§ Mr. Gillonpresented several Petitions, all of them very numerously signed, from most respectable bodies of persons in Scotland, for the general abolition of the Church Establishment of Ireland. They were from the Members of the Political Union of the Borough of Kilmarnock; from the Inhabitants of Hamilton; from the Chairman and Members of the Glasgow Political Union; from the Inhabitants of Carron, signed by 1,200 persons; and from the Inhabitants of the City of Glasgow, signed by 16,000 of the Inhabitants of that place. The hon. Member stated, they had all the same object, though their phraseology was different, and they considered that the alliance between the Church and State was un-scriptural, and injurious to the Church, and prayed the House to take some means, as speedily as possible, to redress the evils complained of. In his opinion, the Coercive Bill they had lately 910 passed was a Bill to keep up that Establishment. It was passed to keep up that Establishment in defiance of public opinion. The prayer of the petition he considered most reasonable. The principle of it was, that all Christians should be allowed to worship God as they pleased, and that they should not have their feelings affronted by being compelled to support the doctrines which other men embraced, and of which they disapproved. The petitioners were strengthened in their support of this sacred principle by remembering that the blood of their martyred fathers had been shed in that same cause. He was satisfied, that no means would ever be devised to tranquillize Ireland till the Church Establishment there was completely extinguished. Great complaints had of late been made of the distress of the people, and he had willingly lent his aid to reduce taxation. He would on all occasions do that; but he would never give his vote for the substitution of any other tax for those he might vote to abolish, till the whole property of the Church of Ireland bad been appropriated to the uses of the State. The petitioners considered that property to belong to the State; so did he; and he would never vote for the imposition of any new tax, till the whole of it was appropriated to relieve the public burthens.
§ Mr. Sinclairtrusted, that the last petition which had been presented would not be considered as speaking the sense of all the inhabitants from whence that petition came. The people of Scotland were sensible that they had derived many blessings from their own Establishment. They were also sensible, that the Established Church had rendered many important services to the general cause of Christianity; and though they desired all reasonable reforms, the abolition contemplated by these petitions they would consider the downfall of the establishment of the country, which would be one of the greatest misfortunes that could befall the united Kingdom.
§ Petition laid upon the Table.