A petition of the, Freeholders of the county of Oxford, was presented to the house, and read; setting forth, "that the petitioners have seen, with the deepest concern, that a petition has been presented to the house by the Roman catholics of Ireland, praying that the laws by which they are at present excluded from being members of the parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and from filling the principal offices in the executive government and civil and military administration of Ireland, may be repealed; and the petitioners humbly trust, that they are not deficient in those feelings of moderation and tolerance by which an allowance is made for difference of opinion on religious subjects, and by which a protection is afforded to the exercise and practice of those different opinions; but they are at the same time persuaded, that, to grant power and authority to persons whose religious principles are hostile to the constitution of the Country, is neither required by liberality, nor consistent with the dictates of sound policy or self-preservation; and that the petitioners are convinced, by the experience of all ages, that the principles of the Roman catholic religion are incompatible with both civil and religious liberty; that they are particularly repugnant to the genius and spirit of the constitution of this united kingdom, so that it is impossible that Protestants and Roman catholics should ever agree in administering together the powers of government, and that such an attempt would be productive of the most mischievous distractions and weakness in the public councils of the kingdom; and that though the petitioning Roman catholics disclaim some of the mischievous doctrines of the church of Rome, yet they still admit that they acknowledge some of the most dangerous ones, amongst which must be reckoned the acknowledgement of the supremacy of a foreign power in matters of their religion, which must have a most important influence on their moral and political conduct; and that the petitioners cannot but remember, that the partiality of king James the Second for the Roman catholics, and the influence which he gave them in the public councils of the 218 country, were the sources of all those grievances which imposed upon our ancestors the necessity of effecting the revolution in 1688, and of establishing those securities by which a recurrence of those grievances was guarded against and prevented; and the petitioners are persuaded, that no measure could be devised more disrespectful to that great event, or to the illustrious characters that were instrumental in effecting it, or more repugnant to the principles established by it, than the attempt to give to the Roman catholics a power in the government of this united kingdom; and that the petitioners cannot but further recollect, that, by the existing laws, no Roman catholic can wear the crown of this united kingdom; a restriction which the petitioners conceive to be founded in the soundest policy and wisdom; nor can the petitioners help thinking, that the same wisdom and policy require their exclusion from the other branches of the legislature; and for this, amongst many other reasons, that nothing seems more incongruous to the petitioners, than that the king should be obliged to discharge his share of the government upon Protestant principles, and that his council should consist of persons devoted, to a church of principles not only of a different hut of a repugnant nature; and therefore praying that the laws by which Roman catholics are at present excluded from being members of the parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and from filling the principal offices in the executive government and civil and military administration of Ireland, may not be repealed."—Ordered, that the said petition do lie upon the table.