On Thursday, at the annual meeting of the Church Defence
Association, Lord Salisbury made a strong speech against Disestablishment. Why, he asked, would not the Welsh Nonconformists consent to a religious census ? "They are very confident in their assertions as to numbers, but they object to the elementary process of numbers, which 4121 by -counting. If a man gave you what he called change for a eovereign and declined to allow you to count the shillings, would you not suspect that he had some doubt as to the accuracy of his own counting?" Lord Salisbury was equally amusing in dealing with "the policy of peace," preached to Church people by their enemies. "I observe -a great tendency among many people to interpret the Evangelical command to turn the left cheek into turning your neighbour's left cheek." Another of the speeches was of a livelier character than might have been expected at a Church Defence gathering. Mr. Alderman Phillips declared that the Disestablishment Bill reminded him of an incident he saw the -other day. A little boy was feeding a horse with some bread and butter. The carman said, "You are a kind little fellow; did your mother give you the bread and butter to feed the horse ?"—" No," said the boy, "I got it from the cart."— 4' Dash it," cried the man, "that's my tea." Dr. Parker's church was endowed with £50,000. If a Bill were brought in to touch that 250,000, Dr. Parker would say, "That's my tea." As a matter of fact horses will not eat butter, but for all that the story is an excellent one.
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