Papurau Newydd Cymru
Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru
10 erthygl ar y dudalen hon
Cfeneral.
Cfeneral. Sir John Lawrence arrived home from India last week. Squire Heathcote, the well-known sportsman, is dead. Three thousand operatives are out on strike at Preston, in consequence of a reduction in wages. The introduction into Austria of trial by jury for press offences has just been sanctioned by Imperial decree. Sarah Crawford, senteneed to death at Manchester Assizes for the murder of her child, has been reprieved. A severe shock of earthquake is said to have been felt in Lancashire last week. At one place, it is alleged, a chimney was shaken down. The income of the Atlantic Telegraph Company is now Z700 a day. Mr Roebuck's late constituents have presented him with an address, and £3,000 invested in consols for his daughter. The Viceroy of Egypt has witnessed the first flowing of the Mediterranean into the Bitter Lakes of the Suez CanaL It is proposed that the officers and men of the Naval Reserve, who like to volunteer, shall have a fortnight's cruise in May.) jv-3 A deputation has urged Mr Bruce to legislate for the suppression of the Sunday liquor traffic, but did not re- ceive a favourable reply. Baron Rothschild has laid the foundation stone of a new synagogue in the west end of London which is to cost 224,000. The Senate and Convocation of the University of London have presented a petition to Parliament in favour of the Endowed Schools Bill. The Italian Chamber of Deputies are going to consider the desirableness of taking some further steps to put down ueling. An articled clerk at York has obtained 2500 from a lady now named Strangeways, for breach of promise. The lady had taken another as husband. An Irishman at Kilkenny, who says he is to die in June, has erected his own tombstone, with an inscription record- ing the event. Madame Rachael is again in gaol, one of her bail, ap- prehending her flight after the auction of her goods, hav- ing withdrawn from his liability. Flimsiness relieved with spangles—the definition of a Columbine's skirt-is a too apt description of Mr Disraeli's speech on the Irish Church Bill. So says The Times. Sir Sydney Waterlow is again a candidate for Dumfries- shire. Major Walker (Conservative), who formerly sat for the county, also offers himself. Sir Massey Lopes has given notice that after Easter he will call the Premier's attention to the expediency of making some adequate provision for the retirement of aged and infirm bishops. The Earl of Rosebery has caused intimation to be made to the tenants on the Rosebery estate that, in addition to rabbits, they are to have the liberty of shooting hares on their own farms. The Princess Louise paid a visit to the House of Com- mons on Friday week, and occupied a seat in the Ladies' Gallery during a portion of the speech of Sir Stafford Northcote, and during the whole of that of Mr rl Bright. Mr Sagar, formerly a machine maker at Burnley, has been awarded £4,000 damages by a Manchester jury for injuries which he sustained in a collision upon the Lanca- shire and Yorkshire Railway. Prince Arthur will arrive in Dublin on the 5th April, and remain at the Viceregal Lodge until the 13th. The Prince is expected to be present at the Irish Masonic Ball, and at Punchestown races. His Royal Highness will subsequently be the guest ef the Marchioness of Ely. In addition to the vacancies caused by election petition trials, the representation of West Sussex is void by the elevation of the Hon. Henry Wyndham, M.P., to the peerage, Lord Leconfield, his father, having died last week, at his seat at Petworth, at the advanced age of 82. Mr Charles Reade has obtained a verdict of libel in the Supreme Court of the United States against the editors of the Round Table, with respect to a criticism which ap- peared in that publication upon his novel Griffith Gaunt," but the verdict only carried damages to the amount of six cents. At Madrid, the other evening, Don Celestino Olozaga, a very promising politician of six and twenty, accidentally let fall his cane, at the theatre, on Count de Jara, who became much excited, and used hot words. Explanations were useless, a duel was arranged, and Don Celestino was killed. Mr Macrorie has been consecrated at Capetown. A protest from laymen against the consecration was pre- sented to the metropolitan, but Bishop Gray replied that laymen had no right to protest! The new "prelate" is merely called Bishop of the Province." It has been officially announced that Belgium has ac- cepted the proposals of France, the basis of which is a general inquiry into the industrial intercourse between the two countries with a view to economical arrangements beneficial to each, and that there be an examination into the articles of convention made with respect to French companies and the Belgian railways. Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise honoured Miss Garrett, L.S.A., of Upper Berkeley-street, with a visit a few days since. Her Royal Highness made some inqniries respecting the prospects of medical education for women in this country, and expressed much sympathy with Miss Garrett's wish to see the medical profession completely opened to women. The Record says the late Lord Leconfield "was an earnest and loyal member of the Established Church; and though he never took a prominent part* in public, he was specially of late years anxious, by his influence and by large pecuniary aid, to defend the truth. It may be added » that he was a constant reader of the Record, and that the late Lady Leconfield, who died in 1863, was a subscriber to the Record from the first." What an epitaph They read the Record Mr Froude has been installed as Lord Rector of St. Andrew's University, and had conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. In his inaugural address Mr Froude urged the students to be honest with themselves, to say nothing to others that they did not think, and to play no tricks with their minds. He was not compli- mentary to the most distinguished of the English seats of learning. An Oxford education, he thinks, fits a man extremely well for the trade of a gentleman, but he does not know for what other trade it does fit one as at present constituted. Mr Gladstone's reply to a deputation which waited upon him last week to urge the opening of the museums, &c., on Sunday, was not favourable. He said the religious ob- servance of Sunday was the great stay of religion in this country, and the social and physical necessities of the peo- ple required a cessation from labour on that day. The viovernment, he added, would offer every reasonably faci- lity for the opening of national institutions at such hours on week days that the working classes might resort to them. On Friday week Murphy lectured at the Odd Fellows' Hall, North Shields; there was a crowded audience. Two hundred Irish Catholics from J arrow arrived with bludgeons andiron slags, and attacked the lecturer and the audience, who tore up the seats to use in defence. Several per- sons were severely injured, one man's head being laid open with a piece of slag. The police, special constables, and the military were called out to act under the, mayor and magistrates. A paper on the agricultural statistics of the United Kingdom was read by Mr Caird last week before the Statistical Society. He estimated that the yield of the harvest of 1868 over that of 1867 was equal to one-third of the total consumption of the country. He further ex- pressed his belief that at the present scale of importation there was no doubt of abundant supplies at even lower rates than those which now ruled. Prices had already fallen fully one-third, or almost exactly in proportion with the difference in the yield of the harvests. An extraordinary scene is reported to have occurred at a conference of clergyand laity held in Belfast onTuesdayweek .y to consider the course of action to be adopted in reference to the Irish Church Bill. The Bishop of Down presided, and in the course of his remarks spoke of preparing like prudent men for the coming day, and having an honour- able conference with Mr Gladstone. Upon this the whole assembly of clergymen and laymen rose to their feet, shouted "No!" and hissed. The mention of the word "negotiations" at a later stage of the proceedings, pro- duced similar demonstrations. A resolution was passed, protesting against all idea of compromise, and a petition to the Queen, requesting her to refuse her assent to the Bill, was adopted. All these things, however, may be looked upon as mere rhetorical flourishes.
Advertising
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Tipyn o Bob Peth.\
Tipyn o Bob Peth. A week or two ago an inmate of the Chester workhouse gave birth to three children. Two have since died. ■ The Bishop of Lichfield has been holding confirmations in the neighbourhood of Stafford., A company is to be formed for building a new market hall and assembly room at Bethania, Blaenau Festiniog. Lord Henry Cholmondeley, brother of the Marquis of Cholmondeley, has been preaching in the schoolroom at Barrow. Mr Alex. Hargreaves Brown, M.P. for Wenlock, has been placed in the commission of the peace for Lanca- shire. The other day somebody shot two beautiful swans on the Tern, near Market Drayton. A reward of E-90 has been offered for the discovery of the miserable offender. John Pye, of Hodnet, near Market Drayton, received notice the other day to quit a house where his family had lived for many years. He went and hanged himself. The trustees of the Marquis of Anglesea have given permission to the tenants on the Anglesea estate to destroy the rabbits. Mr M. H. Sewell, Middleton division, Cork collection, has been appointed to Pwllheli division, in the place of Mr J. Mollony, removed to Limerick. The people of Trawsfynydd have been rejoicing much over the marriage of the Rev. D. Lewis to Miss Hodgson, daughter of Mr Isaac Hodgson, of Clifton. Last week a larcre and enthusiastic mefhinw assornVded at Blaenau Festiniog, to present the Rev. D. Morgan, late curate of St. David's, with a handsome gold watch and a purse of money, on his departure to the rectory of Llanfrothen, Merionethshire. I.^T? °^er day a little girl was gathering wild flowers on the Denbigh Castle rock, when she fell over a deep preci- pice. She fractured her thigh and arm, but, strange to say, was not killed. There have been two fatal accidents recently at Fes- tiniog. One young quarryman was killed by the falling of a piece of stone upon him at Major Matthews's quarry, Gloddfa Ganol; another, who had gone to the Votty and Bowydd quarry to see a friend, was struck dead by a frag- ment of rock from an explosion. Thomas Foulkes, reported in our last to have been brutally attacked near Mochdre, is dead, and his assailants were committed, at the inquest, to take their trial on a charge of murder. A report of the case will be found under the head of Denbighshire Assizes. An extraordinary accident happened at Ruthin on the fair day last week. A man who was showing a horse in the street ran against Mr Roberts, of the King's Arms, Denbigh, and upset him, so that he fell and sustained fatal injuries. Mr Roberts formerly kept the post office at Denbigh. A new harmonium having been purchased for the parish church at Clocaenog, near Ruthin, the rector advertised the old organ for sale, and speedily received an answer from a person in London, who gave references and offered a good price. The organ was duly sent off, but when the money was applied for, the rev. gentleman discovered that he had been swindled. The Queen has been pleased to forward to the Broseley Reading Room and Library a copy of the "Early Years of the Prince Consort," and Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands," with an inscription on the fly- leaf of each in her Majesty's own handwriting. An industrial school for the diocese is to be opened at Bangor, for the purpose of affording young women instruction in the different branches of domestic service. The Bishop is the visitor, Mrs Campbell the lady- president, and Miss Campbell and Miss Mary Hampton are the treasures. The Dean of Chester, in addressing York Convocation, said Mr Gladstone's majority was made up mainly of Irish Ultramontanists, Welsh Liberationists, and Scotch Cameronians. A correspondent of the Chester Chronicle exposes the absurdity of the statement, by saying that not only is there no Cameronian in Parliament, but the Cameronians are not allowed by their church to vote or in- terfere in any way in a party election. At the Glamorganshire assizes, Thomas Morris, the man who was committed some time ago on a charge of i"nitinfr four casks of gunpowder in the house of a farmer named Richards, with a felonious intent, Mr Richards, his wife, and family of eight children, being in the house at the time, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. A petition has been prepared, praying the Postmaster General that a mail cart may be placed on the road be- tween Llandyssul and New Quay, to facilitate the de- livery of letters, which are still taken by cart from Car- marthen all round by Lampeter and Aberayron. The services of Mr Richards, M.P., have been secured to pre- sent the petition, and it is hoped that this is the beginning of a thorough postal reform in the county. We gave a specimen of sensational hymnology the other day: here is another. It was sung at a meeting convened to hear a converted thief" at Wellington the other day: tune So early in the morning: I made up my mind the other day, To get converted right away, So I went to the Saviour and began to pray, And I never shall forget the day. Chorns-O drunkards won't yon love Him, o publicans won't you love Him. 0 blackguards won't you love Him, I really think you ought. We really think the public opinion of the religious world ought to put down these disgraceful travesties of the worship of God. What wonder that fools scoff, when "clowns" converted from the secular to the religious circus go through their performances. A contemporary contains an extraordinary tale of an alleged attempt at suicide in Montgomeryshire. A pub- lican, it is said, exasperated by the reproaches of a wife, jealous of his attentions to the barmaid, left the house, and was absent for two days. Search was made in every direction, but in vain-until at length the missing swain was discovered asleep in a tree in a churchyard He im- plored his discoverers to leave him alone, as, "no doubt he should be dead before morning, and he had come there for convenience of burial!" They were deaf to his en- treaties, and at last he was induced to return home and abandon his ideas of being buried. At a Church meeting at Newport, last week, one of the speakers, named James, said-" There were two proposi- tions before them for the raising of the funds necessary for the maintenance of the fabric and the support of the services of the parish church-one a system of pew assess- ment, with free seats; the other, the free church and offertory. The first of these schemes he regarded as the surest and satisfactory mode of raising the required funds. The offertory he objected to on principle. He believed there was nothing in Scripture sanctioning such a course." We shall not be surprised to hear of Mr James objecting, on principle, to drink champagne or bitter beer, whichever may be his favourite beverage, for there is nothing in Scripture, that we know of, sanctioning such a course. For the system of pew assessment," no doubt, Mr James can give chapter and verse, though to most people the passage is unknown. At the County Sessions, at Bridgnorth, on Saturday, William Bowen, of Bridgnorth, was charged with resisting P.C. Walton, on the 11th inst., in the execution of his duty. Mr Batte appeared for the defendant. The con- stable said he met the defendant on the highway, leading to Erdington, about half-past eleven o'clock on the morn- ing of the 11th inst. Defendant had something bulky in his coat pocket. Suspecting that he had been poaching, witness attempted to search him, but defendant resisted, and wanted to fight the officer. The defendant afterwards told the officer he was willing to be searched if the con- stable would take him into a house, but he would not be searched on the highway. The officer refused.- Mr Batte contended that the defendant had committed no offence. It had not been proved that his client had any game in his possession, nor had it been proved that he was on lands in search of game. He was willing to be searched, but not on the highway. He had hitherto borne a good character.—The Bench considered the case had been proved, and they fined the defendant Is., costs 13s. A week or two ago we mentioned the case of a girl at Llanfihangel-yr-arth, who was said to have lived for eighteen months without food. We now learn that, at a meeting held last week, with the vicar in the chair, it was resolved to employ four men to watch the girl, two by day and two by night. The men, who are to be ap- pointed by Mr H. Davies of Llandyssul (one of the gen- tlemen present at the meeting) and three other surgeons in "different and distant parts of Wales," are to sign a solemn declaration, or to be sworn before a magistrate," that the girl shall not be left for a moment without the attendance of one of them. A fund is opened to pay the expenses, and subscriptions are to be sent to Mr Davies; and visitors to the house will be expected to contribute. It is also announced that for the future visitors will not be admitted to the house on Sunday. The meeting, it is stated, was called at the request of the father of the girl, Mr Evan Jacob, who expresses a strong desire to have the case thoroughly investigated.
[No title]
THE "WEEKLYDISPATCH" REDUCED TO TWOPENCE.-For more than sixty years the Dispatch has been the lead- ing organ of Liberalism in the weekly press. It was the fearless, independent, and energetic advocate-in times when such advocacy received but little encouragement and support from the classes in power—of rights which have since been conceded, and of political theories which have now become accepted facts. Every great victory achieved in the cause of liberty of thought and action during the last eventful half-century has been aided by the writers in the" Dispatch," whose names are household words with Liberal politicians. As a newspaper, a record of the events of the day, it has had no competitor for variety and ex- tent of information. The largest and most comprehensive newspaper in the world, it may fairly claim that its com- ments and criticisms have been impartial; and that, as the champion of those who too often would have been other- wise helpless, it has been regarded the friend and adviser of thousands upon thousands whose wrongs have been re- dressed by the energetic exposure of abuses and the suc- cessful denunciation of social wrongs. In accordance with the principles which have made the Dispatch the fore- most in the ranks of the Liberal journals, and the leader of the weekly press, the proprietors determined upon such a Reduction of the Price as has made it the cheapest, as it is already the largest weekly newspaper. Although re- duced in price, the "Dispatch" contains the same number of pages and columns as before. Moreover, aregularsetof Historical and other Supplements will be issued'from time to time. New writers, tried friends of the Liberal cause, will aid the efforts of those who have so long laboured; and the unequalled facilities at command for obtaining the latest and most complete intelligence re- specting all matters of domestic and foreign interest will maintain the supremacy of the "Dispatch" as a weekly record of news. Literature, Science, Art, the Drama, will be reviewed and illustrated; and new and attractive ad- :litions will be made to the special features which have so long distinguished the DISPATCH" from other News- papers. London City Office-139, Fleet-street. West- End Office 6, 7, 8, and 9, Bedford-street, Covent jrarden, W.C.
THE LICENSING OF BEERHOUSES…
THE LICENSING OF BEERHOUSES AND THE ADULTERATION OF DRINK. At the Shropshire Assizes, before the grand jury were discharged, Mr J. R. Kenyon, vice-chairman of quarter sessions, addressing the learned Judge, said they wished to make a presentment, relative to the present state of the law as regarded the licensing of beerhouses and the adulteration of drink. His Lordship- I shall listen to the presentment with the greatest possible attention and respect, and take due care that it is forwarded to the proper quarter. Mr Kenyon then read the document, and said it was the unanimous presentment of the grand jury, each and all of them having agreed to it. It was to the following effect Shropshire Assizes, 18th March, 1869. [ The grand jury respectfully present that serious evils arise from the present system of licensing, by excise officers, houses for the sale of beer, and from the very prevalent adulteration of beer sold, by which evils the labouring classes of her Majesty's subjects are especially injured. The law against the adulteration of beer is wholly ineffectual; it neither guards against that offence nor provides any effectual punishment for wrong doers. A large number of cases of supposed drunkenness arise from the sale of adulterated liquor, and there is little doubt that victims of such adulteration are too often punished as drunkards (the truth not being known), and that many dangerous accidents and loss of life are caused by drivers of waggons and carts being stupLfied by drugged liquor sold them as beer, the quantity of which, if the quality were pure, would be no more than is moderate and wholesome. Legislation similar to that which has "J secure the purity of bread should be tip- plied in the case of beer, and powers of search and examination, and other necessary powers, should be provided, to make such legislation practica lly effective. With respect to the licensing of beerhouses, such licences are, under the existing system, granted by officers of excise without any regard to the welfare or wants of the public, and without sufficient knowledge of the character of the persons to whom they are granted and persons to whom magistrates, acting publicly in petty sessions, have, upon full consideration of the characters of the applicants and the wants of the neighbourhood, and in due conformity with the law, re- fused public-house licences, receive from excise officers, acting in their private rooms, and without any such consideration, licences to keep beerhouses, to the serious injury and nuisance of the public. In the opinion of the grand jury no such licences should be granted otherwise than with the sanction of magis- trates, having no private interest in them, but having full know- ledge of the neighbourhood, and actingpubliely in petty sessions. From the two causes above adverted to, there results great public harm, in the destruction of health of her Majesty's subjects, and in the great increase of pauperism and vagrancy, and of crimes most of which, from small offences at first to ultimate ones of the highest magnitude, are generally connected with drunken- ness. The grand jury, in respectfully submitting these subjects to the consideration of her Majesty's judges of assize, earnestly hope that some efficient remedy may be found for evils of so great magnitude. His Lordship-I shall receive that presentment, of course, with the greatest respect, and I shall forward it without delay to her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department. I shall do so, also, concurring in the view that you specify in the presentment, as to a large proportion of crime being attributable to the use of liquor, the intemperate use of liquor. I believe, and my experi- ence leads me to the conclusion, that a very large propor- tion of the crimes of violence committed throughout the country result from the intemperate use of liquor, or from the moderate use, if it be as you suggest, of drugged liquor; or, in other terms, from what is called drunken- ness. I shall forward the presentment to the Secretary of State, and I have no doubt it will receive that attention which so important a presentment ought to receive.
CHARCE OF MANSLAUGHTER AGAINST…
CHARCE OF MANSLAUGHTER AGAINST A GENTLEMAN. At the Shropshire Assizes, William Scott, gentleman, of Lythwood Hall, surrendered to his bail, and was charged with the manslaughter of William Ferriday, at Meole Brace, on the 30th January, to which he pleaded not guilty. Mr Motteram and Mr Warren prosecuted; Mr H. James defended. The first witness was Harriet, wife of Henry Edwards, keeper of the tollgate at Meole, who said she knew de- ceased, and he resided at Condover. She saw him on the 30th January, when he came from the direction of Shrews- bury with a cart, and passed through the tollgate. He was driving with reins, and sat on the board of the cart, his feet resting upon the shafts. He had his head down, which was a usual thing with him. He was on the left side of the road, and when he was all but through the gate a dog-cart, driven by Captain Scott, came up in the opposite direction. Capt. Scott was on the right side, and there was room for him to pass through the gate. He stopped and said something to Ferriday, but she did not hear what it was. Ferriday made no reply, but went on, and as he passed the dog-cart, Capt. Scott struck him a back-handed blow with his whip. He received the blow on the back, and his horse started off, and went a little on one side, when Ferriday was thrown off. In falling he rolled towards the cart, and it went over him. She called out to Capt. Scott's coachman, who was sitting at the back of the dog-cart, and told him his master had killed "that man." The coachman replied, "He's not hurt much." Capt. Scott then got down, and after deceased had been picked up, the captain fetched a doctor from Shrewsbury. Cross-examined—Capt. Scott stopped at the gate for the purpose of paying the toll. She did not hear him call out Hoa!" Ferriday moved towards the gate to allow the captain to pass. The vehicles were about a foot apart when Capt. Scott drew up. Harriet Evans, wife of a tailor at Meole, stated that she had known deceased for twenty years. She was at the tollgate, talking to Mrs Edwards, when he came up in his cart. He was travelling slowly, with his head down, as he always did. When Capt. Scott drove up, Ferriday went on by the side of the gate. There was plenty of room for the captain to pass. Capt. Scott said something to deceased, and Farriday made no answer, but went slowly on. She did not hear what it was that the captain said. Capt. Scott then turned and made a slash at de- ceased with his whip, and she heard the blow fall on his hat. The moment the blow was given the horse went across the causeway, and after it had gone a short distance Ferriday was thrown out upon the wall, and the cart passed over him. He was on his proper side. Cross-examined—She was afraid of the wheels of the two carts touching, but they did not touch. Peter Stringer, a gardener living near the gate, deposed that he was about sixteen yards off, on the Shrewsbury side, when the carts met. He heard Capt. Scott call out Hoa," and stepping into the middle of the road, saw the captain's horse through the gate. The wheels of the dog- cart were locked in those of Ferriday's cart, and there was a collision, after which deceased's horse ran away. It ran in a slanting direction, and deceased fell off and was killed. At the moment the collision took place Capt. Scott gave deceased a back-handed blow with his whip. Cross-examined—He did not know either of the parties before. He distinctly heard Capt, Scott cry out, "Hoa," and Ferriday made no answer, as far as he could hear, but went on. He had a good view of the occurrence. William Bush, coachman to Capt. Scott, stated that the captain called out Hoa" twice. When they reached the gate, Capt. Scott pulled up, and witness saw him strike Ferriday with the whip. Just as the blow was struck the vehicles came in contact with each other. The collision was caused by the grating together of the tires of the wheels. Deceased received the blow from the whip upon his back. Cross-examined—At the time of the collision he heard a bump and felt the shock. It did not stop Ferriday's cart. Deceased was in a stooping position, and did not move when Capt. Scott called out, but went on as if taking no notice of anything. He (witness) cleaned the dog-cart when he got home, and noticed a mark on the nut of the bolt going through the axle tree. The blow with the whip was not a violent one; it was merely a touch to arouse deceased's attention. This completed the evidence, and Mr James asked the learned Judge whether there was any case to go before the jury. He contended that there was no evidence to show whether the death of deceased resulted from one act or more, and he said he considered that a point of law for decision by his lordship. His Lordship said it was not a point of law, but a question for the jury to consider. Mr JAfES delivered a long and able address on behalf of his client, in the course of which he minutely sifted the evidence adduced. He told the jury Capt. Scott asked for no mercy because he was in a superior position to that of most persons tried on charges of a similar nature. He said if the jury should be of opinion that the accused committed an illegal act in striking deceased, they must satisfy themselves that Ferriday's death resulted from the blow, and he argued, with much force, that there was no proof of the blow causing the horse to start. He put it to them that the collision was quite as probable a cause of the accident as the blow with the whip, even if not more so. Then there was the shouting by Capt. Scott. Was not that, combined with the collision, as likely, if not more likely, to start the horse than the light touch of the whip ? He submitted with great confidence, that there was no moral guilt involved in the matter, but that it was a case of simple misadventure. When the collision occurred, Capt. Scott, to arouse a sleepy man who had run against his dog-cart, gently and moderately touched him, and was not that such a thing as any of the jury might have done under similar circumstances ? He believed it was, and he declared it to be an act without anger, an act of precaution and of right on the part of the captain. His Lordship, in summing up, said the jury had to con sider whether the blow, which, as all the witnesses agreed, was not a severe one, constituted an illegal act; and if it were given after the vehicles had passed, when there would be no necessity for it, unquestionably it was illegal. But if deceased were asleep, and the accused struck him, with no more than a reasonable amount of force, in order to awake him, with the view of preventing injury either to himself or others, the act would not be illegal. If the jury were satisfied that the act was not illegal, they must find Capt. Scott not guilty and if they believed it to be an illegal act, they must be satisfied, before convicting him, that the act caused or accelerated the death of Ferriday. It was for them to consider what caused the horse to start; and if that cause was uncertain, they ought to give the accused the benefit of the uncertainty. They could only convict him if they were perfectly satisfied that the blow was an unlawful act, and that it led to the death of the unfortunate man who was killed. The jury, alter a somewhat lengthened deliberation, re- turned a verdict of acquittal, and Capt. Scott was of course at once discharged. Mr James said that now the case was ended he wished to state that the captain, although he did not feel himself morally responsible for the death of Ferriday, yet because he was in some degree connected with it, had placed himself in the hands of the landlord of deceased, at whose suggestion he had made ample provision for Ferriday's three children. Mr Motteram endorsed what Mr James had said, on behalf of the prosecution. Judgment deferred.
[No title]
An eccentric and rich old lady committed suicide, at Bow, the other day, by cutting her throat with a knife. She was worth forty thousand pounds, but was so miserly in her habits that she kept only one candle in the house, 1nd never lighted it except when her nephew called.
.Parliamentary.
Parliamentary. FRIDAY. THE IRISH CHURCH DEBATE. After the House of Peers had spent some time in the discus- sion of the Parish Schools (Scotland) Bill, read it a second time, and adjourned for the Easter holidays until Monday the 5th April, the adjourned debate was resumed in the Commons. Although there was a very fall attendance of members at prayers, the House of Commons was by no means so crowded as it was on the previous afternoon, and the galleries were com- paratively unoccupied. But little business intervened before the resumption of the debate upon the Irish Church Bill; and after the Marquis of Hartington had informed Mr Sainneteon that the arrangements for the purchase of the various telegraph lines were not yet completed, and therefore no valuation could be made of the sum which they would cost, Dr Ball, who was for a short time Attorney-General for Ireland under Mr Disraeli's Administration (without a spat in Parliament), rose to continue that debate. The opening passages of the right hon. gentleman's speech were heavy and unpromising; but as he proceeded he warmed with his subject; and, though he cannot be said to have carried much confusion into the ranks of his opponents his arguments appeared to be highly satisfactory to his friends' and many of his points were very loudly cheered. Having challenged in the most distinct terms the doctrine that the Maynooth Grant and the Regium Donum were intended or could be regarded as buttresses of the Established Church, he con- demned the measure before the House as the introduction of an entirely new policy, and the forcible establishment in Ireland of a voluntary system, in the place of a State support of religion. The voluntary system, he maintained, always failed to secure universality and permanence of instruction, and tended to the L deterioration of its quality. The assertion that it necessarily depended upon religious fervour, and must therefore increase theological differences, and make every man an aggressor against his neighbour, was received with loud expressions of ineredulitv. which passed into almost contemptuous laughter when he en- deavoured to convince the House, on the authority of Mr Hep- worth Dixon, that in America voluntaryism had entirely f,tiled. In all old countries, Dr Ball asserted, it must fail; and in' Ireland that failure was more certain than anywhere else. Having thus, to his own satisfaction, proved that the measure was bad in principle, he proceeded to show that it contained no provision which would modify the evil of that principle, and really offered no boon whatever to the Established Church to compensate for the injury which its operations would inflict upon it, and concluded by prognosticating that its result would be to ruin alike the Church, the Presbyterian congregations, and the College of Maynooth, and to produce discontent throughout the length and breadth of the land. This prospect proved highly agreeable to the fancy of Conservative members; and when, after a few more observations, couched in a similar gloomy spirit, he resumed his seat, their cheers were both loud and long. Mr Miall and the Attorney.General for Ireland rose together; but Mr Sullivan was the first to catch the Speaker's eye, and he at once dashed into a vigorous reply to the arguments of his predecessor in office. Having met the assertion of Dr Ball that the principle of this Bill was to introduce into Ireland a system of voluntaryism, instead of one of establishment, by reminding him that more than five millions of the Irish people at present depended upon the former system for the supply of their re:igious wants, he made a very effective point by quoting from a speech delivered by Mr Disraeli in 1845, the declaration that the real danger to the Irish Church arose from its con- nection with the State; and then, turning to the more recent utterances of the same right hon. gentleman, significantly inquired what had been the history of Ireland during the two hundred years of peace which, according to the member for Bucks, England has owed to the union of Church and State. In reply to Dr Ball's complaint that the Bill offered no advantage to the Irish Church, he reminded him that this was a measure for the disestablishment, and not for the re- establishment of that Church; and vindicated the right of the State to take away its endowments, on the ground that tho property from which they were derived had been appropriated to the maintenance of a State religion, and that purpose hav- ing failed, the State had a right to resume it. The dinner hour was occupied by Sir F. Heygate, Sir J. Gray, and Viscount Crichton. Sir Frederic besought the House to let Ireland alone, assuring them, after his manner on such occasions as this, that all she wanted was rest; Sir John, replying to the de- nunciations heaped upon the supporters of this Bill, maintained that the real spoilers of the Church were those great proprietors who occupied church lands at insufficient rents; while the noble viscount, though rejoicing that the Government had made no attempt to "level up," and that the Church was to be sub- jected to no protracted torture, warned the House that they were about to extinguish the light of the Reformation in Ireland, and that when the supremacy of the Queen was withdrawn, that of the Pope would be substituted for it. Soon after nine o'clock Mr Miall rose from the end of the third bench below the gang- way to address the House. A good deal of interest attached to the re-appearance in the House of Commons of the hon. member for Bradford, and his first sentences, in which he referred to the air of unreality which characterised the debate and the impos- sibility of adducing any new argument upon the question, were listened to with the deepest attention. Soon, however, he lost the ears of a portion of his audience; and the remainder of his observations, in which he thanked the Premier for the com- pleteness with which he had redeemed his pledges, praised the majestic simplicity of purpose which distinguished this measure, and, in reply to Mr Disraeli, maintained that it would lead to no separation of religion from the exercise of political power, were rendered partially inaudible by the conversations which were being carried on in different parts of the House. These inter- ruptions seemed to induce Mr Miall to contract his remarks, and he sat down somewhat abruptly, promising to enter more thoroughly into tho subject at a future stage of the Bill. Sir S. Northcote, who followed, did not deny that the English Govern- ment had for centuries inflicted grievous injuries u;jon Ire- land he even appeared to admit that the Church had at various times been marie an agent for the oppression of that country but he asserted that all this had been changed during the last thirty or forty years, and maintained that, so far from any ne- cessity existing for the disestablishment of the Irish Church, all that was required to secure the pacification and ensure the prosperity of Ireland was a continuance in the cour of equit- able and conciliatory legislation upon which Parliament had entered during that period. The right hon. gentleman al-o twitted his opponents, including even the Secretary fo Ireland, with not entirely approving of this Bill; describsd the attack upon Protestant ascendancy which the Prime Minister had pro- claimed as an attack upon the English ascendancy in Ireland, and amid incredulous laughter justified the position of the Church in Ireland, on the ground that its missien was not to make proselytes, but to soften the asperities between other re- ligious bodies. While Sir S. Northcote was speaking the House, which during the evening had been rather empty* began to fill; and when Mr Bright took his place at the table lie was greeted by a ringing cheer from ths trowded Ministerial benches. As he went on the influx of members continued, and when he sat down every seat was <sc««ipied, and the gallery on the Opposition side of the House also full of eager listeners. The right hon. gentleman, who epoke with all his usual force and vigour of style, and P1,ue, asserted the pressing urgency of the Irish question —as admitted by Lord Stanley himself-pointed to the recogrttgid incapacity of the late administration to deal with it, and "indicated the measure which the present Government had introduced for terminating the connection between the Church of conquest and the State. In the course of his address he ex- posed the inaccuracy of Mr Disraeli's history; and indignantly rebuked that right hon. gentleman for the inappropriate and in- decent hilarity with which he had attributed the discontent of the Irish people to the dampness of their climate and the neighbourhood of a "melancholy ocean." The right hon. gentleman closed one of his finest speeches in the following words:-Do not tell us that your Irish Protestant congre- gations are feebler and worse than the congregations in Scotland. (Hear.) What have they done since in Scotland? It may be told in a sentence, though it would take weeks to survey it all. They have built 000 churches, not less than 650 manses, houses for their ministers. They have built 500 schools, three theolo- gical colleges, and two training institutions; and during the last three year8-1 have not Seen the accounts further back-thev have raised on the average, by the voluntary subscriptions of tiieir members, not less than £ 370,000 per annum. (Cheers ) And daring the twenty-five years that have elapsed since those 500 ministers walked out of the Established Church, these congre- g itions have raised by voluntary contributions a sum exceeding eight millions sterling. (Cheers.) Yet the right hon. and learned member for the Dublin University has the courage to say, in the presence of many members of the Nonconformist body, that the ministers of the voluntary churches were rather a low class. (Laughter.) As to being high born, I think the prophets of old were many of them graziers, the apostles were fishermen and handicraftsmen. It was a religion to which not many noble and not many mighty were called. (Cheers.) It may be that in this Age and in this country the light of the Reformation and the light of Christianity may be carried through the land by a man of humble birth with just as much success as a man who is born in a great mansion or in a palace. (Cheers.) The right hon. gentleman the member for Bneks argued very much in favour of an Established Church, that there ought to be some place where people could get into who would not be readily admitted any- where else. (Laughter and cheers.) The fact is that what the right hon. gentleman wants is that we should have an Established Church which has no discipline, and that anybody who will live up to what is called a gentlemanly conformity to it may pass through the world as a very satisfactory sort of Christian. (Laughter.) These are arguments I should be ashamed to use. (Cheers.) If I were a churchman I would either find better ar- guments or I would keep silent. (Laughter and cheers.) And I believe if I were forced to keep silent I should be obliged to give up believing that the Church was much better than the Noncon- formist bodies. (Hear, and a laugh.) My opinion is that you do great injustice to the Protestants of Ireland. Is there any reason why, for example in the north of Ireland, the Presbyterians should be any less liberalllnd energetic than their countrymen of the Free Church of Scotland; and if they are equal to the Scotch, why should the Episcopalian Protestants in Ireland, when freed from the trammels of the State, be less active and successful than their neighbours the Prosbyterians and their other co-religionists, the Presbyterians of Scotland. (Hear, hear.) I believe that your sickly offspring of privilege and favouritism may become the robust champion of the light of the Reformation-(cheers)-and perhaps we may live to see the day when the right hon. gentleman will make a recantation at this table. (Laughter and cheers.) Lord Aberdeen, who only a few years ago was Prime Minister of this country, told me in i856, at his houw in Scotland, that no public event connected with Scot- land had, during his long life, given him so much pain as the separation in the Church of Scotland, and that he had lived long enougH to see that all his lamentations and his fears were vain, that it had been one of the very happiest transactions that had ever come to his country. (Cheers.) He spoke of the churches and of the sc uiols, and said there was great additional life spread throughout the whole people. If that should take place in Ireland then the light of the Reformation, which now glimmers so faintly that no man can see it, may be. come a light shining over much that island, and it may [be satisfactory to hope Catholicism in its extreme and Roman sense, may give place to a more liberal reli-iion, and approxi- mate nearer to that whicii we think bettp-r-tha faith and religion of the Protestant Churches. (Cheers.) It i3 too late an hour now to enter into any question of the surplus There is one thing, however, I should like io say about it, and I say it in the hearing of my hon. and learned fncnd, who, as I under.-tand, takes a different view on this question from some on this side: John Wyeliffe, 500 years ago, was born in the town of Richmond -(a laugh)-and he was perhaps the first and ureatest of English reformers. John Wyeliffe was ob iged to consider this ctuestion-that is with regard to what he should ,10, or whether he might do anything with regard to religious endowments, and he left on record this statement: If churches make a bad use of their endowments, princes are bound to take them away from them." (Hear, hear.) It is not a great change to say that if endowments are found to be mischievous Parliament may put them to other uses. I sometimes wonder how it is that in five hundred years on some questions we make so little progress. That was the opinion of John Wyeliffe, who lived in the four- teenth century, and now hon. and right hone and learned gen- tlemen get up in this house and condemn, as allU?st sacrilegious and spoliative, any attempt of the Imperial Parliament to deal with the endowmenti of this State Church of Ireland. (Hear, hear.) And then as to their uses. If I were particular as to the sacred nature of these endowments, I should even then be satis- fied with the propositions of this Bill; for, after all, I hope it is not far from Christianity to charity, and we know that the Divine Founder of our faith has left much more of the doings of a com- passionate and loving heart than he has of dogma. (Hear, hear.) I am not able to give the column, the chapter, or the verse, or the page; but what always struck me most in reading the narrative of the Gospel is how much of com- passion there is, and how much of dealing kindly with all that were sick, and all that were suffering. (Hear, hear.) Do voti think it would be a misappropriation of the surplus funds of this great establishment to apply them to such kind of objects as that described in the Bill? Do you not think that from that charitable dealing witt it, even a sweeter incense may arise than when these vast funds are applied to maintain three times the number of clergymen that can be of the slightest use to the Church with which they are connected ? We can do but little, it is true. We cannot re-lnme the extinguished lamp of reason, we cannot make the deaf to hear, we cannot make the dumb to speak. It is not given to us From the thick film to purge the visual ray, And on the sightless eyeball pour the day." But at least we can lessen the load of affliction, and we can make life more tolerable to vast numbers who suffer. (Cheers e When I look at this great measure-and I can assure the Hous- that I have looked at it nrnch more than the roajority of hon, ourable members, because I have seen it grow from line to lines and from clause to clause, and have watched its growth and it.) completion with a great and increasing interest-I say when I look at this measure I look at it as tending to a more true and solid union between Ireland and Great Britain. I see it giving tranquility to our people. (" Oh," and cheers.) Well, when you have a better remedy I, at least, will fairly consider it. I say I see it giving tranquility to our people, greater strength to the realm, and adding a new lustre and a new dignity to the Crown. I dare claim for this Bill the support of all thoughtful and good people within the bounds of the British empire, and I believe, and I cannot doubt, that in its early and great results it will have the blessing of the Supreme, for I believe it to be founded on those principles of justice and mercy which are the glorious attributes of His eternal reign. (Loud and long-con- tinued cheering.) On the motion of Sir R. Palmer the debate was then ad- journed. MONDAY. The adjourned debate on the Irish Church Bill was resumed by Sir R. Palmer, who expressed his regret that he was unable to give his support to the Bill. The measure had been one of great anxiety and solicitude to him, because almost all the motives which could powerfully influence him led him to be desirous to give his support to the Bill. He admitted that the condition of Ireland was anomalous, and that something ought to be done to ameliorate it, and he was prepared to have gone a certain length in the direction of disestablishment, but he could not conceal from himself that the principle of this Bill was not disestablish- ment simply, but disestablishment accompanied by universal disendowment. To that principle he could not give his assent. He regarded it as a great act of injustice, and he seriously apprehended that the consequences which would result from it would defeat any salutary effect the measure might otherwise have. The key-note of the debate was that the Church property in Ireland was national prope rty; but this was an issue which, in his opinion, was entirely at variance with the real facts of the case. It was a mistake to suppose that the Irish Church re- mained in full possession of the ecclesiastical revenues of the Church. The tithe rent-charge had melted away to about one- six'h of the original amount. Some portion of it had been diverted to lay objects, and the Commutation Act gave one- fourth of the commutation to the landlords. He contended that the endowments of the Church should be regarded as private property, and so treated. Conceding that the existence of an Establishment was a grievance, he submitted that it might be removed without confiscating the property of the Church. No precedent could be found for such a scheme even in the ex- ten-ive appropriations of Church property at the time of the Reformation. In his opinion, no case had been made out to justify the seizure of private endowments anterior to the year 1660. The laity of Ireland had done nothing to forfeit their right to the spiritual administration of the Protestant clergy, and he held that it would be gross injustice to deprive them of their services. The bad government of the country and the operation of odious penal laws against the Catholics had pre- vented the expansion of the State Church, and now the State was about to turn round and divert the funds of the local commu- nities to other purposes. If such a principle as this were to ob- tain, it would be impossible to stop short at the property of the Church. He did not deny that the nation had a large interest in, and control over, public property, but he denied that the State had the right to alienate the funds of local [communities and divert them to other purposes. If, however, the House should pass the Bill, as he snpposed it would, he would acquiesce in the verdict of the country, and would endeavour in Commit- tee to introduce such amendments consistently with the prin- ciple of the measure as in his opinon might be desirable. In that cass he would recommend the Protestants of Ireland to gird themselves up like men, and set about-even under the sense of a great wrorig-to reconstruct their Church. The honourable gentleman, who spoke from the bench immediately behind the Government, was warmly cheered throughout his speech by the Opposition. The Solicitor-General fully recognised the eloquence and ability which Sir R. Palmer had displayed in his speech, and said that but for his difference on this one point of the Irish Church, his honourable and learned friend would not have severed his connection with the Government. His hon. friend admitted that, as an institution, the Church of Ireland could not be defended, and, to a certain extent, he would sanction dis- establishment. But he could not understand his hon. and learned friend's reason for not rendering that disestablishment complete and full. The Irish Church was the great symbol of Protestant ascendancy in Ireland but it was not just, and never had been just, that that ascendancy should continue, and it could not be maintained for an hour but for English force. He asked how long the people of England would tolerate the Roman Catholic Church enthroned upon their necks by an alien force ? He also wished to know how it was, while in Scotland and the colonies a mere handful of troops were requisite to maintain tranquility and order, in Ireland, around the slumbering ashes of a people's discontent, they were obliged to keep watch and ward with a formidable army, lest at any time it should burst into conflagration. He denied that the opposition to the Irish Church was a mere sentimental grievance, and he contended that the Bill interfered with no right of property, and, therefore, did not deserve to be stigmatised as an act of sacrilegious spoliation. The argument that the property of the Church was inviolable was wholly untenable and Bishop Butler himself had declared that every gift to a Christian Church was a human donation, and not a divine right, and must be subject to human laws. To endow three churches instead of one seemed to be the alternative remedy of the Opposition for Irish discontent, but although that nostrum might have sufficed thirty years ago it would not do now. If the Protestant faith had vitality in it, it would make greater progress when disestablished and disen- dowe 1 than it had done before, because it would start with a considerable endowment by the capitalisation of the income of the incumbents, while it would have complete freedom and ac- tion, and emancipation from State control. Mr Charley remarked that he was even more opposed to dis- establishment than to disendowment, and he argued that it would be a gross injustice to the Protestant laity of Ireland to deprive them of the services of their clergy. Mr Dowse took a totally different view, and, speaking as an Irish Protestant Episcopalian, sent to Parliament specially to support the Bill, contended that no injustice would be done to the Protestants by the abolition of an establishment which was a fruitful source of discontent and dissatisiaction. The Irish Church had been condemned, Inot only by the verdict of the country, but by the voice of every civilised nation in the world. Tile argument that Parliament could not interfere with it with- out perpetrating an act of "sacrilegious spoliation was dimply ab,urd, because ten of its bishoprics had already been sup- pressed by Act of Parliament, and the whole of its tithes had been comrau1 ed. The Protestants of Ireland were only eleven per cent. of the whole population, and in eighteen dioceses they were but seven per cent., while in one ecclesiastical division the Episcopalians were but one per c> nt. of the whole. He a Imitted, however, that in the province of Ulster the majority of the own- ers of the land belonged to the Established Church, as the cheap- est and the most respectable. He thought the time for compro- mise had passed, and that the hour had now arrived when it was absolutely indispensable that the badge of Protestant ascendancy should be removed. Mr Vance opposed the Bill. After some observations from Mr Richard and Lord Claude Hamilton, The Chancellor of the Exchequer said the supporters of the Bill had been accused by Mr Disraeli of confiscation, plunder, and sacrilegious spoliation. He objected to the employment of such language from such a quarter; first, because it involved a trifling inconsistency on the part of the right hon. gentleman; and next, because, although it might have been right to say so before the general election, such language now could not lie levelled so much against the Government as against the people of England. He ridiculed the arguments of Mr Disraeli in favour of preserving the uniim between Church and State in Ireland, and urged that if the Church was too weak to preserve a com- plete union, the union became a mischief, and ought to be put an end to as soon as possible. No attempt had been made to deny that the existence of the Irish Church had hitherto proved a difficulty and obstacle in the way of the government of that Country. That fact alone justified the introduction of the present Bill. The State had a power to make, unmake, and dispossess corporations. Then, could it be contended that the State was bound to stand by, having the power to correct gross abuses, and see those abuses perpetuated, because the persons by whom they were committed had a legal title or a vested interest in them? As to voluntaryism, it had already been made in Ireland, because the State Church was not the national Church and the national Church was not the State Church. He admitted that if Parlia- ment took away tho property of the Irish Church they were bound to leave her in perfect freedom to regulate her own in- teriial tifrairs. But this. he contended, was fully and completely done by the present Bill. Were or were not, he asked, the many made for the few ? If not, was it right that a small portion of the nation should monopolise for themselves the ecclesiastical pro- perty of the country? Was it right that the French noblesse should be exempt from taxation 2 and if not, why should a small portion of the Irish people receive, at the public expense, ex- emption from the maintenance of religion, which fell most heavily upon the remainder? The Irish Church, by its own con- duct had cut itself off from the sympathies of the nations among which it had been placed, and its entire disseverance from the Siate was now inevitible. Mr WALPOLE moved the adjournment of the debate, which was 0T>ILR GUEENE^ who said that at that early hour (twelve o'clock) an opportunity should be given to independent members to express their opinion. The question was so important that they ought not to consent to degrade the Protestant Church at the bidding of Romish priests, but ought to fight it to the last, and if necessary to go back again to their constituents. He believed the country was coming to its senses, and that its voice would be found to he opposed to disestablishment and disendowment. He denied that the promise of this measure would pacify Ireland. The debate was then adjourned. TUESDAY. The most important and interesting inquiry which was addressed to the Government was made by Mr Vance, who, in his harshest manner, asked the Prime Minister whether it was true that Lord Spencer had tendered the resignation of his office df Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Mr Gladstone at first said that he had no communication to make to the House upon the subject; but as this reply did not appear to be understood, he added that there was no truth whatever in the rumour upon which the mem- ber for Armagh had founded his question. Another false report was contradicted by Mr C. Fortescue, who stated that O'Donovan Rossa and Luby were not included among the released Fenian convicts. The Secretary for Ireland also informed Sir George Jenkinson that the seditious language which had been used at Cork and Ballinasloe by Warren and Costello had been referred to the law officers; and Mr Gladstone assured Mr Henry that whatever the Mayor of Cork might have said to the contrary, the Government had no intention to release any more Fenians from custody. The Attorney-General promised a Royal Commission to enquire into the corrup- tion which prevailed at the late election for Bridgewater and Mr Cardwell undertook to supply 24 militia re- giments with Snider rifles. In reply to Mr Reed, Mr BRIGHT said that the agricultural statistics would be collected this year oil the same day as the last two years. Horses were not included because he was told the farmers feared that it would lead to their being subjected to the assessed taxes. He knew of no other cause, but the Board of Trade would be glad to receive any suggestions to make the return more complete. Last year returns were obtained from 530,000 occupiers and owners of stock, and 2,400 revenue officers had been engaged in the duty. The expense had been much more than had been expected, and it was the intention of the Board of Inland Revenue to ask for a vote of kl2,000 for the purpose.
THE IRISH CHURCH DEBATE.
THE IRISH CHURCH DEBATE. The adjourned debate on the second reading of the Irish Church Bill was then resumed. Mr WALPOLE opposed the Bill, the gravity and import" ance of which it was impossible to exaggerate, for it was the first time in the history of England, and the first time in the history of (Christendom, with one exception, that it was proposed to abolish an institution connected with the religion of the country. In fact, they were creating a legislative revolution on a most important subject, not only with reference to the constitution of the State, but ,s also with respect to the religious. feelings and convictions of the En"lish people. He demed that a case at all had been mad out for so extreme a step as disestablishment and disendowment. He could understand the necessity of a reform, or a re-adjustment o the property of the Irish ■ Church, to meet the altered circumstances and require- ments of the age hut this was not a measure of refrm. like that which led to the establishment of Protestantism, or a revolution like that which led to the removal of the Stuart family. It was total abolition and destruction of an institution connected with the religious constitution of the country, the tenure of the Crown, and involving con- siderations affecting the rights of property and the most important political and social interests of the country. He then proceeded to point out and denounce the harsh- ness and injustice with which the Irish Church was dealt with. He believed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to reorganise it as an independent establish- ment, and showed that instead of being dealt with liberally, it would have nothing left but the fabric of the churches and the glebe houses, which it had already paid ten times their value for. It was monstrous to consider that the compensation to be paid to the clergy, as in. dividuals, in return for their vested and life interests was part of the property of the corporate body and, in con- clusion, after pointing out the steps taken to reform the Irish Church, and laying great stress on the social and religious value and importance of the Irish clergy, and the invariable loyalty, good faith, and industry of the Protestant population, he solemnly warned the House of the result of sanctioning a precedent of so dangerous and revoluntionary a character. Sir H. BULWER said the paramont question in his mind was how Ireland was to be governed. He reviewed at length the injustice and impolicy with which that country had hitherto been governed, and warmly supported the Bill as the inauguratfon of a new, more generous, more just, and, as he hoped and believed, a more successful policy. The debate was continued by Mr Mowbrav Mr Ohas Dalrymple, and Mr Wm. Verner in opposition to £ Bill; and by Mr Agar-Lllis, Mr Miller, and The O'Donoghue in support of it. Lord GEORGE HAMILTON, in a very spirited speech which for its fluency, and point, and sarcasm, fairly took the House by surprise, vehemently denounced the Bill, and was replied to by Mr GEORGE H. MOORE, who warmly supported the Bill, strongly vindicating the Roman Catholic clergy from the charges which had been brought against them during the debate. Mr HARDY said that one of the chief argumeuts used in the debate was that the Conservative party, having been beaten at the hustings by the verdict of an enormous majority of the nation, had no right to try in Parliament to reverse that decision; but they had the precedent of great and illustrious examples to show them that it was their duty to resist the passage of measures which they believed would be detrimental to the best interests of the country, to the last. It must be recollected that in 1832, after the Reform Bill, the Conservatives were far less in number in the House than they now were, but they had faith in their principles, and they still believed that the same re- action was not far distant. They had been told that every statesman had looked forward to this measure, but that was not the language of Sir George Grey, of Mr Cardwell or of Mr Monsell, only two years ago, "who declared that there was no idea of destroying the Irish Church, and that it would create a revolution to propose it. They were also told that Mr Gladstone had redeemed his pledges if so, he certainly had redeemed his pledge to destroy everything that a,t one time he held most dear and sacred. Me denied that it was right or fair to assume that the i1?Hl i^ment was an anomaly, or a monstrosity which had failed in its mission. On the contrary, he believed that it was held up to be the object of envy and jealousy, and that its destruction was sought from no other motives. He believed that the Church was doing excellent work in Ireland, but he re- garded it as part of the Imperial system which it was deliberately intended to destroy, for although some denied that the Church of England was at all called into question now, others admitted that its existence was only a question of time. The cry for Ireland used to be, Make its insti. tutions like those of England;" but now they were doing all they could to make them different. In spite of all the- protests on the other side, he should maintain that the existence of a State Church was the only way in which the nation could show that it recognised the supervision of Providence over its affairs. If they were to give way to this cry for religious equality for Ireland, they must adopt it not only in Ireland, but in England, and every part of the empire. It was true that many who held this opinion now found it convenient to keep their views in the back- ground and it was for this reason, if for no other, that he begged the House to consider not only the present but the ulterior results of the policy. He reviewed the origin of the Irish Church, and contended that allowance being made for its position and the difficulties with which it was surrounded, it had made great progress, and that its bene- ficial results were not to be judged by the number of con- verts which it had made, but by the social good which it effected and the social influence exercised by its clergv and that the best proof that it had held up the light of the Reformation in places where it would not otherwise have been maintained, was to be obtained from the fact that the majority of the Irish emigrants, as soon as they were free from the influence and terror exercised over them in Ire- land, when they landed in America threw off the errors of the Roman Catholic Church. Whatever might have been the case in the past, no one could deny that the Irish Church was doms its duty now; and it only wanted the facilities, which the Legislature had not granted to re- adjust its benefices and do its duty still more effectually. He denied thitt the Irish Church was endowed by the State, and that merely because the Church was the national Cimrch its property belonged to the nation, which could resume it at pleasure. At any rate, it was not fair to call on the Church to show what was its own private property. It was the duty of the spoiler to show that what he laid hands upon was public property. Whatever might be the case of the property of the Irish Church before the Refor- mation, which it was provea was very small, he contended S IT- T,ery right of l'rjpertv to confis- cate the property obtained by it after that event; but he contended that the property of the Church was the property of the whole body not, n'y of the clergy, but also of the laity. He analysed with great minuteness the details of the provisions to be made for the Church after it was dis- established and disendowed, complaining oitterly of their hardship and injustice. He insisted that the Church would be really left with nothing but the E500,000, admitted to be the result of private benefactions; the vested interests of the clergy were allowed, but after those vested interests had expired, there was nothing left to the Church as a body, but the fabric of the Churches. Now they were told by persons of authority that the Church in the hands of the Protestants would still be regarded as a symbol of ascend- ancy. He also complained of the manner in which the College of Maynooth was treated, in comparison with the hard measure dealt out to the Protestants With respect to the tithe rent charge, he asked why should not the land in Ireland be dealt with by the same financial artifice, so that at the end of forty-five years, during which the land- lord should be compelled to create a sinking fund, the tenant should cease to pay rent and become entitled to the After pomting out the difficulty, if not the impossi- bility, of a Church treated in this manner being able to reorganise itself, the "right hon. gentleman concluded by an impassioned appeal to the House to consider well the consequences of the measure, and to pause before it sanc- tioned a policy so utterly without precedent, so dangerous in its character, and so pernicious in its inevitable results- for the sake of the hopes and expectations, which he earn- estly insisted would not be realised, but, in his opinion, would, instead of tranquilising, only aggravate the state of things in Ireland. The right hon. gentleman, having spoken upwards of two hours, resumed his seat amid loud cheers. Mr GLADSTONE rose just before one o'clock loudly cheered by his supporters, and first he remarked of the latter portion of Mr Hardy's speech that it showed his fit- ness for the task which Burke disclaimed, "to draw an indictment against a whole nation." Yet, even in a picture of tneurisn people so unjust as to amount to a libel, serious ?fIVrrre, m^ted for which Mr Hardy had no remedy, -out the Government, recognizing the existence of an Irish question, the result of years of previous misg'ovemment had a remedy which they proposed of necessity piecemeal' Assuming that the issue of to-night would not depend on the details of the Bill, Mr Gladstone passed over most of the comments on them, though he intimated that the pay- ment of the Maynooth Grant and the Regium Donum out of the Church property was an open question, which was not absolutely insisted on and before discussing the plan of the Government he ran through the four nights' debate to discover what rival plan had been proposed in its place. The proposals of the Commission had been entirely thrown aside, and the Opposition had either no plan at all, or else it was the old plan of levelling up. Sir Roundell Palmer's plan Mr Gladstone discussed at greater length, and he differed altogether from the ideas of Church property on which it was founded. When property had been given for purposes which were not attained, and could not be attained, it was the duty of the Legislature to see that it was not wasted, and, when it became mischievous, to take it over. But he took a much larger view of the Church trusts, holding that this property had been given for the general benefit of the nation. In giving up the Establishment, however, Sir Roundell Palmer had abandoned the worthier part of'the whole argument; and here Mr Gladstone incidentally re- marked that the Bill would in no way touch the Royal supremacy. The most serious objection he urged was that Sir Roundell Palmer would sacrifice the small parishes, where endowments were needed for the benefit of the large and wealthier parishes and thus, instead of conciliating, would irritate public feeling. Of the scheme for disposing of the surplus he claimed that it was the most perfect which could be devised for spreading the benefits of these funds into every part of the country, and he showed that there was no danger of the funds falling into the hands of the monastic institutions, as had been predicted. The hard words, "robbery," "sacrilege," "bribery," &c., he ac- cepted as proofs that the Government had carried out their pledges completely, but without harshness, and he con- cluded a speech of little over an hour and a quarter by repeating once more his confident anticipation that the settlement of this controversy is close at hand. The division was taken at about twenty minutes after two o'clock, but the certainty of the result and the immense majority notoriously awaiting the second reading robbed the scene of much of the excitement belonging to these great divisions. The division lasted more than twenty-five minutes, and the votes recorded were For the second reading. 368 Against it 250 Majority for the Government -118 This great victory was received by the Ministerialists with loud and prolonged bursts of cheering. The Bill was read a second time, Mr Gladstone fixing April 15th for the Committee, in the hope that the House would then proceed with expedition. Mr Newdegate, how- ever, gave notice that he would move that the Bill be committed that day six moiaths. The House adjourned at five minutes to three o'clock until Thursday week.
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DCNVILLE'S WHI.I;KEY. -The French are now importing- large quantities of Dunville's Old Iri-sh Whiskey. More butchers have been fined at Chester for attempting to sell unwholesome food. Mr Raikes, M.P., has been appointed one of the Elec- tion Committee. Early on Sunday morning week it was discovered that a circular piec of ground, sixty yards in diameter, situated neu Over, Cheshire, had sunk a depth of twenty yards, causing a cone-shaped hole. Two trees were growing on the spot, but the water has now covere(i them. It is sup- posed by some that the withdrawal of brine for the Winsford salt works has caused the subsidence.