The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser

THE CHURCH DEFENCE INSTITUTE. PUBLIC MEETING AT CARMARTHEN. A public meeting called under the auspices of the local Church Defence Association was held in the Guildhall, Carmarthen, last Wednesday- evening. The hall was well filled by an orderly and appreciative audience which comprised many Nonconformists. MrC. W. Jones, J.P., presided, and he was supported on the platform by the SPM»d v r/rfrrm- q ana vv Helm, the Lord Bishon of Swansea and Mrs L'oyd, Rev T. R Walters and MUs PX't8 b°tJones- Puehe Da i T„James J°hn, solicitor, J Carter Th' J.P., James P. an^Rlv T £ mw ,rTh°mas' JP- (WeUfield), Thp or», ri • Jjjla»>s (hon. sees.), and others, the bnr1 1 fa. ery was filled with ladies, and Suits y laI1 was taken up entirely by tbTi*6 Ch.a;lrman> in opening the meeting, said biSI 21^? observed by the numerous hand- bills distributed in the town, that the subject thJ H f "!e^ng was « Church Defence,»- the defence of the Church to which they, as Churchmen, were so much attached, the Church of their forefathers, and, he trusted, the Church of generations yet unborn (hear, hear). He was rtdtt0 SeheVefth,at fclje8e Periodical visits had Spel aay Wron& actions that may exist with reference to the Church in the minds of many, and he remembered very well that hjTo f,ea/«Tvf% ,Wu8 ad,vised to buy a small book called "1 he English man's Brief "(hear, hear). If they got the book and read it carefully, they would see that the whole question had been dealt with it in a succinct and concise form. They had seen by the handbills that they had Mr Byron Reid, M P. for East Bradford, and Mr Helm present to address them (applause), as well as other gentlemen, but he would pledge himself that ,e audience would not be kept later than 10 o clock The Chairmm then read the following letter from the Ven. Archdeacon James Abergwili Vicarage, 27th Jan., 1892. My dear Sir,—I regret very much that owing to my late indisposition I am unable to attend the meeting of the Church Defence Institute to-morrow evening, which to me is a sad disappointment. No words of mine are necessary to set forth the excellent work which the Institute has been, and is, doing in behalf of the Church in Wales (hear, hear). I am just completing my annual return of one branch of Church work in this diocese, viz., the building and restoration of Churches and Mission Chapels, and have to report that no less than p,17,371 lis 9d has been voluntarily contri- buted by Churchmen during the year 1891 (ap- planse). If we take the three last consecutive years, we have a grand total of X54,591 13s 6d spent in the building and restoration of Churches and Mission Chapels and extension of Church- yards (renewed applause). I sincerely trust that the meeting will be well attended, and prove a great success.-I am, my dear Sir, yours very truly, WM. EVAN JAMES. P.S.-The return alluded to in this letter is not yet published, and may be of some use to show how the Church is making steady progress in this diocese. The Chairman then introduced Mr Helm (one of lecturers of the Church Defence Institute) to the meeting. Mr Helm, who was cordially received, said he did not wish to interpose himself at very great length between the audience and the very able, eloquent, and experienced exponent of the case of the Church, and defender of the Catirch, whom they would hear after he sat down, namely, Mr Byron Reid, but as he was advertised, and called upon to speak, he must, of couxse, say a little. In if- pUce be would call attention to that which they were called together to defend. They were not there for the purpose of defending the whole Church of England from an attack of dises- tablishment and dieendowment, but they were there to defend that part which was particularly menaced-the part in Wales. There were many of the general public who failed to realise the gravity of the position, they failed to realise that the Church in Wales was strongly menaced, and therefore thought there was no great reason for the defence of the Church in Wales. The question was a practical and a powerful political one; it had long passed its speculative stage, and if had been for 20 years the almost chief political ques- tion in Wales. Political representations, false representations had been so strong, determined, continuous, and overbearing proportionately in the number of persons returned to Parliament in Wales, that Mr Gladstone had pointed to that fact as a great object lesson to England. The question was one of considerable moment. Ten years ago it conld not be said that any English member had taken up the question of disestablishment. But since then they had changed their minds, had risen to the occasion, and had caused many persons who had spoken on the subject to eat their own words (hear, bear). For the last six years they had had political opportunists coining to Wales pledging themselves because their party were out of power—to promote disestablishment in Wales, and finally, they bad had Mr Gladstone, first in the House of Commons a year ago, on the dst Feb- ruary last, and again at Newcastle in October last, pledging himself, on return to pover, to Welsh and Scotch disestabl:shment. Therefore, the question was of great impc-tance and of prime magnitude. He wished to point to a somewhat mistaken idea which w- strongly held in many minds that disestablish-116111—whatever that may mean—might be without disendowment. The agitator for disestablishment was agitatin- for disendowme"* as well. But, as a rule, in his (the agitator' address to the audience, disestab- lishmeut written in large letters, or boldly soanded "hilst disendowment was written in small -haracters; therefore, many thought that (Hgp.ablishment was the maiu object, and that d;.endowment was scarcely wanted at all, and a tery unlikely operation. If there was such a one present that night he wished to tell him that dis- establishment without disendowment, as a practical act, was impossible. It was impossible to dises- tablish beforo disendowing, because the removal of the property was the firdt principle of dises- tablishment. Whatever disestablishment mayor may not be theoretically, its promoters really desired disendowment. It was not the good of the Church they desired, nor the Church's freedom, but the Church's goods (hear, hear), It was not 80 once. When the Liberationist Society organ- ised itself under a different title, it stated that the disestablisbment of the Church from the State was its chief object, and that disendowment was of secondary moment. But years had passed, and since the disestablishment Hnd partial disendow- ment of the Church in Ireland bad proved not quite so satisfactory as expected to those who desired to cripple the Church, the proposals of the disestablishment party had been rather more in the direction of disendowment than disestablish- ment (hear, hear), The Liberationist Society issued its scheme which had the alienation of nearly the whole of the Church revenue as its prime object; this was followed by the Radical programme, and they bad the avowed declaration of its promoters in Wales that they would be satis- fied with nothing but the alienation of the whole of the tithes in Wales for national purposes. Some persons thought that disestablishment with disendowment would be a good thing, but those who thought of disestablishment as something that would produce good, did not mean disestablishment at all. They meant the altera- tion of some ot toe conditions existing between Church and State, and also some special reforms in the Church, which they would like to see effected. Let them (,-all things plainly by their right names. If they desired alterations between the Church and State, let them say so-alterations had been made many times before. If they wanted reforms, let them have reforms, but do no let them call alterations between the Church and State dises- tablishment. Why was it they heard so much In Wales of the disestablishment of the Church in Wales and so little said in England ? There were several reasons. The first reason he would assign was that the task to disestablish the whole Church at once was so herculean, and they found » e OQly practical way to secure its abolition Churchm^°r^mg Peacemeal (hear, hear)-IEnglish to the State and they had appealed to the intelli- PSM!informed people, with the result that the position of the Church in England *abecoming mope and more gecure (applause). Sueh had not been the case ju regard to education respiting the Church in Wales, and there were scores of parishes at the present time where the facts of the Church's history had never been laid before the people (bear. hear). What were the reasons for disestablishment ? Three arguments had been put forward—the historical the practical, and the economic. The historical bright be set up in three phrases The Church 11 Wales is an alien Church is an ecclesiastical Engli-h establishment; and thrust upon Wales." He would like to quote the following words, the speaker of which he would name after he had read them There is, for instance, a phrase which describes the established Church in Wales as the Ck,,tirch of Englanti in NVilt,.s. As far as I know the history of the case we might really speak with as much justice of the Church of Willes in England as of the Church of England in Wale." Those were the word of Mr Gladstone himself in the House of Commons, on the 20th of February last when he was disproving Mr Pritchard Morgan's history (loud cheers). Then there was the practical argu'uent that the Church in Wales was not worth preserving. They did not hear much of it in these days, but formerly they had heard much about it. They used to be told that it was doing nothing the argument now was that it was doing too much—(hear, hear, and laughter)—that it was proselytizing. When the Nonconformists won over anybody they were made disciples, when the Church won over anybody they were proselytee (hear, bear). That I showed there was a great deal in the art of putting things. For activity, earnestness, and success nnder diiffculties, the work of the Church in Wales would compare most favourably with the work of the Chuich in England. The economic argument was that Church property was not Church property at all, but national property. How it could be national property, when it was given by honest Churchmen to the Church for Church purposes and when the Church consecrated and devoted it for Church purposes, he could not understand. Referring to tithes, Mr Helm paid that no one was asked to pay anything more than what was his moral and legal duty to pay and what he had undertaken to pay when he rented his holding. The speaker then severely criticised the speech delivered by Sir Hussey Vivian at Treorky lately, which he characterized as a parody on history and a travesty of fact. Sir Hussey Vivian desired disestablishment because Wales, as he said, was a conntry apart. But Wales was not apart; it was not a nation geographically; linguistically, or commercially, but the Welah had belonged to the nation whose Church was the Church of the four dioceses which were apart of the Church in England. Again, they were told by Sir Hussey Vivian that the Church in Wales was not to-day what it was some 500 or 600 years ago, that the English Church had only been established for 350 years, and that the Roman Churchy was introduced 800 years previous to that. Therefore, according to his version, the Church was established in A D. 740 (laughter). He wished Sir Hussey Vivian would show by whom it was established, and what became of the Anglican Church before it, and how all these matters came about. If Sir H-assey was to try and describe it, he was sure they would admit it would be an extra volume to historical fiction (loud laughter). There bad been no Church in Wales but the present one, continuous from the 6th century when it was founded in the present 4 Welsh dioceses, and it would be well to inform Sir Hussey that the Church in Wales was never Roman Catholic or in subjection to Roman Catholics (hear, hear). The subjection or sub- mission was not to the Vatican but to the See of Canterbury (renewed cheers). Neither was there before the Reformation a Church different in char icter from the present Church. The Reformation was not an injection of some intruding Church; it was a purification of the old Church—the Saxon Church independent of Rome (hear, hear). Sir Hussey Vivian said that in Wales there were more Churches outside the Church of England than within it—in other words, that Nonconformity outnumbers the Church. If that was so, it was no reason for disestablishing and disendowing the Church, which stood in its own right, and took care of its own property. Would they disestablish and disendow the Calvinistic Methodists in Wales simply because the three other large denominations asked for it ? (cheers). The argument was too absurd and trivial to intro- duce into such an important question. The Church c- u d claim that she was the great historical life of Wales, and that Nonconformity was a recent evangelical development (hear, heal). She could state that Nonconformity of earlier years was not hostile to her, and that the present hostility is a manufactured one—the result of political agitation (cheers). Sir Hussey Vivian wanted to know what right the State had to lutate any form of ecclesiastical government. He (the speaker) should like to know as well. The State did no such th ing. The Church had cast her formularies herself, and all the State did was to endorse them just as the Court of Chancery endorsed a trust deed (hear, hear). Sir Hussey Vivian said he had more faith in the Chapel than the Church—then he was in an absolutely false hear)-for he was bred and born in the Church, and deliberately stopped in it, when at the same time, he had more faith in the chapels (loud applause). He would finish his remarks by an appeal. Let them look the facts in the face, judge their import, and do justice in the light of conscience and Christian spirit. The Church in Wales was the historic Church of Wales, with un- broken continuity, self-established, self organised, self developed. She had become part of the Church of England by ecclesiastical fusion and union she was part of the whole; she was strengthened and would bestrengthened by the great part outside her (cheers). She had been the source of religious life, and knowledge to the whole of Wales in the past. It was she who gave the Welsh people their Bible, and she was the mother of all that was best and purest in Noncon- formity (hear, hear). The evangelical Noncon- formists of Wales lived in her, worked in her she was their greatest pleasure, and they died in her. The recent renewal of life beginning some 60 or 70 years ago was a real and true revival, and had per- meated the whole of the Church, individual and corporate. She was the great upholder of religions principle and philanthrophy, and she was the soul of Wales itself (hear, hear). Know your duty to this Church, and do your duty to her (loud cheers). The Chairman, before introducing Mr Byron Reid, said that at the close of the meeting, the two gentlemen speakers would be glad to answer any question, bearing on the subject,tput to them. Mr Byron Reid, M.P., said he felt very great pleasure in renewing his acquaintance with the people of Carmarthen, for he entertained a very lively and happy recollection of the visit be paid some years ago when they carried with great enthusiasm a resolution in favour of the Church in Wales. Ten years or thereabouts, bad elapsed since that time-the Church in Wales was not yet disestablished and disendowed (cheers), he was there to still speak to them, and they were again assembled to hear the reasons which with force had presented themselves to his and their minds during the intervening years why they should be stalwart and stedfast in the work of Church defence (hear, hear). He rejoiced to notice the un- usual number of young men present, for with them lay the future of the Church and State in Wales. The old had had their day and would ere long be gathered to their fathers. The middle-aged had already set and formed their opinions, and, may be, had become too hard-hearted in mind to change for good or ill, but the young man just opened out to maturity wished to be well-informed, and to such he would address himself. He would try and discuss the argument as closely as language would allow. They stood upon a platform of Church defence becauee the Church in which they believed, loved and desired to maintain and extend was at the present time the subject of an attack which they considered to be an unjust attack, an uncharitable attack, and an attack which could only end at the very best in bringing surpassing bitterness to beai upon Christian people, and if successful would bring chaos on many and many a religious institution (hear, hear). They stood on a platform of defence and not defiance. They were there not to issault other people-they did not wish to touch a single stone of their buildings or a farthing of their possessions, but to do what they could to defend the Church in their land, and in God's hands they laid the issue (hear, hear). What did the defenders propose to do? They proposed to appeal to Caesar, and Caesar in this case was public opinion in this country and a widely-diffused suffrage with free and extended representation and with the capacity of the meanest of his neighbours to make and obtain laws. Public opinion was the Caesar of our State to-day, and their appeal was put to the better feeling and the religious instincts of Caesar, to his reverence for old age and his sense of justice and right. Public opinion was the tribunal to which they proposed to make their appeal, and they ventured to thinkl that their case could be made so complete and so impregnable that they could in confidence claim the judgment at Caesar's hand. This lead him to his second proposition which was that they had just grounds for complaint of the mode in which theiropponents conducted the controversy. Every man would •icrree that the only controversialist worthy of the name was the fair controversialist, because a false verdict was not worth the having, and what they Churchmen complained of, was the lieing spirit of their opponents (hear, hear). It was an ugly word, but it described the perversion of history, the glare and gloss put on the very simp est matters the LAV; and bitterness aad unkmdhness which was introduced into this case in which they were I concerned. Mr Helm had pointed out in detail the marvellous inaccuracies of Sir Vivian. He himself bad heard other gentlemen, sitting ou the same side of the House, using such gross perversion of history that they could not conceive. Why, it was only in February of last year that lr Pritchard Moigan— (hear, hear, and hisses)—be did noi object to their applauding him as they were great friends—(hear, hear)—but if i/fr Pritchard Morgan, as he had often told him, would confine his atten- tion to gold mining, which he knew a ;.reat deal about, and leave Church matters of which he knew nothing, alone, it would be much better fur him as far as public opinion was concerned (hear, hear). When Pritchard Moigan brought forward his motion for disestablishment and disendowment, a great-er;conglomeration and utter nonsense, whenever he ventured to refer to history he never before heard of. It was most amusing to listen when Mr Morgan was talkingand toseethe uneasiness of Mr Gladstone (laughter). Mr Gladstone knew all about it, and had once been a great defender of the Church, so he saw the untruthfulness of the assertions. When later on in the debate Mr Gladstone got up it was most amusing to see how hecut Mr Pritchard Morgan to miuce-meat (laughter), the gentle raillery, the, as-it-were, poking in the ribs whish he ponred on him (loud laughter). He could never have seen anything funnier in the history of the House than the way in which Mr Gladstone pulverized Mr Prilchard Morgan (renewed laughter and cheers). When Mr Morgan usually made rash statements he unhappily made them before an audience which had not the information to criticise them. Mr Morgan gave his argument to men of the street who were unable to discuss it. It was quite as impertinent for men who knew nothing about it to talk of Church matters as it would be I for him or Mr Helm to discuss chemistry with a medical manor electricity with Edison. The question involved special study. He would like to give a matter in point of the misrepresentations made. He read that morning in the South Wales Daily News a speech delivered by Mr Arthur Williams, M.P.,which contained the most extraordinary asser- tions. Mr Williams was addressing his constitu- ents where he supposed no one could contradict him on free education, and said the Free Education Act was an Act for proselytizing the children in the Church Schools on the back of the ratepayers. But the money devoted by the Government for free education came from Imperial and not local taxation, and here they had an honourable gentle- man, representing a constituency in the House, telling his audience that the sum raised from Imperial taxation was paid out of local rates (hear, hear, and laughter). As to the proselytizing, Mr Williams forgot to mention that the grant was also given to Catholic, British, Wesleyan, and Board Schools, and he could very well have made use of proselytizing in Catholic schools and secularising in Board Schools." He only pointed to that- casually to show the marvellous want of informa- tion possessed by gentlemen who sat themselves in judgment against the National Church (cheers). Now, the misrepresentation of which they most frequently complained, summed up in one charge, was that the Church in Wales was an alien Church. He proposed to examine that assertion in detail; it was the aliencyof the Church in Wales. It may be alien in one of two wtys-in respect of its early origin, or in respect to its present day aHegiance. It may be alien in the sense that it was a foreign Church forced on an unwilling people, or that it had at the present time lost its hold upon the people. He declared both these propositions to be untrue. And to commence with. What was the history of the origin of the Church in Wales ? He took it for granted he was addressing men cognisant with the invasion of the country by the Romans under Julius Cajaar and other Captains, the conquest of Britain by Rome, the mak- ing of great roads, the laying of the foundation of the States, and the rule by proud consuls under the con- trol of imperial Rome. Subsequent to that period, the Roman power tottered and finally fell. The vic- torious legendaries were recalled to that once mighty Empire, and in 410 the last of the Roman flags waved in Britain, and the people, a^ter four centuries of Roman rule, were left once more free. Then what happened. They became the prey of the Picts and Scots, the Irish from the West, who ravaged our coasts, and the men suffered much at their hands. They carried fire and sword, and devastations to the northern part of the country, and the inhabitants had to get tribes from Germany to throw the Piot.s and Scots out. The Jutes and Daiies came and speedily drove out the invaders., but they took the land to themselves, partitioned the country, and finally divided it into seven kingdoms, of the heptarclily. Now, prior to this time, Cnristianity had been settled in Britain-introduced in apostolic times, it was fostered, and it flourished in spite of persecution (cheers). When the Romans left Britain here was an Established Church with the same doctrines, which we hold fresh from the fountain-head- (hear, hear),—and with the rude elements of the present diocesan and parochial system, upon which the nationality of the we,e Pa^s The r^ (cl}eera>" The Saxon invaders Afhe Gospel was not preached in their natn e lands they worshipped the Sun, the Moon, Thor and other strange gods. They persecuted the Christians, broke down the altars, reduced l v* Churches to smoking ruins, and ski^htered the clergy. This history told them and Mr Gladstone stated it was authentic. While this persecution was going on Christianity found shelter m the western part of the country—in Wales it was in WaJes that the Church of our forefathers survived (hear, hear). Then followed the conversion of the great Kmg of Northnmbria by the mis sionaries from Mona. He had of course, only made a brief synopsis and not gone into details, but he pledged his reputation to the historical accuracy of every word he had breathed (cheers), and it was open for any ma,n had access to a library to prove itforhim- se.f. 1 hat being so what became of the aliency of the Church. If there was one part of the country where it uas not true that it was alien, it was Wales (hear, hear). But then it was said "We are not dealing with ancient days. We are willing to let them pass by and come down to the present time." Very well so be It (laughter). They were not afraid of present day facts, it was their opponents who prated over old things and tried to put historical travesties before the public. They wanted modern, patent facts of to- day. Well let them clear the decks for action and here were the facts. The opponents said that the Church was in the minority of the people in Wales. Was there anyone in the room bold enough to make that assertion ? A pause]. No, there was no one, and if there was, he would have retorted and asked him to prove the assertion (hear, hear), The Church, thev said, was in a small minority, then he was entitied as a controversialist when they made a definite state- ment, to put on them the onus of proof. They had no statistics, no religious census-and whose fault was that ? Not of the Church party (hear, hear). When the year before last some of the Church defenders did their best to secure the adding of a clause on the Census Bill for the religious total in England and Wales, their opponents opposed it. Why did they oppose it ? Because they were afraid of the result. But they said they opposed it because they had no right to ticket a man with his religious belief. But, stop a bit, the Church party did not propose to ticket him, they proposed to ask him to ticket himself (hear, hear, and laughter), for no compulsion would be placed on him. It was then said that it was an insulting and impertinent thing to ask a man to say to what religion he belonged. But it was quite as impertinent to ask a man how many he had in his family, or a lady how old she was and both those questions were on the census paper (hear, hear. and applause).. It was then said, when their opponents were driven to a corner, that if a religious census was taken a lot of people would say Put me down for the Church when they never went to the Church or any other place of worship, and therefore the Church people would be swollen out of all proportion. Was that a fair statement ? Did they, the lovers of freedom, they, the liberty-loving Nonconformists, who loved liberty so well that they kept it all to themselves—(laughter)—surely they, stubborn Puritans, descendants of the Ironsides of Cromwell—(loud laughter)—were not going to say that a man may not put his name down as something he pleased (cheers). Oh, but they said, "He never goes to Church." Well, that was his business and not theirs (hear, hear). Happily they lived in a free country, far freer than when their party had its sway in the days of Cromwell (hear, hear) The difference was this. The Cromwell (hear, hear) The difference was this. The Nonconformists recognised as adherents those onlv who joined their society, and subscribed to their doctrines, and assisted to support their ministers, whilst the parson of the parish was not merely the minister of the congregation, he was not merely a preaching min- ister, but he was set by God's ordinance over the whole cf the people in his parish, to do his best for them, just as much for the man that did not go to Church as any other (hear, hear). Therefore, the census of a section of the people would be unfair. They had had the census of Mr Gee (laughter). The other night, in Mr Gee's native town, he made a challenge to Mr Gee, and he would repeat it. The figures of that religious census, which he got together, had been suddenly stopped from the public. Why did Mr Gee stop them? No one knows. He wanted him to tell them whether he had now got the figures or not. If he had destroyed them the Church party wanted to know why. and if he had lost them they wanted to know why he had been so careless (hear, hear, and laughter). He (the speaker) contended that the relative numbers of the Churchmen and Nonconformists was, as yet, un- settled, and no census would be satisfactory unless it was an impartial, official numbering of the people. But even supposing they could prove that the Church was in the minority, then they were still oceans away from proving their moral rierht to touch a single sixpence of her property (cheers). The honourable gentleman then went on to point out the giant strength of the Church in the present day. Since the Swansea Congress in 1879 there had been a most marked increase in the members, in the contributions, in the zeal, in the piety and the fervour of the Church people in Whales. He well remembered the Lord Bishop of Canterbury, in his speech at Rhyl, quoting figures which struck him as being a markedly striking argument. He said that in England and Wales the per centage of children I attending the National schools was 7'3, and in St Asaph alone it was 10'3, showing that relatively the attendance of Church children in National schools was almost double in St Asaph to what it was in the country at large. In the last ten years the number of persons confirmed in England had increased S per cent, but in Wales the increase in the last 10 years had been 22 per cent (loud cheers), showing that the ratio of the increase of the Church in Wales was three times as great as that in England—(applause)—and the Archbishop went on to say—" These are marks of what we are told is a failing Church. I would fain ask modesty what would be marks of progress (hear, hear). The truth of the whole was that the Church was never so active as she was to- day.. Their opponents admitted that. Never were the clergy so well trained, more churches built, more services provided, more children in day and Sun- day schools, more candidates for confirmation, more communicants at the Holy Table, more marks of zeal and energy than at the present day. Then he asked the fair-minded man, was this the time to disestablish the Church ? Year by year the Church was increasing and he would say with that champion of the Church in Wales, the Bishop of St. Asaph—(loud and continued applause)—"give us but time, and we will be able to hold our own" (hear, hear). He had told the Bishop that the people in England woula see that time was given. Depend upon it they, in England, were not quietly going to see the Church in Wales disinherited the last blow was not yet struck, many and many a word of weight was to be again said before she is disestablished (cheers). They entered into that con- troversy for no desire to fight, but they were forced to it by their opponents, and they would be cowards if they did not step up to the breach, and prevent the attack. He believed from the testimony of Holy Writ, that the kingdom that separated 1tself from the recognition of Almighty God in its corporate capacity ran the possible danger of receiving the reverse of Divine Benediction, and then referred to the turbulent times experienced in France for the last century as an example.—The address throughout w..slistened to with rapt attention amid frequent signs of approval. Mr Pughe Davies, in proposing "That this public meeting of the inhabitants of Carmarthen is strongly opposed to the disestablishment of the Church in Wales," said that after the keen and earnest attention that magnificent meeting had paid to the distinguished speakers of the evening, he felt more confident than ever that fair-mindedness, honesty, and equity still formed the characteristics of his countrymen—what- ever be the calumnies hurled in their faces. lie felt sure that meeting would pass the resolution he pro- posed, if not with unanimity, certainly with an over- whelming majority. They were not the aggressive party, but acted on the defensive. War had been pro- nounced against them, a fierce fusilade had been opened upen their flanks, a 10-thousand pounder was being raised and levelled at them, but he had faith in the righteousness of their cause, and in the honour of his country, that they would hand down to generations yet unborn the priceless heritage they had received from their ancestors (cheers). As an earnest of that he appealed to them to pass that resolution unanimously. Mr James P. Carter suitably seconded, and the resolution on being put to the meeting by the Chair- man was passed unanimously, and amidst the greatest enthusiasm. Mr T. E. Brigstocke proposed, and Mr James John, solicitor, seconded a hearty vote of thanks to the speakers, which was very cordially done, and tha speaker having replied, and a similar ccmpliment being paid to the chairman for his able conduct in the chair, the meeting terminated with God save the Queen." L"' J.).i '.M fj