The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-10 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1845.

One of the most offensive, and not least ominous
features of the Puseyite character, is the contempt
with which the clergy, and especially the Prelates,
treat the well-grounded and sincere remonstrances of
the laity. These are received not as the offspring of
conviction or real apprehensions for the safety of the
Protestant religion, but as the meddling of incom-
petent men without authority, without evidence to
substantiate their statements, and without any just
conception of the points at issue. The POPE himself
could not resent in more bitter language any inter-
ference with his infallible wisdom, than the heads of
the Protestant Church (a Church founded on
the right of inquiry and freedom from priestly
shackles) resent the respectful entreaties and
complaints of their alarmed flocks. The spirit
which pervades the pastoral letters and answers
to grievances issued by the Bishops of Lox-
DON and EXETER excites no surprise. It is
quite in keeping with the character of these haughty
and self-willed Prelates; but something better was
expected of the mild and venerable Archbishop of
CANTERBURY. It was hoped that he would at least
mediate between the parties, and show a degree of
impartiality and kindness which might inspire confi-
dence, and that he would endeavour by gentle per-
suasion, rather than by a stretch of authority, to con-
vince the people that there were no insidious de-
signs for :undermining the Protestant ;Church. Un-
fortunately, however, his Grace has disappointed
public expectation, and as if even the mildest and
meekest Churchman was incapable of divesting him-
self of ecclesiastical haughtiness and dictation, he has
replied to well-founded complaints with as much
acrimony, self-confidence, and confidence, too, in his
clergy, as the two Puseyite Bishops. These are
most conspicuous in his last letter to Mr. KENNARD,
respecting the Puseyite ceremonies practised in the
parish of East Farleigh, in Kent. The Arch-
bishop had directed the attention of the clergy-
man to the complaints ; he had also com-
missioned the rural Dean and Archdeacon to
make inquiry, and on their report he affirms
that they are without foundation. Had his Grace,
however, been an impartial investigator, he would
have heard witnesses also on the other side, for
the purpose of ascertaining whether the report of the
clerical functionaries could be impugned. Nothing
of the sort, however, is done. It would have been
degrading to a Dean and an Archdeacon for a moment
to believe that they could assert what was not
a fact, and he dismisses the complaint in these
words :—" You have preferred charges which
you could not to a certainty know to be true,
and here our correspondence must end."
This is sufficiently laconic and dictatorial. Now
it is curious to observe on what ground the charges

are dismissed, and why the complainant is accused
of stating what he could not to a certainty know to
be true. The Archbishop says Mr. KENNARD had
not attended the church since March ; he, therefore,
could have no personal knowledge of what had taken
place. But neither had the Archbi:hop attended the
church, and he was therefore placed in the same
predicament ; but he made this distinction : he lis-
tened to witnesses of his own party, though be gave
no opportunity to the other side to produce wit-
nesses who would have confirmed every word of the
statement. The clergy are to be believed, but the
laity not. Now if these gentlemen are disciples of
NEWMAN, which is extremely probable, the following
doctrine, laid down by that innovator, and urged by
Mr. KENNARD, would lead to the belief that the evi-
dence of a layman ought to have more weight than
that of a modern Jesuit :--" It is one of their prin-
ciples," says he, " that a Christian both thinks and
speaks the truth, except when consideration is
necessary ; and then, as a physician for the
good of his patient, he will be false, or
utter a falsehood, as the sophists say." With-
out, however, imputing to Mr. WILBERFORCE, or
the rural Dean, such a detestable doctrine, we
must reject their evidence, on the grounds that the
expressed abhorrence to Pnseyism in the parish would
not have arisen without just cause—that Mr. KEx-
i
NARD, a staunch Protestant, has been forced, on ac-
count of the Popish innovations, to leave the church—
and that there are other manifestations of the new
doctrines, which even clerical ingenuity cannot gain-
say. We give the postscript to Mr. KENNARD'S letter,
as a specimen :—" On the night preceding Christmas-
day Mr. WILBERFORCE, attended by Mr. HARDS,
churchvrarden, and several men and boys of his
newly-formed choir, headed by Mr. HELMORE, of
her MAJESTY'S choir, St. George's, Windsor, paraded
parts of the parish singing carols, many of them
carrying lights, though the moon was high; they
were out, thus occupied, from about eleven o'clock
at night till nearly four o'clock in the morning of
Christmas-day !"

Another striking illustration of the mischievous
working of the game-laws has recently occurred in
the neighbourhood of the city of Worcester. It seems
that one THOMAS STAITE, who had been hired to
watch the game in the preserves of the Earl of
COVENTRY, was met on the night of the 19th of De-
cember, while in the discharge of his perilous duty,
by a gang of poachers, by whom he was so roughly
used, together with others of his party, that he died
shortly after of the severe blows he received in the
scuffle. An inquest was immediately held on the
body of the murdered man, which, from a deficieney
of positive evidence, was adjourned to the 7th of
January, on which day the jury returned a verdict of
wilful murder against two of the poachers, JOSEPH
TURVEY and FRANCIS DINGLEY, and some other
persons at present unknown. On the close of the
inquiry a very important and significant circumstance
occurred. One of the jurors deemed it to be his
bounden duty to address some strong remarks to the
Coroner and his fellow-jurymen on the subject of the
game-laws, which were so intimately connected with
the investigation. He observed that the ghastly
spectacle which they had witnessed at the commence-
ment of their proceedings in the mangled corpse of
STAITE, to say nothing of the revolting details given
by the several witnesses who had been examined,
could not fail to have excited in them emotions of the
deepest sorrow and disgust; and though he was per-
fectly aware that their duties as jurors were limited
to an inquiry as to how the luckless gamekeeper came
by his death, yet he thought that they could not con-
scientiously overlook the cause which had led to so
fatal a catastrophe ; and he therefore proposed that
they should append to their verdict a declaration of
their sentiments to the following effect :—" That the
jury cannot but deplore the continuance of laws so
immoral in their tendency, so fruitful in crime, and so
destructive to human life as the game-laws have
proved, after long experience throughout the length
and breadth of the country, and that they strongly
recommend their abrogation." Several jurymen ex-
pressed their cordial concurrence in these sentiments,
and all of them unhesitatingly signed the declaration,
which the Coroner promised to forward to the Home
Secretary of State; while one of the jurors added, that
our gaols were half-filled with offenders against the
game-laws, for the shooting and snaring of hares,
pheasants, partridges, &c., was a great temptation to
the lower orders, who could not be brought to believe
that such an offence was any moral crime. This
decided, deliberate expression of their sentiments on
the subject of the execrable game-laws, does infinite
credit to the Worcester jury, and we hope that at
every future inquest of a similar nature—and they
are of frequent occurrence—which may take place in
the country, their example will be closely followed.
It is only by keeping the grievance constantly before
the public eye that we can entertain any hope of its
removal, for the number of those who take a deep
personal interest in the maintenance of the game-laws
is far greater than might be supposed, and hardly less
formidable is their influence both within and without
the walls of Parliament. There are hundreds of
country gentlemen who—in the utter absence of that
"absolute wisdom" which Lord BROUGHAM attributed
to the late Alderman WOOD—look upon these laws as
the palladium of the Constitution, and would just as
soon lose their right arm as consent to their abolition'
The breed of Squire WESTERNS is not yet extinct
among us, and not a few of our provincial squire-
archy, unfitted by nature, habit, and inclination, for
higher and more intellectual occupations, devote their
whole time to field sports, and seem to think that the
great duty of their existence consists in strictly pre-
serving game and exterminating poachers. With
men like these it is idle to reason, for they possess no
reasoning faculties to which an appeal can be made,
and their selfish opposition is only to be neutralised
by bringing the whole overwhelming power of public
opinion to bear directly upon them. They must be
coerced into
a sullen submission to the claims of
justice,
sense, and humanity, and have the
commonmon
wholesome truth forcibly impressed on them, that the
life of a hare or a pheasant is not for an instant to be
put into competition with that of a human being.
Among the public questions that it is expected will
occupy the serious attention of Parliament during
common
the session now so close at hand, few are of more
pressing importance than the game-laws. We talk of
the necessity of educating the lower classes of the
community and instilling into them proper views of
religion and morality, but so long as these laws are
permitted to remain on the statute-book in their
present stringency, one of the most prolific sources
of demoralisation will still exist among the masses,
and all our attempts at instructing and elevating their
minds will be utterly unavailing. The game-laws
then must be abolished—wholly and entirely abolished.

It will not do to tamper with this cancer in the con-
stitution of society—it must be cut out altogether—
" Immedicabile vulnus
Ense recidendum est, ne pars sincera trahatur."

The situation of M. GuizoT as Prime Minister of
France becomes every day more critical, not from a
system of policy different from that which has kept
him in office for four years, not from any new crisis
caused by foreign affairs or domestic administration,
but, judging by circumstances which can hardly
leave any doubt, from the fixed determination of the
KING to make another attempt to carry the Dotation
Bill. On this point it is well known his MAJESTY
has made up his mind, and considers it one of the
most important duties imposed upon him to make
provision for the due maintenance of the Duke of
NEMOURS' authority, in the event of his MAJESTY
dying before his grandson comes of age. Feelers
have been repeatedly put forth on this subject during
tl;e last two years, which gave results so unfavourable
that M.:GuizoT declined to bring the measure forward.
According to the Univers the affair is to be put off no
longer and a Dotation Bill is to be presented to the
Chamber shortly after the discussion on the Address, but
whether by GUIZOT or MOLE no one can tell. The
desertions, howerer, which are taking place among
the Ministerial supporters, and above all the deser-
tions of men in high favour and full confidence at
Court, betoken the downfal of M. GUIZOT, and lead
to the belief that this darling object of the KING will
be carried by his successors. MONTALIYET, a great
favourite of Majesty, General ATHALIN, the KING'S
Aide-de-Camp, several Conservative Members of the
Lower Chamber who have the instinct of rats, and,
according to the Arational, the Chamber of Peers,
also the creature of royalty, all seem disposed to join
in the intrigue against the Ministry. MONTALIVET,
A T HALM, and MEEILHOU, have voted against it.