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    of the sovereign was in no respect implicated . No ROY A L , PROM 1 SE TW AS violated . Of this the following anecdote , if authentic , as it is said to be , contains ample proof . During the negociation , Mr . Secretary Dundas , afterwards Lord Melville , submitted to his majesty a draught of the proposed articles of union to learn the royal pleasure , and to take his majesty ' s com mauds upon the subject The monarch

    mm . m upon this occasion is repor ed to have said , 4 1 hope , Mr . Dundas , I am not pledged to extend the piivileges of the Catholics . ' ' Your majesty / replied the right honourable secretary , * is pledged to nothing ; but your majesty ' s ministers flatter themselves that the

    clauses relating to the Catholics will be interpreted liberally . * « But , Mr . Dundas , you recollect the coronation oath ' * I do recollect it , Sire , ' replies the secretary , ' bui your majesty will have tfee goodness to consider , that there is nothing in that oath which can bind your majesty from concurring in any measure Which the wisdom of parliament may

    recommend . ' * None of your Scotch metaphysics for me , Mr . Dundas , ' interrupted -the monarch , with some vrarmth ; ' I do not approve of your Scotch metaphysics : * and immed ately broke up the conference . Who would not wish that a mind so honourable had been more enlightened , tven though it should have been through the friedium of Af r , Dundas ' s Scotch metaphysics ?*'

    In reference to the stale charge of the Catholics having broken faith with heretics , Mr . Belsliam protests against the imputation to children of the iniquities of fathers , and thus happily retorts upon and expostulates with th «" -accuser .

    " What for example , -was the con duct of Charles the Second to the fies by < nans , who rest red him wi » h unrestricted prerogatives to the ' hronc of his ancestors ? What was the return made by ti ; e nation to the zealous non conformists who , with confiding simplicity , supported a Bill by which they were themselves excluded from offices

    and honours , in order to keep out the Caiholies , under a promise , expressed or understood , that rney should speedily be restored to the ? r political rights ? And where was the gratitude of the

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    established church , after it had by the aid of ihe nonconformists , which it had implored in the hour of * anger , compelled a Catholic tyrant to abdicate the

    th one ? But shall we then say that it is a doctrine of the church o England , that fairh is not to be kept ith nonconformj ts ? G d forbid . Let every one bear his own burden . Let every one *> utFer the d-sgrace of his * iolat d honour . But let not the innocent be confounded with the guilty ; nor the honourable members of either the CathoHc

    or the Protestant churches , bear the opprobrium of proceedings which they peremptorily disavow , and which they would neither imitate nor approve . " pp . 21 , 7 , 2 . We cannot go over all the top ics of this well-timed , interesting Sermon , but there is a passage in the conclusion which forces itself

    upon us by the weight of its matter and the beauty of its style . cc Finally , it is ailedged that all nonconformists , Catholic and Protestant , must be from principle , and in their hearts , hostile to the established religion .

    and from interest desirous to pull it down , and to build up their own communion upon its ruins . The prosperity therefore , and even the safety of the established church , requires that they should be deprived of political power .

    " This is a very plausible and most imposing argument , and with many it has moic weight than all the rest . But 1 hesitate not to assert , that it is an argument which will not bear

    examination , that it is a gross and dangerous paral < gism , and that to act upon it is really to bring the established religion into that very cri-is which it is so desirable toa < oi < J . The settlement of

    ample revenuo s and the investment of the ministers of an establishment with high rank and dignity , is arrply sufficient for the support of a national religion . And the church of England , protected by

    ihe laws , the customs , the opulence , and the fashion of the country , needs not , for her own security , to grasp at { he monopoly of political power . She may he well content to share it in due p » oportion with the rest of the

    community . 44 This , she may be assured , is * decided judgment of all who axe not

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    * 10 Reoieto ' . —Belsham ' s Sermon on Catholic Claims .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1813, page 410, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2429/page/54/