that every attempt to influence men in their choice and profession of religion by penal laws, whether corrupt or compulsive in their operation, is contrary to the spirit of the gospel, and forbidden by its plainest precepts in numerous pasages, they hope it may be allowed them more particularly, and with all possibie eereestness, to intreat the serious and sincere Christians in the House to interpose their endeavours, not only to vindicate the Gos pel from the groundless charge of into

to conform its laws for the protection of the Established Church, to the purity, benignity, and exalted integrity of the religion of the Gospel, to renounce the whole system of persecution, the long accumulation of ages of barbarism and discord, and to free an almost countless multitude of injured individuals from the temptation of ensnaring tests, and the more oppressive severities of compulsive intolerance; by the success of such salutary counsels, at once restoring concord and safety to the empire, and freeing our national Church from the just reproach of retaining that support which persecuting laws can bestow, but which Christianity condemns, and would disdain to accept.

adopt and to profess what may appear to them to be the truth; and that, in the performance of that duty, men ought not to be obstructed or discouraged, or otherwise tempted to act hyprocritically, by any law tending to bias them in the course of such examination of the doctrines of religion, by subjecting them, in the case of their dissenting from the doctrines of any established church, to suffer death by burning or otherwise, or to suffer any corporal or pecuniary punishment, or to be injured in their reputation by any disa-lerance, but to influence this Christian state bility more or less dssgraceful; and that the Petitioners acknowledge, with high satisfaction, that, in the present reign, considerable progress has been made towards the full restoration of the rights of conscience, by the wisdom of parliament and the benignity of the king rescinding various laws, in whole or in part, which were violations of those rights; yet, since other penal laws, not less injurious to those rights, remain unrepealed, since some of these laws subject to corporal punishments or pecuniary penalties, others, as in the case of the test laws passed in the reign of king Charles the second, subject to disgrace, disability, and privation of civil rights, persons, whose only offence it is that, in conformity with their duty, they have examined the doctrines of religion, and by such examination have been in. duced to embrace and to profess religious opinions different from the doctrines of the Established Church; and that the Petitioners feel it to be their duty humbly but earnestly to remonstrate against the longer continuance of any of those into lerant laws; and they do, in conformity with the premises, expressly petition the House, that every such law may be repealed, and the rights of conscience may thus be restored to all the subjects of this United Kingdom; and the Petitioners -humbly beg leave to add, that this request, as it appears to them, is grounded on the most evident considerations of justice; and they trust that the compliance of the state would yet conciliate the affection of millions of their aggrieved fellow subjects, and unite them for ever to the interests of the empire: under each of these aspects their request claims, and they hope will be found to deserve, the assent of the House, as they are statesmen anxious for the safety of their country, and as they are moralists determined to act impartially on the rules of justice; but, when the Petitioners consider farther,

The Petitions were ordered to lay on the table.

Mr. Whitbread then said, that were it not for the circumstances of the present times, he should bring forward a specific proposition on the subject of these Peti tions. Considering, however, that a right hon. friend of his had given notice of motion which would shortly come before the House, and which would involve the interests of Christians of every denomination; going, as it naturally would, to the repeal of all the disabilities of the present day, he should wait, therefore, the result of that discussion, which, he presumed, would be for a committee of the House to take this important question into consideration. Being now on his legs, however, he begged leave to state, that unless the decision of the court of King's-bench on a case now pending before them, should render the thing unnecessary, he should submit to the House a motion on a subject not altogether unconnected with religious toleration. It had hitherto been supposed, that it was required of magistrates to tender the oaths to persons wishing to qualify for preaching or teaching, who tendered themselves. This had hitherto been considered to be the law, but it was

now alleged that it was not so, and a more limited interpretation was now wished to be given to the enactment of the statute. If the court of King's-bench should decide in favour of this more limited construction, he gave notice, that he should, on the 29th of April, bring forward a proposition for making that which was the more liberal interpretation, the legal interpretation also.

unjust, that British subjects should be denied the privilege of trading to India whilst it is allowed to neutral nations; and praying the House to adopt the necessary measures for the abolition of the commercial monopoly of the East India Company, or at least such part thereof as to their wisdom may seem expedient."

Mr. Creevey wished to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer a question. That right hon. gentleman had lately signified his intention to bring forward certain propositions, the week after next, respecting the Company's renewal of their Charter. On former occasions of this kind, a statement of the Company's affairs had been laid before the House, which was referred to a Committee, and a report made thereon: but it would be impossible this could now be done, so that the members would have time to consider the report in the present session. He wished, therefore, to be informed by the right hon. gentleman, whether he meant to persist in his notice; as, considering all the outports of the country had their delegates in town, for the purpose of attending to this important question, it was highly desirable to know whe

PETITION FROM DUDLEY, RESPECTING THE RENEWAL OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S CHARTER.] Mr. Lyttelton presented a Petition from the commercial and manufacturing inhabitants of Dudley. He said he felt it his duty, in presenting this Petition, to state to the House, that in the populous neighbourhood of Dudley there was at this moment the greatest distress prevailing, from the very high price of provisions; that the higher classes of manufacturers in that town and neigbourhood had on all occasions evinced their loyalty and patriotism, and from these praiseworthy principles, had always endeavoured to alleviate the distresses of the working men, by expending their capitals in giving them employment, in hopes that the Amether it would really come on or not? rican markets would soon be opened, and the monopoly of the East India Company done away; so that new sources might be opened to the encouragement of British industry and adventure; but he was afraid it could not be done much longer; and it seemed necessary the House should give attention to the subject.

The Petition was then read, setting forth,

"That the Petitioners beg leave to represent to the House the distressed situation of the numerous manufacturers of that populous town and neighbourhood; and that in consequence of the great depression in trade, the labouring mechanics have not sufficient employment to enable them to maintain their families and to preserve them from want; and the petitioners look up to the House as the representatives and protectors of this great commercial empire, and indulge a confident hope, that the House will adopt such measures as may be best calculated to remedy the distresses and difficulties under which they are at present labouring; and the petitioners are of opinion, that it is expedient to discontinue the commercial monopoly of the East India Company at the expiration of their present Charter; and it appears to them to be both unreasonable and

The Chancellor of the Exchequer answered, that he had certainly mentioned his intention of submitting certain resolutions on that subject to a Committee of the whole House the week after next; and, if he had altered his intention, he should have signified the same to the House. It was his intention not only to submit that business to the consideration of the House, but to carry it through during the present session, unless difficulties should arise of which he had at present no conception.

PETITION FROM THE HALLAMSHIRE CUTLERS, RESPECTING THE RENEWAL OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S CHARTER.] Mr. Wilberforce presented a Petition from the master wardens searchers assistants and commonalty of the company of cutlers, within Hallamshire, in the county of York, setting forth,

"That the Petitioners are of opinion that a free trade to every part of his Majesty's dominions is the natural right of all his subjects; and that such trade ought to be liable to no restrictions which do not more evidently promote the advantage of the commonwealth, whence, in their very principle, restrictions are only temporary, and ought to be removed as soon as the

workmen in employment, though to a limited extent; till now, seeing themselves reduced to ruin by their exertions to carry on their trade under every disadvantage, and those under them brought to a state of starvation, they could no longer shut their eyes against the conviction, that their calamities arose from the obstructions imposed by the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer on commerce. It was impossible for any one to converse with those persons who had come up in order to present those Petitions, without being convinced of these facts-that there were great orders from America which the ma

the Orders in Council is to force America | upon her own resources, and to oblige her to become a manufacturing nation much earlier than, in the natural course of events, would be the case; and that the town and neighbourhood of Birmingham, containing a most numerous population, and being unquestionably one of the most important manufacturing districts in the British empire, have greatly depended upon a friendly intercourse with the United States of America, and are suffering most severely under the operation of the Orders in Council; and that, if this destructive system be persisted in, thousands of laborious and respectable me-nufacturers could not execute, and that chanics will inevitably be deprived of their · present partial and precarious employment; and whilst the Petitioners deplore their distressed situation, aggravated by the advancing price of every necessary of life, their concern is greatly heightened by the consideration, that the capital of the merchants and manufacturers is rapidly absorbing in stock, constantly depreciating in value, their ability to participate in the increasing burdens of the state proportionably diminishing, and their efforts consequently paralysed, at a period when all practicable means should be resorted to for cementing national union, and supporting with vigour the momentous contest in which we are engaged; and earnestly praying the House to take measures for obtaining a revocation of the Orders in Council."

On the motion that the Petition do lie on the table,

Mr. Baring rose, and said, that it was impossible for him to see Petitions of this kind, signed by 14,000 persons, presented to that House, without feeling a sensation of regret that they should so silently be ordered to lie on the table. He could not think of the distresses under which the Petitioners laboured, and which in other places had led to confusions and riots of the most alarming kind, without in some measure calling the attention of the House to the subject. The effects which these Orders in Council were calculated to produce were now seen on the people of England. The present Petitioners were not disloyal or disaffected persons-they were not men disposed to obstruct the government-but to support it. They had even been willing to suppose that the measures adopted were salutary ones, and, in expectation of a change for the better, the masters had gone on keeping their

they had, in their different lines of business, great stocks of goods which they could not export, on account of those obstructions, all of which arcse from the Orders in Council. It was not his intention now to go into any discussion on the policy of the Orders in Council; he should only express a hope that when all the Petitions on the subject were presented, some gentleman would bring forward the question, and that the House would no longer be led astray by speculative opinions, but would listen to the statements of those who were really interested in the question, and who so severely felt the weight of the pressure and distress brought upon them by these Orders in Council. The government of this country began by excluding the trade of neutrals; then they adopted measures which they thought were calcu lated to distress the enemy; and, in what had this ended, but in the complete ruin of our own manufactures?—and in granting licences to bring into this country the manufactures of our enemies, for which the right hon. gentleman had found a market. If this was not the language of their printed licences, he could not say what those licences meant, extending, as they did, to lawns, laces, silk, per fumery, and all other articles of French manufacture. If this country and France had been in a state of perfect peace, there was not another article which France could have asked permission to import into this country, save only wine and brandy;-and the only condition required for all this was, that there should in return be loaded and exported from this country, goods to the amount of 51. sterling, for every ton's burden of the vessel. This was the species of reciprocity, which the right hon. gentleman established for the manufacturers and traders of this country;