23 NOVEMBER 1872, Page 2

Sir Stafford Northcote has been speaking at South Molten, in

Devonshire, on Church defence; but he has not succeeded in saying much beyond that it is becoming the duty even of clergymen to think a little of what they can contribute to the political de- fence of the Church, and not solely of their strictly clerical duties. Also, be said that if the people of England could be polled, he believed there would be a vast majority against dis- establishment. Very possibly, but then the plaiscite has not yet been acclimatised in England, and surely it is not Conservatives who wish to introduce it. For our own parts, we believe that a measure of Church reform giving some real power to the laity, would be by far the beat Church-defence policy.