Mr. Stansfeld made a speech at Halifax on Wednesday while
Mr. Disraeli was speaking at Manchester ; and what he said would certainly go to some extent to confirm Mr. Disraeli's imputations on the ambiguous position—not of Mr. Gladstone, but of the Cabinet, in relation to some of the extreme Radical cries. Mr. Stansfeld professed himself personally favourable both to secular education and the disestablishment of the Church of Eng- land, which last, he said, was but "a question of time." Neverthe- less, he admitted that the latter was not an open question in the Cabinet, for the Cabinet, he said, were obliged to meet Mr. Miall's motion with a direct negative, otherwise it would be at once said that they were committed to taking the matter up. Evidently he thinks himself at liberty to vote against any motion,. even though he agrees with it, which has not yet reached the stage of a practical question, and regards his vote rather as con- demning premature action than as condemning action at all. As for Mr. Stansfeld's remark that no one would now think of estab- lishing the Church for the first time if we had no Establishment, —that is quite true, and perfectly irrelevant to the question of its utility. Nobody would think of starting a throne for the first time, if we had not one planted in the past, but apparently Mr. Stansfeld himself does not think this a reason for regarding the establishment of a republic as " only a question of time." Nor would anyone think of hollowing out Cumber- land into lakes and valleys and hills, if we had not got them without artificial aid, nor as far as we know, of making the English character what it is, if we bad to start afresh ; but is either of these considerations equivalent to a profession of faith that the abolition of the Lakes or of the English character is a mere "question of time "?
