PROTESTANT MAGAZINE.

NOVEMBER 1, 1862.

THE "DUBLIN REVIEW" AND "THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH IN IRELAND."

THE destruction of "the Established Church in Ireland" is one grand object of the Roman Catholics. The "Dublin Review" for May last has a very elaborate article of fifty pages on this important subject. The writer of it at great length reviews the whole question, goes over the various attempts made in the House of Commons to alienate portions of the income of the Church to other purposes, gives copious extracts from various speeches made by distinguished Statesmen in that House, and thus urges, at p. 340, the possibility of some measure being carried into effect for the appropriation of a portion of the revenue of "the Established Church in Ireland"

"Statesmen who have seen the Catholic Emancipation passed, reform of Parliament accomplished, and the Corn-laws repealed, need not despair of seeing a thorough reform of the Established Church of Ireland attained, and its revenues applied to the religious and moral improvement of the Irish people, if they only throw themselves with determination into the struggle, and act in Parliament according to their recorded opinions."

The writer of that article then presses Earl Russell and his colleagues to act upon the feeling so strongly expressed by him in the House of Commons in 1835, and states his conviction that an Appropriation Bill would be a rallying-cry throughout the kingdom for all sensible and practical reformers; that it would advance through struggles and rebuffs steadily and certainly "to that success which must in this country be the certain result of any determined effort to remedy flagrant injustice, and give contentment to the people, increased strength to the kingdom, and to the Irish Church more hold upon the hearts of its own adherents, and for the first time a fair chance of converting the Irish Catholics."

The italics are our own. As if, indeed, the Roman Catholics wished to see the Irish Church have a stronger hold upon its own adherents! or would advocate the proposed measure if they VOL. XXIV. New Series, No. 265.

thought it likely to conduce to the conversion of the "Irish Catholics"!

No; the reform this writer speaks of is only one step towards the destruction of the Church they dislike, and in the following quotation, with which the article concludes, will be found a statement that the argument goes to the extent "of altogether destroying the Established Church of Ireland, or at least of "secularizing its revenues."

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At p. 358 the writer thus urges the preparation for the onslaught :-

"To Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants we recommend that they make this question of the Established Church in Ireland the main question to which they direct their combined energies. Let it be the test of every political candidate, and let no Irish constituency return a Member to Parliament who does not distinctly pledge himself to support, and, if necessary, to reintroduce at least so much of appropriation as was contained in the Bill of 1835. In all local Associations let this be the primary article of the political creed.

"Some may wish to go further. We only recommend that a stand be taken on the ground which was occupied in 1835 by Lord John Russell and Lord Carlisle.

"But we may be told that our arguments, if good for anything, go to the extent of altogether destroying the Established Church of Ireland, or at least of secularizing its revenues. We will not attempt to conceal that our argument does go to this extent; and it will be perceived from the opinion of Protestant Statesmen, which we have quoted, they admit that, if the thing were now to be done for the first time, the Protestant Church could not now be established in Ireland; but as they find it there, they are content to maintain it there. The more they clear it of abuses, the more strong must this inclination and the ability also to maintain it become; whilst, on the contrary, if left in its present condition, it is only a question of time when the day for its thorough reform will arrive; and if that day be delayed, and its arrival be obstructed in every possible way, when the accounting day does come, it will not be in calmness or deliberation that the change will be made; but it will, in all probability, be made by a sudden resolve, under the pressure of circumstances; more will be conceded than might be required now, and yet the concession, however large, made under such circumstances, will not give the satisfaction that might be secured now by a smaller but more voluntary measure. The present is indeed a time of peace and order; but it is at such a time that fools are most thoughtless, and wise men most thoughtful.

"The question really is, whether the revenues of the Protestant Established Church in Ireland shall now be appropriated in such a manner as most effectually to promote the welfare of the people of Ireland, or whether the change shall be put off until some period of convulsion, of excitement, and of danger, when the wishes of the people, wrought up to angry determination, must, as a matter of necessity, be satisfied by a less conditional surrender, or perhaps even not satisfied without an unconditional surrender.

"The question is now in the phase in which English Church-rates were some few years ago; a favourable arrangement of them might have been effected then. What kind of arrangement is or ever will be possible now? This is but a weak illustration, the argument for English Church-rates being stronger than for the Established Church in Ireland, and the former being but a trifle compared with the latter. A great grievance and a great injustice like the Protestant Established Church in Ireland cannot, in a country of free discussion, last for ever, or last very long. And it is not in human nature that six millions of people, who feel themselves as much entitled to justice as any other of Her Majesty's subjects, should very long submit to such an injustice.

THE "TABLET" AND THE LATE RIOTS AT BIRKENHEAD.

THE doings of the Roman Catholics in Belfast, in London, and, more recently, in Birkenhead, ought to open the eyes of statesmen to the dangers of fostering Popery in a Protestant country. Bent resolutely on the attainment of the end in view, Roman Catholics labour by violence or artifice for its accomplishment as may best suit the occasion.

Thus, whether in the press, in Parliament, in ecclesiastical manifestoes, or at the hustings, all the available powers of the Papal party seem to be enlisted in the service of the Papacy, with much energy and too little scrupulousness as to the mode in which the work is to be done.

Gratitude for past favours has no place with those who believe themselves entitled to much more, and that what has been given has been too long withheld, and is only at last conceded through fear.

Can any one doubt but that if Popery were as absolute in England as it is in Spain, it would treat English Protestants as it has treated Spanish Protestants?

We have purchased our rights and liberties at too high a price, and we value them too dearly, to allow Rome's emissaries to deprive us of them; and the recent ebullitions of Romish intolerance may serve as a timely stimulant to some who seem asleep in the matter.

The "Times" of October 18, after stating it has no partiality for out-door Meetings on the Garibaldian question, proceeds :

"But that the orderly meeting of a debating society to discuss a question of public interest within the walls of a building should be interrupted by an organized gang of ruffians, that the place of assemblage should be surrounded, the citizens and the police assailed with stones, brickbats, and bludgeons, and, finally, driven through the streets in fear of their lives, is an outrage which it behoves the Government to punish with the utmost severity. It is evident

that the success of the Irish in the Hyde Park riots, and the comparative impunity which too lenient magistrates have given them, are producing the very worst effect. The Popish ruffians who inhabit the vilest portions of our towns have been encouraged by these events to think themselves the masters of every place where they congregate in sufficient numbers to be a match for the police. No one who reads the account of the riot at Birkenhead will doubt that an example should be made of the miscreants who were concerned in it. No more insolent defiance of legal authority has been ventured upon in this country within our remembrance. This was no chance collision, no. rousing of an excitable people by a bitter taunt or an indecorous epithet. It was a premeditated attack on the peace of the town, organized for days before by the Roman Catholics, and intended to show to the people of Birkenhead that the Irish were strong enough to prevent any expression of opinion adverse to themselves in the new borough. If any one doubt this he need only read the account we published yesterday."

Referring to the way in which those who had the power "to quell the riot in half an hour," suffered it to proceed, allowing the authority of the law to be defied, and the police to be overpowered and almost murdered, the "Times" adds:

"It is equally plain that, if order and the right of Englishmen to free speech are to be preserved, a bolder and sterner course must be taken with wretches like these Birkenhead Irish. In any city of the Continent, in any city of the United Sates, an organized body attacking the authorities of a town would have been fired upon and dispersed by the troops. If the Riot Act had been read, and the soldiers from Manchester had been ordered to do their duty, this tumult would have been over at once, and those unhappy policemen who now lie in danger of death would never have been sacrificed. As it is, the inefficiency of the magistrates has exposed a great town to bloodshed and plunder, and given the Popish priests of the place the power to triumph in their victory over English liberty and law."

The "Tablet" thinks the fault was with the Protestants; and that their faults have been graver and less excusable than those of the Roman Catholics!! If thus the Romish press sympathizes with the Romish element of the people in their unlawful and riotous proceedings, we may expect to see more of them, unless measures of a precautionary nature be duly taken. The "Tablet," to which we have referred, thus writes:

"But if perfect equality, as far as mere right is concerned, be conceded to us, we have more to claim than equality when it comes to be a question between us and Protestants as to our interests in the question compared with theirs, and the reasonableness of our warmth and zeal concerning it compared with theirs. This is not a question of the rights or interests of Britons as Britons. It is a question with which our Protestant countrymen are not in any way called on to interfere. We Catholics are notoriously, deeply, and imme-.

diately concerned in it, and if we were to tell our Protestant country men, 'We shall be obliged to you if you will leave the matter in our hands. We are the only subjects of the British Crown who have any immediate personal interest in it, and we are deeply concerned about it, and it is not your affair;' such language on our part would, not be at all unreasonable. But we have not said that. We have only said, 'At any rate you must not misrepresent the fact. A portion of the British public, no weak or inconsiderable portion, viz., we ourselves, who count by millions in the Empire, are opposed to Garibaldi, and in favour of the Pope's retaining Rome. Therefore, wherever on the part of the British public you claim to say Ay, we on the part of the British public claim to say No.'

"Now this is our offence. This is what has so exasperated our liberty-loving No Popery neighbours. We have spoiled their little game. They intended to make a great impression upon Europe, and to let it be proclaimed that the British public was in favour of Garibaldi, and against the Pope, and desired to see Rome taken from the Pope and given to the Revolution. All Europe now knows that their attempt to represent the British public as unanimously agreeing with them has failed decisively, and that the attempt has led to serious riots and to grave disturbances, with considerable injury to both the persons and property of the citizens.

"We are very sorry for everything that has been ill-tempered, or violent, or illegal, in the conduct of any persons on either side concerned in these transactions. It is very possible that some may have accompanied their exercise of an undoubted right by undoubtedly improper conduct. For their improper conduct they deserve blame and punishment, but not for their exercise of their right. As at present advised we have no doubt whatever, that the balance of blame is not with the Irish or Catholic party. We may be prejudiced in their favour, but it seems to us that on the whole the faults upon the other side have been far graver and less excusable."-Tablet, Oct. 25.

THE DEATHBED OF SIR ALLAN MACNAB.

THE unceasing activity of Romanists requires a no less constant activity on the part of Protestants. In the exercise of that blind zeal which so often urges the Romish priesthood to "compass sea and land to make one proselyte," the sanctity of the end too often is looked upon as sufficient to hallow the base means employed in gaining it. A recent illustration of this has occurred in connexion with the deathbed of the late Sir Allan MacNab, long well known as one of the greatest men of Canada.

Sir Allan, it would appear, "had been a member of the Church of England all his life," and regularly attended its services. Indeed, "immediately before his last illness he had been at church as usual, and at the Communion-table." His residence was at Hamilton, Upper Canada, and during the last 27 years of his life he had been under the ministry of the Rev. J. G. Geddes, to whom, within a few weeks of his death, he had often expressed the strongest attachment