26 SEPTEMBER 1874, Page 15

THE IRTSH CHURCH BODY. (To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

Sra,—I did not see the Spectator of the 12th till some days after publication. "J. S. G." speaks of the "so-called Representative Body of the Church of Ireland." The formation of that body was intended by the Church Act of 1869, and it was so named the Act. It does not, however, represent the Church in the sense in which Parliament represents the nation, but only in the sense in which a solicitor represents his client. It should also be mentioned that the Act gives the Representative Body express power to compound with the clergy. It is true, there was no compulsion to exercise this power. Before the Representative Body decided whether compounding should be offered to the clergy generally or not, I wrote and spoke in public in favour of doing so, but with the proviso that the offer should be open only for a limited time, say, until the end of 1872. The power of compounding at any time during his life has, however, been secured to every commuting clergyman—that is to say, to more than three-fourths of the clergy in every diocese in Ireland—sub- ject to no condition, except that of his life being insurable. This is a disastrous and, so far as I see, a gratuitous blunder ; but as it forms part of the contract under which commutation has been effected, it cannot be rescinded.

Let me add that although almost every other accusation has been made against the Representative Body that could be made—most of them untrue or exaggerated—it has never been suspected of a

theological bias.—I am, Sir, &c., JOSEPH Rang MURPHY.