The Sun.
London, England, 1828-10-27 00:00:00

KENT MEETING.

4be following is the Petition which was moved
hh. 'eMr• Cobbett, and seconded by Mr. Hunt, but
k h was not submitted to the Penenden Heath
'eeting
" To the Honourable the Commons of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parlia-
ment assembled ;
" The Petition of the l'eople of Kent, in
County Meeting convened, on Penenden
Heath, this 24th day of October, 1828,
_

"MOST NUMBLY FIiEWETII,
4I That your petitioners, called together by the High
L4otlif.fof the County, for the purpose of deliberating on the
l'nety of petitioning Parliament to adopt such measures
etre best calculated to support the Protestant Establish-
"It,tlst in Church and State, and being of opinion that nei-
-4 Church nor State stands, at this time, in estimation
eehigh as that in which they might stand, hope that
it7r konourable House will not deem them presumptuous
tt...`hey beg leave to be permitted to point out to your Ho-
1/4.ahle House the measures which they deem best calcite
Cttna to insure the important object propounded to them by
High Sheriff.
t," r.that, with regard to the Church Establishment, your
tt,:tble petitioners perceive a great and growing lirke-
et'lnr,ese towards it, and unpopularity approaching
treerds loathing and hatred, and a rapid and constantly in-
tfte43ing decline in the numbers of its flocks ; while those
41 he Catholics and of every description of Dissenters are
.threasing in a like proportion—a fact which clearly shows
4.t the Church owes no part of its decline to a want of re-
lies'.
feeling amongst the people.
1: That your humble petitioners are convinced that this
el'etTarnmese, unpopularity, and disgust, have arisen, not
teAlleh from any general and tooted dislike to the doc-
tilt% and ritual of the Establishment, as from the conduct
rr a considerable part of its Clergy, and more especially
t
rti °lll
ee the flagrant misapprepristion of its immense tempo-
ti.
44" That, with respect to the conduct of the Clergy, your
el:!tble Petitioners, while they would fain obliterate from
te,4.°tyrt memory, as well as from that of all mankind,
deeds from the punishment due to which the digni-
-4" parties have been shamefully screened, cannot disguise
Intheleteelvee, and will net disguise from your Honour-
t),s.friolsee, that the Beneficed Clergy in general have be-
laee in their manners and their morals, given in an im-
Wutate degree to luxurious enjoyments, habitually spend-
-4% their time in places of fashionable, not to say criminal,
15t.t and, as if this island were a sphere toolimited as
„
4 Pe tor dissipation, quitting the kingdom in great num-
thus drawing from their parishes (more than one-half
ttzitthich they hold in pluralities) a great part of their sub-
,44e to be expended upon their own pleasures, while the
rtil'e of their own parishes is left to stipendiaries, who from
2 'timetable pittances they receive, are wholly unable to
eh: ho
even the smallest part of those duties of charity
eh: hospitality, to insure the constant performance of
as well as for the teaching of the doctrines of reli-
t%) the revenues of the Church were granted.
s" That it is well knewu to your ?honourable House,
tithe all the temporal possessions of the Church, whether
rt,4."1, glebes,o college lands, abbey lands, or of what de-
t4pti soever, were grounded on the basis of Charity,
'''ere granted not to the Clergy for their own use, but
f,_ treat for the good of the nation at large, and especially
the relief and the comfort of the poor, the widow, the
lletan. and the stranger.; and it is also well known to your
Houle that, in Catholic times, there were no Poor
eett'o, no Church Rates, and no paupers ; and that the
were relieved, and the stranger assisted and the churches
and repaired, out of the tithes and other revenues
\,"i the church ; and that it is further well known to
1115 r Honourable Idolise, and but too well known to 3-our
'able petitioners, tliat the tithes and the reed of the re-
tlltas of the Church have, by degrees, been entirely
mated from their original purposes; that the Clergy
take the whole to themselves ; and that the poor are
t:'leeed, the wandering stranger assisted, and the churches
lut and repaired, out of taxes raised on your humble
ititioners ; which taxes, for the whale of England and
141" amount annually to nearly eight millions sterling ;
lvt:ich, at the date of the lest return, four hundred and
:Ithteen thousarid two hundred and eighty-one pounds fell
4t454 upon the County of bent.
" That your humble Petitioners, sufficiently sore at re-
Itt•
ewg upon these well-mown facts, hardly know how to
Of'itr ain their feelings, when they look at the present state
thia their own county, so highly favoured by nature,
ite so renowned for its good living, its freedom, and its
tri,inees, but now so depressed and pauperised by the
sq,kit'Y hand of' taxation, and especially by the unmitigated
th increasing. exactions of the Clergy. ''hat, yet even
ett'et they might bear with some degree of patience, if a
bet Performance of religions duties were the consequence;
When they see that the tithes of the 427 parishes of
ti
vounty are in the hands of less than 200 Rectors and
ee:l4; many of evhorii have Prebendaries, and Other bene-
)' in addition when they see that 87 of the parishes
ir:t parsonage-housee that the luxurious and haughty
ctitnhents think good enough for them to reside in ;
they see that there are seventy-five parishes, Which
t 1- no parsonageehousee at all ; when they see that
thert
n aro thirteen parishes which have absolui tely no
letc4111"; when they behold this scene of ahaneonment,
t,
har."4ti", and devastation, and reflect that, at the
e time, even in the parishes which have no churches,
te tithes are exacted to the last blade of grass •;
11d that there are forty-four parishes, each having less
O
dram
hundred people, and having tithes exacted
. 11 them with the utmost your;rig while your humble
thetitioners behold all this, and
see themselves taxed at
he same time for the purpose of building new churches,
10e put into the hands and to add to the revenues of
4"t 'aloe Clergy ; when they thus behold and thus re-
-011, do, they confess, feel their booms swell with
selnge, from an expression of which they are restrained
ti',l because they can find no words commensurate with
ee nature and character of the case.
(‘
lilac, however, if your petitioners were so unjust and