The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-30 00:00:00

ifSPIEI' T OP TIM PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Is the Irish Church Establishment an injustice, or is IS
not ? asks the Timm. If it be an injustice, what reason
can be adduced why it should not be abated ? Lastly, is
there any other practical mode of abating it than that
proposed by Mr. Gladstone ? These are the only ques-
tions which can be eliminated from the mass of verbiage
under which every one has suffered._ Did the debate on
Tuesday shed light upon any of them ? Will further dis-
cussion help to elucidate them ? The prospect is as hope-
less as the retrospect is barren. It is conceded by every
one that the Irish Establishment, as it is, is an injustice.
It is a great anomaly, Lord Royston admits ; but he
excuses it on, the plea that everything is an anomaly. Mr.
Mowbray, the other representative of the Ministry on
Tuesday, like Lord John Manners on Monday, avoided
altogether the question of justice. They addressed them-
selves, as Mr. Newdega.te did, to reasons why the Esta-
blishment, however unjust as an institution, should not.
be swept away. Mr. Newdegate is afraid that its
removal would be a blow to the Protestant faith, appa-
rently believing that it is an advantage rather than a
prejudice to the truth to propagate it, or rather to attempt
to propagate it, by a machinery outraging the feelings of
those to whom it is offered. Mr. Mowbray cannot
venture to think of an Episcopal Church- separated
from the State under which it flourishes, although the
examples of Scotland and the United States are before
us. Lord John Manners is alarmed for what may
happen to the Church of England should the Irish
Church be disendowed and disestablished. The
answer is easy. So long as the English Church shall
remain in harmony with the will of the English people
its position is secure ; if ever the evil day came that the
public sentiment of England repudiated its teaching and
deserted its offices, as the public sentiment of Ireland
disavows the Irish Establishment, its destruction erould
be imminent. Those who desire most heartily J keep
the English Establishment unscathed ought, if they are
wise, to free it from its alliance with such an indefensible
institution as the Irish Church. Men are becoming

impatient of this deadlock, and are asking themselves
to what it is due. The cause of it is plain. There
is no understanding between the Ministry and the
Opposition. They are moving in parallel lines. The
opportunity afforded when Parliament met after Easter
was lost, and business has been left to drift ever since. It
is hence that we have had unseemly wrangles and cross-
purposes, an immense waste of time incurred, and more
threatened. The remedy is, however, as plain as the cause
of the mischief. At the termination of the present debate
the leader of the Opposition and the First Minister must
come to some agreement about the future. Then or never
the determination must be taken as to what legislation
shall be perfected this session as a preliminary to the dis-
solution all profess to desire next January.

The Post wants to know what Mr. Mowbray, speaking
for the Government, meant when he said "Legislation
more in consonance with our past traditions, and more in
harmony with our Constitution than that now proposed."
It may be a mere platitude, or it may shadow forth a scheme
for the realisation of the idea which Mr. Adderley put out
of the question. The less that is said about " past tra-
ditions " in matters relating to Ireland the better. But
our contemporary is firmly persuaded that while, on the
one hand, the country will be no party to any transaction
Ivith the Vatican, on the other it will not shrink from the
just development of the principles of toleration which con-
stitute the solid foundation of the imperial throne and the
national character.

The Daily News notes that the Liberals of Bristol have
sustained a temporary defeat, Mr. Miles having been re-
turned by a majority of more than two hundred. The
result is to be regretted, but with moderation. When the
circumstances attending the election are well understood,
there will remain no excuse for pretending that Bristol
has shewn a desire to put off the intelligent Liberalism of
past years, in order to accept blindly the next political
doctrine that it may be contenient for Mr. Disraeli to
propound. It was foreseen that the struggle at this
election would be a very close one. Political feeling
ran high, but the contest has not been decided by
political forces. The Liberals had for their candi-
date an eminently representative public man ; the
Conservatives relied, as they are fond of doing, on local
influence and business connections, and in recent times
some of the most eminent men who ever sat in the House
of Commons have been defeated by an opponent strong in
nothing but local associations. Mr. Miles, in politics a
very cypher, is an excellent neighbour, and an important
banker—a gentleman whom very many middle-class
voters would naturally wish to oblige. This fact would of
itself probably be sufficient to account for a number of
votes equivalent to Mr. Miles's majority. But there was
another cause of equal, or perhaps greater efficiency at
work to diminish the Liberal and increase the Conser-
vative votes. The publicans who, needlessly alarmed
about Mr. Abel Smith's bill and. similar measures, art
acquiring the habit of acting together, suffered themselves
to be prejudiced against Mr. Samuel Morley as soon as
his candidature became probable, and were already too
far committed to a course when, as soon as he appeared,
be stated that, in perfect consistency with his advocacy of
temperance, his votes on subjects of social legislation
would be given with constant respect for the rights and
liberties of all classes. By such a c,)mb;nation as this the
Conservative candidate-has been returned, and the result•
may possibly encourage Mr. Disraeli to mix a phrase
about the " poor man's beer " with his " No Popery " cry
at the next election. But the Bristol election cannot be
quoted, except in utter ignorance, as a manifestation in
his favour. He gets one vote by it during the next month
or two, and that is all.

The Standard is in ecstacies over the Conservative
triumph at Bristol. Of course, it says, attempts will be
made to explain away the meaning of Mr. Miles's return,
but no one will be deceived by them, and they will give
but scant comfort to the Duke of Argyll and the other
Radical leaders who are hungering to handle again the
loaves and fishes. It cannot be denied that Bristol is a
large town, and consequently especially entitled, according
to the Radical creed, to speak for the country. The
Radicals cannot attribute their defeat to any want oi
organisation. They have had Bristol in their own hands
for twenty years, and returned whomsoever they pleased.
They had a candidate after their own heart, rich, with
that most attractive repute for a certain class of voters,
of a very liberal expenditure at Nottingham, a
Dissenter like Sir Morton Peto, recommended as
Mr. Bright's especial friend. At the announcement of
his candidature a:1 the divisions in the party were healed.
Supporters of both the previous pretemlants rallied enthu-
siastically round Mr. Morley, and yet, although the
country is, as we are every clay told by Radical journals]
becoming decisively Radical, and submits with the utmost
reluctance to the continuance in office of the present
Ministry, Mr. Miles, the Conservative and Church can-
didate, was returned by a decisive majority. It may be
said, indeed, that the Bristol election cannot count for
anything, because it represents only the opinion of an
unreformed constituency. But if the existing cons
stituency of Bristol does not represent Bristol, then
certainly the present House of Commons, returned by
the same constituencies, does not represent the nation,
and is usurping a power, to which it morally has not the
slightest right, in attempting now to determine the gum
tion of the Irish Church. If the Bristol election counts
for nothing as an expression of public feeling, then the
present House of Commons has no business whatever tc
meddle with the matter. But there can be no doubt that
Bristol has spceen the feelings of the country.

spiracy

The Star guards its readers against certain misrepre•
sentations which may be made concerning the Bristo7
election. It may, for instance, be said that Mr. Miles'e
return is a proof that the policy, or no policy, of the
Government on the Trish Church meets with the approva,
of the electors of Bristol. If such a statemant be pni
forward, so monstrous a fallacy will deserve universa'
derision. Mr. Morley was defeated because the
public-house interest was unanimously arrayee
against him. The moral sense of the Bristol pub
licans was shocked at Mr. Morley's support o!
the temperance movement, and at the opini+m
be expressed in favour of closing public-houses or
the Sunday. Issues were raised which have nothing
whatever to do with any of those great questions which
are now agitating Parliament and the country. The
Sunday Closing Bill was dexterously used as a stalking.
horse. It has served its purpose, and may nosy be decently
laid on the shelf until it is again wanted for a similar
object. We do not know whether yet baser acts were
resorted to, but the introduction into the town of an
organised body of roughs is a disagreeable fact which Pis
tifies a suspicion that victory was more thought of that
any nice scruples as to the means by which it should be
gained.

The New South Wales papers announce the death
in that colr,ny, in January last, of John haw Strange,
the last of the convictl concerned in the Cato-street con.
Thistle wood, the chief conspira•:or, was buns
aLout Eity years ago.

The wives of two Cornish miners, named respcc
tively Mary Dadtls and Jane Tremewen, anxious to jolt
their husbands in Nova Scotia, but unable to provide the
portion of money necessary to secure an emigration grant
from the Cornwall Central Relief Committee, wrote to he,
Majesty and acquainted her with their poverty and their
great desire. Inquiries were at once made as to the accu
racy of their statements, the result being that her Majesty
commanded £lO, the sum needed, to be forwarded to the
Rev. J. G. Wulff, rector of Mogan, for the use of the twr
humble applicants, - • -- •-