§ Order of the Day for the Third Reading read.
LORD HOUGHTONsaid, the Bill which he had the honour of introducing was not, as this was, a mere Indemnity Bill, but a Bill to fix a disputed point of law in the sense which it had been acted upon in the custom of the country for upwards of 100 years. But the Bill which he introduced had been totally altered; and this Bill, if passed, would be altogether contrary to the Act of Uniformity, inasmuch as it would permit any clergyman to publish banns of matrimony either after the Second Lesson or after the Nicene Creed at Morning Service. It would enable a large body of clergymen to defy and break the law according to any fancy they might adopt of what it was. The Bill which he introduced was in accordance with the whole common sense of the country; but, unfortunately, a right rev. Prelate (the Bishop of Oxford), who possessed the art of persuasion, had induced the Government to adopt his views and to alter the character of the Bill. For his own part, as he thought this alteration in the Bill would have the effect of interfering with the Act of Uniformity, and with the Act which was passed to prevent clandestine marriages, and of encouraging clergymen to defy the law when there was no necessity for it, he trusted the House would not agree to it.
§ On Question, Bill read 3a, with the Amendments; an Amendment made; Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.