The bill before the House concedes to Roman Catholics the power of holding any office in the state, excepting a few connected with the administration of the affairs of the church; and it also concedes to them the power of becoming members of Parliament.  I believe it goes further, with respect to the concession of offices, than any former measure which has been introduced into the other House of Parliament.  I confess that the reasons which induced me to consider it my duty to make such large concessions now, arose out of the effects which I observed following the acts proposed in the years 1782 and 1793.  I have seen that any restriction upon concession has only had the effect of increasing the demands of the Roman Catholics, and at the same time giving them fresh power to enforce those demands.  I have, therefore, considered it my duty, in making this act of concession, to make it as large as any reasonable man can expect it to be; seeing clearly that any thing which might remain behind would only give ground for fresh demands, and being convinced that the settlement of this question tends to the security of the state, and to the peace and prosperity of the country.  I have already stated to your lordships my opinion respecting the expediency of granting seats in Parliament to Roman Catholics; and I do not conceive, that the concession of seats in Parliament, can in any manner effect any question relative to the church of England.  In the first place, I beg your Lordships to recollect, that at the time those acts, to which I have before alluded,—­the one passed in the 30th of Charles II., and the other at the period of the Revolution, were enacted—­it was not the church that was in danger—­it was the state.  It was the state that was in danger; and from what?  Not because the safety of the church was threatened.  No; but because the Sovereign on the throne was suspected of Popery, and because the successor to the throne was actually a Papist.  Those laws were adopted, because of the existence of a danger which threatened the state, and not of one which threatened the church.  On the contrary, at that period danger to the church was apprehended, not from the Roman Catholics, but from the Dissenters from the church of England.  I would ask of your Lordships, all of whom have read the history of those times, whether any danger to the church was apprehended from the Roman Catholics?  No!  Danger to the church was apprehended from the Dissenters, who had become powerful by the privileges granted to them under the act of Parliament passed at the period of the Revolution.  I think, therefore, that it is not necessary for me to enter into any justification of myself for having adopted this measure, on account of any danger which might be apprehended from it to the church.  Roman Catholics will come into Parliament under this bill, as they went into Parliament previous to the act of 30th Charles II.  They sat in Parliament up to that period, and were