ABSTRACT
In 1778 Parliament passed the first of a series of measures aimed at alleviating some of the disabilities imposed by law on Roman Catholics in England and Wales. Similar measures were introduced, in two stages, by the Irish Parliament in 1774 and 1778. They were not introduced in Scotland where the Roman Catholic community was still suspected of holding Jacobite sympathies. The legislation was extremely limited in its impact. In return for taking an oath of allegiance to the Crown, Roman Catholics were permitted to purchase land legally and the threat of arrest and imprisonment was lifted from Roman Catholic priests and schoolmasters.1 Even so there was an immediate Protestant backlash. In 1779 there were anti-Catholic riots in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and a petition signed by a very large number of people – 26,000 in Glasgow and 120,000 in London alone – was presented to Parliament. The Protestant Association, founded by Lord George Gordon, established branches in several English cities and towns – Bath, Bridlington, Bristol, Canterbury, Carlisle, Norwich, Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Rochester. In 1780 there was a week’s rioting in London in which there were attacks on Roman Catholic chapels, the houses of known Roman Catholics, and many other buildings. Altogether 210 people were killed in the riots and a further 75 subsequently died of their wounds.2 From this date until the final passing of Roman Catholic Emancipation in 1829 the issue of Roman Catholic belief and practice was tied up with intricate political issues of loyalty to the Crown and potential papal intervention in British affairs which are not the concern of this chapter. However, behind these political debates there was another, more theological, debate going on within the Anglican established Churches in England, Ireland and Wales about their relations with the Roman Catholic Church and whether there was any possibility of achieving a greater degree of understanding and possibly even reunion. It is this issue that will be dealt with in this chapter.
