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"for the commission of acts of depravity, at the very thought of which our nature recoils with "horror. They seem calculated to loosen all the "bands of society; to dissolve all civil, moral, and

religious obligations and duties; to poison the "sources of domestic felicity; and to annihilate every principle of honour. The encouragement given to children to lay their hands upon the es"tates of their parents; and the restriction, which "debars any man from the honest acquisition of "property, need, said he, only to be mentioned to "excite the utmost indignation of this house.

"The motion was received with universal approbation; and a bill was accordingly brought "in. It passed both houses without a single ne"gative."

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LXXVII. 3.

The legal Operation of the Act of the eighteenth of his late Majesty.

THE legal operation of the act of the 18th year of his late majesty was very limited. It repealed the clause of the 10th and 12th of William the third, which disabled the English-catholics from taking lands by descent; and some clauses in the same act, which related to the apprehending of bishops and priests, and which subjected them and catholics, who kept schools, to perpetual imprisonment. The other clauses of the act of king William, and every pain, penalty, and disability, inflicted by other acts, remained in all their force

against them.

But, though the legal benefits, which the catholics derived from the act, were limited, the advantages which they derived from it in other respects were both substantial and extensive. It shook the general prejudice against them to its centre: it disposed their neighbours to think of them with kindness; it led the public to view the pretensions to further relief with a favourable eye; and it restored to them a thousand indescribable charities in the ordinary intercourse of social life, which they had seldom experienced. No catholic, who recollects the passing of the bill, will ever forget the general anxiety of the body, while it was in its progress through the parliament; or the smile and friendly greeting, with which his protestant neighbour met him, the day after it had passed into a law.

LXXVII. 4.

The Oath prescribed by the Act.

THE boon, however, was burthened with an oath. Every such oath, so far as it requires from catholics a solemn profession of moral or civil principle, not required from any other subject, is felt by them as an humiliation. Still, as the oath, of which we are now speaking, contained nothing offensive to their religious principles, and their friends advised them to submit to it, as a necessary sacrifice to popular prejudice, they acquiesced in it, --and the oath was taken universally.

As soon as the terms of it were arranged, to the

satisfaction of his majesty's ministers, it was communicated to the four vicars-apostolic, and admitted by them all. Lord Petre, and some other gentlemen, waited upon the late bishop Challoner, and put it into his hands. He perused it with great deliberation, and explicitly sanctioned it. He observed, however, that it contained some expressions, contrary to the Roman style; that these might create difficulties at Rome, if Rome were consulted upon it beforehand: but that Rome would not object to the oath, after the bill was passed, He therefore recommended to the gentlemen, who waited upon him, to avoid all unnecessary delay in procuring the act. This fact is known to every person who has lived in habits of intimacy with lord Petre, or with any gentleman who accompanied his lordship to the venerable prelate. For the truth of it, the writer has leave to cite sir John Throckmorton, who repeatedly heard it from lord Petre, and Mr. Joseph Berington, who repeatedly heard it from Mr. Stapleton. The writer himself has repeatedly heard lord Petre mention it.

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The oath is expressed in the following words:

I, A, B. do sincerely promise and swear, that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to his majesty king George the third; and him will defend, to the utmost of my power, against all "conspiracies and attempts whatsoever that shall "be made against his person, crown, or dignity; "and I will do my utmost endeavour to disclose and make known to his majesty, his heirs "and successors, all treasons and traitorous con

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spiracies, which may be formed against him or them; and I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend, to the utmost of my power, "the succession of the crown in his majesty's fa

mily, against any person or persons whatsoever; hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any "obedience or allegiance unto the person taking

upon himself the style and title of prince of "Wales, in the life-time of his father; and who, "since his death, is said to have assumed the

style and title of king of Great Britain, by the "name of Charles the third; and to any other

person, claiming or pretending a right to the "crown of these realms; and I do swear, that I do "reject and detest, as an unchristian and impious position, that it is lawful to murder or destroy any person or persons whatsoever, for or under pretence of their being heretics; and also that "unchristian and impious principle, that no faith is to be kept with heretics: I further declare, that it "is no article of my faith, and that I do renounce, reject, and abjure the opinion, that princes ex"communicated by the pope and council, or by

any authority of the see of Rome, or by any "authority whatsoever, may be deposed or mur"dered by their subjects, or any person whatso(( ever; and I do declare, that I do not believe

that the pope of Rome, or any other foreign "prince, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought "to have, any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, "within this realm. And I do solemnly, in the

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presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that "I do make this declaration, and every part there"of, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words "of this oath, without any evasion, equivocation, "or mental reservation whatever; and without

any dispensation already granted by the pope, " or any authority of the see of Rome, or any person whatever; and without thinking that I

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am, or can be, acquitted before God or man, or "absolved of this declaration, or any part thereof, "although the pope, or any other persons or authority whatsoever, shall dispense with or "annul the same, or declare that it was null or " void."

A more complete and unreserved disclaimer of the deposing doctrine, than is contained in this oath, language cannot express. Worthy of immortal memory, are the prelates who took it, and exhorted their flocks to take it. To these venerable men, we owe the free exercise of our religion, and the security of our property, which we now enjoy should we succeed in our hopes of further relief, to them, primarily, we shall owe our sucFor want of their better spirit, how often did our ancestors experience, that ultra-catholicism is one of the worst enemies of catholicity*?

cess.

*The reader will be pleased to read the following letter, written on the subject of this oath, by the late bishop Challoner, to the late bishop Hornyold, and which has been copied from the original. "Honoured dear sir,-In compliance with yours "to Mr. Browne, I here send you my thoughts with regard to "the oath proposed by the late act of parliament, which I