The Rev. James Robertson, of Edinburgh, in seconding the resolution asked if, when the claims of humanity were put forth, ministers were to sit still and do nothing, and reminded his hearers of the anathema, "he that withholdeth corn the people shall curse him." The Rev. Jas. Ragland, of Hindley, in supporting the resolution gave a frightful history of the distress endured at Wigan and its vicinity. The motion was carried unanimously. Another resolution, moved by the Rev. Benjamin Parsons, of Ebley, near Stroud; seconded by the Rev. Charles Berry, of Leicester, was also carried unanimously: "That in the judgment of this conference, the prevailing distress painfully tends to arrest the progress of education, to prevent the exercise of domestic and social affections, to induce reckless and immoral habits, to prevent attendance on religious worship, and to harden the heart against religious impressions."
The Rev, W. Thompson, of Swansea, moved the next resolution: "That influenced at once by feelings of sympathy with the suffering poor, with whom their official duties bring them into daily contact, and by a deep interest in the success of the religion whereof they are ministers, this conference feels itself only acting from a strong sense of duty in examining into the causes of the existing distress, and from the example of our Saviour himself, in employing its utmost influence to alleviate or improve it." The motion seconded, in a powerful speech, by the Rev. T. Spencer, of Bath, and supported by the Rev. S. J. Phillips, of Woolton, was carried unanimously.
The Rev. Dr. Payne, of Exeter, after vindicating the
