The Sun.
London, England, 1812-05-07 00:00:00

to.sliew the ground upon which he- sta'ed himself
to be a capital burgCssL and if the Court thought
it coljnrable, thq Oily grant the mandamus.—
The Aitorney-General was_aware, that it might be
urged in answer to ibis, that to claim 'the, rights of
a burgess, a man must actually be one : here it ,4 as
enough that a man pretended, to holy orters. But
tocov er the situation of the present applitants, a
fourth charaCter. should have been dt-pi(-tetr,

that Of pretending to pretend to holy orders. The
ordination was AdMinistered by'a human atithcnil,
although the office was a divine one -; and the kp,
plicauts. must be required to spew when, 'how, or
on what ground their pretensijns were built. Ad-
mitting that they were in pttgress to apt in expec-
tation. of holy:otclers—t hat 'they v,.ere _in a (-muse'
of discipline which Wonld ultimately utuitle thrit
to attain them, still the Court would expect the
grounds of their pretensionslo be stated, to set that
they were aging bona fide and were not meNly de,
"tiding theCourLas well as their own minds. Thu
'defendants had stated, .s the reason of 111.4 refusal
towards the applicants, that they were not die
teachers of a separate conga gation. he Attorhey-
General submitted, that this Has A sufficient ground;
,but, if it was not, let thorn show under the construc-
tion of the Toleration Ad, 4iihout the aid-of the
Stat. lg. Geo. -3, that they were entitled to be
sworn. Even though the Magistrates had gone up:
on a false ground of objection, the applicants most
spew that they have a fuL title to_what they- ask :
they must prove; not only that the Magistrates-were
wrong on. those grounds, but that they are. right.on
all grounds: - The Court was now judging for the
Sus. ions; and would doubtless take allcircuinstaves

into consideration.
Mr. ABBOTT, on the same side, said, that_ t!,is Was
a mere attempt avoid the decisi.m of the Court in
the ciae of the King v. the Justices of Denbighshire,'
14' East, 285, which pitmounced that, if the appli-
.
cant sought to qualify as a teacher or preacher; lie,
must hate a sep rate congregation ; but whicl
hint-
ed, that he might also come within the Bth Section
of the Ad, as pretending to -Holy Orders. The
Learntd Counsel argued, that the present applicants
were not, in the character they had assumed; liable
to any of the penalties of the AelS of Charles It.•and
had, tlieretole, no title to clairn'to be relieved from
them. H.:* ent rbrough these Ads, and found thst
the Five Mile Ad (17 Car. 11. e. 2 ) was the first w hich
contained the words " pretended holy ordets,". &c.
which .vere !Jere i s3id,in order to preven t'
the " Pa Vicars,Cutates, Leeturei s,.and other
persons," therein mentioned from evading the Aa,
and in order to save the Crown frivn 'the- necessity
of proiiug the holy orders. Those. -words were
merely retrospedive;. the prospedive words of the •
mt were, and all such persons as shall take
upon them tb preaLh in any unlawful assembly,
conventicle, or meeting, under colour or pretence of
any exercise .of religion, cenirary to law, shall not
(except in passng on the road) come, or be. within
five miles of any city, town corporate, or borough
sending Membeis to Parliament, on pain of forfeit-
ing,4ol. for every such ofietice." When the Tolera,.
lion Ad was framed, there 'wile many of the first
description of cler;ryiren living, and the words
in the Bth section were doubtless intended to apply
to relieve the persons characterised in the Five-mile
Act.

Lord ELLENBOROUGH asked the Learned Counsel
if they were aware, that there bad been a judicial
interpretation of the words_ pretending to holy or-,
ders between the 17 Car. 2. kind the Toleratiori d fit.
He alluded to Cater's case, Skinntr'Bo, in. which
three Jinges decided that the words Must mean
'pretending to have holy orders.
Mr. ABBOTT concluded with pressing that •the
words pretending to holy orders, were- too 100 'e
and indeterminate to allOw of perjury being
signed nn an affidavit contaiyng such a statement.
Mr. Justice LE BLANC—You do not mean to
say Ilya the applicants .are liable to no penalty_if
they preach ? •
Mr. ABBOTT.-7 O, my Lord, only that at the.
time they apply they have incurred no penalty. If
they have a congregation, they will not be objeard
to; but the only use the presertt applicants can make
,of the oath they•desire to tal4;,—all they can predi-
cate of-their svishes—is, that they may be relieved
from certain penalties; but we say they are liable
to none.

Mr. TOPPING (with _whom . were Messrs. Goa-
IVEY, DENMAN, 'and BEIOUGUAM,) supported the
rule. If Mr. Abbot meant that this was the first
tinte a person 'of this description had applied to take

'the oaths as-pretendirig to holy orders, he had sinned
against all his knowledge of Seseeons praCtice. That
expression meant nothing more than claiMing holy
orders; those times the word t' pretend" was
not used in an invidious sense. The defendants de-
scribed themselves in uncontradiaed 'affidavits as-
petsons pretending to holy orders; and' the Magis-
trates stated no obje(iion to their character, but only
said that they had been informed (information which
was not correct) that the Court of King's Bteoch had
decided, that. every applicant must be also .the
teacher of a separate congregation of asserting
Protestants. The Attorney-General had said, that
however the Justices might have been mistaken, the
party must shew himself - to_ come within .t be de-
scription of the law. He had sworn himself within
that description. The framer of the Toleratitin Ad
was well -known to be Lord .Sonlers, 'as great a
lawyer as ever lived, •and one as
,well acquainted
. with the history and character of his age.:. be knew
that, at the time of the.Act,.the four descriptions
of persons whom it comprised, actually. existe.l.---
In which his Lordship had quoted, Pem-,
' berron, J. differed from the rest of the Court. -The
preachers of. Dissenting Congregations must be
'eleCted by those t-kmgregations, who could not, rill
the candidate had made a trial of his talents, invite
him to become their preacher ; and, therefore, ro
hold that a man could not lawfully teach till he had
a sTarate 'congregation, was to-say, than no bis-.
seating, Strident could ever exhibit a specimen of
his gifts, but that his pastorship must take place
per solvent. -The Atiorney,General had called him-
self the, advocate of the Dissenters, but they would,
not thank him for some of his doctrines. • The per-,
mission to take these oaths, and to 'subscribe. this
declaration, gave' thtt Dissenter no privileges or im-
munities, unless he should afterwards be found to •
be a teacher of an actual congregation, except the
exemption from some se:vere pualties, which did

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