Canada trade; but, as far as he could understand, there existed no longer any good reasons for its continuance. There was only one topic he had now to notice; and that was the numerous articles of import, such as gloves, to which a duty of 30 per cent was to be affixed, by the new regulation. Now, he had not the least doubt but that scale of duty would only increase smuggling, instead of abating it; as any of those articles could be now brought into the country at an insurance against seizure of 20 per cent. On the subject of the corn laws, he must say, that highly beneficial as the discussion of that night must be, and important and valuable as the alterations of duty were, that had been already proposed, all that had been done would be as nothing to the people of England, compared with a careful and proper revision of the corn laws. He did hope, therefore, that his majesty's government would forthwith take into their consideration, the important benefit to be derived by the public, from an effectually changed system in this particular. As to the amount of the duty that ought to be settled, he, for one, would declare that, provided only the legislature would establish some sound and proper principle on this most important question, he cared not whether it should be a duty of 10s. of 15s. or of 20s. per quarter. Being once in the right path, they would soon come to the proper scale of duty.

Mr. Huskisson begged to remind the 'House, that he had not said one word that night on the subject to which the hon. gentleman had just alluded; and he did not intend to do so. As to what had been said by the hon. member for Wiltshire, he thought there would be no objection to enter into some such arrangement respecting the duty on wool as the hon. gentleman proposed. About altering the duty on yarn, however, he should certainly feel considerable difficulty; for yarns, under the present duty, went out of the country to a large amount. As to the iron trade, which another member had spoken about, the fact was, that the present duty on old iron was 17s. 6d. per ton. This sort of iron was that which, in the trade, was known by the designation of scrap iron, and the duty in question he should propose to reduce to 12s. a ton. If he were to make too great a difference between the duties on the two sorts of iron, there would be an endeavour to bring all the species under the operation

of the duty affecting this inferior description. With regard to the timber trade, he was surprised that the hon. gentleman, who had the other night presented a strong petition to the House in favour of the reduction of the duty on Cape wines, on the ground of their being the production of one of our own colonies, should now argue, in fact, against the protection afforded to the timber-trade of Canada. He must recollect, that Canadian timber, considering that it grew in one of our own colonies, and was transported in our own ships, was a most valuable trade to Great Britain: and as a further argument, why the existing duties on other timber should not be further reduced, he would just observe, that there was no trade which, by reason of increased demand, had lately attained a more improved and prosperous condition, than the trade in Baltic timber, The Board of Trade would shortly, he hoped, be able to consider the proper steps to be taken for equalizing the duties on timber; which, he believed, would be the same as those that were now pursued in Ireland, where the mode of estimating such duties was by tale, instead of by estimation of the quantity of timber contained in any given number of planks. In conclusion, he begged to repeat, that he could not accede to the suggestion of the hon. member for Montrose; inasmuch as no trade was more flourishing at present than the rival trade (as, with respect to Canada, it might be called) of Baltic timber.

The resolutions were agreed to.

DISSENTERS' MARRIAGES BILL.] Mr. W. Smith said, he should not feel it necessary to enter at length upon the subject of the bill of which he now proposed the second reading. The parties, on whose behalf he submitted that motion, were the Unitarian Dissenters of this country, who entertained no objection to the prevailing form of marriage in the established church, other than that which regarded the introduction of language, that expressed certain sentiments to which they could not conscientiously agree. All they asked was, to be relieved from the necessity of repeating a certain form of language which invoked the names of the Trinity. He conceived that he was justified in expecting that the second reading of this bill would not be objected to. It had been the anxious desire of himself, and of those who were connected with him, so to frame

this bill, as to avoid injuring the feelings of any other class of his majesty's subjects. The bill was almost, in all respects, the same which, being introduced by him about three years ago into that House, had received so respectable a sanction. The Unitarians were only desirous of satisfying their own scruples. He might add, that the bill for the better prevention of clandestine marriages, passed in the reign of Geo. II, was not passed, as had been erroneously supposed, on any religious grounds, but simply with the view of preventing such marriages.

Mr. Robertson expressed himself strongly opposed to the measure. He thought that the church of England was essential to the safety of the throne of England. Pull down the one, and the other could not stand. The safety of such establishments ought not to be endangered, in order to satisfy the scruples of a small minority of dissentients from the established church. If parliament gave this sort of relief to one set of men, they must to another and similar dispensations must be conceded to every class of Dissenters in the kingdom. The hon. gentleman, after expressing his wish to see the supremacy in religious affairs in the Protestant established church, entered into a short historical review of the mischievous effects that had, at different times, ensued to states, in his opinion, from connexions of Presbyterians, Puritans, and Unitarians. To the Unitarians, however, he must deny the title they so absurdly assumed, of "Christians" dissenting Christians. They might be much more properly denominated Mahometans, whom they much more nearly resembled. The hon. gentleman then proceeded to draw the attention of the House to the conduct of the Puritans in the time of Charles I. Their authority commenced with small beginnings; but, in a short time, they became a most formidable body. Buckingham thought it necessary to court their power; but they soon became the masters of Buckingham, and the arbiters of the fate of their sovereign. They got the reins of government into their own hands; and, what the consequences were, every person conversant with the history of the country must know perfectly well. Therefore, he contended, that Parliament ought to watch narrowly what they granted to the parties now before them, lest they should be induced to take too much upon themselves. He admitted that those prin

ciples of Puritanism did not now appear in so strong and decided a point of view as they had done at the period to which he had adverted. They appeared, at present, to be softened down and moderated. But the House ought never to lose sight of the fact, that it was Puritanism which induced the Scotch to sell their king, and which led the English afterwards to butcher him. From a firm conviction, that great mischief would arise, if the concession called for were granted to those by whom. it was demanded, he would oppose the bill.

Dr. Lushington said, there was one assertion of the hon. gentleman who had just sat down, in which he was perfectly prepared to concur. The hon. gentleman had said, that he was not allied to the church of England; and in that fact he implicitly believed. The church of England, though much misrepresented by its enemies, never attempted to prevent those whose religious opinions were of a different description, from a full and free exercise of the tenets in which they had been educated. In the present instance, the relief which the dissenters sought for, was not attempted to be violently wrested from the church of England, but was called for as a concession which should, in justice, be received at her hands. The arguments which were adduced against this bill appeared to him to be most untenable. The discussion which had taken place in that and in the other House, proved the fact. What said the Unitarian dissenters? They declared, that they could not agree with the marriage ceremony, as solemnized in the church of England, because it militated against their ideas of religious freedom; because it was at variance with their religious sentiments. What had some of the most respected prelates of the established church said on this subject? The bishops of London, Llandaff, and Exeter, had said, "We will not take on ourselves to judge whether your scruples are well or ill-founded-we will not go into the examination of the marriage service-we will not go into the grounds on which your opinion is founded. It would be useless for us to proceed with such an examination, because we know that, in all matters of religious belief, the conscience of the individual must alone be looked to, by that conscientious feeling alone can he decide, whether this or that system is the best calculated to reconcile him to the God whom he worships." Such a feeling, such

ful than the scenes which had taken place at the marriages of Unitarians, when protests were tendered to the officiating clergyman. Nothing, in his mind, could be more injurious to the Church than the performance of the marriage ceremony, coupled with the presentation of a protest against the forms to which the protesting parties were obliged to submit. Could any thing be more repugnant to feeling, than one of those scenes, where the clergyman was told to his face, "We are compelled to come here. Unless we are guilty of a breach of our conscientious feelings, we cannot enter into this contract as you would wish us. We therefore protest against this proceeding." But, though they had made very severe laws on the subject of marriage, yet a strange anomaly was suffered to exist. In this country, a couple had only to cross the Tweed, and throw themselves on the mercy of a blacksmith, and, the ceremony being performed, the husband might come back and claim all the rights, privileges, benefits, and advantages which would result from the most solemn marriage in this country. This showed that it was the true principle of the law of England and of the constitution, not to compel parties to submit to ceremonies which were revolting to their religious principles and feelings. He did not mean to uphold all the details of this bill. It contained two points that ought to be most guardedly examined. One of these was, that it should not be made subsidiary to the performance of clandestine marriages; and next, that the provisions of the bill should not interfere with the privileges and interests of the established clergy. He would, as the bill intended, suffer dissenters to be married by licence; but he would recommend the adoption of proper measures to prevent the celebration of clandestine marriages. The subject of registration was one of the greatest importance. He had heard it said, that the established clergy objected to the mode in which it was proposed that those marriages should be registered. If this was the case, he would alter that part of the bill, and give the clergy no real cause of offence. He begged leave to make one concluding observation. He wished that the subject of the marriage law in general should receive the most serious consideration; because, the period was fast arriving, when, if they did not new model it in some respects, the most lamentable inconvenience would be expe

rienced. He had turned his attention, it would at once be perceived, to the marriage law in Ireland, which loudly called for revision; and though the suggestions which he had, at different times, thrown out on this subject might be repulsive to the feelings of many whose opinions he wished to conciliate, still he felt that, ultimately, the subject must be considered; and he believed those suggestions must be acted on. Such was the state of the marriage law in that country, that it appeared to him necessary that some civil form should be adopted, by which marriage might be contracted; and, after that form had been gone through, such religious rites or ceremonies might be introduced, as were consistent with the faith of the parties contracted.

Mr. Secretary Peel said, that as the present bill was a measure, the object of which was, to give relief to tender consciences, he thought every opportunity should be afforded for solving or removing any difficulties connected with it. He therefore would agree to its going into a committee, where the hon. mover would have full scope for meeting those objections which might be urged against it. He admitted, that the right of marriage stood on very different grounds from the right of holding certain civil offices, or of obtaining certain civil privileges, to which allusion had been made. He was sorry that the scruples, to meet which this bill was brought in, existed at present. For forty or fifty years, the dissenters had not objected to that mode of solemnizing marriage, against which they now protested; and he was concerned that they were not still prepared to accede to the system which had so long continued. They had, however, preferred their claims for an alteration in the mode of solemnizing marriages; and those claims should be seriously considered. Last session, they were told, that a scruple existed in the minds of a class of dissenters against taking of an oath: but, who could tell what was the extent of that scruple, except the individual who felt it? Could any one tell how far scruples might extend-how far doubts might proceed-with reference to other sects? How, then, were they to legislate so as to give satisfaction to all? The learned gentleman wished the House to go at present as far as this bill went; but he had observed, that if this bill were carried, it would be followed by various others, to embrace every species of scru

ple which might be felt by the dissenters, Now, it would be more satisfactory to know clearly the extent to which it was intended that this measure should be urged. In point of fact, the learned gentleman ought not to vote for this bill at all; because, on his showing, it would not give relief to the Unitarians. The learned gentleman had said, that many of them had objected to going before a clergyman, at all. If so, he must contend, that at least to these Unitarians the bill afforded no relief whatever. If every man in society were allowed to select the individual by whom he should be married, the marriage vow, he was quite sure, would not be observed with that sanc tity with which it was observed at present, The Quakers and Jews were allowed to marry according to their own rites. The present bill, however, did not place the Unitarians on a level with the Jews and Quakers. No: according to this measure, the Unitarian marriages were to be registered in the church of England. Now, the Jews and Quakers had nothing to do with the church of England; their marriages were solemnized according to their own forms, and were registered in their own peculiar way. It was proposed to suffer these Unitarian marriages to be performed under licence. But here a considerable difficulty arose. If he could give relief to sincere Unitarians, without incurring considerable danger, he would readily do so. If he could easily recognize such Unitarians, bis difficulty would be at an end: but, pretended religious scruples might be professed, for the purpose of evading the law of the land; and the chance of such occurrences ought to be carefully guarded against. The Jew and the Quaker could be easily discerned by their garb, and their manners. The moment they were seen they were known. They could not practise deceit with any hope of success. But, if a stolen match were intended between a Protestant and an Unitarian, for the purpose of securing a property, it would be difficult, from the garb or manner of either, to discover that any clandestine proceeding was contemplated. It was also provided by this bill, that bans should be proclaimed in the Unitarian chapel and the Protestant church, But, a Protestant parent was not likely to attend a Unitarian chapel; neither was it probable that a Unitarian parent would attend a Protestant church, How, then, could any system of collusion be discover ed? If they passed this bill, they cer

tainly would not have the same check on improper marriages as they had at present. With respect to the question of registra tion, it was proper to observe the mode in which the Jews and Quakers proceeded. They proved their marriage in the ordinary way; and if that marriage appeared to be valid, according to their respective institutions, no further proceeding was necessary. But, with respect to the marriage of Unitarians, a registration was required by, this bill. Now, certainly, the clergy of the church of England might feel sincere and conscientious scruples as to this registration, By this bill Unitarians might be married in their own chapels; but it was a positive injunction on the clergy of the church of England, to regis ter those marriages in the church of Eng. land books. According to the doctrine of the church of England, marriage was not merely a civil, but a religious ceremony: it was denominated "holy matrimony:" and, by the present bill, the clergyman was called upon to enter in that book, which was appropriated to the insertion of entries relative to what the church of England viewed as a religious ceremony, the marriages of parties who denied the divinity of our Saviour. But, that entry was not to be originally made there. The original entry was placed in the Unitarian chapel. So that, if the party married wanted a copy of the entry from the church books, for any legal purposewhat did he receive? He received the copy of a copy. He did not get the best evidence that could be procured, Why not say, at once, that by law the church of England should have nothing to do. with this registration? Why not declare, that the record of marriage should be furnished in a regular manner by the Unitarian body, to some proper office? He would not oppose the second reading of the bill; but he must observe, that while he could not coincide in all the opinions expressed by an hon. gentleman (Mr. Robertson), he respected that gentleman. for the manly boldness with which he had delivered his sentiments. He did not entertain those fears, as to the safety of the church of England, which the hon. gentleman seemed to feel, in the event of this measure being agreed to. He, however, saw clearly enough the difficulties which were connected with the bill; and, after the intimation which had been given, that a number of measures were contemplated if this bill were carried, he hoped