Commons Sitting of 15 December 1812

PETITION FROM THE BRISTOL CLERGY AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS.
Mr. Protheroe presented a Petition from the Clergy of the city and deanery of Bristol, setting forth,
"That the petitioners are warm and sincere friends to religious toleration, and to the free exercise of religious worship by all who differ from the Church by law established, yet that they cannot but view, with deep concern and anxiety, the alarming extent of the claims' so strongly and repeatedly urged by their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, not in behalf of liberty of conscience (for that they already enjoy in its utmost extent) but for the purpose of attaining political power; and that these claims, as the petitioners understand, directly extend to the removal of

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all restrictions and disabilities whatever, on account of religious opinion, and to the unlimited right of admission not only to offices of the highest responsibility, but even into the legislature itself, under a monarchy and a constitution of which Protestantism has hitherto been, and, it is earnestly hoped, will never cease to be an essential and distinguishing character; and that, as the petitioners humbly apprehend, it is altogether impossible to admit such claims without destroying some of the strongest defences by which our civil and religious establishments have long been happily secured; and though many of the most enlightened advocates for these claims have always professed, and sincerely professed, a desire that other securities should be substituted in their place, yet, as far as the petitioners know or believe, not even the general nature of these new securities (much less their specific character and tendency) has ever yet been publicly explained, though such explanation, if truly convincing and satisfactory, would most powerfully have contributed to reconcile varieties of opinion, and to remove the apprehensions of danger which now justly prevail with respect to this momentous question; so that, even on this ground, without adverting to the great, and, as they think, insuperable difficulties inherent in the thing itself, the petitioners deem it not unreasonable to declare their full conviction that, if the above mentioned claims should be conceded, it would be utterly impracticable to provide new defences on which equal dependence could be placed for the lasting safety of the Protestant Government and Protestant Church, as they are now established in this United Kingdom; and that the petitioners rely, with perfect confidence, on the wisdom of parliament, but they feel it to be their duty, with the utmost deference, to submit to the House their deliberate opinion on a question, which they cannot possibly view as limited by mere political considerations, because they are well assured, that whatever may affect the safety of the Established Church, must materially affect also the interests of that pure and reformed religion, of which the Church is a faithful guardian and depositary; and praying, that the House will be pleased effectually to guard against the adoption of any measure tending to weaken or undermine the firm and tried bulwarks of that constitution in Church and State, under which, by the blessing of Divine Providence, this
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country has, since the sera of the Revolution, enjoyed a degree of freedom, peace, and happiness unknown to other nations, and unexampled in former ages."
Ordered to lie upon the table.