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New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1875.

The Liberal party of England has accepted Lord Hartington as leader in the House of Commons with a unanimity which is at least commendable ; and Mr. Bright, in a groat speech at Birmingham, has found the Liberals a policy, which they have been sadly in want of for some time past. This speech, as reported in The Times, is highly suggestive. At a first glance one cannot perceive the practical drift of the speaker ; but by degrees the conviction grows upon the mind that this elaborate criticism of the State Church is the death-knell of the English Church establishment. Mr. Bright assailed it without any attempt at passionate declamation, such as, in earlier life, characterised his great platform speeches. But there was not a single flaw in the indictment. Step by step he proved the truth of his position, namely, that the State Church, whether it be considered as a political institution, or as a religious institution, is greatly out of harmony with the times. The Public Worship Act of last session will not cure the disorders within the Church, which operate so very much against its usefulness. For all political and religious purposes, therefore, Mr. Bright thinks the Established Church of England and Wales does not, and cannot, as it now exists, meet the requirements of the ago. It has survived its usefulness, and is now only effective in checking a manifestation of zeal on the part of the clergy, without which they cannot command tiro sympathies of the people. Mr. Bright’s remedy is disestablishment and disendowment. He would abolisli the State Church, and leave the maintenance of its religious ordinances to the Anglican community. This, in short, is the Liberal policy of the future. It has been so far accepted by tho Marquis of Hartington, at a public banquet since then, as to leave room to infer that ho is not unwilling to go with Mr. Bright, who, ho remarked, has always proved right in anticipating the wishes of the nation on questions of political reform. Tho noble leader of tho Liberal party does not say that ho would propose disestablishment at tho present time, but ho admits that it is a proper subject for agitation by Mr. Bright, and tho more advanced members of his party. Considering tho Marquis of Hartington’,s connection with the great Houses which virtually control tho Church of England, this is as great a concession as ho should bo expected to make at tho beginning of tho agitation ; but there can be no room to doubt that ho will ultimately be borne along on the tide of popular feeling which his great Parliamentary associate has stirred up. Tho English newspapers, and notably tho London Press, attempted to make

little of this great speech by Mr. Bright ; but by degrees the light appeared to dawn upon them, and they admitted that there was much more in the Bingley Hall address than appeared ,at first sight. It was thought he would have told the Liberals how they were to regain Office ; but on that subject he was entirely silent. The part the Established clergy took in the last general election was, no doubt, severely commented on, as became the occasion: .but.it was in his second speech at Birmingham that Mr. Bright gave practical advice to the Liberals. “Organise “and consolidate;” this is his advice, and it is being acted upon with surprising alacrity. The Liberals had split up into sections, and these again were divided into sub-sections, the leaders of which sacrified everything to their own crotchets., This weakened the party, and led to its late humiliating defeat. Mr. Bright pointed out the unwisdom of persistence in such a course of action, and his protest has not been in vain, judging by the tone of Liberal journals since then. He was pointedly severe in his censure of the Good Templars, who judge of the fitness of a candidate for Parliament by his view on the liquor question. This is undoubtedly an evil. It is a narrow and unwise course to pursue, and in several instances it led to the election of Tory candidates, who did not scruple to swallow the pledge on the hustings. The agitation in Scotland for disestablishment, consequent ,on the Duke of Richmond’s Patronage Blil, will very materially strengthen the hands of the English Liberals in their assault upon the State Church. Hitherto the exceptionally wise administration of its affairs by the Kirk of Scotland, and the absence of complaint by the laity, was a bulwark for the less popular English Church establishment. But now that the Imperial Parliament has disturbed the ancient order in the Scottish Kirk, the people themselves are determined to go further, and now the demand for disestablishment is general. The United Presbyterian and Free Church of Scotland are at one on this point, and a powerful section of the Established Church itself is likewise in favor of disestablishment. Under these circumstances, the Church of England must stand upon its own merits. Its Irish sister has been divorced from the State, to the great advantage of religion and civil order; and the Scottish Church is no longer a sturdy prop on which the right reverend bench of Bishops might lean to sustain their privileges and temporalities. Wo regard the establishment as doomed. It cannot withstand a well-sustained assault by the Liberal party. “ It is not now, and cannot “ be, in harmony with the age,” as Mr. Bright said at Birmingham, wherefore it must give place to some .ecclesiastical system which is in harmony with it.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18750403.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4380, 3 April 1875, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
934

New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1875. New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4380, 3 April 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1875. New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4380, 3 April 1875, Page 2

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