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r ^ efurn for } h $ : favour . Let , the ( Dissenters f ^ reaftfr clai m tlie repea l of the Tes t Act , arid tfiey will find the 9 e aqaiable ^ nd qpn ^ &tory geuilemen of the High Clinch a&suine a v ^ ry different port anil ([ !)
fpfte ^ Fjear , b ^ ar , hearThe Dissenters j $ m $ ay , indeed ^ " We supported you in i S ^ Sr-W ^ did ^ y hat we could for you when you were in the utmost despair , in the v < fcry * depths of blank despair * - —when even the Solicitor-General vyas hopeless ( hear !)— -when the Honourable Member fpr Somerset ( Sir T . Lcthbiidge ) was in the Jowest despondency at what he termed the * apathy of his native land / ( laughter . ) Then we , the Dissenters , stepped forward to your relief and assistance * with a few drops of consolation , a few crumbs of comfort /* All this will
be true 5 but what will the High Church party s ? iy in reply ? " What should we jielp you for ? You petitioned indeed , but it was according to your conscientious belief ( hear , hear , hear !) — because you were really alarmed . — You wished to help yourselves , not to help us ,
because you wanted to enjoy a monopoly of toleration . You are covered by * he annual Indemnity Act , and you wanted to keep out the Papists—you had got into a snug birth yourselves , and you were anxious to keep it to yourselves .
( Hear !) It was very con&istent in us to resist the progress of Popery , but it was very inconsistent and very ridiculous in you at the time when you yourselves were asking relief . We pity and despise you for it . We hate the Catholics indeed , but we hate the Dissenters ten thousand times
more ; so get along about your business ¦—we will have nothing to say to you . " Such , I warn these Dissenters , will be the result ; they will experience no slight degree of the odium theotogieum , the intensity of which is always in an inverse ratio to the distance . ( Hear !) There is no position in the principia better esta- ^ blished than this : the Christian
Protestant , for instance , no doubt dislikes the Mahometan ; but let the Mahometan become Catholic , and dislike is immedi ~ diateiy converted into absolute hatred ; let the Catholic again become a Protestant Dissenter , and there is no limit to the abhorrence ^ of the High Churchman ; he hates him in the purest bitterness of
spirit . ( Hear ! and laughter . ) The more minute the difference , the more unbounded and unconquerable the rancour . £ ) t > we not all know into what furious animosity one little letter threw the
tvhple ftoinmh ( Church ; the dispute was a iAere yor « > and yet wl ^ u an unquenchaole flame did it create ! The question * flere } j wa ^ whether a particular word should be writteu o / AG ^^ iov or 6 fjiois < riov Ifi fact , the rnore insignificant fhe matter
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in dispute * tfcci ipor < e virulent the waiig , inty . ( rtear , hear !) The nearer n > en are to the Church of England in their doctriue , the furllier from the hearts of the members q { tliat Church ; the alarm they feel is in exact proportion to the
proximity of religious opinion . I tiope that my honourable friend , the member . for Norwich , ( Mr . W . Smith , ) will conarnuui . cate to the Dissenters this most important truth—if they indulge any hopes that the High Church party will favour them by the repeal of the Test Act , no . thing can be more futile and fallacious
than such expectations . 1 should vote for that repeal whenever the question is brought fur ward , if the Dissenters ( I mean , of course , such as now petition ) were fifty times worse than they art : I should do it on principle—in justice to their claims , and not in gratitude for their conduct . ( Hear , hear !)
April 19 . Mr . Peel having presented a number of petitions from Dissenting Congregations against the Catholic Bill , Mr . W . Smith said he would take that
opportunity to observe , that he did not object to the exercise of the right of petition on the part of any of those individuals who had thought proper to address the House on this occasion , whether Dissenters or others , whatever their opinions
might be . Neither did he object to any thing they had done , in order to shew their feelings , with reference to the Catholic Question . It certainly did , however , happen yesterday , that his learned friend ( Mr . Brougham ) was so far mistaken as to attribute to the Protestant
Dissenters ( in cousequence or some petitions having been presented from Dissenters ) a strong feeling against the bill for the relief of the Roman Catholics . Now , he believed , that up to yesterday not more than nine or ten petitions from Protestant Dissenters had been presented .
He had this morning looked over an alphabetical list of 2 , 000 congregations in England ; and he declared , that amongst those he could find but five or six congregations that had appeared before the Mouse . Gentlemen might easily calculate how small a proportion this number bore
to the general mass of Protestant Dissenters . He held in his hand a list ( comprising the whole period from the year 1732 down to the present time ) of [ London ] Protestant Dissenters properly so called . These weie divided into three
classes—Presbyterians , Independents and Baptists . When they agreed on any public act , that set was performed by a number deputy from the general body . In that Jfe *' & found ninety-seven congregations , rMj had dissected the Hst of petitions as wen
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444 Intelligence *—Parliamentary * Dissenters and Catholic Claims . s
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1825, page 444, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2538/page/60/
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