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Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty . This Anniversary was held on Saturday , May 11 th , in the City of London Tavern , Lord John Russell in the Chair . We
regret that we have not been able to give an earlier account of its proceedings . In this and a following number we shall extract from " The Supplement of the Philanthropic Gazette , " of Friday , May
24 , as fun a report as our limits will allow . Mr . Wilks ' s speech was , as usual , the great attraction of the meeting , which was crowded to excess : the speech occupied nearly three hours and a half , and was received with acclamations of
delight . After a suitable introduction . Mr . Wilks said that before he adverted to the transactions since the last Anniversary , he would allude to some of those matters to which attention was then moat awakened . The destiny of Amos Norrovvav , the intrepid and enlightened labourer at Ewelme—the result of the
jproseeution of Griffin for a riot—and the Bill as to the Education of the Poor , excited the deepest interest . For Amos Norrowa y , he was happy to announce , that a secure asylum from the visitings of persecution was obtained . In a comfortable cottage , well repaired , surrounded by fruit tress now full of
blossoms , and with a gardeu-plot , purchased by one who could revere the love of ^ principle in a peasant breast , he had foiifed a home , whence he would not remove until he entered his last and happier horde in heaven . There his cousisteut conduct pleased the pious , profited the observing , awed the unfriendly , and exercised that moral influence over the
numerous villagers * which such conduct will create . There he had even the Curate for a guest . He acknowledged his industry and worth , and as he wondered
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at his wisdom , and knew the authority of his example , he sought to obtaiu from him that attendance at the church , which his conscience induced him to decline . There he thought without envy—with kind compassion—on his prelatical opponent , who might be excited to his
frequent and almost hebdomadal diatribes against education , unconnected with the church , by the remembrance of the reproofs and firmness of that in , odest , welltaught cottager , whose form and sufferings memory might introduce amid the convocations of his clergy , and beneath bis gilded canopies of state .
The affair of Griffin was important , as on that depended whether the Toleration Acts would afford protection to the public worship of Protestant Dissenters . That offender had been convicted at the Hampshire Sessions of a riot , and under the last Toleration Act , was sentenced to pay the penalty of forty
pounds . But the magistrates decided that the Act gave them no power to enforce the penalty - , the offender was liberated—impunity produced insolence and new offences—and village worship throughout that county would have become insecure . B y an application to the Court of King ' s Bench , at a considerable
expense , orders and writs were obtained that enforced the penalty by the committal of the culprit to the county gaol . Compunction was the result , and as his aged parents needed his labours , as he contritely applied for mercy , the
Committee , mindful that mercy should temper justice , acquiesced in his discharge . But there yet remained an obvious need that some legislative provisions should be made to prevent such trouble and expense , and to secure the prompt attainment of the justice which the Toleration Laws were
enacted to confer I The Education Bill had , he hoped , passed away to that grave , where many mistaken projects of the benevolent and worthy , happily slumber to awake no more . Of Mr . Brougham no man could think more highly , or would utter more cordial praise . In debate , he moved like
a giant in a storm . As an advocate , as a political economist , as a statesman , as a philanthropist , he was pre-einineiJt . Since their last meeting , he had boldly and greatly , for a Koyal client , stemmed the torrent of influence and power , and secured an amaranthine fame . As to
education , his object was laudable , but his means needless and unwise . From a small source bubbling up in the vale of Gloucester , in the establishment of Sunday-schools , had issued a stream swollen by ten thousand charitable rills , widespreading and beneficent . Christian love
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5 i 8 Intelligence . —Protestant Society : Mr . Wilks ' s Speech
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Chapel itt a very eligible situation in Edinburgh ; a proposal in which every Scottish Unitarian , from a knowledge of the beneficial influence which the respectability of the cause there must excite Hpou Scotland in general , feels the most
lively interest ; and it is confidently hoped , that the published " proposal , " under the judicious aud excellent management of the friends in Edinburgh , will induce the Committees of the Fellowship Funds in England , to contribute their speedy , simultaneous and effectual support .
The Rev . David Davis , of Neath , is appointed the preacher at the next Association . B . M ., Secretaiy .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1822, page 518, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2515/page/62/
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