The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-09 00:00:00

IRELAND.

Mr. B. CRNWFORD gave notice that on Monday,
the 26th day o: February, he should submit a formal
resolution to the House, that the laws relating to landed
prcperty in Ireland, as affecting landlord and tenant,
required immediate consideration, with the view to such
1111 alteration of them as would remove the obstacles at
preseEt existing to the improvement of the soil.
IRISH DISTRESS.
_

fir. P. SCROPE said, when the House went into
Committee upon the Relief (Ireland) Bill, he should
withdraw his amendment until the Committee had de-
terpained in favour of tha vote of 50,000/. He should
then move that the money be advanced as a loan, the pay-
meat to. be secured by a lien upon the land, and that
the money be expended, as far as practicable,
towards the employment of the able-bodied poor.
TESTATOR AND INTESTATE DEBTS.
Mr. MULLINGS wished to ask the Solicitor-General
if it is the intention of her Majesty's Government, or the
law officers of the Crown, to bring in any 'Bill during
the present session, for the protection of trustees against
secret or unknown debts and liabilities of their testator
or intestate, after having parted with the assets to be
administered prior to notice of such debts and liabilities.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said there was no
intention at present to introduce a measure of, the kind
referred to.

BUCKINGHAM ASSIZES.
Mr. DU PRE said that, in consequence of an intima-
tion from her Majesty's Attorney-General, he begged
co
give notice, that he should postpone the motion which
he had intended to move to-night, for repealing the Act
of 21 Geo. 11., cap. 12, for holding the assizes for the
county of Buckingham in a more convenient place, till a
future period.
BANK' OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRE.

LATES IN THE COLONIES.
Sir R. H. INGLIS in the course of the last session of
Parliament had given notice that curly in the present
session hi should move for a copy of the correspondence
which had passed between the Lord-Lieutenant of Ire-
land and Earl Grey, Secretary for the Colonies,
respecting the rank of the Roman Catholic Prelates
in the colonies of Great Britain. The motion
to which he had to call the attention of the
House was that a humble address be presented to her
Xajesty, praying that copies of the correspondence
which had passed between the Lord-Lieutenant of Ire-
land and Earl Grey, the Secretary for the Colonies
should be laid on the table of that House. Whether the
matter deserved regret or not, he wished to speak with
the greatest possible respect of the Earl of Clarendon,
but he could not help regretting that that nobleman
had spoken in a way which he, at least, conceived to
be most ucadvisable. He wished to speak of the Earl
of Clarendon with the utmost re•pect—a respect which he
had well earned by his conduct in Ireland, but yet not-
withstanding his great respect for that high functionary
he could not but say that he was totally at a loss
to understand on what principles ho ba.l acted
in the 'natter which he had brought under the
clnsideration of the House. It was well under-
stood that the Raman Catholic Prelates in Ireland
were, according to the Act of Parliament, to take rank
next after the prelates of tee same denomination in the
Protestant Church. Thia ha could well understand, but
on what grounds the Lord•Liemenant had in-
terfered on the subject of persons not at all
under his jurisdiction he could not comprehend.
So far froze that, the word bishop was never mentioned
in the course o the whole Act. It wan most remarkable
that there should be such a stretch of imagination as to
assunae that there was One s;nglo in that Act of
Parliament in which such au allegation was found.—
(desk, hear.) Thu fact was, that the Lord-Lieutenant
and the N0i1!,3 Lord thu S. crwary for the Colonies
had never read one word of this Act of Parliament, or
had forgot if tiny bud. Tile;' assume that the Gazette
had followed the Act of Parliament. The Gazette did
announce that certain persons should be commissioners
in a certain order, but it did not imply that the persons
so naased should take rank accordiag to the oiler in
whiclh.. tht ic. names appeared. These matters must be
considered inamets winch a wise man would• not much
eare about, via., questions of precedence. In point of

fact, a man did not take rank in civil life according to
his mere position in the rate-book. The real au-
thority which a man derived was the rank which
he derived from his principles, his talents,
and his virtues. His (Sir R. Inglis's) objection
was not even to the person recognised as an Archbishop
or Bishop of the Church of Rome having such a rank
as her own communion might be willing to concede to
them ; his complaint was, that the Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland had suggested, and the Secretary of the Colonial
Department had adopted, the principle of transfer-
ring from the Queen what properly belonged to her
Majesty as the fountain of honour, but which had no.
existence whatever in the dispatch of the Secretary of
State. The Secretary of State did not invoke her
Majesty's aid on the occasion. He (Sir Robert Inglis)
felt in the presence of the Attorney and Solicitor-
General, that even between herself, if her sign
manual had been prefixed to any order of the
kind, he doubted whether the Queen herself
could have given the precedence which was now
claimed by the Secretary of State. He believed no rank
could be assigned by the Queen to the disparagement of
the rank assigned to an individual by an Act of Parlia-
ment or by long usage. It was beyond the competence
of the Crown to create an order, for example, between a
Viscount and an Earl. If that was so, it was as much
without the competence of the Crown to create an order
which should take precedence between a Bishop of our
Church and a Viscount. And that which induced him
most especially to call the attention of the House
to this subject was, that this recognition of
authority at this time was a recognition of autho-
rity which this country had for three centuries
invariably repudiated and disowned. It was the recog-
nition of authority in the see of Rome of placing in her
Majesty's dominions, without her Majesty's authority,
a class of individuals in matters of pre-
cedence above that of the Queen's own subjects.
He contended that the Imperial Crown of England being
held by a communicant of the Protestant Church, that
wherever her Majesty exercised her dominion that
Church must be considered] as established.—(hear,
hear.) He contended also that the efforts of all
ought to be directed not for emigration, but for colo-
nization, and he thought that all the English co-
lonies ought to be a miniature England.—(Hear, hear)
—..and that those who went out to the colonies
ought to enjoy the same privileges with respect
to spiritual consolation which they would have
done if they had been at home. It appeared
to him to be an unwarrantable suggestion of the Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland to make the proposition he bad
done to the Noble Earl the Colonial Secretary. ;He wished
to know whether the Government adopted the letter or
not; if they did adopt the letter and said it was not the
act of Lord Grey, but that of the Cabinet, then
he wished to know whether they had her Majesty's
sanction for it. If, on the other hand, they told
him that there was no such dispatch from the
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland to Earl Grey, then
he ventured to think whatever blame might be
removed from the Lord• Lieutenant of Ireland
was cast with double fcrce upon the Noble Earl
the Secretary of State for the Colonies. From
the communications he had received he believed
great blame attached to the Noble Earl ; he had thrown
new elements into the colonies, and especially
at Sydney, for there he had carried out his object
at the expense of one of the greatest bishops that had
ever been sent out to the colonies. The Hon. Baronet
concluded by moving an humble address to her Majesty,
for a copy of the letter or memorial of the Lord-Liue-
tenant of Ireland to Earl Grey on the subject of the
rank of persons mentioned as prelates of the Roman
Catholic Church in Ireland, to which communication the
Earl Grey adverted in his Circular Dispatch of the 20th
day of November, 1847,
Mr. BANKES seconded the motion.
Lord J. RUSSELL was understood to say that there
was nothing in the dispatch appertaining to the rank to
be held by Roman Catholic Archbishops and Bishops, and
that, therefore, ne good could result from agreeing to
such a memorial, because no return could be made to it.
The Bequest Act certainly did not give any title
to Roman Catholic Prelates, but the Archbishops and
Bishops, were generally designated by the titles of
" Most Reverend." "Right Reverend," and "Your
Grace." Lord Grey thought that what was done
in Ireland, might very properly be followed in the
colonic. The matter, however, did not appear to him
to be a question of any great importance, and he could
not conceive that there was any necessity for the House
to take any proceedings with reference to it.—(Hear,
hear.) The only reply he could give, therefore, to the
Hon. Metn,ier for the University of Oxford was, that no
such letter existed in the Colonial-office.
Mr. GOULBURN said it was complained that
the Roman Catholic Church had placed an Arch-
bishop where the Protestant Church had only a Bishop.
—(Hear.) The consequence of the letter referred to
was to give a pri,rity to the Roman Catholics, instead of
the Protestant Church; and it was further complained
that the Legislature had laid down a rule which sanc-
tioned sue:i a proceeding..
Mr. JOHN O'CONNELL said that it was surprising
that the Hon. Baronet, who evidently recognised
the position of the several sects in Scotland, and
who had distinctly stated that the Bishops,
should be addressed by the titles of the several sees
which they held, should ft el any difficulty in giving to
the Roman Catholic B shops of Ireland the dignity to
which they were-especially entitled. lie would beg to
assure the House that the Roman Catholic Prelates felt
it to bo no compliment to be addressed after the
name of the s-es over which they presided.
Archbishop Murray, like many of his countrymen,
looked very lightly, he could assure the House, upon
the privilege of bring celled Archbishop Murray ot
Dublin, and the claims of the Roman Catholic Bishops
in the colonies rested on too strong grounds
to he denied. Ile regretted that the Noble
Lord at the head of the Treasury had thrown any slight
upon them, fur according "to a bull of Pius IX. those
pr. lates only asked for precedence according to their
appointment, and it did seem strange to him that if the
Primate of this country had power to appoint bishops in
the colonies, the head of the Roman Church should be
den:e.l the privilege of appointing his own suffragans in
Ireland. The Roman Catholic was the ancient Church,
and therefore they who d.ffered from her were the
Dissenters.
Lord J. RUSSELL said that the lion. Gentleman
had quite misunderstood him, for he had said just the
reverse. Ile had al ways acknowledged the claims of the
ancient Roman Catholic Church, and was very far
from speaking of its members as Dissenters.
Mr. PLUMPTRE wished to ask the Noble Lord
whether he was right in the apprehension that the
Roman Catholic Bishop at Sydneyttook precedence of
the Bishop who was appointed by the Anglican Church?
A complaint had already been made respecting this in-
fraction of the rights of the Church, especially as it was
understood to have taken place with his Lordship's
sanction.
Lord J. RUSSELL did not think that countenance to
any such report had emanated from him. Me had in
fact never said anything respecting precedence between
the Protestant and Roman Catholic Bishops at Sydney.
A complaint had been made through the proper
officials certainly, and the dress which the Roman
Catholic Archbishop wore had been shown him, but the
only answer which he could make was that he
did nut at all know he could interfere with the kind o

dress which the Roman Catholic Archbishop chose to
wear in his own church.

Sir R. ING LIS wished, in the first instance, to sei
himself right with the Hen. Member near him (Mr. J.

o'c:winch). He had stated that there was no Word in
the Act of Parliament which justified the applieation of
the word " person" as an enfranchisement from its
penalties ; but in speaking of the Roman Catholic
hierarchy he never intended to use it in an offensive or
degrading sense. He was only anxious, so far as the
Bishop of . Sydney was concerned, that the term " Me •
tropolitan" should be properly defined. If the answer
to the address was " Nit" he should be satisfied.
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

Mr. E WART rose to ask the Secretary of State for
the Home Department whether there was any objection
to lay before the House the evidence taken by the Com-
missioners appointed to inquire into the constitution and
management of the British Museum.
Sir GEORGE GREY said, in reply, that part of the
evidence would be laid on the table of the House.
IRISH POOR-LAW COMMITTEE.
Sir WILLIAM SOMERVILLE moved that the
Select Committee upon the Irish Poor-law do consist
of twenty-nue members, and that the following
Members be Members of the said Committee:
—Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, Sir John
Young, Colonel Dunne, Mr. George A. Hamilton, Sir
William Somerville, Mr. Scrope, Sir Robert Ferguson,
Mr. Clements, Mr. Shafto Adair, Mr. Cornewall Lewis,
Mr. Moasell,.Sir Denham Norreys, Sir John Paking-
ton, Mr. Herbert, Mr. Reynolds Mr. Sharman Craw-
ford, Mr. Fagan, Mr. O'FlahertY, Major Blackall, and
Mr. Stafford.

Mr. HENRY said, he, for his part, would have no ob-
jection to the Committee, if the Hon. Baronet (Sir W.
Somerville) would withdraw the name of one Hon. Mem-
ber.—(Loud cries of " Name, name.") He would have
no objection to the Committee if the Hon. Baronet would
add the name of Mr. Bright, the Hon. Member for
111anchester.7(La9ghtt r.)

Mr. GRACE said, as the
elt representativehimself
ocfaollneed oofnthteo
western counties of Ireland, he f
express his strong objection to the Committee which
had been proposed. Be thought it was but just and
fair that that part of Ireland :which was universally
acknowledged to be in the worst and most
distressing situation in Ireland should be represented in
that Committee; but they were not so represented. It
was but fair that those who were oppressed and galled
by the unfortunate working of that system in that coun-
try should have an opportunity of making it known to
the Committee and have all its errors rectified.
Mr. I'D ZSTEPHEN FRENCH also complained of
the constitution of the Committee. How was it con-
stituted? There was a very strong preponderance, on
the part of Miniiwts, of persons officially connected
with the Goverrni.nt. Ile found, in addition to the
Noble Lori at the head of the Government,
the name of Mr. Cornewall Lewis, au ex-
Secretary of Poor-laws, and others connected in

some way with the Government. That was the sort
of Ministerial staff that war to enter into an
inquiry of this kind.—(Hear, hear.) But that
Was not all. There were the names of Sir John
Pakingten, Mr. Stafford, tend Mr. Sharman Crawford.
On part of Ireland—namely, Ulster—where the
aystem worked nearly as well as in this coun-
try; was carefully and well represtented.—(Hear.)
Sir Robert Ferguson, Mr. Shafto Adair, and Mr.
Sharman Crawford were chosen to represent that
part of the country. He found, on the other hand,
the county of Limerick almost totally unrepresented.
lie found that two Members had been chosen on the
Committee who were absent from the House that
night--Sir D. - Norreys and Mr. Hamilton. In
his opinion, in an inquiry -of this description
it was not only necessary that the inquiry should