Lord Broughamsaid he had a petition to present from the in- 257 habitants of the town of Leicester, or rather from the members of the Society of the Friends of Religious Liberty in public meeting assembled. This meeting, as he understood, was held upon the 23rd of last month; it was most numerously and respectably attended, and the meeting unanimously came to the resolution of addressing their Lordships by petition. Although the petition was only signed by the respectable chairman, the Mayor of Leicester, and, therefore, according to the forms of their Lordships' House, could only be received as the petition of the individual signing it, nevertheless it expressed the unanimous feelings and sentiments of the numerous and respectable body that was assembled on the occasion. The petitioners stated that they considered the levying of Church-rates in England to be a grievous wrong indicted upon a large portion of her Majesty's subjects, who were heavily and unequally burdened, inasmuch as that, whilst they felt bound to provide for the maintenance of their own religious worship, they were at the same time, in opposition to their own sincere and honest conviction, compelled to contribute towards the support of a Church from which they derived no spiritual consolation. The petitioners also complained, as a great aggravation of the infliction upon them of the payment of Church-rates, of the grievance arising from the expensive and burdensome proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Courts; and the petitioners stated that an inhabitant of the town of Leicester, Mr. William Baines, an individual of great respectability, had, from conscientious motives, refused to pay a church-rate that was sought to be exacted from him; that he had, in consequence, been cast into prison, and that in prison he still remained, because he refused to pay a rate which he conscientiously believed he was not bound to pay. The petitioners then prayed their Lordships to take such steps as would tend to the relief of the subject from this burden, and which would also tend to the immediate liberation of Mr. Baines, and thus put an end to the strifes and feuds that distracted the country upon this subject, and impeded so greatly the advancement of religion. He understood that the town of Leicester contained about 60,000 inhabitants, and that the annual amount of Church-rates was 330l. He understood, also, that two-fifths of the rate, or about 258 130l., were paid by persons who conscientiously dissented from the Established Church; and for this paltry sum a large portion of the inhabitants of that great and populous town were brought into a perpetual state of strife and animosity. He held in his hand a letter from a most respectable magistrate of the town of Leicester, in which he stated that the enforcement of the Church-rates, in Leicester, had become the most disagreeable part of his duty; that it destroyed respect for the law, on the part of a great portion of the people, and engendered the most hostile feelings towards the Established Church. He entreated their Lordships to take the prayer of this petition, and the subject matter generally, into their consideration, and not to run away with the idea that any change that might take place in the constitution of the Ecclesiastical Courts, or in the reformation of their proceedings, however much it might relieve or mitigate the evil complained of, would reconcile people to the great grievance of exacting these rates from persons who conscientiously dissented from the Established Church. Mr. Baines had been incarcerated for the sum of 2l 5s.; he had been some months in prison for the non-payment of this sum, and was now burdened with costs to the amount of 125l. As far as costs were concerned, no doubt the evil might be lessened, as by the measure which his noble and learned Friend (the Lord Chancellor) last year brought forward, and which he hoped his noble and learned Friend would slate his intention again to bring forward, no doubt the amount of costs would be diminished; still, of necessity, the costs must be very much greater than the demand, when proceedings were taken for so insignificant a sum as 2l. He took the liberty of stating, at the end of last Session, when a bill was passed in consequence of similar circumstances that occurred at Chelmsford in the case of Mr. Thorogood, that the great interest that had been excited over the country by the confinement of Mr. Thorogood, and in favour of his liberation, would never have been excited, had it not been known that a grievance existed with which was connected his incarceration. He would say nothing upon the present occasion about the individual referred to in the petition, or about the Ecclesiastical Courts, as he merely wished to call attention to the grievance of which the peti- 259 tioners complained. He hoped her Majesty's Ministers would be able to state to their Lordships that it was their intention again to take up this subject. It was now three years since a bill had been loudly called for by hundreds and thousands of petitions. That bill had been dropped in the other House of Parliament. He would now fain hope that her Majesty's Ministers would be able to answer in the affirmative, whether there was any intention of renewing their former measure, and if not, whether it was intended to propose any other measure calculated to effect the same purpose?
§ Viscount Melbournesaid, it was not in his power to say, that there was any such intention.
§ Viscount Melbournesaid, that he was unable now to state, that any such intention existed.
Lord Broughamwas sorry to say, that he must take the answer of the noble Viscount to be a negative to his whole question. He was sure, that his noble and learned Friend would not answer him negatively with respect to the Ecclesiastical courts.
§ The Lord Chancellorsaid, it was his intention to introduce a measure on the subject as early as possible.
§ Petition laid on the Table.