desire their more wide-spread diffusion and universal sway.

4. That, to such Committee, this Meeting recommend all expedient sup port to "The Marriage Service Bill," depending in Parliament, for the relief of Unitarians, and to every measure by which the actual enjoyment of religious free dom may be more diffused; and that they neglect no opportunity to obtain from Parliament some enactments where by places of public worship shall be exempted from parochial assessment-English soldiers, who are Dissenters, may have liberty of worship-the peculiar dis advantages of Baptists, as to the rights of interment, shall be removed-and the official registration of the births and burials of Protestaut Dissenters may be regulated and secured.

5. That, impressed with the inexpedience, degradation and injustice of the Corporation Act, and of the needlessness, oppression and profanity of the Sacramental Test-apprised that the Annual Indemnity Acts are a wretched and insufficient protection to Protestant Dissenters -assured that in Ireland they have been emancipated from the operation of those Acts and believing an unprotesting acquiescence in those laws to be dishonourable and unwise-this Meeting recommend to their members, throughout the country, to revive their attention to these subjects-and request the Committee to consider and adopt such measures, at a fit time, as may re-introduce the subject to the attention of Parliament, and obtain, by the repeal of those Acts, an essential though long-deferred relief.

8. That, mindful of the history of other times-devoted to constitutional freedom-attached to those noble families whose illustrious forefathers thought and spoke, and lived and died, for their native land and noting the conduct of those public men who, imbued with the spirit of their ancestors, seek also to be saviours of their country, and blessers of maukind-this Meeting have with pleasure welcomed the attendance of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, M.P., their noble Chairman; and assure him, that his talents, his information, his principles and his exertions, rendering him worthy of his noble race, have obtained for him their unbought and unpurchaseable gratitude and respect.

When this Resolution had passed, the noble Chairman rose and said, (when the long and loud applause would permit,) It is with great regret I feel compelled to leave this Meeting; but an indisposition compels me, though reluctantly, to go. Hlness from attending in the House of

Commons till a late hour this morning, on a cause not unconnected with religi ous liberty, must be the apology which I entreat you to accept. I have also some apology to offer for delaying the Meeting. I was ready, and my arrival was retarded by an accident that filled me with regret.

It is with no spirit of hostility to the Church, of which I am a member, that I have attended the Society this day. I rather came to promote its welfare. For, if I am not mistaken, much of the pains which the Committee of this Society has so worthily taken, and of which the preceedings have been commented on by your eloquent Secretary with such vast ability, ought to have been the labours of the Church of England. It would do well to appoint persons to watch her members, and to observe that no bigoted or prejudiced persons pervert the vast power and riches granted by the State, to the purposes of luxury, or despotism, or pride. I own I was surprised at many of the circumstances which have been related. It is hardly possible to believe that vexations so petty and so intolerant can exist in this country, in this age. With almost every word that fell from your Secretary I cordially concur. There are, however, but one or two matters to which I will allude. One is on the punishment by three months' imprisonment for preaching in the street; a punishment so completely disproportioned to the offence, that it indicates a spirit of persecution most ungenial to a British heart. If it be proper that the law should prevent such preaching, it was evidently the duty of magistrates and officers to give notice to the preacher of his error, instead of condemning him to such an imprisonment, a man who was anxious to impress on himself and his fellow-creatures the divine lessons of the Christian faith. That persons should be refused assistance from their parishes on account of difference of religious opinions, also appears to me a grievous wrong. Is this the lesson the clergy received from the religion they are taught? Is this the lesson the parable of the good Samaritan affords? Did he stop to ask the man whom he found wounded and lying in his way, whether their religious sentiments were similar? Did he wait before he heal ed his wounds, and liberally provided for his support, to ask whether he believed every iota of his creed? No; while God knows the beart and the conscience, it is for men to judge each other only by their acts; and that man who is found helping us when distressed, relieving us when our spirits are exhausted, and binding up our wounds, is most likely to gain our confi

given a new impulse to the undertaking, and has brought an accession of most liberal benefactions, which his Majesty has been most graciously pleased to augment with a munificent donation of one thousand pounds. The establishment of St. David's College, though intended chiefly for one Welsh Diocese, may eventually be useful to the other three; and in proportion as the Welsh clergy are employed in their ministerial duties in England, it may be beneficial to the whole Church. It may also relieve the Universities, by retaining at home many young men, who might otherwise venture, beyond their means, to resort to them. The proof which the Universities have given of their approbation of the undertaking by their very liberal contributions, affords a most encouraging testimony to its utility.

T. ST. DAVID's.
Abergwilly Palace, August 9, 1822.
Amount of subscriptions, £8375 2

0

Ecclesiastical Preferments. Rev. J. BREEKS, Carisbrooke, V. Isle of Wight, with the Chapels of Newport and Northwood annexed.

Rev. E. R. BUTCHER, Chapel Royal Perpetual Incumbency, Brighton. Rev. S. KENT, of Southampton, elected Chaplain of Royal Yacht Club.

Rev. PHILIP BLISS, D. C. L. and Fellow of St. John's, Oxford, elected one of the Under Librarians of the Bodleian Library, vice Nicol, now Regius Professor of Hebrew, and Canon of Christ Church. The Rev. JOSEPH LAWRIE, of Dumfries, appointed by the Hon. the East India Company, second Minister of the Presbyterian Church in Bombay.

The Rev. HENRY TATTAM, Rector of St. Cuthbert's, Bedford, appointed and licensed by the Bishop of London to be Chaplain to the English Church at the Hague.

The Rev. Lord W. SOMERSET, appointed to the Prebendal Stall in Bristol Cathedral, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. F. Blomberg.

tion to become the Pastor of the Unitasian Church, formerly meeting in Great Cross-Hall Street, but now in Sir Thomas's Buildings, Liverpool: to which he will remove in January next. B.

LEGAL.

Court of King's Bench, Nov. 14. The KING v. SUSANNAH WRIGHT.-Mr. GURNEY prayed the judgment of the Court, upon the Defendant, convicted of publishing a blasphemous libel upon the Holy Scriptures. (See Mon. Repos. fast number, pp. 645-647.) Mrs. Wright proceeded to read a manuscript in defence of the matter alleged to be libellous, but was stopped again and again by the Court, and at length committed to Newgate till the 4th day of next term, that she may be better advised, and instructed to offer what was fit for the Court to hear. The reporter says, that from her manner she seemed to exult in the determination of the Court.

THE KING V. SAMUEL WADDINGTON.— late sittings in Westminster of publishing The Defendant, who was convicted at the Principles of Nature, was brought up for a blasphemous libel, contained in Palmer's and on this amongst other grounds, that judgment. He moved for a new trial, one of the Jurymen having asked the dictable offence for any person to publish Lord Chief-Justice whether it was an inhis Lordship answered in the affirmative, a work denying the divinity of Christ, found him Guilty. Now he insisted that upon which direction, he said, the Jury clearly wrong, because the statute exin this respect the learned Judge was tending liberty of conscience to Unitarians had expressly declared that to deny the godhead of Christ was not an offence in the eye of the law.-The SOLICITORGENERAL said the Defendant had mis

stated what took place at the trial. In answer to the question alluded to, put by the Juryman, the Lord Chief-Justice did not say that to deny the divinity of Christ was an indictable offence, but that a publication, like the present, in which our Saviour was called a murderer and an impostor, was a blasphemous libel, and indictable as such.-Mr. Justice Bailey, Mr. Justice HOLROYD and Mr. Justice BEST, severally expressed their opinions against a new trial, and maintained that the direction of the Chief-Justice upon the character of the libel was perfectly right, because, independently of the statute alluded to, no man of common sense, to whatever Christian sec the belonged, could doubt that it was libellous to speak

of our Saviour in the terms contained in this publication.-The DEFENDANT addressed the Court in mitigation of punish ment, and warned the Judges against giving an unjust sentence, as they tendered the account they would have to give of their own conduct at the day of judgment. The COURT sentenced the Defendant to 12 months' imprisonment in the Middlesex House of Correction, and at the expiration of that time to give security for his good behaviour for 5 years, himself in 1007. and two sureties in 50%. each.

In the Court of King's Bench, Nov. 19, WILLIAM CLARK, bookseller of the Strand, was brought up for judgment, having been convicted, at the sittings after the last term at Westminster, of publishing an Atheistical libel, entitled Queen Mab, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Jury had recommended the defendant to mercy on the ground of the destitution to which he had been reduced. The defendant now put in an affidavit, stating, amongst other things, that he published the work as a literary or poetical curiosity; that he had no object or wish in selling the work, beyond the gain he might probably make by the publication, and that, shortly be fore the commencement of this prosecution, he printed and afterwards published a pamphlet which contained an answer to the doctrines in Queen Mab; that on his receiving notice of its prosecution by the "Society for the Suppression of Vice," he offered to Mr. Pritchard, the agent of the Society, to give up the whole impression; that he wrote afterwards to Mr. Wilberforce, one of the members of the Society, making the same offer, and entreating his merciful consideration of the case, but received from Mr. Wilberforce only the verbal answer, that deponent was not a person to be treated with, and must go to trial; and that he had a wife and two small children entirely dependent upon him for support; and that by the prosecution he had been reduced from a state of considerable mercantile credit to insolvency, and compelled to undergo the disgrace of taking the benefit of the Insolvent Debtors' Act. This being read, the Defendant, a young man of gentlemanly address and considerable cultivation," entreated as he was completely destitute, that the Court would rather increase his term of imprisonment than call upon him to find sureties for his future good behaviour, as he should not be able to procure them. He did not care if it was solitary confinement, as he had some literary works on hand, to which he wished to apply him

self. Mr. GURNEY addressed the Court in aggravation, and in forcible terms called their Lordships' attention to the heinous character of the libel. The CHIEF JusTICE asked the Defendant, whether if the Court were disposed to let him go upon his own recognizance to come up for judgment when called upon, he was prepared on oath to give up all the copies of the libel which were in his possession? The DEFENDANT said he was prepared to give up the only two copies which were in his own possession; but that all the remaining copies had been detained by the printer for a debt of 50%., which he owed him, and which were now selling at the machine, of which his Lordship was no doubt aware, for the benefit of the printer, and not for his benefit. Mr. GURNEY said this was an additional aggravation of the printer's offence, as he stated on the face of the work that he was himself the printer. The CHIEF JUSTICE. Will you give up the name of the printer? The DEFENDANT replied, that though he and the printer were at variance, still, under the agreement into which they had originally entered, he could not fairly give him up to prosecution. He would rather suffer any punishment himself than be guilty of such a breach of faith. The CHIEF JUSTICE observed, that the object of the Court would be to secure the copies of the work which were unsold. The DEFENDANT was then permitted to retire upon an understanding that he should come up again this day se'nnight, and in the interim have such communication with the Solicitor of the prosecution as might lead to the object which the Court was desirous of effecting-namely, the entire suppression of the work.

Nov. 25. W. CLARK was this day again brought up for sentence. He put in an affidavit purporting that only 25 copies of Queen Mab remained unsold in the hands of the printer; and that these were now brought into Court; that before 50 copies of the work had been sold, the Defendant repeatedly offered to Mr. Pritchard, attorney for the prosecution, all the remainder of the impression, and that he verily believed the copies now produced in Court were all that remained undisposed of, because in his experience as a bookseller, he always found that the circumstance of a book's being the subject of prosecution produced a very rapid sale of such a book. Mr. GURNEY urged the sale of the copies and the refusal to give up the printer's name (which the Defendant persisted that in honour he could not give up) in aggravation of punishment.-On the 25 copies being given up

to the Society for the Suppression of Vice, the Court proceeded to sentence the Defendant to four months' imprison ment, at the same time praising the general conduct of the Defendant during the prosecution.

In the Court of King's Bench, Westminster, June 1, Lord SONDES brought an action against- FLETCHER, Clerk, to recover damages ou a bond for 12,000. The defendant had been travelling tutor to Lord Sondes, who, in 1814, presented him with the living of Kettering, in Northamptonshire; taking from him the bond above described, to enforce his resigua tion of it as soon as either of his lord ship's younger brothers should be quali fied to hold it. This condition, which the bond was to provide for, was brought about in 1820, when Mr. Fletcher was required to resign in favour of the Hon. W. Watson, one of the plaintiff's brothers. He refused, however, and con. tended that the bond was void on the ground of simony. The action was accordingly for the amount of damages conditioned in the bond. For the defendant it was alleged, that he had quitted a valuable curacy to accompany Lord Sondes in his continental tour, on the understanding that he should be presented to the first living that came into the gift of his noble pupil, that when he was presented to the living of Kettering, subject to the hard condition of the bond, it was understood that he should hold it until Lord Sondes could give him some other preferment which he might absolutely enjoy which engagement had never been performed. That in point of law, the bond in question was void as against ecclesiastical policy, which directed that the union between a clergyman and his parishioners should not be broken at the caprices of individuals, but should be severed only by death.-That, at all events, so many deductions were in equity to be made from the sum stated in the bond, as would make the damages merely nominal. Witnesses proved the net value of the living to be 7461. per annum. Mr. Morgan, of the Equitable Insurance Office, stated that the living was worth to the defendant, at his time of life, ten years' purchase, but to the Hon. W. Watson, a young man of 24, it was worth 24 years' purchase, which would give 10,440. The counsel for the plaintiff (Scarlett), denied the promise of another living. He would have the jury to judge which party was likely to make an imprudent bargain, and to suffer by the cunning of the other-a young nobleman just entering life, or a clergyman of

mature years, classical education, and knowledge of the world. The policy which had been imputed to the church had no existence. Was it true that a clergyman was married to his first living, and might never afterwards have intercourse with other parishes? If so, there could be no preferment-no dean could ever be made a bishop, and translations could exist no longer. The offer was again repeated, that if Mr. Fletcher would resign, the bond should be cancelled. The Lord Chief Justice charged the jury, that at present they were not called on to give any opinion as to the legality of the bond. They were not compelled to give the whole penalty, but might make such deductions as they thought fit. In his opinion, the way to estimate the value of the living was in reference to the life of Mr. Watson, and not of Mr. Fletcher. They had no power to compel Mr. Fletcher to resign; but they must give compensation in money to Lord Sondes, not because money was strictly a compensation, but because, as in some other cases, it was the only one which they could render. The jury, after inquiring whether Mr. Fletcher could not be obliged to resign, and receiving an answer in the negative, assessed the damages at 10,0007.

The defendant afterwards moved for a new trial, but this was refused.

A MEETING took place at Edinburgh a short time ago to take into consideration the state of the Greeks, when Dr. M'CRIE, the biographer of John Knox, moved a series of Resolutions, of which the fol lowing are two: "That the name and history of the Greeks are associated with recollections of the most sacred nature, and excite in the breast of the scholar, the patriot and the Christian, a deep and lively interest in the fate of that once illustrious, but long oppressed and de graded people."-" That a subscription be immediately opened for the relief of those Sciots who survive the massacre, and such other Greeks as may be placed in similar circumstances." A considerable sum is said to have been immediately subscribed. A meeting for the same purpose was called at Glasgow, but pus off for a time lest any political discussions should manifest an appearance of party during the King's visit.