HC Deb 10 July 1873 vol 217 cc148-9
SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If he will lay upon the Table a Copy of the Petition addressed to the Upper House of Convocation by 480 Clergymen of the Church of England, praying for the revival of Sacramental Confession and for the establishment of an Order of Confessors, and of certain rites and ceremonies abolished at the time of the Reformation, with the signatures attached thereto?

MR. BRUCE,

in reply, said, he did not receive any Copy of the Petition referred to in the Question, and, as Convocation was not now sitting, it was impossible to make any proper communication to that body on the subject.

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

Are there no means by which Parliament can obtain a Copy of the Document?

MR. BRUCE

None that I can see, when Convocation is not sitting.