The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-15 00:00:00

THE IRISH CHURCH BILL.

Mr. Gladstone's amendments to the bill for the digests-
blishment and disendowment of the Irish Church were
printed on Wednesday, and occupy over two pages. Clauses
3,4, and 6, which refer to the appointment and duties of
the proposed commissioners, are to be postponed. The
most important of the alterations deal with the clauses
relating to Maynooth and the Regium Donum.
Clause 36 will run as follows :—" When the

annual parliamentary grant for the expenses of the
Nonconformity, seceding, and Protestant dissent-
ing ministers in Ireland, commonly called the Regium
Donum . . . is discontinued, the commissioners shall,
as soon as may be after such discontinuance, ascertain
and declare by order the amount of the yearly sum there•
tofore received thereout by each minister of any Protestant
Nonconforming congregation in Ireland, or which he would
have been entitled to receive if such grant had not been dis•
continued ; and shall pay to eack such minister, so long as
he lives and continues to perform the duties of his
ministry . . . . an annuity equal to the yearly
amount so ascertained as aforesaid." The words in italics
are the alterations proposed by Mr. Gladstone. The con-
dition that "for the purposes of this section the
yearly sum received shall be the amount actually
received by such minister during the financial
year ending the 31st of March, 18G9," is to be
loft out. In the same clause, after the proviso that " the
commissioners shall also on such discontinuance as afore-
said ascertain and declare by order the amount of any
yearly sum to which any assistant successor to a minister
in such congregation may be prospectively entitled, and
shall secure to such successor a deferred life annuity of
the same value, and payable in the same events as
the yearly sum for which it is substituted," the fol-
lowing addition is proposed :—" The commissioners
shall also ascertain and declare by order what Protestant
Nonconforming congregations were, on the Ist of March,
1869, fulfilling the conditions necessary for eventually
obtaining out of the Regium Donum the payment of
yearly sums for their respective ministers, and what would
have been in each case the amount of such yearly payment,
and the time at wh:ch the same would have begun
to be payable, and shall as from that time
pay to the minister of each such congregation
a life annuity
yearly payment which he would have been entitled to
receive on the fulfilment of the necessary conditions if the
grant of the Regium Donum had not been discontinued;
provided always, that no minister placed in a congregation,
or becoming assistant successor for the first time after the
passing of this Act, shall be entitled to any annual sum
by way of compensation. Clause 37, relating to the
compensation in respect of salaries of profess6rs
and college buildings at Belfast, is to be omitted. The
repeal of the Maynooth Acts of George 111. is to take
place on the Ist of March, 1870, instead of the Ist of
January, 1871. The Acts relating to the same subject,
passed in the eighth and ninth years, and in the twenty-
third and twenty-fourth years of her Majesty, are to be
repealed, "save in respect of any pecuniary and in-
dividual interests at present existing." The other amend-
Ments are merely formal.

Mr. Aytoun intends to move that only the life interests
of the president, vice-presidents, officers, and professors
of the College of Mayuooth shall be respected.