The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-07 00:00:00

VISITATION AT ARMAGH.
CHARGE OF TIIE LORD PRIMATE.
On Thursday Archbishop Berelord held a visitation of his
diocese in the cathedral of Armagh, and at the conclusion
of Divine service delivered the following charge :
° The Established Church in this country, as, you are well
aware, my reverend brethren, is exposed, at the present
period, to the combined attacks of opponents, who, however,
they may differ from each other in religion, and in the ul-
tenor objects which they have in view, are agreed together
in exerting their utmost efforts to accomplish its overthrow.
On the part of its friends, therefore, there is need of the
greatest energy and unanimity in its defence. When the
British Government, at the close of the last century, wi.h a
view to the strengthening of the empire, by means of its con••
solidation, proposed and brought about, not without reluct-
ance on the part. of Ireland, the union of the two kingdoms,
it was urged—as a prevailing pleato induce the Irish Church
to surrender its independence and to place the guardianship
of its interests in the bands of a Legislature to be chiefly
composed of Englishmen—that the certain result of uniting
it into one church with that of England, would be to add
to its stability, and secure its permanence. It was
felt that the strongest link by which the connexion
of the two countries could be maintained, was that of the
common faith which binds the Protestants of Ireland to their
English brethren. The union of the churches, accordingly,
cemented the union of the kingdoms. Hence it is that the
democratic party, who now aim at effecting a severance of
the two countries, labour most strenuously for the subver-
sion of the Church Establishment, and call upon their ad-
herents to regard it as their first duty' to exert themselves
to obtain its total abolition.' Such is their bold avowal,
although, when the first steps were taken to remove their
civil disabilities, they were forward to declare, in their public
documents, that they acquiesced, with satisfaction, in the
establishment of the national church, neither repining at its
possessions nor envying its dignities.' And, on their actual
admissiomto legislative power, they still disavow,
and solemnly abjure any intention to subvert the present
Church. Establishment, as settled by law, within this realm.'
Whether the severe enactments of the penal code, with which
we are upbraided, are to be justified or not by the daring
attempts made to destroy both the Protestant religion and
the _Protestant Government, it is not now the time to inquire.
Themes enactments are no longer in force. I lament
nee necessity of such measures, if the necessity, on the
part of the civil Government, existed. And it. is matter of
the deepest regret to me, as it is to every churchman, if the
seventy of them originated in whole or in part in an exclu-
sive spirit, as contrary to the mild precepts of Christianity as
to the general character of British legislation. But the ques-
tion between us and our opponents, when fairly stated, is not
whether the united church shall be maintained, to the op-
preseion of all other bodies of Christians. Toleration the most
ample—protection the most complete—is accoided to the
proletssors of every creed. The question regards not the dimi-
nutron of the income of the church, or any salutary improve-
neants in its discipline. Large pecuniary sacrifices have been
c.neerfully made in order to effect a change in the mode of
collecting its revenues, whereby the, payment is rendered
more easy to the people, and irritation of feelings and
collision are avoided ; and useful reforms of whatever kind,
where not already effected, are courted instead of being
repudiated by its ecclesiastical governors. The true
question is now reduced to this, whether the Established
Church shall continue to enjoy the pre-eminence to which
she has been raised by the pm ity of her doctrine, the mode-
ration of her principles, and the hold she still retains over
the affections of the enlightened part of the community; or
whether she shall no longer exhibit a correct standard of
religious faith, under the fostering protection of the Govern-
ment, amidst a population in the greatest need of her spiritual
direction; and whether, as a consequence, her endowment.,
given her for this very purpose, shall be taken away Irons
her? In the assault which is made upon the Irish branch of
the Church, the Roman Catholics are now aided by the Dis-
senters of England, who employ denunciations as vehement
with regard to our Establishment as ever proceeded from the
lips of the political agitators of this country. A formal an-
nouncement, indeed, has been made by them, that they are
'ready to contend by the side' of the Roman Catholics in the
war against the Church iu Ireland; and they have 'pledged
themselves never to remit their eflierts' to overturn it. The
ultimate object of the Dissenters, which.they have set before
themselves as worthy of every exertion in their power, is to
put an end to the connexion of Church and State in Great
Britain, and to substitute the voluntary system in place m f
the national endowment of religion. On the attempt to
achieve this object, they seem determined to concentrate all
their strength. And in comparison with it, their former
controversies respecting episcopacy, and our liturgy, and
doctrines, and discipline, are regarded as minor points.
It is because they think a way will be thus open to
them for making a more successful attack on the
Established Church in England that they now lend their aid
in the movement against the sveakei branch of that Church
in this country. They appear to care but little to inquire
what would be the consequences to Protestantism in Ireland
were it left to the voluntary system alone, and werethe shel-
tering influence of our Chutch Establishment withdrawn.
They ask not what prospect there would be of supplying, by
means of that system, the ministrations of religion to the
thousands of poor families in remote districts, who would be
unable to defray for themselves the expense of a settled minis-
try, and whose religion, when deprived of such ministrations,
would gradually melt away, until it was lost in the supersti-
tion and ignorance that surrounded it. All such considers
tions the Dissenters of England seem to have put aside in
their zeal to make a practicable breach in the establishment
of religion in the empire. And so they make common cause
with the Romanists in the assault upon the Protestant
Establishment in Ireland. With the Roman Catholics and
the Dissenters are also found united in attacking the Irish
Church the revolutionary party, of whatever religion, or of
none, who seek its subversion from a love of change and
dislike of the ancient institutions of the country. And,
supported by such a combination of parties, all of them
resolute in their hostility, a distinct proposal for the demo-
lition of the Irish Church is annually submitted to the con-
sideration of Parliament. Connected with these hostile
attacks, and by way of furnishing some foundation for them,
misrepresentations the most gross have been put forth re-
specting the condition of our Church ; and, unhappily, there
exists in England such a degree of tmacquaintedness with
its affairs that these misrepresentations readily pass current.
The public ear has been so accustomed to hear assertions
made regarding our Establishment, which are either wholly
false or greatly exaggerated, that from their constant reite-
ration they are supposed to be true. And perhaps sufficient
pains have not been taken on our part to remove the misap-
prehension to which they have given rise. I will allude to
some of them. And first, I would refer to the revenues of
the Church, which are still spoken of as being ' enormous.'
The immense riches,' the lavish endowment,' of the Irish
Church, occupy a prominent place in every speech and
pamphlet on this subject. Even in the last of these publica-
tione that I have seen, the attempt is made to lead the Bri-
tish public to believe, that tithe—meaning thereby, as it is
specifically asserted, a tenth part of the produce of the land—
is still paid to the clergy by the cultivators of the soil, al-
though, even when what was c Wed tithe was formerly paid,
it was not a tenth, but a thirtieth part that was received
by them. And, since that which was denominated
tithe has been commuted into a rent- charge, paid by
the landlord, it has been diminished by one-
fourth ; and it is, in reality, but a fortieth that is paid
to the clergy of the Established Church. In other
words, they receive a fourth part of the tithe. And were
the income derived from this source, and from minister's
money, to be divided equally amongst the beneficed clergy,
it would yield them (after paying the salaries of their assist-.
ant curates), about 230/. a-year each. Were it equally
shared amongst all the clergy, incumbents and curates, it
wotishled
value 11Ot giveof ttloe each
glebe o f
laudstliein
alsos e e b
income otnal
taken
eonf
intol7 01.
account, ye r
If
the whole property of the parochial clergy, were it divided in
slm a2)o.eostaam..;.ientgus..t themcaallll, etvionusidenndootwparloednut ce, Filth
ofe theml
to denominate this income enormous wealth' and: immense
riches,' is absurd and ridiculous. The fact which I have
stated needs only to be known to make apparent the exag-
geration of those figures of speech which have been employed
on this subject. The phat.torn of the Church's wealth,
whieli seems to haunt. perpetually and to disturb time
quiet of so many of its reformers, requires only to have the
light of truth let in upon it, and it instantly disappears.
It may be thought, indeed, by some, that a more nearly
equal distribution of the property of the Church
would be desirable. But this, it will he observed, is quite
a different question from that of the aggregate reve-
nues of the whole body being an exhaustless mine of
riches. And it will be perceived, from what I have men-
tioned, that those persons who are forward to express corn-
mieeration for the ill-paid curates of the Established Church,
and who speak feelingly of the plain justice it would be to
provide each of that laborious class of ministers with au in-
come of at least 2001. a year, would certainly not find means
to carry this generous design into effect by any process of
arithmetic that could be applied to the property of the in-
cumbents, except by snaking the two parties change places
in the scale of their incomes. I am, indeed, fully persuaded
that to introduce perfect equality in the incomes of the clergy
would be far from advantageous to the interests of the Church ;
but I would, at the same time, observe, that, so far as a sound
objection lies against a too great disparity, means have been
in effective operation fur some years past which
tivifl re-
move that objection I allude to the dissolution of unions
of parishes, and the subdivision of those which are of too
large extent, and the augmentation of the incomes of the
small benefices. It may not, perhaps, be generally known
that, since the passing of the Church Temporalities Act.,
in 1833, upwards of 4,0001. a year have been applied to aug-
ment poorly endowed parishes. The rumours put into cir-
culation as to the revenues of the bishops have heen even,
more exaggerated than those in reference to the incomes of
the parochial clergy. But when the facts are fairly inquired
into, instead of the prelates having, as a body, eagerly
grasped at gain, and sought to aggrandize themselves out of
vteh,at.inthe i
Itohneae. rsoetpteiretyd
pbrealcotiitie nhgastbo
etehne nt
o
illclaim anbdetofeyenecedi
ad-
dition to the small head-rent of the estates assigned to them,
a renewal fine of only one-fifth of the value, after deducting
numerous and respectable class of landowners, to whom they
that rent ; the remaining four-fifths being enjoyed by the
have been leased for many generations. Is there any other
property in the kingdom, I would ask, out of which so small
a benefit is claimed by its proprietors? And when it is con-
sidered that the prelates form a portion of the peerage of the
country, one of the highest estates of the realm—, privilege
of their order as ancient as the House of Peers itself, and

handed down to the bishops of the Irish Church by a suc-
cession which has suffered no interruption—a succession
reaching further back than does the title of any temporal
peer in Ireland; and when the income assigned them out of
their properties is compared with that of even the poorest
of the noble order of which, from time immemorial, they
form a part, it will not appear to be excessive in its
amount."

His Grace then proceeded to point out the difference be-
,;ween the cathedral establishments in England and Ireland,
and showed that in point of fact there was no similarity be-
tween the two; that in this country there were no such
"stately and venerable piles," no full choral services; and as
to dignitaries and prebendaries, they were, with few excep-
tions, mere parochial clergymen having other duties to per-
form. With regard to the union of parishes, too, there was
much misconception. Some of what are called parishes in
Ireland are merely the sites of old religious houses, the
names of which they continue to bear; and to complain of
their being united together, would be to complain that there
is a union of streets in a town under one pastor; or a union
of fields in a rural district under a single minister. "It is
worthy of being borne in mind (continued his Grace) by
those whose inclination leads t hem to attack the Church, and
by those, also, who sincerely desire its improvement, that a
Royal Commission was appointed 15 years ago to inquire
into the unions of parishes, and to report on the fit-
ness and practicability of dissolving them. A majority
of . the commissioners were laymen of high character
and intelligence. The result of their inquiries (which pro-
ceeded only as far as the province of Armagh) was, that
in regard to the unions in that portion of Ireland, 110 in
number, there were 48 which it would be either impracticable
or unadvisable to sever. Such a statement, proceeding frem
such a quarer, ought to lead people to pause before they con-
(.l,ln! in
.a sweeping and in-?isc:iminate inanntr the existerxe
“ry whatxvec pari•he.;,. Bat 1 wir,dd afso Bch!,
r as it is de,:iq;bh; that a dissolution or these
take pin e, au eupertunity is provided
for severing them as vacancies occur; and within
,the
last eleven years fifty-three have been disssolved. It is un-
necessary for me to make any remark upon the subject. of
pluralities—one whiCh ban afforded occasion for reproach

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