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    a the register of the marriage . It was argued that the publication of batms required by this BUI would be offensive to the clergy of the Established Church . He really did not conceive in what manner the ? could be offended by it ; especially when it was recollected that by the present practice of the Church , notices of all sorts , of highway rates , and even of the most trifling descriptions , were regularly promulgated in the Church during the intervals of divine service- What was

    there , he would ask , that « ould offend the clergy in the publication of the banns of marriage between persons admitted to be conscientious , admitted to be of high mo ** ral character , and of the greatest respectability , some of them Members of the other House , and therefore sitting to legislate for the community ? Was it possible for their Lordships to say that

    the publication of the banns of marriage between euch persons as tliese would degrade the clergyman who made the publication ? Again , his Noble and Learned Friend had complained of the clause in this Bill which required the entry in the registry of the marriage . Now , it seemed to him that the duty thus imposed upon the clergyman was one in which the

    whole country was interested . It was not a matter that regarded individuals alone —it was in fact a public duty imposed for the benefit of the com- * munity . Was it not , he would ask , a matter of public convenience , that all the registers of marriages should be kept in one place , in order that all questions of legitimacy might be easily determined ?

    Were not all parishes interested in the decisions of such matters , even in a pecuniary point of view ? And was < it no advantage to the country to secure the means of a quick and decisive method of settling those disputes ; and should any one fancy he was degraded by being called upon to perform so important a duty ? He must acknowledge he felt tiie force of the objection made by the Noble and

    Learned Lord to that part of the Bill which related to the marriage before the justice of the peace , of whose person the female might not be aware , and who might turn out not to be duly qualified unless it was provided that the marriage should be at any rate valid . He ktiew that that objection , and others of a similar character , would require some consideration . But the Noble and Learned

    liOrd had discussed the provisions of this Bill entirely in 4 he spirit of 'party . It was not a question of party , but one Which ought only to be viewed calmly , deliberately , and dispassionately , as ' a

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    great ptfbfic measure . The question now before them was , ought they not to give tfceir sanction to the principle , leaving its details for future discussion in the Comutftflee ? When it had arrived at that stage , he should certainly use his utmost endea * Krours to get rid of the difficulties which Bad now been presented to their Lordships ; and if at this time those

    difficulties were found to be insurmountableff they were such as could not be disposed of in the present session of Parliament , — -he would agree to give up the Bill for a time , satisfied with having established the principle of the measure . If the principle of the Bill was once

    established , — 'if the Lower House was , as it liad often declared itself , ready to grant relief ,- ^ -aud this House concurred , as he trusted it would , in the same conclusion there could be no great difficulty in mastering its details , which seemed to him much overrated when it was thought it 'could not be surmounted . If he was

    right in what he had just stated , he saw no reason why this Bill should not be read a second time ; or , as the question in form now stood , why it should not be committed . It seemed to him that the respectable body of Dissenters to which he had alluded were entitled to this pledge of their intentions ; and , indeed , that not only they , but the members of the Establishment , might claim the relief at the hands of the Legislature ; for it would be a relief almost as much to the Church as

    to these Dissenters . He believed that their Lordships could not act more discreetly than in adopting the principle sanctioned i > y the Right Reverend Prelate upon this subject ; and if they adopted the principle , he would use his best exertions to

    get rid of the difficulties in the way , or , if it were necessary , consent to the delay in passing the measure until next session , in the hope that they would be enabled to grant the Dissenters and the Church a more perfect remedy , by the opportunity which would then have been afforded

    them , of fully examining into the nature and probable effects of the proposed measure ; and they would in the mean time have satisfied the persons now before them , that they were sensible of the justice of their claims , that they admitted them , and would at the earliest opportunity afford the relief desired .

    The © afl of Eldon , in explanation , thought it necessary to say , as the absence of a Noble Lord had been alluded to , that the fact of that absence furnished no tiTgument in favour of the preseut Bill ; to which that Noble Lord had , in the mow decided manner , declared his

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    l * teHigtnw . ~ -4 Mtnrim Mtnh&v > Btil 623

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1827, page 623, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1799/page/71/