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Untitled Article
at length a very * incorrect copy was published in the " Monthly Magazine " for September last , and inserted from thence in the " Christian Reformer " for October , VII . 354 .
I send you the following- as a correct copy ; and though the respectable writer of it may regret that any extract of his letter has been published , he cannot , I am persuaded , disapprove this public correction of it *
The time selected for publishing this extract of a private letter , so long after it was written , I know not how to account for . Whether it was intended to support , on such evidence , a full reliance on the humble , pacific and unambitious character of this
" great Prince" and distinguished member of the celebrated ' ¦ ' Holy Alliance ; " or to insinuate a strong discordance between his actions and the professions he was pleased to make to the deputation of Friends on this
occasion , who were three of their approved ministers , I am wholly ignorant . Two of them have since been atPetersburgh , William Allen and Stephen Grellett , but I have not heard that the Emperor Xvas a ; s accessible to them there as in London .
F . Account of the Private Conference of Alexander , Emperor of Russia , with John ff ^ ilkinson , of High TVycombe , Stephen Grellett , of New
York , and William Allen , of Plough Court , Lombard Street , in the summer of 1814 , tvhen the Emperor and the King of Prussia were in London .
Extract of a Letter from J . Wilkinson to Thomas Clarkson , dated 21 st of the 7 th Month , 1814 . After an account of the unsuccessful endeavcjrurs of the deputation of Friends to obtain an interview with the King of Prussia , he says ,
" Very , different , indeed , from this what passed with the Emperor of Russia , who , before the address was presented to him , went to the meeting at Westminster on a first-day morning , ( 19 th of last Month , ) taking with him his sister , the
Duchess of Oldenburgh , his Ambassador , Count Lieven , and two young Princes ; one , I believe , was his nephew , Prince Oldenbui : g | i , ( not the Duchess ' s son , ) the other ' s jihle 1 have forgot . Both the Emperor and his sister conducted them-
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selves like persons < m whos& minds vital Christianity and undissembled piety had tfhe predominance ; and after the meeting concladedTtt ^ y did not hastily leave it , but , with that condescension and kindness which ; they haveurfcbe ^ x * in so remarkable a . , -manlier an every qccasion , they
stood to shake hands with , and take notice of severalFrtends who were , near ; them ; and before getting into his carriage , the Emperor told Wm . Allen who he would have to wait upon him with the address , fixing the following third day to receive
it , saying , that he wished for a private conference , therefore he would not haye more attend than he had named . William Allen , however , made interest afterwards with the Ambassador for Stephen Grellett to pe admitted .
" The Emperor received , us without having any attendants with birn , and we * William Allen ,. S . Grellett and myself , continued with him near an hour . " As soon as we began to enter the room , the Emperor came forward to us , and shook hands with each of us in the
most condescending and affectionate manner ; and when William Allen presented the address to him , he took it , but did not open it , having previously said , he should not wish the time he should allot for the audience , to be taken up by reading an address ; as he had seen the copy which was delivered io the
Ambassador on leave being asked tq present it . The books were then presented , and the Emperor opened each of them , inquiring , at the same time , with apparent interest , what they treated of . The books were , * Barclay ' s Apology ; ' The Book of Extracts ;* ' Pemi's no Cross , no Crown ;* « Summary of Penn's Maxims . ' After he
had accepted the books , he turned towards us , and expressed himself with great kindness , and in very full terms , concerning the satisfaction he felt at having been at the meeting , and wished to know whether it was held in the same way as our meetings usually are . " He was informed that it was , but
that there is not always speaking in our meetings , " Do you then , * said he , read the Scriptures in them V " < We are not in that practice , because we believe true worship to consist in the prostration of the soul before God , and we do not consider it necessary for any thing to be read or spoken to produce that effect . '
" ' This is my opinion also , * replied the Emperor ; * and , with regard to prayer , have you any form of prayer ?' " We have not ; because we believe that in prayer the soul must communicate its supplication in such a manner as best
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Conference of the Emperor Alexander with ihft&e tyutfkers . 7 &k :
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1821, page 701, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2507/page/5/
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