The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 29, 1868

IHE IRISH CHURCH REPORT.

The Report of the Commission on the Irish
Church presents itself with all the solemnity
of a funeral, not to say the silence of a spectre.
Observing the strictest rules of decorum, and
shaping itself to common imaginations, it is
exactly what was expected, and irreproachably
what it was to be. The reduction of scale is
perfectly uniform, only fine by degrees and
beautifully less." In all its prominent features,
it is simply to Lord Derby's Irish Church Re-
form what that was to the previous state of
things. Less primates, less bishops, less cathe-
drals and chapters, less archdeacons, less pay
for the above, less sinecure—or almost sine-
cure—benefices, less sinecure staffs, less parish
clerks and public worship charges, less to be
demanded for the redemption of rent-charges ;

and, on the other hand, less burdens, charges,
repayments, and so forth, on the clerical, capi-
tular, and episcopal incomes. The Commis-
sioners take a kindly and sensible view of £3OO
a year, which they consider not too much for
an educated gentleman who has waited for it
a good many years, and who in return for it
has to reside—actually reside, the Commis-
sioners insist—in some out-of-the-way place.
So below this the changes are in favour of the
clergy, who are even to be better paid where
they have work to do, except where the Pro-
testant population falls below a hundred, when
the extinguisher is to fall, and the Church to
be disestablished and disendowed. Besides

these pecuniary changes, the. Commissioners
condemn numerous corporations and dignities,
without either emolument or office, but simply

kept up for the preservation of titles and hon,
ours. A few pregnant words betray the doubt
whether the bishops will retain their seats in
the House of Lords. Otherwise, the report
might have been drawn up a year ago, or might
have been ten years in almost any linisterial
portfolio. Indeed, that is the only novelty in
the whole document, so exactly is it otherwise
the very creature of anticipation. Some years
ago Mr. Bernal Osborne made a clever and
amusing speech about the Irish Church, pro-
posing nothing more than a fairer division of
its revenues within its own pale. He might
or might not be quite sincere in the modesty
of his requirements, for the state of things
he incidentally disclosed tended naturally to a
much more advanced measure. If he was sin-
cere, the present report would haVe certainly
satisfied him. Of course its recommendations
are such as were to be made when the Com-
mission was appointed. Unless it be in the
allusion to the House of Lords, the Report has
not a single express and direct allusion to the
political developments which have totally
altered the situation. But is such a report,
so destitute of novelty and originality, so ob-
viously a matter of course, and one by an
almost mechanical process of diminution, with-
out its significance ? Surely hope is a more
suggestive and inventive spirit than that which
animates this cheerless reproduction. There
is not the slightest attempt to surprise, to put
the public on a new scent, to alter the aspect
of affairs or even to compromise. The last,
indeed, was not within the instructions of the
Commission, but Commissioners, before this,
have made exceedingly good use of their oppor-
tunities to represent the state of things as
they wished it to appear. There is something
like a bid for support to the holders of Church
leases and to the payers of tithe rent-charge,
but otherwise the Church of Ireland, as seen
in this picture, exhibits only that mixture of
obstinacy and humility which makes up into
vulgar resignation. It is drawing its robe
about its limbs. It proposes to cast a some-
what shallow shadow over the land, and so
leave its enemies less excuse. Who can charge
pride on a Church that itself throws primates,
bishops, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and
cathedrals by the score overboard ? It is the
second time the sling has been set to work to
enmity the overloaded hold; the second time the
bulwarks have been lifted to roll the deep cargo
into the raging sea. It is true that nothing
solid is given up. The offerings of the altar
of conciliation are mitres, tithes, vestments,
thrones, stalls, names, and additions. It is the
embroidery and furniture that are flung out to
the pursuing foe. In place of splendour, the
Church of Ireland is henceforth to exhibit more
internal symmetry, so that its domestic anoma-
lies and inequalities may no longer scanda-
lize its own friends and give occasion to its
enemies to blaspheme. It sets its house in
order that it may surely live. Outsiders see
another significance. Indeed, in the very midst
of these careful adjustments that are to smooth
away all inequalities and meet all complaints,
one huge scandal crops up and becomes more
intolerable. Is it possible, is it conceivable,
that the Roman Catholics will quietly allow the
rent charges, now at all events local, and obliged
to be spent on the spot, to be taken from the
native population of the suppressed benefices,
and to be transferred to the less native and.
comparatively foreign population of distant
parishes—from the South and the West to the
North, from Catholic to Protestant, from poor
to rich ? This objection lies on the very,
threshold of any scheme for internal redis-
tribution. A large income, representing and in
truth existing in the fruits of poor Catholic
labour, is to be carried off—so it is here pro-
posed—to Dublin, or to Belfast, or to London-
derry, or to any Protestant congregation some-
what beyond the average number, in the care
of one " English " clergyman. The case 431
any individual parish where the Catholics con-
siderably outnumber the Protestants becomes
the case of the whole Church. No plan of
internal redistribution and adjustment will
meet the case of one such parish as we have
mentioned, and therefore no plan of this sort
will meet the case of the whole Church, or
the question between the 700,000 Protestant
Churchmen and 4,500,000 Roman Catholics.
Such a report is not even an addition to the
materials of the question. Its value has not
even been discounted ; it has simply been an-
ticipated, and taken for what it is worth—
which is, indeed, very little. It neither helps
towards the general decision, nor yet towards
the disposal of the numerous difficulties con-
fessedly in the way of any settlement. The one
object to be aimed at is that the Roman Catho-
lics of Ireland shall no longer have a single
religious grievance on which they can found
a charge of persecution, or which they can call
a badge of subjection and a mark of inferiority.
This word is to be taken out of their mouths
at any cost, for this empire cannot afford to
practice at home any injustice she denounces,
and even assists to overthrow, in other coun-
tries, far or near. England believes herself to
have no small share in setting the public opinion
of the civilized world, and religious freedom,
even to religious equality, is one of the benefits
she boasts to have conferred on some of her
neighbours. When this is the case, she must
look at home and " remove the beam from her
own eye." She has no choice in the matter,
tardy as she, like the rest of the world, is in
seeing herself as others see her, and applying
the lesson she reads to unwilling scholars.
Then, will such a plan as this remove the griev-
ance, and satisfy the pride of native and
Catholic Ireland ? Will it be enough for them
that no Irish Protestant bishop sits in Par-
liament, and that there are fewer Protestant
bishops and other dignitaries, and that all the
recommendations of this Report are adopted
and carried out ? That is the great question
before us, and as yet we see no reason to
believe Ireland will be thus satisfied. Cer-
tainlyyefn,odrmot\hoyre both
mey tplainlysmu opreer
vigorous
rh,
nt toh ee
the two Primates give us no encourage-
lmwareegnalettria3 e
ne
td is
aatueleedl u
oast te
race and communion ; leaving the inevitable
inference that the existing
badge of Irish inferiority.—Times.

A report was spread that Robert F. Lincoln, son
of the late President, favours the Seymour-Blair ticket.
In reply to a gentleman who mentioned the rumour, Mr.
Lincoln acknowledged to have heard it, but treated it as
unimportant. He denies its truth, and although not tak-
ing an active part in the political campaign, asserts that
no one more earnestly desires the success of Grant and of
the Republican party than himself.