§ THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURYsaid, he had undertaken, on behalf of the Bishop of Oxford, who was unavoidably absent, to move that the Petition from certain Heads of Colleges, Professors, Fellows, and Tutors of the University of Oxford, for removing the present subscription required for academical degrees, and presented to the House on Friday last by the noble Earl the Foreign Secretary, be printed; but finding from his noble Friend the President of the Council that the Motion would be informal, he should not propose it.
§ EARL RUSSELLsaid, the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Derby) stated the other evening that the Petition which he (Earl Russell) had presented was not signed entirely by Fellows and Tutors, but that among the signatures were to be found those of some Students. That was the case in a few instances; but the Students so signing were members of Christ Church College, and ranked, as the noble Earl would be aware, with Fellows.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYsaid, the noble Earl was correct in his statement. He only received the Petition at twenty minutes past four, with a request from the noble Earl (Earl Russell) to let him have it in the House at five o'clock. In his hasty perusal of the document, seeing the word "Student" attached, it did not at the moment occur to him that the parties who signed might be Students of Christ Church.
§ EARL GRANVILLEsaid, he desired to correct an error into which a right rev. Prelate, the Bishop of Oxford, had fallen 244 in the discussion on Friday night. The right rev. Prelate said, that if the requirement of subscription was abolished at the University, the higher degrees of Divinity would be open to persons who did not belong to the Church of England.
§ EARL GRANVILLEAll persons must be ordained before taking the higher degrees in Divinity. The requirement of subscription by the Bishops was a sufficient safeguard.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYremarked, that the right rev. Prelate distinctly stated, that as far as the University was concerned, the abolition of these tests would open Divinity professorships to persons who might not be members of the Church of England.
§ LORD TAUNTONsaid, the Petitioners distinctly stated that they were anxious that all theological teaching should be confined to members of the Church of England.