f his eye were felt but
could not be followed.

Upon the whole, there was something in this man that could create,
subvert, or reform: an understanding, a spirit, and an eloquence, to
summon mankind to society, or to break the bonds of slavery asunder and
to rule the wilderness of free minds with unbounded authority; something
that could establish or overwhelm empires, and strike a blow in the
world which should resound throughout the universe.

OF THE INJUSTICE OF DISQUALIFICATION OF CATHOLICS

From the Speech of May 31st, 1811

Whatever belongs to the authority of God, or to the laws of nature, is
necessarily beyond the province and sphere of human institution and
government. The Roman Catholic, when you disqualify him on the ground of
his religion, may with great justice tell you that you are not his God,
that he cannot mold or fashion his faith by your decrees. You may
inflict penalties, and he may suffer them in silence; but if Parliament
assume the prerogative of Heaven, and enact laws to impose upon the
people a different religion, the people will not obey such laws. If you
pass an act to impose a tax or regulate a duty, the people can go to the
roll to learn what are the provisions of the law. But whenever you take
upon yourselves to legislate for God, though there may be truth in your
enactments, you have no authority to enforce them. In such a case, the
people will not go to the roll of Parliament, but to the Bible, the
testament of God's will, to ascertain his law and their duty. When once
man goes out of his sphere, and says he will legislate for God, he in
fact makes himself God. But this I do not charge upon the Parliament,
because in none of the Penal Acts has the Parliament imposed a
religious creed. It is not to be traced in the qualification oath, nor
in the declaration required. The qualifying oath, as to the great number
of offices and seats in Parliament, scrupulously evades religious
distinctions; a Dissenter of any class may take it, a Deist, an atheist,
may likewise take it. The Catholics are alone excepted; and for what
reason? Certainly not because the internal character of the Catholic
religion is inherently vicious; not because it necessarily incapacitates
those who profess it to make laws for their fellow-citizens. If a Deist
be fit to sit in Parliament, it can hardly be urged that a Christian is
unfit. If an atheist be competent to legislate for his country, surely
this privilege