§ Mr. Whitbreadsaid he held in his hand one Petition, and there were lying by his side, other Petitions of an exactly similar nature, signed by between 8,000 and 9,000 persons, praying for complete Liberty of Conscience to all the subjects of the Brisish empire. These Petitions were signed by Christions of all denominations, dissenting from the church of England. It was almost exactly similar to a Petition, which he had had the honour of presenting to the House on the same subject three years ago. In using the word "honour," he meant it not to be understood, not as in the ordinary course of expression, when a person presented any application to that House, but as expressive of the gratification which he felt, and honour which he esteemed to have been conferred on him, in having that Petition put into his hands by one of the most enlightened and liberal Christians in this or any other country. A man who, during a long life, had been distinguished for universal benevolence and charity, and who was still anxious, even at his advanced period of life, not to relax in his exertions, but to persevere to the ecd in that course, and for that object, for which he had laboured through life—good will to his fellow men, and peace on earth! After having said this, he was satisfied that he had sufficiently designated the person to whom he alluded, to be the Rev. M. Wyvill. The Petitions which he had to present were from York, Sheffield, Leeds, Hull, Norwich, &c.
The Petitions were then brought up and read, setting forth,
"That the Petitioners were Christians, who consider absolute liberty of conscience respecting religion to be the unalienable right of all men, that it is the duty of all men to examine as diligently as may be in their power, the doctrines of religion, and after such diligent examination, to 419 adopt and to profess what may appear to them to be the truth; and that, in the performance of that duty, men ought not to be obstructed or discouraged, or otherwise tempted to act hyprocritically, by any law tending to bias them in the course of such examination of the doctrines of religion, by subjecting them, in the case of their dissenting from the doctrines of any I established church, to suffer death by burning or otherwise, or to suffer any corporal or pecuniary punishment, or to be injured in their reputation by any disability more or less disgraceful; and that the Petitioners acknowledge, with high satisfaction, that, in the present reign, considerable progress has been made towards the full restoration of the rights of conscience, by the wisdom of parliament and the benignity of the king rescinding various laws, in whole or in part, which were violations of those rights; yet, since other penal laws, not less injurious to (hose rights, remain unrepealed, since some of these laws subject to corporal punishments or pecuniary penalties, others, as in the case of the test laws passed in the reign of king Charles the second, subject to disgrace, disability, and privation of civil rights, persons, whose only offence it is that, in conformity with their duly, they have examined the doctrines of religion, and by such examination have been induced to embrace and to profess religious opinions different from the doctrines of the Established Church; and that the Petitioners feel it to be their duty humbly but earnestly to remonstrate against the longer continuance of any of those intolerant laws; and they do, in conformity with the premises, expressly petition the House, that every such law may be repealed, and the rights of conscience may thus be restored to all the subjects of this United Kingdom; and the Petitioners humbly beg leave to add, that this request, as it appears to them, is grounded on the most evident considerations of justice; and they trust that the compliance of the state would yet conciliate the affection of millions of their aggrieved fellow subjects, and unite them for ever to the interests of the empire: under each of these aspects their request claims, and they hope will be found to deserve, the assent of the House, as they are statesmen anxious for the safety of their country, and as they are moralists determined to act impartially on the rules of justice; but, when the Petitioners consider farther, 420 that every attempt to influence men in their choice and profession of religion by penal laws, whether corrupt or compulsive in their operation, is contrary to the spirit of the gospel, and forbidden by its plainest precepts in numerous pasages, they hope it may be allowed them more particularly, and with all possible eereestness, to intreat the serious and sincere Christians in the House to interpose their endeavours, not only to vindicate the Gospel from the groundless charge of intolerance, but to influence this Christian state to conform its laws for the protection of the Established Church, to the purity, benignity, and exalted integrity of the religion of the Gospel, to renounce the whole system of persecution, the long accumulation of ages of barbarism and discord, and to free an almost countless multitude of injured individuals from the temptation of ensnaring tests, and the more oppressive severities of compulsive intolerance; by the success of such salutary counsels, at once restoring concord and safety to the empire, and freeing our national Church from the just reproach of retaining that support which persecuting laws can bestow, but which Christianity condemns, and would disdain to accept."
The Petitions were ordered to lay on the table.
§ Mr. Whitbreadthen said, that were it not for the circumstances of the present times, he should bring forward a specific proposition on the subject of these Petitions. Considering, however, that a right hon. friend of his had given notice of a motion which would shortly come before the House, and which would involve the interests of Christians of every denomination; going, as it naturally would, to the repeal of all the disabilities of the present day, he should wait, therefore, the result of that discussion, which, he presumed, would be for a committee of the House to take this important question into consideration. Being now on his legs, however, he begged leave to state, that unless the decision of the court of King's-bench on a case now pending before them, should render the thing unnecessary, he should submit to the House a motion on a subject not altogether unconnected with religious toleration. It had hither to been supposed, that it was required of magistrates to tender the oaths to persons wishing to qualify for preaching or teaching, who tendered themselves. This had hitherto been, considered to be the law, but it was 421 now alleged that it was not so, and a more limited interpretation was now wished to be given to the enactment of the statute. If the court of King's-bench should decide in favour of this more limited construction, he gave notice, that he should, on the 29th of April, bring forward a proposition for making that which was the more liberal interpretation, the legal interpretation also.