The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-16 00:00:00

THE CHURCH CONFERENCE AT DUBLIN'

The Dublin Church Conference 0,, Wednesday devnte4
itself to criticisms of the details of the Irish Church Dill'
That which seemed most to grieve the hearts of the
speakers was the great power to be given to the commie'
sioners. The Earl of Courtown moved a resolution
declaring that to give such arbitrary power was tyranniell
and oppressive. He denounced very energetically that
part of the bill. The eomplant was then put by the
seconder of the resolution. " Every communion table anal'
plate, every church Bible and -Prayer-book, everything t°
which any one of them had subscribed, and invested i°
Government stock for the purposes of the worship of G°43'
would be all swept into the net of these commissionere'
The function with which they were invested was to listeo
to the humble applications of the members of the Church
when they came to ask for their own ; and not by
but at their own discretion, and without any possibiliti
of appeal, these commissioners shall decide whetlor
they shall give back property or keep it for the PIE
poses of the Act. Ire drew their attention specially
to those words, ' the purposes of the Act.' In ever!,
other court of justice the judge stood unconcerned bet Wee"
the litigants, but here the litigants were the disf)°e.
sessed claimants on the one side, and on the other the
judge, who was also a litigant. In every British court °i
justice, the judge, in deciding rights of property, we:
bound to respect the principles of Magna Charts, but
these commissioners were not required to know the lavi°f
the land. And whether they knew the law or not, they
were at perfect liberty to trample it under their feet'
No court could interfere to prevent or redress the
grievances which their discretion might inflict upon the
Church."

The LORD PRIMATE did not allow any of these unadvifP
able denunciations which have so repeatedly been COD,
demned in the mouths of defenders of the Churl
In a speech by Mr. James Spaight, J.P., the Dublin fila
reports : " The memory of the statesman who framed the
bill would yet, wherever Prote6tantism was knower,
covered with execration, but the principle he "ht
attacked would survive. Mr. Gladstone
taig:i
succeed--it might be decreed in the providence
God that be should—but he would be called DP° :
account for his conduct to this country. He might leave -
sad and ghastly monument behind him, but he would 1)46
called to his great account. and it would require no mar
tablet to—." The speaker had got so far when the
Archbishop of Armagh interfered, declaring that the Iv'
servations were irrelevant, and hinting to the 'non. gellt'e.,
man that he might sit down. Then came a Mr.
.Anthoei
Traill, who wanted to add to the resolution a declaration
that the Church would refuse to form itself int°,,.o.
governing body to treat with the commissioners. This alb;
the Archbishop thought could not he well passed by the
meeting. It would be taking a leap in the dark. TJ,"-;
mately the motion was withdrawn. In the course of Pi'
discussion the Primate declared authoritatively that tbet
rumour that the bishops were not going to vote agnirifl
the bill in the House of Lords was untrue. The resolutio'.,
being passed, another was put to the meeting, that " the
proposed plan. o 7 con pensation was harsh and inequitable'
disregarding, as it does, present rights and future 214.
Deets."

against t 4
Lord ORANMORE and BROWNE, in declaiming ag‘b.— 4
interference with vested interests, denounced in ve.7,
strong language the party in favour of the bill. P;
characterised it as the democratic party. " The conduc
of the Ritualists, who had undertaken to teach Protestan',,
the worst errors of the Church of Rome, had alienated nlani'
who confounded their teaching with that of the Char'it;
These parties unfortunately were united with Socialists,Wi
philosophers, and with the Ultramontane party, who ph'',
them only for this common purpose, the separation of Churu.'
and State, and the abrogation of those rights which Wel
guaranteed by every treaty and every bond which COw
bind taan to man and country to country. These 11161.4
were led by Mr. Bright, whose avowed object was to naT
on our institutions until they became Americanised." I
conclusion, the noble lord said that if the Protestants 0
Ireland were to be brought under foreign domination*"
the attempt to submit them to the insulting and degilb
ing rule of the Ultramontane clergy were successful—
would be alienated from their present attachment to1
British Crown.

In closing the Irish Church Conference on Wedneo(ll
evening, the Archbishop of Dublin said that they Wig'
be vanquished, but at least they would not be accoraPlice4
in their own overthrow.

d
A CONVENIENT ARRANGEMENT.—it is
P"
that two of the most popular Independent ministers
London—the Rev. Dr. Raleigh, of Canonbury (win) 6
reputed to be in the receipt of a larger professional ine°"-h
than any other Dissenting minister in England), and
n,O
Rev. Mr. Jones, of Camden Town—have hit upon a dent
nt
for mitigating the labour of their preparations for pulps
duty. It is proposed that each should preach in the mornw
in his own pulpit, and in the evening in that of the other.
Thus each preaches twice, but only prepares one sernieli'
PRINCE LEOPOLD. —We have it on the bebl it
authority that the state of Prince Leopold's health is
no means so precarious as the public have been lea
believe, from the especial care taken in conveying b
is
Royal Highness to Windsor. There had been last vleelt
Whir
a slight return of the internal haemorrhage from vili're
the Prince had recently suffered, and it was thought the
11,
would be less fatigue in a journey by the road than in broken one by rail. The Prince has not sustained 1:11f
i$
relapse since his return to Windsor, and is now enjor
his usual health.—The Lancet.
„
THE YACHT RACE.—The
.New York lierata, ..„01$
writes with some authority on yachting matters, has Se
61
comments on the hitch which has occurred in the pr0Pe4,614
Anglo-American yacht race across the Atlantic. o
point in dispute is this : By New York measurementi to
Dauntless, which is to compete with Mr. Ashlnif;oo
yacht, is about the same tonnage as the Cambria, wil;e
h.
by Thames measurement she is double the size. Mm-
r' iS
bury, taking the measurement of his own country he
therefore called upon to compete with a vessel wilic'o
t
believes to be heavier in tonnage than his own. The
ibiS
modes of measurement ought to be equalised, blitoe•
r
cannot be done in time for the proposed the
and Mr. Ashbury has referred the whole dispute t°tber
arbitrament of the yacht congress. The Herald—in °
words, Mr. Bennett
—admits that Mr. AshburY I
himself handsomely in the attitude of a man who dee. rescos
only fair play." At the same time ib warns Amer'a
yachtsmen not to expect easy victories this summer -AO
their English cousins. The English yacht is built on 'O,
lines, while the American yacht is broad and avoids dePuß
The writer observes that both models may have been
ogr
gested by different waters and different winds.
not our model be the best in our own broad rivers, °tot
the long sweep of the ocean, and the English model
in such chopping seas as the Channel?" The forthco,e—
-conteBt4 will perhAps throw light oil Oils Question.

GOVERAMENT AND THE TELEGRAPO

I On Thursday Mr, Russell Gurney, Mr. rattison• and
Mr. Harrison, the referee and arbitrators appointed t
decide upon the amount that ought to be paid todet,
the Telegraphs Act of last year by the no,
master-General to Reuter's Telegram Company (Limited/
met again in one of the committee-rooms of the House b
Commons, Mr. Reuter is at present possessed of aes
marine telegraph from Lowestoft to Norder, in Noll!,
Germany, which is called the Norderney Cable. In (1,
nection with this he has entered into an arrangement w""
the Electric Telegraph Company, by virtue of which the
latter have laid down aline of telegraphic wires from 14°u.
don to Lowestoft, and are to work them for ten Ye3r3'
The chief question for the arbitrators to deal with refers
to the Norderney Cable, the agreement made bY the,
Post Office proposing, to pay to Reuter twenty Yeari
purchase of the amount of the net profits derived bY r
secured to the company from the transmission of message
through the cable, such profits being based on the 011'1.
rience of the month of March of last year, and to paY
twenty years' purchase of the profits determined by t"
arbitrators to be the probable profits to be derived bY the
company under its contracts with the Indo-European
Telegraph, which is not yet at work, or even entirely tour
strutted. The Solicitor-General, Mr. Denison, Q-C1
Mr. Serjeant Sargood, and Mr. Simpson appeared
for the Government ; and Mr. Vernon Harcourt,
Q.C., Mr. Pollock, Q.C., and Mr. Bone/
for Reuter's Telegram Company. Mr. Vole!:
the well-known electrician, was called this morning I°'
the purpose of being cross-examined by Mr. Denis°n.
As engineer of the Direct English-Indian Telegraph C°l°;
pany, he expressed the opinion that when commerciY'
ccnfidence was generally established in the City
shares of the company would be briskly taken up. If he 110'
the control of the line throughout in his own hands be
would undertake to send a message through in twat/
minutes with ease. To Mr. Pollock, the witness said tbst
not only had not the whole of the shares in his coner3s9
been subscribed for, but the deposit money that
had been paid had been returned. In his opinion 3'
messages per day would be sent daily hetweeu
this country and India by the Direct English-Indian line'
according to calculations which had been carefully made'
The original agreement signed by Mr. Scudamore for the
Post Office, and Mr. Vernon Harcourt for Mr. Reuter'
was formally put in. It was in consequence
of this agreement that the opposition of Reuter.
Telegram Company before the committee which sat last.
year, was withdrawn. Along argument was then addressed
to the referee and arbitrators by Mr. Denison, to steel
that a sum less than that representing twenty years' VIP
chase would be sufficient for the Government to pay
Reuter's Telegram Company.