Star.
London, England, 1819-06-11 00:00:00

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The Order of the Day upon which their Lordships
were summoned being reed;
Earl GREY rose. He observed, that after wtat
he hid stated as to the nature and object of the pro- -
position now before the House, the extreme reason-
ableness of its object, and the way in which it had
been adverted to in former discussions, he had flat.
tcred himself that it would not now meet with atry
serious or determined resistence, especially as he
must contend, that the question referred merely to
dogmatical opinions or speculative doctrines. It now
became necessary for him to address their Lordships
at greater length upon the subject. The Bill before
them went to the abrogation of the Acts cif the 25th
and 90th of Charles 11. which required the taking of
certain oaths previous to the admission of inaivi, uals
into (Aces or to seats in Parliament. He begged their
Lordships' attention to the state of the times in whiCh
those Acts- were passed. The Sovereign then: npon
the Throne was suspected of being a Roman Catho-
lic, the Queen was avowedly one, and the Successor
to the Crown, the then Duke cf York, had recently
embraced the Papal religion. The Royal Excheqtier
had recently been shut, and the penal laws with re-
spect to Non-conformists were sespended, in open
defiance of positive Acts of Parliament. A camp
was formed at the time at Blackheath, under the
Duke of Schimberg, and the nee;ority of the OtEcen
of the Army, under him, were Roman Catholics, and
a war was declared against the only Protestant State
then in Europe, namely'. Holland. Under such extra-
ordinary and eventful circumstances, the Test Acts
wt. passed. The Parliament had assembled amidst
all the agitation produced by the Popish plot, and
the conduct of Bedlce, Oates, and such others, and
the mysterious murder of Sir Edmondshurg Godfrey.
Under such circumstances, the voice of is nth or rea-
son could but little avail ; every Raman Catholic
was regarded either as a conspirator or an incee-
diary ; and under such a state cf things, the obnoti-
ous Acts were passed. Their Lerd.hips must he pCr-
fectly well aware how widely different were the pre-
sent times and circumstances from such a state of
things, and how little could apply the grand elec-
tion urged against the Catholks, nemeiy, the fearof
foreign political connexion, to such a measure as that
before the Mouse. They should consis:er the solemn
and repeated declarations made by the Catholics
against all those principles under which they were
supposed to be hostile to the present form of Go-
vernment or Constitutioa in this country. Their
willingness to give any security shish could be de-
vised, in the shape of oaths, saving to themselves
merely the exercise of their own religion, should be
considered. In the proposes( measure spiritual con-
siderations merely were involved ; it was entirely
separate from temporal concerns. The doctrines it
referred to were merely spiritual, and could not be a
ground for their exclusion from civil office; and he
would ask upon what principle they could refuse the
present measure, when there remained as a security
the Oath of Supremacy, which went to renounce not
only the temporal but the spiritual power of the Pope?
He hoped he should not be called upon to contend
that it wan not proper to continue the religious tests
withont a strong political necessity being shewn.--
It was by no means necessary to revile as well ai to
exclude the Catholics and other Dissenters from the
benefits of the Constitution. He must deprecate not
only the tenor but the language of those oaths, which
he flied were too often taken without adequate at-
tention to what they contained. Were the doctaines
of certain other religions persuasions to be esamined,
they would, perhaps, be found fully as objectionable
as those of the Catholics. On their differences, only
one Beitto, All-wise and All-powerful, could decide.
The Lutherans had their Consubstantiation as well as
the Catholics their Transubstantiation, and we should
learn to judge more charitably with respect to the
feelings or doctrines of other denominations of Chris-
tians. The Noble Earl referred to the doctrines laid
down by Archbishop Wake. Bishops Warburton and
Headley, Sir William Temple, and other eminent
ITheological writers, in support of what he advanced.
He adverted to the circumstance of the Bill, which
went nearly, if not fully, as far as the present, in its
effect—that for the admission of Catholic Officers
into the Army, which received the approbation of
their Lordchipe even without debate or inquiry, when
introduced by Noble Lords opposite ; and they now
saw the intended fate of a similar meer:ure when it
came frem the hands of different ,persons ; though
he was led to hope, from that measure, that the
spirit of opposition upon such 'grounds was doer
away. Ile then alluded to certain Resolutions enter-
ed into at a recent 'eleeting, held for the purpose of
giving opposition to the present Bill, some of which
were drawn up in such a style as would induce him
to suppose the Noble and Learned Lord on the Wool-
sack was concerned in their formatton.. To the first
of these, namely, that the British Constitution should
be preserved essentially and fundamentally Prete.
cant, no man could more zealously subscribe then.
himself. The Bill in question went not at all to
affect the Protestant Constitution of the realm. In
Rome itself, he observed, the Protestant Religion
was now freely tolerated. In every Christian coun-
try, he contended, unlawful oaths were held not to
be binding, and it wash calumny to ascribe that
dogma to the Catholics exchoively ; as fully was it
unfounded to assert they hold that no faith should
be kept with Heretics. Mach stress was laid upon
a part of the Popes conduct, while in the power ef
the late Emperor of France, namely, what wag said
respecting his distinction between active and passive
allegiance; by the latter, that Prelate merely meant
to authorise his ste-jects to afford a temporary
alle-
giance to a Power which they could nr
that part of his conduct evidently pi
constraint. The Catholics, he must sa.
to be as folly observant of oaths as

STATE OP THE ROYAL NAVY.
The Earl of DARNLEY, pursuant to his late no-
tice, rose to address the House on the subject. The
Noble Earl did not, generally speaking, impugn the
present state and condition of the Noyal Navy ; on
the contrary, he thought when its increased state was
considered, that the British Navy was never so effi-
cient in any former perioil of peace. This important
branch of our national defence ought to be anxiously
attended to, and in this view he could not avoid ren-
dering justice to the cam and assiduity of the Noble
Viscount opposite ; and his Lordship also favourably
noticed the meritorious services of Mr. Seppiag, with
respect to the improved state of the Royal Navy.--
flier could not, however, shut their eyes against the
[ probability of future contests, and the situation in
which the country was left by the late war, should
render the Navy an object of still more anxious at-
tention. The Noble Earl then adverted, in some de-
tail, to the exertions made by the United States of
America, towards the improvement and extension of
their navy ; and he thought a degree of correspon-
dent exertion, on the part of this country, should be
made to counteract or cope with such an increase
of force. Not that he doubted the intrepidity of Bri-
tish seamen. He seemed to think, though he would
not recommend the building Of vessels on the very
large scale recently adopted in the United States,
that some description Of vessels of a medium force
between those we were already possessed of in the
corresponding rates, and those latterly constructed in
America, should be prepared in this country ; and
on this point his Lordship entered into some detailed
description. Throughout the whole, however, he
thought a system of rigid economy should be adop-
ted, and care at the same time taken, that a supply
of seamen should be ready, with reference to the event
of a sudden tnrn. When the papers before the House'
should be printed, the necessity of attending to the
suggestions he threw out, would more clearly ap-
pear. The state of that meritorious corps, the Royal
Marines, was a consideration also that called for the
serious attention of Ministers ; and he trusted his
thus calling the attention of Noble Lords to these
points, to which he was induced by no consideration
of hostility whatever, would be productive of salutary
results, with a view to this most important branch
of the public service. The Noble Earl concluded by
moving, that the Papers relative to the subject now
before the House, be printed.
Viscount MELVILLE felt obliged for the very
candid manner in which the Noble li%al bad submit-
ted his ideas on the subject ; and observed, that in
general he fully concurred with him in his remarks.
With respect to the improvements made by Other
countries in the construction of their vessels, it was
the bounden 'duty of those who were entrusted with
the care of the British Navy, to make commensurate
exertions on their parts as far as pi acticable. The
increased commerce, :end the extent of the British
possessions, undoubtedly called for a more extensive
Naval Establishment than in former periods of peace,
and such was necessarily provided. The Noble Vis-
count then explained the correspondent steps taken,
or about to be adopted, in consequence of the exer-
tions made by the United States with respect to their
Navy ; and observed, that care would be taken to
prevent these from operating injuriously with respect
to us, and for preventing our vessels from going intc
action against any great disparity of force. The
Noble Viscount then adverted to the 'mats other
points touched upon by the Noble Mover, obser-ing,
as he proceeded, that steps were either already taken,
of in a train of adoption, for answering the necessary
purposes ; and he particularly concurred in the on-
penance and meritorious conduct of the Royal Ma-
tines, whose interlsts were also proportionably at-
tended to. No force was, in his opinion, more use
fill than the mat Ines ; and he could assure the Noble
that any report of an intention to reduce Mem

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