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s . 496 Intelligence . —Parliamentary : New Churches' Bill .
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tended the Church—and that great benefit had accrued to mankind in general , it would be niggardly and miserable in Parliament , having the means in its possession , to hold in its hand , and to refuse to contribute one farthing to the maturing of those important effects which had so auspiciously commenced . The question must not be viewed as on ^ of pounds , shillings and pence ; it must be considered as one which involved the religious comfort and consolation of the people . If Parliament , then , was of opinion that the money had not been misapplied , he would confidently ask a vote for the , £ 500 , 000 . At the same time he wa 3 sure that a great deal might still be done by the professors of the Church , for they were not so cold and indifferent to its interests as had been represented . He confessed that , notwithstanding all the objections which had been proposed , he did not entertain the slightest doubt that the House would manifest a liberal
dlsnnsitinn . and eive him the full extent of position , and give him the full extent of his demand . The Right Honourable Gentleman concluded by moving— " That His Majesty be authorized to grant Exchequer Bills to the amount of £ 500 , 000 for promoting the building of Churches and Chapels under the regulations and restrictions passed , or to be passed , for that purpose . "
Mr . Hobhouse said , it was quite impossible that any House of Commons could not discover the advantages of the religious education of the people ; and if it were found that there was a necessity
for the proposition which had now been made , the Representatives of the people would not object to it . He stood up for no religious sect , but as the Representative of the Electors of Westminster ; and in the remarks which he should offer he
consulted only the wishes and the feelings of his constituents . The Chancellor of the Exchequer had surprised every individual by a display of his riches . When he presented his Budget the other night , he seemed overwhelmed with the money which was to come in at the end of nve
years ; but the people of England were not surprised at the surplus , and they were convinced how the excess should be distributed for the relief of their immediate wants . If he ( Mr . Hobhouse ) thought that the proposition would give them that relief , he would certainly vote for it ; but he was not aware that any jsuch case had been made out . There
were means in the possession of the Church for supplying the deficiency of which the Right Honourable Gentleman complained ; and although these means ou ^ ht not to be given at once , yet they might be afforded by degrees , The allu-
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sion which had been made to the Scottish Church was not in point . The Presb yterian Church of Scotland could not pay any money , as it had no funds of its own ; and the consequence was , that the exl pense of any advantages which it might be necessary to bestow upon it must come from the public purse . He did not think
the Right Honourable Gentleman would assert that any deterioration in the reli - gious feelings of the people had taken place . —He meant to say that these religious feeliugs had not increased since the grant in 1817 ; they had begun to increase since the French Revolutionary war- The morality of the people had
improved beyond example , particularly In the metropolis , where the morals had ' the greatest chance of being corrupted . It was true that since the passing of the Million Act there had been forty-three applications for new Churches , but this was to be expected . Let it be understood that a certain sum of money was to be given away by Parliament , and there will
always be plenty of applications for it . He would not follow the Right Honourable Gentleman through his details of the parishes ; he would confine himself to Westminster , where it was said that in six of the parishes greater accommodation was required . He had inquired into the facts and found the statement to be
without foundation . He had himself visited several of the Churches ; and although it was true that St . James ' s Church was extremely thronged , yet this arose from the great and deserved popularity of the preacher . In that Church it was sometimes necessary to engage a pew seven years before it could be had . He went next to a second Church in
that neighbourhood , which he found full , but in which there was no want of accommodation ; and then to a third , which was not full ; from which he deduced that no reliance ought to be placed upon the Returns of deficiencies of accommodation contained iti the Returns before the House . He next went to the Parish
Church of St . Anne , Westminster , m which the Returns stated there was a deficiency of accommodation for 14 , 000 souls—the whole parish contained but 1409 houses !—and he found it easy to
procure a seat in a pew ; he found also that in that parish there was no Chapel of Ease . The alleged want of Church accommodation for 14 , 000 persons in that parish was therefore unfounded . He next came to the Parish of St . James ,
Westminster ; the deficiency of accommodation in that parish was stated to be for 26 , 319 individuals , and yet he found that in St . Philip ' s Chapel there was room for many more than it contained—
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1824, page 496, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2527/page/48/
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