his conscience. To him it is the oracle of the Divinity; in abiding by its prescription he imagines to please his Creator; mistaken, perhaps he may be, but a mistake is not a crime. The magistrate who punishes an honest peaceable man for following the religion of his education, and the dictates of his conscience; and the legislators who authorise him to do so, both forget themselves, and the rights of mankind. We are men, and must live among men, and must make and claim merciful allow ances for the errors of fallible and peccable beings, and for that renitency of our nature against coercion, which, if well disciplined, and well directed, is in fact the origin of all liberty. Magna Charta regards the civil rights and liberties of the subject, as much a fundamental part of the constitution, as the establishment of the Church of England was thought; either in the act of king William or queen Anne. It was not a fundamental part of the Act of Settlement, at the Revolution, that the state should be Protestant without any qualification. In no other country in the world, is the religion so peculiarly defined as in this; for till within these few years, a signature of thirty-seven out of thirty-nine articles was absolutely necessary for the toleration of any other Protestant sect. Now the power that could remove the tests from dissenting Protestants, was not authorised to exercise it more for the one sect than for the other; and, therefore, the Catholics ought to have been equally included in this relief; for the legislature did not, beyond a doubt, mean to guard the Church in one part only, and to leave her defenceless and exposed in every other. There is no disability that affects any other class of dissenters which affects not equally the Roman Catholics, whilst there are several disabilities to which the latter are liable, but do not in any respect affect the former. I should have gone into more particuJars, my lords, had I not wished to confine myself most strictly to the question, in as far as it relates to the security of the state, and which, I think, I have pretty nearly explained; for as to the other parts of the Oath of Allegiance, the family of the Stuarts being extinct, renders it in fact a dead letter of the law. Unwilling as I am to oppress any indi vidual, and still less to stir up the ashes of an illustrious and unfortunate family, which is now no more; this reflection, however, presses itself so forcibly upon my mind, that I cannot refrain expressing it : That the Catholics did every thing for the Stuarts upon the principles of hereditary and indefeasible right; and that they did nothing for the Catholics except oppressing them, and more particularly the Irish of that persuasion. In the reigns of both the Charles', the Roman Catholics of England are allowed to have been loyal, and sometimes suffered for their loyalty; yet it was in the latter of these reigns, without any insurrection or plot on the side of the Catholics, that new laws were pessed against them, and the Test and Corporation Acts made a test of their fidelity.* This persecution was * By the 3d Charles 1, c. 2, entitled "An Act to restrain the passing or sending any to be possibly bred beyond the seas." Whoever goes himself, or sends another beyond the seas, to be trained up in Popery, shall be disabled from suing, &c. shall lose all his goods, and forfeit all his lands, &c. for life. By the 25th Charles 2, c. 2, (1672) entitled "An Act to prevent danger which may arise from Popish recusants." All persons, as well peers as commoners, who have any office, civil or military, or receive pay, salary, or wages, under any grant or patent from the king-or shall have command, or place of trust, from or under the king, or by his authority, or authority derived from him, within the realm-or shall be in the household-or shall be in the service or employ of his majesty, or his royal highness the duke of York, and residing in London, or within thirty miles distance, shall appear within a certain time in the court of Chancery, or King's-bench, and there take the several oaths of supremacy and allegiance; or the oaths may be taken at the quarter sessions : and the respective officers aforesaid shall, within a certain time, take the sacrament according to the forms of the Established Church. Sect. 2d. Provides for taking these oaths, and receiving the sacrament, by persons who may thenceforth be appointed to any office, &c. Sect. 4th. All persons refusing or neglecting to take the oaths, and receiving the sacrament, rendered and declared incapa ble of holding any office. systematically carried on from the reign of king James down to that of queen Anne included. Sect. 5th. Any person continuing to hold and execute his office, after neglect or refusal to take the oaths and the sacra ment, is rendered incapable of suing in courts of law or equity, of being a guardian to a child, executor or administrator of any person, or taking any legacy or deed of gift; and shall forfeit 500l. Sect. 8. If any person not bred up from infancy by his parents in the Popish religion, and professes himself a Popish recusant, shall educate his child in the Popish religion, he shall, upon conviction, be thenceforth disabled from bearing any office of trust or profit, in church or state, until he shall be reconciled to the Church of England, shall take the oaths aforesaid, and receive the sacrament. Sect. 9. Provides that persons taking the oaths shall, at the same time, sign a declaration that they do not believe the doctrine of transubstantiation. I,A. B. do declare that I do believe there is not any transubstantiation in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or in the elements of bread and wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever." But there is this proviso "that neither this act, nor any thing therein contained, shall extend, be judged or interpreted, any ways to hurt or prejudice the peerage of any peer of this realm, or to take away any right, power, privilege, or profit, which any person (being a peer of this realm) hath or ought to enjoy by reason of his peerage, either in time of parliament or otherwise; or to take away creation-money or bills of impost; nor to take away, or make void, any pension or salary, granted by his majesty to any person for valuable and sufficient consideration for life, lives or years, other than such as relate to any office or to any place of trust under his majesty, and other than pensions of bounty or voluntary pensions; nor to take away, or make void, any estate of inheritance, granted by his Majesty, or any of his predecessors, to any person or persons, of or in any lands, rents, tithes and hereditaments, not being offices; nor to take away, or make void, any pension or salary already granted by his majesty to any person who was instrumental in the happy preservation of his sacred majesty, after the battle of Worcester in the year 1651, until his Majesty's arrival Therefore all attachment must have ceased; besides, the sovereign who in the hour of danger deserts his throne through beyond the seas; nor to take away, or make void, the grant of any office or offices of inheritance, or any fee, salary, or reward, for executing such office or offices, or thereto any way belonging, granted by his majesty, or any his predecessors, to, or enjoyed, or which shall hereafter be enjoyed by any person or persons who shall refuse or neglect to take the said oaths, or either of them, or to receive the sacrament, or to subscribe the declaration mentioned in this act, in manner therein expressed: nevertheless so as such person or persons, having or enjoying any such office or offices of inheritance, do, and shall substitute and appoint his or their sufficient deputy or deputies (which such officer or officers, respectively, are hereby empowered from time to time to make or change, any former law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding) to exercise the said office or offices, until such time as the person or persons, having such office or offices, shall voluntarily, in the court of Chancery, before the lord chancellor or lord keeper for the time being, or in the court of King'sbench, take the said oaths, and receive the sacrament, and subscribe the said declaration, from time to time, as they shall happen to be so appointed, in manner as by this act such officers, whose deputies they be, are appointed to do; and so as such deputies be, from time to time, approved of by the king's majesty under the privy signet: but that all and every the peers of this realm shall have, hold, and enjoy what is provided for as aforesaid; and all and every other person or persons before mentioned, denoted, or intended within this proviso, shall have, hold, and enjoy, what is provided for as aforesaid, notwithstanding any incapacity or disability mentioned in this act." 30th Charles the second, cap. 2, entitled, "An Act for more effectually preserving the king's person and government, by disabling Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament." Sect. 1 and 2, provide no peer or commoner shall sit in parliament, or vote therein, until he has taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, in manner pointed out by the act, and subscribed a declaration. 3d Sect. Contains the declaration prescribed for this purpose. 1 fear, and flies for safety to a foreign coun- | law, that no man should direct, what he Their canon law is still, in a great mea-our troops to prop up in Italy what we try, leaving his subjects to shift for themselves, thus depriving them of their head when he is most wanted, virtually abdicates the crown, dissolves all ties of allegiance, and consequently sanctions any act they may adopt for making a new election, by breaking his faith and forfeiting their confidence. It is a maxim of prudence, if not of "I, A. B. do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, there is not any transub. stantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever; 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 idolatrous. And I do solemnly, and 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 me for this purpose, by the Pope or any other authority, or person whatsoever, or with out any hope of any such dispensation, from any person or authority 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, or power whatsoever, should dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null or void from the beginning." 5th Sect. No peer or member of parliament, who has not taken the oaths, and subscribed the declaration, and no Popish recusant shall come into the royal pre sence. 6th Sect. Persons offending, to be considered Popish recusants convict, and subjected to the penalties and disabilities attending the same. 7th Sect. Either House of Parliament may cause any of their members to make the preceding subscription and declaration on oath. 10th Sect. Contains a provision, allow ing the queen to retain eighteen Popish servants. has neither the power, capability, or inclination, to defend or protect. Where no reasonable obstacle exists; that is to say, where no encroachment can be feared, as we have always the means of creating preventative laws, to secure the bulwark of our own Church, upon which point I am most strenuous, and with which qualifications I wish clearly to be understood as giving my assent, I cannot see any danger as liable to ensue in acceding to the prayer contained in the Petition; especially when the greatest part of the tenets, and most of the ceremonies of both Churches, are so nearly allied, as to be considered by other Protestant sects as sisters of the same family; and ought, therefore, to be in constant harmony with each other. It is impossible for the legislators, who devise laws, to read in the minds of other men the doubts which may arise concerning the force and sense of some expressions. Hence new acts are constantly made, amending and explaining former ones. Though we have not the same number of sacraments, yet, except one, we observe the forms of all the others; and although auricular confession is not enjoined, it is strongly recommended. And even in our service of the visitation of the sick, the complete absolution of the Catholic priests, copied word for word from their ritual, is to be found. This same remark holds equally good with the greatest part of our liturgy.* * The Visitation of the Sick. Then shall the minister examine whether he repent him truly of his sins, and be in charity with all the world; exhorting him to forgive from the bottom of his heart all persons that have offended him, and if he hath offended any other, to ask them forgiveness; and where he hath done injury or wrong to any man, that he make amends to the uttermost of his power. Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which confession the priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent, and believe in him; of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences; sure, the rule of our judications; we have our spiritual consistorial courts, decrees, and ceremonies from them. We have our subordinate church governments; our primates, prelates, archbishops and bishops, deans, prebendaries, canons, and other dignities; provinces, dioceses, parishes; cathedrals and common churches; benefices, tithes, perquisites, Easter-dues, and free-will offerings. I am certainly not one of those, who can admit that discordance of religion is enough to render men unfit to act together in public stations. The legislators had better direct their tests against the political principles which they wish to exclude, than to encounter them through the medium of religious tenets. Montesquieu says, penal laws ought to be avoided in respect to religion; they imprint fear, it is true; but as religion has also penal laws which inspire fear, the one is effaced by the other; and between these two different kinds of fear, the mind becomes hardened. Political disabilities, founded on a difference of opinion in matters of religious belief, are ready instruments in the hands of the factious and disaffected; and such invidious and unjust distinctions must ever, more or less, keep up animosities destructive of social happiness and social peace; it is, therefore, just, expedient, and necessary, to remove them. Every day confirms this statement; and shews as well the impolicy, as the inconsistency of our system. Did we not send and by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. The Absolution of the Roman Catholic Priest is as follows: "Miseriatur tui omnipotens Deus et dimissis peccatis tuis perducat té ad vitam æternam. Amen." "Indulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem peccatorum tuorum tribuat tibi omnipotens, et misericors Dominus. Amen." "Dominus Noster Jesus Christus te absolvat; e ego auctoritate ipsius te absolvo ab omni vinculo excommunicationis (suspensionis) et interdicti, in quantum possum, et tu indiges. Deinde ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis, in nomine Patris + et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen." constantly wish to extirpate, oppress, and coerce here? Did we not succour the Pope with our fleet and armies? Do we not act with, and assist the Portuguese and Spanish Catholics, endeavouring to protect them against the grasping ambition of France, which has aspired to monopolize all other powers in the world; or, at least, to make them subservient to her own political views ? What are we fighting for? The maintenance and defence of Catholic religion and property all over Europe. Why then, my lords, at the very moment we are making these protestations and exertions, in the same breath our acts at home belie the sincerity of them. My lords, I may be warm on the subject, but I am pleading the cause of some millions of people, who are deprived of many rights of citizens, and of course the greatest part of their interests in the constitution, to which they were born; which is certainly not conformable to the declared principles of the Revolution. I have heard it stated by some that this was not the moment for granting what they ask; my answer to those persons is, that without limitations, which can only be taken into consideration when we go into a committee-certainly not. But if it be either a matter of prudence or right, the sooner this act of justice or grace is done the better. Others object that the moment is not favourable, on account of the turbulence and disaffection of many; to them it may be remarked, -that a man may possibly be mutinous and seditious without any grievance; but no one will seriously assert, that when people are of a turbulent spirit, the best way to keep them in order is to furnish them with real cause of complaint. The Catholics being by far the most numerous body of men in Ireland, the offences against the laws must be most frequently found amongst them; but the punishment for such offences cannot warrant any inference against that description of religion, or its influence upon politics. It is the crime, not the religion, of the criminal, which disturbs the peace of the state, and is punishable by law. My lords, I fear I have trespassed much upon your indulgence; but I could not resist stating my opinions, which are the result of long reflection, and the warm interest I must constantly feel for every class of my fellow-subjects, and for none more particularly than for a respectable from these civil rights, which are denied my fellow creatures ? and numerous body of men, whom, whereever I have met them, I have constantly found warmly and truly attached to their sovereign and country, in spite of their disabilities; and no one can deny that civil incapacity is accompanied with disgrace during life; without even posthumous renown. Whenever I knew of an English, Scotch, or Irish seminary, existing on any part of the continent I happened to pass through, I made it a point constantly to visit them; when the most unfeigned marks of devo. tion and attachment to my family, and to their countrymen, were, at all times, most unequivocally evinced. In many I have observed, and particularly at Rome, the pictures of their Majesties exhibited in their public halls, as an incontrovertible testimony of their loyalty and allegiance. These sentiments are the consequence of diligent, constant, and serious enquiry, and have been greatly influenced by deep and religious meditation. This is a question that in my opinion can be answered but in one way; especially convinced as I am that civil immunities, guarded by mild and secure boundaries, cannot endanger either church or state. Lost, indeed, must that Church be, whose only existence could depend upon depriving any body of men, from a faithful and firm adherence to their own conscientious and religious opinions; of their liberties and free customs, and reduce them to a state of civil servitude. Should the safety of the Church be utterly inconsistent with all the civil rights of the far larger part of the inhabitants of a country, that Church would be, not only in the most deplorable state, but likewise in the most imminent danger. Such are not, however, my fears, I confess; and I trust that the time is not far distant, when the good sense and moderation of all parties will mutually yield; then, all exclusive systems will be blotted out from our civil code; and the union of the two countries will not be found merely to exist in an act of parliament, but to dwell in the hearts of every Englishman and Irishman, under whatever civil or religious denomination it may be at present. Much, certainly, depend upon the Irish themselves. It is the duty of their enlightened nobility and gentry, to impress on the minds of the rest of their brethren, that it is by their own moderation and obedience, even for a time under their present difficulties and inconveniences; that they will acquire additional claims to the confidence of the legislature I will not say, as that they have sufficiently merited; but to their further kindness and conside Since the last time I ventured to intrude myself upon the attention of this House, domestic calamities and serious indisposition have almost constantly visited me; it is in such moments as those, my lords, when it appeared a few instants would separate me for ever from this mortal life, and the hopes of a better consoled me in the hour of anguish and sorrow, that all prejudices cease, and that man views human events, unbiassed by prepossession, in their true light, inspired with Christian charity, and calmed by a confident resignation on the mercy of the Omnipotent: at these times, when one may be almost said to stand face to face with one's Creator, I have frequently asked myself, what preference I could urge in my favour, to my Redeemer, over my fellow-ration. The clergy should, after the de creatures, in whose sight all well-intentioned and well-inclined men have an * Sir John Davis, the Attorney General of James the First, speaking of the Irish says: "The Irish are more fearful to offend the law than the English, or any nation whatsoever; in the condition of subjects they will gladly continue without desertion, or adhering to any other lord or king as long as they may be protected and justly governed, without oppression on the one side, or impunity on the other, for there is no nation of people under the sun, that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the Irish, or will be better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves, so as they may have the protection and benefit of the law, How should I feel if I were excluded I when upon just cause they do deserve it." equal claim to his mercy? The answer of my conscience always was: Follow the directions of your Divine Master; love one another, and do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you: and upon this doctrine I am acting. The present life cannot be the boundary of our destination; it is but the first stage, the infancy of our existence; it is a minority, during which we are to prepare for more noble occupations; and the more faithfully we discharge our duties here below, the more exalted will be the degree of protection and felicity we may hope to attain hereafter. |