limitation of the Crown and the better securing the liberties of the subject, established permanently and inviolably: And whereas the Protestant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, and likewise the Protestant Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, are by the respective Acts of Union between England and Scotland, and between Great Britain and Ireland, therein severally established permanently and inviolably."

It then went on to state, that after due consideration of the "situation, disposition, and conduct," of the Catholics, it appeared just and fitting to communicate to them the benefits of the constitution, in order that dissensions and discords might be extinguished, the Union of Great Britain and Ireland consolidated, and all his Majesty's subjects united, for the defence of his person, family, crown, and government, as well as for the defence of their own common rights and liberties.

After this preamble its first enactment went to repeal the oaths at present required to be taken, and which are in these words:

"I, A. B. do declare, that I believe that there is no transubstantiation in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, or in the elements of bread and wine after the consecration thereof, by any person whatever."

"I, A. B. do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe that in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatever. And that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and

VOL. XVIII. PART 1.

idolatrous. And I do solemnly and voluntarily, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words read unto me, as they are commonly understood by English Protestants, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever, and without any dispensation already granted to me for this purpose by the Pope, or any other authority or person whatsoever, or without thinking that I am or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof, although the Pope or any other person or persons should dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null and void from the beginning."

This oath, which it was obvious no honest and conscientious Catholic could take, and which accordingly formed the disqualification, by excluding Catholics from all offices for which it was required, was to be absolutely repealed; and the Catholics, in addition to the usual oaths of allegiance and abjuration, were to take the following:

"I, A. B. do sincerely promise and swear, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his present Majesty, and will defend him to the utmost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatever that shall be made against his person, crown, or dignity; and I will do my utmost endeavour to discover and make known to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, all treason and traitorous conspiracies, which may be formed against him or them; And I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend to the utmost of my power, the succession of the crown, which succession, by an Act entitled 'An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, and the better securing of the Rights and Liberties of the Subject,' is and always stands limited to the Princess Sophia, Electress

F

and Duchess dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants; hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any obedience or allegiance unto any other person or persons claiming or pretending a right to the crown of these realms: And I do swear, that I do reject and detest, as unchristian and impious, the position, that it is lawful to murder or destroy any person or persons whatsoever, for or under pretence of their being heretics or infidels; and also that unchristian and impious principle that faith is not to be kept with heretics or infidels; And I do further declare that it is not an article of my faith, and that I do renounce, reject, and abjure the opinion, that princes excommunicated by the Pope and council, or by any other authority of the see of Rome, or by any other authority whatsoever, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects, or by any other person whatsoever; And I do promise, that I will not hold, maintain, or abet any such opinion, or any other opinion, contrary to what is expressed in this declaration And I do declare, that I do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other Foreign Prince, Prelate, State, or Potentate, hath or ought to have any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, or superiority whatsoever, directly or indirectly, within this realm: And I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure, any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, for the purpose of instituting a Roman Catholic establishment in its stead; And I do solemnly swear that I will never exercise any privilege to which I am or may become entitled, to disturb the Protestant religion, or Protestant government of this kingdom: And I do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words of this oath, without any evasion, equivoca

tion, or mental reservation whatever, and without thinking that I am or may be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration, or any part thereof, although the Pope, or any other person or authority whatsoever, should dispense with and annul the same, and declare it to be null and void.-So help me GOD."

After declaring that persons taking, making, and subscribing this oath, should be as capable of enjoying all rights, franchises, and offices, as though they took the present oath of suprema cy, the bill went on to provide:

First, That nothing contained in it. should alter, repeal, or dispense with any of those statutes which secured the Protestant succession, or the uniformity of public prayers and sacraments in the Episcopal Churches of England and Ireland.

Secondly, That it should not be considered as allowing any alterations in the admission of persons to ecclesiastical benefices in England, Ireland, or Scotland, of officers in ecclesiastical courts of judicature, or to any cathedral or collegiate foundation or establishment, any office or place in any of the universities, their colleges or halls, or the colleges of Eton, Westminster, and Winchester, or to abrogate any rule or statute which prevented Roman Catholics from being admitted into, residing in, or taking degrees in, these, or any of them. That no Roman Catholic should exercise any right of presentation to an ecclesiastical benefice, in any other manner than that right had been previously exercised, excepting where the presentation should belong to any office in the gift of his Majesty; and that no Roman Catholic should hold the office of Lord High Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal for Great Britain or Ireland, or Lord Lieutenant, or Lord Deputy, or any other Chief Governor or Chief Governors of Ireland,

Thirdly, That by taking the above oath before a competent officer, and in open courts between nine in the morn. ing and two in the afternoon, Catholics should be entitled to hold property, and to enjoy any civil right or of fice not specially provided against.

Fourthly, That a Board of Commissioners under the Great Seal, should be appointed to see that persons chosen as Bishops and Deans of the Irish Catholics, were loyal and well-disposed toward the throne, the constitution, and the government, with power to revoke this commission as his Majesty or his successors should see cause; every commissioner so appointed to take an oath for the due performance of his office, for advising his Majesty faithfully, and for not divulging, except to his Majesty, anything that he might become acquainted with in virtue of his office as commissioner. The persons appointed, to be duly certified to his Majesty as loyal and welldisposed persons; and a copy of this certificate to be furnished to the person verified.

Fifthly, Every Catholic Bishop or Dean to take the aforementioned oath, and at the same time deliver the copy of his certificate, in order that it might be indorsed with a further certificate, of his having taken the oath, and that he should not be appointed unless he should be in possession of such indorsed certificate.

Sixthly, The original of bulls, dispensations, or any other instruments received in Ireland from the Pope, to be transmitted to the Board of Commissioners, and by them reported to the Lord Lieutenant, or other Chief Governor of Ireland. But if such bull or other instrument should relate wholly and exclusively to spiritual matters, it should be sufficient for the party receiving it to make oath to that effect before the Board of Commissioners, or any other court or party com

petent to the administration of an oath. That parties who should thus either deliver up the original instrument for inspection, or make oath to its being wholly of a spiritual nature, should be exempted from the existing penalties; and that parties refusing or neglecting to comply with these injunctions, or either of them, should be punished as for a misdemeanor, and not incur the existing penalties.

The second reading took place upon the 19th of April, and was adjourned to the 21st. Previous to the debate, a number of petitions were presented for and against the measure, the most important of which, perhaps, was one of the former description, from the English Catholics, presented by Lord Nugent, and the most singular one, of the same description, from seventy clergymen of the county of Norfolk, presented by Mr Coke.

The debate was opened by Mr Brownlow, who declared that, though formerly a very strenuous opponent to the claims of the Catholics, he had now very good reason to alter his opinion, and would support the present measure. He did so because he thought the political situation of the Pope had been considerably altered, and because the provision for the Catholic clergy, which he understood was to accompany this measure, or to follow it, would draw them toward the state.

An amendment which, if carried, would have had the effect of throwing out the bill, was moved by Mr Banks, and several members spoke for and against the measure; and the debate was adjourned till the 21st.

On that day Mr Canning said he was certain that among the petitions presented against those claims, there were some which displayed an extreme ignorance of the state of the existing law, and the merits of the general question. They prayed that there

might not be given to the Catholics facilities which the Dissenters did not enjoy. Now, the fact was, that at present the Dissenters had facilities for getting into that House, and into offices, which were not enjoyed by the Catholics. What was it which kept the Catholics from taking their seats in that House? The oath against transubstantiation. But did the House forget that there might be among its members men who believed in consubstantiation, the doctrine which had been avowed and taught by Luther? Did they believe that man a traitor whose creed embraced the one but rejected the other? He did not say there was no difference between the opinions, but was either a difference of a nature to warrant political distinctions? The next objection was the doctrine of exclusive salvation but almost all Churches held some exclusive articles, and let not honourable members who urged this doctrine forget that the Church of England held the Athanasian Creed. The doctrine of absolution was the next objection. That, no doubt, was an absurd doctrine; but the evidence before the Lords showed that that depended upon the future conduct of the person seeking absolution, and not upon him by whom it was granted. But this opinion was not confined to the Catholic Church, for let any man read the instructions for the visitation of the sick in the formulary of the Church of England, and he would there find the doctrine of absolution. The next objection was, that the Catholics attached an overweening value to human actions. This he cer

tainly should not have expected to hear, for those who set a value upon good actions had a better chance of being good members of any state, than those who did not. Neither could he see any valid objection in the argument drawn from the supremacy of the Pope. The only question was, Was it acted upon

in such a way as to make it dangerous? and to this he thought the negative had been made out. It was further said, that the Catholics had an idolatrous regard for their priests; but even granting that they had, the fault was in those who allowed them no other objects of political idolatry; if they bowed down before idols, it was our persecution that had set those idols up. Did we fear that, after we had emancipated the Catholics, they would turn their newly-acquired power against us? That was not probable, and though they were to make the attempt, so great was the power against which they had to contend, that they would be quite harmless. As to securities, he thought those in the bill quite sufficient. He had a few words to say as to the measure with which it was proposed to accompany this bill. He was very willing to take the bill as it now stood, without any of those measures; and with regard to one of them, he had much to say before he could bring his mind to support it. The leaning of his mind, however, was, that if by doing a little wrong, he could accomplish a great right-if by raising the elective franchise-upon the supposition that a franchise in Ireland was very different from one of the same nominal value in England, he should be able to carry the greater measure,-if, as he expected, it could be shown to him in the committee, that by striking at this semblance of freedom he was not destroying the essence of free election, he should be ready to take his share in the obloquy of disfranchising the forty-shilling freeholders. The other measure he looked upon with considerable favour; and he did not see why the Protestant population could object to this regium donum to the Catholic clergy, when their ministers had for some time been in possession of a similar allowance ont of that public re

venue to which the Catholics contributed. He was not, however, wedded for life to those measures; but to the great measure of Catholic Emancipation he was wedded for ever.

Mr Peel said, the question was no longer whether the House would admit the Catholics to a share of political privileges, but whether to a qualified establishment of a Roman Catholic Church. In the articles of the Church of England it was stated that the administration of the sacrament in a language which the vulgar did not understand, was contrary to the word of God that the adoration of saints, the worshipping of images, and the sacrifice of the mass, were not sanctioned by the Bible; and that the Pope had no jurisdiction either temporal or spiritual within this realm. Now, when the clergyman of the Church of England was told that the doctrine, discipline, and government of his church was "established permanently and inviolably," and yet saw that it was intended to erect a modified establishment for another church, those articles which his church condemned as contrary to the Bible, and not sanctioned by the word of God, had he not reason to think that the time was come when it behoved him to insert into his petition matter which trenched upon theological discussion? The bill was in part an alteration of the constitution-a virtual repeal of the Bill of Rights. That bill provided that the oath taken by every person upon his admission to office, should be the oath of supremacy, which asserts, "That no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm." This oath was now to be repealed. The House of Commons had, no doubt, a right to alter this oathin the same manner that they had a right to repeal the Bill of Rights, or

any other statute; but when they spoke of security for the Church of England, and went about to make this repeal thoroughly, he had a right to demand of them what security they were to propose? The maintenance of the Protestant succession, was no doubt an important security as far as it went ; but what did it amount to? That the individual who came to the throne should make a declaration against transubstantiation, and be in communion with the Church of England at the time of his accession; but by this bill, he was left at liberty to select all his councillors from among his Roman Catholic subjects. How was it that James II. attempted to effect his purposes? "By the assistance of divers evil councillors," said the Bill of Rights," judges and ministers employed by him, did he endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this kingdom." Now, if a king or queen should, at the accession, move to become a convert to the Catholic faith, and were to declare adherence to it, the peace and tranquillity of the country would rest upon the will of a single mind. In the reign of James II., those consequences had been produced, and in that of Charles II., the suspicion of such an event had given rise to those precau'tions which the object of this bill was to get rid of for ever. A Roman Catholic must, without any imputation on his moral character, view our establishment in such a light as would make it unsafe for him to legislate upon it; and he, therefore, thought it safer to exclude him at once, than to call him to give securities in a long oath for his good conduct. Dr Doyle said, the Protestant church was the most heart-rending curse on the landowners, and that, like the scorpion, it stung, and drew the blood of the people.

As to the incorporation of the Roman Catholic clergy with the state, he would fairly own that he objected