§ The Earl Fitzwilliamsaid, that he had moved for returns relative to the number of troops now stationed in Ireland, which had not been laid on the Table.
§ The Earl Fitzwilliamwould be glad to see it, and he wished that the people of this country would see the expensive mode in which it was now necessary to govern, or rather to occupy Ireland. He was sure that their Lord- 999 ships, and the public at large in England, would soon have very good reason to consider that subject. There was another subject to which he must allude, and however distasteful it might be to the public at large, peculiarly distasteful as it might be to their Lordships, and however distasteful it might be before the other House of Parliament, it was a subject which at no distant period must force itself on their Lordships' attention. If he had not been misinformed, his noble Friend, the President of the Council, not long since, had discussed the subject in that House, and had stated his objections to arranging or adjusting it. From this he concluded that the Government saw the difficulties one way, and another way, and a third way, and a fourth way; and the conclusion which he could not but form was, that people who discovered great difficulties in accomplishing a great object, had declared that the object should not be accomplished, and therefore he drew the inference, that Her Majesty's Government would not be too extremely curious in discovering the mode of overcoming those difficulties. He had not told their Lordships as yet what was the subject on which the difficulties presented themselves to the minds of the Government, and he was sure, though he had not told it, that his noble Friend, and the noble Lords opposite, must have a strong suspicion on their minds of what that question was; and that was, the condition and the mode in which spiritual comforts were administered, and the provision made in this country for the administration of spiritual comfort to the people of Ireland. He apprehended that no person in that House would deny, and he trusted that no one in the other House would deny, that one of the most important duties that could devolve upon the Civil Government of this country was to provide for the spiritual comfort of the people of this country. The Government of this country had not provided for the spiritual instruction of the people of Ireland; it did provide for the instruction of a small portion—it did provide for the noble Marquess opposite—it did provide for the noble Earl who sat near him—it did provide for the noble Lords on the benches near him—and it did provide for him when he did occasionally reside in Ireland—but it provided no instruction for the people of Ireland. The Govern- 1000 ment had neglected one of its most important duties towards the people they were governing. In his opinion, the time had arrived when the consideration of the people of this country must be turned to a provision for the spiritual comforts of the people of Ireland; and as long as there was ecclesiastical property in that country, out of that ought to come the funds for providing that spiritual instruction to the people. That proposal was extremely distasteful to noble Lords opposite, but there were many things which were more distasteful than providing religious instruction for persons of different religious opinions; and the time had arrived when the people of this country must make up their minds fully to consider what they are to do. He knew that there were prejudices and antipathies growing out of what men fancied to be religion, but what was not religion, but which, when they got hold of people's minds, rendered it difficult to reconcile a nation to what militated against their views: but that this must be considered, and that the provision must come out of the ecclesiastical property in Ireland he had no doubt.