The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-15 00:00:00

THE HUSH CHURCH.

The Irish Church is rapidly putting its house in order,
and but little remains to be done in completing its
preparations for the coming change. Several of the
Diocesan Synods constituted under the statutes of the
Convention have been held, and all the elabo-
rate machinery necessary for conducting its spiritual
and temporal affairs in future will be ready before
the end of the year. In one respect only is there
reason to anticipate much serious difficulty. The
collection of funds has not proceeded as satisfactorily as
might have been expected, and it will need a very great
effort to place the Disestablished Church in a position of
financial security. Many circumstances have acted as
drawbacks to check the liberality of friends who possess
abundant means of helping it, but think it prudent to
wait until it shall have been reorganised. The hope of
realizing a considerable sum from commutation
and composition of life interests to form the
basis of a re-endowment is becoming fainter
every day. This is owing to the fact that the clergy, as a
rule, are driving a hard bargain with the representative
body, and have insisted upon such advantageous terms
for themselves that there is little chance of a surplus
for the future Church, and some of the laitX apprehend
that if a considerable number of the ergy avail
themselves of the privilege of compounding there
will be serious risk of a deficit. There is no
uniform plan or harmonious combination of plans for the
collection and distribution of the Church's available re-
sources. Various schemes and suggestions are put for-
ward in each diocese, according to circumstances, for the
regulation of financial matters, and the want of co-opera-
tion is sadly felt. In places where the Protestant population
is numerous and wealthy, funds will not be wanting for
local purposes, but the tendency of the policy adopted in
some of the Diocesan Synods appears to be to take special
care of.- this particular section of the Church, instead of
aiming at the formation of a general fund, to be appor-
tioned equitably to every parish.

THE BRITISH AWAY IN HOLLAND, 1795.
Terrible as are the sufferings of many of the wounded
in the present war, and imperfect as the arrangements
may be for tending them, they at least as a rule re-
ceive better treatment than the sick and wounded of
the British army in Holland, iu 1795, under the Duke
of York. The accounts given in the records
of the day shew how scandalous was the conduct of
the then military hospital authorities, and it is not
surprising that the medical board as well as the commis-
saries became objects of great hatred and indignation.
The following extract from a report of an eyewitness
gives some idea of the condition of affairs
"January 21, 1795.—0ur [the British] hospitals, which
were lately so crowded, are for the present considerably
thinned. Removing the sick in waggons without clothing
sufficient to keep them warm in this rigorous season, has
sent some hundreds to their eternal home, and the shame-
ful neglect that prevails through all that department
makes our hospitals mere slaughtering houses. Without
covering, without attendance, and even without clean
straw and sufficient shelter from the weather, they are
thrown together in heaps, unassisted and unpro-
tected, to perish by contagion, while legions of
vultures, down to the stewards, nurses, and
their numberless dependants, pamper their bodies and
fill theii coffers with the nation's treasure, and, like
beasts of prey, fatten on the blood and carcases of their
unhappy fellow-creatures, of whom not one in a hundred
survives, but perishes under the infernal claws of these
harpies, still thirsting for more blood, and rioting in the
jaws of death. For the truth of what I say, I appeal to
every man in the, army who has only for a few hours ob-
served with an attentive eye the general rule of conduct in
our hospitals of late, and witness here the scene before me
• while I now write. A number of men living on a scanty
allowance of dirty, wet straw, which, from the heat of
their bodies, sends up a visible steam, unable to help
themselves; and though a sufficient' number of men are
liberally paid for their attendance, none has been near
for several hours, even to help them to a drink of water.
Five carcases, covered only with the rags they wore when
they were alive, are piled one upon another on the pre-
tence that the ground is too hard to bury them until a
thaw comes.—Pall Mall Gazette.

DREAKFAST.—EPPS'S COCOA.--GRATEFUL AND CO3i-
FORTING.—The very agreeable character of this preparation ha:s
rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Service Gazette re
marks :—" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which
govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by
careful application of tho fine pr.porties of well-selected cocod.
Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctork'
bills." Each packet is labellcd—JAM}} Errs dr, Co., Homeo-
pathic Chemists. London. Also, makets of Epps's Cacaoine, a
very thin evening beverage.—Advt.