chap, ii.] WEST INDIES. 63 
structions, in this case, were in direct violation of 
the test act of Charles II. which requires, “ that all 
persons enjoying any place of trust or profit shall, 
in addition to the oaths of allegiance and suprema¬ 
cy, subscribe a declaration against the doctrine of 
transubstantiation in the sacrament of the Lord’s 
supper.” By the king’s instructions, above cited, 
his Roman catholic subjects of Grenada were de¬ 
clared eligible without subscribing to this declara¬ 
tion. 
Liberal and enlightened minds at this day are not 
easily reconciled to the doctrine, that an adherence 
to mere speculative opinions in matters of faith, 
ought to drive any loyal subject from the service of 
his country, or deprive a man (otherwise entitled) 
of the enjoyment of those honours and distinctions, 
the distribution of which, the wisdom of the laws 
has assigned to the sovereign. Much less will it 
be thought, that such a man is unworthy of that 
confidence which his neighbours and fellow citi¬ 
zens, who are best acquainted with his principles 
and virtues, and are themselves of a different per¬ 
suasion, shall think fit to repose in him. At the 
same time, it must be acknowledged, that the re¬ 
cent and then depending claim in the crown, to lay 
I taxes on Grenada by its own authority, gave the 
inhabitants just cause of apprehension, that the 
royal instructions in the present case were founded, 
in like manner, on a pretension to legislative autho¬ 
rity, subversive of their own colonial assembly. 
