which they had both so earnestly advocated, he could not refuse to strengthen the Liberal policy by accepting a place in the ministry.

Lord Clarendon was foreign secretary, Lord Granville secretary for the colonies; Mr. Bruce, home secretary; and to the calm and methodical Mr. Cardwell was committed the war secretaryship, an office in which he had to carry out important measures of army reform. The Duke of Argyle was secretary for India, Lord Hatherly (Sir William Page Wood), a staunch Liberal, became lord-chancellor; the Earl of Kimberley, lord privy seal; and Mr. Childers first lord of the admiralty. Lord Dufferin had a place in the ministry as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Earl Spencer became lord-lieutenant of Ireland, with Mr. Chichester Fortescue as chief secretary. The Marquis of Hartington was made postmaster-general, and Mr. Lowe chancellor of the exchequer, an experiment the consequences of which will be briefly noted hereafter. On the whole it was a strong government and well organized, and it was popular. The fact of Mr. Bright having become a direct coadjutor of the premier had great weight with those of the Liberal party who looked forward to decisive measures for the satisfaction of Irish claims.

In an address to his constituents at Greenwich Mr. Gladstone sounded the note of advance, not only with regard to the question of the Irish Church, Irish education, and the tenure of land in Ireland, but in other matters with which he knew that the government would have to deal promptly and decisively. The Irish Church came first. Amidst a storm of violent abuse, invective, and denunciation uttered at public meetings by noblemen, leading Orangemen, bishops, and clergy, as well as by his opponents in parliament, he braced himself to the task of bringing forward the complete scheme, of which his resolutions had been the intimation. "We confide," said the premier, "in the traditions we have received of our fathers; we confide in the soundness both of the religious and of the civil principles that prevail; we confide in the sacredness of that cause of justice in which we are engaged, and with that confidence and persuasion we are prepared to go forward."

On the 1st of March, 1869, he rose to bring forward the scheme which had been proposed. For three hours the dense crowd which filled the benches, the galleries, and every point from which he could be heard, listened with almost breathless interest.

A speech full of detail, full of strong appeal, but a speech, so Mr. Disraeli said, in which there was not a redundant word.

That should alone be a reason for not quoting extracts from it. It must be sufficient to indicate what were the provisions of the bill which was to make the significant and important change of dissolving the union between the two churches.

Those provisions were, that the existing Ecclesiastical Commission should cease, and that a new commission should be appointed for ten years in which the property of the Irish Church should be vested (making provision for life interests) from the time of the passing of the bill. This new commission was to be appointed immediately after the passing of the bill, so that disendowment would practically commence at once. The Irish Church would in effect be made a free Episcopal Church, and during the transitional period no new vested interests were to be created.

Disestablishment would commence on the 1st of January, 1871 (unless the date should for sufficient reasons be altered by the government), when the union between the churches of England and Ireland would be dissolved. The Irish Church would cease to be recognized by the state; all Irish ecclesiastical courts would be abolished, and ecclesiastical laws would remain only provisionally in force, not as laws, but as a voluntary compact between clergy and laity until they should be altered by the governing body of the disestablished church— a kind of synod elected to represent the clergy and laity and recognized by the queen in council as a duly constituted representative body to be legally incorporated. The crown was to resign the right to appoint Irish bishops, and Irish bishops would no longer sit in the House of Lords.

In the interval between the passing of the act and the date of January 1st, 1871, and during the reorganization of the church,

ments were to be made to spiritual

at they were not to carry with freehold or confer vested interests. same manner appointments would be vacant bishoprics, but only on the f the bishops to consecrate a particular a vacancy; and these appointments arry with them no vested interests rights of peerage. Crown livings aring the same period would be filled Mar principles.

as the plan for disestablishment. Isendowment was more complicated, actival settlement would be more new the titles to many of the claims be made were intricate. There terests of incumbents, including denitaries as well as beneficed 50 certain annuities from the Birch, and the commissioners the amount of each incumnoting what he paid for umbent might then either The annuity as long as he nge the duties or might to an annuity for life. or those who had been parish from January 1, 071, or had left their their own free-will or ld be entitled to the on as the incumbent, uld be paid by the I curates were to be V. Private endowy contributed from Rear 1660, and not l be house, would be the only marto the church.

table property, 1 an expenditheir annual was a quarupon them

on coming body paid acquire the la 1

271

When the proposed governing body made an application, and declared that they intended either to maintain any church for public worship or to remove it to some more convenient position, it would be handed over to them. Churches not in use and incapable of being restored for purposes of worship would be handed over to the Board of Works, with an allocation of funds sufficient for their maintenance. The burial grounds adjoining churches would go with the churches, all existing rights being preserved, and other burial-grounds would be transferred to the guardians of the poor.

Presbyterian ministers, recipients of the Regium Donum, would be compensated on the same principles as the incumbents of the disestablished church. In these cases and with respect to the grant to Maynooth there would be a valuation of all the interests at 14 years' purchase of the capital amount annually voted. An elaborate scheme for the final extinction of the tithe rent charge in 45 years, provided that landlords would be allowed, if they chose, to purchase it at 22 years' purchase, and if they did not accept the offer, they would come under another and a general operation. There would be a compulsory sale to them of the tithe rent charge, at a rate which would yield 4 per cent; and, on the other side, they would be credited with a loan at 3 per cent, payable in instalments in 45 years. The power of purchase would remain in the hands of the tenants for three years after the passing of the act, and it was also proposed that the tenants should have a right of pre-emption of all lands sold by the commission, and that three-fourths of the purchase money might be left on the security of the land.

The following were the particulars of the expected results:-The tithe rent charge would yield £9,000,000; lands and perpetuity rents, £6,250,000; money, £750,000-total, £16,000,000; the present value of the property of the Irish Church. Of this the bill would dispose of £8,650,000, viz. vested interests of £4,900,000; curates, £800,000; on, £900,000; private endowbuilding charges, £250,000;

which they had both so earnestly advocated, he could not refuse to strengthen the Liberal policy by accepting a place in the ministry.

Lord Clarendon was foreign secretary, Lord Granville secretary for the colonies; Mr. Bruce, home secretary; and to the calm and methodical Mr. Cardwell was committed the war secretaryship, an office in which he had to carry out important measures of army reform. The Duke of Argyle was secretary for India, Lord Hatherly (Sir William Page Wood), a staunch Liberal, became lord-chancellor; the Earl of Kimberley, lord privy seal; and Mr. Childers first lord of the admiralty. Lord Dufferin had a place in the ministry as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Earl Spencer became lord-lieutenant of Ireland, with Mr. Chichester Fortescue as chief secretary. The Marquis of Hartington was made postmaster-general, and Mr. Lowe chancellor of the exchequer, an experiment the consequences of which will be briefly noted hereafter. On the whole it was a strong government and well organized, and it was popular. The fact of Mr. Bright having become a direct coadjutor of the premier had great weight with those of the Liberal party who looked forward to decisive measures for the satisfaction of Irish claims.

In an address to his constituents at Greenwich Mr. Gladstone sounded the note of advance, not only with regard to the question of the Irish Church, Irish education, and the tenure of land in Ireland, but in other matters with which he knew that the government would have to deal promptly and decisively. The Irish Church came first. Amidst a storm of violent abuse, invective, and denunciation uttered at public meetings by noblemen, leading Orangemen, bishops, and clergy, as well as by his opponents in parliament, he braced himself to the task of bringing forward the complete scheme, of which his resolutions had been the intimation. "We confide,” said the premier, "in the traditions we have received of our fathers; we confide in the soundness both of the religious and of the civil principles that prevail; we confide in the sacredness of that cause of justice in which we are engaged, and with that confidence and persuasion we are prepared to go forward."

On the 1st of March, 1869, he rose to bring forward the scheme which had been proposed. For three hours the dense crowd which filled the benches, the galleries, and every point from which he could be heard, listened with almost breathless interest.

A speech full of detail, full of strong appeal, but a speech, so Mr. Disraeli said, in which there was not a redundant word.

That should alone be a reason for not quoting extracts from it. It must be sufficient to indicate what were the provisions of the bill which was to make the significant and important change of dissolving the union between the two churches.

Those provisions were, that the existing Ecclesiastical Commission should cease, and that a new commission should be appointed for ten years in which the property of the Irish Church should be vested (making provision for life interests) from the time of the passing of the bill. This new commission was to be ap pointed immediately after the passing of the bill, so that disendowment would practically commence at once. The Irish Church would in effect be made a free Episcopal Church, and during the transitional period no new vested interests were to be created.

Disestablishment would commence on the 1st of January, 1871 (unless the date should for sufficient reasons be altered by the government), when the union between the churches of England and Ireland would be dissolved. The Irish Church would cease to be recognized by the state; all Irish ecclesiastical courts would be abolished, and ecclesiastical laws would remain only provisionally in force, not as laws, but as a voluntary compact between clergy and laity until they should be altered by the governing body of the disestablished churcha kind of synod elected to represent the clergy and laity and recognized by the queen in council as a duly constituted representative body to be legally incorporated. The crown was to resign the right to appoint Irish bishops, and Irish bishops would no longer sit in the House of Lords.

In the interval between the passing of the act and the date of January 1st, 1871, and during the reorganization of the church,