The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-08 00:00:00

Os, ::,acs,

LONDON
SATURDAY MOINING, OCTOBER 8, 1142.

It is boldly said by all those who now advocate
increasing the power of the priesthood, disguised'
under the name of the Church, that they alone
can cope with the moral disorders of society, or,
to borrow the language of M. DE LA MARTINS,
give a soul to manufactures. The Church of
England, we are emphatically told, can alone
save the State ; and she alone can introduce and
maintain moral order in society. Those who
maintain. these opinions must be blind as moles, '
and as ignorant. They confine their eulogy to
the one Church, and if their doctrine were true,
there could be no order in society, no morality,
no genuine religion, where that one Church did
not prevail. The grotesque absurdity of these
mighty praises flashes upon us irrepressible
laughter, when we remember how small a por-
tion of time and space is filled by the English
priesthood, and that human society spreads
over the globe, and exists beyond the re-
cords of man. Everywhere and in all time
ham society existed, and flourished in various
degrees ; the English Church (priesthood)
is the creature, as it were, of yesterday ;
asid, till within a very short period, was nearly
confined to this small island. Yet we are told
that society cannot exist and flourish without the
priesthood, and dearly must we pay, in our liber-
ties and our fortunes, to maintain them in power
and splendour.

At the same time, these imprudent advocates
boast of a great present revival in the Church,
or of new-born zeal in the priesthood. They
tell us that, " the Church has been frozen
into the accidental formulae of two hun-
dred years" since ; and they give us to under-
stand that, during that period, its great healing
powers have been almost dormant. Be it so;
what has happened in society, while the Church
has been asleep? Has human improvement
stood still ? Have not the most wonderful ad-
vances, both moral and physical, been made
within the last two centuries ? Have not our
liberties, both civil and religious, grown up and
been confirmed within that period ? Does not
toleration, in its most enlarged avid beneficial
sense, date from less than two centuries ? and
has it not been, in spite of the Church, carried
out so as to include at length in form, if not yet in
substance, the Roman Catholics within the Con-
stitution 7 Have not the last remnants of serfdom,
without th© especial help of the priesthood, been
swept away within that period ? Has not liberty
been given to the slave, and has not the accursed
slave trade been reprobated and branded by the
owfhile
instrumentality of men who did not derive their
humanity and morality from the Church? War
has been humanised, and law has beoelndmade
less unjust,
less sanguine a"
morals,te
Church has been frozen in its
beenmade
for-
multe. In every department
in opposition
igreat e
lastimprovements2oo
years, havean dmade with_
to the Church. now+ it might
during that period, as the Times lave
been
avers, asleep for
good, it was active in mischief; for the priest-
hood, holding fast by the love of a past age,
and must be, at all times the enemies were,
of social
improvement.

While the Church was asleep the North
American colonies grew into power, and have
now established with England an extensive com-
merce, which binds the two greatest and freest
nations of the world in peace, whatever may be
desired by their rulers. Trade has within two
centuries done much to soften national asperities,
and connect all mankind into one happy brother-
hood. Art has given us the steam-eng,ine, and
science has-unveiled the true form of the globe.
Spinning mules, safety lamps, and gas
_lights,

with a crowd of other useful inventions, have
added wonderfully to the power, and, we be-
lieve, to the happiness opf man during the slum-
berit
the priesthood. So vast has been the
prop in knowledge during the last two cen-
turies, a d so astounding the inventions of art,
that more marvels, we believe, are crowded into i
that period of history, than into all the prior
ages of the world. While the Church, there-
fore, according to its advocates, was asleep, so-
ciety has made prodigious advances, both moral
and physical.

We cannot say much for its progress since the
Church had its revival. As the priesthood have
increased in zeal, the people have fallen into
poverty. If their moral influence should be
felt any where it is in Parliament, where they
have seats, and where their votes place
Members ; but nowhere is injustice more gla-
ringly, systematically, and unblushingly per-
petrated than in Parliament. The Bishops of OX.
FORD, and EXETER, and LONDON, in their burn-
ing zeal to reform the people, utterly forget to
reform themselves. Corn-laws to keep out food,
when the population is exceeding the home
supply, and new Poor-laws to make the people
feed themse:ves, are nearly coeval with the
boasted revival of priestly zeal and Church
discipline. From the unscrupulous demands'
of the clergy dissension and strife, in the form
of Church-rates have sprung up in nearly half
our parishes. Judging from the examples or
other countries, and from the condition of'
our country at present, we are inclined
-to say that the increase and the activity of
the priesthood are rather signs of corruption
and decay than of living health and vigour. If
there be no other means of rescuing our people
from physical and moral degradation, as the
Tories say, than the agency of the
Church--if
that alone can raise the physaal anditiorta COW"
dition of the people —. then must England
speedily tread the downward path of Italy, and
English Filicajas will, ere long, have to lament
over beauty and wealth, which tempt the
spoiler, while her sons will want. union and
energy to resist him.

It is now about twelve years since the first
railroad was opened in England, and at present
we have, probably, not far short of a thousand
miles of such roads completed, and in use. They'
have been constructed to a considerable extent
in Belgium and Germany, but in Fiance none
have yet been completed except the short line to
Versailles. It has recently been said that no
contractors will undertake to make the railroad
to Belgium, the French engineers are so ex-
tremely precise and fastidious, while the line
between Rouen and Paris is to be nearly half
completed by English bands and English capital.
We rejoice amazingly that our countrymen are
contributing to the prosperity of France; but do
not these facts indicate a great slowness and re-
luctance to advance in our enlightened neigh-
bour ? France is far surpassed by Belgium and
Germany, while England herself is probably
surpassed in this respect by the United States of
America.

What is the cause of this slowness in France ?
We believe it is mainly to be found in what
some persons call the goodness of its Govern-
ment. It regulates everything. It provides for
so much that it puts an end to individual enter-
prise. The Government cannot possibly per-
form all things; and yet such is its system, or
such its jealousy, that it will not allow the people
to do anything except under its direction.
We inserted on Wednesday an account of the
slow progress in completing the Artesian well at
Grenelle, in consequence of the Government
having made a regulation that every grant by a
municipality must be confirmed by a Minister.
" Under this system," it is said, "a town cannot
make a new street, or a new market, or appoint
a manager to a theatre, without the consent of
the Minister, and months sometimes elapse be-
fore this can be obtained." In France the muni-
cipalities regulate a much greater number of
• matters than our municipalities, and what would
beCome of us if every alteration in our towns—
every grant from the funds of every borough and
every parish, must be approved of by Sir JAmas
GRAHAM or the CHANCELLOR of the EXCIDIQUEII?
The endless intrigues to which such a system
must give rise, employing all the time and talent
of the nation, not in making improvements, but
in seeking the favour of a Minister, is QUO of its
evils. Another is, that it makes individuals help-
less ; and whenever a work is to be achieved
which requires combination, they can do nothing
but flee to the Government for aid. The•system
may be good for the rulers—it emasculates the
people.
We tender these remarks to our neighbours in
the best and most friendly spirit. We wish to
see France flourish in peace, increase in trade,
and contribute her full share, by her own
progress, to the general improvement. French
journalists, we are afraid, are jealous of the great-
ness of England. They see our language spread-
ing by our colonies over the habitable globe;
they see our shipping crowd every sea ; they see
the comparative feebleness and littleness of
French trade; and they jump to the conclusion
that their backwardness is caused by our pro-
gress. They accuse us of all kinds of secret en-
mity, and openly say that our humane zeal in
suppressing the slave-trade is only a pretext to
vex, cripple, and destroy, the mercantile marine
of France.

We honour in them the desire for commercial
greatness as we honour it in our own country-
men; hut as we are sure that our success does
not depend on the regulations of other
Governments, so the French may be
assured that their condition is not in any manner
the consequence of the conduct of England.
Their laudable wish should take another direc-
tion. They should begin at home. They should
repress and curb the operations of the French
Government and encourage individual enter-
prise. They should refuse, rather than court,
the interference of the Ministry in all the affairs
of life. When they have set themselves free
from the thraldom of their own bureaux, they
will soon lose all pretexts to complain of Eng-
land. By the enterprise of individuals nations
are made prosperous, and the acts of the Go-
vernment will never till the fields or load the
ships of France.

propose to shorten their hours of
rs.A.Nr At FOUR O'CLOCK. The
by closing atfour o'clock instead of five.
business,
Dave they asked the permission of their customers ?
At present they are compelled to keep open, and
honour
baiTeorssr
iGt
all cheques upon them till five o'clock, and it
is even doubted whether they can then legally refuse
is said,
payment. It is, however, certain that they could not
refuse payment between four and five o'clock, with-
out committing an act of bankruptcy. Their deter-
mination to close at four o'clock, unless they have the
assent of their clients, cannot make a new custom and
alter this legal obligation. To make the practice of
closing at four o'clock a good legal custom, it must
be established for some time, and must be acquiesced
in by those having claims on the bankers. If they
attempt, therefore, to close at four o'clock, without
obtaining the assent and acquiescence of those wko
have demands on them, they, will expose themselvas,
we apprehend, to very serious consequences. W.
maintain that the custom of keepingt open
altered b till five
o'clock being once established, it cannot be
It is, th y the determination of the bankers only.
fore, we believe, in the power of those
who deal with
them, to prevent the banks being closed before five
o'clock, if they object to the proposed
alteration.

FLOATING BREASWATER.—In consequence of the
reduction in the duty on cork, Captain Tayler has
u;ed it for increasing the buoyancy of his floating
breakwater in lieu of the small air vessel attached to
the caisson, and it is not only cheaper, but not liable
to be injured. He also uses Ir. Jeffrey's glue with
treenails, by which means he does away with all from
bolts.—Plymouth Journal.
ANTIQUITIES AT WESTAIMITEII.-111 the course of
some excavations which are it present in progress ilk
Dean's yard, Westminster, for the formation of a sewer,
the men came against the foundation of the villa
which forme the building which was called the'
granary. It was connected with the monastery, and
erected above 800 years ago. The walls, which aree
about three feet wide, are composed
innlgorn
,tiaelhidsuabreseNi
of flint, chalk, an
eureyn solidt
ol
the Westn ,nster
nastery becamethe dormitory to
yrtditsosgochtilttieorl.l
oTfhteheb.umildo:
improvements took place in Dean s-yard.
-School, was pulled down in the year 1758, when the

GREAT WESTERN STEAM-SHIP COM-
PANY.—The Directors of the Great Western Ship
Compaiy have to announce that the above splendid and well-
known Steam-ship (unless previously sold by private Contract),
off ,red for SA LE, with all her engagements, by PUBLIC
A UCTIO N, atthe CompanN's Offices, in Princes-street, Bristol,
on MoNJJAY the 17th Octcber, at two o'clock, the purchaser
having the takingtion of the stock of coals, and other pro-
perty of the Company in New York, at a valuation. For par-
tictiferi; apply to Christopher Claxton, Esq., Great Western
Steam-ship Office, Princes-street, Bristol, Oct. 7, 1842.
•
• '

-MT
a.

~►
~~~.