The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-31 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 31 1844.

The French Government has at last published a
dispatch from Morocco. It is from the Prince DE
JOIN VILLE, and we are glad to find that the young;
Admiral details the operations before Tangiers and
Mogadore without any boasting, and professes the.
the only object of the squadron before these places is
peace. We have no fault to find with ne dispatch.
On the whole, it is creditable to the Prince ; ar.d
though he attacked Tangiers before the return of Mr.
II 'r, the English Consul, from the Court of -Morocco,
the fault, according to his showing, does not lie with
him, and must he attributed entirely to the commu
nilations made by Marshal BUGEA lUD, and to the in
structions from the Minister of Marine. The forme:
stated that he had been deceived by the Moors re
specting the expulsion of ABD ADER, and the lat
ter ordered the Prince to commence warlike opera.
tions unless the ultimatum of the French Governmen
was accepted. It appears the ultimatum was no'
accepted at the time when the bombardment com
mewed. The EMPEROR demanded the punishmern
of Marshal 1311GRAUD, which, of course, was not in
eluded in the French conditions, and the squadron
without waiting Mr. HAY'S return, began the attact
What news our Consul brought from the EMPEROL
we have no means of ascertaining, further than from
the remarks of the Prince, that, according to the
report of Mr. HAT, .he was much depressed. This
would lead to the inference that he was inclined t(
yield, and possibly, also, that he had given Mr. HAI
power to effect an arrangement. Of that, however,
we can say nothing positively till our Government
throws some light on this very mysterious and unex
pected attack upon a Power so long in friendly al-
liance with England. We may remark that there is
evidently a break in the dispatches.- The Prince
gives no account of his approach to Mogadore, the
mode of attack, or the numbers opposed to him. He
merely states the number of killed and wounded on
both sides, the occupation of the island, and the
g p
blockade of the port. It is bungling practice on the
part of the French authorities to cast, by this circum-
stance, such suspicions on the real merits of the case,
and confirm suspicions raised by the suppression ol
former dispatches.

In the Times of yesterday appea-s an able letter
alldressed by a clergyman to the Bishops of Eng-
land and Wales on the subject of the present demo-
Wised condition of the poor, wherein the writer en-
deavours to enlist the syvnpathy of the Rev. Prelates
in behalf of the more helpless and destitute members
of thefr flocks, and warns them that the time is for
- ever past when they can, without imminent hazard to
the best interests of the Establishment, neglect their
duties as churchmen, or discharge them—as was fur
so many years the case—in a spirit of sullen coldness
and indifference. " Connected as the Church is with
- the State," observes our Contemporary's Correspon-
Nr.140g4 ," the. people have merely a right to consider
774f5.:,,,that Church as in a great measure entrusted with the
r.:, , ' giardiaiiilaip of` its moral health; we are as ( watch-
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men, whose duty it is to proclaim the existence of
whatever may tend to undermine that health. The
poor look to us as those whose acknowledged calling
points them out as friends of the needy, defenders of
the oppressed. My Lords, is it not most true that
. the seeds of moral contamination are being daily
sown amongst a very large proportion of the poor of
our flocks ? We cannot close our eyes to the fact,
that there is that at work which is fast weaning the
affections of the labouring poor from those above
them. Their common rights are fast passing from
them, the labourer will soon become the most lite-
rally of all men a pilgrim on earth, he will not have
where to set his foot but upon a footpath of road.
Scripture once gave the poor a title to the gleanings
of the harvest field, as it gave a title to the tithe of the
priesthood ; those gleanings have not been commuted
by agreement with them." For much of this dis-
heartening state of things the Church is unquestion-
ably responsible ; for though of late it has worked
with something like diligence in the spiritual vine-
yard, yet for a long series of years it paid little or no
attention to its duties, but was invariably found looking
sharply after its own selfish temporal interests, to the
neglect of all nobler considerations. Instead of
exerting the immense moral influence it possessed
over the minds of the upper and middle classes of
society in the cause of the poor and the oppressed,
and setting a lofty example of charity, forbearance,
and humility, it was eotispicuous only by its apathy,
its hauteur, and its intolerance towards the humbler
orders, reserving its respect and its consideration for ,
thosa of superior grade. In a word, it was of " the
world worldly," and too often regarded the poor with
the same supercilious eyes with which DIVES regarded
its LAZARUS in the Scriptures. It is now much im-
proved in its tone of feeling—an amendment, how-
ever, which is less, we fear, the work of choice, than
the result of imperious necessity—but there is still
room for further improvement, and it must be greatly
changed from what it now is, even if it can be said
fully and conscientiously to fulfil its mission, as the
accredited Church of the poor. The injurious conse-
quences of the neglect of years is not easily reme-
died, and it will be a long time before the Establish.
ment regains its old place in the affections and confi-
dence of the lower orders. To advocate the building
of new churches is doubtless a discreet act of policy
on the part of the priesthood ; but we tell the Bishop
of LONDON, who is the chief promoter of this scheme,
that he will be far more usefully—and we may even
add, piously—employed, in exhorting his clergy to be

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more constant in their attendance on the poorer mem-
bers of their flocks, in ministering to their necessities,
consulting them in their difficulties, sympathising
with them in their sufferings, and acting towards
them in the triple capacity of guides, guardians, and
friends. The multiplication of new churches alone
will not suffice to make a people religious; this can
only be done by the zeal, the charity, the toleration
and munificence of their spiritual pastors and masters.

In referring our readers to the proceedings at the
Gravesend Police of the 25th instant, of which we
have published a very full report, we are desirous of
showing in how remarkable a degree they affect the
interests and convenience of that very considerable
portion of our metropolitan population, which we may
describe as being, constantly, in transitu between
London and Gravesend. It will not be necessary for
us to devote many words to a notice of the very arbi-
trary and authoritative tone adopted by the commit-
ting Magistrates in convicting the parties, against
whom warrants of distress were subsequently
;ranted fur levy of the several fines imposed
upon them by the Bench. To these Magistrates,
it seems—not merely, that the indelicacy and
impropriety of their hearing complaints against
servants of a Company which has long acted in
successful rivalry to that of which they themselves
are notoriously shareholders, did not occur; but,
chat, when this fact was distinctly urged upon their
attention, and after one of their body (the Chairman ,
isf the rival Company employing the defendants) had
set them the becoming example of retiring from the
justice-room pending the decision on the charges, they
persisted in taking the complaints (instead of allow-
ing them to be carried, as suggested, before the
Jounty justices). They broadly vindicated the course
they had taken, and condemned the men in somewhat
heavy penalties. The general outline of the case
evolved in the proceedings is briefly stated.
For some time past the enormous increase of the
, passengers by steam-boats to and from Gravesend has
been so rapid, that various companies have been
formed to meet the demands for this river-passage
accommodation, the chief of which are the "Diamond"
Ind the "Star" Companies. To facilitate the em-
')arkation and disembarkation of this vast body
if passengers (now averaging, daily, about 12,000
)ersons), there are.two Royal Piers at Gravesend ; the
)Ider one, situate also in the older part of the town,
-.allied the Town-pier; the more recently con-
structed one, termed the Terrace-pier, being erected
At a point leading to the new town. The old or Town-
?ler is frequented by the packets of the Diamond
Company, the new or Terrace-pier by those of the
star Company ; and between these two bodies the
isual bickerings, consequent on a vigorous competition,
save naturally arisen. The public, as is usual, and in-
teed it is but the reasonable and legitimate result
,f such struggles, has derived the benefit of
his energetic rivalry in that reduction of its
sriginal fares which either Association has been in-
luced to make. The " Diamond " Company we be-
ieve set the example ; of course all the other Corn-
sanies were obliged to follow it. But (as Mr.
:d'ItUDEN observed, when addressing his brother ma-
;istrates in a speech, the manliness, pith and purport
if which did him much honour)—while the Diamond
Company engaged, in its advertisements, to carry pas-
.engers from the Town-pier to London, " calling at
Blackwall," for 9d. each, it omitted to inform the public
hat an extra charge would be made for the journey
ay the Blackwall Railway. The Star Company fairly
tnnounced "that it contracted to take each passenger by
,heir boats from the Terrace-pier to London, for the
rare throughout, "by boat and rail," of 9d. only. The
star Company, it appears, have closed with the offer
)1 the Blackwall Railway Company, as renewed by
.hem this season, the latter undertaking to give " a
?reference to such packets as should resort to their
•ail-pier exclusively—that is, without intercourse with

my piers above Blackwall—by allowing them the
privilege of remaining alongside the Brunswick-
.vharf for half an hour, thus giving them the chance of
passengers by two-trains." The " Diamond" Corn.
zany rejected this offer ; and very considerable
benefits appearing to have resulted to their
wiser rival from accepting a proffer, out of the ad-
'antages of which they have thus excluded them-
,elves, the Diamond Company are now disposed to
)ush their animosity to the Star people to any extent.
is they forget, however, in so doing that the tra-
velling public generally, and the inhabitants of
Ciravesend indirectly, are parties necessarily injured
!).y the lengths to which this animosity is pursued, we
shall endeavour in'few words to expose the barefaced
!haracter of the interested judgments pronounced by
.he magisterial functionaries of the " Diamond "
Company.

From whatever causes in addition to those we have
named, the Terrace-pier is eliciting a preference
from passengers beyond all calculation over the Town-
In the month of June last there landed and
embarked at the two piers 330,739 passengers; of
which number, there were 41,439 more at the Ter-
r:ice than the Town-pier. In July, the numbers
at both piers were 463,045 ; the excess of the Terrace-

pier, being, again, 43,903 over the Town-pier, and of
course the freights of the Star Company, which
use it, being in proportion, over those of the Diamond
Company which use the Town-pier. Hence abun-

(lant and something of unscrupulous jealousy.
The Star Company's office, whether by design or by
,hance we know not, happens to be near this latter
pier ; and it is pretty clear that their servants in
" touting" for their packets and delivering to pas-
sengers cards or hand-bills explanatory of the advan-
tages of their single fares per boat, and
per rail, both, have been just sufficiently over-
zealous as to bring themselves within the
liability to a charge, or information, or complaint for
obstructing the highway, and consequently within the
enactments of a local Act for enabling the Corporation
of Gravesend to prevent annoyances, nuisances, and
obstructions. Perhaps, bad the charges in the present
instance been brought by some private individuals,
—litigious over-much, or smitten with that love of
" making a fuss" about nothing, which is a beset-
ting sin of small travellers, there would have
been little matter for animadversion, though there