Lord Carberybegged leave to inquire from some of his Majesty's Ministers, whether it was likely that the Second Report of the Tithe Committee would soon be presented. They were advancing to a late period of the Session, and, unless the Legislature interfered, he did not believe that any one clergyman in the South of Ireland would be able to get his tithes, or any payment for them.
The Marquess of Lansdownagreed in the propriety of getting this difficult and delicate question settled, and he had much pleasure in stating to the noble Lord, that the Committee had advanced materially in their labours, and that they had already 545 brought the evidence to a close. He had also the pleasure to state, that the heads of a Report were in the hands of the members of the Committee, and he had no doubt but that in a short period the Report itself would be drawn up and presented. For the satisfaction of the noble Lord, he had also no hesitation in saying, that the Committee of the other House was equally far advanced; and, as any bill on the subject must be introduced in that House, he thought the noble Lord might expect to see a measure introduced, without delay, founded on the proceedings of the Committee.
Lord Carberysaid, he should not have pressed the question but from the state of the country, which was worse than their Lordships could imagine. It was but the other day that a mob of many thousand persons went into the city of Cork, the second city in Ireland, to prevent the sale of cattle taken in a distress for tithe. He had accounts of mobs assembled in other places, where the Roman Catholic clergymen attended; and he had a letter that day from a gentleman, informing him that 20,000 persons met in another part of the country, determined to prevent even the attempt at a sale.