Report of the Committee for West Riding, Yorkshire, meeting at Leeds, 21 April 1790.

[At this meeting the report is given by Wood, as secretary (in Wood’s hand), concerning his meeting with Wyvill.]

Gentlemen

        In compliance with the order of your last meeting, your Secretary communicated to the Rev. Mr Wyvill the thanks of this Committee for his obliging & liberal letter to Sam. Shore Esq, & requested him to appoint a place & time for a conference on the subject of it with Mr James Milnes Jun. & himself who were deputed by you or that purpose.  A very polite letter was received from him in return in which he apologized for not being able to wait upon your deputies either at Leeds or Wakefield, & invited them to pay him a visit at his own house.

        At that meeting Mr Wyvill assured them that he did not write to Mr Shore on the subject of our late application to Parliament before he had thoroughly considered the matter & had formed a resolution to give us every assistance in his power.  He had accordingly mentioned the subject to some respectable Clergymen & other members of the establishment in his own neighbourhood, & had found that several of them concurred with him in opinion upon the merits of our cause.  He observed however with concern, that since he wrote to Mr Shore, a material change had taken place in the West Riding, that many of the Clergy in other parts were beginning to sound the alarm, & that he was dubious whether any present benefit could be produced by a public meeting of that liberal minded minority among the Clergy who are desirous that their dissenting brethren, may be restored to the full enjoyment of their civil & religious rights.  He added that notwithstanding the present unpromising appearances, the dissenters had no reason to be discouraged, that when the present clamour shall a little subside, our arguments will have a chance of being more attentively considered, & our friends within the pall of the Church may exert themselves in our favour with greater advantage.

        Your deputies had much conversation with him on this & collateral subjects.  Among other things he intimated that the dissenters had hitherto with great prudence & propriety stood clear of political party, but he thought a time might come, when it will be equally wise & proper to break with the minister should he still persist in his opposition to our claims – that tho’ he was himself attached to Mr Pitt & thought him a great minister, he was much dissatisfied with his conduct in this business, & could account for it only by supposing that he found the continuance of his power greatly depended on the assistance of the High Church party; for he could scarcely entertain a doubt of his being inclined to favour us if he were not influenced by political considerations – but that before the dissenters should determine to unite in opposing Mr Pitt, it would be desireable to be well assured of the friendly disposition of the Duke of Portland, who upon any change in the ministry will probably occupy a leading office; for if, as he was a little apprehensive that able man was not favourable to the interest of religious liberty in its full extent, they would gain nothing [in] the change, & would probably lose some of their present advocates & prevent Mr Pitt himself from espousing their interest, if at any future time he should be freed from the impediments which now prevent him being guided by the dictates of his own judgment.

        Upon the whole your Deputies were much pleased with that visit, but considering the temper which hath lately been manifested by many of the Clergy, it may be questioned whether on a future occasion it may be expedient to solicit the assistance of those who have more liberal dispositions.

        In the beginning of the month of February your Secretary was informed by the Chairman of the London Committee that Mr Fox had been requested to make the motion in the house of Commons, that he had consented to bring on the business in about three weeks, & that if any delegates were sent from the country, their arrival in town could not be too soon.  At the same time your secretary received a letter from Mr John Heywood, the Presbyterian Delegate, giving the same information, & expressing his earnest wish that the secretary would accompany the other delegates to town.  To this the Secretary consented after consulting such friends as he had an opportunity of seeing; & he felt the less difficulty in coming to this determination when he considered that the attendance of the Presbyterian Delegate in consequence of his usual residence being in Town would be little expence to the public fund.

        Before the day appointed for the motion the principal employment of your delegates was to wait upon such of the members of both houses as are connected with the County of York & particularly upon the county Representatives.  Mr Duncombe declined giving an absolute promise on account of the evident impropriety of such an engagement in a business which was afterwards to be debated, but declared his firm attachment to the general principles of religious as well as civil liberty, & tho’ no account of the business is published, there is no reason to doubt, but that now as on the two former occasions, he voted in our favour.  Mr Wilberforce received the delegates with great politeness, but freely intimated that tho’ he had in some degree found reason to depart from the sentiments which he had expressed in a late letter, he still felt himself obliged to vote against the motion.  About sixty other members were called upon, some of whom promised their support, others declined giving their opinion, & some assigned the reasons only they could not comply with our wishes.

        The issue of Mr Foxes motion it is not necessary to mention.  It had to encounter the full weight of ministerial influence, & was consequently negatived by a very great majority.  This majority was doubtless encreased by the call of the house which took place on the preceding day, & which was moved by Mr Pitt himself avowedly for that purpose.

        But tho’ we have been thrice defeated & the last time with circumstances which our adversaries boast of as decisive, our cause is by no means desperate.  We have abundant reason to triumph in the splendid abilities which have been exerted in our favour, & may justly boast that what we have lost in point of numbers is more than counterbalanced by weight of eloquence & forcible argument.

Our present failure may partly be attributed to three erroneous steps.

        The resolution which originated with the London Committee & which was adopted in about half the country districts with respect to the conduct of Dissenters at the ensueing general election, however it may be justified on constitutional principles, was certainly imprudent in a body of men who do not form the majority in a single County or Borough, & who in the kingdom at large compose little more than a twentieth part of the whole.  The consequence has been, that some of our steady friends have thought themselves obliged to obey the instructions of their constituents, & to give their negative to the question at the same time that they publicly declared their full conviction of its justice & propriety.

        The disadvantages that arose from this impolitic measure were not a little increased by the particular season when the business was agitated. At the eve of a general election, the feelings of the representative are always tremblingly alive to the inclinations of his constituents.  And it is highly probable, that several who had received no instructions, were deterred from giving us their support, by a recollection that they were soon to enter upon a new canvass.

        But the proceeding which has proved the most hurtful to our interest is the invitation which we gave to the established Clergy to cooperate with us in our attempts to remove the sacramental Test.  Tho’ a considerable number of generous & enlightened advocates for the general rights of mankind have testified their earnest wishes for our success, it is evident that we had formed too high an Idea of the liberality of the times & that many of the Clergy are still disgraced by a warm, intolerant spirit.  From the Laity of the established church, indeed, we have much to hope; their minds are on this subject less liable to be biased by ecclesiastical prejudice; & there actually appear’d in them an encreasing disposition to listen to the voice of reason & equity.

        It behooves us, therefore to be prepared for a future trial, to derive wisdom from our past miscarriages, & to unite ourselves into a firm, vigorous body which may be ready to act upon every proper occasion, & may possess a capacity always to act with propriety & effect.  As soon as our business was decided in the house of Commons, the attention of your delegates was solely directed to the attainment of this important end, & several meetings were held for this purpose with Gentlemen of the London Committee, & with delegates from other parts of the country.  It was unfortunate that, partly thro’ misunderstanding & partly thro’ other causes, the number of represented districts was smaller than we had been led to expect.  Your delegates, however, had the pleasure to meet with Mr Milford & Mr Clarke from Devonshire, Mr Hobhouse & Mr Moggridge from Wiltshire, Mr Nash from Hertfordshire, the Rev Mr Robinson from Cambridgeshire, Mr Hammond & Mr Palmer from Huntingdonshire, Dr Hardy & Mr Corrie from Northamptonshire, Mr Watson from Worcestershire, the Rev Dr Kippis [missing part here] deputed by several congregations in Shropshire & North Wales, the Rev. Mr Bradbury & Mr Cooper from Lancashire & for a few days the Rev. Mr Walker from the Midland District.

        After much discussion it was resolved to recommend to general consideration a plan which seemed to promise the greatest advantages & to be attended with the fewest inconveniences.  When the time for the present meeting of the Committee was fixed, it was expected that before this day your secretary would have received from the Chairman in London a printed copy of the resolutions which were agreed upon for this purpose.  In this he is sorry to inform you he has been disappointed.  All therefore that he is able to do at present is to lay before you such a sketch as his own memory will supply.

        It was unanimously agreed that the frequent attendance of country delegates in town would be exceedingly inconvenenient to Individuals, & not a little expensive to the public.  It was, therefore, proposed that a Committee should be formed for the whole Kingdom, & that different districts should choose for their representatives a limited number of Gentlemen whose usual residence is in London, who should from time to time receive the instructions of their constituents & regularly report to them the proceedings of the general body. As a Compliment to the Dissenters in & about London, & as an expression of gratitude for their meritorious services in the present business, it was resolved that they shall appoint one third & the country districts two thirds of the Committee, which is to be stiled the General Committee of Protestant Dissenters & is to be the only body by which all business relative to the whole is to be finally determined.  By this expedient an easy communication will be formed between the most distant parts of the kingdom, no important measure will be pursued which has not first been well considered, the publication of undigested resolutions from smaller meetings will be prevented, & our proceedings may be conducted with more or less notoriety as time & circumstance shall render most expedient.  As the London Committee has for more than half a Century consisted of 21, the country representatives must of course be limited to 42.  A rough division of the kingdom has accordingly been formed in subservience to this fixed proportion, but subject to such variations as particular parts may prefer for their own regulation.  Two representatives have been allotted to this County, & it will be an object for the consideration of this Committee whether it shall be proposed to unite with the East & North Ridings or to remain a separate district.”

Text: Test Acts Papers, no. 98, Unitarian Collection, UCC 3/6/6, John Rylands University Library of Manchester. At this meeting the Baptist layman Mr. Hudson introduces the Baptist minister John Ashworth, and Wood introduces Rev. Dr. Price.  Others present were Crabtree as Chair, Turner, Grove, Parsons, Langdon, Moorhouse, Milnes, Esq.