Printed letter from a Meeting of the Delegates from the several Congregations of Protestant Dissenters at Devizes, in the County of Wiltshire, on 14 September 1789, at the Bear Inn, Benjamin Hobhouse, chairman.   

The delegates passed 11 resolutions.  They repeat much of the other committee’s resolutions, noting that as Dissenters they “entertain no principles which are inconsistent with the welfare of the present Government.” They thank the Bristol committee for corresponding with them, and the usual MP’s involved in the movement.  They add, “That we are determined on our parts, and recommend it most earnestly to all Dissenting Brethren, to shew a particular and marked attention at the ensuing General Election,” voting for “such Candidates whom they believe to be well affected to the cause of civil and religious liberty.”

With the printed resolutions is a printed letter from Hobhouse at Hartham House, near Chippenham, undated, to other Dissenting ministers around the country encouraging them to organize into committees so as to counter the claims made against the last petition, “that the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, was not the wish of the Protestant Dissenters at large, but of those only who resided in, and near the Metropolis – As far as related to ourselves, we felt this to be a misrepresentation; for there is nothing we have more at heart, than the repeal of those laws, which fix an undeserved opprobrium upon Protestant Dissenters, reflect dishonor on our Country, and sully the purity of a Christian Institution.” If the Dissenters will join together, he says, “such a proof of our unanimity, joined with perseverance, cannot fail to contribute to our success.”

Text: Test Acts Papers, no. 32, Unitarian Collection, UCC 3/6/6, John Rylands University Library of Manchester. Apparently the Bishop of Salisbury responded to these resolutions in two letters (see Extracts, p. 26).