The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-12-21 00:00:00

parliainentarp Vrourbin 115.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY

Lord ASHLEY presented a petition from members of
the Association of the Established Church for promoting
a reform in the ecclesiastical provision for the parish of
Manchester. The petitioners complained of the spiritual
destitution of Manchester, and stated that the Collegiate
Church was in the possession of very large revenues ori-
ginally assigned for parochial purposes, but of late years
devoted entirely to the service of the Collegiate clergy,
who had lately declared that it was- not incu'nbent upon
them to perform any parochial duty whatever. The peti-
tion prayed an inquiry, and a division of the ancient
parish for ecclesiastical purposes. The noble lord added,
that as it was his intention to bring this matter before
the house, lie would.next day move that the petition be
printed with the votes.

Sir G. GREY moved the third reading of the Crime and
Outrage (Ireland) Bill.—Mr. J. O'CONNELL moved that
it be read a third time that day six months.—On a divi-
sion, the numbers were—for the amendment, 14 ; against
it. 173 ; majority, 159.—The bill was then read a third
time and passed.
The report of the Railways Bill was then received ; and
the bill was ordered to be read a third time next day.
Mr. LABOUCHERE moved for leave to bring in a bill
to suspend for- five years certain portions of the act of
1846 relating to the government of New Zealand ; to
provide for the restoration during that time of the old
legislative councillors of 1840, giving Governor Grey
power to add to their number ; and also to give Governor
Grey power to appoint legislative assemblies for the two
provinces, either by naming the members for them di-
rectly himself, or by authorising their election by the
municipal districts.—After a discussion leave was given to
bring in the bill, which was read a first time.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

rtTESDAY

Mr. WAKLEY moved for a select committee to inquire
into the charges made by 150 petitioners, electors of
Gloucestershire, of the interference of Earl Fitzhardinge
at the election, but the Attorney-General opposed the
motion until the case had been referred to the law courts,
and after several members had spoken, Sir G. Grey moved
the adjournment of the debate.

Mr. HORSMAN then brought forward his Motion on
the Reports of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and
entered into a statement to show that the revenues of the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and ot-the-Bisht,
of Durham, Winchester, Ely, Bangor, Lichfield, Exeter,
and Bath and Wells, had been more iciroductive than the

returns originally sent in by ti
properly administered, the revel
leave a large surplus for the relief ofsthe destitution of
the hard-working and ill-paid parochial clergy. He
moved the three following Resolutions :—" 1. That the
Act 6 and 7 William IV., c. 77, contained among others
the following enactments :—" That, in order to provide
for the augmentation of the incomes of ' the smaller
bishoprics, such fixed annual sums be paid to the Com-
missioners out of the revenues of the larger sees respect-
ively as shall, upon due inquiry and consideration, be
determined on, so as to leave as an average annual income
to the Archbishop of Canterbury £15,000, to the
Archbishop of York £lO,OOO, to the Bishop of London
£lO,OOO, to the Bishop of Durham £B,OOO to the Bishop
of Winchester £7,000, to the Bishop of Ely £5,500, to
the Bishop of Worcester and Bath and Wells respectively
£5,000 ; and that out of the fund thus accruing fixed
annual payments be made by the Commissioners, in such
instances and to such amount as shall be in like manner
determined on, so that the average annual incomes of
the other bishoprics respectively be not less than £4,000,
nor more than £5,000 ; and that at the expiration of every
seven years, reckoning from the Ist day of January, 1847,
a new return of the revenues of all bishoprics be made to
the Commissioners ; and that thereupon the scale of
Episcopal payments and receipts be revised, so as to pre-
serve, as nearly as may be, to each bishop an amount of
income equivalent to that which shall have been deter-
mined in the first instance to be suitable to the circum-
stances of his bishopric ; and that such revised scale take
effect, as to each see respectively, upon the then next
avoidance thereof." 2 That on the Ist day of January,
1845, a new return of the revenues of all the bishoprics
as ordered, from the first day of January, 1837, to the 31st
day of December, 1843, was presented to Parliament, and
subsequently on the 6th day of February, 1846, and the
16th day of June, 1846, respectively, were presented the
first and second general reports of the Ecclesiastical Com-
missioners, showing how the provisions of the above-
named Act had been carried out. 3. That, from these
Reports, furnished by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
themselves, it appears to this House that the provisions
of the Act 6 and 7 William IV., c. 77, so far as relates to
the Episcopal incomes have not been carried out accord-
ing to the intentions of Parliament." _ _

preiare

PLUMPTEE seconded the motion. He would say
at the outset, that he believed those who shut their eyes
to the abuses that existed in the working of the. Estab-
lishment were perhaps the worst enemies of the Church.
(Cheers.) What the hon. member for Cockermouth had
brought forward on this question was, in his estimation,
of very great importance, and he was willing to go along
with him in the resolutions which he had proposed.
Whether the hon. member intended to follow up his
motion with any subsequent proceedings he did not know.
He believed, however, that such was his intention, and
he agreed with him that some further proceedings were
necessary, as the working of the Ecclesiastical Commis..
sion could not be satisfactory to those who considered it
in all its bearings. (Hear, hear.) He did not believe
that the hon. gentleman meant to make an attack on the
prelates. it was the system womea as it nan ueen Lust
he spokeof, and which led him to take the active, able,
and intelligent view which he had done of the whole sub-
ject. He would repeat that the greatest enemies of the
clergy were those who winked at abuses, and shut their
eyes to cases of this kind. He would not lose sight of
the fact, that the Act of 7th of William IV. had respect
to some great ulterior end; that its object was to put
bishoprics on a proper footing, and ultimately to promote
the comforts of the working clergy. If the object of
that Act was that any funds which might be found to
exist should be applied to that object, unquestionably
they ought to be so directed. On these grounds, there-
fore, he would give his support to the resolutions. .
Lord J. RUSSELL said that Mr. Horsman could hardly
hope that the house would affirm a resolution to the effect
that the ecclesiastical commissioners had not fulfilled the
trust reposed in them, and he, therefore, hoped he would
withdraw his motion. He was not at present prepared to
make any alteration in the mode of administering the
church revenues, because he did not see his way clearly,
and was unwilling to legislate until he did.
The house divided, and the motion, which was some-
what modified at the instance of Mr. HEYWOOD, was
negatived by a majority of 130 to 65.
Mr. PACKE obtained leave to bring in a bill to alter
the time for holding the Epiphany Quarter Sessions. The
object of the bill was to postpone these sessions from the
week after the 28th December, when they are now held,
to the week after December 31st. By that means the
judges, the witnesses, and the bar would have an oppor-
tunity, which they now did not possess, of enjoying their
Christmas holidays.

Sir G. GREY thought that some objection to the bill
might arise hereafter on the ground of its interference
with term.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-WEDNESDAY

The nomination of the committee to inquire into the
causes of the late commercial panic was proceeded with
this day. A notice stood on the paper in the name of
Lord G. Bentinck, that on the appointment of the com-
mittee, he should move the following substitutions :
_ _

Mr. ifastie for Mr. Labouchere, Mr. W. Brown for Mr.
Cardwell, Mr. Henley for Mr. Ricardo, Mr. Pattison for
Sir W. Clay, and Mr. Muntz for Mr. J. Wilson. The
twenty-six names proposed by the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer were therefore put seriatim to the house, and on
coming to each of those for which Lord G. Bentinck pro-
posed to substitute others, divisions took place on each,
but the hon. members named by the government were
carried by considerable majorities.
Mr. BROTHERTON brought forward his motion to pre-
vent the house as much as possible sitting after twelve
o'clock at night; but, after a short discussion, it was
negatived by a majority of 57 to 33.