French Protestants, would not have feared the refusal of his support. His was no party attachment to freedom-no lip profession-be loved freedom in his heart. With his earliest recollections, the evils of The first persecution were connected." sounds he heard, were the sighs of his parents-expatriated for their religion from their native land. With his growth the remembrance had grown; and the sentiments would have expired only with his life. Had he been present this day, what indignation would he have felt! Yet his indignation was unselfish, was passionless. It resembled the emotions of holy spirits -blending abhorrence of the wrong with pity for the wrong-doer. But he too was lost. (Loud cheers.) Yet they were not without advocates. He was happy to see his friend Mr. Alderman Wood present on the occasion. He knew his benevolent heart-bis sagacious head-his active hand. Nor did the country contain one man more ardently desirous to do good. (Cheers.) But they had also present another advocate for all that was benevolent and wise. He could remember when but a boy, he read his masterly reply to Burke, with eloquence equal to that of Burke. He could not but overcome, as he had the quarrel just. With delight, too, he had listened to bis defence of the freedom of the press. When before Buonaparte, Europe trembled, and our government yielded to prosecute a defenceless emigrant for the affirmance of the truth, he stepped forward on his behalf, and delivered an oration which Cicero, when most elated with his own immortal efforts, would have been proud to claim. (Applause.) India, too, blessed the hour of his arrival on her shores. He went there to administer justice, and by his administration, lenient though upright, and by the mild exercise of his authority, he was there reverenced, till they regarded him as a tutelary messenger from heaven. (Applause.) He has stepped into the situation of Sir Samuel Romilly, he has directed his great and comprehensive mind to the amelioration of those laws, which have been justly said to be "written in blood." He has wrapped around him the mantle of the departed Romilly, more honourable than the judicial ermine, the senatorial robe, or the imperial purple. (Loud cheers.) He is not lost! Such a living advocate Dissenters will possess! Whilst such evils exist and such duties remain, he could not consent to indulge his wish, to sing the requiem of the Society, or to chaunt its dirge. But he did anticipate, that the day would come, when they might chaunt this requiem, interrupted, perhaps, by shouts of exultation!-No; not with shouts of exultation, but with a calm and rational and sublime and silent joy, which will be felt by men of noble minds, who have attained their rights-by men who can think on their forefathers without shame-who can view their children without sorrow-who have achieved their freedom-who have deserved their freedomwho feel that they are free. Long and continued cheers marked the interest excited in the meeting by a speech, which we have already characterized, and which occupied two hours, and of which even this long report is unavoidably but an abbreviated sketch The following resolutions were then sucsuccessively proposed and unanimously approved. 1. That this meeting, including the friends of religious freedom of every party, receive with great interest the statement of the proceedings of the Committee of the Protestant Society for the protection of Religious Liberty, during the past year. That they have not forgotten the meritorious labours of preceding Committees, who mainly contributed to obtain the amended Toleration Act, aided to procure the recognition of more liberal principles in the administration of India, and who at the same time did not neglect to defend the domestic rights of Dissenters and of Methodists; and they rejoice, that the Committee for the past year have imitated their example, and laudably advanced in the same useful and honourable course. 2. That impressed with the essential importance of Academies for the preparation of pious young men for the ministry among Dissenters, and solicitous that no avoida ble charges should oppress their funds or diminish their utility, they learn with great satisfaction that it has now been finally decided, that the apartments occupied by students in those institutions shall be exempt from public and parochial assessments; and that the Committee have prevented the interposition of churchwardens with schools established on those liberal principles, which alone the enlightened friends of education can com mend. 3. That experience has convinced many members of this Society, that the demand of tolls on Sundays from Dissenters and Methodists attending their own places of religious worship, imposes on them a burden peculiar and injurious: and that they, therefore, applaud the efforts of the Committee to avert that inconvenience; and recommend to their consideration the expedience of applying for some permanent provision, that may establish their right to exemption in a distinct and unequivocal manner. 4. That whilst this meeting learn with approbation the liberal conduct of the Committee in presenting fifty guineas to the Independent Chapel at York, and fifty guineas to the congregation of the Rev. Mr. Slatterie, at Chatham, towards their expenses in resisting the assessment of their meeting-houses to the rates for the relief of the poor; they learn also with regret, that the resistance of those congregations has not been attended with success; and they hope, that the Committee will take the earliest opportunity that prudence will allow, to apply for an act by which not only the pecuniary charge shall be prevented, but the degradation of submitting the expedience of the expenditure of Dissenting congregations to uninformed or unfriendly magistrates at quarter sessions shall be for ever removed. 5. That this meeting would be unworthy descendants of wise, pious and nobleminded men, if they could ever consider with contented or indifferent minds the continued operation of the Test and Corporation Acts on Protestant Dissenters, or could cease to regard them as a profanation of the sacrament of their religion to secular purposes, and a violation of those rights of conscience which it is the delight of every man to enjoy and his duty to maintain and that they invite the attention of the Committee to some general and energetic efforts, for the repeal of all such penal and prohibitory statutes, and for the final establishment of the rights of Dissenters on a basis that honour and reason and religion shall approve. 6. That when this meeting consider the local persecutions which obstruct liberty of worship, the hostile spirit which many clergymen of the Established Church continue to manifest, the vexations of which the perverted poor laws are made the instruments, the parliamentary measures incompatible with the past privileges of Dissenters, which require constant attention, and the more combined and progressive labours of the Established Church, not merely to perpetuate, but to extend its power; they cannot but perceive the increasing importance of vigilauce and union, among all the friends of religious liberty of every denomination, and must recommend, as their general representative, the Protestant Society, which includes all parties within its protection, to universal and more zealous support. 7. That to the Committee for the past year, composed equally of ministers and laymen, and including gentlemen who are members of the Established Church as well as Dissenters from that Church, this meeting present their thanks for the prudence and zeal, the activity and caution, with which they have discharged the important duties they were appointed to fulfil: and that the following ministers and laymen also in equal proportions with the Trea surer and Secretaries, be appointed to act as the Committee of the Society during the ensuing year : Rev. J. Brooksbank, Dr Collyer, George Collison, F. A. Cox, Thomas Cloutt, Alex. Fletcher, Rowland Hill, Thomas Jackson, Dr. Newman, W. F. Platt, S. W. Tracy, John Townsend, Matthew Wilks, Mark Wilks: David Allan, Esq., Wm. Bateman, Esq., J. B. Brown, Esq., James Emerson, Esq., James Esdaile, Esq., Colonel Handfield, Alderman Wood, Esq., M. P., Thomas Hayter, Esq, J. O. Oldham, Esq., J. Pritt, Esq., William Townsend, Esq., Thomas Wontner, Esq., Thomas Walker, Esq., James Young, Esq. 8. That this meeting also repeat their thanks to Robert Steven, Esq., the active, benevolent and enlightened Treasurer of this Society. 9. That they also renew, with even increasing pleasure, their cordial acknowledgments to Thomas Pellatt and John Wilks, the intelligent, zealous and disinterested Secretaries, and respectfully reinvite their useful exertions. 10. That this meeting acknowledge with gratitude the kind attention of the Rev. T. Tayler, the Rev. Dr. Collyer, the Rev. J. Phillips, and James Gibson, Esq., the Trustees of Coward's Funds, who have again indicated their attachment to liberal principles, and to the true interests of Protestant Dissenters, by a donation to the Society of fifty pounds. 11. That this meeting recognize upon this occasion with great pleasure, the presence of Matthew Wood, Esq., Alderman and M. P. for the city of London, and congratulate the citizens of that city on the re-election of a Representative, anxious to promote education, peace and liberty throughout the world. 12. But that to Sir James Mackintosh, M. P., the honourable and eloquent Chairman, this meeting offer their peculiar praise: and would express their hope, that he who asserted the freedom of the press, and benefited India by his wisdom and his presence, will succeed in his beneficent attempt to render our Criminal Jurisprudence milder, more efficacious, and more just; and will soon complete a National History, to which the friends of truth and freedom in every future age may with confidence refer. These resolutions were recommended by the Rev. Dr. Bogne, Messrs. Orme, of Perth, and James, of Birmingham. Sir James Mackintosh, the Chairman, rose amidst the loudest plaudits, and spoke to the following effect:-After the approbation of one's own conscience, I certainly consider as the best reward of any human action, the approbation of wise and good men-highest among whom I must place the friends of civil and religious liberty. Gentlemen, for every reason, but for the mere performance of duty, I should now be silent. Every thing which truth could say has been already urged. Every thing which I could say, did I possess the talent, or the health, has this day been far surpassed. I declare, that I never in the whole course of my life heard in any assembly a speech more conclusive, more enlightened, or more eloquent, than that which I have this day heard from your excellent Secretary. (Applause.) And I have been also astonished, as I followed the admirable speech of the eloquent and reverend gentleman, Mr. James. It is my duty in the first place to return my thanks; and then to make some general observations on the principles in support of which we have all assembled. It is also my duty to say, that I am here in consequence of the indisposition of my beloved friend Lord Holland, who, although precluded from being present, I need hardly say is always present in heart and feelings whenever the cause of civil and religious liberty is to be sustained; who inherits and acts upon those principles which reflect splendour upon the name of Fox, and who, following the example of bis illustrious uncle, bas invariably advocated the rights of his fellow-men, to worship God after the dictates of their conscience. (Applause.) Gentlemen, it affords me pleasure to succeed a Royal Duke in this situation, as it reflects additional honour on the House of Brunswick, when its princes act upon those principles which placed their family upon the throne; and they could not act more consonantly with those principles, than by placing the great body of Protestant Dissenters, who are the friends of the Royal House, who assisted in placing the crown of England firmly on their heads, in the enjoyment of those privileges to which by reason, as well as by right, they are unquestionably entitled. (Applause.) For my own part, from my youth I have been devoted to the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty; and I cannot but feel high honour, in the singular gratification of presiding at a meeting of a great body of Dissenters; the best Protestant part of a Protestant world, the authors of the principles of religious liberty among mankind, the fosterers and preservers of the English constitution. (Loud applause.) This has been well stated by the Rev. Gentleman on my left, (Dr. Bogue,) when he bore a testimony to the virtues and firmness of these individuals, which was reluctantly extracted from Hume, that great historian and philosopher, and enemy of civil and religious liberty. (Cheers.) You have also heard the unspeakable value of religious liberty. No man or body of men can be justified in infringing on the privilege of any buman being to worship God; and that man who presumes to take such a course, acts not only contrary to the dictates of common sense, but in opposition to the great and divine attributes of Christianity. But it has also been truly stated, that civil liberty cannot exist without religious liberty, but I would state, that civil liberty is also indebted to religion. To the progress of that spirit of justice and paternal benevolence, which religion inculcates, the safety of civil liberty is to be attributed. (Hear.) The spirit of religious liberty went forth at the Reformation. The contests which then took place, although ardent, were unsuccessful. Religious liberty did not appear with that lustre in the eyes of the Reformers which it has since assumed. The Reformers, however, ought not to be ac cused of intolerance, inasmuch as having gained the one great object of their pursuit, they were justified in supposing that all else would follow. I was proud to hear the learned observations of my countryman, Mr. Orme. The first person, he stated, who maintained the true principles of religious liberty in this country, was Dr. Owen, the preceptor of Mr. Locke. I would also mention another individual greatly entitled to our admiration, and who also developed these principles-Sir Harry Vane. His writings are little known to the majority of readers; but he is alluded to by Hume, and his book contains the principles of religious liberty in three or four pages, in a manner clear and irrefragable. As to that part of the Revolution of 1688, in which the privileges of religious liberty were for the first time asserted by law, we find at that glorious period, that security from persecution was the first object which was obtained. Certainly, the Act of Toleration was imperfect, yet it is a subject for congratulation, that the unceasing exertions of your ancestors accomplished the greater part of this act. I must, in justice to the memory of King William, say, that if this act was not more perfect, it was not his fault. If the wishes of King William had been complied with, you would have obtained all you desired. King William was himself a Calvinist: he did not, however, come to England to attack the members of the Church of England. He had far greater objects in view, and yielded his own private feelings to matters of more vital importance. He was a great-talented man, and no doubt anticipated all that the Dissenters could wish, and all that a belief in Christianity could warrant, would eventually be obtained. It is well known that he wished all distinction among Protestant sects to cease, and that with great reluctance he was compelled to acquiesce in the imperfect scheme of toleration. I must express my surprise when I see the bishops of the Protestant Church publicly preaching that a man is not entitled to the privileges of a Christian, unless he unequivocally accords with the Liturgy of the Church. This certainly appears to me extraordinary in a Protestant country; indeed it would seem that the only difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome, as a wit humorously said, is, that the one was infallible and that the other never erred. (Applause.) As long as persons entertaining such doctrines obtain high preferment, it will continue our meritorious duty, as the 'friends of religious liberty, to watch over their conduct; and until the rights and privileges for which you are now contending are attained, I shall say that the ends of the Revolution are incomplete. (Cheers) I have heard with infinite pleasure the resolution you have passed with respect to the Test Act. I do hope it is not a mère annual formality, but a resolution deliberately formed. And I think those will render the greatest service to the public, who will join in endeavouring to effect the full and unshackled enjoyment of civil and religious liberty throughout the empire. (Cheers.) dence. Now, gentlemen, I cannot but think it part of my duty to state to you a principle, which was lately urged in a place of great importance, and by a minister of great moderation, and great discretion and pruA question arose in the House of Lords upon a comparison of two measures, one of which was proposed by Lord Grey, in 1807, and the other was carried into effect in 1817. The bill was to exempt the Catholics in the army and navy from those oaths which they had declined and refused to take. Lord Grey in the course of the discussion, said, that the present ministers had now done that very thing for which he and his friends had been obliged to quit power. Lord Liverpool (whom I very much respect) said, that there was a very great difference between the two measures, and justified his own by stating, that the act of 1807 was a permanent act, while that of 1817 was only an annual act, and left the Catholics, as well as Protestant Dissenters, entirely dependent upon the indalgence of the Legislature. This consideration, is of the greatest importance to you. You see the principle upon which you are regarded. You are all Dissenters from the Established Church, and whatever VOL. XIV. power or privilege you enjoy, you owe to the indulgence or moderation of the government, by whom it is only granted from year to year. It is a yearly lease, determiuable at the end of the year at the will of his Majesty's ministers; and this comes from the deliberate opinion of a most important person in the King's Council, and a person of considerable weight; it was uttered in a place too and with a deliberation which adds to its weight. Permit me to say that I have been refreshed this day by the praises which I have heard bestowed upon liberty, and especially by the inimitable speech of your Secretary, which I could devote the day to eulogize. Without any of the cold deliberation of a formal assembly, I have heard it justly stated, and as elegantly as justly, that liberty is essential to greatness and goodness in man. We seek it not alone for ourselves, but for our children. For what was the blood of Hampden and Sidney and Russell shed, but for the cause of liberty? For what was the great King William called great, but for his exertions in the same cause? And for what did William and Somers live, but to establish liberty? (Cheers.) What we desire is what these great men thought worthy the sacrifice of their lives. And what is liberty, but equal justice among men? And what is more heavenly and godlike than the exertions which are made for the establishment of justice upou earth? (Applause.) It is to secure man against wrong that a form of government is established; but can this be obtained without the possession of civil and religious liberty? I must say that I have attended to the important statement which has been made, with instruction as well as with surprise. I was ignorant, till this day, that scenes of vexation, such as have been described, could have occurred in this civilized country; and the knowledge of their existence will certainly induce me to watch with more vigilance every measure connected with this subject, that may be brought happy to state every grievance that may be before the Legislature. I shall be most presented to my notice, and to assist in obtaining for the Dissenters all those rights to which they are entitled. I consider that I should be disgraced in the eyes of this respectable assembly, if I did not act publicly upon the principles which I now publicly profess. I therefore solemnly pledge myself, on every occasion, to endeavour to carry into effect the instructions which I have received, and to promote your honourable and enlightened views. (Cheers.) Ladies and Gentlemen, I am now, in my turn, about to require a favour. I am going to beg a reward for the small ex ertions which I bave made. You have Among loud and reiterated plaudits the meeting was dissolved, and all present expressed their additional determination to afford to the institution, and to the measures then proposed, their best exertions, and to retire to their respective counties and congregations, and by their recommendation, to procure additional and universal support. Unitarian Fund Anniversary. THE Annual Meeting of the Unitarian Fund was held on Wednesday, 2d June, at Parliament Court Chapel, Artillery Lane, Bishopsgate Street. The devotional part of the service was conducted by Messrs. W. Jevons, (of Walthamstow,) Aspland and Gilchrist; and a very able, ingenious and interesting sermon was delivered by the Rev. James Yates, of Birmingham, from 1 Timothy i. 11, on the Peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel. With great force of argument, and richness of historical illus Dess. tration, the preacher exposed the futility |