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- WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT.

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WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT. Now that the Government has introduced into the House of Commons a measure for the Disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales, and have promised to pass it through its third reading during the present Session, the question is attract- ing considerable attention among English Liberals and Nonconformists outside the Principality. At the meeting of London Welsh Liberals, held at the Holborn Town Hall last Tuesday week, it was hoped that the Revs. R J. Campbell and Dr. Clifford would have been able to be present, but previous engage- ments prevented them from being able to take part in the proceedings. Dr. Clifford wrote thus to the Secretary of the meeting Dear Mr. Thomas,—I deeply regret it is not possible for me to be present at the meeting on Tuesday for the promotion of the Bill for the Disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Wales. That measure is long over-due. It is a con- tinued and increasing injustice to deny it and delay it. It is due to the Welsh people in the interests of justice, religious equality and social reform but primarily in the interests of religion. And it is an aggravation of the wrong to withhold it lest the grant of what is right to religion in Wales should imperil the monetary interests of the Anglican Church in England. May I add that I trust the Government which has introduced this Bill will not only carry it through the Commons, but will also send it up to the House of Peers-to that mediaeval institution that is still permitted, alas for us! to determine the fate of the great Democracy of Britain.—Assured that your meeting will help forward the good cause, I am, yours faithfully, JOHN CLIFFORD." At the same gathering the following letters were read from leaders of the move- ment in Welsh political life who were unable to be present Lord Rendel wired Warm thanks for kind recognition of my continued devotion. I trust to be able to support the Bill in the Lords, but could not, for physical reasons, engage to be present at your public meeting." The Right Hon. Reginald McKenna wrote from Portsmouth :—" I am unavoidably pre- vented by official engagements from attend- ing the meeting to-morrow night in support of the Disestablishment Bill. My heartiest good wishes for the succes of the meeting and of the cause." The Right Hon. D. Lloyd-George wrote to the Chairman: Dear Mr. Jones, I wish I could be with you at the Holborn meeting to-night in support of the Welsh Disestab- lishment Bill, but as you are aware, I must remain here to defend my Budget proposals. I hope you will have a successful gathering. It is amazing that any intelligent and fair- minded person could be found anywhere in these days to resist the demand of a nation for equal treatment to all creeds honestly professed by its people. We ask for fair play and we must get it." On Monday last the question was further discussed at the National Liberal Club, when several Welsh Members and prominent leaders placed the matter before a representa- tive gathering of English Liberals, and it was unanimously resolved that every assistance should be given by the English Members to the just demand made by the Nonconfor- mists of Wales. The previous week Mr. William Jones, M.P., bad secured the sympathy of the Free Churches of Scotland, whose members are determined to bring the question prominently before their Parliamentary representatives. In Wales itself, a strenuous campaign is being carried on by the National Liberal Council, and it is admitted on all hands that the Church is beginning to realise that the Government on this occasion is determined to grapple with the question, and is pre- pared to sacrifice many other measures in order to clear this long-delayed matter, and to redeem its many pledges to the Welsh people. All that is needed at present is that the Welsh representatives themselves should unite in a course of action, and assist the Government in pushing forward this overdue piece of legislation. The day for petty bickerings and personal jealousies is long past, and if the present members of the Welsh Party are true to their pledges and to their constituents, it will not be necessary for the nation to wait much longer before it has this generous Bill placed on the Statute Book of Britain.

DISENDOWMENT-IS IT PLUNDER…

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