ional taxation; so that it was
agreed to limit the said fund to the amount of such a balance as might
remain after the expenses of the year were liquidated. It was stated by
the chancellor of the exchequer that, in the course of the last
eleven years, the amount of debt redeemed was L29,000,000. It must be
acknowledged, however, that the existing system of incurring debt with
one hand, and redeeming it with the other, was a delusion.

REPEAL OF THE TEST AND CORPORATION ACTS.

The grand question of this session was the repeal of the Test and
Corporation Acts: acts which excluded dissenters from offices of trust
and power, and shut the doors of all corporations against them, unless
they consented to take the sacrament according to the ritual of the
church of England. Lord John Russell introduced this subject on the
26th of February, by moving "That this house will resolve itself into a
committee of the whole house, to consider of so much of the acts of
the 13th and 25th of Charles II., as require persons, before they are
admitted into any office or place in corporations, or having accepted
any office, civil or military, or any place of trust under the crown, to
receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper according to the rites of the
church of England." In introducing this motion Lord John Russell took
a review of the history of the statutes in question, and he argued that
they had been originally enacted for reasons which no longer existed. He
maintained the justice and expediency of the motion on the ground that
while these tests were an infliction on the dissenters, they afforded no
protection to the church of England; but on the contrary, exposed her to
dangers to which she would not be otherwise obnoxious. Without serving
any good purpose, he said, they made the dissenters irritated enemies,
instead of converting them into companions or friends. Another
objection, he said, rose from the nature of the test, which made it a
shameless abuse of the most solemn of all religious rites. The sacrament
of the Lord's supper was held by the church to be most sacred; and yet
it was prostituted bylaw to be a mere qualification for office. History
stated, he remarked, that it was the custom for persons to be waiting
in taverns and houses near the church, and when service was over an
appointed person called out, "Those who want to be qualified will
please to step up this way," and then persons took the communion solely
for th