THE DUKE OF ARGYLLsaid, he desired to ask a question of the noble Earl opposite with reference to the effect of the Motion agreed to last night on the Irish Church. Was it intended that the investigation should be limited to an inquiry as to facts, and that no opinions should be expressed by the Commission? The inference to be drawn from the recorded vote, which stated that information was to be procured as to the nature and amount of the property and revenues of the Established Church in Ireland, with a view to their more productive management, and stopped there, was that the inquiry would be limited to such questions as whether the property had been properly managed; and in that case there would be no inquiry and no report with reference to the facts of the distribution of the property. He desired, therefore, to ask what were the intentions of the Government as to the scope of the Commission they were about to issue.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYsaid, the noble Duke was no doubt correct as to the terms of the Resolution in the form in which it was passed; but, personally, be (the Earl of Derby) stated that he thought it desirable that the Commission should inquire into the whole state and condition of the Irish Church, including the points to which the noble Duke had referred. He apprehended that the House, by assenting to the Motion for an Address to the Crown in favour of inquiry, did not preclude the Government from making the inquiry more extensive than the Resolution indicated it should be; and he hoped that the Commission would inquire into every particular.