Lord Broughamsaid, that he had a petition 692 to present on a subject which was of the very highest importance to the people of the northern part of this island, and to which he begged to call the attention of her Majesty's Government. The petition was signed by 41,000 inhabitants of Glasgow and its vicinity, one of the most numerously-signed that had been presented to either House of Parliament of late years on any subject. The petitioners represented the injustice and impolicy of all civil distinctions on religious grounds, and especially the injustice of taxing people of one religious persuasion to pay for the religious instruction of those of a different faith. They stated that they had heard that applications had been made to the House for the grant of increased endowments to the Established Church in Scotland, and they most humbly prayed the House to reject such proposal, from whatever quarter it proceeded, and from whatever source the additional endowment was proposed to be derived.—The noble and learned Lord presented a similar petition from Paisley, signed by upwards of 2,000 persons, and agreed to at a meeting at which the Provost presided. The fact that these two petitions had been signed by upwards of 43,000 individuals was, he thought, a proof that the great community of the industrious Scotch manufacturers, that highly religious and intelligent body of men, were not suffering themselves to look on with indifference and in a lukewarm manner at this great and important subject; a subject respecting which he (Lord Brougham) on several occasions had been strongly urged to ascertain what were the intentions of her Majesty's Government; and he now wished to have an explanation from the noble Viscount on that point, as the deputies from the dissenting congregations in that part of the kingdom (Scotland) were in town, and were desirous of obtaining information upon the subject. He therefore called upon her Majesty's Government explicitly to state what they meant to do, in order to quiet the alarm existing in the minds of their fellow-subjects in Scotland, which were more excited on this than on any other subject. As four months of the Session had already passed away, and nothing had been done respecting it, or indeed anything else, except to discourage the people of Canada, and to encourage slavery, he supposed that nothing would be done on the subject this Session.
§ Viscount Melbournesaid, that he saw no particular reason why the noble and learned 693 Lord should come to the conclusion which he had done. He remembered being asked in a former Session of Parliament, what it was the intention of the Government to do upon this great and important question—a question which, according to the noble and learned Lord's own showing, was neither postponed nor abandoned, but was pari positione with all others. At that time the noble and learned Lord was sitting on the woolsack, and he recollected that a petition was presented by the noble and learned Lord from members of the Church of Scotland on the subject. He did not know whether the noble and learned Lord actually supported the prayer of that petition, but he certainly very strongly recommended that it should be taken into the serious consideration of the Government. With respect to the question which had been put to him, he was not prepared to give any other answer to it at the present moment than that which he gave before to his noble Friend (Lord Aberdeen), namely, that the matter was now under the consideration of the Government.
Lord Broughamwas truly happy to hear that among various other important subjects, along with the recommendations of the noble Duke (the Duke of Wellington) on the slave trade, the subject of Scotch Church Accommodation was "under the consideration of the Government," and about the time, perhaps, of the Greek kalends the decision of the Government would be announced. As to the petition which he had presented from the Church of Scotland, he had expressed no opinion upon it; neither had he on the present occasion expressed any positive opinion. He thought it due, however, to the petitioners that they should receive the attention of the Government.
§ The Earl of Aberdeensaid, that last year petitions without number were presented upon this subject, but in a very different sense from that expressed in the petition presented by the noble and learned Lord. He had presented many himself, and petitions would have been presented this year, but that the people of Scotland had reason to believe that the subject was not only under the consideration of her Majesty's Government, but under their favourable consideration.
The Earl of Haddingtonwas of opinion, that there could not be a more inconvenient moment for discussing this subject than on the presentation of petitions; but he would take the liberty of saying, that if their 694 Lordships were led to suppose, from the absence of petitions in favour of Church-endowment in Scotland, that the feelings of the people were all on one side, and that in opposition to such endowments, they were led into a great error indeed. He believed if the feelings of the people of Scotland were to be ascertained by polling them, a great majority of those attached to the Established Church would be in favour of those endowments to which the Voluntaries and the Dissenters were naturally opposed.
§ Petitions laid on the table.