The Sun.
London, England, 1818-05-16 00:00:00

CIJURCHES. BUILDING BILL.

The Order 'of the 'Day having been read for
summoning-the Lords on the second reading of
the Churches Building and the passage in
the speechof the Lord Comniissioner, at the open-
, ing of the Session, respecting the Bitildiog of
Churches, having, by deaire of the Earl of Liver-
pool, also been read, •
The Eatl of LIVERPoOL said, that in movity,
the second reading of this 'Bill, he considered
himself as proposing by moch the most import-
ant measure he had ever had the honour of sob-
milting to the consideration of Palliament. The
evil that existed, from the deficiency of Churches
for the greatly increased population of the coun-
try, was so obvious, that he could not anticipate
any otiketion to the principle of applying a re-
medy. He regretted the delay that had taken
place in bringing forward this measure, but be
trusted that at list it would be found effectual to,
remedy at least a considerable part of the defi-
ciency. On thi; first view of the subject, from the
documents and returns which had been obtained,
the evil appeared of so appalling a magnitude that
it seemed to be ahsolately without remedy. Upon
farther consideration, however, it was found, de-
ducting from the nominal amount of the'popula-
tion the number of children under the age at
- which it, was_usual to take thin] to Church, also
the aged infirm, who were unable to attentlpthose
absent from other causes,' &c. 'that if. provision
was Made for the accommodation of one third or
one fourth-of the poradarion at one time, the de-
sired object would-he attained. It was highly
gratifying to observe that in several plaCCs the
private subscriptions of individods bail gone far
to effect this most desirable object. - 1.-Ic thought
it doe: to.mention in pavticular tie Town of Liver-
,pool,.where the most laudable exertions in this
respect had been made, and to such an extent that
14 new ehurcheS had already been built by private
subscription, and with two mare the _frOl propor-
tion of accommoda:ion for the population i f that
town would be provided. His Lord Ship went on
to detail the objects of the Bill, which are already
known, anti calculated that the 1,000.0001. ap-
propriated to this purpose would be sufficient to
build 100 new churches, estimating the expense
at 10,0001. a chureh,.svhich, he was satisfied,
frill') having ascertaiaed what had been actually
expended in cases of this natme. would he fully
sufficient; and this 811101111(, with the addition of
voluntary subscriptions and rates in different
parishes, as pointed out in the Bill, would,
he trusted, g 6 far to the accomplishment of
the 'desired object. As instances of, the want
of churches to accommodate the population
upon the scale of one-fourth, he mentioned that
in each of the parishes of rviary-le-bone and St.
Pancras, five new churches would be regoired) in
St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, four ; and in
, Lam-
beth three. His Lordship adverted to the Act
of Queen Anne for building fifty additional
Churches, of which, however, only nine,,unfor-
tunately, were erected, and observed upon` the
much greater necessity which, existed now-; with
-double the population of that period, for nrovid-
ing accommodation in'Churches for the increased
number. In every, point of - view, he considered
this measure o;-the highest and most vital import.
ance; it would be
,wholly unnecessary for him to
dwell upon the ,necessity geberally of inculcating
religion and morality ; but whetbsr considered
with a view to a congregated:mass of manufaca
turing-popoiation, who, without religion or mo-
rality, must beconie highly dangerous ; or whe-,_
ther with reference to the education, the bless•
ings of which were now extending to all classes
of the people (and greatly to his satisfaction),
and witicla would either be of little 'practical
use', or Ivoidd lead those who enjoyed it into dis-
sent, he conceived this measure to be Most essen-
tially necessary ; *het her as professing the same
religion, or as members of the Established Church,
it was surely: their duty to.provide- for the reli-
gious instroetion -of the population. Those who
dissented front the Established Church had null-
Inked means (and he wished them to continueim-
limited). of restablishing plaees of worship ; the
Establishment, on the- contfary, were shackled
by regulations, which be, for one, thought were
sometimes carried too fart;• but still i was the
case that-they had not the same means (reference
being had to the rights of private property and
patronage) of establishing places of worship, and
it was most desirable that means should be re:
sorted to for the purpose of effecting so desirable
an object, w it hour, hoNever„ trenching-upon pri-
vate or public property or patronage. His Lord.
ship'coneluded by moving the second reading of
the

Lord HOLLAND did not object to second
reading, agreeing, HS he did, in the ticcessity for
increasing the number of Churches; but he ob."
jected.to taking 1,000,000 h for this purpose out
of the pockets of the people-, tie tho►tgl►t that
the Church itself ought to couttibliite its mite
towards a welkture vibich was for its own advaas

tap: The Church of Rome, in those eountriet
where it was most powerful and most insolent, if
he might use such an expression as applied to a
Church, adopted a different system. He knew,
1,,r instance, that some time since, in Spain, for
a purpose f this description, four, if not more,
prebends were suspended (after the death of the
iochnthruts) in cite!) chapter, in order to accumu-
late the requisite funds for the intended purpose.
And he cbuid see no reason why, in this country,
some of the prebends and donatives in the Royal
gift should not be, in like manner, suspended,
in order to form a fund for the purposes of the
Tuesent Bill. As the measure was now to ope-
rate, all classes of persons, whether dissenters or
member:, of the Church of Scotlaud, or as having
cot,tributed to build Churches in their own dis-
tti!:ts, u ere to be subjected to the burden imposed
for building Churches generally. His Lordship
observed, that the merit of the first suggestion of
this measure originated with Earl Grosvenor (not
now present.)
The Earl of HAattowcY contended, that the
proposed measure was not solely for the advan-
tage of the Church, but for the advantage of the
coionniu it yin general. With regard to Scotland,
undoubtedly the established Church there ought to
be consideted in the same light as the established
Church in this part of the Island. As to the ob•
ject of the present measure, he considered it of
the highest importance, and particularly with re-
ference to those blessiugs of educAion which were
netts- happily diffusing through all classes of the
people, and to which it was of. the greatest im-
portance to afford an useful channel. The mea-
sure proposed was not one of a more temporary
nature, but a measure for the permanent advan-
tage And eternal welfare of the people. As to the
original suggestion of the measure, he could state
from his own knowledge that a much lamented
friend of his had intended to bring forward the
measure, but was prevented by temporary circum-
stances.

The Archbishop Of CANTERBURY expressed his
satisfaction that there was no difference of opi-
nion on the two sides of the House as to the ne-
cessity of this measure, or the means required to
carry it into effect, the only contest apparently
being as to who was the original suggestor of it.
With regard to this point, he was enabled to state
Gat the Right Honourable Gentleman alluded to
by the Noble Earl (Harrowby), sent him a draft
of a Bill tor the object now sought to be attain-
ed, requesting his opinion (you it in five days ;
uiul before the fire (lays had elapsed that Right
Honourable Gentleman was assassinated. As to
the idea of suspending the revenues of prebends,
&c. he could assure the House that that would be
a most slow and inefficient operation.
The Marquis of LANSDOWSR agreed in the ne-
cessity for the- present measure, but had some
doubts respecting the situation of Scotland and
Ireland, with reference to the object proposed.—
Ile could not discover in the Bill any provisions
that extended to the providing of additional
Churches Scotland, though there must of course
be a considerable want of them there, as Well as in
this part of the Island, and though the burden of
erecting the Churches proposed by the present
Bill must equally tall upon Scotland as upon
England. With respect to Ireland, there might
perhaps he no additional Churches wanting for
the Protestant population, hut the same difficulty
occurred with regard to the share of the burden.
With regard to the Bill itself,. he certainly com-
pletely coincided in the general object of it.
The Earl of LIVERPOOL said, with respect to
Scotland, that there was every .disposition to af-
ford the same facilities there as in England, and un-
doubtedly the Established Church in Scotland must
be considered in the same light there as the Esta-
blished Church in England was here. The Go-
vet nment were desirous of affording the means
for building additional Churches in Scotland.,
upon the same grounds as in England. With re-
gard to Ireland, it was ill every respect united
with England, so that it would he impossible to
exempt that part of She United Kingdom from its
share in the expence of the measure. The cir-
cumstance of the increase of churches not being
required there was no reason for making an ex-
ception in, its favour.
„It might as well be said,
that because there were several parishes in Eng-
land hich did not require the application of the
measure, they should not be called upon to contri-
bute their proportion. He therefore was of opi-
nion, that the measure in its present form was
not liable to the objections made against it.
The Bill was then read a second time, and or-
dered to be committed on Wednesday.
The Marquis of BUCKINGHAM presented a Peti-
tion from the Fellows and Scholars of Brazen
Nose College, Oxford, against two clauses of the
Bill, which was ordered to be referred to the
Committee.—Adjourned.