144] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



tion, and infidelity, were but too 

 frequently inculcated, to his certain 

 knowledge. He was a great friend 

 to a toleration of all Christians, of 

 whatever sects. By Christians, he 

 meant those who acted up to the 

 thirty-nine articles, the confession 

 of the Saxon churches, those who 

 conformed to the ancient discipline 

 of the protestant church, as settled 

 at the Reformation : not those who 

 wanted to reform ; to pull down 

 the hierarchy, and appropriate to 

 the other uses the patrimony of the 

 church ; who denied the divinity of 

 our Saviour, and wanted to get rid 

 of the Athanasian creed. In all 

 such questions as the present, the 

 grand consideration should be ne 

 quid detrhnenti ecclesia Anglicana 

 capiat. There was great danger 

 to be apprehended from what were 

 called charity and Sunday schools, 

 in and about the metropolis. He 

 hoped that in a future session, par- 

 liament would take it into consi- 

 deration. As for the present bill, 

 he movedthat it should "stand com- 

 mitted for that day three months." 

 The bishop of Winchester dif- 

 fered almost entirely from him of 

 Rochester, respecting the bill under 

 consideration. The bill, he ob- 

 served, was two-fold. It was an 

 enabling bill, and a bill of restraint. 

 He thought the enabling part of it 

 well warranted by the occasion. It 

 was wise, considerate, and candid, 

 to suffer the religious orders or 

 communities, consisting either of 

 British-born national subjects, or 

 aliens, that were through unfore- 

 seen misfortunes and irresistible 

 adversity, driven to this country, to 

 put in safety as to their religious 

 rites while in this kingdom ; and, 

 at the same time, he approved of the 

 restrictive part of the bill, because 



he thought it prudent to prevent 

 any addition to their numbers, and 

 to guard against any possible dan- 

 ger, from their zeal to make con- 

 verts. As to three parts of the 

 bill, he dift'ered so far from the 

 bishop of Rochester, that he thought 

 them severe and needless. 



The bishop of Winchester, there- 

 fore, as a friend to genuine tolera- 

 tion, and the constitution of this 

 country in church and state, decla- 

 red, that he would support the bill. 



The lord chancellor, Loughbo- 

 rough, left the woolsack to declare 

 that he had no particular liking to 

 the bill, and that he agreed to se- 

 veral of theobjections that had been 

 urged against it ; but thought, ne- 

 vertheless, that there were parts of 

 it which contained some good pro- 

 visions, and might, by amendments, 

 be rendered highly useful. He 

 wished, therefore, that it might not 

 be rejected on the second reading, 

 but go into a committee. His 

 lordship produced a letter, in which 

 the author, whose name he said he 

 would not mention, imputed the 

 origin of the bill to a literary con- 

 troversy between doctor Sturges, 

 the chancellor of Winchester, and 

 Mr. Milner, a Roman catholic cler- 

 gyman, who had published a history 

 of the Antiquities of the City of 

 Winchester. The letter-writerre- 

 presented doctor Sturges's publica- 

 tion as illiberal, violent, intolerant, 

 and even inflammatory. The lord 

 chancellor himself thought that doc- 

 tor Sturges's publication was candid, 

 liberal, and temperate, while Mr. 

 Milner's was replete with studied 

 aspersions, abuse, and irritation. — 

 But, having read and commented 

 on the comparative characteristics 

 of the controversy, he begged the 

 house to recollect that Mr. Milner 



