IRELAND.
As Mr. John Bright was unable to attend the Religions Equality Con- ference in Dublin on Thursday, he sent a letter to Dr. Gray, giving his plan for the "adjustment " of Irish ecclesiastical difficulties. It was pub- lished in the Dublin _Freeman's Journal on Wednesday, and occupies seve- ral columns. Mr. Bright's views must be packed up into a briefer space in our pages.
He starts with the belief that the party headed by Mr. G. H. Moore really desire nothing more nor less than " perfect equality" before the law for the religious sects which exist in Ireland; and which he enumerates as Protest- ant Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and 'Roman Catholic. On this point, he says, there must be no mistake; and in order that there shall be none as far as he is concerned, he sets out two plans, one of which he accepts, rejecting the other : first laying it down as the basis of his whole scheme that "hence- forth there must be no church in Ireland in connexion with the state." "The most simple plan," he says, "would be to absorb the revenues of the Esta- blished Church as the livings become vacant, and to apply them in some chan- nel not ecclesiastical, in which the whole population of Ireland could partici- pate." But he rejects this, because he thinks it would be unjust to the Protestant tpiscopalians and Presbyterians, who have been hitherto supported by the State, to deprive them at once of that assistance. Nevertheless, he would rather see that plan carried out than the continuance of the pre- sent system. He then develops his own plan. " The Protestant Episcopal Church has 500,000/. per annum intrusted to it, or a principal sum, at twenty years' purchase, of 10,000,0001. sterling. The Presbyterian Church or Churches have 40,0001. per annum, or, estimated at the same rate, a princi- pal sum of 800,0001. The Roman Catholic Church has 26,0001. per annum, or a principal sum of 520,000/." He would deal with this as follows. "Let an act be passed to establish Church Property Commission' for Ireland ; and let this Commission hold in trust, for certain purposes, all the tithes and other property now enjoyed by the Established Church ; let it, in fact, be- come possessed of the 10,000,0001. sterling, the income from which now forms the revenues of that Church, as the livings and benefices become va- cant." " Let this Commission be empowered and directed to appropriate certain portions of this fund as a free gift to each of the three Churches in Ireland—to the Protestant Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, and the Roman Catholic Church. Whatever is thus given must be a free gift, and become as much the private property of the respective sects or Churches as is the property of the Free Church in Scotland, or that of the Wesleyan Methodists in England. It must no longer be a trust from the State, liable to inter- ference or recall by the State, or the equality,' and independence of the Irish sects will not be secured." In dividing the sum, he would ap- propriate so much of it to the Roman Catholics as would provide that there vita a small piece of land in every parish—" say from ten to twenty acres "—in the "possession of the Catholic Church," to be " made over abso- lutely and for ever to the Catholics of Ireland." "Under an arrangement of this kind, of course the special grant to the College of Maynooth would be withdrawn." In their turn, the Presbyterians would resign the Regium Volum, and receive instead, such a portion of the general fund, absolutely and for ever, which would produce a revenue equal to the Parliamentary grant. Similarly he would treat the Protestant Episcopalians ; giving them absolutely a sum about equal to that bestowed on the others, together with the privilege of possessing their churches at a nominal rent, so long as there should be a congregation. Thus he would have exhausted three out of the ten millions to be allotted. "The remaining five or seven millions, as the ease might be, might and in my opinion ought to be reserved for purposes strictly Irish, and directed to the educational and moral improvement of the people, without respect to class or creed. This fund would extend and per- fect,tbe educational institutions of the country ; it would establish and endow free libraries in all the chief towns of Ireland, and would dispense blessings in many channels for the free and equal enjoyment of the whole popu- lation!'
-Mr. Bright foresees objections to this scheme, and some of them he meets ; but he says that the case is desperate, and whoever waits for a remedy pleasant to everybody must wait for ever.
According tOthe Dublin Evening Post, the Irish measures in prepara- tion by the Government are—" a commission to inquire into the state of Maynobtla; a bill to modify the Board of Education, so as to render it more palatable to the parsons ; a bill regulating the relations of landlord and tenant ; and the extension of the Income-tax to Ireland."
The Dublin Crystal Palace, for the Industrial Rrhibition of 1863, is now fairly begun. Lord Eglinton, accompanied by his Countess and Lord Colville, went on Monday last to the site, and planted the first pil- lar of the building, in the presence of the Lord Mayor, Lord Talbot de Malahide, Sir Edward M`Dormel, Sir Robert Kane, Mr. William Dargan, Major Fairfield, &c. Some speechmaking followed, mainly an inter- change of compliments, over the remains of a pleasant breakfast in the drawmgroom of the house of the EThibition Committee.
A meeting, convened by the Ulster Protestant Association, was held at Belfast on the 22d, for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the im- prisonment of Rosa and Francesco Madiai, in Tuscany. In the absence of the Earl of Downshire, the Earl of Mayo presided. Moat of the speak- ers were reverend gentlemen, and there was no lack of "Kentish fire.'
Dr. Paul Cullen was formally invested with the " pallium" on Sunday, by Dr. O'Connor, Roman Catholic Bishop of Pittsburgh in the United States ; who was specially intrusted with the task by the Pope.
The Reverend Dr. Dixon, of Maynooth, has been appointed to the Ro- man Catholics see of Armagh and the Primacy of all Ireland.
Mr. Hans Hamilton succeeds Mr. W. D. Freeman as Chairman of the County of Galway. Mr. Freeman died a few days ago.
The Marquis of Waterford presided at the annual dinner of the Port- land Agricultural Society last week. In praising the character of Lord Doneraile, whose health he proposed, the Marquis described him as one who recognized community of interest between landlord and tenant ; and if a landlord did his duty, there was little fear of the tenant " bolt- ing" with the crop—a too common practice of late years. For his own Part, he was always willing and eager to allow compensation for improve- ments, and to treat misfortune with indulgence ; but he was determined to show -no mercy to the unprincipled defaulter.
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