LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
LORD MTNTO'S KIRK PROBLEM.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Lord Minto expects that on this matter both sides may disagree with him. But both sides, if they are wise, will agree that in criticising the franchise of his Church, Lord Mint° has hit the centre of the problem.
It comes up at present in other forms. Three weeks ago, Dr. Scott reported to the Presbytery of Edinburgh that "for the first time in the history of the General Assembly," the majority of the representatives of Edinburgh had declined to send delegates to the Assembly's meeting this week, and that it was necessary to accept gentlemen named by a dissentient minority. It is a fact in Lord Minto's favour that the Council of a Scotch burgh, which may be of any religion or of none, is still by law entitled to fill a seat in the highest Church Court. But it is against him that
most of the burghs have expressed a certain dislike
to the role of Church rulers, and lean visibly to the idea of 1874,—that a Church should be governed by its own members. The report to the Presbytery went on to regret, amid sarcastic laughter, that the reception of her Majesty's Commissioner might be "shorn. of a con- siderable part of its dignity " by the absence of the Metro- politan Council, " for the presence of these gentlemen would lend a very considerable degree of splendour to the occasion !' Lord Minto, I am sure, will deal respectfully with the scruples.
of his countrymen even when they are in favour of Church autonomy, and that whether they belong to burgh or land-
The one thing respectable about the relation of the old Scotch burgh to the Kirk was that it insisted upon acting freely and conscientiously. But the question, as Lord Minto sees, now-
affects the Church franchise as a whole.—I am, Sir, &e., A. B.
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