New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-06-08
TIE ANTI-STATE CHURCH STRUGGLE IN
ENGLAND.


England is at present the theater of a strug-
gle the interest of which deepens every day.
The battle between the Tories and the people
Oh the extension of the elective franchise has
scarcely ended-the principle of Household
Suffrage has scarcely been proclaimed as the
future law Of the land-befOre another conflict
begins. This new fighter, rather, this revival
ON vastly extended scale OF an old strife
is destined to shake the United Kingdom from
center to circumference. The war this time Is
n politico-Teligious one, and the signal for the
marshalng of the hosts on both sides has been
Mr. Gladstone's proposition for the dsestab-
lishment and disendowment of the Irish branch
of the Anglican Church. To those who know
how tenaciOusly an arstOcracy of rank always
clings 20 its privileges, there will be nothing
surprising in the alarm which that proposition
has created among the Tories generally, and
the ecclesiastical dignitaries Of the realm in
particular for the policy advocated by Mr..
Gladstone is manifestly of revolutionary tend
ency, seeing that it derives its force mainly
from principles as applicable to affairs in En-
gland and Scotland as in Ireland, though III
different degrees The concessions once prac-
tically made by the British Parliament that 1t
involves q gross injustice to compel men, even
by indirect MEANS to support church to
which they do not belong, and that the tenure
by which the property of the Anglican Church
is held is not of a nature placing such prop
erty beyond the control and the disposal of
Parliament for national purposes, and the thin
end is instantly inserted of the wedge that
shall eventually rend from top to bottom both
the English Establishment and the Scotch
Kirk, as well as the Irish Church.
The bishops and clergy of the kingdom are
| keenly alive to the impending danger, and are
determined to avert it il they can. Hence the
efforts they have been organizing to defeat Mr.
Gladstone's project relative to the Irish Church
Hence the raising of the old "No Popery'
cry. in order to rouse the ignorant masses by
an appeal to their prejudces and passions
Hence the deputation of bishops waiting upon
the Queen to represent to her the dlreful
| calamities which are certain to befall the ma
ton should the Church of Ireland be disestab-
lished. Hence the mammoth meeting at st
James's Hall in London, where gentle primates
consorted with fiery politicians, and stately
bishops. forgetful in the excitement of the
occasion of the generally well preserved dignity
| of their cloth, We'd with each other in de-
clamatory eloquence. The dissenters, on thu
the other hand, have opened the campaign will
great spirit and energy The Liberation So
ciety, after a quarter of n century OF poorly
appreciated labors in the cause OF religious
liberty, suddenly finds itself recognized power
in the land, and celebrates its anniversary il
1868 with demonstrations of jubilant hopeful
ness, contrasting strangely with the quiet, un
obtrusive gatherings of former years. Spur
ceons capacious Tabernacle has been the scene
of such popular gathering, in point both o
numbers and enthusiasm, as John Bright ever
with Ills heightened experience OF public meet
ings, declared he had never before wl'1 i
and in all parts of the kingdom similar demon
STATIONS are the order of the day Inc rea
nature of the struggle is typided. we THINK D!