The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-07 00:00:00

PRICE 5d

PRIESTLY TYRANNY.
REPORT of the Proceedings of the Presbytery of Arbroa th,
in the Complaint at the instance of George Key, against
the Kirk Session of Barry, for depriving him an his
Wife of Church Privileges, in consequence of their
having Buried their Child on a Sabbath Morning.
The ordinary Monthly Meeting of the Presbytery of
Arbroath was held in the Town-hall on Wednesday,
Dec. 1. Sederunt—the Rev. Messrs. Walker, Muir, Bar-
clay, T. Wilson, W. Wilson, Crichton, Lumsden, Mac-
beth, Kirk, Dymock, Arkley, and Weir, ministers•,
Messrs. Tod, Stephen, Petrie, Guthrie, Strachan, Mill
(Inverkeillor), and Milne (Abbey Church), elders. After
the disposal of a variety of routine business, the Presby-
tery proceeded to the consideration of the complaint
against the Moderator and Kirk Session of Barry.
As a considerable degree of excitement prevails in the
public mind in regard to this case, it may be necessary,
in order to enable parties to form a correct judgment on
the merits of the question, to recapitulate the previous
procedure. At the meeting of Presbytery held on the
Ist of September last, there was presented the following
Petition and Complaint:_
Unto the Reverend the Presbytery of Arbroath ; the
humble Petition of George Key, servant to William
Henderson, Esq., of Grange of Barry,
Sheweth—That the petitioner is tinder the necessity
of applying to the Presbytery, for protection from certain
proceedings adopted against him by the Kirk Session of
Barry, in which parish he has resided for the last five
3„ rs, during which period he has been in communion
with til,c Established Church of Scotland. The circum-
stances are these:"
The petitioli,srjs a married man, and has a wife and
one child, a girl tsYe years of age, still alive. His only
other child died on tho 30th day of April last, After a
short illness, at the age of six years. In order to ceaable
the relations and friends to attend the funeral, the peti-
tioner was under the necessity, and considered that Sab-
bath, the 2d day of May last, was the day for his family
and relations altogether most suitable for the interment.
The interment accordingly took place eerly on that day.
The ceremony was conducted with proper and becoming
solemnity, and was concluded, in the church-yard of
,Barry, before the Minister entered the church for the
purpose of conducting divine service in the forenoon..
The petitioner's relations and friends, who attended the
funeral, attended also the service in the church.
Early on the following morning, the person at present
performing the duties of Session Officer called upon the
petitioner, and left a verbal message for the petitioner, that
the Kirk Session wanted to see him in the evening. As
no intimation was given to the petitioner of the cause or
purpose for which lie was thus called before the Session,
and as the petitioner was not conscious of having done
anything as to which the Session had a right to interfere,
he did not attend.
On the afternoon of following Saturday (Bth May),
the Rev. Mr. Lumsden, the Minister of the parish, called
at the petitioner's house when the petitioner was from
home, engaged at his ordinary employment, but the peti-
tioner's wife was in the house. In place of endeavour-
ing to soothe her distressed feelings for her recent be-
reavement, or to sympathize with her in her affliction,
Mr. Lumsden accused her cud her husband of having
desecrated the previous Sabbath, by having interred Tan
that day the remains of their deceased child ; and he
told her, in what she considered a harsh manner, that
unless both she and her husband should immediately ap-
pear before the Kirk Session of Barry, and confess that
they had been guilty of desecrating the Sabbath, and
submit to be rebuked by him before the Session for that
offence, he would have recourse to the law of the Church,
and excommunicate them, by refusing them tokens for
the then approaching Sacrament. The petitioner's wife
told Mr. Lumsden, in a respectful manner, that she would
be sorry if he did so • but that neither she nor her hus-
band would confess of being guilty of a crime by having
performed the painful, but necessary, duty of burying a
beloved child.
Subsequent to the visit from Mr. Lumsden, just men-
tioned; the petitioner and his wife have been annoyed,
and had their feelings lacerated, in their own house, on
five different occasions, by visits from and verbal com-
munings with Mr. Lumsden and other members of the
Kirk Session, and Session officer, with a view to induce the
petitioner to appear before the Session, and confess that
he had done wrong in burying his child on the Sabbath
day, to which the petitioner would not agree.
At length, on the 3d day of July last, a written sum-
mons was left at the petitioner's house, to the following
effect :

" By order of the Kirk Session of Barry.
"I, James Bulk, Session Officer, hereby summon you,
George Key, resident at Grange of Barry, to attend a
meeting of the said Session, to be held in Barry School-
house, on the evening of Monday, the sth day of July,
1841, at seven o'clock evening. Witness my hand this
34 day of July, 1841,
(Signed) "JAMES BUIK, Session Officer.
" To Geome Key, Grange of Barry."
It will be observed. that this summons does not charge
the petitioner with any offence, and the Kirk Session of
Barry has never yet brought any charge against him.
In consequence of the writteu summons before quoted,
the petitioner went with Mr. James Wighton, a friend
of his master, to the Kirk Session, to ascertain what the
Session had to charge the petitioner with ; but the
clergyman declined to give any inforination to the peti-
tioner in Mr. Wighton's presence ; and, after some irre-
gular proceedings on the part of Mr. Lumsden, the peti-
tioner returned home.
On Thursday the Bth day of July last, being the Sa-
cramental Fast-day, the petitioner went, along with the
other members of the congregation, to get tokens for
himself and his wife for the communion table,.but he was
refused them. Ho again applied fur them on the evening
of the following Saturday (10th July, 184.1), both to one
of the Elders (William Ewen), and also to Mr. Lumsden,
.but he was then "peremptorily and distinctly" refused
them.

The petitioner having, by these harsh and irregular
proceedings been cast out of the Established Church of
Scotland, and held up and stigmatised to the world as a
criminal, and the sacred feelings of his wife and only
surviving child having been injured, and that, too, with-
out specifying any charge against the petitioner, he will
be driven to seek religious instruction for himself and
family under some other Church, unless the Rev. Presby-
tery interfere, and interpone their authority to relieve
and protect him from the oppressive and tyrannical pro-
ceedings of the Kirk Session of Barry.
The petitioner has the greatest reverence for the
Church of Scotland, in the principles of which he was
educated, brought up, and has all Mon lived, and under
whose religious instruction it is his most anxious desire
to continue and educate his only surviving child.
May it therefore please the Reverend Presbytery to
take the petitioner's case into their co::sideration ;
to find that the said Kirk Session of Burry acted
wrongfully in excluding the petitioner from the Sacra-
went ; to ordain the Kirk Session to expunge from.
its records the proceedings against the petitioner ;
to restore him to his privileges in the Church, and
to do otherwise in the premises as to the Presbytery
shall seem just.
According to justice, &c.
(Signed) GEORGE KEY.
No report has been preserved of the highly characte-
ristic preceedings which followed on the presentation of
this petition ; but the res gestce will be easily enough
gathered from the annexed.
The Presbytery met in the Guildhall on Wednesday
last, and was constituted by prayer by the Rer. Mr.
Walker, the Moderator. Mr. Anderson, writer, appeared
for the petitioner.
After reading the minutes of the previous sedorunt,
Mr. Wilson, of Carmylie,stated that it was the universe)
practice of the Church to proceed with closed doors in
all cases of discipline ; and therefore moved that the
PreSbytery should follow the same course in the pre-
sent case.
Mr. Muir, of St. Vigean's—This is no case of disci-
pline at all. It is a complaint of oppression against the
harsh and tyrannical proceedings of the Kirk Session of
Barry. It is quite true that, in cases of discipline, the
Presbytery universally and wisely proceed with closed
doors ; but this is quite a different matter. This is not
a case of fornication or adultery, where the evidence is
of such a nature that it would be improper to adduce it
in open Court. Hero there is nothing impure that could
taint the minds of the most delicate or fastidious. It
was a case of the greatest and most vital interest to the
public. The Presbytery had already appointed a Com-
mittee, the labours of which, he- considered, would, in all
probality, produce numerous cases of discipline ; and, as
many cases similar to the present might arise, it was
essentially the duty and interest of every man to [ulcer-
thin clearly the mind of the Presbytery on the subject.—
(Loud approbation from the audience.)
Mr. Wilson, Carmylie, considered the sounds the Pres-
bytery had just heard were of themselves ver=y sufficient
reasons for their excluding the public from their delibera-
tions, on account of their improper behaviour. He was sur-
prised to hear it stated that this was no case of disci-
pline ; and craved the decision of the Court on the Mo-
tion which he had submitted.
Mr. Muir moved that the Presbytery should proceed
with this case in the ordinary y
Mr. Kirk, of Arbirlot, agreed with Mr. Muir that this
was not an ordinary case of discipline. * He thought it
should not be conducted with closed doors.
On the motion being seconded,
Mr. Anderson said his client had no wish for con-
cealment It should, therefore,be distinctly understood,
that if there was any desire to
shun publicity, it was not
on his part, but rested solely with the Presbytery.
The roll was then called, and the state of the'vote
was found to be as follows :—For Mr. Muir's motion
(that the public should not be excluded), 3 ; for Mr.
Wilson's motion (that the doors should be closed), 9.
, On the roll being called, and Mr. Lumsdcn's vote
Doing tendered, Mr. Anderson objected to his sitting as
a Judge in a case in which he was a witness, and had a
personal interest, and protested against his vote being
recorded.
" You can't be heard ! you can't be heard !" exclaimed
several members of the Presbytery simultaneously.
Mr. W. Wilson's motion was thus carried by a ma-
jority of 6, and the Moderator intimated to the audience
the Presbytery's resolution to proceed with closed doors,
and desired them to withdraw. Two or three gentle-
men immediately rose and retired, but the rest of the
spectators quietly kept their seats. A very embarrassing
pause now occurred, in the course of which the leading
members of Presbytery exchanged looks of surprise and
astonishment, and anxiously whispered together. At
last silence was broke by