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the greatest men in that extraordinary æra coincided with those of their Sovereign. And upon another occasion of a still later date, a conference between the two Houses upon the bill of occasional conformity, the Peers (not a few individuals only of that assembly, but the whole House) expressed in language still more emphatical, their abhorrence of the injustice of the Test act.

In discussing the general policy of this new law, Mr. BEAUFOY observed, "that to the higher trust of legislative authority the Dissenters were admitted without reserve. From the members of that House, from the members of the House of Peers, no religious test was required. Hence he strongly inferred the absurdity of the imposition in question. He had heard, indeed, of an idle opinion, that there was something of a republican tendency, of an anti-monarchical bias, in the very doctrines of the Prefbyterian church. From so vague an assertion he appealed to experience. Were the Scots suspected of an indifference to monarchy? He had heard them taxed with a predilection for those maxims of policy which were the most favourable to power; but of levelling principles, of republican attachments, he had never heard them accused. The English Dissenters, since the revolution which had first given this country a constitution, had uniformly acted on principles the most beneficial, and had constantly proved themselves the ardent supporters and the faithful adherents of that system of monarchy which was established by law. Would then the repeal of the Teft act prove injurious to the established church? GOD FORBID! The suggested repeal was no attack upon the rights of others: it was merely the completion of that wise system of toleration, adopted at the æra of the revolution. The church of England flourished long before the Test act existed. In Scotland no

VOL. II.

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such law ever had a being. Had Scotland therefore no established church? In Ireland the relief now solicited had been granted seven years ago. But was the church of Ireland therefore destroyed? In Holland, in Russia, in Prussia, in Hanover, no traces of such a test were to be found. In the dominions of the Emperor, all disqualifications of this nature had been recently abolished. In France a similar relief was granted by the edict of Nantz, from the revocation of which France had fso severely suffered, and which was now, as it was supposed, about to be restored. Shall then England alone adhere to an exploded sytem, which all the other englightened nations of Europe, upon a full conviction of its weakness, have already abandoned, or are now preparing to abandon ? Shall foreigners still be employed to fight her battles ? Shall the Hessian sword again be called upon to protect her from invasions, while so many thousands of her own people, willing to bleed in her cause, and impatient to hazard their lives in her defence, are excluded from her service? "One proof of the absurdity, of the incredible folly of these inhuman statutes," added Mr. BEAUFOY, "6 presses so strongly on my thoughts, that I cannot re. frain from submitting it to the consideration of the House. The benevolent Mr. HOWARD, he upon whom every kingdom in Europe (England excepted) would gladly confer at least the common privileges of a citizen, and whom the proudest nation might be happy to call her own-he of whom a right honourable member of this House has said, He has visited all Europe-not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of templesnot to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur-not to form a scale of the curiosities of modern art-not to collect medals, or to collate manuscripts-but to dive into the depths of dungeons-to plunge into the infection

fection of hospitals-to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain-to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt-to remember the forgottento attend to the neglected-to visit the forsaken-and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries.' He, even he, is denied in England, the common rights of a subject: he is incapable of legal admission into any office; and the consequence is, that his zeal for his country having led him a few years since to brave the penalties of the law, and to serve her in a troublesome and expensive civil employment, without the sacramental qualification, which his religious persuasions would not permit him to take, the penalties of the Test act are still hanging over him; and I fear that even now, on his return to his native country, amidst the plaudits of an admiring world, it is in the power of any desperate informer, who is willing to take that road to wealth and damnation, which the legislature has pointed out and recom mended to his choice, I fear it is in the power of every such informer to prosecute him to conviction, and to bring upon him those dreadful penalties which constitute the punishment of an out-law. God forbid, that, in the view of all Europe, such indelible dishonour should be brought upon the British name."

" Thus have I stated (too much at large, perhaps, but the importance of the subject will plead my excuse,) the merits of the Dissenters' case. I have shewn the nature of those provisions in the Test and Corporation acts, from which they supplicate relief, and have described the dreadful penalties which these acts have imposed: I have shewn at what periods, and under what circumstances, these afflictive laws were passed: I have proved, that of the Test act the Dissenters were not the objects; and that of the Corporation act, which, for the space of three

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years established despotism by law, the alledged necessity has no longer the pretence of truth. I have also proved, that, after the proposed repeal, all those who cannot take the abjuration oath, which operates as a bar to all but Christians, and make the declarations, which excludes the Catholics, will continue as completely rejected as before; and that even their willingness to give these pledges of attachment to the laws will avail them nothing, unless, in the estimation of their sovereign, their merit shall be such as to render them worthy of an employment in his service. I have likewise shewn, that the repeal will increase the strength of the kingdom, by enabling his Majesty to bring into action the talents and affections of all his Protestant subjects; and that it will also give additional security to the church. Whoever, then, shall be of opinion, that the general voice of all the enlightened nations of Europe is deserving of regard; whoever shall admit, that the exertions of the whole kingdom will have greater avail than its mutilated strength; whoever is convinced, than union is better than separation, that power is preferable to weakness, and that national justice is the surest ground of national prosperity, will agree with me in thinking that the law which excludes the Dissenters from civil and military employments ought to be repealed.

"The grievances of two other descriptions of persons, whose importance in the community cannot be disputed, and the reasonableness of whose plea is too obvious to require any length of discussion, still remain to be mentioned.

"By the Test and Corporation acts no native of Scotland, who is of the established church of that country, can be admitted to any office in England, or to the army, or navy, in any part of Great Britain, unless he will pub

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licly profess a different religion from his own. offices of the state are the offices of Great Britain; for the salaries of the persons who fill them are paid by taxes levied on Great Britain. The army too, and the navy, are the army and navy of Great Britain; for in the burden of their payment, Scotland undoubtedly bears her part. Hence it is evident, that, by the Test act, an English restriction is imposed on a British office: an English restriction is imposed on the British navy: an English restriction is imposed on the army of Great Britain. Englishmen, residing in Scotland, are entitled to all the privileges of Scotchmen; for neither the late Chief Baron ОKD, who presided in the Court of Exchequer there, nor Mr. WHARTON, who is one of the present commissioners of excise in North Britain, nor any other Englishman who fills a public office in that country, was obliged to renounce the church of England, in order to qualify himself for the trust it is justly considered as a British trust; and upon it, therefore, no Scotch restriction is imposed. Why then should the naval or the military service of the United Kingdoms be fettered with English restraints ? Or why should English conditions be annexed to the possession of a British office? There is neither common justice, nor common sense in the measure.

"I have heard it said, from a confusion of ideas which is scarcely credible, that to grant a remission, in favour of Scotland, of the Test and Corporation acts, would be a breach of the Union-an opinion which supposes that because by the articles of the Union nothing can be taken from Scotland but what was then stipulated, therefore nothing can be given. It supposes that if, in a private bargain, I have engaged to concede certain points to my neighbour, I am therefore bound by that bargain to concede to him nothing more: it supposes that, if my agree

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