The Express.
London, England, 1868-09-16 00:00:00

5 do. 2 • di. • •

" a mischief and a danger." and that only
the control of the government can snake
him useful. or ova harmless. W. B. G." refers
to the proceedings of Oonvowitiorittial to the me-
tainty that if it were unlettered en* ma 88 ltr,
M A CIONOCIIII. Biabop 00 Li 11110.: lad Do ti
Prmaar would be more-ilea* deilt with.
Prep inquiry in science 'or philsi-
sophy, sad anti-8a world go to
the wall. Now this is • point on which
there may be two opinions. Professor Huxr.sy,
Dr. TYNDALL, 'sad Dr. Knew. who know as
much about ma rentter. es "W. B. G.," have re-
cently borne testimony se to the attitude of an
established dire Lowe de seisme sad free in-.
quiry. The freedom of the Ildrty-nins Articles,
even so interpreted-by Load .WierstrzY, would bo
to men of selienciadegradingeorritede. One orthe

evils of anoitablishird tentevls, we do not say that
it has not botueliehalancing advantages, is that it
tempts nien'tffuelyere Dot the eourage to be
wholly true tiethstr itecie4tioai. into a position in
which they. perniads. themselves that they
are not wholly.• Wee to • them. The limited
tolerance lad paver of inshatultion which a latitu-
d*riiut.ekergy'leinebeess by sobjettien to the
State has AO title Oci the holodrable statue of fun.;
dem, and is lionght.it *. heavy price of candour
acid truth/ohms& ,Alist dissenting sects are more
intolerant than as Itstsblished Church is
seeertiori 'often • wads but of doubtful
accuracy. In emery lejelge dehomination there
is precisely the same 11:10fEedent of thought as that
which in the Anglican ootrununion is called by the
name of Broad Church. Bishop OOLIBIOO is in
the Church, but perhaps he is the only man
whom his prosecetofs could not have harassed
into resignation or recentation. AU this, how-
ever, has very little relation to a country in
which the • clergy who ass setbycot to the bene-
ficent control 'of the Beane minister only
to one-eighth of the population, and in
which the uncontrolled sacekies is the priest of
nearly all the renstinder. "W. R. 0.'6" doc-
trine is, however, an anachronism. He speaks of
the idt4 mire of onr Reformation being the theory
of the subordination of the Church to the State.

But this theory had relation to a state of society
in which the Church and State were held to
be conterminous; they were the nation viewed
under different aspects, or rather they were two
sides of the Royal authority, for the nation was
taken very little into account. The doctrine bore
ite natural fruit, not in the toleration of diversi-
ties but in the persecution of Non-conformity.
It is quite inapplicable to an ago of voluntary
religious associatiorui, in which a majority of the
people in every part of the Empire, and an over-
whelming majority in Ireland, are handed over to
the uncontrolled seen-dim, and find themselves per-
fectly able to deal with him.
"W. R. G." is not perfectly consistent with him-
self. He describes the scheme of Mr. GLADSTONE
as en attempt " to weaken and disarm a church
" which is friendly to the British connexion and
" Imperial rule, in order to gratify, with-
" out attempting to curb, or control, or
" neutralise a church which has of late
" years shown itself inimical to both."
If disestablishment will weaken and disarm the
Protestant church, what becomes of " W. R. G.'s"
fear that it should make the clergy the sovereign
and oppressor of the laity ? How can the very
same policy weaken and disarm the clergy of
one Church, and leave the other uncurbed,
uncontrolled, nnneutralised ? Ii a powerful Church
needs to be combated by a powerful Church,
"W. R. G." has shown that impartial disesta-
blishment is the way to this end. But he at once
exaggerates the power, and does some injustice to
the character of the Roman catholic clergy. Mr.
CHICHIJIMA FORTESCCE end Lord MAYO do not
hold that that clergy has shown itself hostile to
the British connexion and the imperial rule.
If Catholicism in the character it assumes
in Ireland, is hostile, as "W. B. G." con-
tends, to the well-being of the country,
ita character is determined by the excep-
tional position which it occupies, a posi-
tion which "W. R. G." would perpetuate.
" Th-lßoman catholic clergy," says "W. 8.G.,"
" encourage early and improvident marriages;
" they discourage emigration ; they support the
" rasasantry in resisting the consolidation of farms
" into acreages on which a family can live in de-
" cency and comfort : they set their faces obsti-
" nately against the system of mixed education."
If they do so, theyshow how vain are " W. R.G.'s"
alarms. For the birth rate in Ireland is lower, and
the percentage of marriages is fewer than in any
part of the United Kingdom ; the consolidation of
farms has gone, and i. going on with rapidity;
and Roman Catholic children attended the mixed
schools in undiminislusl numbers. To ourselves
it is clear that, as in America, so in Ireland, reli-
gious equality will loosen the hold of the Roman
Catholic priesthood over their flocks; and that, as
in Europe, it will give rise to a liberal lay oppo-
sition to the domination of the isarti pr.ltre.

ENOLISE AND AMERICAN EMI-
TIONEERINO.

' A sensible political writer in America informs us,
with the calmness of assured conviction, that the
art of electioneering is unknown among English
politicians. The whole system has to be inaugu-
rated. We understand his argument to be that the
great gain arising out of the Reform Bill is not
to he wrought from above down to the people, but
is to originate and work upward from the people
themselves. In other words, the real lasting
Material change to a more popular form of
government in England will only be consummated
when the masses here acquire the ability to become
instrumental in selecting their own candidates.
At present certain gentlemen conic forward and
nominate themselves to the voters, asking for
suffrages on the ground that they are respectively
Liberals or Conservatives. The whole act of the
voter consists in voting for the one or the other.
Consequently, there has not yet appeared a single
specimen of a new class of candidates. The pre-
sent men still belong to the class who regard them-
seh es as the teachers, leaders, and governors of the
people ; who never dream of seeking new ideas
from among the people. While in America the
mass of voters in each party dictates what shall be
the measures and what the principles of the party,
in England the same persons simply by their
cotes signify that they have more confidence
in the Liberal than in the Conservative
leader. Some of this statement is only
partially true so far as we are concerned, but it is
Mteresting as an outside view. We should add
too, that our censor allows that though the
English system of unquestioned leadership may
not be very good, the evil in it will be reduced to
a minimum when it strengthens the hands of a
conscientious, and able Liberal statesman like Mr.
01,A !MOW&