or others, who, in their intercourse with Lord Sidmouth, may have led his lordship to imagine, that the bill which he projected would, either in its principle, or in its provisions, be satisfactory to Protestant Dissenters.

JOHN COATES, Chairman.

At a General Meeting of the Deputies appointed for protecting the civil rights of the Protestant Dissenters, held at the King's Head Tavern in the Poultry, London, the 28th of May, 1811. WILLIAM SMITH, Esq. M. P. in the Chair.

The chairman made a report of the proceedings of the committee upon Lord Sidmouth's bill lately brought into the house of Lords, entitled "An Act to explain and render more effectual certain acts of the first year of the reign of King William and Queen Mary, and of the 19th year of the reign of his present Majesty, so far as the same relate to protestant dissenting ministers."

Resolved, That this deputation in conformity with the deep interest which they must always feel in every question affecting the civil and religious concerns of the protestant dissenters, do in the names of those by whom they are deputed, offer to their brethren throughout the kingdom their sincere congratulations on the rejection of the above-mentioned bill, and especially as connected with the opinion so generally expressed in the house of Lords, of the inexpediency and injustice of infringing on the liberty of the subject in religious matters. That the thanks of this deputation be gratefully offered to the Marquis of Lansdowne, to Earl Stanhope, Earl Moira, Earl Grey, to Lord Holland, and Lord Erskine for their able and distinguished support of the cause of the dissenters, and of the great and important principles of religious liberty, in the debates on the bill lately introduced by Lord Sidmouth into the house of Lords.

That the thanks of this deputation be given to all those members of that right honourable house who co-operated in rejecting the said bill.

That this deputation are extremely happy in the opportunity of expressing their high satisfaction at the just and liberal sentiments respecting the right of private judgment in religious matters, delivered in that debate by his grace the Archbishop of Canterbury.

That an address to the protestant dis

senters of England and Wales, now read, be approved.

That the said address be signed by the chairman, and printed for general cir culation.

That the cordial thanks of this deputation he given to the committee for the zeal and promptitude which they have so long and so constantly manifested in the protection of the civil rights of protestant dissenters, both in the metropolis and in the country, from every part of which applications on the subject have been so frequently received; for their watchful and anxious regard to these important interests ever since Lord Sidmouth announced his intention respecting the Toleration Act; and especially for the unshaken firmness with which they have maintained the unalienable rights of conscience, and deprecated the interference of magistrates in matters of religion, as a violation of those sacred principles, which in their judgment human laws ought never to controul.

That the foregoing resolutions be signed by the chairman, and inserted in ali the morning papers.

WM. SMITH, Chairman. Resolved, That W. Smith, Esq. M.P. the chairman of this deputation, be desired to accept our warmest thanks, for his vigilant attention to the subject of the late measure, ever since it was first announced in parliament-for his ready and obliging communications with the committee in their attempts to dissuade the noble author from actually bringing the same forward-and for his able and active assistance in obtaining its rejec tion; and that this deputation entertains a strong and grateful sense of his constant and zealous support of civil and religious liberty, and of the rights of protestant dissenters, on all occasions.

TO THE PROTESTANT DISSENTERS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. THE ADDRESS OF THE DEPUTIES.

When, in the years 1787, 1789, and 1790, the dissenters applied to the legislature for a repeal of the corporation and test acts, it was not surprising that, on a subject so deeply interesting to them, considerable warmth should have exhi

bited itself both in discussion and in action. Disappointed at last in expectations which they thought reasonable, and therefore dissatisfied, in their own opinion justly, they have yet forborne since that period to renew their application, unwilling uselessly to revive animosities; and preferring to wait till time and reason should have overcome preju dice and fear. In this interval, instances of local intolerance and vexation have frequently happened; which, when without legal remedy, as in some cases, have been patiently endured; or, as in far the greater number, by the attention and interference of the deputies, have been quietly and legally suppressed; but, as no general or prevailing disposition to abridge the religious liberties or disturb the peace of the dissenters has been manifested, nothing has occurred affecting them as a body to excite much general interest, if we except a late pertinacious attempt to withhold the rites of burial from all such as had not been baptized acccording to the forms of the establishment; which, by the same interposition, having been brought to trial in the court of arches, where it was decided in their favour, has been laid before the public.

And much longer might this state of things have lasted, but for the recent proposal of Lord Sidmouth; which indeed excited a very great and general alarm, the reasons for which will appear when we advert to the previous situation of the dissenters, and examine the provisions of his bill as offered to the house of Lords. The amendments which it might have received in its subsequent stages, are here out of the question, because, however they might have improved the original measure, or how far soever they might have exculpated the noble mover from having been disposed intentionally to infringe on religious liberty, it was

impossible to calculate on such alterations; nor could they, even in their greatest extent, have prevented all violation of the first, great, and leading principle on which all dissenters found themselves, and which they never can concede, the right of every man to teach to others those religious opinions which he himself entertains. Freedom of thought the magistrate has it not in his power to controul; it is only in abstaining from interference with the communication of opinions, that he has the opportunity of proving his wisdom or his justice.

The dissenters cannot be supposed to have regarded the toleration act itself as satisfying their just claims. It was indeed scarcely to be hoped that a law enacted at that period should have proceeded on those sound and comprehensive views of the subject, which deeper examination and more dispassionate discussion have since afforded. Still even by that law much was gained: and though it was then deemed expedient to demand subscription to the articles as the condition of its protection, yet from the imperfect records of the debates in parliament, it seems probable that subscription was required rather under some vague idea of preventing writings against the establishment, than with any deliberate intention of limiting toleration to those only who believed all the doctrines of the church. On the contrary, the description in the act of the persons entitled to avail themselves of its protection is most comprehensive; and the spirit in which, from the very first, it has been almost uniformly administered, strongly confirms this view of its design. Still, however, further legal relief was wanting the growing spirit of religious inquiry rendered subscription to creeds and articles every day more burthensome; while the legislature became more sensible to the injustice of impositions not

punge from that statute book which they now disgrace-all penalties, restrictions, and disabilities on account of religion; and we earnestly hope that nothing will occur to defeat these expectations, or by exciting a hostile spirit even to postpone a consummation on every account so devoutly to be wished

Signed, by Order of the Meeting, WILLIAM SMITH, Chairman. London, May 28, 1811.

INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF A
MEETING AT THE FREE-
MASON'S TAVERN OF
THE FRIENDS OF RELIGIOUS

LIBERTY.

On Saturday the 8th inst. a dinner was given to the Irish delegates, by the friends of religious liberty. Upwards of 400 persons sat down to dinner at seven o'clock, amongst whom were many noblemen of the first distinction, whether for rank, property, or talents in the United Kingdom. The Earl of Moira presided, the Earl of Fingal on his right, and Lord Castleross, the eldest son of the Earl of Kenmare, on his left; then the Earl of Donoughmore, the Dukes of Bedford and Argyle, the Earls of Hardwicke, Stanhope, and Ormond, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Ponsonby, Lord George Grenville, Sir John Doyle, Messrs. Whitbread, Sheridan, and Hutchinson. At the second table were the Marquis of Downshire, Lord Clonbrook, Sir John Cox Hippesley, Mr. Calcraft, and many other members of parliament.

The Earl of Moira then rose, and spoke in substance as follows:"My lords and gentlemen, at no period of my public life, when I have felt myself obliged to deliver my sentiments upon any great public question, have I felt more real difficulty, more unaffected embarrassment than I now do in rising to

address you-not, gentlemen, that I am ignorant of that generous kindness and good nature with which I know you are prepared to anticipate my efforts this day to please you; but that in rising to call your attention to the object of our meeting, I cannot but feel the vast magnitude of the theme itself, and my utter inability to do it any thing like justice. The only way I have to relieve myself and you, is to turn your observations from the inadequacy of the speaker to the grandeur of the subject-to commune with your own generous minds upou it, and dwell for a moment on the nature of that glorious cause which we are now assembled to celebrate. For what, gentlemen, is that cause? The cause of the catholics? No. The cause of the protestants? No. The cause of Irishmen? No. But the cause of all mankind—and more than even that the cause of TRUTH! Upon such a theme it is scarcely possible to think with a strength and a greatness proportionate to its native sublimity; who, then, can pretend to speak upon it? or who to realize in mere words these mighty conceptions, which so exalt, enlarge, and purify the soul, that is capable of them? Therefore, Gentlemen, all those good wishes which communicate between sect and sect, however amiable, are yet so only because they distinguish without dividing us, and are nothing when compared with that diviner sympathy, that takes within its nobler range, not individuals, but the species, not the sectarist but man, not a sect but a world. The cause of the Irish catholics has, no doubt, its own immoveable grounds and unanswerable claims; but it is yet infinitely superseded by that infinitely greater one, whose eternal principle is, the universal recognition of the indefeasible right of every British subject, of every human being, to worship his God in the way his conscience tells him he ought. Such is

the pure, simple, abstract, immutable truth, by which the friend to religious liberty regulates his views of his neighbour's faith, and upon which rests in security for ever the cause which we are now met to worship. The Irish catholic, had he no other claim to his rights, would bave an all-sufficient one in this; but, Gentlemen, I need not remind you that he has many other, and many other strong ones. All that he derives from local circumstances serve but to strengthen the abstract justice of his claims. The noblemen upon my right and left, and the highly respected characters who have accompanied them, are the representatives of a people, whose high qualities are rapidly brightening up on the narrow prejudices of their enemies. They have come to this country to demand, in the name of that people, a participation in those rights which their valour got for you, and which that valour, in a thousand forms, is now bleeding on a foreign land to maintain and secure to you for ever. There may be men who can daily witness those services, and yet deny those claims. There may be men who, while thankfully receiving and greedily enjoying the boon and bounty of Irish blood, can, without a blush, refuse to Irishmen those rights that blood flows so freely to sustain. But I am rejoiced to say, that they are hourly shrink ing into numbers as contemptible as their principles. Let us, Gentlemen, leave them to dissipate before the march of truth. We will not descend to be angry at their stupid hostility. The language of party politics could only blaspheme the high purposes of this day's festival. We war not with, but against animosity; but let those who refuse the rightful demand of our catholic brethren, let them say what they have seen in the conduct of the Irish catholics to afford the slightest pretence for withholding from them

justice. The Irish delegates, in the name of the Irish people, challenge the scrutiny of their enemies. Let their enemies examine their conduct, and say whether they have not, for the last six hundred years, upheld the stability of the government that oppressed them. Let him who resists the claims of such men, make it out to his own conscience, upon what one principle of truth or justice he can profanely interpose his bigotry between the soul of man and his Maker, in order to rob him of God's best blessing, and poison his relish for existence, by separating life and liberty. For what is life without liberty? without liberty? Unlawfully to take away my life is a crime of the deepest enormity; and is it nothing unjustly to take away my liberty? Or, rather, Gentlemen, say which of the two murders is the "most foul and most unnatural?" There can be no genuine freeman, who must not feel, that of all murders, the grossest in itself, and the most deplorable in its consequences, is the mur der of human rights. Gentlemen, we live in times in which for our own sakes, we ought to be liberal: if eyer the three countries were called upon to unite heart and hand for their common security, and their common glory, that period is the present. Let us then individually and collectively promote the great work of peace--the interchange of benevolence, which has been perpetually circling from one end of this great room to the other since we met, will not retaid that truly christian object.

The Earl of Fingall said, that the speech they had just beard was above all praise-the principles expressed in it were worthy of the elo quence which adorned them.-He had been all his life an earnest well wisher to religious liberty-not mere ly because of his catholic countrymen, but on account of his love for the United Kingdom. In a sincere