GREAT BRITAIN. 



373 



riet, which are in her gift. The patronage or 

 \o\vson of private or parochial livings of 

 o more than l-J,iiini parMics which now np- 

 rtain to tin.- Church ot' Kngland, and which 

 e to the incumhont the freehold of the jmr- 

 nage, tlie glebe-lands, tithes, and other dues, 

 now tin- pn>p,Tiy of the Queen, the Lord- 

 ancellor, the 1'rinoe of Wales, the higher 

 the chapters, the universities, and 

 ut 3,850 lords, gentlemen, and ladies. All 

 persons have a vested interest in the 

 iiu-iiaiirc of the Establishment, and, as most 

 the- older families of the peerage- are in- 

 led in this niiinher, there is a very strong 

 opposition to any movement looking to dises- 

 taMi.shment ; but, on the other hand, the Ro- 

 man Catholic interest and all the dissenting 

 interests^ numbering together about half of the 

 population, and by far the most restless and 

 active portion, are urging it with great assidu- 

 ity and pertinacity. The disestablishment or 

 dissolution of the connection between the 

 state and the several leading churches in Ire- 

 land, accomplished by the efforts of Mr. 

 Gladstone in 1870-'71, was the opening wedge 

 to a complete disestablishment throughout the 

 United Kingdom ; and the passage of the pa- 

 tronage bill through the Parliament of 1874, 

 which virtually deprives the heritors of pa- 

 tronage in Scotland, was a measure looking 

 toward the same end. The bishops and arch- 

 bishops now have seats in the House of Lords 

 by virtue of their offices, and the Church is in 

 consequence of the power of patronage, to a 

 large extent, as the army was, till within the 

 past two or three years, a private preserve, af- 

 fording comfortable positions to the younger 

 sons and dependents of the nobility and gentry, 

 and to the children of the higher clergy. Dis- 

 establishment means the opening of these 

 positions to a fair competition of talent, pure 

 character, and religious zeal, and of course it is 

 displeasing to those who believe that long ages 

 of custom have given them a prescriptive and 

 exclusive right to these privileges. Till within 

 a few years, a written assent to the Thirty-nine 

 Articles was a necessary preliminary to a seat 

 in the House of Commons, to a matriculation 

 at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or 

 to the holding of any Government office ; this 

 requirement is now abolished, and the dissent- 

 ers have been gradually gaining power, which 

 they will use effectively for the overthrow of 

 the State Church. Many, also, of the clergy 

 and laity of the Established Church are be- 

 ginning to feel that what' the Church might 

 lose in influence and patronage by disestablish- 

 ment would be more than made up to her in 

 the greater zeal, energy, and vitality, which 

 would be infused into her membership by vol- 

 untaryism, and for that reason they look for- 

 ward to it with hope rather than fear. 



The Church of England had, in 1874, about 

 12,000 parishes, and 200 extra-parochial places, 

 nearly 18,000 clergymen, 26 bishops, and two 

 archbishops. She claims about 12,700,000 ad- 



herent copulation, but this include* between 

 one and two million* who never enter lur 

 churches, and who can only be reckoned 

 diurchmen on the ground that they claim n<> 

 affinity with any religious body. In Scotland, 

 where the Episcopal Church is not the State 

 Church, there are 199 clergy, and nearly the 

 same number of parishes, but probably not 

 more than 05,000 adherent population. The 

 number of Roman Catholics in Great Britain i-> 

 e-ti mated at about 2,000,000. They have one 

 archliishop, and 16 bishops, 1,697 clergymen, 

 and 1,035 chapels. In Scotland there are three 

 apostolic vicariates," 228 Roman Catholic 

 chapels, and 248 officiating clergy. There are, 

 altogether, 146 Protestant religious denomina- 

 tions in Great Britain, of which a considerable 

 number have but few adherents. The Protes- 

 tant dissenters have somewhat more than 0,- 

 000,000 of adherent population in England and 

 Wales, and in the United Kingdom about 14,- 

 000,000. The most numerous of these Protestant 

 dissenters in England and Wales are the Meth- 

 odists, of whom there are a number of sects, 

 differing but slightly in doctrinal belief, but 

 considerably in the form of church govern- 

 ment. Their numbers in England, Wales, and 

 Scotland were, in 1874, 3,616 ministers, 80,- 

 978 local preachers, 12,741 chapels, 645,189 

 members, besides 34,186 on probation, and 1,- 

 276,523 Sunday-school scholars. In Scotland 

 the Established Church is Presbyterian, but has 

 not the same degree of influence and power as 

 the Established Church in England ; the act 

 of 1874, which takes from the heritors the 

 right of nominating incumbents to church liv- 

 ings, is regarded as the death-blow to patron- 

 age in that Church and a long step toward dis- 

 establishment. The Established (Presbyterian) 

 Church in Scotland had, in 1874, 1,250 parish 

 churches, 1,800 ministers, 1,800 parish schools, 

 140,000 scholars, raised about $1,400,000 for 

 home and missionary purposes, and has an ad- 

 herent population of about 1,400,000. But the 

 Established Church does not monopolize all 

 the Presbyterianism even in Scotland. The 

 Free Church of Scotland, founded in 1843 by 

 a large secession from the Established Church, 

 is a voluntary body, and has 954 congregations, 

 987 ministers, a membership of about 800,000 

 and an adherent population of nearly a million. 

 It raised for home and missionary purposes in 

 1874, $2,555,420. The United Presbyterian 

 Church, formed by the union of several seced- 

 ing bodies, had in 1874, in Scotland, England, 

 and Wales, 615 churches, 647 ministers, about 

 184,000 members, and about 650,000 adherent 

 population. They raised for home and mis- 

 sionary purposes in that year $1,691,890. The 

 Presbyterian Church in England is a smaller 

 body, having 132 churches, 130 ministers, 24,- 

 000 communicants, 22,000 Sunday-school schol- 

 ars, and about 100,000 adherent population. 

 There are also several other smaller Presbyte- 

 rian bodies, making the Presbyterian popula- 

 tion of Great Britain about 8,250,000. 



