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OF

THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH,

&c., &c.

I AM anxious to bring before you some views which have presented themselves to my mind with respect to the state of Ireland, considered in connexion with the Established Church in that country. It is not now my purpose to enter into any comparison, whether to the advantage or prejudice of any particular system of church polity. Nor do I wish to advert to the religious uses alone of an Established Church. I confine myself at present to that which is apparently a more limited, but which is in fact a more extensive view of the subject. I wish to consider the Irish Church in its effects upon civilization, and in its tendency to the improvement of the moral character of the people, which every politician will acknowledge to be most important in Ireland; and, if I can show to the satisfaction of every one that the Church of Ireland is a powerful instrument for its civilization, and that there is no other instrument which could be equally effectual for that end, I have a perfect right to demand from the most careless politician the acknowledgment that the Church of Ireland ought not to be weakened in its operations-much less destroyed. Let us, for a moment, suppose the case of a country imperfectly civilized, with inhabitants rude and barbarous. The question is, what steps should we take to bring that country into a state of civilization and order? I know politicians may say, "Make roads through it; make canals; open harbours; improve its soil." Undoubtedly these would promote the commerce of the country and improve the condition of its agriculture. But is it not evident that if you still suffer those inhabitants to remain barbarous and rude, all your attempts to spread civilization would fail? (Hear, hear.) Our first step must be to improve the minds of the inhabitants; and, with that view, what better mode could we select than to plant in, and establish as residents, humane and benevolent men, who should give themselves to the work of raising the condition of the inhabitantsshould visit them from house to house-should converse with and instruct them—should endeavour to improve them in husbandry, to increase their comforts, and raise their general condition?

But you will not-you ought not to stop here. You must provide for the elevation of the moral character. You must provide for the education of the children, by the instruction of the schoolmaster. You must provide for the cultivation of the minds of the adults. You must proceed then to plant in that country the Word of God, as there is no other instrument by which at once the hearts and heads of all classes may be affected. You must see that this is blended with the instructions of the schoolmaster, and directs the proceedings of the school. You must raise the character of the adults, by imparting to them the same valuable truths. And, as there is a day on which labour is suspended, that day must be devoted to their instruction in these; and, in the edifice set apart for that purpose, the person who comes forward to instruct them in truth will present it to them, and endeavour, by the persuasion of Christian eloquence, to impress it on their understandings and hearts.

Now, in describing to you the effects which these means would produce on the condition of the country, I am describing to you effects which it ought to be the object of every wise legislator to produce. And, in stating to you this process, I am describing, in fact, the labours of a Christian ministry. (Applause.)

But, lest I should be charged with holding out merely imaginary prospects, I will quote instances in which what I have been describing has actually occurred. I take the case of France, and would point you to the labours of Oberlin in a parish of that country. He had to do with a people as wild and ignorant as any which I have imagined, and he raised them, by the establishment of schools and by pastoral instruction and superintendence, from the uncultivated and miserable state of a mountain parish, to the state of a contented, happy, and moral population. And if such were the effects of the labours of one man during one short life, it is easy to conceive what would be the effect of a similar system pursued on a large scale (hear, hear) over a whole country.

If, however, I am told that this is a merely solitary instance that cannot be made the foundation of a general argument, I refer to the country with which I am more immediately connected-to the case of Scotland. (Hear, hear.) We had there a country, at the time of the Reformation, in the most illiterate and degraded condition; yet that country, by the labours of Protestant ministers and by the establishment of parochial schools, was brought into a state which I shall best describe in the language of the present Member for Middlesex, Mr. Hume, who is on this side an unimpeachable testimony, and who explains the causes of the change in Scotland. Mr. Hume, on March 4, 1823, said, “He begged to advert to the case of Scotland, where principally, through the advantage and by the exertion of a resident clergy, the morals of the people had been so much improved. He would refer to the wellknown authority of Fletcher, of Saltoun, for some account of what the moral state of Scotland was about a hundred years ago. Ireland at this day was not worse than Scotland was admitted to have been at that time before the establishment of her parochial schools and the residence of her clergy."

By the establishment of parochial schools and a parochial ministry,

the Scotch were then raised from being a barbarous people to an educated and moral people. And it is a remarkable fact, and everywhere strongly bears me out in the "conclusion at which I arrive, that when, in the reign of Charles the Second, the parochial schools were swept away, and the Presbyterian ministers driven from their churches, Scotland fell back into the state of barbarism from which she had emerged. And in 1690 we find that country represented as in a state the most deplorable that can be imagined; while, as soon as the schools were re-established and the churches again filled, and these instruments had time to operate, the country recovered its former position, and in 1717 we find that people, who had in 1690 been pictured as savage, wretched, and barbarous, described as patterns of morality and education. (Hear, hear, hear.) Dr. Chalmers says (Poor-Law Committee, 1830), “In the middle of the seventeenth century there was a very efficient system of Christian instruction in the parishes of Scotland, and it is understood that the country at that time was in a very healthful moral condition." Kirkton and Burnet bear ample testimony to this. The Act for schools was repealed and the churches were emptied of the Presbyterian ministers about 1660. The effect of this, after the lapse of thirty years, was to bring the country from the condition of morality and order, described by Kirkton, to the misery and crime, the vagrancy and lawlessness, depicted by Fletcher. In 1696 the parochial schools and clergy were restored, and we find from De Foe, in 1717, that the morality and order prevalent in Scotland were quite marvellous. Dr. Chalmers says of this period, "the parochial system of education was again general; they were plied beside from Sabbath to Sabbath, by an efficient and acceptable clergy, in consequence of which the transformation appears to have been quite marvellous."

Now, it may be demanded whether similar results might not have been anticipated in Ireland from the application of the same means. We find that these means were at one time in contemplation during the reign of James the First, for in 1613 Commissioners recommended the establishment of a system of parochial schools, and the appointment of "learned and painful men, who should be resident on their benefices, with such competent provision for them, who will endeavour, by their outward conversation or doctrine, to inure the ignorant to the love of truth."-(Evidence, Commons, 1822, p. 5264.)

But the importance of such residents in Ireland is attested by something stronger than witnesses-by the evidence of actual facts. I do not mean to say that the only resident gentlemen, who can be useful in Ireland, are the clergy. The residence of any man who lays out his time and exertions for the improvement of his neighbourhood, is of value. For example, we find in Thurles (Tipperary) that the state of the peasantry is most lawless. Mr. Fitzgerald (Evidence, Lords, 1832, p. 17) says, "I look upon the district about Thurles to be the most lawless: the peasantry in that neighbourhood are, generally speaking, of a very ferocious character." On being asked the cause of this, he says that the leading cause is "the absence of resident gentlemen among them." Take, as a contrast with this case, that of Kilmore, in the heart of the same county, where, by the personal superintendence of

Sir William Carroll, the character of the peasantry was raised. Turn again to the evidence on the state of the poor in Ireland, 1830, (p. 365.) On Lord Headly's estate in Glenbegh, County Kerry, a marked improvement in the state of the people was produced.

"The means

adopted (says the witness) were generally an attention to the character of the people, and a constant desire on the part of the managers to direct the people to the improvement of their lands, and to the improvement of their habits and character." In the same evidence we have the case of the Rev. Mr. Hicky, who, by the establishment of agricultural schools, raised the state of the people at Bannon, County Wexford, and when he removed to Kilcormack, County Wexford, effected a similar improvement by the use of the same means. I mention these cases in order to show that with no other instruments, than attention to the conduct of the peasantry, a change in their condition may be effected. So much has this been the feeling of all men interested in Ireland, that a tax on absentees, to enforce their residence, has been frequently recommended. It was suggested by Mr. Grattan; it was proposed in the Irish Parliament by Mr. Flood; and, whatever we may think of the policy of it, the object was always the same-to secure the moral exertions of a class of intelligent men in Ireland. But you have no power to enforce the residence of landed proprietors, and still less have you the power, if they reside, to enforce the discharge of their duties. They may do mischief in their residence, they may spend their time in hunting beagles with Mr. O'Connell, in the county of Kerry, or abetting him in diffusing crime and patronizing disorder. Therefore the residence of landed proprietors cannot be enforced by the law, and may tend to anything but moral good. But the residence of the clergy you may enforce—it is one of the conditions of their office; and their good conduct you may require it is the duty for which they receive their income. Therefore, in this point of view, a body of Protestant ministers residing throughout Ireland is invaluable. I will quote to you evidence that this is felt. Mr. Mahony, a most intelligent solicitor, looking to the civilization of Ireland, says, "I have recommended the rigid enforcement of the law, so as to compel all ranks of clergy to reside at their sees, or at their parishes; for in a country such as Ireland, where absenteeism is an acknowledged evil, in the moral and political sense of the word, I consider the moral influence of such a class of well-educated gentlemen, such as the clergy are, to be above all price; for, though the Protestant clergy may not extend their religion, they must extend civilization where they reside."-(Evidence, Commons, 1832.) Mr. Blake, a Roman Catholic, says that the Irish Church has great power of promoting the interests of education among the people. Mr. Barrington says, "There are many parts of the county of Cork in which there is no resident landlord, none but the Protestant clergyman." Major Bunn (Evidence on Tithe Committee, 1832, p. 84) says, "The Protestant clergy are resident gentry. It would be a great loss if they were driven to leave the country." The Archbishop of Dublin (Evidence, Lords, 1832, p. 195) says, "I have observed a sort of nucleus of civilization formed by the house of a clergyman, who is, perhaps, the only gentleman within a considerable distance, and frequently the only one at least who takes care to afford instruction,