The Sun.
London, England, 1828-06-21 00:00:00

I,indita biiigEtt 4-gititftgt titE
REPEAL OF THE CORPORATION ANti TEST ACTS.

sembled the King'a Arms Inn, in this town', to celebrate
Yesterday,h
;, tabeouLt ii'll6rpOo°nil►ojisterrcesurp.Y of Yt da
respectable
tn en an.
the important tient of the repeal of those etclusite
tutes, the Test and torioration Acts:
At a quarter before six o'clock the company sat down tiff
dinner in the great Assembly Room, did Rev. WILLIAM
Stataitrnt in the Chair, supported on his right the
Rev. Mr. Whitehead, of Ainsworth, near Bolton, and on
his left by Robert Haskell, Esq. The Rev. Mr. Grundy,
and Thomas Bolton, Esq. officiated as Vice Presidents.
observed at the table
persona of almost every reli-
giots
After the clotri was withdrawn, " Non nobis Domine"
was sung by several gentlemen of the company.
The Cnatamar7.—Gentlernen, before we proceed any
further, it is necessary for me to explain to you bow it is
that I creamy the honourable station in which I ant this
day placed: Most of you are aware that it is customary on
these occasions for the gentleman who preaches the annual
sermon, also to preside at the dinner. The former duty
has this day devolved upon iffy Worthy friend near toe, Mr.
Whitehead; but Gentlemen, as In,' friend is not animated
by the spirit of the Duke of Wellington, rtidi at: he will
not, like that Noble Duke, venture to occupy a pont for
for which he feels, nay; he confesses, that he is, I will not
say incompetent,—(Cheers and laughter), but for which
h; oat pr,r^ared : I say, Gentlemen, as my friend de-
this day, and entreats Me supply
clines to take the churl
his place, I will endeavour to main' as good a substitute as
I can. And, Gentlemen, let me announce to you thus
early, that, in imitation of that Noble Duke to whom I
have just alluded, in my capacity of chairman, I shall be
" prompt" and " decisive ;"--(Applause and laughter.)—
and that if any thing should occur in the course of this
evening to disturb the cordiality in which we are all as-
sembled, (which I, however, by no means anticipate,) I
will hear no explanations,—(Laughter)—but will insist that
there is no mistake—there can be no mistake-rand there
shall be no mistake !_(lloars of laughter.) The Com-
mittee appointed to conduct the proceedings on this ecca-
slim have borrowed, what I think is a very excellent regu-
lation, from the Cheshire Whig Clob, !sanely, that there
shall be no huzzaing or hallooing after the toasts. Gen-
tlemen, in all British convivial assemblies the first toast is,
very properly, the Xing; the Chief Magistrate. My
worthy friend John Horne Tooke Used to say " I love the
King according to law : and if he be kind to mei I love
him even beyond the }Mir." So I say, Gentlemen I love
the King according to law, acid I lote him even beyond the
law; for, notwithstanding the fraternal soficitations of the
Duke of Cumberland, and the friendly epistle Of fire Rev.
Edward Irving,—(Laughter,)—his Majesty has beet: hind
Ito me, for he has put his Royal hand to the Bill for repeal-
ing the obnoxious Test and Corporation Acts;—(Cheers.)
I —and for this kindness I love his Majesty " even beyond
the law."—(Applause.)--Gentlemen, I give you—
" Health, long life, and a happy and prosperous reign
to his Majesty George the Fourth."
Song—" God save the King," the company heartily
joining in the chorus.
The CHAIRMAN neit gave,—" The Duke of Clarence
and the rest of the Royal Family."
The CHAIRMAN again rose.--s Messrs. Vice-Presidents
and Gentlemen, the time is now come whets it becomes my
duty to direct your attention to the joyful occasion which
has swelled the ordinary meeting of the Presbyterian
Ministers to this numerous, this respectable, and, I am
proud to say, as to the composition of its members, this
miscellaneous assemblage of gentlemen, whom I have now
the honour to address.—(Applause.)--I call it a joyful
occasion, when the spirit of those laws, the repeal of which
we are now celebrating, was, that no one was entitled to
fathom the depths of a barrel of beer, unless he could also
fathom the depths of the thirty-nine articles !--(Applause
and laughter)—that he was unworthy to fill an office in any
petty Corporation in the kingdom—and that, while he bore
his full share of all the burdens of the State, he was utterly
unworthy to participate in its emoluments and distinctions.
But the stigma is now removed ; and the Protestant Dis-
senter may mingle with society, in the full assurance that
in the eye of the law he stands on a perfect equality with
the member of the Established Church.--(Mr. S. here ad-
verted to the spirit in which the opposition to the repeal
of the Test and Corporation Acts had been met, both by
the Ministers of the Crown and the Bench of Bishops,whose
moderation he warmly eulogized. He then proceeded.)..---
But, Gentlemen, the Test and Corporation Acts are noW
dead and buried, and John Lord Eldon officiated as chief
mourner.—(Cheers and laughter, which were increased by
some one calling out towards the eonelusiOn " one cheer
more.")—l shall not, however, proceed to preach their
funeral sermon, for that is a very awkward sort of duty for
gentlemen of my profusion to perfortti, when they have
nothing-good to say of the defunct.—(Applause.)—l once
had a volume of sermons that were preached by a clergy-
man upon the death of the wicked persons in his parish ;
and indeed, gentlemen, the volunie *as a bulky one too.—
(Laughter.)--I shall not, however, imitate that patent:, by
preaching on the death of these wicked Acts.—[Mr. S. here
went at some length into the history of the origin of the Test
and Corporation Acts, and the several ineffectual attempts
made to procure their modification and repeal, first by
King William, and, subsequently, on the motion of Mr.
Beaufoy, in 1789, when the majority against the motion
was only 20, while in the following year, 1790, the com-
manding eloquence of Burke, and the terror just then
struck into the minds of the aristocracy of this country by
the French revolution, increased the majority to 180
Mr. S. then proceeded.] This majority so astounded the
Dissenters, that they remained quiet for twenty-seven
0)
p argument
wliarli.hneHansodufd,sagarrsoia:Cisednowhsnate_ai
r us
smlheoLtattuhnaeluardtgo
ofhiNlnVtoacetrt)Ch.
ahoi
meeting l could
,dsenudhbbjaevconetf
years, and when, at length, we began to rouse ourselves,
silent.—(Cheers.)
edwr.nothing uscd h as
ose
rascn.
DtoisrhentuinngfoArituinniastetersi
re-
ceived for answer that our grievances were more ima-
ginary than real, or we should have complained of them
sooner : I replied to him in these words, that if God
spared me life and health, be should never make
the same complaint again.—(Applause.) [Mr. S.
then proceeded to eulogize, in very warm terms, the
conduct of J. Smith, Esq., M.P. for Midhurst, who
was mainly instrumental in rousing the Dissenting
public to a sense of the importance of this question,
and in organizing the opposition which terminated
so successfully.} That opposition (continued Mr. S.), as
I have before stated, was conducted in a spirit of perfect
fairness and moderation by all the Ministers and Peers,
with the single exception of John Lord Eldon, who exer-
cised all his wicked ingenuity upon it. But, Gentlemen,
there must be great allowance made for this venerable
statesman ; be had not then, nor has he yet, recovered
from the shock of the tumble down from political power
which he experienced. Besides this, he saw that his suc-
cessor was a man in the prime of life, and in the full vi-
gour of his intellect; that he was possessed of such happy
pliability of political principle, that, like a glove, he could
accommodate himself to any Ministry—(applause and
laughter)--and, therefore, that having once got on the
woolsack, he was not likely soon to quit it. Gentlemen,
I read in the records of our Corporation the account of a
man, named John Dixon, being fined bs. in the reign of
Charles 11. for profanely swearing, that whoever the devil
would be Mayor, he would be Town Clerk—(laughter)—
so with Lord Lyndhurst, whoever may be Minister, he
seems determined to be Lord Chancellor.—(Laughter.)-..
I understand his Lordship has had the grace to begin his
grammar of equity law, and is now got as far as " Easy
sentences"—(much laughter)—from which we may rea-
sonably hope better things from him by-and-bye. Gentle-
men, I shall say no more of this Lord, as he has been well-
disciplined by the Bishop of Cheater, but hope that he may
live one thousand years, in order to see the falsehood of his
prophecies, although I do not wish him to continue all
that time upon the woolsack.—(Laughter.)—As to the
Declaration, Gentlemen, with which this boon to the Dis-
senters is accompanied, it reminds me of an old gentleman
who, in the plenitude of his liberality, put his hand into his
breeches pcxket, and gave a poor man sixpence, but sud-
denly recollecting himself, he turns upon his heel and calls
out, " Halloo, you Sir, give me back a penny !"—(Much
laughter. )—The Ministers and the Bishops who supported
the repeal did so at no small risk. There was John Lord
Eldon to raise the cry of " the Church is in danger," and,
therefore, they were obliged to tack this declaration to the
Bill by way of a salvo for the tender consciences of his
Lordship, and others, who could see nothing but the de-
struction and downfall of the Church in the repeal of the
Test and Corporation Acts. But, Gentlemen, this decla-
ration contains nothing that precludes us from enjoying all
the rights of British subjects, and exercising all those of
English citizens ; it contains nothing to prevent us from
resisting tyranny and oppression, even in a clerical magi-
strate, if such a one is to be found.—(Applause and
laughter.)--It contains no restriction of this sort, Gentle-
men, and therefore I, for one, am very thankful and very
grateful for the Bill as it stands.—(Cheers.)—Gentlemen,
I am obliged to you for the attention you have bestowed
upon me; but there is one topic to which I am anxious to
call your attention, before I conclude, and one respecting
which, I doubt not, that the feeling of every one present
will respond to my own. Not, as is said in the second
book of Lucretius—
" Suave marl magno turbantibus cequora ventis,
E terra magnum alterius specture laborem."
But I know that this meeting, and 1 trust the Dissenters