The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It is 'stated in various quarters, that Mr. Can-
ning is taking the most active measures for the
purpose of reduciug the expences .of Govern-
ment ;—that he has sent orders to the heads
of departments to prepare and transmit to him,
the most accurate account of the expences of
their several establishments, the salaries of of-
ficers, &c. The Right lion. Gentleman Will,
we predict, have a host of selfish opposition to
encounter in his endeavours ; for those who did
not themselves retrench when they had the
power, and when the efficacy of retrenchment
could not have been doubted, will of course op-
pose it in another, when, alas ! it may be doubted
whether it does not come too late, at least to
operate our relief, solely. However, let us reso-
lutely retrench and economize first, and then it
will be seen what remains to be done.—Times.

We are not yet able to present a copy of the
Treaty for the preservation of Greece ; but we
can state positively that its execution by the high
contracting parties is not lingering. The Rus-
sian fleet has, we are told, already sailed for the
Mediterranean, and that, with the fleets of France
and England, will' constitute a force, to which it
is no mark of exaggerated confidence to say that
the Turks can oppose no resistance.: We hope
that concord will prevail in the operations of this
tri-coloured naval fOrce, and that the Powers
who send their several quotas are actuated by the
same motives, and pursue strictly the same ob-
ject. The intercourse between Turkey and
Egypt may easily be cut off, and by that measure
the Turkish troops will be deprived of their sup-
plies. Austria, no doubt, objected strongly to
an arrangement by which Greece was to be ac-
knowledged as an independent State, under the
protection of the three great Powers. She dreads
the encouragement given to revolutionary princi-
ples, by the example of success in this instance ;
and looks with increased anxiety to the dissatis-
faction which she knows exists in her Italian
states. Let her, then, govern them with more
lenity. If she exercises her supremacy like the
Turks, she must expect to lose it like them.—
She says we have done more for Greece than
for the South American Republics, which were
merely recognised, whilst the independence of
Greece is established and protected. In this'
she is right. More has been done for Greece,
because Greece required more to be done.--
The American Republics established their own
independence, and did not need any aid.—/bich
In another part of our paper will be found an
account of the proceeding of the Synod of UP
ster, abridged from The Belfast Northern
Whig. It is particularly deserving of attention.
The Rev. William Porter, Clerk to the General
Synod of Ulster,
.on his examination before the
Commissioners of Irish Inquiry (Appendix to
fourth Report) made the following statements
Will you have the goodness to state whether
you area person of Arian or Orthodox princi-
ples ?—I set out in life with Orthodox senti:.
xnents ; but, upon ma:ure reflection, I was led
to change those sentimentst and I am what is
usually called an Arian. . . • • • •
I think more young men of New LigN (Arian)
sentiments come from Glasgow College,
have known to be reared in the Institution ; I
account for this by supposing that Orthodox
sentiments being the popular sentiments, and the
creed of young men who pass through the Bel-
fast Seminary being room open to public inspec-
tion, they are more under a temptation,to avoid
the means of imbibing sentiments which may
mar their success in life, or to suppress those
sentiments if they have formed them. Amongst
us, what is called Orthodoxy seems of late to
be taking the lead of Arianism. In my opinion,
there are more real Arians than professed ones
amongst us. Arianism being an unpopular doc-
trine, I have no hesitation in saying that our Mi-
nisters, in general, are not fond of avowing it."
The Rev. ,Henry Cooke, with whose name the
public are familiar, from •his having been exa-
mined in London by a Committee of the House
of Commons, in his then capacity of Moderator
of the Synod of Ulster, in his examination
before the Commissioners of Education Inquiry
(Appendix to 4th Report), made the following
statement
What is the total number of Ministers belonging to the
Synod of Ulster?---1 think, taking in Ministers and As-
sistants, it would be about 200.
" Of that number of 200, what portion should you sup-
pose sold the Arian doctrines ?-4 have not been able to
estimate 40 ; about 35. I think that was the most, upon
a special versonal examination of the Sect of the Synod,
and very few of those would be willing to acknowledge it ;
it is known by defect, rather than declaration.

. . . _
" Can you . assign any reason why persons of the rich
and upper and better class are more disposed towards
Arianism than others ?—I could not give a decided reason ;
but I think one reason :has always been, that the Ministers
called the Old-lights were always most disposed for enforc-
ing strict Church discipline!'
The avowal of Mr. Porter of his being an
Arian, was made the ground of a motion for
depriving him of his situation of Clerk to the
Synod. After a stormy debate of several days,
the Synod, by a majority of 31, voted, that
while they admitted the honesty and sincerity of
Mr. Porter, they felt it their duty to express
their disapprobation of his opinions as being
erroneous; yet as his removal from the office of
Clerk might be construed into persecution, and
on account of the able manner in which he
has • discharged all the duties of his office,
they did not: consider it right to remove him.
So much for Mr. Porter. But this discussion
was only the prelude to another, which was con-
tinued during three days. Mr. Cooke made a
motion for an orthodox declaration of the reli-
gious sentiments of the Synod, " that we do most
:tirmlyhold and believe the doctrine concerning the
nature of God contained in these words of the
• Westminster Shorter Catechism ;" viz. " that
there are three persons in the Godhead, the
rather, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and these three
are one God—the same in substance, power, and
glerry ; and that we do affix our signatures to the
deck ration in the Minutes of Synod." It was
agreed that the last clause relative to the affixing
of names should be withdrawn, and that the body
do declare viva voce, standing up, when answer-
ing to their names. The votes stood thus-
-117 Ministers, and 18 Elders, voted I believe
the doctrin: Two voted I do not believe,'
and four retire.' from the House before the roll
-was called—one of those four expressing himself,
that he could not thir,-k of remaining to witness
such acts as he was afraid were about to be com-
mitted. These proceedings throw considerable
light on some peculiarities in the moral charac-
ter of the educated classes of these ialands. Here
we find it distinctly stated by the individuals best
acquainted with the character and opinions of
the Presbyterian Clergy of the Synod of Ulster,'
that as Arianism was unpopular, there were more
real than avowed Arians in the body; and that
out of two hundred individuals there were from
35 to 40 of the Arians. And yet when a test
is proposed, all the Clergy present, with the ex-
ception of two, do not hesitate to take it. A
laumber of these men gave utterance, therefore,

lo what they knew to be fain, in order to avert
the consequences with which the avowal of Mr.
Porter was threatened. Two Clergymen re-
fused to take the Test. The names are not
mentioned in the account; and, therefore,
we are in the dark respecting them ; but
we think we cannot be far wrong in hazard-
ing the conjecture that the two individuals
who refused to join in the falsehood, pos-
sessed Congregations in rich neighbourhoods,
able and disposed to indemnify them, should
their frankness endanger their connection with
the Synod. Will any one who knows the ways
of thinking and acting of the people of the Three
Kingdoms pretend, that, ;n the proceedings of
the Synod of Ulster, to which we have alluded,
there is any thing peculiar, and that the same
falsehood and insincerity would not have been
manifested in any part of the United King-
doms ? There is, indeed, nothing peculiar in
the proceedings. From the corrupting circum-
stances in which the English are formed, their
morality, with respect to sincerity and insincerity,
is lax in the extreme. No man hesitates to
avow any opinions, or to subscribe any oaths or
declarations ; and the natural consequence is,
that no credit whatever is attached to the avowals
of opinions. Mr. Coleridge, in his Biographia
Literaria, observes, that " the privilege of free
thought, so highly extolled, has at no time been
held valid in actual practice," and that the illi-
terate and the simple only, who were reckless of
obloquy, have ventured to speak with sincerity.
He observes, that the apparent contradictions in
Kant were hints and insinuations referring to
ideas which he did not think it prudent to
avow ; and that " the expulsion of the first
among his disciples who attempted to complete
his system from the University of Jena, with
the confiscation and prohibition of the obnoxi-
ous work, by the joint efforts of the Courts
of Saxony and Hanover, supplied experimental
proof that the venerable old man's caution was
not groundless." The corollary which Mr.
Coleridge draws from this is, that " questions
which cannot be fully answered without exposing
the respondent to personal danger are not en-
titled to a fair answer." Dr. Paley contends, in
like manner, for the privilege of telling falsehood.
" There are falsehoods (he says) which are not
lies ; that is, which are not criminal, as where
the person to whom you speak has no right to
know the truth, or, more properly, where little
or no inconvenience results from the want of
confidence in such cases." The Inquisition
ceased to become formidable in the Peninsula
during the last century, from the inability of any
such body to cope with insincerity. The infidels
were not such plain simple men as those alluded
to by Mr. Coleridge, and they eluded all at-
tempts to grapple with them. Nay, so far was
this carried, that Dr. Doyle states, that he paced
the halls of the Inquisition itself with the dis-
ciples of Voltaire, Diderot, and D'Alembert, and
that he hesitated for some time whether he should
take his station among the Christians or among
the Infidels. The -proceedings in the Synod of
Ulster have shown that a Protestant Inquisition
is not more efficacious than a Popish one. Men
will think for themselves; but it will depend on
circumstances whether they will give expression
to their thoughts. If placed under the necessity
4 declaring their opinions at the risk to them-
selves .")f sacrificing their worldly comforts, they
will not lie: state to embrace falsehood. In the
of Ulster, those Members who
case of the 5yn6.7.1
are -kr,„ „ will feel no doubt humi-
liated, even in their own estimations ; and if this
be a satisfaction to the authors of the scene, they
no doubt will have it. The subject is a curious
one, and we shall return to it.--Mortting
Chronicle.
A considerable misapprehension still exists as
to the actual situation of Mr. Slaney's Poor
Bill. The same paper which first misled the
public into a belief that this measure had actually
passed into a law, in correcting that error has
fallen into another equally mischievous, in stating
that the Bill has been rejected. The truth,
however, is, that the Bill was never intended by
its author,to be passed during the last Session ;
but was simply introduced, read a first and
second time, and ordered to be printed, that it
might be circulated throughout the country, and
undergo that ordeal it is now receiving. Erro-
neous, and worse than erroneous, as Mr. Slaney's
views upon this important subject are, nothing,
we believe, was further from his intention than
to take Parliament or the country by surprise ;
and though the means which he has chosen for
his purpose aro the most objectionable that could
have entered the mind of man, yet we feel fully
persuaded that his design was good, and that the
object he had in view was not only to lessen the
amount and misapplication of the poor rates, but
to restore, if possible, to the English labourer
that independence of character which the
manifest and glaring abuses of the Poor Laws
have gone nigh
to destroy. Mr. Slaney's re-
medy, however, would be only an aggravation of
the disease : and if it did not produce an actual
commotion in the country, would lead to a train
of moral evils too horrid and frightful to be
dwelt upon even in idea. It would be difficult
to imagine what rank the author of this notable
expedient would be entitled to hold in the esti-
mation of Mr. Malthus, whose well-known check-
population theories it tends on the one hand to
uphold, and on the other to decry. It tells the
marl with a wife and four children, that up to
that =punt of family, no relief shall be ob-
tainable for them from the poor rate under any
circumstance ; so far would impose arestraint
upon early marriages, if it does not hold out a
whil e on the other hand
temptation to infanticide :
assed this mystic
it tells the same man that havin^j_P
number of four, the greater the n:imber of his
offspring there are the better, and the
greater
will be his demand upon the parochial fun
It is no small proof of this gentleman's utter
inability and total unfitness to legislate upon
this subject, to perceive the entire ignorance
which he shows of the real state and situation of
the peasantry, to whom its application would al-
most wholly apply. There is probably no one
period in the life of a rural labourer, when, gene-
rally speaking, he stands more in need of assist-
ance than that at which this practical philan-
thropist would deprive him of any—viz. when he
has four children, all so young as to require the
mother's care, she and they, therefore, contri-
buting nothing to the general stock. A man
with double that number of children is often much
better off than the man with lour. In the for-
mer case some of the children are able to earn
their own livelihood, or the boys to assist the fa-
ther, or the girls the mother. In harvest time
such a family often glean corn enough to main-
tain them for many months, and, in short, bring
grist to the mill in many ways, that the four
little things are incapable of ; and we repeat,
therefore, that there is scarcely any man acquaint-
ed with country life, who must not be convinced
that had Mr. Slaney sought about to fix upon
that description of labourer to whom his plan
is least justly applicable, what may be called the

maximum of his minimum is just that point.
Words, in fact, are wasted in exposing the in-
justice, the absurdity, and utter impracticability
of this project, which we regret should be allow-
ed, even in its present shape, to traverse the
country with the imprint of the House of Com-
mons upon it.—Morning Herald.
Among the changes now talked of, are, the
intended appointment of the Duke of Gordon
to be Commander-in-Chief, and of Sir Herbert
Taylor to the Governorship of the Cape. As to
any certainty as to the first of these, it must be,
we should imagine, premature ; his Grace, we
believe, not being yet arrived from Switzerland,
where lie was at the time of his father's recent
death. Both these arrangements would be ex-
tremely popular. As Marquis of Huntley, the
Duke has seen some service, is himself a soldier,
and a soldier's friend at heart, and of that high
honourable spirit which begets confidence, and
sheds a lustre over all which it undertakes. Than
Sir Herbert Taylor, no man in the country justly
stands higher for official promptitude, urbanity,
and good sense ; and ill as he can be spared at
home, there is no one who would carry with him
and insure more honour and respect in a distant
colony, than a man so different from many of
those who have too often tarnished their own
and the country's reputation on such missions.
—lbid.

The latest news from Constantinople informs
us, that the Grand Seignior haughtily repels all
idea of intervention, on the part of Foreign
Powers, between him and his Greek subjects.
We should like to know what his Highness can
really do to prevent the Allied Cabinets from
doing whatever they may have resolved upon ?
A criminal who is once safely lodged within the
walls of Newgate, might as well protest against
being hanged. "It is all very well for you to
protest, my fine fellow ; but we shall certainly
hang you notwithstanding," would be the reply
of his gaolers ; and so it is with respect to
Turkey. It is notorious that this Power would
be too feeble to cops with any one of those
States singly, which are now confederated
against her. What has she to do, then, but to sub-
mit to their will ? She has miscalculated her true
position. We will not say her strength, but
her existence, as an,European State, has arisen
from the rival interests and pretensions, from the
conflicting policy, of the great European Poten-
tates. The question has been, not how she
should be subdued, but how she should be pre-
served—not as to the means by which she might
be at once dismembered, but how the spoil
should be distributed. There have been, and
there are now, statesmen and politicians who
consider her existence as a blot upon the face of
Christendom—who loudly condemn the as-
cendancy of those considerations by which that
existence is protracted. We can easily under-
stand how a Government, at once the most in-
solent and ignorant, should misconstrue this state
of things, and fancy that it awes those who are
only puzzled to know what to do with it. The
solution of the mystery, however, is at hand.
Advice, remonstrance, and persuasion, have
been exhausted in vain. Inaccessible to reason,
she leaves only the alternative of force ; and
against that force she is powerless.--Nets lines.