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INTELLIGENCE.
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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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DOMESTICReligious . The Protestant Society for the Protection * of Religious Liberty * The Annual Meeting of this Society was held on Saturday , May 13 th , at the
London Coffee House , and although the meeting was not advertised , and the room was more capacious than the Hall at the Albion Tavern , where the former meetings were held , it was thronged to excess , and several hundred persons went away , unable to procure admission even to the passage to the room .
Punctually at the early but appointed hour of eleven o ' clock , Lord Holland , introduced by the Rev . Mark Wilks , the Treasurer , the Secretaries , and the Committee , appeared , and amidst loud acclamations he took the Chair . He commenced the business by briefly adverting to the objects of the Society , and the cheerfulness with which he had
attended to assist in their promotion : at the same time he stated , that he was not yet recovered from an attack of the gout , and was much exhausted by his exertions the preceding night in tfie House of Lords ; so that he apprehended he might be unable to remain until the close of the meeting : but nothing except
great exhaustion should induce his departure , as he should leave his heart if his \ yerson was withdrawn . ( Loud applause . ) Thomas Pjellatt , Esq ., one of the Secretaries , then began to read the proceedings of the Committee during the
past year , but was induced to suspend the reading on the suggestion of some friends , that as the crowd was great , the meeting would "be satisfied with the detail which the speech expected from Mr . Wilks might supply .
John Wilks , Esq ., the other Secretary , therefore rose amidst the long and cordial greetings of the whole assembly . He entreated their candour , from the disordered state of his spirits and his health , but proceeded to deliver an address that continued during more than three hours to captivate and astonish the
audience ; and which induced even the aged ' and the feeble , females and gentlemen , " several hundreds of whom could procure no seats , to disregard all the pressures they endured . It would be a hopeless experiment to endeavour to report a speech that surpassed evVn the former efforts of that gentleman , which made the persons present laugh and cry ,
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express abhorrence , and shout with applause , as the speech attempted to aniu&e or interest , to encourage or to excite them ; and which , never allowing a suspension to a varying but continual excitement , was heard not merely with attention b it with enthusiasm , and at length terminated amidst general regret . The outline only we can attempt .
He first alluded to cases in which individuals and congregations improperly requested the interference of the Society . If a meeting-house was robbed of books —if legacies were withheld—if trustees were negligent or hostile—if differences arose between ministers and their
congregations—if private Dissenters met with private injuries , for which they might have civil redress , applications were made to the Committee , who could not interpose either w ith propriety or according to the rules of the Institution , and the gratuitous labours of the Secretaries were
much and needlessly increased . For the Institution he did not wish to be an advocate ; he would rather instruct than excite . He desired that information should be given which might enable ministers to advise their neighbours and their people , and that being instructed as to their rights and remedies , they might be able to act without requiring perpetual communications and advice . The
nature and number of occurrences hostile to religious liberty during the past year would be not merely an apology for the Society , but a demonstration of its utility and importance . Among the cases that had interested the Committee might be first mentioned those of pecuniary demands , either illegally made , or as to which some alterations
of the law were required . Demands of tolls on Sundays from Protestant Dissenters going or returning from public worship , had frequently been mentioned , in some instances submitted to and deplored , and in others resisted with success . The exemption from su . ch demands depended not on a general act , but on each local statute regulating every particular road . In each case that statute
must be consulted , and if advice was needed , a copy of that clause must accompany the application for advice . The exemption was important to the property and honour of Dissenters . It h ^ d *^ coeval with the introduction of Turnpike Acts , and was extended to them equally wfah the members of the Established Church , Their honour , therefore , required its perpetuity , and as the payment
Intelligence.
INTELLIGENCE .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1820, page 366, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2489/page/42/
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