18 APRIL 1868, Page 3

It would appear that the more religious portion of the

Scotch people, usually so ready to join in any " No-Popery" cry, are

• decidedly in favour of the disestablishment of the Irish Church. A great meeting of Free Churchmen in Edinburgh, attended by the leading men of that communion throughout East Scotland, has -unanimously pronounced in that sense. The Free Church Synod of Glasgow and Ayr has passed a similar resolution, and even in the Established Church Synod of Merse and Teviotdale a motion on behalf of the Church was only carried by the Moderator's vote. The staunchness of Scotch Liberals in this matter is the more remarkable, because both Churches profess to maintain the princi- ple that the State is bound to establish and endow the truth. The difference between them is that the Free Churchmen hold that the State, having fulfilled this duty, ought not to control the Church it has established, and that the Establishment holds State interfer- ence, though objectionable, not of necessity un-Christian.