§ Colonel Rawdonwished to ask two questions of the noble Lord the Secretary for Ireland, upon a subject which had created an intense interest throughout the north of Ireland. He wished to ask whether the noble Lord could afford the House any information with regard to the period at which the bill, which the Government had stated their intention to introduce, with regard to the marriages of Presbyterians and Episcopalians, might be expected to be laid upon the table; and also, whether it was the intention of the Government to introduce a clause in the bill, which would bestow on the ministers of those bodies the power of uniting the members of their respective congregations with persons of a different denomination of religion?
§ Lord Eliotsaid, that it had been already intimated by the Government, in answer to a question put by the hon. and learned Member for Cork, that it was the intention of the Government to introduce a bill legalising the marriages to which the hon. Member had referred, but that some time must be occupied in the consideration of the provisions proper to be contained in that measure. He could not add anything new to this statement, except that instructions had been given for the bill to be drawn, and it would no doubt be speedily produced.