Already the Lord President, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Chamberlain, the Groom of the Stole, the First Lord of the Treasury, a Secretary of State, the Lord High Commissioner of Scotland, the Chancellor of Scotland, the Secretary of Scotland, were, or pretended to be, Roman Catholics.

Most of these functionaries had been bred Churchmen, and had been guilty of apostasy, open or secret, in order to obtain or to keep their high places.

Every Protestant who still held an important post in the government held it in constant uncertainty and fear.

It would be endless to recount the situations of a lower rank which were filled by the favoured class.

Roman Catholics already swarmed in every department of the public service.