Of the declaration, he said, that instead of making the
taker of office describe himself as belonging to some sort of religion,
whether a Unitarian, a Catholic, or a Free-thinker, it did not require
him to say, he had only to answer, that he was of the Christian faith;
neither did it call on him to observe the declaration by such phrases
as "I am a Christian," or as, "I stand in the presence of my God." The
confidence to be reposed in the declaration did not rest upon the faith
of a Christian, or any other faith whatever. Then again, he said, the
declaration is to be extended to all offices of trust and emolument
under the crown, and the bill left it entirely to the king to say in
such cases, whether his majesty would, or would not require such a
declaration: he could not but object to the provisions of a bill, the
object of which was to take away the sacramental test merely on the
ground of expediency, and to substitute in its place a declaration
which, in some instances, might or might not be taken, according to
the will of the sovereign. The form of declaration was also strongly
objected to in the committee; and several amendments were carried to
meet the views of the objectors, though not narrowing the principles of
the bill; and it finally passed by a large majority. The amendments made
simply consisted in this, that the man assuming a public office in
a Christian community should declare that he was a Christian, or, at
least, that he was not an infidel. The commons agreed to all that were
made, although some members did not approve of them.

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.

{GEORGE IV. 1828--1829}

During the discussion on the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts,
frequent allusion had been made to Catholic emancipation. The opponents
of that repeal found an additional argument against it, in the
supposition that it was but the first step in a course which was
to terminate in Catholic emancipation. On the other hand, those who
supported the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts denied that it
had any such tendency. The Duke of Wellington remarked, in order to show
that he might vote for the measure then before the house, and yet be a
determined enemy of the Papists, that there was no person in the house
of peers whose feelings and sentiments, after long consideration, were
more decided than his with regard to the subject of the Roman Catholic
claims; and that until he saw a great change in that question, he