ABSTRACT
British civilization, it was frequently claimed, was a distinctive manifestation of the Christian civilization of Europe. The exciting prospect that 'Christendom' might be restored engaged both intellectuals and clergymen. It was understandable, in the prevailing dire circumstances, that somewhat exaggerated claims for Christian Britain should have been made. The interpenetration of late-eighteenth-century Church and state can scarcely be disputed. In the absence of the Convocations, suspended in 1717, Parliament in effect governed the Church of England. 'King, Church and Country' stood together against the insidious influences of the French Revolution. The crisis of the Church of England's cultural identity had an additional complexity in Wales. The main bodies of English/Welsh Dissent - Baptists, Independents, and Quakers - had made little impact in Scotland. In the late eighteenth century, Catholic Dissent had remained under greater disability than Protestant Dissent. This position reflected the continuing sense that Britain's national destiny had to be conceived in a Protestant/Evangelical framework.
