The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 179, 2 August 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1867.

Amongst the various items of political intelligence which reached us hy the last mails we notice the announcement that Earl Russell intended during the present session of Parliament to bring forward a measure which shall have the effect of putting an end to the present incongruous position of the Anglican Church Establishment in Ireland, a step which the Loudon Review very truly calls the only means that will " keep Fenianism from becoming a chronic nuisance, and Ireland from the misery of being both a constant hotbed of imported treason and . a perpetual camp." It will hardly be believed — and had we not the authority of an Anglican bishop for the fact we should hardly dare to make the statement — there are five dioceses of the Establishment in Ireland in which the members of the Anglican Church are only 2 per cent, of the whole population : these are Cashel, Tuam, Meath, Limerick, and Killaloe. The Bishop of Down, who has just published a most impartial pamphlet on the subject, instances in the diocese of Cashel 25 benefices with only 303 Protestants, while their aggregate income is £4218, so that the spiritual supervision of these 303 Protestants costs about £14 per annum respectively.

To copy from the authority to which we have already referred, the London Review, a periodical which, irrespectively of religious bias on either side, simply adopts the plain common-sense view of matters, " Take the districts, where Fenianism first showed itself, namely, the tract which reaches from near Valentia to Killarney, The Church grievance iu that district is truly a disgrace to civilisation. Iu all Kerry the State Church numbers but 6,200 Anglicans, against 195,159 Roman Catholics, aud the minority of 3 per cent, have 40 or 50 incumbonts enjoying the entire Church revenues of the diocese. But in tlie district, itself which we have marked there are not many parsons, and few as they are, they cou tain amongst them precious samples of Anglican clergymen. There is the eccentric parson at one place, the drunken at another, the hunting variety at a third, and a downright lunatic at a fourth. To mend matters, a few of the agents and small landlords in the locality have taken to preaching and proselytising on their own accouut." Surely foreigners may he excused if they declare that in the British Isles things are carried on which are difficult to understand. Can the civilised world produce in the Year of Grace 1867 a parellel piece of iniquity, perpetrated under the name of religion ? " Say what we will," declares the Pall Mall Gazette, which certainly does not advocate Roman Catholic views or doctrines, whether religious or secular, "an Established Church kept up for the benefit of 2 per cent of the inhabitants of a diocese, is not only regarded by the remaining 98 per cent, as an insult, but really is aa insult." There is never smoke without fire ; no rebellion so utterly hopeless and desperate as that which has broken out in Ireland since the commencement of the present year could ever be caused without marvellous provocation. We are far from wishing to justify the Fenians, but quoting even from authorities which it might reasonably be supposed would be inclined to favor the opposite side of the question, it is easy to prove that the patience of the country has been sorely tried. This vexed question of the Angh'cau Establishment has always divided the Irish into hostile camps. There never will be fusion between North and South, Connaught and the Seat of the Pale, until that apple of discord is removed. If every other question that agitates Ireland were satisfactorily settled there would still be disunion and bickering so long as the Anglican Establishment presents a bone of contention, a badge of national subjection, a symbol of sectarian domination. .