The Irish Church question seems incidentally to have had the
excellent effect of disintegrating the Evangelical party, the Evangelicals who rely on endowments having one opinion, and the Evangelicals with tendencies to Voluntaryism another. At least, that is the only way we can account for the extraordinary weak- ness, or, as he himself said, the " pusillanimity " of Lord Shaftes- bury's action. He clearly detests the project from begin- ning to end, but he talked about the danger of a public belief that the House was opposed to inquiry, denied that the Suspensory Bill mattered a straw ; held that the quarrel with the Lower House, if it must come, should not be on a paltry Bill, but on a vital measure ; and finally, announced, in deference to conscientious friends, that he should take no part in the division. Lord Shaftesbury's resolves if thin are usually clear, and his perplexity must indicate an equal perplexity in his follow- ing. Even the Record, we notice, shows a disposition to "swear around" whenever the -Bill is mooted, instead of damning all enemies of Lord Shaftesbury in its usual style.
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