27 JUNE 1835, Page 12

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

THE CHURCH IN IRELAND.

IT has been a common outcry of the Orange faction that the numbers of the Irish Protestants were much understated by the Reformers. Three millions was the amount at which, nut very

long ago, they estimated the Anti Catholic population. It was easy to assert this, or any• other falsehood on the subject ; because no official documents existed to which either party could refer for settling the comparative numbers of the various sects. The anger 4,1' the Orangeists at the issuing of the Commission of Public Instructioe, last year, betrayed their apprehensions that Public Instructioe, last year, betrayed their apprehensions that the report of the Commissioners would make known the truth, and reveal the full enormity of the Irish Church Establishment. These fears were well-kunded. The Report has appeared ; awl the immense numerical inferiority of the members of the Esta- blished Church can no longer be denied. With the aid of "a con- siderable number of Wesleyan Methodists, they count

out or 7,943,910 souls. That their numbers are not greater than are here put down, we may he Melt assured by the manner in

which the census Was taken. It was founded on the census of sa I, which was the work of enumerators appointed by the Irish Magistrates in their several districts; and it is out credible that Orange Justices would select men disposal to understate the

numbers of the Protestants. had they done so, however, the errors must have beet' corrected : for in a great majority of in- stances the clergymen sent the Commissiohers a census of their parishioners: being aware of the use to which the informa- tion they furnished was about to be applied, and not at all likely to make mistakes in that of the Catholics. We may safely conclude, therefore, that the aumber of the Protestant Churchmen is considerably hrhor that stated in the Repel ; as it must not be forget ten, that in addition to the Wesleyan Dissenters, improperly, though at their own d: sire, classed aumeg the mem- bers of the Establishment, the Chinch always reckons as her disciples all who do not openly prop ss to belong to some other sect. All the Infidels, and Leery " patens Deurum (Adair et in- frequens,- Mother Church claims as her own. But for the pur- poses which the Report is intended to st rye,--namely, to supply- data on which to apportion out ef its present revenues a sullivient sun, Mr the religious instruction of the members a the Esta- blishment,—it would have been imee correct, to have only reckoned the avowed disciples ()I' the Church. For these reasons, as well as on account ()I' the exile:au caution which the Commis- sinners appear to have used in 1,,,piting the return:, we agree NVith the Ti mrs in opposition to the .`.;, id, int, that it is quite idle to impugn the census, tail a ALA; to prove that the Churchmen arc :lot rated at their full tiumbers.

T:w. Theta admits and ms in duty hound) laments the woful infetiority of the true believers to the rapists; but on that very accennt would resist any diminution of the income of the Irish Church. On the principle of the 'Ley journal, the fewer the number of Churchmen, the larger should be the revenues ed their clergy. Because Protestataism in Ireland is weak, the Mew would strengthen it—but how ? By the very weans which have rendered it dctestabile et eadneam—by taxing the Catholic and Dissenting population for its support, and culls cling its revenue at the Lay(met's point. EN petit:nee tells us that this is the only way in which the present ineotaa of the Esffiblishment can be exacted. Vet a church so maintained is expected to make converts! The experiment has been tried on a great scale, how tar it is possible to bribe and bully a people into the abandonment of a religious creed ; and it has sighally failed. But, nut satisfied with a trial of some centuries, the 'reties would still persist in their career, tracked as it is with the b!cail of a nencenthrtaing people.

When Lord .Ions RU,s1,1.1. WUS asked whether, if he found a surplus income in any parish, he would apply such surplus to make good the deficiency in anether parish, he replied in t he hogative,-- " to the effect,- sets the Times, "that w hen the Church was fa, she should be sweated for the beeelit of ether churches : but when she was lean tied famished, she should still be compelled to starve.- . . . . " To mulct the tee rich 1 arish, irithoet eiving sate.

that which is confessedly too poor, dues come tee in Oil l- to the most gross tied clumsy iuiquily that ever Wits devised by patty per,'-aan.- According to the Times, the Catho:ies in l'ipperery, where there are scarcely any Protestants, should be compelled to support the clergy ie the poorer parishes of Armagh, where there nee more of the favoured sect. Led JOHN RI'SSELL says—" No ; let those who pay the money have some kelefit from its application ; kt them pay the parson a reasonable sum, and let the remainder be used in educating all classes:* This is clumsy iniquity, in the idea of the neve: but even that journal, in all the assurance of its new creed, would not dare to advocate any other mode of dealing with the presumed surplus if the pool le of England were the parties more imunehately interested in the question. What would the Norfolk farmers sal it tithe-collectors from Wales made an annual inroad into their eaalthy county un behelf of the poer par-

sous in the diocese Asap!'? What would they say to the collecti( n, in any shape, fur any purpose, of a larger sum thi(n Parliament had expressly declared to be ample for the support of their clergy ?

The whole number of P(otestant Chmelanen is Ireland whose spiritual welfare is het pro, id( d 1hr, is only aoau; the number of Catholic and other Dissenters whose religious instruction is uncared for by the State, i3 upwards of seven millions. Yet the Protestant is called the National Religion, and it is ia its behalf that such a howl is raised ! There is no danger of the decline of Catholicism or Presbyterianism in Ireland; it is the natiowl faith alone that is in jeopardy ! Three quarters of a million per ail num could not preserve it from decay ; thirty thousand soldiers can ;wt now collect its revenue; its involved and half-ruined ministers* arc supported by loans of British money.; the whole fabric is falling to the ground, for the blood of the Catholic peasantry has not cemented its materials together; and yet an honest and national effort to prevent its utter destruction is termed by its pro- fessed friends " gross and clumsy It remains to be seen whether the Legislature will aid the Government in their attempt to prop up the Irish Church. It is probably the last of the sort that will be tried. We recommend a perusal of the Commissioners' Report to every Member of Parlia- ment. Let all consider well the condition of the Church Establish- ment, and then say whether so monstrous au abuse was ever su flared to exist in any other country under the sun, and whether any other people would be content with less than its utter demolition? If the Mieisterial Tithe Bill is rejected in either House of Parlia. ment, or Si) mutilated as to render the mass of the Irish popula- tion discontented with it and hostile to its enforcement, then the total destruction of the Establishment will probably not be flit distant. It is absurd, as has been said, to attempt to indict a whole people; but the defenders of Irish Church abuses have only the law on their side against the resolves of seven millions of men. In such a case, what is the law worth ? To the Irish clergy, not one tithe of their annual demand on the Catholic peasantry.