proposed, that in all marriages in Dissenting chapels the registrar should be present at the ceremony. Then there remained that class of persons to whom he had before adverted, but which certainly was not very numerous, namely those who declared that marriage was a simple civil contract; and in order to make the measure complete he should give them something resembling what the right hon. Gentleman proposed to give them in his Bill of last year. Instead, however, of making them go before the magistrate, as had been proposed, he should prefer that the parties, in such a case, should go before the chief superintendent of the district, and that they should be married according to a certain form of words prescribed in the Bill. The only difference between the marriages in the Church of England and those in Dissenting chapels was, that in the former the clergyman would have to enter the date of the ceremony, and the names of the parties, in the parish register-book, and that he afterwards must prepare a duplicate copy of the certificate of marriage, which he must send within a few days to the local registrar, who would enter it in the usual way, and afterwards send it to the chief register office in London. It thus appeared that he did not propose that it should be incumbent on the registrar to be present at marriages in the Church of England; but in Dissenters' chapels he deemed it requisite that the registrar should be present. In the Church of England, then, all the forms of marriage would be preserved, and at the same time he trusted adequate relief would be given to the conscientious objections of the Dissenters. These were the chief points of the two Bills which he proposed to introduce. He thought by the proposed civil register they would have a further advantage, which he did not think could be obtained in any other way. would relieve the Protestant Dissenter from that which he conscientiously considered a grievance, and, at the

same time, it would afford good security against clandestine marriages. By passing these Bills, he thought that the Legislature would deprive the Dissenters of one of those grounds of complaint which had been adverted to in the King's Speech, and would relieve them from grievances which they considered a burden on their consciences. He thought for this purpose, above all, a system of civil registration was necessary, and therefore it was, that he was anxious to consider both Bills together. Thus, then, while no disadvantage was offered to the Church, a complete relief was afforded to the Protestant Dissenters with respect to the grievances of which they complained. He would say a few words, and a very few, with respect to other practical grievances of which he had heard Protestant Dissenters complain during the last three or four years. The first complaint was, want of a civil and general register; the second was the want of a marriage ceremony, which was not offensive to their feelings. With respect to these two points, he had already addressed the House, and he trusted that the two Bills he proposed to introduce would afford an ample and satisfactory remedy. The third subject of complaint was the disabilities under which the Dissenters laboured, as regarded Oxford and Cambridge, which, at the same time, prevented them from obtaining those degrees in sciences and arts which might be obtained by the members of the Church of England. On this subject he would merely observe that he had always been favourable to opening the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to Dissenters; but he should be guilty of something like delusion if he held out any prospect of immediate relief in this respect. Some Protestant Dissenters, however, looked to another mode by which those honours and distinctions might be attained, from which they ought not to be debarred in consequence of their religious opinions. He meant the establishment of a new University. This

subject had occupied the attention of the Government, and his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer had devoted much time to devising a plan by which Protestant Dissenters, as well as all other persons, would be enabled to obtain their degrees, and that standing to which they were entitled, but which were now limited to those who studied at Oxford and Cambridge. This plan his right hon. Friend would shortly state to the House. Another matter of complaint was church-rates. Before, however, adverting to this, he would allude to the complaints that had been made, that ministers of Dissenting chapels were not allowed to bury deceased members of their congregations in the burying-grounds of the Church of England. He was not prepared to propose anything on this point; but he would venture to say to those Protestant Dissenters who might be prepared to petition the House on the subject, that the great object all should have in view was, the promotion of religious peace; and that while they left the Church of England in the full enjoyment of the rights which it ought to possess, the Protestant Dissenters should be placed in such a position as to feel themselves perfectly free and equal in all civil concerns, and that this matter should not be an occasion of jarring or quarrelling between themselves and the members of the Church. He was sorry to hear that there were some among the Protestant Dissenters, who stated that they preferred going on with the contest between themselves and the Church on this point, as well as respecting church-rates, rather than the Legislature should interpose to promote peace and harmony. Nothing in his opinion could be more desirable than putting an end to those contests which unhappily subsisted. It was the duty of the Legislature to establish such a system of laws that those feelings of alienation which unhappily existed between members of the Church and Dissenters should be

lessened as much as possible. At the same time both parties should yield to a mutual feeling of good will, and one party ought to feel that it possessed nothing which could be considered an injury to the other. If this state of things was ever established, he should be able to look with confidence to the settlement of the question of burying Dissenters by their ministers in the churchyards. He was sure if they introduced a measure for this purpose at present, and gave Protestant Dissenters, at any time, and under any circumstances, the right of going into churchyards for the purpose of performing any religious ceremonies they pleased, against the wish of the clergyman, so far from promoting harmony, they would widen the breach which now existed. The clergy would feel that it was an unnecessary and unjust interference with them, and it would excite painful feelings in their minds, to see ceremonies performed in the churchyards, against which they entertained serious and conscientious objections. If, however, those feelings of harmony and goodwill were produced, he had no doubt that this might be made a matter of compromise between the clergy and the ministers of the Dissenters. A clergyman living in harmony in his parish, and having feelings of goodwill to all classes of his parishioners, might be induced to allow a funeral ceremony to be performed by a Dissenting minister in whom he had confidence, and with whose piety and devotion he was satisfied, and from whom he did not anticipate anything obnoxious or insulting to his feelings. The subject of church-rates would form a matter of consideration and debate for another day; and he trusted that the end of these measures would be to establish firm peace between all religious parties in this country, and to do away those religious heats which now prevailed; and thus that a spirit of religious harmony would be engendered, in which respect he was sorry to say that England was far behind other

countries. In commerce, in wealth, in industry, and, in some respects, in public instruction, there were some nations far inferior to us, but, in respect of religious tolerance and harmony, they were far before us. The noble Lord concluded with moving for leave to bring in a Bill to establish a general civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales.

Mr. O'Connell rejoiced at the extent of the measure, as regarded the marriages of Protestant Dissenters; but he wished to know whether the measure extended to Roman Catholics?

LORD JOHN RUSSELL replied, that in England and Wales the provisions would extend to Roman Catholics.

ORANGE LODGES.

February 23, 1836.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL hoped that the House would indulge him a few moments after the appeal made to him by his noble Friend. He assured the House, that after the statement of the hon. and gallant Colonel, and of his noble Friend who had just sat down, he felt great pain in being obliged to state that he had heard nothing in the able statements of both which could induce him to alter the resolution in the way they had suggested. In saying this, he hoped he should be understood as not unwilling so to frame the resolution as to meet the wishes of the hon. and gallant Colonel, and of others who felt sensitively on this subject, if he could do so without departing from that which he considered his duty on the present occasion. It did appear to him, after what had occurred last year, that a necessity had arisen for putting an end to all secret associations, and that the House was bound to