It was not thought safe to begin by granting to the whole Roman Catholic body a dispensation from all statutes imposing penalties and tests.

For nothing was more fully established than that such a dispensation was illegal.

The Cabal had, in 1672, put forth a general Declaration of Indulgence.

The Commons, as soon as they met, had protested against it.

Charles the Second had ordered it to be cancelled in his presence, and had, both by his own mouth and by a written message, assured the Houses that the step which had caused so much complaint should never be drawn into precedent.