THE CLERGY AND THE GENERAL ELECTION. [TO THE EDITOR OF
THE " SPECTATOR:j SIR,—Your interesting article on the Clergy and the impending Election, in your issue cot to-day, seems to me (though, as a Conservative by conviction, against the traditions of my family, you may think me not an impartial witness), to leave out of the question not merely the fact that though Disestablishment is for the moment put on one side, in order to accomplish the im- mediate object of restoring the Liberal party to power, it will thereby be greatly advanced ; but the significant circumstance that while in Scotland and Ireland Liberalism has everything its own way, the only part of the Empire where Conservatism is strong is that in which the English Church is a living power. Is it to be wondered at, then, that notwithstanding the frantic cries of a few Ritualists—who seem utterly oblivious that the first effect of Disestablishment would be to efface themselves— the great majority of the English clergy throw in their lot with the Conservative party ?
Mr. Gladstone has warm personal friends among the English clergy. His practical interest in Church work, and his personal piety, all commend him to their sympathies ; and yet the great bulk even of those who so admire him will vote against him. The small body of Radical Ritualists to whom I have referred take the very narrow ground that the Earl of Beaconsfield sup- ported, while Mr. Gladstone opposed, the abortive Public Wor- ship Regulation Act. Without pausing to inquire whether the former had nothing to do with the latter, I would remind your readers that eight members of Mr. Disraeli's Ministry voted against the second reading of the Public Worship Regulation Act in the House of Commons.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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