On this page
-
Text (1)
-
7
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Adopting The Same Order In Which Tormer ...
Your Committee lost no time in acting upon these instructions , but l _# _rre * not in their powei * to report any communication of an intention to proceed in so _desirable an object from the Protestant Society . From the Deputies , however , they have received from time to time , , both through public report and official communication , information of the . steps taken to revive public attention to the claims of Dissenters , ami to bring them under the notice of the _Legislature .
As a matter of general notoriety , the Committee may probably notice that considerable _difference of opinion prevailed _among the body of Deputies , both as to the _expediency of at present agitating the question , and as to the mode of so doing if it were determined to make the attempt . The general op _' mioa seemed disinclined to attempt any thing unless under reasonable prospect of
success : and ( though your Committee , in common with many of the Deputies , thought the immediate prospect of success a very secondary object of consideration , _and _that the course of proceeding most honourable to them- * selves and most likely in the end to prevail _^ consisted in frequent and temperate appeals to the good sense and justice of . the public , through the medium of Parliament , whatever might be the present result , ) they did not feel it to
be their duty to press pertinaciously for any peculiar mode of proceeding , but to concur zealously in any serious efforts for the common good . It is well known that repeated discussions took place in the Deputies , all concurring sa far as to admit the propriety of increased vigilance , and at length your Committee were happy to nnd that a regular correspondence was directed to be opened throughout the kingdom , containing an explanation of the historical position of the question , requesting _communications as to the feelings and
wishes of the Dissenters generally , and covering forms of petitions to be used when deemed expedient . This , it is to be hoped , will prepare the way for active and efficient exertions in the ensuing Session of Parliament , which your Committee are proud to have been in any way instrumental in exciting * and they , at their last Committee , came to the . following resolution , to be submitted to your consideration , as the result of their exertions in pursuance of the instructions contained in the resolutions of last year :
* ' That it appears to the Committee that a point of considerable importance has been gained , in the direction of the serious attention of a body representing the general Dissenting public , to so desirable an end . That this Committee relies upon the steady continuance of such exertions , and recommends to their successors to keep a vigilant attention directed towards all proceedings tending to accomplish the wishes of this Association , as
expressed at the General Meeting _s and particularly not to suffer the next _Sessipn to open , without securing from some quarter a suitable application to Parliament , for the purpose of exciting" such discussion as may , at any rate , operate to direct public opinion , and awaken the attention of the Dissenting body to . questions of so rmichimportance . " Your Committee have had less business of a private nature than usual _before them . [ The pan of the Report which relates to private cases is as usual omitted in printing for publication , for obvious reasons . ]
In several instances your Committee have been called upon for , and in two or three have given , assistance to congregations in the formation of the trust deeds of their property . They have , however , felt ( and they believe in common with their predecessors ) some _difficulty in the course to be adopted under this branch of thfeir duties . They have ia several instances been applied to , to prepare , at the expense of the Association , trust deeds for congregations _^ iti some cases , under circumstances of urgency , from the probability of
aggression in case every- opportunity was not sewed to vest the trust iri new hands ; in other cases , simply on the ground of the poverty of tlie _congregation ; and in others , merely from the xvish of the parties to have advice and assistance from persons whose peculiar circumstances might be supposed to have made them conversant with matters of this nature . On the one hand , it seemed difficult for the Committee not to feel that they were often moat efficiently preventing the necessity , for the legal _iaterrerence which they might otherwise be hereafter called on to afford , 6 y embracing a favourable opportunity at a comparatively small expense of securing
7
7
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 4, 1823, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/smrp_04061823/page/7/
-