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

GLOBE THEATRE-ROYAL.

/the interests of the Opposition. Mere waste of
time ought on no account to be tolerated. The Irish
Church Bill, already read a first and second time in
the House of Commons, has to be examined in detail
there, clause by clause, in Committee, to be read a
third time afterwards, and then, on going up to the
Lords, it has to pass through all these various stages,
one after another, in that hereditary branch of the
Legislature. Obstruction, for mere obstruction's
sake, is not to be heard of. The Government is suf-
ficiently strong in its majority to secure the nation,
we should conceive, from any such intolerable vexa-
tion. The Irish Church is doomed. There is
no possibility of its being saved. And,
knowing that, the most energetic supporters of
that Church, as it is constituted at the present
moment, ought to recognise that the obvious course
before them is to make the best of things, in so far as
they may mitigate the shock to the whole system of
the Irish Church as it has been hitherto, as it is still
to this hour, to make the best of it in the way of
breaking its fall, of lowering it gently as it were both
in regard to its disestablishment, and in regard
to disendownment. No gag does any one want to
have put, of course, upon the conscientious express-
sion of no matter how obsolete opinions. Orange-
men of the most pronounc3d views, have as perfect a
right as any one else to give to those views of
their's free utterance. And, in that sense, there
is no one who would for an instant be desirous of
closing the discussion of these matters prematurely at
any stage of the bill now before Parliament. Whether
it be in the Lords or in the Commons, whether
it be at the first, second, or third reading, or in
committee. It is especially one of those vitally
important measures that ought to uo 0,,a,,,,,i
right out, if, indeed, it has not, been so argued already

But, while it should in reason, and in fair-play, and
in common honesty, be regarded thus as a matter

essentially requiring, by reason of its very

character, the most full, fair, and deliberate

rediscussion and reconsideration—it should

also, at the same time, be felt that on no

account ought Legislature in regard to it to be un-
necessarily delayed by means, or through the medium,

of a series of simply vexatious obstructions. To the

course pursued by the House in Committee, the

country will look, therefore, with eager solicitude.

From it we shall be enabled to see at once

whether the powerful majority on the side of the

Government will so far exercise their preponderating

Influence that the heart of the session will not be

allowed to be eaten away by a succession of spec

ously lengthened discussions, now upon this, now
upon that, really and truly impossible amendment.

THE Lord hath delivered them into my hand "
were the words of CROMWELL which Mr. BRIGHT
put into the mouth of Mr. DISRAELI when the
Liberals decided to let the Conservative Reform Bill
go into committee. "The Lord hath delivered them
into my hand" may Mr. BRIGHT say for himself
now that Mr. DISRAELI has given notice of the
amendments which he means to move when
the Irish Church Bill goes into committee.
While Archbishop TRENCH and the Irish Protestants
generally are shouting No surrender," "No com-
promise," and are giving it to be understood that
rather than accept disestablishment they would con-
sent to be beggared of all their endowments, Mr.
DISRAELI quietly proposes a series of resolutions
which involve disestablishment and concede the
principle of disendowment, but only in order
to re-endow the Church with nearly all the
revenues -which, theoretically, she is to lose.
We are not in a position to say if there is any secret
understanding between the Irish bishops and the
Opposition chief. Yet we can almost fancy we sae
the first winking at the second in token of a private
understanding, by which the spiritual defenders o.
the Church are to adopt the high, heroic tone o
victims and martyrs to the sacred union of Chum]
and Stlte, nil grlltl 1,4 but rirna4, al
endowments Mit encunibrances, while the politica
defender is to keep a sharp look out after the said
endowments, and to secure as much as possible of
the said dross. It is in accordance with this under-
standing that Mr. DrsnAELT means to ask Parliament
to let the Church have the episcopal residences and
the parsonage houses free, to make her a present of
four times the aggregate of the net annual incomes
of all incumbents as a sustentation fund for main-
taining the worship of the Free Church, to
give her £200,000 for defraying the ex-
penses of the committee of management of the
Church ; also fourteen times the average cost
of repairing, heating, and lighting churches, and
fourteen times the average aggregate of salaries of
parish clerks and sextons, as a second fund for main-
taining worship. It is in accordance with the same
supposed understanding that Mr. DISRAELI means
to persuade Parliament, if he can, that all private
endowments made to the Church at any time, even
prior to the Conquest, and all the grants of confis-
cated lands made by ELIZABETH and the STUARTS,
shall be retained by the Church. Mr. DISRAELI
is not particular about establishing the titles
to those grants. It is enough for him that the
evidence, whether historical or legal, or of any other
kind, satisfies three unpaid commissioners whom he
proposes to appoint, and two of whom, being strong
Conservatives and Protestants, will not be likely to
err on the side of stringency ; will, for instance, be
quite willing to accept the statement that St.
PATRICK was an Orangeman. The Pall Mall Gazette
well remarks that " all public endowments since the
Reformation, and all private endowments, whether
before or since, would not make a bad provision for
the shorn lambs of Irish Protestantism." Yet these are
by no means all the provision which Mr. DISRAELI,
in the abundance of his generosity, would bestow
upon the Church. Mr. GLADSTONE'S bill proposes
that an ecclesiastical person may, after January 1,
1871, apply to the commissioners to commute his
life interest, and the commissioners are thereupon to
pay the estimated value of his life interest at the
time of commutation to the representative body of
the Church charged with the payment of the
annuity so long as it is required. By Mr.
DISRAELI'S amendment, the representative body
may at any time during 1871 apply to the
commissioners to commute the life interests of all
ecclesiastical persons, and the commissioners shall
thereupon pay to the representative body, not the
then present value of such life interests, but a capital
sum equal to fourteen times the aggregate amount
of the yearly income to which such persons are enti-
tled, charged with the payment of the annuities so
long as they are required. In fact, Mr. DISRAELI is
so generous that he leaves actually nothing wherewith
to compensate the college of Maynooth and the
recipients of the Regium Donum. They must look
elsewhere. If they are to be paid at all, it must be
by the English taxpayer, not by the Irish Churchman.
This excellent pecuniary bargain which the Con-
servative leader hopes to make for his clients is not
the only benefit that he seeks to confer upon them.
He proposes to continue the present archbishops
and bishops in their dignities during their lives, and
to permit the Crown to nominate prelates on and
after January 1, 1872. In other words, having
secured for the Church the whole, or the greater
portion, of the funds she now enjoys, he would continue
the connection between the Church and the State by
allowing the State to appoint the chief officers of the
Church. In other words, he would first of all accept
the two principles of disestablishment and disendow-
ment, and then seek to stultify them by retaining
the endowments in another shape, and by maintain-
ing establishment in a disguised form. The conces-
sion to inevitable circumstances was wise ; the
attempt to withdraw it is wise only after that fashion
described as too clever by half. It is satisfactory to
know that we are now acquainted with the tactics
which the Opposition leader means to adopt. The
House of Commons will certainly defeat them,

THIS EvENDTG, at 7, IVEINisiIE, or, Leonard's Love. At 9, A
BREACH OF PROMISE. After which, BROWN AND THE
BRAHMINS. Messrs. Marshall, David Fisher, Andrews, Hurl-
stone, J. Clarke; Mesdames Lydia Foote, Brennen, Berend,
Hughes, Fountain; and Stephens.

ROYALTY TREATIZE.
Tinder the Management of Miss if. Oliver.
Tins EVENING, at 7.30, A LOVING CUP. Mr. Dewar, Miss
M. Oliver. Tr, hi, by Cri.A rTT)P. 1.117
VAL: Mr. Dewar.
&c. To conclude with THE BOARDING SCHOOL.

PRINCE OF WALES'S ROYAL THEATRE.
Under the Management of Miss Marie Wilton
THIS EVENIN6, SCHOOL: Messrs. Hare, H. J. Montague,
Addison, Glover. and Bancroft: Mrs. Buckingham White. Kiss
C. Addison, and Miss Marie Wilton. After which, A WINNING
HAZARD. And INTRIGUE.

ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE AND CIRCUS, HOLBORN.
THIS EVENING, the Great Carre Troupe and magnificent Stud
of SO Horses; also Alfred Bradbury, A. Carre, &c., and the
Salamander Heise.

CHRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8
Wednesdays and Saturdays. at 3 and 8 all the year round.

ST. GEORGE'S THEATRE, REGENT STREET.
THIS EVENING, at 8, THE ROYAL ORIGINAL CHRISTY'S
MINSTRELS' Ethiopian Entertainment: and the Burlesque
Extravaglnza, THE VERY GRAND DUTCH-s

ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. THREE BALLET;
Promenade Concert. Band of GO. Begin at S. Is. Box-oftic(
open from 11 to 4.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Regent's-Talk OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, ls.; on Mondays, 6d. Children
under twelve, 6d.

dT.)IO 5-
1
lilt
,?:.

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1869.

Whether the House of Commons, in Committee
on the Irish Church Bill, will tolerate the accumula-
tion of threatened obstructions in the way of legisla-
tion in regard to that particular measure will be
rendered apparent now very speedily. The proceed-
ings of to-night will indicate the mood in which the
serried ranks of the majority are prepared to meet
their antagonists. It is not simply that, in his capa-
city as Leader of the Opposition, the ex-Premier has
laid upon the table of the House an extraordinary
variety of minute amendments. upon the very
threshold of anything like a dusscussion in Committee
there are other impediments lying right in the way—
placed there by one or another of that, to a certain
extent isolated class, the class of independent repre-
sentatives. One of these the member for Kirkcaldy,
Mr. ROGER AYTOUN, is lying in wait in readiness to
start forward immediately on the issuing of the order
of the day for the Committee on the Irish Church
Bill, to move—" That it be an instruction to the com-
mittee that they have power to dissolve the corpora-
tion of the trustees of the College of Maynootb, and
to provide that no money be paid over to the said
trustees, but that only compensation fairly due to the
professors and students consequent on the loss suf-
fered by them by the withdrawal of the Maynooth
grant be paid to them by the Commissioners ap-
pointed by the Bill, in the same manner and accord-
ing to the same principles as is provided by the Bill
with regard to the incumbents of the Anglican Church
and the recipients of the Regium Donum." That is
obstruction No. 1 prepared by the hon. member for
Kirkcaldy. There is another threatened by Sir
GEOnoE JENKINSON, the member for North Wilt-
shire, in the shape of an amendment to Mr.
AYTOUN'S Instruction to the Committee. And,
added to these two, there is a distinct deter-
mination on the part of the irrepressible champion
of the cause of No Surrender, the member for North
Warwickshire, to move no E hilly-shally amendment
whatever, but point-blank, "That this 'louse will
upon this day six months resolve itself into the said
Committee." Now, in the presence of all these
more or less formidable obstructions in the way of
the Committee, it certainly behoves the immense
Liberal majority at the back of Mr. GLAD:,TONE and
his colleagues to see that there shall be be no merely
frivolous lengthening out of the labours of the House
in Committee to the frittering awaysimply of the time
of the imperial legislature without any conceivable
advantage being thereby secured to the cause or to

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 15, 1869.

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