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Bench , and the- establish merit of the charter of Henry VII . The triumph of liberty seemed complete , but the corporation had a chicane in rese rve ; they had now the assurance to deny that the charter of Henry VII . had ever been accepted , and set
up prescription as the justification of tfieir iiSTTirped power- """ Flimsy ' and " dishonest as this pretext was it served their purpose . By an oversight of his counsel , in not moving the House of Lords for costs , in the same Session in which the decision had
been given , Mr . Eddowes had been compelled to bear the heavy expense of the appeal . It was too much to be expected , even from a man of his disinterestedness and energy , that he should go through a similar series of exertions and sacrifices , and he left the corporation and their illustrious patron to enjoy the consciousness- of having evaded the sentence of the House of Lords , and defrauded
the citi . ^ . ejn 5- .. oi ' . lto . eir _^ jci . YilegjBS . - ... Hw account of the whole proceedings , published in two volumes Svo ., is valued by men of professional learning- as containing very curious information on municipal law . It bears the appropriate motto , * Turn livore sepulto , si quid meremur sana posteritas sciet" He lived to see the
arrival of that age of sounder judgment ; when the citizens of Chester succeeded , in 1827 , in re-establishing their long , last rights , ' the intrepid patriot , Ralph Eddowes , ' was commemorated ' with the honour due to one of the earliest and most devoted champions of corporation reform .
Jt was however by no means the virtual failure of this undertaking " that induced Mr , Eddowes to leave his native city , and emigrate to America ; other causes at least conspired to produce this determin&tion ,, which will be best stated in his own words . ' The gloom that hung over public and private concerns was every day thickening—the poison of Burke ' s Reflections on the French Revolution had diffused its baleful influence
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— -associations were formed under the sanction of Government for putting down Jacobinism—indictments for high treason were preparing against the friends of the people and the constitution , and' I found myself within reach of the fangs and clutches of an excise law , which , in concer , t with many others " oiE the same trade ., I had strenuously opposed , both in and after its passage , ( having been twice under examination at the bar
of the Commons , and once at that of the Lords , ) but in vain . The shackles thus imposed it was not in my nature to wear contentedly ; with a conscience clear of all offence against the revenue , either actual or intentional , to have a spy continually at my heels , and to be dogged like a suspected thief or smuggler , I could not . even after a servitude of five
yeats , submit to with patience . And thus , while every thing in the East wore the most- portentous aspect , a Jb right openinginthe Western horizon arrested my attention , and seemed to beckon me away , ere it should be tooulate . ' To America he accordingly removed in 1794 < , and established himself in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia , where he at the same time carried on business .
At that time there not only existed no Unitarian society in Philadelphia ^ , but he found the Presbyterians , wtm whom his English habits and predilections ,, led ; him first to endeavour , to connect himself , full of a spirit of intolerant orthodoxy , wjbich rendered it impossible for him to attend on their worship with satisfaction . With about twelve other persons , who , like himself , were Unitarians , he made
the attempt , in 1796 , to carry on social worship , on the plan recommended by Dr . Priestley , without the aid of a regular minister , and the services were continued till 1800 , when the original members having nearly all died or removed , the so- * ciety remained apparently extinct . In 1802-3 Mr , Eddowes paid a short visit to Europe .
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CORRESPONDENCE . 21 ?
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 1, 1833, page 217, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2617/page/25/
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