The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-26 00:00:00

AIIMAC IT.

True to their promises, the Orangemen of Ireland and
the Conservatives of England are holding monster gather-
ings to protest against the Irish Church Bill. The Belfast
meeting was an undoubted success. The meeting of Pres-
byterians favourable to the principle of Protestant endow-
ment, which was held at Armagh, was a comparatively
small affair, following in the wake of the Orange demon-
stration. It is calculated that about 1,200 persons were
present, and they are represented to have exhibited great
enthusiasm. Mr. T. Cumming, M.D., occupied the chair.
He declared himself, as a Presbyterian, strenuously and
consistently opposed to the " unjust and revolu-
tionary" bill. The Rev. John Bell moved the first
resolution, which was to the effect that the country ad-
hered to the principle hitherto maintained by the Presby-
terian Church—namely, that it was the duty of the State
to support the Gospel. Ile regarded the Presbyterian
Church of Ireland as the model of an endowed Church,
and that their rulers, instead of being disposed to get rid
of the endowment, ought to look to it as a pattern of na-
tional policy which should be sustained and increased.
He predicted very melancholy results if the " Revolu-
tionary Spoliation Bill" passed. He observed that if
they had sent cartloads of petitions into the House of
Commons they would not have the weight of a feather,
but with the Lords they must have due weight and
respect. Mr. William Boyd, who seconded the resolu-
tion, contradicted the statement that the Presbyterians
were in favour of the bill. The Rev. James Fleck
defended the principle of endowments by reference
to the terms of the Westminster Confession of Faith,
and maintained that the Church had done no evil to
deserve the treatment intended for it, but had fulfilled its
mission. Mr. M. Bell proposed a resolution condemning
the bill, and entered into calculations to shew that it
would be prejudicial to the Presbyterian Church. He stated
that in the Presbytery of Armagh, which included 22 con-
gregations, £1,042 7s. ld. had been subscribed towards the
maintenance of the clergy, and £7B 6s. 6d. towards the
sustentation fund. That was about £5O for each member.
According to the new policy they were to have £2OO a
year, which was small enough ; but in order to give them
the Presbyterians would have to quadruple
their subscriptions, and raise £3,000 more eV el y Tear.
There were 600 ministers and 552,668 members in the
Presbyterian Churches, and if each minister received
£2OO a year they would require £120,000 for the support
of the ministry alone. He was afraid that so large a sum
could not be raised in Ireland. Mr. J. Maxwell moved
the next resolution, in which the meeting " repudiated
the opinions of a small section of Presbyterians who had
assumed that they represented a great majority." The
Rev. E. D. Eliot, Portadown, went into an analysis of
the votes at the last election to prove that the Presby-
terians were opposed to the policy of the bill. He said
that in Dublin only 23 Presbyterians voted for the Liberal
candidate, in Newry 25, in Derry 177, in Belfast 1,000.
The entire number of Presbyterians who voted in the
north for Liberal candidates was 6,125, while the Presby-
terian population amounted to 523,000. The Rev. A.
M'Cullagh exhorted them to stand together, and let
their motto be "No surrender." A petition against the
bill was then adopted.