discipline.” The “Act of Security” of 1705, as incorporated in the Act of Union 1706, speaking of it “as now by law established,” says that “Her Majesty ... doth hereby establish and confirm” it, and finally declares this act, “with the Establishment therein contained,” to be “a fundamental and essential condition of the Union.” Nevertheless, the conditions of establishment in the Scottish Kirk are much easier than those of the Church of England. It is bound by the statutes sanctioning its doctrine and order, but within these limits its legislative and judicial freedom is unimpaired. A royal commissioner is present at the meetings of the general assembly, but he need not be a member of the Kirk; and there is no constitutional tie between the crown and the Kirk such as there is in England. There is what may accurately be described as a state endowment, the bulk of the property of the Old Church having been conferred upon the Scottish Kirk.
Not unnaturally the organization of Anglican Churches in the colonies was followed in some cases by their establishment, which included endowment. It was so, for example, in the East and West Indies; and the disestablishment of the West Indian Church in The Colonies.1868 was followed, in 1873, by a re-establishment of the Church in Barbados by the colonial legislature. India is the only other part of the empire (outside Great Britain) in which there is to-day a religious establishment.
Disestablishment is in theory the annulling of establishment; but since an established Church is usually rich, disestablishment generally includes disendowment, even where there is no state endowment of religion. It is, in short, the abrogation of establishment, Disestablishment.coupled with such a confiscation of Church property as the state thinks good in the interests of the community. The disestablishment of the West Indian Church in 1868 has already been referred to; in 1869 the Irish Church Disestablishment Bill was passed. Private bills relating to Scotland have more than once been brought forward. In 1895 the Liberal government introduced a suspensory bill, intended as the preliminary step towards disestablishing and disendowing the Church in Wales; it was withdrawn, however, in the same session, and the question of Welsh disestablishment slumbered until in 1906 a royal commission was appointed by the Liberal government to inquire into the subject, and in 1909 a bill was introduced on much the same lines as in 1895.
The case of the Irish Church will illustrate the process of disestablishment, although, of course, the precise details would vary in other cases. The Irish Church Act was passed in 1869 by Gladstone’s first government, after considerable opposition, and provided that from January 1, 1871, the union created by statute between the Churches of England and Ireland should be dissolved, and the Church of Ireland should “cease to be established by law.” Existing ecclesiastical corporations were dissolved, and their rights ceased, compensation being given to all individuals and their personal precedence being secured for life. All rights of patronage, including those of the crown, were abolished, with compensation in the case of private patrons; and the archbishops and bishops ceased to have the right of summons to the House of Lords. All laws restraining the freedom of action of the Church were repealed; the ecclesiastical law, however, to subsist by way of contract amongst the members of the Church (until altered by a representative body). Provision was made for the incorporation by charter of the representative body of the Church, should such a body be found, with power to hold landed property. All existing ecclesiastical property was vested in a commission, which was to give compensation for life interests, to transfer to the new representative body the churches, glebe houses, and £500,000 in compensation for endowments by private persons since 1660, and to hold the rest for such purposes as parliament might thereafter determine.
Authorities.—F. R. Dareste, Les Constitutions modernes (Paris, 1891); H. Geffcken, Church and State, trans. by E. F. Taylor (London, 1877); P. Schaff, Church and State in the United States (Papers of the American Hist. Association, vol. ii. No. 4), (New York, 1888); L. Minghetti, Stato e Chiesa (Milan, 1878), French translation, with Introd. by E. de Laveleye (Paris, 1882); C. Cadorna, Religione, diritto, libertà (Milan, 1893); F. Nippold, Die Theorie der Trennung von Kirche und Staat (Bern, 1881); W. Warburton, Alliance between Church and State (London, 1741) (Works, vol. iv., ed. Hurd, London, 1788); Church Problems (ed. by H. H. Henson) (London, 1900); Essays on “Establishment” and “Disendowment”; W. R. Anson, Law and Custom of the Constitution, vol. ii. chap. ix. (Oxford, 1892); Phillimore, Ecclesiastical Law (London, 1895); J. S. Brewer, Endowments and Establishment of the Church of England (ed. by L. T. Dibdin, London, 1885); A. T. Innes, Law of Creeds in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1867); E. A. Freeman, Disestablishment and Disendowment (London, 1883); G. Harwood, Disestablishment (London, 1876); Annales de l’école libre des Sciences politiques, tom. i. (Paris, 1885), art. “La Séparation de l’Église et de l’État en Angleterre,” by L. Ayral. (W. E. Co.)
ESTABLISHMENT OF A PORT, the technical expression for
the time that elapses between the moon’s transit across the
meridian at new or full moon at a given place and the time of
high water at that place. The interval (constant at any one place)
may vary from 6 mins. (Harwich) to 11 hrs. 45 mins. (North
Foreland). At London Bridge it is 1 hr. 58 mins. (See also Tide.)
ESTAING, CHARLES HECTOR, Comte d’ (1729–1794),
French admiral, was born at the château of Ruvel, Auvergne,
in 1729. He entered the army as a colonel of infantry, and in
1757 he accompanied count de Lally to the East Indies, with the
rank of brigadier-general. In 1759 he was made prisoner at the
siege of Madras, but was released on parole. Before the ratification
of his exchange he obtained command of some vessels, and
conducted various naval attacks against the English; and having,
on his return to France in 1760, fallen accidentally into their
hands, he was, on the ground of having broken his parole, thrown
into prison at Portsmouth, but as the charge could not be
properly substantiated he was soon afterwards released. In 1763
he was named lieutenant-general in the navy, and in 1777 vice-admiral;
and in 1778 he obtained the command of a fleet intended
to assist the United States against Great Britain. He sailed on
the 13th of April, and between the 11th and the 22nd of July,
blockaded Howe at Sandy Hook, but did not venture to attack
him, though greatly superior in force. In concert with the
American generals, he planned an attack on Newport, preparatory
to which he compelled the British to destroy some war vessels
that were in the harbour; but before the concerted attack
could take place, he put to sea against the English fleet, under
Lord Howe, when owing to a violent storm, which arose suddenly
and compelled the two fleets to separate before engaging in battle,
many of his vessels were so shattered that he found it necessary
to put into Boston for repairs. He then sailed for the West Indies
on the 4th of November. After a feeble attempt to retake
Santa Lucia from Admiral Barrington, he captured St Vincent
and Grenada. On the 6th of July 1779 he fought a drawn battle
with Admiral John Byron, who retired to St Christopher.
Though superior in force, D’Estaing would not attack the English
in the roadstead, but set sail to attack Savannah. All his attempts,
as well as those of the Americans, against the town were repulsed
with heavy loss, and he was finally compelled to retire. He
returned to France in 1780. He was in command of the combined
fleet before Cadiz when the peace was signed in 1783; but
from that time his chief attention was devoted to politics. In
1787 he was elected to the assembly of the notables; in 1789 he
was appointed commandant of the national guard; and in 1792
he was chosen admiral by the National Assembly. Though in
favour of national reform he continued to cherish a strong feeling
of loyalty to the royal family, and on the trial of Marie Antoinette
in 1793 bore testimony in her favour. On this account, and
because of certain friendly letters which had passed between him
and the queen, he was himself brought to trial, and was executed
on the 28th of April 1794.
See Marins et soldats français en Amérique, by the Viscomte de Noailles (1903); Beatson, Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain, vol. v.
ESTATE (through O. Fr. estat, mod. état, from Lat. status,
state, condition, position, stare, to stand), the state or condition
in which a man lives, now chiefly used poetically and in such
phrases as “man’s estate,” or “of high estate”; “state”
has superseded most of the uses of the word except (1) in property
and (2) in constitutional law.
