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Untitled Article
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Untitled Article
all ranks end classes in society ; many of whom had before been doubtful as to the expediency of such associations . Their i m- * portance was now manifest . They served as rallying points , around which gathered almost all who were not content passively to await the result , whatever that result might be . Many whose station ( as Members of Parliament for instance ) , or whose general notions and habits ( as the Quakers *) had made them hitherto keep aloof ,
now felt that the threatened safety of the country was paramount to all such considerations : at the office of one Union alone , the enrolment went on , for ten days , at the rate of 1500 a-day . Slight as is the degree of organization which the laws allow to political associations , it is still so much better than individual action , or evanescent meetings , that multitudes hastened to avail themselves of it . They looked to the Unions as the hope and stay of the country in the coming confusion , which we believe they were mainly instrumental in averting . The promptness with
* We make the following extracts from a printed defence put forth by two highly respectable members of the Society of Friends against some aspersions which had been cast on those of their body who joined the Birmingham Political Union . ' We should be extremely sorry were it to go forth to the world , that there existed anything either in the principles , or the practice of the Society of Friends , which forbids its members from joining their fellow countrymen in a peaceable
cooperation for the recovery of their political rights ; and that , at the present crisis , it should be thought that they did not , as a body , deeply sympathize with the almost unanimous desire of the nation for Parliamentary Reform , on which so many of the dearest interests of humanity depend ; or were unwilling , as far as is con * sistent with the peaceable principles of the Gospel , to share in the difficulties and dangers attendant on the effort for obtaining it . ' We consider it a libel on the Society to impute to it principles , which forbid its Members , at a crisis like the present , from associating with their fellow countrymen , in any manner not inconsistent with the doctrines of the Gospel , which they deem the most conducive to the public good . We do not pledge ourselves to defend all the past proceedings of the Political Union ; but we assert , without fear of contradiction , that the main object for which it was formed , and the sole object for which we have joined it , is one which nine-tenths of the Members of our Society cordially approve ; while , in its rules and regulations , we find nothing which a Christian can condemn .
* Can anything more effectually tend to secure peaceful obedience to the laws , at the present awful crisis , and during the still more fearful times which we have reason to dread , than the influence of an association , comprising the great bulk of the lower and a large portion of the middle classes , and binding its members to such a line of conduct as this ? We think not ; and we have therefore felt it a duty to £ ive it our feeble support , by enrolling our names among its members ; and in doing so , we have acted in the manner most conducive , in our opinion , to the great end of averting the evils which threaten our beloved country . reflection
' So far from repenting the act , we feel convinced , on the most mature , and with a knowledge of what has since occurred , that it was not only right in itself , but that the great accession to the Union which took place , was peculiarly well timed . Far be It from us to condemn others who take different views-, and have adopted another line of conduct ; we allow them the same freedom of judgment , which we claim for ourselves ; efforts of various kinds may all work in harmony to promote the same great object ; but we earnestl y entreat all those pea-sons , whether members of our own , or any other Society , who have hitherto been satisfied in doing nothing , to ask themselves the serious question , whether , at such a period , they fulfil the duties of a citizen , and a Christian , if they any longer with * hold their public support from the cause of peace , order , and social improvement F
Untitled Article
The Recent Political Crisis . 399
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 399, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/39/
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