§ THE EARL OF CHICHESTERrose, pursuant to Notice, to present Petitions praying for the Appointment of a Royal Commission to consider of certain Alterations in the Book of Common Prayer. The noble Earl said, that the petitions, which were forty-seven in number, were signed by upwards of 7,000 persons, many of whom were persons of great responsibility and learning, including among the number many professors and clergymen. He had given notice of his intention to present these petitions because his most rev. Friend (the Archbishop of Canterbury) and the noble Earl at the bead of the Government had both at an earlier part of the Session expressed their unwillingness at present to entertain the question. The petitioners in nearly every instance prayed for the appointment of a Royal Commission, one of their reasons being the great evil resulting from the present extravagant ceremonials practised in some of our churches. While he concurred with the petitioners in regarding these practices as at variance with the spirit of the Church of England, he confessed he did not see how these practices would be affected directly or indirectly by a revision of the Prayer Book. He thought, indeed, that their aim in any revision of the Church services should be rather towards comprehension than exclusion. It might be possible, by a more vigorous application of the law, to put a stop to any practices which were illegal; but he did not see how it could be done by a legislative revision of the Liturgy. Some vigorous executive administration might perhaps be possible, and in that case some of those practices which were against the law might be checked by means of the law.