The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-09 00:00:00

and zealous, and devout, and when her temples are rich
by the beauty of their architecture, the grandeur of their
dimensions, the costliness of their ornaments ; when in
every parish God's house surpasses every dwelling of
man ; when the organ and the choir, the vestments and
sacred vessels, show that man has consecrated his best
and richest to the service of his Creator. If a due pro-
portion of the revenues of the Establishment were thus
spent in Ireland in addition to local contributions, what
a glorious array' of magnificent temples would cover the
land, civilizing and refining- and elevating the national
taste, while they invited to prayer and pointed to heaven !
Such an arrangement as this would give us a position in a
moral sense strikingly contrasted with that of the Protes-
tant clergy ; for while they, as a married clergy, used
their revenues for their personal support, we should con-
tinue in our present independence, free from State control,
and united to a loving people by bonds bcith of earth and
Heaven. It will be perceived that we adopt so far the
views, as to the allocation of the Church property, so ably
and so eloquently advocated by Mr. Aubrey De Vere, in
pamphlets which deserve the most serious attention of our
statesmen and of all interested in the public welfare.
What Mr. De Vere further proposes, namely, the subsi-
dies to poor missions, where the scattered population of
mountain districts are not able to support a priest, should
be left discretionary with the bishops, is entirely in
accordance with that most humble deference for episcopal
authority which marks all his writings. Yet the pro-
posal itself suggests to many minds the first and chief
objection to the whole arrangement. It is said that, taking
human nature into account, it will be hard to prevent
an appropriation of the revenues to personal use. Most
assuredly, if the door was opened by special exceptions,
it would be hard. But we must only hope that those who
come after us will be as wise andas self-denying as those
of our time. We must not think it a duty to fetter their
discretion. They must be answerable for their manage-
ment in their day as we are in ours. There is no policy
more shoit-sighted and narrow-minded than that which
pretends to bind the future by rules that suit the present
time."

The following is the conclusion of this im-
portant and able epistle :--
" Until the last remnant of religious inequality shall
disappear there can be no peace in the land. Irritation of
feeling, mutual distrust, hatred of law and of authority,
rebellion held in leash, all the hinges of society dis-
jointed,—such must be the condition of Ireland as long
as the Protestant Church holds an exceptional or favoured
position. Let there be complete religious equality without
privilege, favour, or affection, on the part of the State or
of the law, for every religious denomination ; then the
traces, the traditions, of past misgovernment will be obli-
terated. We shall have a people acknowledging the legi-
timacy of the authority that rules them, and acknowled-
ging those obligations of obedience and respect which are
essential conditions of the order of society, as estab-
lished by the Almighty. We have now considered this
question solely with reference to the spiritual interests of
the Church and of society, whieh are the true eternal
interests of man. We feel certain that we have approached
the subject and reflected on it without personal or party
prejudice. In every possible arrangement of human
affairs there must be a mixture of good and evil. We
believe that in the present arrangement of the eccle-
siastical property of this country there is an immense
preponderance of evil, and that in the arrangement we pro-
pose there would be an immense preponderance of good.
We rest our conclusion on the paramount necessity of
peace and good will for the religious well-being of our
people. The events of the last fortnight make us feel
this necessity more intensely. That the demon of revol-
ution should be let loose upon this land even for an hour,
or that this fell spirit should influence even in thought
the minds of our countrymen, is a cause of deepest sor-
row to every priestly heart. We have had some glimpses
and warnings of the horrid excesses and foul depravity
to which the unchained license of rebellion so rapidly
leads. When youths, who were previously unaccus-
tomed to deeds of crime, can be induced to make
murderous attacks on the peaceful unoffending men of
the police force—men for the most part of their own,
race and religion, men whose chief business is not to
guard the throne, but to protect our own lives and pro-
perties—when they can be induced, after one day's prac-
tice in crime, to lay pitfalls -for railway trains, with the
intended and imminent risk of mutilation and death to
those who are not their enemies, either personal or
political, what horrors a longer apprenticeship in violence
would produce !

" when once is lost the freshness
Of wrong-doing, one fall's close
But a new fall's dawn doth herald."
Many will think we dream when we assert that there is
a connection of cause and effect between Protestant
ascendancy and Fenianism. We know full well that the
leaders and organizers of the Fenian movement care not
for the ascendancy, or, perhaps, even the existence of any
Church ; but it is equally certain that if the traditional
hatred of the English Government was not perpetuated
in the country, they would have found followers ; and it
is also certain that but for Protestant ascendancy that
hatred would not have long since died away. One thing,
at all events, we can positively assert : whatever may
be the cause of disaffection, the remedy is to be found
in perfect religious equality. If, venerable brethren,
these views meet your approval, and that of your respec-
tive flocks, it were well to give them effect by petitions
to the Imperial Legislature. The time is opportune,
and an expression of the popular will is looked for by
those who desire to legislate wisely.