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    fetter tliar consciences , or the consciences of the people entrusted to their charge ( Applause . ) He fully concurred in the sentiment , that the cause of truth owed much to its enemies in Irelaud . The violence of the conduct which those enemies pursued had disgusted

    many , who , if tbe measures had been more moderate , would have been happy to join them . Under these circumstauces he looked forward to brighter days for civil and religious liberty in Irelaud . ( Applause . )

    The Chairman said , that the gentlemen whose health he was about to propose had already received the thanks of the Association at the chapel — he alluded to the Secretaries , to all of whom the Society was deeply indebted . He knew that he was addressing many who had the advantage of being the regular hearers of Mr . Aspland , ( applause , ) and to those he was aware , the mention of liis name was sufficient to call forth their

    gratitude . To his ( Mr . A . ' s ) unremitting zeal , great talent , and the spirit of good humour which he diffused around liim , the Association were highly indebted . After complimenting the reverend gentleman for his brilliant speech delivered at the dinner for commemorating the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts , the Chairman 'proposed , " The health of the Rev . R . Aspland , and the other Secretaries . " The toast

    was drank with loud applause . The Rev . R . Aspland rose , amidst loud plaudits , atid said , that as one of the Secretaries of the Association , who had been honoured by the mode in which the company had drank their health , he ft'lt it his duty to offer a few observations ; but from the flattering man tier in which the Chairman had spoken of

    him , he felt himself almost deprived of the power of speech . The present were extraordinary times , and he must advert to the topic to which all the previous speakers had alluded , namely , the march of religious liberty . He could do so in character , because if one sect had understood and acted upon the principles of

    tivil and 2 * eligious liberty more than another , that sect , even by the confession of their enemies , were Unitarians .. That sect had always maintained the great principle , that uo man had a right to dictate to the conscience of another , or to make his temporal privileges the less on accouut of his religious opinions . Members of Parliament had never

    Tneiiirtated an act for the relief of oppressed consciences , without looking to the Unitarians for support . There must be a cause fur such a procedure , and he hum-

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    bly suggested that it arose from the fact , that the Unitarians had , caught the true spirit of religious liberty . It might be that Unitarians had always been anxious to imitate the conduct of the good Samaritan towards the Jew . It would be

    presumption for him to say , that the late measures for the relief of the Protestant Dissenters , and the Roman Catholics , had been owing to the Unitarian Association ; but he would say , that , accord * iug to their strength and opportunity , their sickles had not been idle in the

    harvest . With a serious determination they had entered the field early and late , and had cheered on their fellow labourers in the cause . Unitarians felt the siucerest joy at recollecting , that in all they had done they had not been actuated by a sectarian regard to themselves but a regard to the welfare of all men . Why had Unitarians always been selected by certaiu - individuals in both Houses of Parliament as the subjects of

    reproach ? Because they were the first persons , to raise their voices in the sacred cause of religious liberty . Wliy had the Roman Catholics always looked to Unitarians , to whose principles they were so diametrically opposed ? However much Catholics doubted the support of other bodies of Dissenters , they always counted upon that of tbe Unitarians as a matter of course . ( Cheers . ) There were petsons from whose hearts u the black

    drop * of bigotry bad never been exr tracted ; who learned nothing , whilst the rest of the world were improving ; who do not belong to this . age , but seem " born out of due time . " A pamphlet had been writteu by a popular minister in London , agaiust the Unitarians , warning the religious world agaiust them , and calling upon those who professed orthodoxy to come out from amongst them , they having signalized themselves as the friends of the Catholics . He ouce heard

    a minister gravely assert , that the friends of the Catholic Relief Bill were giving their strength to the beast . ( Laughter . ) Oue word more , aud he spoke it with sorrow ; the successful efforts which the Unitarians had made for the relief of the Catholics , had given rise to an attempt to divide the three great bodies of Dissenters in London , in under that the vile might be separated from the holy , and the chaff from the wheat . A

    meeting of the Baptist ministers was held to discuss the question , <( Whether they show Id not separate from the gtM * e * al body , on account of that body being contaminated by Uuitarians ? " The mor ti < n was made and seconded , and he ( Mr . Aspland ) was glad to say , upon tliti

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    Intelligence . — Un itarian Association . 515

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 515, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/67/