Lord Russell made a good speech against the Irish Church
Establishment on Monday, moving for a Commission to inquire into the amount of property and revenues of the Established Church of Ireland, "with a view to their more productive management, and their more equitable application for the benefit of the Irish people." Lord Russell admitted that the preponder- ance of a Protestant Establishment in Ireland might now be more a "sentimental wrong" than a physical grievance, but he expressed his astonishment that any politician should underrate the significance of sentimental wrongs. It was really a senti- mental wrong, not the tea duty, which caused the separation of the United States from England. It was a sentimental wrong which raised Belgium against the Dutch. The Dutch governed very well, but kept the power too much to themselves. And it was not a sign of the insignificance, but of the significance of the subject, if the Irish Protestant Establishment is regarded in Ireland chiefly as a sentimental wrong. Lord Russell insisted on the importance of showing a willingness to redress Ireland's grievances before the democratic Parliament of the future takes them in hand. We hope Lord Russell's expectations from the democratic Parliament of the future may be well founded. For ourselves we fear that these manifold preparations for working the elections by wealth will not at first turn out very favourably to the interests of Ireland.
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