The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-22 00:00:00

hlrnself recommended this proceeding. The oteposite party,
however, said they would heovide for . the Dissenters in
another way ; and eve ace it not fur that promise the great
matt at the head of the Government (for a great man he
eertainly.waa) tvould have ineistal on the Test and Corpo-
ration
Act, being repealed. Such was also the feeling of
Georre 1., and••the leading men of that time; but many
obaPaeles arose, and accidental circumstances,'Which disap.
pointed the. hopes of the Dissenters. ,IleFtrneted he hae
sow shown that the Constitution was not bound up
id those illiberal acts, as contended by his Noble am'
Leorned :Friend. And as to our having, at. the Union
of Scotland, bound ourselves to the people .r Eng.
land to preserve these Acts inviolate, such was not
the fact; it had certainly been an endeavour
nit
the • part of Lord . Nottingham to introduce these two
,
laWs into the articles of Union, but without success the
object being to defeat the-Union altogether. Now, when
their Lordships found that the effort of that party to intro-
duce these acts was a part of their tactics to get rid el
-that measureiai!. afforded a strong- proof that these Act
ought to*hant been repealed. Yet, now their Lordshipe
were to be told, that they were as much concluded by
these Acts as by those which appeared on the face of the
Act of Union. He did hope, therefore, that no Act passed
no lately as the reign of Charles IL would be deemed as all inviolable part of the Gmstitution ; and he only wished hie
Noble Friend, who was so anxious to preserve thenia would look at the laws passed in that happy reign. The
Acts mentioned in the articles of Union were different from
other Acts, because they formed part of a solemn contract
hetween two powers, one of which was thereby exthse
guished; they ought, therefore, to be approached with
greater caution and -tenderness. So far, he (Lord Holland)
would go with his Learned Friend, and Ito farther. But
he never would admit that the English Parliament had no
power to alter or repeal any law passed by a former Pare
henient.
The Earl of ELDON hoped, after the Noble Lord
(Holland) had attributed to him language and sentiments
which be had not used, that lie would be allowed to tres-
pass upon the House for a few minutes. He never said,.
that the Constitution consisted of these Statutste ; what he
had said was, that the Church and State combined formed
the Constitution, and these laws and statutes were made
for the Preservation of that Constitution. If their Lord-.
-ships thought proper to change those laws, he could nhly
say that he would' not be accessory to it. If every man in
both Houses of Parliament were to agree to pass this Bill,
he (Lord Eldon) would vote alone upon it ,eed go below the
bar. Neither did he say that King Willie solid not recom-
mend this measure after be came to the throne ; what lie
said was, that looking at King William's 'e ,larations while
Prince of Orange, and afterwards when King, and con-
eidering that Parliament, notwithstatta.ng his recommen-
dation, had resisted the passing of that measure down to
the present period, proved their sense of the necessity and
importance of preserving these acts inviolate. Alter
cferring to the Inessage of Charles the Second on this
subject, and the Act of the let of William and Mary,
the Noble and Learned Earl said that he had now
shown that the Noble Lord (Holland) had misunderstood
'Nino -be would not say misrepresented him, because he
knew euch had not been his intention. As to the effect of
*4 the march cf intellect," lie (Lord Eldon) would not say
:,hat at different periods, over and over again, uneasineae
had not been expressed as to the sacerdotal test. He did
not hesitate to state that the test was of the most sacred na-
ture, and if any body else could propose another test,
equally etrong, to be substituted, God forbid that lie (Loci
Ehion) should object to it. But what lie said was, that
wes a Matter of surprise to hint, that down to this pe-
riod certain Lords in this Honse had never come forward
lentil now to say that this was a species of teat that ought
atot to exist. All he would say was, that no consideration
on this side the grave should induct him ever to be a party
to such a separation between the Church and State as this
Bill would effect. All he looked for was, that the consti-
tution be sufficiently secured o and provided that were ac-
complished, he was not struggling for this test or that.
Ali lie hoped bar was, that when his turn came, he should
leave his country in possession of that blessing unimpaired,
which had so lung preserved her in happiness and grandeue.
"Lord MELVILLE had no wish to erolong this discua-
eion, but after what had been said with respect to &Zit-
land, he felt called on to make a few observations. Ile
agreed with his Noble Friend as to the Test Act, but net
as to the Corporation Act. Although their Lordships'
table was loaded with petitions, they did not all call for a
repeal of the Corporation Act, sonic of them confining
their prayer to the Test Act alone. Now by one of the
articles of Union, it was stipulated that the people of Scot-
land were not to be subjected to any Test. But his Noble
Friend (Lord Eldon) seemed to think that the Scotch
were unnecessarily intruding upon this subject, and when
he 'Lord Melville) was told that English offices were be-
stowed on them, that was what lie could not submit to.
Now such offices as those of Judges, Sheriffs, and other
local offices of that description in this country, undoubt-
edly might be called English offices; but to be Veld that a
commission in the army was an English office, was what
lie uever could admit. If the King were Ia Scotland, and
an office were to become vacant, such as that of Secretary
of State, and the King bestowed it on an individual of that
country, such individual would not, he contended, be sub-
ject to the 'rest Act. His Noble Friend said, that au Eng-
lishman could not fill an office in Scotland without sub-
scribing to their confession of faith. But that wee coufin -
ed to a few particular situations, such as Professors of the
loniversity, or parochial Schoolmasters, and by no meaes
o„plied to civil offices generally.
The Earl of ELDON wished to know why the inviola•
bility of the laws of Scotland had been introduced into the
Bill, if the test had nothing to do with them ?
The Earl of FALMOUTH had listened with particular
pleasure to the sentiments expressed by the Noble mid
Learned Lord (Eldon.) They were the result. of long ex-
perience and observation, and of a warns attachment to the
Church and State : that was not a reason why lie did not
value them the Inure. Whet] it appeared doubtful why-
tber the preseut test was to stand or not, or whether any
other was to be substituted, he could not help obtruding
his own sentiments on so important a subject. The Noble
Duke at the head of the Government had expressed his
s Tot to this measure, in compliance with the senti.
ments of the other House of Parliament. It was very well
to give those sentiments their due effect; but their Lord-
ships were too well acquainted with the natureof the Consti-
tution to give much weight to that. This Ilouse was beund
to give just as touch weight to the opinions of the House of
Commons, as the House of Commons gave to the opinions
of this. His Majeety's Ministers seemed disposed to support
the views of those who had been invariably opposed to the
principles on which they (the Ministers) acted ; he hoped
that some of that conciliatory feeling would be displayed
towards those who het i always advocates! those principles.
Now, with respect to the present measure, a Right Rev.
Prelate (whose character the Noble Earl highly eulogised)
observed the other evening, that no conscientious man
could make the declaration contained in this Bill without
feeling himself hound by its preamble. But were their
Lordships legislating for honest men? His objection to
the present measure was, that the declaration was not suf-
ficiently solemn—and that object could be effected by mak-
ing it run in this way—" leclaTe in the presence
of
Almighty God," &c. ; but
all d
this species of security
eerned to have been
discarded.—(Hear. )-_He never saw
any thing more
looselyor unsatisfactorily drawn up.—
When be spoke hus
, he knew that he was liable to be
called an ultra- Tory;
any but he would not shrink from
his duty on account of
reproach that might_ be cast
u
o be thus denominated; but he could
assurepon hti hmei r Lloileolme Iphst, and he wished also to show to the
country, that be cherished no feeling obnoxious to any
body of people. He entirely agreed with the Noble
Lord near him, that the two clauses_
from l
the Bill, more which bad been so
often adverted to ought to be expunged
d's ewe with
especially that which enabled his Majesty to I. I) •
the declaration attogether in certain cases. With respect
to the declaration itself, it appeared to him to be good
for
nothing at all. He therefore objected to the declaration,
to
and he also objected to the power given to the Crown
dispense. with it. On these two points he was oppo_.
ed to
this Bill. Unless, therefore, something like a clear and
did declaration or oath similar in that now administered
was introduced, and those two clauses to which he had re-
ferred were expunged, he must resist the further progress
of the measure.

'The Duke of WELLINGTON rose merely to state to
their Lordships, that the Noble Lord who had just sat down
slid not appear perfectly to underitand the ground on which
Wellington) had recommended this Ines-
lie (the Duke of
sure. He had not gone the length which the Noble Lord
had attributed to him. He had not caned on their Lord-
ships to agree to this Bill because it had been passed in the
House of Commons. He had merely assigned that as one
of the reasons that had induced him. to recommend the mea-
sure to their Lordships. He certait.!:,. bad alluded to the
feeling in favour of the Bill which 1, . i for some time been
growing up in the House of Cotruno:,,, as a good reason for
• itertainincr it iu their Lordships' Housc,—but other reasons
also operated on his mind. Many individuals of high emi-
nence in the church, and who were as much interested as
any other persons in the kingdom in the preservation of the
Constitution, had expressed themselves as being favourable
to an alteration of the law. The religious feelings of
those venerable persons disposed them to entertain
this measure, because they felt strong objections to
the sacramental test. Under these circumstances, wishing

to advance and to preserve the blessings of' religious