,transcriber's ,note ,this ,plain ,text version uses characters from the ,latin-#a character set only4 ,italic typeface is indicated by the use of underscores4 ,small caps typeface is rendered as ,,all ,,caps4 ,there is one instance of an oe-ligature symbol which is shown as oe4 ,footnotes are numbered sequentially and are presented at the end of the e-book4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a ,,chapter ,,of ,,autobiography4 ,a ,,chapter ,,of ,,autobiography4 ,,by ,,the ,,right ,,hon4 ,w4 ,e4 ,,gladstone4 ,blame not1 before thou hast examined the truth3 understand first1 and then rebuke4--,,ecclesiasticus1 ch4 ii4 ,,london3 ,,john ,,murray1 ,,albemarle ,,street4 #ahfh4 ,the right of ,translation is reserved4 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,,william ,,clowes ,,and ,,sons1 ,,duke ,,street1 ,,stamford ,,street1 ,,and ,,charing ,,cross4 ,,introduction4 ,at a time when the ,established ,church of ,ireland is on her trial1 it is not unfair that her assailants should be placed upon their trial too3 most of all1 if they have at one time been her sanguine defenders4 ,but if not the matter of the indictment against them1 at any rate that of their defence1 should be kept apart1 as far as they are concerned1 from the public controversy1 that it may not darken or perplex the greater issue4 ,it is in the character of the author of a book called ',the ,state in its ,relations with the ,church1' that ,i offer these pages to those who may feel a disposition to examine them4 ,they were written at the date attached to them2 but their publication has been delayed until after the stress of the ,general ,election4 ,a ,,chapter ,,of ,,autobiography4 ,autobiography is commonly interesting2 but there can1 ,i suppose1 be little doubt that1 as a general rule1 it should be posthumous4 ,the close of an active career supplies an obvious exception3 for this resembles the gentle death which1 according to ancient fable1 was rather imparted than inflicted by the tender arrows of ,apollo and of ,artemis4 ,i have asked myself many times1 during the present year1 whether peculiar combinations of circumstance might not also afford a warrant at times for departure from the general rule1 so far as some special passage of life is concerned2 and whether ,i was not myself now placed in one of those special combinations4 ,the motives1 which incline me to answer these questions in the affirmative1 are mainly two4 ,first1 that the great and glaring change in my course of action with respect to the ,established ,church of ,ireland is not the mere eccentricity1 or even perversion1 of an individual mind1 but connects itself with silent changes1 which are advancing in the very bed and basis of modern society4 ,secondly1 that the progress of a great cause1 signal as it has been and is1 appears liable nevertheless to suffer in point of credit1 if not of energy and rapidity1 from the real or supposed delinquencies of a person1 with whose name for the moment it happens to be specially associated4 ,one thing is clear3 that if ,i am warranted in treating my own case as an excepted case1 ,i am bound so to treat it4 ,it is only with a view to the promotion of some general interest1 that the public can becomingly be invited to hear more1 especially in personal history1 about an individual1 of whom they already hear too much4 ,but if it be for the general interest to relieve 'an enterprise of pith and moment' from the odium of baseness1 and from the lighter reproach of precipitancy1 ,i must make the attempt2 though the obtrusion of the first person1 and of all that it carries in its train1 must be irksome alike to the reader and the writer4 ,so far1 indeed1 as my observation has gone1 the ,liberal party of this country have stood fire unflinchingly under the heavy vollies which have been fired into its camp with ammunition that had been drawn from depositories full only with matter personal to myself4 ,and1 with the confidence they entertain in the justice and wisdom of the policy they recommend1 it would have been weak and childish to act otherwise4 ,still1 ,i should be glad to give them the means of knowing that the case may not after all be so scandalous as they are told4 ,in the year #ahbg1 if ,i remember right1 when ,mr4 ,canning had just become ,prime ,minister1 an effort was made to support him in the town of ,liverpool1 where the light and music of his eloquence had not yet died away1 by an ,address to the ,crown4 ,the proposal was supported by an able and cultivated ,unitarian ,minister1 ,mr4 ,shepherd1 who had been one of ,mr4 ,canning's opponents at former periods in the ,liverpool elections4 ,vindicating the consistency of his course1 he said he was ready to support the devil himself1 if it had been necessary1 in doing good4 ,this was a succinct and rough manner of disposing of the question in the last resort4 ,i hope1 however1 that those who sustain the ,liberal policy respecting the ,established ,church of ,ireland1 will not be driven to so dire an extremity4 ,it can hardly be deemed on my part an unnatural desire1 that political friends1 and candid observers1 should on grounds of reason and knowledge1 and not merely from friendly prepossession1 feel themselves warranted not to believe in the justice of language such as by way of example ,i subjoin4 ,i must1 however1 suppose that the author of it is persuaded of its fairness and justice1 since he bears ,her ,majesty's ,commission2 and his statement is adopted and published by a brother-officer1 who is himself a candidate for ,berwick in the ministerial interest1 and therefore 7,i presume7 not particularly squeamish on the subject of political consistency1 although ,i entertain no doubt that both are gallant1 upright1 and estimable gentlemen4 ,there is obviously no need1 on the present occasion at least1 to extend this catalogue of the political delinquencies of this would-be demagogue1 whom we may accordingly leave gibbeted and swinging in the winds of the fools' paradise6 an object of derision and contempt to those at least who maintain that integrity of purpose and consistency ought not altogether to be discarded from public life4#a ,it freezes the blood1 in moments of retirement and reflexion1 for a man to think that he can have presented a picture so hideous to the view of a fellow-creature6 ,one thing ,i have not done1 and shall not do4 ,i shall not attempt to laugh off the question1 or to attenuate its importance4 ,in theory at least1 and for others1 ,i am myself a purist with respect to what touches the consistency of statesmen4 ,change of opinion1 in those to whose judgment the public looks more or less to assist its own1 is an evil to the country1 although a much smaller evil than their persistence in a course which they know to be wrong4 ,it is not always to be blamed4 ,but it is always to be watched with vigilance2 always to be challenged1 and put upon its trial4 ,the question is one of so much interest1 that it may justify a few remarks4 ,it can hardly escape even cursory observation1 that the present century has seen a great increase in the instances of what is called political inconsistency4 ,it is needless1 and it would be invidious1 to refer to names4 ,among the living1 however1 who have occupied leading positions1 and among the dead of the last twenty years1 numerous instances will at once occur to the mind1 of men who have been constrained to abandon in middle and mature1 or even in advanced life1 convictions which they had cherished through long years of conflict and vicissitude3 and of men1 too1 who have not been so fortunate as to close or continue their career in the same political connexion as that in which they commenced it4 ,if we go a little farther back1 to the day of ,mr4 ,pitt and ,mr4 ,fox1 or even to the day of ,mr4 ,canning1 ,lord ,londonderry1 or ,lord ,liverpool1 we must be struck with the difference4 ,a great political and social convulsion1 like the ,french ,revolution1 of necessity deranged the ranks of party2 yet not even then did any man of great name1 or of a high order of mind1 permanently change his side4 ,if we have witnessed in the last forty years1 beginning with the epoch of ,roman ,catholic ,emancipation1 a great increase in the changes of party1 or of opinion1 among prominent men1 we are not at once to leap to the conclusion that public character1 as a rule1 has been either less upright1 or even less vigorous4 ,the explanation is rather to be found in this1 that the movement of the public mind has been of a nature entirely transcending former experience2 and that it has likewise been more promptly and more effectively represented1 than at any earlier period1 in the action of the ,government and the ,legislature4 ,if it is the office of law and of institutions to reflect the wants and wishes of the country1 7and its wishes must ever be a considerable element in its wants71 then1 as the nation passes from a stationary into a progressive period1 it will justly require that the changes in its own condition and views should be represented in the professions and actions of its leading men4 ,for they exist for its sake1 not it for theirs4 ,it remains indeed their business1 now and ever1 to take honour and duty for their guides1 and not the mere demand or purpose of the passing hour2 but honour and duty themselves require their loyal servant to take account of the state of facts in which he is to work1 and1 while ever labouring to elevate the standard of opinion and action around him1 to remember that his business is not to construct1 with self-chosen materials1 an ,utopia or a ,republic of ,plato1 but to conduct the affairs of a living and working community of men1 who have self-government recognised as in the last resort the moving spring of their political life1 and of the institutions which are its outward vesture4 ,the gradual transfer of political power from groups and limited classes to the community1 and the constant seething of the public mind1 in fermentation upon a vast mass of moral and social1 as well as merely political1 interests1 offer conditions of action1 in which it is evident that the statesman1 in order to preserve the same amount of consistency as his antecessors in other times1 must be gifted with a far larger range of foresight4 ,but ,nature has endowed him with no such superiority4 ,it may be true that ,sir ,robert ,peel shewed this relative deficiency in foresight1 with reference to ,roman ,catholic ,emancipation1 to ,reform1 and to the ,corn ,law4 ,it does not follow that many1 who have escaped the reproach1 could have stood the trial4 ,for them the barometer was less unsteady2 the future less exacting in its demands4 ,but let us suppose that we could secure this enlargement of onward view1 this faculty of measuring and ascertaining to-day the wants of a remote hereafter1 in our statesmen2 we should not even then be at the end of our difficulties4 ,for the public mind is to a great degree unconscious of its own progression2 and it would resent and repudiate1 if offered to its immature judgment1 the very policy1 which after a while it will gravely consider1 and after another while enthusiastically embrace4 ,yet1 as it still remains true that the actual opinions and professions of men in office1 and men in authority without office1 are among the main landmarks on which the public has to rely1 it may seem that1 in vindicating an apparent liberty of change1 we destroy the principal guarantees of integrity which are available for the nation at large1 and with these all its confidence in the persons who are to manage its affairs4 ,this would be a consequence so fatal1 that it might even drive us back upon the hopeless attempt to stereotype the minds of men1 and fasten on their manhood the swaddling clothes of their infancy4 ,but such is not the alternative4 ,we may regulate the changes which we cannot forbid1 by subjecting them to the test of public scrutiny1 and by directing that scrutiny to the enforcement of the laws of moral obligation4 ,there are abundant signs1 by which to distinguish between those changes1 which prove nothing worse than the fallibility of the individual mind1 and manoeuvres which destroy confidence1 and entail merited dishonour4 ,changes which are sudden and precipitate--changes accompanied with a light and contemptuous repudiation of the former self--changes which are systematically timed and tuned to the interest of personal advancement--changes which are hooded1 slurred over1 or denied--for these changes1 and such as these1 ,i have not one word to say2 and if they can be justly charged upon me1 ,i can no longer desire that any portion1 however small1 of the concerns or interests of my countrymen should be lodged in my hands4 ,let me now endeavour to state the offence of which ,i am held guilty4 ,ille ego qui quondam3 ,i1 the person who have now accepted a foremost share of the responsibility of endeavouring to put an end to the existence of the ,irish ,church as an ,establishment1 am also the person who1 of all men in official1 perhaps in public life1 did1 until the year #ahda1 recommend1 upon the highest and most imperious grounds1 its resolute maintenance4 ,the book entitled ',the ,state in its ,relations with the ,church' was printed during the autumn of #ahch1 while ,i was making a tour in the ,south of ,europe1 which the state of my eyesight had rendered it prudent to undertake4 ,three editions of it were published without textual change2 and in the year #ahda a fourth1 greatly enlarged1 though in other respects little altered1 issued from the press4 ,all interest in it had1 however1 even at that time1 long gone by1 and it lived for nearly thirty years only in the vigorous and brilliant1 though not 7in my opinion7 entirely faithful picture1 drawn by the accomplished hand of ,lord ,macaulay4 ,during the present year1 as ,i understand from good authority1 it has again been in demand1 and in my hearing it has received the emphatic suffrages of many1 of whose approval ,i was never made aware during the earlier and less noisy stages of its existence4 ,the distinctive principle of the book was supposed to be1 that the ,state had a conscience4 ,but the controversy really lies not in the existence of a conscience in the ,state1 so much as in the extent of its range4 ,few would deny the obligation of a ,state to follow the moral law4 ,every ,treaty1 for example1 proceeds upon it4 ,the true issue was this3 whether the ,state1 in its best condition1 has such a conscience as can take cognizance of religious truth and error1 and in particular whether the ,state of the ,united ,kingdom1 at a period somewhat exceeding thirty years ago1 was or was not so far in that condition as to be under an obligation to give an active and an exclusive support to the established religion of the country4 ,the work attempted to survey the actual state of the relations between the ,state and the ,church2 to show from ,history the ground which had been defined for the ,national ,church at the ,reformation2 and to inquire and determine whether the existing state of things was worth preserving1 and defending against encroachment from whatever quarter4 ,this question it decided emphatically in the affirmative4 ,an early copy of the ,review containing the powerful essay of ,lord ,macaulay was sent to me2 and ,i found that to the main proposition1 sufficiently startling1 of the work itself1 the reviewer had added this assumption1 that it contemplated not indeed persecution1 but yet the retrogressive process of disabling and disqualifying from civil office all those who did not adhere to the religion of the ,state4 ,before 7,i think7 the number of the ',edinburgh ,review' for ,april1 #ahci1 could have been in the hands of the public1 ,i had addressed to ,lord 7then ,mr47 ,macaulay the following letter1 which ,i shall make no apology for inserting1 inasmuch as it will introduce one more morsel of his writing1 for which the public justly shows a keen and insatiable appetite4 #f1 ,carlton ,gardens1 ,april #ajth1 #ahci4 ,,dear ,,sir1 ,i have been favoured with a copy of the forthcoming number of the ',edinburgh ,review1' and ,i perhaps too much presume upon the bare acquaintance with you of which alone ,i can boast1 in thus unceremoniously assuming you to be the author of the article entitled ',church and ,state1' and in offering you my very warm and cordial thanks for the manner in which you have treated both the work1 and the author1 on whom you deigned to bestow your attention4 ,in whatever you write1 you can hardly hope for the privilege of most anonymous productions1 a real concealment2 but if it had been possible not to recognize you1 ,i should have questioned your authorship in this particular case1 because the candour and single-mindedness which it exhibits are1 in one who has long been connected in the most distinguished manner with political party1 so rare as to be almost incredible4 ,i hope to derive material benefit1 at some more tranquil season1 from a consideration of your argument throughout4 ,i am painfully sensible1 whenever ,i have occasion to re-open the book1 of its shortcomings1 not only of the subject but even of my own conceptions3 and ,i am led to suspect that1 under the influence of most kindly feelings1 you have omitted to criticize many things besides the argument1 which might fairly have come within your animadversion4 ,in the mean time ,i hope you will allow me to apprise you that on one material point especially ,i am not so far removed from you as you suppose4 ,i am not conscious that ,i have said either that the ,test ,act should be repealed1 or that it should not have been passed3 and though on such subjects language has many bearings which escape the view of the writer at the moment when the pen is in his hand1 yet ,i think that ,i can hardly have put forth either of these propositions1 because ,i have never entertained the corresponding sentiments4 ,undoubtedly ,i should speak of the pure abstract idea of ,church and ,state as implying that they are co-extensive3 and ,i should regard the present composition of the ,state of the ,united ,kingdom as a deviation from that pure idea1 but only in the same sense as all differences of religious opinion in the ,church are a deviation from its pure idea1 while ,i not only allow that they are permitted1 but believe that 7within limits7 they were intended to be permitted4 ,there are some of these deflections from abstract theory which appear to me allowable2 and that of the admission of persons not holding the national creed into civil office is one which1 in my view1 must be determined by times and circumstances4 ,at the same time ,i do not recede from any protest which ,i have made against the principle1 that religious differences are irrelevant to the question of competency for civil office3 but ,i would take my stand between the opposite extremes1 the one that no such differences are to be taken into view1 the other that all such differences are to constitute disqualifications4 ,i need hardly say the question ,i raise is not whether you have misrepresented me1 for1 were ,i disposed to anything so weak1 the whole internal evidence and clear intention of your article would confute me3 indeed ,i feel ,i ought to apologize for even supposing that you may have been mistaken in the apprehension of my meaning1 and ,i freely admit on the other hand the possibility that1 totally without my own knowledge1 my language may have led to such an interpretation4 ,in these lacerating times one clings to everything of personal kindness in the past1 to husband it for the future1 and if you will allow me ,i shall earnestly desire to carry with me such a recollection of your mode of dealing with the subject2 upon which1 the attainment of truth1 we shall agree1 so materially depends upon the temper in which the search for it is instituted and conducted4 ,i did not mean to have troubled you at so much length1 and ,i have only to add that ,i am1 with much respect1 ,dear ,sir1 ,very truly yours1 ,w4 ,e4 ,,gladstone4 ,t4 ,b4 ,,macaulay1 ,,esq4 99 99 99 99 99 #c1 ,clarges ,street1 ,april #aath1 #ahci4 ,,my ,,dear ,,sir1 ,i have very seldom been more gratified than by the very kind note which ,i have just received from you4 ,your book itself1 and everything that ,i heard about you1 though almost all my information came--to the honour1 ,i must say1 of our troubled times--from people very strongly opposed to you in politics1 led me to regard you with respect and good will1 and ,i am truly glad that ,i have succeeded in marking those feelings4 ,i was half afraid when ,i read myself over again in print1 that the button1 as is too common in controversial fencing even between friends1 had once or twice come off the foil4 ,i am very glad to find that we do not differ so widely as ,i had apprehended about the ,test ,act4 ,i can easily explain the way in which ,i was misled4 ,your general principle is that religious non-conformity ought to be a disqualification for civil office4 ,in page #bch you say that the true and authentic mode of ascertaining conformity is the ,act of ,communion4 ,i thought1 therefore1 that your theory pointed directly to a renewal of the ,test ,act4 ,and ,i do not recollect that you have ever used any expression importing that your theory ought in practice to be modified by any considerations of civil prudence4 ,all the exceptions that you mention are1 as far as ,i remember1 founded on positive contract--not one on expediency1 even in cases where the expediency is so strong and so obvious that most statesmen would call it necessity4 ,if ,i had understood that you meant your rules to be followed out in practice only so far as might be consistent with the peace and good government of society1 ,i should certainly have expressed myself very differently in several parts of my article4 ,accept my warm thanks for your kindness1 and believe me1 with every good wish1 ,my dear ,sir1 ,very truly yours1 ,t4 ,b4 ,,macaulay4 ,w4 ,e4 ,,gladstone1 ,,esq41 ,m4,p4 ,faithful to logic1 and to its theory1 my work did not shrink from applying them to the crucial case of the ,irish ,church4 ,it did not disguise the difficulties of the case1 for ,i was alive to the paradox it involved4 ,but the one master idea of the system1 that the ,state as it then stood was capable in this age1 as it had been in ages long gone by1 of assuming beneficially a responsibility for the inculcation of a particular religion1 carried me through all4 ,my doctrine was1 that the ,church1 as established by law1 was to be maintained for its truth2 that this was the only principle on which it could be properly and permanently upheld2 that this principle1 if good in ,england1 was good also for ,ireland2 that truth is of all possessions the most precious to the soul of man2 and that to remove1 as ,i then erroneously thought we should remove1 this priceless treasure from the view and the reach of the ,irish people1 would be meanly to purchase their momentary favour at the expense of their permanent interests1 and would be a high offence against our own sacred obligations4 ,these1 ,i think1 were the leading propositions of the work4 ,in one important point1 however1 it was inconsistent with itself2 it contained a full admission that a ,state might1 by its nature and circumstances1 be incapacitated from upholding and propagating a definite form of religion4#b ,there may be a state of things in the ,united ,states of ,america1 perhaps in some ,british colonies1 there does actually exist a state of things1 in which religious communions are so equally divided1 or so variously subdivided1 that the ,government is itself similarly chequered in its religious complexion1 and thus internally incapacitated by disunion from acting in matters of religion2 or1 again1 there may be a ,state in which the members of ,government may be of one faith or persuasion1 the mass of the subjects of another1 and hence there may be an external incapacity to act in matters of religion4 ,the book goes on to describe that incapacity1 however produced1 as a social defect and calamity4 ,but the latter part of the work1 instead of acknowledging such incapacity as a sufficient and indeed commanding plea for abstention1 went beyond the bounds of moderation1 and treated it as if it must in all cases be a sin2 as though any association of men1 in civil government or otherwise1 could be responsible for acting beyond the line of the capabilities determined for it by its constitution and composition4 ,my meaning ,i believe was1 to describe only cases in which there might be a deliberate renunciation of such duties as there was the power to fulfil4 ,but the line is left too obscurely drawn between this wilful and wanton rejection of opportunities for good1 and the cases in which the state of religious convictions1 together with the recognised principles of government1 disable the civil power from including within its work the business of either directly or indirectly inculcating religion1 and mark out for it a different line of action4 ,i believe that the foregoing passages describe fairly1 if succinctly1 the main propositions of ',the ,state in its ,relations with the ,church2' so far as the book bears upon the present controversy4 ,they bound me hand and foot3 they hemmed me in on every side4 ,further on ,i shall endeavour to indicate more clearly in what ,i think the book was right1 and in what it was wrong4 ,what ,i have now to show is the manner in which ,i retreated from an untenable position4 ,to this retreat1 and the time and mode of it1 ,i now draw attention1 and ,i will endeavour to apply to them the tests ,i have already laid down3--,was it sudden8 ,was it performed with an indecent levity8 ,was it made to minister to the interests of political ambition8 ,was the gravity of the case denied or understated8 ,was it daringly pretended that there had been no real change of front2 and that1 if the world had understood me otherwise1 it had misunderstood me8 ,my opinion of the ,established ,church of ,ireland now is the direct opposite of what it was then4 ,i then thought it reconcilable with civil and national justice2 ,i now think the maintenance of it grossly unjust4 ,i then thought its action was favourable to the interests of the religion which it teaches2 ,i now believe it to be opposed to them4 ,but ,i must venture to point out that1 whatever be the sharpness of this contradiction1 it is one from which ,i could not possibly escape by endeavouring to maintain the ,established ,church of ,ireland on the principles on which it is now maintained4 ,i challenge all my censors to impugn me when ,i affirm that1 if the propositions of my work are in conflict 7as they are7 with an assault upon the existence of the ,irish ,establishment1 they are at least as much1 or even more1 hostile to the grounds on which it is now attempted to maintain it4 ,at no time of my life did ,i propound the maxim simpliciter that we were to maintain the ,establishment4 ,i appeal to the few who may have examined my work otherwise than for the purpose of culling from it passages which would tell in a quotation4 ,i appeal to the famous article of ,lord ,macaulay1#c who says with truth-- ,mr4 ,gladstone's whole theory rests on this great fundamental proposition1 that the propagation of religious truth is one of the principal ends of government1 as government4 ,if ,mr4 ,gladstone has not proved this proposition1 his system vanishes at once4 ,this was entirely just4 ,in the protest ,i addressed to the distinguished ,reviewer on a particular point1 ,i took no exception to it whatever4 ,my work had used 7as far as ,i believe and remember7 none of the stock arguments for maintaining the ,church of ,ireland4 ,i did not say maintain it1 lest you should disturb the settlement of property4 ,i did not say maintain it1 lest you should be driven to repeal the ,union4 ,i did not say maintain it1 lest you should offend and exasperate the ,protestants4 ,i did not say maintain it1 because the body known as the ,irish ,church has an indefeasible title to its property4 ,i did not say maintain it for the spiritual benefit of a small minority4 ,least of all did ,i say maintain it1 but establish religious equality1 setting up at the public charge other establishments along with it1 or by distributing a sop here and a sop there1 to coax ,roman ,catholics and ,presbyterians into a sort of acquiescence in its being maintained4 ,these topics ,i never had made my own4 ,scarcely ever1 in the first efforts of debate1 had ,i referred to one of them4 ,my trumpet1 however shrill and feeble1 had at least rung out its note clearly4 ,and my ground1 right or wrong it matters not for the present purpose1 was this3 the ,church of ,ireland must be maintained for the benefit of the whole people of ,ireland1 and must be maintained as the truth1 or it cannot be maintained at all4 ,accordingly my book contended that the principle of the ,grant to ,maynooth1 unless as a simply covenanted obligation1#d and that of the ,established ,church of ,ireland1 could not stand together4 ,in the ,house of ,commons1 on the question relating to the ,grant1 ,i am reported as having said in the year #ahch1e that ,i objected to the ,grant because it was fatal to the main principle on which the ,established ,church was founded4 ,and further4 ,the ,liberal ,government and party of that day proposed1 in #ahce and the following years1 the famous ,appropriation ,clause4 ,the principle of their measure was1 that the surplus funds only of the ,irish ,church were to be applied to popular education1 after adequate provision had been made for the spiritual wants of the ,protestants4 ,this principle1 that adequate provision is to be made for the spiritual wants of the ,protestants1 before any other claim on the property of the ,irish ,church can be admitted1 was the basis of the ,appropriation ,clause2 and is1 as ,i understand the matter1 the very principle which is now maintained against the ,liberal party of #ahfh1 by the 7so-called7 defenders of the ,irish ,established ,church4 ,but this principle ,i denounced in #ahcf as strongly as ,i could now do4 ,i extract the following passage from a report in ',hansard1' which1 as ,i remember1 ,i had myself corrected1 of a speech on the ,irish ,tithe ,bill with the ,appropriation ,clause3--#f ,a ,church ,establishment is maintained either for the sake of its members or its doctrines2 for those whom it teaches1 or for that which it teaches4 ,on the former ground it is not in equity tenable for a moment4 ,why should any preference be given to me over another fellow-subject1 or what claim have ,i personally to have my religion supported1 whilst another is disavowed by the ,state8 ,no claim whatever in respect to myself4 ,i concur entirely with gentlemen opposite1 hostile to an ,establishment1 that no personal privilege ought in such a matter to be allowed4 ,but if1 on the contrary1 ,i believe1 as the great bulk of the ,british ,legislature does believe1 that the doctrine and system of the ,establishment contain and exhibit truth in its purest and most effective form1 and if we also believe truth to be good for the people universally1 then we have a distinct and immovable ground for the maintenance of an ,establishment2 but it follows as a matter of course from the principle1 that it must be maintained1 not on a scale exactly and strictly adjusted to the present number of its own members1 but on such a scale that it may also have the means of offering to others the benefits which it habitually administers to them4 ,therefore we wish to see the ,establishment in ,ireland upheld2 not for the sake of the ,protestants1 but of the people at large1 that the ministers may be enabled to use the influences of their station1 of kindly offices and neighbourhood1 of the various occasions which the daily intercourse and habits of social life present2 aye1 and ,i do not hesitate to add of persuasion itself1 applied with a zeal tempered by knowledge and discretion1 in the propagation of that which is true1 and which1 being true1 is good as well for those who as yet have it not1 as well for those who have it4 ,it is the proposition of the noble ,lord which is really open to the charge of bigotry1 intolerance1 and arbitrary selection2 because1 disavowing the maintenance and extension of truth1 he continues by way of personal privilege to the ,protestants the legal recognition of their ,church1 which he refuses to the ,church of the ,roman ,catholic4 ,the negative part of this passage ,i adopt1 except the censure it implies upon ,earl ,russell and his friends2 who1 whether their actual propositions were defensible or not1 had the root of the matter in their hearts1 and were far ahead of me in their political forethought1 and in their desire to hold up at least the banner of a generous and a hopeful policy towards ,ireland4 ,in this manner ,i prove that1 while ,i was bound by the propositions of my work1 ,i was not singly but doubly bound4 ,i was bound to defend the ,irish ,church1 as long as it could be defended on the ground of its truth4 ,but when the day arrived on which that ground was definitively abandoned1 on which a policy was to be adopted by the ,imperial ,parliament such as to destroy this plea for the ,irish ,establishment1 ,i was equally bound in such case to adopt no other3 ,i had shown that justice would fail to warrant the mere support of the ,church of the minority2 ,i was held1 therefore1 not to construct out of rags and tatters1 shreds and patches1 a new and different case for maintaining it on the ground of favour1 or1 as it is termed1 justice1 to ,protestants2 and1 if ,i had done anything of this kind1 ,i should not have escaped the responsibility of inconsistency1 but should simply have added a second and 7as ,i think7 a less excusable inconsistency to the first4 ,the day for the adoption of such a policy as ,i have described was not far distant4 ,scarcely had my work issued from the press when ,i became aware that there was no party1 no section of a party1 no individual person probably in the ,house of ,commons1 who was prepared to act upon it4 ,i found myself the last man on the sinking ship4 ,exclusive support to the established religion of the country1 with a limited and local exception for ,scotland under the ,treaty of ,union with that country1 had been up to that time the actual rule of our policy2 the instances to the contrary being of equivocal construction1 and of infinitesimal amount4 ,but the attempt to give this rule a vitality other than that of sufferance was an anachronism in time and in place4 ,when ,i bid it live1 it was just about to die4 ,it was really a quickened and not a deadened conscience in the country1 which insisted on enlarging the circle of ,state support1 even while it tended to restrain the range of political interference in religion4 ,the condition of our poor1 of our criminals1 of our military and naval services1 and the backward state of popular education1 forced on us a group of questions1 before the moral pressure of which the old rules properly gave way4 ,at and about the same period1 new attempts to obtain grants of public money for the building of churches in ,england and ,scotland1 ,i am thankful to say1 failed4 ,the powerful ,government of #ahdc also failed to carry a measure of ,factory ,education1 because of the preference it was thought to give to the ,established ,church4 ,i believe the very first opinion ,i ever was called upon to give in ,cabinet was an opinion in favour of the withdrawal of that measure4 ,in this state of facts and feelings1 notwithstanding the strength of anti-,roman opinion1 it was impossible that ,ireland should not assert her share1 and that a large one1 to consideration in these critical matters4 ,the forces1 which were now at work1 brought speedily to the front and to the top that question of ,maynooth ,college1 which ,i had always 7rightly or wrongly7 treated as a testing question for the foundations of the ,irish ,established ,church2 as1 in point of principle1 the ,articulus stantis aut cadentis ,ecclesi4 ,in the course of the year #ahdd1 when ,i was a member of the ,cabinet of ,sir ,robert ,peel1 he made known to me his opinion that it was desirable to remodel and to increase the ,grant to ,maynooth4 ,i was the youngest member of that ,government1 entirely bound up with it in policy1 and warmly attached1 by respect and even affection1 to its head and to some of its leading members4 ,of association with what was termed ultra-,toryism in general politics ,i had never dreamed4 ,i well knew that the words of ,sir ,r4 ,peel were not merely tentative1 but that1 as it was right they should1 they indicated a fixed intention4 ,the choice before me1 therefore1 was1 to support his measure1 or to retire from his ,government into a position of complete isolation1 and what was more than this1 subject to a grave and general imputation of political eccentricity4 ,my retirement1 ,i knew1 could have no other warrant than this3 that it would be a tribute to those laws which1 as ,i have urged1 must be upheld for the restraint of changes of opinion and conduct in public men4 ,for ,i never entertained the idea of opposing the measure of ,sir ,robert ,peel4 ,i can scarcely be guilty of a breach of confidence when ,i mention that ,lord ,derby1 to whom ,i had already been indebted for much personal kindness1 was one of those colleagues who sought to dissuade me from resigning my office4 ,he urged upon me that such an act must be followed by resistance to the measure of the ,government1 and that ,i should run the risk of being mixed with a fierce religious agitation4 ,i replied that ,i must adhere to my purpose of retirement1 but that ,i did not perceive the necessity of its being followed by resistance to the proposal4 ,overtures were1 not unnaturally1 made to me by some of those who resisted it2 but they were at once declined4 ,my whole purpose was to place myself in a position in which ,i should be free to consider my course without being liable to any just suspicion on the ground of personal interest4 ,it is not profane if ,i say with a great price obtained ,i this freedom4 ,the political association in which ,i stood was to me at the time the alpha and omega of public life4 ,the ,government of ,sir ,robert ,peel was believed to be of immovable strength4 ,my place1 as ,president of the ,board of ,trade1 was at the very kernel of its most interesting operations2 for it was in progress from year to year1 with continually waxing courage1 towards the emancipation of industry1 and therein towards the accomplishment of another great and blessed work of public justice4 ,giving up what ,i highly prized1 aware that mal sarta ,gratia nequicquam coit1 et rescinditur1#g ,i felt myself open to the charge of being opinionated1 and wanting in deference to really great authorities2 and ,i could not but know ,i should be regarded as fastidious and fanciful1 fitter for a dreamer1 or possibly a schoolman1 than for the active purposes of public life in a busy and moving age4 ,in effect so it was4 ,in the month of ,january1 #ahde1 if not sooner1 the resolution of the ,cabinet was taken2 and ,i resigned4 ,the public judgment1 as might have been expected1 did not favour the act4 ,i remember that the ',daily ,news1' then as now a journal greatly distinguished for an almost uniform impartiality1 as well as for breadth of view and high discernment1 remarked at the time or afterwards upon the case1 as a rare one1 in which a public man had injured himself with the public by an act which must in fairness be taken to be an act of self-denial4 ,i hope that reference to this criticism will not be considered boastful4 ,it can hardly be so2 for an infirm judgment1 exhibited in a practical indiscretion1 is after all the theme of these pages4 ,i do not claim acquittal upon any one of the counts of indictment which ,i have admitted may be brought against the conduct ,i pursued4 ,one point only ,i plead1 and plead with confidence4 ,it proved that ,i was sensible of the gravity of any great change in political conduct or opinion1 and desirous beyond all things of giving to the country such guarantees as ,i could give of my integrity1 even at the expense of my judgment and fitness for affairs4 ,if any man doubts this1 ,i ask him to ask himself1 what demand political honour could have made with which ,i failed to comply8 ,in the ensuing debate on the ,address 7,february #d1 #ahde71 ,lord ,john ,russell1 in terms of courtesy and kindness which ,i had little deserved from him1 called for an explanation of the cause of my retirement4 ,in a statement which ,i corrected for ',hansard's ,debates1' ,i replied that it had reference to the intentions of the ,government with respect to ,maynooth2 that those intentions pointed to a measure at variance with the system which ,i had maintained1 in a form the most detailed and deliberate1 in a published treatise3 that although ,i had never set forth any theory of political affairs as under all circumstances inflexible and immutable1 yet ,i thought those who had borne such solemn testimony to a particular view of a great constitutional question1 ought not to be parties responsible for proposals which involved a material departure from it4 ,and the purpose of my retirement was to place myself1 so far as in me lay1 in a position to form not only an honest1 but likewise an independent and an unsuspected judgment1 on the plan likely to be submitted by the ,government4 ,i also spoke as follows1 in more forms than one3 ,i wish again and most distinctly to state1 that ,i am not prepared to take part in any religious warfare against that measure1 such as ,i believe it may be2 or to draw a distinction between the ,roman ,catholics and other denominations of ,christians1 with reference to the religious opinions which each of them respectively may hold4 ,now ,i respectfully submit that by this act my freedom was established2 and that it has never since1 during a period of nearly five-and-twenty years1 been compromised4 ,some may say that it is perfectly consistent to have endowed ,maynooth anew1 and yet to uphold on principle1 as a part of the ,constitution1 the ,established ,church of ,ireland4 ,it may be consistent1 for them2 it was not consistent1 as ,i have distinctly shown1 for me4 ,the moment that ,i admitted the validity of a claim by the ,church of ,rome for the gift1 by the free act of the ,imperial ,parliament1 of new funds for the education of its clergy1 the true basis of the ,established ,church of ,ireland for me was cut away4 ,the one had always been treated by me as exclusive of the other4 ,it is not now the question whether this way of looking at the question was a correct one4 ,there are great authorities against it2 while it seems at the same time to have some considerable hold on what may be termed the moral sense of portions1 perhaps large portions1 of the people4 ,the present question is one of fact4 ,it is enough for the present purpose1 that such was my view4 ,from that day forward1 ,i have never to my knowledge said one word1 in public or in private1 which could pledge me on principle to the maintenance of the ,irish ,church4 ,nay1 in a speech1 delivered on the second reading of the ,maynooth ,college ,bill1 ,i took occasion distinctly to convey1 that the application of religious considerations to ecclesiastical questions in ,ireland would be entirely altered by the passing of the measure3-- ,the boon to which ,i for one have thus agreed1 is a very great boon4 ,i think it important1 most of all important with regard to the principles it involves4 ,i am very far1 indeed1 from saying that it virtually decides upon the payment of the ,roman ,catholic priests of ,ireland by the ,state3 but ,i do not deny that it disposes of the religious objections to that measure4 ,i mean that we1 who assent to this ,bill1 shall in my judgment no longer be in a condition to plead religious objections to such a project4#h ,true1 ,i did not say that ,i was thenceforward prepared at any moment to vote for the removal of the ,established ,church in ,ireland4 ,and this for the best of all reasons3 it would not have been true4 ,it is one thing to lift the anchor2 it is another to spread the sails4 ,it may be a duty to be in readiness for departure1 when departure itself would be an offence against public prudence and public principle4 ,but ,i do not go so far even as this4 ,on the contrary1 ,i was willing and desirous#i that it should be permitted to continue4 ,if its ground in logic was gone1 yet it might have1 in fact1 like much besides1 its day of grace4 ,i do not now say that ,i leapt at once to the conclusion that the ,established ,church of ,ireland must at any definite period cease to exist as an ,establishment4 ,she had my sincere good will2 ,i was not sorry1 ,i was glad1 that while ,ireland seemed content to have it so1 a longer time should be granted her to unfold her religious energies through the medium of an active and pious clergy1 which until this our day she had never possessed4 ,my mind recoiled then1 as it recoils now1 from the idea of worrying the ,irish ,church to death4 ,i desired that it should remain even as it was1 until the way should be opened1 and the means at hand1 for bringing about some better state of things4 ,moreover1 it was a duty1 from my point of view1 completely to exhaust every chance on behalf of the ,irish ,church4 ,i have not been disposed1 at any time of life1 gratuitously to undertake agitation of the most difficult1 and at times apparently the most hopeless questions4 ,at the period of the ,appropriation ,clause1 ,i represented to myself1 and ,i believe to others1 that the true power of the ,church as a religious engine had never up to that period been fairly tried4 ,in name a religious institution1 her influences1 her benefices1 her sees1 were commonly employed for purposes1 which we must condemn as secular1 even if they had not been utterly anti-national4 ,only within a few1 a very few years1 had her clergy even begun to bestir themselves2 and they had forthwith found that1 from the unsettled state of the law of tithe1 they were in the midst of an agitation1 both menacing to public order1 and even perilous to life4 ,i was desirous to see what1 after person and property should have been rendered secure1 and a peaceful atmosphere restored1 a generation of pious and zealous men could accomplish in their actual position4 ,i am still of the opinion that thirty-five years ago the religion of the ,irish ,church had not--to her and to our shame be it spoken--had fair play4 ,from the days of ,elizabeth downwards1 with the rarest exceptions1 the worldly element had entirely outweighed the religious one 7whatever the intention may have been7 in the actual working of the ecclesiastical institutions of ,ireland4 ,mr4 ,burke has immortalised the burning shame and the hideous scandals of those penal laws which1 perhaps for the first time in the history of ,christendom if not of man1 aimed at persecuting men out of one religion1 but not at persecuting them into another4 ,i will not be so rash as to enter on the field-- ,per quem magnus equos ,aurunc flexit alumnus4 ,but the time of awakening had come4 ,the ,irish ,church had grown conscious that she had a ,gospel to declare4 ,even with my present opinions ,i might feel a scruple as to the measures now proposed1 but for the resistless and accumulated proof of impotence afforded by the experience of my life-time1 and due1 ,i believe1 to a radically false position4 ,for the ,irish ,church has1 since the tithe war of #ahcj-b came to an end1 had not only fair play--that is such fair play as in ,ireland the ,establishment allows to the ,church--but fair play and something more4 ,she has enjoyed an opportunity1 extending over a generation of men1 with circumstances of favour such as can hardly be expected to recur4 ,what has been her case8 ,she has had ample endowments2 perfect security2 an almost unbroken freedom from the internal controversies which have chastened 7though1 in chastening1 ,i believe improved7 the ,church of ,england4 ,the knowledge of the ,irish language has been extensively-attained by her clergy4#aj ,she has had all the moral support that could be given her by the people of this country2 for it was the people1 and not a mere party1 who1 in #ahce-h1 repudiated and repelled the ,appropriation ,clause4 ,her rival1 the ,church of ,rome1 has seen its people borne down to the ground by famine2 and then thinned from year to year1 in hundreds of thousands1 by the resistless force of emigration4 ,and1 last and most of all1 in the midst of that awful visitation of #ahdg-h1 her ,protestant ,clergy came to the ,roman ,catholic people clad in the garb of angels of light2 for1 besides their own bounty 7most liberal1 ,i believe1 in proportion to their means71 they became the grand almoners of the ,british nation4 ,when1 after all this1 we arrive at a new census of religion in #ahfa1 we find that only the faintest impression has been made upon the relative numbers of the two bodies2 an impression much slighter1 ,i apprehend1 than would have been due to the comparative immunity of the ,established ,church from the drain of emigration2 and1 if so1 representing in reality1 not a gain1 but a virtual loss of some part of the narrow ground which before was occupied by the favoured religion of the ,state4 ,like others1 ,i have watched with interest the results of those missionary operations in the ,west of ,ireland which have1 perhaps1 been construed as of a greater ulterior significance than really belongs to them4 ,they were1 ,i understand1 due not so much to the ,established ,church1 as to religious bodies in this country1 which expend large funds in ,ireland for the purpose of making converts3 an operation in which the ,presbyterians and ,protestant ,dissenters lend their aid4 ,let them not be undervalued4 ,but ,i1 for one1 recollect that this is not the first time when local and occasional inroads have been successfully effected by ,protestants upon the serried phalanx of the ,roman ,church in ,ireland1 and have been mistaken for signs of permanent or a general conquest4 ,more than forty years ago1 ,bishop ,blomfield--no mean authority--prophesied or announced1 in the ,house of ,lords1 that a second ,reformation had then begun4 ,and there had indeed taken place in ,ireland at that time one1 if not more than one1 instance of conversions on a large scale to the ,established ,church1 such as was well calculated to excite sanguine anticipations1 though they were dispelled by subsequent experience4 ,i think we ought now to perceive that the annexation of the warrant of civil authority to the religious embassy of the ,irish ,church1 discredits in lieu of recommending it in the view of the ,irish people4 ,i do not mean that we are to put down the ,establishment for the sake of a more effective propagandism4 ,we must not for a moment forget that civil justice1 an adaptation of the state of things in ,ireland to the essential principles of political right1 is that one broad and more than sufficient justification of the measure1 in which all its advocates agree4 ,but1 over and above this1 they may also agree in reflecting with satisfaction that the time is about to come when in ,ireland1 in lieu of a system which insults the religion of the majority and makes that of the minority powerless1 creeds will compete upon the level1 and will thrive according to their merits4 ,nor will they be offended with one another when1 in the anticipation of such a state of things1 each man who has faith in freedom1 faith in justice1 faith in truth1 anticipates a harvest of benefit for his own4 ,the emancipation thus effected from the net in which ,i had been bound was soon after tested4 ,in #ahdf1 it was suggested to me that ,i should oppose a member of the newly-formed ,government of ,lord ,john ,russell4 ,in my reply1 declining the proposal1 ,i wrote thus3 ,as to the ,irish ,church1 ,i am not able to go to war with them on the ground that they will not pledge themselves to the maintenance of the existing appropriation of ,church property in ,ireland4 ,this1 however1 was a private proceeding4 ,but1 early in #ahdg1 ,mr4 ,estcourt announced his resignation of the seat he had held1 amidst universal respect1 for the ,university of ,oxford4 ,the partiality of friends proposed me as a candidate4 ,the representation of that ,university was1 ,i think1 stated by ,mr4 ,canning to be to him the most coveted prize of political life4 ,i am not ashamed to own that ,i desired it with an almost passionate fondness4 ,for besides all the associations it maintained and revived1 it was in those days an honour not only given without solicitation1 but1 when once given1 not withdrawn4#aa ,the contest was conducted with much activity1 and some heat4 ,i was1 naturally enough1 challenged as to my opinions on the ,established ,church of ,ireland4 ,my friend ,mr4 ,coleridge1 then young1 but already distinguished1 was one of my most active and able supporters4 ,he has borne spontaneous testimony1 within the last few weeks1 to the manner in which the challenge was met3-- ,gentlemen1 ,i must be permitted--because an attack has been made upon ,mr4 ,gladstone1 and it has been suggested that his conversion to his present principles is recent--to mention what is within my own knowledge and experience with regard to him4 ,in #ahdg1 when ,i was just leaving ,oxford1 ,i had the great honour of being secretary to his first election committee for that university1 and ,i well recollect how1 upon that occasion1 some older and more moderate supporters were extremely anxious to draw from him some pledge that he should stand by the ,irish ,church4 ,he distinctly refused to pledge himself to anything of the kind4#ab ,the next ,parliamentary occasion1 after the ,maynooth ,grant1 which brought prominently into view the ecclesiastical arrangements of ,ireland1 was that of the ,ecclesiastical ,titles ,bill in #ahea4 ,i felt bound1 as one of a very small minority1 but in cordial agreement with the chief surviving associates of ,sir ,robert ,peel1 to offer all the opposition in my power1 not only to the clauses by which the party then called ,protectionist1 and now ,tory1 ,conservative1 or ,constitutionalist1 endeavoured to sharpen the sting of the measure1 but to the substance of the measure itself4 ,i may be permitted to observe1 that for the representative of the ,university of ,oxford thus to set himself against the great bulk of the ,liberal as well as the ,conservative party1 whatever else it may have been1 was not a servile or a self-seeking course4 ,but this is irrelevant4 ,it is more to the present purpose to observe that1 in resisting this measure1 ,i did not attempt to mitigate the offence by any profession of adhesion in principle to the maintenance of the ,established ,church of ,ireland2 but ,i spoke as follows3-- ,we cannot change the profound and resistless tendencies of the age towards religious liberty4 ,it is our business to guide and control their application4 ,do this you may4 ,but to endeavour to turn them backwards is the sport of children1 done by the hands of men2 and every effort you may make in that direction will recoil upon you in disaster and disgrace4#ac ,the years flowed on4 ,from #ahdf forwards1 the controversy of ,free ,trade was1 as a rule1 the commanding and absorbing controversy1 the pole of political affairs4 ,but from time to time motions were made in relation to the ,established ,church of ,ireland4 ,that question remained as one asleep1 but whose sleep is haunted with uneasy dreams4 ,these motions were1 as far as ,i remember them1 uniformly of a narrow and partial character4 ,they aimed at what is called getting in the thin end of the wedge4 ,all honour1 however1 to each one of those who made them4 ,the mover of any such proposal was vox clamantis in deserto4 ,the people of ,england had1 in #ahce-h1 settled the matter for the time4 ,the reproaches now made against the older leaders and the body of the ,liberal party for not having seriously entered the struggle1 appear to me to be not only unjust but even preposterous4 ,the ,legislature had other great subjects to deal with1 besides the ,irish ,church4 ,four years of deadly conflict on such a matter might well be followed by five times four of repose4 ,but in the mean time individuals1 by their partial and occasional efforts1 bore witness to a principle broader than any which they formally announced4 ,that principle--the application of a true religious equality to ,ireland--was biding its time4 ,no one1 in my opinion1 was bound to assert1 by speech or vote1 any decisive opinion upon so great and formidable a question until he should think1 upon a careful survey of the ground and the time1 of the assisting and opposing forces1 that the season for action had come4 ,the motions actually made were commonly motions for inquiry1 or motions aimed generally at a change4 ,i did not enter into the debates4 ,when ,i voted1 ,i voted against them2 and against such motions1 if they were made1 ,i should vote again4 ,i now arrive at the ,government of #ahei-fe4 ,he who has slept long is likely soon to wake4 ,after the ,free ,trade struggles of #ahfj and #ahfa were over1 so it was1 ,i thought1 with the question of the ,irish ,church4 ,there was a lull in political affairs4 ,they hung1 in a great degree1 upon a single life--the remarkable life of ,lord ,palmerston4 ,it was surely right to think a little of the future4 ,the calm was certain to be succeeded by a breeze1 if not a gale4 ,it was too plain to me that the inner disposition of ,ireland1 relatively to this country1 was not improving2 and that1 in the course of years1 more or fewer1 the question of the ,irish ,church was certain to revive1 and1 if it should revive1 probably to be carried to a final issue4 ,my first thought1 under these circumstances1 was about my constituents4 ,anxiously occupied in other matters1 ,i did not give my nights and days to the question of the ,irish ,church4 ,yet the question continually flitted1 as it were1 before me2 and ,i felt that1 before that question arose in a practical shape1 my relation to the ,university should be considered1 and its ,convocation distinctly apprised that at the proper time it would be my duty to support very extensive changes in the ,irish ,church4 ,my valued friend1 ,sir ,r4 ,palmer1 has done me the favour1 of his own motion1 to state in public that ,i then apprised him of my state of mind3-- ,there had been people who had said1 ',you would never have heard anything about the ,irish ,church question from ,mr4 ,gladstone if the ,tories had not been in power1 and he had not wanted to get their place4' 7,hear1 hear47 ,to his certain knowledge that was not true4 ,he could mention what had taken place between ,mr4 ,gladstone and himself1 and he did so the rather because it did justice to him1 and would show them that his own mind had been particularly addressed to that subject1 to which he had paid some degree of attention some years before the present time4 ,in the year #ahfc1 at a time when no one was bringing forward this question1 or seemed very likely to do so1 ,mr4 ,gladstone had told him privately that he had made up his mind on the subject1 and that he should not be able to keep himself from giving public expression to his feelings4 ,how far or near that might be practicable1 he could not foresee2 but1 under the circumstances1 he wanted his friends connected with the ,university of ,oxford to consider whether or not they would desire for that reason a change in the representation of the ,university4#ad _/ ,partly because ,i felt that this question might come to the front1 and partly because ,i saw a manifest determination in a portion of the ,academical constituency to press my friends with incessant contests1 of which ,i was unwilling to be the hero1 ,i was not indisposed to retire without compulsion from the seat1 if it could have been done without obvious detriment to the principles on which ,i had been returned4 ,this was judged to be uncertain4 ,consequently1 ,i remained4 ,but in #ahfe1 on the motion of ,mr4 ,dillwyn1 ,i made a speech1 in which ,i declared that present action was impossible1 that at any period immense difficulties would have to be encountered1 but that this was the question of the future4 ,i stated strongly1 though summarily1 some of the arguments against the ,church as it stood4 ,i entirely abstained from advising or glancing at the subject of mere reform1 and ,i did not use one word from which it could be inferred that ,i desired it to continue in its place as the ,national or ,established ,church of the country4 ,my speech was immediately denounced by ,mr4 7now ,chief ,justice7 ,whiteside1 as one intended to be fatal to the ,established ,church of ,ireland when an opportunity should arise2#ae and ,i am told that my opponents in the ,university circulated my speech among their portion of the constituency 7as ,i think they were quite justified in doing7 to my prejudice4 ,my friends1 however1 stood by me1 and resolved to contend for the seat4 ,an application was made to me by a distinguished scholar1 divine1 and teacher1 the ,warden of ,trinity ,college1 ,glenalmond1 to give certain explanations for the appeasing of doubts4 ,i did so in the following letter3-- #aa1 ,carlton ,house ,terrace1 ,s4,w41 ,june #h1 #ahfe4 ,,dear ,,dr4 ,,hannah1 ,it would be very difficult for me to subscribe to any interpretation of my speech on the ,irish ,church like that of your correspondent1 which contains so many conditions and bases of a plan for dealing with a question apparently remote1 and at the same time full of difficulties on every side4 ,my reasons are1 ,i think1 plain4 ,first1 because the question is remote1 and apparently out of all bearing on the practical politics of the day1 ,i think it would be for me worse than superfluous to determine upon any scheme or basis of a scheme with respect to it4 ,secondly1 because it is difficult1 even if ,i anticipated any likelihood of being called upon to deal with it1 ,i should think it right to make no decision beforehand on the mode of dealing with the difficulties4 ,but the first reason is that which chiefly weighs4 ,as far as ,i know1 my speech signifies pretty clearly the broad distinction which ,i take between the abstract and the practical views of the subject4 ,and ,i think ,i have stated strongly my sense of the responsibility attaching to the opening of such a question1 except in a state of things which gave promise of satisfactorily closing it4 ,for this reason it is that ,i have been so silent about the matter1 and may probably be so again2 but ,i could not as a ,minister1 and as member for ,oxford1 allow it to be debated an indefinite number of times and remain silent4 ,one thing1 however1 ,i may add1 because ,i think it a clear landmark4 ,in any measure dealing with the ,irish ,church1 ,i think 7though ,i scarcely expect ever to be called on to share in such a measure7 the ,act of ,union must be recognised and must have important consequences1 especially with reference to the position of the hierarchy4 ,i am much obliged to you for writing1 and ,i hope you will see and approve my reasons for not wishing to carry my own mind further into a question lying at a distance ,i cannot measure4 ,yours sincerely1 7,signed7 ,w4 ,e4 ,,gladstone4 ,rev4 the ,,warden1 ,trin4 ,coll41 ,perth4 ,the letter has been the object of much criticism upon these three grounds4 ,first1 it contained a statement that the ,act of ,union ought to entail important consequences in the formation of any measure relating to the ,irish ,church4 ,secondly1 that the question was hardly within the domain of practical politics4 ,thirdly1 that ,i felt very uncertain whether it would be dealt with in my time4 ,the explanation of the first is as follows3--,in contemplating the subject of the ,irish ,church1 ,i did not see how to give full effect to the principle of religious equality without touching the composition of the ,house of ,lords4 ,in this strait1 my personal opinion was that it would be best to retain 7though in an altered form7 the ,episcopal element from ,ireland in the ,house of ,lords1 lest its withdrawal should lead to other changes1 of a kind to weaken the constitution of that important branch of the legislature2 and thus far ,i was disposed to abridge the application of religious equality to ,ireland4 ,i had not yet examined the question so closely as to perceive that this mode of proceeding was wholly impracticable1 and that the inconvenience of removing the ,irish ,bishops must be faced4 ,and for my part ,i have not been so happy1 at any time of my life1 as to be able sufficiently to adjust the proper conditions of handling any difficult question1 until the question itself was at the door4 ,this retention of the ,bishops in the ,house of ,peers was the important consequence that ,i thought the ,act of ,union would draw4 ,among those errors of the day which may be called singular as vulgar errors1 is that which supposes the fifth ,article of the ,act of ,union with ,ireland to refer to the endowments of the ,church4 ,its terms touch exclusively her doctrine1 worship1 discipline1 and government4 ,there is no violation of this section of the ,act of ,union in withdrawing her endowments1 were she stripped of every shilling4 ,but it may be said that her government1 as distinguished from her discipline1 perhaps involves the position of her exclusive relation to the ,state4 ,so ,i thought2 and accordingly thus ,i wrote to ,dr4 ,hannah4 ,the second proposition of the letter was not only in harmony with my speech1 it was simply the condensation of the speech into a brief form of words4 ,for1 agreeing with ,mr4 ,dillwyn as to the merits of the case1 ,i held1 as ,i have ever held1 that it is not the duty of a ,minister to be forward in inscribing on the ,journals of ,parliament his own abstract views2 or to disturb the existence of a great institution like the ,church of ,ireland1 until he conceives the time to be come when he can probably give effect to his opinions4 ,because the question was not within the range of practical politics1 agreeing with his sentiment1 ,i voted against his motion4 ,but1 forsooth1 it is a matter of wonder that ,i should have felt doubtful whether the ,irish ,church would be dealt with in my time4 ,now1 ,i do not complain of this4 ,it is an example of what is continually happening in human affairs1 of the mythical handling of facts1 of the reflection of the ideas1 feelings1 and circumstances of one period upon the events of another1 and thus dressing the past in the garb of the present4 ,i abide by this1 and by every word of the letter4 ,the question of the ,irish ,church was in my view1 in the year #ahfe1 what1 be it remembered1 the question of ,parliamentary ,reform seemed to be in the first moiety of the year #ahcj--namely1 a remote question4 ,had any man said to me1 ,how soon will it come on8 ,i should have replied1 ,heaven knows2 perhaps it will be five years1 perhaps it will be ten4 ,my duty was to let my constituents know the state of my mind on a matter so important1 because the wind was gradually veering to that quarter1 even though ,i might not believe1 and did not believe it to be the most probable event1 that it would reach the point for action during the life of the ,parliament just then about to be elected4 ,but then ,i referred to my own political lifetime4 ,on that subject ,i will only say that a man who1 in #ahfe1 completed his thirty-third year of a laborious career2 who had already followed to the grave the remains of almost all the friends abreast of whom he had started from the ,university in the career of public life2 and who had observed that1 excepting two recent cases1 it was hard to find in our whole history a single man who had been permitted to reach the fortieth year of a course of labour similar to his own within the walls of the ,house of ,commons2 such a man might surely be excused if he did not venture to reckon for himself on an exemption from the lot of greater and better men1 and if he formed a less sanguine estimate of the fraction of space yet remaining to him1 than seems to have been the case with his critics4 ,the reasons that1 in my judgment1 prove the time now to have arrived for dealing decisively with the question of the ,irish ,church ,establishment1 must be treated elsewhere than in these pages4 ,so far as ,ireland1 and the immediate controversy1 and my personal vindication are concerned1 ,i have done4 ,but there is matter of wider interest1 which connects itself with the subject4 ,the change of conduct1 the shifting of the mind of an individual1 shrink into insignificance by the side of the question1 ,what has been1 since #ahch1 the direction of the public sentiment1 the course of law and administration1 the general march of affairs8 ,i have described the erroneous impressions as to the actual and prospective state of things1 under which was urged the practical application of that system of thought embodied in my work of #ahch4 ,it may be said my error was a gross or even an absurd one4 ,on that question ,i need not enter4 ,but ,i will endeavour to bring into view some circumstances relating to the time1 which may help to account for it4 ,and here ,i feel that ,i pass beyond the narrower and more personal scope of these pages1 if ,i attempt to recall some of the changes that have taken place during the last thirty or five-and-thirty years1 in matters which bear upon the religious character and relations of the ,state4 ,at that time1 ,jews1 and others not adopting the ,christian name1 were excluded from civil office2 and though ,roman ,catholics and ,nonconformists had effected an entrance into ,parliament1 there still remained an oath for the former1 and a declaration for the latter1 which1 if they did not practically limit freedom1 yet denoted1 like the mark of chains on the limbs of an emancipated slave1 that there had been a time when it did not exist4 ,the ,establishment of ,scotland was still entire1 and animated with the strength principally of the eminent men who afterwards led the ,free ,church ,secession4 ,the attack on the ,irish ,church1 pushed in #ahce with earnestness and vigour by the ,liberal party1 had speedily proved to be hopeless4 ,the ,state continued to make to other persuasions certain grants1 little more than compassionate1 and handed down from other times2 but1 even in the case of the classes especially in its charge1 such as soldiers and sailors1 or such again as paupers and criminals1 it rarely permitted1 and still more rarely provided for them1 the means of religious worship according to their own religious convictions4 ,in the great province of popular education in ,england1 nothing was granted except to schools of the ,church1 or to schools in which1 while the ,bible was read1 no religion other than that of the ,church was taught2 and he would have been deemed something more than a daring prophet1 who should have foretold that in a few years the utmost ambition of the lay champions1 and of the spiritual heads of the ,church1 would be to obtain the maintenance of a denominational system in popular education1 under which all religions alike should receive the indirect1 yet not unsubstantial1 countenance of the ,state4 ,but the most important of all the changes which have taken place within the interval1 has been the change in the condition of the ,church of ,england itself4 ,even for those old enough to have an adequate recollection of the facts1 it requires no inconsiderable mental effort to travel backwards over the distractions1 controversies1 perils1 and calamities of the last thirty years1 to the period immediately before those years2 and to realise not only the state of facts1 but especially the promises and prospects which it presented4 ,i am well aware that any description of it which may now be attempted will appear to bear more or less the colour of romance2 but1 without taking it into view1 no one can either measure the ground over which we have travelled1 or perceive how strong was then the temptation to form an over-sanguine estimate of the probable progress of the ,church in her warfare with sin and ignorance1 and even in persuading seceders of all kinds to re-enter her fold4 ,that time was a time such as comes1 after sickness1 to a man in the flower of life1 with an unimpaired and buoyant constitution2 the time in which1 though health is as yet incomplete1 the sense and the joy of health are keener1 as the fresh and living current first flows in1 than are conveyed by its even and undisturbed possession4 ,the ,church of ,england had been passing through a long period of deep and chronic religious lethargy4 ,for many years1 perhaps for some generations1 ,christendom might have been challenged to show1 either then or from any former age1 a clergy 7with exceptions7 so secular and lax1 or congregations so cold1 irreverent1 and indevout4 ,the process of awakening had1 indeed1 begun many years before2 but a very long time is required to stir up effectually a torpid body1 whose dimensions overspread a great country4 ,active piety and zeal among the clergy1 and yet more among the laity1 had been in a great degree confined within the narrow limits of a party1 which1 however meritorious in its work1 presented in the main phenomena of transition1 and laid but little hold on the higher intellect and cultivation of the country4 ,our churches and our worship bore in general too conclusive testimony to a frozen indifference4 ,no effort had been made either to overtake the religious destitution of the multitudes at home1 or to follow the numerous children of the ,church1 migrating into distant lands1 with any due provision for their spiritual wants4 ,the richer benefices were very commonly regarded as a suitable provision for such members of the higher families as were least fit to push their way in any profession requiring thought or labour4 ,the abuses of plurality and non-residence were at a height1 which1 if not proved by statistical returns1 it would now be scarcely possible to believe4 ,in the greatest public school of the country 7and ,i presume it may be taken as a sample of the rest7 the actual teaching of ,christianity was all but dead1 though happily none of its forms had been surrendered4 ,it is a retrospect full of gloom2 and with all our ,romanising1 and all our ,rationalising1 what man of sense would wish to go back upon those dreary times3 ,domos ,ditis vacuas1 et inania regna8#af ,but between #ahca and #ahdj1 the transformation1 which had previously begun1 made a progress altogether marvellous4 ,much was due1 without doubt1 to the earnest labour of individuals4 ,such men as ,bishop ,blomfield on the ,bench1 and ,dr4 ,hook in the parish 7and ,i name them only as illustrious examples71 who had long been toiling with a patient but a dauntless energy1 began as it were to get the upper hand4 ,but causes of deep and general operation were also widely at work4 ,as the ,french ,revolution had done much to renovate ,christian belief on the ,continent1 so the ,church of ,england was less violently1 but pretty sharply1 roused by the political events which arrived in a rattling succession4 ,in #ahbh1 the repeal of the ,test ,act4 ,in #ahbi1 the emancipation of the ,roman ,catholics4 ,in #ahca-b1 the agony and triumph of ,reform4 ,in #ahcc1 the ,church ,temporalities ,act for ,ireland4 ,there was now a general uprising of religious energy in the ,church throughout the land4 ,it saved the ,church4 ,her condition before #ahcj could not possibly have borne the scrutinising eye1 which for thirty years past has been turned upon our institutions4 ,her rank corruptions must have called down the avenging arm4 ,but it was arrested just in time4 ,it would be difficult to give a just and full idea of the beneficial changes which were either accomplished or begun during this notable decade of years4 ,they embraced alike formal1 official movements1 of a nature to strike the general eye1 and those local improvements in detail1 which singly are known only in each neighbourhood1 but which unitedly transform the face of a country4 ,laws were passed to repress gross abuses1 and the altering spirit of the clergy seconded and even outstripped the laws4 ,the outward face of divine worship began to be renovated1 and the shameful condition of the sacred fabrics was rapidly amended1 with such a tide of public approval as overflowed all the barriers of party and of sect1 and speedily found its manifestations even in the seceding communions4 ,there is no reason to doubt that at that time at least1 and before such changes had become too decidedly the fashion1 the outward embellishment of churches1 and the greater decency and order of services1 answered to1 and sprang from1 a call within1 and proved a less unworthy conception of the sublime idea of ,christian worship4 ,the missionary arm of the ,church began to exhibit a vigour wholly unknown to former years4 ,noble efforts were made1 under the auspices of the chief bishops of the ,church1 to provide for the unsatisfied spiritual wants of the metropolis4 ,the great scheme of the ,colonial ,episcopate was founded2 and1 in its outset1 led to such a development of apostolic zeal and self-denial as could not but assist1 by a powerful reaction1 the domestic progress4 ,the tone of public schools 7on one of which ,arnold was now spending his noble energies7 and of universities1 was steadily yet rapidly raised4 ,the greatest change of all was within the body of the clergy4#ag ,a devoted piety and an unworldly life1 which had been the rare exceptions1 became visibly from year to year more and more the rule4 ,the spectacle1 as a whole1 was like what we are told of a ,russian spring3 when1 after long months of rigid cold1 almost in a day the snow dissolves1 the ice breaks up and is borne away1 and the whole earth is covered with a rush of verdure4 ,these were bright and happy days for the ,church of ,england4 ,she seemed1 or seemed to seem1 as a ,church recalling the descriptions of ,holy ,writ2 to be beautiful as the sun which goeth forth in his might1#ah and terrible as an army with banners4#ai ,of this great renovating movement1 a large part centred in ,oxford4 ,at the time1 indeed1 when ,i resided there1 from #ahbh to #ahca1 no sign of it had yet appeared4 ,a steady1 clear1 but dry ,anglican orthodoxy bore sway1 and frowned1 this way or that1 on the first indication of any tendency to diverge from the beaten path4 ,dr4 ,pusey was1 at that time1 revered1 indeed1 for his piety and charity1 no less than admired for his learning and talents1 but suspected 7,i believe7 of sympathy with the ,german theology1 in which he was known to be profoundly versed4 ,dr4 ,newman was thought to have about him the flavour of what1 he has now told the world1 were the opinions he had derived in youth from the works of ,thomas ,scott4 ,mr4 ,keble1 the sweet singer of ,israel1 and a true saint1 if this generation has seen one1 did not reside in ,oxford4#bj ,the chief ,chair of ,theology had been occupied by ,bishop ,lloyd1 the old tutor and the attached and intimate friend of ,peel3 a man of powerful talents1 and of a character both winning and decided1 who1 had his life been spared1 might have acted powerfully for good on the fortunes of the ,church of ,england1 by guiding the energetic influences which his teaching had done much to form4 ,but he had been hurried away in #ahbi by an early death3 and ,dr4 ,whately1 who was also1 in his own way1 a known power in the ,university1 was in #ahcj induced to accept the ,archbishopric of ,dublin4 ,there was nothing at that time in the theology1 or in the religious life1 of the ,university to indicate what was to come4 ,but when1 shortly afterwards1 the great heart of ,england began to beat with the quickened pulsations of a more energetic religious life1 it was in ,oxford that the stroke was most distinct and loud4 ,an extraordinary change appeared to pass upon the spirit of the place4 ,i believe it would be a moderate estimate to say that much beyond one half of the very flower of its youth chose the profession of ,holy ,orders1 while an impression scarcely less deep seemed to be stamped upon a large portion of its lay pupils4 ,i doubt whether at any period of its existence1 either since the ,reformation1 or perhaps before it1 the ,church of ,england had reaped from either ,university1 in so short a time1 so rich a harvest4 ,at ,cambridge a similar lifting up of heart and mind seems to have been going on2 and numbers of persons of my own generation1 who at their public schools had been careless and thoughtless like the rest1 appeared in their early manhood as soldiers of ,christ1 and ministers to the wants of ,his people1 worthy1 ,i believe1 as far as man can be worthy1 through their zeal1 devotion1 powers of mind1 and attainments1 of their high vocation4 ,it was not then foreseen what storms were about to rise4 ,not only in ,oxford1 but in ,england1 during the years to which ,i refer1 party spirit within the ,church was reduced to a low ebb4 ,indiscretions there might be1 but authority did not take alarm3 it smiled rather1 on the contrary1 on what was thought to be in the main a recurrence both to first principles and to forgotten obligations4 ,purity1 unity1 and energy seemed1 as three fair sisters hand in hand1 to advance together4 ,such a state of things was eminently suited to act on impressible and sanguine minds4 ,i1 for one1 formed a completely false estimate of what was about to happen2 and believed that the ,church of ,england1 through the medium of a regenerated clergy and an intelligent and attached laity1 would not only hold her ground1 but would even in great part probably revive the love and the allegiance both of the masses who were wholly falling away from religious observances1 and of those large and powerful nonconforming bodies1 the existence of which was supposed to have no other cause than the neglect of its duties by the ,national ,church1 which had long left the people as sheep without a shepherd4 ,and surely it would have required either a deeply saturnine or a marvellously prophetic mind to foretell that1 in ten or twelve more years1 that powerful and distinguished generation of clergy would be broken up3 that at least a moiety of the most gifted sons1 whom ,oxford had reared for the service of the ,church of ,england1 would be hurling at her head the hottest bolts of the ,vatican3 that1 with their deviation on the one side1 there would arise a not less convulsive rationalistic movement on the other2 and that the natural consequences would be developed in endless contention and estrangement1 and in suspicions worse than either1 because even less accessible1 and even more intractable4 ,since that time1 the ,church of ,england may be said to have bled at every pore2 and at this hour it seems occasionally to quiver to its very base4 ,and yet1 all the while1 the religious life throbs more and more powerfully within her4 ,shorn of what may be called the romance and poetry of her revival1 she abates nothing of her toil2 and in the midst of every sort of partial indiscretion and extravagance1 her great office in the care of souls is1 from year to year1 less and less imperfectly discharged4 ,but the idea of asserting on her part those exclusive claims1 which become positively unjust in a divided country governed on popular principles1 has been abandoned by all parties in the ,state4 ,there was an error not less serious in my estimate of ,english ,nonconformity4 ,i remember the astonishment with which at some period1--,i think in #ahea-b1--;after ascertaining the vast addition which had been made to the number of churches in the country1 ,i discovered that the multiplication of chapels1 among those not belonging to the ,church of ,england1 had been more rapid still4 ,but besides the immense extension of its material and pastoral organisation1 ,english ,nonconformity 7in general7 appears now to have founded itself on a principle of its own1 which forbids the alliance of the civil power with religion in any particular form or forms4 ,i do not embrace that principle4 ,but ,i must observe1 in passing1 that it is not less unjust than it is common to stigmatise those who hold it as political ,dissenters1--a phrase implying that they do not dissent on religious grounds4 ,but if they1 because they object to the union of ,church and ,state1 are political ,dissenters1 it follows that all who uphold it are political ,churchmen4 ,the entire miscalculation which ,i have now endeavoured to describe of the religious state and prospects of the country1 was combined with a view of the relative position of governors and governed1 since greatly modified2 and the two lay at the root of my error4 ,these two causes led me into the excess of recommending the continued maintenance of a theory which was impracticable1 and which1 if it could have been enforced1 would have been1 under the circumstances of the country1 less than just4 ,for ,i never held that a ,national ,church should be permanently maintained except for the nation1--,i mean either for the whole of it or1 at least1 for the greater part1 with some kind of real concurrence or general acquiescence from the remainder4 ,against the proposals of my book1 ,lord ,macaulay had set up a theory of his own4#ba ,that we may give ,mr4 ,gladstone his revenge1 we will state concisely our own views respecting the alliance of ,church and ,state4444 ,we consider the primary end of ,government as a purely temporal end1 the protection of the persons and property of men4 ,we think that ,government1 like every other contrivance of human wisdom1 from the highest to the lowest1 is likely to answer its main end best1 when it is constructed with a single view to that end4444 ,government is not an institution for the propagation of religion1 any more than ,st4 ,george's ,hospital is an institution for the propagation of religion4 ,and the most absurd and pernicious consequences would follow if ,government should pursue as its primary end1 that which can never be more than its secondary end3 though intrinsically more important than its primary end4 ,but a ,government which considers the religious instruction of the people as a secondary end1 and follows out that principle faithfully1 will we think be likely to do much good and little harm4 ,these sentences1 ,i think1 give a fair view of ,lord ,macaulay's philosophy of ,church ,establishments4 ,it has all the clearness and precision that might be expected from him4 ,but ,i own myself unable to accept it as it stands4 ,i presume to think that perhaps ,lord ,macaulay1 like myself1 made1 from a limited induction1 a hasty generalisation4 ,the difference was1 that his theory was right for the practical purpose of the time1 while mine was wrong4 ,considered1 however1 in the abstract1 that theory appears to me to claim kindred with the ethical code of another writer1 not less upright1 and not less limpid1 so to speak1 than ,lord ,macaulay himself1 ,i mean ,dr4 ,paley4 ,and the upshot of it may be comprised in three words3 ,government is police4 ,all other functions1 except those of police proper1 are the accidents of its existence4 ,as if a man should say to his friend when in the country1 ,i am going up to town2 can ,i take anything for you8 ,so the ,state1 while busy about protecting life and property1 will allow its officer of police to perform any useful office for the community1 to instruct a wayfarer as to his road1 or tell the passer by what o'clock it is1 provided it does not interfere with his watching the pickpocket1 or laying the strong hand upon the assassin4 ,i doubt if it is possible to cut out1 as it were1 with a pair of scissors1 patterns of policy1 which shall solve for all time and place the great historic problem of the relation of the civil power to religion4 ,it seems to me that in every function of life1 and in every combination with his fellow-creatures1 for whatever purpose1 the duties of man are limited only by his powers4 ,it is easy to separate1 in the case of a ,gas ,company or a ,chess ,club1 the primary end for which it exists1 from everything extraneous to that end4 ,it is not so easy in the case of the ,state or of the family4 ,if the primary end of the ,state is to protect life and property1 so the primary end of the family is to propagate the race4 ,but around these ends there cluster1 in both cases1 a group of moral purposes1 variable indeed with varying circumstances1 but yet inhering in the relation1 and not external or merely incidental to it4 ,the action of man in the ,state is moral1 as truly as it is in the individual sphere2 although it be limited by the fact that1 as he is combined with others whose views and wills may differ from his own1 the sphere of the common operations must be limited1 first1 to the things in which all are agreed2 secondly1 to the things in which1 though they may not be agreed1 yet equity points out1 and the public sense acknowledges1 that the whole should be bound by the sense of the majority4 ,i can hardly believe that even those1 including as they do so many men both upright and able1 who now contend on principle for the separation of the ,church from the ,state1 are so determined to exalt their theorem to the place of an universal truth1 that they ask us to condemn the whole of that process1 by which1 as the ,gospel spread itself through the civilised world1 ,christianity became incorporated with the action of civil authority1 and with the framework of public law4 ,in the course of human history1 indeed1 we perceive little of unmixed evil1 and far less of universal good4 ,it is not difficult to discern that 7in the language of ,bishop ,heber7 as the world became ,christian1 ,christianity became worldly2 that the average tone of a system1 which embraces in its wide-spreading arms the entire community1 is almost of necessity lower than that of a society which1 if large1 is still private1 and into which no man enters except by his own deliberate choice1 very possibly even at the cost of much personal and temporal detriment4 ,but ,christ died for the race3 and those who notice the limited progress of conversion in the world until alliance with the civil authority gave to ,his religion a wider access to the attention of mankind1 may be inclined to doubt whether1 without that alliance1 its immeasurable and inestimable social results would ever have been attained4 ,allowing for all that may be justly urged against the danger of mixing secular motives with religious administration1 and above all against the intrusion of force into the domain of thought2 ,i for one cannot desire that ,constantine in the government of the empire1 that ,justinian in the formation of its code of laws1 or that ,charlemagne in refounding society1 or that ,elizabeth in the crisis of the ,english ,reformation1 should have acted on the principle that the ,state and the ,church in themselves are separate or alien powers1 incapable of coalition4 ,but there are two causes1 the combined operation of which1 upon reaching a certain point of development1 relaxes or dissolves their union by a process as normal 7if it be less beneficial7 as that by which the union was originally brought about4 ,one of these is the establishment of the principle of popular self-government as the basis of political constitutions4 ,the other is the disintegration of ,christendom from one into many communions4 ,as long as the ,church at large1 or the ,church within the limits of the nation1 is substantially one1 ,i do not see why the religious care of the subject1 through a body properly constituted for the purpose1 should cease to be a function of the ,state1 with the whole action and life of which it has1 throughout ,europe1 been so long and so closely associated4 ,as long as the ,state holds1 by descent1 by the intellectual superiority of the governing classes1 and by the good will of the people1 a position of original and underived authority1 there is no absolute impropriety1 but the reverse1 in its commending to the nation the greatest of all boons4 ,but when1 either by some ,revolution of institutions from their summit to their base1 or by a silent and surer process1 analogous to that which incessantly removes and replaces the constituent parts of the human body1 the ,state has come to be the organ of the deliberate and ascertained will of the community1 expressed through legal channels--then the inculcation of a religion can no longer rest1 in full or permanent force1 upon its authority4 ,when1 in addition to this1 the community itself is split and severed into opinions and communions1 which1 whatever their concurrence in the basis of ,christian belief1 are hostile in regard to the point at issue1 so that what was meant for the nation dwindles into the private estate as it were of a comparative handful--the attempt to maintain an ,established ,church becomes an error fatal to the peace1 dangerous perhaps even to the life1 of civil society4 ,such a ,church then becomes 7to use a figure ,i think of ,john ,foster's71 no longer the temple1 but the mere cemetery1 of a great idea4 ,such a policy is then not simply an attempt to treat what is superannuated and imbecile as if it were full of life and vigour1 but to thwart the regular and normal action of the ruling social forces1 to force them from their proper channels1 and to turn them by artificial contrivance1 as ,apollo turned the rivers of ,troas from their beds1 to a purpose of our own4 ,this is to set caprice against nature2 and the end must be that1 with more or less of delay1 more or less of struggle or convulsion1 nature will get the better of caprice4 ,but does it follow from all this1 that the tone of moral action in the ,state should be lowered8 ,such a fear is what perplexes serious and sober men1 who are laudably unwilling to surrender1 in a world where falsehood has so wide a range1 any portion of this vantage-ground of truth and right4 ,i1 who may have helped to mislead them by an over-hasty generalisation1 would now submit what seems to me calculated to re-assure the mind4 ,i make an appeal to the history of the last thirty years4 ,during those years1 what may be called the dogmatic allegiance of the ,state to religion has been greatly relaxed2 but its consciousness of moral duty has been not less notably quickened and enhanced4 ,i do not say this in depreciation of ,christian dogma4 ,but we are still a ,christian people4 ,christianity has wrought itself into the public life of fifteen hundred years4 ,precious truths1 and laws of relative right and the brotherhood of man1 such as the wisdom of heathenism scarcely dreamed of and could never firmly grasp1 the ,gospel has made to be part of our common inheritance1 common as the sunlight that warms us1 and as the air we breathe4 ,sharp though our divisions in belief may be1 they have not cut so deep as to prevent1 or as perceptibly to impair1 the recognition of these great guides and fences of moral action4 ,it is far better for us to trust to the operation of these our common principles and feelings1 and to serve our ,maker together in that wherein we are at one1 rather than in aiming at a standard theoretically higher1 to set out with a breach of the great commandment1 which forms the groundwork of all relative duties1 and to refuse to do as we would be done by4 ,it is1 then1 by a practical rather than a theoretic test that our ,establishments of religion should be tried4 ,in applying this practical test1 we must be careful to do it with those allowances1 which are as necessary for the reasoner in moral subjects1 as it is for the reasoner in mechanics to allow for friction or for the resistance of the air4 ,an ,establishment that does its work in much1 and has the hope and likelihood of doing it in more3 an ,establishment that has a broad and living way open to it1 into the hearts of the people3 an ,establishment that can commend the services of the present by the recollections and traditions of a far-reaching past3 an ,establishment able to appeal to the active zeal of the greater portion of the people1 and to the respect or scruples of almost the whole1 whose children dwell chiefly on her actual living work and service1 and whose adversaries1 if she has them1 are in the main content to believe that there will be a future for them and their opinions3 such an ,establishment should surely be maintained4 ,but an ,establishment that neither does1 nor has her hope of doing1 work1 except for a few1 and those few the portion of the community whose claim to public aid is the smallest of all3 an ,establishment severed from the mass of the people by an impassable gulph1 and by a wall of brass3 an ,establishment whose good offices1 could she offer them1 would be intercepted by a long unbroken chain of painful and shameful recollections3 an ,establishment leaning for support upon the extraneous aid of a ,state1 which becomes discredited with the people by the very act of lending it3 such an ,establishment will do well for its own sake1 and for the sake of its creed1 to divest itself1 as soon as may be1 of gauds and trappings1 and to commence a new career1 in which1 renouncing at once the credit and the discredit of the civil sanction1 it shall seek its strength from within1 and put a fearless trust in the message that it bears4 ,september #bb1 #ahfh4 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,w4 ,,clowes ,,and ,,sons1 ,,duke ,,street1 ,,stamford ,,street1 ,,and ,,charing ,,cross4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,footnotes3 #a ,from a placard just published at ,berwick4 #b ',the ,state in its ,relations with the ,church1' ch4 ii41 sect4 #ga1 p4 #gc4 ,editions #a-c4 #c ',edinburgh ,review1' ,april1 #ahci1 p4 #bce4 #d p4 #beb4 #e ',mirror of ,parliament1' ,monday1 ,july #cj1 #ahch4 ,the passage1 which is full and clear1 is more briefly given1 but to the same effect1 in ',hansard1' vol4 xliv4 p4 #hag4 #f ,june #a1 #ahcf4 ',hansard1' vol4 xxxiii4 p4 #acag4 #g ,hor4 ,ep4 ii4 #c4 #ca4 #h ',speech on the ,second ,reading of the ,maynooth ,college ,bill1' #ahde1 p4 #dd4 #i ,ibid41 p4 #cc4 #aj ,see ',life of ,archbishop ,whately4' #aa ,the case of ,sir ,r4 ,peel1 in #ahbi1 ,i do not consider an exception to this remark1 as he gave back the charge into the hands of the electors4 #ab ,mr4 ,coleridge's speech at ,exeter1 ,august1 #ahfh4 ,from the ',manchester ,examiner' of ,august #bb4 #ac ',corrected ,speech on the ,ecclesiastical ,titles ,bill1' #ahea1 p4 #bh4 #ad ,sir ,r4 ,palmer's speech at ,richmond1 ,august1 #ahfh4 ,from the ',manchester ,examiner' of ,august #bd4 #ae ',hansard1' vol4 clxxviii4 p4 #ddd4--;,but ,i do complain of a ,minister who1 himself the author of a book in defence of ,church and ,state1 when one branch of the ,christian ,church is attacked and in danger1 delivers a speech1 every word of which is hostile to its existence when the right time comes for attacking it4 #af n4 vi4 #ag ,it was1 ,i think1 about the year #ahce1 that ,i first met the ,rev4 ,sydney ,smith1 at the house of ,mr4 ,hallam4 ,in conversation after dinner he said to me1 with the double charm of humour and of good-humour1 ,the improvement of the clergy in my time has been astonishing4 ,whenever you meet a clergyman of my age1 you may be quite sure that he is a bad clergyman4 #ah ,judges1 v4 #ca4 #ai ,canticles1 vi4 #d4 #bj ,since these lines were written ,i have learned1 upon authority which cannot be questioned1 that ,mr4 ,keble acknowledged the justice of disestablishing the ,irish ,church4 #ba ',ed4 ,rev4'1 ,april1 #ahci1 p4 #bgc-f4