Printed letter “To the People of England.  An Address from the Committee of Protestant Dissenters, appointed to conduct the application to Parliament for the Repeal of the Test-Laws,” by Edward Jeffries in London, 11 May 1790.

The letter addresses the recent defeat in Parliament and many of the accusations brought against the Dissenters during the debate and in printed notices before the vote.  These were highly prejudicial and the entire process became “a discredit to the character of a free and enlightened nation.” They were charged as being “disloyal subjects,” and he resents that greatly.  They were also charged with being “republicans,” and he is miffed at this, for they never advocated the overthrow of the British government or the constitution.  They are opposed to “arbitrary power,” but not the true British constitution.  The major charge, however, against the Dissenters was that repeal would damage the Church.  He says, “The unjust and ill-founded alarm excited on this head has revived the unchristian spirit of those biggoted times, which disgrace the annals of our country.   It is astonishing that the public, in this enlightened age, could have been influenced by such an idle phantom.” The application for repeal carried with it no hostile intentions directed at the established church.  He believes they will triumph in the future, when the nation “shall return to calmer feelings and more sober reflection.”

Text: Test Acts Papers, no. 95, Unitarian Collection, UCC 3/6/6, John Rylands University Library of Manchester.