Star.
London, England, 1819-04-23 00:00:00

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feel grateful to the House, if they granted him justice.
—The Petitioh was read, laid on the table, and or-
dered to be printed.
PRINTING PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

Sir W. DE CRESPIGNY rose, and said he was
very desirous that the papers which, on his motion,
had been laid before the House relative to the mis-
conduct of the Officers of the Assessed Taxed in the
Sevenoaks District, should be printed. But he un-
derstood- some objection had been made to their being
printed, on account of the expense, which it had been
said would amount to £lOOO. Having made some
inquiry on this subject, he-had ascertained that he
could procure a printer who,would undertake to print
them all for £2OO, and deliver them to the House in
22 days—( Laughter.) He had, however, made a se-
lection of such of the papers as he thought ought to
be printed. The subject was one of the utmost im-
portance, and these papers would develope a scene
of iniquity of which the House could have no con-
ception. He moved, that the selection of papers men-
tioned in a list which he produced, should be printed.
Mr. LUSHINGTON said, he hoped the Honour-
able Baronet would agree to postpone the motion till
Monday, as he had no opportunity or examining,
and might perhaps find it necessary, in fairness to all
parties, to propose that some other of the papers
should be printed, besides those selected by. the
Hon. Baronet.
Mr. TIERNEY said it was, to say the least of it,
rather a strange thing, that when in a matter of such
importance as this was stated to be, the Officers of
the Treasury had undertaken to produce the papers
moved for by his Hon. Friend, they should have
presented such an immense mass of documents as to
put the_ printing of the whole of them out of the ques-
tion ; and when a selection of the most important was
made for printing, that they should desire the mo-
tiOd to be postponed. It was certainly suspicious.
After a few words from Mr. CALLAGHAN, the mo-
tion was postponed.

THE ESTABLISHED CRURCH OF IRELAND.
Sir J. NEWPORT rose, pursuant to his notice, to
submit to the House a motion for instituting pro-
ceedings relative to the State of Religion in Ireland,
similar to those which had been resorted to in 1806.
In 1807 a Report had been made of the inquiries
instituted in consequence of the measures adopted
in•the preceding year. That Report principally re-
ferred to the state of the Ecclesiastical Establish-
ment, so far as related to the Union of Parishes,
and the circumstances under which such unions had
been effected, whether by Episcopal authority, or
that of Parliament. It appeared that some of them
had been effected in such a way that it was almost
impossible for the inhabitants of many of the pa-
rishes to go to their parish Churches and return in
the.seme day. In the last eighteen years thirty-four
unions bad been effected, which was a very rapid
inereate. In 1817, it appeared that seventeen pa-
rishes bud• been united into one. In one case three
parishes had been united, the aggregate extent of
which was thirteen miles in length, and five in
breadth. Under such circumstances he thought it
necessary that an. Address should be presented to
the Throne; for the purpose of ascertaining what
opportunities were given to the Protestant inhabi-
tants of Ireland for the exercise of Divine Worship.
H. was the more induced to bring forward this
subject in consequence of several communications
which he had received since the notice which he had
given of this motion. The Hon. Member then read
an extract from a letter, written lately to him by a
most respectable Gentleman in Ireland, staling the
inconvenience which had been occasioned by the
union of Parishes. The cause of the union, in al-
most every case, was the incompetency of single
parishes to afford an adequate support to a clergy-
man. The letter stated that the writer had lost
seven of hii Protestant servants in consequence pf
the impossibility of their procuring adequate means
for attending Divine Worship.—(Hear, hear.)—This
he thought was enough to convince the House of the
necessity of adopting some measure on this subject,
considering that £500,000 had been voted within
the last year for procuring to the people of the king-
dom facilities far exercising the public duties of their
religion. With a church so richly beneficed as that
or Ireland, it was highly necessary that where the
clergy were so well paid, their duties should be
adequately performed. He concluded by moving
that an humble Address be presented to the Prince
Regent; praying that his Royal Highness would be
graciously pleased to direct that an inquiry should
be instituted into the present state of the Church of
Ireland, by communication to the Archbishops and
Bishops, similar in nature and detail to those in
"1806, made by his Majesty's command, of which
inquiry his Majesty had been graciously pleased to
order a Report to be presented to both Houses of
Parliament; in order . that by comparison it might
be timed what steps had been taken to procure to
the people of Ireland due means for the exercise. of
public worship,- and especially the benefits and bless-
ings of a resident clergy.
Ir. C. GRANT said he would only detail the
House for a few moments, as he had only to express
his entire and hearty concurrence in the Motion' and.
his sense of the obligations doe to the Hon. Baronet
for having brought it forward.--(Wear, keor,),
Ile was sure no greater service could be.done tp Ire.
land than by following up this inquiry.—Henr,healfs)
Wiz.hout at present entering fuither into the aubje4;
or pledging himself to bring laniard any particulise
meamire, he had only further to"say, that he should
be most happy to concur 'hi any efficient measure
which might be proposed fo!forwarding• so deli-
table an object.
Mr. LESLIE FOSTER concurred Wiih the Right
lion. Mover in defining the residence of the p...'1
c'4iial clergy in Ireland an object of paramount im-
portance, and' for that object he believed the Irish
Bishops were most earnestly solicitous. In order to
shew that solicitude; he thought it right to lay be-
fore the house a summary of what had been done
to carry into effect' the Report of 1807, especially
is some time must elapse before tiny Report
.could
he expected from the proposed inquiry.
known that in 1807 there were oidtgio
greeted in the 11/1s benefices in Ireland, so
V:ere no ;I#Vitlan,233;lfneffees without
church. eulnsuach of,thotel benefices, however,
modiouP church was sauce, built, while sew
churches, which were previously mote lilt(
Irid undergone complete repair. This was

N.

I%l'l

• .
which he could *dr Bisbqpni
the Board of IW:Fru• ice
tivailimitn:ith amihatiefontw
to. ;soo-
„1141Y
chargeable with inactivity;
mote the universal. reatdedict alike clergy, it wits
confessedly
therefore with theillnon gralleed. ley Parliament, the
therefore
houses, and
Board of First Fruits had already purchased land
for such houses in f 39 Benaftintsi and every endea-
vour was making to conclude similar purchases in
the several parishes in which they-were still want
ing. With regard to the residence of the parochial
clergy it ought to be known that until the law of 1804
which assimilated the law of Ireland pretty nearly
to that of this country, the Irish Bishops had not
the power of enforcing that residence; but since this.
enactment of that law, he was enabled to say that
these worthy prelates had most diligently used the
powers with which they were invested by that law
to promote uniform residence. He believed, there.
fore, that there was now no exception of residence,
bat from ill health, or where a glebe-house was still
wanting. The Right Hon. Baronet had mentioned a
.case of non-residence, which could not be heard
without astonishment and alarm; but as no name or
place was mentioned, it was impossible to form any
conclusive judgment upon such a case. The Incurs.
bent and the Diocesan, who could have so acted,
would no doubt have been guilty of a serious dere-
liction of duty. The Right Hon. Baronet's state-
ment, as it appeared at present, could not be con-
troverted; but if he would mention names. a diffe-
rent view might possibly be presented to the House
by a counter-statement. He was glad to hear the
justice done by the Right Honourable Baronet trj
the energy of the Archbishop of Cashel ;' and
(Mr. Leslie Foster) was enabled, from the*,
sources of information, to do equal justice to the
Lord Primate of Ireland. He could say, that this
respected Prelate excused . residence only where ill
health required indulgence, or where a glebe•house
was wanting, while he never allowed any Clergyman
a dispensation to hold two benefices, without enforc-
ing his residence for half the year in each of these
benefices.. But really he was led to believe, that in
every case of non-residence in Ireland of late years,
an adequate cause could be found to exist—and it
was due to the Irish Bishops, who were now no more,
to state historically, that from the conduct of the Irish
Parliament in appropriating the tithes of all the mo-
nasteries, which were left untouched in England,
very little or nothing of tithe was left in many di-
stricts of that country, for the maintenance of the
Parochial Clergy. This was the case in Connaught
and many parts of Munster, and hence former Bishops
could not consistently enforce the residence of the
Parochial Clergy in such districts. The Right Hon.
Baronet had stated, that eighteen unions of parishes
had been ordered by the Privy Council since 1807 ;
but it should be recollected, that there were six dis-
unions of parishes within the same period; therefore
the disproportion was not such as the Right Hon.
Baronet's statement would lead the House to believe,
especially as all the parishes united by the Privy
Council had before been episcopally united from
time immemorial. Four of the disunions had taken
place in the diocese of Cashel where tillage, as well
as population, was materially increasing. The Bi-
shops were indeed, universally impressed with a con-
viction of the desirability of promoting the disunion
of polishes, and multiplying churches.. ap well as en.
forcing the residence of the Parochial Clergy in every
case that circumstance: warranted. "'
Mr. WlLBERFORCE'expressed his wish. to pro-
mote every measure that promised to.urge the Clergy
of Ireland, as well as those of England, to do their
' duty. It was desirable indeed that as the Clergy were,
as well as other men, liable to the commortifailings
of our nature, their conduct should be subject to a
certain degree of superintendence. He could not see
why Parliament should not occasionally inquire into,
and direct the concerns of the Clergy, as well as
those of the Army and Navy. He was happy to hear
of the particular testimony borne to the conduct of
some Irish Bishops. But this was not enough. The
House 'should be satisfied that all those peculiarly
entrusted with the care of the religion and morals
had done their duty, it was incumbent upon Parlia-
ment to look for this satisfaction, and to shew that
it was prepared to enforce the performance of duty
on the part of all, both high and low, without excep.,
tion or favour towards any.
Sir J. NEWPORT said, that being under no re-
striction, expressed or implied, from the party, be
would, in the exercise of his own discretion, mention
the name of the writer of the letter which he had
quoted. The writer was Colonel Begot, of Nunro,
county of Kildare, who was, he was assured, a gen-
tleman of of the utmost respectability. The name
of the Incumbent alluded to was Cox, who was a con-
nexion of the Bishop of Kildare, by whom Mr. Cox
'was appointed to the Incumbency, while beheld ano-
ther situation in the Cathedral of Kildare. He agreed
with the Hon. Gentleman who spoke last but one in
condemning the spoliation of the property of the
Church by the law of agistment, which the Irish Mfrs
',lament io bnadvisedly and so unjustly passed. But
as to dispensations for the . residence of Parochial
ClergYia Ireland, he knew of instances in which
Clergyniet,' splendidly beneficed, had not for a so-
ties of years resided in the parishes assigned to them,
or even in Ireland, several Of such Clergymen alwayl
residing in this country; while some were on the COW•
tinent.--The motion was agreed to. •
• Cotisstlyr salaam.
Mr. H. SUMNER lose-to move for leave to brini
in a Bill to regulate the trade of Country Bakers. Bt.
the law as it stood, a Country Baker was liable to*
fined if found in any degree deficient in weight. NOV
as these Bakers had not such quick sale as thoserif
the metropolis, and as the bread was liable to shill) i
they were subject to suffer a fine for fraud, if
did not atahe time of baking make their bread m
heavier than the law reqiired. To relieve the Bakes:
from this grievant.* was the abject of his 4 proposed
Bill.—The motion Wns treed so. -a • • • • r
Mr.' Mi /TlN.obriervedi ;
tended