WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE.
FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR J. E. MILLAIS, BART., P.R.A., IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY.
When the Bill reached the House of Lords, it found a tribunal disposed to view it with unfriendly eyes, and to subject it to a searching criticism. A question put to Government by a noble lord before the Easter recess indicated the temper that largely prevailed in the Upper House. Lord Redesdale asked whether the Ministry intended to propose any alteration in the Coronation Oath, since according to the present form, as taken by her Majesty at her accession, the Sovereign undertook to maintain "to the utmost of his power," not merely the Church, but the Churches of his dominions in all their rights, the oath having been so modified at the date of the Union that the Sovereign thenceforward was obliged to swear to maintain the United Church in the possession of all its rights and privileges. Lord Granville replied, on the part of Government, that he entered with reluctance into the line of inquiry started by the noble lord. He conceived, however, that the Coronation Oath was somewhat in the nature of a compact between Sovereign and people, and that if the people, through Parliament, expressed its wish and determination to modify the terms of the compact, the Sovereign was thereby constitutionally released from the obligation of observing it more strictly than the altered mind of Parliament desired. Legislation would be ridiculous, whether the principle of the noble lord or that adopted by the Government were preferred. If Government were right that the Sovereign was released by the voice of the people, as shown by the votes of Parliament, then the passing of a Bill in both Houses on the particular point in question, and its presentation to her Majesty for her assent, relieved her ipso facto from the obligations of the oath. But if, as the noble lord seemed to think, there were some abstract obligation on the Sovereign, something between her and her God, which no arrangement or compromise between her and her subjects could alter, it was clear that any Bill altering the oath would be utterly inefficacious.
DR. MAGEE, BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH, ADDRESSING THE HOUSE OF LORDS. (See p. [502].)
The chief brunt of the opposition to the Bill in the House of Lords fell on Lord Cairns. Warned, however, by the large majorities that had carried the Bill through every stage in the Commons, the party of resistance eventually renounced the idea of opposing the second reading, but indulged the hope that they would be able so to cut up and refashion the Bill in Committee, in the direction of granting more favourable terms to the Irish Church, that the disendowing clauses of the Act at any rate would become little more than nominal. Of course, there were many Tory lords who hoisted the flag of "No surrender" and would not yield an inch; nor could the Irish representative bishops be expected to be parties to their own political annihilation. An eloquent, and in every way remarkable, speech against the Bill was made by the Bishop of Peterborough (Dr. Magee), who had been recently translated to that see from an Irish deanery by the Government of Mr. Disraeli. The bishop probed the sores of Ireland deeply, and told Government that they would get no thanks from the Irish people unless they carried the expropriation of land much farther than the present Bill proposed to carry it. "How stands the case?" he argued. "At the time of the Rebellion, England confiscated large estates belonging to the Celtic rebels. On nine-tenths of those estates England planted laymen; on the remaining tenth she planted Anglican pastors. Now I ask this one question: Was the confiscation of the land of the rebels just or unjust? If it was unjust, then undo it all. If, in the name of justice, you are to trace back so far the roots of things in Irish history; if you are to make your resolutions in the sacred name of justice, then, in the name of that justice, give back to the descendants of those owners the confiscated estates that you took from them. But do not mock them—for it is mocking them—by telling them that Protestant ascendency is an evil thing. And then, how do you propose to deal with it? By telling them their land is divided into nine-tenths and one-tenth—the nine-tenths in the hands of the Protestant landlords, and the one-tenth in the hands of the Protestant clergy—and we propose to satisfy their demand for justice by ousting from the land the one proprietor, who is the most popular, most constantly resident, and least offensive, while you retain, in all the bitter injustice of their original tenure, the proprietors who are the most detested, and whose possessions they most covet. Do your lordships imagine that the Irish people will be satisfied with that? Do not forget that you have to deal with the most quick-witted people in Europe—people whose eyes are intently fixed on this question—and do you think that they will feel other than the most bitter disappointment when you tell them that you are about to tear down the hateful flag of Protestant ascendency, and they find that you only tear off a single corner of it—or about the fortieth part of the whole? The Irish peasant has already given his answer to your offer of pacification—your pacification consisting in refusing him the land which he does want, and giving him the destruction of the Church, which he does not—the Irish peasant writes his answer, and a terrible answer it is, in that dread handwriting which it needs no Daniel to interpret, and which so often makes English statesmen tremble; and in that answer he tells you that he will be satisfied with nothing else than the possession of the land—which I do the members of her Majesty's Government the justice to believe they have no intention to give."
After having laboured to prove that the Bill was unjust and impolitic, the Bishop denounced it with withering sarcasm as ungenerous. "What a magnanimous sight! The first thing that this magnanimous British nation does in the performance of this act of justice and penitence, is to put into her pocket the annual sum she has been in the habit of paying to Maynooth and to compensate Maynooth out of the funds of the Irish Church. The Presbyterian members for Scotland, while joining in this exercise of magnanimity, forgot the horror of Popery which was so largely relied on, and so loudly expressed, at the last elections in Scotland. They have changed their mind, on the theory that a bribe to Popery is nothing if preceded by plunder of the Protestant Episcopacy. Putting two sins together, they make one good action. Throughout its provisions this Bill is characterised by a hard and niggardly spirit. I am surprised by the injustice and impolicy of the measure, but I am still more astonished at its intense shabbiness. It is a small and pitiful Bill. It is not worthy of a great nation. This great nation in its act of magnanimity and penitence has done the talking, but has put the sackcloth and ashes on the Irish Church, and made the fasting be performed by the poor vergers and organists."
The opponents of the measure were not sufficiently numerous to prevent the second reading, which was carried (June 19th) by a majority of 33, chiefly owing to a large number of abstentions. But now the real work of the adversaries of the Bill began. The Archbishop of Canterbury moved that the Ulster glebes be regarded in the light of private endowments, and made over to the disestablished Church; and this was carried. The same prelate moved that the preamble be altered by the insertion of 1872 as the legal date of disestablishment, instead of 1871. This amendment also was carried by a large majority. Lord Carnarvon moved and carried an amendment to the clause respecting the redemption of life annuities, giving considerably more favourable terms to the Church. Lord Salisbury proposed and carried an amendment, by which the delivery of the glebe-houses to the Church would be made free of the building charges resting upon them. On the motion of Lord Cairns, the House made an important alteration in the preamble of the Bill, wherein it was stated that no part of the surplus was to be devoted to religious or denominational purposes, but that it should be wholly applied to the relief of unavoidable calamities and infirmities. Lord Cairns moved, and successfully, that the whole question as to the disposal of the surplus should be reserved for the decision of a future Parliament. The question of the date was then again brought up, it being understood that the Irish clergy were themselves opposed to the postponement of the date of disestablishment as proposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. On the motion of Lord Cairns, the 1st of May, 1871, was finally agreed to.