I hope that I may be forgiven for taking up the time of the House at this late hour in speaking as a member of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, but it may be of assistance to hon. Members if I give a brief explanation of the history of that Church.

The Episcopal Church in Scotland is a native Scottish Church and has had a continuous existence since the Reformation. At one time it was the Established Church, but it ceased to have that status principally because of its affection for the House of Stuart. When the Stuart dynasty ceased to occupy the throne and William of Orange became King, the Scottish Episcopal Church could no longer take the Oath of Allegiance to the reigning sovereign. From the seventeenth cen tury, not the eighteenth century, as was said by my hon. Friend, the Church has suffered a whole series of disabilities which this legislation will, in some measure, help to remove.

For many years the Church suffered the most dreadful persecution. Penalties of all sorts were imposed on its priests and bishops. It was not until the eighteenth century and after the death of the Young Pretender that these disabilities were, in part, removed. Some still remain, and it is because it is an attempt to remove some of those remaining disabilities that I welcome this Bill.

The Episcopal Church in Scotland is an integral part of the world-wide Anglican Communion, but it has suffered disabilities not suffered by other provinces in America, Africa and elsewhere. In those provinces priests of the Church can officiate in the churches of the Church of England without the consent of the bishop to a greater degree than is permitted to priests of the Scottish Province. That seems quite unfair and uncalled for in these days of increasing friendship between integral parts of the same Church, and indeed between different Churches. For that reason this legislation is to be welcomed.

I ask my hon. Friend to consider whether the Church of England could not encourage an even greater measure of relief for the Episcopal Church than is envisaged in this legislation. There are other disabilities contained in other legislation which ought to be removed. One is represented by an extraordinary power possessed by a bishop of the Church of England who is entitled, without assigning any reason whatever, to refuse to allow a priest of the Scottish Church to accept an incumbency in the Church of England. I suggest that some further provision of the sort might be introduced. With these and other reservations which are more suitable for discussion during the Committee stage, I wish to support the Bill.