its foundations,
and that nothing but a sharp attack was wanting to
complete its overthrew.
What was the condition of the Roman Catholics
in England before the establishment of the new hie-
rarchy ? We have it on unimpeachable authority,
which the Roman Catholics will be the last to
impugn—no less than the newly-appointed Car-
dinal and Archbishops of Westminster, Dr. Wiseataei
himself. The Rev. Doctor informed us, that "where
the succession of the Catholic hierarchy hes been
interrupted, as in England, or never been established,
as in Australia or some parts of India, the bishops
who superintend the Catholic Church, and represent
the Papal authority, are known by the name of viwirs
apostolic." These vicars it appears, generally, but not
invariably, receive episcopal consecration, and "as,
from local circumstances, it is not thought
expedient that they sh,:uld bear the titles of
the sees which they ad:ninister, they are ap-
pointed with the titles of ancient bishoprics
now in the bands of the infidels, and thus are called
bishops in partibus infidelium." IF these vicars were
for many successive ages enabled to preserve the faith
and preside over the Roman Catholics of England,
whence the necessity of any change ? Why should the
people of England be gratuitously offended ? Would
not the rose by any other name have smelled as
sweet ? There must be something in it more than
meets the eye, some deep design, not fully promul-
gated. Our doubts are, however, resolved by the
Cardinal. He tells us that—

"In all countries possessing a hierarchy, the country
is divided into parishes, each provided with a parochus
or curate, corresponding to the rector or vicar of the
English Established Church. The appointment to a
parish is vested in the Bishop, who has no power to re-
move again at will, or for any cause except a canonical
offence juridicially proved. . . . Under an apostolic
vicariate, the clergy corresponding to the parochial
clergy generally bear the title of apostolic missionaries,
and have missions or local districts with variable limits
placed under their care; but are dependent upon the will
of their ecclesiastical superiors. . . ."
We find that a further sub-division of England into
parishes, each to be provided "_with a parochus
or curate," who will be rendered independent,
his position corresponding to that of " the
rector or vicar of the English Established Church."
We are, then, to have a new state religion, a second
church establishment in this country. The ministry
of Roman Catholic priests will no longer be restricted
to the spiritual wants of the professors cf that religion.
Every district must have its parochus, who will bide
his time until in a position to claim the temporalities
to which he may conceive himself entitled on
the nomination of a foreign potentate. The
people of England should maturely consider
this inevitable consequence of the recent act, the
territorial domination that will be claimed by the
new body of ecclesiastics in this kingdom. They will
no longer be the pastors of congregations requiring
their aid, and depending on the voluntary contribu-
tions of their respective flocks.; they will be incum-
bents of parishes, who, if not receiving, will, at least,
consider themselves entitled to tithes and other
ecclesiastical emoluments. This is indeed an im-
portantchange, the consequences whereof can scarcely
be calculated or foreseen. It is at. all events right
that the people should be warned in time, that they
may be fully aware of the real nature of that which
they must strenuously resist or humbly submit to.

There is, perhaps, no medium through which the
contributions of humane and charitably-disposed per-
sons can be more beneficially distributed than the
poor-boxes of the different police-courts of the me-
tropolis. Cases of the most melancholy and heart-
rending description are of almost daily occurrence,
and an amount of misery and wretchedness is brought
to light that would, if generally known, astonish those
who are in the enjoyment of all the comforts and
many of the luxuries of life, so far, at least, as they
can be procured by money, and who know nothing of
the extremity of suffering which many of their fellow-
creatures are continually enduring. It is highly
creditable to the general body of magistrates that they
have become the voluntary almoners of the public
bounty, and have willingly assumed the duty, not at
all times of the most agreeable description, of investi-
gating the characters and claims of the various appli-
cants for relief, and deciding as to the application of
the funds at their disposal. And generally speak-
ing—although there are exceptions to every rule—
the duty has been admirably performed. Where the
magistrate is a man of a naturally kind heart and
humane disposition, not one of the rigidly righteous,
who could make no allowance for the weakness and
imperfections of mortality, there is nothing to be de-
sired, and we feel justified in asserting that in the
majority of districts greater practical benefits have
been conferred on the needy and destitute than could
be effected by double the amount of money dis-
tributed through other channels. It is then because
we are convinced of the excellence of the charity that
we feel it essential to censure the fantastic tricks that
have recently been attempted, and to protest against
the new rules which, in some cases, have been made,
and which are calculated to turn the stream of charity
to other, and perhaps less eligible, quarters.
The benefactions heretofore sent to the police-court
have been of two kinds—general or particular. Con-
tributions sent to the "poor-box," are of the former
description, the benevolent donors leaving the ap-
plication entirely to the discretion of the presiding
magistrates, who, under the conditions of the gift,
are entitled to select the objects fur relief at their mere
will and pleasure, without anything to control or go-
vern their decisions. There are, however, so many
claims upon this fund, that only small sums—rarely
exceeding a few shillings, and seldom indeed amount-
ing,to a sovereign—can be allotted to a single family,
however great its destitution, or urgent the emergency
in which it may be involved. Occasionally cases are
brought under the public notice of such a character
as to require a greater amount of assistance than the
magistrates could bestow out of the poor-box, in jus-
tice to the numerous and pressing demands upon their
resources. In these peculiarly distressing cases the
public benevolence is really appealed to in vain. Sub-
scriptions flow in, not unfrequently, to an amount
exceeding the actual loss or injury sustained, suffi-
cient, not merely to re-instate the sufferers in their
former positions, but often to render them compara-
tively independent, and, with reasonable industry, to
place them beyond the reach of future temptations
similar to those to which they may have yielded in
moments of intense anguish, under trials of no oedi.
nary
magnitude. We confess that we rejoice at these

noble illustrations of the practical benevolence of our
fellow-citizens, we feel proud of our country and
glory in the name of Ecglishmen ; we believe that
nothing more injudicious, more injurious to
the best interests of society, could be devised
than the checking of this stream of beneficence,
except in very unworthy cases, where the party for
whose especial benefit the donations were sent in
proved utterly unworthy of relief, not from a single
error, but from habitual ill conduct. In such cases
the magistrates may be justified in declining any par-
ticipation, and refusing to be made the medium
through which the contributions may be conveyed to
unworthy recipients. But such a course should
never be adopted on light or frivolous grounds, with-
out ample reasons to justify. A sacred trust is con-
fided to their hands, which should not be lightly vio-
lated or disregarded. Some time since we felt it to be
our painful duty to comment severely upon the course
pursued by the magistrates of the Thames Police-
court, Messrs. YARDLEY and INceum, in the case
of the unfortunate sempstress RO3INA HER-
BERT, whose lamentable privations so deeply
attracted public 'sympathy. The poor creature had
by almost unceasing toil supported her unemployed
husband and two children, making shirts at seven
farthings each, and earning about 3s. or 3s. 6d. per
week, until, driven by the extremity of distress, she
had pawned some of the shirts entrusted to her charge
to obtain food for her starving children. Sums
amounting in the whole to more than 431. were sent in
for her benefit, but the magistrate refused, as we
conceived, on most inadequate grounds, to apply the
funds to the purposes indicated by the donors, and
confiscated the whole amount to the poor-box, leaving
an option, however, to the parties by whom they had
been forwarded to reclaim their several remittances
within a month. Poor RoSINA was sent back to her
miserable home to endure a continuance of the biting
poverty under which she had so long pined. Some
small sums were, however, forwarded through other
channels, although much less than had been sent to
Messrs. INGLIAM Ana YARDLEY.

These gentlemen, however, promulgated a new
rule on the occasion. They declared that they would
thenceforth " never receive a single farthing for the
relief of a particular individual, unless it was stipu-
lated that the donation should be applied at their dis-
cretion to the relief of deserving persons." We be-
lieve that the poor-box of the Thames Police•court
has not benefited, nor is it likely to benefit, by this
resolution. The magistrates had undoubtedly a right
to make it as to future donations, but it appeared to
be by no means a judicious course, and one which
we should deeply regret to see generally followed.
We now observe that Mr. A'l3actvErr has declared
his intention of adopting a similar rule. He has also
withheld a portion of the money forwarded for the relief
of a family named BEaRINGTON, against whom no crime
could be alleged, and whose losses were occasioned
by an accidental fire. It ia, however, but justice to
the Learned Gentleman to state that be has only
reserved the matter., for a week, as he will on Mon-
day next distribute the funds according to the inten-
tions which may be expressed by the donors in the
interim. But his determination as to not receiving
money for specific purpoies remains unaltered ; we
would implore the Learned Gentleman to alter his
purpose, and not to inflict so heavy a blow
and grievous discouragement to the benevo-
lence of his fellow-citizens. It is at all events
desirable that the matter should be placed upon
a proper footing, and that the practice in all the
courts should be assimilated, and the conditions upon
which benefactions will be henceforward received at
all the offices may be made fully known to the public,
We would therefore suggest a general meeting of all
the metropolitan magistrates, that the subject may be
fully discussed and maturely considered. If this be
done we have but little doubt that Messrs. YARDLEY,
INGHAM, and ATECKETT will yield to the remon-
strances of their brother magistrates, and announce
their determination to rescind the objectionable rule
as one " more honoured in the breach than in the ob-
servance."

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Assembly met yesterday, and M. DUPIN was
elected President for the next three months by 383
out of 574 votes. The numbers were—
M. DUPIN 383
MATTHIEU DE LA DROME l2l
M. MICHEL DE 13OURGES 33

At half after three o'clock M. BAROCHE, the
Minister of the Interior, ascended the tribune,
and read to the Assembly the annual message of
the PRESIDENT of the Republic. The Message
towards the conclusion alludes in very guarded
terms to the question of the revision of the Consti-
tution, which has been demanded by several of the
Councils-General of Departments, at the same
time the PRESIDENT implicitly states that he is
bound by oath to respect the Constitution. This last
portion was received with loud applause, as were
those parts of the message which related to the return
of the POPE to Rome, to the creation of three new
French Cardinals, to the pacific foreign policy, which
the PRESIDENT declared he was determined to adopt,
and to the continuance of friendly relations with
England.
The hoax practised by the Presse on Monday, by
the publication of an alleged Message of the PRESI-
DENT, consisting of extracts from the published works
of Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE in favour of certain
Socialist doctrines, appears to have met with a suc-
cess which seems utterly unaccountable. Even on
the Bourse the shrewd agioteurs were taken in, and
imagined that the PRESIDENT had turned Socialist,
and had appointed M. EMILE DE GIRARDIN his Mi-
nister of the .Interior. The funds fell considerably,
and did not regain their buoyancy until the following
note, signed by the Commissary of the Bourse, was
posted up at that building :
" The pretended Message of the President of the
Republic to the Legislative Assembly, published this
morning in the Presse, is a document completely apo-
cryphal. That journal has just been seized."
The Patrie and iioniteur du Soir publish the fol-
lowing communicated notes :
"The Prccureur of the Republic has to-day caused to
be seized at the Post-office and in its offices tne journel
La Presse, in consequence of an article bearing the title
ltentr‘a de l'Aseemb4 3 Nationale,' which contains a
document intituled Message du President de la Repub-
lique a l'Assemble Nationale,' and signed L. N. Bona-
parte. Proceedings have been ordered against the
responsible editor of the Presse on a charge of publish-
ing false statements, and a falsified and lying document,
attributed to a third party, and which news and docu-
ment were of a nature to disturb the public peace.
" The article published this morning by the Presse,
under the title of "Message du President de la Repub-
lique a l'Assemblee Legislative,' is nothing more than
an assemblage of fragments borrowed from various pub-
lications made at different periods by the President.
Public opinion will judge of the good faith displayed in
such a compilation."
The controversy relating to the alleged Bonapartist
plot for the assassination of General CHANGARNIER
and M. Durns still continues. A proposition was laid
on the table of the Assembly on Monday, for the pay-
ment by the Assembly of the salary of M. YON. This
proposition is signed by the Questors, which gives to
it a species of official character; on the other hand,
M. CABLIER, the Prefect of Police, has addressed the
following letter to the evening Ministerial journals :
" Different journals having, either in consequence of
erroneousinformation, or under the empire of particular
feelings, misrepresented recent facts which concern my
responsibility and my duties, I am anxious to explain
the simple truth. M. Yon is a Commissary of Police of
the city of Paris and officer of the Judicial Police. He
was detached by the Prefecture of Police, and placed at
the disposal of the President of the National Assembly
for the internal police of that building. In that position
he became acquainted. with an imaginary or serious plot
which aimed at nothing less than the assassination of the
two personages, next to the President of the Republic,
the most important in France. Instead of making known
this conspiracy to the Prefect of Police and to the Procu
in •
reur of the Republic, order that the guilty parties
might have been arrested, prosecuted, or at least have
been watched, he kept this monstrous project suchapro-
found secret that it was 'only through the medium of a
journal that I became acquainted with facts which greatly
agitated the whole of Paris, the security of which is
placed under my guardianship. M. Yon has., therefore,
seriously failed in his duty, and I have fulfilled mine by
punishing him by the retention of his salary. As far as
regards the fact of the conspiracy, I again declare that
it never existed except in the imagination of M. Yon.
vim
It my most urgent duty to contradict it, and I have
done so after a serious inquiry, which leaves no room
for contradiction. It is not correct to eay that the au-
thorities have taken the matter up in consequence of the
proses verbal of M. Yon. It was done by the Govern.
merit: and when M. Yon presented his proses verbal to
the Parquet, an examining magistrate had already
commence the affair, and had examined witnesses. Such
is the true statement of the facts of the ease."

In contradiction of the assertion of M. CARLIER,
that the conspiracy existed only in the imagination of
M. YON, the Ordre says—

" It is the Society des Amis de I'Ordre et de Mama-
nite which furnished the twenty-six fanatics who met so
recently in tie, Rue des Saussaies, and in their secret
tribunal disclosed their designs against General Chan-
garnier and M. Dupin by drawing lots from the casquette
of one of the members present for the names of the men
who should be charged with the execution.of this odious