The Church Congress, which is becoming an annual rival of
the Social Science Association, equally wordy, equally diffuse, and equally without limit or direction in its purposes, has been held this year at Manchester, the first sitting being on Tuesday. Of the subjects started, the most important was the state of the Irish Church ; but there was no argument offered. Mr. Plunkett read an exceedingly feeble paper, in which he tried to prove that Irish Protestantism was older than Irish Catholicism,—a point about as important as the age of Irish Judaism,—and dilated a great deal upon the " missionary character " of a church which, after three hundred years of effort, has rather more enemies than when it began its apostolic career. Mr. Beresford Hope poured some vitriol on the heads of people who build churches without a knowledge of Pugin, the Bishop of Melbourne thought all would go right if we had fifty or sixty more Bishops, Canon Stowell managed to lug in a hit at Dr. Colenso, all the clergy assented to various propositions for an increase of clerical pay, and there have been half-a-dozen clerical rows not put down by the President, the Bishop of Manchester, quite so severely as they ought to be. There will be more interest in the later debates when the subject of subscriptions comes up, but as yet the talk has been very like that of a clerical conference,—wanting in coherence, in dignity, and in practical suggestion.
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