HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



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The speaker observed, that this 

 question could not he put before 

 the present question should be dis- 

 posed of, vvliich was, " That he do 

 now leave the chair," should the 

 question be negatived, then it 

 would be competent for Mr. Sheri- 

 dan to move his proposition, or in- 

 deed any other which he should 

 think good to make. 



Mr. Percival did not think the 

 bill nugatory, useless, or unimport- 

 ant. It did not appear to him to be 

 unworthy of being the last solemn 

 act of the British parliament. The 

 question for the speaker's leaving 

 the chair was carried by 52 against 

 24: the house then went into a 

 committee on the bill, which sat 

 again on the twenty-seventh of 

 June. Certain alterations were 

 made by the mover, which recon- 

 ciled Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Hobhouse, 

 and others to the bill: Though 

 Mr. Hobhouse much wished that 

 the king had been invested with a 

 discretionary power of licensing the 

 admission of any person into a mo- 

 nastic or religious house. Mr. Per- 

 cival said, that the object of the ho- 

 nourable gentleman would be fuUy 

 answered, for it was intended to 

 place such a power in the hands of 

 his majesty, during the continuance 

 of the war. Mr. Hobhouse did 

 not like the limitation as to time. 



Mr. Windham approved the al- 

 terations as far as they went, but 

 did not promise not to oppose the 

 bill in its future stages: through 

 which, however, without any far- 

 ther opposition, it was passed, 

 and carried up to the house of 

 lords, where, on the second read- 

 ing, on the tenth of July, it 

 was opposed by lord Grenville, 

 supported by the bishop of Win- 

 chester, and, in part, by the lord 



chancellor, but opposed by the 

 bishop of Rochester, as altogether 

 unnecessary, unconstitutional, and 

 dangerous ; and by lord Grenville, 

 as unnecessary and intolerant. — 

 Bishop Horsley, after proving at 

 great length that the existing laws, 

 if necessary to be enforced, were 

 fully adequate to any possible evil 

 to be apprehended from the Roman 

 catholics in this country, came at 

 last to shew that the bill was 

 unconstitutional and dangerous, on 

 account of the alarming power it 

 would put in the hands of the 

 crown. For it made it lawful for 

 his majesty to grant licences to such 

 religious orders or communities as 

 were in this kingdom, to continue 

 to reside therein during the conti- 

 nuance of the present war, and one 

 year after, and to perform and ob- 

 serve within their respective houses 

 the rights and ordinance of their in- 

 stitutions, any law or statute to the 

 contrary, notwithstanding. Now, 

 penance was a rite of the Roman 

 catholics. Would his majesty ex- 

 pose any of his subjects to corporal 

 severities .? Would tlieir lordships 

 allow the pope's buUs to come 

 again into England, and give the 

 king a suspending power .'' There 

 was one clause of the bill to which 

 the bishop owned he should feel no 

 objection, were it not for the other 

 parts with which it was connected. 

 This was the clause obliging Ro- 

 man catholic schoolmasters to re- 

 turn yearly a list of such persons as 

 are or had been boarded with them, 

 with the names and places of abode 

 of their respective parents and 

 guardians. Such a regulation. Be 

 said, should be extended to all 

 schools, especially those of the pro- 

 testant dissenters, in whose schools 

 the doctrines of jacobinism, sedi- 



