Bank of England.

or pawnbrokers, who have not the smallest right to have the least influence over any person's property but their own, should have the property of every individual at their mercy; and our amazement is not diminished, when we reflect that this power has resulted from the profound policy of the "collective wisdom" and " great council," as the Morning Chronicle terms them, of the nation.

To illustrate the preceding account of the Bank, we shall insert two statements, extracted from the appendix to the Report of the Bank Committee of the House of Lords. The first statement will show the progressive increase of the Bank issues, and also the corresponding increase in the amount of the borough debt and of the Bank advances to government, from the stoppage in 1797 to the present time. The second statement will show the present state of the affairs of the Bank, the amount of its outstanding demands, and the funds the Bank possesses to discharge these demands. The first statement, to save room, is abridged from the statements at pages 309, 323, and 425 of the Appendix; and the second statement is inserted entire from page 316 of the Appendix.

A STATEMENT of the Amount of Bank Paper in circulation in each Year, from 1797 to 1819; also a Statement of the Amount of the Bank Advances to Government, and the Increase of the Interest of the Borough Debt during the same Period.

Established Clergy.

EXPENSE

OF THE

ESTABLISHED CLERGY.

THE Reformers are contending against the corruptions, not the principles of the English System. They are not at war with the theory, but the practice of the Constitution. They see nothing to dislike in the government of a king, an aristocracy, and a commons, when their powers are equitably distributed, and justly administered. They can look with respect to a sovereign who discharges the duties of the executive, protects his people from domestic oppression, and the country from foreign insult. They can view the aristocracy without envy, when they behold it the model of human excellence, the sanctuary of honour, virtue, and wisdom. They 'can look to the commons with confidence, when they behold them the organ of their sentiments, the faithful representatives of their interests, and the watchful guardians of their rights. They can look to the ministers of justice with reverence, when they behold them really independent, neither blinded by professional interest, corrupted by ambition, nor intimidated by power. Lastly, they can look to the clergy with respect, when they find them neither rapacious nor hypocritical, when their practice accords with their professions; when they are neither profligate nor proud; when they humbly discharge the duties of their calling, endeavouring to alleviate the distresses of their fellow creatures, and administering such consolation as religion affords to the afflicted and unfortunate.

It is the reverse, the counterfeit of this picture, at which they are indignant, and which they are labouring to reform. They are indignant at the mockery of sovereignty, aristocracy, representation, justice, and religion. They behold the sovereign the greatest slave, the veriest tool in his dominions; the aristocracy the refuge of exploded errors, the sanctuary of

Established Clergy.

ignorance, bigotry, and titled imbecility; the Commons the deciders of their sufferings, and the usurpers of their rights; the judges,-men from whose lips ought to be heard nothing but the accents of mercy and wisdom, become the oracles of delusion, the servile instruments of oppression, the propagators of unfounded alarm, the firebrands of civil strife, stimulating one part of society to violence and aggression on another; lastly, they behold the ministers of religion engaged in the same unhallowed pursuit― teaching peace-fomenting war; strengthening the iron hand of tyranny, exciting to murderous violence, stimulating one party of Christians to cut the throats of another, and with the accents and exterior of angels perpetrating the work of demons.

The Reformers revere the Constitution, but they abhor its corruptions. They will respect the laws and reverence religion, but under their names they will not tamely behold their liberties destroyed, their property violated, murder committed in open day, and England, from the freest and happiest nation of the earth, rendered the most degraded and miserable.

Our opponents, defeated in argument, have long laboured to calumniate the motives of Reformers: abuses have been proved, the iron tyranny and glaring absurdity of the present system have been demonstrated. These things cannot be denied, but we are accused of meditating something beyond our professions. Under the specious name of Reform, it is said we design revolution; and under pretence of alleviating the pressure of intolerable burthens, we look to the dissolution of society and the plunder of the rich. What can the Reformers reply to such imputations? what ought they to reply? Men can only vindicate their motives by their conduct. Accusations at all times may be made, but not established. Every man is liable to be accused, but not convicted. Those who bring forward charges, ought also to bring proofs. Let the enemies of Reform establish their calumnies. Let them answer our arguments. Let them show that abuses do not exist; that the calamities of the country do not proceed from overwhelming taxation, originating in non-representation. Till then we must be silent; there would be no end of combating assertions advanced without proof.

We are now going to expose the corruption and expense of the Established Church; and no doubt in this likewise we shall be calumniated. When we attack the abuses of government, it is said we design the overthrow of all government; when we expose the abuses of Christianity, it will be said, we are sapping the foundations of religion and morality. We disclaim all such intentions. We are not going to attack Christianity, but its

Established Clergy.

corruptions. We reverence the founder of the Christian faith. We admire his blameless life, his pure morality, and above all we glory in him, as the great Radical Reformer of Israel-waging fearless war with the bloated hypocrites, who, under the mask of religion and holiness, devoured in idleness the rewards of virtuous industry.

No, reader, it is not Christ, but Anti-Christ, the Anti-Christian Church of England we are going to unmask. Tithes are not Christianity, nor bishops, nor archdeacons, nor prebendaries, nor canons, nor the catechism, nor the liturgy. These are all innovations-corruptions unknown and unordained by Christ: they have no more to do with his doctrine than seatselling has to do with the Constitution. But it is these we are going to expose. We are going to expose that ulcerous concretion, that foul and unformed mass of rapacity, intolerance, absurdity, and wickedness, osten sibly formed on the doctrines of Jesus, but no more to do with his doctrines than with the creed of Mahomet or the maxiins of Confucius.

It is time this second Anti-Christ was laid bare, when we behold her in the nineteenth century audaciously rear the bloody front of persecution, This too she may term Christianity, but Christ was too mild and gentle to combat arguments by force, or to endeavour to silence the voice of reason by fine and imprisonment. Surely if Christianity could force its way in opposition to the secular magistrate, it can maintain the power it has attained without his assistance. In the pure precepts of that religion, there is nothing to excite either indignation or abhorrence: it neither tramples on men by its pride, disgusts by its insolence, nor impoverishes by its rapacity. It is meek, charitable, unobtrusive, and, above all, cheap; it does good without ostentation, relieves distress, a real minister of peace, not the firebrand of civil strife, and the exciter to violence and blood. But we again say that this is not Church of Englandism, the innovation of tithes, of bishops, of clerical sinecurism, and non-residence. These indeed require all the power of the magistrate, the emoluments of the church, and the sophistry of her advocates, to defend. They require that reason should be combated by force, and men punished for thinking, and daring to publish their thoughts. Well, the Church of England has obtained one victim to her intolerance; let us see whether she will punish like Christ or Anti-Christ. The judge has declared that Christianity was a part of his law; let us see if it forms a part of his practice. We know that Christ is a most merciful judge. When the woman caught in adultery was brought before him, he forgave the offence, and dismissed her, saying, Go, and sin no more. Will the judge