Thomas Lutwyche

“ But I think the Question at present is, Whether it is necessary at this Time, for the Security of the Government, to take Advantage of those Forfeitures? For if there is not some particular Reason shewn, why you ought to exact them more at this Time than another, you may with equal Justice raise one Hundred Thousand Pounds the next Year upon the Roman-Catholicks ”

“ I do imagine, that as the Pretender's Scheme is unjust in itself, it can be form'd upon no better Hopes than the Discontents of the People; and the more Room there is for Complaint, the better Prospect he has of Success: And if it does happen that these Complaints are well-grounded, as were the Losses the People suffer'd in the South-Sea, then in such like Case, how much Industry is us'd by the Jacobites to aggravate the National Grievances; and to impute every Mischance to the ill Conduct of the Government. I am afraid, if the RomanCatholicks should be thus heavily tax'd ”

“ Upon this general Way of Reasoning, this Bill for raising a Hundred Thousand Pounds upon the Roman-Catholicks has been form'd; and a general Charge of this Kind may be a sufficient Ground-work for a Preamble to the Bill; but the enacting Part ought to be supported with particular Facts plainly prov'd, otherwise we may involve innocent Persons in a Punishment only due to the Guilty. And though the Legislature hath sometimes gone upon the Notoriety of the Fact, it is to be hop'd, that this Method may be but seldom taken where the Life or Fortune of any Subject is in Question ”

“ For though in the Case of High-Treason, the Blood being attainted, a Son does not attain the Honours which would have descended to him, if his Father had not been guilty of Treason; yet in that Case a Man does only forfeit a Fee-simple Estate, and the Income of an Estate vested in him during his natural Life: But the highest Crimes and Misdemeanors can't avoid a Settlement, to the Prejudice of an innocent Person. ”

“ I will now mention the Objections, which occur to Me against the passing of this Bill.
In Answer to the general Surmise of the Roman-Catholicks Disaffection to the Government; I can't help observing, That this general Charge neither can nor ought to affect any particular Person, without Proof of some particular Fact alledg'd against him: And it would be the highest Injustice to make one Man suffer for the Crime of another. The Law supposing it incumbent upon every Man to be accountable for his own Actions, doth not require what is not in any Man's Power, to be answerable for another ”

“ How unjust then would it be, if the Suspicion of this great Man's being engag'd in traiterous Practices, at the Hazard of his Life and Fortune, should give Occasion to the inflicting the severest Penalties upon many innocent Families, who neither wish nor can hope to better their Fortune by any Revolution of Affairs. ”

“ One Hundred and Seventy Nine Conformists, viz. those of the Establish'd Church, to one Papist; besides Presbyterians, Quakers, Independents, and all other Protestant Dissenters.
If the Roman-Catholicks were, at the beginning of the Revolution, but a handful of People; if all the Encouragement given to them by King James could not enable them to maintain a King of their own Religion upon the Throne, what have we now to apprehend from them? ”

“ Men of that Persuasion were put into Places of Profit and Trust; the Army was fill'd with Roman-Catholicks, and it was generally thought that the Nation was ripe to take upon them the Drudgery of the Roman Yoke. ”