1735-36.

Anno 9. Geo. II. of the City of York, which is commonly call'd the Aynfty, have a Right to Vote for Knight of the Shire for the County of York.

March 10. A Petition of the Druggifts, and other Dealers in Tea, was prefented to the Houfe, and read; fetting forth, That the Petitioners were induced to hope, that the Interest of the fair Trader in Tea would have been effectually fecured by an Act paffed in the 10th Year of his late Majefty, by which an Inland Duty of 4 s. per Pound was laid on all Tea, without Diftinction of Quality; but notwithstanding the Regulations made by that Act, and the many Penalties the Smugglers of Tea and their Accomplices were liable to by Law, the Petitioners had fatally experienced, the clandeftine Importation of that Commodity was fo far from being prevented, that it was carried on to fuch a Degree, that the Petitioners had the ftrongeft Reafon to believe, near one half of the Tea confumed in this Kingdom paid no Duty; and that the very high Duty of 45. per Pound, as well as the Inequality of its being laid, were the principal Foundations of the pernicious Practice of Smuggling, the coarfer Sort bearing much too great a Proportion of the faid Duty, and by the Smugglers bought Abroad at one third of the Price it would ftand the fair Trader in at Home; and that unlefs fome Remedy fhould be applied effectually to prevent that known Evil, the Petitioners and all fair Traders would be under extreme Difficulties in carrying on their Trade, by reafon of the Difadvantages they were under, from the Practices of Smuggling, as well as from the Hardships they endured, and the Trouble they were put to, by the Execution of the faid Act; and that the Petitioners conceived the most effectual Means of putting a Stop to the clandeftine Importation of Tea would be, to alter the Duty of 4 s. per Pound to a certain Rate ad Valorem, according to the Prices Tea fhould fell for at the Eaft-India Company's Sale; by which Alteration, the Petitioners apprehended, the Amount of the Duty to the Publick would be equivalent, confidering the Quantity, before that Time fraudulently imported, would be then added to the Revenue; and therefore, for the Prefervation of that Trade to the Petitioners, by putting an End to the Practice of Smuggling, and for securing a Revenue to the Publick, by the Importation of that Commodity in British Ships from China and other Parts of India, and for preventing any Money being fent to neighbouring Countries for the Purchase of Tea to be clandeftinely imported and confumed in this Kingdom, praying the Houfe to take the Premifes into Confideration, and give the Petitioners fuch Relief, as to the House should feem meet.' Hereupon it was refolved, Nem. Con. That that Houfe would,

upon,

1735-36.

upon that Day Seven-night, refolve itself into a Committee Anno 9. Geo. II. of the whole House, to confider of the most effectual Means to put a Stop to the great and growing Evil arifing from the unwarrantable and illegal Methods of importing Tea and other Goods into this Kingdom; and the faid Petition was order'd to be referred to the Confideration of the faid Committee.

March 12. A Motion was made by Mr Walter Plumer, Mr Plumer's MoThat an A&t made in the 25th of King Charles II. intitled, the Teft-Act. tion for repealing An Ad for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recufants, might be read; and the fame being read accordingly, Mr Plumer ftood up and fpoke as follows: Sir,

I believe every Gentleman that hears me may eafily judge, with what View I have defired this Act to be read to you. It is, Sir, with a Defign to have fome Part of it repealed, and another Part fo amended and explained, as to make it confiftent with that Charity and good Nature which every Member of the Chriftian Religion ought to fhew to another.

The Motion I am now to make, Sir, proceeds chiefly from these three Confiderations: That I am, and I hope fhall always be, an utter Enemy to all manner of Perfecution; That I have a great Reverence for that folemn Inftitution called the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; and That I fhall always be for every thing which I think may tend towards establishing and preserving the Unity, Peace, and Trade of my Country. These are Confiderations which I am perfuaded are of as great Weight with every Gentleman of this Houfe as they are with me; and therefore, if I can fhew that there is any Thing in this Act that looks like Perfecution, any Thing that brings a Contempt upon that holy Inftitution of our Religion, or any Thing inconfiftent with the Unity and Peace of our People, or with the Trade of our Country, I make no Doubt of having the unanimous Affent of this Houfe to what I am to propofe ; and, in my Opinion, it would contribute greatly to the Glory of this Generation, as well as the Honour of this Houfe of Commons, to have it agreed to Nemine contradicente.

I hope, Sir, it will be granted me, that the fubjecting a Man to a great Penalty if he refused to subscribe to an Opinion which he thought inconfiftent with the Christian Religion, or to join in any Ceremonies of publick Worship which he thought finful or perhaps idolatrous, would be a very heavy Perfecution; and I hope it will likewise be granted, that to render a Man upon any fuch Account incapable of holding a Land-Eftate, or of fucceeding to any VOL. IV. Eftate

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Anno 9. Geo. II. 1735-36.

Eftate as next Heir or next of Kin, would also amount to a high Degree of Perfecution: Now in this Statute which has been read to you, there is one Claufe which enacts, That all Perfons that shall bear Office, Civil or Military, or receive any Salary or Wages by any Grant from the King, or fhall have Command or Place of Truft from or under him, or shall be in his Navy or Houfhold, in England, Wales, Berwick, Jersey, or Guernsey, fhall not only take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, in the next Term, or at the Quarter Seffions, within three Months after their Admittance, but fhall receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the Ufage of the Church of England, of which they are to deliver a Certificate, and make Proof, at the Time of their taking the faid Oaths; in Failure of which they are ipfo Facto difabled to enjoy the faid Offices or Employments, or any Profit thereby: And by another Claufe, Perfons beyond the Seas or under any of the other Impediments there mentioned, are to receive the Sacrament and take the faid Oaths, within four Months after fuch Impediment removed.' By this Regulation it is evident, that no Man can hold or enjoy an Office or Employment, Civil or Military, without declaring himself a Member of the Church of England as by Law established; and as there are great Numbers of faithful Subjects, who have the Misfortune of believing that fome of the Opinions established by our Church are not entirely confiftent with Christianity, and that fome of our religious Ceremonies tend towards Idolatry, fuch Men cannot fincerely communicate with the eftablished Church; upon which Account, and upon that only, they may therefore be fubjected to Penalties, or deprived of a yearly Revenue, according to the Nature of the Office they may be named or entitled to; for if the Poft or Office be fuch a one as is attended with Trouble only, there is generally a Penalty upon a Man's refusing to ferve it; which Penalty every Man muft pay who is not a Member of the Church of England; because by this Claufe he is debarred from ferving the Office; whereas if it were not for this Incapacity he is laid under, he might probably chufe to serve the Office rather than pay the Penalty; and I would be glad to know the Difference between fubjecting a Man directly to a Penalty for refufing to join in any religious Opinion or Ceremony, and this indirect Manner of fubjecting him to it, by tacking to an Office, in itself meerly temporal, a moft folemn Approbation of all the religious Doctrines and Ceremonies of the established Church.

Again, Sir, if the Poft or Office to which a Man is named or intitled, be one of those to which a yearly Salary or Revenue is annexed, from the Day of his Nomination

he

1735-36.

he has as good a Right to receive the Profits of that Of Anno 9. Geo. 11. fice as any Man has, or can have, to his Anceftor's Estate, they being both founded chiefly upon the Law of the Land; nay it often happens, that the Perfon named to any Poft or Office has by long and faithful Services fully deferved that Nomination; and this I take to be a more meritorious Title, than the Title any Man can have to the Estate of his Ancestor or next Relation. Suppose we fhould have a new foreign War of ten Years Duration, as we had in the late Queen's Reign; fuppofe a Gentleman of the Diffenting Perfuafion fhould in the Beginning of that War go abroad a' Cadet in one of our Marching Regiments, and in Confideration of much Blood loft, and many brave Services performed in the Cause of his Country, fhould be at last made Colonel of a Regiment, would not fuch a Man be fully intitled to the Profits of his Commiffion, during the Time His Majefty fhould think fit to continue him in Command ? Would it not be downright Perfecution to turn him out of his Commiffion, and reduce him to a ftarving Condition, meerly for the fake of a Scruple of Confcience? Yet the Cafe would be fo, if this Law fhould be then in Force : Upon the ft Return of the Regiment to England, he would be obliged, within four Months to give up his Regiment, or receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the Ufage of our Established Church, which his Confcience would not permit him to do, if he should happen to be a fincere Diffenter: Therefore I muft look upon this as a much higher Degree of Perfecution, than it would be to render a Man, on Account of any religious Opinion, incapable of holding a Land-Eftate, or of fucceeding to any Eftate as next of Kin.

• From what I have faid, Sir, I hope it will appear that a very high Degree of Perfecution lurks under the incapacitating Claufes I have mentioned, and therefore, in my Motion for the Repeal of them, I hope I shall have the Concurrence of all thofe who are real Enemies to that Antichristian Practice; but when I confider the Reverence due to the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper; a facred Mystery which none ought to approach, without having firft diligently examined themfelves, and to which all are to be invited, but none to be compelled, I am furprised that it fhould ever have been turned to fuch a prophane Ufe, as that of qualifying a Man for being an Adjutant to a Regiment, or the Bailiff of a little Borough. This, Sir, is perverting it to an Ufe for which I am fure it was never intended, and this Perverfion has already produced, and will always produce, many and great Abominations. It is well known how many have become unworthy Partakers of the Holy Communion,

X 2

for

1735-36.

Anno 9. Geo. 11. for the fake only of intitling themselves to fome lucrative Poft or Employment; it is well known what terrible Indecencies fome have been guilty of, upon fuch Occafions, and what a Scandal has often been thereby given to all those who are truly devout. This is fo generally known that it is now the common Practice in all the Churches of England, for the Curate to defire the legal Communicants if any there be, I mean those who come there in Obedience to that Statute, to divide themselves from those who come there purely for the Sake of Devotion; and, indeed, it were to be wished that none of the former fhould ever be allowed to Communicate in the Prefence of, much less at the fame Table with any of the latter; for the former are often fo well and fo generally known to be unworthy Partakers, that their being admitted upon any Pretence whatsoever, gives great Offence to the truly Religious, and tends to fubvert the Morals of the Vulgar, by leffening that Efteem which they ought to have for the established Religion of their Country, and which wife Magiftrates will always cultivate with all poffible Care; but this by long and general Experience we know, is not to be done by Penal Laws. On the contrary, fuch Guarantees for the established Religion of any Country, Live always produced Pride, Ignorance, Luxury, and Oppreffion, among thofe of the Eftablished Church, and invincible, nay, often victorious Enthusiasm, among those of the contrary Religion. Even in this Kingdom, we know, that Penal Laws and Perfecution raised fo high the Torrent of Enthusiasm among us, that our Eftablished Church was at laft quite overwhelmed by the diffenting Intereft; and happy was it for our Church that thofe Enthufiafts deftroyed our Conftitution, as well as our established Religion; for if they had preserved the former, I am afraid the latter had never been reftored. Since the Repeal of moft of our perfecuting Laws, the diffenting Intereft has daily decreased; and I am convinced those Remains of it that are now among us, are chiefly owing to the Act now under our Confideration, and one other Act of much the fame Nature.

With regard to the Peace and Unity of our People, I muft fay, Sir, it is Matter of great Surprise to me, how the Legislature of any Country could be prevailed on to annex temporal Rewards or Punishments to fpeculative Opinions in Religion. I can easily conceive how Doctors might differ in fpeculative Points of Divinity, as well as in fpeculative Points of Law, Phyfick, or Philofophy; and I know with what Vehemence a learned Doctor in either of thofe Sciences maintains his own Opinion, and with what Envy, Malice, and Rage, he purfues his Adverfaries; but I cannot

eafily