The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-18 00:00:00

CHURCH AND STATE DEMONSTRAT.
AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

The meeting, or demonstration, which had been con-
vened by a special committee, under the auspices of the
Protestant Union, in support of her Majesty's Ministers,
and in opposition to the disestablishment of the Irish
Church, took place, as we have already announced,
in the central transept of the Crystal Palace. The
original arrangement was that it should be held in
the sports' ground, but the weather proving unfavourable,
an adjournment took place to the transept. There were,
including the platform ticket-holders, about five thousand
persons present, and the proceedings were exceedingly
orderly throughout. The business of the meeting
having been opened with prayer by the Bishop of Perth
(Australia), the 100th Psalm was sung, and letters were
read from persons who, although concurring with the
objects of the meeting, wore unavoidably absent. The
Bishop of Ripon wrote, expressing his cordial concurrence
brit pleading episcopal duties ; and a letter from the Duke
of Portland, including a donation of £2,000 for Protestant
purposes, was received with tumultuous cheering.
Lord FITZWA LI ER having been called to the chair by
acclamation, proceeded to say that they had met that day
in an extraordinary place and in an extraordinary crisis.
Their national Protestantism was assailed, but it was net
so for the first time. It had been established only after
a severe struggle, and had not been maintained without
bloodshed ; but be was proud to think that the great
mass of the people of England were still Protestant to the
backbone, and detested everything like an approach to
Popery. The proposition of Mr. Gladstone—(hisses)—
which they had met that day to oppose, meant simply the
transfer of that country to the Government of the Roman
Catholic priests. There was at present in Ireland a Pro-
testant Church, which as a nucleus did a world of good,
and if that nucleus were taken away he should like to know
what power or what organisation would be able to com-
pete with the power of the Church of Rome. No matter
what might be the intentions of those who proposed
to disestablish the Irish Church, the result could only
be to throw the whole country into the hands of the
Roman Catholics. But he had no fear. The dissolute
Charles and the bigot James had once before sought to
establish Popery in these realms ; but the people of Eng-
land rose as one man, and said, "We will not have
Popery nor will we have its supporters to reign over us."
Loud cheers.) Those attempts changed the dynasty,
making way for the line to which we owed our present
beloved Queen, than whom no one in the kingdom was
more attached to Protestant principles. (Loud cheers.) He
called on those who heard him to stand by their Queen, and
to support her in resistance to Popery, no matter what
might be the form it assumed. What was their obvious
duty? It was to make the next general election a Protes-
tant election. (Tremendous cheering.) Let them return
no Ritualists to Parliament; but, on the contrary, let
them tell her Majesty's Government that they would be
supported by the whole nation in bringing into Parliament
a measure which should enable every churchwarden in the
country to bring to account whatever person might
attempt to introduce Roman Catholic ceremonies into the
Protestant Church. (Great cheering.) The noble lord,
having quoted a passage condemnatory of Ritualism from
the Times, proceeded to say that if these Protestant clergy
persisted in practising Ritualism, the only remedy would
be to torn them out. Let it not be delayed from year to
year, till everyone bad forgotten the beginning of the dis-
pute. Let it be done at once. (Loud cheers.) He was
proud to say that there was no man in that great assembly
more entirely convinced of the rectitude and propriety of
their bestirring themselves at the present moment than he
_ (Cheers). Nothing had ever been gained by idle-
ness, and if they did not bestir themselves they might as
well go to sleep for ever. (Prolonged cheers.)
Mr. H. GIFFARD moved the first resolution : "That this
meeting, composed as it is of all sections of the community,
strongly deprecates the attempts recently made in the
House of Coiamons to effect a solemn and radical change
in the principles of the constitution by hasty and ill-con-
sidered legislation." That man must have been cold, and
his heart's blood of a sluggish circulation, whose feelings
had not been moved by the noble aim with which
these proceedings bad begun. The question was
whether they would have allegiance to the Crown of
Great Britain, or whether they would have an alle-
giance pledged to the potentate of Rome. (Loud cheers,
and cries of "No Popery.") Let him not be mis-
understood. He never had said, and never would say,
that the attack upon the Established Church began with
the Roman Catholics. It began with a struggle for place.
(Cheers.) But it was impossible not to see that where a
number of forces could be called together, some for one
object and some for another, that an astute and expe-
rienced statesman, finding his followers in the condition
described by Mr. Bouverie, as a rabble, would take advan-
tage of the possiMity- of corrOrAul-nb— thcr.,-, eel/let,* at._
cordant among themselves, but united for the destruction
of the Church of England. It was a " solemn and radical
change" to strive to destroy those great principles of civil
and religious freedom which were established at the Refor-
No legal system would long remain in which the
recognition of the Great Disposer of All was abolished.
liad any part of the civilised world at the present moment,
not forgetting their friends on the other side of the
Atlantic, more securities for civil and religions liberty than
we bad? That meeting, hell in a place from which no
one could be excluded, was in effect a public meeting.
Was there any other country where the views of speakers
upon a subject on which there was great conflict of opinion
could be expressed so freely ? John StnartMill—(" Turn
him out.") From the latest information he had about the
Westminster election, he believed he would be turned out.
(Cheers.) But John Stuart Mill, who might be supposed
to represent what he should call the enlightened philosophy
of modern civilisation, said in his recentlypublished
pamphlet on England and Ireland : " You are not to
suppose that when you have cashiered the Protestant
Church in Ireland, you will have satisfied the Irish
people. Nothing of the sort." Mr. Mill entered into
a disquisition to shew that as no mortal created the
world, the land could be no mortal's property ; and in
order to satisfy Ireland and make her perfectly pacific
the land was to be thrown into a sort of general scramble
for any one to take it who could, and that was the con-
clusion of philosophy, experience, and science. (Cheers.)
Dr. CowAN seconded the motion.

WiLl.9•

mation

Mr. FOSTER, who stated that he represented the Orange
lodges of Ireland, assured the meeting that the Orangemen
of Ireland were ready to unite with them in the present

crisis.

The resolution was put and carried with three dissen.

Cents.

The Bishop of PERTH (Australia) proposed the second
resolution : "That this meeting is of opinion that the
principle of an alliance between Church and State is not
only in strict accord with the wise practice of Govern-
ments in all past ages, but likewise fully sanctioned and
enjoined by the spirit of Christianity, whose holy mission
it is to consecrate things secular by an indissoluble
union with things sacred ; and this meeting hareby invites
"all true Christians, of whatever denomination, to uphold
by their vote and influence, at the forthcoming elec-
tion, the union of the State with the Church of the
Reformation."

Mr. NEWDEGATE, in seconding the resolution, said that
for more than twenty years it had been his privilege tc
stand forward in the House of Commons in defence of the
spirit of this resolution. He rejoiced that it was an
Australian bishop he was to follow, because the loyalty
of Australia had been tested by the dastardly attempt on
the life of the Duke of Edinburgh. That attempt was
made by a Popish-bred and priestly-raised miscreant, and
Australia had dealt with him by the law, but with a will
which would have dealt out justice even if the law
had failed. Australia was determined to defend
our sovereign and family—being Protestant. (Cheers.)
Washington, the great American Republican, had
desired that there should be an Established Church
combined with the State in that republic, but he was
defeated by a Popish cabal, headed by Carrol and Jefferson.
Carrol had a brother a Jesuit, and that brother was the
first Roman Catholic bishop appointed in the United
States. They would see, therefore, that the union of.
Church and State had been advocated by the greatest
Republican in the great Republic, and was prevented
by the conspiracy of a Jesuit and a Vo7stairian. It was
only Protestant Christianity that fitted men for self-
government. There was no self-government in Spain, in
ourhon Naples, or even in France, whilst in Russia,
where there was a connection between Church and State,
the Pope had plotted against the sovereign, by stirring up
'rebellion in Roman Catholic Poland. Austria, in the
conflict of Saclowa, was conquered because the oppression
which the Papacy induced her to practise upon her sub-
jects, and especially her Italian subjects, rendered only
half her army reliable. She learnt a severe lesson, and
the Emperor asked for a modifimtion of the arrangement
by which his Covernment was bound to the Papal Church,
informing the Pope that his people would not lonf;er sub-
mit to have all education limited to clerical instruction.
The Austrians, in fact, obtained a modification of the
union, but the Pope denounced the Government of tln,t
country because it was not blindly obedient to his sway.
Was it possible to have a union in this country with a
Church so arrogant? The people of England were deter-
mined to prevent such an alliance. (Cheers.) Let them,
then, take the matter into their own hands, and say,
with their forefathers, " We will prevent the possibility
of an alliance between our Government and Rome, by
insisting upon the continuance of the connection
between the Protestant Church and the State of Eng-
land." If the Protestant Church was disestablished in
Ireland, there was nothing to prevent the direct establish.
ment of the Church of Rome there. In fact, it was dons
already, for the Pope was so proud, he would no,
acceptettAbliVlZlOtll24.MY kW/. laiiiiilAl/210(1 that tila

Church was established by his authority. (Cheers.) 'Let
Protestant Dissenters remember their religious free)lori
was derived from a State that was joined to a Prqestsr .t
Church, and let them join with Churchmen, as du ,ir
leaders formerly did, to maintain that connection aBl the
only valid security for their religious liberty. oud
cheers.)
The Rev. Professor PEROWNE seconded the ictsiatition,
which was carried.
The Rev. Dr. KEARNEY, who described hims( As„
representative of the Great Central Protestant iDerence
Association of Ireland, and as a working cle) gyman of
the Irish Church of twenty-one years' standing, moved:
" That this meeting desires to record its serious& conviction
that should the conspiracy formed, ostensibly-against the
Irish branch of the United Church of :England and
Ireland, but practically against all State connection with
religion, be successful, it will result in the secularisation
of the institutions of the country, in great danger to the
Throne, and in augmenting the power of the Papacy,
"against whose insidious encroachments merewvoluntaryism
is unavailing."

Mr. GRAtiT seconded the resolution, and it was carried
unanimously.

Mr. KISBEY proposed the fourth resolution: " That
the thanks of the nation arc due to the House of Lords for
their noble defence of a great Christian principle in reject.
ing the Suspensory Bill ; and this meeting feels that in the
performance of that solemn duty they not only expressed
their own independent sentiments as a distinct
branch of the Legislature, but likewise the hearty desires
of that large and influential body of the people, who were
at the time represented by a minority in the House of Com-
mons."

Mr. PITMAN, who was announced as a working man,
seconded the resolution, which was adopted with one d;a.
sentient.

Mr. A. Sam moved the following resolution :—" That
a petition be laid at the foot of the Throne, praying her
Majesty, as the temporal head of the United Church,
never to consent to the separation of the Church from the
State, which would offend the consciences of millions of
her Majesty's Christian subjects, and tend to subvert the
Protestant institutions of the country."
Mr. J. T. HOLDEN, of Birmingham, in seconding the
resolution, said it was the duty of every English Pro-
testant to protest against the robbery and spoliation of
the Church. Let the robber be ever so high, he should
not be allowed to plunder them with impunity. He did
not wish to use harsh language, but after all that a
certain gentleman from South Lancashire—(hisses)—had
said and written, Judas Iscariot was a gentleman to him.
(Laughter and sheers.) The one betrayed the head of the
Church ; the other tried to betray the Church itself.
Every elector ought to remember that the settlement of
the present great question might be in his own hands.
Hissing and cheering would not do the work that was to
be done. Let them put the touchstone question, and vote
according to the answer. (Cheers.)
The resolution was unanimously adopted.
On the motion of Mr. LORD, seconded by Mr. Numarr,
a vote of thanks was passed to Lord Fitzwalter, who
briefly acknowledged the compliment. The proceedings
terminated by the singing of the National Anthem.

The total number of visitors amounted to 7,911, of which
number 997 were season ticket-holders.

POSTAL ANNOUNCEMENTS.

A postal circular issued yesterday announces that the
next mails for Australia will be despatched from London,
via Southampton, on the morning of Saturday, the sth of
September, aid via Marseilles on the evening of Friday,
the 11th of September.

An alteration in the postal service to Natal is also noted,
by "command of the Postmaster-General."

" Under altered arrangements for the branch postal service
oetween the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, the sailing of
the branch steamer will, in future, be fitted to the arrival at
tho Caper of the mail packet leaving Plymouth on the 25th of
each month, instead of that sailing on the 10th, as hereto-
fore."

It is further stated that "arrangements have been made
for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Com-
pany's packcis to resume the practice of calling at Penang
on their voyages between Point-de-Galle and Hongkong.
Commencing therefore with the mails appointed to be de-
spatched from London on the 22d inst. via Southampton,
and the 28th, via Marseilles, tho direct mail servica between
this country and Penang will be re-established."