The Irish standard., 1893-04-01
THE WELSH CHURCH BILL

| the Observation-Disclosures OF GQ0 aug 'lCHi
church in their little principally, ant
there is every indication that they viii
succeed in Kidding themselves of that mon
strous institution after the Irish Hom'
Rule is passed. It will be remembered
what an incubus the English church
proved to be on the Irish people for hun
dreds of years, and what violence ant
disturbance prevailed until it was Olsen
dowed and abolished by Mr.. Gladstone i,
1869. The readers of Irish history ar
familiar with tithes and tithe-proctor
and parsons, and how Catholics and dis
senters were compelled by law to con
tribute to the support of an alien church
which they abhorred
The voracious clergy OF the church o
England had no compassion for the poor
half-starved peasantry of Ireland, bu
exacted their pound Of flesh by process
of law, and seized upon the substance q
the people by force. Thepotatoes of the
Catholic peasantry we're taken to pay the
tithes, and it is recorded that at Carr;g
shock, in the county Of Kilkenny, siz
armed policemen were driving dozen
geese belonging to poor widow, for the
maintenance of the parsons, when the
people gathered round to prevent the
confiscation. The police opened fire on
the people and the latter retaliated by
throwing stones and other missiles, the
outcome being that the six constabulary
were killed. Disturbance and viole &c
broke out in other localities, and fer the
sake of peace and to avert blocdshed the
authorities subsequently got rid of the
tithe collectors and added the church
rates to the rent paid to landlords by
their tenants. The beneficiaries of the
odious tithes never lost an opportunity of
insulting the Roman Catholics and non
conformists of Ireland. DR.. Magee,
the Anglican bishop, in referring to the
Presbyterians and Catholics, declared on
one occasion that the former had relig-
ion without church, while the latter
had a church without religion. He
was Immediately brought to task for the
offensive remark by the famous DIR.
Doyle, the Roman Catholic bishop of
Kildare and Leighlin. and controversy
resulted in which Magee got the worst
of it.
When Gladstone introduced his bill in
1867 for the abolition of the Irish church
the Orangemen of Ulster made dire
threats, as they are making to-day against
Home Rule. Deputation after deputt-
ton went to London to protest against
the bill; meetings were held all over
Ulster and in other parts of Ireland, to
protest against such proclamation as the
abolition of the church by law estab-
lished. Gladstone declared in public
address that he was prompted to discs
tablish the institution in consequence of
the terrorism inspired by the Fen1an Or
ganization.
During the past quarter of a century
the Irish people have been relieved from
the expense of supporting the state
church, and every religious denomination
in Ireland is now paying for the mantle
nance Of it's own pastors. But the Eng
lish and Welsh people are Still taxed
heavily for the support of the favored
church of which the Queen is the head,
Not more than one.fourth of the Welsh
people make use of the services of the
Church of England, and that fraction OF
them is composed for the most part of
the aristocracy and their attendants, the
Anglican clergy and their families. The
overwhelming majority Of Welshmen be-
long to the Methodist church and other
dissenting creeds There are few Cath
olics among them. They will net be OPP
posed in their crusade against the Angli-
can church as the Irish we're by the
Orangemen. They are determined that
they will not pay much longer for an
establishment from which they derive
little or no benefit, and they have faith
that as soon as the Irish question is set
tied by Gladstone he will relieve them Of
the incubus.