Mr. Roundell Palmer has at length, in an address to
his con- stituents at Richmond, explained his position with referenco to the Irish Church. He yields to no one "in personal and political attachment to Mr. Gladstone," and is ready, in parishes where the Protestants are few, to apply the revenues of the Church to local objects of general utility. "But., acquiescing as I do in what appears to be the almost unanimous opinion of the country against any public endowment of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, I consider that the provision now made for the Established Church ought to be allowed to remain in those parishes and places where its endowments are not disproportionate to the wants of a resident Protestant population." Sir Rouudell Palmer, in fact, regards the Church in Ireland not as a national, but, so to speak, as a parochial institution, to be abolished where the parish does not want it, but kept up where it does. This is not the Tory view, which would assign tithes from Connaught to increase the churches in Ulster ; but it is nearly as weak, and would secure no one end of an establishment. We trust, however, that the Liberals of Richmond will retain Sir Roundel'. Men who can sacrifice the prize of a life of successful exertion rather than sur- render a conviction are too scarce to be ostracized. If the Mem- ber for Richmond were as great a Tory as Lord Eldon, the House of Commons would be the better for his presence.
