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portan t , At Bradneld a disturbance was naade in the chapel Qf , the Rev . Mr , Sloper , Beccles . A progecutipn was commenced and tiied at the quarter sessions . There was no doubt either as to the offender or the offence , but the Chairman took a legal objection by which the prosecution was defeated . Though the place of
meeting was duly certified in the ecclesiastical courts , yet it was held by the Chairman that it was also necessary that a copy of the certificate should have been transmitted to the clerk of the peace at the county sessions . According to the opinions of this Chairman , the law implied that the place of meeting should be
certified not only by the ecclesiastical but also by the civil tribunal . If this doctrine were established , it would completely nullify the act of toleration . It was , however , fortunately cot in the power of this Chairman to establish his doctrine . He addressed a jury ; he told them that in the absence of legal proof
of the registration of the chapel , it was impossible that the defendant could be convicted . The jury was composed of honest yeomen . They exercised their own judgment as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant , and they found
him guilty . Three times the Chairman sent them back , each time addressing them in the language of reproof . Three times the jury returned firmly into Court , and repeated their verdict . At last a friendly magistrate interposed . He said he had no doubt the Chairman would
agree to the verdict , if the Dissenters would not insist upon punishment . The prosecutor yielded to the suggestion , which , doubtless , was kindly meant , and no penalty was inflicted , though the verdict was recorded against the defendant . In the great , ancient and populous city of Canterbury there had been some
transactions which even in these marvellous times partook of unusual marvel . A place had there been registered . by a new sect , denominating themselves Aiminian Bible Christian . He ( Mr . W ) cared uot what were the peculiar tenets of this sect . U was not necessary to pffer either justification or apology . for them in that
society . They were disturbed while assembled for purposes of divine worship , and the fe nmlez grossly ijisulte ^ . They were determined to appeal to the protection © f the law . They applied to , a . magistrat e , who told ihem they must attend before a bench of justices ; they attended
acco rdingly b 0 fore the divan , when the first thing done was toeall for the proauction of theic 4 tceii $ e . It appeared that these justices h ^ d seen , in som ^ Suffolk : paper , the , dedaiQu of tfie Burjf feespious ,- a $ d * > n tbft authority of that , dcciaion , they required pro ^ f th * t th «
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license ^ had been recorded at the session * , as well as registered in the ecclesiastical tribunal . On failure of this proof , one of these justices told the complainants , " You have no right to redress . You were illegally assembled ; and if you assemble again 1 will interfere myself , and commit you to prison . " What were the
consequences of this determination ? That 500 or 600 persons inoffensively , if not laudably assembled , were to be exposed to the outrages of a disorderly multitude . If the doctrine of the Bury Sessions were correct ,, there was not a place of meeting in England duly licensed . They were required by law to register
their places of meeting , and to hold their ineetings open , that under pretence of religion they might not carry on factious designs . It was pot in their power to controul the registrar or clerk of the peace ; and if the law required them to exchange annually , the consequence must be , that for eleven months and three
\ y « eks in every year they must be not legally registered . In the opinion of the Solicitor-General , who had been consulted , the Dissenters had fulfilled all the law required of them ^ when they certified their places of meeting in the Ecclesiastical Court , and it followed that the power exercised jn the cases at Bury and Canterbury , was illegal and unjust . The
opinion of the Solicitor-General had also been taken as to the outrage at Canterbury . He said , < c upon the facts as stated in the case , I strongly recommend a prosecution . Outrages of this nature ought , not tq be allowed to pass i ^ n pu - lushed . " At Canteibury , however , a jury was returned pretty much to the mind of those who were against the prosecution .
The . prosecutors attended at the hazard of their lives . Stones were thrown at them , and it was evident that the fury of their enemies was such , that if martyrdom had been necessary , it would have been resorted to in support of their right
to persecute t ) ieir fellow-Christians for worshiping God after the dictates of their own conscience- A bill of indictment was found against seven of the rioters under circumstances similar to those which have excited the attention of the
Legislature to our sister island . At Southarn , in Warwickshire , there had been another . case of disturbance , and there also redress , had been refused , but on another pretext ; ; a good wontfjur tjiere thought she could , best learn Ijer religious
duties by attending a meeting-house ; her husband went after her , . violently assaulted fee ^; , » n 4 < Jragged her a , way . . In coy ^ equeuce of this , disturbance to the congre&i ^ ipii , an application was n ^ ade tp , a , nejghjiauripg magistrate . The man wtfi summoned , but , on treat * tag the case
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Intelligence . —Pret&tant Society r Mr . WiU ** * Speech . 307
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1823, page 307, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1784/page/51/
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