Presbyterian "Disloyalty"

[Reformed Covenanter]

We have reports from England that there have been consultations about the repeal of the Acts against occasional conformity and schism. For my part I would have wished that neither of those Acts had ever passed, but to repeal them now will only serve to confirm the multitude who are in the Tory interest in the belief of all that has been told them of the ministry being enemies to the Church. Besides, I find nothing less will satisfy the Dissenters than the taking off the Sacramental Test. In one of the pamphlets written for this purpose it is affirmed that among the Protestants in this kingdom the Dissenters are the greatest number, which is a great untruth, as my lord chancellor informs me…and I remember at the array upon the Pretender’s being in Scotland there were but 41 Dissenters found fit to have offices in the militia throughout the kingdom. It was said indeed the Dissenters in the north of Ireland would not serve but under Dissenting officers. A mark of their great loyalty.

Bishop Timothy Godwin of Kilmore to Archbishop William Wake of Canterbury, 13 April, 1717

This extract is a correspondence between the Bishop of Kilmore (in Ireland) and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was written at a time when there were debates in the English parliament about the extent to which toleration should be extended to Dissenters and of the repeal of certain Acts against occasional conformity and schism.

Godwin himself was a Whig in terms of his politics, and wished that these Acts had never been passed. However, he feared that if they were repealed, then that would lead the Tories to believe that Whigs were acting against the interest of the Established Church. He points out that such repeal is useless because Dissenters will be satisfied with nothing less than the removal of the Sacramental Test which barred them from certain civil and military offices. Yet Godwin seems to be badly misinformed concerning the strength of the Dissenters in Ireland, dismissing the idea that they made up the majority of the Protestants in Ireland – when, in actual fact, they were the majority. What is even more strange, is that Godwin was told this by his Lord Chancellor. He also argues that to repeal the Test would be superfluous as during the Jacobite uprising in favour of the Pretender, there were only a handful of Dissenters (forty one) who were qualified to be officers in the militia. This highlights the low social status of Dissenters in relation to Anglicans.

Moreover, he complains that ‘the Dissenters in the north of Ireland would not serve but under Dissenting officers.’ This show us that Presbyterians were unwilling to serve unless they had Presbyterian officers, which of course was impossible as Presbyterians could not be officers in the militia due to the Sacramental Test. Godin sarcastically comments that this is ‘a great mark of their loyalty’, which show us that Anglicans believed that Presbyterian loyalty to the state was conditional upon favourable religious grounds.