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    they have thought it expedient to ijre * fix a short stWemfcpt * already in print , relative to the original rise aud formation of the body * which is as follows . «—" The Annual Appointment of

    Dep . uties by the several Congregations of Presbyterians * Independents and Baptists , in and within ten miles of London , to protect the Givil Rights of the Protestant Dissenters , originated in the following manner : —

    " On the 9 th of November , 1732 , a General Meeting of Protestant Dissenters was held * at the Meetinghouse * in Silver-street , London ,, to consider of an application to the Legislature for the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts * At this

    Meeting , a Committee of twenty-one per ,, sons ; was appointed , to consider , and report to a subsequent Meeting . At another General Meeting , it was resolved * * That every Congregation . of the Three Denominations , of

    Protestant Dissenters , Presbyterians , Independents and Baptists , in and within ten miles of London , should be recommended to appoint two Deputies f and , subsequently , on the 14 th of

    January , 1735 - 6 , — ' That there should be an annual choice of Deputies , to take care of the civil . affairs of the Dissenters ? and , * Tliat the Chairman do write to the Ministers of the several Congregations , to return the names of their Deputies to him '

    " On the 26 th of the same month , the Deputies met and elected their Co » mrnittee by ballot ; and these several elections , of the Deputies by the Congregations , and of the Committee b y the Deputies , have been continued annually from that time to the present /'

    Of their occupation and objects , a complete idea * may be formed from the following paragraph in one of their circular letters , dated November 17 , 1738 , in which they say , ia language perfectly suitable to the situation and sentiments of the body , undqr all its successive renovations , down to

    the present day , —~ " You well know that the-Corporation and Test Acts were the important business which gaye rise to pur thus meeting ; but , though this be the chief , it is not the only thing that we , woijld have in view . ^ Wfi would , willingly attend to every

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    lliing that may remedy or prevent any incojiveniency to the , cause of-civil stud i religious liberty : ' \ having , however , always practically confined their interferenpe ia civil matters to such points as . were immediately connected with the rights or interests of Di $ -

    senters . Those who Jiave been long conversant with the affairs of the Deputation , cannot but recollect how large ; m portion of its time and funds was formerly occupied in t-tig defence of our brethren ( particularly in the country ) against various illegal proceed *

    ings , in most instances perhaps , singly , of no great importance , bat when ; frequently repeatedy forming a considerable mass of vexation and injuatice * ---Such were , demands of fees for petty services due from members of the

    Establishment , but of which Disseiiters neither required the performance nor were liable to the paymeiit ;—Refusals of magistrates to execute their ministerial duties under the provisions of various statutes fi * r

    registering places of worship ;—Admission of persons to qualify as Dissenters , &c . ;— Denial of the rites of burial to persons not having been baptized , in the Church;— -and , far beyond all these , indecent and even violent

    interruptions of divine worship , generally committed by the idle and profligate of the very lowest order of the populace , but sometimes , unfortunately , countenanced by individuals in higher and better-educated classes of society *

    Your Committee have gpeat pleasure in reporting that these disgraceful practices have lately been of infrequent- occurrence—one only of each kind havMg been offered to their notice in the course of the last year > and these only to be repressed . ^ .

    Another unpleasant and not uncoinmon employment of your Committee , — the composing differences arising among the members of congregations , ( often respecting trusts and ^ endowments , ) has also happily diminished , and some of these disputes have

    been satisfactorily terminated during the recent session—among which it may not be improper to bestow more tb , an ordinary notice on one of unusual magnitude , viz . the Dudley Cause , of which the following * is n brief abstract : — \ . In 1806 , a suit in , Chancery win *

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    Report df the Committee oftheBepUtm ' of ' the ProteStunt Dissenters . < : § &

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1824, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2521/page/15/