The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-19 00:00:00

• much under the true letting value. Sums derived
from pew-rents nre also omitted ; the value of
such a church as Trinity Church, Dublin
(which Ex-Chancellor Napier thought more
profitable than a bishopric), being set down
by the Commissioners, at the ridiculously low
estimate of £44 55. Bd. The true amount
of Irish church revenues cannot be ascertained
without a government inquiry, so unwilling are the
officials to give information. In Soames' edition of
Illosheim's Ecclesiastical History (a text-book in
Dublin University), the amount of Irish church re-
venue is stated as " under £BOO,OOO a-year."
iv., p. 472, foot-note. Ed. 1850.]
There is a lawyer-like view of church property,
which heretofore was much relied on, and is now
frequently brought forward as furnishing an un-
answerable argument for maintaining in statu
quo the Irish Church temporalities. It is argued
that the Church is a corporate body, with the
same right to her property as colleges or hospi-
tals, or any other public institutions whatever,
have to their respective endowments, and that
the present Anglo-Irish Church being the same
body corporate which first enjoyed the temporal
possessions of the church in Ireland, must, there-
fore, be protected in the enjoyment of the re- -
venues, &c., as a simple matter of right. But not
to insist that there has been—practically, if not
legally—a break in the succession, as regards
property, between the ancient Roman Catholic
and the modern Protestant Establishments, it
must be evident to dispassionate observers that the
reformed Anglo-Irish Church has always been an
imperfect, abortive, and unnatural sort of an Irish
body corporate. It has always had a head, that is, a •
hierarchy—brought until recently, almost exclusively
from England—but it has never had the other,
and the essential part of a national body—that'is,
the great bulk of the Irish people. The body of
the Irish Church cannot consist exclusively of
the eleven per cent. of the population now mem-
bers of the Church Established. Richard
Whately, however, did not claim for the pro-
perty of eeclesistical or other corporations a
perpetual protection. "I freely acknowledge,"
ne onservet, [Laters on the Church, p. 137. Lon-
don : Longmans, 1826.] " that the State has a
right to take away the property of all or any of
those corporations (indemnifying, of course, those
individuals actually enjoying the revenues) when-
ever the manifest inutility or hurtfulness of the
institutions renders their abolition important to
the public welfare." Indeed, the Archbishop,
in 1832, in his evidence before the House of
Lords, witnessed to the readiness with which an
alienation of tithe property in Ireland to secular
purposes would have been at that time received by
Protestants. " I allude," said his Grace, " to (what
has been thrown out in various shapes) the sug-
gestion of applying tithes to the purpose of
establishing a fund for the relief of the poor,
similar to the endowments of parishes in England ;
something that shall do all the good of the poor
laws, and at the same time not be a burden to the
parishioners. This would certainly be (as far as I
have been able to ascertain from the greater
part of my clergy), a popular measure even with
Protestants." Few will question the correctness of
Dr. Whately's judgment in this respect, when it is
remembered how unresistingly Irish Protestants suf-
fered themselves to be relieved from contributing, •
by means of parish cess and minister's money, to the
maintenance of Anglican clergy and Anglican wor-
ship.

Much bitterness of feeling would be avoided in
the discussion of these questions if it were care-
fully borne in memory that Protestant ascendancy
and the temporalities of the Church of Ireland in
their present shape are not essential to the well-
being of the Church, and may be removed with-
out injury to religion and with positive benefit to
the country. Of Protestant ascendancy Edmund
Burke thus wrote (vol. ix. of his works, page 412)
—" I think I can hardly overrate the malignity of
the principles of Protestant ascendancy as they
affect Ireland." It is in vain to expect that the
vast majority of the population will endure the
monopoly, by a small minority, of the national
endowments for religious (not to mention edaca-

tional) purposes. That minority, though enjoying
ascendancy as the legal corporation in possession/
could not establish an equitable title to that pro'

perty before any impartial tribunal in Christendom•
I have the honour to be, your obedient servant,

March, 1866.

W. AIAZIERE BRADY, D.D.

*- 4
(
(.ICw Die 0
Cling . Tar

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, SUNDAY.
Her Majesty drove in the grounds
afternoon, accompanied by Princess Beatrice.
Prince Alfred, attended by Lieutenant
arrived at the Castle, from London.
Their Serene Highnesses the Prince and Princes
Hermann of Hohenlohe, with their children, Prince
Ernest and Princess Eliza, arrived at the Castle, 02
a visit to her Majesty. yesterday
To-day is the anniversary of the birthday of her
Royal Highness Princess Louise.
The Queen, Prince Alfred, Prince Leopold,
Princess Beatrice, and Princess Hermann of Hohen-
lohe, with the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting?
attended Divine service this morning in the Private
Chapel.
The Rev. T. J. Rowsell, Chaplain in Ordinary to
the Queen, preached the sermon.

The Prince of Wales, accompanied by Prince
Alfred and Prince Hohenlohe, and attended by
Lieut.-Col. Koppel and Lieut. Haig, went to Mill;
wall on Saturday, and was present at the launch of
the ironclad ship Northumberland. _ . _

The Princess of Wales took •a
carriage drive'
attended by the Hon. F. Stoner.
In the evening their Royal Highnesses wentto the
Haymarket Theatre.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, with the Hon'
F. Stouor and Lieut.-Colonel Keppel in waiting'
attended Divine service at the Chapel Royal) St.
James's, yesterday.
The Communion service was read by the lieu're'
John Antrobus, the Rev. Thos. Helmore, and t
Rev. J. R. Wood.

Anthem—" The Eyes of the Lord." /Cares.
Sung by Masters Carmichael and Dysen, geSsr°'
R.Barnby, Cummings, and Lawler.

Mr. Cooper presided at the organ.
The sermon was preached by the Lord Bisll°P
Worcester, from Genesis, chap. 1, v. 27.