of the defenders of such institutions that journey, who possessed themselves of their official documents, and were inducted into their offices. The enormous amount of money accumulated by many of these bishops, as shown by their testamentary | inquire into the state of the Irish Church, bequests, is almost incredible. The Irish and from the report of the Commissioners clergy of the present day are men of a very different stamp, and, as a body, conspicuous for their piety and their zeal, but it was utterly impossible for them to undo the evil that had been done by their prede cessors. it appears that the adherents of the Church at that time amounted to 800,000; that their spiritual instruction was intrusted to two archbishops, ten bishops, 326 deans, prebendaries, and canons, and 2200 clergymen, of whom a number were pluralists and non-resident-some living in other parts of Ireland, others in England or on the Continent, wholly neglecting all their pastoral duties. The incomes of the bishops and other dignitaries amounted to upwards of £208,000 a year, and the total annual income of the Church to £650,753. Out of 1338 churches then existing in Ireland, 474 had been erected by Parliament since the beginning of the present century, and adding to the sums expended in building churches the cost of glebe houses and glebe lands, it appeared that during the past and present centuries no less than £920,900 had been voted to the Irish Church out of the public exchequer. The report of the Commissioners further shows that in 1835 there were 151 parishes in Ireland in which there was not a single adherent of the Irish Church, and that in 860 parishes there were in the aggregate fewer than fifty Episcopalians. Pluralities had been greatly reduced in number, but there were still eighty-one in existence, and about the same number of prebends, &c., which, by the admission of their holders, were complete sinecures, having no duty of any kind attached to them. Efforts were made at various times to lessen the hardships and oppression of the system. Towards the close of last century an end was put to book-money, an oppressive exaction levied on Roman Catholic priests, who were compelled to account to the Episcopalian clergy for the baptismal and marriage fees which they had received from their own flock. Then agistment tithe was abolished; vestry cess and ministers' money-a most oppressive impost -followed. In 1833 no fewer than ten bishoprics were abolished by an Act of Parliament brought in by Mr. Stanley (afterwards Earl Derby), then Irish Secretary, and their revenues, together with those of suspended dignities, and benefices, and disappropriated tithes, were vested in a Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The commutation of the tithes, by which their payment was transferred from the tenants and became a rent-charge on the estates of the landlords, who received a bonus of 25 per cent. as a recompense for their trouble and risk of loss in collecting the money, had lessened the burden as well as the unpopularity of the system, as the clergy who received and the tenants who paid the tithes no longer came into direct collision, but the Between 1835 and 1868 considerable system itself remained essentially unchanged. activity had been manifested, by the preIf the attempt made by Lord John Russell lates and influential friends of the Estabto appropriate to educational purposes the lished Church, in the erection of new tithes in parishes where there were no resi- churches and in the increase of the number dent Protestants had been adopted, it would of ministers; but though its revenues and in all probability have delayed for a good its clergy were increasing, the number of many years the disestablishment of the its adherents had been steadily diminishChurch. But it is a marked characteristic ing with the decreasing population of the country. When the census of 1861 was | 131,150 Roman Catholics in each of these taken it was found that the number of dioceses, comprehending nearly one-half of parishes in which there was not a single all the inhabitants of Ireland. On the other Episcopalian had increased to 199.* The hand, the value of the livings in these ecclesiastical revenue of these parishes twenty dioceses was at that time £242,324, varied from £100 to £500 a year. or an average of £12,116 per diocese. The total population of Ireland at the census of 1861 was found to be 5,798,540, of whom 4,505,265 were Roman Catholics, 600, 345 Protestant Nonconformists, chiefly Presbyterians, and the members of the Established Church amounted to 693,357. The revenues of the church amounted, in round numbers, to £700,000 a year, so that the religious instruction of every man, woman, and child connected with that church cost more than 20s. a head. It thus appeared that the Irish clergy were paid seven times more for their services than the ministers of the Established Church of Scotland before the Disruption. In every part of the country the AngloIrish Church was in a decided minority, but in many districts it included a mere fraction of the population; in others, as we have shown, it had not a single adherent. In Ulster, where it was least needed-because instruction in the doctrines of the Protestant religion was most abundantly supplied beyond its pale-its adherents amounted to 20 per cent. of the whole population. In Leinster it possessed 11.89, in Munster 5.10, and in Connaught 4:15 per cent. In the four dioceses-Armagh, Down, Derry, and Dublin-in which Protestantism was strongest, on the aggregate the adherents of the Irish Church formed 19-3 per cent. of the population. In other eight dioceses they averaged only 5. In none of the thirty-two dioceses were the Episcopalians equal to the Roman Catholics, while in four they were outnumbered by the Presbyterians. In twenty dioceses the Anglicans averaged only 4.7 per cent. of the population, or 6940 on an average to each diocese; while there was an average of * These were civil parishes. It was no uncommon occurrence for a number of civil parishes to be combined into one ecclesiastical benefice for the purpose of increasing the emoluments of the incumbent. VOL. IV. Descending from whole dioceses to particular benefices, the total number of benefices in the Irish Church was returned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as 1510 in number. Of these 752 contained on an average 184 Anglicans per benefice. The average gross income of these 752 livings was £322 a year. The cost of clerk, sexton, and other requisites for divine service amounted to at least £16 additional per benefice. If we add to this the share of each incumbency in the expense of an Episcopal supervision, it will be found that the cost of maintaining the Irish Church amounted on an average to more than £2 a head throughout one-half of the Irish benefices. With regard to the remaining 615 livings, in none of them did the adherents of the Church exceed 200 souls. In 229 of these benefices there was an average Anglican population of only 23 persons, young and old; and allowing five souls to a family, and deducting rectors and clerks, there remained an average of not quite three families for the ministerial sphere of duty of each of the 229 incumbents. The average value of their livings was £296 a year, exclusive of glebe-house; and adding the cost of Episcopal functions, and clerk and sexton, each of the twenty-three Episcopalians in these 229 benefices cost £15 per head for their religious instruction. Taking a smaller subdivision, there were eighty-five of them, in none of which did the Anglican population exceed twenty. The actual average number in each was 11, and the total Anglican population of the whole amounted to 955. The total cost averaged £20 per head out of the ecclesiastical revenues. To sum up the facts stated in the report of the Commissioners, the Irish Church at this time had two archbishops, one with an income of £12,000, the other with £7700 a 19 year, and ten bishops with an average in- | boroughs in the province of Ulster, in which come of £4592 each, to perform a much the Conservative influence had hitherto smaller amount of work among them than been paramount. On the other hand, the in the sister Church of England was allotted Conservatives were still powerful in the to many a single bishop. It had 2200 English counties, and they gained some clergymen to take the spiritual oversight of signal and unexpected victories even in the 693,000 persons, young and old, a pro- boroughs. Mr. Mill lost his seat for Westportion more than five times the number minster mainly through his own perverse which was thought sufficient for the Scot- and injudicious conduct. Mr. Roebuck was tish Establishment before the Disruption. defeated at Sheffield, and Mr. Milner GibIt cost about £700,000 a year, more than son at Ashton-under-Lyne. Mr. Gladstone 20s. a head for every adherent. It had 199 himself was rejected by South Lancashire parishes in which there was not a single but was returned for Greenwich, and the Episcopalian, and 860, from which it drew Marquis of Hartington was replaced in the a revenue of £58,000, in which it had less Northern Division of that county by a than fifty adherents, including persons of younger son of the Earl of Derby, and both sexes and of all ages. In the great was subsequently elected for the Radnor majority of these parishes the members of Boroughs. It is a strange circumstance the Establishment consisted only of the that all the eight members returned by the rector and his family, the sexton with his county of Lancaster, and by a considerable family, and the households of a few persons number even of its boroughs, were Conserconnected with the coastguard. The church vatives. There were only eleven Liberals, thus contained not less than 600 clergymen against twenty-one Conservatives, elected holding benefices, but having nothing de- by that great mining and manufacturing serving the name of a congregation-shep-district. The strong dislike entertained by herds without a flock-drawing revenues the working classes in Lancashire to the with no duties to perform in return, 'cry- Irish was believed to have contributed ing aloud in the wilderness,' as Sydney largely to this result. Mr. Lowe was elected Smith said, 'preaching to a congregation of as the representative of the London Unihassocks and stools.' versity-the only constituency in England, Mr. Disraeli said, which would have accepted him. It had been confidently predicted that the effect of the new Reform Bill would be the return to Parliament of a large number of men representing the views and projects of an extreme, if not of a revolutionary party. But the event completely falsified these prophecies. A considerable number of working men's candidates indeed offered themselves for election, but one and all were unsuccessful. The new House of Commons appeared on the whole to be less marked in its Liberalism than its prede The question submitted for the decision of the constituencies was whether the Irish Church should be disestablished, and wholly or only partially disendowed, and their reply was decidedly in favour of the policy advocated by Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Disraeli had flattered himself with the expectation that there was a class below the £10 householders who were friendly to a Conservative policy, and who, now that they were enfranchised, would give their support to the Government, but the result showed that he was entirely mistaken in this notion. The Liberal party largely in-cessor. The main difference between the creased their majority in the English boroughs and in Scotland and Ireland. Only seven Conservative members were returned by the Scottish constituencies, and the Liberals now for the first time won several two was the increase of the Liberal majority from sixty to 120. No fewer than 227 new members obtained seats in this Parliament. The Ministry accepted at once the decision of the constituencies without waiting for the assembling of Parliament. On the | When the question was put to me whether 1st of December the Cabinet resolved I would not step into the position in which on their immediate resignation, and Mr. I now find myself, the answer from my Gladstone was sent for by the Queen and heart was the same-I wish to dwell among requested to form a new Administration. my own people.' Mr. Bright, however, felt The chief offices were for the most part constrained to yield to the voice of the intrusted to his former colleagues, but Mr. people enforcing the request of the Prime Bright, to the general satisfaction of the Minister. Some of the extreme Liberals country, accepted the position of President expressed their disapproval of the accession of the Board of Trade. It was well known to office of the great Tribune of the people. that he did so with reluctance, and only 'I should have liked him better,' wrote one from a sense of duty. I should have pre- of this class, had he continued to abide. ferred much,' he said, 'to remain in the among his own people.' 'Mr. Bright in the common rank of the simple citizenship in Cabinet,' said another, 'would both extinwhich heretofore I have lived. There is a guish and be extinguished.' The result has charming story contained in a single verse completely falsified these predictions. The of the Old Testament which has often member for Birmingham has shown himself struck me as one of great beauty. Many as cautious, moderate, and conciliatory in of you will recollect that the prophet, in the Cabinet as he was vigorous and unsparjourneying to and fro, was very hospitably ing in Opposition. entertained by what is termed in the Bible. a Shunamite woman. In return for the hospitality of his entertainment he wished to make her some amends, and he called her and asked her what there was that he should do for her: "shall I speak for thee to the king or to the captain of the host?" And it has always appeared to me a great answer that the Shunamite woman returned. She said, "I dwell among my own people." There was not likely to be any want of ability, or energy, or courage in dealing with momentous and urgent questions on the part of an Administration containing Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Bright, Mr. Lowe, Lords Granville and Clarendon, the Duke of Argyll, and the Marquis of Hartington; and their accession to office at this juncture was hailed with satisfaction by the great body of the people. State of relations between Austria and Prussia-Supremacy of Austria-Weak and impolitic conduct of the King of Prussia-Policy of his successor-Views of Bismarck-Contest between him and the Chamber of Deputies-His arbitrary conduct-Military preparations-Aggressive policy of Prussia-Bismarck's attentions to the French Emperor-His object-His secret treaty with Italy-Treaty of Gastein-Its effect on European opinion-Austria's refusal to cede Venetia― Bismarck's intrigues and double dealing-Attempts of the neutral Powers to prevent warBismarck's insolent despatch-Resolution of the Diet to mobilize its army-Prussia declares war-Overruns the Minor States-Condition of the Prussian army-Position of the Austrian forces-The Prussian invasion of Bohemia -Successes of the Prussians-The battle of Sadowa-Defeat of the Austrians-Progress of the victors-Cession of Venetia to the French Emperor-His interposition-Armistice and termination of the war-Battle of CustozzaDefeat of the Italians-Naval battle at Lissa-The Italian fleet worsted-Treaty of Prague-Prussian gains— Prussia's deification of force and fraud-Its effect on Europe-Result of the war on Austria-Her previous arbitrary policy-Concordat with the Pope-Judicious conduct of the Hungarian Diet-Adoption of a Liberal Policy by the Austrian Emperor-Concordat repudiated-State of Spain-Arbitrary and profligate conduct of the Queen and her Ministry-Breaking out of a revolution-Its success-Flight of the Queen-Provisional Government-Election of the Cortes-Difficulty in obtaining a King. Prussia and then to destroy it. The idea of German unity was utterly distasteful to him, and his object was to obtain the admission of the whole dominions of Austria into the Confederation, and to make her the mistress of an empire of seventy millions of inhabitants. The poor Prussian King was willing to yield even to this demand, and but for the protest of Britain and France the whole Austrian Empire would have been received into the Bund. When the illness of the King of Prussia in 1858 made it necessary that his brother should be appointed Regent, a new and different policy was speedily inaugurated. Bismarck, who now began to come to the front, expressed his conviction that the existing federal relations were unprofitable, and in critical times even dangerous, for Prussia, and that in the opinion of the majority of the Confederation Prussia ought always to yield, even when they thought her in the right. We have no means,' he said, 'of coming to a permanent and satisfactory arrangement with this policy within the pale of the existing federal treaties. I consider our present federal IT had long been foreseen that in all pro- | avowed, was determined first to abase bability war would sooner or later take place between Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Germany. King Frederick William III., a monarch of brilliant and highly cultivated powers, but weak and facile in character, was offered the Imperial Crown in 1848, but rejected it because it was tendered to him by the nation and not by the Princes. From that day forward the Prussian monarch sank lower and lower in public esteem and influence, and was obliged to accept the humiliating conditions dictated by Prince Schwarzenburg at Olmütz, and to return to his previous inferior position. A tacit agreement had heretofore existed between Austria and Prussia, Prince Metternich taking the lead in all European questions, but leaving Prussia a certain liberty of action in North Germany, and particularly in matters of material interest like the Zollverein. Moderate and judicious politicians earnestly recommended that such a position in the Confederation should be conceded to Prussia as would induce that Power to exert its influence in behalf of the common interests of Germany. But Schwarzenburg, the new Austrian Prime Minister-haughty, imperious, and short-relations as a disease of Prussia which we sighted-had made up his mind to use his victory over the Prussian sovereign in the most relentless manner, and, as he openly shall be obliged to cure sooner or later with fire and sword, if we do not take preventive measures in seasonable time.' |