The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-06 00:00:00

tiix ;%nn,

LONDON:
THURSDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 6, 1842.

Under the pressure of affliction the Tories
teem to hentaking great progress in useful know-
lidge. They have succeeded, it is true, in Par-
!Ament, but they have failed, as we long ago
id, in the country. Their measures have not
iven prosperity to the manufacturers, and they
e exciting the discontent of the agriculturists.
hey are beginning, therefore, to know them-
; rives, and take a more correct measure than
tt rmerly of their own wisdom. Their journals
;!eing quite unable to explain the strange cir-
cumstances which alarm them by any ordinary
lintsoning, are obliged to fall back on first prin-
c:ples, and, to exonerate Sir R. PEEL and his
;,•)licv, they condemn the whole system of so-
iety. For example, the Morning Post said yes-
The truth is, that in our artificial state of society,
tite abundance of a thing does not always make it
tore accessible by the mass of the people, nor its
O
teapness increase the quantity of it which they can
4.onirnand. In this respect the arrangements of society
i'minteract the natural order of things, and, therefore,
lice proposition seems paradoxical which is really and
tactically true.

This is exactly what the Chartists say; ex-
trtly what the most ultra Democrats say, and
ocactly what the whole body of the toiling and
.
s.i-requited working classes say. They contend
that, in the natural order of things, power be-
Inlgs to the many; that those who produce the
!Teeth of society should make laws for the
and that productive industry should be
10. carded with plenty, and. only idleness be in
s,antand,tiestitution. Because, as the Post states,
►:,is "natural order of things is counteracted by
(political) arrangements of society," they
/•3mand Universal Suffrage—the abatement of
4.)e aristocracy, and an alteration in the right of
roperty. Our Contemporary, then, must hence-
.rth be classed with those whom he sometimes
igtnatises as Revolutionists. He asserts that
natural order of things, which is necessarily
most beneficial, is counteracted and per-
4;;rted by political arrangements; and, did we
suppose that he used the words we have
,total, in ignorance of their import, we should
once inumn the ultra Democrats that they
found a convert and ally in the Tory
.L'orniv Post.

It is now universally admitted that the con-
ilUll of the working classes, moral and physical,
:., the plague Spot of sw2letv. We have too ire-
Slated cur opinion of the best means of
:..;re!•ovirag their physical condition, namely, es-
-41• llishing perfectly free trade, beginning with
s.:e trade in food, to make it necessary for us to

. -iter now inio that subiect. The hest of
:i.4provitif.).: their moral condition is for us almost
;Lew subject. w hen we consider the age of
whOm it is mcst requ:site to improve, and
almost ►nstant want:or improvement for the
• eurity of society, education, the fruit of
can-only ripen into wisdom in another ge-
44ration, seems hardly calculated to supply the
sent and immediate want. For education' to
available, it must mould the hearts of the
to meek submission, to poverty, and to ,

when they see the few enjoying

plenty, and endowed with power and authority;
and no education, short of a complete Spartan
drilling, or monastic suppression of all the pas-
sions, or a complete remodelling of man's heart
and mind, is at all likely to answer that end.
Experience, too, we are afraid, forbids us to
hope much even in future from education. It is
now upwards of thirty years since LANCASTER

and BELL directed public attention to the sub-
ject, and though it has been imperfectly wrought
out, it has ever since been kept in view ; and
the moral condition of which we now complain,
seems an unanswerable proof that education, at
least at an early date, will not ensure the desired
improvement. Whatever it may have effected
in other countries in which a system of instruc-
tion
has been in harmony with the institutions
and condition of society through a long series
of years, no system of teaching seems likely, as
long as we have a political and free Press, ever to
produce contentment in the depressed mul-
titude. In fact, the idea of attaining this
object by education isip. jo a great extent,
given up ; and, through all ranks, from
Lord Chief Justice TINDAL to the daily
journals of all parties, the opinion is now
entertained that the diffusion of" sound religious
knowledge" amongst the people is the one thing
needful. There is much difference of opinion as
to the mode by which this may possibly be ac-
complished, but there seems to be none as to its
being the most essential matter. Hence it
becomes of great importance, considering the
urgency of the demand to improve the moral
condition of the people, to inquire whether the
diffusion of " sound religious knowledge"
amongst them is calculated to answer the ex-
pectations of those who advocate it, and to that
inquiry the remainder of our remarks will be
directed.

It was well observed yesterday by a Morning
Contemporary, that "when Missionary SMITH
was tried in Demerara, the slave negroes who
were called as witnesses could give little account
of his preachings, but they all remembered his
reading the chapters in Exodus that describe the
liberation of the Israelitish slaves, and the venge-
ance on their Egyptian oppressors and task-
masters." The Bible has before now been made the
text-book of freedom, and whether the stirring
chapters of the Old Testament, or the chapters
teaching love and mercy, and inculcating poverty
and humbleness of heart, of the New be princi-
pally dwelt on, they seem little calculated to
make the multitude reverence either the legisla-
tion of the landlords or the splendour of the
hierarchy. In fact some of the most powerful
arguments by which both have been lately as-
sailed, are taken from the two sacred books.
Those who undertake the task of interpreting
them may, perhaps, suppose that they can, as
heretofore, shape them to their own particular
purposes; but the same circumstance which pre-
vents education from being effectual amongst us
as a system of drilling—namely, the existence of
a free political Press—will equally prevent any
body of clergymen from straining or perverting
the Scriptures. The men they have to deal with
can " read, and write, and understand ;" they,are
as intellectual, perhaps even more intellectual,
than those who would reform them, and can in
no wise be deluded or deceived, except through
the instrumentality of their own passions. On
these grounds we doubt whether the diffusion of
religious knowledge amongst the people would
produce that moral arid political improvement
which its advocates expect.
To us, also, it seems contrary to experience to
believe that men will, or can, be made religious
by Act of Parliament. Whatever means the
Legislature may employ, they must begin and
end in taxation. It has no funds but what it
derives from that source. It cannot send forth
one missionary, or establish one zealous man in
a spot, except by levying contributions on the
people. Already taxation is a source of much
discontent, and to connect religion in any way
with more taxation, is about the fittest means we
know to bring religion into disrepute.
On this subject, probably, men are led astray
by inferring that the same beneficial results
would flow from the exertions of the State as
from the exertions of individuals. Great things
have been done—greatconversions of the heathen
made, by missionaries, and it is hence supposed
that similar effects might be produced at home
by the Legislature extending the Church. Be-
tween the two, however, there is a great differ-
ence. The missionaries, at least in the first in-
stance, have been provided by other countries.
Their resources have been, as Dr. CHA LMERS
would say, ab extra. Church extension must be,
so far as the people are concerned, ab intra.
Missionaries have not only cost the people to be
converted nothing, but in general, from being
members of a more advanced society they have
carried much useful knowledge amongst them.
Church extension will be costly to the people,
and the clergy belonging to the same society,
without being in general further advanced in
secular knowledge than the people they are to
teach, will not be able to impart any valuable
information to them, and they cannot produce
the same effect here as missionaries have pro-
duced amongst ignorant savages. It is un-
doubtedly very pleasing to suppose that
immorality and irreligion, and with them
discontent ILIA unhappiness, can be ba-
nished from society by an Act of Par-
liament to promote Church extension; many
good men, like Chief Justice TINDAL, have in-
dulged in the supposition, but when it is exa-
mined by the light of experience, it seems no
better than one of those day dreams which occa-
sionally amuse the wise and the good, as well as
the weak and the visionary.

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND.—A report
hay reached us, which we notice that it may be con-
tradicted or explained, that none of the persons on
board the Trident received any gratuity whatever for
their services. Even the stewardess, who was in
close personal attendance on her Majesty, as an ex-
perienced female sailor, was not rewarded. If this
statement be correct, we are sure that the omission to
perform so grateful a duty on the part of her Ma-
jesty's purse-bearer, arises from some mistake, or
perhaps the acknowledgment is only delayed to make
it the more handsoma and the more acceptable.