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CORRESPONDENCE. The Editor wishes it to be distinctly nnderstood that he will not hold himself responsible for the opinions or statements of correspondents, nor under- take to return rejected manuscript. Correspondents MUST write on one side of the paper only Correspondents are requested to condense their re- marks as much as possible as. owing to the very arreat demands upon our space, we cannot undertake letters of great length. Letters of a personal character will not be inserted. TO CORRESPONDENTS. "A Ratepayer," Mountain Ash.—Your letter was received too late for insertion this week. HAS COUNCILLOR GRIFFITHS BEEN VICTIMISED? Sir,—I should think it must be quite clear to your readers ere now that Coun. Griffiths has been made a victim, and for what? That's the rub! I always understood that there was no room in the I.L.P. movement for the super- ior persons who wanted to play the autocratic rule, and that the object was to induce men of all beliefs to join their organisation, to work with them to establish a reign of reason, jus- lice and righteousness on earth. Let us see how this fits in with their recent action towards Councillor Griffiths. To my own knowledge, he has given the best of all his spare time for many years now to the Trade Union and So cialist movements, and has filled some of the most important offices therein But as soon as he was returned successfully as a Borough Councillor, a suspicion entered the minds of some of the members of the Merthyr Branch, and rumours were at once set afloat that he was a. betrayer of the cause. A resolution was carried disassociating themselves from his ac- tions, and the same published so as to show him up as an object. of ridicule. As an humble student in the Labour -movement, I challenge the Merthyr I.L.Peers to prove in any way that Mr. Griffiths has violated in spirit or principle any part of the constitution of the I.L.P. or the Labour Party. If they do not accept this chal- lenge, intelligent readers will resent this shame- ful attempt to ruin a young social reformer.— Yours truly, CÆSAR. NONCONFORMIST OR SOCIALIST CONTROL OF THE SCHOOLS. Sir,—Both your correspondents seem to be in the seventh heaven of delight, according to their epistles in last week's issue, and give one the impression that they are — if not actually, at least mentally—patting their own backs and singing their paeans of victory, but I am sorry, as their happiness is but short lived. I ask them when, where, and how have I given my- self away? I always thought that the ques- tion under consideration was the attitude of the Group and Councillor Griffiths on the edu- cation question, and any deviation from that question is mere quibbling I have not the time at my disposal to indulge in quibbling, neither have I the inclination "J. H." talks of "compromise." What does he mean—a mutual arrangement, or something else? I know of a. number of compromises that have been made in this Borough, so, therefore, it must be obvious to your correspondents that "I do not forget." "A Socialist" rails at me for "making representative institutions and Nonconformity the scapegoats," but allow me to point out that it is not so, for when a per- son accuse.; or rails at the governors of that institution, be does not rail at the institution; or because of the institution, but. at the mis- governing of the institution, and those respon- sible for the mis-management. Perhaps "A Socialist" will defend the governors of this "re- presentative institution." Neither do I in- tend to make Nonconformity a scapegoat, but I do say to Nonconformists "Keep your hands off the schools." They object to the Anglican and Catholic teacmng their religion in their schools at the expense of the public purse, but Non- conformists must also realise that there. are other people who object to them teaching their religion in our schools at the expense of the public purse. But, says "A Socialist," though our schools are under the domination of Non-, conformists to-day, to-morrow they may be under the control of Socialists. It is to be hoped that when our schools are under the control of Socialists, that truth, honesty, jus- tice and equity will be more readily understood, and the public will be able to exercise their con. trol in a better manner than is manifested to- days.—Yours, etc, J. EVANS. "NONCONFORMISTS MUZZLED AT CEFN." Sir,—The paragraph which appeared under the above heading in your issue of May 15th served to give wider publicity to an incident which was being discussed in local Nonconfor- mist circles with mingled feelings of concern and incredibility, and I ventue to say that the fears of Nonconformists, outside the Welsh Wesleyan Church, have not been allayed by the letter of the Rev, H. O. Hughes, the superintendent minister of the Merthyr Welsh Wesleyan Circuit, which appeared in the last issue of your paper. Every true Noncon- formist cannot, I think, after reflecting upon the rev. gentleman's letter, be satisfied with his explanation. I cannot forget that the Synod was a meeting of Nonconformists, much less can I forget that this was the first time the Synod assembled after the Disestablish- ment Bill had been introduced into the House of Commons by the present Government, yet we have it now confirmed by the Superintend- act Minister of the Circuit that the Synod shelved—or, if the rev. gentleman prefers the word, "postponed"—the question of Disestab- lishment. Assuming that the Church Hall was lent unconditionally, as alleged by "fact" No. 1 given in the rev. gentleman's letter, why was the question postponed sine die? I know there are Tory Wesleyans, just as there are Liberal Churchmen — tho', forsooth, it seems that the former are more plentiful than the latter—still this question, which the Synod had before it. was not purely political, but one which every Nonconformist from conviction had no alternative but to support. It is com- mon knowledge that the Synod was asked to pass a resolution when it about reached the close of its deliberations at one of its first sit tings in the Cefn Church Hall, and, whilst I am prepared tc ooncede that, had it passed the resolution in that hall, the Synod' would have been wanting both in courtesy and good taste, yet I cannot understand why, if its voice was unmuzzled, the Synod did not, as was then convenient, separate for the day after passing the resolution outside the Church Hall; or, if this would not do, why the matter was not subsequently discussed, before the Synod left the district altogether, in one of the Noncon- formist meeting-places which it had access to. As is known, the Synod does not meet again for several months, and much may happen in the interval. Therefore, it is pertinent to again ask, why did not the Synod, as a Non- conformist organ izatton, accept the first oppor- tunity of registering its voice upon the ques- tion? "A sense of the propriety of things" surely ought to have compelled the Synod to be honest in the matter Instead of that, the rev. gentleman blandly says the Synod "fav- oured the postponement of the question," which is satisfactory neither to Churchmen nor to Nonconformists. To the former, it would appear as if the Synod were "willing to wound but afraid to strike"; to the latter, it certainly seems that it placed convenience above principle. Conduct of this kind always engenders a common feeling within the bosoms of high-minded protagonists—oontempt. In the face of the admission, which we now authori- tatively have, that a Nonconformist body shelved Disestablishment, is it then really dim- cult—as the rev. gentleman would have your readers believe—to find in this "a significant incident," and is it hard to discover "Noncon- formists muzzled"? I trow not. To mo, the whole business seems to savour very much of Jaoob's pottage, which Wosleyans, I am per- suaded, would have been the last to touch had they still the guidance, not of your corres- pondent, the Rev. H. O. Hughes, but the late lamented Rev. H. P. Hughes, of ever-fragrant memory. -—I, am,. etc0 CYNLAS. TBE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SOCIALISM. Sir,—In my latter on the above question in your issue of the 15th iDSt-, there appeared a misprint. I intended my letter to read thus: "It should be clearly understood that the So- cialists are not against private property; they are only against private property in the great means of production, etc." Whai I have said on this question ought to suffice to show that a Catholic'is in no way forbidden from accepting the principles of Socialism, because Socialism is a national scheme of co-operation, managed by the State. Its programme consists essen- tially of one demand, that the land and other instruments of production shall be the common property of the people, and shall be used and governed by the people for the people. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, is an or- ganisation of worship, and under the proposed regime with its complete conquest of the ma- terial side of life, we shall all have a better opportunity to obey the teachings of Christ and the Church. As I have already pointed out in your columns officers, as well as members, of the Catholic Church differ in politics, and they are in no way obliged to obey the Pope in polit- ical matters.—Yours truly, A MERTHYR VALE SOCIAL DEMOCRAT- WELSH DISESABLISHMENT. Sir,—"Anthropos" repeats his historical fal- lacy about the origin of the Church of England. He says, "As an Established Church, distinct from the Church of Rome, the Church of Eng- land cannot trace its pedigree fuvther back than the time of Henry VUI." In the next sentence he states, HI maintain that politically and legally the Church was, as Mr. Justice Philimore said, a continuous body from its earliest establish- ment in Saxon times." I invite the reader to mark this admission. "Anthropos" maintains the continuity of the English Church politically and legally from its earliest establishment. Then, it follows, that it can trace its pedigree further back than Henry VIIL I accept this position, and if our correspondence did nothing else it has served an excellent purpose in ex- tracting this confession from the writer who in- dulged erstwhile in the adjectives "silly" and "crude." A little more enlightment will, I His mind is not clear on the "distinct from the Church of Rome" aspect of the question. The great Ecclesia Anglican a was always in com- munion with the Church of Rome, and but for the schismatical act of that Church itself, we are so still. The Bishop of Rome excommunicated English Churchmen; the Church of England has never excommunicated the Roman Bishop. But, although in communion, in administration, and government we were distinct, Gregory the Great, who sent Augustine, speaks of our fore- fathers as "the Church of the English." Be- fore the Norman Conquest the Pope exercised little power in England, and if "Anthropos" had gone to the fountain head for his history and not relied upon snippets from Liberationist pamphlets he would have been convinced of the false character of these statements. I presume he will bow to tho authority of 1\1r. Haddan, who conclusively proved the independence of the Church of England in his "Remains," p. 209. Wilfred, Bishop of York, had fallen foul of the authorities of the English Church and had been condemned by them. He appealed to the Pope to interpose on his behalf. In this -connectiorv Mr Haddan states. "But, right or wrong, the Pope decreed one .thing, the English Church another, and the latter prevailed. Twice did Wilfred go to Rome. Twice did his self-con- stituted judge decide in his favour. And twice the English King and Bishops (Saints, too, among them, which shows the popular feeling) simply refused compliance with that decision." Let "Anthropos" further consult the learned Mr Soames on the same point (Anglo-Saxon Church, p. 82). It is as clear as the sun at noonday that. from the start, the English Church was independent of Rome. Has "Anthropos" read Prof. Free- man's "Norman Conquest" ? There we are told (vol. iii., p. 284) with reference to the Nor- man invasion of England, "The crime to punish which William's crusade was approved and bless- ed was the independence still retained by the island Church and nation." The subjugation of the English Church, as much as the conquest. of England, was the great object of William's in- vasion under the Pope's blessing. We are con- tinually, in after years, called upon to witness struggles against the attempts of the Pone to bring the English Church into bondage. The legal phraseology of the post-conquest period is very pronounced on the distinction between the Church of England and that of Rome. In the great statutes of the period ("Provisiors," 1351) and many more, in the great Charter (Magna Charta) we are known as the "English Church," "the Holy Church of England," etc. Never once are we spoken of as a branch of the Roman Church. I challenge "Authropos" to produce evidence to the contrary. The gist of the argument from the name of the Church is this: "Not that Gregory, or any other indi- vidual, calls us the English Church (or the like) but that nobody has ever called us anything else" (Collins "Position of the Pope in Eng- land in the Middle Ages," app. B, p. 54). Dr. Collins is, I hope, "a reasonable student." If "Anthropos" wants more proof of "distinctness" I am prepared to supply n. A word further about his extraordinary state- ment—"Many laws passed in early times could be adduced to prove that the Church was the State Church." Will he please explain what he means by these words? Does it bear on its dis- tinctness from Rome or on its established posi- tion? I await hi3 explanation. The point from Dean Stanley proves too much. For when Au- gustine touched our shores he found the Church of St. Martin, at Canterbury (dedicated to St. Martin, of Tours, a. Gallican Saint) served by the Gallican Bishop Lindhard, for Bertha, wife of Ethelbert, of Kent. Therefore, on Stanley's showing, the Gallican Church was "established" here before the English Church. Moreover the gift of this Church was not a State gift; for there was no State, in the legal sense, to give it. It was a private and personal gift by Ethel- bert to his wife because she was a Christian. Your readers will remember the conditions on which the Frankish Kin-r allowed his daughter to marry the Pagan Ethelbert. And fnrther, "the King in his own person did not represent the State"; the King and the Witan represent- ed it. The King was merely the executive. This disposes of the fallacies which adorn the opening paragraph of your correspondent's letter. Next week I hope to enter fully into his other statements. In the meantime will he kindly look further into Dibdin, as I promise him a warm column on his "establishment here- sies."—I am, etc., CHURCHMAN. THE ORIGIN OF TITHES. Sir,—"Churchman," who is evidently getting excited, closed his last letter on tithes with the following sentence, "Indeed, every historian, jurist, statesman of note bears frank and free testimony to the fact that our Church was never endowed by the State." We will take historians first. Dr. Prideaux (Dean of Norwich), in his learned work, "The Origin and Right of Tithes," speaking of the time when tithes were paid voluntarily, says (p. 181), "Tithes were paid by way of offerings; but the Church had then no power to claim them by way of property and civil right, or any legal coercion to force the payment of them, because as yet there was no law of the State made to settle them upon them." Dr. Stubba, another great historian and a bishop, in his "Constitutional History of England" (vol 1, p. 26) states the case thus, "The recognition of the legal obligation of tithes dates from the Eighth Century, both on the Continent and in England. In A.D 779 Charles the Great ordained that every one should pay tithe, and tha.t the proceeds should be disposed of by the bishop; and in A.D. 787 it was made imperative by the Legatine Council, held in England, which being attended and confirmed by the kings and earldormen, had the authority of Witenagemota. From that time it was enforced by not unfrequent legislation." Dr. Hook, another Churchman, in his "Church Diction- ary" (p. 533), says, "When Christians became cold in their devotion, then the payment was enforced by temporal laws." Blackstone, the great lawyer, says, "We cannot precisely ascer- tain the time when tithes were first introduced into this country. Possibly, they were contem- porary with the planting of Christianity among the Saxons by Augustine the Monk. about the end of the Sixth Century. But the first men- tion of them which I have met with, in any written English law, is in a constitutional de- cree, made in a Synod held A.D. 787, wherein the payment of tithes in general is strongly en- joined. The canon, or decree, whaoh at first bound not_ the laity, was effectually confirmed by two Kingdoms of the Heptarchy, in their Parliamentary Conventions of estates, respec- tively consisting of the Kings of Mercia and Northumberland, the bishops, dukes, senators, and people" (Com., vol. ii., p. 25). Sir Walter G. F. Phillimore, the greatest authority on ec- clesiastical law, in a. letter to the "Guardian," May 31st, 1S93, says: "The earliest tithepayers acted, no doubt, under the influence of the idea that they were under religious duty to give the tenth of their income to the Church. But when this idea. bad once taken root in public opinion, any one who refused to pay was treated as a breaker of the law of the Church, and was sub- jected to excommunication. If this had no ter- rors for him, the aid of the secular arm was implored, and by a process which ultimately took form in the writ de exoommuncts cupiendo, he was cast into prison. Thus the voluntary sub- scription became a tax. If this bit of legal history is correct, there was no giving of tithe except by some Saxons during their lives. All subsequent tithe is a tax imposed by the State for the benefit, in the first instance, of the Church." The Rev. Dr. Wickham, Dean of Lincoln, speaking at the Lincoln Diocesan Con- ference, October 17th, 1894. said:—"He could not read the history of tithes as anything more than a voluntary tax which had received its compulsory character from the State; and he thought if the State considered that the money was not applied to the benefit of the whole community the State could apply it in other directions." The Earl of Selbornet, another great lawyer, and special pleader of Church establishment and endowments, after having tried in vain to prove that there was no law with regard to tithes before the time of King Edgar, reluctantly ad- mits that King Edgar compelled tho people to give tithes. Those are Selborne's words, "The obligation of paying predial tithes was recog- nised they were to be paid at certain seasons, according to the nature of the different titheaHe subjects. Those who did not pay them were liable to penalties; and under Edgar's laws (confirmed and repeated by Canute) they might be taken forcibly, under process of law, from those who withheld them." ("Ancient Facts and Fictions," p. 294). "The settlement of tithes among us,' says the great lawyer, Lord Coke, "has been by ancient and unquestionable laws of the land." "To the Prince or to the law," says the celebrated Bishop Horsely, "we acknowledge ourselves to be indebted for all our secular possessions." "The establishment of parishes, and the endowment of them with land and tithes, and the rank bestowed on min- isters, are the creatures of civil authority," says Bishop Randolph. The language of modern statesmen is the same. Lord Melbourne says, "The tithes and landed property in the hands. of clergymen do not belong to them, but is a portion of the national property." "The pro- perty of the Church belongs to the State, and the State, represented by its proper organ, the Legislature, has the power and the right, to deal with that property according to the cir- cumstances of the times," says Lord Palmers- ton. This was also the opinion of Mr. Glad- stone, who has been much misunderstood by in. terested Churchmen, in saying, "The clergy of the Church of England are not State paid, by which he meant that the Church does not now receive State assistance in the form of Parlia- mentary grants. He emphatically declared in the House of Commons, on February 12th, 1890. "I, for one, hold tithes to be national property," and Mr. W. H. Smith, then the leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons, echoed Mr. Gladstone's statement. When we come to Wales the caso is stronger still. There is no historical proof that tithes were paid in Wales previous to the Norman Conquest. Mr. Willis Bund, K.C., chairman of the Quarter Sessions in Worcestershire and Car- diganshire, in hia valuable history, "The Celtic Church in Wales," says: "The greater part of the tithe was paid, not to the clergy, but to the Latin monasteries; and they acquired, or olaim- ed to have acquired, from the Welsh, grants of the tithe payable out of certain districts, but these tithes were a mere payment impoeed on the Welsh by the conqueror, aad were not one of the incidents of the native Church of Wales. The conqueror imposed them on the l conquered as a. mark of his victory and of their subjection. Whatever else Wales owes to the Normans and Plantageneis. she certainly owes the general legal imposition of tithes" (p. 372-3). i -CfawTBfey^spaajL I of the pious ancestor with regard to Wales. In the face of such a plananx of evidence by the greatest authorities, mostly Churchmen, what shall we sav of the qualifications and conscien- tiousness of a writer who says, "Indeed every historian, jurist, statesman of note bears frank and free testimony to the fact that our Church was never endowed by the State. Nearly 60 years of persecution has failed to establish the contrary, and your correspondent never can." "Churchman" is entirely at sea over the origin of tithes. Every school boy would understand by my letter that I was referring to the origin of tithes in Britain, and not to the origin of tithes in Africa and Asia. "Churchma.n" gives the following quotation from Easterley, "To Augustine the early lawyers are wont to refer the introduction of the custom of tithe paying, chiefly on account of one of the answers sent by Pope Gregory the Great to him. but there is no mention of tithes they were of a later growth." In answer to this I quote Gregory's own words in a letter to Augustine: "As for those who are living in common (i.e., the monks), I need give no advice about divid- ing tithes or offerings among them, or hospit- ality, or works of mercy, since all that is not absolutely necessary for their support is to be distributed in religious and pious work" (Bede, E. H., 1-27). This letter was written to Au- gustine in answer to his request for advice on various matters, and the fact that Gregory re- frains from giving advice as to whether it would be wise for Augustine to adopt the quadripartite or fourfold division of tithes, prevalent then on the Continent, proves that Augustine intended to put the system into operation. Subsequent history proves that such was the case. I repeat my questions to "Churchman." I challenge him to prove from the New Testa- ment that an established Church is a Christian institution. I a,so challenge him to prove that the members of the Church of England are compelled by law to contribute against their own conscience towards the support of doctrines and sects which they do not believe in. Until he can do this he has no ground to stand upon.— Yours truly, ANTHROPOS. THE REV: D: ELLIS JONES AND THE FREE CHURCH COUNCIL OF ABER- CYNON. Sir,—Mr. Jones accuses me of evading the questions he has skilfully propounded. I would remind the rev gentleman that he started this controversy because he took exception to a statement I made, viz.: "That the Church of England is an alien church in Wales." Last week brought sufficient evidence to prove that the Church has never been the Church of the people of Wales. I mentioned the fact that the present position of the Church in Wales confirms the undisputable historical facts men- tioned by the Churchmen I quoted. What is the position of the Church in Wales to-day? Total population of Wales, 2,033,000; sittings provided by the Church of England, 460,000; sittings provided by the Free Churches, 1,568,000. In the Rhondda Valley there are about 60,000 Welsh-speaking people. The Church of England provides accommodation for only 2,000, while the Free Churches provide sit- tings for 60,000. What about Abercynon 1 There are over 2,000 Welsh-speaking people in Abercynon. The Welsh Free Churches have a membership of over 1,200, and provide sittings for over 2,000. What is the Church of England doing to meet the religious needs of the Welsh people in Aber- cynon? I fhink I am right when I say that not a single Welsh service is being held by the State Church. And yet the Church of England will call itself the National Church of Wales. In his letter, Mr. Jones does not bring a single argument to disprove my assertions, but hides the main issue which he himself raised behind a multitude of questions, which have but a re- mote relation to the point at issue. Mr. Jones is rather bold and loud in affirming that we mis- represent facts. Will he prove that the state- ments I have made are wrong?—Yours truly, MORGAN JENKINS. IRELAND: 'A DEFENCE AND AN APPEAL. Sir,—Might I be permitted to refer, through the medium of your columns, to a delusion which seems to exist in the minds of many of the people of Great Britain. I allude to the wrong opinion which exists here about the Irish people. Judging from the remarks which I frequently here, one who was not acquainted with the facts would come to the conclusion that Ireland is, and always has been. a land of ignoramuses, bigots and barbarians, who have no regard for law and order. It will doubt- less surprise some to learn that Ireland was a seat of learning, and was known all over Eu- rope as the "Island of Saints and Scholars" when Great Britain was unheard of. "We learn from Bede," says Lord Lyttleton, "that about the seventh century, members both of the noble and second rank of England left their country and retired to Ireland for the sake of studying theology or leading there a stricter life, and all these, he affirmed, the Irish most willingly received and maintained at their own charge, supplying them with books, and being their teachers without fee or reward, which is a most honourable testimony, not only to the learning, but also to the bounty of that nation." Mosbeim writes: "The Irish wtore lovers of learning, and distinguished themselves in those days of ignorance beyond all other European nations." Statistics show that Ireland is freer from crime, in proportion to the population, than any other part of the United Kingdom. Mr. Asquith said recently in the House of Com- mons that there was no place in His Majesty's dominions where the people have so much re- spect for the law as in Ireland." Mr. Birrell, one of the most impartial and broad-minded of politicians, has truly said that if the same laws that were in operation in Ireland were introduc- ed into England far worse crimes would be com- mitted in this country than were ever commit- ted in Ireland. Ireland has not been lacking in great men. Not only was Edmund Burke the greatest orator that ever spoke in the British House of Commons, but he was, in the opinion of English biographers, the greatest orator the world has ever seen, Demosthenes not even exoepted. Although Burke's lot was cast at a time when the "English Demosthenes" was at his best, Lord Macaulay describes Burke as "the greatest man then living" The names of Moore, CConi-ell, Emmett, Tone, and others, scarcely less illustrious, but too numerous to mention, would do honour to any nation. Nor has the bravery of Irishmen been less effulgent on the battlefield than their brilliancy in de- bate. The record of the Duke of Wellington would compare favourably with that of any other general that ever led a British Army. What country has yet produced men more vali- ant than those who decided the day at Fontenoy or who fought from Dunkirk to Belgrade? What other part of the United Kingdom has produced comparatively more commanders-in- chief that led armies to victory on land and sea than Ireland? Have not Irishmen distin- guished themselves in every path of life from that of Prime Minister of England down to that of a common soldier? And has not Ireland contributed her fair share in men and money to make England what she is—the most pow- erful of nations? The truth is that given a "fair field and no favour" the Irish are inferior to no people under the sun, and like the Germans, they fear nothing except God. The fact that Irishmen who have failed to obtain a livelihood in their own land. and have succeeded in other countries is a proof that English rule is not I the best for Ireland. The Irish, because they want Homo Rule, are considered by some to be rebels. What country was ever content with alien rule? Aus- tralia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, were given Home Rule; and, of course, the United States took it. Is it illogical to infer that what is good for these countries would be good also for Ireland? But there is a reason stronger than any I have yet mentioned why Ireland should be given self-government. Ire- land had self-government and flourished while she had it. It was not the wish of the Irish people that their Parliament was united to that of Great Britain. Ireland became subservient to England by open and undisguised bribery, fake promises, and broken treaties. "There was never," said the late Mr. W. E. Gladstone, "in the long story of wrong a blacker trans- action to soil the pages of history than that by which Ireland's charter of liberty was destroy- ed and strangled in 1800." Was Mr. Gladstone a rebel? The late Prime Minister, too, always maintained that no country could govern an- other so well as that country could govern it- self, There are those, of course, who hold that Ireland is not yet civilized enough to have Home Rule. Is Ireland less civilized now than she was during the Irish Parliament which existed from 1782 to 1800, which "made for the progress of the people along the lines of in- tellectual, artistic, and social advance, for which there is no parallel in Europe? If so. then Ire- land has not gained much by the Act of Union. But granted, for the sake of argument, that Ireland is not a civilized country (which, of course, is not true) that is no reason why she should not be given Home Rule, for, read the words of Lord Macaulay. "Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim. If men are to wait for liberty until they become wise and good in slavery they may indeed wait for ever." The Irish are certainly not a bigoted people as shown by tho fact that all over the country the members of the elected assemblies are I chosen irrespective of religion. It is absurd to say that "three and a quarter million Paptisti 1 are waiting for an opportunity to cut the throats of the 'loyal' minority" when some of the most enlightened Protestants, like Mr Swift MacNeil, M.P., are staunch Home Rulers. The only places in Ireland where crime is plentiful and intolerance does exist are those in which the self-styled loyalists are in the majority, as de- monstrated by Belfast and Portadown. Irish- men have the greatest respect for every one who has respect for himself. To say that in the event of Ireland getting Home Rule the law-abiding citizens would be at the mercy of the village waster and the blackthorn is non- sense. Could criminals not be as effectivelv punished by laws made in Dublin as by laws made in London? So much for the Irish. Before concluding, I should like to refer to some of the characteristics of tho inhabitants of Great Britain, though I fear I have already tres- passed too much on your hospitality. I have not a few times heard it asserted that Brltonsr are an intelligent and an enlightened people. But when one hear3 men not confined within the walls of a lunatic asylum say that tho Lib- eral and Labour Parties have no money, and are, therefore, not capable of making laws foff the country, there is grave reason to doubt tj** veracity of that assertion. Many who clan* for Protection have no more conception of Protection means than the old world had of the "blessed word Mesopotamia." All they know about it is that that Mr Balfour, who ought to have been born in Greece 400 vears befotnf Christ, prescribes it as a panacea- for all ilk; and they believe him. Some take so little inter- est in politics that they could not tell the name of their own Parliamentary representative. If Britons would use their heads as often as they use their stomachs they would not be the dupes e ^ei^°PPressor3- nor made to plav the rola of the Chinese pelican. Some, indeed, do use 61i J "eads> but for a useless purpose. They oould tell you the names of all those who have distinguished themselves on the football fielcr for the last ten years, or the names of the horses that have won the Derby or the Grand National, but they could not tell you the name of the present Prime Minister It ought to be plain to any one that the Conservative Party is the landlord party, whose interest it is to op- press the poorer classes, and that if any party' I is going to pass laws to benefit the democracy that party must be anti-Conservative. The late Prime Minister aptly described the Tory Party when he said that it was like the mule, it had neither nride of ancestry nor hope of progeny. The Welsh are, speaking generally, more intel- ligent than the English. There is not in Wales a spot on which a political reactionist can rest the sole of his foot. Nor have the men of Cam- bria so short memories as their neighbours., Welshmen have not forgotten the pass to wnich Mr. Balfour led this country a few years ago. Unfortunately for Ireland there is at the head of affairs a leader who is not so friendly, to that country as his more popular predecessor. But all true Irishmen anxiously await the day when the progressive forces will be led in the House of Commons by a Premier inferior to none that ever held that exalted office. The name of that man i £ Mr. Winston Churchill.— Yours faithfully, A POLICE CONSTABLB, | South Wales. ( ==================== I
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. j
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. j Temperature in London on Saturday readMrifc ¡' 130 in the sun. Sir Donald Curve's estate has been sworn i at £ 2,377,052 grots. Mr. George Meredith's ashes were buried j at Dorking on Saturday. I Father Lawrence, a Franciscan friar, has I been found dead in his bed at Forest Gate. William Smith, the last survivor of the Bif* kenbead disaster, has died in Banbury Work- house. During work at Altofts Collieries, Norman- ton, a boy of 14 was decapitated by loaded waggons. Mr. Fredk. Gorringe, the well-known draper, left 2400,000 of his fortune of L617,000 to charities. Damage to the extent of £ 20,000 has been caused by fire at the Washingtown Chemical Works, Gateshead. A wagtail has built its nest in a beehive at West Ashby, Lincolnshire. The bees are by no means disturbed. A reprieve has been granted to Oscar Slater, condemned to death for the murder of Miss Gilchrist at Glasgow. Tolstoy's publisher has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment in a fortress for issuing the Count's pamphlets. L The German Press comments caustically on recent British scare stories, and expresses the hope for more friendly relations. Mr. D. Lleufer Thomas has been appointed stipendiary magistrate of Pontypridd in succes- sion to the late Mr. Arthur Lewis. Fines amounting to JB176 were inflicted at Hayward's Heath on Monday on twenty motor- ists for exceeding the speed limit. An agreement with the Admiralty for the use of Dundee as a naval base has been signed by the harbour trustees of that town. Visits to Buckingham Palace to see the King and to the Tower were the chief events of Monday's programme of our German guests. Fire broke out on Tuesday among some oil and waste on a goods train running near Bris- tol One of the men in charge was badly burnt. In the House of Lords on Monday, a BiD for the registration of van dwellers was read a second time and referred to a Select Com- mittee.. While being conveyed to Bristol by train a • prisoner got out on the footboard, and after a struggle with the officer in charge, fell off and was killed. Lord Charles Beresford states that there are far too many aliens in British ships to be safe if we are called on to defend ourselves in a sudden war. Princess Christian opened on Saturday tlíe new buildings at Hampstead of the National Society's Training College for Teachers of Do- mestic Subjects In Hyde Park on Saturday a meeting wM held to promote the interests of the National Volunteer Reserves, a. force recently organised by Colonel C. Ford, V.D. The German Social Democratic Party haa decided not to take part in the welcome to seventeen British Labour M.P.'s who are go- ing to Berlin early in June. "County Court3 have hardly time to try any more of them," said counsel on Monday in reply to Judge Sutton, who inquired why an action involving a small claim was to be heard in the High Court. Commenting on the reception of the Berlin: Councillors in London, the Berlin "Tageblatt" says that the only remedy for the existing Anglo-German distrust is an agreement for a limitation of naval expenditure. At a Clapham Common demonstration off Sunday the National Union of Clerks protested against the conditions of clerical life. One speaker said he had seen advertisements xaiin for shorthand clerks from 6s. per week. The House of Commons on Tuesday passed the tobacco duty and petrol tax resolutions on the Report stage. An amendment to exempt Irish-grown tobacco, and one for a full petrol tax rebate for commercial vehicles and omni- buses were defeated. General Tyler, at a meeting of the Clamor- pan Chamber of Agriculture at Cardiff on Saturday, said Irish farmers, although badly off, were able to produce the best horses in the world, and yet Glamorgan could not supply 50 horses for the Territorial Army. An order for a cargo steamer of 7.500 tons for Belgium has been received by the Green- ock and Grangemouth Dockyard Company. Messrs. Russell and Co., of Port Glasgow, have received an order for a 400ft. steamer for the LyJe Shipping Company, London. At the oourt-martial of Fleet Paymaster Ward, of the cruiser "Indomitable," at Chat- ham, the Court acquitted him of the charge of neglecting to take precautions for the care of the public money, but severely reprimanded him for not always keeping the safe keys in hia personal custody. Speaking at Manchester on Saturday night, Mr. Churchill announced that the proposed sy- tem of compulsory insurance against unemploy- ment in certain trades would be extended, and the Government would be willing in the case of an individual workman or a group of workmen to do all that was possible to assist any scheme of voluntary insurance. The Archbishop of Canterbury, and afterwards Canon C. F. Norman, presided over the annual general court of the Incorporated Church Build- ing Society. Mr. Joseph Monday, the secre- tary, presented the annual report. This show- ed an income oi E6,998 including £1,152 in dividends and £1,756 in legacies. The society had graned E3,385 for 30 new churches, 2570 for the rebuilding of five churches, £ 1,980 for enl^ywiK »r otherwise improving 49 churches, and xlt&u for S3 missies buildings. Since its forr~>iitC the Society tnd made grants of 2926,851, leading to a further expenditure on the part of the public of £ 16,978,453. By this means 2,565 new churches had been built, and 6,595 enlarged and improved. Of the 2,000,000 additional seats obtained about three-fourths were free. The 84 parishes and districts aided in the past year had a population of 447,790, and the accommodation would be increased from 32,203 to 48,915. Printed and published by the Proprietor. Haeb* WOOD SO-CTHET, at Glebeland-street, Merthye Tydfil, May 29th, 1909.
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