27 MAY 1837, Page 11

SPEAK OUT.

MR. BAINES, said Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, "does not carry all the Dissenters in his belly. The expression was coarse and charac- teristic, but implied a truth though it came from the lips of BURDETT. Mr. Baines " took upon himself to declare " that there " was no intention on the part of the general body of Dis- senters" to procure the separation of the Church from the State. In other words, the Dissenters—a powerful and intelligent body, consisting of millions, and supported by a very large number of Churchmen—have no intention of procuring relief from a wrong, but are contented to sit mum-chance, with their arms folded, in passive submission to injury and insult. " Save us from our friends "—such friends as Mr. BAINES, the Nonconformists may exclaim; for if he is the organ of the Dissenters, and if they are really the mean-spirited creatures he represents them to be, so far from obtaining relief from Church-rates, they would be fit subjects for additional oppression, and the reenactment of the penal statutes would become a harmless experiment to the Church party. The motive of Mr. BAINES was a pious fraud : he cunningly thought to lull the Tories into the belief that the Dissenters hail abandoned an article of faith which must always be at the head of their creed. But here Mr. BAINES was encountered by Mr. HARDY; who, though he had the worst of the newspaper war about the Pontefract bribery, completely floored his antagonist in the House of Commons- " Ile held in his hand a paper, the contents of which he begged leave to communicate to the House, and which showed the feelings of those who were the fit representatives of the political Dissenters. It was well known that tkere was in this town an united Committed which represented the Dissenters. Now he held in his hand a paper in which there was a report of the resolutions agreed to at a meeting called for the purpose of conferring on the best means of getting rid of the grievances ender which the Dissenters laboured. The meeting was held at the London Tavern, on the 8th of May 1834; and H. Baines, Esq. was in the chair. The resolution that was then moved, seconded, and adopted, was this—' Resolved, that this meeting recognizes the great leading principles of the full and complete separation of Church and State as the true basis on which equal rights and justice can be secured to all classes of his Majesty's sub- jects.'" There was the true Nonconformist principle manfully avowed. The avowal commands respect from those who are resolved that the separation referred to shall never be made. But Mr. BAIrgas was rewarded with contempt, when, as a Dissenter, lie announced his abandonment of the question of Church and State connexion ; and moreover, he did not impose for a moment on any human being. All he could say in reply to Mr. HARDY was, that he had himself opposed the resolution passed at the London Tavern, and was in a minority. Yet he put himself forward as the organ of the majority of the Dissenters I We recommend Mr. BAINES in future to speak for himself. He is the attached ally of the Whig Ministers, whom, by means of' his extensively-circulated paper, he efficiently supports; but be is not the organ of the Dissenters. They are well-disposed towards the Whigs, but will not go so far as to sink or repudiate the grand principle of Nonconformity in order to curry favour with any Government ; and we have no doubt that in the long run they will find that manly consistency and plain-speaking will serve their purpose better than " bated breath" and meek misre- presentation.