At a Meeting of the Committee appointed by the General Body of Protestant Dissenting Ministers of the Three Denominations, "for the Purpose of Inquiry, Superintendance, and Distribution of the Funds which may be contributed for Relief of the French Protestants, suffering for Conscience sake,"

It was unanimously Resolved, 1. That this Committee have observed, with astonishment and regret, that attempts are making, through the medium of the press, to defeat their object, by misrepresenting their motives; and although the Committee know too well what is due to that respectable body by which they are deputed, to engage in useless warfare with those who are labouring to stifle that public sympathy which it is the wish of the body to excite, they yet owe it to their own character, and to the cause they have undertaken, to state candidly, once for all, the motives by which they have been guided and the end they have in view.

2. That this Committee, therefore, utterly disclaim for themselves and their constituents all party feelings on a question which they conceive to be purely and exclusively religious; but that if they must be ranked with a party, they are happy in ranking, on this occasion, with that of the government which listened so candidly to their representations, entered so warmly into their feelings,—and pledged itself so readily to employ its good offices for the same humane purpose to which their interference has been directed.

3. That if any man, calling himself a Protestant, can impute to Dissenting ministers, as a crime, that they have shewn themselves peculiarly forward, on this occasion, he should remember that they are the descendants of those who, for conscience sake suffered the spoiling of their goods, and

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the loss of their lives; and to whose constancy, under persecution, it is chiefly owing that religious liberty is now firmly established in this favoured land.

4. That, feeling the value of this inestimable blessing, they could not but be deeply interested by any occurrence which might threaten its loss to those, especially with whom they are united by the tie of a common faith, and a common worship; nor could they refuse their sympathy or their relief to men bleeding in the same cause which rendered the memory of their fathers immortal.

5. That though letters have been received from ministers in France, expressing objections to the interference of their Protestant brethren in England, the Committee have ascertained, from unquestionable evidence, that some of those letters have been written under constraint; and that others have been dictated by an apprehension (it is hoped erroneous) lest such an interference should injure them in the estimation of their own government, or rather, lest it should expose them to the fury of a faction, which sets the government itself at defiance; and the Committee are of opinion, that if complaints are cautiously uttered, they deserve, the more, the consideration and sympathy of those who are aware of the cause in which this caution originates.

6. That while they have been acting consistently with their own principles, in expressing their abhorrence of all religious persecution, by whom soever practised or countenanced, they cannot but suppose that in contributing to alleviate the distresses of the French Protestants, they are coinciding with the intentions of the French government, which has been taking measures to suppress those outrages, which, if not suppressed, must occa sion its own disgrace, and compromise its own safety.

7. That, in the subscriptions and collections already made,-in the spirit which is spreading throughout the kingdom, and in the prospect that this spirit will ultimately enable them to grant important relief to their suffering brethren, and to the widows and orphans of the victims of persecution, the Committee have the most flattering encouragement to persevere. They do, therefore, most earnestly

request the unremitting co-operation of Protestants of every Denomination, but especially of Protestant Dissenters, in this labour of love; and they express their confident assurance that in contributing to this object, without suffering their zeal to be damped by any insinuations or assertions whatever, they are promoting the spread and establishment of that Christian Liberty which is the greatest earthly boon that Heaven can bestow on man. Signed (by Order of the Committee),

THOMAS MORGAN, Secretary.

At a Special General Meeting of the Committee of the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty, convened at the New London Tavern, Cheapside, London, on November 21, 1815, “To consider the Situation of the persecuted Protestants of France,"

SAMUEL MILLS, Esq. in the Chair,

It was Resolved,

1. That this Committee, who include several Members of the National Church, and who represent many hundred Congregations of Protestant Disseuters-and of Friends to Religious Liberty of all denominations, throughout England and Waleshave been taught by their forefathers, and ever will continue, to regard the right of every man, in every age, and in every country, to worship God according to his conscience, as an inviolable-sacred-unalienable which no individuals or governments -or legislatures can, without injustice and oppression, directly or indirectly, infringe.

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2. That although this Committee be principally appointed to protect the Religious Freedom of their fellowcountrymen, in their native land-yet they should be undeserving of the name of Britons-of Protestants-of Christians and even of men, if their philanthropy was not extensive as the world-ifthey did not sympathize with all who suffer for conscience sake-if they did not regard religious persecution, by any sect, with alarm and abhorrence and if they did not endeavour to effect its extinction, by the exertion of every energy which they possess.

S. That at this period-when instruction is so extensively diffused when liberal principles are so generalIv professed-when the most solemn

treaties and the most powerful Monarchs have recognized the rights of conscience--and when nations of every Christian denomination have united in resistance to oppression and for the restoration of permanent peace and prosperity to Europe and to the world

This Committee did hope that perfect Religious Liberty would have been regarded as an hallowed plantand that all nations would have participated the beneficial fruits, which that liberty must produce.

4. That, even if this Committe could have apprehended that persecution would revive, they could not have expected that revival, and especially the revival of a persecution of Protestants, under princes-whose obvious interests demanded conciliation-whose predecessors had devastated their own countries by former persecutions→ some of whose Charters had declared "that all religions should be protected by the law, and that all men of all religious professions should be eligible to the offices of state"-and whose restoration and continued authority had been chiefly effected and upheld by Protestant liberality, Protestant perseverance, Protestant valour, and Protestant support.

5. That the Committee have therefore learnt, with astonishment and deep regret, that at Nismes, and other places in the South of France, a systematic and cruel persecution of Protestants has excited, since the restoration of the present Monarch to the Throne of that Country; that their property has been seized or destroyed

that many persons interesting for their youth and sex, or respectable for their industry, their loyalty, their virtue and their piety, have been assassinated-that an aged, venerable and excellent Minister of Religion has been put to death-and that the enormities which superstition, interest and cruelty have effected in former ages have there been re-performed;-and that they have learnt, with augmented sorrow, that these barbarities yet continue to be perpetrated, as they have not been suppressed with that promptitude and firmness which wisdom, gratitude, benevolence and Christianity indis'pensably require.

6. That against deeds so full of horror, this Committee must publicly protest; and that they assure the unhappy, surviving sufferers, by suck

At a Meeting of the Friends of Civil and Religious Liberty, held in the Meeting-House of the Fourth Dissenting Congregation, in Belfast, the 11th of December, 1815, Rev. ROBERT ACHESON, in the Chair, Resolved unanimously,

That the exercise of private judgment in forming religious opinions, is the unalienable right of every individual, and that no Government ought to interfere between the mind of man and his God, nor ought any persons to taunt or revile their fellow-citizens or opinions deliberately and conscientiously formed.

Resolved unanimously-That having petitioned the two Houses of Parliament, during the two last years, without success, on the manifold evils arising from the system of Orangemen, which still continues with unabated violence in many parts of Ireland, it is inexpedient to present similar petitions at this time.

Resolved unanimously-That in coming to the foregoing resolution, we are not actuated by any dereliction of duty, nor do we less strongly feel disapprobation of the system, nor less dread its hurtful consequences, being thoroughly persuaded that this Protestant combination against Catholics is illegal, and keeps up a spirit of irritation and animosity on both sides, and is an attempt to persecute for religious opinions.

Resolved unanimously-That we earnestly entreat the Earl of Donoughmore and Sir Henry Parnell to bring forward motions on this subject during the ensuing Session, as we are convinced that the permanent tranquility of Ireland depends on the suppression of the grievances sustained from the Orange party.

Resolved (With several dissentients to an amendment substituted as the last paragraph, in place of one expunged)*—That actuated by a spirit

The paragraph expunged in the 5th resolution, was in the following words :"We the more lament these outrages as being perpetrated by men supported by the British Government, at the termination of

consistent with our first resolution, we behold with abhorrence the restoration of the Inquisition in Spain, as an abridgment of the legitimate rights of the people, which are essentially of more importance than the so much talked of legitimacy of Princes. We likewise view with the strongest emotions of disapprobation the persecution of the Protestants in the south of France, commenced apparently under the countenance of some of the branches of the Bourbons. And while we lament that this persecution should only have commenced under a Government established in France by the power of the allies, in the erecting of which they professed to have in view the establishment of social order, we hail with pleasure the pledge which the British Government have given, in their answer to the English Protestant Dissenters, of their disposi tion on this subject.

Resolved unanimously-That the United States of North America hold out an object worthy of imitation, where all sects live peaceably together, and are equally protected in the right of forming their religious opi, nions.

Resolved unanimously-That the Thanks of this Meeting be returned to Daniel O'Connel, Esq. as being the first in Ireland to call public attention to the persecution of the Protestauts in France, at a meeting of the Catholic Association in Dublin, thus evincing that in the honourable pursuit of Catholic Emancipation, and protection from the hostility of Orange outrages, he only sought for himself, and his fellow Catholics, that liberty which he was equally ready to grant to others.

Resolved (With several dissentients on an amendment carried for insertion in the Belfast News-Letter)

That these resolutions be published in the Belfast Commercial Chronicle, the Belfast News-Letter, the Dublin Chronicle, the Dublin Evening Post, and in the Morning Chronicle and

a contest, which affected to be for the restoration of social order, more especially as in the various revolutionary Governments of France, however great were their excesses, or their transgressions against the principles of general liberty, they ge nerally preserved the sacred rights of conscience violable."