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    ! house appertaining to the chapel , and to which charge it was impossible to object .

    ( Cheers . J At Chatha ? ri a case likewise occurred which was not conducted by this Society , and in which an attempt had been made to rate the chapel of the Rev . Mr , Slatterie , whose ill health alone prevented the

    information , and pleasure which his zeal and eloquence would always produce . There it was not the parish that wished to impose the rate . They well knew the advantages arising from his ministerial exertions to I'he population of the town ; and that the charitable benefactions which

    Christian principles induced his congregation to dispense , far exceeded iu utility and amount all that the most vigilant taxcollector could extort . Was it not deeply to be lamented that an individual should have this vexatious power ? And ought their efforts to relax until this power , at

    individual caprice , to impose a tax unfriendly to religion , was entirely swept away ? ( Cheers . ) The case has not yet been finally determined , but the expenses incurred amount to £ 50 , which from high and deserved respect for Mr- SJatterie , the Committee directed their Treasurer to

    pay-At York a far more important case had occurred , and towards the expense of which the sum of fifty guineas had also been presented by the Committee . The

    neighbouring ministers had determined that the ancient city of York should not be without a place of worship for Independent Dissenters , which many

    inhabitants desired . Lendal Chapel was therefore erected . The chapel had not been built more than a year . The receipts and disbursements were therefore distinctly

    known , and that the disbursements had exceeded the receipts ; yet the place was assessed . r J he Trustees , who were men of intelligence and public spirit , determined not quietly to yield to this demand . The court agreed upon the law , that Dissenters' places of worship were not rateable to the poor , provided the necessary expenses equalled the receipts , and were chargeable only for such net profit as

    should remain after a deduction of the necessary expense . This case is most momentous , as it shews the situation in which Dissenters are placed . It is not at the amount of the payments to which we ought mainly to look ; that is relatively unimportant .

    On that occasion there was a very numerous bench of magistrates assembled in the city of York , but of the city alone These city magistrates having- admitted the principle , proceeded to exercise their

    offensive ri &ht of examining' the payments made by the Trustees , and deciding- how

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    far they were necessary . One man sapiently asked in what way the chapel was lighted ? He was answered , " with oil . ' * " With oil , ( said he , ) oil is too expensive , it would be much more economical to light it with candles . * ( Laughter . ) This gentleman it will probably be conjectured

    was a tallow-chandler ! ( Loud laughter *) If a tallow-chandler , he naturally voted against the oil . ( Laughter . ) He did ; and sitting there as a magistrate , be said he could not permit so much to be charged for lighting the chapel . ( Laughter , ) Then there was a charge of £ 10 . for a

    clerk . " Oh \ ( said their worships ) -we can ' t allow you to pay a clerk £ 10 . a-year . Why can ' t some of you give out the hymns , and chaunt , unaided , your nasal strains ?" ( Laughter . ) The £ 10 . was disallowed Next came a charge for pew-openers . This was a new source of extravagance . " Why

    should not those people who had pews open the doors themselves ? " Then there Mas something allowed for cleaning ( he chapel . This too was quite out of the question . 4 ; If people took pews , why did they not hecome their own sweepers and cleaners ? " ( Laughter . ) This charge was also disallowed . But even these

    deductions afforded imperfect satisfaction to these enlightened adjudicators . During the previous year , the benevolent ministers who came , and without remuneration , except for their travelling expenses , to officiate in the chapel , had received about 100 / . " Tli € ? re were many curates in

    the city of York who had but 50 / . ayear—100 £ . a-year to Dissenting ministers was therefore an extravagant expense . " ( Laughter . ) Under these circumstances , and with these deductions , the disbursements were brought below the receipts ; and these magistrates decided that the

    chapel was rateable , and directed that it should be charged upon a profit of 20 / . ( Shame . ) In such a state was it honourable for Dissenters to continue ? Especially when the Court of Quarter-Session ^ was so frequently constituted by clergymen , who in these modern times neglecting

    their personal duties , and , invested with magisterial power , often came pre-determined to crush by such vexations the spirit they could not otherwise repel ; and to eradicate the plants , the growth and beauty of which they could not otherwise destroy . ( Applause . )

    Among * the resolutions which would he proposed , was one by which the meeting would be pledged to endeavour to " obtain from the Legislature an enactment on this subject , which he trusted would abrogate this unworthy intermeddling , and bury this abuse in the same sepulchre with many departed wrong's . ( Applause . J > To various cases of riots and disturb-

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    8 S £ Intelligence . — Protestant Society .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1819, page 332, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1772/page/52/