in the same light. Scottish Established Churchmen, moreover, have a particular motive of their own for rejecting what has been called the statistical argument against endowments, for dissent has worked havoc among their numbers, just as it has done in England. Thus, there perhaps never was a time in the history of the kingdom when the endowed churches could less afford to sacrifice the Irish Church on the ground that it is a minority of the population. Regium donum would, of course, go with the alienation of its temporalities; and those who know the state of the Ulster Presbyterian Churches are aware that a very considerable number of clergymen could not live at all upon the pittance given them by their congregations, and are almost entirely dependent upon the Bounty. After this would come English and Scotch statistics, and questions found ed upon them, which it would be hard enough to deal with. The Irish Church, then, is the outwork in defending which the whole garrison is interested. The day it is surrendered the principle of a national endowed Church will be given up, and the Constitution, which has been the pride and envy of the world, will be seriously impaired.

It would be idle to expend words upon the charges brought against the Irish Church and its clergy by Mr. Bernal Osborne. As coming from him, the allegation that its ministers are defective in point of manners, need only excite a smile. A growing intercourse between the two countries will best prove to Englishmen whether the Irish clergyman is the vulgar and uneducated person represented by this random caricaturist. To be at pains to repel such a calumny would be an insult to the class whom it maligns. Mr. Osborne's facts are not more creditable than his personal bearing. There was surely never witnessed in Parliament such an exhibition of mere mountebankry upon a grave subject as his harangue constituted. An address of the kind could not be expected to accomplish any serious purpose. Revolutions are not effected by professional jesters. The House of Commons comedian is but a low type of wit, and although he may excite a laugh in an assembly

where the least ray of humour serves to relieve an oppressive and constant dulness, he never has a following or commands votes. His rôle begins and ends with his quips and sneers. Thus, Mr. Bernal Osborne contrived to dissipate the effect which his alleged "facts were calculated to produce, by giving them a framing of untimely, and to every listener most offensive, levity. The class of mind which could fall into this stupid error would rashly adopt any mendacious representation of interested parties. It was impossible to repose the least confidence in figures, or in circumstances, collected and reported rather in the spirit of the unscrupulous satirist, than the sober legislator. As there was reason to anticipate, upon examination the charges preferred by the Member for Liskeard disappeared one after another, until, at the close of the scathing exposure by Sir Hugh Cairns, there did not remain a single substantial allegation to bear out Mr. Osborne's venomous attacks. The net parochial income of all the clergy in Ireland, is not, as has been stated, both by this gentleman and the London paper which allowed itself to be deceived by his statistics, above half a-million sterling per annum, but only £320,000; and as the incumbents number 1,530, without deducting the sums paid to curates, the income of each incumbent, upon an equal division of the whole revenue, would be about £210 a-year. The salaries paid to curates, however-in most cases, imperative upon the incumbent must further, in justice, be deducted; and where, then, is the evidence for that reproach of excessive wealth which is levelled against the Church by professional agitators? If the complaint is changed, and a grievance found in the smallness of the congregations in the parish churches of Ireland, what is discovered in a comparison with England and Wales? The average in each Welsh parish has been ascertained to be 248 churchmen. In favoured England it is 387. In Ireland, 376. We are not, therefore, far behind England herself in this respect, and we exceed Wales considerably. Then the Member for Liskeard, to bolster up his case, added no less than £22,000 to the revenue of the Irish bishops. He next spoke of

Irish dioceses which have absolutely no existence, and of incomes connected with them which are equally imaginative. One more point only will it be necessary to mention, as an exemplification of the general reliability of Mr. Bernal Osborne's data. The following sentences of the speech of Sir Hugh Cairns in reply expound the legerdemain which provided the Member for Liskeard with his ultramontane-briefed case :

"Let me," said Sir Hugh Cairns, "go a little further. He said and this was a striking statement-in England you have a clergyman for every 2,612 persons; in Ireland one for every 325. Let me first correct him as to Ireland. I have shown the House that in towns the number is one for every 1,590, and in the country one for every late with regard to England? I commend

376. But how did the hon. member calcu

it to the House as an arithmetical exercise

of the most ingenious description. There is a gross population of 20,000,000, and there are in the Church in England in round numbers 18,000. The hon. member divided 18,000 into the 20,000,000; but even that was not enough, for it would only bring out a quotient of somewhere about 1,000, so he doubled the quotient, and added 600 more to it (laughter and cheers). I commend that to the House as the most wonderful feat in arithmetic that was ever performed for its enlightenment. I cannot conceive how the hon. member, having a return before him, can ever have arrived at such a result. I come next to a statement which, proceeding as it did from a gentleman having some acquaintance with Ireland, surprised me very much. In

the diocese of Meath he said the population is 110,000, of whom but 6,500 are Episcopalians. Now, will it be believed that he has made this mistake? He has taken the county of Meath (laughter), and he is under the impression that it is co-extensive with the diocese. If he had looked at the

return of the diocese he would have found that the Episcopalians were not 6,500, but 16,300, being a slight difference of upwards of 10,000. These are the data upon which that very amusing and instructive state

ment was founded which delighted the House so much, and must have given to many hon. members, who were not aware of the real state of the case, a very singular impression with regard to the state of the Church."

not be worth the space occupied by this reference, were the exposure thus made not the best way of preparing the public to receive with utter incredulity henceforth all the stories circulated in prints hostile to the Church, with the view of bringing it into contempt. It is fortunate that an opportunity has been afforded for producing all these wonderful charges in detail. The friends of the Church have successfully combated them, and set them finally at rest. At the same time, we do not, for our own part, shrink from the opinion expressed in our former article, with respect to the danger of neglecting to remove such anomalies as can be only too easily pointed out. If our vaticinations as to the character and result of the debates have proved in various leading points correct, perhaps we may claim some attention for our speculations upon this head. The Irish clergy are not averse to such reforms as would better proportion reward to labour. They have resisted the proposal of a Committee to effect these reforms coming from a hostile source. They have also declined to support the effort of one of their number, much respected as he is, to meet a revolutionary attack by an offer of extensive changes. Taking a wiser line, they have been enabled to defeat enemies, none the less formidable for being ostensibly moderate in their views, and subtle in the way in which they urged their adoption. But this triumph having been effected, as has been shown on the soundest constitutional principles, they can now safely consider how such anomalies may be removed as would prejudice another defence against foes more resolute and numerous. This subject presses, and the dignitaries of the Irish Church will do well to give it their attention in peaceful days, when changes may have a conservative character, and when a comparatively slight re-arrangement will make the Church's organization not only more effective, but unassailable.

No reconstruction of parishes, however no more equitable arrangement of revenues-no better proportioning of labour and emolument, will secure the Irish Church against attack, if there be not a further development of that missionary activity,