The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-26 00:00:00

MAYNOOTH.

The Earl of WINCHILSEA presented petitions from Pat-
ton, and several other places in Northamptonshire, and from
Spittlegate, in the county of Lincoln, against the grant to
N aynooth.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented a petition from
St. Leonard s, in Wilts, against any provision for the education
of the Catholic clergy. He also presented a petition to a
directly contrary effect from a considerable number of Protes-
tant Dissenting ministers presiding over the:Presbyterian con-
gregations within and without the cities of Landon and West-
minster.

The Duke of NORFOLK presented a petition from the
Roman Catholics of London, Liverpool, Cheltenham, and
several other places in England, praying that the Legislature
would pass the Bill for making the grant to Maynooth,
and thanking the Government for the introduction •f the
measure. Not having signed the petition himself, he would
take that opportunity of thanking the Government for the
consideration it had shown for the necessities of his Roman
Catholic fellow-subjects in Ireland.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that since the
time when he had the honour of introducing a measure
for the relief of his Roman Catholic ;fellow-subjects from all
civil disabilities, some sixteen or seventeen years had elapsed.
During that time the Roman Catholics had been admitted
to scats in both Houses of Parliameat, and many other
ffices in the State, and that, dnring the whole of that
time, not a shadow of blame or imputation had been brought
against them. What he would ask was the reason for this ?
for there was nothing in their peculiar education or social
position which could have placed them in the honourable
position
which they held in the country. It was their sense of
duty alone that could have secured it, and he now, on the plea
of this conduct, wished to extend the same advan-
tages to their co-religionists in Ireland. The great
portion of the population of Ireland must look for
religious instruction, and it was the interest of all that they
should receive the best religious instruction possible. Having
for many years been most anxious that a measure
of this nature should be adopted by her Majesty's
Government, he was prepared—now that they had
adopted it upon their own responsibility, and
above all, when he perceived that by so adopting it, they had
incurred a certain portion of odium and responsibility—he was
prepared to say that he was ready to claim his full share of any
such odium and any such responsibility.—( Hear, hear.) He
not only agreed with the principles of this Bill, but
he thoroughly and entirely approved of the particular provisions
contained therein.—( Hear, hear.) He by no means under-
stood the objections of those who were opposed to it on pecuniary
grounds. He did not stand there for the purpose of saying
that the Roman Catholic Establishment could never be made
subject to the St ate ; but he would say that the
connexion of the maintenance of the Roman Catholic Church
with the reduction of the Established Church would give rise to
great inconvenience, inasmuch as any future want would give rise
to a corresponding reduaiien on the other side, as it would then
be considered the only fund from which it would be right todraw.
He considered that two objects would be attained by the Act,
or at all events by the other Acts which would follow it,
and he trusted there world be one for the intellectual im-
provement of the people of Ireland. In the first place, the
Bill would be doing an act of kindness in a way that would
be the most satisfactory to the Irish people; and in the
next place, it would have the effect of greatly diminishing
theological conflicts in both Houses of Parliament.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY presented a petition
from a parish in tie county of Durham, signed by the whole
of its adult populat-ion, consisting of thirty-five persons in favour
of the Bill, and two petitions from the county Down against it.
The Noble Marquis concluded by saying that, if her Majesty
visited Ireland, she would meet with more cordiality than had
been shown her in any country that she had yet visited.
The Duke of WELLINGTON—I will tell her so to-night.
The Earl of SHREWSBURY expressed his concurrence
with the measure, and his gratificati,:n with the manner in which
it had been received.—The House then adjourned.