The Sun.
London, England, 1834-03-13 00:00:00

DISSENTERS.

Petitions were presented from the Dissenters of St. George's
Chapel, Leeds, and from High Burton, by Mr. Baines ; from
the Dissenters of Boroughbridge (county of Somerset), and the
Baptists of Burton, by Mr. Tynte ; from the Independent Dis-
senters of Norwood, by Mr. Grote ; and from the Baptist con-
gregation of the borough of Wigan, by Mr. Thicknesse.
Mr. GROTE presented a petition from Edward Moxay of
Threadneedle.street, complaining of the law of debtors.
Mr. HARDY presented petitions from the Protestant Dis.
senters of Westgate chapel, and Sion chapel, Bradford, and
Sutton. He said he could not concur in an expression used by
the petitioners,that the union between church and state was to-
tally unscriptural. Nor could he admit another thing which
was asserted, that the church yard was public property. He should
be sorry to see his dissenting brethren compelled to do anything
contrary to their conscience; that was the case when another
party, not the church, was dominant.

Sir OSWALD MOSELEY presentod petitions on the
same subject from the dissenters of Eaton, Uttoxeter,
and Abbot's Bromley. He expressed his concurrence
with the sentiments of the last speaker, and complained
that at a recent meeting of the dissenters at Manchester, ex-
pressions were used which if carried out would be entirely
subversive of all good order; but he was happy to say that he
had that morning read letters from some respectable dissenters
of Manchester condemning those proceedings.—(Hear.) The
hon. baronet presented a petition from the parish of Kirk
Langley, in favour of the better observance of the Lord's Day.
Mr. BULTEEL expressed his regret, that in the mea-
sure proposed by a noble lord, ostensibly for the relief
of the Dissenters, it was intended that, before they
could solemnize their own marriages, they must apply to the
established churchtthe clergymen of which, in many instances,
were disposed to dispute the validity of such marriages : he
suggested that the best way to meet the defendants on all sides
would be to make marriage a civil contract.
Lord W. LENNOX said he considered that the bill of the
noble Paymaster of the Forces was a complete mockery, and he
believed that the dissenters would rather have the law of
marriage remain as it was now, than have the new
system which would lay them open to such vexation.—
(Hear, hear, hear.) He desired that they should have
a total abolition of the church rates, because he believed the
church possessed ample funds to pay for their edifices and their
clergymen, if they were properly distributed.

Mr. HARVEY regretted the absence of both the members for
Manchester upon this occasion, as they would now have had an
opportunity of vindicating their respectable constituents from
the remarks which had been made. The _meeting which had
been held at Manchester was conducted in a manner which
could scarcely be expressed. His attention had last night been
called to a report of the proceedings in a Manchester paper,
(which he had now before him) and he found the most able,
calm, and dispassionate discussion on the topics contained
in the petitions before the house, particularly in that one
which regarded the alliance of Church and State. He wished
that it was consistent with the rules of the house that that re.
port should be printed -for the benefit of members; for they
would then have a more correct view than they had yet had of
the feelings of dissenters as to the conn exionof Church and State.
Mr. O'DWYER.. begged to state, for the information of the
hon. baronet opposite, that 22 colleges at Oxford, and 12 at
Cambridge, were founded before the Reformation.
Sir 0. MOSLEY explained that he had alluded only to col-
leges founded since the Reformation.

Mr. G. WOOD stated that when the question came on
in a regular shape, his right hon. friend the Vice President of
the Board of Controul would be in his place, and afford every
information respecting the meeting alluded to. As to the bill
of the noble Paymaster of the Forces, he approved of some part
of it, but he was confident, as regarded marriages, that it would
not give general satisfaction.