1736.

In fuch a Cafe, our Conftitution would be entirely over- Anno 9. Geo. II. • turned; and though the present Clergymen of our efta⚫blished Church have not generally the leaft Tincture of a perfecuting Spirit; yet if their Succeffors fhould get into their Hands the whole Power of making Laws, as well as of putting them in Execution, it is much to be feared, that a Perfecution, or perhaps an Inquifition, would be fet up • under the Banners of the Church of England, as bloody ⚫ and cruel as any that was ever fet up under the Banners of the Church of Rome.

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Thus, my Lords, I have fhewn, that with respect to our established Church, it may, by means of that unlimit⚫ed Power of granting Licences to purchase in Mortmain, now vested in the Crown, become fo powerful, as to be able to prescribe Laws to the whole Kingdom. But when I talk of the established Church, why fhould I mention the granting of them any Licence from the Crown? They • have already, I may fay, an unlimited Licence by Act of * Parliament: So forgetful have we of late been of the

Maxims of our Ancestors, that we have granted them • fuch Licences by Law, as would enable them to purchase, • in Time, the whole Lands of the Kingdom, without fo much as any one Licence from the Crown. By an Act of the 17th of King Charles II. every Parfon and Vicar in England, whofe fettled Maintenance does not amount to 1007. a Year clear, has got a Liberty to purchafe Lands, to him and his Succeffors, without any Licence in Mort• main, and what is moft extraordinary, without Stint or • Controul. Which Act of Parliament by itfelf alone, with a little Management, would enable our Church to purchase all the Lands in England, without being obliged fo much as to afk a Licence from the Crown; for we have ⚫ been told in this Debate, that there are in England above 5500 Livings under 50 l. a Year, and computing there are 2000 only above 50 and below 100l. a Year, we must from thence reckon there are in England 7500 ecclefiaftical fole Corporations, who have by that Act a Liberty to purchafe as great a Quantity of Land as they please, without any Licence in Mortmain.

6.

Then, my Lords, by a ftill more extraordinary Act in the late Queen's Time, all the Clergymen of the Church of England are in fome Manner united into one Corporation, and that Corporation is not only enabled to purchase Lands in Mortmain, without any Licence from the Crown, but is provided with a very large and a perpetual yearly Fundfor that Purpofe; for the Firfl-Fruits and Tenths, fettled up-on them by that Act, bring in already at least 14,000 7. 1736.

E 2

· per

1736.

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Anno 9. Geo. II. per Annum, and will, in a very fhort Time, bring in 20,000l. per Annum: But farther, my Lords, left that happy Event of their being made the Masters, and Lawgivers of their Country, fhould be

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long poftponed, every Man in England, nay, every Woman in England, is by that Act enabled to give them by Deed, and even by Will, the whole Eftate real and perfonal, which he or she may die poffeffed of, and fuch Eftates the Corporation are rendered by that A&t capable to hold and enjoy without any Licence ad quod damnum, ⚫ and notwithstanding the Statute of Mortmain. And I must particularly take Notice, that neither by that Act, nor by any other Act, is there a Period put to the Continuance of that Corporation: It is made a perpetual Corporation, with Leave to take Lands by Will, and purchase Lands without Stint, Limitation, or Licence, and it is provided with a large annual and perpetual Fund for that Purpose; fo that, by the very Nature of Things, as all the Lands they can get hold of, become unalienable, our Church muft neceffarily at laft, by Means of that Corporation, become • Mistress of all the Land-Eftates in England. If we con• fider the many and powerful Solicitors they have about dying Perfons, and the present prevailing Madness of perpetuating one's Memory, by leaving a large Eftate to some Body Politic, we must conclude, that unless a Stop be put to it, this Event is not at fuch a Distance as fome may imagine; and I muft fay, the Corporation has established a • molt excellent Rule for this Purpose: They have refolved not to purchase any Thing but Land, they have refolved not to content themselves with any Penfion or Annuity iffuing out of Lands, but to be abfolute Masters of the • Lands themselves.

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What I have faid, my Lords, upon this Subject, is not with a Defign to throw any Reflexion upon the established Church, or to diminish the Credit of our established Clergy. No, my Lords, I hope their Credit among the People of this Kingdom will always be as confiderable as it ought; but I hope that Credit will always depend, not upon their Poffeffions, but upon the Purity of their Doctrines, and the Sanctity of their Lives. As I am myfelf an unworthy • Member of the Church of England, as by Law established, I must love and reverence that Establishment; and for this very Reason, I fhall always be against vefting any great • Poffeffions in the Church. I have as great a Defire as any Man, to see our Clergy all comfortably and honourably provided for; but that Provision ought not to be made to arife from Poffeffions of their own, but from the annual

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• Contributions of the People; for if ever the Clergy of our Anno 9. Geo. II. • established Church, fhould come to be poffeffed of many ⚫ and large Eftates in Land, as the Popish Clergy of this • Kingdom formerly were, it will be a Temptation to fome ⚫ ambitious and enterprifing Prince, like our Henry VIII. to overturn our established Church, in order to get hold of ⚫ their opulent Poffeffions. This very Thing was, I believe, one of the chief Causes of the Reformation; for tho' most ⚫ of the common People had embraced the reformed Religion from Principle and a fort of Enthusiasm, yet I am perfuaded, that many of our great Men embraced the firft • Doctrines of the Reformation, and joined with their Prince in getting them established, not from Principle, but in order to share with him in the Spoils of the then established Church; and as like Causes always produce like Effects, therefore as a fincere Member of the prefent established Church, and from a thorough and true Regard to her Doctrines, I fhall always be for limiting and restraining her • Poffeffions, especially in Land, or any other fort of Revenue but what depends upon the yearly Contributions raised by Law upon the People.

Now, my Lords, with refpect to the Aggrandizement and Happiness of the Commonwealth in general: Ever ⚫ fince we began to understand any thing of Trade and Commerce, it has been an established Maxim in this Kingdom, 6 not to allow our Lands to be fettled unalienably even upon private Families, and much less upon Bodies Politic; and the Reason of this Maxim is very plain; because after a Man by his Induftry or Trade has faved as much as puts him above the Fears of Want, an Ambition of establishing his Family in the Kingdom, then begins to take Place; ⚫ this raises in him a Defire of purchafing fome Land-Estate; ⚫ and this Defire promotes his Industry, and makes him con⚫tinue his Trade: Whereas, if he could have no Hopes of ⚫ getting any Land-Eftate to purchase, which might be the Cafe, if the greatest Part of our Lands were settled in • Mortmain, he would either give up his Trade, or he would go and establish himself and his Family in fome foreign Country, where he could purchase a Land-Estate. From ⚫ hence it is evident, that the allowing of any great Part of our Lands to be settled in Mortmain, would be a great Difcouragement to our Trade, upon which the Grandeur and Happiness of the Nation very much depends, and might rob us of a great many of our richest Merchants. To this I must add, that nothing has contributed more to the Im⚫provement of our Lands, and the beautifying our Country, than the great Number of Gentlemen's Seats we have in

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Anno 9. Geo. II. every Part of the Kingdom; whereas, if our Lands 1736. 'fhould all become the Property of Corporations, our fine • Country Seats would all go to Ruin, and a great Stop would be put to all farther Improvement; for no Man • will be at so great an Expence or Trouble in improving a • Leasehold Estate, as he would be, were he the Tenant in • Fee.

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• I have already fhewed, my Lords, how much we are expofed by our Laws, as they ftand at prefent, to the Danger of having our Lands engroffed by Ecclefiaftic Corporations, and of what fatal Confequence that might be to the Security and Preservation of our Conftitution.

With

regard to our Lay Corporations, as they are not as yet u⚫nited into one Body, it cannot be faid, that our Conftitu⚫tion or Government can be in any Danger, from any Poffeffions they may acquire; but the Trade and Commerce " of the Nation, the Improvement of our Lands, and the "Beauty of the Country, will be as much injured by their Acquifitions, if they become confiderable, as by Acquifitions made by the Church; and it is certain, we have ' of late Years widely departed from the Maxims of our Ancestors, with respect to Lay Corporations as well as Ecclefiaftic. The firft Breach was made by an Act of the 39th of Queen Elizabeth, by which any Person was enabled, within 20 Years then next enfuing, by Deed enrolled in Chancery, to erect and found an Hofpital or House of Correction: And every Hospital so to be founded, was by that A&t incorporated, and empowered to purchase Lands not exceeding 200 l. per Annum without Licence, and notwithstanding the Statutes of Mortmain. This extraordinary Step was at that Time fomething neceffary, becaufe our Poor had then no Sort of Provifion made for them by Law, they had been before that Time taken care of by our Monafteries and religious Houses, and were left entirely deftitute of any public Support, by the Diffolution of those Monafteries and religious Houfes; but by an Act of the 43d of the fame Queen's Reign, the prefent Method of obliging every Parish, Hundred, or County, to provide for their own Poor, was establifhed; which Method, if properly regulated, and rightly purfued, would, in my Opinion, make all public Hofpitals ufelefs. But it seems the contrary Opinion prevailed foon after the Revolution; for in the 7th and 8th of King William, that Act was paffed, by which the Crown got an unlimited Power of granting Licences to alien and take in Mortmain; and the Act was entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of charitable Gifts and Difpofitions, which was, it feems, the Pretence

⚫ made

1736.

< made ufe of for granting that Power to the Crown, and Anno 9. Geo. If. < therefore it was, I prefume, a favourite Pretence at that Time. This has made it very easy to fet up any new Corporation, and has made it eafy for every old Corporation to extend their Dominions almoft as far as they please; fo ⚫ that I think we are in Danger of having the greatest Part ⚫ of our Lands fwallowed up by fome Corporation or other, • unless a Stop be put to it in Time; and if ever this should come to be our Cafe, we may then bid adieu to our Trade, and to all future Improvements.

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But, my Lords, the Danger of having our Lands fwallowed up by Corporations, Ecclefiaftic or Lay, is not the only Danger we are at prefent expofed to; there is a new • Sort of Mortmain lately fet up, a new Gulph opened, un der the Name of charitable Ufes, which may be faid to. be without either Bottom or Bounds, and which will cer ⚫tainly swallow up that Remnant which may be left by the others; for by the Laws, as they ftand at prefent, any • Person in the Kingdom may, in his last Moments, devise his whole Land-Eftate in Truft for charitable Ufes; the Re⚫ presentative of the most ancient Family in England, if he ⚫ be Tenant in Fee-fimple, may disappoint his natural Heirs, ⚫ and utterly ruin his Family by fuch a Devife, and that at 6 a Time when very few Men can properly be faid to be in ⚫ their right Senfes. If we confider that all fuch Charities are generally left, or come to be under the Management ⚫ of fome one Clergyman or another, we must from thence ' conclude, that we have now the fame Reason to prevent 'fuch Devises as our Ancestors had; for what was the Reafon of the Popish Clergy's watching fo infidiously the last • Moments of every dying Perfon? Was it not in order to get fome Legacy for encreafing the Riches and Power of the Church in general, they having no private Families of their own to folicit for? And if the Riches and Power of our prefent Church be encreased by Donations, to what are called pious and charitable Ufes, are we not to fuppofe that our Clergymen will foon begin to watch the laft Mo· ments of every dying Perfon, as infidiously as ever the others did, if we lay a Foundation for, or leave any Hopes of Succefs from fuch Watchfulness? The Clergy of our Church as now established by Law, are but Men, and Men are, in all Ages and in all Countries, generally fpeaking, endued with the fame Paffions, and the fame Affections: It is Education and Opportunity only, that makes the • Difference. The Opportunity is already given, and their • Education will foon begin to be turned towards making the beft of that Opportunity, if not speedily prevented. Ar

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