The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-15 00:00:00

Bright was presented with an address. , 3
Mr. Mucarr, in responding to the addiews, spoke of the
changes which took place in Ireland since' his visit to ihoi
country, now twenty years ago, and referred to thet
famine and pestilence that took place durmg the period )
and the emigration, which he described akunexampled.
He referred to the state of the people as instanced
by the investigations of the Devon Commission
and held that because the population was reduced by
emigration it was not to be said there were not cthei
causes of discontent that required to be abrogated. In
England they were so familiar with the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland that it excited no surprise
or discussion, at least on the Treasury bench. He touched
upon the arrests and imprisonment of parties under the
Act referred to, and the large military and police force
c::isting in the country. The latter he characterised as
011 armed force that ought not to exist in the country.
Ile spoke of the discontent existing, and of the looking
to the West for that sympathy they did not expect from
Eng7and. Speaking of the opinions of those in theroom who
either held that not], ing would redeem Ireland but Repeal of
the Union or total independence, he asked the meeting tc
listen to him, adding that an Act which the Parliament
of the United Kingdom could pass it could also repeal,
Ireland, like every other country in Europe, had a right
tl desire national independence, but the time had not yet
c')lne for the discussion of that subject, but he offered to
Ireland the reciprocity of sentiment of his countrymen.
The members of a great and noble empire should share in
its glory and prosperity. He suggested to the Imperial
Parliament to undo the legislation of the last 200 years,
without doing any great injury to the ecclesiastical
arrangements of the country, so as not to affect individual
interests. He referred to the land question, and said his
plan was to restore to the farming classes a proprietary
right without any spoliation of the interests of the present
owners of the soil. Speaking of the Established Church,
he said it was to the earnest, thoughtful, and honestly.
minded Protestants in the country that argument was to
be addressed, and were he addressing a similar number of
those men as the meeting was composed of, he would
ask the= if they approved of the ecclesiastical settler
ment of the country made 300 years ago, or whether
the present state of the country was satisfactory ?
He believed that their answer would be in the negar
tive. He referred to the Church population of the
country, which he believed to be about 50,000. He esti.,
mated the revenues of the Church Establishment at
£600,000 yearly. Now, the episcopal population of Ire-
land was not greater than the population of Liverpool or
Glasgow, and imagine if the Government were to provide
£600,000 a year for the religious services of the population
of either Liverpool or Glasgow, would it not be considered
as emanating from the brain of a man bordering on
lunacy ? (Laughter.) He next applied himself to
the question as to whether the Protestants of Ireland
formed the national majority, and whether the,
Church tended to maintain the Union. He said he
looked on it as a standing army, and that it tended
more to foster rebellion and revolution than peace and
concord in the country. (Cheers.) He looked on the;
Church as stimulating a hostility against itself and
against the English that maintained it, and by whom it was;
established and promoted, and that he repeated without
fear of dispute, or that anyone could prove to the contrary,
that the Established Church in Ireland was anti-Protestant
by reason of its unnatural position, and it was as much
anti-English as it was anti-Irish, belause it made it
impossible that the Irish people should be in perfect
harmony with English rule in their country. (Cheers).,
Speaking to the argument that the Established Church,
would suffer by disestablishment and disendowmcnt, he
referred to the agitation at the time of the repeal o: the
corn laws, when it was feared the landed interest would
suffer, but now that question was laid by for ever by
those formerly in fear and doubt. He also referred to
the repeal of the taxes on knowledge to maintain his.
argument that, instead of suffering, the Established
Church, on the contrary, would be the gainer by being
dissevered from State control and from its present,
bondage. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gentleman pro-
ceeded to say that what was proposed to be done with
the Church here was that existing in the colonies
and Great Britain and Ireland under the voluntary
system. With an experience of what he saw surrounding
them, the members of the Established Church might take
consolation ; and he believed that what took place under
the voluntary system in other Churches could take place
with their own, so that, instead of being fettered by the
State, there would grow up here, though small, a strong
and compact religious community, and they would be
fostered in their position by the sympathy held towards
them by community of interests existing on the strength
they .possessed and derived from the feeling that they
held their position as a Church believing in the faith they
possessed. (Applause.) It was a poor faith that clung
to the State for aid, and they were not the courageous
ministers believing that Christ was the head of their
Church, and yet were afraid to march out under His
banner, but would not look for its freedom now that they
had seen its state in its present bondage. Passing to the.
resolution adopted in the present session of Parliament,
lie said that that was a sentence which would be
confirmed by greater numbers in the ensuing Parlia-
ment. He then asked them, would Ireland make a great
and stupendous effort to carry out the resolution of the
present Parliament in the new House of Commons?
(Cries of " Yes, yes.") Let him exhort them, and
every other elector, whether in county or borough, not to
let the question drop, but to unite, and when the question
came to 130 decided, once for all see that each placed the
constitutional power of his vote in the hands of men who
would not give an occasional vote to sustain that party in
Power that was wholly hostile to him. (Applause.) This
was not a time for choosing. The question before them
was really the question of the moment ; and how could the
people of England and Scotland, many of them as they
knew with great prejudices of the question of their own
Church—how could they ask them to make the sacrifice, of
call on them if they were not themselves standing firmly
upon it ? (Cheers.) The hon. gentleman concluded as
follows :—We are met in the city of the violated treaty—,
(cheers)— violated as I admit incessantly during almost
centuries of time. Let us make a new treaty; not on
parchment, not bound with an oath. Its commission
should be this—justice on the part of Great Britain ; for.
giveness on the part of Ireland. (Cheers.) It should bo
written in the hearts of three nations, and they should
pray to the common Father of all, in whose hands were
the desCn'es of nations and of States, that He would make
it last for ever and ever. (Tremendous cheering, amid,
which Mr. Bright resumed his seat.)

13URGLARY AT CUMBERLAND LODGE, 'WINDSOR
PARK.--On Sunday morning a serious and daring burglary
was committed at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great'
Park, the residence of Viscount Bridport, Equerry to her,
Majesty. An entry into the drawing-room was made
through a window which had been pushed up, and the
shutters cut by the burglars. The thieves took a,'
large amount of valuable property, including a silver trowel:
presented to Lady Mary Hood upon the occasion of her.
ladyship laying the foundation-stone of old Windsor
Church, a silver-gilt spoon and fork presented to one of
Viscount Bridport's children by her Majesty, several gold,
tops of smelling-bottles, gold pencil-cases, about thirty
new sixpences, &c. After unscrewing the back of a chro-'
nometer once belonging to Lord Nelson, the burglars left'
it behind them, together with a " jemmy," stamped with_
the letters " J. 8."

THE NEW REFORM ACT. —A correspondent
who has taken the trouble to submit a case to
counsel has received the following reply : 1. In my'
opinion the overseers have to make out only the list
of county voters enfranchised by the Act of 1867
in respect of the occupation of premises, and the old mew;
pation franchises have to be attended to as hitherto, and
claimed on or before the 20th of July (see Sec. 37 of 2 Wm.
IV., c. 45.) 2. Persons entitled to property for a life
or lives, under such a lease as is referred to, of the
clear yearly value of not less than £5 above all rents
or charges prya,ble- in respect of the same, are
entitled to the franchise ; but the provisions of Sec. 26 of
2nd Win. IV., c. 45, must be complied with, and they,
must deliver or transmit their claims to the overseers on
or before the 20th July (Sec. 37 of the same Act). Of
course a person entitled to such life leasehold property,
for a period less than life, or than the residue of a
term not less originally than sixty years, would not be
entitled to a vote."
SUPERSTITION IN CortNwALL.--The son Of a
farmer at St. Neots, near Liskeard, having lately been
unwell for some time, was supposed to have been
;21-wished " by the wife of a labouring man residing on,
the A whit a witch was consulted, who recom—
mended thaf the man should be discharged, which was
accordingly done.
• One night the village blacksmith was
tfic sick man. On his way to the
resembling a goat, which his fears
eodu
theo f tl
formio w window he again
hie'lligu,g..sinegichfidee t;I:a :81:1 YlPne' somethingtvti unnatural. On arriving at the
his
was again consulted,'
n's house
who ordered the course of action which was followed.'
majesty.
cawl
j'etmsht
yea spectre, Ne‘a,xhntidc laoysks iunmg
the
witch
Watch was kept the next night, and a gun kept loaded;
charged with fourpenny pieces broken up into small bits.'
As soon as the son of Vulcan saw the enemy, the sick
man fired his precious charge, with what effecthas not been;
ascertained, nor is it known whether he has succeeded in.
ridding the world of its greatest enemy. The affair has
calsed " great sensation" in the neighbourlok-Tiretja
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