The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNAL%

The Times asks, What kind of opposition is it that Tip'
Disraeli is prepared to offer to the Irish Church Bill? fle
has given notice of a series of amendments conceived 11,
spirit which can scarcely be characterised in respeotflu
terms. It is as if some astute practitioner in an inferior
court had been instructed to frame as many petty amend'
ments to the Government Bill as his ingenuity could
devise, without regard to the chance of their success or to
their effect upon the minds of the client on whose behalf
.they are nominally advanced. These amendments
must prove useless for any purpose of the OW'
sition, unless their object be to assist in passing the bill'
They will weaken their force in the House of Com'
mons ; they will, as a necessary consequence, weaken their
force in the House of Lords. The end is certain. A hill
withstood by such fatal expedients becomes more assured
than ever of success; the Opposition will not merely be
beaten—they will be broken up. To determine the proper
mode of conducting the opposition to the Irish Church
Bill was doubtless a difficult question, but it could
have received a more incomplete answer than Mr. Disraeli.
has chosen to make his own. Look at it in whatever Iva
we will, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that Ide.
Disraeli has made a new starting-point of error. lie
must occasionally ask himself the secret of the
Ministerial majority—how it has come to Pas 3
that the nation bas pronounced so absolutely on the
question of the day—and yet we find him seeking t°
bind the national will with wisps of straw. We Ina
suppose that he wishes to snake his party in the house of
Commons serve as a breakwater to the waves of poplllll
opinion, yet it is certain the course he now adopts 14'
divide his own following, without diminishing in the
slightest degree the progress of the Ministry. The friends
of the Government may, indeed, rejoice at the prospect
before them. There is no amendment of more than lb
nominal character proposed by Mr. Disraeli which will
seduce a single man from theic ranks. The bill will he
carried by increasing majorities to the House of Lords,
where it will be received with submission to that national
judgment the strength and clearness of which will hal°
been demonstrated more and more unquestionably as tio3e
has passed onwards.
The Standard considers that the amendments are CO'
ceived in the interests of the Church ; are brought forward
in order that the influence of the powerful party through.
out the country which reveres her altars, loves her ocr
vices, and would fain defend her rights, may not be unfelt
i
in the framing of the arrangements, even if it must fo
to defeat them altogether. Their moderation is nude'
viable ; their justice appears to us obvious, and will,
think, be equally obvious to a great portion of the
Ministerial phalanx; and they are perfectly cone'
patible with the main principles of the measure. Whether
they are accepted or rejected will depend less upon tb°
individual opinions of Liberal members than on the
temper of the Prime Minister, who, for the present, carried
the votes and consciences of his party in his pocket. Th3t
temper is very bitter towards the Church and the 000.
servative party. But one consideratior may possiblij
serve to check its petulance, and secure a fair hearing an
candid discussion for the amendments—namely, that if
they are rejected there is very little probability that the
bill will pass into law during the year 1869.

The Telegraph says that the Conservative promotes
would reverse the decision of Parliament and the country'
and would render the disendowment of the Mill Chin
a mere fiction. The immoderate nature of the demands is
the aggregate is probably to be explained by the conga°.
ration that the amendments have been collected frora
number of persons without mutual consultation.
Disraeli is somewhat in the position of a Chancellor e
the Exchequer who should invite the several heads °t
departments to place before him their notions of the
amount of money wanted for their particular branches'
and should then present the demands to Parliament all hi
a heap, without taking the pains to analyse and check the
details, or even to ascertain the dimensions of his over'
grown total. There can be no " policy "in standing 111°
unlimited demands thus compiled a;; random, no states'
manship in committing a party to a course so manifeet'll,
impracticable, so certainly ending in defeat. Oth'h
parts of the amendments are conceived in no 011°:
mercenary spirit. Suggestions for preserving tt
continuity of the Church, and facilitating
transition from an establishment to a voluntary organ's::
tion, are to be found in this formidable compilation.
transfers the initiative, in various dealings with the State:
from the individual clergyman to the future ecclesiasticP
corporation. These are proposals which deserve, Oa'
doubtless, will receive, earnest consideration; and Cell:
servatives who really desire to carry out of the debst.'se,
some substantial gain, will approach the task in the KO
befitting the higher and larger purpose included in I°'
Disraeli's too diversified programme.
The Daily News declares that "the bill, the whole hill'
and nothing but the bill" is the answer which 0°
Liberal party in the House of Commons and the country
must return to the long string of amendments in the
Church Bill laid on Monday night by Mr. Disraeli on
table of the House of Commons. If he is allowed to 1)0ll
;
this thread and that out of the texture, the web will W,
into tangled disorder. The edifice will crumbles
if one stone after another is removed. Cliaa
produces change in manifold degree ; and tbe
scheme which Mr. Gladstone has laid before Parliamient
and the country as a whole, and which they have heel
w.lcorned, will be marred, and will forfeit its essenti 6 I
character, if it is tampered with in its several parts. 'ill
Conservative scheme is a plan for levelling up. In pro,
posing it Mr. Disraeli is the worst enemy of the Anglics"
Church in Ireland. The mere suggestion that Mr. Glad;
stone's measure contains the germs of such a project
this, or can be modified into anything like it, will cause
to be severely scrutinised, with a view to the ronov
of these hitherto unnoticed seeds of evil. Pro;
bably the conclusion at which Parliament I'l'll
the nation, under Mr. Disraeli's tuition, scll
arrive will be, that no settlement can be fo'.
which does more than make strictly equitable provisi°i 13
for the life interests of incumbents and other.holders °
°
ecclesiastical office in Ireland. If Mr. Disraeli's prol);
sals were adopted, it would be necessary in 1782 to se3
about disestablishing and disendowing the re-establishe
and re-endowed Church of Ireland. The consequence °I
his conduct will probably be that the Irish Church,instOt
of having something more, will be obliged to contel'it
itself with something less than Mr. Gladstone ri°
offers it.

oofThe Star considers that the formidable list of arae
ments which Mr. Disraeli has propounded as the result
the deliberations of his party at Lord Lonsdale's on 3-1°,1;
day afternoon will not discourage any Liberal as regsf,
the issue of the pending conflict. The Conservatl 0
caucus has sanctioned the adoption of a policy
cannot in any material point defeat the operation of -
Gladstone's great measure, but must cast upon the V-- ,og
which has chosen it the discredit of political meanlie
f
and chicanery. A more audacious attempt was De d
made to achieve the degradation of a stirrilll
controversy of principles down to the level aeli
a base struggle for pence. Practically, Mr. Dis,r'ilio
surrenders the eternal and indestructible sanctities 0' go
union of Church and State, about which he mouthed Wept
fantastic and histrionic a strain in moving the amendo..
to the second reading of the bill. With one exceptl°"ll4
though that, indeed, is one of the first importance, Iv
requires to be vigilantly looked after by Liberalr--a ef
amendments are directed altogether to the paltry el 10
obtaining, on one false pretence or another, as mtial,,ei
the House of Commons may be soft enough to give nt' of
the endowments of the Irish Church, with the desie
endowing the Church again almost as richly and ortn',."llo
much to the satisfaction of the Irish people as the eziel3
state of things.
t,lOl
The Herald thinks that it is not a little significanu,
only forty-eight hours before the House of C0mm0n.5,1,,,,5'e
into committee upon the Irish Church Bill it should 0-,r
.been occupied in discussing a proposition for what the Poi
titularly frank and courageous member for Londontlef
describes as the.disestablishment and disendowmen39,eo:
secular corporation. Mr. Gladstone demands the 01:; of
tablishment of the Irish Church and the sequestratilo
its revenues. What Mr. Maguire sought to effect 1)Y or
motion is the abolition of the Irish Society and the aVroe
priation of its revenues. The proposal was met bY•hicli
Government in a spirit of fairness and moderation,
was no doubt considerably influenced by the cieel
stances of the hour. They could hardly fail to AO'
especially after the speech of the member for L 023" 1)6
decry, that their position on Thursday migW,;t°
seriously affected if they recorded too warm a suPPl°',ce°
a motion so suspiciously like their own. Mr. ForW'6o
referred to certain obvious anomalies in the constiW,al7e,
of the society, and said that it was impossible it corn too
permitted to remain on its present footing. He Atli:onel
that hitherto the society had acted within the four cc„l,r,
of its charter ; but the evidence given before the J`-;11°
commission in 185-1 established the conclusion thr4,..0,10
fluctuating character of the governing body is a eerl e!
hindrance to the efficient working of the society. -Di'll'er"
generally admitted on both sides of the House that 't ;De
has been a considerable improvement of late years thee,
general management of the corporation estates, batal'
was an equally strong manifestation of feeling on theCeleti
of the advocates as well as of the opponents of the et)
that its administrative system needs revision.
, The Post remarks that branding soldiers in the arse Of
a subject certain to attract attention in the 1-14911-i
the
Commons, as it did on Monday night. The desire °t'!"
Legislature is evidently in the direction of renderir4t
service of the country attractive and not repu
mlsive. vilt,
anxious, too, in all cases, that unnecessary welts' S' 135
be avoided, and customs savouring of barbario,
abolished. The mere mention, therefore, of " braWicef:
of the existence of which perhaps many membertntie'
unaware until recently, naturally excited disappre""lter,
of it. The position which Mr. Cardwell has :AD',
up is reasonable and satisfactory. He has intimates '
opinion that the marking should not be considered
punishment, but as a preventive of fraud. That wwlio ;
bably be sufficient to prevent the second inflictions
the Act is altered by Parliament, and then it (10 ni teo
seem at all improbable that the system of marking !Li I
entirely abolished. The objections to the system Ofie
sentimental, and certain reasons for its retention ralLito
be devoid of strength. But in view of the changed
'expected in the personnel of the army, we apprehe.lll,/'
no great difficulty would eventually be felt in deal
dese • • t •
prp
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