On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
Untitled Article
oppose their neighbours getting equal privileges with themselves , the sooner a breach takes place the better . The party of the seceders from the broad principle would be , I trust , insignificant , if not in numbers , yet certainl y in talent and consideration in the country , and the others would be able to pursue an even , single handed and hearted course , without the restraints and thwartings which now paralyze their exertions and make them blush for the body to which they belong .
When we see what can pe effected by a little well-directed combination on far less important subjects , one cannot doubt but the Dissenting body would soon understand their rights and relative duties , and would zealously vindicate the one and perform the other ; and there are many members of Parliament of energy and moral courage enough to vindicate principles which only want to be stated and canvassed . If the Anti-Catholic Dissenters were left to themselves , we should see their nakedness , and I am very much mistaken if they would much longer be known among us .
I have always lamented the effects which the apathy and neglect of the leaders among the Dissenters have produced on the political character of the body . No opponent would wish for a result more favourable to his views . The present generation of Dissenters have never even heard the question of their rights discussed . Very many know really nothing of their political situation as compared with other countries . They have heard and believe wonderful things of what is called an Indemnity Bill ; and the protectors of their civil
rights have never either shewn them how degrading this perpetual pardon for offences committed is , or ought to be , felt to be by those who are conscious of no offence , or told them that this Indemnity Bill is all a farce and a delusion . What really is its operation ? Nothing ; except so far as the spirit of the age gives an operation to it , and would give it whether the
Indemnity Bill passed or not . The Test and Corporation Acts are intended to prevent certain persons ifrom holding offices , and this object it seeks to effect by giving a power to inflict sundry penalties and provisions ; and does the Indemnity Bill relax the object in view ? Not a bit , though it modifies the means . Penalties , which the country would not bear to see enforced , are certainly remitted ; but the legal incapacity remains . The
Dissenter cannot be elected if objected to ; his votes are thrown away ; and if returned * he is removeable by quo warranto . This is all that a persecuting spirit would dare to do at this day , and all this it can dp when wanted ; what it is prohibited from doing it would not dare to do , and does not want to do , for the law allows it still to do a great deal more than it ventures upon . Public feeling , then , is the Dissenters' protection , not the Indemnity Bill , which just as much accomplishes the object proposed , of keeping the Dissenter excluded when wished , as the Test and Corporation Acts
themselves , only modifying the penalty , which it is found not necessary , and perhaps impossible , to enforce . I lament exceedingly to see how much the Dissenters have lost the habit of looking to certain principles of civil liberty as belonging to , and rendered sacred by , their connexion with religious freedom . The name of Dissenter is no longer evidence , even presumptive , that the person who bears it is not
and cannot , with any consistency , De the passive subject or instrument of oppression . As a political body , they can hardly be said to exist ; and indeed one of the largest divisions of them is notoriously becoming every day more and more friendly to principles that look very much like passive obedience and complacent non-resistance , or at least indifference , in matters of politics . X . A .
Untitled Article
Ttte Test and Corp&ration Acts . 193
Untitled Article
VOL . I . O
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1827, page 193, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1794/page/33/
-