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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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492 Intelligence *—Parliamentary : Oaths of Supremacy .
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and he must find this state of doubt , and the nicely-balanced state of that House , a most disagreeable spectaculum . He would , however , call their Lordships' attention to what they were doing . Yesterday when his Noble Friend brought
forward a measure to remove an anomaly attended by most serious consequences , by an Act of the Legislature , he found a majority of their Lordships alive to the safety of their Church , Now , however , when the clerks take on themselves U >
dispense with these oaths , the Bill of ludemnity made all good . It might be very good fun to laugh at jokes , very good fun and sport , but was there now to be no anxiety for the Church ? Those oaths , which were thought last night by the Noble and Learned Lord to be so
indispensable , and which had never been dispensed with from the time of Henry the Eighth , were all at once found to be entitled in one case to no observance . This was a strange exhibition . He thought their Lordships would do well to put a stop to similar proceedings by getting rid
of all those tests which , founded on religious differences , begot a system of perjury and oppression throughout the country . He would have them got rid of openly , and not by secret arrangements . They only served to make some men proud of their " little brief authority , " and make them think other men had no
right to the enjoyment of any privileges , unless enjoyed by their special grace and favour . The Earl of Liverpool said , as to the objections made to the Bill of Indemnity for not enforcing certain oaths , it was done every year . He was not then saying whether it was right or wrong , but for
more than a century it had been the uniform practice of Parliament . The difference between the present Act of Indemnity and the former one was this : it had happened , he did not know from what cause , whether from ignorance or oversight , but it had happened that the Act requiring Oaths to be taken by Officers of the Excise had been omitted :
and in the last Act of Indemnity , the 12 th and 15 th of Charles II . were inserted . As to the Bill he ' was to introduce , he thought it would be readily admitted that there was no reason why the officers of the different departments of the administration of the revenue should be under different regulations . Lord Holland reminded their
Lordships that the Test Act imposed three tests on persons appointed to certain offices—that they should take the oath of allegiance , the oath of supremacy , and should take the sacrament according to the form of the Church of England . The two former were to be taken before en-
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tering on office , whilea certain time was allowed for complying with the latter . The Act of Indemnity was ouly for not taking the sacrament , and did not apply to the oaths . The particular Acts to which his Noble Relative had referred
did not allow any person to meddle with any of the duties of ihe excise who had not taken these oaths . And though the Act of Indemnity might indemnify those who had done so , he did not believe it could indemnify those Commissioners who had allowed them to be in office without
taking the oaths . The Act could not cover the Commissioners , Either the laws imposing these oaths were good and ought to be observed , or they ought not . The Noble Lords who were so anxious to prevent the Bill of his Friend from passing , who opposed the Bill ^ shewed
that they thought them necessary ; but if they were evaded from year to year , that was a proof that they were not necessary to the safety of the State . As for their being a slight evil , as alleged by some Nobles , he was sure all their Lordships must feely and more particularly those Noble Lords who had been elevated to
the Peerage , that it was a very serious punishment to be declared incapable of serving their King and Country—a punishment which ought only to be inflicted on those who had been guilty of the most
detestable crimes . This sentence , if he had quoted it right , was contaiued in a Report of their Lordships' House , and that Report was drawn up by Lord Somers . Unless their Lordships were prepared to deride the wisdom of their
ancestorsunless they were prepared to pay no attention to the words of Lord Somersthey must admit that this declared incapacity was only proper for punishing the most detestable crimes , and they could not continue to impose this incapacity on innocent men without being guilty of the most glaring injustice .
The Marquis of Lansdowne declared his resolution to persevere in calling for the information for which he had moved . As far as he was acquainted with the subject , he did not suppose the Act oi Indemnity could extend to those who had been the cause of this violation of the law .
He had learnt from a high authority , that in cases in which it was the manifest intent ioli of the Legislature to exclude Papists from certain offices , that a misdemeanor was incurred by those persons who , knowing any parties to be Papists , were the means of promoting them to these offices . There could be no doubt
that it was the intention of the Legislature , by the Acts to which he had referred , to exclude Papists from offices in the Excise . He thought such restrictions ought not to exist , but he would not have
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1824, page 492, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2527/page/44/
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