The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APML 13, 1868

THE IRISH CHURCH.

tined, and to which it was applied in Catholic
times."
Upon public grounds, for the sake of the
empire at large, in the interests of religion and
of civil justice, and not for any lesser motives
or for reasons mean and paltry as those we
have alluded to, do we join inthe demand that
the State, in the name of England, should at
last and with a generous unanimity perform
an act of national reparation, and remove
from Catholic Ireland a grave and long-stand-
ing injustice.—Westrninster Gazette.

The connection of the State with the Pro-
testant Church of Ireland, the motives which
impel Catholics to vote against it, and the
duty of maintaining the religious principle in
politics, are questions which ought to be probed
to the bottom. There must be no false issues
raised. No attempt to confound Catholic oppo-
sition to the Irish Establishment with the un-
Catholic motives which actuate Dissenters,
irreligious Liberals, and philosophical secu-
larists in their attacks on the principle of
Church Establishments, must be allowed to
pass unchallenged. Such an attempt at the
confusion of the true with the false motives
of opposition to the Irish Establishment is to
play into the hands of the enemies of Catho-
licity. it is pushing party politics to an un-
wholesome and unreasoning extreme. With
such tactics Catholics can have no sympathy.
They indignantly repudiate the imputation,
come whence it may, that their opposition to
the Irish Church is equivalent to a renuncia-
tion of the Catholic principle of union between
Church and State. The religious principle in
politics is, as we argued last week, an essen-
tially Catholic principle ; it is truly what Mr.
Disraeli described it in the late debate—a great
security for civilization—and this principle can
only be carried out in its fulness by a union
of State and Church. But to be valid, such
a union must be founded in justice. It must
not violate the principles of morality by aim-
ing even at a good end through evil means.
The Irish Church, the religion of a small
minority, was established by force ; its main-
tenance as a national Church is an act of the
grossest injustice. On the commonest dictates
of morality, therefore, the first thing to be done
is to remove this injustice. Repair the evil
done, not by perpetuating the original
tice, offering, we will not say as a bribe, but
as a sop, to endow the Catholic Church out of
some of the superfluous and ill-gotten revenues
of the Establishment, but by a complete act
of national reparation, the disestablishment
and the disendowment of the Irish Church.
" But," says Mr. Disraeli, " what becomes of
the religious principle in connection with the
Government of Ireland if you disestablish the
Protestant Church ? Will you endow—will
you connect with the State the Roman Catholic
Church ? Such a procedure would be utterly
impracticable. The United Kingdom is a
Protestant Kingdom. The people of the United
Kingdom are a Protestant people. . . Any
attempt to establish a Roman Catholic Church
in connection with the State would be a thing
which no practical man would support. There-
fore you must have either a Government in
Ireland which is not connected with the religi-
ous principle, or you must maintain the Church
in Ireland. You must accept one or other
of the alternatives." Mr. Disraeli's political
morality amounts to this—Perpetuate an in-
justice in order to preserve, for such is his
main defence of the Irish Establishment, the
religious principle in the government of Ire-
land. But Christian ethics forbid the per-
petration of evil for any end whatsoever.
In truth, the religious principle is to be sac-
rificed, not because Catholic Ireland will no
longer submit to an unendurable injustice, but
because the Protestant prejudices, as Mr. Dis-
raeli avows, of the people of England will not
tolerate the Establishment of the national
Church of Ireland. The crime is theirs. The
loss which the relinquishment of the religious
principle will inflict on the civil Government
of Ireland is not the fault of Catholics but
of Protestant bigotry. Between the two alter-
natives which alone Mr. Disraeli offers, Catho-
lics can have no hesitation. Christian morality
forbids them to consent to any participation
in an act of injustice, such as the maintenance
of the Irish Establishment. The other alter-
native of the State's surrendering the religious
principle in the government of Ireland is no
choice or work of theirs, but is forced upon
them.

As to the Catholic supporters of the Irish
Establishment who are anxious to effect com-
promise by " levelling up " the Catholic
Church, by partially endowing it out of the
superfluous revenues of the Establishment, we
would have them remember that the Catholic
Church is alone the rightful owner of the
Church property of Ireland, that it has been
violently dispossessed of its heritage and of its
status, and that restitution simply is its due.
The first act towards restitution on the part of
the State, if it be sincere in its repentance,
is to undo its work of spoliation by removing
the unlawful possessor—the second is to re-
store it to the lawful owner. But if; as in
the present instance, the rightful owner, the
Catholic Church of Ireland, by the unani-
mous and deliberate declaration of its appointed
rulers—for reasons of which they are the com-
petent judges—declines to receive the restitu-
tion of the old endowments which once belonged
to God, then, as the Archbishop of Westminster,
in his letter to Lord Grey, suggests, let the
restitution be fully made. 'But let it be made
to Him in the hands of His poor. They
are His representatives. Justice would thus
be satisfied. Justice is not revenge. Vin-
dictiveness is a small and petty motive. It
does not move the heart of a nation; to impute
it to the Catholics of Ireland as the ground of
their desire to be rid of the Establishment, is
utterly to misconceive or to misrepresent the
character of the movement and the motives of
the bishops, clergy, and people of Ireland. It
is much to be regretted that any English
Catholic writer should give utterance to so
unjust and unworthy a sentiment. It is a libel
on the Catholics of Ireland. Is there not such
a thing as a sense of justice outraged ? Is not
Protestant ascendancy embodied in the Irish
Establishment a wrong keen enough to arouse
a generous indignation? It is not to " rob
Protestants," but to see justice done to Catho-
lics, that the removal of this wrong is desired
by all lovers of justice—lrish or English,
Catholic or Protestant.
Because every Catholic of the United King-
dom, whose judgment is not unsettled by party
politics, because bishops, priests and laymen
cry, " Down with the Protestant Church Esta-
blishment! down with the alien Church !" they
are not on that ground to be accounted " ad-
vocates cf revenge ;" neither is it for the paltry
and vicious motive of gloating over Irish
Protestants, dispossessed of the unlawful
enjoyment of Church property, that they
insist upon the disestablishment and disen-
dowment of the Irish Church. Such an impu
tation cannot be supported by a single proof,
and ought, therefore, never to have been
advanced. It is a weak attempt to raise a false
issue. 'What Catholics unite in demanding is
a simple act of justice for a grave wrong
inflicted upon a Catholic people. What they
insist upon is not palliatives, but the only
reparation possible—the removal of the wrong
itself. Moreover, when a Catholic, be he priest,
bishop, or layman, rejects Mr. Disraeli's plan
for propping up the Establishment, he does not
on that account, as grotesquely alleged, " adopt
the creed of English Dissenters, and become a
Cromwellian, an Independent, a Voluntaryist,
and a Secularizer of Church property."
Neither does he " join a crusade against the
principle of the union between Church and
State," nor "affirm a condemned proposition."
The reason why Catholics object to the Irish
Establishment is not out of love of the creed
of English Dissenters, is not because they
disregard the sacred principle of union between
Church and State, so recently re-affirmed by
the Church, but because; the particular Irish
Establishment which they condemn exists in
violation of a primary principle of Christian
ethics. They uphold the principle of State
Churches, but they condemn the Irish Esta-
blishment, because it was founded and is
maintained by an act of naticnal injustice.
The further accusation, that in demanding the
disendowment of the Irish Church a Catholic
becomes a secularizer of Church property, is
refuted by the declaration of the Irish bishops
that "by appropriating the ecclesiastical pro-
perty of Ireland for the benefit of the poor,
the Legislature would realizeone for the
purposes for which it was originally des-

csufs brour ,ht with them. Unfortunately one of ! occupied the latter part of last month by the Webb
them—the Marquis de C., a celebrated sporting Sisters, supported by an array of talent from the
millionair e—who had brought with him an egg of Pacific metropolis.
no great size, was conducted by the abigail into a We see by a letter from Rome, dated Feb. 29,
small at terootn, whereat he was so disgusted that which has returned from America, that Mr. Peabody, with
he starte d off post haste and laid his egg at the the lion. R. C. Winthrop, was presented to tho Pope by
feet of a rival Semiramis. It contained, though Mr. Hooker,tetaheu7ell-kntownt American
dba.nkehris There
small, a riviere, or suite of diamonds worth 300,000
seonpcee, raeresunusuale di:sat rinyctioen, eandseahtee wrote Latin
francs. Whilst on this subject I may allude to quotations from Holy Writ, showing the blessed
the immense quantity of red eggs sold in Paris, quality of charity, which he presented as souvenirs.
and. which. are simply eggs boiled hard in water Mr. Peabody, on his return to his hotel, forwarded a cheque
coloured with cochineal. Let us pass on to the Foire for athousand francs to Cardinal Antonelli, to whom he
au pain d'Epice (Gingerbread Fair), and Foire aux
wag introducedihichhbayd
fM orrm.
elcil a subjectooker, forofthcoenhveorssplittiaoln Mr.
of Ban
Jambons (Ham Fair), which are amongst the oldest
sPP toeabod'y which
Rome shortly afterwards for Naples.
of old customs in France. The Foire d'Epice, a A contest is impending between the Mormon and
spiced bread known to the Greeks and Romans, was Gentile delegates to Congress from Utah. The Gentile,
introduced originally from Asia, and is entirely de- M'Groty, contests tho return of the Mormon Hooper on
void of arty gross element. It wa, sold in the mid- the ground that, being a Mormon, he has taken an oath of
! dle ages to devotees a,r, their entrance and exit from ho,tilityto the United States.

places of worship. It is even now a favourite ali-
"tient amongst the faitlif el, pending the duration of
the Careme, or Lent. The Foire aux Jambons is
equally celebrated, and the long ranges of wooden
huts, or baraques, contain contributions from all the
departments most celebrated not only for barns, but for
every species of viand into which the "abomination"
of the Israelites of old finds its way. Hams from
Bayonne, from Ardennes, Mayence, sausages from
Arles, Lyons, Strasbourg Ems, and Bologna, con-
tribute to the Foire aux Jambons. It is said that
the amount which reaches every year the Hain Fair
amounts to no less than 600,000 lbs. weight. With
regard to the political situation of Europe, I ob-
serve that the Czar has passed an ukase which will
have the effect of obliterating the nationality of
Poland, for the future to be known by the simple
name of the Valley of the Vistula. It is whispered
mysteriously that the mission of Prince Napoleon
has had something to do with this ; that is to
say, that the interest well known to be felt by
France in the well-being of that unhappy country
(Poland) has induced Bismarck, an implacable
enemy of Poland, to advertize the Czar that the
moment of action had arrived. I merely speak of
these matters as loose rumours, and avoid the ex-
pression of a direct opinion upon the ukase spoken
of, as it is difficult to endorse all that is said with
respect to Poland and the Poles. At the same time
I cannot help saying that a long series of years
must have so intermingled Poland with its Russian
neighbours that perhaps the merging of that un-
happy country for ever into one common national-
ity may be the most efficient remedy for its
long series of calamities. It does not appear
possible for it to exist as a small indepen-
dent sovereignty in the very heart of Russia,
as it is evident that the time for the in-
tervention of the Great Powers of Europe
has long since gone by. The differences between
Denmark and Prussia as to the retrocession of the
provinces of Schleswig-Holstein form at present one
of the gravest points of European interest, not for
the intrinsic value of the territory disputed, but for
the complications that may possibly ensue there-
from, as it is said that Denmark looks for sup-
port to France and Austria, a rumour which the
visit of the Danish Minister of War to France
would tend to confirm. At the same time it is certain
that negotiations have been broken off for the pre-
sent between her and Prussia. In Germany the
Southern States appear to be distrustful in regard to
being drawn into a union and consolidated with the
North, with Prussia at the head of affairs. Whilst Pre-
sident Bismarck, after publishing a manifesto to the
effect that Northern Germany will not compel the South
to an alliance, takes care to inform them that when-
ever they spontaneously desire such an union they
will be fraternally received, and that no Foreign
Power shall be allowed to interfere with such an
arrangement. In Roumania, the Legislature has
recently passed an edict enforcing more sternly than
before the pains, penalties, and disabilities of the un-
happy Israelites. According to the despatches pub-
lished recently in the Siecle, the English and Italian
Ambassadors at Paris have taken the initiative in
protesting against this act of barbarity. In Italy
the Chamber of Deputies passed by a majority of 35
a tax upon the grinding of cereals per quintal,
which is in every case to be naid to the miller be-
fore removal. It is believed that this tax will bring
into the Government Treasury 90 millions of francs;
it remains to be seen how it will be taken up by the
Italians, who have never appreciated au impost of
this sort from the days of Iteuzi to the present
time, especially as it will tell equally upon the
tradesman and the agriculturist. In France the
law proposed by the Government upon the tight
of reunions has been passed by au overwhelming
majority, the few enzeutes which have taken place at
Toulouse and other places—fro'n a misunderstand-
ing of the bearing of the recent law on military
organization, especially with reference t) that of
the Garde Mobile have been promptly ap-
peased, and his Excellency M. Pivard, Mi-
nister of the Interior, has written a letter
to the Baron Duliinbert, Prefect for the Haut
Garonne, who had been accused by the press of in-
' efficiency on the occasion of the little brouillerie at
Joulouu, explaining that, the Government was
perfectly satisfied with his conduct ; but that
whilst engaged in carrying out a course of liberal
measures for the benefit of the nation, they should
be prepared to act with the greatest firmness in
putting down those incendiaries who should attempt
to deceive or mislead the people. In contradistinc-
tion to the retrogression as regards Liberal princi-
ples evinced by Russia and Roumania, Austria has
embroiled herself somewhat with the Pope on ac-
count of the passing of the Law of Marriage Bill,
whilst in the British Parliament Mr. Glad-
stone brings forward the sweeping doctrine of
getting rid of the Established Church in Ireland.
I should like to express au opinion on this subject,
as having had some slight experience of Ireland.
However, as 3 our French correspondent, that duty
does not devolve upon me. The vast scope given
to the programme of the coming International
Exhibition at Havre initiated upon by the success
of the recent Universal Exhibition at Paris causes
great excitement amongst seafaring men of all
ranks ; there have been already maritime exposi-
tions, but none with the scope of the present,
the first having been inaugurated seven years
ago by Holland, to whom the empire of the
sea once belonged, and who, it is said, once swept
the sea with a broom at the masthead. Norway
followed the example, which was also subse-
quently imitated by one or two French ports.
The exhibitions were, however, meagre, and
having reference to fishing only. The races at
Vincennes came off on Monday last with great éclat.
Prix des Haras, 3,000 f., Glycine beating Luue de
Miel, Rarely, Isoline, and Ben ; it is singular to
remark that of five horses entered all ran and
came in in the order of the entry. Prix de la Marne,
1,500 f., won by Royal Junior, beating Sbakspeare
and Aurore, Prix de Daumesnil, Champ d'Oiseau,
followed by his confrere of the Ecurier Floreal; both
these horses belong to the Baron Finot, and are
thoroughly good. The Duke of Hamilton picked
up the last handicap with Royal Tartan, Rogue
number two in the race. The regattas of the Paris
Rowing Club commenced on Sunday last, but the
performances were comparatively uninteresting,
being confined chiefly to sculling matches. Some im-
portant races come off next week.
Madame Miratnon has arrived at Brussels ac-
companied by her children.
Wilkes' Spirit, March 28, has some extremely
amusing notes on what it calls the " Secret History
of the Stage." We extract the following from
its pages :—Blind Thomas is now in Washing-
ton. The bear which escaped from the ruins of
Barnum's is now billed as the " Fire Imp." The
underwriters have refused to allow Twedlle
in Albany, to be let for theatrical purposes oftener
than twice a month, three nights each engagement.
Frank Mayo gives imitations of Charles Backus,
the minstrel, and recites Poe's " Raven." George
Ross, gymnast and equestrian, well known in Cali-
fornia, was lately married in New Zealand to a d augh-
ter of Major-Gen. Kirby, of Nottingham, England.
At least so says the San Francisco Dramatic Chro-
nicle. Mrs. Bowers opens at the San Francisco Metro-
politan Theatre in Marie Antoinette. Mrs. Gen.
Lander succeeds Mrs. Bowers in San Francisco at
the Metropolitan.—The Martinetti Troupe lost
about $15,000 in Australia, and are anxious to get
away.—Tb.e Grass Valley (California) Theatre was

The President has promoted Commodore Joseph
Lanman to be Rear-Admiral, in place of Admiral Palmer,
deceased.
The Democratic Congressmen have organized a
new Executive Committee, deposing Tom Florence and
Cornelius Wendell, and substituting Senator Doolittle as
President, and Representative Randall as Treasurer.
The Rev. Stephen 11. Tyng, jun., has published
a letter to Bishop Potter, complaining of his refusal to re-
ceive the protest of his venerable and reverend counsel and
father, which we published last week. He also complains
of the many things adapted, if not intended, to aggravate
the attempted disgrace, and he announces his intention, as
soon as Lent is over, to publish a full review of the pro-
ceedings.
The New Lebanon Shakers propose to erect, the
coming season, a barn, 150 feet by 50, with 32 feet posts,
to cost about $lO,OOO.
The unhappy dwellers on Long Island and the
isle of Haut have been cut off from the main land by ice
for two months, and reduced to mu-ales and other shell
fish gathered from the shores for subsistence.
Though it is not known that a single Jew lives
in Newport, Rhode Island, yet this city has one of the
best preserved synagogues in the land. The rich Jew,
Mr. Touro, left a sum to keep the synagogue in perfect
repair, the income of which is now about $lO,OOO annually.
To spend this the common council, by a pleasant fiction,
opened a boulevard, called it Touro-street, made it a tip-
top road, and paid it out of the Touro fund:
A handsome souvenir of the excursion to Pompeii
has been presented to Admiral and Mrs. Farragut in the
shape of two volumes of a valuable folio work containiug
a number of chrome-lithographic plates, representing all
the principal monuments and works of art in Pompeii.
This book, published by Signor Fausto Niccoliui, the in-
telligent sub-director of the National Museum, is enclosed
in a handsome portfolio bearing the colours of the United
States Navy, and on the cover is an inscription, following
which are the names of the gentlemen who offered this
testimonial of their regard to the high qualities of the Ad-
miral. They are—Mr. W. H. Aspinwall, Mr. James Law-
rence, Mr. Robert Rogers, Mr. W. H. Frear, and Mr. Tur-
ner Sargent.
Colonel Bagot, accompanied by Lord Downe
(lords seem to have come down to "accompanying" com-
moners), wounded a tiger, who seized the colonel by the
leg, knoc!red the lord and a shikarree over, and was then
shot dead by a sepoy. The colonel's leg was damaged and
Lord Downe's clothes torn, and he was bruised by the
charge as well as injured by the claws. Colonel Bagot is
a great shikarree, as they call sportsmen in India, and well
known in connection with marvellous tales.
General Buchanan has assumed the command of
the sth military district, and has ordered members of Con-
gress and State officers for Louisiana to be voted for
simultaneously with the vote upon the ratification of the
new constitution.
The Rev. Dr. Beckwith, of Louisiana, who has
just been elected Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church
in Georgia, has departed from New Orleans for his diocese.
The House of Representatives has directed the
Secretary of State to procure a gold chronometer, and pre-
sent the same to George Wright, master of the British
vessel J. and G. Wright, ."as a recognition of his humane
and successful efforts in rescuing three seamen from an
American vessel, the Lizzie F. Chate."
Professor Gamgee, of the London Veterinary
College, has given evidence before the House Committee
on Agriculture upon the cattle disease. He was employed
I by the British Government with great success on the out-
break of the attack, and an attempt is to be made to secure
the Professor's services for the United States.
Mr. Dickens has accepted a complimentary dinner
from the press of the country, ijust previous to his de-
parture for England, and it will take place at New York,
April 18. The affair was arranged and will be mostly at-
tended by the New York editors, and Horace Greeley is
mentioned as the most fitting person to preside. The
price of tickets is only $l5 each.

RAILWAYS IN 7HE UNITED STATES.

(Continued from a Late Number.)

Those who traced the outline of the great fight
between Vanderbilt and Drew for the control of the
Erie Railway, given last Saturday in these columns,
may have marvelled at the gigantic nature of the
operations, at the huge forces brought on each side
to bear against the adversary, and at the apparently
reckless conduct of the war. Why should people
already rich and powerful throw themselves into a
struggle which must end, if carried to extremity, in
the ruin of one side, and of serious injury to all?
The truth is, that there looms in the background a
magnificent prize, visible to the keen eye of a Van-
derbilt, who believes, on good grounds, that if he
succeeds in centreing in his hands the great trunk
lines from New York leading West, in a few years
hence he will wield a power second only to that of
such potentates as a Czar or a Napoleon. Com-
modore Vanderbilt is not merely fighting for
money ; he is contending for a position which,
commercially, will be the greatest in the world.
It must be borne in mind that New York is a ter-
minus of the Union Pacific Railway ; that that
rail way will be open in 1870, and that New York
will then quickly become the great centre of com-
merce and travel. The lines now controlled by
Vanderbilt are of immense importance. The New
York Central in 1866 had 555 miles of road open,
at a cost of $32,740,000. Supposing that he
succeeded in adding the Erie to his consolida-
tion—he would control the lines connecting the
Western system with NeW York—that is, he
would hold in his hand the terminus of the
highway between West and East, between
the Atlantic and Pacific, between Europe and
China. Preparations are now being made on
the Hudson River to accommodate the anticipated
trade. Already the tide of emigration is strongly
setting to the West. Vast though the traffic has been
centreing in New York, yet all the Western lines
have but ended in a waste. Tracing these high-
ways from their outlets, you but come to the foun-
tains whence flowed the stream which grew into a
river on its way to the sea. What the stream of
traffic will be may be conjectured when the river
is turned into a broad canal between two oceans
having an equal outlet on each. The increase in
the earnings of some of the Western railroads may
be gathered from the following figures. In 1863
the Chicago and North Western earned $2,811,544,
in 1867 $11,532,348; the Chicago, Rock Island,
and Pacific earned in 1863 $1,959,267, in 1867
$4,153,281 ; the Michigan Southern earned in 1863
$3,302,543, in 1867 $4,613,754; the Toledo, Wa-
bash, and Western earned in 1863 $1,439,798, and
in 1867 $3,784,816. This, remembering the de-
pressing influence of the great war, represents fairly
the steady growth of the West—a growth that even
in itself must make the lines connecting the city of
New York with these States eventually the most
important of all railway communications. Con-
gress has been applied to by a combination of rail-
way companies created by Missouri, Arkansas, and
Texas for aid to form a line from a point opposite
Cairo on the Mississippi River to a point on the Rio
Grande, in the direction of San Blas, on the Pacific
coast. It is-proposed to carry this road through the
south-eastern portion of Missouri, the centre of
Arkansas, and Texas, and eventually to connect
with a road to be built within the Republic of
Mexico, extending either to the capital or to San
Blas. Supposing such a line to be formed, the en
tire distance from Cairo to the Pacific Ocean at the
harbour of San Blas would not exceed 1,600 miles,
which, with 900 from Cairo to New York, would give
the through route from New York to San Blas 2,500.
The proposal has been made to the Mexican Go-
vernment to construct these lines through the Re-
public, and it appears to be her only hope, as ii
seems impossible for any government to eradicate
the national vice of thieving which induces the
Mexicans to take to the road as almost the only
profession open alike to all grades of society. Such
a road would make the ports of the United States
the chief outlets for Mexican produce, and save
travellers from the depredations of brigands, a
system of lawlessness which must eventually pre-
y