The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-23 00:00:00

CHURCH OF IRELAND.

The Order of the Day for the resumption of the adjourned
debate on this question having been moved and read,
Mr. HUME presented himself to the House. The sub-
ject had been already SQ often before it, that it was really his
original intention to have abstained from troubling the House
with any observations in reference to it; but the Right
Honourable Baronet, the Member for Tamworth, in the
speech he had addressed to the House last night, on his mo-
tion for dividing the Bill into two parts, had addressed him-
self so pointedly to him (Mr. Hume), as one of the difficulties
he had to contend with in dealing with the question—( Hear
and a laugh)—that be was anxious to remove from the mind
of the House the undue impression which the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet's allusion to his exaggerated statements of the revenues
of the Irish Church was calculated to convey.—( Hear, hear.)
If the Right Hon. Baronet did him the honour to refer to his
speech of 1822, upon the subject of the Irish Church, he
would find that he was not quite correct in supposing his
(Mr. Hume's) estimate of its available revenues to exceed
3,000,0001. sterling. On the 19th June, 1822, he brought the
question of the state of the Irish Church before the House,
believing, as he then sincerely believed, and as, after fifteen
years' experience, he still believed, that to the cor.dition of
that Establishment might be traced nearly all the evils and
misfortunes of that unhappy ccuntry. At that period be was
most anxious to impress upon the House two points of con-
sideration—the one, the great magnitude of the Establish-
ment • the other, the immense amount of its revenues. He
was bound to state the authority from which he derived the
information he then stated to the House. It was the autho-
rity of Mr. Wakefield, in his estimate of the revenues of
the - Irish Church a work compiled during his resi-
dence with the late Lord Oriel, and at a period when he had
as he (Mr. Hume) believed, the best information that could
possibly be derived. Mr. Wakefield computed the rental of
Ireland at 14,000,0001. sterling ; the property of the Church
in Irish acres, at two-elevenths of the whole product of the
land. Taking this at 2,556,0001., and adding the value of
the parochial tithes, he found the total, on Mr. Wakefield's
own showing, to be 3,200,0001. He had further stated, that
if the estimates were correct, the actual gross amount of
tithe then receivable was little short of 1,000,000/. sterling;
and that there were twenty-four archbishops and bishops, and
1,270 beneficed clergymen, enjoying a revenue of nearly
1,000,0001. sterling. Now, how stood the fact ? Why, a
Noble Lord, who had brought forward a motion on the sub-
ject, in common with other high authorities, had calculated
the amount, after all deductions and charges, at consider-
ably above 600,000/. The Noble Lord, the Member for
Lancashire (Lord Stanley) had stated, in 1824, that the
revenues of the Church of Ireland amounted to only
3,270,00 Q/. If his (Mr. Hume's) statement were exag-
gerated on the one hand, the Noble Lord's was surely ex-
aggerated on the other. He (Mr. Hume) had contended
that the average revenue of each benefice was 520/. ; the
Noble Lord had stated that 2651. would be the outside ; but
taking the average amount of the 417 livings commuted
under the Tithe Composition Bill, the annual value of each
amounted to 499/.—( Hear, hear.) His statement, there-
fore, was not so much exaggerated, after all; and, even if
there were an unintentional exaggeration, it was attributable
to the secrecy preserved, and the perseverance, with which
the production of all accounts and statements had been
refused. Considering the limited means of information, be
or any individual possessed on the subject, he submitted that
the error was a very trivial one. He had only to look back for
a period of eleven years, to the time when the Noble Lord
had made his statement, and to consider the facts which had
since that occasion transpired, and to ask the Noble Lord, and
to ask the Right Hon. Baronet whether they or be were moat
correct ? The very first vote he had given in that House on
the question of the Irish Church was in 1812, on Mr. Can-
ning's Resolution of the 22d of June in that year, which was to
this effect :—" That this House will, early in the next session
of Parliament, take into its most serious consideration the state
of the law affecting his .Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects,
with a view to such a final and conciliatory adjustment as may
be conducive to the peace and tranquillity of the United King-
dom—to the stability of the Protestant Establishment, and
the general satisfaction of all classes, of his Majesty's sub-
jects." From that moment until the passing of the Catho-
lic Emancipation Bill, he had been deeply impressed with
the importance of that first step of conciliation, and he still
thought there would be no peace or tranquillity in Ireland,
until the Church Establishment in that country was placed
on a better footing.—( Hear, hear.) If be had made such
a speech as that made by the Right Hon. Baronet last
night, he would have been immediately charged with pay-
ing attention to nothing but pounds, shillings, and pence.—
( Cheers, and a laugh.) The whole of the Right Hon. Baronet's
speech was a question of pounds, shillings, and pence. He
talked of the necessity of protecting the Establishment, to be
sure, but did he put this question to himself or to the House ?
Had the Church Establishment in. Ireland, from the period of
the first substantive motion, recognising the necessity of re-.
ducing it in proportion to its general utility, given satisfaction
to the people, or answered the object for which it was founded?
—(Cheers.) Measure after measure had been brought in,
Bill after Bill had been introduced, Secretary for Ireland after
Secretary for Ireland had endeavoured to perpetuate that
Church in its old state, and what was the result of all their
attempts ? Signal and complete failure.—(Cheers.) So
utter was the failure, that after all their endeavours they were
compelled at last to give up the tithe, and to grant 1,000,000/.
to the Clergy of Ireland.—( Cheers.) The Right Hon. Ba-
ronet had failed throughout the whole of his argument to ad.

it"