§ Sir Robert Peelwished to remind Lord John Russell that the time had now elapsed within which 702 he had promised to make a declaration as to the course which the Government intended to pursue with reference to the question of increased accommodation in the Church of Scotland. Perhaps, therefore, the noble Lord would now state whether it was the intention of the Government to make any proposition on the subject, and if so, at what period it would be made.
§ Lord John Russellsaid, that it was the intention of the Government to make a proposition on that subject, but he did not think that he should be able to propose any vote on the matter before Easter. He would, however, state before that time arrived the general nature of the measure which the Government intended to bring forward: indeed he might state now, that with respect to the Act passed in 1707, relating to unexhausted teinds, it was proposed to give an authority to divide the parishes so as to apply a portion of those unexhausted teinds to the purposes of spiritual instruction in the large parishes in the highlands where the teinds were exhausted, but the Government did not mean to propose any endowment from any public fund for parishes in Edinburgh or Glasgow.
§ Subject dropped.