§ MR. WHALLEYasked the First Lord of the Treasury, with reference to the Act passed on the 31st of July last, whereby it is provided that any application for a Charter for any College or University, and a Copy of such Charter shall be laid before the Houses of Parliament for thirty days before the Report thereon shall be submitted to Her Majesty, Whether such laying of the Document before Parliament would be deemed to authorize the exercise of the Prerogative in granting a Charter, and especially so in the case of a Roman Catholic College or University in Ireland?
MR. GLADSTONEsaid, he was not quite certain whether he rightly understood 1436 the meaning of the hon. Gentleman. The Question was twofold—as to the construction of an Act of Parliament, and as to the action of the Government. The Question had only fallen under his eye within the last two hours, and within that time it had not been in his power to ascertain the true construction of the Act. The practical point he believed he had answered long ago in the most distinct terms which his powers of speech enabled him to use—namely, that Her Majesty's Government considered that any question relating to the Queen's University in Ireland and to the matters which were handled in 1866 ought not to be considered in connection with those legislative provisions which public policy would require to be brought under the consideration of Parliament in relation to the Dublin University. If that declaration was not satisfactory to his hon. Friend he should be very glad to supply anything which he might have omitted; but the answer appeared to him to cover the whole scope of the matter contained in the Question.