tion patible with the surrender of criminals. All nations have a common interest in the punish- Extradiment of heinous crimes; and upon this treaties. principle, England entered into extradition treaties with France, and the United States of America, for mutually delivering up to justice persons charged with murder, piracy, arson, or forgery, committed within the jurisdiction of either of the contracting states. England offers no asylum to such criminals; and her own jurisdiction has been vastly extended over offenders escaping from justice. It is a wise policy, conducive to the comity of civilised nations. Treaty with France, 1843, confirmed by 6 & 7 Vict. c. 75; treaty with United States, 1842, confirmed by 6 & 7 Vict. c. 76. Provisions to the same effect had been comprised in the treaty of Amiens; and also in a treaty with the United States in 1794.Phillimore, Int. Law, i. 427; Hans. Deb., 3rd Ser., lxx. 1325; lxxi. 564. In 1862, after the period of this history, the like arrangement was made with Denmark; 25 & 26 Vict. c. 70. In 1864, a similar treaty was entered into with Prussia, but not confirmed by Parliament; Hans. Deb., 25th and 27th July. See also 'The Extradition Act,' 1870.' CHAPTER XII. RELATIONS OF THE CHURCH TO POLITICAL HISTORY-LEADING INCIDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND:—EXACTION OF CONFORMITY WITH THE STATE CHURCH --SKETCH OF THE PENAL CODE AGAINST ROMAN CATHOLICS AND NONCONFORMISTS:-STATE OF THE CHURCH AND OTHER RELIGIOUS BODIES ON THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. :— GENERAL RELAXATION OF THE PENAL CODE:-HISTORY OF CATHOLIC CLAIMS PRIOR TO THE REGENCY. Relations of the church to political history. In the sixteenth century, the history of the church is the history of England. In the seventeenth century, the relations of the church to the state and society, contributed, with political causes, to convulse the kingdom with civil wars and revolutions. And in later and more settled times, they formed no inconsiderable part of the political annals of the country. The struggles, the controversies, the polity, and the laws of one age, are the inheritance of another. Henry VIII. and Elizabeth bequeathed to their successors ecclesiastical strifes which have disturbed every subsequent reign; and, after three centuries, the results of the Reformation have not yet been fully developed. A brief review of the leading incidents and consequences of that momentous event will serve to elucidate the later history of the church and other religious bodies, in their relations The church before the Reformation. to the state. For centuries, the Catholic church had been at once the church of the state, and the church of the people. All the subjects of the crown acknowledged her authority, accepted her doctrines, participated in her offices, and worshipped at her consecrated shrines. In her relations to the state she approached the ideal of Hooker, wherein the church and the commonwealth were identified: no one being a member of the one, who was not also a member of the other. But under the shadow of this majestic unity grew ignorance, errors, superstition, imperious authority and pretensions, excessive wealth, and scandalous corruption. Freedom of thought was proscribed. To doubt the infallible judgment of the church was heresy,-a mortal sin, for which the atonement was recantation or death. From the time of Wickliffe to the Reformation, heresies and schisms were rife: 2 the authority of the church and the influence of her clergy were gradually impaired ; and at length, she was overpowered by the ecclesiastical revolution of Henry VIII. With her supremacy, perished the semblance of religious union in England. The Re So vast a change as the Reformation, in the religious faith and habitudes of a people, could not have been effected, at any time, without formation, wide and permanent dissensions. When men were first invited to think, it was not probable that they Book viii., [2] Keble's Ed. iii. 411. Bishop Gardiner had already expressed the same theory: the realm and the church consist of the same persons; and as the king is the head of the realm, he must, therefore, be head of the church.'—Gilpin, ii, 29.—See also Gladstone's State and Church, 4th Ed., i. 9-31. 2 Warner, i. 527; Kennet's Hist., i. 265; Collier's Eccl. Hist., i.. 579; Echard's Hist., 159; Burnet's Hist. of the Reformation, i. 27. should think alike. But the time and circumstances of the Reformation were such as to aggravate theological schisms, and to embitter the contentions of religious parties. It was an age in which power was wielded with a rough hand; and the reform of the church was accompanied with plunder and persecution. The confiscation of church property envenomed the religious antipathies of the Catholic clergy: the cruel and capricious rigour with which every communion was, in turn, oppressed, estranged and divided the laity. The changes of faith and policy, -sometimes progressive, sometimes reactionary,which marked the long and painful throes of the Reformation, from its inception under Henry VIII. to its final consummation under Elizabeth, left no party without its wrongs and sufferings. Toleration unknown. Toleration and liberty of conscience were unknown. Catholics and Protestants alike recognised the duty of the state to uphold truth and repress error. In this conviction, reforming prelates concurred with popes and Roman divines. The Reformed church, owing her very life to the right of private judgment, assumed the same authority, in matters of doctrine, as the church of Rome, which pretended to infallibility. Not to accept the doctrines or ceremonies of the state church, for the time being, was a crime; and conformity with the new faith as with the old, was enforced by the dungeon, the scaffold, the gibbet, and the torch.1 A prince being God's deputy, ought to punish impieties against God,' said Archbishop Cranmer to Edward VI.—Burnet's Hist., i. 111. Civil dis The Reformed church being at length established under Elizabeth, the policy of her reign Policy of demands especial notice. Finding her fair Elizabeth. realm distracted by the religious convulsions of the last three reigns, she insisted upon absolute unity. She exacted a strait conformity of doctrine and observance, denied liberty of conscience to all her subjects, and attached civil disabilities to dissent from the state church. By the abilities. first act of her reign,' the oath of supremacy was required to be taken as a qualification for every ecclesiastical benefice, or civil office under the crown. The act of uniformity enforced, with severe penalties, conformity with the ritual of the established church, and attendance upon its services. A few years later, the oath of supremacy was, for the first time, required to be taken by every member of the House of Commons.3 tholic faith with The Catholics were not only hostile to the state church, but disaffected to the queen her- The Caself. They contested her right to the associated crown; and despairing of the restoration treason. of the ancient faith, or even of toleration, during her life, they plotted against her throne. Hence the Catholic religion was associated with treason; and the measures adopted for its repression were designed as well for the safety of the state, as for the discouragement of an obnoxious faith.4 To punish popish recusants, penalties for non 2 2 Eliz. c. 2. 1 1 Eliz. c. 1. * 5 Eliz. c. 1. 13 Eliz. c. 2; Burnet's Hist., ii. 354; Short's Hist. of the Church, 273. |