THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLINasked the Lord President of the Council, Her Majesty having graciously issued Her Licence permitting the Convocation of Canterbury to amend or repeal the Twenty-ninth Canon of the Canons of 1603, and that body having, in obedience thereto, prepared a new Canon giving permission to parents to become sponsors for their children, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to recommend Her Majesty to grant to the prelates and clergy of the Church in Ireland the like opportunity of amending or repealing the Sixteenth Canon of 1634, which is identical with the Twenty-ninth English Canon? The most rev. Prelate said that he did not for a moment imagine that the Government, by denying to the prelates and clergy of the Church of Ireland opportunities of considering this and other matters which they had permitted to the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury, intended to cast any slight upon the Church in that country; but if a similar course were pursued in future the Church in Ireland might come to occupy a position altogether different from, and inferior or subordinate to, that of the sister branch of the Church in England.
§ EARL GRANVILLEwas understood to say that the Government had no intention of reviving the action of Convocation in Ireland, in order that it might consider the Canon referred to by the most rev. Prelate, and that they were not at present advised how that body ought to be constituted, or what its powers might be.
§ THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURYthought that whatever privileges were allowed to the Church in England ought to be shared by the Church in Ireland, which was an integral part of the Estab- 1161 lishment. He was not anxious for the revival of Convocation in Ireland; but if certain privileges were conceded to the provinces of Canterbury and York they ought to be extended to those of Dublin and Armagh. It was desirable that their Lordships should learn from the highest authority what really were the powers of Convocation. The question was, how the province of Canterbury, even under licence of the Queen, had any power to impose or amend Canons, except in concurrence with the Irish branch of the Establishment. He had been told by great legal authorities that by the Act of Union the Church in Ireland and the Church in England were closely united; that they were at this moment one and indivisble; that whatever powers were conferred upon the province of Canterbury must be given to the other provinces; and that if powers were given exclusively to the province of Canterbury, whatever was done under them was of no more value than if it had passed in one of the vestries of the metropolis. He thought that before they went any further, and before the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury was allowed to hold successive sittings, their Lordships and the country ought to have some clear legal statement as to what were the real powers of Convocation.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Seven o'clock, till To-morrow, half past Ten o'clock.