Note 652 — Chapter XXIV
Reading edition
State Papers, 1674, Jan. 20. Connected with this communication are papers containing drafts of advice for suppressing Popery. The Bishops of Canterbury, Durham, Winchester, Salisbury, Peterborough, Rochester, Chichester, and Chester, reply "that they observe with sorrow the growth of profaneness, Romanism, and Dissent;" "that they do not think any new laws are necessary for the purpose, but only the removal of such obstructions as have hitherto hindered the execution of them." What those obstructions were, the authors of this conclusion do not specify. There is another paper in the same bundle, recommending the Attorney-General to bestir himself in the matter, and that letters should be written to the Justices of the Peace; that there be a new general proclamation; that constables and churchwardens should be enjoined to search for suspected persons; and that the orders against priests, Popish seminaries, and resort of Papists to Court, should be fixed at the Court Gate, St. James's, and Somerset House.