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the reins of government were entrusted into their hands . For if the enlightened party themselves form the majority , it is evident that , without fear of injury to the State , they may admit their opponents to seats in the Legislative bodies . But in the former case I allow , that self-defence being the first law of nature , no man or number of men ought to be expected to resign power into hands which will repay their liberality by oppression . The
necessity , however , must be cogent , for the principle is most dangerous . The excluding party must act upon the most conclusive evidence , both of their enemies being too numerous for them to cope with , and too malicious or ignorant to be trusted .
But what proof have we that such a necessity ever existed in England ? I can see none . Let us suppose for a moment the numerical forces of the Catholics and Protestants to be at all equal , and we must see that th £ oppressive laws under which they lived , must have excited constant
insurrections . The history of the two last centuries proves , beyond all doubt , that their strength has never been dangerous . If it had , we should have seen it displayed in the contest between Charles and his Parliament , when the Protestants being divided among themselves , the numbers elf the Catholics
would have been so effective . At the Revolution , even with the defection of the High Church party in their favour , they effected nothing , and as little was done in the two rebellions which arose after the accession of the House of Hanover .
It would be curious to trace the gradual change which has taken place in the motives of persecutors . In the H > th and 17 th centuries the great stimulus was religious bigotry . Governments would be , of course , urged or restrained by considerations of interest , t > ut with the people the motive was
honest fanaticism . In the 18 th , although , as the Riots of 1780 in London , and those of 1791 in Birmingham , but too well prove , the spirit of persecution was not extinct , yet it was very much allayed , and at the present time junong the great body of the people it hardly exists . It is true , when jlories are told from the Bench that the exi stence of their religion depends on
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their sending a poor shopkeeper to prison , and that whether they think so or not , , tjie law having decided the question for them , they will violate their oaths if they find a verdict contrary to its decisions , they have not always sufficient knowledge ? and strength of mind to resist the appeal . But this
weakness does not imply any love of persecution , nor do I impute any great anxiety on the score of religion to the prosecutors , as I see a cause in operation quite sufficient to account for all their ardour .
The truth is , that tlie public mind is much less engaged on polemical questions than formerly . Theological disquisition is not the fashionable mental employment . Politics furnish the great stimulus , and religious persecution is only practised as far as it may promote the ends of party .
As in the reign of Henry the VIII . an additional odium was cast on heresy , by making it treason against the civil magistrate ; so in our times we have seen a ruling party attempt to punish attacks against themselves by the cry of blasphemy . These facts mark the different spirit of the two ages : in the
former , the real motive was religious bigotry ; in the latter , political hatred . Such appears to me to be the present state of sentiment with respect to freedom of opinion . That we have made large advances during the two last centuries cannot be denied , yet I think we must attribute some share of
the change to the declining importance attached to the speculative part of religion . It may be a fair matter of inquiry , how far the discovery of religious truth may be impeded or promoted by
this disposition of the public mind . Perhaps it may be ^> und , that when an inquirer believed his eternal happiness to depend on his success , the intensity of his interest would not be favourable
to calm and impartial examination . It is , however , a question into which I shall not enter—I merely notice the fact . * * Cert& quidem qu&que de re quisque
aut alteram m par tern judicio inclinat aut ambigit . Qui ambigit autem si perisuasus > sit in errore certum salutis positurn discrimen esse cum non sit , nnirno consteraabitur , Quae constcrnatio tantutn abest tit judicio quicquam conferat ad
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The Nonconformist . No . XXI . 461
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 461, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/21/
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