The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-29 00:00:00

the declaration " upon the faith of a Christian," .le4s
might make their way into public offices, though it was
confessedly not the intention of the supporters' of the mea-
sure that they. should. He' allowed that it was not the in-
tention of the laws that were repealed that Dissenters Should
be admitted into public offices—that they lived for. years
under a system of the suspension of these 'awl; and that it
was notorious Dissenters were admitted into" Corporations.
It appeared too from an Act of Parliament that the Legis-
lature were aware that Dissenters were in office, and even
in goVerning offices, for it was decreed that Mayors or other
Officers.of a similar rank should not take the insignia of
their office, or the rep lia of the Corporation, into any other
places of public worship excepting those of the church by
law established. But this was never the case with respect
to Jews, and there was not a single instance known in
which Jews had been admitted into office. 'He should
therefore, oppose the motion that the words " upon the
faith of a Christian be expunged. It was quite a new
principle that. Jews should be admitted into public offices ;
if it was to be done, however, let the question respecting it
be fairly bronlit before Parliament and delibetately dis-
cussed. He would now conclude by again endeavouring to
impress upon their Lordships, that if they would confine
themselves to the point in the debate it would be Much
more satisfactory.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE did not consider the
discussion quite so disorderly as the Noble Duke did.
Their Lordships were in the habit of allowing a consider-
able latitude in their debates, and therefore it was compe-
tent to a Noble and Learned Lerd to declare again upon
what grounds he had advocated an amendinent he before
proposed, and it was also 'competent to a Right "Rev. Pre-
late to take that opportunity of re-stating the principles and
reasons upon which the Right Rev. Bench had acted.
For himself he had only risen to recall the motion of his
Noble Friend, and the reasons which had influenced him
in bringing that motion forward for the purPose of re-
cording his own opinions, and not to take the sense of the
House. His Noble Friend entertained some donbts re-
speeting.the Jews and their claim on the Legislature ; but
in the present instance his object had been. gained in the
general admission that there was no intention of depriving
the Jews of any advantages they might then possess.
More than this, he felt assured his Noble Friend did not
seek, and more than this he would not join him in asking
for. He thought that they should not, by a side-wind, at-
tempt to do any thing in the wayof legislation, andthough
he considered the Jews respectable as a people, all that he
conceived them entitled to, as far as the Bill was concerned,
was to be saved harmless. And as it was avowed on all
hands that the Bill was intended to leave them as it found
them, if hereafter it should be found that they had. suffered
any thing in their privileges through it, their Lordship
would, without doubt, feel themselves bound to set it right.
He was glad of that opportunity of declaring that whatever
might'be the opinions he entertained in favour of the claims
of Jews, or Roman Catholics, or of any other class of his
Majesty's subjects who might consider themselies aggrieved,
he was decidedly hoetileto general legislation. ' He thought
they should always legislate in detail--l-that each question
should be tried upon its Own peculiar merits; and that as a
principle of safety and institis, it should not be allowed that
by a side wind, one measure should be made a consequence
from another. Their Lordship*. mould recollect) that by
the words " upon the faith of a Christian," the Jetvs (who
were not disposed to meet the Noble Earl (Winehilsea).
half way, and swear with as little hesitation upon the faith
of a Christian as he would upon that of a Jew)' had been
excluded for eighty years from the other House. Ent with
.out allowing them that privilege, the question was, were
they not entitled to other offices in the State, through the
indulgence of the Legislature. He thought the most ad-
vantageous course fur their Lordships to pursue would be
to consider each amendment as it arose.

The Earl of GUILFORD differed- from a Noble Baron
in the opinion he had given upon a former sight, as to
what he considered to form tbe. Constitution. In his
mind, it was not merely in King, Lords. and Commons,
that the Constitution consisted, but in those fundamental
laws, that ascribed to them their several functions; and also
affixed to them certain limits for the general good, It was
true, that: those laws might be changed ; but whenever they
were changed, the Constitution was changed with them.
Now the Corporation and Test Acts, as they affected the
limits of one branch of the Constitution, were also funda-
mental laws. Whether good or bad it remained for their
Lordships to decide. The Noble Lord (Holland) had
been anxious to prove that because enacted against differ-
ent parties and at several periods they were not fundamen-
tal laws ; but he contended that the principle upon which
they were framed had been engendered at the Reformation.
The Noble Baron had .spoken of the period of the lawful
prerogative of the Crown and he felt &skims to know 'What
period that was. He fancied the Noble Lord would have to
go back to the two first of the dynasty of the Stuarts, or per-
hut c .t:11 1.161. e.-, a. the Tudors. Due the Noble Baron
had passed over the reign of Charles 11., with a sort of con-
tempt, although it could be proved upon the authority of
history, that there were never better laws trained in England
than during that period. There was a useful confidence of
the abuses of prerogative with the wisdom of Statesmen,
who had the abilities and the power to provide'reniedies
against them for the future, and he perfectly agreed with
Fox when he called it the tare of good laws.' The Noble
Lord next passed to the Revolution, aril brought down
William 111, to inform the House of the objects and aim of
the Revolution, but he was convinced that their Lordships
would rather take their opinion from the opponenti of
William 111., than from William himself, wbo had been
educated in foreign prejudices. He would not occupy
their Lordships' time much longer; he saw- they were not
inclined that he should. Ile would merely quote a pas-
sage from a writer as little likely to be suspected of high
church principles as .ithe Noble Marquis to whom his
work was dedicated. The sentitisenti-eipressed 'in this
passage perfectly coincided with his own, and they
were, " that if a man wanted any civil trust it was
right to inquire into what his qualifications might be, but
if he only desired to live under the Governinent, we had
no right to scrutinise his religion." The more perfect
was toleration, the more cautions should a State be in
guarding against the licentiousness of fanaticism—and in
averting the danger that might arise from those who would
disturb the public peace and endanger the public interests
of the country. The existence of a Test Act was as sure a
;woof of toleration in a country as the growth of -a certain
plant is of the mildness of the climite.
The Earl of ELDON then moved that the words, "lain
a Protestant," be inserted in the declaration, and' was pro-
ceeding to speak, when
Lord GODERICH remarked that the Noble Lord could
not begin to argue on'the quesiion till it was formally put.
The LORD CHANCELLOR then read the proposed
amendment from the Woolsack.

The Earl of HARROWBY was anxious that no advan-
tage should be taken towards the furtherance of an object
Which he had much at heart, and he was extremely de-
sirous that the measure should not receive a con-
trary appearance, by their adopting any amend-
ment that might create suspicion. If the words, " I
am a Protestant," had come up on the Bill from the
other House, and a question for their rejection had been
raised, he would have voted against it, and upon the same
principle that he now voted against their insertion, and
that was that in either case their conduct was liable to
misinterpretation. He would ask their Lordships what
was the state of the question? The Noble and Learned
Lord near the table (Eldon) tells you that if you take away
the sacramental test you will have nothing' left as a se-
curity but the oath of supremacy. Ihe Noble and
Learned Lord on the woolsack, on the contrary, tells you
that you will have the oath of supremacy and the declara-
tion against transubstantiation. In either case this only
applies to the higher offices, where the individual holding
them it not a Justice of the Peace, because, if he be the
latter, according to both the Noble and Learned Lords,
he would be compelled to take the declaration against
transubstantiation. The question, therefore, was narrow-
ed to this, that in some Corporations there was a
middle class to which the Noble Earl thought Roman Ca-
tholics might be admitted, though, ex confesso, the oath
of supremacy still remained. The danger was then re-
duces' to the circumstance of their being left to the secu-
rity of the oath of supremacy with one class, and he
thought that the principle of expediency did not de-
mand upon this account they should introduce a clause
only calculated to produce a jealousy upon the part of the
Roman Catholic, though he did not conceive it likely to act
to the prejudice of their question. The Noble Earl-then re-
probated the attacks made upon the Right Rev. Bench, and
declared, that in his opinion they had done themselves the
highest honour in the course they had pursued. He was
only sorry to perceive, from the speech of a Right Rev.
Prelate, that the calumnies that had been uttered appeared
to have produeed in him some distress of mind. He could as-
sure that Right Rev. Prelate, that persons as respectable as
himself) and none could be more so had suffered from si-
milar attacks. When, in the reig '; of Queen Anne, the
Bill of Occasional Conformities was under discussion,
Bishop Burnet, and others of the Right Rev. Bench of
that day, whose names do not shine less bright at present,
had been assailed with the grossest calumnies even by many
of the clergy. He rejoiced, however, that the spirit which
animated these inert was fast sinking into that state of obli-
vion from which he hoped it would never again rise.
The Bishop of CHESTER had found it his duty on
former occasions, to oppose the object the Roman Catholics
had in view, and would continue to do so until they offered
more substantial security than any yet proposed. When