The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-14 00:00:00

THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

The Irish Church question has passed out of the
phase of controversy into the phase of action. The
Lords have put their foot down upon concurrent
endowment. Mr. Gladstone has put his foot down
upon total disendowment and ah immediate settle-
ment. The Times, in apparent ignorance of his
letter, and, as we cannot help thinking, utterly mis-
informed as to the real position of the nation with
regard to this question, declares that the Commons
will now accept one of two courses, accept Earl
Stanhope's amendment, or agree to the postpone-
ment of the appropriation. The Daily Telegraph,
which is known to be in the confidence of the
Government, points to the smallness of the majority
by which Lord Stanhope's amendment has been
carried, and declares that while there is only a majo-
rity of seven for it in the Upper House, the Govern-
ment, the House of Commons, and the nation have
declared against it, and will reverse it. " And for the
very reason that makes concurrent endowment inad-
missible the House of Commons must also reinsert
the clause which devotes the surplus to specific pur-
poses." The same paper, dwelling upon the important
and critical nature of Thursday and Friday nights'
debates, says that "the result will be a reaffirmation
of the principles originally embodied in the bill." The
Daily News goes further, and prophecies not only
that the Commons will reject the Lords' amend-
ments, but that the Lord's themselves will accept
the rejection. " They will escape from peril by
humiliation." The Star is not so bold, and
will venture only to say that the vote upon Lord
Stanhope's amendment " will necessitate new calcu-
lations as to the future of the bill, but will probably
not invalidate those which the Government and the
house of Commons have already made." The
Morning Post is not prepared to say what course the
Government will adopt, save that " Mr. Gladstone,
having put his hand to the plough, will not look
back until the task which he has set himself is
accomplished." Two courses are open—either
to reject the Lords' amendments in Coto or
to accept such as are admissible, reject the rest,
send the bill back thus restored to the Lords, and
throw upon that House the responsibility of throw-
ing the measure out. It has not yet been decided,
says the Post, if, in the event of the bill being lost,
Government will call Parliament together for an
autumn session, and " take measures to control the
hostile majority of the House of Lords." The
Advertiser, knowing nothing, is content to ask the
question " What next P " and to give the
very safe answer "We shall see." Coming to the
Opposition journals we find the :Standard differing
for once from Lord Derby, and rejoicing that by the
acceptance of Lord S tanh ope's amendment " the House
of Lords has adopted a proposal which so importantly
strengthens its position in insisting upon its amend-
ments." The herald remarks only that "it remains
to be seen whether the statesmanship or the preju-
dice of the Liberals is to win the day." Thus it will
be seen that the Times alone of all the morning
papers predicts that the Lords will prevail.

THE LORDS AND THE IRISH carrell BILL.

At Birmingham, on Monday evening, a meeting
of the general committee of the Liberal Association
was held, to take into consideration the Irish Church
Bill in its present condition. About 140 members of
the committee were present, and a resolution was
passed unanimously supporting the policy of the
Ministers and emphatically protesting against
re-endowment or concurrent endowment in any form.
It was resolved that an open-air meeting should be
held on Saturday to petition the House of Commons
to reject the Lords' amendments. At Newcastle, on
Monday, a large meeting of Liberals was held, at which
resolutions were passed ag%tinst the Lords' amend-
ments. Arrangements were made for a popular
gathering to-day, with the view of petitioning
the House of Commons to reject them. Meetings
are to be held in support of the Government in many
of the large northern towns this week.