Mr. Balfour's speech was the speech of the evening. He
remarked on the earnestness of the Welsh Disestablishers to improve the temper of the Church by afflicting it with poverty, and asked mildly "why not try a little burning ?" He was willing, he said, to give credit to any one who struck off golden fetters from religions captives in his desire to set them at liberty, but that would hardly be his feeling if he saw the liberator putting those golden fetters into his own pocket after he had struck them off, as Welsh Disestablishers were asking leave to do. Sir William Harcourt was not equal to Limself. He only insisted that the Church would survive its impoverishment, and that at various times disendowed and impoverished Churches had shown very great moral enthu- siasm, which no one denies. Many people whose property has been confiscated have been quite as much in earnest after their impoverishment as before it. But is that any excuse for seizing their goods ?
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