The second reading of the Bill which hands over the
property of the Established Churclt in Seotland to a Presbyterian. Sect, without reserving any control over it to the Govern- ment of the country, was carried on Monday night by a majority of 198(307 to 109), twenty-nine Scotch Members voting in favour of the Bill and twenty against it, and eleven apparently staying away or pairing. The Scotch majority for the Bill is therefore very narrow. Probably it is the first occasion on which a single self-governed sect ever became the heir of a nationil Church, and we shall expect before long to see the property claimed by the- nation for some really national purpose, such as education. Certainly if ever the English Church were virtually liberated from the control of the State, she would not be allowed to carry her gold and her silver with her into the wilderness.
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