§ MR. MELLORsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether it is a fact that Archbishop Bramhall was instrumental in purchasing tithes from lay impropriators in Ireland amounting to £30,000 per annum or more; and, whether the purchase money was or was not raised by large private subscriptions in England; and, if so, whether the tithes so purchased by that most Right Reverend Prelate will be retained by the disestablished Church in Ireland?
MR. GLADSTONESir, the Question put to me by the hon. Member refers to a point of historical investigation to which I had no time to allude in the speech I made on the subject of the Irish Church, and which I can hardly explain in a satisfactory manner within the compass of a reply to a Question. I must, therefore, ask the hon. Gentleman to be content for the present with my making a very brief answer to the various portions of his Question. I do not think it is the fact—
That Archbishop Bramhall was instrumental in purchasing tithes from lay impropriators in Ireland amounting to £30,000 per annum or more.I have no doubt that Archbishop Bramhall did acquire, during the reign of 1462 Charles I., both very considerable amounts of tithes and quantities of land for the Church; and that he may have given a sum of money for that purpose I am not prepared to dispute. But I do not believe that these transactions were at all in the nature of what are now understood as purchases. Therefore, to the question whether the purchase money was or was not raised by large private subscriptions in England, I must answer that I am not aware that any proof exists that any considerable sum of money was raised by private subscriptions in England for that purpose. With regard to the latter part of the Question—namely—Whether the tithes so purchased by that most Right Reverend Prelate will be retained by the disestablished Church in Ireland,That of course the hon. Member would be able to answer from the Bill itself. They would not be retained.