The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-08 00:00:00

THE IRISH CII URCII.

The Catholic clergy of the diocese of Meath have
put forward a " declaration" on the subject of dis-
establishing and di-endowing the Irish Church.
This declaration has been made as a reply to the
oft-repeated statement that the Catholic clergy of
Ireland generally, and of Meath in particular, are
apathetic on the subject of disestablishment. The
declaration now published is accompanied by a letter
from the Right Rev. Dr. Nulty, Roman Catholic
Bishop of Meath, to Sir John Gray, M.P., in which
the writer says :—" The reason why the clergy of
this diocese should put forward just now the fol-
lowing resolutions seems scarcely to require a word
of explanation. For some years past they have been
represented to the public as supporting Conserva-
tive principles, even to the extent of rejecting the
policy of the disestablishment and disendowment of
the State Church in Ireland. In the first great de-
bate on the Established Church their opinions on
that most important question were misrepresented
in both Houses of the Legislature. The misrepre-
sentation was frequently repeated, and confidently
persisted in during the debate, and some hon. mem-
bers who enjoy the confidence of the Government
seem to attach the greatest importance to the sup-
port accorded by them to the falling fortunes of the
Establishment. The Bishop of Shrewsbury's letter,
&c., and the printed address which I enclose for
your perusal, prove that they continue to be misre-
presented still. The calumny which was allowed
to circulate unquestioned and uncontradicted dur-
ing the debate is now extensively reproduced in
the addresses of English Conservative candidates;
and constituencies like those of the borough of
Cardiff, &c., are assured that the Irish people regard
the Establishment not as a grievance, but as a bless-
ing, and the paragraph quoted in the following
resolutions is triumphantly appealed to as unan-
swerable evidence of the truth of this mis-state-
ment. The clergy, therefore, of this diocese, seeing
that the scandal had become as mischievous as

it had been disparaging, felt themselves bound
to grapple with it at once, and they hope they
have extinguished it for ever by publishing the
following resolutions which were unanimously
adopted on Saturday last at a Conference at Nava",
at which no less than 115 clergymen of the diocese
were present, including the two Vicars-General•

Indeed, every clergyman in the diocese was pre-
sent except those who were absent from old age or
sickness, and those who were specially directed by
the vicars to discharge the necessary duties of the
different parishes. I feel confident that all those
absent clergymen fully agree iu the resolutions
adopted by their brethren at this meeting." The
following are the resolutions adverted to :—" At a
meeting of the clergy of the entire diocese of Meath,
held at Navan on the 29th day of August, 1868, the
Most Rev. Dr. Nulty in the chair, the following
resolutions were proposed and unanimously adopted
by the meeting :"—" Resolved-1. 'That we regard
the Established Church as one of the most unjust
and oppressive grievances of our country, and,
therefore, that we cordially approve, and will
earnestly and vigorously co-operate in, every effort
for its disendowment and disestablishment." " Re"
solved-2. That the statesmen, therefore, who hi
either House of Legislature, or through the public
press, have represented us as opposed to the policy
of its disestablishment or disendowment, have
totally misapprehended our views and entirely Wig-
represented our real opinions on this sub-
ject." " Resolved-3. That the only cause
that could have led to this misappre-
hension was the following paragraph ill an
address that emanated from a portion of the clergy
of this diocese some years ago :—‘ Other agitations/
such as that against the Established Church, are
got up for party purposes, would infuse an element
of bigotry into the already sufficiently disturbed
relations between landlord and tenant, would effect
the ruin of thousands of tenants, and precipitate
that social catastrophe which we are anxious t°
avert.' " Resolved-4. That these words do net
apply to the agitation now on foot against die
Established Church, as they were spoken before
this agitation came into existence ; that as the
tenant question was regarded then, as it is ne'sv!
essential to the very existence of our people, so thes°
words, in the context in which they stand, merelyconveyed that the land question had the first claim
on the attention of the Legislature—that it was en-
titled to priority over all other questions for an
mediate solution and settlement ; and, lastly, oat
i,
these words, understood in any other meaning
the above, did not then, as they do not now, correetiY,,
express the real opinions of the clergy of this diocese'
the
The most remarkable passage in the lecture re-
cently delivered at Limerick by Mr. Butt was ‘,..0
following, on. the subject of evictions for n117,_
gain On this subject he said he did not
buto to the entire landlord class the wrongstieros
flitted by a few of them. All the Southern plo tb,
were not Legrees, but as slavery fell in the Sen,,eo,
ern States of America because there were Legr:if
he believed landlordism in Ireland was not safe
~,
:
its powers were left to William Scullys and _Adaf
(Loud cheering.) The slight decrease in the e"'
gration recently alluded to by the Duke of .4-
use"
herA
corn at Derry he (Mr. Butt) believed.was e 3 e.
by a reviving hope that Parliament might do so e.
thing to secure their holdings to the tenni.
(cheers), and one of the reasons why he felt a Okra
tation in coming there that evening, or iu
part in any political action in Ireland, was bee; in
he was afraid of being a party to exciting her .
the people that might again be doomed to dile
pointment. (Hear, hear.) He should ne:L5O,
telling the whole truth if he did not sail ous
that the emigration had been stayed by a clang c
_ cuii.
reliance by the people upon a hope of coming „ry
verance, not by constitutional means ; and
_1:0.1r
coin°
jeoPtea
many were waiting only to see whether it
not. (Cheers.) if these hopes were disaPrP,_„rary
—if the Legislature put no check upon the a
_v"_r.
power of the landlord, and another attempted in: be
rection had to be crushed—and that one NventaleeoBo
crushed, if it were crushed, in blood--C'
cheering)—they would see an exodus from
.3:li`fijog,
compared with which all they had seen was tr_sepie
The spectacle would be that of a God-like, !dust
who, leaving their temples, and shaking tiw_ci let
from their feet, would say, Let us arise, 5°
tartle-
busy gthoehwenacile
and let
people who would say, Let them o; aa unda ttiho enn t hEautr leftop e i
tws ecuulrds e bt
e°
startled
tee -Pr
pressors. (Loud applause.)
lrish
lishmen take their place.' Did they
think t" lieem knew
go, a
\ or that
" to
people would submit to that?—(no, nor th they
when they went they would not carry, ceree
feelings of vengeance ? (A Voice— Au
back ; and come back.')" (Hear, hear.)
the e

A letter from Berlin, in the North Eastern, L',,.
respondence,i says that all accounts agree in a' tribill'e
lug to Russia the plan of forming a close alliallie.
with the United States in view of the I;3ste:li
question, and that her overtures have bee'l ;v:ir,,
favourably received by the Government at 1%3'0v
ington. The first manifestation of the 1:0
alliance, it appears, is to be a joint interventionsi's,
favour of Cretan independence, in. wh'cit Pru:s b
1,
who has also been concerned in the negotiatto:to
will take part. On the other hand, great
eff°l
iO,
are seing ade to ring about a raPPr°ctlle
menttill betbweenm Austria and Prussia. Tllls' 100 g
correspondent says, was the subject of
the io,
interview which took place the other day at jot
nich between Prince de Hohenlohe (the latterßarr
Premier) and the Emperor of Austria. The
said on this occasion that he had no oblecti°ll 0
the proposed connection, but that it did not den
on him alone to establish it.