Condition of the Irish Church. memorial of the cause of all Irish difficulties - the rule of the minority. Neither its history, nor its present condition, justified for a moment its claim to nationality. Called into existence by the forcible appointment of Protestant Bishops by the Tudors, endowed with the forfeited property of patriotic rebels by the early Stuarts, officered chiefly by men of English birth and training, and for years supported by penal laws of the greatest stringency, it remained the Church of probably not more than a tenth of the nation. In Connaught the Anglicans were but 4 per cent. of the population, in Leinster 11 per cent., in Munster 5, and even in Protestant Ulster only 20 per cent. In hundreds of parishes there was no church, the incumbent was an absentee and the duties required for the care of the dozen or so members of the congregation were performed for some slight pittance by a curate. In 1849 Mr. George Moore could say in Parliament, "I myself pay tithes in eight parishes; in the whole of these there is not one church, one glebe, or one resident clergyman. I am not aware that there is a single Protestant in the whole eight parishes, and I do not believe that divine service according to the Protestant ritual has been celebrated in any of them since the Reformation." A revenue of about £600,000 drawn from tithes and land was in the hands of this empty and pretentious corporation. Many times propositions either for its reformation or for a division of its property had been brought before the House, only to be met by the Government, whether it were Whig or Conservative, with a direct refusal to consider the question, or by a declaration that the time for considering it had not yet come. Of such a character had been the reply given by Sir Robert Peel in 1844, and the letter of Mr. Gladstone in 1864. Circumstances had now convinced that statesman that the pressing necessity which Sir Robert Peel had refused to recognise, and the time for Parliamentary action which he had himself declared to be still distant, had at length arrived. Once convinced of this, he set to work with his usual energy. The union of the Opposition rendered the eventual success of the resolutions almost a matter of certainty, when they came to be directly opposed on principle. But Lord Stanley as the spokesman of Government attempted to raise a side issue on a very reasonable ground; and when, on the 30th of March, Mr. Gladstone moved for a Committee of the whole House to consider the Acts of Parliament relating to the establishment, Lord Stanley produced an amendment to the effect that, although modifications in the temporalities of the Church of Ireland might on the report of the Commis 1868] THE IRISH CHURCH 447 debates on the sion appear necessary, any proposition tending to the disestablishment and disendowment of that Church ought to be reserved for a new Parliament. The late Reform Bill created a vastly extended constituency, and it was not unreasonable to hold that so important a constitutional change as the destruction of the Irish Government Church should be reserved for what was now allowed defeated in to be the true representation of the country. A four Irish Church. days' debate resulted in a large majority in favour of Mr. Gladstone's motion, and on the 13th of April the first resolution was carried by a majority of sixty-five. Two such severe defeats would under ordinary circumstances have been followed by the immediate resignation of the Ministry, and such was the course which the Liberals considered to be imperatively forced upon Mr. Disraeli. It might on the other hand have produced a dissolution. Mr. Disraeli did not immediately adopt either course. In spite of the bitterest invectives he neither resigned nor dissolved. In his explanation on the 4th of May he stated that in his interview with the Queen he Disraeli refuses had first advised dissolution, at the same time offering to resign. to resign; that the Queen had taken time to consider, and had decided to decline his resignation, but to authorise him to dissolve if the state of public business required it. Rather unreasonably the Liberals, very angry at being deprived of immediate power, attacked the Premier with bitter violence, accusing him of forcing the Queen unconstitutionally to the front, of keeping in his hands a penal power of dissolution if Parliament displeased him, of having been ready to appeal to the existing constituencies in spite of Lord Stanley's motion, and of having advised a dissolution upon no great principle, since the majority in the House was clear, but merely for the purpose of establishing as he hoped his own Ministry. The Premier and his friends denied all idea of the penal use of dissolution, and while declaring their intention to vote against further measures of disestablishment professed themselves willing to facilitate the completion of the Reform measures so as to allow of a dissolution in the summer and an appeal to the new constituencies in the autumn. Mr. Gladstone thought it necessary to push forward his measure. His two remaining resolutions were carried, together with a suspensory Act to prevent new appointments in the Church of Ireland, and to restrain the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. A solid groundwork as he thought would thus be laid for immediate legislation in the new Parliament. The suspensory Act was thrown out in the House of Lords, but the majority with which it was carried in the House of Commons gave a fresh indication of the complete superiority of the Opposition in that House. In accordance with the promises of the Government the Reform Bills for Scotland and Ireland were completed. By the Irish Bill the franchise in the boroughs was lowered from £8 to £4; no Irish and Scotch Reform alteration was made in the counties, and a lodger franchise of £10 annual value was created. Objection was made to the maintenance of the £12 franchise in counties as being too high, and to the introduction of the £4 rating in boroughs, while household suffrage had been granted in England, but the Government carried its measure, which added about 28,000 voters in the boroughs, and slightly lowered the number in the counties. With regard to Scotland the Government proposed a Bill similar in principle to the English Bill. The borough franchise was to be extended to all householders paying rates. In the counties the ownership of land of the clear annual value of £5, or the occupation of a holding of £12 was to confer the franchise. Seven new seats were to be given to Scotland and to form an addition to the members in the House. It was upon this point that opposition arose. An increase of the representation was much disliked, and finally it was agreed that seven small English boroughs should be disfranchised and their representatives given to Scotland. Another change of some importance was made in Committee. The rating qualification attached to the franchise was removed, but the occupation qualification for counties raised to £14. With these alterations the proposition of the Government was carried. A Bill arranging the boundaries of boroughs completed the Reform legislation. Abolition of The indications given by Mr. Disraeli before the last election as to the probable topics which would occupy Parliament had proved correct. Public attention had been directed almost exclusively to the representation and the Church. The wide Reform Bill which had been passed had brought one of those questions to a satisfactory conclusion. On the other, indissolubly though almost accidentally bound up with the difficulties of Ireland, the fate of the Ministry was hanging. But on one point at least in connection with the Church a settlement had been arrived at. The vexed question of compulsory Church rates, which since 1833 had constantly been before Parliament, was set at rest. In this case as in that of the representation the solution took a liberal form, in spite of the known wishes of the party in power. Mr. Gladstone, adopting a suggestion let fall by Mr. Bright, had introduced a Bill on the 1868] ABOLITION OF CHURCH RATES 449 19th of February embodying a sort of compromise. Some of the details were changed in the Upper House but the principle was accepted; and by the Bill as passed, while all power of compulsory enforcement of rates was taken away from the vestries, and thus the grievance of the dissenters removed, the machinery of the vestries remained untouched, and they were allowed to raise voluntary rates. A body, the name and powers of which were well known was thus maintained, and in many instances where dissenters were few little if any practical change resulted. Dissolution of new elections. The necessary business having been got through, Parliament was prorogued on the 31st of July on the understanding that a dissolution should take place as soon as possible, and an appeal be made to the new constituencies. The Ministry were able to introduce at least one satisfactory clause in the Queen's Speech Parliament and when they stated that it had proved unnecessary for some time to exercise in Ireland the exceptional powers granted to the Executive, and that no person was at that time detained under the provisions of the Act for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus. The elections, which immediately followed the dissolution in November, were naturally watched with great interest, as the result of the new Reform Bill was as yet uncertain. In Scotland and the English boroughs it secured a great success for the Liberal party, but in the counties the Conservatives obtained considerable triumphs. Mr. Gladstone was defeated for South-West Lancashire, Lord Hartington lost his seat for the Northern division of the same county. Upon the whole return the gain of the Liberal party was about 15, and the Parliament was estimated to consist of 389 Liberals and 272 Conservatives. An examination of the total number of votes recorded showed a Liberal majority of 524,709. The minority clause had in most cases produced the result intended, but in Glasgow and Birmingham the Liberal majority was so overwhelming that three members of that party were in each case Ministry. elected. It is observable that there were no less than 227 new members in the House. The preponderance of his opponents was so clear that Mr. Disraeli wisely determined to avoid the waste of time which must have attended his reappearance in the House as Premier at the head of a certain minority, and resigned on the 4th of December before the meeting of Parliament. Resignation of Dec. 4, 1868. VICT. 2 F |