The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-06-08 00:00:00

PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

1w TUE 1,011011 there was, last night, for a wonder,
some little debating; bat it was all about religion.—
The Lake of NE WCAtITLI presented a parcel of pe•
titious from Nottinghamshire, against Csantxo's
Catholic Bill, and he took this opportunity of (simmer-
ing, that this was one of the must crafty and yell.
Weal measures ever introduced. Surely his Orate
did not mean to say that Mr. CANNING is a Jesuit.—
The Irish boast of this gentleman as their country-
GI 10 ; be attended the last St. Patrick's dinner ;
and le watched him there when he said something
nbi9g looked very much like claiming a family eon-
s:salon both with England and Ireland. But we, at
any rate. really did not look upon him as a Jesuit.
We always knew his Bill would be lost, and were
always pretty sure that he knew it, too. But we did
rut think that it would he called absolutely a Jesu-
itical measure. flowerer, that the Bill will be lost
is eery certain ; for, as we said before, it is a ques-
tion of tse:cs; it is a question of staff to eat and
driok, and to dress fine and to make merry ; not
a question of conscience, or of any thirg of the sort.
If the Catholic Peers be admitted, so most Catholic
Commons, lad !holy-otiose Catholic Priests; and what
earthly pretext can there then be for appropriating
the tytbes, which were first granted to Catholics to
be devoured by Protestants? If this Bill were to pass,
we must very soon leave the people of Ireland to
c,:oose their own e•ctors and vicars; and if it ever
comes to that, either in Ireland or in this country,
we think the chances decidedly in favour of a Priest-
hood, uniccumbered with wives and families. Give
bath fair play and the Catholic Priests will beat their
opponents to a certainty.

Lord Beene presented petitions from a couple of
parsons, who bad had long strings of que‘tions put
to them by the Bishop of Peterborough (.41arolt), who
explained so folly the meaning of the evidence of
Barbara Krantz ! The Bishop has, it twenty, rather
better than four score of questions down in print,
ss bleb he sends to all those Curates, or Clergymen
that apply to him for licenses to act as Ministers of
the Church. These two petitioners, or the first, at
at least, had given long dissertations in answer to
the Bishop, In place of a yes or a no. The Ilithop
said that the answers were perplexed and aolLi-
(woos ; and, thereupon, he refused the license re-
piey ed of bias.—We, had we been in the place of
the petitioner, would have desired the Bishop befote
lie cLUed epos us fur an answer, to eighty-seven ques-
tions, elegies something like an answer himself, to his
Catholic opponent,Doctor GRANDOLPIM who beat hint
out of the field, and made him scamper for shelter to
t►e strong fortress of Acts of Parliament. Lord
lIoL-
LAND, who we were sorry to perceive treating the
thing in a manner far too serious, made one good ob-
servation, namely, that the Bishop judicially restricted
Itis examination to egrates without interfering with
MICA preovittd to tieing.: This was a very good re-
mark. Lord Decor complimented the Bishop un his
learning and character. The Bishop wrote a Pitt pam-
phlet iu favour of the prosecution of the war against the
republicansof France. And we can say of that pamphlet,
that it was a heap of the most stupid stuff that ever fell
Prow the press. In the pension list delivered in MS,
ibis Marsh stands fur a pension of about seven Initi-
ated a year; and if we had been the petitioner
in place of the unfortunate ca►ate, we should
tot have thanked Lord LUCRE for the part that
it acted. Lord CAL eeeee ewas is favour of the peti-
tioner; and Lord HARZOWDY was for having the
petition received, though he did not wish to support
any fprther proceedings upon it. The LORD CH•pr-
ckiLos consented to receiving the petition, but not in
the sense of its attaching any blame to the Bishop.
Lord Dacus then moved fur a Committee to examine
into the matter of the petition.—Lord CAILIti•IIVON
called upon the Bench of Bishops to approve or disap-
}rove of the conduct of their Right 11ev. Brother.
lbey remained silent, however, and the motion was
ergatived by a large majority.—The fact of the