nearly one-fourth of the entire number-containing more than 1 and less than 20 members; 416 containing more than 20 and less than 50 members; 349 where there are between 50 and 100; and 270 with between 100 and 200 members; 53 between 2000 and 5000; 8 parishes only range as high as 5000 to 10,000, and 2 between 20,000, and 30,000.

The Roman Catholics have 532 parishes, to set against 53 Protestant, in which their members range between 2000 and 5000; 133 parishes with from 5000 to 10,000 members; 32 in which the numbers lie between 10,000 to 20,000; and 3 ranging from 20,000 to 30,000. As to the social position and employments of the members thus classified, the Commissioners give us information which, though probably, as they suggest, not absolutely accurate, is of the highest possible importance. By these tables it would appear that the land is far less exclusively in the hands of members of the Establishment than we have been accustomed to suppose. Of landed proprietors 4000 are registered as Protestant Episcopalians, 3500 as Roman Catholics: and though Hibernian exaggeration may sometimes have described the lord of a bog-hut by so euphonious a name as landed proprietor, the result does seem, at any rate, to prove that a considerable area of land has now passed into the hands of Catholic owners, who have accordingly a good right to be heard as to the employment of State funds, with which the soil is primarily chargeable.

Passing on from numbers to revenue, we find that the Catholics, seventy-seven per cent. of the population, receive no State aid whatever, except that involved in the grant to Maynooth-where rather more than half the priests are educated. Their cathedrals, churches, monasteries, &c., are supported entirely by incidental voluntary subscriptions, and the priests have no fund to rely on but the fees upon baptisms, marriages, and funerals, and Christmas and Easter offerings.

The Presbyterians, beside voluntary subscriptions, have the Re

gium Donum, first instituted by Charles II., who gave £600 secret service money' to be distributed annually amongst them. William III. increased it to £1200 per annum, and in 1752 it amounted to £5000. In 1803, and again in 1831, the distribution of the fund was reorganized, and at the present day the annual grant amounts very nearly to £40,000; and this sum is capable of extension on rather easy terms, as the zeal and number of the Presbyterians enable them to bring fresh congregations within the statutory requirements.

The funds of the Established Church may be stated in round numbers, as follows:

But these figures, it is contended, give an extremely inadequate idea of the real riches of the Church. The episcopal revenues, for instance, are derived from 743,000 acres, of which nearly 600,000 are available for the purposes of agriculture. These, by a most objectionable custom, it has been usual to let, not at their real marketable value, but at sums very often merely nominal, on leases to particular individuals for twenty-one years, renewable from year to year. The arrangement is an ingenious contrivance for enabling sacerdotal pilferers to enrich their relations at the expense of their successors; and the length to which it has been carried has excited the complaints of those whose interests certainly would incline them to an indulgent view. The Dublin University Magazine, though an enthusiastic supporter of the existing régime, calculates that £20,000 per annum might be saved from church lands, at present improperly let at rentals ranging from one-half to one-third of their real value, on twenty-one

years' leases, to the relatives of bishops. The system is no doubt often forced upon men who would not in the first instance have adopted it, but are obliged to recoup themselves for the losses entailed upon them by their predecessors; but the evil is none the less real. The Dublin University Magazine gives a graphic account of the injuries thus inflicted and endured by the prelates of the Establishment:

"We have before us,' it says, 'a letter from a dignitary, whose statement is, that his predecessor was twenty years in possession, that he leased severally to one relation after another, as each dropped off, the lands from which came the emoluments of his office; and, finally, to his son, who for twenty years after his death is to hold the land for onesixth of Griffith's valuation, which, as every one knows, is as a general rule twenty-five per cent. under the rental, with a small renewal fine. So that though this dignitary did not preach in any of his parishes, for he was a pluralist also, for nearly thirty years, and died, leaving a very large sum of money, he managed to impoverish his successor for the benefit of his heirs, for twenty years after his death.' Qualis artifex pereo! must, we should imagine, have been the reflection of this successor of the Apostles, as he lay on his bed of death and reflected complacently on his literal fulfilment of the scriptural mandate, to provide for them of his own household,' no less than for the interests of the Church of God.' It is, to say the least of it, inexpedient, that men оссиpying so delicate and invidious a position as the Irish bishops, should be allowed to aggravate the evils of the case by a sordid worldliness, so little in keeping with the sanctity with which we are asked to believe their office and persons are fenced about. The indecorous wealth of Protestant Church dignitaries is a never-failing topic of ridicule and dislike, of which Irish agitators know perfectly how to take the best advantage. M. Perraud, quoting from an official return, mentions eleven bishops who died leaving an

aggregate of two millions, to be divided among their descendants; and Mr. Osborne, last session, amidst other amusing particulars, gave the House the chief items of the sale of a revered gentleman's effects, who died shortly after the famine-not, however, of starvation. From this, it appeared, that while four millions of Irish Catholics were famine-smitten, this champion of reformed religion had in his possession a herd of two hundred fallow deer, an enormous stock of cattle, and about one hundred dozen of wine in his cellars, mostly of rare vintages, and all, we may be sure, such as a good churchman might rejoice to drink!

What more tempting theme could the orator of a Fenian brotherhood desire for exciting in the minds of his audience a spirit of disaffection and a burning consciousness of injustice. In the same way, at the time of the late Archbishop of Armagh's death, there appeared in one of the popular prints, a computation, which made it clear that Lord John Beresford had in the course of his career as a churchman, received no less than £770,000 of public money, and that his near relatives, in the course of three generations, have been, in like manner, enriched to the extent of three or four mil

lions sterling. That the Archbishop's money was devoted, with princely munificence, to the interests of Protestantism did not, of course, with Catholic readers, take away the bitterness of heart which such an usurpation of funds -justly employable for the general interest-was calculated to provoke. In the face of such figures it seems almost a satire to assure Irishmen that they are justly governed, and that a paternal administration is watching with equal attention over the interests of every section of society.

We must not, however, in estimating the resources of the Established Church, lose sight of the large accessory supplies with which her flagging vitality is constantly resuscitated. Ireland has been, unfortunately, we think, for Christian truth, and certainly for Christian charity,

the favourite arena of proselytising exertion. Monsieur Perraud, whose work, though that of a partizan, implies a creditable anxiety to find and tell the truth, gives a list of various societies, all of which, though sometimes not in connexion with the Church, are more or less her allies against the Romanism of the country. It would be wrong of course to speak disparagingly of efforts which are no doubt sincerely humane; but in estimating the extent to which the Established Church is able, if left to herself, to hold her own, the activity and power of these societies, supported as they are by English wealth, cannot be left out of sight. A few examples may be taken as giving a fair idea of the working of the rest. The

Hibernian Bible Society, established for diffusing copies of the Scriptures, of course in a Protestant interest, has since 1806, spent £80,000 in this way, and has given away more than 3,000,000 copies. The Primitive Wesleyan Methodist Home Missionary Society has for its object 'the propagation of the Gospel in Ireland,' and employs fifty missionary agents and upwards of fifty circuit preachers. The Hibernian Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society has an income of £137,000, 849 missionaries, 1000 paid and 15,000 unpaid agents, of whom 25 missionaries, 5+ day-school teachers, and 166 Sunday-school teachers, are employed in Ireland. Besides these there are the Irish Evangelical Society, for promoting the Evangelization of Ireland, by the agency of ministers, evangelists, town missionaries, schools, &c;'-The Parochial Visitors' Society, for enabling the clergy near Dublin to have the assistance of fit persons to act under their direction in matters which the spirit and constitution of the united Church of England and Ireland allow its clergy to depute to such agents;'-The Scripture Readers' Society for Ireland, with sixty-four readers, each with a regular district; -The Incorporated Society for promoting English Protestant schools in Ireland;-The Islands and Coast Society, for promoting the scriptural education of the inhabitants of

the islands and coast;'-The Irish branch of the Evangelical Alliance, under the presidency of the Earl of Roden;-The Society for promoting the Education of the Poor in Ireland, which has educated at its model schools in Kildare-street, 43,000 children, trained 3000 teachers, and issued a million and a half of cheap school books;-The Church Education Society, maintained in distinct antagonism to the national system, and to all appearance, a very formidable rival; it has fifteen hundred schools in connexion with it, and 74,000 children on its rolls, of whom, be it observed, no less than 10,000 are Catholics, reciving 'scriptural instruction' at the hands of Protestant teachers, and consequently the objects of as distinct proselytism as can be well imagined. Then, under the presidency of the Dowager Duchess of Beaufort, there is the Ladies' Hibernian Female School Society, for combining a scriptural education with instruction in plain needlework;'-Gardiner's Charity for apprenticing Protestant boys;-The Sunday School Society, with 2700 schools on its books, 21,000 gratuitous teachers, and 228,000 scholars;-The Irish Society, for promoting the 'scriptural education of Irish Roman Catholics;'-The Ladies' Irish Association, with a similar object;-Morgan's Endowed School,' for forty boys of respectable Protestant parentage;' -Mercer's Endowed School, for forty girls of respectable Protestant parentage;'-The Protestant Society, with 430 orphans;-The Charitable Protestant Orphan Union, for 'orphans who, having had only one Protestant parent, are therefore ineligible for the Protestant Orphan Society;' and last, though not least, on the imposing catalogue, the Society for Irish Church Missions to Roman Catholics, and the West Connaught Endowment Fund Society.

As considerable controversy has gone on as to the results effected by the two latter institutions, and as West Galway and Mayo are pointed out by supporters of the Establishment as conclusively evidencing the possibility of a successful church movement amid a Celtic population, it may be worth while to examine

the matter a little in detail. Mr. Garrett, an English clergyman, was in 1862 requested by the Bishop of Tuam, to examine the various villages where the societies have obtained a footing, and in Good News from Ireland, we have the results of his tour. The Bishop himself, however, gives a conveniently succinct account of the progress of the Church in West Connaught. The district, he says, comprises those portions of the counties Galway and Mayo which border upon the Atlantic, it is about 100 miles in length and from 20 to 30 miles in breadth. The existing church machinery was of the feeblest and most inadequate description. The entire union of Ballinakill, for instance, 50 miles long, and containing 1200 square miles and 42,000 inhabitants, appears to have been under the charge of a single incumbent, and to have possessed Church revenues only to the amount of £193 (net) per annum. The cause of the Reformation, feeble enough in the eastern provinces, almost died away before it reached the western coast. The religion of the country remained as of old, a mixture of Roman Catholic faith with the quaint customs and half heathen superstitions of the rude, unlettered, and primitive inhabitants. The Established Church just lived on, but with scarce energy enough to prevent her adherents from lapsing into the creed of their neighbours. 'Five and twenty years ago,' says the Bishop, 'the greatest number of congregations in connexion with our Church was 13. The number of churches in the district was 7; the number of clergymen 11. Within the same district there are now 57 separate congregations, 27 churches, and 35 clergymen,' showing an increase in 25 years, of 44 congregations, 20 churches, and 24 clergymen; many of them necessarily, dependent upon the precarious supply of annual contributions.' The West Connaught Endowment Fund is to supply these places with a stipend of £75, the lowest sanctioned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and for this purpose the advocates of the society wish to raise £50,000.

By

The result of these and other proselytising agencies has been that a certain number of peasants, not accurately ascertainable, have unquestionably abandoned their former religion and embraced that fervid and not particularly enlightened order of Protestantism, which is naturally most congenial to an uncultured and excitable convert. dint of a great deal of begging, and, no doubt, a great deal of praiseworthy self-sacrifice on the part of individual clergymen, a fund has been got together, and the Established Church has ceased to be a simple myth. But all this falls very short of the hundreds and thousands,' whom Dr. Wordsworth describes as flocking with a semimiraculous rapidity within the pale of the reformed religion. 'Almost entire towns and villages have been stirred by the breath of heaven. . It would be premature to pronounce any confident opinion on the ultimate results of this movement; but there appear to be reasons for believing that a religious movement is there going on, not much inferior in importance to the Reformation in the sixteenth century. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.'

Marvellous indeed! We turn to Mr. Garrett's Journal for the achievements so ambitiously announced. We find amidst a great deal of

unctuous writing and sacred bombast, a residuum of fact that is perfectly intelligible and not especially exhilarating. The author's note of triumph constantly dies away into a piteous supplication on behalf of the Endowment Fund, in whose interest he writes. Where this is secured, all is well; where it fails, the second Reformation' seems to come at once into difficulties, and generally to a complete stand-still.

Take for instance the first halting place in West Connaught. 'Nothing,' says Mr. Garrett, 'could be more full of anxiety than the whole account. The district of Barna had been a promising field for missionary labour, with a congregation amounting at times to seventy people, and a school of about twenty children. But a fluctuation in the funds of the Society for Irish Church Missions has obliged the society reluctantly to withdraw their agents from it. The work has been saved from almost entire destruction by the exertions of Archdeacon Burton, who succeeded in obtaining some assistance from the Irish Reformation Society,' &c.

How tame does all this sound after Dr. Wordsworth's generous hyperbole. One proselytising society gets together a congregation, occasionally of seventy persons, and a school of twenty children. Its funds fluctuate, and but for an Archdeacon and another proselytising society, the whole thing absolutely breaks down! Take again the village of Clynagh, some way to the west along Galway Bay. Here 'an important footing has been gained, and a congregation of NINETEEN Souls gathered from the wilderness.

At the time of my visit, the friends of the cause were engaged in improving the mission premises: and there are many grounds for hoping well for the future, if the Society for Church Missions is liberally supported.' Here, again, the second Reformation dwindles down, on closer inspection, to nineteen persons, and an 'important footing, contingent upon extraneous aid. At Spiddal, again, the society mentions a clergyman and two scripture-readers, besides the

master and mistress of an orphanage. The agents are well received, says Mr. Garrett, but the people, in the absence of a regularly endowed ministry, decline to allow them to read the Bible in their cottages. 'How vast and vital then,' exclaims the writer, in Roman capitals as usual, is the question of endowment!... Suppose the Society to be obliged to withdraw its grant from clergymen at Spiddal. What a terrible blow would this movement involve! The very thought of it makes me shudder!' In the islands of Arran, again, we find that there are congregations averaging, in Arrenmore forty-five, in Innismean eighteen, with school children averaging forty-eight. Here Mr. Garrett, after hinting at the 'melancholy way in which church people settling on the islands have in past years been absorbed into the communion of Rome,' from lack of resident ministers, proceeds at once to dwell upon strong reasons for endowment. Moycullen, again, we hear that a new congregation has been gathered together,' a site and £400 given for a church, and that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners will do the rest, IF

At

ONLY AN ENDOWMENT FOR A CLERGYMAN CAN BE PROCURED.

Was ever reformation so prosaically kept alive?-£400 and a grant from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, if only,' &c., and these are the almost entire towns and villages,' about which Dr. Wordsworth thinks it worth while to go into a rhapsody, and whose wholesale conversion to the purer faith he describes as an almost miraculous phenomenon!

At Oughterarde, Mr. Garrett, after examining a school of boys and girls in religious subjects, 'thought it desirable to try how far this was an instance of a school consisting of converts from Rome, or of existing church children.' The original Protestants accordingly were desired to hold up their hands, and the scrutiny proved that fifty-six children had been regained from Rome.' At this place the author gives us 'a specimen of the hand-bills used in this missionary movement,' which