This speech is given partly from the manuscript papers of Mr. Burke, and
partly from a very imperfect short-hand note taken at the time by a
member of the House of Commons. The bill under discussion was opposed by
petitions from several congregations calling themselves "Protestant
Dissenters," who appear to have been principally composed of the people
who are generally known under the denomination of "Methodists," and
particularly by a petition from a congregation of that description
residing in the town of Chatham.

SPEECH.

I assure you, Sir, that the honorable gentleman who spoke last but one
need not be in the least fear that I should make a war of particles upon
his opinion, whether the Church of England _should, would_, or _ought_
to be alarmed. I am very clear that this House has no one reason in the
world to think she is alarmed by the bill brought before you. It is
something extraordinary that the only symptom of alarm in the Church of
England should appear in the petition of some Dissenters, with whom, I
believe very few in this House are yet acquainted, and of whom you know
no more than that you are assured by the honorable gentleman that they
are not Mahometans. Of the Church we know they are not, by the name that
they assume. They are, then, Dissenters. The first symptom of an alarm,
comes from some Dissenters assembled round the lines of Chatham: these
lines become the security of the Church of England! The honorable
gentleman, in speaking of the lines of Chatham, tells us that they serve
not only for the security of the wooden walls of England, but for the
defence of the Church of England. I suspect the wooden walls of England
secure the lines of Chatham, rather than the lines of Chatham secure the
wooden walls of England.

Sir, the Church of England, if only defended by this miserable petition
upon your table, must, I am afraid, upon the principles of true
fortification, be soon destroyed. But, fortunately, her walls, bulwarks,
and bastions are constructed of other materials than of stubble and
straw,--are built up with the strong and stable matter of the gospel of
liberty, and founded on a true, constitutional, legal establishment.
But, Sir, she has other securities: she has the security of her own
doctrines; she has the security of the piety, the sanctity, of her own
professors,--their learning is a bulwark to defend her; she has the
security of the two universities, not shook in any single