The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-14 00:00:00

and other steps of repression, but it would be a most for-
tunate thing if from that evil good was to result,
and that the matter had terminated in the whole state
of the countryybeing considered with a view to its im-
provement ; but he must Bay that he thought all consi-
deration would be useless which did not deal with
the great problem which was at the bottom of
all—viz., the State Church in Ireland. That a
better state of things was in store for the country ho felt
certain, and nothing showed the real state of feeling of
the well-disposed people in that country than the conduct
of the Irish juries during the late Fenian prosecutions.
(Hear, hear.) The right hon. gentleman then proceeded
to allude to the system of education pursued in Ireland,
and remarked that the proposition of her Majesty's Go-
vernment with respect to university education in that
country was such that he thought it ought not to
meet with hasty hostility, although it was one that
was calculated to startle some people. It was
his great desire to see the University of Dublin
become a truly national institution, and the best results,
he believed, would follow if that institution became un-
sectarian. Whilst ho said that he thought some atten-
tion ought to be given to the wants of other educational
establishments not touched by the. proposal of the Go-
vernment. With respect to the tenure of laud in Ireland,
it was a subject of the greatest difficulty, and ho did hope
that in any proposal that was made to place it on a more
improved basis the hon. member for Cork and those who
acted:with him would not give to every proposal that was
not entirely in consonance with the feelingsthey entertained
their most determined opposition. It was not by pursuing
such a course that any amelioration could be arrived at,
but, by a mutual concession much good might be done ;
but he must say that ho could not see that any very great
good could result from the commission of inquiry.
With respect to land in Ireland, because it seemed to him
tho commission was mainly for the put pose of enabling
the landlords of Ireland to clear their characters from the
charges that had been made against them by the hon.
members for Westminster, Birmingham, and other places.
The great point to be considered was the mode under
which land was held in Ireland. It was not to be expected
that a tenant would ever rest contended and satisfied
when it was possible to turn the result of all his
labour and improvement against himself. He knew that
change of rental was very frequent in Ireland, and in
one instance that was within his recollection, no less than
seven changes in the amount of rent had been made in a
period of ten years. That was not a state of things that
ought to exist, and that opinion was shared by one of the
largest and most benevolent land managers in Ireland—a
high Conservative too—who was of opinion that in no
case ought the amount of rent to be varied in less than 21
years.

Sir G. N. WKENNA commented upon the anomalies
in the system of Irish taxation, which he held amounted
to practical injustice. With regard, however, to the
Ministerial programme, he approved, as a Roman Catholic,
of the offor of the university made to his co-religionists,
end recommended them to accept it, reminding them
that the Whigs had novor offered them anything so
Ebert].

Tho O'DONOGITUE described the condition of Ireland
as one of wide-spread and alarming dissatisfaction, to bo
traced chiefly to the circumstance that Irishmen were not
allowed to manage their own affairs. They had lost con-
Slenco in Parliament, and had either sunk into despair or
were patiently waiting until a gleam of hope should en-
able them to assert the shattered dignity of their country.

It wai impossible to convert Ireland into an English
county, and equally impossible to restore contentment
until the tenant had security for his improvements, and
until the Established Church and every other badge of as-
cendancy was for ever extirpated.
Lord C. HAMILTON, in a characteristic speech, ex-
pressed his opinion that all the woes of Ireland were en-
tailed upon her by grievance-mongers and professional
agitators.

Mr. H. A. HERBERT, as an Irish landlord, avowed
himself willing and anxious to give leases to his tenants
and declared that, as a Protestant himself, he was prepared
to vote to-morrow for the abolition of the Established
Church. He denied that Ireland was retrograding in ma-
terial prosperity.
Mr. NEWDEGATE, as might be expected, directed his
speech chiefly to tha proposition for a Catholic University,
which he denounced as a dangerous innovation, calcu-
lated to alienate yet more Catholic Ireland from Protes-
tant England, by encouraging Ultramontane principles
and clerical domination. With respect to the land scheme
of the Government he was prepared to give it a general
support.
Mr. BRIGHT regarded the condition of Ireland with
sorrow and anxiety, for he could not bring himself 16—be-
lieve that there must not be something radically wrong in
the condition of a country which was always ripe for re-
volution. This great effect must have some cause, and
the House of Commons would be unworthy of its mission
if it did not endeavour to discover that cause and
supply a remedy. The land and the Church were at
the root of all the mischief. In reference to the
former, he would not do anything by law which could in-
fringe the rights of property, but he insisted that the
landlords of Ireland had grievously mistaken their own
interests. If the Government were to raise money at 3i
per cent. and purchase Irish estates, to be divided among
tenant-farmers, who would pay 5 per cent. for 31 years,
tenant right would be secured, and each tenant would at
the expiration of that time become the freeholder of the
land he had tilled. In this manner the "land difficulty'
might be adjusted. As far as the project for a Catholic
University was concerned, he looked upon it as most un-
statesmanlike and impolitic. It was a tentative pro-
posal, which, if accepted by the Catholics, will doubt-
less be used hereafter as another buttress to the
Established Church in the shape of a bribe. The
proposal was grotesque and imbecile, and nobody
was disposed to have anything to do with it. It reminded
him of the pills sold by an itinerant doctor (not a Cabinet
Minister, but only a mountebank) which were "good
against the earthquake." In Ireland there was a social
and political earthquake, and the doctors on the Treasury
bench prescribed a Catholic charter, which Catholics
would not accept, and which Protestants would not sanc-
tion. Alluding to the State Church in Ireland, he looked
upon it as virtually doomed and at an end. He thought
the time was rapidly coming when all endowments must
be withdrawn, and religious equality be established upon
a purely voluntary principle. The Catholic, the Pro-
testant, and the Presbyterian Church could then have a
fair start, and there would be no more supremacy
or ascendancy. He implored the house to approach the
consideration of this subject in a kind and conciliatory
spirit. If they would but surrender their prejudices and
subdue their antipathies, the dark and heavy cloud which
lowered over Ireland would soon be dispelled, and the
sun of prosperity would shine upon a free and happy
people.
The debate was brought to a conclusion by Sir STAF -
FORD NORTHCOTE, who argued that the Church of
England and Ireland were one and the same, and that it
would be impossible to disendow the one without eventu-
ally confiscating the property of the other. He admitted the
State had a right to inquire into the manner in which the
Church had fulfilled its mission ; but he denied that the
endowments of the Church were the property ~of the
nation, and he challenged the equity of preferring an in-
dictment before evidence had been collected and a case had
been made out, taunting the leaders of the Opposition with
not having applied themselves to redress the grievances
and anomalies of which they now complained. The right
hon. baronet observed that the late Government would
have dealt with it, but that upon consideration they found
they could not do so with safety. The policy to be adopted
towards Ireland should be one of a healing and not of an
irritating character, and, above all, should be animated by
a strict senso of justice.
On the motion of Mr. MONSELL, the debate was ad-
journed shortly before midnight until Monday.
The other business on the paper was disposed of, and
the House adjourned until Monday.

ACCIDENT IN THE CHANNEL FOLKESTONE,
March 11.—The Lord Warden, Captain Jenkins,
the South-Eastern Railway Company's steamboat on the
Folkestone and Boulogne station, loft hero at 12.30 to-day
with 75 passengers, and met with some accident in mid-
channel, rendering her helpless. The Napoleon 111.
Captain Paul, in the same service, which left Boulogne for
Folkestone at 2.15 p.m., with 45 passengers, took the
Lord Warden in tow back to Boulogne harbour. The
Napoleon 111. will not leave Boulogne until the night
tide, and is expected hero soon after midnight. The
special tidal train will not leave for London until about
1 o'clock.

- - -
THE ABOLITION OF COMPOUNDING.—A public
meeting of the inhabitants of Birmingham was held last
night, under the presidency of the Mayor, to petition
parliament to repeal the ratepaying dunes of the Reform
Act. The petition adopted embodied all the objections to
the clauses in question, pointing out that by the abolition
of compounding " individual injury is combined with class
irritation, and an Act professedly for the enfranchisement
of the people has become an instrument of social hardship
and fiscal oppression." It is added that under the circum-
stances "the extension of the elective franchise to the
poorer occupiers is now made conditional on their submis-
sion to a ruinous penalty, and instead of a boon to be wel-
comed becomes a plague to bo avoided." There wore at
least 4,000 people-present.
During a quarter of a century Hornintan's Teashavy e had .
an immense sale, and as they are nowBdperpound Cheaper,
in consequence of the Reduced Duty, the demand
L aj d
will)t
doubtless be even further extended. Sold, secure n
Packets; genuine are signed llorninzan and Co., London. i