CHAPTER XLI

The Session of 1897-My Motion on DisestablishmentCrete The Indian Famine-The Christian Endeavour Society-The Diamond Jubilee-Death of Ernest Balfour-Last Visit to Mr. Gladstone.

PARLIAMENT met on January 19, and I succeeded in drawing the first place in the ballot for February 9 on the subject of the Disestablishment of the Church of England both in England and Wales.

I never undertook anything that was more unpopular. All the Liberal leaders were opposed to it, and made me feel it so in a manner that was very trying, and of course it was resented by the whole Conservative party. I was well aware that as a politician it was mere folly to raise such a question. None had touched it since Mr. Miall in 1873, and the cause had greatly gone down in the country. The impelling motive that urged me to this course was the apparent impossibility of rousing the country to the stealthy Romanizing of the Church except by a motion of this kind. There was no opening in the ordinary course of Parliament for debates on Church doctrine or polity. It was only by raising an abstract question like this on a private member's motion that one could bring oneself into order to discuss the growth of Ritualism. I therefore resolved to brave the unpopularity, and attempt what most people thought to be a Quixotic enterprise.

A sharp attack of illness at the beginning of the Session laid me up at my hotel, but I recovered in time to bring on my motion of February 9. All our own front bench ostentatiously absented themselves. The Whips on both sides agreed to treat it as a brutum fulmen. I laid the stress of my argument on the Erastian side of the case, showing how utterly incompatible was allegiance to the Spiritual Head of the Church with the State machinery for the election of bishops, the rights of patrons, the sale of advowsons,

and the supremacy of the Civil courts. This ground I travelled over so fully in my address a year or two before-most of which is incorporated in this work-that I forbear to repeat the argument. I then turned to the Romanizing process that was going on in the Church, and dealt with it as follows:

A revolution has taken place in the last fifty years, which has practically stamped out the Protestant character of the Church in most of the parishes of the land. Doctrines are taught and ceremonies are practised which are in absolute contradiction to the Thirty-Nine Articles which every clergyman has solemnly subscribed; those very practices which the Prayer-book stigmatises as " blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits" are taught in thousands of pulpits. The greater part of the clergy repudiate the word Protestant; notwithstanding that the Coronation Oath binds the Sovereign of this country, who is by law the Supreme Governor of the Church, to the maintenance of the “Protestant Reformed Religion." I will read to the House the formula employed on this occasion. The Archbishop says :—

"Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law?" The Sovereign answers, "All this I promise to

do," and then takes a solemn oath to that effect. In addition to this the Sovereign also subscribes the following declaration against Transubstantiation :

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"I, Victoria, do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess and testify and declare that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous. And I do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration and every part thereof in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto me, as they are commonly understood by English Protestants without any Evasion, Equivocation, or mental Reservation, and without any dispensation already granted me for this purpose by the Pope, or any other authority or person whatsoever, or without any hope of any such dispensation from any person or authority whatsoever, or without thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof, although the Pope or any other person or persons or power whatsoever shall dispense with or annul the same or declare that it was null and void from its beginning."

No historian will deny that the Church settlement in the time of Elizabeth was a Protestant settlement, yet now a great part of the clergy disown the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and eagerly long after reunion with Rome. In a great many Anglican churches the service is now practically Roman. We see the confessional set up,

and the Mass, and the invocation of saints, and prayers for the dead, and practices which are forbidden by the law of the Church, yet all observed without let or hindrance by most of the Bishops.

What Cardinal Vaughan says.

Lest any one should think that I am exaggerating, permit me to quote from Cardinal Vaughan :—

"The doctrines of the Catholic Church, which had been rejected and condemned as being blasphemous, superstitious, and fond inventions, have been re-examined and taken back, one by one, until the Thirtynine Articles have been banished and buried as a rule of faith. The real presence, the sacrifice of the Mass, offered for the living and the deadsometimes even in Latin-not infrequent reservation of the sacrament, regular auricular confession, extreme unction, Purgatory, prayers for the dead, devotions to Our Lady, to her immaculate conception, the use of the rosary and the invocation of saints, are doctrines taught and accepted with a growing desire and relish for them in the Church of England. A celibate clergy, the institution of monks and nuns under vows, retreats for the clergy, missions for the people, fasting and other penitential exercises-candles, lamps, incense, crucifixes, images of the Blessed Virgin, and the saints held in honour, stations of the cross, cassocks, cottas, Roman collars, birettas, copes, dalmatics, vestments, mitres, croziers, the adoption of an ornate Catholic ritual, and now recently an elaborate display of the whole ceremonial of the Catholic Pontifical-all this speaks of a change and a movement towards the Church that would have appeared absolutely incredible at the beginning of this century. And what is still more remarkable is that the movement has been stronger than the rankest Protestantism, stronger than . the Bishops, stronger than the lawyers and Legislature. A spasmodic protest, a useless prosecution, a delphic judgment, and the movement continues and spreads, lodging itself in Anglican homes and convents, in schools, churches, and even cathedrals, until it is rapidly covering the country."

These statements of the Cardinal are perhaps exaggerated, but no one denies they are very largely true, and in my opinion they are ominous of great danger to the nation. In such an assembly as this we cannot enter into theological argument, but this at least is relevant to the case the Church of England as by law established is a Protestant Church; her Articles denounce in the strongest terms the doctrines and practices of Rome; she holds her vast national endowments on these conditions; she cannot alter a line of her Articles and formularies without the consent of Parliament; yet she acts as if she could ignore the Protestant Reformation, in spite of Parliament, and in spite of the great majority of her own laity.

The Church has broken its contract.

The position to which we have come is this. We have a national Church, enjoying an enormous revenue and immense prestige from its union with the State. It holds its property and its privileges on con

dition of observing its side of the contract. Yet it has broken it in the most flagrant manner. I ask where is redress to be found? I know of no place but the High Court of Parliament. I know it is a most unfit Court to decide cases of theology; but this is one of the consequences of having an Established Church; the State cannot wash its hands of it; it has but two courses open to it, either to reform the Church or disestablish it; either to mend it or end it. I am convinced that the days of reformation by the State have passed away, never to return. This Parliament will never again frame a Confession of Faith; but there is one thing this Parliament will do, perhaps not to-day or tomorrow-it will refuse to consent to the Romanizing of England, even at the cost of the Church Establishment. I conclude in the words of the late Dean Alford :—

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"Whether years or decades of years be taken for the accomplishment of the severance of the Church from the State, however it may be deprecated, and however opposed, accomplished it will certainly be: History has for ages been preparing its way; God's arm is thrusting it on, and man's power cannot keep it back."

I was ably seconded by Mr. E. J. C. Morton, and then replied to by Mr. Balfour with a touch of disdain, as though the motion was one rather pour rire than for earnest debate. It was his cue to stop discussion on a delicate subject in which there was deep feeling among his own party, as subsequent debates soon proved. He closed his speech with these words :

"I have been dragged, somewhat against my will, into discussion on the merits of the resolution before the House. When I got up I had intended to dismiss them even more summarily than I have done. I beg the House to show its harmony with the sentiments of the country by dismissing speedily and effectually this resolution which has been brought forward to-night. I trust that we shall waste no more time either in discussing the antiquarian tales so dear to the heart of the hon. gentleman, or in following out the prophecies in which he indulged with so much courage; but we shall by an overwhelming majority, and with no unnecessary delay, show the country that this House of Commons at all events represents their deepest feelings and their strongest convictions, and that it will not tolerate, longer than it can help, even the consideration of a motion which is so diametrically opposed to all their wishes and hopes. I shall not myself move an amendment to this motion, and I shall not suggest to any hon. gentleman that he should do so. Let us meet it in the only way it deserves to be met by a direct negative, and let it be uttered in no unmistakable tones."

Mr. Carvell Williams, the veteran secretary of the Liberation Society, then gave his view, and Mr. H. Roberts the special Welsh view. No other member spoke from the Tory side, under pressure

from their Whips, and the division was taken; for the motion, 86, against, 204.

I do not in the least regret the action I took. I knew it was irrational in the eyes of the conventional politician, but I broke the ice and prepared the way for most thorough and far-reaching debates a year or two after. No one will ever be a pioneer in the path of reform who is not willing at times to be "sent to Coventry." No one will ever accomplish anything worth doing who is too anxious about his own reputation. The mass of men-even good men— will never move far from the conventional road. It has often been my lot to press on the public attention unwelcome subjects. It would have been much pleasanter to keep silence; but the "fire in my bones" demanded utterance; and I have usually found that in a few years after, public opinion comes abreast of you, and a host of friends who stood aloof and shook their heads at your rashness, afterwards speak as if they had always been of the same opinion as yourself!

The chief events of the Session were the Education Bill, giving an additional aid grant of 5s. per head to the children in Voluntary Schools, with some slight aid to poor Board Schools; as well as the Workmen's Compensation for Accidents Act, which Mr. Chamberlain carried through with conspicuous ability, and which was a great boon to the working-class population. It is true that it has caused much litigation, but it grants a principle of great value to the workers, viz., that the wounded soldiers of industry have a claim to compensation from the industry in which they suffered. So also in case of death the dependants can claim reasonable compensation. It marks a stage in the growing humanity that distinguishes the social evolution of the age. I say God be praised for this.

Much sympathy was felt this year with the sufferings of the Christians of Crete under the abominable Turkish Government; but the Cretans, unlike the Armenians, knew how to defend themselves, and they had the strong sympathy of their kinsmen of Greece. The Great Powers vainly attempted to stop the conflagration, but their mutual jealousies as usual paralysed their action, and war broke out between Turkey and Greece. The contest was too unequal, and when it became clear that Greece would be crushed, intervention was resorted to, which saved the little state, and provided for the autonomy of Crete. The Turkish garrisons were at last withdrawn from the island, and a wonderfully successful government has been set up under Prince George of Greece, who