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

beitTall Ant

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 dullwinter 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 tears,
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 WHARNCLIEFE, Sir ROBERT PEEL,
and DANIEL O'CoNntaLL—these 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'Cox-
NELL, he is preparing to get himself proclaimed King
of Ireland, by the style and title of DANIEL the
First I Serious grievances these, and well worthy
the attention of the hypochondriacal ; but the fret
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'Comezra, 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'a
own showing, the result must inevitably be, the ele-
vation of O'CoxrcELL 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 teen resorted to at the proper
season; but who at this time of day needs to be told
that concessions were never made to Ireland

was all but too late, and they had lost half their magic
influence ? Catholic Emancipation, which ought
to have been carried at the commencement a
the century, in accordance with Fires wishes
and implied promises to the Irish, was delayed till the
ye,r 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 a

boon to Ireland of iti; 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 Engiand, 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 for 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 mu-
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 SOYEREIGE
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 Pervice, fitted only for
those who die in the Lonb, 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. BULTEEL'S 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. lie 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 ur Establis
Church, which has—or should have oits finindatiheond
in charity, will ever continue to intercede with Ileaven
for the souls of even the most erring of her flovk, and
consign their ashes to the grave with the exprension of
a meek and reverent hope that their sins :may be
forgiven them. We have infinitely more sir apathy