The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-16 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.)
The LORD CHANCRLLOB took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
The Earl of WICKLOW presented a petition from a
place in Donegal against opening the Crystal Palace on
Sundays ; also, from the guardians of Rathdown, in
Wicklow, against what they term a most " unjust and
iniquitous tax"—the Consolidated Annuities.
Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition from the Lord
Provost and Town Council of Edinburgh, against the
imposition of religious tests on the professors of Scotch
universities.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented several
petitions from Belfast, and other places, to a similar
effect.
Lord STANLEY of Alderley presented a petition
from the London and North-Western Literary Society,
praying for the distribution of Parliamentary papers.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented a similar
petition from a place in Wiltshire.
Lord WALDEGRAVE also presented a similar
petition.
Lord LYTTLETON laid on the table a bill to extend
the practice of gratuitous vaccination.
The bill was read a first time.
CANADA CLERGY RESERVES.

The Bishop of EXETER said he felt that he owed an
explanation to their lordships for bringing before them
to-night any question relative to a measure which the
votes of the other house had announced that it was the
intention of the Government to submit that evening to
the House of Commons. It might seem strange, as the
measure so to be introduced might afterwards come
before their lordships ix the form of a bill, that he should
not await its arrival in that house before he presumed to
express an opinion on the subject—he must own, how-
ever, that thelvery reason for bringing the question for-
ward to-night was, that he had read in the votes of the
House of Commons that a bill was to be introduced into
that house to-night dealing with this subject. He must say
he thought their lordships had a right to express, he did
not say complaint, but say surprise, and ho hoped that
some explanation would be given by the noble duke the
Secretary ,for the Colonies that the bill in question had
not first been introduced into their lordships' house. It
emanated from that department of which the noble duke
(the Duke of Newcastle) was at the head ; and he (the
Bishop of Exeter) thought it might have been hoped
that, instead of causing the bill to be introduced by his
under-secretary in the other house, the noble duke would
himself have brought it before their lordships. It was
well known that at this season of the year their lord-
ships were not overburdened with business, and com-
plaints were constantly made on both sides of the idle-
ness of that house in the early part of the session, and of
its being overworked at the close of the session. He
thought, however, it was not impertinent to say, sitting
on that bench, that in a case in which the interests of
religion were so immediately concerned, it might have
been hoped that the bishops would have had an oppor-
tunity of expressing, at an early period, their sentiments
upon the merits of the measure. He thought it very
possible that their lordships might have received some
instruction upon such a subject from his right rev.
brethren. He understood that the bill contained no
provisions which, according to the practice of the con-
stitution would prevent its being considered by their
lordships in the first instance. It was easy to con-
jecture that, in some cases, the motive for pursuing
the course which had been taken by the Government
might have been a desire to obtain not a very
creditable advantage, by seeking to controul their
lordships by the voice of the other house in which
it might be supposed there was a better chance
that such a bill would be successful. He could
easily conceive that a person capable of endea-
vouring to take such an advantage might have
preferred introducing the bill in the other house • but
he fully acquitted the noble duke at the head of the Co-
lonial department of any unhandsome intention. The
chief reason why he (the Bishop of Exeter) ventured thus
early to call their lordships' attention to this subject
was, that the whole course of proceeding with reference
to it for the last year or two had lulled the colonists
into full security that it was impossible any measure
could be introduced without an opportunity being af-
forded them of sending deputies to this country who
might claim justice on their behalf. Last year the late
Government returned an answer to the address of the
Legislative Assembly of Canada stating that they could
not sanction the bill which it was wished should be in-
troduced, and that Government did not at all flinch
from maintaining their resolution on the subject. In-
deed, it was notorious that, as the year advanced, the
resolution of the late Government to resist the bill was
strengthened. He had been informed, on no light au-
thority, that the late Government had entertained an
increasing conviction that it would be contrary to the
best interests of the colony and of the empire to assent
to such a measure. The colonists had also the fullest
grounds for believing that a measure of that kind would
not have been introduced by the present Government.
They saw at the head of that Government a noble earl
whose whole life had been given to the support of those
great principles on which the clergy reserves' security
depended. They found also that in announcing the
course of policy that would govern him in his admini-
stration, the noble earl declared his resolution to main-
tain the institutions of this country and of the empire,
and it was naturally conceived that the interests of re-
ligion in the colonies would receive favourable regard
and support from a Minister who rested his Govern-
ment upon such principles. But the name of the noble
duke who sat near the noble earl seemed to the colo-
nists a tower of strength to their cause, and they be-
lieved 'that he would not consent to sacrifice the in-
terests of the Protestant Church in Canada by allowing
the clergy reserves to be seized upon and confiscated.
He (the Bishop of Exeter) thought the colonists, had
sufficient reason to believe that the noble duke would
support their cause. He was quite ready, at the same
time, to admit, that when a statesman found himself in-
volved in the duties of office it was necessary for him to
review the conclusions at which he had before arrived
on any important matter of public policy. He admitted
that it was the duty of such a person to correct his first
impressions ; and, undoubtedly, if the previous private
impressions of the noble duke had been against this
measure, and he had subsequently changed that view,
and considered that, as a Minister of the Crown, he
was bound to support the present bill, he honoured the
noble duke for havingyielded to reason and conviction.
He, for one, confessed that the fact of the noble duke
having succeeded to office, and being an important mem-
ber of the new Government, was to him a strong ground
for believing that that Government would prove a
friend to the Church of England and the Protestant
religion as by law established. But, not only was the
noble duke placed at the head of the colonies, but there
was another remarkable circumstance—viz., that the
noble earl who formerly held that office, and who,was
understood to be the most hostile to the views of the
colonists on this subject,' was no longer a member of the
the Government at all, and this to the colonists must
have appeared as another ground of confidence. Look-
ing to the other members of the Administration, they
would see more than one right hon. gentleman whom
they knew to be faithfully attached to true religion,
especially as embodied in the Church of England. There
was in particular one individual eminently distinguished
by every public virtue, a man of whom it was impossible
even when one differed from him, to speak without
respect—he alluded to Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer—and what did the colonists know of
him 1 He (the Bishop of Exeter) was not aware that
that right hon. gentleman had ever publicly expressed an
opinion upon this subject, but the colonists must have
been aware that he had at first become greatly as well as
favourably known to the world by the publication of a
work on the relations of the Church to the State, in
which he held and maintained the great principle that it
was the first duty of the Government, as such, to sup-
port and advance the true religion. Had they not a
right on that ground, then, to be satisfied that the right
hon. gentlemen would be ound among the supporters of
their claims ? There was another very special ground on
which they must have formed some hope of the right
hon. gentleman, and that was the constituency which
had more than once selected him as their representative
—he meant the University of Oxford—a constituency
whose fidelity to the cause of religious truth could not
for a moment be doubted. He mentioned these circum-
stances for the purpose of showing that the colonists had
a fair right to expect that the present Government would
have pursued the same line of policy on this subject as
that which had been adopted by their, predecessors,
and that, therefore, they must be totally unprepared
for the bill which was to be brought into the other
house that night for the purpose of confis-
cating the religious endowments of the colony. He ob-
served that the noble duke (Newcastle) was taking down
his words, and therefore he would anticipate his objec-
tion, and admit at once that the bill would not confiscate
the endowments, but would merely allow the Canadian
Legislature to confiscate them, if they wished. But he
did not think, after all, that here was much difference
between the two statements. It could not be denied
that every member of the Canadian Ministry had com-
mitted himself in his place in the Canadian Legislature
to the secularisation of the clergy reserves, if they had
the power. (Hear, hear.) He begged to say, too, that
the colonists had a right to expect that an opportunity
would havp been afforded them, before the passing of
this measure, of sending deputies here to plead their
cause. It so happened that there was a right rev. pre-
late connected with Canada at present in this country,
but it was peculiarly unfortunate that, being alone and
without the necessary documents, he was unable to resist
the measure in the manner that was to be desired. He
(the Bishop of Exeter) must say, without ascribing any
unfairness to the Government, or to the noble duke who
was especially responsible for the measures that whether
intended or not, the result was a grievous injustice to
the colonists. Their lordships probably knew enough
of the nature of the clergy reserves to render it unne-
cessary for him to detain them at any length in explana-
tion of them. He would only remind them of the gene-
ral outline of the facts. The right rev. prelate then
proceeded to refer to the passing of the 31st George 111.,
e. 31, allocating a seventh of all the land sold in Canada
" to the support of a Protestant clergy," and maintained
that the national faith was pledged by that act to the
maintenance of the reserves for that purpose. What, he
asked, was the inducement for an honest Englishman to
migrate to Canada except it was that he knew he was
going to a land where he would find the means of pay-
ing his duty to God according to the forms of the church
in which he had been reared 1 When the country
became fuller of inhabitants, it was found that the funds
derived from the reserves were not sufficiently large to
provide religious ministrations for all the population,
and the consequence was that there arose a godless
population. He did not mean all the population, but