The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-07 00:00:00

sion, when the question of the removal of the Acts
is to be agitated ? We should think the Prelates
and Dignitaries of the Church would do well to
make a merit of liberality, by agreeing to renounce
what is a source of weakness and not of strength to
the Establishment, anticipating the Dissenters.with
regard to the repeal, by which means they would
prevent these simultaneous movements, which will
be repeated every year with more and more energy.
The blood of the Dissenters is now up. So long as
they remained quiescent under the laws, it might
admit of controversy whether it was for others to
agitate the matter; but the combined movements of
the Dissenters leave it no longer a matter of doubt
that the offensive laws should instantly be blotted
from the Statute Book. The Dissenters contend,
too, that it was never intended that they should be
affected by the Acts; that they are martyrs to their
zeal to the cause for the defence of which these
Acts were passed. In the Eclectic Review for June
the following account is given of the origin of the
Acts, and of the artitice3 practised in order to in-
clude them within their operation :
" The Act, commonly called the Test Act, requires all
persons in public trust to receive the sacrament in a parish
church, and to carry an attested certificate of the same into
Chancery or the County Sessions, and there to make a de-
claration renouncing transubstantiation in full and positive
words. This measure was of course extremely obnoxious
to the Court, and great pains were taken to prevent its
passing. And when, during the debate in the House of
Commons, it was observed, that the Bill had been drawn
in such a manner as to comprehend the Protestant Dissen-
ters, the Court party endeavoured to avail themselves of
that circumstance in order to defeat the Bill. 'By this
means,' says Bishop Burnet, ' they hoped to have set them
and the Church party into new heats ; for now all were
united against Popery. Love, who served for the city of
London, and was himself a Dissenter, saw what ill effects
any such quarrel might have ; so he moved, that an
effectual security might be found against Popery, and that
nothing might interpose till that was done. When that
was over, then they would try to deserve some favour ; bat
at present, they were willing to lie under the severity of
the laws, rather than clog a inure necessary work with
their concerns. The chief friends of the Sects agreed to
this. So a vote passed to Jiring in a Bill in favour of Pro-
testant Dissenters, though there was not time enough, nor
unanimity enough, to finish one this Session. For it went
no further than a second reading, but was dropped in the
Committee."

" This last statement is not quite correct. The Bill,
which went much further than relieving Dissenters from
the consequences of the Test Act, passed the Commons,
but was sent down by the Lords with some Amendments ;
while these Amendments were being debated, the Parlia-
ment was suddenly prorogued through the resentment of
the Court, and the intended favour to the Dissenters was
prevented. And when afterwards, in the year 1680, a
Bill in favour of the Dissenters, repealing the 88th Eliz.
c. 1. passed both HouQes, and lay ready for the Royal
Assent, the Court ventured upon a very extraordinary
expedient : the Clerk of the Crown was ordered to con-
vey away the Bill, and accordingly it was never after-
wards to be found.

" In the same Session (Dec. 1680), a Bill was brought
into the Commons, " for uniting his Majesty's Protestant
subjects to the Church of England," which repealed the
declaration of assent and consent, and some other particu-
lars usually objected to by the Dissenters. And whereas,
it was apprehended this Bill might not comprehend all the
Dissenters within the pale of the Church, there was ano-
ther Bill brought in at the same time, for exempting his
Majesty's Protestant subjects dissenting from the Church
of England from the penalties of certain laws, which is the
title of the present Toleration Act. Both these Bills were
read a second time, and referred to the same Committee.—
On the 24th of Dec. a Bill was ordered into the Commons
to repeal the Act 13 Car. H. st. 2, c. I. (calmonly called
the Corporation Act), which had been made on purpose to
exclude Dissenters from Corporation offices. On Jan. 6,
1691, this Bill. was read a second time, and referred to
a Select Committee. In the mean time, on the 3d of
January, a Bill came down from the Lords, entitled,
"An Act for distinguishing Protestant Dissenters from
Popish Recusants ; " which was designed to compre-
hend a virtual repeat of the Test as to the Protest-
ant Dissenters. It is remarkable that, so far as ap-
pears, there was no division upon any one of these Bills.
Nevertheless, they were all defeated by the sudden promo-
gatioa of Parliament on the 16th of January, only four
days after the last Bill was sent down by the Lords; the
Commons being apprised of the King's intention only time
enough to pass in haste a few votes on the state of the na-
tion, the last of which was in these words :—" That it is
the opinion of this House that the prosecution of Pro-
testant Dissenters upon the Penal Laws is at this time
grievous to the subject, a weakening of the Protestant in-
terest, an encouragement to Popery, and dangerous to the
peace of the kingdom." The Parliament was soon after
dissolved by proclamation. ' Thus,' adds the writer from
whom we copy this statement, the continuance of the
Test Act to the present time, and the exclusion of Dis-
senters from all public offices, is the reward they enjoy for
their generous and disinterested patriotism ?'"f—Mornin9
Chronicle. •

Among the on dits which have recently be-
come current, is one, which we give, not that
we assign it implicit credit, but because it is
mentioned every where, and may, if untrue, be
contradicted. It is this, that a Noble Earl,
whose "single speech" -opposition to Mr. Can-
ning's Ministry, is the most formidable blow it
has received, is about to proceed as the new
Governor-General to Calcutta. Various circum-
stances are mentioned, as having retarded, and
at length brought about this arrangement, none
of which we credit, nor should we therefore feel
justified in repeating. We merely give the re-
port itself, as one which we find extremely cur-
rent, adding our hope, that it cannot be true,
for were such an appointment to take place after
such a speech, what degradation is there to which
public men will not submit !—Morn. Herald.
The inhabitants of Mary-la-bonne, Pancras,
and the other parishes on the northern outskirts
of the metropolis, have been called upon, we see,
by public advertisment, to claim for themselves
the vacant representation of Pen ryn. Though
we do not see any probability of such claim
being attended to upon the present occasion, we
agree that there is very good reason for the sug-
gestion, and that there are few bodies in the
kingdom so ill-represented as those persons are,
if indeed they can be said to be represented at
all. Being at least nineteen-twentieths of them
only leaseholders,i they have no votes for the
county, which is itself little more than a Whig
borough, in the hands of two persons, inefficient
enough of all conscience, except when called
upon to assist in passing Bills at the suggestion
of the different Select Vestries. But we think
that the inhabitants of those parishes would be
much better employed in reforming, or rather
entirely new-modelling, their own local legisla-
tures, than in troubling themselves about ob-
taining representation in Parliament. It is true
that it is through Parliament that the Select Vestry
nuisance must be abated; but we trust that there
are Members enough there already able and willing
to expose and put an end to these juntas of paro-
chial jobbing, whenever the materials are fairly given
to them, and a disposition is shown by the inhabi-
tants of the different parishes so situated to put their
shoulders manfully to the wheel. Much has been
lately done in the principal of these parishes, and
we have reason to believe that further steps are in
progress, both in Nary-la-bonne and elsewhere, to-
wards the same object, fi-om which we would
strongly recommend the parties not to have their
attention diverted by a much less important, and,
probably, unattainable scheme.—lbid.
The account which we gave yesterday of a sale
of hops in the Borough must have appeared very
extraordinary to all who are not acquainted with
the mysteries of the trade. That any class of
men should be found to exult in the hopes of
a dearth of the commodity in which they deal,
may appear strange to those simple-minded peo-
ple who are hot versed in the arts of modern
speculation—or, in other words, are not ac-
quainted with the tricks of that sort of gambling,
Burnet's Own Times. B. iii. 1673.
t Furneaux's Letters to Blackstone, p. 171, note.