§ Commons' Reasons considered, (according to Order).
THE EARL OF MORLEYmoved, that their Lordships do not insist on the Amendments to which the Commons disagreed. The principal of those Amendments was that made by their Lordships providing for what had been termed a religions Census.
§ LORD CAIRNSsaid, that while Parliamentary practice required the House of Commons to assign Reasons for disagreeing to an Amendment, it provided no means of inventing good Reasons where none existed. In the present case they had, therefore, been obliged to assign two Reasons as bad and insufficient as could be imagined—namely, that an inquiry into religious opinions would be objectionable to a large number of people, and that the expense involved in it was not worth incurring. After the course which the Government and the House of Commons had adopted it was useless to press the matter; but he only hoped that when any question arose as to the number of adherents of various religious denominations in England, it would not be again suggested, as had been done on former occasions, that those who opposed this Census were able to number themselves by millions in this country.
§ Motion agreed to: the Amendments to which the Commons disagree not insisted on.