The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-12 00:00:00

1847

1845. DAG

Stock this day • ... ••1 21,9:33 17,430
Price of Y. C. ••.. ll 390: ott(,) 4t2:4395d 51s Ild
Delivery last week: •• I 1,42 918 924
Ditto from June 1.... , 73,157 75,351 70,814
An ivals last week . 31 707 S 2
Ditto from June 1.. • 77,104 77,384 70,502
Price of Town •• —• •1 429 45 Gd 53s Od

1 0,28 1

9,762
50s to
50s 33

1,780
85,004
1,299
86,665
51s.

29,08
40s 6d
to Os

1,F,9a
2 82,660
433
104,203

IMPRISONMENT OF THE _REV.
- MR. SHORE,
.By THE BISHOP OF
EXETER.

(THIS DAY.)
A public meeting of the friends of civil and religious
liberty was held this morning in, Exeter Hall, for the purpoSe
of considering the case of the Rev. Mr. Shore, with the view
of prOcuring an alteration of the law which precludes se-'
ceding clergyhien fro:An preaching as Dissenting ministers,
and of obtaining his immediate release from prison.
The Rev. Mr. Camo, a clergyman of the Church of Eng-
land, was called to the chair, and in opening the business of
the day he remarked that the meeting had been convened to
consider a question of deep importance to the civil and reli-
gious world, namely, the liberty of the subject for conscience
sake, which now wore an aspect which had no parallel since
the days of James IL, and which had been produced by an
artful and unjust interpretation of the ecclesiastical law.
The Rev. Dr LEINGUILD then implored the Divine
blessing upon the proceedings of the meeting; after which,
The Rev. Mr. Tioaassay related the circumstances under
which Mr. Shore had been incarcerated in St. Thomas's gaol,
Exeter. The Rev. Gentleman, he said, was preaching at
Spa Fields Chapel,
on Friday evening, and at the close of his
sermon, which was so Effective that it drew tears from his
gaoler, who was one of the congregation, he was arrested
on a warrant issued by the Bishop of Exeter.
Since then a letter had been received from Sir Eardley
Wilmott enclosing 20/., and from Mrs. Thompson, the sister
of Mr. Baptist Noel, and the Earl of Gainsborough, enclosing
101, in furtherance of the object of the meeting. Two letters
had also been received from Mr. Shore, from which he would
make the following extracts :—" The key has at last grated
on my prison door, and I trust the cause of religious liberty,
will be promoted by the reverberation. My accanno-
dation is rather rough, but, although unconscious of wrong,
I must remember that I am a prisoner in a gaol, a place for
felons. I find that the Bishop's agents are already quibbling
by saying that I am placed here merely for costs; but how
did those costs arise? Simply from preaching in an uncon-
secrated chapel or building ; and even if the costs were
entirely paid, I should still be altogether at the tender mercies
of the Bishop. He could still keep me in gaol, and
preachingthat all
my days, for contempt of court, in as a Dissenting
minister. Will the people of England allow such an
outrage to continue under the sanction of law ?" .
" I hasten to write you another note, in the hope that I may
be in time for the post to-day, that kr. Barnes, the Bishop's
secretary's clerk, has been here, and told me that if I would
pay the costs I may be free; I told him to the effect that if I
had not preached as a Dissenting minister the costs would
not have been incurred, and that I had not the means of pay-
ing them, and that he well knew the Bishop was still able to.
keep me in gaol, even if the, costs were paid. I told him,
however, that I should not now have any communication
with the Bishop of Exeter either directly or indirectly, that
I regarded the matter as entirely in the hands of the people
of England, and that I did not purpose to take any step in
the affair. lam just come from chapel, where I have attended
the service. The thought struck me very forcibly, what-re-
spect can these prisoners have for the laws, when they find
a minister among their number for merely preaching, the
Gospel ?"
A Volsci in the meeting suggested that a history of Mr.
Shore's case ought to be related from the beginnig to the end.
The CarammaN said the- suggestion should be complied
with.
Another VoiCE asked if the secession of Mr. Shore had
anything to do with Popery?—(Cries of" No, no.")
The Rev. Mr. BIBBY then came forward to move the first
resolution, which was as follows :—" Resolved that this 'as-
sembly, having heard the statement relative to the appren-
sion and imprisonment of the Rev. James Shore, M.A., f els
it to be its first duty to offer to that gentleman the expres-
sion of its deep sympathy and Christian affection in his pre-
sent afflicting circumstances, and assures him that prayers
shall be offered continually to Almighty God in his behalf,
and every effort shall be made for his liberation which the
constituti,n of our country and the spirit and precepts of the
Gospel of Christ can suggest and sanction." After entering
into a lengthened history of Mr. Shore's case, which must be
already familiar to our readers, he adverted to the excuse
which had been put forward for Mr. Shore's arrest, namely,
that it was not for preaching, but for costs. ;It
must be remembered, he said, that though he
might be imprisoned now for costs, if he paid those costs, he
would still be liable to arrest if he attempted to preach; or
for the act of preaching on Friday. This quibble of costs re-
minded him of the little boy's game of one leg up and one
leg down.--(A laugh.) if the costs were paid, Mr. Shore's
conscience would carry him into the pulpit, and from the
pulpit he would again be conveyed to gaol for costs; so that
unless some change were made in the law, Mr. Shore would
have to oscillate between the pulpit and the prison. That
might be the way to Exeter town, but it was not the way
to London town.—(Laughter and cheers.)
Lieutenant BLACIMORE seconded the resolution, and, it
was put from the chair and carried unanimously.
The Rev. Mr. STIR:I7IIN moved the second resolution as
follows • " Reselved, that this assembly deeply laments
before God and man that any Church, professedly Christian,
should have the power to inflict upon any one, not excepting
a minister of the Gospel, protracted law-suits, heavy law
charges, and imprisonments, in the name of the religion of
Jesus Christ, it being inimical not only to the spirit of the
British constitution, but utterly at variance with the spirit
and positive precepts of the Founder of our holy religion. In
the name of civil mild religious liberty, in the name of Chris-
tianity, in the name of the comru>n brotherhood of .I:brj
as?:ce;nld) ,oletnnly denounces the
existence of such vnver, whether possessed by ecclesiastical
courts, and avows its deliberate conviction that its exercise
in the case of Mr. Shore especially, after that he had left the