The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-04-09
CHAR L EST TON
THURSDAY MORNING, ArRn 9, 1868.
s.rhe Cancer of the Empire Removed"

The resolutions in regard to the Irish
Church Establishment, adopted on the mo-
tion of Mr.. GLADSTONE, by the English
House of Common declare: "lst. That the
Established Church of Ireland shall cease
to exist as an establishment. ID. That the
creation of new public interests by the ex-
ercise of any public patronage should be
prevented; and 3d. That the Queen be
prayed to place at the disposal of Parlia-
ment her interest in the ecclesiastical tenn
poralities of Ireland" So the axe has
been laid at the root of the tree, and the
oppression under which Ireland has groaned
for more than three hundred years is at last
on the verge of removal.
Six hundred thousand of Irish Protes-
tants have enjoyed q church establishment
costing sixty millions of dollars year.
Five million Roman Catholics have sup
ported their own church and paid besides
sixty millions of dollars yearly for the
maintenance of the church "by law estab-
lished" Nor was it matter of money
alone. During three centuries the Irish
Protestant clergy, with some honorable ex-
ceptions, have supported every enactment
hostile to the Irish people that was pro-
posed by the ministers Of the Crown. II
was thus that during the reign of ELIZA
BETH they were the agents of persecution;
it was thus that under CHARLES II they
frustrated the just settlement of the Irish
Catholic claims; it was thus that under
WILLIAM and under ANNE they urged the
enactment of cruel penal laws; it was thus
that in later times they were the deter
mined foes of religious emancipation.
Now the sore is to be cauterized and healed,
and, as justice to Ireland in matters of
religion will be the forerunner of religious
justice to Scotland and England, the Irish
people will not only be free themselves, but
will become the cause of freedom to others.
When the abolition of the Irish Church
Establishment is accomplished, the fabric of
the English Church Establishment and Scot
tish Church Establishment will tremble and
quake. The obnoxious Church a'es will
be swept into the gulf; and every man,
while worshipping God after his own fash
ion, will only be called on to support his
own church and his own religious supe-
riors.
In this there is no danger to the stability
of the State. 1t may be difficult to apply
the revenues of the Irish Church so as to
satisfy all manner Of people; but the Ro-
man Catholic clergy have announced that
they will accept no subsidy from the gov
ernment, and prudent legislators will not
long refuse to apply the moneys wrung
from Irish poverty to the relief of the Irish
poor. No measure is thoroughly danger
Gus which causes the majority of the people
to regard their rulers as, the keepers OF
their rights rather than as the destroyers
of their liberties. The religious freedom
granted to Ireland will be felt by Presby-
terian, Baptist, Methodist, Wesleyan, Q "a
kcr and Israelite alike. All of them are
now forced to pay for the Episcopal Church
as we'll as their own churches; all of them
will soon have TO support ro other creed
than their own.
This will encourage the growth of loyalty
and affection, and be an important step in
securing the stability of the British En-
pire by roofing it more firmly and surely
than ever in the love and confidence Of its
people.