HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



.91 



as the abrogation of all the tests 

 at present subsisting in the empire. 

 Experience had shewn the desolation 

 it had occasioned by a republic of 

 atheists, established in the heart of 

 Europe ; and therefore every reli- 

 gion deserved to be protected ; but 



w 



ith 



regard 



to political power, it 



should be extended with that degree 

 of jealousy and circumspection, that 

 would guard it against the abuse of 

 it, and prevent it from being made 

 the instrument to destroy the go- 

 vernment, for whose support it was 

 created. One of the fundamental 

 principles of the British government, 

 as established by the bill of rights, 

 and act of settlement, was, that the 

 king must be a protestant, and hold 

 communion with the church of En- 

 gland: and the same limitation 

 should, in his opinion, apply to 

 the immediate advisers and officers 

 of the crown. Our ancestors 

 .thought it expedient to change the 

 succession sooner than have a king 

 of a religion hostile to that of the 

 state; and was it rational that the 

 same principles should not apply to 

 ministers, chancellors, and judges of 

 the day ? To open the door in this 

 instance, would be to let in all the 

 dissenters in the kingdom, and w ho 

 could consent to entrust the patro- 

 nage of the church to persons con- 

 sidering her establishment as here- 

 tical ? Upon the whole, he concluded, 

 that as long as the catholics refused 

 to take the oath of supremacy, they 

 should be deprived of political pow. 

 cr; and there never was a moment 

 when it was more necessary than 

 now, when all catholic Europe was 

 nearly subjected to France, and the 

 pope placed in a state of absolute 

 dependence on that country, 'i'he 

 ruin of the church and the mo- 

 narchy, in our own country, accom- 



panied each other, and as his prin- 

 ciple was to uphold the establish- 

 ment of both, he must resist the 

 motion. 



Lord Spencer said, that as the 

 Roman catholics themselves dis- 

 claimed the dangerous principle, 

 the restrictions on the Roman 

 catholics should be no longer con- 

 tinued ; and it was by a well-timed 

 concession of indisputable rights, 

 that we could best conciliate the 

 afliections of the people of Ireland, 

 and unite the whole kingdom tw 

 resist any attacks of the enemy. 



Lord Sidmouth declared, ihat 

 however disposed he might be to 

 carry toleration to the highest ex- 

 tent, he felt himself an enemy to 

 innovating principles. He gave the 

 catholics of Ireland full credit for 

 their loyalty, but he would not place 

 them in a situation in which, with 

 the best intentions, their conduct 

 might be productive of the most 

 baneful cfl'ects. In taking an his- 

 torical view of the subject, he could 

 not find an instance in which catho- 

 lics and protestants of this country 

 agreed in parliament, and conducted 

 business of government and legisla- 

 tion cordially together, lie calletl 

 upon the house to think of two 

 such dangerous powers, in the catho. 

 lie clergy, as excommunication and 

 auricular confession, and then say 

 whether they would open the door 

 to all the dangers which two snch 

 engines might bring upon the na- 

 tional religion ? If advanced to po- 

 litical power, the catholics would 

 naturally look to the exaltation of 

 their clergy, and every one knew, 

 that there was not a dignity in th« 

 established church which had not 

 iti» counterpart amongst the catho- 

 lics : and foe these, as well as many 

 other re^gons, he could not concede 



whaf 



