§ Mr. Hawessaid, that the noble Lord, (Lord Althorp) was, no doubt, aware that, in several of the large towns, at public meetings, resolutions had been carried against the payment of Church-rates. That was the case in one part of the borough which he represented. With a view to allay any angry feeling which might arise on that subject in the interval that would elapse between the end of the present and the commencement of the next Session of Parliament, he wished to ask the noble Lord, whether, in the Bill to be introduced for the Reform of the English Established Church, the same relief would be given to the Protestant Dissenters in this country, as was given to the Catholics in Ireland, with regard to Church-cess?
§ Lord Althorpcould only state, in reply to the question, that the subject had been 1306 under the consideration of his Majesty's Ministers, and it certainly appeared to them that it would be most desirable that some arrangement should be made with regard to the payment of Church-rates. Looking, however, to the comparatively small funds arising out of that cess in the hands of the Church of England, the question in this country was one of much more difficult arrangement than it had been in Ireland.