Viscount Lortonpresented a petition from the Protestant inhabitants of the parish of Dare, in the county of Cavan, for the restoration of the ten Irish bishoprics which were suppressed by the Irish Church Temporalities Bill. The noble Viscount said, he should take that opportunity to put a question to the noble Lord at the head of her Majesty's Government, and to enable him to do so he should first read a clause contained in the Roman Catholic Relief Bill. His question had reference to certain letters which had recently been addressed to Lord John Russell by a Roman Catholic prelate. He did not mean to say anything as to the spirit or tendency of those letters, which were signed "John Tuam." Now, the 24th section of the Roman Catholic Relief Act ran thus:—
And whereas the Protestant episcopal church of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, and likewise the Protestant Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, are by the respective acts of union of England and Scotland, and of Great Britain and Ireland, established permanently and inviolably; and whereas the right and title of archbishops to their respective provinces, of bishops to their sees, and of deans to their deaneries, as well in England as in Ireland, have been settled and established by law; be it therefore enacted, that from and after the commencement of this act it shall not be lawful for any person, other than the person thereunto authorised by law, to assume or use the name, style, or title of archbishop of any province, bishop of any bishopric, or dean of any deanery, in England or Ireland; and every person so offending shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of 100l.Now, the question which he had to ask, 543 and he trusted that a satisfactory answer would be given, was, whether steps had been taken by the Government to enforce this penalty, in consequence of a Roman Catholic prelate having assumed the title of archbishop and affixed the signature of "John Tuam" to certain inflammatory letters addressed to one of her Majesty's Secretaries of State?
§ Viscount Melbournesaid, it was a matter, in the first instance, to be inquired into by the Irish government. He did not know whether any steps had been taken with reference to it, but he should inform himself on the subject.
§ Subject dropped.