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PEMBROKE AND TENBY RAILWAY.1
PEMBROKE AND TENBY RAILWAY. 1 The nineteenth ordinary half-yearly meeting of the shareholders was held at the Town Hall, Tenby, on Thursday, the 25th ult. There were present-Mr W. Owen, Witbybush (chairman); Mr C. Allen, Tenby Mr F. L. Clark, Pembroke; Mr G. Mathias, Tenby Mr G. White, Tenby Mr Jonas Dawkins, Pembroke Dr Chater, Tenby Dr Mausel, Pembroke Mr L.id; Davies, Llandinam Mr Ezra Roberts, Tenby Rev. R. J. H. Thomas, Hodgeston Mr W. Hulm, Pembroke Capt. W. Rees, Tenby Mr W. H. Lewis, Pembroke- dock Mr Phelps, Tenby Capt. Wells, Penally; Mr Teasdale, Pembroke-dock Mr T. Thomas, Tenby Capt. James Cocks, Pembroke-dock Capt. Evans, Tenby and Mr Joseph Moore, Pembroke-dock. Mr Stokes, the secretary, and Mr Smedley, the accountant and traffic manager, were also present. Mr Stokes read the notice convening the meeting, and also the following report of the directors:—"The directors have the pleasure of laying before the share- holders a full statement of accounts drawn out in ac- cordance with forms required by the Act passed in the last Sessions of Parliament, entitled the Regulation of Railways Act,' and in referring to the various state- ments congratulate them upon the increased value of their property, as shown by the amount left available for division by the lessees. The report of the engineer shows that the permanent way, bridges, &c., together with the rolling stock are maintained in satisfactory repair. A Bill will be introduced into Parliament in the ensuing Session by the Whitland and Taf Vale Railway Company for constructing a railway from Whitland to the Crymmych Arms, in this county, and as such cannot fail to be a valuable feeder to your rail- way as opening oat a district in which a large traffic in lime, slates, lead, ores, and other minerals will be developed, the directors have given their assent to it. A Bill will also be brought before Parliament in the course of the ensuing Session by the Llanelly Railway and Dock Company, for obtaining, amongst other things, powers to use and run over your line, whicfi Bill will be watched, and, if necessary, opposed by your directors. Under the arrangement with the lessees a dividend for the past half-year at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum on the preference and ordinary shares becomes payable on the 25th of March next, and will be paid on that day at the London and County Bank, or the Bank of the Provincial Banking Company, Pembroke." Appended to this report were the financial statements showing the position of the company. The revenue account showed that the receipts during the half-year ended 31st December were Y,12,278 4a 3d and the ex- penditure £4,241 8s 8d leaving a balance of £ 8,036 15a 7d available for dividends. Following the accounts were the following certificates Certificate respecting Permanent Way, §c.—I hereby certify that the whole of the Company's Permanent Way, Stations, Buildings, and other Works have, dur- ing the past half-year, been maintained in good work- ing condition and repair.—J. W. SZLUMPEB, Engineer. —Feb. 17th, 1869. Certificate respecting Rolling Stock.-I hereby certify that the whole of the Company's Plant, Engines, Tenders, Carriages, Wagons, Machinery, and Tools, have during the past half-year, been maintained in good working order and repair.—J. W. SZLUMPER, En. gineer.—Feb. 17th, 1869. Auditors' Certificate. We hereby certify that the half-yearly accounts contain a full and true statement of the financial position of the company, and that the dividend proposed to be declared, is bona fide due.— ROBERT GREENISH, JOHN PHELPS, Auditors.-Pem- broke-dock, Feb. 17th, 1869. The Chairman said-As the accounts have been so lately in your hands, I think it unnessary for Mr Stokes to go through them, but if any of you wish to look over them we will wait a few minutes for that purpose. [After waiting a moment or two the Chairman con- tinued :] Since the last half-yearly meeting. the direc- tors of this Company, as well as of every other railway company in the kingdom, have been required by Act of Parliament to publish a list of the shareholders in the Company-that is, a list of the ordinary share- holders and also of the preference and debenture holders. That list is now with the Secretary, and if any of you wish to have a copy you can have one by paying a small sum, the fees directed by Act of Parliament. The directors are not only required to publish a list of the shareholders, but also the particulars of accounts. The object of that is no doubt a very good one; for the accounts will show whether the dividends declared are fictitious or not. The shareholders can now, by looking at what has been the expenditure and what the revenue, satisfy themselves upon that point. By exa- mining the accounts we have published you will I think have cause for congratulation (hear, hear.) We shall be very happy to give any explanation as to any of the items of accounts, but as you have the printed accounts in your hands it would be a waste of time for me to read them through. It would be well perhaps to ex- plain this, that so far as the capital accounts are con- cerned the directors are responsible to you for every item. Every item has gone through their hands, and no single item has been placed to that account except by them. So far, therefore, I think you may rest satis. fied that your property has been well protected (hear, hear.) So far as the revenue account is concerned, you know that the contractors—Messrs. Davies and Roberts —have guaranteed from that account a dividend of five per cent. upon the ordinary shares of the Company, and so much upon the preference shares and debenture stock, and^they have very liberally published their accounts and laid them before you (hear, hear.) We have no right to ask them for an account of their re- ceipts, but they have been no doubt anxious to show that their accounts and the dividends to be declared are bona fide (hear, hear.) The auditors have gone through the accounts seriatim, and have satisfied themselves that they are a true statement of the receipts and expendi- ture. That was done for this reason, that the contrac- tors were desirous that the Chairman of the Company should sign the accounts to fortify themselves. It was necessary that they should be gone through very care- fully before the Chairman put his name to them, cer- tifying them to be correct, and so far as we can see, they are correct. As I have said, the auditors have gone through their accounts, and before I put my name to them I had this certificate from the auditors :—" We hereby certify that the half-yearly accounts contain a true and full statement of the financial position of the Company, and that the dividend is bona fide (hear, hear.) It will now be necessary for me to call your at- tention to the increase of the traffic over your line. What surprises me more than all is to find that during the last half-year there has been an increase of 1,216 first-class passengers over and above the number con- veyed over the line in the corresponding half of last year (hear, hear.) That is to me very unexpected, for I had no idea that the first-class passengers would have increased to that extent. The second and third-class passengers have not increased to the same extent. However, the large increase in the number of first-class passengers speaks well for the prosperity of Tenby, for it shows that a class of people come here with money in their pockets to spend amongst you (hear, hear.) Well, then, as to the increase of the goods and merchandise traffic. The increase in these has been even more in proportion to the gross revenue than the increase in the passenger returns. The increase in merchandise has partly arisen in this way. You know we have entered into a contract with the Government to carry coals over our line to the Haven for shipment, and also to carry plates from Sheffield. Since that contract has been entered into they have had those things conveyed over our line, and consequently there has been an in- crease in the receipts of XI,683 as compared with the corresponding half of last year (hear, hear.) That was in goods only remember, (hear, hear.) I think I may congratulate you, and you may congratu- late yourselves, upon the improvement of your property —that your line is going on progressing (hear, hear). At the last half-yearly meeting there was a good deal of dissatisfaction expressed as to the running of passen- gers through from Whitland to Carmarthen, passengers coming through from the North of England having to stop at Carmarthen, to go the Junction, and change carriages there again before coming on to Whitland. That of course caused considerable delay. We then ex- plained that that arose from circumstances over which we had no control. Since then we have made an ar- rangement with the Great Western Company, which pro- hibited us from carrying passengers between Whitland and Carmarthen. Now, however, we are in a position to be more independent, and we have given them notice that we are not to be prohibited much longer (hear, hear). We have given the Great Western Company notice, and from the 1st of May passengers will be able to go from Tenby to London without getting out of the carriage, and also to Liverpool and North Wales, and in fact all over the kingdom (hear, hear). The whole country will be open to you (hear, hear). I think you gentlemen of Tenby ought to be very proud of this, for it is certainly a matter ot congratulation to you (hear, hear). Let us be quite independent and free, and we shall be able to afford greater facilities for travelling. We shall be in a position to offer greater facilities to passengers travelling to the West of England, as well as to the whole of the Northern districts (hear, hear). And now I must tell you that a bill has been introduced into Parliament to make a line of railway from Whitland through the northern parts of Pembrokeshire to a place called the Crymmych Arms. Notice to that effect has been served upon this company, and the directors have not hesitated to grant their consent (hear, hear.) No doubt that railway will add to the traffic over the Pembroke and Tenby line but the traffic that they will get from our line will be much greater than we shall get from theirs. We can- not of course expect that the traffic in slates from their line will be so great as the traffic in lime from this line (hear, hear.) However, we are very happy to afford every facility we can to improve railway com- munication through the country (hear, hear.) Another bill, I may tell you, has been brought before Parliament by the Lianelly Railway and Dock Company. That company attempts to make great encroachments upon the Pembroke and Tenby line. They want to go so far as to run over our line without paying anything at all for the accommodation (laughter.) Of course we cannot consent to that, but have determined to oppose the bill before the committee of the House of Commons. We are not obstructives, and du not want to prevent any traffic from coming into the country, but we cannot stand, or rather, I should say, we cannot sit down and leave any advantage go from us (hear, hear.) And now, gentlemen, the only part of our report about which there is no difficulty and to which there can be no objection, is that part which says you are to receive on the 25th of March a dividend of five per cent. upon the ordinary shares of the company, and also upon the pre- ference shares and debenture stock. There certainly can be no objection to that (laughter.) I now move that the report be received and adopted. The motion was seconded by Mr Clark and agreed to unanimously. Mr Clark moved that a dividend of five per cent. be declared upon the ordinary shares, the preference shares, and the debenture stock of the company. This was seconded by Mr G. Mathias, and also unani- mously agreed to. Capt. Wells-I think, looking at the report and the chairman's statement, that the proprietors cannot but be satisfied but there is one thing I want to ask. I should like to know whether it is intended to improve some of the stations on the line. The one at Tenby is any- thing but what it ought to be, and you must admit that the Tenby station is a most important one (hear, hear.) The Chairman-I quite admit that the station at Tenby is not what it ought to be, but you must remem- ber that in the first place the line was run upon the lower level, and if we had built a passenger station there the building after the line was opened to Whitland would have been so much money wasted. There is a great deal of excavation and work to be done where the new station is intended to be, and there is not sufficient space there to make the fine station we :intend to make at Tenby (hear, hear). Capt W ells-That is almost the same answer as I have had for two or three years. The Chairman-Have you any complaint to make of the station at Penally ? (Laughter.) Capt Wells-No; but we want a siding there, which I hear we are going to have shortly. Mr Dawkins-I have heard that we axe to have a sta- tion at Kingsbridge-road instead of the present station at the upper end of Pembroke. I think it would pay this Company to build such a station, for people have so far to walk to the east end to be taken on to Pembroke Dock, that they say, Well, as we have so far to walk to the station, we may as well walk to Pembroke Dock." (hear, hear). I know many persons do so and am sure that if a station were built nearer the west end the Company would be benefited (hear, hear). The Chairman-The directors have done all they could. As you are aware they have gone to the expense of an Act of Parliament, in which powers for erecting a new station at Pembroke were taken. They were obliged to do so for they were opposed by the people of Pembroke—the owners of the land—who asked exorbi. tant sums for their interest. We felt at first that the present station was not in the great thoroughfare but we met with such oppositions from the people of Pem- broke-I don't say that Mr Dawkins was one of those who opposed us, but he knows that we did not have much encouragement from the public body; and in fact we met with so much opposition that we were compelled to put the station where it is (hear, hear). If it had not been for the Pembroke people the station would have been down in the main road Unfortunately there was an omission in the Act of Parliament, and we have had to take fresh powers, and when we have more money you shall see the station at Pembroke in a better place (hear, hear). Mr Dawldns- I will now repeat the question I asked some time ago about the continuation of telegraph wires from Tenby to Pembroke Dock. It would not be of much advantage to me, for I should not use it much, but to a large number of persons in Pembroke and Pem- broke Dock it would be of great advantage. The Chairman-That is entirely a matter of pounds shillings and pence. If you can get up a little company at Pembroke and Pembroke Dock, and induce the people to take a sufficient number of shares for the pur- pose, we should be very happy to allow you to lay the telegraph wires over the line. That is work that the railway company cannot undertake. Mr Dawkins—It must be done by a private company ? The Chairman—Yes. Dr. Mansel-Have you contemplated a site for the new station at Pembroke. The Chairman—We have power to take ground down by the main road. Mr D. Davies-We have bought the land and paid for it. However, I may tell you that I took some very great authorities from the north to look at the site, and they were of opinion that it is not the best place for the station. In fact they think the present station is in the best place. The station down by the main road would be on a high bank, and people would have to go up a flight of stpp3 to get to the line. Still, we intend to build a better station at Pembroke, and are only wait- ing to decide whether the present or the new site is the bes Mr Clark-No doubt the inconvenience Mr Davies mentioned would be very great but the question is, whether the saving of ground in walking to the station would more than counterbalance that inconvenience. (Hear, hear.) Mr Davies—You might shorten the distance to the present station by making a road at the bridge, thus cutting off the angle. Mr Dawkins-l have no interest in the matter, but simply speak in the interest of the people of Pembroke, who are at present greatly inconvenienced. Mr T. H. Lewis-I think Pembroke Dock should also have some consideration. It is the most important place you have, inasmuch as the great increase in the traffic on your line is due to Pembroke Dock and the Dock-yard. (Hear, hear.) I think we should have a better station there, the present being very paltry and altogether inadequate to the requirements of the town. If there be any possibility of improving the present station, I am sure it would be of great advantage not only tothe inhabitants of Pembroke Dock, but to the Com- pany as well. (Hear, hear.) I have little to say about the station at Pembroke, but I think, if it be possible to move that station nearer to Pembroke Dock you would have more passengers travelling over your line, and the increased revenue would in a short time cover the expense of moving the station. (Hear, hear). I do not know whether you intend moving the station at Pembroke-Dock into the town, or leaving it where it is? The Chairman—Our Bill enables us to go to Hobb's Point, but whether we shall take the line to the Dock- yard, or down the other way, has not yet been deter- mined upon. It would, therefore, be a waste of money to build a passenger station at one place, and after- wards move it to another..That is the only reason why the passenger station at Pembroke Dock has not been completed. Mr T. H. Lewis-Then you think we shall have the line extended to Hobb's Point in a short time, and that passengers will be taken there ? The Cbairman-I think so. Mr Teasdale-If you were to make a stage for ship- ping coal there, we should have the line-of-battle ships there [hear, hear.] There has lately been an order from the Admiralty to take soundings at Newton Noyes with the view to coaling vessels there, but it has been stated that there are only seventeen feet there at low water therefore the vessels will not go there. If we were to provide a stage, we should have them to take coal at Pembroke Dock instead. Mr Clark-I presume there is as much water at the pier as they have at Neyland. Mr Teasdale-There is plenty of water at the pier at all states of the tide. We only want a stage. Mr D. Davies-We have only twenty-seven miles of railway, and seeing that large companies are coming here, it is too bad that they should not contribute towards the stage, and other works required for the traffic. If those with 200 miles of railway come here and reap the advantage, it is too bad that the 27 miles should go to the expense (bear, hear.) That is why we have been holding back. We don't want to damage the ordinary shares, though we have not now so much interest in them as we had, because we have sold a lot of them since the last meeting. There are, therefore, others whose interests must be considered besides our own. Mr Barrow is a large shareholder, and it will be necessary to consult him (hear, hear.) I thought he would have been here to-day, but particular business calls him to London, or he would have been here. I do not feel so free to speak as formerly, but those are my views on the matter. Other lines are coming here, and of course they will be interested in getting the traffic on that side of the Haven. It would cost us L15,000 or Y,17,000 to take the line to the water for mineral traffic only. The Chairman thinks it should be a passenger line as well, but on that point there is a difference of opinion. I don't think people would like to go to Hobb's Point and then walk back to the town. I don't think we want to make that a passenger line. The Chairman-We want both. Mr Davies-But I don't see that both will pay. If you see your way out of the difficulty, well and good; but I think you must have the passenger station in Pembroke-Dock. Mr Teasdale—I think a passenger station at Hobb's Point would be no good. It would be worse than the station at Pemlroke. People would never walk from Pembroke-Dock to Hobb's Point in order to be taken to Pembroke (hear, hear). The Chairman—I don't think there is any occasion for a passenger station at Hobb's Point, but I think it should be a passenger line, so that persons coming from Neyland might get upon the line at once (hear, hear). Mr Teasdale—The line would be useful, for we might perhaps get some persons to start a couple of steamers to Ireland. Mr D. Davies-With regard to the station at Tenby, I might state the reason why we have not built a per- manent station there. It is our intention to cut that lump away by the present station, and make a flat and good road into the town. I expect that the rock will be cut away in about two years, and then I think the company will be in a position to give the people of Tenby the fine station they deserve. I don't say this because the people have subscribed so liberally in Pem- brokeshire towards the line (laughter.) I think we could afford to have one station every year but now as the great companies are coming here they will no doubt build fine stations. We have spent all our money, or I should be very happy to see better stations but I must look to my pocket now a little (laughter.) I should be very happy to see fine stations, and I have no doubt you will have one here. Tenby is a very fine place, and no doubt a fine station will come here in time, and to other places as well (hear, hear). Capt. Wells—I thought it would not take two years to cut the rock away ? Mr Davies-Yes, to cut it and carry it away. With regard to the increase in the goods and mineral traffic, the Chairman has I think overlooked the fact that a very large portion of the receipts has been from the lime sent over the line. There has been a greater in- crease from the lime traffic than from coal or any other traffic. The Chairman-I thought I did speak of lime but, however, the increase has arisen from the carriage of merchandise of all kinds. Mr Teasdale-No less than four thousand tons of shipping have gone from Pembroke-Dock to Car- diff, because we have no facilities at Pembroke-Dock for the shipment of coal. Those parties would have been very glad to have come to Pembroke-Dock if they could have been accommodated (hear, hear.) The usual votes of thanks to the Chairman, directors, and officers of the Company brought the proceedings to a close.
DISSENTERS AND THE IRISH CHURCH.I
DISSENTERS AND THE IRISH CHURCH. The Hon. W. H. Yelverton has called our attention to the following address which he wrote and circulated in the late election, and requests us to reproduce it at this moment, with an article from the Standard in which the same views are advocated. HON. W. H. YELVERTON'S ADDRESS. ) Fel Low- Protestants, I beg of you to ponder well whether you will aid a desperate and unprincipled poli- tici.m. and his associates in their attempt to plunder and destroy the Irish Church. Have you seriously thought who it is they would despoil P Perhaps you imagine it is the ministers and clergy alone against whom they raise their sacrilegious hands. If you so imagine, you are clearly wrong. It is not the Clergy, but the Laity— the poor, to whom the property of the church belongs. The clergy are but the ministry of the Established Church of England, just as your preachers are the ser- vants of your various sects; they are paid teachers of your doctrines—the doctrines of the Laity who compose the sect so are the Pastors and masters of the Esta- blished Church the servants of that Church. The pro- perty which Mr Gladstone seeks in the name of the people of England, but really for his own purposes, to seize on, is the property of the laity that property which has been in days gone by given, and which is every day being given for the use of the Church, and to supply its spiritual wants, has been so given by pious men for pious purposes. If it is taken away, the good and charitable Christain followers of the Church of the Reformation will have once more to supply the means of supporting their adopted Church. And, however, they may deplore the wrong done, they will not hesitate to make the necessary sacrifice. For, be assured, that although the sacrilegious attempt to rob the Established Church should succeed, that Church, which has the blessing of God on it, will not fall. You will never accomplish your sectarian design to annihilate it. It will arise and endure in spite of the blow so trea- cherously aimed at it by its fellow-Protestant Christians. But it will rise again with bitter recollections that it has been betrayed by those who should have stood by it in its hour of trial. Heretofore the Church of England has been the friend and protector of the Dissenters. They will now have to fight their battle alone, a disjointed and dishevelled band, against the united, well-organised, and all-powerful throne of the Pope and the whole army of the Church of Rome, and who may be called their natural enemies who brand them with the undying curse of heresy, and who believe that their own salva- tion depends on the conversion to Christian principles of all who differ from them. Again, I eay, ponder well before you decide to march under the banners of the despoilers of the Established Church. Ireland and Eng- land are one, gainsay it who will. They own a fealty to the one Church. They will not sever themselves, but march hand-in-hand to victory or death. Again, I say, in the name of justice and honour, truth, honesty, and Christian faith, stay your hands from off your neigh- bours' property, and that property devoted to the Ser- vice of God. ARTICLE FROM THE STANDARD." It is not difficult to show that the pleas of "justice to Ireland" and "religious equality" do not justify or require disestablishment; and that, if they did, they would require much more. But, at all events, the Radical reasoning on this point is plausible and specious, and the matter is one that admits of argu- ment and of honest difference of opinion. But the case is very different when the same pleas are advanced to excuse spoliation -or, as it is called by a euphemism, which shows that those who employ it are half ashamed of their work, "disendowment." Religious equality can no more require that the Church should be strip- ped of property than political equality requires the confiscation of all private estates. So clear is this that the Liberals are obliged to conceal the nature of their proposals by one of the most nakedly false and un- founded assertions that ever was introduced into political controversy. They affirm-they never attempt to prove-that the Church has no property of her own. Mr Bright and his associates talk of that part of the national property which is assigned to the Established Church," and Mr Gladstone borrows and repeats an allegation which, however often challenged, he has never dared to support by a single fact or a single argument. We have seen, and we expect to see, the shadow of an attempt to substantiate the allegation that Church endowments are national property. We have ourselves repeatedly undertaken to demonstrate the contrary, without encountering a real or even a pretended reply. We have, therefore, to discover for ourselves on what shadow of reason or misapprehension of fact the allegation may be supposed to rest. It has sometimes been said that tithes were granted by the State. But this is historically untrue. They were originally imposed by the spiritual authority of the Church, and their obligation was a matter of con- science it was subsequently confirmed by custom, recognized by law, and acknowledged by statutes and charters which professed to regulate an existing, not to create a novel right. Tithe is of the nature of a re- served rent, resting partly on actual grants and partly on immemorial prescription. Some considerable parts of the property of the Irish Church were granted by the Crown. But these grants were of the nature of absolute gifts, not of revocable pensions; they were strictly analogous to the grants of land to individuals, which are the foundations of most private titles, and the State has no more right to revoke the one than to resume the other. Some very ignorant people say that the State asserted the national character of the Church property when it seized the estates and endowments of the Roman Catholic Church, and transferred a portion of them to the Protestant Church. But this is one of those exhibitions of historical ignorance which render certain Liberal journals so exceedingly ridiculous in the eyes of educated men. There never was any such seizure or transfer as is supposed. The endowments of the Church of England in times anterior to the Reformation, were divided into two main portions. Those which belonged to the secular, diocesan, and parochial clergy, and those which had been appropriated by the monasteries. By far the greater part of the former was left in the hands of the rightful owners so much as was confiscated was taken from them by might, and with no pretence of right, The monastic endowments were confiscated when the monasteries were dissolved. The State determined that these cor.. porations should cease to exist, and their property, left without owners by the decease of the corporate pro- prietor, lapsed, of course, to the Crown. There was no transfer from one Church to another. The present Church of England is the Church of Langton and his successors its severance from the Roman see in no way interrupted its spiritual or temporal identity, in the reign of Henry VIII., any more than its frequent dis- putes with Rome, as in the reign of John. Nay more; the Reformation was so gradual that no scholar, lawyer, or historian would undertake to fix a date before which the Church of England was, and after which it ceased to be, the same in creed, character and position that it was under the Plantagenets. What took place was a change within the Church, not an abolition of one church and creation of another the offices, the omcera, the clergy, and the laity remained the same. Nothing, then, that took place under Henry VII., Edward, or Elizabeth. affords a nrecedent for tbA nro- posed confiscation, or a pretext for asserting that church property is national property. Nor do more recent acts sustain that pretension. When Parliament substituted a rentcharge for tithe it acted precisely as it did when it commuted feudal dues for pecuniary payments in various cases, or when it prescribed means for the en- franchisement of copyhold. The State has always claimed the right to regulate the tenure of private pro- perty, and to modify the exercise of proprietary rights, subject to the obligation of making compensation to the owners and it commuted tithes in ecclesiastical just as it might have commuted them in private hands. It never pretended to any right to the property of the church other than it has in all property. The Liberals attempted to set up such a claim by the famous Ap- propriation Clause, and were compelled to abandon it. The Crown is, indeed, the Head of the Church; and, with the advice of Parliament, can modify its govern- I ment and its creeds but the Crown is not the owner of one acre of Church land or one pound of parochial tithe by virtue of that headship. The threatened dis- endowment of the church is not, therefore, analogous to the withdrawal of Ministers' money or of the grant to Maynootb. It stands just on the same footing as would the confiscation of the endowments of dissenting or Roman Catholic chapels and colleges and equality" requires that for every pound taken from the Irish Church another pound should be taken from each of the other religious bodies-from the Presbyterians and the Roman Catholics. If this would be sheer robbery, so is the proposed disendowment" of the church. But, Mr Gladstone says, we can be doing no wrong, because there is nobody to be wronged. Who is robbed ? Not the existing incumbents we secure their life interests. Not future incumbents they have no right as yet. Not the owners of advowsons they will have the value of their patronage. No, none of these but those for whose benefit the endowments were bestowed and the churches built; for whom incum- bents exist, and for whose interest patrons are supposed to exercise their privilege-the laity of the church. For them this property was created for them glebes were granted and churches endowed from them you propose to take their own. The laity of the church have a right to worship in the parochial church of their ancestors to have the services of their religion per- formed decently in order to enjoy the ministrations of a clergyman. To provide them with these benefits the pious founders and benefactors" Royal and private, lay and ecclesiastical, built churches and gave lands and tithes. For them to provide for their religious comfort and spiritual welfare, these funds are held in trust. To take away the funds is to rob them, either of the spiritual services they now enjoy or of the money they must contribute in order to replace the confiscated funds. To compensate the patron is not to compensate the parishioners To save the life interest of the clergyman is not to mitigate or redress the. wrong in- flicted on the flock. A holds money in trust for B and C, and has a salary for performing the trust. Mr Glad- stone seizes the fund, and says, I wrong no one, for I continue to pay A his salary." B founded a hospital for the poor of the parish of F; Mr Gladstone confiscates the endowment, closes the building, and says, I am not a robber I pay the hospital staff their salaries for life." C leaves money for the education of his children their present tutor is dying on his death Mr Gladstone seizes the money, and says again, I have robbed no- body." If you have not if you have not injured the cestuis que trust because you have compensated the trustee if, having compensated the doctor, you are guiltless of having wronged the patients if,in confis- cating the education fund on the death of the tutor, you have done no wrong to the children-then, and only then, can it be truly said, that in forbearing to confis- cate the endowments of the Church till their present incumbents shall die you have cleared your conscience of the double crime of robbery and sacrilege, and are innocent of wrong towards the Protestant poor of Ire- land.
MR GLADSTONE'S IRISH CHURCH…
MR GLADSTONE'S IRISH CHURCH SCHEME. The Pall Mall Gazette says-In spite of the remark- able clearness and completeness with which Mr Glad- stone drew out his proposals, they are, from the neces- sity of the case, sufficiently complicated to make it use- ful to state their main features before proceeding to com- ment on them. First, then, as to disestablishment. This will be total but not immediate. It will take effect finally on a day to be named in the Act, and which it is at present pro- posed to fixed for the 1st of January, 1871. On that day the ecclesiastical courts will be abolished, the eccle- siastical laws will cease to have any authority, the bishops will be no longer Peers of Parliament, and all the ecclesiastical corporations in the country will be dissolved During the interval between the passing of the bill and the date of disestablishment certain provisional arrange- ments will be in force. Vacancies in the clerical staff of the Irish Church will be filled up as they arise, but the appointments will confer no vested interests. In the case of bishoprics these appointments will only be made on the prayer of the bishops of the province for the consecration of a particular person in the case of Crown livings the recommendation of the ecclesiastical authorities will, as far as possible, be attended to. The Crown will exercise its powers ministerially, and with the sole view of faciliating the winding up of the existing establishment. Secondly, as to disendowment. Technically and legally this will be total and immediate. A Commission will be appointed, the members of which will be named in the bill and in this Commission the entire property of the Irish Church will vest from the day on which the measure receives the Royal assent. When however, the property comes to be dealt with by this Commission a distinction will be made between public and private endowments. The former, including everything in the nature of a State grant or a State reserve, will be resumed by the State the latter, which Mr Gladstone defines as money contributed from private sources since the year IfiGO, will be resorted to the disestablished Church. The value of the public endowments is estimated at £ 15,500,000 the value of the private endowments is put at £ 500,000. Thirdly, what is to be done with public-endowments ? First of all compensation has to be made to vested interests, including those connected with Maynooth College and the various communities of Presbyterians in receipt of the Regium Donum. Amongst vested in- terests, of course, the largest is that of incumbents. The amount of income to which each is entitled, deducting what he may have paid for curates, will be secured to him during his life, provided he continues to discharge the duties of his benefice. Under certain circumstances, this interest may upon his own applica- tion be commuted for a life annuity. As regards his glebe his position will not be interfered with during his life, except in the case of commutations. The tithe rent charge, however, will vest in the Commissioners at once, and without any life interest being interposed the faith of Parliament being pledged" to the payment of the whole proceeds to the clergy. On its passing into the hands of the Commissioners, the tithe rent charge will be sold to the landowners at twenty-two and a half years' purchase, it being left to their option whether to pay the money down or by forty-five annual instalments. The next class of interest is that of curates. In the case of permanent curates the deductions already made in calculating the income of incumbents will be calculted for their benefit, on the same principle and subject to similar conditions. Temporary curates will receive gratuities proportionate to the injury they may have sustained from the Act. Next will come lay compensations, the largest part of which will be absorbed by parish clerks and sextons. These payments, together with those due to the Presbyterian community and Maynooth College, and one or two smaller items, will amount on Mr Glad- stone's calculation, to about t,8,000,000. In this way about £ 7,500,000 will be left at the disposal of Par- liament. This will hp. annrnnriaf-pd mainlv to the relief of unavoidable calamity and suffering," but at the same time in a way which will not interfere with the obligation imposed upon property by the poor law. There is a particular class of "unvoidable calamity and suffering," which in Ireland is relieved not out of the poor rate, but out of the county cess, that is, out of a tax paid by the occupier alone, and levied upon tenements of even the lowdlt rental. In this class are comprised lunatics and idiots, and per. sons who are deaf, dumb, or blind. Of the Y,311,000 which is estimated to be the annual value of the endowments at the disposal of Parliament £ 235,000 will be devoted to the relief of these forms of suffer- ing. The remainder will be appropriated to county infirmaries, reformatories, and the maintenance of skilled nurses for the poor. When the affairs of the Established Church have been wound up, the Comis- sioners will report to the Queen that the objects immediately contemplated by the Act have all been provided for, and that such and such a surplus is available for these ulterior charitable purposes. Fourthly, as to private endowments. These are to be handed over to the disestablished Church, and the question at once arises who is to take them. Mr Glad- stone proposes to leave the answer to be found by the Church itself. In order to enable it to find one, all those legal disabilities under which it now labours in regard to synodical meeting will be at once removed. The Government presume" that as soon as this is done the bishops, clergy, and laity will proceed to con- stitute for themselves something in the nature of a governing body, and power will be given to the Queen in Council not to create such a body, but to recognize in when created. This recognition will be made to depend on one condition only-that the governing body shall fairly represent the bishops, clergy, and laity of the disestablished Church. So long as this condition is fulfilled the Crown will not concern itself with the question whether the governing body is well or ill devised. It must honestly represent the Irish Episco- palians, and that is all. Tais governing body will be incorporated tor the conduct of all the necessary negotiations with the Commission, and for the future management of the affaIrs of the religious community of which it is the representative. In this last respect it will be left absolutely free but until the ecclesiasti- cal laws now in force shall be altered by the voluntary act of the governing body they will be held to subsist in the nature of a voluntary contract and to be binding on clergy and laity. In this way the members of the disestablished Church will be started in life with the same provisions as to doctrine and discipline which they have hitherto lived under. If these are altered in any way, it must be by their own choice, excercised through a representative organization appointed by themselves. Fifthly, there remains a class of property not belong- ing, strictly speaking, to either private or public endowments. This consists of the churches and the glebe house. They are not private endowments, be- cause they have not been built by money contributed from private sources. They are not public endowments, because they are nearly valueless, except to their pre- sent possessors. It is proposed, therefore, to hand over the churches to the governing body of the disestablished Church on the simple declaration of that body that it intends to maintain them for the public worship or to take them down with a view of building others in their stead. In the case of churches not accepted by the governing body, the Commissioners will be empowered to dispose of the site and the building materials. Twelve churches which partake of the character of national monuments will be partially maintained by the Commission. Ruined churches possessing the same claim to regard will be handed over to the Board of Works, together with sufficient funds to admit of their proper preservation. The land upon which the glebe house is built, together with an adjacant piece not ex- ceeding ten acres in extent, will be offered to the governing body at a fair valuation, and the house itself will be thrown in on condition of the repayment of the building charges now outstanding in many instances which will previously have been paid by the Commis- sioners. The burial grounds belonging to a church will pass with it. Other burial grounds will be handed over to the guardians of the poor. Such is the main outline of this remarkable scheme. Whatever criticism in detail it may hereafter be subjec- ted to, it certainly cannot be charged with haste or incompleteness. It deals with all the questions which have been raised during the autumn and winter; and if it does not settle them, it at least lays down the prin- ciples on which they are to be settled hereafter. Its provisions offer little opportunity of damaging alteration in Committee, since, when total disestablishment and disendowment are postulated by the second reading, it will not be easy to restore them in substance without also restoring them in form. As there is little chance of the Liberal majority permitting this to be done it may fairly be said that the extent of front which Mr Gladstone exposes to the enemv constitutes, by a singular exception to the ordinary rule, a positive element of safety. The Times characterises Mr Gladstone's measure as a vast scheme. It deals with every branch of the ques- tion, and it was correctly described by Mr Gladstone as one of the largest proposals eversubmitted to a legislative assembly during a time of peaceful legislation. It must be added also that it is a scheme which as a whole fairly accomplishes the task before the Government, and deserves, as it will doubtless receive, the warm support of Parliament. It is a great and comprehensive work. The Standard, after acknowledging the skill of ex- pression and lucidity of exposition which characterised the Prime Minister's speech last night, observes that time and opposition have produced their usual effeets on Mr Gladstone's mind the lapse of a twelvemonth has developed" his views into an extremer form and into closer harmony with those of his more violent fol- lowers. He is evidently worse disposed towards the Church than he was when he introduced his notorious Resolutions. The Telagraph does not so much criticise Mr Glad- stone's measure as eulogize Mr Gladstone. Last night it speaks of as "The night of Justice," and says that the great Assembly which governs England presented an aspect that well make a cold spirit glow with patriotic pride. With such a majority at his back as could alone warrant the noble boldless, Mr Gladstone rose to propose no ordinary bill, but a solemn Act of National Equity and Amity, which will be remembered in all time as one of the fairest results of Constitutional Government and the purset piece of abstract human right that ever came by legislation. Despite his graceful self-depreciation, the orator was equal to his task. The Telegraph does not hesitate to say that Mr Gladstone never before, amidst all the triumphs that mark his long course of honour and success displayed more vigorous grasp of his subject, more luminous clearness in its development, earnestness more lofty, or eloquence more appropriate and refined, than in the memorable deliverance of last evening. Charged as the speech necessarily was with hard and stern matter of fact and figures, the intense earnestness, the sincere satisfication of the speaker at the act of concord and justice he was inaugurating, gave such elasticity and play to his genius, that nowhere was the clause so dry or the calculation so involved, but some gentle phrase of respect, some high invocation of principle, some bright illumination of the theme from actual life, some graceful compliment to his hearers, lightened the passage of these mountains of statistics, and kept the House spell-bound by that rich and energetic voice That buzz of satiated curiosity which attends a signal revelation broke out around Mr Gladstone when he an- annouuced the design of dedicating the money, which is, as it were, consecrated to uses consecrated still by charity, compassion, and patriotism. Thereupon the noble display of high intellect and statesmanship drew to its close, in a passage of that measured but ardent rhetoric of which Mr Gladstone is the unapproached master. Mr Gladstone's reply to the question, What is to be done with the surplus I" pleases and gratifies the Adver- tiser, but its temerity (it adds) almost takes our breath away. This surplus money is estimated as amounting to eight millions sterling. And the difficulty, how to dispose of the money, has been from the beginning the chief problem in the whole case. Mr Gladstone solves it in a very simple and effectual way. Fis reply is, "Secularize it all." That is to say, Give it to county infirmaries, lunatic asylums, and similar institutions." This mode of action avoids many troublesome contro- versies. It will quiet the public's fears that, by hook or by crook, the Romish priests would contrive to get hold of a portion of the money. In this way (says the Adcertiscr) our opposition, which would have been given to any plan for increasing the power of Rome, is silenced. The Post believes that in some respects Mr Glad- stone's scheme will surprise many, but it will disap- point none. In its every detail it may not command the approval of all those who endorse the principle on which it is based, but for a diversity of opinion on many points the Ministry are dou btless fully prepared. The great matter is to establish concord in respect to the basis on which the measure rests, and then a compromise can easily be effected in regard to the par- ticular means by which the general scheme should be carried into effect. The Daily News regards the proposal for the distribu- tion of the surplus as open to criticism. In Ireland, however, and especially with the Roman Catholic popu- lation and priesthood, to whom the State is often little more than the great almsgiver, it will probably be in the highest degree popular, and the Daily News is disposed to think that in the main the application is a wise one but on this point, as on the details of the measure as they affect the vested interests of the Episcopal and Presbyterian clergy and of Maynooth, criticism must be (leferred until critical examination is practicable. On the whole the Daily News considers the scheme as a just and righteous settlement. The Star admits that there is much in the scheme that must provoke criticism, and something which will incur censure but it will be found exceedingly perfect and exceedingly hard to place in an unfavourable light. Mr Gladstone and his colleagues have nobly fulfilled their pledges to the country, and have at the same time been enabled to deal with extreme kindness and consi- deration to the Church.
MAESGWYNNE HOUNDS.
MAESGWYNNE HOUNDS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE WELSHMAN. I SIR,-The meet was at Gloyne, on Tuesday, 23rd February, 18G9. I DELIGHTFUL SCENE. I When all around is gay, men, horses, hounds, And on each smiling countenance appears Fresh blooming health and universa l joy The hounds found at Treffgarme, went across Gilfach and Rhyddcoed covers, and crossed the Marlaes river for Waindwrgy. Where the hounds o'er the pastures sweep, Where the fences frown aloft, And the brook yawns wide and deep." Thence through the covers of Panteguo and PlascrwDJ with a strong party at their heels. Amongst those who rode quite straight was Miss Thomas, of Tenby. A great many were thrown out, amongst them Messrs. Heynon, Owen, Shields, and about twenty others but who, on crossing the Marlaes a second time for Gloyne, made the best of their way to l'avernspite country, where they got into the running again. The hounds were running breast high, and the field, was led by the gallant owner and his indefatigable huntsman, Rees, with Messrs. Carver, R. M. Davies, William Thomas, Stokes, Gwynne, John Edwardes, Tudor Vaughan Thomas, Price, Capt. Edwardes, and another gentleman whose name I did not know, who were the only party in at the death at Carvan, Lampeter. The greatest number of ladies and gentlemen retired when the hounds were a check near Crwnwear, the pace, I sup- pose, being too good for them. 'Twere long to tell what steeds gave oo'r As swept the hunt through Teague long moor." The distance was at least fifteen miles with only one check. The run was one of the fastest ever wit- nessed by AN OLD SPORTSMAN. N.B. I need hardly add that the brush was presented to Miss Thomas.
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AMERICA.—The Constitutional Amendment en- aeting negro suffrage in the United States has passed both Houses of Congress, and now goes to the State of Legislatures for ratification. A Washington telegram of Saturday reports that the Senate has passed by thirty votes against sixteen General Schenck's Finance Bill, amended. The bill now declares that all the national obligations shall be payable in coin, unlessthe law under which they were issued specifies payment in currency. The bill also legalises contracts containing special provisions for pay- ment to be paid in gold. The Senate rejected the article of the bill which proposed to prohibit the payment of bonds before maturity, un less currency should have previously been rendered convertible into coin at par. The bill returns to the House of Represen- tatives. NEW ZEALAND. SATURDAY. The favourable news from New Zealand which was published yesterday is confirmed by a telegram which Earl Granville read last night in the House of Lords. The despatch was from the Governor of New Zealand, dated Feb. 18, and it was received at the Colonial Office on the 26th. Nagalapa, the main stronghold of the rebels who perpetrated the Poverty Bay massacre, was captured by the colonial forces under Colonel Whitmore on the 5th of January. Our loss did not exceed twenty-two killed and wounded,while that of the rebels in killed, wounded, and prisoners, amounted to about 200. This success has produced a salutary effect." The noble earl said he could not undertake to say how far the opinion expres- sed in a telegram from Melbourne that the war was at an end was correct,
THE WEEK AT HOME.
THE WEEK AT HOME. The Pioneer, iu publishing a telegram of English news received in India last month, remarks :The following item entitles the telegraphic department to our grati- tude:—'Only elected green price apricot relinquished Scott favour of Hartingtoii.' "I The Athenaum says that the'discovery, recently, at the India Office Library, of the Timour MSS." was made by Hassun Effendi, an eminent Arabic scholar, The Clarendon Press has commissioned Mr Richard Morris to prepare a now edition of his Selections from Chaucer "-The lowering of our operatic pitch to the French standard has been decided upon at Covent Garden. The judge of the Wisbeach county court has odered Mr R. Young, the unsuccessful Liberal candidate for Cambridgeshire, to pay one Peacock the sum of £ 10, as compensation for broken windows and furniture. The judge held that the action of Mr Young during the election might be interpreted by the mob as an approval of their conduct. THE GREAT CONVENT CASE.—VERDICT OF JURY.— For the plaintiff on the counts for conspiracy and libel, for £500, including, however, the £ 300 the amount of the dowry-so that the net amount of the verdict is £ 200. They found for the defendants on the minor counts. The moment the verdict for the plaintiff was known it was communicated to the multitude outside, and a loud cheer was heard reverberating through West- minster Hall. There is a very general rumour (a correspondent writes) that the proposed proceedings in the Court of Arches against the llev W. J. E. Bennett, the Vicar of Frome, are likely to break down in consequence of an indisposition to allow them go on on the part of the new Bishop of London. The proceedings, it will be remem- bered, were commenced by Dr Tait when Bishop of London, in obedience to a mandamus from the Court of Queen's Bench, but this mandamus is not legally binding upon Bishop Jackson, who is said to be anxious to have nothing to do with the matter.- Pall Mall Gazette. Some startling orders have been received at Woolwich within the past few days. A nominal roll of men serv- ing in the Royal Artillery who have performed twenty- one years' duty has been called for; and it is generally reported that a considerable scheme of reduction is contemplated. Very many of the noncommissioned officers and a large number of the coast brigade of artillery will come under this list. It is also announced that all soldiers of eight years' service who have not re-engaged will receive their discharge, if of bad character, or if from any other special reason, it is desirable. Gi-Gin was formerly called Geneva, and was known by the latter name in 1623, when Massinger wrote his tragedy Tlte Duke of Milan In Act T. Sc. 1, he thus plays upon the word, Geneva suggesting both the habit of of spirit drinking and puritanic teaching — Bid him sleep: 'Tis a sign he has ta'en his liquor and if you meet An officer preaching of sobriety, Unless he read it in Geneva print, Lay him by the heels." The corrupted word gin had become common when Pope wrote The Dunciad in 1728, for in his Third Book we read "Thee shall each ale-house, thee each gili-house mourn, And answering gin shops sourersighs return." Notes and Queries." In his usual candid and straightforward way the Bishop of Oxford last week undertook to define, for the;en- lightenment of the world generally and the satisfaction of the Lower House of Convocation in particular, what the bishops mean by the words true religion." The original address to the Crown about the Irish Churjh contained the following paragraph We took forward with deep anxiety to the measures which may be pro- posed to Parliament respecting the Irish branch of the united Church, and we trust that the interests of true religion may not be lost sight of amid the conflicts of political parties." For this Dr Wilberforce moved the substitution of the following amendment We look forward with deep anxiety to the measures which may be proposed to Parliament respecting the Church now by law established in Ireland, and we trust that the interests religion and the just claims of that ancient and reformed communion may not be lost sight of," &c. This, he said, would show what was meant by true religion." Everybody must surely be satisfied with this frank and explicit manifestation of the episcopal mind. SCOTCH EDUCATION BILL.-The Duke of Argyll on the 25th ult., introduced the Scotch Education Bill. In a clear and vigorous speech he described the old system and the changes which it was proposed to make in it. The old system is, on the whole, good as far as it goes its chief defect is that it does not go far enough. Population has, in may quarters, quite outgrown the parochial organization. The distribution of schools is irregular and capricious. In some cases sectarian rivalry multiplies superfluous schools in other cases there are poor and populous districts most inadequately supplied. The tendency of the Privy Cuiiucil grants is to aggravate the inequality—to those who have already plenty of funds more is given, while destitute communities receive little or not benefit The Duke's proposal is to establish a central Commission, composed of representatives elected by the conveners of counties, the convention of royal burghs, the associated school- masters, the universities, and the Government. It will be the duty of this Commission to survey the whole country, and to see that a sufficient number of school,4 is provided. The old parochial schools will be adopted into the new organization, so will sectarian schools, if required, on submitting to a strict conscience clause. The schools will be supported by compulsory local rates, assisted by Privy Council grants, given only for "resuIts,r and will be managed by local committees under the general supervision of the Commission. TRAFFIC IN SEKMONS.—A benevolent enterprise has lately been set on foot which the modesty of the pro- jectors, as it seems to us, would continc to too narrow a sphere. They want to do good by stealth, and may, perhaps, blush to find it fame. We have been favoured with tha prospectus of a new weekly periodical, for private circulation among the clergy only." It is to be called The Cathedra, and its mission will be to furnish to the clergy a supply of sermons suitable for public preaching." The writer of the prospectus assumes as a matter of course that a large proportion of the clergy preach secondhand; sermons, the assump- tion being, we suppose, intended to overcome the scruples of any who would like to eniov the. ™ of ready-made discourses if only assured that the practice was generally countenanced by their brethren, lie deplores, however, both the poverty of these lS. sermons and their high price. It is perhaps significant of the writer's estimate of those whom he is addressing that the sentence to which the greatesst typographical prominence is given, being printed in small capitals, is that in which the new issue of sermons is offered at -1 less than half the present price of the cheapest MS. or lithographed sermons." There can," it is urged, be no objection to delivering printed sermons beyond the simple one that when published in the usual way they are supplied to laity as well as clergy, and by that means may possibly be diffused among a congregation before they are heard from the pulpit." To prevent any contretemps of this kind, The Cathedra will be circulated through the post direct from the office, without the intervention of publishers, agents, or book- sellers. It will be received by subscribers every Thurs- day, so that it may be well studied before Sunday. The price of each number will be a shilling, it being "impossible to procure contributions from preachers of known ability without providing adequate remu- neration." The discourses will be of a plain and practical character, suitable for preaching in any pulpit throughout the kingdom, and inclining to no Church.' There is a frank satire about the whole prospectus which would make one suspect it a hoax if the name of a respectable publisher were not given with the terms of subscription.- Pall Mall Gazette. If the debates in Convocation have as yet been fruit- ful in little else than foolishness, they have served one good end in showing us that the Ministerial policy, in respect to the Irish Chuch, is making way in unexpected quarters. Sir George Prevost has frightfully scandalized his brother churchmen by expressing his belief that, after all, the Irish Church will positively gain by being disestablished and disendowed. The position and character of the speaker make this submission not a little significant. Sir George is a representative of the old original Tractarian school of thirty years ago of the Keble, Pusey, and Isaac Williams type. He is a legitimate descendent of the non-juring class, whoso special charactereistic it was to regard Anglicanism, with its Prayer Book and rubrics, as the very perfection of human wisdom, and only not quite divine. The loyalty of this school to the Anglo-Irish Church was always something altogether different from the revolu- tionary democratic spirit which animates our modern Ritualists and a severance between the State and this Church of their affections was naturally contemplated by them as both a blunder and a crime. Yet even among them it is now coming to be held that justice de- mands the abolition of the Irish Establishment. We may well ask, what next? We know, too from Sir J. Coleridge's memoir of Keble, that Sir J. Prevost by no means stands alone. In the interview which Keble had with Dr Newman in 1865, he gave the latter the im- pression that he would abolish the Irish Establishment, while, strange to say, Dr Newman himself said that were he still an Oxford man he would have voted against Mr Gladstone because he was giving np the Irish Church, This, in fact, is Dr Newman's own account of what took place between them. Just as astonishing also, it is to learn that Keble himself was strongly disposed to uphold the present Solicitor. General's Oxford Test Bill. When the bill is again before the House it is to be hoped that churchmen will remember that very early in 1866 Keble wrote that he thought dear John" (the Solici- tor-General) will have a blessing on his work," and that for myself, I am a little sanguine about the reform." Of course Keble looked to the spread of Iligh Church views to conteract any attendant mischiefs but nevertheless it is undeniable that, in principle, he was for admitting all men to the highest univer- sity posts without distinction of creed.-Pall Mall Gazette.