The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-01 00:00:00

CHURCH RATES.

Lord SHAFTESBURk presented petitions from the in-
habitants of Broadway and Stockdale, against the abolition of
Church-rates.

The Duke of WELLINGTON presented a petition from
the inhabitants of Puole, from several parishes in Devon, from
Bradford in the county of Somerset, from Weimer, and se-
veral parishes in Kent, against the abolition of Church-rates.
The Noble Duke also presented a petition from the guardians
of the poor of the Union of the Island of Thanet, against any
alteration of the Poor Law.

Lord L YNDII UR ST presented a petition from the Mayor,
Aldermen, and Council of the borough of Poole, praying that
their Lordships would maintain the Church as by law esta-
blished, and also that they would maintain the privileges of
thcir Lordships' House.
The Bishop of LONDON presented petitions from 90
parishes in favour of Church-rates ; in ono of those parishes the
total assessment was 1,9421,, and of this the signatures of
payers to the amount of 1,5231. were attached to the petition,
praying that they might be allowed to continue the payment
of these rates. Tlic petitions were from parishes in Essex,
Hertford, Surrey, Gloucester, Wilts, and one from Suffolk ;
almost every parish in had petitioned to this effect, and
twenty of thoto were from Gloucestershire.
Loki STR A FFO RD presented petitions from East Lear-
mouth and Great Yarmouth, for the abolition of Church-rates.
Lord ALBE M A 10414 presented a petition from Bury St.
Edmund's, against Church-rates.
A Nout.E Loan presented petitions from Danbury and Great
Wiekford, in favour of Church-rates.

The Marquis of SALISBURY presented potitlon from
East Barnet and Chipping Batrvtet zittainst the abolition of
Church-ratm
I'4 Pisitop of LINCOLN presented petitions from various
pactOics in the count of Lincoln to the same effect.

Lord BROUG H AM presented a petition signed 'ay t 4, iv ara
of 19,000 of the inhabitant rate-payers of Birmingham, praying
that their Lordships would give their support to some measure
for the total abolition of Church-rate's as speedily as possible.
Not only was this petition respectable in point of number, and
in point of property, but the Noble Lord would- venture to say
that he was quite sure it represented the sense of the great
majority of the inhabitants of that town. At the last vestry,
at which the question of a Church-rate.was brought into cor,_
sideration, there was a poll taken, by which it appeared, all
the various classes of voters having voted, that was to
say, those having one, two, three, four, five, and six votes
under the Vestry Act, the only classes not in the majority
against the rate were classes five and six; and their majority
was very small—the total votes being somewhere about
1,100, and those in the majority amounting to upwards 011,000.
The Noble and Learned Lord then presented petitions from
Bridport, Bridgewater, Plymouth, Devonport, and several pa.
rishes in the county of Somerset, to the same effect.
ECCLESIASTICAL REPORT,
Earl RIPON wished to ask the Noble Lord at the head of
his Msjesty's Government if the last report of the Ecclesiasti-
cal Commissioners of Ireland had been received from the
Lord Lieutenant ? If it had, as he apprehended it ought,
he certainly expected it would have been laid on the table
ere now.
Lord ME LB 0 URNE said it had been received, and
should be forthwith laid on the table.
The Marquis of SALISBURY postponed his motion with
respect to the Standing Orders till Monday, amid cries of
" Order of the day."
The Earl of W ICK LOW said, before the House proceeded
to the Order of the Day, he wished to present a petition of some
importance relative to the subject to be discussed that night. It
was a petition from a vast number of the clergy of the united
Diocese of Derry and Raphoe. The fleeting at which the pe-
tition was got up was most numerous, and all were unanimous
in agreeing to it. The petition was signed by the Bishop of
the Diocese on behalf of the petitioners, and the prayer of it
tsas that the House would do what he trusted it was their in-
t.tntion to do on the motion of the Noble Viscount opposite,
viz :—appoint a Committee for the purpose of investi-
gating the mode in which the system of education in
Ireland was carried on ; and that such a system of educa-
tion would be provided as would be agreeable to t}te views of
all persuasions. —( Hear, hear.) A correspon,!ence bad been
carried on with some of the petitioners anss the clergy of Ire-
land, and the petitioners set forth a Valuable address to the
clergy of Ireland for that purpose. Whether the proposal
they made in the petition should be favourably received by
the House or not—whatever might be the impression on the
minds of others, he was sure the petitioners deserved the sincere
thanks of the people of Ireland for the anxious endeavours
they had made to smooth the way to so desirable an object.
He would not now occupy the House further upon the sub-
ject, as he should no doubt have an opportunity, in the course
of the discussion, of more fully entering into it. The petition
was then read and laid on' the table.
The petition having been read at length,
The Bishop of E XETER said it was . his misfortune to
have tc present a petition of a directly opposite nature, from
many of the clergy of the united dioceses of Derry and
Raphoe, who did not agree in the petition just laid on the
table. He regretted that the petition presented by the Noble
Earl (Wicklow) was in that form that it could not be received
in any other light than as that of the Bishop only by whom it
was signed, He lamented that the Right Rev. Prelate had.
adopted such a cotulse, for lie had hoped his Lordship's acquaint-
ance with the forms of the House would enable him to know that
it could not be received as the petition of the clergy on a hose be-
half it was stated to be signed. Th..) petition which was in his
(the Bishop of Exeter's) hands, was signed by the Dean of
Derry, by the Archdeacon, by the Vicar-General, and by 40 or
50 clergymen of the united dioceses, a larger body than those
who coneerred huhu of an opposite tendency. The peti-
tioners did not address any violent remonstrance to that House—
they simply prayed their Lordships to give to the case their
earnest and best attention, and to found a system of education
for the peoplesbated on the Word of God.—The petition was
ordered to lie on the table.
The Right Rev. PRELATE next presented petitions, with a
similar prayer, from the Bishop of Down and Conner, from
the Bishop and Clergy of the diocese of Meath, from tine
Bishop and Clergy of the united dioceses of Cashel and
Ernly, of Waterford arid Lismore, and of Cloyne and Ross.
He wished to remark, that many of the Clergy who signed the
petitions had, at the first establishment of the New Board, ap-
plied for its assistance in founding schools, mid he now ad-
duced the fact, not from any wish to throw discredit upon them
for having done so, but to show that men eager and anxious to
avail themselves of the assistance of the Board, were now,
after an experience of its working, desirous to withdraw from
all connection with it. The petitions also prayed that the
grant to the National Board of Education should in future be
discontinued.