The Duke of Argyll is rather hurt at Lord Hartington's
reflec- tions last week on the Public Worship Act and the Scotch Church Patronage Act, both of which the 1) uke deems Liberal measures and is ready to identify himself with. Mr. Gladstone's instinct, however, was truer about both of them. The Public Worship Act was bad in 'origin, bad in construction, and bad in its effects, It has been frequently applied at the instance of parishioners who became parishioners for meddling and litigating purposes only, and it dealt with the very large question of old ecclesiastical customs in a very narrow spirit, The Scotch Church Patronage Act may have been a Liberal measure in its conception, but it was a gross 'injustice to relieve the Establishment of the one condition which had caused a great secession, without taking counsel with the seceders bow full though tardy justice might at last be done to them. It was its failure to do this which made it so justly 'unpopular among the Liberals of Scotland, though one of the sturdiest of those Liberals, the Duke of Argyll, somehow failed to perceive the unfairness of its method. Sturdy as he is, he is .deficient in sympathy with the feelings of others.
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