The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-22 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL RETURNS.

The forms fur t' .e collection of the agricultural
returns for 1869 are to be filled up on the same day
as in previous years, the 25th June. It is to be
hoped that this year they will be more com-
plete than hitherto, but it is a singular
fact that some occupiers are unwilling to
make the required returns because they are not
compelled by law to do so. They argue that unless
all farmers fill up the forms they are worthless.
This is not really the case, because the minority who
withhold the required information is so small that
it does not affect the general estimate.
Other malcontents would have the returns
collected only once in five years, but this though less
expensive would also be less satisfactory. The returns
of 18G8 compared with those of 1867 shewed an
increase of 300,000 acres, or of one-tenth, under
wheat, and of 1,800,000 in the number
of sheep in that one year. The value of
British agricultural produce annually consumed
is estimated at 140 millions sterling, and the imports
of like produce from abroad are reckoned at 50
millions. The charge of £lO,OOO or £12,000 a year
for the collection of the returns is therefore of no
great moment. The expense is increased by the
neglect or unwillingness of the farmers to supply the
reqpired information. It is worth notice that the
Scotch and North country farmers are generally
ready and willing to zive it.

InIS.II JOURNALISTS ON Till: DIVIS:ON.

The Irish Conservative papers console themselvu
for the Itte division by the thought that the turn of
the English Church Establishment is now coming.
The Dublin Mail tells the Peers that it e•‘:pects
nothing front them so far as any regard for the
Irish Church is c..ncerned ; but it will be hell for
them to remember :that the arrangements which
they make for the &scndowment of the Church will
be precedents for the disendowment of the sister
Church in England. It is for Irish Protestants to
continue the pressure which has been yit upon
the• Conservative party, and to extort that fr.=
fear which they have not been able to obtain from
love. The Dublin. _Express does not question the
purity of the motives which ix-ilium:ed. the Peers. but
regrets their conduct. It now calls upon their lord-
ships to insist upon large rmendments, and winds up
with a cheery declaration that whatever form the
bill may take, the light of the Reformation will burn
as brightly as ever in Ireland. The Irish Times
believes that no party in -Ireland wishes to see the
Irish Church reduced to penury, but that all are
willing to treat it generously, desiring only an equa-
lity of rank and status.

peTrshise BtentelfinasutrAin'egirsthle eLttoerrd,swthc
oitl has been
hirowoutthemboilslt.
now endeavours to believe that the result of the
division has been a Conservative triumph. "Another
rub victory (it exclaims) and Mr. Gladstone may
well say he is undone. The victory of Mr. Gladstone
is disastrous to him, for the bill will go back to the
House of Commons with amendments which he will
have to accept." The (Liberal) Northern Whig says
it is useless to conceal that the real struggle on the
Church question is yet to begin. " Mr. Gladstone
shelved rare constructive sl.ili. and an admirable
mastery both of principles and details, as he planned
and succeeded in carrying the Irish Church Bill
through the House of Commons. Another trial of
his powers as a statesman, not less diflicult than the
ordeals through which lie has gone so triumphantly,
now awaits him. 'We know well that the bill has
many obstacles to overcome. But its principles
have, at all emits, been accepted even by the House
of Lords ; and the humiliation of the blatant
Church defenders, who would be satisfied with
nothing but the summary rbj action. of the bill, is
complete."
THE MOH CHURCH PARTY AND THE LATE
DIVISION.

In Conservative circles the success. of Mr. Glad-
stone's Irish Church Bill is considered as due in a
large measure to Lord Cairns's Ritual judgment. It
is said that this judgments° strongly convinced high
Church peers, • of the stamp the Earls of Devon,
Carnarvon, Limerick. and Nelson, of the harm that
is sustained by the Church through its relations with
the State, that they are prepared to see an entire
separation. Even the Earl of Beauchamp, one of
Lord Derby's and Mr. Disraeli's closest allies,
declined to vote against the bill, his ecclesiastical
views overcoming his political. But while
this party believes that disestablishment is
for the advantage of the Church, it has no
intention of allowing the Church to bo
deprived of its revenues to a greater extent than is
absolutely necessary. So Conservatives confidently
predict that in committee their ranks, broken for a
time, will be reunited, and will present a more for-
midable phalanx their ever. There are even those
who predict that the bill will not pass this year, for
the amendments will be of such a character that the
House of Commons will not accept them, and Mr.
Gladstone will have to appeal to the country.
This, it must be confessed, is extremely improbable,
and is contrary to all that is now said in the journals
inspired by Mr. Gladstone.