§ Mr. O'Connell, in presenting Petitions from Parishes in the County of Cork, against the Vestry Act, said, that the petitioners all complained of the oppressive operation of this Act, the imperfection of which was admitted by Ministers, yet they refused to amend it.
§ Sir R. Peelsaid, the hon. and learned Member was quite mistaken—Ministers did not refuse to amend the Act. They refused to pledge themselves to adopt a particular remedy, on the offer made for the withdrawal of the hon. and learned Member's motion on the subject; but they expressed themselves willing to take the whole question into consideration, with a view to the amendment of the Act.
§ Mr. O'Connell, in moving that the petitions do lie on the Table, begged to say, that he was right in both his positions: first, that Ministers admitted that the measure required a remedy; and, secondly, that they—he would not say refused, but they did that which looked very like a refusal—they strongly declined to take measures to amend it.
§ Sir R. Peelwould assert, that Government neither refused nor declined to amend the Act. They admitted that it required consideration, and that they were disposed to consider it; but they refused to pledge themselves to a particular course, which was suggested by the hon. member for Limerick, as a condition on which the hon. and learned Member's motion on the subject was to be withdrawn.
§ The Petitions were ordered to lie on the Table.
§ Mr. O'Connell, in presenting a similar Petition from Ballybay, said, that the Go- 1260 vernment had postponed the amendment of the Act indefinitely, and if that did not look like declining to amend it, he did not understand the English language as well as he did the Irish.