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Sm , April 27 , 1815 . If the following * extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in the North of Ireland , which I hare lately received , be thought proper for insertion in your pages , you are at Jiberty to present it to your readers .
PHILEMON . » Without an entire coincidence in all the opinions which characterize that sect ( the Unitarians ) , I concur with them in many essential points , particularly in the
great leading * principle , the unity of God , and in the liberal tolerance , winch they shew to those who differ from them . Long may they retain the latter mark , and not lose it , when they shall be no longer persecuted themselves- and like other sects
declaim against persecution , when exerted airainst themselves , but in a reverse of situation practise it against others . Unitarians have hitherto suffered under the double peril of a penal statute hangingover them , and of the unpopularity of their ! opinions . They are now relieved from the
former and I trust they will be cautious aot to lessen the latter by any mean compliances inconsistent with a fearless and honest avowal of their peculiar opinions , or hy crouching " to the powers which be , " for the sake of obtaining exclusive privileges . The Quakers have generally fallen in ] o the latter snare , to the almost total
extinction of the pnncip ] es of political freedom among them , under the pretext of not meddling with politics ; but rather , as they sometimes let slip out , that they might not ^ ejingrateful for , the favours received from government . Cobhett , during the discussion on the Trinity Relief Bill last year , expressed his
'uspicions that Unitarians nr ^ ight be swayed oy similar compromising motives , and I acknowled ge that the conduct and speeches of their parliamentary advocate , William ^ mith ; and some resolutions concurred 1 D > hy some of their ministers in the
^ gbbourhood of London about that time , strengthened my suspicions that they might possibl y fall into a time-serving , cringingf& Ireland we have no congregations | * J % and avowedly Unitarian . Those JM ed New Light Presbyterians approach ^ nearest , but they profess to be low ^ nans One of their principal men , Dr . . ruce > of Belfast , lias lately taken painjs
kr on * ttepos ., &nd since by a re-» cation of the article in one of the ast newspapers , to disavow his being . J » itarian . In Ireland religious truth aenm IJttle sou £ after . Sects are geticul Btron ^ y fortified within , their partobUi enclosures - Tne contests which ^ toosit US > ° H * ie fiMD J * ° f religion , are ! ^ r * exclusively on political grounds ^ auto A ^ Ck owin £ to our peculiar state ^ arhV * Mi € s , who form nearly three j > * ome say . mpre of our population . ¦
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These have been so kept down by a set of interested monopolists under the name of Protestant ascendancy , aided by a code of pains and penalties for opinions , that it appeared ungenerous to attack them , on
account of their errors , until they were allowed to defend themselves on equal terms with their opponents , who independently of their arrogant political assumption , had nearly as much superstition as the Catholics themselves . Hence arcse a
necessity on the part of the more liberal Protestants to join with the Catholics in order to procure by joint endeavours a restoration of civil rights to the latter , and a suspension of theological discussion until these rights had Ijeen restored , in conformity to the principles of sound policy and justice .
As I am on the subject of sects in Ireland I may mention a few additional facts to shew how we are circumstanced in this country . The Church of England , although the religion of the government , and consequently aided hy a compulsory maintenance , forms in the northern counties , a very small portion of the Protestants . We
have Presbyterians according to their different denominations , as in Scotland , Old Lights , and New Lights , Burghers and Anti-Burghers , all connected with the state , by the left-handed marriage of the Regiutn Donum , to their preachers , according- to classes of £ 60 , £ 75 , and £ 100 per annum . Another class of
Presbytenans occasionally called League and Cove * nant Men , Mountain Men , or Caraeronians , have not yet completed the treaty of sale with government for a share of the bounty . We have besides a large number of Methodists , some -Evangelicals , answering to Rowland Hill ' s people , and those whom Cobbett calls the Saints , a
thin sprinkling of Quakers , about 1500 families through the whole nation , three or four congregations of Moravians , and a few Baptists , who are nearly extinct as a sect , tut have latterly been reviving' in some places . Such is a brief statement of the state of sects amon < r us . *'
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Sects in Ireland . —Letter from Hannah Barnard . 3 % 1
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Sir , Bromley , May 20 , 1815 . I lately received a most welcome letter from my excellent friend Hannah Barnard , who was in g-ood health when it was written . It is dated Hudson , March 31 , 1815 ^ a flourishing town on the North River in
the State of New York . I transcrihe for your readers an extract from it descriptive of the genuine and general joy of the inhabitants of that part of America , at the happy restoration of peace between the two countries . May it loner continue ! I am yours sincerely ,
THOMAS FOSTER . iC I must nnw give tliee some account of the eflecfrthe news of peace bad here . It
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1815, page 321, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1760/page/57/
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