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    signed , as lie conceived there teas no opportunity for deliberation amidst the confusion of public meetings . The Duke of Portland then moved the Second Reading of the Catholic Peers ' Bill , in a short speech , in which he argued that it was incumbent on those who opposed the Bill to shew that some danger was to be apprehended from Roman Catholic Peers sitting in that House : if this was not done , their Lordships were bound to agree to a measure which only restored those Peers to their rights . Lord Coechester opposed the Bill-He pleaded , that the exclusion of Catholics from Parliament was a principle of the Revolution , which was again recognized in the articles of the Scottish Union .

    He declared himself in favour of the most perfect toleration , but expressed his fears of Roman Catholic principles , and his alarm at the revival of the Jesuits and the monastic institutions , and his disapprobation of any other than

    Protestant worship in our fleets and armies . When a door was once opened to innovations by this Bill , he did not know what demands might be made . He concluded by moving that the Bill be read a second time this day six months .

    Lord Erskine said Jie would rather perish than give his consent to any measure which could violate or weaken the constitution , and he supported the present Bill because it was calculated to strengthen the constitution , by extending its benefits . There had been no idea of

    excluding Catholic Peers till the 30 th of Charles II ., and the whole foundation of that was the Popish Plot , which had no other foundation than the testimony of Titus Oatea , whose discoveries were

    not , as had been said , the act of God , but the instigation of the Devil . Circumstances and cases no longer existed to justify , or even afford a pretence for , the exclusion that was then thought necessary .

    The Lord Chancellor was of opinion that this Bill demanded nothing more or less than unlimited concession to the Roman Catholics . He wanted securities for the Protestant Church of England . He had never seen such nonsense as the Bill of last year contained ; the House had never such trash submitted to it

    before . . If the constitution were violated by passing such a Bill as this , he could not tell what might happen in a month . With respect to that gentleman Titus Oates , he had no doubt he was a scoundrel , yet he had been most scurvily used . He and his judge Jeffries , were both unworthy of credit ; he kuew not which tya » worse . The acts now proposed lo be disturbed were fundamental , essen-

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    tial , and for ever : a Protestatit Church , a Protestant Legislature , and a Protestant King . If Roman Catholics were admitted into the House of Peers , tney must of necessity sit in the House o ( Commons . His Lordship appealed to the popular feeling on this subject . In a short time , he said , it would be of very little consequence to what he did and what he ^ id not consent , but he would not consent to the adoption of such a measure as this ; and if these were the last words he should ever speak , he would say , that were this measure carried , the laws and liberties of the country were gone . Earl Grey animadverted upon the legal learning , indistinctly applied , and the high and astounding words of the last

    speaker . He contended that the exclusion of which so much had been said , was not a principle of the Revolution , but an exception to all its principles , an exception springing from over-anxiety . He argued that the present Bill was to be considered on its own merits . He called

    for proof of the necessity of continuing the odious restriction . By a large review of the history of this country and of Europe , he shewed that the Catholic religion was not considered to contain principles dangerous to the state . He entered into the discussion of the Corporation and Test Acts , and the Popish Plot , and examined the principles of the Revolution and the articles of the Union

    with Scotland . He then expatiated upon the Act of 1817 , which opened every rank in the army and navy to Roman Catholics : for proposing less than this in 1807 , he and his colleagues were resisted by the learned Lord and others , who raised an outcry of the danger of giving the power of the sword to Roman Catholics ; yet

    in a few short years , this very power was given by those that had been so clamorous against it , and without the exaction of a single security . In conclusion , he delivered his opinion , that whether this Bill were or were not passed , the discussion of the general question must take place , and he hoped at no distant period .

    The Earl of Liverpool was willing to discuss this Bill on its own merits . If nothing else were to be done , then he admitted that this Bill ought to pass ; but no measure could be more mischievous to the Roman Catholics than passing this Bill , if it were not intended to go

    further . The Roman Catholic Peer had no right to complain of not being allowed to . sit and vote , when , supposing the King , from conscientious motives , were to change his religion , he must descend from the throne of his anqes ^ orak Lord Gkjnvillk aaid , that his nobl *

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    462 Intelligence . *—Parliamentary .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1822, page 452, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2514/page/60/