The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-11 00:00:00

support had been established. His first proposition
goes to' the " total abolition of tithe" in name and
nature, to which, as the Sovereign has already acceded
in his speeches, and the House of Commons in its
votes, we presume there will not long remain any valid
objection in any quarter. 2 "He would make com-
pensation to the lay impropriators to the full extent of
the ordinary market price of their property in tithes."
We believe that such a provision has been already con-
templated by Government, though under a different
form, by commuting the tithe of a land-tax, and
encouraging the tithe-payer to redeem on equitable
terms. 3. "He would compensate all such Protestant
incumbents as have parochial duty to perform to Pro-
testant congregations, and have hitherto performed
such duty." This of course. 4. "He would com-
pensate all such incumbents as have at present one-
tenth of their parishioners Protestants." We suppose
whether they perform duty or not, although the latter
is a case hardly supposable, save only where there is
no parish church and no residing clergyman. 5. "He
would refuse compensation to all other incumbents,
treating as mere sinecurists all Protestant clergymen
in parishes where one-tenth of the inhabitants are not
Episcopalian Protestants." Here then the gauntlet is
thrown down. After declaring in every previous plan
of tithe extinction, that all existing clergymen should
have the benefit of a life-interest equal to their exist-
ing income, the learned annihilator now throws off the
mask, and announces that every individual parish mi-
nister who cannot muster Protestants according to a
certain proportion laid down by this avowed enemy
of the church shall be " cast out into utter" starva-
tion. How then is this wise and equitable rule to
operate ?• - The text of the learned gentleman is ex-
tremely vague, and therefore we may assume respect-
ing a man of his skill and accuracy, that it is not
so without design. Does he really pretend that if the
gross population of the parish should amount to 2,500
persons, and of these the Episcopalian Protestants
should number 249, these perhaps including 19-20ths
of the whole landed proprietary of the same parish,
the clergyman's income shall be henceforth, and for
ever, withdrawn ? It matters indeed little how such a
question be answered, for we find that after, in the
sixth verse of this notable chapter of compensation,
alternating with confiscation, as the caprice of the law-
giver seems to move him, providing 400,0001. per
annum, payable in the form of rent charge, by land-
lords only, as a fund for the above purposes, Mr.
O'Connell declares, in the 7th and last verse, that on
the final exhaustion of the present vested interests
(so far as he vouchsafes to respect them) the whole of
the said 400,000/e per annum shall be applied to the
support of dispensaries, hospitals, and asylums for
chronic disease of mind or body, thus making certaia.
a pretty liberal allowance for the spread of malady of
all kinds, after the downfall of the Church. But the
important section of this grand scheme—if the word
" important" be applicable to any part of such a
shallow yet cunning rhapsody—is that which pro-
claims the object of the agitator to be an entire over-
throw of every thing like an established religion, whe-
ther in name or substance. In the seventh clause, al-
ready referred to, he confines the future application of
the fund to be raised for indemnification of present
vested interests to the support of hospitals, and so forth.
Not a word of any religious purpose, not a word of edu-
cation, or any other great moral interest ; but, we re-
peat, because it is what most concerns our immediate
subject, there is in it no shadow of regard to the rights
of the Church, or the existence of any Church esta-
blishment ! The agitator subjoins a little after his main
principle, that every denomination of Christians shall
support their own spiritual instructors ; in other words,
for the " principle" is of universal application, there
shall be no Established Church at all ! We need not
rip up the old records of the reign of Charles I. and
the Protectorate, or of the innumerable and intermina-
ble controversies between the ad locates of a church
established by law, and those of a universal indulgence
of the " voluntary principle ;" speaking perhaps more
correctly, the " accidental principle." But we do not
ask, as.in the case of the repeal question, is that the
system, and are those the views, on which Parliament
and this Protestant country are prepared to act with
reference to that branch of the United Church which
exists in Ireland, namely—to destroy it altogether ?
Cut away its redundancies if you will, and the more
promptly the better :—if the Church revenues of Ire-
land be extravagant—if parishes are to be found where
there ace no pastoral duties—if pluralities aggravated
by sinecures abound there., deal with all such griev-
ances and flinch not. But it is too much for this
Roman Catholic Harlequin, in his detestation of every
thing not Popish, to pass off upon us, as if he really
entertained it, the anti-Catholic doctrine which im-
pugns all Church Establishments as evils. His own
priests will scarcely uphold him in it.. The priests
of France, of Spain, of Portugal, of Belgium, of
Italy, of southern Germany, would cross themselves
at the wickedness of their Irish brethren, we appre-
hend, if the latter were false enough to their own
creed to exclaim with O'Connell, that there " must be
no State religion." They may not like to see the
State protect or even tolerate that which is the State
religion ; but that man must be an unprincipled Roman
Catholic who preaches up what in the jargon of the
day is called " religious equality." We have already
touched upon the determination of Irish landlords to
undertake, in the first instance, the payment of the
clergy, and detected in it no other topic of regret ; but
such a measure, from being both partial and uncer-
tain, would fall short of the existing emergency. Mr.
O'Connell takes care to find other fault with the ex-
periment, and to turn it to a different use. He
heeds not its inadequacy to the wants of the clergy,
but shapes it into an instrument for exasperating the
peasantry against their landlords, and for frightening
the latter about the possible nonpayment of their
rents. More dextrous or more inveterate rancour
against all who strive to promote the peace and comfort
of the people was never displayed by man, than in
this characteristic attempt to defeat the benevolence of
Irish gentlemen who have shown their willingness
to relieve the destitute clergy, and to conciliate the
discontented multitude. However, there is one cause
to which Mr. O'Connell proves himself an honest and
inflexible adherent. Whatever hints he may circu-
late among the people as to the justice and expediency
of their punishing the kindness of the landlords to-
wards the clergy, by " confounding rent with tithe,"
and refusing both, there is one - rent secure from all
such assaults of the Learned Gentleman's rhetoric—
there is one landlord whom " the people" must not
dare to disappoint—there is one Sovereign Lord who
must not be cheated of his " tribute." We have
given from the Pilot newspaper a manifesto, addressed
in due form to " the Irish nation." It is not a week
since we prophesied that the " rent" would be de-
manded on or after the Ist of November. We were
false prophets, the 26th of October is the day ap-
pointed. There must be no delay, no reluctance, no
remission of taxes ; the money must be forthcoming
"at once !" But it is no longer
" rent," it has be-
come a " tribute." Tribute is rendered by slaves to
masters, by victims to betrayers ; it is levied on the
helpless by robbers,—on the poor by extortioners,—on
the ignorant by impostors. We leave Mr. O'Connell
a free choice of titles whereon to rest his claim of "tri-
bute" from the " Irish nation."—Times.
The Standard of last night affirms, " the same
game which the Morning Chronicle is trying to play
in this country, as between Churchmen and Dissenters,
the Ministers and the Priests are actively pursuing
with reference to the Protestants and Papists of the
Sister Kingdom." The Standard proceeds to accuse
the Catholic Clergy of a wilful falsification of the Ec-
clesiastical census, so usefully undertaken by Ministers,
through the instrumentality of the Commission recently
appointed to examine into the state of religious instruc-
tion in Ireland. It is very probable that in some places
the heated partisans of both sides—Protestants and
Catholics—may dishonestly return their numbers ; but
we will venture to assert, without any illiberal reflec-
tion on either party, that there will not be many cases
of such delinquency. Our contemporary then selects,
on the authority of Mr. Boyton—no very impartial evi-
dence—an instance of the comparative landed property
of Catholics and Protestants, in a particular district,
to prove how relatively small is the pressure of tithe
on Catholic property. We have no space to-day for
resuming the subject of the .Ecclesiastical griev-
ances and disputes in Ireland, from the length of