The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-16 00:00:00

grounds for the opinion that the belief of the contagion of the
plague had been very much exaggerated. He believed that
there was no instance of the plague haVing been carried Pam
Erupt to India, nor frOtn Egypt to Mecca and the Holy Cities.
When the plague appealed in the armies of the Kest, they were
always removed to the &seri, and, he believed, there was no
instance of the armies having been removed to the open d:-
triets, without a complete cessation of the plague resulting.
People in this country were oft. n alarmed at receiving
letters or bales of goods from the Levant, tut it was
well known that these kind of articles were sold in the public
bazaas-s in the East and the Mussulmans bought them ; it was
detracting nothing from their value that they had been in the
poss. ssion of people who had died of the plague. He
nombcrcd, when he was in Asia Minor, that in the neighbour-
hoed of Smyrna there were four villages much afflicted with
the plague; there was a constant communication between them
and that great city, yet there was no instance of plague iu
Smyrna. The same was precisely the case with regard to
Cairo. lie would now advert to the lezarets. He held in
his hand a letter which he had received froth an eminent
traveller with reference to the violation of quarantine in the
south of Spain. In that letter the gentleman asked if he
thought that he would Iss such a fool as to subject himself to
an imptisenment of several weeks because he had been in I
Afri a; he had never entered a lazaret and never would.
He held in his hand a series of answers to questions a,,{.
dressed by the Consul at Alexandria to medical men
established at Cairo. The first question was, what was their
opinion of quarantine? To this they answered that quarantiee
was estabished to prevent the plague from penetrating into Egypt,
but they believed the system of quarantine to be without utitity.
In answer to questions he had put to Dr. Allen, an English
gentleman, in the service of Mehemet Ali, he was informed
by him that the plague might be considered, to a certain t e-
pee, as indigenous to Egypt. Ile did not believe that country
was ever entirely f ce from it, but be had never known it to be
imported. It was ascertained, he said, that. even post modem
examinations had been taken without conamunicating. the 'dis-
ease. That was the statement of a- gentleman thoroughly-
acquainted with the subject. He read another passage to show
how insecure our protections were, if the' disease were what it
was said to be. The passage was to the effect, that's number
of bales of cotton was sent to EnglaA, which bad been taken
from stores where the plague was raging, and the plague Was
on board the . ship when the cotton was pa bed. Now,
if no disease were imported, in cases of this kind,
which frequently occurred, would any man in his Senses
helieVe that the plague was an imported infection? If the
result of an inquiry should show that the quarantine restric-
tions could be disiensed with, or mitigated without danger to
the public health, het' Majesty's Government should endeavour
to bring about arrangements for the purpose of effecting
a consumma ion so advantageous to commence. He concluded
by moving the resolution.
Sir ROBERT PEEL said he had no objection to offer to
the motion, and accordingly it was agreed to.
THE SCOTCH CHURCH

Sir A. LEITH HAY said he had considered it is duty to
call the attention rf the House to the present state of the
Church of Scotland. He did that upon no principle of
sectarian partir.nship, and for no political or party
purposes; but, however, connected es he was with that coun-
try, he felt that if that state of things which at present existed,
and which had unfortunately existed for many years, was suf-
fered to continue, it would not only be detrimental to the esta-
blishedehurch f Scotland, but injurious to the best interests
of the country. He was especially induced to bring forward
the subject by the unsatisfactory answer which had been given;
at the commencement of the Session, to a question put by his
Right lion. Friend, the Member for Perth to the Right Hon.
Baronet, the first Minister of the Crown. In reply to that ques-
tion, the Right Hon. Baronet stated, that if he did determine
upon putting an end to the differences which existed between
the Ecclesiastical and the Civil Courts in Scotland, he would
gve ample notice of his intention. 'that produced a laugh in
the House.. The Right Hon. Baronet proceeded to state, that
he would not pledge himself to bring forward any • measure
on the subject, and he concluded with stating that he would
give no pledge that he would not introduce such a measure.
In these unfortunate circumstance s, if he thought there were
one of more influence in the Ilouse, likely to bring this ques-
tion forward, he would not have intruded; but living it. the
midst of the heats, animosities, and confusion excited by these
circumstances, nothing could be more derogatory to his duty
as he thought, than to remain silent when he had an opportu-
nity of expressing his feelings.—( Hear, hear.) Ile was not
about to enter into long historical details respecting the Church
of Scotland ; nor did he mean to in rude his own particular
opinions ; but he would prefer, uoting authentic documents to
show what others, whose opinions were entitled to the highest
weight in the country, on former occasions expressed, with ad-
miration, of the Church of Scotland as an establishment
worthy of every protection and support. First, he would refer
to the Report of a Committee of that House, and which the
Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Government would re-
member that Report said, "No sentiment had so deeply impresseed
itself on the minds of the Committee, in the course of a long
and laborious investigation, •as that of veneration and respect
for the Established Church of Scotland." Next, he would
quote the individual opinion of the Right Hon. Baronet res-
pecting the Church of Scotland. It was in these words---" He
considered it a most important and useful instrument for pro-
pogating true religion ; suited to the country, with reference to
its past history, and its present condition, and calculated to
maintain those principles of order and tranquility which were
insecure unless based on a sense of religion." this was the
Establishment that was, now suffering accumulated misfor-
tunes, and was the British Legislature to look on without at-
tempting to apply some remedy to circumstances which
were appalling to every lover of his country.--( Hear. )
and every one that had its best interests at heart? It was not
for him to mark out the particular line of duty which the
Government and the Legi:lature ought to adopt, but he thought
that the time had arrived alien it was absolutely nceessal
to legislate in a prompt, effectual, and final manner to settle
this question. It was known to many Members of the House
and to to the country generally, that the establishment of the
Church of Scotland with regard to the power of presenting; minis-
ters, was fixed by the Act of the 10th of Queen Anne, passed in
1711; that act est abllehed the right to present to parochial churches
is lay patrons without reservation. That act had been acted
on for may years, ever since in fact, without question, until the
the question of the right of patronage was challenged by certain
persons, who foe med an association in Scotland, called the
Anti-Patronage Society—the date of that seciety was 1824, but
it was not till ten years after, in 1834, that it acquired any im-
portance, when the Supreme Ecclesiastical Court passed an act,
called the Veto Act, for the purpose of giving the people a voice
in the choice of their own minister, which was not consistent, as
was held by the Civil Courts,' with the act on which the law
rested. It was impossible to read these two acts without coin-
ing to the eonc4usion that they could not coexist with good Go..
vernmcnt, sound policy, and the stability of the Church. If
such was the position of things, could it be possible that the
Legislature would allow the people of Scotland to remain in str.h
circumstances: He was not arguing the case on his -own
authority. It must be known to Members of the House
that the first authorities pointed out the absolute necessity of
legislation on the subject. The first person he would quote was
Lord Aberdeen, who said, in his place in the House of Peers,
on the 31st of March, 1840:—" It appears to be so clearly the
duty of her Majesty's Ministers to propose a measure to Parlia-
ment upon a question so immediately effecting the peace and
good order of the community, that .1 take it for granted the
responsible advisers of the Crown will not abandon a duty so
imperative." That was the opinion of Lord Aberden in Marcia
1840. On the 19th of June Lord Aberdeen said, in the House
of Lords, that he thought the then existing state of things in
relation to the Scottish Church, justified their Lordships in
looking to her Majesty's Government for some interference.
That was the opinion of the present. Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs. The next opinion which he should quote regarding the
state of the e cutch Church, was the opinion of one whose name
he could never mention without the deepest feelings of venera-
tion—he meant the Duke of Wellington.--(Cheers.) 'The
Duke said, that if the Kirk were disposed to listen to mode-
rate councils, he did not apprehend there would be much diffi-
culty in bringing the matter to a settlement. He (the Duke
of Wellington) thought the Kirk should recollect that its uti-
lity depended in a great measure upon its intimate connexion
with the State ; and the Noble Duke went on to state that lie
considered it desirable that the Kirk should state clearly what
course they proposed to adopt, in ceder that it might be made
the sul jest of an Act of Parliament. And the. Noble Duke
concludee by stating, that in better times (no doubt meaning
when himself and his friends should be in ',weer), with good'
men, actuated by good intentions, it would by no means be
impossible to come to a satisfactory settlement of the ques-
tion. These were the strong testimonies he had to offer
as air • excuse for himself, in calling upon the Government of
the country not to hesitate in doing something fur the
settlement of this question, before it should be too late.
He (Sir A. L. Hay) would allude to one other testimony that of
the Right lion. Baronet at the head of the Government, who
in July,lB4o, had given it as his opinion that the session ought
not to be suffered to pass over without the Government pro.
posing some legislative measure on the subject. And the
question had been left unsettled up to the present moment, and •
he hoped the House would indulge him while he pointed out to
them the manner in which this subject. was operating on the
Established Church of Scotland. For his own part he ( Sir
A. L. Hay) had never interfered at all in the unfortunate dtf-
ferences which at present divided the Church. He had de-
clared no opinion which could be construed into partisanship
for one side or the other. He had never stated any other
opinion than this, in saying which he had no fear of contradice
tion, that things could not be allowed to . remain long as
they were. The first thing that occurred upon the passing of
the Veto Act was the case of Auchterarder. In that case the
Civil and the Ecclesiastical Courts disagreed. A clergyman
was inductee against the almost unanimous voice of the
parisioncrs. In that case the General Assembly interposed,
anti excited what they felt to be their rights. But in that
cause they wele condemned by the Civil Courts. '1 he next
circumstance of importance was the well known case of the.
parish of Marnoch. There again, a clergyman was inducted
against the almost unanimous decision of the Assembly,
ie ho were again opposed by the Civic Courts. '1 he Commissien
of the Assembly suspended, and ultimately deposed the clergy-
men in these instances; and sent into the par shes other clergy-
men who officiated, not in the parish churches, (which were in
the possession of the deposed persons) but in other places in the
parishes. The difference in these persons was, that they were
out of the pale of the Ecclesiastical Court, and n possession of the
temporalities, and supported by the civil authorities, but they
were nor recognised by the other Court. This was not a ques-
tion connected merely with the Church, but it was a question
connected with the observance of the law. There
was another feature he had to mention, in connexion with
this most unfortunate controversy; which was the case
of a very learned and remarkable man in the Church of
Scotland. lie alluded to a minister in Edinburgh, Mr.
Candlish. This very eminent man was on the eve of being
established in the Chair of Biblical Criticism. Ile had acted
nitheut the order of his Ecclesiastical superiors, and had gone
to the rat ish of Huntley, and tht re performed Divine service,
in opposition to the interdict of the Court. The consequence
was, he never-receive.( his appointment; and, in fact, so far
as pueisliment was concerned, he was the. only person who
had been punished for his opposition to the -civil law. If he
had acted wrong, the snerely.withholding the place was not
sufficient. If the civil 'sewer was strong enough to take it
up, they ought to have carried it still further.—(Hear.)
In his opinion, there ought to be no uncertainty either
one way or the other. 'lt was not enough to tell him that her
Majesty's late Government did not take up this question. lie
was sorry the Right lion. Baronet, the Fir t Minister of the
Crown had not been apt to take example of the Noble Lord
near him, but he (Sir A. L. Hay) did hope he would see the
necessity of doing something on this subject. The next sate
to which he would allude was one which had recently occurred,
and which was one of an extraordinary description, viz., the
case which occurred in the parish of Culsamund. In this case
there was not the slightest necessity fee any steps being taken.
These was a vacancy- in the parish,' anti the person who hid
been established had been there for seven years; he acted in the
capacity of assistant. An assistant was merely a temporary person
in the parish. This Gentleman had. acted in the capacity for
seven years, and all at once it appeared nece,sary that he
should be made assistant to another parish. It was in conse-
quence of this appointment that the disgraceful scenes which
had been referred to had taken place. It was understood by
the sheriff of the county and by the civil authorities, that a riot
was likely to take place in consequence of the appointment.
The sheriff, the head of the police, and twelve of the rural
police, and a large body of constables were assembled on the
spot. There was a large assemblage of persons not only from
'the particular parish, but from the surrounding parishes, prin-
cipally accumulated by the feeling of curiosity. 'the people got
into the church, and filled every avenue, and prevented the
clergyman who was to perform the service from
doing so. The pulpit was occupied by the people.
The consequence was the clergyman, and the Pres-