The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-03-17 00:00:00

solumnly

Sir JAMES GRAHAM said government were now en-
gaged in a coroprelnen.:ive plan for improving the social
condition of the woriiing cla-ses of Great Britain. He
despaired of est-011'46dg a general system of education,

but hoped to eq,:blish a separate scheme (T education for
all sects of Chri,tans among the labouring classes iu
Wales. The moii-n was witl,drawn.
Mr. DUNCOMBE moved an address to the Queen to
consider the petitions of the people in favour of Frost,
William..., and Jones. Tile motion was negatived by a ma-
jority of 166 to 31.
Mr. NEWDEGATE obtained the appointment of a select
committ,e to ingoire into alleged fraudulent and vexatious
objections and claims afforded by the present system of
registration of county and borough votes.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—WEDNESDAY.
The following fills were read a second time :—Coven-
try, Nuneaton, Birmingham, and Leicester Railway ;
Amb-rgate, Nottingham, and Boston, and Eastern Junc-
tion Railways ; Leicester and Bedford Railway ; Shoji-
shire Union 'seaways and Canal (Fhrewsbury and Stafford
Railway) ; Starnf.,rd and Spalding Railway.
Colonel RoLr.v.sroN presented a petition, praying the
House to legislate so as to prevent the operatives in lace
manufactories working mere than sixteen hours a day.
The Friendly Societies Bill went through Committee
pro forma, it having been arranged between Sir James
Graham, Mr. Duncombe, and other hon, members must
immediately concerned in its progress, that with a view to
the consolidati to of certain clauses the further considera-
tion of the bill should be postponed for a fortnigt.t.
The Salmon Fisheries Bill was read a second time, and
ordered to be committed on the 6,11 of May.
Mr. B ESCOTT moved the, second reading of the Roman
Catholic Relief Bill. A measure of a similar nature had
already been introdur•ed into the House of Lords by the
Lord Chancellor; the provisions of his lordship's bill,
bowever, did riot entirely correspond with the provisions
of the b:11 before the House; but as the character of the
two were identical, it might be preferable to consolidate
them, and form out of them one measure. He detailed,
at some length, the grievances still suffered by persons
professing the Roman Catholic faith within tne United
Kingdom ; such, for instance, as inability to practise in
the ecclesiastical courts, or to teach, unless upon each
taking an oath, w'-): t was repulsive to many conscientious
individuals. These inconveniences were acutely felt by
numbers upon whom they pressed, and it was due to the
Roman Catholic population, no less than to the interests
of the Established Church, to remit at once this unjust
and disgraceful stigma.
Sir R. Bor.'s was anxious to return to the practice of
the Augus►an age in England in reference to religious
matters. That practice was whol'y irreconci'eable with
the contents of the bill before the house, which appeared I
to be based upon the legislation of 1829, and succeeding
years, the dark' ages, as they might be called, in this
country. No practical grievance had been substantiated
by Mr. Escott ; for as tor what he had stated about the
obstructions in the way of Roman Catholics teaching,
they were notoriously unreal, as any person might have
a licence granted upon application to the bishop of his di-
ocese. Our colonial legislation might be regulated in re-
ligious matters by the doctrines of the Established
Church, and then no v..lid complaint could be made, be-
cause the Roman Catholic Bishop of Malta was precluded
taking his se ,t in the Legislative Council of that Island
by the imposition of a religious test. The present mea-
sure would in effect repeal the Act of Supremacy, as well
as the law for the expulsion of the Jesuits, and would af-
ford encouragement to various public processions adopted
in the ceremonial of the Romish Church. He moved
that the bill he read that day six months.

Lord MORPETH rtferrel to various provisions in the '
existing law which the Bill before the House would annul
as practically inoperative, though not on that account un-
deserving legislative notice. The statute against preach.
ing, for instance, was notoriously ineffective, the obno-
xious doctrines being promulgated without let or hindrance
in all parts of the land. Still that enactment, while it re-
mained upon the statute-book, might be appl'ed to a ma-
licious purpose, and so of others of a Itke kind. Sir R.
Inglis had anticipated, from the passing of this measure,
the prevalence of various public ceremonies, such as the
Procession of Corpus Christi, and the Procession of the
Bost. But what was the fact in America, where the ut-
most toleration was afforded ? There these ceremonies
were never known. So, likewise, he believed the threa-
tened inundation of the Jesuits would he found to be a
mere chimera when this measure became law. lie urged
upon the House to abolish all such restrictions as those
against which this Bill was directed ; and as England was
the asylum of political refugees, so let it be also the haven
for persons of every variety of religious belief.
Mr. FINCH would subscribe to that part of the bill
which repealed the law against Roman Catholics exercising
the office of teachers; but to other portions there were
grave objections. He feared, for instance, the danger
that young and indiscreet persons might be prematurely
conmmitted to religious vows from which they would have
no subsequent means of escape. There was also great in-
convenience to be apprehended from the license which
would be afforded to Roman Catholic b'shops, to assume
the titles of prelates of the Established Church. He ex-
pressed himself particularly solicitous, respecting the zeal
of the Sisters of Mercy. He should oppose the bill.

'Mr. (.01.0.1)11011N, though approving-of that portion of
the bill which related to the means of Roman Catholic
education, yet disapproving of other parts of a more im-

„ • ..
portant character, should give the bill his opposition.
Be reprobated the principle of rersecution, and would
not recognise its aid in suppor tof the Established Church.
But he feared so much the evils which would result from
any recognition of the. Pope's authority in temporal mat-
ters, that he would never consent to repeal the Act of
Elizabeth, which vindicated the sovereigns right in these
dominions. He als ) dreaded the influenceof the Jesuits,
and in consecr.ence of that dread, would have all legal
means enforced for restraining their power. Believing
the present measure would interfere with their safeguards,
he intended to gise the second reading his opposition.
On a division the second reading of the bill was carrier►
by a majority of 66 to 43.