New-York tribune., 1894-04-29

Tho motion for Welsh disestablshmcnt, intro
ducoI IN the House ~ Commons last week 10y
Mr. Asdrith. bad been 80 clearly forcshadowcd
IN the Welsh Suspcnsory bin proposed 10y Mr..
Gladstone last year that it will take no one by
sunrise Indeed. the only reason for surprise
/, ihat the Liberal party has SO long delayed
brlnrlu. ln such measure; fOr the Established
church u Wales has even less claim 10 be
called The Church Of the people than had the
Established Church In ireland. In fact. there
i- no such Thing ~ the Welsh Church.
which II l. now proposed To- discstab-
u.h II is the Anglican Church. mn allen
bodr. which the people OF Wales never asked
(or and which they do not now want; and aS the
Auclir,u Church Is not to-day the Church "f
the English people except in name. It's cstab-
u.hmcnt In Wac, is an attempt by statute 10
make "A reality out OF a shadow OF shade"
Il would. of course be- useless TO present facts
- the tuic1 and thin champions of the Anglican
establishment. some of whom appear 10 do the
thinking on this subject for the Episcopal Jour
nal. Of this country Their sole argument is the
assumption that the Church was once the
Church of the people. and that. therefore, 1t
must always be 50 regarded. In other words,
the people who lived several centuries ago are
for the people who are living to-day: and those
who venture To dispute this claim are guilty OF
sacrilcgc blaSphcmy and inhdelity.
But mbassed men will decide the question
I'm accordance with the facts; and the facts In
regard 10 the mscaol Welsh Church SNOW
that its continuance has no justification In the
forum Of conscience tribunal To which even
the most bigocd Churchmcn must finally DOW
In 1851 the Anglican Church In Wales provided
sttings for 26s,953 persons; the Nonconform-
lists provided sttings for 5b9520 persons. Dur
ing the fifty years preceding that date the
Anglican Church added only 36223 slttings'
while the Nonconformlsts added 4S4,4l3. On
certain Sunday In 1871 n census OF Church AZ
tendance in Wales was taken, which shower
that the attendance Of the Established Church
was ll0107, while that Of the NonconforniSt
Church was SO5,779. In 1883 the population
Of Wales was J74 OOO Of whom 100000 were
Nonconformists the remaining 4I4.OOO being
divided between the Anglican and Roman
churches and unbclievcrs the latter or whom
numbered about 100000 In 1879 an Anglican
clergyman, the Dean OF Bangor SAID: VI the
GOO 600 souls who speak Welsh 100000 are
attached more or less closely to the 3,ooo Non
conformist chapels" Lord Aberdeen said at
pearcd from the country had 1t not been for
thc cxcrtons OF the Nonconformists" Another
Chur,hman, Archdcacon HOweu. In n sermon
nreochcd I'm 1890 said 1.-THE majority Of the
people i'm Wales are not found within the pale
of the Church. The Dlsscnters have raised
buildings not only sufficient but In excess or
the requirements of the country When the
Welsh Suspcnsory bill was being agitatcd last
wear meeting of Anglican clcrgymen was held
I'm London at which the injustice of the estab-
lishment was acknowledged. Prebendary Eyton
sald that, az one walked through Wales, the
,mnrcssIon left on his mind was that Dissent
was very much more the Church OF the people
than was the Anglican Church. And Canon
Scott Holland declared that the Welsh people
had said In the only way they could say it
namely, at the polls-that they did not acknowl-
edge or desire the Established Church. This
assertion was amply borne out by the fact that
when it was made. OF the thirty-four Welsh
members Of the House thlrty-one were In favor
Of dIsestablishmcnt. in view Of these facts.
asked Prebendary Eyton, at this same meeting,
"is II right to maintain privileged body, which
creates feeling Of intense bitterness, not in Il
mere faction, but IN the great body OF the
people,
This is the question that is now to come be-
fore Parliament. How the Welsh people would
answer II, II they were consulted, is evident
from the figures quoted above But the decid-
Ing voice will not be the Welsh people. or even
the House of Commons but the House Of Lords,
whose traditional attitude on all questions OF