Page:A letter to the Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue, M.P. on the state of Ireland.djvu/57

 'National Clergy' of Ireland, as it is the boast of the Established Church in England.

But here, unfortunately for the clergy of the Protestant Established Church, there occur to our minds certain facts which, whatever may be their share of the 'foremost ability' and 'highest education of the country,' and however 'unfettered their independence of thought and action,' are insuperable obstacles to their preaching the Gospel to the poor.

Let us look at these facts.

The population of Ireland may be taken in round numbers at 5,700,000. Of these the members of the Established Church are about 700,000, or one-eighth of the population. In many benefices, and in many more parishes than benefices, this proportion is not nearly reached, and amounts to no more than 5 per cent., 3 per cent., or even 1 per cent, of the population.

Now, as I have already said, the ordinary notion of an Established Church is, that it is a body which gives religious instruction to the people. Such is the Roman Catholic Church in France, in Austria, and in Spain; such are the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches in the dominions of the King of Prussia; such is the Greek Church in Russia.

Let us here consult the calm and judicious historian Hallam, as to the meaning and use of a Church Establishment:—

An ecclesiastical establishment that is, the endowment and privileges of a particular religious society can have no advantages (relatively, at least, to the community where it