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succeed Sir Rose Price as . President * It contained something more : viz . their reasons for removing Sir Rose Price from the situation , and which are as follow : —
" V Resolved , that as Sir Rose Price has > wotwd his disbelief of the essential doctrines of the Established Church , he has disclaimed the very title by which he became admitted- as a menafeer of this Society ; and that as he avows his determination to
disseminatehis opinions to the utmost of his power , he confesses a determination to thwart the very designs for which this Society was formed ; and that , therefore , his refusal to resign at the suggestion of the clerical members , is exceedingly inconsistent . Resolved , with feelings of regret , &c . '
" The above is an important omission , because the whole tenor of Sir Rose Price's defence , or rather of the accusation which lie makes in lieu of a defence , is to convey an idea that the Committee formed their Resolutions
upon our correspondence > whereas they were formed upon Sir Rose Price ' s avowals made to their dele * gates , the Rev . Mr . Townseml and myself , in a tone of higjfii and eager defiance , and with an exulting declaration that the Churcii of England
would not stand with its present doctrines above twenty yegtrs . And this in a future part of his letter Sir R . P . calls ' * a private communication made to two clergymen . " We waited upon him as delegates from a Society ; he
sends us back with a message of defiance , tells us at the very moment we entered the room that his opinions were known every where , that he had promulgated them every where , and that he would disseminate them to the
utmost of his power ; that he had sent for a book against the doctrine of the Trinity on purpose to put it in the booksellers' windows , and that the Churcii with its present doctrines could not stand twenty years ; that the King and the Aristocracy of the
country ( and here he named some respectable individuals , whose age and repose I will not disturb by putting them to the trouble of rcctifyipg the assertion ) would favour the ileforrm and would effect it . And these high threats thus hurled at men who called upon him officially , he calls a private communication !
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" But he adds , * that we gave him to understand that we called , upon him out o £ respect / Aye ! certainly we did , and we % pped tliat the respect which we shewed to him would have led him to respect us j We hoped , that he would regard the suggestion to resign ( so cafefui weifc we to avoid
giving offence , that this word was particularly select ^) made to him by a set of clergyman , as a tofcen of respect ; we wished to give hjjrn an opportunity of resigning as if in compliance vyith the professional feelings of a particular class of men ; that his pride ( if I may use the word ) might not be wounded , and that our credit
might be saved ; and that the whole transaction might pass sub silentio . — Our first meeting was purposely composed entirely of clergymen , and upon Sir Rose Price ' s resignation , which we hoped for , we had planned to propose a clergyman in his &tead , in order to give the proceeding a professional
air , if I may so express myself , and save Sir R . P / s feelings . Biit what feelings was there occasion to save I He set us at defiance ; he refused to resign ; he accused ; and refused to hear any explanation : and the consequences , which every one must deplore , have necessarily followed .
" I find that I am anticipating part of the subject , and that I must again refer to this point : but what can I do ? I must thread every part of the labyrinth , and shall appear to be going backward and forward , when . 1 am really advancing in the most direct course to the end . Let the reader bear
in his recollection that my letter , which appeared in the Cornwall Gazette , was in answer * to Sir R . P . 's , of January 8 th inst ., wliere I have made such remarks on his profession of attachment to the chinch and to loyalty , as naturally arise from the subject in . discussion , and whfch he calls a
mischievous and desperate attempt at revenge . Sir R . P . says in this letter that I pressed him , in an epistle of eight pages , to become our President . —I did so . —I endeavoured to remove
his prejudices , which led him to conceive that our Society was ill calculated to effect the avowed object of its institution . I pointed out to hino ^ by sending one of our Society ' s books , the nature of tine certificate which I must sign . He yielded to the argu-
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142 Correspondence on a Charge of Heresy against Sir Rose Price , Bart
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1824, page 142, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2522/page/14/
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