because the confumption of these articles is the very ground and cause of flavery ;but the Manufacture of Arms is not the caufe, but only a confequence of War. Such of you as do not concede the fe luxuries of life to your principles-Can you, confiftently, require a facrifice from me, of a concern in which my property is fo involved, and by which my family would be fo extensively injured? If you carry your fpeculative principles into frict and rigid practice, you will abftain not only from the confumption of West India commodities, but from all commodities which are taxed, especially from Malt and Wheat, and all the produce of the Land; for, you may be well affured, that every cup of beer you drink, and every morfel of bread you eat, has furnished refources for carrying on this War, which you fo juftly cenfure. If you fhould be fo confcientious as to abitain from all thefe enjoyments, I fhall have no reason to complain of any partiality in applying the fame ftrict conftruction of principle against me. I fhall greatly admire the efficacy of your opinions, whilst I lament that the practice of your principles is not compatible with the fituation in which Providence has placed us. 5th. In making these obfervations, I hope I fhall not be conûdered as fuggefting the propriety of extending the Penal Code. I HAVE TOO SINCERE A RESPECT FOR THE RIGHT AND DUTY OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT, AND ΤΟΠ STRONG A DOUBT OF THE COMPATIBILITY OF ECCLESIASTICAL CEN SURES AND PUNISHMENTS WITH THE GENUINE SPIRIT AND OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE, NOT TO EXPRESS A MOST DECIDED DISAPPROBATION OF SUCH A MEASURE. I am induced to make this remark not from any perfonal confiderations, but as I have reafon to believe that in fome inftances the Society have it in contemplation to excommunicate thote who pay Tithes (as you pay Taxes) in obedience to the Laws, and without feeling any confcientious conviction of the impropriety of the practice.--I with respectfully, but most ferically to ava my.elf of this, perhaps the only opportunity in my power, to fugit to the 6mn corfideTation of the Society, whether Excom-' municat (which is confidered as a fpecies of religious periecution) be confiftent with bat difciphene which Chrift propofed to introduce into his Church; whether it be really bearing a Chriftian teftimony againft paying Tithes--and if it be not a violation of that Precept meant to be inculcated by this Text-" Who "art thou that judget another Man's Servant? to his own Master he ftandeth "or falleth." ROMANS xiv.-4. 6th. I have no view in this Addrefs to embarrass your proceedings with regard. to myself. An equitable attention to my own cafe feemed to require a fair statement of Facts, and a candid examination of Principles-My intention is to point out the injuftice of the Law, but not to appeal from it. To prove that it is too sirist for the Practice of the Society-too partial for its Principles. I acknowledge a decided preference to this before any other religious fect. This preference I do not imagine will be influenced by the measures which you may confcientiously conceive it to be your duty to puriue, or which y u may think it incumbent upon you to adopt, in confequence of the direction of the Yearly Meeting. I do not perhaps entertain the fame opinions as are entertained by many on the fubject of Excommunication, which I would rather fuffer than inflilt. I mean to give no pledge or expiciation to the Society, with respect to the abandoning of my Bufinefs, but to referve to myself a perfect independence on that head, to act as circumftances may fuggeft-So that whenever I may have an opportunity of withdrawing myself from thefe engagements, confiftently with my judment, I fhall have the fatisfaction to feel that I act from pontaneous fenti ment only, and not from unworthy influ ence. Circumítanced as I am, ftanding in no new relation to the Society by any ad of my own-I cannot with propriety withdraw myfelf. I ftate the fentiments and practice of our predeceffors; and if I fhould be difowned-I fhall not think that I have abandoned the Society, t that the Society have withdrazon themfees from their ancient tolerant Spirit and Practice. I have no doubt but thatI fhall equally retain the efteem of the more liberal and enlightened amongst you, and I fhall not ceafe to wish for the happiness of the whole Society. COPY OF A MINUTE OF THE YEARLY MEETING OF 1790. "IF any be concerned in fabricating "or felling Inftruments of War, let "them be treated with in love; and if "by this unreclaimed, let them be fur ther "War, concerning which divers oppor"tunities have been had with the par"ties, by feveral Friends, under the "nomination of Overfeers and others,' "to fome fatisfaction; but thinking it proper that they fhould be further la"boured with refpecting the inconsisten→→ cc cy thereof with our religious princi"ples, We appoint the following "Friends to vifit them on behalf of this "Meeting, who are defired to make a "report thereof at a future Monthly Meeting, viz. Sampfon Lloyd, Jofeph' "Gibbins, and James Baker, toge"ther with any other Friends who are inclined to join them in the fervice." The above is copied from the Monthly Meeting Book. 1 JOSEPH GIBBINS. THE RIGHT OF SANCTUARY CONSIDERED. EADWINE, a Monk of the Benedic It was in the time of this Eadwine that the Church of St. Peter, notwithfanding it had been repaired by St. Dunfant, was pulled down, and rebuilt much more plendidly by Edward the Confeffor, who endowed it with a large revenue, and granted to it feveral privileges and immunitics. Thefe privi leges and immunities were, by the piety and munificence of fucceeding Kings, much increased, and they continued intreating until they were swept away by the torrent of the times, and fwallowed in the vortex of reformation ‡. Not meaning to enter into a detail of thofe grants, or a difcuffion of these privileges and immunities in general, I fhall wave any obfervations upon thofe diffu • Flete. † Anno 966. five parts of the fubject, to apply a few to one in particular, namely, the Right of Sanctuary, which, I need fcarcely inform my readers, was a right inherent to the Church, and a certain diftrict around it, of protecting from the Civil Power fugitives, debtors, felons, and even murderers! This right, of which there are ftill confiderable traces to be obferved in the privileges annexed to the ecclefiaftical edifices of Italy, it is probable might, in the two first inftances, be fometimes benes ficial, though the two latter were certainly abutes of it. The Right of Sanctuary I prefume to have every where arifen, as it did in the fcite of Weftminster Abbey, under the Chriftian difpenfation §, from the cano. nization of the founder of any Cathedral, and from the high veneration in which his memory was held; inafmuch as it was fuppofed that his merits were a fufficient From evil good may arife, as light from darkness. That the Reformation, whether produced by revenge, piety, or avarice, has, in its effect, been as beneficial to the civil as religious liberties of this country, no one will attempt to deny ; but yet as, by comparing recent with former events, the mind is fhocked at the thought of the confufion and diftrefs which the general plunder of ecclefiaftical establishments must, in those times, have created; fo, from recent tranfactions, we are inclined to believe, that the torn and dilapidated revenues of the Church have been, and may be, worfe applied than they were even prior to that pe riod, when the enormities of the Monks rendered them so deteftable to the pious and difinterefied courtiers of Henry the Eighth. The tradition that, during the time of the Romans, a temple dedicated to Apollo oc cupied the space now filled by Westminster Abbey is more generally known than credited. It is not, therefore, worth our while to enquire whether the Right of Sanctuary existed and was annexed to that spot before the Chriftian difpenfation. expi expiation for the fins of those that fought the protection of his thrine. In this enlightened age, at this fceptical period, a period when not only the out-works of Superftition are levelled to the ground, but the fortrefs of Religion is attacked by an engine which is termed pbilofopby, though it ought in reality to be deemed arbeifm, there are, perhaps, many who will fmile at an author who aflerts, as I do, that a regard to particular cuftoms, a reverence for particular perfons and places, had, and ever will have, a good effect upon the minds, and confequently the morals, of the great mafs of the people. Those that have confidered the fplendid decerations of the Heathen temples, far fuperior in magnificence and architectural elegance to any which the Chriftian world has produced, the mythological influence of their gods, the mystical denunciations of their oracles, their ftatues, pictures, facrifices, every thing that could attract the attention, alarm the confcience, or captivate the fenfes, will not wonder at the tenacity with which the votaries of paganiím adhered to the fentiments promulgated in them, nor at the flow progrels which the true (for it was a long Leries of years before it became the CathoLie) religion made while its doctrines were delivered by piain, though holy men, and its edifices as unadorned as its tenets. That Chriftianity did at length difperfe the mist of darkness and error in which the firit ages were enveloped; that the fun, which had fo flowly rifen, fhone, and with refplendent luftre pervaded a confiderable portion of the world, is as certain as that the tide of human affairs, which in its ebb carried off the fuperftition of paganism, at its reflux brought with it a fuperftition, or, as it has been termed, a zeal, perhaps but little inferior in its ardour, is to be lamented. This revolution from one violent prejudice to another proves, that to influence the paffions of mankind toward a particular object has by Legislators, in all ages, been thought neceffary. The Heathens found, in the worship of their numerous deities, a fource of joy, of admiration, of terror. Their priests were fanctified; and the very verge of their temples held as facred as the altar or the adytum. This fuperftition, if it can be fo termed when under the guidance of the Christian system, has been frequently applied to turn the minds of the people to the best of purpoles; and although its violent ebullitions are, as I have just observed, to be in fome respects deplored, it seems, viewing it with even the most unfavourable afpect, to be far more innocent than the modern philofophy, which we have had late and lamentable experience is only calculated to incline them to the worst, Among the many veftiges ftill remaining which ferve to fhew the vast influence of the See of Rome in former times, the Right of Sanctuary prefents itself furft to our confideration; a right which, with respect to debtors, although not at prefent annexed to the Church, is not even now entirely abandoned in this country This right, before any part of it is commended, ought to be examined with fome accuracy; for although it might, and unquestionably did, occafionally afford protection to the innocent; yet where one inftance of this fort occurs, we have, perhaps, an hundred which mark the monaftic boundaries as a harbour for guilt, a retreat for the fraudulent debtor, the robber, or the affaffin. Many who have written in favour of fuch afylums have pleaded prefcription for their eftablishment, which, in a feries of years, grew into cuftom; and at length what had from ancient times been customary, became, if not legally fanctioned, of equal force with law." From the earlieft ages we have great reafon to believe, that the places dedicated to religious worship were confidered as under the protection of the prefiding deity, whofe influence first attracted criminals, and other perfons unhappy in their circumftances, to feek the fhelter which his facred pale afforded. What religion firit prompted, policy adopted. The idea of throwing a greater weight into the scale of ecclefiaftical establishments * At a period confiderably antecedent to the Reformation, the circuit of St. Paul's was ♣ Sanctuary for debtors and diffolute perfons. This right continued to appertain to White Friars till the year 1697, when, by an Act of William and Mary, the preamble of which ftated, "That this place was become a notorious receptacle for men of desperate fortunes, who with force and violence defended themselves against the law and public authority," it was totally abolished. The Mint in Southwark once poffeffed the fame privilege, faid to have been derived from being the feite on which the Duke of Suffolk's (Charles Brandon) house formerly food, The protection of the Board of Green Cloth has ceafed but a few years; and the ruks of the King's Bench and Fleet prifons remain to this hour. was was, by the first founders of Empires, confidered as the strongest cement wherewith to bind the paffions of a rude and diffolute multitude. Buildings, whose extremeft environs were confecrated with every rite calculated to imprefs the human mind with awe and veneration, were therefore erected. When Cadmus founded Thebes he faw the neceflity of an eftablishment of this nature; and Hercules ordained that the Temple of Pity at Athens fhould be an Aiylum for fugitives. After-ages extended the privilege of protecting fuppliants and offenders, both from the force of arms and the force of law, to other temples, ftatues, fhrines, and facred groves. The fane of Diana at Ephefust was a refuge for the difohute of Afia Minor, of which the city in which it flood was the emporium. When a malefactor fled from juftice, and had the good fortune to arrive within the verge of this temple, it was confidered as an act of facrilege to force him thence; and the heaviest denunciations, nay punishment, followed the very attempt; and if he was killed in any itruggle which might enfue, his blood, it was thought, would be upon them and their pofterity for ever who were concerned in fuch a violation. Were it neceffary, many other inftances might be adduced to fhew that the Grecians in general, and the Athenians in particular, thought thofe profane, and held their perfons and crimes in equal abhorrence, who had violated the Right of Sanctuary. In Syria, the Temple of Apollo was long held in veneration for poffeffing a protecting power; as was that of Venus Paphia in Cyprus. Nor were the Egyptians, who fhould doubtless, in this refpect, have firft been mentioned, lefs jealous than the Greeks of a violation of that afylum which even the verge of their temples afforded. Thofe dedicated to Olyris, or Ifis †, 1519 years before Chrift. were, from the influence of thefe fuperior deities, fuppofed to poffefs a fanctity fuperior to thofe of Apis the Bull, Ibis the Stork, the Dog, the Hawk, the Crocodile, or the Cat . When Romulus determined to found the city of Rome, he, in order to people his new establishment, first projected an afylum between two woods (before the buildings were begun), to which Virgil alludes §. He afterwards opened a Sanctuary for the reception of all fugitives, which was called the Temple of the God Afylaus ¶, into which all that flew for protection were received. In this place the fervant that had abandoned his mafter, the debtor who fought refuge from his creditors, and even the murderer who had escaped from justice, were protected againit the power of the Magistrate. Under fuch aufpices, it is no wonder that the city foon grew populous, or that an empire fhould be founded from the dregs and refufe of mankind, the outcafts of every nation around. Our only aftonishment muft arife from its at taining fuch a height of magnificence and celebrity, confidering the materials of which it was originally formed. But even here, perhaps, the curious enquirer might, through the long feries of Roman triumphs and imperial grandeur, trace in their plans of univerfal conqueft fome veftiges of the vices of thofe firft founders of the Empire, and be induced to pause before they beftowed upon republican virtue that unqualified praise which ít has at times excited. Be this as it may, the fanctuary eftablished by Romulus was confidered as so advantageous to the State, that the Senate, in after ages, not only adopted his plan, but extended it to a degree that feemed to keep pace with the extenfion of their dominions. The Jewish Afvla, or cities of refuge, feem to be a far wifer and better eftablish ment than any of the preceding **. The This temple, rendered famous from its having been a second time deftroyed by fire on the very day on which Alexander the Great was born (400 years before the birth of Our Saviour), was built in the name, and at the expence, of all Afia Minor. Pliny fays, what is not very probable, that two hundred and twenty years were employed in the erection of it. I Thought to be the fun and the moon. "Quis nefcit, Volufi Bythinice, qualia demens "Ægyptus portenta colat?" &c. JUVEN. Sat. 15. "Lucum ingentem quem Romulus acer Asylum retulit.” Plutarch. The Senate, or Magiftrates, were in lírael bound to prepare the way to these Asyla; and in feveral places upon the road to fet up in writing "Refuge, Refuge," for the purpose of directing the fugitive. pro protection which they afforded did not embrace the murderer. They only fheltered in their arms thofe who had been guilty of man-flaughter; who had accidentally fhed blood; and continued their defence of them no longer than until they could be turned over to the Civil Power; at moft till the caufe was brought to a fair and impartial hearing. The Horns of the Altar afforded no protection to Joab; and + Athaliah was led out of the Temple to receive the reward of her treafon. Having fhewn the nature of these afylums among the Grecians, Egyptians, Romans, and Jews, and, in the beginning of this fpeculation, confidered their rite in the Chriftian world, it would extend this erection far beyond my original plan were I to advert to the different defcriptions of those that have, or do ftill exift in the European States. I fhall therefore confine my future pursuit to the inveftigation of one that was, perhaps, in its time, confidered, not only by this nation, but by a long feries of Popes, as of the first importance; I mean the Sanctuary appertaining to the Cathedral Church of St. Peter's at Westminster. (To be concluded in our next). THEATRICAL JOURNAL. FEB. 18. BANTRY BAY, a Mufical Piece of one act, was performed the first time at Covent Garden. The title of this piece fufficiently indicates the fubject and fituation of the feene; it is a light effort, well timed, well intended, and well executed, to create a laugh at the fpirited conduct of the boys of Bantry Bay, when the French fleet lately made its appearance in the feas nearest the fouthern coafts of Ireland; on which occafion it is notorious, that the peafantry in that part of the fifter kingdom difplayed infinite loyalty and zeal, which the author has exhibited on the Stage, feafoned with fome of the strong but fimple humour that forms the marking features in the characters of the lower order of the Irish. It is faid to be the first dramatic production of a Gentleman whose name is Reynolds. The Mufic is felected and compofed by Mr. Reeves. MAY 4. WIVES AS THEY WERE, AND MAIDS AS THEY ARE, a Comedy, by Mrs. Inchbald, was acted the Art time at Covent Garden. The characters as follow: *ift Kings, chap. ii. Maria, elegantly and fashionably bred, with a good heart, a cultivated understanding, a beautiful face, and a charming figure,,has caught the infec tion of the diffipated in high life, and is addicted to gaming. Hence the is befet with creditors, while she is addreffed by different fuitors; one an honourable lover of large fortune (Sir George Evelyn),the other (Mr. Bronzeley) a receiv ed man in the polite world, though a known feducer of every woman he meets, who has attractions and character enough to render her an object of his villainy. She has the difficult task of maintaining the proper pride of virtuous woman, amidit difficulties which too often fubdue the firmeft, and degrade the minds of the best meaning. Her father, Sir William Dorilant, went to India in her infancy to repair his fortune; and though she never faw him, nature has implanted the fincereft affection for her parent in her breast. Loaded with wealth he has returned to England, and become an inmate in the houfe of his friend Mr. Norbury, under whofe roof Maria refides as his ward. The better to enable himself to judge of his daughter's deferts and accom. plishments, he paffes under the affumed name of Mr. Manly, and, equally fhocked and mortified at finding her the flave of diffipation and fashionable vice and folly, he becomes the morofe monitor of her foibles, and scarcely treats her with tolerable civility.. Though often offended at the harshness of his manner and the severity of his matter, conveyed in the bluntett terms of feverfe 28 to 34. verfes 15 and 16. vere |