Intelligence-Report of Manchester College, York. Secretaries at Manchester, before the first day of May they will be decided upon at the York Annual Meeting of Trustees on the last Wednesday in June, when such candidates will be preferred, as, from their testimonials, appear to be most eligible. The Divinity Students on the Foundation, have every expense of lectures, board, and lodging, defrayed for them. 251 prehends five years; but it is so arranged, that, with the single exception of the study of Hebrew, the whole course during the first three years is equally suitable for Lay Students. in the first year, the Students are instructed in the Greek and Latin Classics, in Ancient History, and in Latin and English Composition; in the Elements of Plane Geometry, Algebra, and Trigonometry. In the second year, they proceed in the Greek and Latin Classics, and in the practice of Composition in English and Latin; and read a course of Modern History, in pursuing which their attention is particularly directed to the History and Principles of the English Constitution. They are instructed in the Geometry of Solids; of the Conic Sections, and of the Sphere; and in the higher parts of Algebra. Lectures are also given on the Philosophy of the Mind, on Ethics, and the Elements of Political Science. In order to secare, as far as is possible, the respectability of the Students for the Ministry, with regard to character and literary attainments, it is a rule of this Institution, "That no candidate shall be admitted on the Foundation, but on the recommendation of three Protestant Dissenting Ministers, residing in the neigh bourhood where he lives, who shall certify, that at the commencement of his course he will have attained the full age of sixteen; that on their personal examination, his moral character, natural endowments, and classical proficiency, are found to be such as to qualify him In the third year, they are further infor becoming a Student for the ministry; structed in the Greek and Latiu Classics, and that the profession is the object of and in the Belles Lettres: in some of the his own voluntary choice. His ability to higher branches of Mathematics and the read Homer and Horace will be considered Newtonian System of Physical Astroas essential to his admission." It is fur-nomy. Lectures are also delivered on ther determined, "That no candidate Logic: and on the Evidences of Natural shall be eligible as a Divinity Student on and Revealed Religion. An extensive the Foundation, unless he be acquainted course of Natural and Experimental Phiwith the practical Rules of Arithmetic, losophy and Chemistry forms a part of as far as Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, the business both of the second and third as usually taught in schools: and unless Sessions. the same be certified by three Dissenting Ministers, residing in the neighbourhood in which the candidate lives." The Committee beg leave again to call the attention of the public to the advautages which this Institution offers, for the completion of a course of liberal education. Between the ordinary close of a school education, and the commencement of studies strictly professional, or of the occupations of civil and active life, an interval occurs during which it is of the utmost importance to the future character, that the mind be cultivated with more enlarged and varied knowledge than is attainable at school, and be guarded by a superintending discipline, from the danger of having its moral principles corrupted. With this view, the Trustees, in pursuing their primary object, the Education of Dissenting Ministers, have endeavoured to render the Institution at the same time subservient to the liberal education of youth in general, without distinction of party or religious denomination, and exempt from every political test and doctrinal subscription. The course of instruction for the Christian Ministry com The Committee have engaged a Gentleman of considerable experience as a teacher of Elocution, to spend a month in the College during the present Session, for the purpose of assisting the Students with his instructions. The Rev. CHARLES WELLBELOVED, Theological Tutor, and the Rev. JOHN KENRICK, M. A., Classical Tutor, reside near the buildings, in which the Students are lodged and boarded. The Rev. W. TURNER, M. A., Mathematical Tutor, resides in the College with his family, aud undertakes the charge of the domestic establishment. The terms for Lay Students are 100 guineas per annum, which sum defrays the expense of board and lodging, and every other charge connected with a residence in the College. Letters on the subject of this Institution, may be addressed to GEORGE WILLIAM WOOD, Esq., Treasurer, Manchester, or the Rev. WILLIAM TURNER, Visitor, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by whom, or by any of the Deputy-Treasurers, Subscriptions and Donations are received. JOSEPH STRUTT, President. Manchester, January 17, 1822. Southern Unitarian Fund Society. Portsmouth.-The Southern Unitarian Fund Society held their Annual Meeting here on the 10th inst. In the morning, the Rev. Edwin Chapman, of Billingshurst, in a discourse from the apostle's words, "Rejoice evermore," ably contrasted the motives for rejoicing afforded by the Trinitarian or Calvinistic doctrines, with those of Unitarianism. A Report was read by the Rev. Russell Scott, Secretary, shewing that great benefits had resulted from the Society's operations, which have been principally directed to the conducting of Unitarian Lectures on a popular plan, in situations at a distance from our chapels; whereby the attention of an extensive population, who would not have come to Sunday services, has been directed to scriptural inquiry, and numerous, zealous and respectable supporters gained to the cause of genuine Christianity. The Society partook of a friendly dinner, James Carter, Esq., in the Chair, Many new subscribers were added to the list; and several ministers and other members addressed the meeting in a strain of animation and cordiality highly gratifying, and affording an earnest of yet greater success. In the evening, Dr. T. Rees, of London, gave a forcible summary of Unitarian sentiments, and the reasonings on which they are founded, to a numerous and attentive auditory. D. B, P. Imputed Righteousness. On Piety and Enthusiasm as connected The Deity of Jesus Christ inconsistent with Spiritual Influences. with Facts in his History. By the Rev. Joseph Brent. The Mediation of Christ. Unitarian Controversy in the Newspapers. IT was stated (p. 64) that the Unitarians had been attacked in the Public Ledger (London daily paper) on account of Mr. SPARKS's appointment as Chaplain to Congress. Various letters pro and con have, we are informed, been since inserted in the same paper. The recent secession of the Rev. S. C. FRIPP from the Established Church was introduced as an article of intelligence into many of the newspapers. A correspondent sent the account to the Derby Mercury, and this provoked various writers for several weeks of the a controversy which was carried on by last and present month. The writers are anonymous, with the exception of two on the Unitarian side, namely, Mr. HIGGINSON, of Derby, and Mr. WALLACE, of Chesterfield. It appears from a notice of the Editor of the Derby Mercury, that the controversy is there closed. We wish, therefore, that one of the gentlemen above-named, would republish, in a pamphlet, the several letters that have appeared, with further observations in reply to some of the popular Trinitarian arguments, which, though often refuted, still appear arguments to those in whose way the refutation has never fallen. THERE is announced a 4to, volume to appear in the course of the present year, "The Life and Correspondence of SAMUEL HORSLEY, LL.D., late Bishop of St. Asaph. By his Son, the Rev. Heneage Horsley, A. M., Prebendary of St. Asaph. A WORK in 4 vols. 8vo. is coming out at Edinburgh, entitled, "A History of the British Empire, from the Accession of Charles I. to the Restoration; with an Introduction, tracing the Progress of Society and of the Constitution, from the Feudal Times to the Opening of the Hisnation of Mr. Hume's statements, rela tory; and including a particular Examivernment. tive to the Character of the English GoBy GEORGE BRODIE, Esq., Advocate." A VERY severe Remonstrance has been addressed to Mr. John Murray, by an OXONIAN, on the subject of Lord Byron's "Cain." This pamphlet is written with Intelligence Parliamentary. considerable asperity, and condemns the motives of both the Publisher, and the noble Author in the most unqualified terms. We believe that Mr. Murray has reason to repent of his bargain, the Court of Chancery having absolutely refused to grant an injunction against a pirated edition, in consequence of the immoral tendency of the poem; although the sum of 26251, had been given for the copyright.-Gent. Mag. Dr. SOUTHEY, the Poet Laureate, is employed upon a Life of Oliver Cromwell, of which he gave the outline in a late Number of the Quarterly Review; and Mr. GODWIN is reported to be preparing a History of England during the Commonwealth. IN the press, by Rev. G. Wilkins, a new edition of "The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem as connected with the Scriptural Prophecies." Also, in the press: Abridgement, in one volume 12mo., of Conder on Nonconformity.-Vol. III. of Ivimey's History of the English Baptists.-Translation of the last celebrated work of the Abbé de Pradt, entitled "Europe and America, in 1821." Now publishing, a new edition of the Practical Works of Richard Baxter, under the superintendence of Mr. Cloutt. These works make 4 volumes in folio, and will be comprised in the present edition in about eighteen volumes 8vo., each volume to coutain from five to six hundred pages, and to be sold at 128. The first volume will consist of The Life of the Author, including a History of the Times in which he lived. THE Annual General Meeting of the Unitarian Association will be held on Thursday the 30th day of May, at Twelve o'clock at noon, at the London Tavern., The Annual Sermon for the Orphan Working School, City Road, is, we observe with pleasure, to be preached this year by Mr. Mallison, the present minister of Hanover Street, Long Acre; and we trust that the attendance and collection will be proportioned to the growing importance of this invaluable Dissenting Institution. THE Anniversary Meeting of the Royal British Lancasterian Institution, for the Education of 1500 Children of the Poor of all Religious Denominations, will be held at Two o'clock precisely, on Friday, May 3rd, in the large School, North 253 Street, Finsbury, at which the Duke of THE Annual Meeting of "The Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty," will occur on Saturday, May 11, at Eleven o'Clock precisely, at the City of London Tavern, and Lord John Russell will preside. THE Anniversary of the British and Foreign School Society is announced for Thursday, May 16, at the Freemasons' Tavern, at Twelve o'clock PARLIAMENTARY. HOUSE OF LORDS, FEB, 28. AN act of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was laid upon the table, agreeably to the Act of Parliament which requires a bill from that assembly under certain circumstances to be laid upon the tables of both Houses, before it receives the Royal Assent. If after lying thirty days no objection is made, the Royal Assent may be given. The present mea sure had reference, to a former one, by which one-seventh of the lands in every township was appropriated to the use of the Protestant Church, Doubts had arisen whether the remaining 6-7ths of the land were not liable to the payment of tithes? The object of the present Bill was to declare that they were not liable. MARCH 2. Connexion of Corn-Bill with the LORD KING asked for information on the alteration supposed to be intended in the Corn-Laws. Referring to the Committee on agricultural distress in the House of Commons, he said that the members of which it consisted "were all the fathers of that most detestable mea sure" (the Late Corn-laws)," the real object of which was to raise the price of human food. This wicked scheme," he added, "which had happily failed in ac complishing its purpose, was supported by ministers, by the majority of both Houses of Parliament, and, above all, by the bench of bishops unanimously. He should have thought that decorum would have induced those right reverend persons to avoid the manifestation of such zeal for an object in which their own interests appeared to be so immediately involved; for the obvious tendency of the Corn-Bill was to raise tithes. The different interests which combined and formed a holy alliance to establish high prices, were the Government for the sake of taxes, the Church for the sake of tithes, and the landlords for the sake of rents. They had not, it was true, yet succeeded; but it was now probable that their intention was, through the appointment of this agricultural committee, to secure what they could. These three great bodies of the state had, somehow or other, a most extraordinary fear of plenty. They appeared to be all affected with a strange kind of disorder, which, if he were speaking in another part of the kingdom, he might perhaps be excused for calling a hydrophobia of abundance. Seeing that this fear prevailed so strongly in the church, and recollecting the willingness which had on a recent occasion been shewn to alter the liturgy, he was surprised that it had not yet been determined to expunge the Prayer for Plenty, which as it now stood was singularly anomalous." MARCH 15. Tythe-System in Ireland. THE Duke of DEVONSHIRE presented a petition from the corporation of Waterford, praying their Lordships to take into consideration the disordered state of Ire land, and, in particular, the system of tithes and the mode of their collection, which they regarded as among the principal causes of the disturbances. His Grace enforced the prayer of the petitioners in a judicious and conciliatory speech, which was complimented by the Earl of LIVERPOOL, who stated that the subject was under the consideration of Government. The Marquis of LANSDOWN said that no man who fairly considered the question, could fail to acknowledge it to be most unfortunate that a species of property already abolished in most parts of Europe, should continue in its very worst state in that part of Europe where its existence presented the greatest anomaly with the state of society, and was productive of the greatest possible mischief. If the ingenuity of the Legislature had been devoted to the discovery of a particular institution which should present the greatest bar to the success of the Protestant church in Ireland-which should have the greatest effect in alienating the minds of the people from the established form of worship-which should be most successful in sowing discord, aud encou raging its growth when sown, no better means could have been devised than the state of the law respecting tithes. There was nothing in the inquiry proposed which implied any hostility to the Established Church. The only principle to guide their Lordships in legislating on this subject, was to do ample justice to those interested in tithe-property. The noble Marquis complimented the resident and laborious clergy, who, he said, were not benefited by the present system; it was the indifferent rector, the absent clergyman, who did nothing, that exacted most, and employed persons who, in forwarding his interests, often outraged the best feelings of the human heart. In allusion to the remedy of substituting land for tithes, the objection did not apply in Ireland which had been made in England, that the clergyman would become too much interested in the cultivation of his estate to attend to the care of his parish; for in Ireland the clergymau had frequently no clerical duties to perform, aud was regarded in many places rather as a magistrate and a country gentleman than a religious instructor. He concluded with saying, that he should wait and recommend others to do the same, to see what Government intended to do. The Earl of LIMERICK said he was aware that the present discontents were not wholly owing to the tithe-system, but they bore a great share in causing them. Those who knew the country as he did, would not hesitate to say that the tithes, which establishment, acted, by the manner in were intended to support a Protestant which the system of collection was carried into effect, as a bounty for the maintenance of the Catholic religion in Ireland. What do the Catholics in many parts of Ireland know of the Protestant religion, but through the "tithe-proctor"? Whenever they hear of the Protestant religion, the tithe-proctor occurs to their minds. He, therefore, as a Protestant, to see some change introduced. The and he trusted a good one, was anxious South of Ireland, amid the evil passions existence of the Protestant religion in the that the tithe-system provokes, must be regarded as an evidence of its truth. The Earl of BLESINTON could declare that the tithe-system was as obnoxious to the great body of Protestants in the North, as it was to the whole of the Catholics in the South of Ireland. conduct of those who held college-livings was particularly objected to, and the statutes of the college he thought should be enforced against them. These gentlemen remained till good livings fell vacant; and then, in their old age, unable to perform their duties, they came down with 14 or 15 children, to enjoy emoluments for which they did nothing. The HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 20. Law-Taxes. MR. RICARDO took occasion to observe, that he objected to the proposal to raise a surplus revenue. In principle Intelligence.-Parliamentary. nothing could be better than a Sinking Fund. He was ready to consent that the country should make a great effort to get out of debt, but he would be sure that the means taken would effect the object. He would not trust any ministers, no matter who they were, with a surplus revenue; and he should, therefore, join in auy vote for a remission of taxes that might be proposed, so long as a surplus revenue remained. The taxes on candles and on salt had been proposed for reduction, but though that on salt was, undoubtedly, very burthensome, it did not appear to him to be that which most demanded reduction. The taxes on law-proceedings seemed to him the most abominable that existed in the country, by the subjecting the poor man, and the man of middling fortune, who applied for justice, to the most ruinous expense. Every gentleman had his favourite tax, and this tax, upon justice, was that which he should most desire to see reduced. MARCH 22. Half-pay clerical Military Officers. IN a debate on the Army-Estimates, Lord PALMERSTON said there was no principle more recognised, in theory, nor more established in practice, thau that the half-pay of the British officer was considered as a retaining fee for prospective services. There were a number of orders and proclamations of former times, which summoned the half-pay officer to the service, under pain of losing his halfpay. The British officer received his halfpay on the condition of being amenable to a future service. Mr. HUME-If the noble Lord was right in stating, that the British officer received his half-pay not as a remuneration for past exertions, but on the express condition of his being subject to the call for future service, then he must call upon the noble Lord, on his own shewing, to relieve the country from the amount of half-pay given to officers, who since the peace had speculated in Holy Orders. These numerous clergymen could not divest themselves of their new calling-they could not again join the army; and if half-pay was not for the past, but a fee for the future, these clergymen were not entitled to it a day longer. It was most shameful to refuse the Returns he called for on that subject. The right honourable Gentleman (Sir C. Long) had the power to produce it; and if that power did not exist, why did not the noble Lord introduce a clause in the Mutiny Act, to disqualify these clergymen from longer receiving that half-pay which was a retainer for future military services? 255 Sir C. LONG defended himself from the charge of neglect made against him by the honourable member; and stated, that he could not ask persons coming to receive half-pay, whether they were in Orders or not; and if he did, he had no power under the Mutiny Bill to enforce an answer. Mr. GOULBURN observed, that it was a tyrannical principle to inquire into the private affairs of persons coming to receive half-pay, and to ask them whether they were in Orders or not; or any other matter affecting their private interests. APRIL 17. Marriage of Unitarian Dissenters. MR. BROUGHAM presented a petition from the Unitarian Dissenters of Kendal, in Westmorland, complaining that certain parts of the provisions of the MarriageAct pressed on their consciences, and praying to be placed upon the same footing in that respect with the Jews and Quakers in England, and with the Unitarian Dissenters in Scotland and Ireland. Read, and ordered to be printed. Mr. W. SMITH had brought forward his present measure in consequence of various petitions presented on the subject (from London, Southwark, Hackney, &c. &c.). But before he opened his proposition to the House, he would beg to put in two petitions similar to that presented by the honourable and learned member (Mr. Brougham)—the one from Sheffield, in Yorkshire, the other from Stopford, (Stockton?) in the county of Durham. The petitions having been read and ordered to be printed, Mr. W. SMITH proceeded. In bringing forward the present motion, he should begin by stating, as briefly as possible, the grievances of which the petitioners complained. Their complaint was, that by the regulatious of the act of the 26th George II., commonly called the Marriage-Act, they were placed in a situation painful to themselves and different from that in which, previous to the passing of that Act, they had been accustomed and permitted to stand. It would scarcely he denied by any one that marriage was a civil ceremony. It was so considered, not only by the common law, but by the canon law; and from the period of the year 1753, up to the passing of the Act now complained of, marriages solemnized by the Dissenters in their own places of worship had been held good and valid. The Act of the 26th Geo. II., however, enacting that every marriage, to be held legal, must be solemnized in the church, by the ministers of the church, and ac |
