late hours in the night: Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the commencement of this act, all such meetings between sunset and sunrise shall be held and deemed unlawful; and any sectarian, Dissenting minister, or other person professing to be a teacher of religion, who shall, contrary to this act, keep open any such places of meeting between sunset and sunrise for the purpose aforesaid, or permit or suffer any such nightly assembly of slaves therein, or be present thereat, shall forfeit and pay a sum not less than 20%., or exceeding 501., for each offence, to be recovered in a summary manner before any three justices, by warrant of distress and sale, one moiety thereof to be paid to the informer, who is hereby declared a competent witness, and the other moiety to the poor of the parish in which such offence shall be committed; and, in default of payment thereof, the said justices are hereby empowered and required to commit such offender or offenders to the common gaol, for any space of time not exceeding one calendar month; provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be deemed or taken to prevent any minister of the Presbyterian Kirk, or licensed minister, from performing divine worship at any time before the hour of eight o'clock in the evening at any licensed place of worship, or to interfere with the celebration of divine worship according to the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish and Roman Catholic religions.

"LXXXV. And whereas, under pretence of offerings and contributions, large sums of money and other chattels have been extorted by designing men, professing to be teachers of religion, practising on the ignorance and superstition of the Negroes in this island, to their great loss and impoverishment: and whereas an ample provision is already made by the public and by private persons for the religious instruction of the slaves: Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the commencement of this act, it shall not be lawful for any Dissenting minister, religious teacher, or any other person whatsoever, to demand or receive any money or other chattel whatsoever from any slave or slaves within this island, for affording such slave or slaves religious instruction, by way of offering contributions, or under any other pretence whatsoever; and if any person or persons shall, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, offend herein, such person or persons shall, upon conviction before any three justices, forfeit and pay the sum of 20/. for each offence, to be recovered in a summary manner, by warrant of distress and sale, under the hands and seals of the said justices, one moiety thereof to be paid to the informer, who is hereby declared a competent witness, and the other moiety to the poor of the parish in which such offence shall be committed: and in default of payment, the said justices are hereby empowered and required to commit such offender or offenders to the common goal for any space of time not exceeding one calendar month."

No act can pass into a law in the colonies without being submitted to, and approved by, His Majesty in Council. This act, with these provisions-a curious specimen of legislative wisdom in the 19th century-was "referred by His Majesty in Council to the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for the affairs of Trade and Foreign Plantations," who reported upon it their opinion that it ought to be disallowed. Their report was approved by order of His Majesty's Council, and the act consequently disallowed; and Mr. Huskisson, the Colonial Secretary, drew up a dispatch in September last, addressed to Major General Sir John Keane, K. C.B., Lieutenant Governor of the Island, explaining the grounds of the decision. This was communicated by the Governor in a message to the House of Assembly, and has since been published in the Royal Gazette. It is an admirable state paper; simple, manly, decisive. Above all, it is an exposition and assertion of the principle of religious liberty, which is worthy of an enlightened government. Let Mr. Huskisson always speak and act thus, and he will ensure, as a politician, the grateful and cordial support of the better part of the British people. The following are some of the passages in this truly important and valuable document :

65

Among the various subjects which this act presents for consideration, none is more important in itself, nor more interesting to every class of society in this kingdom, than the regulation on the subject of religious instruction. The 83d and the two following clauses must be considered as an invasion of that toleration to which all His Majesty's subjects, whatever may be their civil condition, are alike entitled. The prohibition of persons in a state of slavery assuming the office of religious teachers might seem a very mild restraint, or rather a fit precaution against indecorous proceeding; but, amongst some of the religious bodies who employ Missionaries in Jamaica, the practice of mutual instruction is stated to be an established part of their discipline. So long as the practice is carried on in an inoffensive and peaceable manner, the distress produced by the prevention of it will be compensated by no public advantage.

"The prohibition of meetings for religious worship between sunset and sunrise will, in many cases, operate as a total prohition, and will be felt with peculiar severity by domestic slaves inhabiting large towns, whose ordinary engagements on Sunday will not afford leisure for attendance on public worship before the evening. It is impossible to pass over without remark the invidious distinction which is made not only between Protestant Dissenters and Roman Catholics, but even between Protestant Dissenters and Jews. I have, indeed, no reason to suppose that the Jewish teachers have made any converts to their religion among the slaves, and probably, therefore, the distinction in their favour is merely nominal; still it is a preference which, in

principle, ought not to be given by the legislature of a Christian country.

"The penalties denounced upon persons collecting contributions from slaves for purposes either of charity or religion, cannot but be felt, both by the teachers and by their followers, as humiliating and unjust. Such a law would affix an unmerited stigma on the religious instructor; and it prevents the slave from obeying a positive precept of the Christian religion, which he believes to be obligatory on him, and which is not inconsistent with the duties he owes to his master. The prohibition is, therefore, a gratuitous aggravation of the evils of his condition.

"It may be doutful whether the restriction upon private meetings among the slaves, without the knowledge of the owner, was intentionally pointed at the meetings for religious worship. No objection, of course, could exist to requiring that notice should be given to the owner or manager whenever the slaves attended any such meetings; but, on the other hand, due security should be taken that the owner's authority is not improperly exerted to prevent the attendance of the slaves,

"I cannot too distinctly impress upon you, that it is the settled purpose of His Majesty's Government to sanction no colonial law which needlessly infringes on the religious liberty of any class of His Majesty's subjects: and you will understand that you are not to assent to any bill, imposing any restraint of that nature, unless a clause be inserted for suspending its operation until His Majesty's pleasure shall be known.

"On the subject of marriage, I observe that no security is taken against the possible case of the unreasonable or capricious refusal of the owner to consent. By confining the power of celebrating marriages to the clergy of the Established Church, every other class of religious teachers is deprived of the means of exercising a salutary influence over the minds of their disciples; and probably the Roman Catholic priests may be entitled to say, that such an enactment takes away from them a right which, by the common law, they enjoy in every part of His Majesty's dominions to which the Marriage Act of George II. does not extend. The necessity of undergoing an examination by a clergyman of the Established Church, as to the nature and obligations of the marriage contract, is not very apparent, and might, perhaps, operate as a serious impediment to the forma tion of such connexions. It is difficult to understand how the range of inquiry respecting the 'obligations' of the marriage contract is to be limited, since that expression may be supposed to embrace a large variety of moral and religious considerations, with which the slave population in its present state must be very imperfectly conversant."

SECOND UNITARIAN SOCIETY AT LEICESTER.

[To the account that follows of a new Unitarian church, we cannot refrain from prefixing the letter by which it is accompanied, though probably not written with a view to publication. ED.]

SIR,

Leicester, December 29, 1827.

I am requested to solicit the insertion of the following in the Christian Reformer. It may prove a stimulus to others who possess one talent, earnestly to employ it in the same way; and we doubt not that the God of truth will bless our humble endeavours to spread the knowledge of his matchless perfections.

If a proper place can be obtained, we anticipate that it will afford an opportunity of extensive usefulness in this part of the vineyard, and till then we hope none will despise our day of small things.-On behalf of the Society, I am, Sir, yours,

A POOR MAN. P.S. I had almost forgot to say, that with the new year they have agreed to commence a small Reading Society. The Introduction to the Church Book of the Second Unitarian Society in Leicester.

For some time past have been (great exertions) made by Trinitarians of every persuasion; they appear to be joined in a bond almost as strong as that of the Jews against Paul, (Acts xxiii. 12,) and their efforts are united against the doctrines of Unitarianism. It was scarcely possible to attend a place of worship three times without hearing something reproachful against them. The Unitarians, feeling that they stand upon a rock as firm as the everlasting hills, and that their cause would not suffer by publicity, resolved upon an attempt to make it more generally known, and particularly among the working class.

They obtained pecuniary means to commence, but they did not know any person that would undertake publicly to teach till the latter end of the year 1826, when a suitable person returned to Leicester, the place of his nativity. It was known that he was a Unitarian, and that he had preached at Astley and Wigan, under the patronage of the Lancashire Missionary Society, and being applied to, he volunteered his service in the cause. A room was taken, pulpit, benches, &c., were provided by donations given into the hands of the Rev. C. Berry, and it was opened on the 13th of May, 1827, in the evening.

There was neither advertisement, posting of bills, or notice given from any pulpit, but through the exertions of friends, there was an excellent choir, a decent, though small, congregation.

We had not commenced operations long before we received from the orthodox a challenge to discuss the different points of doctrine; for, said they, you are not only wrong in one point, but

the whole system is erroneous. We willingly accepted it; for though our views did not accord with theirs, we were still open to conviction, and should be glad, if by argument, they could make it appear that Trinitarians were right.

The conference was to be private: but somehow they managed to muster a strong party, and among their number four occasional preachers. They seemed to think it was all on their own side; but, in a few nights, they found disappointment, and disappeared.

The service has been continued regularly every Lord's-day evening, and not without some beneficial effects. Several of the hearers have come forward and formed themselves into a society, which they did on the evening of the 30th of September, 1827.

They laid this as their foundation :

We whose names are undersigned, do agree to form ourselves into a Society of Unitarian Christians, upon the principles of the right of private judgment, with liberty of conscience, and an equal right in all church affairs; having no creed, but taking the Scriptures as a rule of faith and practice.

On the same evening, the propriety of establishing an adult Sunday-chool was suggested, and arrangements being made, the school has commenced. There are now 60 scholars, and 12 members of the society.

REGISTRATION OF MEETING-HOUSES.

Berkshire Michaelmas Sessions, Abingdon.

Before the Right Honourable Lord Folkstone and a full Bench of Magistrates.

James Franklin, B. Beaseley, and three other respectable young men, were indicted for disturbing a congregation of Protestant Dissenters at Charney, on the night of the 26th of September last.

Mr. Shepherd stated the case for the prosecution.

The Rev. Mr. Flint (the minister who officiated on the night in question) proved the disturbance of the congregation, consisting of 15 persons, assembled at the house of John Franklin, brother of James Franklin, and which was occasioned by a person entering the room with a blackened face, swearing, and afterwards by stones being thrown at the door. After the examination of several other witnesses to prove these and further facts, Mr. Tabram proved the license from the Bishop of Salisbury's Court.

Mr. Talfourd objected to such evidence. There was no proof of a license. It should be recorded with the Clerk of the Quarter Sessions. An examined copy of the record should be produced.

Chairman. I have very great doubt of its being the writing of the Registrar. I know his writing well.