Lord Plunket has found out that Disestablishment has not injured
the cause of the Protestant Clergy in Ireland, but saved them from the machinations og the Land League, and that, in fact, Disestablishment has been " over-ruled" for their good. This admission can hardly be satisfactory, to those who described Mr. Gladstone as a Judas Iscariot for proposing Disestablishment. Perhaps, some of them would say—as Mr. Disraeli long ago said—that the treachery of Judas Iscariot was " over-ruled " for the good of the Christian Church. But con- sidering that Mr. Gladstone assigned as one of his reasons for Disestablishment that it would take away the reproach from the Protestant Church in Ireland which it actually has taken away, we hardly think that those who now find his action justified, would be able with any consistency to deny him the full credit of his motive.
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