Much has been said this week of a supposed" flank
movement" meditated by Mr. Disraeli on the Irish Church question. It is asserted, in one of the letters to the Scotsman, that Mr. Disraeli will propose complete disestablishment, so far as is necessary to put Protestants and Catholics in Ireland on precisely the same level of dignity, but short of what would be necessary to infringe that sacred principle which in Mr. Disraeli's estimation hallows government, by invoking the religious sanction for the civil ruler. It is hinted that this might be managed by taking all the ecclesiastical appointments out of the gift of the Government, and connecting them in some way with the English hierarchy through the Archbishop of Canterbury, so that the Church might still be the United Church of England and Ireland. As for disendowment, that would be resisted altogether. We attach no importance to the rumour. To disestablish without sacrificing Mr. Disraeli's great "principle of establishment" is like untying a knot without undoing it,—a con- tradiction in terms. Mr. Disraeli would know that this sort of dodge would only scatter his supporters without gaining a single Liberal vote. Nor could Colonel Wilson Patten be "levelled down" into a fit instrument for an operation of this sort. He is hardly as innocent as Lord Mayo.
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