The Earl of WinchilseaMy Lords, in pursuance of the notice which I gave last Thursday, I rise to present to your Lordships a petition, which I feel proud in having had the honour of having placed in my hands, signed by upwards of one hundred lay and clerical graduates of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, resident in the small district of country contained in the eastern part of the county of Kent; out of which number I find there are upwards of seventy who have obtained the degrees of Masters of Arts. My Lords, I ought also to state, that this petition was agreed upon without one single dissentient voice, and that I have every reason to believe, that if the petitioners had allowed it to remain for signatures for only a few days; that, with very few exceptions, it would have received the support of every, individual connected with those universities resident in that part of the county. My Lords, the prayer of this petition is, that your Lordships would withhold your assent to any act which will, in the slightest degree, interfere with the limitations under which degrees are at present conferred at those Universities. My Lords, I can assure your Lordships, that it was with no slight regret that I saw myself deprived of an opportunity, at an early period, of expressing my opinion on this important question; and also, as it has compelled me to intrude myself upon your notice upon the present occasion, that I was prevented attending in my place in this House on the evening when the noble Earl at the 361 head of his Majesty's government presented a petition signed by a certain number of the resident members of the University of Cambridge in favour of the repeal of these limitations, and also when the royal Duke, Chancellor of that University, to whom I beg to offer my humble meed of thanks for the powerful and eloquent appeal he made to your Lordships in defence of our Established Church and religion, presented a petition still more numerously signed, for their continuance; but, my Lords, in justice to those gentlemen who have intrusted me with their petition, to whose high character of respectability and great intellectual acquirement I can bear the strongest testimony—in justice to my own feelings, entertaining, as I do sentiments in perfect unison with those contained in the petition which I now hold in my hands, I cannot content myself with placing it upon your Lordships' table, without craving your indulgence for a very few moments, whilst I offer some brief observations on the subject which it embraces—a subject which I, from the very bottom of my heart, believe involves the best and dearest interests of this Christian country. My Lords, since I have had the honour of a seat in this House, I have been called upon to take my share in legislating upon two of the most important measures which have been brought under the consideration of the Legislature of this country since the period of the Revolution—I allude to the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, and the Roman Catholic Relief Bill. My Lords, it is unnecessary for me to dwell, for it is too well known to your Lordships, and the great majority of my fellow-countrymen, on the warm and uncompromising opposition which I offered, both within and without the walls of this House, to the passing of those momentous measures; feeling, and most justly feeling, as every day's bitter experience has since taught me, and continues to teach me, that those concessions, so far from satisfying those to whose prayers they had been granted, would lead to still further aggressions; and that, by the surrender of those great bulwarks which had been so wisely and so justly erected for the protection and security of our Protestant Established Church, the few defences which were left, either for the maintenance of her government, or the propagation of those sound scriptural doctrines 362 which she inculcates, would soon be placed in the hands of those who are bent upon total ruin and destruction. Blind and infatuated, indeed, must that man be who can doubt the truth of this assertion. Let him look at the open and avowed declaration of hostility recently made by the leading members of certain Dissenting bodies in the kingdom against our Established Church and religion;—let him look to the repeated and undisguised declaration of hostility made by the organ of the Popish priesthood, before whom the government of this country, destitute of that great moral courage which ought to have graced and adorned it, and without which it never can, it never ought, to command the confidence and respect of the honourable and high-minded people of this nation, have so often quailed and quaked, and then let him put his hand to his heart and say, if he can, that this statement is false and unfounded. But, my Lords, deep as I thought the importance of these two most momentous measures—pregnant as I conceived they would prove of irreparable injuries to the best interests of this once Protestant country, they sink into perfect nothingness and insignificance when compared with the immeasurable interests embraced by this petition; nay, in the humble opinion of the individual who has now the honour to address you, they are no more to be compared than a drop of water to the ocean, or a spark of light to the countless stars in the firmament. My Lords, it is too true, that the passing of the first two measures effected the separation of Protestantism from our institutions; this last, if agreed to, will tear away Christianity from them. Pass this measure, and we cease to be a Christian country. Now, my Lords, in viewing the claims set forth by a certain body of the Dissenters of this kingdom, backed by Popery, who is at present in the rear, but who would soon, if they are conceded, appear in the first ranks, I will briefly and with humility direct your attention to the important point, worthy of your most serious and deliberate consideration. First, can the Dissenters be admitted to the privileges which they seek at your hands, without the total destruction of many of the most salutary and beneficial statutes which at present exist in both the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and which have hitherto marked and stamped their religious cha- 363 racter? Secondly, can they be conceded without the removal of all sound religious instruction from those venerable and long-cherished national institutions? Now, my Lords, I will not occupy your Lordships (feeling how anxious you are to proceed to the business which is to engage your attention this evening, though I am confident your time would not be misapplied in considering them), by bringing before you the several distinct religious statutes, which at present regulate the government of the different individual colleges connected with both those Universities. I will briefly, however, point to one most salutary statute which at present affects both the University of Oxford and Cambridge, and which must be repealed before these claims can be conceded, which has wisely provided, that every student on his admission shall be placed under the charge of some college tutor, whose important duty is, not only to promote his intellectual acquirements, but to watch over his moral and religious improvement. My Lords, I am not here to maintain, that this most important and sacred duty has been invariably and faithfully discharged by all those into whose hands it has been committed. My Lords, if I dwell upon the latitudinarian principles now afloat—if I look back upon the total apathy and indifference which have of late years characterised so great a body of our Legislatures, on questions deeply affecting the maintenance and support of that pure system of religion which has been established in this country. I feel that such a position cannot be maintained; but, in making this declaration, which I do with the deepest sorrow, I turn with heartfelt gratification to the brighter side of the picture which presents itself, when I contemplate the great and visible improvement which of late years has taken place at both those Universities in the furtherance of sound religious instruction. My Lords, at the present day (what was far from being the case when I was at the University of Cambridge), a certain study and knowledge of theology is absolutely necessary for the attainment of any degree or honorary distinction at either the University of Oxford or Cambridge. But my Lords, laying aside the question, whether these claims can be conceded without the destruction of all those statutes, which mark the religious character of those 364 Universities, I will briefly proceed to the second part, and consider whether the privileges sought for can be conceded to the Dissenters, without the removal of all sound, religious instruction from those long-cherished national establishments. My Lords, if you are prepared to give your assent to the removal of these restrictions, and to admit all denominations of Dissenters, without the slightest reference to the religious faith which they profess, whether Papists, Atheists, Deists, Unitarians, Freethinking Christians, and the different religious sects, too numerous for me to repeat, which I find, from a book I hold in my hand, amount to upwards of fifty in number, it is worse than mockery to affirm that any system of sound religious instruction can be pursued within their walls. My Lords, concede these claims, and you will have the education pursued in those Universities connected with no religion, or, if so, it will be the mere empty name of religion, for it will be nominal religion, without distinction between truth and error. A sound system of religious instruction, I will boldly affirm, cannot be maintained. I would ask the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack, whether if any important legal cause had been placed in his hands as an advocate, whether he would not have considered it as a mere waste of time and words to have endeavoured to have established it, without attempting to prove the weakness of the arguments advanced by his opponents. I would ask any noble Lord who has made mathematics his study and pursuit, how frequently he finds the best and most satisfactory course to pursue, in establishing a proposition in that most interesting study, is by showing the absurdity of the converse of it. I would ask one and all of the right reverend Prelates, how weak would be the attempt to establish truth, if error is not pointed out and confuted. Now, my Lords, if this latter course was to be pursued, after the admission of all religionists to those Universities, and truth is to be upheld by the exposure of error, I would implore your Lordships to consider what a religious spirit of controversy you would have called into existence, the fatal effects of which would be felt in every corner of the empire. On the other hand, if all sound religion is to be excluded, from a state of apathy and indifference, what would naturally arise 365 from such a course if it should be adopted—scepticism and infidelity would speedily reign triumphant in those hitherto soundly religious establishments. I implore your Lordships to consider well for whom you will be called upon to legislate; first, for the higher ranks and grades of society, who are to be the future legislators of this Christian country; secondly, for those who are hereafter to fill every sacred office, from the highest to the lowest in our venerated Church. My Lords, many and important are the duties which, from the elevated station in society in which it has pleased Providence to place us, we owe both to our fellow-countrymen and to our God: of the former, none can be compared in point of magnitude and importance to that which calls for a faithful watchfulness on our part, to promote their moral and religious welfare; of the latter, if we believe ourselves to be responsible beings, if we make the revealed Word of God our guide, there is none to be compared to that sacred duty which calls upon us to uphold the honour and glory of His name, and to promote the dissemination of that religion which he came down on earth to establish, for the temporal and everlasting happiness of our fallen race. Will any of your Lordships say that you feel it to be a matter of indifference in what faith or religion your child is educated? Carry this feeling one step higher, towards your fellow countrymen. This nation is one great family, and never lose sight that we hold the responsible situation of guardians and protectors of their moral and religious welfare. Religion, it is true, is a question between man and his Maker, but it is also a question between a nation and their God. Will your Lordships—no, the thing is impossible—proclaim in the face of Heaven, which I will boldly assert you will do if you remove these religious restrictions from our Universities, that you consider it a matter of total indifference in what religious principles the rising generation of our countrymen are educated, and what religion is connected with our institutions? My Lords, there is no individual a greater friend of sound civil and religions liberty, than the humble individual who has now the honour of addressing you, but I will not flinch from declaring the opinion I have long entertained, that liberty and toleration, carried to the extent which they have been of late years in this country, that the 366 former has merged into licentiousness—the latter into a direct promotion of scepticism and infidelity in the land in which we live. As a friend, therefore to sound liberty, civil and religious, I stand forward to uphold and maintain the Established Protestant Church and religion of this country, feeling, which I could establish, if I had not already trespassed too much upon your Lordships' time, that education without religion will prove, from the experience of past ages, a curse, not a blessing, of society; also that religion is the foundation of all sound liberty. Cast your eyes to the wretched scene which now presents itself at this moment in France, where liberalism and infidelity have reigned triumphant, and then you will find ample proof of this assertion—without one atom of those principles upon which society alone can exist, the miserable and worthless people of that nation can alone be governed by the two-edged sword of military despotism. I stand forward at this hour of danger to uphold Protestantism in this empire, regarding her, most justly regarding her, not only as the foundation of our long cherished national liberties, but the source from which have flowed, however faintly, those few streams of liberty which gladden the eye in any part of the civilised world. My Lords, it is weakness, nay, it is madness, to shut our eyes to the danger which threatens the best interests of the empire; by turning our backs upon it, it will hourly gain additional strength. The system of public education which has during the last twenty years been established, from the Infant Schools or the Mechanics' Institutions to the London University, based upon no religion, has filled our land with heathenism and infidelity. My Lords, we see arrayed against our Established Church and religion, the power of Popery, backed by Infidelity, Scepticism, Deism, and Socinianism; the three latter bodies embracing that body of restless, and falsely-styled Christians, to whom I have the recorded opinion of the immortal Burke, the champion of sound civil and religious liberty, no toleration could be granted either by this or any other well-regulated Government, because they would always be found arrayed against every established Government. Gloomy as the prospect may be before, us, fearful as the contest is in which we must soon be engaged, I feel perfect confidence as to 367 the termination of it. Standing in the breach which has been made by the throwing down of those bulwarks of our Church to which I have alluded—surrounded by every individual who sets the slightest value on the blessings of Christianity, whether member of our Establishment, or of the sect of Christian Dissenters, in this empire, who have repeatedly, and will at this trying hour (I will pledge myself for them, which pledge I am confident they will honestly redeem), stand boldly forward in her defence—led by the illustrious individual who at present sways the sceptre of these realms, and whom I will not insult by entertaining a supposition that, if any measure was proposed to him for his assent, which would either remove sound religious instruction from those long-cherished national establishments, or would give a royal sanction to a seminary purposely excluding all religious instruction, he would not with indignation reject it; but, above all, trusting in the sacredness of our cause, and in that Almighty Being who has frequently rescued this Protestant country, at the hour of imminent peril and danger, boldly will we encounter, triumphantly will we conquer, for if God be on our side, which assuredly he will be if we faithfully discharge our duty towards Him and our country—I repeat, boldly will we encounter, triumphantly will we conquer; for if God be on our side we need not fear what man can do unto us.
§ The petition was read, and ordered to lie on the Table.