Dr. Cameron's motion on Tuesday for the Disestablishment of the
Scottish Church, was met bY an amendment, moved by Mr. Finlay, asserting that the Presbyterian Churches of Scot- land ought to be reunited on a national basis, and that the endowments should not be diverted from religious purposes. Dr. Cameron's motion Was defeated by 265 votes against 209; majority, 56 (the Scotch vote, however, being divided in the proportion of 40 votes in favour of Dr. Cameron's resolution, to 23 votes against it, showing a Scotch majority of 17 for Disestablishment). After the rejection of the resolution, Mr. Finlay's amendment became the subject of a direct vote, and was carried by a majority of 72,-247 against 175, a good many of those who voted in the previous division having then left the House. The purely Scotch majority in favour of Disestablishment appears to be very slightly on the increase; but there is no evidence as yet that if the question were sub- mitted separately to the Scotch people, they would declare themselves in favour of the secularisation of funds originally devoted to a religious purpose. The Scotch Members them- selves have very inadequate data for knowing how their con- stituents would wish them to vote on any single issue of this kind. There is no sufficient ground for anything like con- fidence as to what the popular desire of Scotland is. Probably- enough, no popular desire on this subject is yet distinctly formulated.
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