Jefs would fatisfy the people than a refolution to drop the bill altogether. Perfuaded of the truth of what they reprefented, feeing the alarm spread rapidly in every quarter, and knowing well how imperfectly tranfactions in this country are understood in the other part of the ifland, I confidered it as my duty to lay before his Majefty's fervants in London a fair state of the fentiments of the people of Scotland. My ftation in the church, I thought, intitled me to take this liberty in a matter purely eccclefiaftical. I flattered myself, that my avowed approbation and strenuous fupport of the measure which had unhappily been fo much misunderstood, might give fome weight to my reprefentations. With the approbation of an Hon. Gentleman, whom I am always proud to confult, I communicated, at great length, my fentiments to a friend, who, I knew, would inftantly lay them before the minifter who has the chief direction of public affairs. I informed him, That the defign of extending the repeal of the penal ftatutes of K. William to Scotland had excited a very general alarm: That the fpirit of oppofition to this measure fpread among the King's moft loyal and attached fubjects in this country: That nothing would calm and appeafe them but the relinquishing all thoughts of fuch a bill: That the procuring of the intended relaxation for a handful of Catholics, was not an advantage to be put in competition with the imprudence of irritating fo great a body of well-affected fubjects: That if the measure were perfifted in, fatal effects would follow; and no man, how great foever his fagacity might be, could venture to foretel what would be the extent of the danger, and what the violent operations of an incenfed populace: That, groundlefs as the fears of the people might be, it was prudent to quiet them; and the fame wifdom and moderation which had induced government, fome years ago, to repeal the act for naturalizing the Jews, in confequence of an alarm, as ill-grounded, in the fouthern parts of the inland [15. 304, 624;16. 616.], ought now to make a fimilar conceffion, from indulgence to the prejudice of the people on this fide of Tweed.

Such has been the tenor of my conduct. While I thought a repeal of the

[We fuppofe, the Lord Advocate.]

penal ftatutes would produce good effects, I fupported it openly: when I forefaw bad confequences from perfifting in a measure which I had warmly approved, I preferred the public good to my own private fentiments; I honestly remonstrated againft it; and I have the fatisfaction to think, that I am the only private perfon (as far as I know) in Scotland, who applied to those in power, in order to prevent that much-dreaded repeal, which has been reprefented as the fubversion of every facred right for which our ancestors contended and fuffered. In return for this, what is the recompence I have received? My character as a man, as a citizen, and as a minifter of the gofpel, has been delineated in the most odious colours: I have been reprefented as a penfioner of the Pope, as an agent for Rome, as a fedu. cer of my brethren to Popery, as the tool of a king and miniftry bent on overturning the Proteftant religion: Ia pamphlets, in news-papers, and handbills, I have been held out to an enraged mob, as the victim who deferved to be next facrificed, after they had fatiated their vengeance on a Popish bishop. My family has been difquieted; my houfe has been attacked; I have been threatened with piftols and daggers; I have been warned, that I was watched in my going out and coming home; the time has been fet beyond which I was not to live; and, for feveral weeks, hardly a day paffed on which I did not receive incendiary letters, more criminal than that for which an unhappy perfon* is now under fentence of death in the capital of the kingdom. The judge by whom he was condemned, obferved, with propriety, that fuch a crime appeared to him the most atrocious of any: A highwayman (faid he) takes from you your money; a murderer puts an end to your days; but the writer of an incendiary letter embitters life itself, by robbing us of our repofe. My repofe, thank God, was not difturbed. I was confcious of no crime, and dreaded no danger. I continued in my ufual habits of life. I went about as ufual; and last night was the first time my family ever heard of the threats which had been denounced against me. One circumftance, however, afflicted and filled

[Capt. James Major, for writing an in cendiary letter to Sir William Mulgrave, The execution was refpited.]

με

me with horror. Several of the incendiary letters which I received were figned by Lovers of Truth; Friends to the Proteftant Religion. It was in the name of Jefus I was warned that my death was refolved, and the inftruments for cutting hort my days prepared. May God forgive the men who have diffeminated among the pious and well-intentioned people of this country fuch principles, as led them to imagine that affaffination could be acceptable to God, and prompted them to point a dagger to the breaft of a fellow Chriftian, in the name of our merciful Saviour!

To all the Rev. and Hon. members of this affembly I owe the most grateful acknowledgements for the indulgence and attention with which they have liftened to this long detail. It is the firft time I ever mentioned my own name in this houfe; I truft it fhall be the last.

With your permiffion, Sir, I now proceed to the question of the day: and happily it lies within fuch narrow compafs, that I fhall not trefpafs long on your patience. While it was a point in debate, Whether it would be expedient to extend the repeal of the penal ftatute of K. William to Scotland? I met my brethren fairly on that ground, and endeavoured to fhew, that no danger could arife to the Proteftant intereft; but that many benefits, religious as well as political, might refult from granting to Papifts the relief propofed. The queftion, at prefent, is not in the fame ftate; nor is it neceffary to dwell on the fame topics. Did I chufe to imitate fome speakers in this debate, I might wander over the large field of controverfy, in which Proteftants, and the adherents to the church of Rome, have fo long conflicted. Were I to copy after others, I might take a range ftill wider, and travel through the whole circle of fcience. I might talk of Theology, of Morals, of Law, and Politics. But, however a muling fuch declamations may be, they are foreign to the business of the day. We have heard a moft gracious declaration, in his Majefty's name, of his firm purpose to preferve the church of Scotland in full poffeffion of all her rights and privileges, as by law eftablished we have evidence, from various quarters, which muft fatisfy every candid man, that there is no longer any intention to bring into parliament that bill which has been represented as fo fatal to

the Reformed religion. Does it then become the general affembly to employ itfelf in combating phantoms of danger of its own creation? Whether is it our duty, at a juncture which requires national union and exertion, to compofe the minds of our people, by informing them fairly, that the measure which alarmed them is now relinquished; or, by the appointment of extraordinary committees, to difquiet and agitate them with imaginary terrors? Whatever may be the defects of this age, on which a member in my eye has defcanted fo lamentably [363.1, propenfity to fuperftition furely is not one. There have been periods, when, from the inclination of the monarch, or the spirit of the times, a tendency towards a coalition with Rome was manifeft: but can any man now be fo credulous as to fufpect, that King, Lords, and Commons, have entered into a confpiracy against the religion in which they were educated, and which they profefs to believe? What temptation can they have, wantonly, and without a caufe, to wreathe a yoke about their own necks, which their fathers could not bear? Is there any reafon for apprehending, that the Proteftant faith, with the aid of power, with the advantages of a legal establishment, with a vast majority of the people on its fide, will not be able to maintain itself againft the efforts of a small body of Papifts, who poffefs not the fmallest portion of any political right or privilege? Indeed, if any perfon, unacquainted with the ftate of Scotland, has attended to the debate of the day, he must have been led, by the reasoning of several members, to imagine, that the Papifts of this country compofed a body very formidable, by their number, their wealth, or their influence. But what is the real fact? The Papifts of Scotland, at the highest calculation, do not exceed twenty thoufand. I have reafon to think that they do not amount to seventeen thousand. Most of them refide in remote uncultivated parts of the country; and they are chiefly perfons in the lowest walk of life. In Scotland there are above thirteen hundred thousand inhabitants. A sect then, in contending with which we have eighty to one on our fide, cannot be the object of much terror.But though the number of a fect may be small, its property may be confiderable; and power is always the confequence of wealth.

With refpect to this, too, I have inquired with fome care; and I will venture to affert, that, in all Scotland, there are not twenty Popish gentlemen poffefling a hundred pounds a-year in land. In the commercial line, I never heard of one opulent Papist. But we have been told, that if persons of that perfuafion fhall be permitted to acquire proper ty in land, the wealth of foreign Catholics, particularly the hoarded treasures of the fuppreffed and formidable order of Jefuits, will pour in upon us, and the landed property of the nation may be ingroffed by the enemies of our religion. Let us not take fright at mere bugbears. Attached as we may be to the place of our nativity, there are countries which more powerfully invite the wealth of foreigners to flow into them. Though it was not only decent, but politic, to give fupport from abroad to the little remnant of a Popish church in Scotland, that aid has always been miniftered very fparingly. The Popish priests, employed as miffionaries in this country, have no larger allowance, at prefent, from the fociety of Propaganda at Rome, than fifteen pounds a-year. From different funds, a small addition is made of five pounds to fome miffionaries, of feven pounds ten fhillings to others. Such fcanty endowments cannot allure men very eminent either for learning or abilities; and we may fairly conclude, that the Romish church does not expect to reap much from the harvest here, when fhe fends forth her labourers with fuch flender provifion.--But among us, it is faid, the Jefuits will find an afylum, and employ their wealth to acquire influence. With refpect to the fuppreffion and present ftate of that order, the courfe of my ftudies has led me to know more than many of my brethren. The events which occafioned its ruin were cafual and unexpected. The blow was as inftantaneous as fatal, and the wreck of its power and fortune general. The furviving members linger out their days in indigence, and the order itself muft, in a few years, be extinct. There is not, at this moment, as far as I know, a fingle Jefuit in Scotland.

After this view of the internal fecurity of our religion, and of what it has to apprehend from the number or power of its enemies, I afk, if it be in a fituation fo perilous as to call for any extraordi

nary exertion in its defence? I am as good, and almost as old a Whig, as the member who lately boafted of that name [363.]. I love to fee my countrymen difcover that jealous concern for the prefervation of their rights which cha racterises the spirit of liberty: but I am forry when I behold them wafting their zeal without cause, and fearing where no fear is. The wisdom of our conftitution has amply provided for guarding against every danger that may threaten the church: Prefbyteries and fynods watch over the interefts of religion in 1 their respective districts; the general affembly meets annually to deliberate concerning affairs that relate to the whole church; during the intervals between its meetings, the commiffion, compo fed of all the members of affembly, is impowered to convene every quarter; among the standing instructions given to commiffions, there is one which enjoins that court to observe, with attention the progrefs of Popery, and to exert its utmoft endeavours in order to prevent it. Why, then, fhould we have recourfe to extraordinary means for the fecurity of the Proteftant religion, when fuch con- i ftitutional guards are established? Can any committee that an affembly may name be more refpectable, or poffefs greater zeal and authority, than the commiffion, which is composed of every member of the affembly? Is there any example, in the hiftory of the church, } of a measure so wild and unconftitutional, as the appointment proposed in the overtures, of a ftanding committee, vefted not only with fupreme jurisdiction, but with power to delegate that to subcommittees, which may meet in every corner of the kingdom? Factious men, who wish to excite alarm, may name committees of grievances and apprehenfient [31. 228.], when they neither feel nor dread any thing that can aggrieve them. In the heat and animofity of civil conteft, fuch arts may be deemed allowable; at least they have been employed. The church of Scotland, I truft, will never be fo forgetful of her own duty and dig. nity as to imitate fuch an example. She will not alarm the people under her infpection with falfe terrors. She will not, by a wanton and unneceffary departure from the established forms of her conftitution, foment in the nation the dread of extraordinary danger, which the cer

tainly

tainly knows to have no longer any exiftence.

But it is unneceffary to combat a meafare fo extravagant, that even those who propofed it, feem now to be ashamed of this favourite device. A Rev. member, whom I greatly respect, and to whom I owe my grateful acknowledgements for the obliging terms in which he has men tioned me [309.], has made a motion, in which he relinquishes the idea of fuch a novel and dangerous committee as was propofed in the overtures, and has recourfe to the conftitutional powers of the commiffion for the fecurity of religion. I approve, in general, the spirit of his motion; and if fome expreffions in it were altered, and a few claufes omitted, I could give my vote for adopting it; but I flatter myself, that we may all agree in a refolution, which, in my opinion, will be more for the honour of the church, and more fuitable to thofe liberal fentiments which prevail among a great majority of its members. I conclude with a motion of this kind, and humbly submit it to the judgement of the Venerable Affembly:

"The General Affembly, animated with that zeal against the errors of Popery which has always diftinguished this church, and filled with the fame deteftation as their forefathers of its corrupt doctrines and antichriftian spirit, entered upon the confideration of the overtures tranfmitted from feveral fynods. After long and ferious deliberation, the General Affembly difmiffes the faid overtures, as containing the propofal of a Aanding committee, in its own nature unconftitutional, and which now appears to be unneceffary, after the gracious declaration, at the opening of this Affembly, of his Majefty's firm purpose to maintain the Church of Scotland in full poffeffion of all her rights and privileges, as by law established; and after public

afsurances, from undoubted authority, which convey full conviction to the General Affembly, that it is not now in the view of his Majesty's fervants to take any ftep towards extending the repeal of the penal ftatutes against Popery to this part of the united kingdoms.

But, at the fame time, though the Church of Scotland difavows, in the ftrongest terms, the principle of perfecution for confcience fake, as repugnant to the spirit of the gofpel, and contrary to the genius of the Proteftant faith;

though the General Affembly is far from wifhing to circumfcribe the facred right of private judgement, or from defiring that any body of men fhould be fubjected to civil pains and penalties merely on account of religious opinion; though the Minifters and Elders of this Church loudly condemn the acts of violence and outrage into which a turbulent and unhallowed zeal hath precipitated fome people within our bounds, whom they earneftly warn to guard against such exceffes of the wrath of man, as bring reproach on religion, and work not the righteoufnefs of GOD: yet being fenfible, that fuch an alarm is spread among our people, concerning dangerous confequences, which, they apprehend, may follow from extending the repeal of the penal ftatutes against Popery, as would render fuch a repeal, at this juncture, highly inexpedient; the General Affembly confider it as their duty to do every thing in their power to quiet thofe fears, and to remove thofe apprehenfions. For this purpose, the General Assembly does refolve, Imo, That, in addition to the inftructions to guard against the progress of Popery usually given to Commiffions, the Commiffion appointed by this General Affembly be impowered and enjoined, if any bill fhall be brought into Par liament for extending the repeal of the penal ftatutes against Popery to this country, to employ every legal and proper endeavour to prevent it from being paffed into a law. 2do, That the Ge neral Affembly will exert its most effectual endeavours, in order to provide for the better inftruction of the people in thofe corners of the Church where Popery chiefly abounds, by increafing the number of ftated paftors among them." [279.] [To be continued. ]

ANECT DO TE.

ON the 16th of June 1477, in the reign

of Edward IV. of England, an act of parliament was paffed to degrade from his rank and titles George Neville, Duke of Bedford. The charge against him was, the having fquandered away, in lewd exercifes and unlawful paftimes, a fair estate, fo that he had not fufficient fortune left to fupport that illuftrious title with proper dignity.-Query, If an act of fo much juftice was to be paffed at prefent, how many of our modern Nobles would be levelled with the humbleft of the Plebeians?

The