§ Mr. Humepresented a Petition from the Reverend Robert Taylor, complaining of his having been confined for two years in Horse-monger Lane Gaol, with the additional sentence of being fined 200l., and ordered to find security previous to his enlargement to the amount of 1,000l. The petitioner complained that such a sentence in his case amounted actually to that of imprisonment for life. It did certainly appear to him (Mr. Hume), that under a free and liberal Government, and in the present enlightened age, prosecutions for differences in existing religious opinions should not be continued. As a Christian, he must deplore such proceedings, for persecutions of that description had ever been detrimental to the cause of Christianity. He did not mean to excuse the conduct of this individual, in acting in a manner that offended the general feeling of the community; and, as to his sentiments, they were such that he (Mr. Hume), from every information that he had ever received, or from any opinion that he had ever been able to form, altogether and entirely dissented from. At the same time, he thought it his duty to present this petition, complaining, as it did, of a species of persecution which he conceived should not be persevered in.
§ Petition to lie on the Table.