§ The Attorney General (Sir Vicary Gibbs) presented a Petition from the chancellor masters and scholars of the university of Cambridge, setting forth,
723§ "That the petitioners, understanding that a Bill is intended to be soon offered to the House for the removal of the restrictions which are imposed by law on those who profess the Roman Catholic religion in the realm; and that they are fully convinced that the controul of any foreign power over the government of this country, either in Church or State, is inconsistent with the first principles of all civil government, and incompatible both with the most ancient form of our constitution and with that which was established at the Revolution; and that the power of the Pope, though for various reasons lessened in the public opinion, is notwithstanding more dangerous to us now than ever, being itself brought under the controul of a foreign and our most inveterate enemy; and that the petitioners, as members of a Protestant University, are more confirmed in their apprehensions of foreign influence, from the tendency which it is reported appears among some of the Catholic petitioners for the Bill, towards affecting the King's supremacy in the Church; and that the petitioners, as is well known, have never been adverse to liberty of conscience in religious or ecclesiastical matters, and they feel no uneasiness at the concession of any comforts to their Roman Catholic brethren, but they humbly implore the House to guard against the consequences of making any concessions which may endanger our present security in Church or State; and praying, that the said Bill may not pass into a law."
§ Ordered to lie upon the table.