The Nonconformist is taking pains to prove by very elaborate
statistics, furnished by its own commissioner, that the increase of Nonconformist Church sittings since 1851 has been much larger than that of National Church sittings since the same period,—in other words, that the voluntary and self-supporting Churches have been gaining ground rapidly on the Established and nationally-aided Church. This may be quite true, and we do not doubt that the statistics in question have been quite honestly pre- pared and compared, though probably with a certain amount of bias inseparable from the very nature of hope. But surely the Nonconformists can hardly expect Churchmen to accept implicitly figures now prepared by themselves for their own pur- poses, when they refused to let the State count their numbers in the official Census for the purposes of the State. Then they were not willing to be " ticketed " Dissenters, and regarded it as an insult ; now, in the hope of Disestabliahment, they are only too eager to ticket themselves. We suggest to them that it is fairer to ask to be ticketed by independent authorities concerned for nothing but the figures, and not to expect the world to take on the faith of their own impartiality,—no one doubts their honour,—results prepared for a controversial purpose, which they refused to give us when we asked to know them simply "for information's sake."
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