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    " To the Rev . H . Montgomery . Sir , " 1 have to thank you for transmittiug to ine the copy of the Minutes of the General Synod , held at Cookstown , in 1828 ; which I shall , as you request , return on the earliest occasion . Should I see Mr . Alexander Montgomery , as I

    expect , to-morrow , I shall give both it , and also the book of 1829 , to his charge . ' These documents , and your very civil communication , have completely opened my eyes to the deceits that have been practised upon me . No man , unless his errors be intentional , can or ought to be ashamed of acknowledging them -y and I am free to admit , that the

    representations which had been made to me , from a quarter and in a manner that I could hardly discredit , gave me a most false impression of the conduct and proceedings of the Remonstrants in this parish . 1 now feel myself called upon to give you the most ample assurance , that those erroneous impressions are completely erased from uay mind ; at the game time , hoping that you may be induced to accept the apology which 1 now ,

    with perfect sincerity , offer , for having ever entertained them . That my motives should have been misapprehended by you , is most natural , —as certaiuly appearances were strongly against me . 1 am little known beyond my own private circle ; my pursuits have been such as not to place me before the public ; nor am I at all ambitious of that distinction ; but those who are acquainted with rny disposition well know , that of all men I nin the last who would even listen to a

    suggestion which I thought could , in the slightest manner , infringe on the liberty of the subject , much less exercise ray authority , as a Magistrate , with an oppressive iutention , or to promote party views . In the conversation I had last week with you , I mentioned , that it was farthest from my intention , at any time , to interfere with religious disputes ; or ,

    in this instance , to take any part , as was imagined , with the Synod . This statement I now give to you under my hand , confirmed by the assurance , that 1 ara about to have trie some-time promised lease of this Meeting-house drawn up , to be granted in trust for the congregation

    of the Remonstrant Presbytery of Bangor . 1 have attentively examined the Overtures and Protest ; I have compared them with the Westminster Form of Presbyterian Church Government ; and am sure , it must be evident to the weakest understanding , that the Overtures are in direct contravention of their

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    Code . 1 shall only add , that so perfectly am I convinced of their being subversive of the liberties of Presbyterian ism , that were I a member of your Church , while I declare myself a Trinitarian in faith , though certainly not according to the doctrine of the Westminster Confession , I should most assuredly be a zealous Remonstrant .

    « ' I trust that you will permit me to subscribe myself now , and for the future , my dear Sir , with esteem , your sincerely obliged , " Wm . Montgomert . " P . S . — I beg you may consider yourself at full liberty to make whatever uj > e of this letter you please . " Grey abbey , Feb . 26 , 1830 . "

    In our opinion , this apology is manifestly incomplete , inasmuch as it makes no mention whatever of the aged and respectable minister who had been so grossly and scandalously ill-treated by Mr . Montgomery himself , and by others at his bidding ; and it is altogether unsatisfactory in its attempt to palliate his

    misconduct { error Mr . M . is pleased to call it ) by the imposture which was practised upon him . Surely Mr . Montgomery has not to learn that there are certain things which no deception will justify , aud some which are hardly to be authorized by the best authenticated statements . Such were several of his own acts

    towards the Rev . John Watson . It is too bad to exclude a man from his meetinghouse on one Sunday—arrest him the next—arrest him a second time , and drag him about the country for six hours in an inclement season , on that which { succeeded— and think to excuse it all by saying , " I was under a mistake . "

    The Synodical Presbytery of Bangor being now deserted by their former dupe , thought it vain to proceed farther in the business . Their whole trust had been in Mr . Montgomery , of Koseiuount . That prop having slipped from under them , they took the opportunity of their next meeting to declare their unshaken attachment to the cause of Religious Liberty , their heartfelt hatred of religious discord , and their abhorrence of the treatment which Mr . Watson had

    received . In their remarks on these resolutions the members were sufficiently complimentary to themselves ; and the public were no doubt greatly edified by the exhibition of the concealed liberality which was on this occasion brought , for the first time , to light . According to their own statement , there is yet a great deal of virtue in the Presbvtcry of Ban-

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    Intelligence . — The Rev . John WuUon and Congregation of Greyabbey . 285

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1830, page 285, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2583/page/69/