The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-20 00:00:00

Chronicle was incorrect; but the misapprehension was
excusable, considering the difficulty of understanding
long arguments.
The Great Southern and Western Railway Bill
was read a third time and passed.

Lord MONTEAGLE moved that the House resolve
itself into Committee on the Art-Unions Bill.

The Duke of CAMBRIDGE supported the motion,
and bore testimony to the great utility of these insti-
tutions. He thought it would be a great advantage
if the Bill were passed in time for the present pur-
poses of these unions. These remarks were received
with loud cheers, and the Bill passed through Com-
mittee.

Some other Bills were discussed, of which the Par-
liamentary report gives a brief summary. The House
adjourned at Half-past Seven.
The Commons met at Twelve o'clock, when Mr.
GLADSTONE moved certain resolutions relative to
Railway Bills, which were agreed to. Mr. PLUMPTRE
hoped that railway travelling on the Lords' Day
would be prevented, but he found no Member to sup-
port him.
The Metropolitan Buildings Bill was ordered to
be read a third time on Monday.
The House, on the motion of Mr. GLADSTONE,
went into Committee on the Joint-Stock Companies
Bill, the clauses were agreed to, and the Bill, with
amendments, was ordered to be reported on Tuesday,
at twelve o'clock.

On the order of the day being read for the House
going into a Committee of Supply, Mr. WysE called
upon the Government to make some statement re-
specting the disposal of money voted for the purposes
of education.

Lord Howlcx concurred in the motion, and urged
on the Government the necessity of encouraging
education among the lower classes by holding out
promises of appointments in inferior stations, such as
those of tide-waiters and excisemen, to the most pro-
ficient scholars. No member of the Government made
any remark at the time, but on Mr. WYsE urging
the Government to express their feelings, Sir R. PEEL
said he concurred in many of the sentiments ex-
pressed by the Noble Lord, and particularly with the
suggestion for giving appointments in public offices
to the most deserving scholars.

Mr. M. GrnsuN called the attention of the House
to the incendiarism now prevalent in the eastern
counties, particularly Dsex, Suffolk, and Norfolk,
and moved an address to her MAJESTY to issue a
Commission to inquire into the causes.

Sir J. GRAHAM resisted the motion. As he had
said on a former occasion, the trials now in progress
would elicit facts, in reference to these files, pro-
bably of more importance than any that could be ob-
tained by a Commission, and he trusted the Hon.
Member would not persevere in his motion. A num-
ber of speakers followed, and a division took place,
when there were for the motion 41, against it 130—
majority, 89.
Mr. WvsE, on the House going into Committee
for a grant to Maynooth College, moved an address
to her MAJESTY for the enlargement and improve-
ment of existing Catholic institutions in Ireland, to
supply the present deficiencies.
The motion, after a lengthened discussion of much
interest, was negatived by a majority of 57.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of
and the House adjourned at a Quarter to Two o'clock.

At length Ministers seem disposed to confer
something like a substantial boon on Ireland. They
have been a long time making up their mind to this
painful necessity—for as such we fear they considered
it—but better late than never, and, though we cannot
say we entertain any unbounded gratitude for the
announcement of their intention to consider next
session the great question of Irish education, with
a view to frame some measure whose cordial
and equitable spirit may render it palatable to
all parties, yet we cheerfully tender them our
thanks, and congratulate them on the novel fact
that they have, at lengh, evinced a disposi-
tion to substitute conciliation for the old Tory
system of coercion, of whose utter inefficiency they
must by this time be fully convinced. In reply to
an excellent speech by Mr. WYSE, on the subject of
education in Ireland, Sir R. PEEL not only frankly
admitted many of the defects of which the llon.
Member for Waterford complained ; but stated that
the subject was one which had already occupied the
consideration of Ministers, and to which the attention
of the new Viceroy, Lord HEYTESBURY, would be
immediately directed. The Right Hon. Baronet fur-
ther observed, that at an early period of next session,
Government would be able to increase the
means of academical education, or finding their
efforts unsuccessful, would give an intimation
to that effect to Mr. WYSE, and leave
him an opportunity of working out his own views in
his own fashion. He added—and nothing could be
more satisfactory than his language on this occasion
—that " if there should be any failure on the part of
Ministers, it would not be from want of an honest
desire to supply the means of instruction to the people
of Ireland ; and while on this subject he would take
the opportunity of stating that the attention of Go-
vernment would be directed also to the position of the
College of Maynooth, which he felt was not ii,
an efficient condition as regarded the amount
of the sums granted for it." This announcement
was received by a majority of the House with
marked approbation, Lord J. MANNERS, Mr. SHELL.
and Mr. BELLEW significantly remarking that the:
hailed it as an earnest of a more consistent, pros-
perous, and enlightened line of policy towards Ireland
for the future. Of course, however, there were some
di-sentients, and foremost among these dissatisfies'
gentlemen was Mr. PLUMPTRE, who, true to th(
cause of intolerance—a cause which, so long as he,
continues a Member, will never want an advocate
in the House of Commons—expressed his discontent
at the Premier's liberal announcement, adding that,
OAs he professed to be a Protestant, he professed
also to consider Protestantism something more than
a name, and he ought not to be called on to favour
and encourage principles which he detested and ab-
jured." No one calls on Mr. PLUMPTRE to favour
principles which he so ostentatiously tells us he "de-
tests and abjures ;" he is neither asked to go to mass,
attend confession, worship the saints, nor kiss the
Pope's great toe, whenever a lcident or inclination
leads him to Rome ; he is left in the full and uncon-
trolled enjoyment of his Protestant bigotry, and may
cleave to the Thirty-nine Articles with what tenacity
he pleases; no one—certainly not Sir ROBERT PEEL
—will presume to interfere with his conscientious,
but somewhat stupid, prejudices and predilections;
all he is called on to do, is to assist in giving fair play
to Ireland, and in helping forward the great question 01
her social end political improvement by means of such
a system of popular instruction as may be adapted to
the wants of the masses of the Irish population who,
at present, are in the most deplorable state of igno-
rance it is possible to conceive. Surely there is
nothing here irreconcilable with the duties and
convictions of a devout Protestant ! Even CANTUAR
himself, the supreme head of the Establishment, may
congratulate the Premier on his announcement with-
out the slightest impeachment of his orthodoxy. We
are not without our apprehensions, however, that the
High Church party, which is ever jealously
on the watch against any encroachment, or
fancied encroachment on its prerogative, will
take fright at Sir R. PEEL'S public mention of the
ardent wish of himself and his colleagues to promote
the important—we might add, the sacred—cause of
Irish education ; and, with that inveterate obstinacy
which seems engrained into its very nature, will take
every opportunity of throwing all sorts of vexatious