ment had not been forbidden by a Royal Ordonnance, the statement is true; but if it was designed to convey an assur ance that the salaries had been regularly paid, it is a false and unworthy effort to stifle the sympathy and be nevolence of the British Public, while the ministers are at this moment at least nine months in arrears. By us it was never mentioned as a proof of persecution front the government; but as an aggravating circumstance in the calamity which has befallen the Reformed Churches, that while their flocks have been scattered--their merchants and manufacturers exiled-and their resources drained by foreign troops and heavy imposts, their ministers should have been destitute of that stipend on which for so many years they had regularly depended for their ministerial support; and though this defalcation has been common to the ministers of all religions, it must be considered, that the Protestant ministers have not those means of obtaining money, which the Catholic priests, by their various ceremonies, always possess. Another Letter has been published in the same Journal, which had been sent to us by M. Marron, President of the Consistory of Paris, declining our aid and censuring our interference; but you will, doubtless, have seen by other Journals, that another letter was received by the same conveyance, from the same person, stating, that our exertions had made a strong sensation in Paris, and were likely to produce the most beneficial results: in addition to which, it is now evident, that the letter in question was written by M. Marron, after an examination by the Police, and under the 'fearofindividual persecution.' The effect of the Public Meetings which have been held, has been highly impor tant, and the arrival of the report of the Proceedings of the Common Council of London in Paris, was the commencement of exertions by the French autho rities, which had not been previously made. While some persons have deprecated these Meetings and Discussions, it will always be a subject of satisfaction to us, that they originated with the Dissenting Ministers of London; and the paper which we had the honour to address to you, and which was produced in Court by all the speakers, was the document on which the public proceed. ings of that day were founded, which have been succeeded by similar procedings in Hull, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gosport, Newcastle, Plymouth, and other places. No doubt, we presume, can now rest ou your minds, as to the fact of he Persecution being religious, and not political, at least only political as far as the intolerants have endeavoured to deprive the Profestants of those political rights and advantages which since the Revolution they have enjoyed. The intervention of the Catholic Priests, where they have been well-disposed, at the same time proves, that the Protestants could not have conducted themselves improperly towards the professors of the Catholic religion; and that their authority as priests was important in preventing or lessening evils which religious fury had inspired. The additional Accounts which we now furnish, will prove that your Contributions (our intention to solicit which, was, in the first instance, submitted to the Prime Minister of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent) are even more necessary than we could have antici pated, from the authentic letters we had received, but which suppressed, thro' fear, many important details ; and as the efforts of our enemies have occasioned a serious increase in our expenditure, we must re-urge on you the propriety of making those Contributions as early, and as liberally as your conveni ence will allow. As it will not be possible for us to provide an antidote to the poison daily diffused, we shall be content to assure you, that whenever any Intelligence arrives which alters our opinion, or renders your exertions unnecessary, you shall have immediate information. By Order of the Committee, RESOLUTIONS. Williams's Library, Red Cross Street, At a Meeting of the Committee, appointed by 1. That this Committee have observed, with astonishment and regret, that attempts are making, through the medium of the Press, to defeat their object, by misrepresenting their motives; and altho' the Committee know too well what is due to that respectable body by which they are deputed, to engage in useless warfare with those who are labouring to stifle that public svmpathy, which it is the wish of the body to excite, they yet owe it to their own character, and to the cause they have undertaken, to state candidly, one for all, the motives by which they have bee guided and the cnd they have in view. 2. That this Committee, therefore, utterly disclaim for themselves and their Constituents all party feelings on a question which they conceive to be purely and exclusively Religious; but that if they must be ranked with a Party, they are happy in ranking, on this occasion, with that of the Government which listened so candidly to their representations, -- entered so warmly into their feelings, - and pledged itself so readily to employ its good offices for the same humane purpose to which their interference has been directed. 3. That if any man, calling himself a Protestant, can impute to Dissenting Ministers, as a crime, that they have shewn themselves peculiarly forward, on this occasion, he should remember that they are the descendants of those who, for conscience-sake, suffered the spoiling of their goods, and the loss of their lives; and to whose constancy, under persecution, it is chiefly owing that religious liberty is now firmly established in this favoured land. 4. That, foeling the value of this inestimable blessing, they could not but be deeply interested by any occur rence which might threaten its loss to those expecially, with whom they are united by the tie of a common faith, and a common worship; nor could they refuse their sympathy or their relief to men bleeding in the same cause which rendered the memory of their fathers immortal. 5. That though letters have been received from Ministers in France, expressing objections to the interference of their Protestant brethren in England, the Committee have ascertained, from unquestionable_evidence, that some of those letters have been written under constraint, and that others have been dictated by an apprehension (it is hoped erroneons) lest such an interference should injure them in the estimation of their own Government, or rather, lest it should expose them to the fury of a faction, which sets the Government itself at defiance; and the Committee are of opinion, that if complaints are cautiously uttered, they deserve, the more, the consideration and sympathy of those who are aware of the cause in which this caution originates. 6. That while they have been acting consistently with their own principles, in expressing their abhorrence of all religious persecution, by whomsoever practised or countenanced, they cannot but suppose that in contributing to alleviate the distresses of the French Protestants, they are coinciding with the intentions of the French Government, which has been taking measures to suppress those outrages, which, if not suppressed, must occasion its own disgrace, and compromise its own safety. 7. That, in the subscriptions and collections already made,-in the spirit which is spreading throughout the kingdom,— and in the prospect that this spirit will ultimately enable them to grant important Relief to their suffering brethren, and to the widows and orphans of the victims of Persecution, the Committee have the most flattering encouragement to persevere. They do, therefore, earnestly request the uuremitting co-operation of Protestants of every denomination, but especially of Protestant Dissenters, in this labour of love; and they express their confident assurance that in contributing to this object, without suffering their zeal to be damped by any insinuations or assertions whatever, they are promoting the spread and establishment of that Christian Liberty which is the greatest earthly boon that Heaven can bestow on man. Signed (by order of the Committee) THOMAS MORGAN, Collections and Donations. Rev. Mr.Marsh's Cong. Hythe 2 0 Mr. Bickerdike's Con.Wool- Roote's do. Soham Walker's do. I'reston 7 1 0 0 2 2 0 16 2 6 Mountford's do. Wincanton 5 0 0 Paul's do. Castle Cary 7 14 6 Rev.Mr. Moon's do. Deptford 25 0 0 10 0.0 -1 1 0 0.0 Palmer's Cong. Romsey 14 6 7 Belsham, London 5 Mr.G. Lloyd, by Rev. Dr.Rees 2 Honeywell's Con. Melksh. 13 0 Morris's do. Woodbridge 10 0 0 Williams's do. Stone 10 11 Mark Wilks's do. London 50 5 6 Bains's do. Potter's Str. 3 42 Hawksley's do. London Franklin's do Coventry 3 13 6 31 5 6 10 0 17 7 7 Davis's do. Collumpton .. 7-0-0 Independant do. Leicester £. s. d. 40 15 5 5 0 5 0 0 Hubbard's do. Banbury 660 440 0 0 Sykes's do. Guastwick Hatch's do, do. Wood's do Jewin St.Lond. 15 Mather's do. Beverley 5 0 0 Palmer's do. Shrewsbury 8 Mr. Morrell & Friends, Baddow 5 7 Rev. Mr. Price's Con. Yeovil Morrison's do. Stebbing 6 0 6 1 3 1 7 10 6 Edward Swaines, Esq. Baptist Con. Horsforth 3 11 7 5 0 0 Rev. Mr. Dean's do. Stand 10 0 0 ECLECTIC REVIEW, FOR FEBRUARY, 1816. Art. I. Travels to the Source of the Missouri River, and across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. Performed by Order of the Government of the United States, in the Years 1804, 1805, and 1806. By Captains Lewis and Clarke. Published from the Official Report, and illustrated by a Map of the Route, and other Maps. 4to. pp. 663. Price 21. 12s 6d. Longman and Co. 1814. [Second Edition, 3 vola. Sve. price 21. 2s. 1815.] A BRIEF journal of this great enterprise, was given to the world several years since by Patrick Gass, a sergeant in the expedition. Nothing bearing such plain marks of truth, could be less satisfactory than that dry, meagre narration, which, nevertheless, as the official journal was to be so long delayed, the sergeant's friends were perfectly right in persuading him to publish. It has served at once to excite expectation, and to. keep it within sober limits. The readers of Gass could not know exactly what, and how much, Lewis and Clarke would have to tell; but they could judge, in many respects, what they would not have to tell. They would especially perceive, what indeed they might beforehand have apprehended, from the very nature of the undertaking, that, with very many curious and interesting matters, there must nevertheless be great uniformity of narrative and description. One cause of the long delay of the appearance of the large and authorized work now before us, was the tragical death of Captain Lewis, to whom the task of composing had been assigned. The unfinished labour was then transferred to Captain Clarke, who carried it forward to the conclusion. As it is the regular record of the transactions of not much less than a thousand days of most active exertion, there is no wonder it should fill a large closely-printed volume; a quantity of composition large enough almost to be drawn off into a shelf * He destroyed himself, if we recollect right, at New Orleans. From what cause, the American account which we saw of the fact, did not mention. |