THE PATRONAGE BILL.
[To THR EDITOR OW THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—It is pleasant in these disillusioned days to read "R. J. F.'s " enthusiastic forecast in the Spectator of June 16th of the results of popular election of parish clergymen. This panacea, we learn, is to bring back the men to church (by the way, are they any more remiss in attendance than they were one hundred years ago ?), it is to be a " magic word,"—a "net," a "bulwark." Strange that it did not occur to " R. J. F." to ask himself : " Are there any churches where this panacea has been tried, and, if so, have the results been so surprising ? " Had he so done he could not have failed to remember that in Ireland, in America, in all our Colonies, his system has been at work for many years, and yet all these churches still require nets, magic words, and bulwarks as much as the Church of England.—I am, Sir, &c., 3 Belgrave Road, Dublin, June 22nd. H. MERE WHITE.
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