The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-03 00:00:00

OXFORD.

Oxford was yesterday the Kelm unusual excitement.
The morning trains from town, ai)4l the coaches from all parts
of the country, brought up Vast Atibers of the clergy, all ap-
parently on one errand, and of one mind, as was proved by the
result. At two o'clock the Convocation-house was filled to
over-flowing, and the Vice-Chancellor proposed the new
statute, which has already been fully discussed in our columns.
It will be sufficient to mention here, that its object was to
settle the existing perplexities as to the conditions and exer-
cises requisite for theological, degrees, by creating and grant-
ing to the Regius Professor of 'Divinity (Dr. Hampden at
present) an absolute doctrinal authority in the matter with
a reference, on questions of form, to the Vice-Chancellor.
The statute was proposed in four clauses. The subject of
the first was wholly irrelevant, relating to degrees in law,and
seemingly introduced , to embarrass the voters, committing
them, however, to a certain mode of examination, in a matter
in which they would probably feel indifference By antici-
pation it showed the fate of the rest of the statute, and was
rejected by a large majority. The second clause contained
the proposed form of exercises, and was the substratum of
the two remaining. It was rejected by a majority of 341 to
211 On the result being, declared the two last clauses were
discreetly withdrawn by the Vice-Chancellor, and the Con-
vocation dissolved. It is said that Dr. Hampden himself and
his friends voted against the proposed statute, on the ground
that the reference on questions of form to the Vice-Chancellor
was an invasion of his supposed absolute and irresponsible
power in granting degrees. Among the non-resident mem-
bers were Dr. Hook, the Dean of Chichester, Archdeacon
Manning, Mr. Edward Churton, and a host of other charac-
ters well-known by name both here and elsewhere.—Times.

THE ANTI-STATE-CHURCH
CONFERENCE.
THIRD DAY.—CLOSE' OF THE PROCEEDDTGS.
Yesterday the sittings of the Conference were resumed at
the Crown and Anchor, Strand. John Dunlop, Esq., of
Brocklock, took the chair.
A long discussion as to forms of proceeding took place ; a
paper (a laudation on Dissent) was read by the Rev. J. P.
Murswell, of Leicester ; and the Rev. Dr. Jenkyn, principal
of Coward College, Loncl,,n, delivered a speech, and pro-
posed a declaratory resolution as to the objects and efforts of
the convention.

Finally, it was determined that' a society should now be
formed, entitled ",The British Anti-State Church Associa-
tion," based upon the following principle—" That in matters
of religion man is responsible to God alone ; that all legisla-
tion by secular gOvernments, in affairs of religion, is an en-
croachment upon the rights of man; and an invasion of the
prerogative of God ; and that the application by law of the
resources of the State to the maintenance of any form or
forms of religious worship and instruction is contrary to
reason, hostile to human liberty, and directly opposed to the
genius of Christianity." The object of this 'Society would be
the liberation of religion from all governmental or legislative
interference, and would be sought by lawful, peaceful, and
Christian means, and by such means only.. Any person sub-
scribing to the principle upon which the Society is based,
and contributing not lesS than ls.per annum to its general
fund, to be admissible as a member. It was also determined
that a Conference should be convened once in three years.

Dr. Cox, Mr. E. Miall, Mr. J. M. Hare, were elected secre-
taries to the new Soctetyc fifty gentlemen were appointed an
-Executive Committee; an it Council was formed consisting of
500 persons from various parts of Great Britain and Irelabel.
After a very long discussion, it was resolved that the fol-
lowing should be among the-modes of action to be adopted
by the Society :
"1. The collection and digest from Acts of Parliament,
Parliamentary returns, and other authentic public documents,
of all such information as may throw light upon the nature
and tendency of State churches.
- "2. The securing, by means of small prizes or otherwise,,
original essays on the question of- State churches, adapted to
the popular taste, and fitted to supply to the public, and es-
pecially to Dissenters, needful and useful information on the
subject.

"3 The employment of lecturers, voluntary or otherwise,
under the sanction and direction of the Executive Committee,
to explain and enforce the fundamental principle of the So-
ciety, to expose the evils which have resulted and are inse-
parable from any form of alliance between Church and State,
and to rouse the public, and especially p.ofessed Noncon-
formists, to a due consideration of their duty in this matter.
"4. The division of the United Kingdom into convenient
districts, with a view to the holding of district conferences.
"5. The formation, wherever possible, of local associations,
for the purpose of diffusing correct information, and of bring-
ing public opinion .to bear, as prudence may dictate, upon the
composition of the House of Commons, and upon the decisions
of the Imperial Parliament.
" 6. The promotion of the return to Parliament, wherever
practicable, of men of known ability and integrity, conver-
sant with the principles of the Society, and disposed to avail
themselves of all suitable occasions for exciting discussion
upon them ; and the furnishing of such Members, when re-
turned, with all the special information the Society can
command. .
"7. The support of such Members whenever, upon intima-
tion from them, the council shall deem it advisable to agitate
the question of State churches in the Legislature, by means
of petitions to the Muses of Parliaments, and memorials to
the Throne, and in other appropriate and constitutional ways.
" 8. The removal of, the question of national religious
Establishments as much as possible from un ler the influence
of party feeling;
the placing it upon the ground of what is
due to Christianity itself, and to the best interests, temporal
and spiritual, of the
people, and the enlistment of the sin-
cerely religious of all sections of the Church of Christ, by
energetic appeals to conscience.
" 9. The employment of whatsoever means, consistent with
the spirit of Christianity, may be adopted to promote the one
great object of the British Anti-State Church Association.'"
Some minor matters having been transacted, votes of
thanks were passed to the gentlemen who had acted as Chair-
Men, and to the Secretaries, and the Conference broke up.

•
THAMES GRAND REGATTA.
Patron, his Royal Highness Prince Albert; Vice-Presi-
dents, his Grace the Duke of Northumberland, his Grace the
Duke of Buccleuch, the Right Hon. the Earl of Ripon, Lord
Viscount Castlereagh, Lord Viscount Grirnston, the Vice-
Chancelloe of England.
Yesterday the committee, composed of the leading mem-
bers of the great aquatic clubs, to whose spirited exertions
and liberal patronage the 'public are indebted for the esta-
blishment of this great aquatic banquet. met at the British
Coffee-house, in order to put .the subscribers and others in
possession of the result of theirlabours of the last few months
with reference to the forthcoming, great aquatic banqitet.
J. D. BISHOP' Esq., of the, ,cander Club, having taken the
chair, adverted to the greatoightence and weight added to
the committee by the cOndekension of L rd Castlereagh and
the Lord Mayor, who had Consewed to be President and Vice-
Patron ' • and then proceeded to point out some difficulties
which the committee had met. with,and under which they still
laboured with respect to-thelime at Which the regatta should
take place. Being most solicitous of avoiding any difficulty
with the stewards of the -Henley Regatta, they had been in
correspondence_ with them, and learned that they had ap-
pointed the 18th and.l9tit instant for their races, and after
the most mature and • anxious consideration, they had felt
' that they could not incur the risk of failure by deferring the
Thames Grand Regatta to a later pet iod than the 20th, 21st,
and 22d. Since this another con:munication had been re-
ceived from Henley, in which they had nominated the 20th
places,
at Henley, the
period at which the regatta should come off was still under
consideration, and the result would be duly announced at a
seand must neces-
sarily 21st, and as this would be' most inconvenient to gentle-
menofmany contending
entering at
fur
rt
ep
sarily desirous
preventfuture meeting,. as also the amount of prizes, the heats, dis-
ances, &c.•• •
The CIIAIRILAN then annnouneed the following races for
the ensuing Thames Regatta :—Pair-oared race by gentle-
men, four-oared men, four-oared by gentlemen, sculler's match with water •
men,
pair-oared match n
watermen, eight-oared race
with gentlemen, four-oared race with landSmen, double scul-
ler's race by watermen, with a match for 100/. with water-
men from all parts, and the addition of a race for 50/. amongst
provincial watermen exclusively.
The Citatastast having read over a list of subscriptions re-
cently received, to the amount of about 100/., amongst which
was 10/. froM the .Royal Than-:es Yacht Club; 101. from t 4
Leander; 51, with a very pretty note from the Thoil n'sw.
club), impressed upon 1119 cmlililte9 ;ilk
.p,1114i0110
necessity of' their I,ltrnit "P.O. swp,oft ertAer la
ctilPqrrY 9 rtlnik7 the publio such
isi pr.tzts a§ Ina, bewort iy of competition.
VIM meeting then broke up.
We are happy to 83Y that the balance in hand froth last
year amounts to 135/. 19s. 3d.

- r '
--; - .crzATfi-011-tin; REV. W. CIIAPLis.—We have to
announce the decease of our venerable and universally
. Chaplin, of Bishop's
t town, and one of the oldest
dlsi
eot
opnreutnuf
dor
re de
dn 1
nearlyffctrwiheunrtcl ,
h tihneh
tai.liia..
a Rev.
centurylV. the pastor of the In.
'ministers in the denuunnation. Mr. Chaplin was for a
sh..rt time ass,ciated, as co• pastor, with his aged prede-
eessor, the Rev. Mr. Angus ; so that it is, we believe, a
eentury since the pulpit, which they successively occu-
piedby his i,xemplary and
unaffected piety, and by the firm ness and consistency pt his
pelitiettl tipinionscnnited• o.)singular' amenity of manners, )un9"na sss vacant.ofhis thr Mr.vlo
sde geal vie„, wns distinguished b) the
l Chaplin
~,
lie r( taim d to Violist a lively 'Concern in all the trans-
actions of the denomination to which he bi-lunged, and in
all the public proceedings affecting the interests of evan-
gelical religion, or the principles of religious freedom.—
Patriot.