The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Our readers will find in another page of our Jour- I
:nal this day, one of the most important documents it
&as ever been our fortune to peruse, connected with
-the ecclesiastical affairs of Ireland. It will be recol-
lected that towards the close of the session of Parlia-
ment last year, Commissioners were appointed for the"
purpose of making a full and correct inquiry respect-
ing the state err religious and other instruction, and the
itreans of affording the same, actually existing in that
country. It was a most material feature of this inves-
tigation to
~ ascertain the real numbers composing the
-whole population, and then the proportions attached
to the,. afferent modes of worship prevailing in that
part of the United Kingdom. We have now before
us the result of the labours of the Commissioners,
with reference to the first, that is, the religious branch
of the inquiry ; and we must confess that although
we ware not wholly ignorant of the true condition of
the sister kingdom, we were not at all prepared for the
astounding case against the Irish Estahlishment, which
Cie Report of these gentleman has disclosed. The
information thus presented to Parliament and
the country is strictly of a statistical nature.
We must, therefore, enter into some of the details
of which it consists, `referring the reader to the Report
and the table itself for more copious evidence as to the
cam and skill with which the whole has been framed.
rae Report will convince the most sceptical of the
"iories that never were data of a similar character col-
lected with more industry, examined with more impar-
tiality, or get down as authentic with greater precau-
tion. The matter is arranged in the most lucid order.
Besides the summary for all Ireland, which we give,
together with the Report, to day, the volume, em-
bracing altogether upwards of 800 pages, exhibits a
distinct summary for the four provinces of Armagh,
Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, as well as for each of
the dioceses. The remainder of the publication is
devoted to the minute points of inquiry appertain-
ing to each particular rectory, vicarage, perpetual
cure, impropriate cure, and parishes without cure
of souls. On every point entrusted to their care,
these gentlemen appear to us to have bestowed
their best attention, and to have carried on their in-
quiry in the most efficient manner ; and we think
we may fairly say that the work which they have
thus combined by their talents and great labour
to produce, is unquestionably the best volume of
statistics that has yet taken its place among the ar-
chives of any nation. The first important fact esta-
blished by the Commission is this, that the total po-
pulation of Ireland is little short of eight millions, the
real numbers being 7,943,940 ; of these, to round the
odd numbers, 6,428,000 are Roman Catholics, for
whom the State has made no ecclesiastical provision
whatever. On the contrary, the provision which an-
ciently belonged to them, consisting of the pious be-
quests of individuals, the donations of noblemen and
others, endowments by the Crown, and estates pur-
chased with the moneys of monastic and other reli-
gious institutions, were taken away from a whole Ca-
tholiri people by repeated Acts of the British and Irish
Lerzislaturcs, by illegal confiscations, by open usurpa-
ticins, such as have no parellel in an) other country,
considering the relative paucity of the Protestants, in
whose favour these enormous spoliations were perpe-
trated. No means were left unattempted on the part of
successive English Sovereigns and Governments, and
factions and sects, to force the " Reformed" reli-
gion upon Ireland. Her own faith was vilified as
a foul superstition---it was ridiculed as an absurdity
—it was inveighed against as a falsehood—it was
reasoned against as a prejudice—it was decried as
a nuisance--it was abhorred as a disgrace to the
pride of man's intellect—it was warred against by
artillery—it was sworn against in the name of the God
of all Truth by a greater number and a greater variety
of oaths than have ever been devised by any other ci-
vilized nation upon ally one subject—declaration after
declaration was issued against it—statute after statute
endeavoured to hunt it down, and extirpate its priests
and its followers, and overthrow their altars, and de-
stroy or alienate their temples, and reduce them to po-
litical helots, and bow them down to the very dust of
misery and poverty and shame in their own native
land I We have here the grand result of all these
charitable enterprises for the propagation of the
Gospel ! At the hour in which we write, Ireland calls
the world to witness her state. Six millions and a hall
of her people are still Roman Catholics, and notwith-
standing all that has been done by violence and injus-
tice of every description to plant the Protestant faith
amongst.them, that form of worship has found, after
three hundred years of incessant exertion, just
852,064 professors ! It is further to be observed, that
even of this number the whole do no not belong to the
Church by law established. The Commissioners state in
their report that " the census of the members of the
Established Church (given by the ministers of
that church) includes a considerable number of
Wesleyan Mehodists, who, although attending ser-
vice in other places of worship, consider themselves
to be in a connexion with the Established Church,
and wished to be classed as members of that body."
The Commissioners add, " We do not report the par-
ticular number of these persons, but that it is consi-
derable, especially in some districts, will appear from
an inspection of the number of their places of worship
enumerated in their Reports, and the average number
of persons attending divine service in each." We
think it was a false delicacy on the part of the Com-
missioners not to have specified the numbers of the
Wesleyans ; it would have saved the reader the
very laborious process of making the calculation
for himself. Upon the cursory examination which
we have yet. been enabled to make, we think we
are not far wrong in estimating the Irish Wes-
leyan Methodists at about eighty thousand alto-
gether, which will reduce the real number of the
Protestants in Ireland to about 772,000. The
Commissioners further state, that " they were not
required by the terms of their Commission to
distinguish the denominations and numerical propor-
tions of those other Protestants who really dissent
from the-Established Church, and who desired to be
classed as Protestant Dissenters ; and it is only by
a reference to the names of the places of worship,
and the statement of their average congregations,
that the names of these religious denominations
and their respective numerical importance can be
collected from the Reports." Here again we can-
not avoid expressing a wish that the Commissioners
had specified their precise numbers. The propor-
tion which the Methodists and the Protestant
Dissenters bear to the Protestants of the Esta-
blishment is very important to be known in the
present inquiry, not as a doctrinal question, but
as affording the materials for ascertaining the real
extent to which a Protestant Establishment, in its
present form, is required at all in Ireland. For if
the Wesleyan Methodists and Protestant Dis-
senters have ministers and churches of their own,
as appears to be the case, it was not strictly cor-
rect to include their numbers in the sum total
assigned to the members of the Establishment.
Allowing, therefore, as we think we may safely
do, seventy thousand, or thereabouts, for the number of
the Protestant " Dissenters," we shall have as a result
the total numbers of the population belonging to the
Established Church at about seven hundred thousand.
We shall take another opportunity of going carefully
through the whole of the details, and pledge ourselves
to state the numbers of the Wesleyans and Pro-
testant Dissenters accurately. At present we shall
assume them to be as we have just mentioned. The
table gives the number of Presbyterians as amounting
to no less than 246,356, a number very nearly equal
to that of the members of the Establishment, and then
it sets down the " other Protestant Dissenters" at
21,808, thus accounting for the whole population.
The Commissioners stated above that the numbers of
" Protestant Dissenters" who really differed from the
Established Church, are only to be collected in the way
they had there suggested. We have not time at pre-
sent to clear up this trifling obscurity, but we shall
return to it. We now come to the number of the
houses belonging to the different modes of worship.
The Roman Catholics, for six millions and a half of
people, have 2,105 places of worship, built by them-
selves ; the Protestants, for seven hundred thou-
sand persons, have 1,534 churches and chapels
from the State I The six millions and a half have not
a single benefice nor a single glebe house. The seven