The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-16 00:00:00

though he only possessed twenty thousand
a year, and had inducted only fourteen of his
friends and kinsfolk into the good things of his
diocese, he actually subscribed twenty:five
pounds the other day to the starving Irish,—and
this without any hope of return ! Some people
may be unreasonable enough to say that this
was but a sorry gift from so richly-endowed a
churchman ; but their fastidiousness will be con-
verted into admiration, when they are told that

it was just twenty-five pounds more than the
rest of the Irish Archbishops and Bishops—
with the exception of him of Tuam—subscribed
for their starving flocks ! During the recent
(and, we believe, still existing) famine in
the sister country, the amount of charity con-
tributed by three Protestant Irish Archbishops
and eighteen Bishops, amounted to the exact
sum of— 0 ! consequently the subscription
of the late Bishop of DERRY is really a splen-
did boon, and deserves to be appreciated as such,
We are not without hopes that Mr. II UM E's
motion may have the effect of paving the
way to a Reform in the Irish Church. This
establishment is the greatest incubus that
ever yet oppressed the energies of a nation.
It is a moral cholera, which is daily productive
of the most wide-spread devastation. Scarcely
a day passes but some one or other falls a victim
to the tithe-system in Ireland : out of this ori-
ginated the •Newtownbarry massacre ; and to
this is it owing that the benefits expected to ac-
crue from Catholic Emancipation have hitherto
in some degree been neutralized. Were the
sacred principles of religion strengthened and
exalted by a rich Irish hierarchy, we should be
the very last to murmur against such an esta•
blishment ; but when every day that passes con-
vinces us more and more that the Irish Church,
as at present constituted, is so far from bene-
fiting, that it actually degrades the sacred cause
it professes to uphold, we cannot but wish to
' see it subjected to a purifying process of Re-
, form. Of what earthly use is it to remove

the minor evils of Ireland, when the major ones
are left untouched ? To amputate the finger
when the whole arm is in a state of mortifica•
tiou ? If Ministers really wish to benefit
the sister country, they should begin with
looking to primary, not secondary causes; to
legislate upon any other principle for Ireland,
is like commencing a house at the attics and
finishing it at the foundation. The Irish Church
once thoroughly reformed, minor evils would
soon be found comparatively easy of cure ; but till
this is done, nothing is done ; for partial reme-
dies to a country whose case is desperate, only
aggravate what they would fain amend.

A Wiltshire Anti-Reform declaration, signed
by one hundred and eleven noblemen and gentle-
men, either immediately or recently connected with
that county, is now going the round of the Press.
The list of signatures at first sight appears im-
posing, but on a close inspection proves to be
utterly insignificant, inasmuch as interest is at
the bottom of the whole business, Those only
' who have something to lose by the Bill, have
ventured to enter their protest against it:
the signature of not one disinterested individual
is attached to the list; desperate Boroughmongers
and disappointed Ultra Placemen constitute
the whole inventory, which must consequently
wholly fail of effect. Besides, it is idle now to
get up Anti-Reform declarations ; the time for
those humbugs is past,