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    and have ever contributed their full proportion ; but also to the nation which has been weakened by the divisions created by these intolerant acts , and injured by the exclusion from the public service of a large part of the intelligent , virtuous , and efficient members of the community ; and to the Christian religion , which was wounded and dishon oured by the prostitution of the Lord ' s Supper , founded by the Saviour of the world for the promotion of humility and brotherly love , to the low and sordid uses of avarice and secular ambition , bigotry aud faction .

    " That they join also with the Committee in thanking His Majesty ' s Miuisters for their manly and candid withdrawment of opposition to the repeal of these Acts upon the decision of the House of Commons against their continuance on the statute book , and also for their consistent and honourable support of the Bill , as it was framed by

    themselves in the House of Commons ; and that they moreover desire , as Unitarian Christians , to express their special thanks to them for opposing the strange attempt to shut out Unitarians from the benefit of the act of repeal , and to convert this healing measure of charity into

    an instrument of annoyance and degradation of a class of Christians , in number not inconsiderable , and who yield to none of their countrymen in their pure love of their country , and in their zealpus concern for its best interests , whether civil aud political , intellectual or moral .

    " That they have further a fellow-feeling of gratitude with the United Committee towards the members of the Church of England , who , with some few and unimportant exceptions , abstained from opposition to the claims of the Protestant Dissenters , aud of whom many cheerfully gave their names to their petitions ; to the greater part of the clergy , who

    left the Legislature unembarassed in this great question , and some of whom strengthened by their subscriptions the application for the removal of the Sacramental Test ; and to the majority of the bench of Bishops , who , uninfluenced by expostulations , reproaches , and dark

    forebodings , supported the principle of repeal , and firmly withstpod certain proposed modifications of the BiU which would have defeated its design , and wholly changed its beneficent character ; and that they confidently hops that the spirit of forbearance and conciliation tfiuB generally manifested by the mem-

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    bers , the clergy , and the rulers of the church , as by law established , will introduce a kinder feeling between Churchmen and Dissenters , and lead to their closer and more cordial union , in whatever regards the welfare of their beloved country , the common land of their fathers . " That they are duly sensible of the assistance which the Dissenters received on this great occasion from the periodical press , and that they gather from this and every similar fact new confidence in the tendency of this great instrument of public opinion , to promote the sacred cause of justice , truth , and freedom .

    " That as part of the Dissenting body they are eager to present their most cordial thanks to the Right Honourable Lord John Russell for his readiness to undertake the case of the Dissenters in the House of Commons , for the ability with which he conducted it , and for the united firmness and moderation by which he ensured success ; and that they rejoice that the name of Russell , already endeared to Englishmen , is now associated with an event which will ever form

    an epoch in the history of religious liberty . " That they feel the liveliest thankfulness to John Smith , Esq ., M . P ., who seconded the motion for the repeal in the House of Commons , giving to the arguments which he ably and zealously enforced , the weight of a character , esteemed and venerated throughout the whole of the kingdom for its integrity , benevolence , and unsullied political purity .

    " That they acknowledge the deepest obligations to the Right Honourable Lord Holland for his generous exertions on behalf of the Dissenters , and parti * cularly for his putting their case upon its true principles in his commanding and unanswerable speech on the second reading of the Bill iu the House of Lords ; and for his manly protest against those clauses in the declaration that narrow

    the operation of the Act as a measure of relief and emancipation ; and that they beg to assure him that they participate in those feelings of satisfaction and pleasure with which they know that he looks back to the kindred labours in the same just cause of his illustrious relative , the

    late Charles James Fox , the incomparably eloquent and ever undaunted ' champion of perfect religious liberty ; whose efforts , though unsuccessful for the mo ment , led the way to the pre&ent triumph of freedom ; in accordance with the cheering maxim that no effort in a good cause is lost , and in corrobpration of the

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    496 Intelligence . - ^ British and foreign Unitarian Association .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 496, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/64/