only which by the prefent acts would ftill remain, the oath of abjuration and fupremacy, and the declaration against the doctrine of tranfubftantiation. The former being fworn to upon the faith of chriftians, would exclude all jews and infidels, the Jatter would exclude the Roman catholics. But it might, perhaps, again be afked, why thould the Roman catholics be deprived of their natural rights, and fubjected to opprobrious penalties, for an opinion fo purely religious, and fo harmlefs as to its political tendency, as tranfubftantiation? To this he should anfwer without hefitation, that if the catholics can prove, that though they are of the church they are not of the court of Rome; if they can give a fufficient pledge of loyalty to the fovereign, and of attachment to the laws and confiitution of their country, he thought they ought to be admitted to the civil and military fervice of the state. He referred here to the examples of Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Ruffia, Pruffia, and the dominions of the emperor; in none of which, as he faid, were religious opinions made the ground of civil difqualifications. Mr. Beaufoy anfwered the objection that was fometimes drawn from the treaty of union, which provides, that no alteration whatever fhould ever hereafter be made in the establishment ofthetwo united kingdoms, either in church or ftate. He contended, that the intention of the agreement was, that nothing fhould be taken from Scotland, but what was then ftipulated; but that it could never be meant, that nothing was ever to be given her. If, by an agreement with another perfon, I acquire a right of common on his manor, I certainly fhall not violate that compact, by afterwards voluntarily giving him a right of common upon mine. Laftly, he dwelt much upon the impropriety and fcandal of prophaning a moft facred and awful facrament, by mixing it with concerns that were merely temporal; and noted the diftreffing fituation in which it placed the clergy, who were under the neceffity of giving it to all who offered themfelves for the 'purpofe of qualification, or of fubjecting themfelves to grievous profecutions. He concluded with moving, that a committee of the whole houfe fhould take into their confideration fo much of the acts referred to, as requires perfons, before they are admitted into any office or place in corporations, or having accepted any office, civil or military, or any place of truft under the crown, to receive the facrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the rites of the church of England. Mr. Beaufoy was anfwered by lord North, who had lately had the misfortune of lofing his eye-fight, and came down upon this occation, for the firft time in the feffion. He began with begging, that no one would draw any unfair conclufions from his oppofition to the prefent motion, or believe upon that account that he was an enemy to toleration of opinion upon religious fubjects. In the year 1778, when he had the honour of ferving his majefty in an high office, he thought that a finishing ftroke had been put to the penal restriction upon religi ous opinions; and that as general a toleration had been then granted as was confiftent with the fecurity of the established form of government. If, faid he, there remains any thing that that can operate as a burthen upon any man's confcience, in God's name let it be done away; but let not the admitting of perfons of particular denominations into the offces of the ftate be confounded with liberty of confcience. If government finds it prudent and neceflary to confine them to perfons of particular principles, it has a right fo to do; it is a right belonging to all ftates; and all have exercifed it, all do exercife it, and all will continue to exercife it. If diffenters claim it as their undoubted, their natural right, to be rendered capable of enjoying offices, and that plea be admitted, the argument may run to all men; the vote of a freeholder for a reprefentative to parliament is confined to those who poffels a freehold of forty fhillings or upwards; thofe not poffeffing that qualifica tion may call it an ufurpation of their right, to prevent them from voting alfo. We are told, that other countries have no teft acts, and that their eftablished churches are not endangered for the want thereof. France has proteftants at the head of her army and her finances; and Pruffia employs catholics in her fervice; but it must be confidered that thefe are arbitrary governments, and conducted upon principles totally different from ours. Holland, indeed, admits men of all religions into her army, because, not having fubjects enough of her own, the is obliged to have recourfe to foreign troops; but there is no place where they reftrain their civil officers more to the eftablished principles of the country; and the fame policy prevailed in Sweden. It had been faid, that by the corporation and test acts, every man who refufes to fubmit thereto, is fubject to the fame punishment with those who may be convicted of great and heinous crimes. That was not the fact. No man, because he does not choose to receive the facrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the ufage of the church of England, is fubjected to any punishment whatever. The act holds out punishment to thofe who fill offices; and they are punished for wilfully flying in the face of an act of the legitlature. Nor was any indignity offered to the diffenters, by not admitting them to offices, unless they qualified by the tett act. Have not the country refolved that no king or queen thould fit on the throne of the British empire, who refuted to comply with the-teft act?-If the throne was offered to any prince who would not comply from motives of confcience, the refufal of the throne to him would be offering him no indignity, no infuit. With refpect to the intention of the legislature in thofe acts, it was evident from their conduct, fingular as it was, that they meant to include both papifts and diffenters. The corporation act clearly meant to exclude the fectaries, and was not meant to extend to the papifts; but it did exclude both; the tett act was chiefly intended against the papifts, but alfo included both; and when the parliament pafled both thefe acts, they knew both papifts and diffenters were included. What was the opinion of parliament at the revolution? That parliament, taught by the miferies they had experienced, and by the dangers they had efcaped, deliberately went through all the acts, and repealed every one except the corporation and test acts, which they [] 3 confidered confidered as mere civil and political regulations; they preferved them, and they thought them neceffary for the fafety of the church, and for the preservation of the conftitution. By that parliament a juft line was drawn for the relief of confcience on one hand, and for the safety of the church on the other. He confidered the test act as the corner ftone of the conftitution. King James, when he wished to gain the prince and princefs of Orange to his views, wifhed to have their opinion on the propriety of repealing the teft and corporation acts. The anfwer of the prince of Orange was, that he agreed to the removal of the corporation act, but not of the test act; and declared it to be the practice of Holland, to coufine all civil employments to those who profeffed the principles of the ftates, but the army could not be fo reftrained, on account of the want of troops. Nothing brought James fo fpeedily to the crifis of his fate as the test act, which reftrained him, and rendered it impoffible for him to fill all offices, civil and military, with thofe of his own fect, which he hoped to be enabled to do by gaining the repeal of the teft act, and then there would have been an end to all liberty. He conceived it to be the duty of every member of that houfe, to prevent that which in a future period might fubject the nation to the fame dangers it had before experienced. He next remarked on the arguments refpecting the clergy of the church, who were forced to give the facrament to all who defired it. He faid, fo far from its being the with of the clergy of England to gain a repeal of the test act, they were all alarmed at the inten-, tion of propofing the repeal, and were determined to oppofe it with their greateft ftrength.-Every minifter is bound by his holy office to refufe the communion to any unworthy perfon-if he refufes according to law, by law he will be juftified-the fear of an action fhould not prevent a man from doing his duty. If the facrament, in many inftances, was taken unworthily, he feared many falfe oaths were also taken; but could that operate as a reafon for the abolition of oaths, which, in many cafes, are abfolutely neceffary? The legiflature is not to be anfwerable for the confequences of the facrament being taken unworthily, any more than for false oaths. He concluded by warning the houfe of the danger there might be in breaking down the barrier which had heretofore guarded the conftitution. They all knew the perilous nature of the cry, "The church is "in danger;" and an incendiary watching his opportunity, might do as much mifchief by that cry, as by the cry of "No Popery." Though we owe much to the Brunswick line for the bleffings of liberty which we enjoy, much is alfo owing to the church for its promotion of harmony, by its fubmiffion to the government, and its liberal principlesprinciples which have encouraged bringing forward the prefent motion. Mr. Pitt followed lord North, and took the fame fide of the queftion. He ftated fully the diftinction which it was neceffary to make, between a participation in the offices of state, and liberty of confcience. He obferved, that there must be a reftriction of rights in all focieties: that, for instance, in this nation, all the modes modes of reprefentation neceffarily included modes of qualification. But was a man to be confidered as punifhed or difgraced, because he does not vote for a city, a county, or a borough? The true queftion was, whether there was any fubftantial intereft which made it neceflary that one part of the community fhould be deprived of a participation in its civil offices? He faid, the fecurity of the established church was an intereft of this nature, and that he thought it would be endangered by the repeal propofed. It had been, indeed, afferted, that the diffenters had not a wish to encroach upon the establishments of the church. But of this he muft beg leave to doubt: he must look to human nature to find out the fprings that moved their actions. If the danger was not certain, at leaft it was not chimerical; it would afford fufficient foundation for the fears of the members of the established church; and theirapprehenfions werenot tobe lightly treated. It was even reafonable to conclude, without imputing any injuftice to the diffenters, that if they faw an opening fairly before them they would attempt changes: there is a natural defire in all men to extend the influence of their religion; the diffenters were never backward in this, and it was necesfary for the establishment to have an eye to them. There are fome diffenters who declare that the church of England is a relique of popery; others, that all eftablithments are wicked and unlawful. Thefe may not be the opinions of the majority; but no means can be devited to admit the moderate part of the diffenters, and to exclude the more violent; the fame bulwark must be kept up againft all. Mr. Pitt further remarked, that a corporation brought exclufively into the hands of diffenters, which might not unfrequently happen in cafe the act was repealed, was a very different thing from a diffenting member fitting in that house. When a diffenting reprefentative was chofen by members of the church of England, he was more likely to come in with fentiments friendly to the establishment, than if he was chofen by a majority of diffenters: in this latter cafe it would be his intereft to play the game of the diffenters against the established church. He concluded, with declaring, that the difcretionary power wifely lodged and liberally exercifed every year in bills of indemnity by the legiflature, left the diffenters no reafonable ground of complaint; and that they poffeffed as perfect a toleration as the fecurity of the established conftitution in church and ftate could admit. Mr. Fox, in a long and able fpeech, fupported the motion for a committee, and went over all the arguments which, on former occa- ́ fions, he had urged in fupport of the repeal. He concluded with remark-* ing, that on the prefent occafion he fhould be fufpected of being biaffed by any improper partiality towards the dissenters. Their conduct in a late political revolution was well known; but he was willing to let them fee, that though they loft fight of the principles of the conftitution upon that occafion, he should not upon any occafion lofe fight of his principles of toleration. The motion was alfo fupported by fir Harry Houghton, Mr. Smith, and fir James Johnítone; and op‐ pofed by fir William Dolben; who, in proof of dangerous defigus en tertained tertained by the diffenters, read a paffage from a book written by a diftinguifhed minifter of their body, in which he observes, "That their filent propagation of the truth would in the end prove efficacious. They were wifely placing, as it were grain by grain, a train of gunpowder, to which a match would one day be laid to blow up the fabric of error, which could never be again raised upon the fame foundation." The queftion being put, it paffed in the negative: ayes 100-noes 178. On the 20th of A20th April. pril, the houfe being in a committee of fupply, the chancellor of the exchequer opened his budget for the fervice of the current year. It was a matter, he faid, of great fatisfaction to him, and the house, he doubted not, would be ejoiced to hear, that he had fuch an account of the ftate of the finances to lay before them, as would juftify the fanguine expectations which on feveral former occafions he had ventured to exprefs before them. The fervices of the year would be found amply provided for; and though it had not yet been practicable to reduce fome of our most expensive eftablishments to the level which he had expected, and to what the committee of revenue in the preceding feffion had fixed as an adequate peace eftablishment, yet, without the impofition of any additional burthens, the plan for the diminution of the national debt would be ftrictly purfued, and the feveral quarterly payments of 250,000l. regularly made, He then proceeded to ftate to the committee the feveral public charges, and the ways and means for defraying them. |