THE CHURCH OF IRELAND IN DETAIL.

THE Irish Church, as established by law awl maintaietel iiV the sword, e eel(' het be so intolerable a grie\ ance ;IS it k, :wei.st, it; malign iefluence confined to and einwentered in one thstiart or

province of the country. liut it spreads like a pestilenee uvy direction, penetrat leg I he populous city, and half-deserted hand, t— carrying discord into the cotmeinroonta of statesmen,

the pal:tees of the wealthy, and the mud cabins of the miscrahly poor. Our abstraet of the Report of the Commissioners .of f)eleie instruction exhibited in strung- light the enormous injustice of' preserving as a State Establishment the present Churele wider any but or mollification. The simple thet, that out ef a popula- tion of nearly eielit mine:its, only ;diem three quarters of a roillien belong to the Estahlished ieliurch, is sulliciently striking; but it is onlv from an examination of the details, from a scrutiny- of in- dividual eases, that an adequate idea can be folio d el the inten- sity of the evd, which Torv shoe-men \veldtl perpetuate under the hypoeritical preteuce of regard thr pore Christianity. We have turned over sotne hundred pages of the Coinnlis• skitters' Report : there is hardly one which does net sepply tenet' of the necessity of dealing 'wilily with the monster alone ei. modern times; but we must centhie taw illustrative extracts to it few, very probably not the worst, speeiniens of the :tanking of the State (to it the National) Church Establishment ill Ireland.

In the benefice, which comprises the parish of Mottamentra, and part of Reiske, in the county of Waterford, there are ::5e Catholics, and no Protestants of any tletiotninatioe ; but there is a clergyman, who is Rector awl VieII , IS Chancellor of Water- ford Cathedral, and reside ill Waterford.

In the benefice of Crtatke, in the saute county, there are 14 Protestants and 1 0 to Catholics : the Rector, who is also Vicar, resides in ‘Vaterfifrd.

There are five parishes in the benefice of Killure: in three of them there are no Protest:Inn:, in the remaining two there are 19 : the Rector resides in Waterford.

In Derrygratle in Tipperary, there are 25 Protestants, and 1367 Catholics. There are two clergymen belonging to this bene- fice, a Rector and a Vicar; the former residing in Waterford, the latter doing the duty.

Three clergymen, all non-resident, are quartered on Kilbarry- meaden; where the Protestant population consists of twelve souls—just four a-piece ! Kilrush, in the same county, bias six Protestants and two clergy men.

Modelligo, in Tipperary, comprises two parishes, together sup- plying four Protestants, and two clergymen.

Elphin, in Roscommon, according to the census of the Dean, has 234 Protestants, 7662 Catholics; and four clergymen—the Bishop, Dean, and two curates.

Ruthcormack, in Cork, contains 310 Protestants, 4891 Catholics; and is cursed—we may truly say, when speaking of this parish— is cursed with two clergymen.

In Kilgetlin, county of Roscommon, there are 16 Protestants, 9645 Catholics; and two clergymen.

In the benefice of Ballynakill, nine parishes of Mayo and Gal- way are united. The extreme points of the benefice are filly miles distant from each other: the Protestant population is only 5$2 to 44,581 Catholics! the attendance at church of Protestauts varies from 70 to 120; and there are three clergymen—a Rector and two curates; the latter being paid by the Archbishop of Tuam. Rathkently, in Meath, has 48 Protestants, and 2030 Catholics. There are two clergymen—a Vicar and curate ; and the number of attendants at church variee front air to twenty : but, according to the Report. they are " rather increasine"—by and by, we suppose, the church at Rathkenny will bonst a c.algregation of from seven to twenty-one; while the two Catholic priests of the parish preach to 1200 or 1500 of the peasantry every Sunday.

Five parishes go to make up the benefice of Raddonstown in Meath; and 98 Churchmen colorise the Protestant population; of whom 50 attend the ministrations of two clergymen.

The benefice of Newtown, abc) in Meath, consist.; of four parishes; in two of which there are no Protestants. Twenty at- tend divine service in church; but the numbers are " slightly in- creasing." The priest has a congregation of front 400 to 500. Glencollumkill, in Donegal, has •288 Protestant residents; but only furnishes 50 attendants at church, though there are two re- sident clergymen; while the Catholic congregation reaches 900 in number.

The Report is full of facts similar to those we have quoted; and were we to devote the whole of our journal for the remainder of the year to extracts of this description, we should by no means have exhausted the mine of ecclesiastical abuse which has been opened to our inspection by the labours of the Commissioners. But, for the present, we desist; baying furnished a sufficient atUnple of the details of which the Report is chiefly made up.

It is obser;able, that in a vast number, we should think, in a majority of the benefices, there are two clergymen at the least to be t

ipported by the laity. Even in benefices where there s are not a dozen Protestants, we find that Rectors and Vicars have their curates. New it is fair to eonclude from this, that the in- come of all such livings is larger than is necessary for the support of one clergvmail ; and we alV therefige led to suspeet, that the tuella! i.e.:wow of the Irish Church has teen

Until we examined the Report, we had certainly. ui must iiiet no- 11111 el the number of non-resident clergymen. tsV(iv! were pared to find that there WiTC 11111:111Vdti Of very. poor livities, sock

as abound Woks: the Report does not furuish

(none of eaeli livieo, but it supplies what is almest as useful, me meranda of the munber of clergymen whom the parishemers are compelicd to support. When the Rector can alnrd to pay a cu- rate, it is plain that were is taken for the Church than is requisite; and when thioe livines are in proce,n of reetdation, it would net be amiss, perhaps, to take the curates' income as the slander(' et. what tIle 'aspic ouelit to pay to the Establishment, and devote the ltectors' superfluity tO I,ther and better purposes. It eppears that there are 196 benefiees in Ireland—more time one third of the whole number—in which the ineumbents troo non- resideut ! Awl let we have beet: told that a great refigni has been recently effected in the internal affairs of' the Church. I.; such is their reforlued state, how vast must have been the sato of limner abuse!

But there are 535 beneln.es in which there are no glebe-houses

and lids i- a, an excioe for non-residence. It is assuredly one that oneht net to avail those ;teethes who can affitrd to employ cure, while they spend the incomes of their livings in Dehlia awl WniterfOrl, Lewlen awl Paris, lint, we would ask, why dif- ferent rides in reea oh to residence of the clergy should prevail ia Inoend anti Enelanil: In the latter country-, no Bishop, exrept peiliaps Dr. SeaeKE of Eiv, would allow thot the want of a !tense Wati a tillItitiont excuse for tem-residence. Hundreds ef emotes live in lodgine.s: and when there is no parson.tee-hous.: Ihr the nwiltubent, he is eteopelled to Ii nil cite for himself.

We must recur again to this subject : awl in the meanwhile any remark, that the more nearly e e examine it, the more clear be-

comes our conviction that the Church of Ireland cannot be mended so as to render it worth preserviug in any shape. It is rotten throunleon, mid offensive to all eve pt those who fatten out the eorruntiou it engenders; and the sooner the scandal of its ex- istence is got rid of', the better will it be for the interests of true religion and practical morality, to say nothing of tii ! internal peace of a whole nation.