The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-21 00:00:00

one thing Sir ROBERT had to begin his remarks by
responding to an address couched in language of
the most encomiastic character. But how did he
respond to it ? By saying, among other things,
for example—" I do not, gentlemen, for one moment
suppose that I am in any way worthy of the grati-
fying encomiums which have been passed upon me."
But he adds, " I accept them in part as the son of
that statesman to whom allusion has been made in
this address which has now been read, and I rejoice
to find that the expectations which he had formed
on one notable occasion of a memorable address in
the House of Commons have been, both in this coun-
try and in England, realised by the grateful recol-
lections with which his memory is cherished by all
classes of the community, but more particularly by
those—to use his most eloquent words—by those of
whom there are many thousands in your town of Bel-
fast, by those whoselot it is to labour and to earn their
daily bread by the sweat of their brow—the sweeter
because it is no longer leavened with a sense of
injustice." Again, the Irish Secretary was speak-
ing to his Belfast audience under circumstances of
still greater delicacy—remembering, as who can
fail to remember ? his recent denunciation there by
the Roman Catholic Primate of all Ireland, Arch-
bishop CULLEN. Commenting upon this denun-
ciation, Sir ROBERT PEEL put the matter thus
plainly before his hearers :—" Now, gentlemen," he
said, " just figure to yourselves his Grace the Arch-
bishop of CANTERBURY exhuming from the sepulchre
of our Parliamentary debates extracts from Han-
sard, and incorporating them in a circular to the
clergy of his province, denouncing with the most
severe ecclesiastical censure political views upon
the extension of the franchise, or upon Irish tram-
ways. Or go further," he said, " suppose the
Archbishop of CANTERBURY holding up to popular
indignation a Roman Catholic who goes for pur-
poses of charity into the outlying districts of Step-
ney and Spitalfields for the purpose of doing good.
" Why, such conduct as that," exclaimed Sir R.
PEEL, " would only raise a smile of pity in Eng-
land, and would tend, unquestionably, to lower the
character of that sacred office which he so worthily
fills. " But I am sorry to say," added the Irish
Secretary, " that it is precisely that I com-
plain of in this "country." It was certainly
bringing the case directly home to his Irish audi-
tors, to pat it thus bluntly before them with that
very:point blank application of the whole affair to his
Grace the Archbishop of CANTERBURY. A Secretary
for Ireland who is so bold, and outspoken, and self-
reliant as Sir ROBERT PEEL has already shown
himself to be since he succeeded Mr. CARDWELL
in that most delicate and responsible office, is not
very likely, we may rest assured, to stick at any
mere trifle in the way of promoting the further-
ance of the Volunteer Movement among the loyal
population of Ireland.

We have heard much of Trades Unions of late ;
we seem now likely to hear a good deal of Church

Unions. We do not refer to Union of Benefices,
and the removal, by that means, of aseles churches
in the City to situations where there are congrega-

tions to fill them ; the Church, the clergy especially,
are summoned to a union of quite another kind by
two gentlemen who move in very different spheres
indeed, but are each notable in his way—the Hon.

BENJAMIN DISRAELI and Sir CULLING EARDLEY
—and it is somewhat singular that both these gen-
tlemen fix on the unfortunate " Essays and Re-
views," or on their writers, as a chief cause of the
disunion of which they complain.

The worthy Baronet of Erith has, however, rather
wider views than the distinguished Privy Council-
lor. He would,webelieve,by his EvitngelicalAlliance,
effect for the religious people of England what the
Emperor of AUSTRIA would fain do for his nume-
rous States—Sir CULLING EARDLEY, if we under-
stood him rightly, would amalgamate all sects.
Only, unfortunately, the obstinate sects, like
the obstinate Hungarians, wont amalgamate.
The great meeting of his Amalgamation Society
came off yesterday in Freemason's Hall; but for
that matter, the company would have been far
more comfortable in the baronet's own parlour,
where they would certainly have been easily
and pleasantly accommodated, since they did
not number more than thirty persons. This,
too, was not an initial conference, but a public
meeting, the climax of thirty years of en-
deavours to persuade all good Christians that they
ought to unite rather than quarrel for ever ; and to
unite under the diplomatic title of the Evangelical
Alhance.

Mr. DISRAELI aims at nothing so visionary. He
sees a " great majestic corporation" which has
grown with the growth of the nation, which is a
part of England itself ; but which it is forfeiting half
its advantages by the distrusts and discontents which
prevail among its leaders. The Statesman does
not want to amalgamate all sects with the
Church, but to amalgamate the sects in the
Church ; and he charges on the Essay and Re-
view writers that they have created deep dis•
trust by advocating opinions contrary to those
which they are under engagements to maintain.
He allows laymen to be free inquirers, but de-
clares that clergymen may not be so. They
have taken a brief and received a fee
to maintain the Articles and the Liturgy
against all corners, and it is not for them
to inquire. They have signed that they
do ex animo believe Articles and Prayer-book in
their plain grammatical sense—and Mr. DIS-
RAELI agrees with Dr. LUSHINGTON that that sense
precludes all inquiry on the subjects on which the
formularies speak.
It is on this point that Mr. DISRAELI and Sir
CULLING seem also so entirely to agree. One of the
EARDLEY resolutions, agreed to unanimously by
the whole thirty who composed the fifteenth meet-
ing of the British Evangelical Alliance—was a