ed
and thirty years the country had enjoyed a state of religions peace,
a blessing that had arisen out of the wisdom of our laws. But what
had been the state of the country for the hundred and thirty years
immediately preceding that period? England had been the scene of the
most sanguinary religious contentions. The blessings of the latter
period were to be attributed solely to the nature of those laws which
granted toleration to all creeds, at the same time that they maintained
a just, a reasonable, and a moderate superiority in favour of the
established church. Their lordships were now called upon to put
Protestants and Catholics on the same footing; and if they consented
to do this, certain he was, that the consequence would be religious
dissension, and not religious peace." Upon a division the bill was
thrown out by a majority of one hundred and seventy-eight against one
hundred and thirty. The two auxiliary bills, called, by way of derision,
"the wings," after this failure were of course abandoned, although they
also would have passed the commons by large majorities.

COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF IRELAND.

In the last session a committee of the lords had been appointed to
inquire into the state of those districts in Ireland which were subject
to the operation of the insurrection act. Early in this session another
committee was appointed to inquire into the state of Ireland generally.
The result of the labours of the committee was a brief and vague report,
but accompanied by a mass of evidence, which threw great light upon the
condition of the general body of the Irish people. It showed that they
lived in the most degraded state; that they were without property; and
that their existence was sustained by an insufficient quantity of food
of the most unwholesome kind. This report, however, was presented at too
late a period of the session to be made the basis of any enactments; and
though various discussions took place during the session on particular
circumstances connected with the state of Ireland, none of them led to
any result affecting the condition of the people.

MR. HUME'S MOTION AGAINST THE IRISH CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT, ETC.

On the 14th of June Mr. Hume moved two resolutions relative to the
Protestant church of Ireland:--first, "That the property now in the
possession of the established church in Ireland is public property,
under the control of the legislature, and applicable to such p