The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-01 00:00:00

•
• IMPERIAL PA RIAAMENT.-
NO USE OF LORDS, April 30.
The Loan CHANCELLOR. took his teat upon the Woolsack
at Five o'clock.
CHARITABLE TaUSTS BILL.
The Duke of CAMBRIDGE said he had to preeenta rti-
tints from the trustees of the Foureiline Hospital, against the
Charitable Trusts NI. His Royal Hig',ness read the peti-
tion at length. whirl' was then hid on the table.
The Oaken( WELLIN GTO al presented a petition from the
trustees of the Lying-in Hospital against the same measure.
Lord CAMP dELL said he had also to present to their
Lordships' House several petitions against the Charitable
Tracts Bill.—( Hear, hear, and laughter from Lord
Braugharn ) His Noble and Learned Friend might
laugh, but the petitions were from the Cordwainere
Company and several bashes egainst that Btil. There
were several petitions now lying on their Lordships'
table, in which the petitioners request that the Ctamtnteeoners
of the Court of Chaneery will pooreute certain itersons for ap-
plying in:iney which had been gyms' for charitable purposes, to
their own in;livi 'nal u e.
Lord C:)TTEN HA ‘I presented petitions from St. Mary,
Whitechapel, Dnn:Jee, and several other places, against the Bill.
Lord BROUGH A II sad that he had also a petition to pre-
sent from a respec'abl • indiaidual praying that this Bill
might pass ; and it was not only the opinion of this gentleman,
bat of several other individuals, that the funds given for
charitable uses should not he applied to purpeees of jobbery,.
gusting, ro eurion, and all those other vices which his
Noble Friend.; were desirous to patronise.—;Great
laughter, arid cries of " Name, name.") Oh, he would not
conceal the name—the petition was from Mr. Henry Walker,
surgeon, St. John's-street, Clerkenwell, and when his Noble
Friend was talking about the number of petitions, and the
number of petitioners by which they had been signed, he must
Fay that he thought the number which he had presented was
greater than theirs. But the real question was, not the num-
ber of petition., bat', wh, ther they were right or wrong. Now,
Mr. VI :deer happsnel to petition for that which was right,
whilst those pre-ented by his Noble Friend happened to be
wrong. He would say nethiog further upon the subject, but
reserve his suggestions until the Bill came under the discus..
sion of their Lordships.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petitien from Major-
General Wyridtaina aerainst a railway proposed to be con-
structed in the north of England. near his property at Cocker-
mouth, by which his castle, which had continued in the pos..
session of his family since 1063—the days of Wiliam the Con.
queror— would be very much injured. The line would pass
within a third of a mile of the eerie. This was an irrerferenee
which he was sure their Lordship would not sanction, the
mere especially as the castle had beta in the posoession of the
family for 84t0 years, aid had la 'erly been very much im-
proved. The promoters of that railway, however, did not care
if they had possessed it for 8,000 setts, or before the teed.
Earl FITZWILLIAM presented several petitions against
the Charitable Trusts Bill.
INSOLVENT DEBTORS' AMENDMENT ACT.
Lord BROUGHAM moved the first reading of an Act for
amending the taw of insolvent debtors.
Earl GREY presented a number of petitions against the
Charitable Trust' Act ; alai another petition in favour of a
Ten Hours' Bid. The Noble Lord also presented a petition
from Manchester, eomplainind of the careless manner in which
railways are managed, and praying the Meuse to pass an Act
compelling railway companies to compensate the rela,ives
persons killed upon their lines.
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS RELIEF BILL.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said, that upon the second
reading of this Bill he felt bound to call their Lordships' at-
tention to it. His Noble Friend had framed a Bill
last year for the purpose of repealing several penal Acts
against her Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects. He at that
time asked the Noble Lord to entrust the Bill to him. His
Noble Friend complied with that request, sell he (the Lord
Chancellor) laid the matter before her ilajesty's criminal law ad-
visers, after which a Eill was inter), tuced to their Lordships' House
which met with very little opposition, and was passed by a very
great maj wity in the other House of Parliament. He had
pledged himself to loot into the merits of the subject, and with
that pledge he had complied, arid accordingly he had referred
the mater to her Majesty's first criminal law adviser
(Sir Edward Ryan) and other eminent lawyers. It
was possible that considerable difficulty had been felt be some
parties at some portions of the Biil. To the former part of it
consides able objeetion might be entertained, but in the other
be conceived these would be no ohjewion whatever, He had,
therefore, determined to Aside the Bill into two parts. The
first part related to :ore'. which it was necessary for minis-
ters of the Church of England, as well as Dissenters
to make on certain th c.eoes. The other related to cer-
tain disabdii s ender which some portion of her Majssts's sub-
jects at preset', lals-ur d r, the first part r.n olijsceon wher-
ever coult be relies, and the ti, her propos-el to repeal no less
than thirty Acts of Per iametit which imposed throb lities on
persons of the Jewish t ersuasions. The two first of tnese Acts
were those of Henry 111. vet Edward 1., by which it was de•
creed that persons of that persuasion cou!d not po.,sess lantt or
houses for their own dwelling That Act imposed various re-
strietions and inOsolities —one of then was that badges .4f,ould
be worn' beth by m a: it females. an-f it describe.) the form
which these be. He theegho therefore, that he has!
shown sari-tonere), that it was necessary to affetel relief, aed
that the Bill sheuld be read a second time. The next point
to which he would allude was the penalties imposed by the Act
of the sth awl 6th of Edward VI., and he could nit refer to
this without alluding to the Amos passed in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth and Charles. A torm of prayer was established in
the reign of Edward VI., which was to be used in different
chapels of the kingdom. Certain penalties were imposed upon
those who did not conform and join in that prayer. Th it prayer
was altered in the several reigns which succeeded. These
penalties wet e afterwards confirmed and others were added.
One of these was, imprisonment of six months for
the first offence, for the second offence one year,
and for the third offence imprisonment for life.
These penalties were still existing, for they had been continued
by different Acts of Parliament down to the present time. In
the session before the last, their Lordships repealed them so far
as they related to Roman Catholics, hut they were stiil con-
tinued so far as Presbyterian Dissenter% were concerned. A
Dissenter, hoe ever, e,cap. d from these penalties by taking a
particular oath ; but was not this an inconsistency? But their
Lordships must remember that people of the Jewish persuasion
were always subject to those penalties, for they could not take
the oath to which he had already referred. He, hoped their
Lordships would think, then, that the 3d of Edward the Sixth
ought to be repealed. Now, then, the second penalty to which
he had referred required every person to attend the service of
the Church in his parish every Sundly, and if he d d not, be
was liable to be admonished or subjected to a penalty. Now
be proposA also to remove these penalties; but a
Right Rev. Prelate, for whose opinions and character he
entertained the highest respect, was desirous that the first
penalty should be still eKlied to parties connected with 'the
Established Church. It. was; for their Lordships to consider if
any, and what, pcoceedines had been taken under the powers
of these Art.'. lt. *lvrea:ea then that for the last one hundred
and fifty years no p,ceeetne,3 under such statutes had been
taken, ant it was new for their Lordships to consider whether
it was necessary to have such a law at all.— (liear, hear.) He
alluded to the first of Elizabeth ; there was a clause which
enacted that any one acknowledging the supremacy ad the see
of Rome, was subject to a penalty of forfeiture of ills goods
and property ; for the second offence they were to be further
punished, and for the third offence they were to he deemed
Runty of high treason. 'These were monstrous acts,
and ought to be repealed. It was true, that
the Act relating to high treason had been repealed,
but the others still remained on the statute-book in all their
original force. lie proposed that these Acts should be re-
peal d. Th y applied alone to Roman Catholics. aril did not
apply to sec, arrant generally. They 'all knew the Roman Ca-
tholics of this country, and it could not be denied, that the
fundamental principles of their religion was to acknowledge
the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff in religious matters. It
was preposterous, then, to suppose, that any penalties could be
retained against Roman Catholics for holding the ecclesiastical
and spiritual headship of the Pope. But he had heard it in-
timated, not asserted, that opposition would be offered, from a
quarter where he woe it hive least expected it; but if it were
to be so, he conceive.t that no opposition could be more in-
famous, or less maintainable, more utterly hopeless than that
was. This Act was not to prove that ecclesiastical supremacy
which had been oter and over again declared by the ancient
Acts of Perhernent. The words which specified it in the sth
of Elizabeth were precisely the wo:ds used in the first. It had
been stated before, in the same terms, in the. hth and 26th of
Henry VIII., and was, he held, an inherent and an inalienable
right in the Crown of the e realm ~ A Right Rev. Prelite,
an ancient friend of his, proposed that the psneliies, as 'far as
related to the ministers of the Established Couch, should not
be repealed, with regird to the sepreinacy. To meet that, he
would propose that these Ministers should still be subject to
the censures of the Church; and would introduce a previso
that the clause should in a r way a feet the other clauses of the
Bill. He would now come to the statue passed against Popish
recusant., and with regard to that statute he should say that no
one could doubt the pro.‘riets of 4b di•bieg the p,nalties which
that statute imeosed Tee next Act of Parliament to which he
referred was Inc stattu e of Jarne,, winch required parties to
anent their palish ehoteh on the anniversary of wham wax
tailed the gunpewiler plot, and any person who di.obeyd this
injunction was liable to he indicts.' for a modemeanour. So
far as the Retrial Catuolics wee.* concerned, thes, had already
passed an Act ..t Parliament, r tieving them from -the provisions
of thi- Act. but
~,
theytze.re,..ttlialipte .ble to the inemh -rs of the
Clurch Eng4nd-
.urc their f...en,ter!, tiers ins of the. Jewhih p>r,u Asian];
but he was
Act tatight to be rep:. vf,.....ttua.gtrheeemwkilih,,,ll:nl'i'hhaetntf,haist
Art of Parliament to *loch Ilarcewit.h.-.1 to refer, prohibite.i the
introduction into this c mtor
y ings, from 'he see of of
ose A "k., and papers, and writ-
e Parliament was guilty of h•gt,nyti.Z.,,r7 ierialMlit this Act
tried and executed for that offence. Every holy al:nteiw"ll7hetoh
his-
tory of this Pope Pius the Seve;tho.e'
Queen Eiiz itieth, and the Bull for this purpose IZlTTiuel,:ca,""tit
the palace of the Bishop of London, and upon some place iun't.hoe
metropolis of France, which excited the intii t4tiati.in of the
monarch of that country. was waiter the e feelings that the
Act was passed ; and he would tell their Lordships why it
ought to be repealed. Their Lordships had already passed a
law tolerating the performance of the Roman Catholic wor-
ship; but this could not be done without the clergy and pre-
laves of the Church communicating with the Pope of Rome ;
and it was for this reason, as Well as from a know .
ledge that neither Scotland nor Ireland pasted a similar
Act that he proposed their Lordship' should repeal it.
He now came to the 11th and 12th William 111, which were
two of the severest Acts that ever were passed. By these Acts
any person seizing a priest after having performed mass, was to
receive 100!. ; and every young person, on attaining the age
of le years, was capes ueon to take a number of oaths'; and
he thought their Lordships would hive no objection to repeal
an Act of that sort. By the 2d of Anne, any person becoming
reconciled to the Chu, oh of Rome, or causing another person
to be reconciled to that Church, subjected himself to the
penalties of jet cmerrire. Their Lordships. were aware thatshe effect of was to place a person out of the pro-
tectioa of the illPaw7 and it
thad even been debated whether such
a person might not be slain with impunity. He had no hesita-
tion in saying that that Act ought to be repealed. By another
Act of Parliament, no person could keep a school, or become
private family, with out a licence from
a tutor in a
the Bishop or Archbishop of the diocese. By another
Act of Parliament any person not going toteohidurtchhat
and when he was
was
sesseubitecetst
to • pecuniary penalty;
were obsolete, he could not help
under
or five years fourteen poor labourers
recollecting that within four
had been convicted
it, and sentto prison, and were only released after an applica-
tion to their Lordships. By the lit of Elizabeth, any person
?set going to church, or refusing to go, was subject to a fine
of 2c.'. a month during the time of his abstaining from going.
An option was given afterwards to the Crown to seize upon
the lands of the recusant ; and in ens year the fines amounted
to 30,1001. These ;enalties also affected a married woman,
end if her husband chose ZO nay the penalties to liberate her,
the was only then freed ii 3'n the consequences of
her recusancy. He had new m tde his statement,
and he was prepared to give every explanation in his pewter,
to 'any Noble Lord that mig'it require it. If any mischief
be
Ile hail t
'mild result from reseal of these stringent enaetment, he
now e con-
would be sorry
po'ncr t at t e
to prors their a
h HT be read a second time.
ell"P' by
Im""
I quite eoncurre 1 with his Noble and
Lied BROUGH •
Learned Friend,
alties on the statute book. He
that nn man cbul,t rise in that House and pro-
the continuAnce of these pen
p oie
'Me and Learned Friend had
se': jest.
his Hun and Learned Friend on the
e ntirely eJnentrad w
Woohae;,-, on this saj,et. His
law
, _ en
alluded to ti;e fart or this graceful "rtian"
into operatien th' • year IS4I, and he defied the
to point out anytkuog that coahl more ohm the dormant