§ Mr. W. Smithsaid, he held in his hand a number of petitions, the subject of which,
§864 as it was rather uncommon, he should state to the House as briefly as possible. These petitions were signed by a considerable number of dissenters, chiefly of one persuasion, called Unitarians, and the grievance of which they complained was the Marriage act. The petitioners wished, either chat they might be allowed to perform the marriage ceremony themselves, as the Jews and the Quakers were allowed, or else that certain parts of the present ritual should be omitted. They wished, in short, to be restored to the situation in which they were before the passing of the Marriage act in 1754.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.