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    mentous interests , he would not take upon himself for the maintenance of his own opinion , to close the door of conciliation and peace . ( Cheers . ) If there were a fair and open chance of the admission of Dissenters to the enjoyment

    of their just rights and privileges , with a reasonable declaration which would satisfy the scruples of the influential organs of the Established Church , without violating the feelings of the other parties , he confessed he should be ready to listen to such a proposition , with an earnest hope and a desire to afford his best endeavours to make the declaration

    mutually palatable and satisfactory . But he must be excused at this moment from either expressing his assent to , or dissent from , the specific proposition , and would for the present remain to hear what should appear to be the general view of the House upon the subject . ( Cheers . )

    Mr . Peel saw nothing more unwise than to interrupt the existing harmony between the different sects ; and he was free to confess , that after the late decision of the House , so deliberately formed , he was one of those who thought it useless to resist in limitie the conclusion , that the existing law was no longer applicable to the present state of society ,

    and that it ought to undergo a material alteration . ( Cheers . ) Viewing what had passed in this way , he could no longer think of pressing his own opinion , in the vain hope ( for vain it would be ) of altering what undoubtedly appeared to be the fixed opinion of the House . The Right Honourable Gentleman theu said , in the event of the necessity for a

    declaration being admitted by the Noble Lord , he would lay hit * before them when they were about to report upon the bill . He meant to propose no declaration which should fetter the private judgment , or free opinion , or religious principle , of any Dissenter . To do so would be to repeal one evil for the purpose of

    inflicting another . He would take this opportunity to state , that in every bill which had been introduced during the last few years , for the purpose of removing the civil and religious disabilities under which the Roman Catholics labour , a precautionary measure of this description was to be found . The one which

    he ( Mr . Peel ) now proposed exactly corresponded with that in the preamble of the bill brought forward by Mr . Grattan , and which was afterwards introduced by Mr ., now Lord , Plunkett That recites as follows : — "Whereas the Protestant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland , and

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    the doctrine , discipline , and government thereof , and likewise the ProtestantChurch of Scotland , and the doctrine , discipline , and government thereof , are by law es' - tablished permanently and inviolably . * The declaration which then follows is similar to that which he would propose as a substitute for the sacramental test ;

    After adopting the preamble to the bill of Mr . Grattan , he proposed to introduce a clause to the following effect : — " And be it enacted , that all persons who shall hereafter be elected , or chosen to fill the office of mayor , alderman , or magistrate , or to fill any other office of emolument and trust in any city , borough , corporation , &c , ia England or Wales , shall , previous to his admission , make and

    subscribe the following declaration : —* I , A . B . do solemnly declare that I will never exercise any power , authority , or influence which I may possess by virtue of the office of , to injure or weaken the Protestant Church , as it is by law established within this realm , or to disturb it in the possession of any rights or privileges to which it is by law enti * tied . " That was the whole of the

    declaration which he ( Mr . Peel ) would propose to introduce . The provision which he was desirous to see amalgated with the bill , went on to provide as follows : — " And be it enacted , that said declaration shall be made and subscribed in the presence of the persons who by the present charters and usages of cities aud towns corporate administer the oath

    to Dissenters entering into office there , or in the presence of two justices of the peace . " He did not deem it necessary to attach any penalty to the omission , further thau rendering the election void . Here he had to encounter a difficulty respecting the officers appointed by the crown . The difficulty was , to point out the particular offices under the crown id

    which this declaration should be taken . If every subordinate officer in ihe employment of the crown , who was at pre- » sent liable to be called upon to take the sacramental test , should be required to subscribe this declaration , the provision would only throw ridicule upon the whole proceeding . To point out , theu , the officers who should make the

    declaration , and the officers who should be excepted , was the difficulty which he ( Mr . Peel ) had to overcome . That difficulty , he imagined , might be obviated by a provision which would enable the Crown to point out the offices in which such declaration would be considered necessary . Whatever part he ( Mr . Peel > might have taken in the discussion of

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    Intelligence . —Corporation and Test Act * . 279

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1828, page 279, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2559/page/63/