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

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. The 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 the 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 gentleness, if not authority,
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 particular) 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 mum; 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 of 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 Hampden—" "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 was resisted ; 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 gluey ; 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, animals 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 higher 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 declared, 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 so 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 altered, 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—to the new policy 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 read, 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 rendered 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 repeated 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 religion, 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 recognised, 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 mimed. 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 aautaion 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