The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-01 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF lORDS, AuGusr3l.

The nuchess of Kent's Annuity Bill was read a third
:irne And passed.
The Plurality of Benefices' Bill iva•; MI the motion of

the Archbishop of CAN,EatuA.Y, committed. Some
amendments were ittrethiced, and it was ordered that the
Bill slink' be printed as amended.
'Lord ELLENBOROUGH postponed the p'7';:senting of
the shipownos' petition till Fridey.%—Atijoutectl.

HO 47,3 V, OF COMMONS, Auausr3l.

INGLIS presented a petition from 700 Pro-
testant persons in Ireland, on the subject of the College cf
Maynooth. The petition stated that this Culler_ tvt.s
foun'ed with the view of the Catholic Prier*Od effACsting
persons in that country free from. the irifittence of any
Foreign Power. It complai'Mql that formerly the College
was frerrenterl by persons Of rank, hut that now it bad
became a habit to introduce into the Priesthood persons of
low rank in life, so that out of 206 persons now studetit
only six were marked in the books as sons of metchant,r,
one as the son of an apothecary, one AI the'wn of an archi--
tect, anti all the rest were the sons of graziers, farmers,
and small tradesmen, It-complained that the College was
opposed to the -circulation of the Bible, even a the Catho-
lic Bildt, which was sold at so high. r. price that the great
hotly of the people were unabt!,. to purchase it. The peti-
tioners declared that tinier these circumstances the Col-
lege was net fulfilling the intention of its foundation,
and that the grant to it ought to be discontinued.
Mr. O'CONNELL remarked, that it was gratifying for
him to observe, that no Catholics complained of the Col-
lege of Maynooth, this petition being only sig-oed by Pro-
testants. ror the Catholics it had perreetly answered the
intettfron of its foundation. Ii observed that people of
high literary attiinmenta had been educated at Maynooth,
and instanced Dr, M'Cabe, who, he said, was a man of as
high acquirtthents as any man whitever. That was an
answev to the charge about the sort of persons educated
there. Ile had no wish to retain this paltry grant, if the
Government would allow the Catholics to retain all those
establishments which, in former times, their ancestors had
founded fee the education of their own priesthood.
Lord k'ILLEEN bore testimony to the excellence of
ti education afforded at Maynooth, where seventeen out
of the whole number of the present Irish Catholic Bishops
had been educated.

Mr. commented with some severity upon the
statement that the persons educated at Maynooth were not
of noble birth. He contended that the Scotch Clergy
and the Irish Clergy were as well educated as the Clergy
of the Church of England, and performed their duties
quite as well.—(l-Itiar, hear.) He was peculiarly sorry
to hear stidi his observation as that fall from the Hon.
Btrotret, who, as the representative of an University,
aught to have more liberality. He was sorry, by such re-
marks, to be obliged to believe that the state of our Uni-
versities were such that they were the hot-beds of illibe-
rality and prejudice.
Mr. S. RICE advised that the discussion on this sub,
ject should be postponed till the question of the vote for
the grant to Maynooth came before the House in the
course of the evening. If the grant to that College were
withd.awn, the College would not want support, for it
would be supported by the people --(Hear, bear.)
Mr. GRATTAN impugned the signatures attached to
the petition, and insisted that it was the work of persons
who wanted to undo what this House had so beneficially
done in 1829.

Sir R. INGLIS wits not responsible for the respecta-
bility of the persons who signed this petition, for he was
not acquainted with any one of them. Ile thought the
matter of the petition deserving of consideration.
Mr. O'CONNELL observed, that the petition had been
signed by the Rev. Thomas P. Magee and his Curate
twice over. That Rev. Gentleman enjoyed a perfect sine-
tt, ure, and he (Mr. O'Connell) knew no part of the Scrip-
tures requiring that Clergymen should ride in their car-
riages.