§ A Petition of several inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood of Warrington, was presented; setting forth,
§ "That the petitioners have for some time past considered the claims so repeatedly urged by the Roman Catholic subjects of this empire with feelings not merely of surprise, but of considerable alarm, and that the same appear to the petitioners to be fraught with the greatest danger to our invaluable constitution in church and state; and that the petitioners view the concessions hitherto made to the Roman Catholics as giving them every religious and political liberty consistent with the security of the realm, and that consequently any further innovation in the established laws of the country ought to be strenuously opposed by every effort in our power; and that, regarding the question in this light, the petitioners pray the House stedfastly to uphold the principles on which they consider the safety of the empire to depend by wholly rejecting all further consideration of the subject, past events having satisfied them, that hitherto concession has only created fresh demands"
§ A Petition of the clergy of the archdeaconry of St. David's was also presented; setting forth,
416§ "That the petitioners having heard with great anxiety of the renewed exertions which their Roman Catholic fellow subjects are making for the abolition of all those tests which our forefathers judged to be necessary for the security of the Protestant establishment in church and slate; and being impressed with a deep conviction of the inestimable value of the Protestant religion as professed by the Church of England, and that it is not less valuable to us than it was to our ancestors, who established it, and being fully persuaded that the corruptions of Popery, which our pious and venerable Reformers laboured to eradicate, and resisted unto death, have not changed their character, but are still equally inimical to national liberty and to the Protestant faith, do humbly pray that the House will in their wisdom not remove any restrictions which are essential to the security of the Protestant establishment, nor grant any concessions which can in any way endanger the blessings of the Reformation."
§ A Petition of the precentor and canons of the most ancient church of St. David, was presented; setting forth,
§ "That the petitioners being individually bound by the Oaths of Allegiance to our sovereign and the maintenance of his absolute Supremacy, in all causes ecclesiastical as well as civil, in these his dominions, esteem it to be their duly, in obedience to those oaths, earnestly, yet humbly, to request of the House, that while they grant all reasonable immunities to the Romanists, they keep inviolate that sacred constitution of our government which has raised this kingdom to a preponderance in the scale of nations; and that they do not allow any persons whomsoever to be exempted from such restrictions as are necessary for the security of the established Church."
§ Ordered to lie upon the table.