The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-20 00:00:00

ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE AND CIRCUS, HOLBORN.
Tats EVENING, The Great Carre Troupe and magnificent Stud
of 50 Horses; also volo the Marvel of the Nineteenth Century,
Alfred Bradbury, Mdlle. Montero, M. Napoli, F. Clifton, and
tiamwelrs Performing Dogs. Commence at 7.30.

ROYAL AL U AMB RA PALACE. THREE BALLET 4,
Promenade Concert. Band of 60. Begin at 8. la. Box-office
open from 11 to 4.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Regent's-park, OPEN daily (ox
cept Sundays). Admission, ls.; on Mondays, 6d.; Children
under twelve. 6,1.

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LONDON, FRIDAY, NOV. 20, 1868.

The impression appears to be gaining ground that
upon the assembling of the New House of Commons,
three weeks hence, there will not necessarily fullow
an immediate change of Government. Christmas
will then be so near at hand, before which Par-
liament must, as a matter of course, be dispersed,
that there would hardly be time, under the circum-
stances, for the organisation of a movement on the
part of theppposition with a view to the necessitating
of Mr, DISRAELI'S resignation. Supposing, of course,
that the relative strength of parties were about to be
tested upon the vary threshold, that is to say,
upon the question as to who shall be the
Speaker, the decision might be arrived at off-hand
as to whether the Government of the country should
be handed over by her Majesty's present Ministers to
the Chiefs of the Opposition. It is very well known,
however, that to the re-election of the Right Hon.
EVELYN DENISON no opposition will be raised by the
Government. The Speaker of the last Parliament
will be elected neinine contradiceizte as the Speaker of
the new Parliament. Again, matters would be very
much simplified, indeed, for Mr. GLADSTONE, if cir-
cumstances in any way admitted of his or of any
one among his enormous phalanx of followers mov-
ing at once a direct vote of want of confidence
against the existing Administration. This they cannot
do, however. Move for a vote of want of confidence ?
They might as well move for an itnpeichme,nt ! There
is no conceivable plea upon which a proposition of
that kind could be thus suddenly introduced. There
has been no flagrant injustice, or miscarriage of jus-
tice, that can be pointed out in any one of the admi-
nistrative departments. Our Foreign Relations are
in a most satisfactory condition. Fenianism has been
crushed out in Ireland. Commercial confidence is
being gradually restored, after the disastrous panic
which, three years ago, preceded the formation of
Lord DERBY'S third Administration. Abroad, at
home, in the Colonies, the prestige of the Government
is honourably maintained. Referring to the distin-
guished reputation acquired and maintained by the
present Cabinet, Tory Cabinet though it is, in the
general management of foreign affairs, the Prime
Minister humorously rmarked only yesterday during
the coarse of his masterly speech in the Aylesbury
Court-house upon his election as one of the knights
of the shire of Buckingham, that he would say
nothing whatever about it, " because," said he, " I

have observe that whenever I allude to the subject it
has always created a sort of hysterical feeling 07i
the part of our opponents." That very circum•
stance, however and, ludicrously though it
is put, it is absolutely !undeniable,—that very
circumstance affords a whimsical but conclusive
illustration of the fact that for a distinct vote
of want of confidence there are literally no groun.ls,
there is positively not the ghost of a plea. To con-
strain them to resign, Ministers will have to be as-
sailed. They are on the defensive. They have the
nine points of law—possession. An appeal has been
made to the country, and upon an issue sufficiently
distinct, the question of the Irish Church. Not,
however, as to whether the Irish Church is to be
dealt with. Upon that point all parties are agreed.
The Royal Commission in regard to it has sat, deli-
berated, and reported. And the recommendation of
the Commissioners is that the Irish Church shall be
dealt with. The maintenance of that Church intact
as an establishment, there was no one in the last
House of Commons who regarded, there will be no
one in the new Heuse of Commons who will regard,
as either possible or desirable. Dealt with it must be.
The only question is—flow? The Opp )sition says—
and we conceive it to be perfectly justified in saying
so—deal with it as summarily as possible, and do so
by sweeping it away altogether. Disestablish it.
Disendow it. Don't talk about re :hieing the number
of Bishops, Don't dream of the possibility of tin-
kering or cobbling it to any one's satisfaction. Away
with it. It cumbers the ground. It is obsolete. It
is inoperative. It never yet has fulfilled the inten-
tion for the purpose of realising which it was
originally, some three centuries ago, called
into , existence. It is a perpetual reminder to
a sensitive and high-spirited race of a long
past subjugation. It is less the badge than the
brand oficonquest. Remove it as such. Lift off that
incubus which has been so long weighing upon the
breast, upon the heart,lupon the very seul of Ireland,
and you will thereby at once have done more to-
wards making that country an integral part of the
United Kingdom than all the Acts of Union that
could ever be devised by the beneficent and
patriotic wisdom of the Legislature. Of the
truth of all this, we for one feel perfectly
assured. We believe, with an absolute confidence,
that the Irish Church as an Establishment is doomed.
Its days are numbered. It will for certain, and that
very speedily, be disestablished. Its disest tblish-
rnent will be followed, or accompanied, by its dis-
endowment. But—allowing this—feeling perfectly
certain of all this—do we at the same time for one
instant conceive that the good we are aiming at,
the good we are certain of attaining S 3 very
speedily, can be reached, now, at once, by a hop, skip,
and a jump ? That we have only to -open our month
for the ripe pear to drop into it ? That Mr. GLAD-
STONE, formidable leader as he is, has only to wind
One blast upon that Magic Horn of his Majority, as
Jack the Giant Killer did upon his hanging by the
castle gates, to find everything crumble away before
him in the twinkling of an eye—the battlements of
the Government—the embrasures of the Irish
Church—everything? The notion i 3 simply prepos-
terous. The achievement upon which we are
advancing cannot in reason be accomplished
off-hand like this, and all of a sudden. We may rest
perfectly well assured that with the most strenuous and
systematic efiort at its accomplishment, the disestab-
lishing and disendowing of the Irish Church will I, tit
a work of three or four years to come. Why the
sentiments of the SiiVEREIGN herself have very
seriously to be taken into consi ieration. We who
are heart and soul for the sweeping away of the
hish Church Establishment Cannot but acknowledge
this. There is the Coronation 0 tth, in•,vhick her
MAJESTY solemnly pledge 1 lieraslf to maintain that
Church intact ! There are vested interests that, in
cournoa honesty, we hare perforce to take into
most deliberate and careful consideration ! There are
a multiplicity of details that are to be gone into
and couscientioasly scrutinised before the great
measure we now meditate bestowing as still
priceless boon upon Ireland can be ripened into

a full and imperial enactment. Remembering alretid3,
and bearing in mind, as rational men, that how-
uver strong our own convictions may be, and are for
hat matter, in regard to the right and reason of the
salt change we are now medicating--there is still,
nevertheless, a great deal to be said on the other side,