l. The Bishop of Bangor, the
Bishop of Gloucester, the Bishop of Lincoln, the Bishop of Norwich, and
the Bishop of Peterborough spoke in its favor. The Bishop of
Peterborough's was a strenuous and an eloquent argument in favor of the
principle of the Bill. "The words 'Church' and 'Church's danger,'"
said the Bishop of Peterborough, "had often been made use of to carry
on sinister designs; and then these words made a mighty noise in the
mouth of silly women and children;" but in his opinion the Church,
which he defined to be a scriptural institution upon a legal
establishment, was founded upon a rock, and "could not be in danger as
long as we enjoyed the light of the Gospel and our excellent
constitution." The argument would have been perfect if the eloquent
bishop had only left out the proviso about "our excellent
constitution;" for the opponents of the measure were contending, as was
but natural, that the Bill, if passed into law, would not leave to the
Church the constitutional protection which it had previously enjoyed.

The Bill passed the House of Lords on December 23d, and was sent down
to the Commons next day. It was read there a first time at once, was
read a second time after a debate of some nine hours, and was passed
without amendment by a majority of 221 against 170 on January 10, 1719.
The test majority, however, by which the Bill had been decisively
carried, on the motion to go into committee, was but small--243 against
202--and this {173} majority was mainly due to the vote of the Scottish
members. Stanhope, it is well known, would have made the measure more
liberal than it was, and was dissuaded from this intention by
Sunderland, who insisted that if it were too liberal it would not pass
the House of Commons. The result seems to prove that Sunderland was
right. Walpole spoke against the Bill, limited as its concessions
were. It would be interesting to know what sort of argument a man of
Walpole's principles could have offered against a measure embodying the
very spirit and sense of Whig policy. Unfortunately we have no means
of knowing. The galleries of the House of Commons were rigidly closed
against strangers on the day of the debate, and all we are allowed to
hear concerning Walpole's part in the discussion is that "Mr. Robert
Walpole made a warm speech, chiefly levelled against a great man in the
present administration." There is something characteristic of Walpole
in this. He was never