Star.
London, England, 1811-05-22 00:00:00

It had even been insinuated that opinions on points of
this nature had been held by him, which were thought
to be of a mischievous nature, and even of a tendency
destructive t the State. If there was any miscon-
ception on this head, he certainly was not chargeable
with it ; for when the Noble Viscount gave notice of
his intention to bring in the Bill, and afterwards when
he introduced it, he was led to expect .t Bill very dif-
ferent from that which was now before their Lord-
ships. The misconception therefore proceeded from
the Noble Viscount's misinterpretation ef the Act of
Toleration. As to the Dissenters, he was himself
perhaps more in the habit of intercourse with many
descriptions of them than the Noble Viscount, and
he could take upon himself to say that though he
had conversed with many of them on the subject
of this Bill, by not any one of them did he ever heat
it approved. As to his own individual opinions, he
should never retract them. Among them' was the
opinion, that it was one of the natural rights of man
(tor man he would contend had natural rights) to
interpret the Bible in his own way, according to the
best of his judgment, and of that right no human
power should attempt to divest him ; and what was
his sincere conviction, he equally had a right to in-
culcate on the minds of others, so long as in so doing
he did nothing to injure the interests of the State, or
interrupt the peace of the community. The Noble
Viscount's Bill would not only take away this right, .
but it went to impose on the minds of other men the
judgment and opinions of six persons in those matters,
respecting which, men should be left perfectly at li-
berty to follow the dictates of their own judgment..
Earl STA NHO PE applauded and adopted the prin-
ciples of his Noble Friend who spoke last, and con-
fessed, that since he had been in Parliament, he had
never received more satisfaction than from seeing the
number of petitions which had that night been pre-
sented against the Bill. The number of those peti-
tions would prove to those who did not seem willing
to confess there was such a thing—the existence of a
public. The public spoke pretty plainly on the pre-
lent occasion. But the Noble Viscount's Bill was
already dead and gone; and no man of sense would
now quarrel with its 'carcase. He should say of it,
that it was both an enacting and a declaratory Bill, and
that in both respects it was highly objectionable. It
should therefore have his decided opposition. As to
Toleration Acts, he had a different opinion of them
from most of their Lordships ; and he should now
give public notice that early in the next session he
should make a motion to repeal them all.
The Earl of BUCKINGHAMSHIRE wished
their Lordships would allow the bill to go into a Com-
mittee. The various observations which had fallen
during the course of the discussion abundantly proved,
that the Toleration Act was differently interpreted in
different parts of the country,and that, therefore, it was
necessary so to explain it, as to bring the execution of it
to some degree of uniformity. Since, however, his Ma-
jesty's Government had signified their intention not to
support the bill, he thought it would be more advisable
sot to press it for the moment.
Earl 6REY adopted the principles laid .down by
his Noble Friend (Lord Holland), and professed to
be one of those who, in their interpretation of religious
liberty, conceived it to allow every man to interpret
the Scriptures to the best of his judgment, and to
model his conduct accordingly, so long as that inter-
pretation of the Bible did not lead him into acts dais- ,
gerous to the State, or irreconcileable with the peace'
and harmony of the community. As to the incon
venience which the Noble Viscount was anxious to
remove with respect to the exemptions from civil
offices, the militia, &c. which he imagined a license
to teach and preach was sought after, in order to ob-
tain ; these inconveniences were all removed by dif-
ferent clauses lately introduced into the Militia Bills;
and no new enactment was therefore necessary to re-
medy such inconveniences. Upon the whole, he was
of opinion, that it were much better not to agitate
such a question at the present moment.
Lord SIDMOUTH shortly replied. After which
the question was put on Lord Erskine's Amendment,
which was agreed to without a division.
the bill is therefore lost for the present Session.
Adjourned at twelve o'clock.