SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE EXILED SWISS MINISTERS, WITH THE STATE OF TOLERATION IN THE CANTON OF VAUD. Since the last public notice on this sub. ject, the Committee have had no facts particularly important to lay before their friends in Great Britain. The formation of a Society at Lausanne, the metropolis of the Canton of Vaud, for the aid and relief of the persecuted, furnished the most direct and satisfactory channel for applying the funds entrusted to them, to their proper object. That fact also involved a pleasing evidence, that the severity of that intolerance which had raged with so much violence and cruelty, had yielded to the mitigating influence of time and better feeling. In that Society, not only Dissenters, but many members of the Established Church, were generously united. To them, therefore, the Committee remitted one hundred pounds, assured, from their knowledge of the parties, that it would be faithfully administered. To one of the banished ministers, whose sufferings and losses had been great, and to whom Providence has opened a door of ministerial labour and usefulness in a part of the British dominions where French is the vernacular language, the sum of thirty pounds was granted. The account, therefore, stands thus : Balance in hand, Dec. 1826, £130 9 8 A Young Lady at Sudbury, by Mr. Gainsborough Two Sisters, by Mr. Nisbet A Servant, by ditto Mrs. Cross Mrs. W. Seon, Bermuda, by .. 100 200 0 10 0 110 now prevails. There have not been of late any sentences pronounced, in execution of the persecuting law; but many pious persons are compelled to endure sufferings in less direct ways. Artisans are denied employment, on account of their religious principles. For the same reason of their attachment to the Gospel, several schoolmasters, in country places, have been deprived of their situations. But, by the grace of our most merciful God, the number of true worshippers is increasing daily; and many other persons are become tolerant and kind." But we greatly lament the statements which have been credibly made to us, that a violent spirit of persecution against the professors and preachers of salvation by grace, the primitive, apostolic, and Protestant doctrine, has shown itself in other parts of Switzerland. For the Committee, J. PYE SMITH, PARLIAMENTARY AND OTHER PROCEED INGS RELATING TO THE REPEAL OF THE TEST AND CORPORATION ACTS. We recorded in our last number the triumphant result of Lord John Russell's motion, for the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, in the House of Commons, on Tuesday night, Feb. 26, 1828. It is now our happiness to narrate the progress of that important measure, which has passed through several stages of parliamentary proceedings, in a manner which, we presume, will satisfy the great body of Dissenters throughout the kingdom. Lord J. RUSSELL'S motion was for a Committee of the whole House, which being carried by a majority of 44, the House went into a Committee that night, pro forma, and ordered that they should sit again on Thursday, Feb. 28th. On that evening, the House went into a Committee, Mr. Spring Rice in the Chair, and Lord J. RUSSELL moved, "That-it is the opinion of this Committee, that so much of that Act of the 13th of Charles the 2d, as goes to provide for the welfare and safety of Corporations; and that part of the 25th of Charles the 2d, for preventing danger to the establishment of the Church; together with that part of the 16th of George the 2d, which calls upon all Protestant Dissenters to subscribe to certain formule, and take the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, for purposes therein expressed, ought to be repealed." Sir THOMAS ACLAND urged, that as the Clergy were much attached to the acts proposed to be repealed, that it would be expedient to introduce an oath, as a security for the Church, or only pass a bill of suspension from time to time. Mr. SECRETARY PEEL complained of the haste of Lord J. Russell, and wished for the delay of three or four days, to consider of some intermediate measure between the present state of the acts and their entire repeal. Lord Althorpe, Dr. Phillimore, Mr. W. Horton, Mr. C. W. Wynn, Mr. G. Baukes, Mr. Calcraft, Mr. C. Ferguson, Mr. S. Perceval, Sir C. Cole, and Lord Sandon addressed the Committee on the several points of suspension, repeal, or adjournment, when Lord MILTON warmly expressed his conviction, that the proposal of delay was a pretence to defeat the prayer of the Dissenters. This was indignantly repelled by Mr. PEEL, who then left the House, followed by many Members from the Treasury Benches. The discussion was continued by Sir T. Lethbridge, Mr. W. Horton, Mr. Fitzgerald, and other Members. The resolution was at length carried without a division. Mr. PEEL subsequently returned, and said, that he had left the House through fatigue; but at the same time to avoid voting in the present stage of the business. The Report was ordered for Tuesday, March 4th. On Tuesday, March 4th, LORD JOHN RUSSELL moved that the Report of the Committee on the Test and Corporation Acts be brought up, which was therefore read, recommending the repeal of the obnoxious clauses of the Acts of Charles the Second and George the Second, which was agreed to. He then moved for leave to bring in a Bill pursuant to the said resolution, which being given, Lord ALTHORP moved that the Bill be arguments could be urged against so righteous a measure, we present our readers with a counter petition, signed by the Rev. T. Vaughan, Vicar of St. Martin's, Leicester, his Curate, Churchwardens, &c. and attributed to his pen, and which we doubt not will be regarded as a literary curiosity. "APetition of the Vicar, Curate, Churchwardens, and other inhabitants of the parish of St. Martin, in Leicester, setting forth, That it is with reluctance that the petitioners are led to express their disapprobation of a Resolution now pending in the House, for the removal of all civil disabilities from a large portion of their fellow-subjects, the Protestant Dissenters of this United Kingdom; but that a high sense of their duty to God, to the church, and even to these persons, compels them to request a serious and candid hearing for the sentiments with which they are deeply and deliberately inspired upon this momentous subject: That the statutes which it is proposed to repeal or suspend, are in substance but a recognition, which circumstances have from time to time rendered necessary, of that great principle of our national constitution, that the church and commonwealth are inseparably united, and are co-extensive: That when St. Paul preached Christianity in this island, he did thereby call out converts, not to a mutable and variable thing, which persons might call Christianity if they pleased, and give the same name to something quite different, and even opposite, but to the Christian faith, one doctrine, one discipline, one form of service, one rule of life: That when Lucius, the grandson of Caractacus, did, in the second century, become one of these converts by baptism, he, by that adoption of it, made it the religion of the kingdom, and in so doing, made the church, or apostolical community, coincident with the commonwealth, the nation thus becoming, in its king, a church-nation, and the church the brought in and read the first time, and civil polity of the kingdom: That this re ordered to be read the second time on Tuesday, 18th March. Whilst the measure was thus advancing in the House of Commons, the opponents of the Bill did their best, by violent paragraphs in the party papers, to excite the friends of the Establishment to resist it by counter petitions. These zealous efforts, however, produced but a partial influence. A minority of the Corporation of Colchester, and the clergy in several Archdeaconries, petitioned against the measure, with a few small parishes under the influence of some bigoted Churchmen. As we doubt not but in a few years it will be a matter of interest to know what mained unto, and was confirmed by the Emperor Constantine, a Briton, who did that for all the Roman Empire, the then known world, which Lucius had previously done for this island: That in the division of the Western Roman Empire into its ten kingdoms, of which Britain was one, the same transmission of the church with the kingdom, and the same adoption of the kingdom into the church, was recognized: That in all the conflicts which Christianity was called to sustain, during the first six centuries, there is clear evidence to prove that the church of Britain had its full share, and though often brought to a low ebb, was never destroyed : That in the seventh century it pleased God to give her the pre-eminence of being the first Protestant church, she having formally protested against the false claims of the Bishop of Rome, as urged by Augustine, the monk, more than nine centuries before the age of Luther: That this protest was sustained by the Saxon princes, and not admitted by those after the Norman Conquest, which were nearest in succession to the Saxon princes, though the kingdom at length fell for a while under that foreign spiritual jurisdiction: That at length, under Henry the Eighth, the emancipation of the church and kingdom was effected, Elizabeth afterwards expressly styling it a restoration of the ancient and legitimate jurisdiction of the English monarchy, and the English Reformation having this peculiarity, in contrast with that of the Continental churches, that it was accomplished by and in the person of its king, and was thereby made truly national: That in all this series of transactions it never was made a question that the church and commonwealth are identical, or that to depart from the church, therefore, was to recede from the rights and demands of a British citizen; it never was even dreamed, that those who denied her authority, and either professed a doctrine, or instituted a discipline, or formed a worship, independent of her, and dissimilar, should be co-equal partakers with her children of the offices and authorities of the commonwealth: That for a while it was unnecessary to fence this principle by law; but that in process of time, as the numbers and power of the sectaries increased, acts of violence ensued, which rendered the interposition of the legislature necessary; whence arose the restrictive statutes of Elizabeth and Charles the Second, in the particular circumstances of which the petitioners do not profess to be minutely versed; nor do they consider it necessary that the circumstances should be precisely the same, in order to require their continuance: That the principle of these restrictive statutes is clearly that which has been already advanced, " the nation and the church are one, and the unity of the individual with the nation attested by his unity with the church;" which unity again is itself attested by that sacrament, the habitual reception of which, according to the forms which the church prescribes, is the only possible outward and distinguishing sign of a continued adherence to the communion of the church: That, with respect to qualifying for office, the church knows no such act; it only knows the duty of communicating, that it is at his own peril, if the qualifier receives unworthily; and that, however deeply to be regretted, it is not in point of fact true, that only those who qualify for office receive it so: That, whatever may be alleged on the ground of a supposed expediency for the relinquishment of these statutes, the union of multiform discordant materials being proposed as a mean of strength, it is in fact the reverse of kindness and mercy in a legislature to deal with all professions of faith alike, and nothing less than a dereliction of duty to make it matter of doubt what should be accounted truth, or matter of indifference whether its subjects profess and practise it or not: That the petitioners are very far from wishing to diminish the number of those who partake of the full benefits of British subjects; they would to God that all the inhabitants of the land were united in the faith, the hope, and the love of Christianity; they would to God that there were no restrictions, because no fit subjects for them; they regret that there should be any necessity for such declarative statutes; but whilst the population of the kingdom notoriously is what it is, a mixed and heterogeneous one as to religious profession, they firmly maintain that necessity, their motto being, "amplest toleration, notorious favour:" That their alarm is in a very high degree excited by the proposed concessions, not merely from the apprehension that the church, as established by law, may well be expected to yield in no long time to the undermining influence of its adversaries, if admitted to be its lawgivers, much less because their own personal honour and emolument will, in all probability, be in no long time made a sacrifice, (the language as well as spirit of the sectaries in many instances loudly breathing this hope and design,) but chiefly, they might say, in comparison, solely, because now, for the first time since Christianity became the religion of Britain, the nation will have been distinctly severed from the church; the seal of the "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," will have been withdrawn; the nation will no longer be Christian, whatever individuals may be; no longer shall we stand with the ark of God at our head before the face of our enemies, but as one of those nations who know him not, or, what is worse, having known and borne his mark for ages, have chosen rather to make ourselves common by rejecting him : woe is the people if they love to have it so; woe is the rulers if they suborn their better judgment in condescension to them. The petitioners therefore humbly pray the House, That the proposed repeal or suspension of the Corporation and Test Acts may not pass into a law." On the other hand, the remarks made by Mr. PEEL, and other members of the House of Commons, on the apparent apathy of the Scotch nation, have aroused them from their repose, and petitions from the Provosts, Magistrates, and Town Councils, or inhabitants, of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumfries, Jedburgh, Ayr, Arbroath, &c. have been presented to both Houses of Parliament. A general meeting of the inhabitants of Edinburgh was also held at the Assembly Rooms, on Monday, March 17th, when Sir John Dalrymple presided; and the very numerous and respectable company were addressed, with great eloquence and feeling, by Sir James Moncreiff, Dr. M'Crie, Messrs. J. A. Murray, M'Lagan, Jeffrey, and J. C. Craig, which voted a petition for the repeal. Petitions have also been presented from the various trading companies of the Scotch Metropolis. On Tuesday evening, March 18th, the business was resumed in the House of Commons, by the House going into Committee on the Bill. a Mr. STURGES BOURNE rose, in the absence of his friend Sir Thomas Acland, to move "that the Committee be instructed to provide for the taking of a security or declaration, by all those persons, who, under the existing Acts, are required to take the sacramental test, previous to their entering on any corporate office," which Lord EASTNOR supported. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, in an able speech, congratulated the House, that the question was now changed. They were not disputing whether Dissenters are by any possibility worthy to hold office; but what their political conduct shall be in office respecting the Church Establishment. He thought a declaration unnecessary, as he argued there was no danger; and he opposed it on account of the necessary ambiguity of its interpretation; yet he said, his opposition was not unconquerable, for, though he thought a declaration objectionable in principle; yet, if there be a chance, that the Dissenters will be admitted to their just rights and privileges, under a declaration not offensive to their consciences; he should listen to the proposal with an earnest hope, that the reconciliation might be completed. Mr. SECRETARY PEEL, in a very candid and conciliatory speech, introduced a declaration which he had prepared, and to which he thought no conscientious man could object. He declared, that after the majority of that House had decidedly expressed their opinion on the question, he felt the most sincere desire to settle the question, during the present session, satisfactorily and for ever. He could not irrevocably pledge others; but he did entertain the confident hope, that, if his proposal was adopted, this session would not expire without enabling us to congratulate ourselves on a satisfactory and permanent settlement. On each side there are extreme opinions; the only way to settle the question, is by mutual compromise and concession. Let us no longer recognize the principle, that an adherence to the Church of England is the only qualification for civil offices. Let Protestant Dissenters give me the security of this declaration, and I am prepared to allow their eligibility to office. Mr. Peel, concluded his speech, which was loudly cheered, by moving an instruction to the Committee to insert certain clauses. Lord SANDON, Mr. FURGUSON, and Mr. WYNN, thought the declaration unnecessary. Sir M. W. RIDLEY considered the discussion of that night one of the greatest triumphs of public opinion he had ever witnessed, and urged Lord J. Russell to agree to the proposal, which would induce all parties readily to join in giving up old prejudices in favour of what just justice had long demanded, and was now, he trusted, about to obtain. Mr. D. W. HARVEY, and Mr. W. SMITH having addressed the House, the cries of question became loud, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL replied, that he had no doubt of the sense of that House upon the question, yet he recollected, that it was not a matter of form, that it must be with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal; and he therefore acquiesced in the declaration. The House resumed, and the report was ordered to be taken into farther consideration on Friday, March 28th, when the Bill was re-committed; and Monday, the 31st, was fixed for its third reading. We have been favoured with a draught of the Bill in its present state, from which we extract the most important clauses, as we presume it will, in its present state, pass the House of Commons without opposition, and the result of its introduction to the upper House shall be recorded in our next. "And whereas the Protestant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, discipline, and governmeat thereof, and the Protestant Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, are by the laws of this realm severally established, permanently and inviolably: and whereas it is just and fitting, that on the repeal of such parts of the said Acts as impose the necessity of taking the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites or usage of the Church of England as a qualification for office, a declaration to the following effect should be substituted in lieu thereof; be it therefore enacted, That every person who shall hereafter be placed, elected, or chosen in or to the office of Mayor, Alderman, Recorder, Bailiff, Town Clerk, or Common-councilman, or in or to any office of magistracy or place, trust or employment, relating relat to the government of any city, corporation, borough, or cinque port within England and Wales, or the town of Berwick-uponTweed, shall, within one calendar month next before his admission into any of the aforesaid offices or trusts, make and subscribe the declaration following: "I A. B. do solemnly declare, That I "will never exercise any power, authority " or influence which I may possess by "virtue of the office of " to injure or weaken the Protestant "Church as it is by law established "within this realm, or to disturb it in "the possession of any rights or privileges "to which it is by law entitled." "And be it enacted, That the said declaration shall be made and subscribed as aforesaid, in the presence of such person or persons respectively who, by the charters or usages of the said respective cities, corporations, boroughs, and cinque ports, ought to administer the oath for due execution of the said offices or places respectively; and in default of such, in the presence of two Justices of the Peace of the said cities, corporations, boroughs, and cinque ports, if such there be, or otherwise in the presence of two Justices of the Peace of the respective counties where the said cities, corporations, boroughs, and cinque ports are, which said declaration shall either be entered in a book, roll, or other record, to be kept for that purpose, or shall be filed amongst the records of the city, corporation, borough, or cinque port. "And be it enacted, That if any person placed, elected, or chosen into any of the aforesaid offices or places, shall omit or neglect to make and subscribe the said Declaration in manner above mentioned, such placing, election, or choice, shall be void. "And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty to require any person who may be appointed to any civil office or trust whatever, or who may hold any commission from his Majesty, and who would, by any of the Acts above mentioned, be required to take or receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to make and subscribe the Declaration above mentioned previously to his admission into such office or trust, or to acting under such commission. "Provided always, and be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, from time to time, by Order in Council, to direct and declare by what persons, and in respect of what offices, trusts, and com missions, and in what manner, and at what time, and under what regulations, the said Declaration shall be made and subscribed; and that in case any person appointed to any office, trust, or commission, shall neglect or refuse to comply with the several directions and requisites so as aforesaid made, the appointment of such person to any such office, trust, or commission, shall be void. "Provided, nevertheless, That no act done in the execution of any of the offices, trusts, or commissions aforesaid, by any such person omitting or neglecting as aforesaid, shall, by reason thereof, be void or voidable as to the rights of any other person not privy to such omission or neglect, or render such last-mentioned person liable to any action or indict ment." CHAPEL OPENED. The Independent Chapel in Bullock Smithy, Cheshire, was opened for public worship, on Sunday, Jan. 27, 1828, when three sermons were preached; in the morning, by the Rev. Geo. Ryan, of Stockport, from 1 Kings ix. 3.; in the afternoon, by the Rev. J. A. Coombs, of Manchester, from Luke xvi. 31.; and in the evening, by the Rev. N. K. Pugsley, of Stockport, from Zec. iv. 7. The expenses incurred in the erection of this neat, and commodious place of worship, which will seat about 500, amount to about £700. And though the neighbouring churches have evinced their conviction of its necessity and importance, in so populous a part of the county, by their affectionate spirit and liberal contributions; yet a considerable debt remains, for the liquidation of which, the highly-esteemed minister of the place intends making an appeal to the benevolence of more distant churches, and of the Christian public, and it is confidently hoped, that such an appeal will not be made in vain. The people, being generally poor, are, at present, indebted to the benevolence of the "Cheshire Union," for the entire support of the Christian ministry among them. ORDINATIONS. December 5, 1827, Mr. J. F. Witty, late student at Axminster Academy, was ordained pastor of the Independent church at Rook-lane, Frome. The Rev. J. E. Good, of Salisbury, began the service by reading and prayer. The Rev. J. A. Roberts, of Warminster, delivered the introductory discourse, and asked the questions. The Rev. J. Viney (Baptist Minister), er), of Beckington, offered the ordination prayer. The Rev. D. Fleming, of Bradford, gave the charge; and the Methodist Minister of the town closed with prayer. In the evening, a sermon was delivered to the |