( 233 ) 



THE IRISH CHURCH. 



IT is frequently taken for granted that, as far as regards the prin- 

 ciple of establishment and ascendancy, the English and Irish Pro- 

 testant churches rest upon the same foundation. No one denies that 

 the Irish establishment involves more and greater grievances than the 

 English ; but most men seem to think that were the Irish church so 

 far altered as to invalidate the principle of its legalized ascendancy, 

 the English church could not be consistently maintained. Thus, the 

 desire to prosecute improvement in Ireland is much less determined 

 and effective than it would otherwise be ; for Englishmen, who prefer 

 an established to a subscription clergy for themselves, are afraid to 

 probe the Irish evil to the bottom, lest the violent remedy perhaps 

 necessary [for it should be adopted into the English practice, and 

 applied to the English disease. It is hardly possible to suppose Lord 

 Stanley exempt from this common error ; but surely he will not con- 

 tinue to insist, as he has hitherto, upon the maintenance of the mere 

 show of Protestant ascendancy in districts of Ireland entirely Catholic, 

 for the sake of any good he may expect therefrom to the Protestant 

 cause in that part of the empire. Lord Stanley cannot but be well 

 aware, that the Protestant functionary and edifice must be abomina- 

 tions to a Catholic population, since even persons of cultivated minds 

 scarcely avoid prejudice against matters of opinion, especially in reli- 

 gion, when it is attempted to place such matters unfairly and offen- 

 sively before them. Lord Stanley cannot hope for converts to Pro- 

 testantism in Ireland through church and parson ; nor is he quite im- 

 provident enough to exasperate the multitude of Irish Catholics for 

 the mere convenience of two or three Protestants in a parish : that is, 

 to save them the trouble of going some distance to church. When, 

 therefore, Lord Stanley will have churches and parsons, not only 

 where there is no demand for them, but where they are a positive 

 scandal to the surrounding population; when this zealous churchman 

 vows that, by the blessing of God, the people of Ireland shall have 

 the pure word taught them, whether they will congregate to hear it 

 or no, we understand him to mean, that an established Protestant 

 church is essential for England, and that, therefore, the principle of 

 establishment must be maintained, cost what it may in other respects, 

 in Ireland. Lord Stanley's family is notoriously too much interested 

 in the maintenance of the church, pretty nearly as it is, to qualify 

 him for dispassionate entertainment of the question. But we are not 

 now canvassing his reasons for fending off all challenge from the 

 principle of establishment. It is enough for our present purpose 

 that he evidently is determined so to do ; and we are convinced he 

 views the Irish church question through the medium of fear and mis- 

 giving for the future fate of the church of England. 



That the English church is in some disrepute, cannot be denied ; 

 but whence arises this unpopularity ? From the Tories, and with 

 them, in church matters, Lord Stanley and his friends. Abate the 



M.M. No. 3. H 



