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the mild Sovereign of France , who had distinguished his government by the wisdom and equity of his administration had been dethroned by that class of his subjects who had arms in their hands ; and that the armed subjects of France had only exhibited attachment to Buonaparte , whom
with professions of loyalty and patriotism they had again placed on that throne which Britain and her allies had compelled him to abandon . When I say that some of the expressions in the prayer were not happily chosen , I do not mean to impute blame , or evil intention to Professor Mylne .
I see no ground to presume that his allusions in the pulpit to the political events of the day were culpable , or that he was aware they could be liable to misconception or misconstruction ; and I am also satisfied , that his selection of the psalm and scriptural translation was no way connected with the recent intelligence from
prance . This testimony to the rectitude of Professor Mylne ^ s conduct on the 26 th March , I conceive it to be my duty to give plainly and decidedly , and I regret that the circumstances to which I have already alluded , proceeding- I believe from
accident merely , should have led to and rendered a precognition necessary . I shall only add , that had a different state of matters existed , I would not have shrunk from any responsibility on my part , and that the circumstance of a violation of law
having been committed within the walls of a college , in a place of public worship where the young * and inexperienced form part of the audience , would only have operated with me as an additional reason for making it the subject of criminal prosecution . ( Signed ) An . Colquhoun .
On the 22 nd I transmitted to his lordship the following letter , with which I shall at present close my communications : Glasgow College , % lst April , 1815 . To the Right Hon . Lord Advocate , &c . &c . My Lori > ,
Your Lordship ' s opinion on the late precognition here , has just been put into my bands , and I have perused it with deep aiul respectful attention . It certainly gives me satisfaction to find , that after considering the evidence presented to your lordship , you fully acquit me of all crime or criminal intention in
the matters to winch the precognition refers . I may , however , be permitted to say , that the satisfaction which I feel is not that of relief from any anxiety about the result of the investigation into my
conduct 5 as your lordship , in your letter of the 11 th , seems to hint . I was too thoroughly convinced of the utter groundlessness of the charges against me , to entertain any apprehension that the inquiry
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would terminate otherwise , than ia tfc disgrace of those by whom these cW [ had been preferred . And I must further say , that my satisfaction would have feeeir more complete , if your lordshi p ' s impr <* sionjof what you are pleased to call thl
unfortunate nature of the incidents of th 26 th March , had been somewhat different from that which your letter indicates Even after carefully weighing 1 your lordship ' s observations , intended toshow ifcat the interpretation put upon the psalms then
sung , was not a very unnatural one , 1 cannot consider my choice of them as what can properly be called an unfortu ? iate incident . For I think that 1 could not beforehand have imagined so absurd a mis . construction of them to be possible , without calculating upon a greater degree of perversity or malignity in my hearers , than ordinary hearers could be supposed to possess . It was indeed an unfortunate
incident , that in th « audience there happened to be one or two individuals , whese fancy enabled them to see certain imaginary coincidences , between the psalms of the day and the afflicting intelligence of the day—coincidences which had not entered into the mind of any other of the congregation ; and which , it is imagined , will not appear very palpable , even after
your lordship ' s exposition of the most offensive of the lines . The fact , I believe to be this , ( and I am persuaded the precognition , if carefully and candidly examined , will show it to he the fact , ) tbat one of these individuals , in a moment of thoughtless levity , and I am quite certain
without the slightest feeling of evil intention towards me , had suggested to the other the idea of such a coincidence . TV fancy thus taken up gradually swelled into magnitude by the gossip to which it gave rise ; and at last , after a progress of how many steps I will not take upon me
to determine , it carne into the possessioa of some one , who , with incredible foliy ^ if not with unpardonable malignity , took it upon him to convey it to the law officers of the country , with all the solemnity of a grave and serious cliarge against me . Your lordship must have found from tht declarations , that besides those to whom
I refer , no others ever imagined imprope r allusions in my psalms or improper la&-guage in nay prayers : and the Snen could have informed you , if he has »<« done it , that when four days after tnt 26 th , on Thursday , the 30 th of March , intimated to my colleague , Dr . Meikl * ^ that I was charged with such a g lartf j impropriety , the intimation vas recc ^ with an astonishment that p lainly s » the information then given , of my ^^ duct , to be altogether new to him ; » consequently shewed that the m } je * had never been taken up hy the cong Ration , and had even been aUnwnt * J
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4 O 8 Proceedings against Professor My lne , on the Charge of Sedition
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1815, page 408, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1762/page/8/
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