The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-27 00:00:00

a very small stipend.—(Cheers.) Now, he would give ait
instance which would show, perhaps, the operation of the pro-
posed Act, and that it would not be so very- injurious to those
who bad to perform the duties. The Instance he referred to
he received notice of from an lion. Friend of his, who sent
it'm a copy of a letter received from a clergyman of the
Established Church, who was performing duties in Ireland.
His statement was that there were four parishes, and a neigh-
bouring curate and he performed the duties. The parishes
contained about 200 Protestants each, and the sum received
from the benefices when the tithes were regularly paid was
2,0001. a-year. The neighbouring curate and he performed
the duties for several years for the sum of 751. a year each.
Now if these parishes came under the operation of this Bill,
the probable effect would be this, that the two curates, instead
of receiving only 751. each, would receive 150/. each ; but
there would be a considerable surplus of income even after all
the reductions were taken into account that would be made
with respect to tithes : instead, however, of that surplus going
to the support of some clergyman who did not visit or su-
perintend the parish, it would go to the benefit of the popu-
lation of the parish, and enable them to be instructed. This
sum was drawn from them and ought to be given to their ad-
vantage. The Right Hon. Baronet said that he would

always protest agaii,st the principle of this measure: and his
Noble Friend the Member for North Lancashire likewise
protested against it. He saw here three parishes united ; in
two there were a great number of Protestants, and an income
which was insufficient ; and in the third, a neighbouring pa-

rish, there were a vast number of Catholics we drew the in-

come from the Catholic parish, and educated and instructed
with it the Protestant. Why, this was the very system which
the Noble Lord wished to support.—( Hear)—but against
which he must protest.—( Cheers.) He could not think it
right, and he never should think it right, that the great mass
of the ptviJulation in the South of Ireland should be made to
contribute, in the shape of tithes, or any other shape, for an
vantage to others, and to support a Church Establishment
to which they were conscientiously opposed. Neither was it
sufficient to tell him the Church wanted suppart in some other
quarter. This was not the original purpose of the tithes ;it
was intended that these tithes should go to the benefit of the
country and the district from which they were drawn.—
(Cheers. ) That was a bad system under which they drew
tithes from three parishes for the clergyman whobelonged to
one of those parishes. But still worse was it if they drew the
whole of the tithes from the south, say, of Ireland, where, on
account of the small number of Protestants, there were insigni-
ficant duties for the clergymen to perform, and transfer them to
the more Protestant districts, thus benefiting them at the ex-
pense of their poorer countrymen. The Right Hon: Baronet
said, after all they would have no surplus, but did he think
that in their taking the income from those parts in which there
were not more than 800 inhabitants, they would not gain a sur-
plus, which, whether great or small, would show that they were
not prepared to say that the moral and religious instruction of
the people were objects which they had not at heart, which
indeed, they would neglect—that they objected to touch the
Church revenues, and to seeing them well applied? Would
it not rather appear, that while they gave the means required
for the moral and spiritual instruction of the Protestants,
those six millions of Catholics—as they were enumerated by
the Commissioners—would not be deemed unworthy the care
of their Sovereign ?—(Cheering.) These were, in his opi-
nion, the grounds on which this Bill stood. It was a Bill
most difficult of details ; and he believed it was impossible to
form any Bill on this subject against which the most plausible—
he would even say, also, the most reasonable objections—
might not be urged ; but treating, as it did, with a most diffi-
cult question, and it being the first Bill ever proposed to Par-
liament on this great subject—it being the first Bill which did
show regard for the whole population of Ireland, it ought to
meet with support on that ground; and in its recommendation
and defence, he was ready to encounter any obloquy that
might attach to him.—(Much cheering.)
Mr. GOULBURN asked the Noble Lord whether the Bill

applied to parishes where there was a union of three or four,
but in each of which there were only fifty Protestants?
Lord MORPETH replied that parishes of that description
would ccme within the provisions of the Bill.
Mr. GO ULBURN then made some observations, in which
he declared himself decidedly hostile to the principle of the
measure.—Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
Colonel PERCEVAL hoped the Noble Lord would allow
sufficient time for the consideration of the Bill, and asked
when he proposed to move the second reading.
Lord MORPETH said he could not at present name the
day ; that it depended, in some measure, on the progress made
with the Municipal Corporations Bill.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said he thought it exceedingly
desirable to get the Municipal Corporations Bill through the
committee, and he was unwilling to obstruct its progress with
any other measure.
Colonel PERCEVAL supposed, then, that the second
reading of the Noble Lord's Bill would be moved imme-
diately after the Municipal Corporations Bill cm° out of the
committee.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, we believe, replied, in the affir.
mative.

Mr. S HEIL suggested that the House should sit on Satur.
days.—(General cries of " No, no.")
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned at two o'clock.