Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-27
THE BRITISH CRISIS
xII.-The Church in Wales.
By Frederic J. Haskin.


LONDON. May 15-In threading the
British politics it must not be forgot
ten at any time that the parliament
act is the real cause of all the trouble.
BY its terms the house of lords is de-
prived of it's power as an equal
branch of the legislature and any bill
may become a law that Is passed by
the commons in three successive ses-
sions of parliament Notwithstanding
the adverse votes of the lords.
Only three measures are being at
tempted under this system-home rule
for ireland. plural voting reform and
the disestablishment of the Church of
England in Wales. The first. of course.
Is most important. and has served to
arrest the attention of the whole world.
The last is of equal importance in the
particular nation affected-Wales-an
particular nation Observation-Disclosures
dement's of a religious question en-
meshed in the political whirligig.
The Irish bill and the Welsh bill have
been passed in two successive sessions
of the house of commons and have
been rejected twice by the lords. They
both have passed the second reading
on their third trip through the COM
mons, and now lack but the third read
ing to receive the kings assent. The
plural voting bill Is a whole year be-
hind in this program.
The bill to disestablish the Church of
England in Wales has been a pet measure
with Welsh members ever since the dis
establishment Of the Church of Ireland
in 1869, and. they have said. for the same
reason. The Church of Ireland was dis
established because the majority OF the
people of Ireland were Roman Catholics
and Presbyterians, and the church was a
minority church. The fundamental rea
son for Welsh establishment is the
same. The majority OF the people of
Wales are nonconformists. A "noncon
formist'' in England and Wales is
Catholic and who is not a communicate
of the Church of England. In Wales the
Calvinistic Methodist (Which is In reality
a branch of the Presbyterian faith). the
Baptist and the Methodist churches to-
gether greatly outnumber the Anglicans.
The Welsh nonconformists are very de-
vout, extremely evangelical and great be-
levers in
Nonconformists Are revivalism.
Devout and Emotional. ,igion being
have not been attracted by the somewhat
austere Church of England.
To these fundamental arguments the
members who favor disestablishment,
some thirty out of thirty-four from
Wales. declare that they ought to have
the right to manage their own national
affairs in religion and that the estab-
lishment Is alien in spirit and control.
No one has advanced the doctrine that
church and state of right ought to be
separate and Independent entities. From
the American point of view. in which
this separation Is accepted without ques-
ton the arguments on both sides are in
teresting in many ways not connected
with the precise question at issue
DiseStablishment is accompanied in the
bill with abandonment, and therein lies
the real trouble. The disestablishment
means that the four Welsh bishops will
no longer have seats in the house of
lords, ecclesiastical courts will cease to
exist and the ecclesiastical law, as law
of the land. will no longer be in effect
in the principaEty.
Disendowment means that all the prop
erty of the church, except plate and
movable chattels
Funds of Church used in worship
to Revert to State. once INTO the
| hands Of the Welsh commission OF church
Temperatures, to be composed Of three
members. one of whom must be a men,
| Der of the established church. The lately
disestablished church will then form a
representative body. through synods, to
which will be transferred the church
buildings, ecclesiastical residences and
most of the other property. including all
| modern endowments. The funds from
the ancient endoWments, which yield an
income of about 100000 year, will re-
vert to the state. This is based on the
theory that the endowments were church
property when the church was co-ex-
tensive with the state. Indeed, one au-
I fhsrity says that if any church ought to
have them 1t ought to be the Church OF
Rome, but, of course, this view is in
t71ignantly refused by the Church of Eng
land.
A great deal of the difficulty about the
measure arises from the fact that the
established church has definite relations
not only with the church. but with the
land. The power to appoint minister
to church Is a part of the rights of
! the lord of the manor, and this right is
| held to be property, worth so much in
pounds, shillings and pence The exist
| ing property rights going with incum-
bency in ecclesiastical office are recog-
nized by this bill during the life of the
present incumbents.
The arguments invoked in the discus