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Speech in the House of commons,July 21, 1835
Speech in the House of commonsJuly 21 1835 Author:Robert Peel Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the purpose of showing that it is impossible, if Ministers be only consistent with themselves, that they can have any surplus to dispose of. From the report, the... more »n, it appears that there are in Ireland 1,385 benefices, of which 264 have fewer than fifty Protestants residing in them. It must be recollected that there is a very material difference between a benefice and a parish, for a benefice may consist of one or more parishes. There are 2,505 separate parishes; but, as I stated before, there are only 1,385 benefices. In 264 of these benefices there are fewer than fifty Protestants. I am not now going to argue this question on any principles assumed or asserted by myself, but on the principles laid do.vn by the Government by which this inquiry has been directed; and I will show that, even on their own principles, they ought, in place of one, to have two separate bills. (Cheers.) I will show that not only they will have no surplus, but that they will not have even enough to carry into effect the views professed by themselves. There are in Ireland 1,385 benefices, of which 264 have fewer than fifty Protestants. There are, therefore, 1,121 of these benefices having a Protestant population of fifty and upwards. I must here observe, in passing, that I totally dissent from the principle which would make the income of the Clergyman proportioned merely to the amount of the Protestant population of the benefice. I will in my calculations make no demand for the expense of building churches. I will consent that the cess shall be provided for out of ecclesiastical revenues, that the expense of building churches and glebe houses shall proceed from the same source; and if you do this, I contend that not one shilling of surplus revenue will remain. The objects contemplated by Lord Grey were the ...« less