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

The Irish Church Establishment.

(From the Westminster Gazette.)
The Right Rev. Dr. Moriarty, Bishop of Kerry,
has addressed an important and very elaborate

letter to his clergy on the subject of the disendow-

ment of the Established Church in Ireland. The
document in its entirety far exceeds the limits of

the space at our disposal, and we can do no more
than quote a few passages as instances of the lucid
and eloquent style in which his lordship deals with

the subject :
" VENERABLE BRETHREN, - You are aware how
anxiously we have at all times desired that our clergy
should abstain from interference in those things which
are purely secular or political. This is the spirit of the
Church ; it is the spirit of the Gospel. Our kingdom is
not of this world. When we descend from the heights
on which God has placed us, to take part in temporal
affairs, our authority does not descend with us. We can
no longer claim that reverence and obedience which are
due to us while we act within the sphere of our spiritual
functions. In the pursuit of its political interests society
is split up into factions, divided by contending opinions.
We have no mission to judge of such controversies.
When we take part in them we earn the enmity of those
who are opposed to our views. The world, which, in
the management of its own affairs, is wiser than we are,
undervalues our counsel and our help, and we return
into the sanctuary lessened in the esteem even of those
whom we sought to aid and serve. On the other hand, we
must remember that all human action is subject to the
moral law, which we are bound to explain and enforce.
We must remember, too, that political action very fre-
quently interferes, for good or for evil, with the rights
and well-being of the Church, and, with what should
be no less dear to us, the rights and well-being of the
poor. At the present time, when our Legislature is
occupied with its yearly task of making new laws
and repealing old ones, it may be advisable to have
, the views and wishes of our people concerning the
grievances to which they may deem themselves sub-
ject, embodied in the usual constitutional form of
petitions to Parliament. The mind of the country,"
continues his lordship, " seems to be occupied chiefly
with three great questions—the disendowment of the
Established Church, the vindication of the just rights of
the Catholic Church in the work of education, and the
protection of the poor and dependent peasantry by some
improvement in the laws which regulate their relations
with the proprietors of the soil. Upon the last of these
questions we must confess ourselves incapable of offering
any sure advice. There can be no difference of opinion
amongst us as to the end we should seek. Next to the
moral and religious improvement of our people, nothing
can be dearer to us than their temporal welfare, and our
people are chiefly the peasantry of the land, for we can
say, what the Apostle said of the Church of Corinth, that
there are not many mighty, not many noble amongst us.
But when we ask whether such or such a measure will
better their condition, we are met by difficult and doubt-
ful problems of political economy and social science.
Upon the question of Catholic education the voice of the
Church is very explicit, and our duty very clear. Some
few years ago we gave you our thoughts on this subject.
But you do not need our guidance when a higher voice
has spoken—Rome locuta est. The first question now
' occupies in a ver? prominent manner every thoughtful

mind. The urgent necessity of putting an end to religious
ascendancy in this country is admitted by many who
were once its most zealous supporters. The disendow-
ment of the Protestant Church by law established is a
measure which ye cannot view with indifference. It
affects interests and principles, and involves speculations
and projects which intimately concern us."

We shall not attempt to follow the gifted pre-
late in his profound and philosophical remarks
on the positior of the Established Church in Ire-
land, in the course of which he quotes with high
praise Mr. Aubrey De Vere's recent pamphlet,
styled Hibernia Pacanda, but come at once to the
following passiges in which the gist of his lord-
ship's argument will be found :
"Before answering the objections which we stated at
the outset, we mist bear in mind that the Catholic Church

is the rightful )wner of all ecclesiastical property in
this country, with the exception of what the Protestant
Church may have acquired since its separation. There
has been no concordat ceding this property to the
British Crown or sanctioning its secularization. We
acknowledge no prescription in this case. The Church
does not allow a state of limitation to bar our claim.
The title of the Protestant Church has not even a
colour of validity. Our right is in abeyance, but it
is unimpaired. Wo must also bear in mind that while
the Catholic Church, as a spiritual corporation, is the
rightful owner of the ecclesiastical property, we, the
bishops and priests, could be only possessors of it for the
time being, with right of use or usufruct, according as
the property might be personal or real. We have,
therefore, no power to alienate it, or to demand its
secularization, unless with the sanction of the Pope, who
is, by Christ's appointment, the supreme ruler of our
great spiritual commonwealth. This much being pre-
mised, when it is objected that the secularization of the
Church property involves injustice, we may answer, in
the first place, that if the episcopate of Ireland, with the
leave of the Holy See, consents to transfer, there
will be no violation of commutative justice. Scienti et
volenti non fit injuria. If we consulted only political expe-
diency we might recommend this arrangement. We
might say, let the State withdraw all religious endow-
ments which the nation originally bestowed. Let the
tithe rent-charge, the regium donum, the Maynooth grant,
be used for other national purposes. Let every man,
Catholic, Protestant, or Dissenter, who wishes to save his
soul, provide for himself the ministrations or the helps
he may deem needful or useful. Let the State make
provision only for those on whose liberty it places re-
straint, such as soldiers, sailors, prisoners, paupers, ezc.
This is one way in which we might obtain perfect reli-
gious equality, and harmonize our civil state. it seems
to us, however, that such an arrangement would still fur-
nish a precedent and a sanction for unjust and sacrilegi-
ous spoliation. The cessio juris on the part of the Ca-
tholic Church would go for nought in the deliberations
of the Legislature ; and the disendowment would be
effected by the high hand of the State, without refer-
ence to the claims of any Church. We are of opinion
that religious equality and the destruction of ascendancy
may be obtained in a manner more comformable to justice,
and more in accordance with that high moral sense which
is a nation's true dignity. There is not one man in the
British Legislature, no matter to what party he belongs,
or how small his intelligence, who must not see that it
is manifestly unjust to hand over to a small section of the
community those revenues which were set apart to supply
the wants of the nation. We do not ask the Legislature
to recognize the exclusive right of that Church to which
the revenues were originally given, which was then the
sole Church of the whole people. We hold our own
opinions on this subject, but the conscience of Parliament
is not formed as ours. We must consider, not what is right
in itself, but what is right to be done by a body consti-
tuted as our Legislature is. And as that body has no
mission or authority to decide on the apostolical succes-
sion of the Churches, nor on their rival claims to ortho-
doxy, the only thing it can consistently do is to apply the
ecclesiastical revenues to the service of all the Churches
that minister to the Irish people, and in the proportion in
which the Irish people accept their ministrations_ An
assembly composed of men of every Christian sect, and of
men who are not Christians at all, cannot, in their award,
go beyond the general rule, that the Church property and
income are to be used for the spiritual benefit of Ireland,
and in whatever manner the Irish people may deem most
serviceable to their souls. The most obvious application
of this principle would be realized if the whole Church
income were paid into the Imperial Treasury, and
thence disbursed to the different bodies requiring
Church ministers or ministrations, and in proportion to
their numerical strength, as ascertained by the decennial
census. This proposal meets the objection raised against
the justice and expediency of the transfer of property ;
and, inasmuch as it is a partial restitution to the Catholic
Church, we could, with subjection to superior authority,
not only assent to it, but demand it. But, will the
Catholic body in this country accept their share of the
Church revenue ?"
To answer this question his lordship points to
the vast sums so generously expended by Irish
Catholics of late years in building churches, and
founding religious houses and schools, and in
other works of charity, and continues :
" Now, we ask, why should the Irish Catholic submit to
thi
s, when
iexist ample funds which could be used
e in
no
built for a small number
for the purpose ? The rust of the old chains must still
cling
round him, f hecan paotifenptelrysobens who ar
bear
to seechurches
way his betters, and built from funds for which he is
equally taxed as they are. The independence of the
Church does not require such a sacrifice. The laity do
not grudge to be charged with the support of the clergy:
for many reasons they approve that mode of support, and
they would be the first to protest against a departure
from the present system ; but there is no reason why they
should not gladly receive a grant for the building of their
church or the maintenance of a diocesan school, not from
the common taxes of the country, but from funds which
their forefathers set apart for these purposes. It would
seem very absurd on our part to say to our people, You
must, build your churches ; you shall not do so with the
money you have paid in tithe-rent; all that you must
leave to tlie Protestant Church, or for secular uses ; you
must find money over and above for the needs of your
own worship. The allocation we propose, besides exempt-
ing the Catholic laity from the burden of a double taxa-
tion, would make the Catholic feel that he attained social
and religious equality by giving splendour and dignity
to his Church. The dignity which graces a Church does
not come from the wealth of its clergy. On the contrary,
the poorer they are the more they are revered. The
Church is clothed with that majesty which makes her
• Venerable when her Dail:doter§ tixe poor, and learned,

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- l 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 both 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. Do 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 short-sighted and narrow-minded than that which
pretends to bind the future by rules that suit the present

;ime."

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 glirdpses
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 cloth herald."
Many will think we dream when we assert that there is
a connection of cause and effect between Protestant
ascendancy and Fenianisin. 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.

UNITED STATES SECURITIES.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

Messrs. Belding, Keith, and Co. have compiled
a pamphlet of much utility to all interested, or
who may become interested, in United States
Securities. The pamphlet is designed to shoW
the public the method of calculating the cost in
sterling of 5-20 bonds, and of exchange, a subject
of importance to every holder of these securities,
of other property in the United States, as well as
the person engaged in commerce with that country.
To this is annexed three tables. The first shows the
the conversion of a hundred dollar bond, at 4s. 6d.
per dollar, into pounds sterling, with the market
Price varying from 65 through every fraction up to
92. Connected is an illustration of a one hundred
dollar coupon bond with coupons. Thus the whole
security is depicted exactly as it would come into
the hands of a purchaser, while at the back is given
the table of the price to the investor at every pos-
sible market quotation. A similar table is given of
a $5OO bond, and another of a $l,OOO bond. The
price at which this banking house will buy or sell
these bonds is fixed and clear, leaving no room for
any uncertainty in the mind of the purchaser or
seller. He has merely to take a newspaper which
gives the London quotations of the day, and if he
wishes to purchase he has simply to take the buying
price b •eg
price (which is the highest), and add to that one
per cent. for a $lOO bond, per cent. for a $5OO
bond, and a I per cent, for $l,OOO bond, and he
gets the exact sum of his investment, plus commis-
sion, and all other charges. So, if he wishes to sell,
he has to take the lowest or the selling price to de-
duct therefrom 1 per cent, for a $lOO bond, fora
$5OO bond, and 4 per cent. for $l,OOO bond, and he
will arrive at the nett sum which the sale will pro-
duce. After calculating the cost of the investment,
the rate of interest is estimated. The dollar ranges
in London from 3s. 11d. to 4s, Old. But to secure
uniformity this house proposes to pay four shillings
per dollar for all coupons on bonds sold by them,
although the market price may not be over 3s. 11d.
Thus the purchaser will be able to calculate exactly
what his investment will produce. Suppose he
wishes to obtain a thousand dollar bond, and the
market price is 70. On turning to the table the sum
will be shown Opposite 701 to be £lsBls. 3d. Six
Per cent. on a thousand dollars is $6O, which,
at four shillings per dollar, gives £l2. Therefore
£l5B ls. 3d. yields £6 on the Ist May and £6 on
the Ist November in each year, or 7i per cent. per
annum; the purchaser being relived from all un-
certainty and secure of these payments at a London
bank. Satisfactory as is the security and the rate
of interest, they represent but a portion of the gain
to the permanent investor. These bonds are pay-
able in full in 1882, when the $l,OOO bond will
produce to its holder that sum in the United States,
or, at the lowest estimate, £2OO in London. As the
original cost was £l5B ls. 3d., there will be therefore
a gain in 15 years of £4l 18s. 9d., giving on the first
outlay a further interest of 11 per cent., which, added
to the 71 per cent., makes an aggregate of about 94
per cent, per annum. In a similar way the value
of the investment as an interest bearing security,
can be calculated through this pamphlet at any
price these bonds are likely to be quoted at.

Messrs. Belding, Keith, and Co. explain that there
are other bonds payable in the currency of the United
States which they describe as being equally good,
though they recommend those only that are dealt in
here, which are the gold-bearing bonds, for the
very excellent reason that the latter are readily
saleable all over Europe, while the former must be
negociated in the United States, at a loss of time
and money. Our readers are aware that the name
Five-twenties arose fromthe agreement stated on the
face of the Bond in these words ;—" Redeemable
at the pleasure of the United States after the 30th
day of April, 1867, and payable after the 30th day