The Press.
London, England, 1853-06-04 00:00:00

solemn pledge and obligation to consider the Established
Church of Ireland as an integral portion of the coustitutia in
of the whole empire. He should resist the proposition
simply, absolutely, and singly am the duty he owed to that
wawa Church of which a branch was now established in

Irrbuid."

Mr. GARDNER believed that anything was better
than the existing system, and supported the motion
without much approving it, or liking the quarter

whenue it came.
Mr. NEWDKOATE $l4ll/ in the motion an organised
attack upon the Protestantism both of Ireland and
England. The mover represented, de facto, a foreign
power, acting upon the prompting* of Archbishop
Cullen to carry into effect the resolutions of the

Synod of Thud-es :
" Would the honourable member fur Mayo disown the
fact that he was instructed by Legate Cullen to pursue the
course he had taken that night r
Mr. Meoaa have no such instructions. (I laugh.)
Mr. NEWUKOATE : Then the hon. gentleman admit► my
case.
Mr. Mount:: I say I have no such instructions.
Mr. NEWOKOATI: : Does the b► n. gentlemen disown the
Instructions of Legate Cullen :►
Mr. Mona,:: 1 really do not know whether I have or
not: and, what is more, I do not care.
Mr. NY.WDEGATE would suppose then that the honoura-
ble member was acting in contravention of the wishes of
Legate CnUen.
Mr. Newdegate proceeded to cite proofs of the
avowed hostility borne by the Church of Rome to the
Protestant Church of the United Kingdom, and de-
Aired the present motion a part of the system
invented by the Roman Catholic hierarchy to render all
government impossible except one which should
obey their behests.
Mr. PHILLIMORK found in the history of the past
no argument for either side, but only a perpetual
stimulus to religious feud. Dropping that part of the
subject, he inquired simply whether at the present
moment the Irish Church fulfilled its high purposes,
and was useful and pleasing to the people ? To this
query all his investigations had led him to an-
swer No.
Mr. R. Moon); denied that Irishmen were disloyal,
and believed that the members of the Protestant con-
gregations in the island had largely increased, while
the revenues of her establishment were but barely
sufficient to supply the spiritual wants of her men►-
bers.
Mr. H. Datimmoxn had long ago proposed a plan
of his own. This was to place all the funds of the
Irish Church in the hands of two sets of ecclesiasti-
cal commissioners—Protestant and Catholic respec-
tively—the revenue to be apportioned according to
numbers wherever there was a mixed population, and to
belong entirely to the Catholics in parishes where no
Protestants could be found. He looked upon the
matter as one of merely political justice, and con-
tended that throughout Europe the Roman Catholic
laity were showing their independence of the priests.
Mr. Mtuntae considered the Established Church
the great grievance of Ireland. The great body of
the people derived no benefit from its ministrations,
and as existence was a complete barrier to the inter-
change of good feeling between Catholics and Pro-
testants.
Mr. WHrrsstn►: cited numerous doeuments to
show the spirit in which the chiefs and dignitaries of
the Catholic Church had assisted in, and commented
upon, various political movements, parliamentary
measures, and electoral contests, for a long while
past. That spirit, he contended, was one of bitter
hostility to Protestantism, and bad led them before,
and now in the motion before the house, to palter
with the oaths and violate the undertakings both of
the Act of Union and that of Emancipation. He felt
strongly and sincerely on the subject, believing fer-
vently that the Papacy had two great objects to carry
over the world—one the destruction of Protestantism,
the other the overthrow of parliamentary govern-
ment.
Mr. LucAs conceived that the question was beyond
all argument, and involved a matter which would be
conceded as a simple right in any assembly that
wished to do impartial justice. He proceeded, never-
theless, to argue at much length in support of the
motion.
Lord J. Ress►:t.r. combatted various propositions
which had been offered both for and against the mo-
tion. He denied that any political degradation existed
in Ireland, and that the Catholic people there felt or
had expressed any deep sense of grievance as arising
from the Established Church system. He denied,
on the other hand, that there was any just plea to be
founded upon the Act of Union, the compact between
the two nations, or the parliamentary oaths of mem-
bers, to forbid such motions as the present being
introduced and entertained. But he then went on
to oppose the motion for reasons of his own :
" When we come to this practical question, whether or
not we should make some very great change with respect
to the Established Church. I must own that I think the
experience we have had of late years should nut he lost on
us. It has not been lost on me. I thought for a con•
siderable time it would be of great advantage, and tend to
peace and concord, if part of the revenues now belonging