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con tinue to the latest moments of his life . It was with the sincerest satisfaction that he observed so large and respectable an assembly—an assembly to which the < q-eat principles they were united to support were universally dear—because they were principles of the most vital importance to man , because they were the offspring of civilization—and because they
tended to preserve the welfare and peace of society . Those , therefore , who felt as he did , would rejoice ever with himself at any assembly convocating for their p romotion . At present he would not further intrude upon their time , and -would only call upon their excellent Secretaries to proceed in the course usually adopted on those occasions .
Thomas Pellatt , Esq ., one of the Secretaries , then proceeded to read the proceedings of the Committee during the past year . Mr . Wilks was announced amidst the loudest cheers . After some
auimadversions upon the Christian Guardian , Quarterly Review and British Critic , the last of which had attacked him personally , and some compliments to the Chairman and his predecessors in the chair , he should advert , he said , to those
Pecuniary Exactions which especially oppressed our Dissenting congregations . Those connected with the demand of Turnpike Tolls shall be first considered . Most of you are already awa * e that a clause was introduced into the bill , generally regulating turnpike-roads , when it passed through Parliament , which declared that no toll should be collected " of or from
any person or persons going to or returning from his , her or their usual places of religious worship , tolerated by law on Sundays , or on any day on which divine service is by authority ordered to
he celebrated . " Those words certainly appeared to be distinctly intelligible . And lor the information of my friends , I would again impress upon their recollection , that the word " usual , " should never be omitted in the consideration of this
exemption . What the Act intends is , that any person belonging regularly to a Disputing congregation , going from their dwelling-houses to that accustomed and regular place of worship , should be exc »» pt from the payment of tolls ; but it by no means intends that persons occasionally visiting other places of worship , are to have anv advantage whatever from
t » e Act , because that would be to defraud the revenue , and to prevent those repairs i ){ i-oiuls to which it is but fair that the public should contribute . Many of our inc'ikIs in Wales , who have no regular pice * of worship , and are therefore '"Ted to emigrate from one place to ano-• > have imagined that the Act applies
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to them , but such is not the case ; and I wish them distinctly to understand it , hi order that they may be saved much anxiety , and the Society much trouble in replying to their applications . There have been several instances , and some in this
metropolis , in which persons , who were entitled to the exemption , have been compelled to pay the toll ; but I have generally found , that by writing to the toll-keeper , and stating to him how the law actually stood , the parties have found redress , and the demands of toll have been withdrawn . To one case , however ,
at at
Honiton , in the county of Devon , he would particularly allude . There Mr . James Symes , a respectable individual , of the Baptist persuasion , had been charged the toll on a Sunday , while going to his chapel . He summoned the gatekeeper before Mr . Tucker , a magistrate in Ho niton , but the magistrate decided against him , on the ground that the Act only applied to his own parish , and that he was at the time beyond its boundaries . Mr . Symes applied to the Society , and I
procured the opinion of the Attorney-General , who concurred in the view of the law which had been adopted , and confirmed the opinion , that an action might be sustained ; but it is hoped that on the communication of that opinion to Mr . Tucker , the demand will be amicably withdrawn , and that no proceedings will it be necessary to adopt .
Ihe cases of Assessed Iaxes are also to be considered . In several places Assessed Taxes have been demanded for meeting-houses and for ministers' horses . In some cases those demands have been justified , while in others , through the interference of the Society , redress has been obtained . The question of Poor Rates it is
important that 1 should notice . Would that the question had been for ever laid at rest ! But they are wrongs daily recurring , and are charges not made as a
source of parochial emolument , but for the purpose of mean and paltry vexation . At SwindoTiy in Wiltshire ; at SYaines , in Middlesex ; at Long Sat ton , in Lincolnshire ; at Barnard Castle ; at Chertscy , in Surrey ; and at lloccford ^ in Suffolk , these attempts to assess have been made , but have been resisted with success . It
the Meeting-houses of the Dissenters be what the Quarterly Review calls them , 14 hideous and unsightly barm" at least money should not he demanded by the parish officers for such edifices !—money
which they are not entitled to obtain , and which , by extortion only , they can exact . On this subject , however , the most important ease which has occurred is that of Craven Chapel in this metropolis , 1 cannot , indeed , advert to that place
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Intelligence . S —Protestant Society : Mr . Wilks s peech . 629
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1825, page 629, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2541/page/53/
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