§ Mr. F. Frenchwished to ask whether her Majesty's Government were prepared to enforce an act of the Irish Parliament, the 35th of Henry 6th., by which the benefices of those prelates who resided away from their sees for a certain period without due cause were to be sequestrated?— the one-half was to be bestowed in church endowments, and the other given to the public service.
§ Sir R. Peelsaid, the hon. Member had placed the statute 35th of Henry 6th. in his hands, which was plain enough but without knowing how far the provisions of that statute might have since been modified by other acts of the Legislature, and without knowing under what circumstances the individuals alluded to might be absent, or how far their absence might have been authorized, or how far the statute might be applicable to their particular cases, it was impossible for him at that moment to do more than to state generally his deep regret that any prelate should be permanently absent from the exercise of his spiritual functions in Ireland.