stood to depend on the advice of parliament, and slightly intimating that he possessed no such dispensing prerogative as was suggested. The king, undeceived as to the disposition of this loyal assembly to concur in his projects of religious liberty, was driven to more tedious and indirect courses in order to compass his end. He had the mortification of finding that the house of commons had imbibed, partly perhaps in consequence of this declaration, that jealous apprehension of popery, which had caused so much of his father's ill-fortune. The insolence of the Romish priests, who, proud of the court's favour, disdained to respect the laws enough to disguise themselves, provoked an address to the king, that they might be sent out of the kingdom; and bills were brought in to prevent the further growth of po

pery.

Meanwhile, the same remedy, so infallible in the eyes of legislators, was not forgotten to be applied to the opposite disease of protestant dissent. The resignation of 2000 beneficed ministers at once, instead of extorting praise, rather inflamed the resentment of their bigoted enemies; especially when they perceived that a public and perpetual toleration of separate worship was favoured by part of the court. Rumours of conspiracy and insurrection, were sedulously propagated, and recited as the pretext of an act passed in 1664, for suppressing seditious conventicles (the epithet being in this place wantonly and unjustly insulting,) which inflicted on all persons above the age of sixteen, present at any religious meeting in other manner than is allowed by the practice of the church of England, where five or more persons besides the household should be present, a penalty of three months' imprisonment for the first offence, of six for the second, and of seven years' transportation for the third, on conviction before a single justice of peace.* It is the natural consequence of restrictive laws, Mr. Hallam remarks, to

* 16 Car. II. c. 4.

C

COMPENDIOUS AND IMPARTIAL VIEW

OF THE

PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE HISTORY

OF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND,

IN RELATION TO THE

ROMAN CATHOLIC QUESTION;

CONTAINING A SUMMARY OF THE

PENAL & DISABLING STATUTES AFFECTING ROMAN CATHOLICS,

AND OF THE

SUCCESSIVE MEASURES ADOPTED BY THE LEGISLATURE FOR

THEIR ABROGATION:

ALSO AN ABSTRACT OF THE

PRINCIPAL DEBATES IN PARLIAMENT,

IN REFERENCE TO THIS SUBJECT.

BY J. BEDFORD.

LONDON:

R. SIMPKIN AND W. MARSHALL, STATIONERS' HALL COURT ;

AND J. RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.

DUBLIN; W. F. WAKEMAN, D'OLLIER STREET.

1829.