The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-10-31 00:00:00

[From Puntql.]
ELECTION ADDRESSES.

VL—DECIDEDLY CAT_TTIOVS.
To the Electors of Bamborough.

Gentlemen (I am debarred from saying Ladies and
Gentlemen, after the adverse decision of the Revising
Barrister),
A Dissolution of Parliament being looked upon as
not improbable, I, yielding with pardonable pride to a
requisition signed, as I have ascertained by a careful
examination of the Borough Register, by a clear 1
majority of your number, am not unwilling to become
C.-dididate for the representation of my native town
in the Imperial Legislature.
With reference to the principal political questions
now awaiting an answer, I have lehberatley weighed
all that is to be said on both sides, and am therefore
fully prepared to give such a summary of my senti-
ments as I should rejoice to find was considered satis-
factory by a Constituency so unprejudiced as that of
Bamborough.
There are those who believe that Parliamentary
, Reform has been indulged in to a dangerous, a ruinous
excess, and who predict that the funeral of the British
Slonstitution will take place at an early date; there
are others who would do ten times more than has
already been done, and who prophesy a future for
their country of such prosperity and power as history
can supply tri example. I do not participate in the
despair of the alarmists; lam not carried away by the
enthusiasm of the sanguine.
I shall vote for the gradual and graceful extinction
of the Irish State Church, if the Catholics desire it,
and the Protestants do not object to it, and a decided
majority of the House demand it; and I shall be ready
carefully to examine the details of any scheme that
may appear to me to ensure a fair and equitable appli-
• • • of the Establishment—when it

kiss btull
I am a loyal subject of the Church oi England, 1 nt
yet I respect the conscientious opinions of those
numerous and influential religious bodies who have
separated themselves from her doctrine and dieipline,
and have always regretted that I was not in Parlia-
ment when Church Rates disappeared from the
programme of the party, nothing in the world being so
agreeable to my temperament as a judicious compro-
mise. With an impartial hand I would check the
innovations of the extravagant, and correct the laxity
of the indifferent, amongst the Clergy.
Economy in our National Expenditure is essential ;
effieiency in our National Establishments is not
inferior in importance. Let there be brought under
my notice some plan which shall lighten the burdens
' of the people, and at the same time insure the safety
and welfare of tlte Queen's dominions, and no man in
the House will give it a more protracted consideration
than I shalL
The various religious communities will, I trust, be
able to agree on some comprehensive measure of
National Education which, without offending the
conscience or interfering with that personal liberty id
action so justly prized by Englishmen, will offer the
means of instruction to every child in the realm. When
this happens, I shall not be found absent from the
ranks of the workers against ignorance. It will not
surprise me if I I ve to see the day when the nation
shall claim and the universities yield the abolition of
religious disqualifications.
The great landed prom ietors of this country have only
to form themselves into Leagues in favour of the
adoption of the Ballot to secure my humble co-
operation.
In the same spirit of concession I would say to those
who lois, di iminant influence in towns which though
ancient and respectable are now faded and forgotten—
Intimate your willingness to submit to the political
extinction ,if these boroughe., and 1 will, in my ad-
miration of your unselfish patriotism give my voice for
the transfer of their electoral privileges to other and
more important centres of industry and enterprise.
One word in conclusion. You tell me that it is your
practice to defray by a subscription amongst your-
selves all the election expenses of the Candidate (It
your fres choice. I have not language at my com-
mand sufficiently strong to express my unqualified
approval of so excellent a custom, and iirte so credit-
able to the enlightened constituency by whose suffrages
I hope speedily to be placed ir the proud position Of
Member for BamboroinaL
Your faithful Servant,
Ely Lose, E. C. BARIM.,LUMEW TRIMMER.

DISESTABLISHMENT AND IS-
ENDOWMENT.
Os Monday evening a lecture was delivered in the Peel
Institution: Amin:A.lll, by the Rev. Canon Robinson, M.A.,
Rector of Bolton Abbey, being a clerg3 man's exposition of
his reasons for advocating disestablishment and disendow-
nient of the Irish Chureh
The lecturer commenced his lecture by stating that
he did not speak as a politician, much less as a patty
man. By what he should say that evening he was
not anxious to create any party feeling or excitement,
but he fv.ked theta to weigh well the arguments he
shou'd adduce and the statements he should make,
which would be his own honest convictions, and not
opinions expressed simply to please any one party.
(Hear.) In referring to the subject of his lecture, be
said that the Established Church in Ireland was
forced upon the people of that country, and he thought
that if the people of Ireland were their own masters,
the Church in that country would in a short time
cease to exist as an Establishment. (Applause.) Fears
were entertained by those of the opposite party that
if the Church were disestablished and disendowed,
Roman Catholicism would be introduced into Ireland
on a much larger scale. Now, he, as a clergyman of
the Church of England, and as one who loved that
Church, anticipated no such results, but he thought
that if the Church were disestablished and disendowed
it would tend to make it more prosperous than hereto-
fore, (Applause.) Thsendowing the Irish Church was
characterised by their opponents as spoliation and
robbery, but he contended that such was not the case.
The property with which the Church in Ireland was
evilowed was the property of the nation, aid,
tuerefore, the nation -had a right to dispose of
it as it thonght best. (Applause.) The tithes ;
were compulsory, and the nation had always claimed
the right to dispose of them. The most fearful con-
sequences were predicted by their opponents if the
Irish Church were disestablished and disendowed. It
was said that the bulwarks of Protestantism would for
ever be thrown down, and that nothing would be left
to stem the tide of Popery, which they said would
conic in like a flood and cover the land with desolating
; water. Now, what did all that cry mean? He would
tell them in the words of Shakespeare. It was
• "Like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."—

(Applause.) He maintained, in conclusion, that the
Established Church in Ireland was an injustice to the
people, and the sooner it was got rid of as an Estab-
lishment the better. The statement that the din-
establishment of the Church in England would follow
was a fallacy, but he said that if the Church in Eng-
lsnd hail to fell in a similar condition as it had in
Ireland be should raise his voice for its disestablish-
ment with as much earnestness as he was now advo-
cating the disestaldishment of the Irish Church.
(Cheers.) A vote of thanks to the lecturer concluded
the proceedings.