The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-25 00:00:00

the church of the lelor, bet it then ceetsed Io i sus
poet of an<aer day had Wild theta; iit
" Ram too delkate to hear of hell," -
and by a hurtible parody these words might now be ap-
plied to the Church. They deprived the poor of rights
to which they had as good a title as they thenes.elYee had
to their estates ; and if they persisted in this, they
would not be -performing the part of Christians and
statesmen, but of tyrants and robbers. What case, he
asked, had bean made out for depriving their poor of
such rights ? What right had they, in their power and
wealth, to make their morsel of bread in this world con-
tingent on their willingness to surrender all tidings of
another ? There were 135 workhouses without chapels,
and 20,000 paupers without religious instruction ; and he
asked what right had they to deprive the poor of the
holy offices of the Church ? Let them show their own
consistency—let them show their charity and their re-
spect for the poor, by their jealousy lest any misfortune
should separate them from the holy membership of the
Church. For the last ten years the poor had been deli-
vered over to practical atheism, which was worse than
atheism ; but he hoped there would that night be a tri-
umph over sordid parsimony and a cowardly compro-
mise of principle. He heard with great pain the decla-
ration of the Right Hon. Gentleman,, that he felt himself
bound to oppose the introduction of this clause. He felt
that neither now nor hereafter would he regret it, if the
opinion of the House me; declared to be at variance with
his own. Ile would now conclude. He had spoken
strongly, because he had had to describe a bad and a
dangerous state of things—a state of things unworthy of
any men who called themselves Christians ; but he hoped
he had said nothing personally offensive. He warned the
House not to refuse to assent to a clause so extremely
important as that which he had brought under their
serious attention.
Sir J. GRAHAM said the Hon. Gentleman had ex-
pressed a hope that he had not used violent language on
that occasion. He gave the Hon. Gentleman full credit
for the purity of his motives, and the warmth of his feel-
ings ; but he thought the expressions which had fallen
from him were hardly justified.—(Hear, hear.) He did
not yield to the Hon. Gentleman in a desire to promote
the interests of the Church ; but he very much doubted
whether it would be promoted by an attempt to force
the particular form of worship which the Hon. Gentle-
man and himself were attached to in every workhouse
by the payment of a chaplain.—(Hear, hear.) The
Hon. Gentleman should bear in mind that this was not
a novelty proposed for the first time in 1834. The Gil-
bert Unions had been formed long antecedent to that
period ; and when those unions were formed there had
been no provision made for the appointment of chap-
lains. There were none appointed in those unions now.
Captain PECHELL—In some of them.
Sir JAMES GHAH All admitted that the Gallant
Officer was a high authority on the subject of Gilbert
Unions ; but he would admit that there was no provi-
sion made in them for the appointment of chaplains.—
(" Hear, hear," from Captain Pechell.) The Hon. Gen-
tleman had described Divine worship, when celebrated
in workhouses by clergymen, an illegal act.
Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN—When the clergyman
is not licensed. . .

Sir JAMES GRAHAM—SureIy it could not be
contended that the clergyman of the parish would not be
discharging his duty if he neglected to visit the poor in-
mates of the workhouse who were assembled together in
his parish.—(Cheers.) He considered it was the bounden
duty of the clergymen of the parish thus to attend to
them, If a chaplain were appointed, he must be licensed
by the Bishop, and, therefore, he could not be said to be
celebrating Divine service illegally ; and if he were not
licensed, then he would be, most probably, the clergy-
man of the parish, and he would not be acting illegally.
In England. and Wales there were 537 unions. There
were no workhouses in twenty-one of these unions,
in three the workhouses were very small, and of the
remaining 513 there were chaplains appointed in 411
under the discretionary power vested in the Poor-law
Commissioners, with salaries averaging nearly 501. a year
each, and yet the Hon. Gentleman alleged that they
were establishing Atheism by Act of Parliament.—
(Hear, hear.) While the rule remained in force for-
bidding the inmates of workhouses to leave its precincts
even on a Sunday, he agreed with the Hon. Gentleman
that they were incurring a fearful responsibility if they
failed to provide for their spiritual consolation ; but,
since he had come into office, the Poor-law Commis-
sioners, acting in conjunction with himself, had issued
an order, empowering noards of guardians to permit the
inmates of the workhouse who were members
of the Established Church to leave the work-
house on every Sunday, Christmas Day, and
Good Friday, for the purpose of attending
Divine worship at their parish church, and
also to permit mothers to be accompanied by their chil-
dren.—(Hear, hear.) The board of guardians were also
empowered to permit such inmates of the workhouse as
were Dissenters to leave the workhouse on Sunday for
the purpose of attending Divine service in their respec-
tive places of worship, and in that instance, also, mo-
thers were permitted to be accompanied by their chil-
dren. He thought the motion of his Hon. Friend was
not sustained by facts. If they were to render the,
appointment of a chaplain in every union compulsory,
they would be lighting up the flame, not of true religion,
but of religious discord.—(Cheers.) He repeated it, he
considered it was the duty of the clergyman of the reli-
gion favoured by the State to attend to the spiritual
wants of the inmates of the workhouse situated in his
parish. The Hon. Gentleman might call it a cowardly
compromise if he liked, but he certainly should shrink
from the responsibility of attempting to carry the propo-
sition of the Hon. Gentleman, although he bore as sin-
cere an attachment to the Church as the Hon. Gentleman.
Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN explained. He had not
meant to say that the Right Hon. Gentleman was not
actuated by any feelings of attachment and respect
towards the Established Church.
Mr. LIDDELL said workhouse relief to the poor in
the northern counties was of very trifling extent, and
the aged and infirm were generally relieved in their own
houses. He had never heard of the want of spiritual
assistance in workhouses, of which the lion. Member
complained so bitterly, and did not believe any such
want existed, at least in the county of Durham.
Mr. M'GEACHY deplored the tone in which the Right
Hon. Baronet bad treated the Established Church. He
thought it was the duty of a State to provide spiritual
instruction for its Members. He earnestly hoped that
the House would assent to the proposition of his Hon.
Friend.
Mr. C. BULLER thought the Right Hon. Baronet
had shown himself a friend to the Church in taking the
course lie had adopted with respect to this motion.
Mr. S _MART WORTLEY objected to the forcing on
unions the appointment of chaplains.
Mr. HENLEY thought the time had come when the
Legislature ought to interfere for the purpose of secur-
ing to the inhabitants of unions proper religious in-
struction.
Sir J. GRAHAM explained, and the House divided;
the numbers were,
For the clause l9
Against it
Majority against the clause
The CHAIRMAN then reported progress, and the
House resumed, the report was ordered to be brought
up this day at twelve o'clock.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and
the House adjourned at One o'clock.

SUMIVIER— ASSIZES.
OXFORD ClRCUlT.—Worcester, July 23,
CIVIL. SlDE.—(Before Mr. Sergeant ATCHERLEY.)
At the sitting of the Court, at nine this morning, the trial
of Ariyustug .ffewtol, for perjury, commenced.
Mr. Godson, Q.C., rind Mr. Greaves were retained on the
part of the Crown ; the defendant was unrepresented by
counsel,
As Mi. Or/ EAVES rose to open the proceedings, he was in-
terrupted by 64 defendant, who claimed his right to have the
indictment read aloud td the jury.
The Learned JUDGE left the Court for the purpose of con-
sulting the Lord Chief Justice on the subject, and, on his re-
turn, observed—" I have spoken to my Learned Brother, who
informs me that he never in his life heard of such a proceed-
ing, but if the defendant thinks Oa any good is to be got by