REFORM OF THE IRISH CHURCH; MR. WARD'S RESOLUTIONS.
MEN of all parties in the Legislature have recently made earnest protestations of their readiness to redress the actual grievances of the Irish. There will be no want of opportunities to test the sin- ' cerity of these declarations; for "large measures of justice," to quote the words of Lorcl ANGLESE.■ in his honest and wise letter to Lord (lees., will shortly be proposed to the House of Commons.
The Protestant Establishment is the grand grievance of Ireland. There are many others, but this stands foremost and towers above all in the list. Ministers tampered with the subject in the Tem- poralities Bill of last session (which already requires important amendment, as some of the Bishops made a fictitious return of their incomes), but they touched not the mainspring of Irish hatred to the Church. They made no provision for the spiritual or temporal wants of the great mass of the population; but left the enormous sinecure Establishment in full possession of all its funds, increased as those funds had recently been by the operation of the Tithe Commutation Act. Here we have the plague-spot of Ireland, from which disease has spread over her whole surface and into her inmost vitals. To remove this foul infection, should be the first endeavour of the state physicians. With a view to obtain the sanction of the House of Commons to an equitable appropriation of Church property in Ireland, Mr. WARD means to propose a string of' Resolutions, on Tuesday the 27th instant. These Resolutions have been printed, and are a: follow.
" I. That the property now held by the Irish Church, whether consisting of Bishop,' lauds, glebes, tithes, or any other species of endowment, is the property of the State, and ought to be preserved for such purposes as the Legislature may determine. 2. That in the opinion of this House. the Protestant Establishment in Ireland, al now established by law, exceeds the spiritual wants of the Protestant population, which standard it ought to be reduced. "3. That, with a view to Onset this reduction, the principles of the Irish Church Reform Bill of last year be extended ; and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners appointed by that bill be empowered to act as trustees for the whole of the Church property is Ireland, including Bishops' lands, glebes, tithes, and every other species of endowment. " 4. That out of the fund thus created, the Commissioners shall issue to every Arch. bishop, Bishop, Dean, Rector, Vicar, 8:e. the full amount of the sums which they aro now entitled to receive during the term of their natural lives; they continuing to di,. charge their ecclesiastical duties as at present, where required. 5. That upon the death of the present incumbents, no issue shall be made by thCommissioners for any future incumbent, in any parish where the registered number st
the Protestant inhabitants does not amount to one of the whole population. " 6. That upon the death of any Bishop whose see does not contain
parishes, each having a Protestant population consisting of one of the whole population, no issue shall be made by the Commissioners for any future Bishop ; but the see shall be annexed to that adjoining see by which the duties of episcopal superintendence can be most conveniently discharged. "7. mai out of the fund arising from the Bishops' lands, globes, and tithes, thus gradually falling in, the Commissioners be empowered to extinguish all private r:gld, of presentation, by buying up the advowsons, where they are the property of indivi- duals; but that the advowsons now in the gift of the sees shall only be retained by them where the livings are retained, and shall drop without compensation wherever the living is extinguished by the want of a Protestant congregation. " 8. That a discretionary power be given to the Commissioners, in cases where rip number of resident Protestants falls short of that proportion of the whole popula- tion fixed by the Fifth Resolution, to assist such Protestants in keeping up the per- formance of divine service, by an advance from the general fund, not exceeding 1501. annually, a return being made to Parliament of all such cases as may occur. " 9. That the provisions already made for the sale of Bishops' lands, the repairing of churches, and the commutation of tithes into a tax upon land, shall not be affecod by the present resolutions. " 10. That the surplos fund remaining in the hands of the Commissioners be al plied, either in the promotion of education, or in the employment of the poor, or in making a provision for the religions instruction of the people by the ministers of every branch or the Christian Chnreh, or in such other purposes of public utility as Parliament in its wiirlom may think lit."
The principle on which these Resolutions are based is in fact that which the Government of' every country always acts upon. This has been the ease in Ireland in a most remarkable manner. The power of the State to dispose of the property of the Church in favour of a sect, not one-fifteenth of the whole population in number, has been exercised for centuries in Ireland. In Scot- land, the Government established Episcopacy and Presbyte- rianism by turns : in Canada, it sanctions Catholicism ; and it can do the same in Ireland, whensoever it shall see fit. Those, therelbre, who deny that the property now held by the Irish Church is the property of the State, deny a fact the existence of which is notorious and palpable. We have not had sufficient time to give Mr. Waen's plan, as sketched in his Resolutions, all the attention it requires; but we are sure that its principle is sound, and as yet we see nothing to object to in the details. It has the advantage of being very simple and practical. It secures the incomes of all present incum- bents. It seems calculated to preserve the Protestant religion in Ireland, by relieving its professors of the odium which attaches to men who wring their subsistence from oppressed paupers at the point of the bayonet. We shall soon have occasion to recur to this subject, as it must continue to occupy much of the attention of Parliament and the public.
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