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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.
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Inteltigende *—Corporation and Tat * Act * . 455
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had been suffered from the operation of these laws . On the passing of the Test Act in Ireland , the Corporation of Derry had been broken up , because the members could not comply with the Statute . An attempt had also been made in London to exclude a gentleman from the Corporation . It failed , merely because the party against whom the attack was aimed , happened to carry in his pocket the certificate of his qualification .
Mr . Pewtress knew that the Acts had occasioned much inconvenience in some of the Wards in London . Persons of respectablity could not be found to undertake offices of trust because they were compelled to qualify . They were , on this account , obliged to look to other Wards for candidates for these situations .
The inconvenience experienced in London was much greater in the country , where gentlemen of fortune were prevented from serving their respective neighbourhoods , because they were obliged first to submit to the obnoxious Test .
Mr . Favell made a few observations in reply to some of the speakers . The Recorder then put the question on Mr . Dixon ' s amendment , which was lost by a large majority ; after which the original Resolutions were carried by a majority equally great .
Resolutions . Resolved , That this Court is deeply impressed with the injustice and impolicy of the Corporation and Test Acts , which were passed in times when almost all parties were opposed to the rights of conscience , and to the principles of religious liberty .
That they inflict on persons who do not qualify under them the most severe penalties . Besides the fine of j £ 500 , they are rendered incapable of prosecuting any action or suit in law or equity —from being guardian of any child , or acting as executor or administrator of any person , or from receiving any legacy
or deed of gift , or bearing any office withiti the realm of England ; and all these punishments apply to persons who enter corporations or chartered companies , or take certain offices or commissions appointed by the Crown , without first receiving the Sacrament of the Lord ' s Snpper according to the rites of the Church of England .
That while they limit the prerogative of the Crown in rewarding merit , they convey imputations of disloyalty upon those classes of his Majesty ' s subjects among Nonconformists , who have been
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at all times amongst the most zealous supporters of the House of Brunswick , and of the principles of the British Constitution . That if these Acts had been enforced during the late war , a very large proportion of the volunteer officers would have been subjected to the most ruinous penalties .
That all persons born and educated in Scotland , under the Presbyterian religion , established by law , are required to conform to these laws when they accept of offices in England , or enter into His Majesty ' s army or navy . That in Ireland , where the members of the Church of England are in a minority , the Corporation Act has nei-er existed , and the Test Act has been long since repealed .
That the disabilities under these Acts are so numerous , that if enforced they would unsettle the questions of property throughout the kingdom , which has . doubtless induced the government to pass an act of indemnity every year , allowing further time for qualifying , exhibiting the most extraordinary anomaly in the history of legislation , by which laws are retained upon the statute book , and constantly nullified as unfit to operate in society .
That they are contrary to the interests and privileges of this Corporation , by enabling many persons , in other respects duly qualified , to decline the highest offices of the magistracy in this city without being liable to those fines which are levied upon their fellow-citizens . That many of the members of the Church of Englaud , as well ax Dissenters , consider these Acts as a violation of the
sacred ordinance of the Lord ' s Sapper , when applied as a test for civil purposes , and as totally contrary to the spirit of the institution , the object of which our Saviour declared , by saying , " Do this in remembrance of me . " That , anxious as this Court must ever feel to evince its attachment to the political and religious institutions of the country , it cannot better discharge that duty than by recommending measure * of
peace and liberality , that all parties may unite in the service of their country ; and being , above all , anxious , for the sake of religion and piety , to promote the repeal of enactments which turn the holiest ordinance of religion into a quali * fication and passport for power , and invpose restraints on the Church itself , to the free administration of its religious service , and invite men to its communion with far other feelings than such
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1827, page 455, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1797/page/63/
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