large as any
reasonable man can expect it to be; seeing clearly that any thing which
might remain behind would only give ground for fresh demands, and being
convinced that the settlement of this question tends to the security of
the state, and to the peace and prosperity of the country. I have
already stated to your lordships my opinion respecting the expediency of
granting seats in Parliament to Roman Catholics; and I do not conceive,
that the concession of seats in Parliament, can in any manner effect any
question relative to the church of England. In the first place, I beg
your Lordships to recollect, that at the time those acts, to which I
have before alluded,--the one passed in the 30th of Charles II., and the
other at the period of the Revolution, were enacted--it was not the
church that was in danger--it was the state. It was the state that was
in danger; and from what? Not because the safety of the church was
threatened. No; but because the Sovereign on the throne was suspected of
Popery, and because the successor to the throne was actually a Papist.
Those laws were adopted, because of the existence of a danger which
threatened the state, and not of one which threatened the church. On the
contrary, at that period danger to the church was apprehended, not from
the Roman Catholics, but from the Dissenters from the church of England.
I would ask of your Lordships, all of whom have read the history of
those times, whether any danger to the church was apprehended from the
Roman Catholics? No! Danger to the church was apprehended from the
Dissenters, who had become powerful by the privileges granted to them
under the act of Parliament passed at the period of the Revolution. I
think, therefore, that it is not necessary for me to enter into any
justification of myself for having adopted this measure, on account of
any danger which might be apprehended from it to the church. Roman
Catholics will come into Parliament under this bill, as they went into
Parliament previous to the act of 30th Charles II. They sat in
Parliament up to that period, and were not obliged to take the oath of
supremacy. But by this bill they will be required to take the oath of
allegiance, in which a great part of the oath of supremacy is
included--namely, that part which refers to the jurisdiction of foreign
potentates; and, I must say, that the church, if in danger, is better
secured by the bill than it was previous to the 30th of Charles II. The