animosity which has dislocated Ireland for
centuries. It blazed into a furious flame in the religious wars of
Elizabeth, in the great rebellion of 1642, in the Jacobite struggle of
1689, in the religious war into which the rebellion of 1798 speedily
degenerated. These facts are about as conspicuous in the history of
Ireland as Magna Charta and the Commonwealth in the history of
England. No one who knows Ireland will deny that the policy of Mr.
Gladstone has contributed more than any other single cause to revive
and deepen the divisions which every good Irishman deplores." Mr.
Lecky believes that history repeats itself, and that the establishment
of an Irish Parliament would lead to a great Irish convulsion, similar
to those which he refers. My experience among Irish Churchmen
convinces me that their feeling is understated in the petition signed
by nearly fifteen thousand select vestrymen, and adopted by the
general Synod, "That we regard the measure as fraught with peril to
our civil and religious liberties, which are our prized inheritance;
that conflicts of interest and collisions of authority would create a
condition of frequent irritation and intolerable strain." The
Methodists in full Conference gave it as their opinion "That in the
judgment of this committee the bill, if it were to become law, so far
from being a message of peace to Ireland, would be a most fruitful
occasion of distressing discord and strife; that class would be
arrayed against class and party against party with a virulence now
rare and unknown; and that the inevitable result would be the
overturning of all order and good government." What does this mean if
not civil war? Be it understood that the existing feeling is now being
demonstrated by appeal to the most reliable authorities, all speaking
under a due sense of responsibility, and therefore with a studied
moderation. The Presbyterians, a numerous and powerful body, speaking
in the General Assembly, after declaring that the proposed measure
imperils their civil and religious liberties, and expressing their
determined opposition to an Irish Legislature and Executive,
controlled by men "marching through rapine to the dismemberment of the
Empire," whom a Special Commission found to be guilty of a criminal
Conspiracy, and who invented, supported, and tried to justify the Land
League, the Plan of Campaign, and boycotting--after this preamble, the
Presbyterians declare that the bill is "calculated t