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cases , in some of which the Comniitte declined to interfere ; and others , in which their advice and assistance has proved salutary ; but none of sufficient importance to merit a particular narration , In the business of the Dissenters'
Marriages , your Committee would readily have engaged , if they had thought that they could have done it usefully : but on mature consideration of the subject , it seemed probable that an attempt to procure any change in the Law in favour of the Dissenters at large , might injuriously affect the measure which our Unitarian
brethren were then soliciting in the House of Lords , without producing any adequate compensation of advantage to the general body ; by whom neither had they been called on to take a part : —it was therefore thought most expedient to remain silent , though not uninterested , observers . The issue of that application is
too well known to require any minuteness of detail;—it may be sufficient to say , that the friends of civil and religious liberty had ample reason for satisfaction , at least , if not for triumph , in the strain both of the arguments and the language to which the debate of May the 4 th , on Lord Lansdowne ' s motion , " For going
into a Committee on the Bill , " gave occasion : and the conclusion presented to the country the singular spectacle , of a measure , treated as one of great importance both to the State and the Church , supported by His Majesty ' s prime minister , and other members of the cabinet ; advocated in a manner which did him
high honour , by the Archbishop of Canterbury , the head and prominent guardian of the interests of the Church , and some of his reverend brethren ; and yet defeated by a majority of 105 to 6 * 6 , — which majority , however , it may be observed , included the proxies of 50 Noble Lords who were not present at the debate .
In a later period of the Session , your Committee , participating in the indignation so universally felt throughout the country , at the conduct of the Colonial Government of Dementia , thought it incumbent on them to join the general
voice , by presenting a petition to Parliament , conveying a strong censure on those proceedings ;—to which step they were also prompted by observing the violent and daring spirit which seemed to pervade some other of the West-Indian Colonies ; where , not only in lan-
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guage , but by very extraordinary overt acts , bordering closely even on rebellion , they seemed to declare a determination that the religious freedom which is enjoyed in Great Britain under all the securities of law and justice , and which freedom extends to those very Colonies , should be there held ( particularly in
Barbadoes ) , on no more secure tenure than the good pleasure of persons , who , by whatever name they might choose to designate themselves , were , in fact , no other than an ignorant , a prejudiced , and infuriated mob ; heedless alike of the obligations of morality , and the restraints of law .
On our great object , the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts , your Committee have pursued the course pointed out to them ; and in the early part of the Session solicited the concurrence and cooperation of the general body of the
Ministers , the Protestant Society , and the Unitarian Association : of whom , the latter only signified their approval of an immediate application ; the two former declining to join it on the ground only of the unfavourableness of the time .
Considering , therefore , the acknowledged importance of unanimity in a matter of so much moment , and of common interest , the Committee thought it better to defer the intention of proceeding by
motion , and to confine their operations for the session , to petitions , which were accordingly presented , —that to the Lords , ( in the absence of the Bishop of Norwich , ) by Lord Holland ; and that to the Commons , by the chairman .
On the Committee resuming their meetings in the autumn , the subject was instantly revived , — the co-operation of the same bodies was again requested : Conferences have been held ;—preparatory steps have been taken for exciting public attention to the subject;—a general notice thereon has been sent to those
Monthly Journals which take more especial cognizance of such matters , —and it is intended to recommend the continuance of these measures to the new Deputation and the new Committee , who
will probably ere long take the opinion of . some gentlemen of consequence in the House of Commons , as to the time and mode of proceeding in the ulterior stages of this very important affair . All which your Committee submit to the consideration of the Meeting .
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118 Intelligence . —Report of the Protestant Dissenting Deputies .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1825, page 118, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2533/page/54/
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