The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1824-05-17 00:00:00

FOREIGN INTELLIOENCE. FRENCH PAPERS. MADRID, MAT b. A general amnesty bas been pnbliabedbere. The principal cheep. dons are, I. The chiefs of the insurrection of the tide of Leon. !. The members of the Cones who proclaimed the deposition of the King at Seville. 3. The chiefs of the military insurrections in the ditlireet parts o f Spain, at Madrid, and other cities. 4. The assassins of Venom, the Judges of Elio, and the au_' then of the massacres in the prisons of Grenada. The amnesty concludes with an address from the King to the Spaniards, exhorting them to sacrifice their resentments for personal injuries to the union and peace of the kingdom. It is dated Aranjues, May 1. 1824. [From the Etude of Friday.' Pasts, MAY 11. '.l great plot has been discovertd at St. Domingo. The Spanish part meditated a declaration of independence. President Boytr has shot four of the heads of the conspiracy, but the exasperation has only become more violent among the colonists. Ai It) the French part, Boyer turns all his attention to the (yin • tattoo of the land. Ile causes all persons in the towns, who have no means of subsistence or occupation, to be seized, and sent to la ouur in the sugar and coffee plantations. STOCK Excttar)E, I'AR IS, MAT 13.—The G per Cents. opened at 1041. stk.. tOr Money, and closed at the dune price ; for the Account, 104 f. Mc. closed at the same price ; Bank Stock, 1995 f. ; Neapolitan, !t 6 ; Spanish, 17 3 ; Exchange, one month, 2.5 f. 20c.; three months, itif. Sc.—('ours Anther:ague. I From Gitligxerars Afearrager.) In the sitting of the Chamber of Peers, on the I I th, the fhtler of the Day was a scrutiny of the law, relative to the amelioraion and divers modifications of the Penal Code, which article's were de liberated upon in the sitting of yesterday. The project was adopted by a majority of 152 out of 156 voices. The division of the army of observation commences its entrance into Spain en the 6th of May. The Ist battalion of the Ist regi ment of the line arrived on the 4th at Bayonne ; the 2d battalion on the sth ; the 11th regiment on the 6th, and len on the Bth ; the 12th regiment arriveil on the Bth, and left on the 10th ; the 29th regiment arrived oil the 10th, and left on the 12th. These three re giments are destined for Saragosa. Ts o detachments of foot ar tillery, of :4 sub.affiura and privates, It ft on the 4th instant for Spain, 94 for St. Sebastian, and 30 fat Victoria. 'Viscount Mgt= has arrived here from Paris. but departs im mediately fur Madrid as Commander-in-Chief of the army of occu pation in Spain. A detachment of the 7th regiment of foot artillery left on the Gth to join the division of the Haute Ebro n or m a l,. The two lonlships of I woniet and IVrokanka, in Austria, which are to be disposed by superior authority, in lo s, are advertised in the Jua rnul de ( . 111Ilaterre of today. The former, situated in I.:alb eit., is valued at 1912.071 florins, the latter at 173,838. The drawing of this lottery is to take place on the 10th of June next at Vienne. Each number twenty francs. AUGSBU•G, MAY 7. IPRIVATE LETTERS.' M. de Zeallemimixt, 31iniater Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary front the King of Spain to the Emperor of Kasai.", has arrived at St. Petershurgh.. M. de la Perrerays, the trench Ambassador, was preparing, at the departure of the last courier, for his departure from that city for Paris, where it is said he will pass the summer. A Thesinister of State, Count Nesselnxte, has received letters from M. Minziacky, respecting the commercial relations be tween the two countries. It appears that the Turkish Minis. ten finding that the English and Austrian Ambassadors re. new daily their demands, have made a promise that the mer. chant vessels of Russia which enter the Turkish ports shall meet with sec y and protection: and that Russian vessels passing the Bosphorus need use no other Hag than that of Russia : hitherto they were obliged to use French or English colours, to prevent vexations from the Turks. A letter received from Belgrade ob. serves, as positive, that the Ottoman troops who were to follow the Pacha of Widiten into Thessaly, have received orders by despatch, from Constantinople, to take a concentrated position on the right Lank of the Danubc.—Joi ru. tit Paris. - 31.111:11lID, MAY 4. The Madrid Gazette of the 29th ult. contains some of the ar ticles of a convention entered into between the Governments of France and Spain, relative to the tmops of France who remain on the other side the Pyrenees. Article 11 declares that the equip tont' and clothing, provisions, and other objects necessary for the service of the French troops, may enter and circulate through Spain free from all duties. The 13th article enacts, that all military persons, or individuals tztached to the army, who are joining the corps, and those who leave Spain. are free front the visits of the custom officers, for all erects for their personal use. This arrange ment will open a free trade fur France, to the exclusion of England. Letters from Valencia state that daily arreetations take place in th at c ity, where thee wait the arrival of a brigade of French troops, composed of the 15th and 22d regiments of infantry of the line, who have left Madrid for that purpose. It is hoped their arrival will calm the agitation and disorders which reign in that country. At Victoria eighteen individuals have been arrested, merely on the pretence of their having constitutional principles, and been sent to a place a league and a half front that town. CIIA3IIIEII OF IM:PIITIES, M a y 11. The order of the day was the continuing the deliberations on the registering and stamp laws ; among the latter it was proposed as an amendment by the commission, Lid adopted, That the tine fixed by the 2fith article of the law 0z43c1 Nov. 1798, at 39 francs, in re gard to bills and promissory notes, under 6410 franca, written on un. stamped paper, should be taxed in future at one twentieth of the atuotmt of the bill or note given, but in no case to be leas than franca. NV hen any bill or promissory note is given on a stamp of less value than the sum of the obligation requires, the fine shall be levied on the sum exceeding that which ought to be expressed on the stamp employed. After this discussion was over, it was proposed to takeinto consideration the proroguing of the monopoly of tobacco. From the Courtier Ft anais.l The departure ot the Court for st. Cloud, it is said, it adjmmcd until the middle of June.—Jumnial de Paris. A new comedy in pro►e appeared yertenlay nt the Odeon, en ti tled Orriku, which name in all the rage; there are half a dozen pieces of the same name. Thin pioce had but en ephemeral tnist met it rose from its cradle only to descend to its tomb. Ourika was sacrificed without retnor,e, bring condemned baore she was even beard. • A letter of the 19th March, observes that the military Governor of Maragnon, tearing the establishment of' a republic, arrested the Members of the Government, but the Brazilian troops hat in; re fused to obey his order, he was in his tarn arrested, and thrown into prison, and afterwards sent to Rio Janeiro. On the Bth inst. the annual procession in commtrnoration of the delivery of Orleans by La Pucelle (Jeanne d'.lrc) wok place in that city; the National Guard, the troops of the garrison, and gend'artnerie, were all under arms. The charnel-house, near the Place de Greve, has for some time past been crowded with bodits fitunel in the Seine. A literary Journal announces that the wife of a Boyar(' volaoue, at Bucharest, was lately brought to bed of two male children united by the spine, but otherways iterfirtly firmed; that the Boyird, having tar his friends, a Turkish and a Greek Failwr (or pope), to avoid quarrel with these priests of diffirent he has had one of the children circumcised according to Turkish rites, and the other baptised, after the ceremony of the Welk Church.—Se non a ecru e ben trirvaiul RomE, APRIL 22. A 'Feat part of the legacies of Napoleon are still unknown to the public, yet some have been known recently from the particular circumstances, that all the family he. lately received the portions which the chief of their family has left. To bin mother, for whom he had always the greatest respect, he left the night lamp which he made use of till his death ; and Prince Jerome has received the sword of Francis the First of France. BA RC EL ODi A, h 1;;. 1. The excesses committed in diflerent parts of this province be.. come daily more alarming lately the Itegidors visited the small village of floapitalet, a short distance from the city, to demand the arrears of the contributions agreeably to the King's orders ; they were, however attacked by a number 0f persons who call themselves vigilowl, and who have served under the Baron 'D'Ero les. who illtreated the Regidors, and at night having provided themselves with sons, they nuked in considerable numbers, and declared their resolution of resistance to the last extremity. The Assessor having appeared the following morning, he seized a number of the mutineen, and the others took to, flight. In the village of San Vicent de Iloilo, a batallion, into which had been introduced a number of serjeants, who had served in the revolutionary army, the battalion refused to obey the orders of one of them, and calling hint Negro, he com; , lained to the Commandant, who ordered them to be all arrested; but as soon as this was known to the other soldiers, they proceeded in a mutinous manner, and liberated doh comrades from the prison. In several districts the same spirit of insubordination is observed, because the people will not sutra the prisoners who have been sent home, to return amongst them, some of those unfortunate people have been murdered. I'he news fi l m Valencia is not more satisfactury.—l'ilote. A letter from Paris states, that Sir Charles Stuart, our Ambassador in that capital, has received instructions from home to facilitate the return to England of the Eng lish workmen now in France. In consequence of these instructions, Sir C. Stuart has issued the following notice, which is expected to have all the effect desired :—" Notice is hereby given, that all the British workmen employed in France, will, upon application to his Britannic Majesty's Embassy, receive every facility to return to England." There can be no doubt that this very proper notice has been issued on account of die evidence taken before the Artisans' Committee of the House of Commons, by which it appeared that by a collusion between the Masters and Police, ninny English workmen in France, who wished to return to their native country, were prevented from doing so by difficulties thrown in the way of their getting passports. The Fourth Livraison of Napoleon's Historical Memoirs may be expected in a few days. This new Volume, we understand, concludes this important Work, which em braces the Political Ilistory, not only of Europe, during the period, but of the world ; for there was scarcely any part of it that was not, in some degree, influenced or af fected by his conduct. Madame Pasta is to sing at Mr. Vaughan 's concert. PROTESTANT SOCIETY FOR TIIE PROTEC TION OF RE LIGIOI'S LIBERTY. On Saturday, the Thirteenth Anniversary Meeting of the Pro testant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty was held at the City of London Tavern. Th e great room was filled at an early hour by a very respectable assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, notwithstanding a heavy fall of rain during the whole of the morning. At eleven o'clock Lord Holland took the chair, by invitation of the Committee. His Lordship was received with very warm and general applause. The Criarit MAN OGWXllataited the aleeting on the ameniblage which he maw before him, and requested their attention while the Annual Report of the Committee was read. In consequence of the absence of Thomas Pelham Esq. the Ho norary Secretary, who was unavoidably detained by some prefes sional engagements, The Rev. Joint iiIIKT. of Chelineford, stood forward to read the Annual Report of the proceedings of the Committee. Ile said it would necessarily occupy a short time, during which, probably, their respected friend, Mr. John Wilts, would arrive, to deliver his annual address. (Applause.) The Reverend Gendeman then read the Report, which minutely detailed the assistance given by the Committee in a great number of instances, in different parts of England and Wales, in which the exercise of public worship by Dissenter, had been interfered with and obstructed. The principal cases were afterwards selected for animadversion at the address of Mr. Wilts, who entered the room while the re port was reading. As soon as it was concluded, Mr. WU KS rose. His presence was hailed with reiterated acclainarions from every part of the room. De said lie was sure that it was impossible he ;Mould not he ever ready to give his best services to a meeting which received him with such kindness, and such an excess of unmerited applause. On that and on all other annual occasions on which it was his duty to adds: them, it ap peared to him that he resembled a man, who after some years of absence, again descended into the amphitheatre, where, in the days of his youth, he had received from assembled ((recce or the Roman citizens, those wreaths which animated hint to the efforts he was then making, and which were more than a reward for any toils or perils he might incur. or he seemed to resemble a man, who hav ing successfully led his countrymen to battle, trod again over the triumphant field where so much honour had been won. (Applause.) He did not like that similitude so well, however, because to him it appeared that the greatest conqueror would. ere he left the field, lose the pleasure be derived from the recollection of his victory, and every emotion of exultation would pass away when he remembered how many of those who, in the morning, had surrounded him, gallant, gay, and good—full of life, patriotic zeal, and noble ardour—the sun, ere he set, saw lying, not disho. 'loured and inglorious, but bleeding and in the dust; and when the softest zephyrs that blew would bring to his car some hollow moan ing sound from a wounded comrade or an expiring friend. It 'seemed to him as though the wreath round the warrior's brow would become instantly blighted, and the pain of memory would more than counterbalance the plaudits of a congregated world. (Applause.) It was with no feelings of that nature that he (Mr. W.) presented himself to the society that then surrounded him, I hut rather as one who returned to his native village, which he ' found as in the days of his innocence and youth, blooming wit:, fair and beautiful flowers, where he saw the trees which had been planted in his infancy, and which had " grown with his growth," now spreading forth their luxurious foliage, and where he was glad I to behold those old and venerable oaks untouched by the winter of • age, still verdant and unfading, beneath whose umbrageous shelter his childhood had reclined, and his manly limbs delighted ever to repose. (Applause.) Ile would not occupy the time of the Society by any farther description of his own feelings, as the health of the Noble Chairman suffered much from heated atmospheres and crowded assemblies, and: the Committee had pledved themselves, on his condescending again to preside, to endeavour as much as possible to actekrate the business of the day, lest that health, which was dear not only to the Noble Lord's family and country, hut to every friend of freedom throughout the world, should suffer from the interest he manifested in their proceedings, and the kind. ness he had again displayed. (Applause.) As on former occasions, he (Mr. W.) would, in the first place, direct their attention to those circumstances which were not completed at the last anniversary. Amongst these was a case submitted to the Society front some respectable persons at Anglesey, in North Wales. which had made a consitlerable impression, especially upon the female part of the auditory. It was that of a person who was determined that his wife, who had profited touch by associating with a congregation of Calvinistic Methodists in that island, should no longer frequent the meetings, and who in order to prevent her from attending, had committed an outrage from which humanity recoiled, and which religion ilium disapprove. lie had entered the meeting, seized his wife, and with a handkerchief round her mouth, by which she was nearly strangled, dragged her from the house of peace and prayer ; and sorry he (Mr. n .) was to say, that such was the state of Eng. fish law, that it seemed at first a: it' no punishment emit. be in flicted for the assault on the woman. It was, however, at least due to social order that such a violation of public worship should not he suffered to pass unnoticed. A prosecution was instituted, and t h e offender was found guilty, but something induced the Ma gistrates to suspend passing sentence upon him for that of which a Jury of his country had convicted him. The excuse was, that the Registrar of the Bishop had not entered in some book or roll the eer.ilirate of registration delivered to hint by the congregation, in compliance with the provisions of the law. All that was re quired by the Toleration Act, or the subsequent amend ascot, was, that the congregation should notify their intim don of assembling for public worship to the ('lark of the Peace, or to the proper ecclesiastical officer of the Bialiopric or Archdta many in which the place was situated. This congregation had com plied with all that the Art of Parliament required. If the entry Lad been neglected, were their rights to he inimigtval, because an act which they could not ascertain had rot been done by a person whom they could neither punish nor control ? This, however, appeared to the Chaimian of the Quarter Sessions a sufficient groend to suspend the operation of the law against the offender. fhe Chairman had also given it as his opinion, With what Kellen ! try he (Mr. W.t would leave it to the meeting to judge, that tie r cording to the English law s man had an tinquestionable right to ex ercise this duress over his wife, and that if she presumed to worship God in any other edifice or form than that which he approved, he I might clearly, accord ing to the civil law, with whips and clubs, inflict such punishment on her as the offence required. (hear.) Under • these circumstances. a Solicitor of Wales had applied to the (Om ! mince for assistance, and they had obtained the opinion of a geode • man whose high legal knowledge, and whose recent elevation to the judicial bench taught them to expect that he wouhl not now contradict the opinions which in his inferior, though still eminent situation, he had thought proper to give. Mr. Littledalc, whose opinion he ' was about to quote, said, that it was impossible that a man could be allowed to exercise such an authority over his wife, and that he was punishable by law for his harsh and unmanly conduct, equally inconsistent with the feelings that common hu manity and conjugal affection should inspire. (Applause.; Mr. Littledale added, that there was also unquestionably a violation of public worship, and therefore that the Magistrates could not I refuse to ram sentence. This opinion was communicated to the Chairman of the island. lie hesitated no more, and the man who had so grossly offended against the interests of religion and humanity, suffered the punishment that the law prescribed. lie (Mr. Wilks) regretted that such opinions as those of the Chair ! man of the Anglesea Sessions should have been pronounced in this coontry, and especially among the ardent and benevolent descendants of the remainder of its ancient population. Ile was delighted with the contrary opinion given by a judge of South I Carolina. The opinions of the English commentators. which were : of authority in the American Courts, and the doctrines of the civil law were gravely developed to him, but they were not satis factory to his judgment. The law of America, said he, shall now be made known to the world, and perhaps I cannot better r state it than in the words of a poet and a dramatist (Mr. Tobin) who was the ornament of England :—" The man who lays his hand upon a woman, except in affection, is a brute, whom it were gross flattery to call a coward." (Continued applause.) In the ancient city of Canterbury, there had occurred a case than which few were better deserving of attention. The persons there, it was true. were not contributor, to the Society, and they belonged to one of those very numerous sects which were springing up, per- I haps, too rapidly. But they were poor, destitute, and neglected. They were numerous, but wealth had not followed their numbers. ; They had asked for protection, and in pmportion to the sternness I and might of the oppressor should be manifested energy to resist , him, and that promptitude of zeal which he knew the Society I gloried to display. (Applause.) It appeared on investigating the I case, that there had been a poem-saran of riots by which the peace of e the city had been disturbed, and the lives of its inoffensive in habitants exposed to danger, and that these proceedings had been patronised by those who should with g e ntl e n ess , if no t aut h or i ty , I I have emilbsed the rising tumults. If mime strong and decisive measures had not been taken, the congregation must have been r discontinued A prosecution was commenced, but here the magistrates not only required, as at Anglesea, that the place should r have been registered by the officer to whom the notice was sent, but r that a duplicate of the notice should , have been transmitted by him f to the clerk of the peace. The object of this provision of the Toleration Act was to enable both the religious and civil authorities to exercise that wholesome jurisdiction of which no reasonable friend to religious liberty could complain, but it was at the same time manifest that over these officers the Dissenters had no power, and it was not possible fur them even to know , whether the communication was actually made. A great and obvious difficulty was thus raised, for as the law required only an annual communication, no dissenting congregation could safely commence worship in the interval, till the whole cycle of the year had rolled away. It appeared, however, that the registrar hail curately returned, as he tl ght, all the papers deposited with • him, but the city of Canterbury being a county of itself, the , notice transmitted to the (leek of the Peace had not complied with the provisions of the Act; and therefore it was held by the Ma , gistrates, that the tumults by which the congregation had been interrupted, and their lives hazarded, were not illegal, because the t place was not duly registered. An appeal to a higher tribunal then became necessary, and the case was tried, not before the , Mayor and Corporation of Canterbury, but before the Judges of I Assize; and lucre he (Mr. W.) could not refrain front paying his tribute of respect to the Judges of the land, for the impartiality ' l they had always manifested. The cam came on before Mr. Baton Graham, who was a gentleman as well as a judge, and when it ; was contended that the place mast not only have been registered, but that the duplicate must have been transmitted, he stopped the Counsel, and told hint that his proposition was in ' 'all the law required of Dissenters was, that they should give notice of their places of meeting, arid that having so done they bad flit filled their duty, and became fully entitled to the protection of the law. (Applause.) Another objection was then taken, namely, that females officiated. This sect bore the denomination of Mud. Irian Bible Christians, and it was their custom, as among the Quakers, to have female instructors. It appeared, also. that some observations, not of a very courteous nature, had been made by one of the preachers, who had reminded the Magistrates that there was a higher tribunal than their own , where sentence would be passed upon thou. l'hese obserrationn, and the female exhibition, Were urged as a sufficient justification for any outrage that might be committed upon them ; but the Learned Judge again inter rupted the Counsel, sod said that he would not allow such a wretched apology to be introduced in any Cmirt of Juntice over which he presided. If these people had violated the law they were amenable to the law, but they were still entitled to the protection of the law. Thus was a great and !nod satisfactory result ob. tained, and thus had points of great importance, and to the 1/is. scoters of considerable danger, happily and for ever passed away. It he (31r. W.) seemed to enter too much into detail, he begged however to remind the meeting, that he was not come there to play the orator or to excite their sympathy by the arts of rhetoric. Ilia object was not to raise the smile of derision on the cheek, or make the tear of sensibility flow front the eye. Ilk address was rather a lecoire to the multitude to whom the Society's. proceedinga were re.: I ported, by which he wished to make intelligible what had been re latent to them. It was necessary, however, that he should compress his observations, and therefore he should proceed at once to the usual classification of the cases. First in order came those de mends which affected Protestant Disaenmrs, by touching what was dear to every mar—his purse. lie alluded to turnpike tolls, and he hoped this subject would not again require him to address the meeting. Most of them know what had been the state of the law. ; It had been held that :islisitenter might not pass nut of the parish in which he resided, even to the congregation to which hebelooged, without paying tolls, and those double tolls too, which it wan the policy of the law to impose on those who travelled on the Sabbath Day. This was a question of Nome importance. By these means 4W. or. 601 a year were taken out of the pockets of I hasenten, who might otherwise have devoted it to the comfart of their fainilim, or to aid those works of wisdom and benevolence which blessed our own country and improved the world. (Applause.) The law had since been corrected, and if the words of the General Turnpike Act were attended to, all difficulties as to this question would be home- diately overcome. fly this Act (Jul George IV. chap. 126, sec. 32) it was enacted, that no tolls should be denianded L. of or from any person or persons going to or returning from his, her, or their pro. I per parochial church or chapel, or of or from any person or persona going to or resuming from his, her, or their usual place of religious • worship. tolerated by law, on Sundays or on any day on which di- vine service is by authority ordered to be celebrated." It wan ne- , cessary, to exempt from toll, to prove that the person was going to his usual place of worship on the Sabbath or some national holiday, ' such as Good Friday, Christmos Day, or any other day ordered by authority to be devoted to religious worship. Many applications for advice and assistance had been received as to this subject from dii. • fioent parts of .England and Wales. In some instances the per-' sons were not going to their usual place of worship, and therefore were clearly not entitled to exemption. lit all the cases within the view of the law, the objections had been removed. The wooled taxes, particularly in parts of M'ales, occupied the at tention of this Society. Several of the ministers of the Calvinistic Society, imagined that they were entitled to a total exemption, and the Society removod many of the difficulties resulting from that topic. The Society received communications on that head Fan Llanfrothen, from 1/olgelly, and from Ilendresback-Clyeng; and the clergymen of these several places complain that they had to pay extra-duties tin horses principally employed in going round the cir cuits fur religious purposes. This was felt to be a very seriovs evil, and we requested those clergymen to apply to the Judges on cir cuit, who were ,of opinion that they were included in the etemp- dons, and these worthy clergymen were afterwards relieved from those pecuniary burthens to which they had before been subjected. Besides these assessed taxes, land tax was claimed fur the site of a church at Trenierclewn, in Wales, and of the Rev. J. G. Pike, at Derby. His (Mr. Wilks') opinion wan, that such a claim was I justifiable; but that it should not extend to the church itself, nor ' to any improvements which ought have been made in it. The land tax claimed at lierby was by no means an enornious claim, being only two shillings a year; but then there is a claim made) for window duty in a house inhabited by the minister, although ' that house was in immediate communication with the church There again this Society interfered, and the result of the interference was, the abandonment of those charges. The charge for church rates was also submitted to our consideration, particularly in the case of Inaidal chapel, York ; but on this subject the society had no right of complaint, inasmuch as they were nut subjected to the payment of any greater burden than churchmen, and no the Society not only advised 3lr. Patched, but would also have it generally understood by all the various congregations of the Dissenters. All classes of religionists were liable to church rates, to tithes, and Easter offerings; and though the payment of mortuary fees might be hard upon Dissenters, still professing themselves as they did to be Protestant Dissenters, claiming the avowal of manly principles, and determined to act on those principles which they approved and cherished—if for the full enjoyment of these principles--if for the full and unrestricted exercise of their peculiar worship, they suffer ed a little more than churchmen, they had no very peculiar right to complain. The Dissenters, like others, had to pay the church and poor rates, and many cases arising out of the latter had been brought before the attention of this Society ; but as these rates ope rated on all classes, and were legally imposed, every one must know the necessity of submitting to the n. The complaints upon this head particularly proceeded front suits in Cambridgeshire, from Ware, from Baldest*, front Castle Town, near N. wport, in Mon mouthshire, from Croydon, from 11'Iteelwel, in Kent, from Mid dlewitch, in Cheshire, and from Rotherham, in the mime county. A thousand illustrations would How to the mind of any man, to demonstrate to hint the necessity of paying a tax, where the result of that tax would be to afford the means of religious instruction ; every man admitted its imperative necessity, and let the Itbseenters suffer like others, in order to snare it foe all who had as yet not tasted of the heart-consoling sweets which it offered, of the mind inspiring elevation which it was its natural tendency to pro duce. The Dissenters asked for no exemptions; all they asked was, that they should not be compelled to endure greater burdens than their neighbours. Where a beneficial income arose frutn the Church let a Church-rate be paid. The law made it liable ; but, if no such beneficial income arose, if no profit resulted,—V the 31i- Mater, who piously attended to the spiritual wants and consolations of 350 persons received only about thirty pounds a year, as was the cam at Rotherham, then surely no nuan in his senses could say that a f2hurch, a minister, or a congregation so situated should be liable to theituposition of a Church-rate. If these edifices for pub lic worship throughout the country were like the proprietary cha pels in this. metropolis--if the country churches were got up and arranged like thestrec, as many of those in thin metropolis were; In them pay and let then pour their little rills into the great flood of general taxation. Strange, however, to say, these nietropulttan churches were not asked for the rate; and why ? Because they ' , had advice at law, because the ready means of ronistance to such a change was at once within their power, and thus no attempt was made to oppose it. The strong were protected by their strength, the weak were attacked in their weakness; but the outstretched anti of thin society did tiot fail to assist and rescue them in the day of their necessity. In the case of the worthy Minister at Rotherham, mere emolument was not obviously his object. Thirty pounds a year was too scanty a pittance to reward the active piety and exer tions of such an ornament to any religion as the Rev. 31r. Rubin son ; but lie had a recompense awaiting him more glorious than this world's glory, pride, or power, or wealth. He laboured for that recompense width he was sure to recent: at the resur rection of the just. It was generally in country towns that this demand of rate was mode—generally in 160111 C wretched borough generally in some village hamlet, where a jealousy existed with the established clergyman, because of the erection of a dissenting edi fice; here divas that the wicked demon of oppression stalked abroad —here it was that he would lay his imposts—here it was that lie poured forth the full phial of his wrath. Several of these cases, as': he had already stated, were notified to him ; and that to which he more p articular) y alluded, by the Rev. Mr. Robinson. lle (Mr. Wilks) was really delighted with the correspondence of that Gentleman ; a correspondence which united to extent of infonies tion and soundness of views, a warmth and affection of heart, with an humble zeal, which would reflect credit—the highest credit—on any man in this enlightened country. Mr. Rubinson was one of those Ministers who received 1119 education at the school of Rother ham ; an education which, in its riclu fruits and abundant harvest, would have been an honour to any school or any university in this kingdom. That tientlemati's Hock amounted to 3541 persons ; his salary was about 3W. a-year, and yet such was the place marked out for extortionate sueitasinent. He, however, shall be defended, and his defence is the more necessary, as Cheshire is a High Church and Tory county. In that county the language of liberty was rarely heard ; and there all attempts at extortion should, and he hazarded little in saying, would be put town. If Mr. Robin_ son were allowed to fall, all would be prostrated ; but as long as he (Mr. 11'illo) had a head to think, a heart to feel, or a purse to open—as long as this society existent, Sir. Robinson would be de fended, and he (Mr. Wilks)) was persuaded he would he so with success. (Loud applause.) Upon the subject of Easier (MS:rings, various cases had come from different places—front Penton, near Bangor, and from Dudley ; but, as he had already stated, Dissent ers being placed so far in the same situation with others, they could feel no degradation in bearing that impost- It was not as Dissenters that they bore, or were called on to bear, those burthenit, but as Englishmen; and it was only when those fragments of.• once dominating papacy were put down, that they would properly, naturally, and wisely cease. l'he amount of the Easter offering should not offer a subject of much contention, for it was only twopence a-head for each person above the age of sixteen, to be paid by the housekeeper for every such person. Ile was in formed of a case in which the demand made on this head was eight pence, and ten shillings were expended to enforce it; and a case had conic to his knowledge in which the costs atten ling a demand for Easter offerings had anuninted to the almost incredible sum of 501. The next head of remark was the charge made by Parish Clerks for their fees. At Steventon, near Bedford, a man of the name of l'arslow, a Dissenter, was required to pay two shillings as a fee for the burial of his child, and the demand was refused, be_ cause the child was buried in the Meeting House Church-yard, and because the Clerk had not officiated. Ultimately, however, the Parish Clerk thought proper not to persevere in his demand, and there the affair rested for the present- Ile (Mr. Wilks) now came to a topic on which different opinions prevailed--a topic on which it was necessary that comet opinions should prevail : he alluded to the charge of mortuary fees. Perhaps thew mortuary fees were amongst the worn of Catholic impositions—amongst the worst of that system, which made the Clergymen of that Church not only obtain all they could from the members of their communion while living, but followed them with exactions to the grave—and all these exactions required for the safety of the souls of die departed. Liv ing and dead were tributaries to that Church : no home was safe Iron their inspection —no tomb was sacred front their exaction. Ile had looked over the canons on this subject, and in doing so he found that in 13711, Simon Innghann, Archbishop of Canterbury, had imposed mortuary fees pro culotte animi. However, in a few words, to render the thing familiar, suppose any man had four beasts: one of those was to go to the lord of the soil, another to the Church, Sec., and to do away with th is d istribution. mortuary fees are instituted and demanded. By the 21st llenry VIII. all such fees received by the Catholic Clergy were continued to the Protestant ; but that Act stated that such fees were only to be claimed in places where they were before accustomed to be paid. It was important to every man to know how the law stond on thin :subject ; because, in all cases when the demand for mortuary fees we* to ode, the clergy man was bound to prove that the existence of such fees was ante cedent to that Art of Henry VIII. There was no doubt that the right existed, that preweediers to enforce it had occurred in the Ecclesiastical Courts; but when the right was denied, these Courts could not irderpose, atid in many instances the chin) had been resisted with success. het the Meeting hear this in mind, that the clergyman was always hound to prove the existence of the right or custom to pay such rem, antecedent to the dint Henry 111. There was one remarkable case on this subject which had occurred, and which realized the juat,tess of the proverb, that it was better for the " colder to stick to bin lust." It was this t the Vicar of Christ Church. in Hampshire, had inside a demand ; for summary fees ; that Vicar he had ro doubt was a very en. lightened m u m; a man not =tinned with Eecleskuitical learning alone—with ample theology and biblical acquirements ; but who . must needs be a better lawyer than lawyers. The Rev. Mr. ; Mittman had put together some pmele roue Tribunes on the law, and with his twofold knowledge of theology ard law, had made • •, demand on a Mr. Sharp for a mortuary lee. Every one trembled at this demand, because made by a clergyman, but particularly by ! a writer on law. He watt looked upon as an oracle. It appeared, I however, that this theologico-lawyer mintook the mode of proceed hug fur the recovery of his demand, inaainueli as an Act of George 11., which gave to the clergyman an opportunity o f sum miry proceedings before the Magistrates for the recovery of "small offerings," did not include in " offerings" thin said mortuary fee, and Mr. Chapman wan defea:,sl in his demand of IN. The matter, howevee, went before the 31agistrates, who dif feud in opinion with their brother Magistrate, the Her. frawver ; and oe (Mr. Willis) hopes! that for the sake of him flock the hey. , Lawyer was more enlightzied on subjects of theology and other topics than he evidently was with the law. The Her. Gentleman wan no doubt angry with the eleciaion of his brother Magistrates, and he (Mr. %I ilksi must state for himself, that he was glad the • new Don Quixote had been overcome. A Under claim war made by the Clergyman at Rotheram, whose wise, fur so his (Mr. IVilk's) information stated, was anxious that her husband's fees should suffer no diminution, particularly in the case of the defunct dissenter. The demand of ten shilling* was made, and re. sisted,—not for the want of means, for the relations of the deceased, i he was glad to say, had ample means,—but fie felt it his duty to resist what he thought an improper claim. When called unnn, he ! answered as became a Hamp den—" "fin not the amount of the claim to which I object, hut it is the principle which I reject."—, The claim WAS urged—the claim wa s resist ed ; the Society co-ope ! rated in the resistance, and the claim was eventually withdrawn.— (Applause.) Ile then said, the long and dreary (*league of grievances which required the interposition of this Society, and which he was anti:tally obliged to notice, was the subject of riots and disturbances which took place throughout the country at the dissenting places of public worship. (Inc would have hoped that '' the demons of persecution would have allowed Christian worship- pen to adore their (kid in peace, and would have respected the sanctuary dedicated to his praise, his honour, and his g l u ey ; but, no: and as this grievance increased. the more the diligeocce of the Society was re.ndered necessary. To the necessity they were not' blind; to remove it they used the must assiduous attention. Schools, an well as churches, were made the scenes of profane rim. The particular scenes of disturbance were Llandiloes. in 3lontgoniery. shire; Market-crass, Lancashire ; Bates, in Suffolk ; Crediton. lin Devonshire ; South Caney, in (illoucesterahire; Chigwell, Essex ; and in the immediate vicinity of ens metropolis, at Elder walk, Islington. The diaturba-ce at Hainault House, near (deg- ' well, deserved particular notice. from the fact that its amiable owner, Mrs. Nicholson, hel devoted certain rooms iu her house to the pious object of religious instruction to her neighbours. To annoy her anti disturb those who went the instruction, squibs and crackers were thrown, an i mals even let loose, cock-chaffers and birds were flying about, extinguishing the candles ; but this, by the exertions of thin Society, was put a stop to. The disturbances at South Cerny also demanded a particular notice. The worthy cler gyman who laboured there hail for a length of time been subjected to the most cruel persecutions, and these persecutions instigated by persons wbo should have known better—who should have been actuated by better feelings, and swayed by better sentiments- by penis - ma who should have knnan, that while they placed a torch in vulgar hands to conflagrate, those they might be desiroua of tensor.; ing would one day or other employ it against themselves. These disturbances were not confined to the lower. or more vulgar classes-_' the higher orders encouraged these disgraceful proceedings—these very orders who should encourage the diffusion of knowledge--a strict observance of the law--a bet:molly , respect to the religious scruples of the conscientious ; these hig her orders instigated those' disgraceful occurrences. Every petty vexation haul been used to.; wards the worthy clergyman of South (:crney; his saddle girths were cut in the night-time, when returning from administering consolation to one of his flock, whose way to Heaven lie was no doubt facilitating. In the night time that worthy man was as sailed and beaten.. The shades of night covered the guilty Wren- , den, and fur the time they escaped the punishment they deserved. 'loiterer, in January last, an interruption occurred, and six per sons were taken to Cirenceater, and bound over to the Gloucesmr Sessions, to answer for their outrageous conduct. He was alumna ashamed to say it, but the fact was so, that every means With :Mee taken to defeat the ends of justice. Seven clergymen were on the bench, and every species of interineddling was practised ; the Grand Jury were had access to; in short, every obstruction took place to prevent justice being done. The advocate, however, who was employ eel, performed well his duty. It is the business o: every man to uph. hl the independence of the English bar, for every effort made to weaken or destroy the self ;pollSealinti of the advocate was a vital blow at the best interests of cur country. The case came ou at the Glouuster Sessions, despite the obstacles to prevent it, and the advocate I there decl ared, that the dissenen were equally entitled to the benefit and protection of the law, as all his M kies ty's other subjects ; that the dissenters, though not endowed, were recognized ; that the choral symphonic% of (iloucester Cathedral, or its clergy, were to be no sure protected than the humbler vil lage people, who were met together, and who loved with humble voices to celebrate Zion's songs. ,(Applause.) The Church did not consist of the " long drawn aisle and fretted vault ;" It was not the gilded roof or gothic architecture, admirable as the lover of art must ever consider them to be; the Church was the place, however unpretending where the faithful assembled to wor ship the Common tied and ' Father of all ! The rioters were con. victed ; the magistrates wished some liberality to be extended to wards them, for they found out that the penalty of forty pounds given by the Act against persona disturbing public worship must be considered as only one penalty. An application was made to us, and while we would not allow the braggart to awe us into silence, we chewed that the dissenters could listen to the language of courtesy, and while having a giant's strength, that we were not disposed to use it like &giant. An apology was written— we accepted it • the guilty entered into recogmeances to keep the peace, and he hoped the result would be, that these persons and all others would perceive, that the Dissenting Clergymen were the ministers of peace—men who sought not to punish but to benefit and bless their fellow creatures. (Hear, hear.) The subject of out-door preaching was also referred to the Societe, and he owned it was one which he did not approach with much satisfaction. lie slid not like to limit the right of public worship, but with the fa cilities which now existed for so laudable an object, he thought it was not needful to excite opposition or spread the Kane of cord ; the object of the dissenters being to proceed in their course without producing clamour or giving the shadow of °Wetter. The meeting must be already aware of the transaction which oc curred at Islington, where a tent was put up, in which public wor ship was performed, and much good had been done. There a con stable appeared, with orders front the local 31ajestrates to disperse the assembly ; neither had a right to do so, and the worthy clergy. man (31r. Ituun) persevered in the work of good. At t'olehester a person was apprehended for preaching in the public greets; a bill was preferred against him, but the Grand Jury, to their credit, slid not find it. Next in the order of grievances notified to this Society, were the refusals to bury, a reateal more particularly ap plying to their friends of the Baptist conimation. Hy law, all persons baptised in the name of the Trinity, were entitled to ow pulturc ; but the conscientious scruples ut the 111g/tints not allow. mg them to have their children baptized in infancy, they could not claim the performance of the rites of sepulture where they resided, although they subscribed like others to the church. This was a painful subject; it was melancholy to think what custom, na ture, and religion prompted, should by any law be prohibited ; and that under circurndances of the 111011 t distressing nature—a parent refused to bury the child in the grave where his father's lay, over which he had often wept and scattered flowers, and to which his of were linked by tics, which only the heart could feel. The blood curdled within hint when he thought of the existence, much less the use, of such a power in any clergyman, that he amid turn to gall the tear of weeping widowhood, or agonise the pang of pa rental distress. The sooner the Iwgislature applied some remedy to this the better it would he. (Shouts of applause.) The registry of baptisms was also another subject which called for immedisee legislation, improvement, and regulation. As the law now stood, the copy or a baptismal register diem the Established Clergyman wad held to be the best species of evidence, while that of the Dis senter was only regarded in the nature of a memorandum The Itissenters therefore wish to have the baptism of the children re gistered at the office of the Clerk of the Peace, as a security for the preservation of their property and liberty. The Dissenters had ori ginated Societies from which the greatest benefits were derived, and their feelings should be consulted. The most unworthy means were taken to their schools, and that by clergymen of the Church of England. He had no hostility to the Established Church, but it its clergy misconducted themselves. they must be censurable for it at the bar of public opinion. He (3D. VVilks) then cited several instances of their conduct, both as to dissenting schools and the burial of dissenting children, anti called upon the Dissenters, who were a powerful body, to take the necessary and proper means fur the protection of their interests. '.l henever the time of a general election arrived, asnd it was a period that could not now be very distant, he hoped that no candiCate would obtain a vote front a l'roteetant Dissenter, who did not pledge himself to support the repeal of those obtioxioun mea sures, which attached such inconvenience, and regarded with so much unjust suspicion, the conduct of the Dissenters; and although they number was much more limited than it really was, and their intellect more imbecile, and their influence less powerful, he could venture to predict to such candidates that in many parts of Eng land the dissenting interest was not to he disregarded. In explana tion of this amertion, he would mention a fact of recent °morn:nee, in a borough not more than fifty or sixty miles from the metropolis. That borough had long been contended for tits representatioso by the Treasury and the popular party. The elections had cost much money. They had been protracted frequently, and that which he would take the liberty of calling the good (-muse at length triumphed. At length an election for the High Bailiff of that borough wow, , and the people of the Protestant interest conceiving that they were I I quite strong enough without the Dissenting interest. declared their dinrespect tin that assistance. The Dissenters slid then what, he trusted, they would always do. They retired at since from the con test, sad the Pnitenant party was defeated. t Bear.) Since that time, however, the beet possible undentanding has grown up be twoen then, and the Visisenters were regatniol with atmad.ence M' ceirtesy. It was by seen caw,* es these he Ind described that he we dd prepare to repoal the 'red Act. lie would Elegem. hosievei„ sate no forms shculti 1.. kiloton' their petitions to Parliament— but that each congregation should pre item their awn petitiou, we order that the Logisliture might clearly enderntand d at they had intelligence enough to express their wants, and langwtge ht nitre ! sent them. (Cheers.) lie came now to the conoideratimind what Fad "retinae been 'lone in Parliamert, and which affect , . 4, in his t5 , : , 711, tile rightist and privilettes of the Orceemant ISiasenteno. A Pill Vail within the present eitosion been introduced, relative tothe coledf eir Newfoundland—tit colony, which was in itself a• lean a contrectiooloot or that statapera s o generally made, that nue colonies were rioter a berthen than an alviontage to the inotheraiountry. In hiesloarah land, that Poll, to which he had alluded, under the profession of I Nerving the Protest:mill Irina-nine had. in point of fact, produced • much f; or, at all events, in its present condition, it was calculated t., raise ceosiderable inconvenience. He had himailf pointed out within a tew weeks the manner In which that measure. • • interfered with the right. o.f Protestant Dissenteta. An Act had passed too, requiring that ell marriages should be celebrated by Protestant Ministers ; stud this law was qualified, by permitting Protestant Moonier* to be married he their own !'aster, presided • they e at a distar.ce of ten miles front • Protestant eltu.ds. But *hot would the Meeting think ? long the Protestant Shoe-nos shout'] erg trl this ineasitre as a boon, it was aceompaninl hr this enactment, that they (the Lfissentirg Pastor.) might, under surh eircurestanaa, merry' even Protestants—members of the Esse- Llislud Church. Mar.) In C , M4CIICIIte Of a suggestion trona . • hire (Mr. aVilks) the Bill was alter ed, and its °brnch- is provi sions riciined ; aid he did trust, that an enlightened legistatios would opeahly perceive the necessity of introludne wane m rare on this :.pplicalge to the whole of the British no:Mr. lie came nest as the conduct—t o t h e new po li cy of this fins era. in int. as it tagattled our %Vest India colonies. liewasgaitce.n•- vi .ced ill, it that whieli ass got.? in England was not mem-seedy good throughout the world. The Sexon edifice or the Norma , ' vanish: was an improved by the &edition of a linden pirar, but the rash architect who undertook sato an Improvement despoitral the building of its origiral and natural though rude appearance. That which was applicable to England in the new way, was not necessarily an improvement to the colonieo, and these evisceration regulations, of which they had recently heanl so much, were just , as unappropriate to the rude state of Woo India feeling, aa were the oelendid capitals ot the aratithian order to the renown of moms •I.l4thic chapel. (Hear.) lie knew rot hew to allude to the men who had toiled, and strove, and suffered in the service of religion in these colonies. It was difficult, in gazing at a bright and beautiful , constellation, to select one Ear of peculiar brilliance t it was, hew_ . ever, not impossibk; and though the brighmets of the star might have paated iaray, its career ot' light would long be remembered. • They all felt the allusion. Ile could not seek to harrow up their fedi its. by a nciail of the sufferings of him who was now happily Ten:end from all sorrow, whose course was finished, and who. ere • this, it there were truth in the unerring promises of Ord, had te ceived that crown of glory which the leord, a more righteous judge I than he wao 'loomed to meet with here, hath given hint. (Continued : cheers.) His moltipiied ills wee now ended, hut the recollection of the in rill remained. It did so happen, that that exeellett man, when his letters were pr 'vented front coining to this country, ad , drlssed :o hint a coma:unit:a:boo, complaining of this harsh deter . munition ; soil now he did tionrignedly rejo tat that in a dioxin land his co I:sexton with the. Society should have tensed thin selec tion. (Clic. re) 'Lett victim nil' a persecution as illegal and harsh CVO' disfigured any trtlounal on any share (cheers), had made hi. hottest cautpLaint, as it were, to that very society. (Hear.) What expectation could he have of a lair trial ? 11 ho were his accusers ? (Cheers.) Thou.: torn who, when the missionary first ; touched the shores of that enutory, proclaimed to him, • The mo ment, Sir, you presume to :each the poor negroei to re ad, that mo ment you leave this comely." ( Anti when men who had eternal souls were prevented from attending at the table of the Lord (hisses), it was, in his opinion, such super-superlative heart hositeas, that words in vain attempted to describe it. (Cheers.) ! the land where such deeds as these could be practised with impunity, was not a land fur freemen, but a receptacle fit only for deniona. (('beers) No man was no absurd as to assert that sla very, however odious in all its forms, shall at once be abolished in these Colonies. ()tear.) No; such was not the course which the missionaries suggested -it was not in accordance with their prat. tice. It was their habit to excite the moral, the intellectual, and the religious habits of the people with whom they had to do, and thus to render them tit objects for freedom. (Cheers.) They gave them a perception fur the charities of life—they taught them the happiness of home, with all its consoling woonstions—they taught self-rcgulation--the subjection of those passions which belong& to natural man—they established schools where MOM slaves now • ceive instruction. (('heers.) Instead of the nocturnal orgies, the praises of the living and the true God were sung by slaves in that so-long-benighted land. (Cheers.) lie therefore hesitated not to say, " Give us that legislature—perils await its step . that at tempts new establishments where such an order of things 111 grow ing." From all that he had stated, it appeared that great perils were still awaiting the cause of the Protestant Inssentent_eivil and re ligious liberty. ni,. !weever, Instead of teaching them despair, should arm them with renewed energy. The good they were des tined to achieve would in this ease "live after them." They could not expect to Kee that oak. the acorn of which was just dropped into the ground; but it would opting up and shade and protect their posterity beneath the shadow of its brandies. (Hear.) Theta mopyhe and Marathon still existed in the example they afforded to a people struggling in the sacred cause of liberty. They were pur suing, at an immeasurable distance, that divine course in which one of the moot illustrious and gifted men of modem detailed Reed sea died, and bequeathed to them his precious example, and left toe, he was happy to say it., inane whohonoured them by presiding at the meeting that day, a relative worthy of his noble nature. (('heers.) Justice had not been done to the memory of Mr. Pitt: when that statesman was dying, it is well known that he recommended Mr . Fox as his successor—(hear)--a recommendation honourable to • bo b. lie apprelicialed no danger to the cause of civil and reli gious liberty. The efforts that were made to retard it, he regarded with just as little apprehension as he should the vain bidding nut' sonic tawny Indian who cummanded the mighty torrent of the St. lAwrence to retrace its course. (Cheer.) The tide ofcivil liberty would flow—the ebbing of its course was not to be dreaded. That course has riser—it does now rise--it shall rise, until the stream of liberty shall flow freely sod fructify all Sods, and bless every region through which it passes. (Loud cheers.) The Rev. Mr. SMYTH, classical tutor of Rotterham, rose to move the first resolution. He said that front what they had listen ed to lately, it appeared that a state of persecutimi was not likely soon to be extinguished. It existed even in this age, so unfavour. able to its development. From the speech of his excellent friend • Mr. !! - idles, it was evident that in the space of one little year many instances, altogether disgusting in their nature, had arisen. n'et it did seem that persecution, since it indicated some strong in terest in religious mattena was not dishonourable to our nature ; it was a fault. The persecuting spirit rose up, so convinced of the rec. tittide of its town ways, that it must promote them by all imaginable means, and it fancies that in doing so it renders God a service There was another point of view in which the zeal of the persecu. tors was conspicuous in the effitrot which they made to create and effect a unity of church. Ile had read in a book, the name of whose author was not now familiar to his memory, of various offer. ings having been made on a festive occasion ; some offend a chap , ler of (livers, others offered other and different productions of na ture; all varied as to the mode, but all agreed as to the united ex pression of the same sentiment. This variety of mode of worship did not please tlinee who were prone to persecution ; they rejected the variety of 1111%101 of worship in which man, according to hies • education. his principles. and conviction, thought proper to ap proach his Maker, and insisted on one established form, as the . cooly one to be tolerated or endured. It should not be forgotten. • however, that religion was alone to he approved of when it was ion. , planted on the mind by the force of honest and sincere nonviction ; • a true sense of religion could not be inculcated by coercion • and penalties did not impress it on the mind, but ren dered the mind unfit and urfayounible for its reception. The effort to coerce • conscience always created an opposite effect from that which the • persecutor intended to produce, and in the history of the permit nor% of the lequisiumo in Spain, were found re p eated instances in, which the perneutike practised greatly operated as an obstacle to • conversion to Christianity. lie would refer to a particular case, in which, when an individual was about to be put to torture for not believing in Christianity, and when the prospect of the joys of bee. yen was placed before hue. he asked, " would be meet Christians . there ?" Ile was answered in the affirmative; but such was the disgust created ire his mind by the very conduct of those persecut ing Christians, that from the apprehension of meeting them here. after he refused to be converted to Christianity. The true value • of relig ion, and indeed the very essence of it, consisted in the unsia • Belted homage of the heart ; the unbought and unforced conviction, • of the mind was alone acceptable to the great Author of the uni. verse; yet did persecutors, through their ezcesaive and ill-directed zeal, seek to convert religion into hypocrisy, and degrade man , Ibe low the level of the brute creation, by obliging him...to boo. lieve, not what his own lame rec ognised, but whatever the I opinions of others might dictate to ben Persecution was not only appointed to the commands of God, it was at variance with • reason and human nature itself—it was opposed to the wishes and commands of God, for he alone valued the free and unrestricted • homage of the heart, which persecution taught to destroy—it was I at variance with reason, for reason could not be candied with that which it did not itself sanction. but which it was sought to otinniel r it to adopt-. it was inconsistent with human nature itself, Ks cause it :antra to olestroy that free agency of mi m ed. that thinking !principle which Notore piaci.) in the breast of man, as the tits , tieguishing chatactetistic of his species. It was to be regretted.. but lie was persuaded that many persons who persecuted for , opinions were satisfied they were right. Sir T. ninon, in the persecutions which he advised, was, he believed, conscientiously persuaded of their propriety. Neverhekse, he was suers aed, these the nineteenth centary, in the entightmein of the present age, its the preorms of arts and stir • the gentlemen:, the Magistrates, I and Isegislators of England, still so otrenuously penes's* • in the aau t aion of 'Lan* and ties, for the enfiecement of ear , tiettlar doctrines. He wmt , however, that persecution trout' gradu oily give way before the expansion of liberal reason, . and that tht !hi:a-race of persecution for opluions, particularly Or religinu, op , • 4, would he soon vttiored front the character of the • vitality. The Rev. gentlemen concluded by proposing the fest raisin ion t - " l'hs. th;nScchry. coirose , l of raernhers of the Established Church, as eto.drsts of roogregatio,m of POOttlitallt Ito. seaters, agai:. :.rrcss tit arahateti drvu antis to the cease ff religious INetloio in Enstund, and througiniut the world--and •gaim dedt re. that they este us the right puhliely to worship tied actors:. log to the eonse;t ice to he a right whieh the sincere arvl wise 'levee ran concede, at:il *kith it is unjust., impolitic, and impiety. to infringe." The Itee. Mans Wit.e9( from Paris) in seconding thl4 (MO_ said, that hr was actuated to do so from principle. horsiship, who presided thee that day, was Ittrected solely by prin tip,: also, as it was well known that his liberal mind embraced all these benevolent a.nd eamprebetiseve psiociples 'Nan