CHURCH OF IRELAND.

HAVING, in the preceding chapter, given a detailed account of the general principles and management of the Church of England, it will not be requisite to be equally copious in our exposition of the Irish Protestant establishment.

In the past and present state of Ireland we have a striking illustration of the tendency of the government that is said to "work well," and the wretchedness of her population, her tithe-system, her vast tracts of land, either ill-cultivated or totally unproductive, her judicial and magisterial administration, her insurrections, factions, burnings, desolations, and bloody domestic outrages,-all symptomatic of a community entering on the first stages of civilization, afford irrefragable proof of the excellencies of the good working government. In England, it is true, there are grievous abuses in the absorption of public money by the Aristocracy, in the denial of justice by the cost and uncertainty of legal decisions;-in the tolerance of commercial monopolies, in cornlaws, partial taxation, and other oppressions ;-but these sink into insignificance when contrasted with the sufferings of Ireland. There the natural order of society has been inverted, and the government for many years existed, not for the benefit of the people, but the people existed solely for the benefit of the government.

Among the various forms under which oppression has been carried on, the most conspicuous is the Church Establishment; one is at a loss to conceive for whose benefit this institution exists in Ireland. Is it for the benefit of the clergy, the people, or the state? If by the former is meant those who minister religious instruction, it can hardly be said to be of advantage to them. The teachers of religion in Ireland are nearly all Catholics, a vast majority of the people are of the same persuasion, and what religion there is the expense is chiefly defrayed by voluntary contributions. Neither the really operative clergy, therefore, nor the people, benefit by the church establishment. With respect to the state, the advantage appears not less equivocal. The alliance betwixt church and state is founded on reciprocal benefits-that, on the one hand, the state shall give its civil protection to the church, and, on the other, the church shall aid in sustaining the state, by its influence over the people: -this is the basis of the compact; and it follows, when the church loses its influence, when it loses the adherence of a majority of the population, when it is no longer able to sustain the state, the compact is dissolved; it has no claim for protection, and its alliance becomes a source of weakness instead of power.

Such is the actual condition of the Irish church, such the advantages it confers on the government; it adds little to its authority, affords no aid to the civil magistrate, neither the law nor its ministers are rendered more sacred by its influence-quite the reverse. Authority is degraded and abhorred in Ireland, solely on account of the ecclesiastical establishment it is the colossal grievance of the country, the source of all its factions, murmuring, and discontent. Why then, it may be asked, is the establishment maintained? On what principle or pretext is it justified? The godly cannot defend it from piety, the politician from reasons of state, nor the patriot for the blessings it confers on the community. Whose interest, then, is identified with the odious system? The only rational answer that can be given to this question is the fact, that there is, in Ireland, as in this country, an oligarchical interest, which has entwined itself round her institutions, and whose support is incompatible with public liberty and happiness. For many years Ireland was the prey of a favoured caste, a selfish and bigoted faction, who divided her as a spoil; and such was the wretched policy of the general government, that it was weak and unprincipled enough to avail itself of the folly and cupidity of such agents to preserve a precarious sovereignty-when, too, its frown would have made the same creatures, who were ready, at any time, to sacrifice their country for a pension or a place, instrumental to her greatness and welfare. Under the Wellington and Grey administrations attempts have been made to introduce a more impartial and enlightened system; with what success time must develope; but it is apparent, so long as her ecclesiastical establishment is continued-it is vain to expect contentment and tranquillity.*

The Irish branch of the United Church is more pregnant with abuses even than its sister establishment in England; presenting a more revolting spectacle of inordinate incomes, of lax discipline, of laborious duties without adequate remuneration, and of an immense ecclesiastical revenue levied under circumstances of greater insult, partiality, and oppression. The points most deserving attention in the exposition of these subjects are, first, the revenue of the Irish Protestant establishment; secondly, the number of individuals among whom this revenue is divided; thirdly, the hardships and impoverishment resulting not less from the amount than the mode in which the clerical income is

While the Catholic religion maintains its influence over the popular mind, we esteem it quite impossible for any government permanently to maintain its authority without conciliating the priesthood. Lord Grey ought to make a provision for the Catholic clergy out of the tithes; or send over to Dublin his grace of Norfolk, or other popish viceroy, who believes with O'Connell in the real presence. The Irish proprietary, too, have evinced a singular want of political philosophy. The late lord Liverpool stated that nineteen-twentieths of the property of Ireland belonged to protestants; but how can they expect to enjoy their possessions in peace if they continue to differ from their peasantry in points of faith. A gentleman ought to be superior to the prejudices of sects whether Catholic or Protestant; in such matters it is best to follow the multitude, or those who cultivate bis domains. Voltaire built a church for his neighbours at Ferney, and occasionally preached there.

levied; fourthly, the patronage of the Irish church; lastly, the diminutive portion of the population who derive even a semblance of benefit from the intolerable burthen imposed on the land and industry of the community. We shall touch on these several heads of inquiry as briefly as possible, confining ourselves strictly to such facts as illustrate the state of the church.

To begin with our first topic-the Irish Church Revenue. Within the last ten years, a mass of important details has been laid before parliament relative to the estates and revenues of the Protestant establishment; but, either from inability or reluctance in the parties interested to communicate the requisite information, our knowledge is still far from complete and accurate on this interesting branch of public statistics. Upon the authority of documents so communicated we shall, however, in great part, found our exposition; and thus, by relying on the statements of the clergy themselves, their registrars, and other dependent officials, we shall at least avoid the imputation of having arrived, through a prejudiced medium, at an exaggerated result.

We shall commence with the revenues of the Episcopal Clergy. The incomes of the bishops are derived principally from land, but partly from tithe. In some dioceses, in the West of Ireland, a fourth part of the tithes of almost every parish is paid to the bishop; affording decisive testimony of the ancient fourfold division of parochial tithes, and of the veracity of the allegation of those who affirm that the poor were formerly entitled to share equally with the bishop and priest in the produce of this impost. The practice, however, is not universal; and the revenues of the bishoprics chiefly arise from their immense landed estates. In the session of 1824, returns were made to parliament of the number of acres attached to the several Irish sees.* These returns are very incomplete, and were mostly compiled by the registrars from the fallacious representations of the tenantry. Three dioceses, Dromore, Down, and Raphoe, made no return at all; alleging that, on examining the leases of the church lands, it was found they did not mention "the number of acres demised." In the return from Armagh, it is remarked that the number of acres has been calculated from the representations of the tenants, but "the lands have never been surveyed." Of the magnitude of the errors in these reports, we may judge from the fact subsequently ascertained, that, in one of them there was a trifling omission of thirteen thousand acres. Enough, however, may be collected from them to show the vast extent of ecclesiastical property: in fact, it is clear that the bishops' lands are held, leased, and managed much upon the same liberal scale and principle that lands are in Australia, Canada, and Nova Scotia; and the conjectural estimates by Wakefield, and other statists, of what their immense incomes, either actually are, or might be made, under an improved system of tenure and cultivation, are not remote from the truth. We shall insert the

* Parliamentary Papers, vol. xxi. Session 1824.

number of acres returned by fourteen sees; the acres are Irish, which makes the amount about one-third less than it would be in English acres.

Number of Acres of Land belonging to fourteen Irish Sees.

Quantity of

See-Lands.

63,270

Power Le Poer Trench, D.D..... Tuam.

49,281

Richard Ponsonby, D.D.

Derry

94,836

John Leslie, D.D.

31,832

James Verschoyle, D.D.

34,672

Lord Robert Tottenham, D.D.
Nathaniel Alexander, D.D.

....

George De la Poer Beresford, D.D.
Richard Whately, D.D.

Samuel Kyle, D.D.

Clogher
Meath
Kilmore....

Cork and Ross 22,755

21,781

John Brinkley, D.D.

Richard Laurence, D. C.L.

Robert Fowler, D.D.

...

....

Hon. R. Bourke, D.D.

Total, in Irish acres・・・・・・ 463,962*

Mr. Leslie Foster, one of the barons of the Irish exchequer, estimates the lands belonging to all the sees to amount to 617,598 Irish acres, which are equal to about 990,000 English acres. This does not include the demesne lands attached to the episcopal residences, and which, by the same authority, are said to vary from 100 to 500 acres each; making the entire patrimony of the bishops about 623,598 acres, or, according to Beaufort's map of Ireland, one nineteenth of the entire soil of the kingdom. This, it must be allowed, is enough for the maintenance of twenty-two bishops, especially when it is considered a population of eight millions is to be supported out of the remainder. However, the area grasped by the right reverend fathers affords an Mr. Baron Foster supposes the inaccurate idea of their incomes. Even at this low

average value of the see-lands to be 20s. per acre. rate, the bishops' lands, if out of lease, would yield a total revenue of £623,598, averaging £28,340 to each prelate. Some of the wealthier sees, as those of Derry, Armagh, Tuam, and Elphin, would have incomes, respectively, of £94,836, £63,270, £49,281, and £31,832, exclusive of what might be derived from tithes, patronage, and other But the nature of ecclesiastical tenures precludes the bishops from realizing incomes to this amount. It scarcely ever happens the occupying tenantry are the bishops' tenants; the immediate lessees hold

sources.

* Parliamentary Papers, vol. xxi. No. 402, Session 1824.
+ Parliamentary Papers, vol. ix. page 75, Session 1825.