presented to the throne, stood high among the instances which sir George pointed out, of the safety, and the good consequences, which were likely to attend this liberal procedure of parliament. He observed, that in that Address they not only expressed their obedience to the government under which they lived, but their attachment to the constitution upon which the civil rights of this country have been established by the Revolution, and which placed the present family upon the throne of these kingdoms. As a further guard and security, however, against any possible consequence of the measure, he proposed that a sufficient test might be formed, by which they should bind themselves to the support of the civil government by law established.

other relation's estate, during the life of the real proprietor.-And, the depriving of Papists from the power of acquiring any legal property by purchase; a word which, in its legal meaning, carried a much greater latitude than was understood (and that perhaps happily) in its ordinary acceptation; for it applied to all legal property acquired by any other means than that of descent.-These, he said, were the objects of the proposed repeal. Some of them had now ceased to be necessary, and others were at all times a disgrace to humanity. The imprisonment of a Popish priest for life, only for officiating in the services of his religion, was horrible in its nature; and must, to an Englishman, be ever held as infinitely worse than death. Such a law, in times of so great liberality as the present, and when so little was so be apprehended from these people, called loudly for repeal; and he begged to remind the House, that even then they would not be left at liberty to exercise their functions; but would still, under the restriction of former laws, be liable to a year's imprisonment, and to the punishment of a heavy fine.-The mildness of government had hitherto softened the rigour of the law in the practice, but it was to be considered that the Roman Catholic priests were still left at the mercy of the lowest and basest of mankind; for on the complaint of any informing constable, the magisterial and judicial powers were bound to enforce all the shameful penalties of the held out by it, to those children who were Act. With respect to the encouragement base enough to lay their hands on the estates of their parents, or which debarred a man from the honest acquisition of property; it needed only to be mentioned in order to excite the indignation of the House.

Mr. Dunning seconded the motion, and went into a legal discussion of the principle, objects, and past operation, of the Bill which was intended to be repealed. The following he stated as the great and grievous penalties.-The punishment of Popish priests or Jesuits, who should be found to teach or officiate in the services of that church; which acts were felony in foreigners, and high treason in the natives of this kingdom. The forfeitures of Popish heirs, who had received their education abroad, and whose estates went to the next Protestant heir.-The power given to the son or other nearest relation, being a Protestant, to take possession of the father, or

and ought to have but one wish, and one sentiment, we humbly hope it will not be deemed improper to assure your Majesty of our unreserved affection to your government, of our unalterable attachment to the cause and welfare of this our common country, and our utter detestation of the designs and views of any foreign power against the dignity of your Majesty's crown, the safety and tranquillity of your Majesty's subjects.

"The delicacy of our situation is such, that we do not presume to point out the particular means by which we may be allowed to testify our zeal to your Majesty, and our wishes to serve our country; but we intreat leave, faithfully to assure your Majesty, that we shall be perfectly ready, on every occasion, to give such proofs of our fidelity, and the purity of our intentions, as your Majesty's wisdom, and the sense of the nation, shall at any time deem expedient."

The above Address was signed by the duke of Norfolk, the lords Surry and Shrewsbury, Linton for the Scotch, Stourton, Petre, Arundel, Dormer, Teynham, Clifford, and 163

commoners.

Mr. Attorney General Thurlow declared but he divided its object into four heads, and he had no intention of opposing the Bill; wished that the House would not go into the consideration of repealing this or that obnoxious clause in this or that Bill; but that it would take up the principle upon which the laws on each head were enacted, and so modify the indulgence to be given the Roman Catholics, as not to lose sight of the civil objects for which they were framed. The first proposition, he said, was the preaching and teaching of priests; the second, the education of children abroad; for this was different from the teaching meant in the first pro

relations on their property: but he wished that the bar which parliament had formerly thought proper to lay in the way of any future acquisition of landed property might not be removed; let them enjoy what they have, but let them not increase their possessions.

Mr. Turner detested the cruel policy that reduced men, by nature free, to a state of slavery. Religion, he said, had always been an engine in the hands of power to enslave mankind: he wished to see all his fellow subjects free, Catholics and dissenters alike; and an universal toleration established by law. The Catholics of this country were amiable, worthy citizens; they lived on their estates, improved them, spent the produce of them at home, and daily exercised the most voluntary and generous acts of charity among those who resided on or near their estates. Their charities knew no bounds; and by all their actions he declared they had manifested a behaviour highly worthy both of good citizens and good Christians.

The Bill was read a second time; and afterwards passed the Commons without opposition.

Debate in the Lords on the Bill for the Relief of Roman Catholics.] May 25. On the second reading of the Bill,

The Bishop of Peterborough (Dr. John Hinchcliffe) said: As a friend to civil and religious liberty, I am free, my lords, to own that I think there ought to be neither penalty nor restraint on the intercourse between God and a man's own conscience. I cannot therefore but disapprove of all laws which are calculated to oppress men for their religious persuasion; and to tempt any one with views of interest to trespass on his duty and natural affection, by depriving his father of his estate, or supplanting his brethren, is a policy, in my opinion, inconsistent with reason, justice and humanity. At the same time, my lords, permit me to say, I am not so ignorant of the genius of popery, as not to know it is a very difficult matter to consider its religious principles altogether distinct from that political superstructure which has been raised upon them: and to the support of which, I cannot but fear, that should occasion offer, they might still be made too subservient. Any alteration, therefore, in those laws which the wisdom of parliament has thought necessary, from time to time, for the preservation of our church and state, ought not to be made

without due deliberation; and although I profess myself to be a friend to the principle of this Bill, yet I wish it had been brought in sooner in the session, that it might not have appeared to be hurried through both Houses; and that we might not only have had time to consider it ourselves, but to know the general disposition of the nation ere it past into law, for I hold it to be worthy your lordships' attention not only to look into the real security of the constitution, but to prevent alarms of imaginary danger, with which ignorance and malice have heretofore, and may again kindle such a flame, as the authority of law will find it difficult to extinguish. But as there may be particular circumstances which might make delay inconvenient; I beg leave to submit to your lordships' consideration a doubt concerning the operation of this Bill. As the law now stands a younger son may, by professing himself a Protestant, deprive his elder brother of the estate. But after the Bill before us shall have passed, may not an estate be so limited, as to descend only to a Catholic; and an elder brother be incapacitated by the limitation, if he professes himself a Protestant? Provision was made by the Act of king William for the maintenance and education of a child, being a Protestant, during his father's life, at the direction of the lord chancellor; this part of the Act is not repealed by the present Bill; but, my lords, what may be the condition of such child under the conditions of settlement, after his father's death? May he not be left destitute, because he is not a Roman Catholic? These doubts I submit to your lordships' better judgment; and trust that, if necessary, some provision will be made in the committee, to prevent the inconveniences that may hereafter arise, if they are not in time attended to.

The Marquis of Rockingham said a few words to shew that the repeal of these clauses would but relieve a very dutiful and loyal part of the King's subjects from hardships, which it was disgraceful for any government to inflict. The reverend prelate had mentioned a particular effect which would be produced by the Bill, as if, in some instances, it gave advantage to those people superior to what the rest of his Majesty's subjects enjoyed; but the Bill had, in fact, no such purport; it only brought them back to a level with their fellow subjects at large, in a few certain points of religious toleration and security of possessions, whilst in a variety of other

instances they remained in a situation much inferior to them with respect to privileges of religion, profit, power, and ho

nours.

The Earl of Shelburne followed the noble marquis upon the same grounds, wishing that restraints similar to those now about to be repealed, had not reduced threefourths of the people of Ireland to a state of wretchedness, tending equally to alienate their affections from this government, and to prevent an influx of wealth from that country to this. He wished that with a liberal toleration of religion there should be given to a people, who had demeaned themselves so well, a security and free disposal of their property. Further than this, he would not venture to hint at or approve; and as the present Bill did not go beyond that, or indeed so far, he wished it should neither meet with opposition or delay. He went a little into the history of the penal clauses, which the Act was intended to repeal; and observed, that when they were first proposed in parliament nobody approved of them, yet nobody had spirit enough to oppose them. He adverted to the case of a Mr. Molony, a priest of the Roman Catholic persuasion, who had been apprehended and brought to trial by the lowest and most despicable of mankind, a common informing constable of the city of London. He was convicted of being a Popish priest, and the court were reluctantly obliged to condemn him (shocking as the idea was) to perpetual imprisonment. His lordship was then in office, and though every method was taken by the privy council to give a legal discharge to the prisoner, neither the laws then in force would allow of it, nor dared the King himself to grant him a pardon. He however, with his colleagues in office, were so perfectly persuaded of the impolicy and inhumanity of the law, that they ventured to give him his liberty at every hazard.

The Bill was read a second time, and afterwards passed without opposition.

Debate on the Duke of Richmond's Motion respecting the Equipment and Sailing of the French Fleet from Toulon-And on the State of the British Navy. May 25. The order of the day being read for taking into consideration the Papers relating to the Equipment of the Toulon Fleet,

The Duke of Richmond said, that in spite of every difficulty which had been

thrown in the way to obtain information, and open the eyes of the people to the perilous situation in which they stood, he had persevered in his duty. Convinced of the inevitable ruin which must have ensued, had the same mad career of politics been pursued, he endeavoured to rouse the nation to a proper sense of its real state; and in the whole of what had been urged against this line of conduct, he was glad to see it this day refuted in the fullest manner, and that by an evidence no less authentic and decisive than the very papers now read. The only semblance of argument resorted to by the noble lords in administration against agreeing to the Resolutions, moved in the committee on the state of the nation, was shortly this: "We," said the noble lords, " agree with you, that the propositions now made are incontrovertible, are truisms; but we do not wish to give them a parliamentary sanction, lest it should expose our internal weakness, and thereby invite our rivals to break with, or attack us." What do the present papers prove? That ministers had in general a full and correct account of what was going forward in the French ports. Is there one of your lordships, who can entertain a doubt, that France was not only well acquainted with the mutilated, imperfect information which came before this House, but was thoroughly informed of what was then held back. His grace observed, that early in January, and regularly thenceforward to the last date, accounts had been transmitted to the office of the noble viscount (Weymouth) and latterly to the Admiralty, of the armaments going on in December at the port of Toulon. This information was full, uniform, and frequent, till the last ten days; and yet no step was taken to defeat the intentions of the French court. It had been regularly the mode adopted on the approach of a war with France and Spain, more particularly since Gibraltar and Minorca formed a part of the dominions of the British crown, to dispatch a fleet into the Mediterranean, and the reason was obvious; because the strength of either one, or both of those powers was divided by nature. The Gut of Gibraltar formed this natural barrier. In the event of a war, therefore, it was always the policy of this country to avail itself of the possession of the fortress of Gibraltar, by stationing a squadron there, to prevent a junction of the naval force of France in the Mediterranean, in the