The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-11-02 00:00:00

Church, our reformer supposes the principle to be
adopted that there must be no Church in Ireland in
connexion with the State, and then proceeds to con-
sider the question as to " the appropriation of the
large funds now in the hands of the Irish Esta-
blished Church."

Let us make a supposition in our turn. Let us
suppose the principle to be adopted that it is by no
means conducive to general prosperity in this coun-
try that cotton-spinning should form one of the
chief employments of the people ; and suppose we
were then to discuss "the appropriation of the
large funds now in the hands of the Cotton Spin-
ners of Lancashire." No doubt Mr. BRIGHT, and
many others, would deem us insane, if we were to
ask for the general adoption of such a principle,
and to attempt to carry out such a scheme. But
how much more reasonable and just are Mr.
BRIGHT'S principle and scheme ?

Two plans occur to our ingenious speculator for
the appropriation of the stolen property of the Irish
Church. " The most simple plan," says the hon.
Quaker, with modest gravity, " would be to absorb
the revenues of the Established Church, as the

livings become vacant, and to apply them in some
channel, not ecclesiastical, in which the whole popu-
lation of Ireland could participate."
But, Mr. BRIGHT foresees objections to this plan,

although he deems the inconveniences "infinitely
less than those which are inseparable from a con-

nuance of the present system."

But scheme the second, though not so simple, is

more likely, we are told, to obtain a general concur-

rence of opinion in its favour. The Protestant

Episcopal Church of Ireland has an income of

£500,000, or principal of, say, £10,000,000 sterling.

The Presbyterian Church has £40,000 a-year, or a
principal of -Esoo,ooo. The Roman Catholic Church
has £26,000 a-year, or a principal of £520,000.
Now, suggests Mr. BRIGHT, let a Church Pro-
perty Commission be established for Ireland, and
let it become possessed of the £10,000,000 of the

Established' Church—let the Commission be em-
powered and directed to appropriate a portion of
this fund (that is, the Established Church's pro-
perty) to each of the three Churches as a " free
gift" instalment from the State. With respect to
the amount of the " free gift" to each Church, Mr.
BRIGHT proposes, for the share of the Roman
Catholics, that a house and a piece of land of the
value of £lOOO should be given to each of the 1000
parishes of Ireland, or a sum of £1,000,000 sterling
—no mention being made of the confiscation of their
principal, of £520,000. The Presbyterians, accord-
ing to Mr. BRIGHT'S scheme, would lose their
annual fund of £40,000, but obtain, on the division
of the spoils, a fund sufficient to produce an equal
annual income.

Then, as to the share to be appropriated to the
Established Church itself, out of its own funds, the
reforming Quaker says, " The Protestant Episco-
palians should be treated as liberally as the Pres-
byterians. * * Assuming that they could,

and would, form themselves into a free Episcopal
Church, the Commission would be empowered to
grant them a sum equal to that granted to the
Presbyterians." The residue of the plunder, Mr.
BRIGHT thinks, ought to be reserved for Irish
purposes.

The result, then, of this modest scheme of the
Member for Manchester would be, that the Presby-
terian Church in Ireland should remain in statu
quo ; that the Established Church should be robbed
of its property, amounting to £10,000,000; that
£1,000,000 thereof should be presented to the
Roman Catholics of Ireland as a free gift, and a
•" free gift" of rather smaller amount should be
given to the Protestant Episcopalians provided they
became a free church ; and that the residue of the
whole sum should go for such Irish purposes as
Mr. BRIGHT and his friends should be able to

persuade Parliament to apply them to.

Such is the Quaker view of religious equality.

Mr. LUCAS and his forty Fellow-Leaguers, Dr.
MAcHALF. and his priestly brethren can wish for
no more effective ally than Mr. BRIGHT; nor could
the POPE himself desire a better plan for spreading
his power in Ireland than the simple scheme of the

Englis

Free-Tnider.