New-York tribune., 1869-03-16
THE IRISH CHURCH.
MR.. GLADsToNEs SPEECH AND BILL.
IFRoM ouR OWN CORRESPONDENT


night. He had a subject exactly suited to his extra
ordinary powers and he was put upon his mettle by
the circumstances In which he spoke. 1t is
remarkabe-and it is characteristic alike OF
the English people and of Mr., Gladstone indi-
yidually-that his greatest fame as an orator
should have been won in his Budget speeches;
that is in financial expostions permitting
no rhetorical display, and aifordng scope only for
the more solid qualities of the orators mind. Fig
ures of arithmetic took the place Of figures OF
speech, yet Mr. Gladstone. as Chancellor of the Ex
cheouer has been known to keep the unbroken at
tention of the House through speech of more than
four hours duration. On Monday night he spoke
three hours and half He held his audience well
throughout and although there might have been
little tagging on the part of the hearers
during tho second hour, it was most GU
rious to sec the sudden quckening OF M
terest manifested all the House when
the orator got among his figures. 1t was precisely
the moment when an ordinary speaker wonld have
lost his hold of an ordinary audience. To Mr. Glad
stone it was as if he had touched his mother earth
after exhanstng struggle in the air. He found as
much inspiration in estimates of globes and IN tho
valuation of Inherent charges as Mr. Bright finds in
the fragrant oppression and injustice ho often de-
nounces No doubt the attention of tho House was
stimulated by the personal interest many members
have in the funds of the Church. but to those
who had none Mr. Gladstones dexterity in handling
his accounts was an object of scarcely less admira
ton Other men have had the talent to make
budgets ineligible. To Mr.. Gladstone alone has
been given the power of investing them with moral
interest and surrounding them with the destinations
of romance So il was with what l may call the
Budget of the Irish Church. The art with which
the statement was made art of a very high
order, aud the impression made by that part of the
speech was quite independent of the varying
judgments formed upon tho wisdom of the plan
announced for dsposng of .the surplus revenues OF
the Church Some of Mr. Gladstones friends were
recently lamenting that he could never moro DO
Chancellor Of the Exchequer. They may be abund-
antly consoled by his good fortune in having to make
a financial statement in the very first important
speech he had 20 had to pronounce as Head of tho
Government. Hitherto he has been the head of a
department only at most the leader of the House,
responsible for single branch of the public service.
or for tho conduct of business in one body OF
the Legislature. His famo henceforth must de-
| pend on tho extent TO which he can impress his
own purpose on q number Of his colleagues, and on
the general verdict of the public upon the acts and
results of the Administration Of which he is the First
Minister Here. too his Arst essay must be pro-
nounced triumph have heretofore spoken Of
dissensous that broke out in the Cabinet on this
| question of the Irish Church They were duellcd,
and the bill which Sr. Gladstone brought in on Mon
day night was his own BILL bearing the stamp Of his
mind in conception and in detail, modified here aud
there by the objections and enriched with the contri-
buttons Of several of his colleagues; but as whole
unmistakably the product, it ought to b. OF Mr.
| Gladstone himself.
By the testimony of friends and enemies olile, the
bill is admirably framed TO do its work. The com
mon defect of English legislation is its indirect cir
cuitous and vague character. For fear Of violating
precedens or for fear Of disturbing vested interests
or from dislike 60 hurt somebody's feelings an act OF
Parliament is only too often an open road for the
well-known coach and six. There was somc reason
to fear it might be 30 with the Irish Church BILL for
| there never was q case where so much opposition
was TO be encountered. Luckily, tho fight
was fought ard won before it came TO the
drawing Of the bill. The struggle Of
last session. and the appeal to the country had settled
| the question The ground was cleared, and yet it
still required rare courage TO frame bill without
fear or favor and rare Judgment to arrive at the
ends absolutely necessary without exciting needless
opposition orsubectng the details Of 1t to criticism
! that might DO avoided. For once. Mr.. Gladstone's
moral courage and intellectual subtlety worked to-
gether without clashing, and without hinderance so
far rs can be judged at first sight from the ecces-
astical supersttions and traditions which only
too apt TO fetter and confuse him. If he has dealt
tenderly with personal claims, and even with some
venerable aba8es he has only reflected the temper Of
the public mrd. II must not be forgotten, in pass
! ing judgment on this measure, that the sweeping
away of the supremacy of alien church in Ireland
has been resolved on not on its merits but
| measure of policy. 1t is not ecclesiastical freedom
that is sought rs end desirable in itself, but the
oonciliation Of the Irish people as means to their
better government 1t is parallel case TO our eman
H. 1,aI %
that hight of virtue implied in abolition, for its
own sake or for tho sake of on oppressed
race, but we iell back on 1t as a war measure
all the more shame TO us. If Dsestablshment
be not exactly measure 1t is a measure of
pohee-one step. and only one, TO tho emancipation
of q subject race.
business so complicated conld not be settled in
moment nor the infinite variety OF details essential
10 any working measure bo executed oh-hand.
Hence, there was fear that the bill might be so
framed a. TO make measure of repeal possible be-
fore tho wSrk of dsestabshment, at any rate OF
dsendowment, should have been actually carried
into effect supposlng reaction Of public opinion
in favor Of the Church during the next
few years or supposng the Tories restored to power
on any other issue. Perhaps that was real danger
but it is met and defeated by the very first pro-
vision. Mr. Gladstone's instinct for finance led him
straight TO the mark. Fer year past, he has put
forward the DisestAblishment as the keynote of
his policy, but in his bill complete Disestablishment
Is postponed, for good enough reasons till JAN ],
1871, while DisendOwment is made immediate and
final with the passing OF the bill That 49, perhaps
the master stroke of his policy, since it is the
possession of its vast revenues that makes the
Church so formidable as o political power |
Stripped of these. dvested Of all legal contnol |
over what were once it's funds. it's great digna-
ries and its humbest ministers reduced to the |