12 NOVEMBER 1904, Page 3

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman addressed a large meeting at the Empire

Theatre, Edinburgh, last Saturday afternoon. Turning at once to the Scottish Church crisis, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman said that the judgment of the House of Lords, however deplorable its effect, must be accepted. What they had to do was to combine—all parties in politics, all sections of the Christian world—to neutralise and minimise that effect. The sequel of that judgment, he went on to say, had been such as to make them proud of their country. The majority had shown no disposition to follow their funds ; indeed, so far as they could discern, the men of to-day were even more staunch, more stubborn, more capable of sacrifice than the heroes of the Disruption of 1843. The country could not be left in its present predicament ; and he hoped and believed that his Majesty's Government would take a foremost part in speedily accomplishing a solution of the difficulty. The best plan would be the appointment of an Executive Committee to settle the adjustment of the property, securing congregational rights, dealing equitably with the claims of minorities, always keeping in view the main purpose, which was not to gratify the fancy or desire or pride or ambition of any individual or individuals, but to fulfil as largely as possible the sacred functions for which all• Christian Churches, whatever their name, must be held to exist.