The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-15 00:00:00

" It is calculated by sober and experieneed judges,
that the British infantry is short by 20,000 men of the
amount which would he requisite to discharge the
duties assigned it, even in time of peace, with any
decent consideration for the health and comfort of the
soldier. India is now supposed to require a reinforce-
ment of not less than 6000 European infantry, keeping
in view the dangers which beset our empire from the
west of the Indus to the east and north of the Ganges.
" Keeping in view the obstinacy of the people in the
United States on the subject of their north-eastern
boundary, and the political impossibility of an acqui-
escence on the part of Great Britain in their demands
upon her, it is clear that no minister of this country
can think of reducing the present British force in our
North American provinces ; and, as some of the
regiments in these quarters have never seen England
for fourteen years, it is difficult to guess, with the
scanty number of troops at home, where the reliefs for
Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, are to

come from

" But the military authorities, we are informed by
our correspondent, deprecate the slightest imputation
to them of any blame for the hardships of the colonial
service, in which they deeply sympathize. They lament,
for the sake of the army, that they can neither help it,
nor themselves. They have remonstrated, complained,
and earnestly and respectfully besought attention from
statesmen of all parties to the unceasing pressure on
our brave troops of the line, occasioned by the in-
adequacy of their numbers to the duties entailed upon
them at home and abroad."

. _ _re reminded by our correspondent of a great
man's observation in his place in parliament —" Of the
danger and mischief of attempting to make a peace
establishment supply the demands of extensive warlike
5 I operations

Such is the defence of the military administration of
the Horse Guards, transmitted to us by a friend who
is not dependent upon it, but who is responsible to us
for the truth and correctness of his statements.

CHURCH RATES AND TITHES

(From the Nezceastle Journal.)

So, now that the friends of John fhorogood find
subscriptions cease to flow in, some one steps forward
and pays the amount of five and sixpence to open the
prison doors, and the poor " martyr" is, perforce,
obliged to sacrifice his " conscience" by accepting the
boon, and return to his original occupation of shoe-
making, after receiving more by idleness than he would
have received by honest industry in half-a-dozen years.
But, as agitation is to be kept up, and turn and turn
about is but fair in order that some division of the
loaves and fishes may be made, up :steps another in
the person of Mr. Baines to take Mr. Thorogood's
place, and become " martyr" number two ; and, when

the cause has become somewhat stale, to procure some
kind, unknown friend to pay the money, and allow him
to return to the bosom of his disconsolate family.
Now, what pure and perfect humbug all this is; it is
alike disgraceful to the members of a christian church
and to common sense. It is not the fault of the
Church, of her ministers, or the appointed lay officers,
that these demands are made, but that of the common
law of the land. When a rate is made for defraying
the expenses necessary to the worship of God as by
law established, the churchwardens have no alternative
but to enforce payment, and it is for disobeying the
law that imprisonment ensues. The state is depend-
ent upon the church, and not the church upon the
state; the one has existed from the commencement of
time, and will exist to eternity, while the other is de-
pendent upon circumstances, and is subject to changes
and to annihilation. The Almighty has decreed that
he shall be worshipped, and that a certain portion of
the goods of each person shall be set aside for that
purpose, levied upon the land, houses, and wealth of
each individual, and whoever refuses to pay the allot-
ted portion is guilty of disobedience to the divine
law, and of fraud towards his landlord or to the
party of whom he may have purchased his property.
It is the land and houses that pay all these taxes, not

the individual. No man purchaseth more than nine-
tenths of an estate, because it is clearly understood
between buyer and seller that the remaining tenth
belongs to neither of the two, but to the Church, So,
in renting a house, the landlord makes a reduction in
the rent. proportionate to the parochial and other
burdens upon it. Take the poor-rate for instance,
which is much higher in some parishes than in others;
houses of an equal value will not let for so much in
that which is rated at the higher as in that which has
the lower charge, so that in point of fact, if any have a
right to refuse payment of a rate, it is the landlord and
not the tenant, he being only the agent in paying the
demands upon the former. Conscience has nothing
to do with this system of resistance as it is called, but
a love of notoriety. The Jews, whose creed is com-
pletely opposed to the Christian religion, never think
of opposition ; the Roman Catholic, who thinks it
highly meritorious to exterminate heretics, does not
hesitate to pay taxes imposed by the State for the
propagation of a system of religion which he firmly
believes ought not to exist; and yet, up starts A parcel
of people professing to belong to the National Church,
whose consciences will not allo v them, forsooth, to
contribute to these charges. If some of these gentle-
men were to settle at Rome, would they leave that
place, if it suited them to remain, because exactions
were made to support the Papists? Oh no; con-
science would then be subservient to convenience.
What perfect folly, and, it might be also said, want of
respect to their Creator, is it then to refuse to con-
t ribute to his worship in the method appointed by law?
Let no more be heard of resistance to Church Rates.