re bitterly disappointed that the disabilities
remained. But George III. refused all assent to the proposals, and Pitt
resigned. Several times the House of Commons passed Catholic Relief Bills,
which were thrown out by the Lords, and it was not till 1829, when "the
English ministry had to choose between concession and civil war," that Peel
and the Duke of Wellington yielded and persuaded their party to admit
Catholics to Parliament and to the Civil and Military Services.

The repeal of the Penal Laws against Roman Catholics--Acts of Elizabeth
that inflicted penalties on priests who said mass in England, and on Roman
Catholics who attended mass--took place in 1844, and in 1866 the
Parliamentary Oath was amended and made unobjectionable to Roman Catholics.

A Roman Catholic is still excluded by law from the Crown, the Lord
Chancellorship, and the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, but many Roman
Catholics are members of Parliament--members of all parties--and the late
Lord Ripon, a Catholic, sat in a Liberal Cabinet.

In 1846 Rothschild was elected as a Liberal M.P. for the City of London,
but the law did not permit him to take his seat. Then for some years Jewish
M.P.'s were allowed to take part in debates and sit on committees, but were
not allowed to vote. Finally, in 1858, the Lords, after rejecting the
measure for ten years, passed the Jews' Disabilities Bill, which removed
all restriction. The Right Hon. Herbert Samuel, M.P., is the first Jew to
sit in the Cabinet, for though Disraeli was of the Jewish race, he was a
Christian in belief.

Although in 1800 various Acts on the Statute Book required Nonconformists
to subscribe to the religion of the Church of England before taking part in
municipal affairs, these Acts had long been a dead letter. All that was
done in the nineteenth century was to repeal these Acts, and to throw open
the universities and public offices to Nonconformists. It is only, however,
in recent years that Nonconformists have filled posts of high importance in
the Cabinet.

The last attempt at restriction on the religious beliefs of members of
Parliament was made in the House of Commons itself, when Charles Bradlaugh,
after being duly elected M.P. for Northampton, was by the action of the
House excluded from his seat. Bradlaugh was a frank disbeliever in
Christianity, and the House of Commons refused to allow him either to take
the oath or make an affirmation. For five years (1880-5) the struggle
la