The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-06 00:00:00

When King William came down to this House requiring
the abolition of the Sacramental Test, to which this House
did not agree, he said I doubt net that your Lordships
will sufficiently guard against Papists, though honest, you
will leave room for the admissio❑ of all Protestants.—
It was no less evident that such a contract existed from
what the Speaker of the House of Commons said to his
Majesty after the Coronation. In addressing his Majesty
he said, "May the Constitution of the country be no
longer dated from the time of Edward the Confessor, but
from the days of William and Mary." This proved there
was a contract by which his Majesty was bound to secure
all the fundamental laws of the country, as he found
them. Upon the death of Queen Anne, the Assembly of

the States General consented to acknowledge the Elector
of Brunswick, provided they were to be governed ac-
cording to the laws of England ; upon no other terms
would they grant him their allegiance.—(Hear, hear,
hear. )—lt was evident that the States General were
interested in no other laws of England than those which
concerned the Protestant State. Then what were these
laws He had already drawn a distinction between the
laws which governed the Church, and those enacted
for the security of the Church. These securities were
not solely confined to the Coronation Oath, but all those
laws were now by this Bill to be obeyed. By the
80th Charles 11., a Papist was prevented from sitting in
either House of Parliament. The civil obligations of
the Coronation Oath came before their Lordships as joint
guardians, with the King, of the Protestant establishment,
and their Lordships were to judge when the King swears
that he will to the utmost of his power maintain the supre-
macy of the Protestant Ch urOh,whet her they could conscien-
tiously advise him to deprive that Church of the protection
which these laws afforded. The precise means by which its
preservation was to be effected was not pointed out, but
it could only he done by a confirmation of all the laws
iu force for its security. He would not deny the om-
nipotence of Parliament to make or repeal laws, but
he denied its power to repeal those laws, which were
a compact between the people and the King, to which
repeal the people had given no assent—but, on the con-
trary, from which they dissented, without appealing first
to the people by a dissolution. Their Lordships should
not condemn their posterity to slavery and superstition,
and if there were any of their Lordships who entertained
no fear for the safety of the church, they should at all
events consider the calamitous consequences to their offspring,
and should have compassion for their sons and grandsons,
to deter them from consigning them to all the horrors of
religious intolerance. It was contended, that this mea-
sure was brought forward for the purpose of creating
a union among all classes of his Majesty's subjects,
but many unions had taken place which were followed by
no beneficial effects; there were more harmonious feel-
ings in separation than in such unions. The hi story of
the world afforded no parallel which could be considered
as a safe rule, in the present instance, but in no country in
Europe was the spiritual power of the Catholic Church ad-
mitted to such unconditional power as would be given to
it by the measure now proposed. The Noble and Learned
Lord on the Woolsack told their Lordships that the Ca-
tholics disavowed the temporal supremacy which their
Church formerly claimed, though be admitted that this
disavowal was not communicated through a vote of the
Council which was the only formal way in which it could
be done ; as the Noble Lord admitted this, he should have
told us when it was that the Catholic Church ceased to
claim that supremacy which they had formerly adhered to.
It was said by the advocates of this measure that the Roman
Catholic religion had changed, but he would refer Noble
Lords to a declaration of the late Pope, Leo XII. wherein
he declares that it cannot change; and it should be remem-
bered that this declaration was made in the 19th century.
—(Hear, hear, hear.)—There could he no safety in
admitting a Roman Catholic into civil offices ; he
was bound by his oath not to divulge any secret, let it be
what it might, that tended in any way to lessen the power
of the religion he professed. Now:if the Catholic religion
was not changed, he would ask the Noble Duke at
the head of the Government what had induced
him to bring forward the present measure. He did not
dispute the statement wade by the Noble Duke the other
evening respecting the situation of Ireland, but if he under-
stood it right it only amounted to this that, England could
not govern Ireland, but Ireland bad the power, to govern.