Maxims and Opinions of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, Selected From His Writings and Speeches During a Public Life of More Than Half a CenturyWellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
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Maxims and Opinions of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, Selected From His Writings and Speeches During a Public Life of More Than Half a Century
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 19th century; Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852
It appears to me that there is no difference of opinion amongst us on
these points--namely, that means must be found of preaching the word of
God to the people of England; and I go further--for this point is also
not disputed--and I say that those means must proceed, in the first
instance, from the church, and that they must be exhausted before the
public is called on for other means; in providing those means, you will
not only be performing a duty incumbent upon you, but you will also be
following the example of every other nation in the world. It has been
my lot to live among idolaters--among persons of all creeds, and of all
religions; but I never knew yet of a single instance in which public
means were not provided sufficient to teach the people the religion of
their country. They might be false religions; I know but of one true
one; but yet means were never wanting to teach those false religions;
and I hope that we shall not have done with this subject until we have
found sufficient means for teaching the people of England their duty to
their Maker, and their duty to one another, founded on their duty to
that Maker.
_July 30, 1840._
* * * * *
_Necessity of administering Oaths._
I entreat your lordships to pause, and recollect that the foundation of
all justice is truth; and that the mode of discovering truth has always
been to administer an oath, in order that the witness may give his
deposition under a high sanction. I hope your lordships will not adopt
another of those bills which have been before your lordships only a few
days, and which suggest, in truth, nothing more than a way of enabling a
witness, who thinks proper to say he has conscientious scruples, to
escape the solemnity of an oath. I admit that the inconvenience of the
present state of the law falls on the community rather than on the
individuals; but, at the same time, I think that, by every one of those
relaxations, we shake the foundations of justice.
_August 4, 1840._
_Church-rate Martyrs--true state of the Case._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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