"
Pitt's comment on this article was so brief as to show that he regarded
its justice as well as its importance too obvious to need any elaborate
justification. He pointed out that that portion of it which related to
Convocation had been added by the Irish Parliament, and "would only say
on so interesting a subject that the prosperity of the Irish Church
could never be permanent, unless it were a part of the Union, to leave
as a guard a power to the United Parliament to make some provision in
this respect as a fence beyond any act of their own that could at
present be agreed on." But, while he thus showed his conviction that the
permanent prosperity of the Irish Church was essential to the welfare of
the kingdom, he was by no means insensible to the claims of the Roman
Catholic Church (as founded not more in policy than in justice) to be
placed in some degree on a footing of equality with it; not only by a
recognition of the dignity of its ministers, but also by an endowment
which should be proportioned to their requirements, and should place
them in a position of worldly competence and comfort for which hitherto
they had been dependent on their flocks.[145] To use the expression of a
modern statesman, he contemplated "levelling up," not "levelling down."
Perhaps it may be said that he contemplated levelling up, as the surest
and most permanent obstacle to any proposal of levelling down.
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