The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times thinks that the most sanguine Irish Pro.
testant must now confess that the Irish Establishment
has received its death-blow. The vote of the House of
Commons on Mr. Gladstone's Resolution last yew
declared that the establishment ought to be abolished.
The votes of the constituencies at the hustings declared
that it must be abolished. The vote on Wednesday morn.
ing declared that it shall be abolished. It was thought,
or rather hoped, that the difficulties of the task might
prove too much even for the present Ministry. There
must, it was said, be dissensions in the Cabinet over a
scheme necessarily so complex. It was inevitable that
some blots would be discovered in the Government
measure sufficient to detach a few from one or the
other extreme wing of their supporters. Nothing
of the kind has happened. The bill is not perfect,
but even if its imperfections were incapable of amend.
:tent, the Liberal party have proclaimed as one man that
it would be infinitely better to approve the bill as it stands
than to do anything to place its ultimate success in danger.
Fortunately, indeed, there is every disposition on the part
of the Government to remove what is faulty, and to
supply what is deficient, so that the steadfastness of the
party will be exposed to no difficult test. On Wednesday
morning the Liberals responded to the call upon then
with unprecedented unanimity. Not a single man of
mark, except Sir lloundell Palmer, went over to the
Opposition, and there was but one member of the party
absent from the division whose absence requires explana-
tion. It seems probable there were fewer absentees than
were ever before known in the annals of the House of
Commons, and the hearty unanimity of the Liberal partYi
and their unflinching steadiness at the division, may be
said to supersede further argument on the Irish Church
Bill.

The Standard declares that a majority of 113 is a great
fact, although it appears all the less formidable the more
it is sifted and analysed. It is very little less than double
the majority by which Mr. Gladstone's first resolution Was
carried last session, and yet we may look it in the face
without being in any way appalled. Custom has
familiarised us with imposing Liberal majorities, which
prove to be singularly unsubstantial the moment they
--r.r.ol.ect and bandied. The Conservatives
entered upon the session of 1832 with a majority
of exactly one. After the appeal to the con'
stitueecies under the new Reform Act the Liberal,
numbered 3134. How their majority was frittered away
until, iu 1841, it disappeared, as Mr. Gathorns
Hardy said on Tuesday, like a mist before the
sun, is a matter of history. Mr. Hardy did well in recal'
ling the fact at a time when Constitutionalists are too apt
to be frightened by the threatening aspect of the fortui•
tons concourse of discordant atoms which is called :fir'
Gladstone's majority. The right hon. gentleman is
in
an excellent position to reassure us as to the vanity of
political aspirations built upon the shifting foundations of
numerical superiority. He opened the session of 1866 with
an overwhelming force at his back recruited to the Liberal
standard by the prestige of Lord Palmerston. Within
three months he had converted his majority of eighty int°
an absolute minority. We have no right to doubt the
capacity of such a party with such a leader to repeat the
experience of former years, for there never was a time
when the Liberals were more deficient in cohesive force or
when they were led by a chief less qualified for enforcing
discipline or inspiring them with unity of purpose. Th°
majority of Wednesday was created for the occasion. It
was born into the world for the express object of affirming
the principle of disestablishment and disendowment.
has discharged that duty to the letter, but it has not
travelled an inch beyond its commission.
The Telegraph observes that the great controversy is
practically closed. The Irish Church has met with its
Sadowa. An old ecclesiastical empire has fallen in 51
brief campaign—indeed, we may say,in one pitched battle.
This, we believe, is unprecedented in our political history'
It must be remembered that the bill of last year was
merely preliminary, and that Mr. Gladstone's present '
measure is the first that has ever been introduced into do
British Parliament, by any statesman of eminence, for the
abolition of the Irish State Church. Yet such a bill 10'
on the first division as to its principle, been affirmed hi
the enormous majority of 118. No "gigantic issue," t°
use Mr. Disraeli's words, has ever before beendecided so speedily. Yet the Irish Church some"
entrenched in prejudices stronger even than those
that surrounded Protestant ascendancy, the nomination
boroughs, or the Corn Laws. Strong religious sentiment
seemed to invest it with a halo. " No-Popery" fauati.;
cism regarded it as a bulwark. In the minds of many
cautious statesmen it was inexplicably associated with the
maintenance of imperial institutions. Yet, when the hour
of its decisive trial came, it was what we may almost call
summarily condemned. Four nights' debate exhausted,
the arguments on both sides, and three hundred Years
prescription availed nothing against the demand for i'ls.
Lice. We confess that the completeness of our victory
is in some senses as surprising as it is satisfactory. We
of the progressive school who, not satisfied with past Ps'
tice, are always "asking for more," have unhappily been
forced to learn patience in our years of agitation;
labour and to wait has been the lot of Liberals for years.
When we sat down before this old ecclesiastical fortress
we almost anticipated a long siege. We thought that
it
might take years to make the nation feel the justice of our
• 60'
attack. We thought that a strong parliamentary nun° cl
might vigorously attempt to raise the siege. We fef
that the preaching from " twenty thousand PulPl
threatened by an illustrious statesman of the
would be organised against us, and with effect. But of
victory has come quickly, decisively, and with astoundl
force.
state*
The Post says it is satisfactory to learn, from the star
meat of Mr. Chichester Fortescue in the House of L'° out
mons on Tuesday, that the questions pro early arising °lit
of the demonstration which the released I enians tbnugof
it not indecent to make at Cork, under the presideneY,o
the chief magistrate of that city, have been referrec.Va
the law officers of the Crown. The sensation exci
Ging our
ill
by the conduct of Colonel Warren and his friends
_sv.,bo
be surprise mixed with contempt. Even those vtili
best comprehend Celtic turbulence could litirhe,cl
have expected that the first act of men win', the
just been liberated by the remission of one 0. on
mildest sentences which it was possible to inflict cry
such offenders as the leaders in the Fenian consi,rTv..
would be to call a public meeting for the purpose of aeiihto"
ing the Crown and inciting the Irish nation to rush bo
open rebellion and armed revolt ; while even those
el
are most indulgent of Irish eccentric violence must fevee•
little astonished that the meeting should have been 'and
sided over by the mayor of the most considerableority
flourishing city in the country, he being an authi up •
whose special function it is to maintain peace an,.' the
hold the authority of the Crown. We shall Ili% die.
less or the more determinedly proceed with t',,urcli
establishment and disendowment of the Irish Co.,_inat
because Colonel Warren and Mr. O'Sullivan strive tn.
the ashes of Fenianism into a flame. Their politicalcio
duct will not, and ought not, to have influence one W a
have
the other on the policy which the English peopl!,,
y,nt
pronounced upon that subject. The Executive wil:408
down sedition and rebellion with the strong hand'
ed to
the Legislature during the operation will Pre" hoe
bring to a cnclusion the measure which theY
initiated fomo a sense of justice, as if Colonel \Valle; not
the Mayor of Cork had never spoken. `They are
parties to the issue.
rage'
The Herald takes Mr. Fronde to task for his cliel'a,„nalci
ment of a scholastic education. Of what, it aske,.", fite
he persuade us when he says, "An Oxford educeti° n?'
a man exceedingly well for the trade of a gentler:l the
Does it do no more? Does it contribute notbina,inde•
professions ? Is it true that, without personal anur bira-
pendent resources, " he cannot earn a sixpence focl to °'
self ? " And is the highest culture actual designe assert
the students of it for " trade ?" It is monstrous to „ht
that scholarship only fits a man, if lie have ton
the battle of life for himself, to break stonesece"ge.
Australian highway. We wonder for what Pri _
ripe,
Fronde himself would consent to part with his ow
rare, and expansive scholarship. It is the crowning dung
of a high-class education that, when it has ceased, for
man, instead of being fit, as Mr. Fronde aflivririissation
nothing, is fit, on the contrary, for anything'. C 1
will invariably produce a set of men interesvr„a
sophically and intellectually interested—in the lite'„ci out,
literature of the ancients. 'They will never beblotte
Those
no up
matter what assaults are made on them. Fronde
Athenian and Alexandrian thoughts which Mr, eaan
rth
illumination will continue to descend, kintbdlfgearth_
illumination as they go so long. as that all
exists. But is it really the opinion of that all
who is not always embracing paradoxes,
„,..sbaee
people should learn to make floors and haminej lamiarbs'ses
,fcgr
mainly because, as it seems, Spinoza groun" t nacle'
microscopes ? After we have filled our mere lot
our factories, our laboratories, our foundries, €l.%,,fter
courts, our houses of commerce, and our workshops swears
we have fringed with population the sea-boardtrade and
of our colonies, and covered the ocean with ,_4,,ea
even after we have confessed to all the sordid false frid to
in.-, weighing, and measuring, to all the shoddY,4es hie
generation
empty dialectics of which Mr. Fronde Itc_c_ esistS
generation, we venture still to believe that tuaefnot be
and continues to arise a class of men, who Y
infloor, vibo
qualified to hammer a horse-shoe or make a
..
(I,,,ery
on
will not only be safe from the danger of
Australian roads, but do work measureless
...u...„t
which mankind could not well spare, and Would "
tingly forget. dr. 6 value,
cts
The Daily Naos in considering the future ProseiitainlY
the Ministerial measure, says that the bill w.l in the
pass from the House of Commons pretty
form in which Mr. Gladstone presented if.
Lords will take it remains to be seen. to 'Dint fil w
fterle
them, !oriti
venture to reject a bill which goes up _ to] ,o
general election upon it, with the sanction of L.ssinie
of a hundred and eighteen, it is inir c hag
believe. Their function ceases when the
been fully and finally expressed, or is at, alliTb.rtal.
to that of moderating and tempering the resulting
'don when the legislation hears traces of P"-.sl,ast y r
haste. They perfoimed their function tike” ,tat{
theynia exerciseddemand
new ttheirrial powerby tile
believe that they will now consent to the €
nor in
But neither in committee in the. Commons, , tie') e
tnoewcalcloifl(s)tritiZcine'si,itablf:
,s,lfibstelqiiisientcoupnastrsyagecotnhsreonutghtothetiLleorcllesa,stcoafnui_toldieidcatiori
Wednesday
of the principle of the measure. The vote `
.o__
morning can never be recalled, nor its deciSt n_.„; pohey.
a Its l'e3-114,;
It was the final and triumphant assertion of
of ecclesiastical equality and religious peacet And _
influence has already gone forth over Irele,rl tril
wisdom and justice have already been ratinreetat ,i•et
e.i.gani.gtion. of the
reason and the conscience of mankind.
homage to the right, and of national r „tore
claims of justice, it remains as a landrearkyr9n'! -
whiebSall AMY LI &cad 9,c_r4l3a4yed,