The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-03 00:00:00

WEST INDIA DOCK COMPANY.

THE COURT of DIRECTORS of the
WEST INDIA. DOCK COMPANY do hereby give No-
tice, that an HALF YEARLY GENERAL COURT will
be held, pursuant to- the. directions of the Act of Parlia►nent,
at the West India Dock House, No. 8, ;Inter-square, on
FRIDAY, the 7th day of January next, at One o'Clock in
the Afternoon, at which Meeting a DIVIDEND will be de-
clared for the Half-year ending the 31st instant.

By Order of the Court,
H. LONGLANDS, Sec.

West India Dock House, Dec. 17, 1524.
N.B. The Chair will he taken at Two o'Clock precisely.

"t4ARRJAGES OF' UNITAREAN
SENTERS.—Ac the GENERA L ANNUA L MEET-
ING of the MEMBERS of the UNITARIAN ASSOCIA-
TION, held at the London Tavern,
G. M. DAVIDSON, Esq. in the Chair,
Resolved,

That the Tl'anksof this Society are pre-eminently due to the
Marquis of Lansdown, for his distinguished and zealous exer
tions in promoting the Bill for the Relief of Unitarians from
the operation of the Marriage Law, and for his constant atten-
tion to the Deputations of the Committee in their various inter-
views with him.

That this Meeting views with sincere pleasure the truly
Christian spirit displayed by many Members of the Episcopal
Bench, and more particularly by his Grace the Archbishop of
Canterbury, in supporting a measure of so much importance
to the preservation of mental sincerity and integrity of con-
science, without which no Religious Service can be useful or
acceptable.

That the sincere Thanks of this Meeting are also due to the
Earl of Liverpool and Earl Harrowby, for their liberal and
candid attention to the case submitted to their consideration ;
and to the former more particularly, for his candid declaration
of his sense of the unequivocal intention of the Le,g!siatnre to
place Unitarians upon the footing of other Protestant Dissen-
ters, by the Act of the 53d Geo. 111. and.of their just title to
further relief in the event of doubts attaching to the complete
operation of that Act.
. .

That this .Meeting is also anxious to express its gratitude
to Lord Holland, for his manly and energetic support of the
rights of conscience ; and to such other Noble Lords on both
sides of the House as furthered the measure by their speeches
and votes.

That while the Members of this Association are encouraged
to look with confidence to the ultimate success of their efforts,
they think themselves called upon thus publicly to declare the
true object of their complaint, the grounds-on which they seek
relief, and the plan of redress which they have ventured to
suggest. _

That the present Marriage Law of England; made in the
year 1753, and for the avowed purpose of merely preventing
Clandestine Marriages, requires all persons, except Jews and
Quakers, to join .on that occasion i❑ the, Worship and Service,
of that Established Church.
That the conformity thus imposed upon the Unitarian Dis-
senter is repugnant to his conscientious feelings, and opinions :
first, because, as a •Dissenter,*he• objects to being forced to join
for Civil inirposes in the Ordinances of that Church from which
he consc:entiously .withdraws himself under the sanction and
protection of the Law ; but secondly, and chiefly, because the
Marriage Service of the Church is one in which he cannot, as a
Unitarian, join, without a species of equivocation painful to his
conscience and degrading to an honourable mind.
That this compulsive conformity is of comparatively recent
origin, the Church having no -such exclusive privilege until it
was conferred upon it (not as an Ecclesiastical privilege; but as.
a Civil regulationy hr 1753, prior to which time Marriage'ap-
pearf; to have been in England, as in almost all other countries,
a Civil contract requiring for its legal validity the religious
sanction of no Church.

That the enforcing of conformity in this respect is repul-
sive to the policy of the existing Laws of England, which
long previous to the Marriage Act had sanctioned and pro-
tected the right of dissent from the worship and discipline of
the ChnrelL

That the effect of this Act, so far as it operates as a constraint
on concience could not have been intended by the Legislature ;
that the framers of it had avowedly in view merely the civil ob-
ject of promoting regularity in the formation and registration
of the Matrimonial Contract; and that this is evidenced by the
exception of the parties (Jews and Quakers) against whose re-
ligious habits and opinions it obviously militated—which ex-
ception would most probably have been extended to Unitarians,
if their worship had at that time been included, as it now is;
within the p,..otection and sanction of the Toleration Acts.
That the grievance is extremely partial, inasmuch as the
Marriages of all dissenters in Ireland are legalised by express
Act of PtArliament (passed ih 1772 after the fullest discussion),
as thosP, contracted in Scotland are binding—and as an Act was
very recently passed for rendering valid Presbyterian Marriages
in Btitish India. .

Tina the law is not only unjust, but that it is not warranted
by. the slightest political or civil expediency, inasmuch as the
o'oject in view (the due publicity and registration of marriages)
'may notoriously anti obviously be accomplished with thegreatest
ease, without any constraint or religious feelings.
That if the Legislature feels itself in any manner called
upon to•interfere with the, celebration of Marriage as a religious
ordinance, in order to secure a binding and impressive influence
on the consciences of the parties concerned, still it is clear that
such an object can best be accomplished by avoiding all con-
straint, and by choosing such religious ceremonial as would be
accordant to the feelings, anti therefore most likely to produce
the desired effect on the minds of the parties.
That the existing constraint is not only vexatious to Uni-
tarian Dissenters, but must, as they conceive, be extremely
unpleasant to the Ministers of the Church, who by the exist-
ing law arc obliged to administer sacred Ordinances to, and
join in Religious Worship with, Persons who are known to
them on all other occasions to disavow and publicly renounce
their communion.

That as a remedy for this grievance, the Bill recently intro-
duced provided for the observance of every one of the forms
now required, as well as for the maintenance of the fees and
emoluments of the Church, and merely allowed the religi-
ons service on the occasion to be performed by the Parties ac-
cording to their own mode, and in their accustomed places, re-
gistered for the purpose under clearly defined regulations and
restrictions.

That the exact letter of the precedent in the Marriage Act of
1753 (of merely exempting Jews and Quakers from its opera-
tion) was not followed in this Bill, first, because the interests
of the whole community and the avowed policy. of the law,
plainly require the checks and regulations which it imposes to
be of general obligation, though in the case of parties so di!-
tinetly marked as the Jews and Quakers, a relaxation in their
favour could be granted without danger. Secondly, Because
the Unitarians sought to withdraw themselves from no sort
of Civic restraint or inconvenience, but were willing even
to undertake additional responsibility and trouble and ex-
pence; anti, thirdly, because it was avowedly expected of them
that nothing should be sought to be altered which was not ne-
cessarily required by the concession to their religious scruples.
That Registration in the Common Parochial Register was
proposed to be preserved (in the absence of any other autho-
rised and established Register duly preserved), because there
would thus be a Service to be performed in respect of which
the Church Minister might receive his accustomed fees, because
the continuance of one: General Register, in which Marriages
are numbered consecutively, was considered to he of great value,
not merely to Unitarians, but to the whole community. And
lastly, because it was conceived that such a duty (performed as
it is now, under the requirements of the Law as a matter of
Civil, not Ecclesiastical policy) could not be objected to as de-
rogatory to the dignity of the Church, on any grounds which
would not apply with far greater force to the obligation now im-
posed upon that Church, of receiving into its Religious Ordi-
nances, for a merely Civil object, parties who openly renounce
its discipline and doctrines.
That this Meeting instructs its Committee to persevere in
their applications until the justice of their claims be fully re-
cognized, and the grievance be completely removed, in a firm
reliance on the justice of the Legislature for the admission of
claims so obviously just, and on its wisdom for devising a mode
of relief which shall combine a due regard for the rights of con-
science, with that attention to the OPtril Interests of the Com-
munity, which none are more ready than the Unitarians fully
to recognise and admit, and so far as in them lies, conscienti-
ously to uphold.