The Express.
London, England, 1868-03-23 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE'S IRISH CHURCH
RESOLUTION.

Tile resolution relating to the Irish Church of
which Mr. GLADBTONIC will give notice this
evening will, we may state, explicitly assert
the expediency and necessity of dis-establish-
ment. It is not likely that it will propose to effect
this object at once, that is, during the present
session, or by the agency of the existing Rome of
Commons. The matter will be referred to the new
Parliament, from whose hands, indeed, it could not
by any expedient be taken. The right of revising
the decisions of its predecessor, of confirming, or,
if need be, of reversing them, is of course inalienable
from any legislative assembly, more especially from a
legislative assembly in which the great body of the
people will, for the first time, be fully represented.
Still, the resolution of which Mr. Outworn will
give notice to-night, and which he will move on
Monday, cannot be without its effect. It will be
the solemn recognition, by the Liberal party,
through its recognised Parliamentary leader,
the chiefs of its various sections, and the great
body of its members, of their duties in regard
to the Irish Church. It will record a vow not
to rest until a great act of justice is accomplished.
The Irish Church question is now the great Liberal
question. It is what Reform was before 1832, and
what Free Trade was before 1846. To fight for it
in opposition, if it cannot be carried in office,
will be the duty, as it is we believe, the fixed
intention of the Liberal leaden and party.
No possible Liberal Minister can now form a Go-
veniment, except with the resolution to settle this
question, before all others, and unless he have full
authority to use every constitutional means neces-
sary for this purpose. When the Liberal party is
committed as a whole to a cause, ultimate triumph
is secure. It is the legio inoieta of politics. What-
ever delay may take place, and we do not anticipate
any which is not necessarily involved in the forms of
constitutional action, hope and confidence will be
secured to the Irish people. The faltering language
which it was the fashion only two or three years
ago to use, the hesitating temper and disposition
to compromise which marked the debate of 1865,
did much to diffuse a sense of despair among the
Irish people. When statesmen acknowledge that
a certain course of action is just and right, and re-
fuse to take it, when they plead the danger
of offending those who profit by wrong,
and are evidently actuated rather by regard
to the convenience of the moment than to
lasting principles, remonstrance and appeal be-
come hopeless. To prove the justice of a claim to
an adversary who disputes it is to make step towards
success. But what can be done with a man who
admits that right is on your aide, and refuses to
act on his own perception of what is right ? In
this way the speeches delivered by Lord
PALMERSTON and Sir Gsoxos GREY in 1865,
deprecating, on grounds of expediency, any inter-
ference with the admitted abuse of the Irish
Church Establishment, did incalculable harm. It
is not gratuitous to suppose that, in their action
upon the Irish mind, they may have had some
connexion with the suspension of the Habeas Corpus
Act in the year following. The Liberal party owes
Ireland some atonement for the temporising course
which it has followed on this subject for • long
time. It is bound to give assurance that it is now
in earnest. Mr. GLADSTONI4 as his speech in the
late Irish debate showed, is fully sensible of this

necessity. The motion will be something more
than a form of words, however explicit and
solemn. The declaration of principle which it
contains will, to use Mr. GLADSTONeII own WWI"