or the preservation of their religion. It was for the
defence of the religion of the country that the settlement of the crown
was made which has placed me in the situation which I now fill; and that
religion, and the church of England and Ireland, the prelates of which
are now before me, it is my fixed purpose, determination, and resolution
to maintain. The present bishops, I am quite satisfied, have never been
excelled at any period of the history of our church by any of their
predecessors in learning, piety, or zeal in the discharge of their high
duties. If there are any of the inferior arrangements in the discipline
of the church--which, however, I greatly doubt--that require amendment,
I have no distrust of the readiness and ability of the prelates now
before me to correct such things; and to you, I trust, they will be left
to correct, with your authority unimpaired and unshackled."

COMMISSION ISSUED TO INQUIRE INTO THE STATE OF THE IRISH CHURCH.

On the 2nd of June, when the house reassembled, Lord Althorp stated that
Mr. Ward's motion had compelled ministers to take up the question of the
Irish church; and he informed the house that his majesty had appointed
a commission of inquiry into the state of church property and church
affairs generally in Ireland. This commission, he said, was to be a lay
commission; and it was to visit the different parishes and districts
throughout Ireland; to inquire on the spot into the number of
Protestants in each parish; whether that number was stationary,
increasing, or declining; whether it was a benefice, or if a parish
forming part of a union; the distance and number of churches and
chapels; the situation of the clergyman, how paid, and whether resident
or non-resident; the times which divine service was or had been
performed; the number of Protestants attending such service; and whether
that attendance was stationary, on the increase, or declining. Similar
inquiries were to be made in each parish and district with respect to
Roman Catholics, and to Dissenters of every description, as well as to
the number and the nature of schools in each parish. The commissioners
were further to make minute inquiries in all parishes, touching other
matters connected with the Irish church or church property, and to
report thereupon. Lord Althorp, after making these statements, said that
Mr. Ward's motion went to pledge the house that the amount of church
property in Ireland was beyond th