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stilled Into the public rnmd . * That he lived to see the success of this measure ¦ was the greatest triumph which he ever enjoyed , as , independently of the immediate benefits to which it gave rise , it afforded him reason to hope that there was in this country a fund of integrity , humanity and good sense , which , under all emergencies would be found adequate to its preservation .
£$ or did he view with indifference the municipal concerns of the town in which he resided . For a long series of years a select body of the corporators have taken the administration of the affairs of the town into their own hands , excluding therefrom the burgesses at large , and under the name of a common council have
elected their own members , and claimed tBe right of making bye-laws for the government of the town . These pretensions were opposed , as inconsistent with the existing charters , by a great number of the freemen , and even by some respectable members of the select body , and Mr . Rathbone took a conspicuous
part in the assertion of the rights of his fellow burgesses . A voluntary subscription was entered into ; the questions were put into a course of judicial proceeding , and that respecting- the right of making bye-laws was tried at Lancaster , and a verdict given in favour of the burgesses at large . On a motion in the
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Court of King ' s Bench , a new trial wax directed , and the cause went again before a jury , who returned a similar ver - dict to their predecessors . The Court of King ' s Bench was again moved , and a third trial was ordered , but $ ie strong
indications , thus given thai : the claims of the burgesses would not ultimately prevail , induced them to relinquish the con * test , and the select body still continues to exercise the Complete direction of the concerns and finances of the town .
These local contests occurred at a period when Mr . Rathbone was in the full vigour of his powers . At the numerous assemblies held on these occasions he frequently addressed the freemen of the town , and the torrent of his eloquence
was irresistible . The force of his arguments , the clearness of his demonstration , and the urbanity of his manner , overpowered all resistance , and enthralled all hearts ; and the applauses he received whenever he spoke were as in » voluntary as they were sincere .
Mr . Rathbone had been strictly educated in the religious profession of which his parents were members , to which he had himself invariably adhered , notwithstanding an extensive and intimate inter * course of friendship with many persons of different religious persuasions , and had evinced himself an active and useful member of their society ; f but of late
? Yet were the late Mr . Rathbone ' s zealous and successful efforts in favour of this great cause of justice and humanity , wholly unnoticed by Mr , Clarkson in his history of the abolition , in which other instances of a similar want of impartiality are observable ,, and particularly his inadequate and disproportionate estimate © f the services of that illustrious philanthropist , patriot and statesman , Charles James Fox , when compared with the praises he has bestowed on the less earnest , and less efficient exertions of his political rival . A minister , who , during the long and eventful period of his administration , evinced by the most unequivocal proofs , the uniform efficacy of his influence over the legislative body , on every cjuestlon respecting which he professed a warm interest , excepting tbtrt of thi abolition of the slave-trade f
I cannot close this note without recording the lively interest Mr . RathboO * manifested , in consonance 'with his uniform sentiments and conduct , in endeavouring" to rescue his native town from the opprobrium under which it had long laboured for carrying on the African slave-trade , by earnestly and successfully i ^ ttpporting the election of Mr . Ro 6 coe , the eloquent and ' avowed enemy of that detestable traffic , as one of their representatives in parliament at the general electkmtn 1806- V " .
f The correctness of this statement cannot justly he questioned . At the same time , to prevent misconception , it may be proper to state , that Mr , Rathbone never took any very active part in the administration of the discipline of the society . His feelings would rather have prompted him to endeavour to moderate , as lie occasionally did , than to encourage the temper and spirit in which it was some * tjbugs enforced , in violation of the rights of couscteacc * and evca to the cxdt * 8 # &
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254 Obituary *
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Jl £ r . R&lhbmic *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1809, page 234, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1735/page/58/
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