The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-20 00:00:00

Cbirb Xbitt on

SUN OFFICE, Seven o'Cloch.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY
COMPANY.—(THIS DAY.)
A special general Meeting of this Company was held
this day, at the Paddington Station, the Chairman of
the Board of Directors in the chair.
The CHAIRIIAN said that, as the Meeting was small,
he believed the business would be small also. The
Directors had called the proprietors together for the
purpose of asking them to confirm the sanction which they
had already on two occasions given to the bill for enabling
this Company to unite with, and subscribe 150,0001. to,
the South Devon Railway Company. The Bill had been
read ii second time, having unanimously passed through
the Committee, and would shortly be read a third time,
notwithstanding the great opposition which had been
ffered to it. But, accordin,,,,, to a standing order of the
louse of Lords, before the -Bill could be read in that
%louse, it was necessary that the draft should have been
approved of and accepted by three• fifths of the pro-
prietors present at a general meeting specially convened
for the purpose of taking that subject into consideration.
To comply with that Standing Order the present meeting
had been called. The Secretary would then read the
report of the Directors. =
The SECRETARY read the Report, which stated, almost
as concisely, the matter contained in the opening expla-
nation of the Chairman. The Report further stated that
cn the 10th instant the Royal Assent was given to the
Bill for enabling the Company to amalgate with the
Oxford and Cheltenham Railway Companies, whereby
they would all be under one management, and the lines
would be completed at less cost.
On the motion of Mr. Wistraw, seconded by another
Proprietor, the Report was received.

The SECRETARY then read the clauses in the South
Devon Railway Bill which applied to this Company ;
and after a' brief conversation,
--...A'V'SittrnEns moved a resolution, to the effect that
the Proprietors present approve of those clauses.
The resolution was seconded, and adopted uanimously.
A PRO'PRIETOR begged to suggest that some means
shoal(' he adOpted by the Directors to give the Proprie-
torsmore early intelligence of the approaching special
meZting. He thought the Secretary should be instructed
to write to the Proprietors, instead of leaving the matter
to the chance of their seeing the advertisements. For
his part he had not seen the advertisement until late on
Saturday evening.
The CHAIRMAN said that the advertisements were in-
serted in strict accordance with the Act of Parliament.
If they were to write to every Proprietor the Secretary
would have to write 2,500 letters.—(Hear, hear.) Still
he thought the suggestion of the Holt. Proprietor was of
importance, and the Directors would give it due consi-
deration. .

Thanks were then voted to the Chairman, and the
meeting separated.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
GT.ol3E.—Church rates continue to supply matter for
expensive, and we will add, disgraceful litigation. Several
cases, which have recently been published in the daily
journals, are calculated to diminish the influence which
the national establishment ought to exercise, with salu-
tary effect, upon public opinion, and the confidence which
ought to he felt in the impartiality of the authorities who
administer the law. We have invariably employed our
efforts to induce the members of the Established
Church and the dissidents from her creeds and worship,
to unite in an application to the Legislature fur an alter-
ation in the law, which is unhappily so fruitful in oc-
casions '.of expensive and injurious strife. We have
less hope than ever of effecting amicable arrangements
between the belligerents. But the dispute—which appears
interminable, if its termination is allowed to rest upon
a compromise between the advocates for and opponent of
the existing system—produces a state of things with
which the Legislature ought to interfere for the purpose of
applying a remedy. A law which would place the repara-
tion of the structures upon the taxation of the country,
and compel the members of the Established Church to
provide what is requisite for the performance of public
worship in the churches, according to the rites
and ceremonies of her liturgy, would remove this
constantly arising cause of parochial strife. In many
parishes the 'expense incurred by litigation has amounted
to more than the entire amount of the rate which oc-
casioned the altercation and the subsequent legal pro-
ceedings in the Courts. This was the case in the still
unterminated Braintree church-rate dispute. There
he costs-s-which were eventuallycast upon the parish, or
sather upon the churchwardens, owing to the rate being
pronounced invalid—would have built a new church
front the foundation. Two cases illustrative of the evil
of church-rates, as • now provided for, have taken place
within the last few days. The one was decided in the
Court of Queen's Bench, on appeal from Sir 11. Jenner
Fust, the judge before whom the proceedings were
brought, and the case decided in the Arches Court.
The parties, " Francis and others," inhabitants of St.
George Colegate in the city of Norwich, were cited by
Archdeacon Bathuast, to appear in that Court for refusing
to join in making a church-rate. Archdeacon Bathurst,
acting in concurrence with other Archdeacons in that
diocese, actually instituted proceedings against these
parties, and brought them into the " Court Christian,"
to answer " for having contumaciously obstructed, or
at least refused to make, or join, or concur in the
making, of a sufficient rate for the necessary repair of
the church of the parish of St. George, Colegate, in the
city of Norwich, they being parishioners of that parish,
and liable, as such, to a rate for the repair of the church."
Mr. Francis appeared to the citation ; and pleaded,
by way of protest, that he had not been guilty of any
eeelesiastical offence in the matters alleged against him.
Sir Herbert Jenner Fust, after argument, decided
that an ecclesiastical offence had been committed by
Mr. Francis, in "refusing to make, or join, or concur
in making, a church-rate." A writ of prohibition
was obtained in the Court of Queen's Bench; and
Lord Denman delivered a judgment, remarkable for
clearness, in which the judgment of Sir 11. Jenner Fust
was reversed, and all proceedings in the suit stayed.
The power of vestry meetings to refuse church
rates was fully recognised. The expense of these pro-
ceedings must have been very considerable. This, how-
ever, is the least part of the mischief produced by such
contests. Their influence upon the public mind with
reference to religion generally, and to the Established
Church in particular, is extensively injurious, and ought
to be stayed. Another case of the same character and
tendency was disposed of by the Judicial Committee of
Privy Council, on appeal from a decision of the same
Judge, on Thursday last. A church-rate had been made
in a vestry meeting of the parish of Hornchurch, in
Essex. Against the validity of this rate, Pigott, an in-
habitant of the chapelry of Rumford, alleged to be
situate within the parish of Hornchurch, appealed, on
various grounds. The Court of Arches decided against
the party who impugned the validity of the rate.
Pigott, who is a very poor man, had conducted
his, case in person. On the decision of the Court
below being pronounced against him, he appealed to
the Judicial Committee, where he obtained the able
assistance of Mr. Roebuck and Mr. Mellor. The deci-
sion of the Judge of the Ecclesiastical Court was re-
versed, and the whole proceedings quashed. The judg-
ment was giseri on only one ground. The court, by
'.surd Brougham, who presided, stated that as the rate
vas manifestly bad on this ground, it was unnecessary to
so into the others. Several hundred pounds have
F.-en spent in this litigation ; and materials for
Siture litigation are suggested, of which par-
will avail themselves in future. If those
who cling to the existing system refuse to be
influenced by a love of peace, let them at least listen
to the voice of prudence. The requirements of the law
to give validity to a Church-rate are so numerous, and
the probability that one or more errors will be detected,
in any rate which may be disputed, so great, that almost
every appeal brought against a rate is successfuly prose-
cowl. If the law expenses incurred in prosecuting and
resisting appeals, and in enforcing payment of Church-
rates, were ascertained, it would go far to produce a
desire for a final settlement of the question in those now
most attached to the existing law, and most strenuous in
maintaining it.
STANDARD.—There is a homely English proverb,
fall of good sense; like most of our old English adages,
which we think may be usefully remembered at this
sarticular moment. The proverb is this; that " one
slight not to cut his nose to vex his face."
The principle conveyed in this simple suggestion
s of great value in politics ; for in political
'..ransactions it is that mon will be most frequently
)trtaidesi by the friends in- whom they repose most
confidence. It. is not easy to find a single ques-
tion upon which even all men pursuing the same
and wig think alike, but to find a succession of
• sslit.e.outanutstions from year to year, is an utter impos-
tty- Now, as in the conduct of public affairs the
• actors must ever constitute only a very small portion
af the party to which they belong, it is very
al
tin that these actors must oftengive offence to many
• '•)f those engaged with them in the same common
cause ; but to resent this
offence, not merely by war
give
upon the persons who it, but upon the principles of
the party, is surely a plain
c"cutting the nose to
vex the face." At present:Seealllt of
e honest men of the
Conservative party, and a
servatives who are not honest,
twine alnaTb (professing Con-
9ring to excite
public indignation against her Majesty's Ministers. Now,
of the honest Conservatives we would ask what
be the end of their. success, supposing that they shmouultsi
succeed in running down Sir Robert Peel's Cabinet ?
The question is a serious one, for they may
suc-
ceed, if they persevere in the course that they are
pursuing. Lord. J. Russell, Lord Howick, &e., have
already stripped off their Whig liveries, ready to take
the reins as soon as they shall be wrested from Sir ra,
Peel's hands, with a resolution, however, to put them
al again as soon as they are settled upon the box.
Let Conservatives only remember the facility with
which the change was made in 1830 by the effect of
Tory apathy or Tory aid, and the return that the Whigs
made to them, and then think twice before they again
"cut their noses to vex their faces," having now far less
provocation than they had fourteen years ago. Ile they
want•another ten years of Whig rule As Conserve-
: tives, they must have some care for the institutions of
the country. Do they wish to place these institutions
once more at the mercy of Whig rulers, because it is
surmised that the present Ministers, though greatly miti-
. Whig
it, have not violently reversed the whole of the
Whig policy (this is the complaint) will Conservatives
consent to return to the arms of the Whigs? We speak
here of the efforts made by honest men to run down her
Majesty's Ministers, and we wish broadly to mark the
distinction between running down a Cabinet and voting
against it, or advisinger to vote against it. The
iirst must,if successful,
o,
be a
fatal to the party to
• v. hich the Cabinet belongs. The other may, in many
ises, augment the personal influence of Ministers,ni w bile it puts them out of office for a moment,a