Star. — London, England, 1820-11-02 00:00:00

'! at each side? There was no wins( there that readeted the presence of Bergami necessary, there was no heeling, no tossing Of the ship up and down, to command his attendance upon his m: , !ress. Let their Lordships only look to the Management as to the contignitY of the sleeping apartments, from the dine of :I,c arrival at Naples to the retarn frOm the long voyage, and say what the meaning of that management was. Why had not the persons who might, if contradiction could be given, have contradicted that very powerful fact ? Then the promotion of Bergami! Great indeed 'was the difference bersten pro motion of a faithful servant, after a long life of service, and the sudden prornothni of a man who bad not distinguished him-‘ slf by any. It was one of the greatest blessings of this glorious Constitution, that a man could arrive at the greatest honours by the performance of sighal benefits ; but here was a person who had not only been elevated himself for nothing, but whose family l'ad been elevated through his means for services of the same value. M. Sicard, who had given his evidence with great pro priety, knew that Bergami had been in the employment, but be knew nothing more. hit. Craven hoped that he would be promoted, and Sir William Gen said he was to be gradually advanced! Gradually advanced! Now, let the gradual 'ad vancement be looked at. Was there ever so rapid an ele vation? Not only litrgami himself, but every one of his family, had been raised to an extraordinary height. All, with in deed one exception—his wife ! Now, by combining this cir cumstance with the unimpeached testimony of eight or nine witnesses, as to the indecent familiarities, and adding to those the possession of time, place, and opportunity, which certainly existed, their Lordships would be led to a, conclusion which, to him, appeared inevitable. Why had not Bergami himself been produced? There were casts in which the person charged with having been concerned was produced. Major Hook was called; but here there was an absence of a person, who seas under such obligations as never man before was under. As to the evidence of what took place at Senegaglia, he con sidered that kreconcikable with truth in many parts, and therefore he dismissed it altogether from his memory. So also with respect to Trieste. When he heard of the dis tribution of the transactions there into six days, and found that the Queen had nut been there half the time, he alto- gether dismissed that case from his mind. But then there was Barbara Kress, who had spoken to circumstances to which there had been no contradiction; except the evidence of Vassall was considered such—and that evidence was rather strange, for he had mot said a word in opposition, until the Counsel for the Queen bad helped bins to fill up the vaczncy. Vassali's evi dence be looked to with great jealousy. Now, as to Catania : taking all the witnesses together, and coupling all that passed at A um, in the polacca, and at Carisruhe, with what occurred at Catania, no inference could be drawn from such a chain but an adulterous intercourse had taken place. One word more a:.l he shouid have done. As to what had passed out of doors, he should take no notice of that, for he must be supposed to know nothing of it. But whatever he might think of what was said, he should conscientiously do his duty. He had beard from that bar what it had given him great sorrow to hear—something like a threat to their Lordships—(Hear). Whatever might be the opinion out of doors, he would take upon him to say, that the con duct he alluded to, was never consistent with the duty of an Ad. vocate, and the threat ought to have no effect upon the decision of their Lordships !—(hear hear). They stood there to protect the liberty, the character, and the lives of their fellow-subjects, and he would not hesitate to say to them, " Be just and fear riot." They would do their duty, and leave the rest to the wis dom and justice of GOD ! Lord ERSKINE agreed with the Noble and Learned Lord nn the Woolsack, that their Lordships ought to come to the discussion with temper and firmness, that they should not suffer themselves to be influenced by any extraneous causes, but that they should be jest, and fear not ! He would go still farther, and say that their Lordships should be prepared to do justice at any hazard, and to adopt, as the rule of their conduct, fiat jas-1 firma runt =him ! He (Lord Erskine) did not know how to I discharge his duty better to their Lordships than by laying his breast open to them, and stating his opinion on those proceedings. Before the commencement of this business, and on the death of his late Majesty, he was at some distance from town, and heard with surprise, that the first step that was taken was to strike the name of her Majesty out of the Liturgy and thus deprive her of the Prayers of the Church ! And yet the Learned Lord on the Woolsack, who had just sat down, had declared, that no person should be pre sumed guilty before trial,_and that the scales of Justice should be held even ! However much he might condemn such a pro ceeding, he certainly then thought that the Ministers must have had so strong a case against her Majesty as to render her guilt evident beyond the possibility of a doubt. When he came to the Houle, he found laying on their Lordships' table the informations on which this inquiry had been founded; and a determination to proceed by a Rill of Pains and Penalties, be ceuse, as was stated by a Noble Earl opposite, the crime of adul tery was not treason, when committed with a foreigner beyond seas. The charges bad been sent down to the House of Commons, where they refused to inquire into them; and would any man now say a Bill of Pains and Penalties was the proper mode of proceeding, when the House of Commons refused to proceed in the inquiry at all ? The House of Commons came to a resolution, that such an inquiry was derogatory to the ho -tour of the Crown, and injurious to the morals of the people. When this Resolution had passed, the House imme diately determined to address her Majesty, to accept the terms offered her of a compromise ; but she, with that firm ness and consciousness of innocence which she possessed, deter- I rained on putting herself on her trial in the House of Lords.— What should have been the duty of Ministers, but to restore her Majesty's name to the Liturgy, and, according to the re cemmtndation of the Noble Lord on the Woolsack, suffer no prejudice to go against her Majesty until she was proved guilty. Would it be said that depriving the Queen of the Prayers of a whole l'eople was not declaring her guilty—it was doing more—it was punishing her ! What were their Lordships doing now—debating on reading the Bill a second time, only to read it a third time, and then send it down to the House of Commons that had alrealy decided against all inquiry on the subject. He (Lord Erskine) was afraid of the consequences of the two Houses being at issue on this question. The Houk of Commons were the Representatives of the People ; and, after they had declared that there was no round for impeachment or inquiry, but that they believed the Queen innocent, how could their Lordships send that Bill down to them and request they would inquire into what they hadpreviously decided not to inquire? The Noble Lord con tended that there was no ground for proceeding by a Bill of Pains and Penalties, since the charge against her Majesty was high clime and misdemeanour, for which she might have • -ea uied by constitutional means. As this had not been case, if he believed the Queen as guilty as from the he believed her innocent, he would vote against the because an unconstitutional mode of proceeding was nn.o, where a constitutbalal one was open. I must ,said Noble Lord (Erskine) soon terminate my life ; but happy s! 41 Ibe if I die advocating these great constitutional prin. :71,5, the vindicating of which, in early life, raised me from the rauk of an humble individual—Left speaking. This morning the Paris Papers of Monday came' to hand. On Sunday morning. a tire broke out in rite cellars beneath the New Exchange, occasioned, i* is believed, by the carelessness of some of the workmen, which did considerable damage. These ripen present no other topic of interest. BIBLE SOCIETY. Yesterday a most numeroos and respectable Meet ing of the London Auxiliary Bible Society was held in the Egyptian Hall, at the Mansion House, to ce lebrate the eighth Anniversary of the Institution. The doors Were opened at elevtn o'clock, and at twelve Sir C. S. flowrao took the Chair, in the ab sence of the LORD MAYOR. Sir CLAUDIUS briefly addressed the Meeting , ' stating, that at the institution of the Society, eight years ago, he had the honour of presiding. He con gratulated the Meeting on the numerous and respect able assembly thea present, and trusted that no year' would be suffered to pass by without commemo rating the era of the Institution. At the first Meet ing that had been held, the Hall had not been half so crowded as it was at present, but it now seemed to be the unanimous wish to put the Bible into the hands of all classes in society ; and hence each suc ceeding year the Meeting had been more numerous than the former. The Rev. D. Wtisow then read the Eighth Re port of the Society. The Report, among other in teresting facts, stated, that, since the institution of , the Society, 24,391 Bibles had been distributed by it, and concluded with recommending the appoint. ment of a Ladies Branch of the Society, in order to facilitate the attainment of its object. The CHANCELLOR Of .the EXCHEQUER dig pre seated himself to the notice of the Meeting. e had', had the honour, he said, of having formerly ads dressed, upon a similar occasion, the worthy Baronet then in the Chair. As he had been present at the first Meeting of the Society, and had had the honour of being then nominated one of the Vice-Presidents, he should never omit, whenever it was in his power, to attend the Meetings of the Society, and should la ment that a year should pass away without having. it in his power to pay his tribute of homage to the principles by which it was actuated—(Applastse)— and should exert all his talents and all his means to carry them into effect. At the commencement of the Society, he had been placed in his present offi cial situation, and amidst many instances of the DI VINE goodness, he had to be grateful. for being res cued from the imminent danger with which he had been threatened at the beginning of the present year. In the present state of the country, it was a crime to be neutral in the cause of religion—(Much applause) —when the powers of light and darkness seemed to be set in array, the one against the other. In the course of the year 1819, no less a sum than £350,000 had been raised by Societies of the same nature as the present ; but that' sum, though large, was not sufficient, and still further exertions were needful to accomplish the objects of the SOciety. It had been stated by those who were unfriendly to such So cieties, that for the last twenty years vice and crime bad increased in proportion to the efforts of these Societies to put them down ; but, he believed, it might be stated truly, that none of those criminals had been supporters of Bible Societies, but, in fact, belonged to that class who, in a Christian country, led the life of Heathens. But the Bible Society had reached to the farthest extremities of the globe, and bad produced the happiest effects. At one period, the communication of the civilized with the rude part of mankind had been attended with the most injurious effects to the latter. That had been the case with the poor nations of America, and perhaps in a still greater degree with the inhabitants of 'Africa. Much was due from Europe to that ill fated country; and happy he was to be able then to say, that a part at least of the debt was about to be paid, by imparting to them the benefits of know ledge, and the blessings of the Christian religion. In -India, there was an immense field, although the reapers were but few, while the harvest was great. IR that country, there was a population of sixty mil lions ; but the designs of the DIVINE PROVIDENCE were not to be limited by the weakness of human agents ; and he trusted the time was not far distant, when in India, America, and in Africa, the name of 'an Englishman would be hailed with blessings. The Bible had been translated into 179 different lan guages, and there would soon be no speech nor na tion where its voice would not be heard. The Right Hon. Gentleman concluded with moving, that the Report be received. Mr. Sheriff WILLIAMS rose, amidst loud applause, to second the motion. Amidst the multiplicity oi his official duties, it was difficult for him to exert himself as much as he could wish in promoting the benevolent objects of the Society; but he was aware that the commission to preach the Gospel had not been entrusted to the Priesthood alone, but that all Christians had been commanded to do the same; and all men ought to be reminded that the blessing of our Holy Faith extended not only to the life that now is, but to that which is to come. Infidelity at the present time was not confined to corners, but stalked abroad in the light of noon; and, while that was the case, it was the duty of all who believed the Gospel to promulgate its tenets, as the most effectual antidote—( Applause).—He trusted that the great bulk of the population of the country were believers in the doctrines of Christianity; and though some moral men might unhappily be unbelievers, yet he trusted that the lives of Christians would not shun a comparison with those who doubted the truths of our Holy Faith. From the Gospel, and from it alone, could comfort be drawn in the day of trouble, and in the hour of danger. The Bible Society had been the means of doing away with the quarrels among the different sects of Christians, by uniting them a in one common pursuit, and furnished the best anti dote to the corrupt spirit of the times. It had been lately his painful duty to attend a criminal to execu tion; the unhappy man had latterly been induced to look into the Bible. He blessed GOD that the Sacred Book had at last been put into his hands, and deeply regretted that he bad not seen it before. The worthy Sheriff concluded by apologizing for the absence of his colleague, Mr. Waithman, who was detained from the Meeting by the pressure of official business. Lord GAMBIER had, with much pleasure, obeyed the call made upon him to attend the Meeting. He had been one of the Vice-Presiieats from the begin ning of the Society, and was anxious to do it all the good in his power. He had beard, with concern, chat the funds of the Society had declined, and trusted that fresh ardour would be inspired into the Mem bers to supply the deficiency. He agreed with the two last speakers, that at no time had it been so ne cessary to make every effort to put down infidelity, sedition, and blasphemy. His Lmliship, after ob- . serving that he was not .in_ the habit of speaking in public, moved the Thanks of die Society to the Pre sident, Vice-Presidents, and the Committee, for their exertions during the last year. The Rev. G. CLAYTON seconded the motion. He trusted that no diminution of zeal for the objects of the Society would be felt in the centre of the City of London, and in the atmosphere of the Egyptian Hall--(Applause).—Such an applehension could be scarcely entertained by any one who looked at the numbers and respectability of the present Meeting. —lf moral principle was not co-extended with the means of education, all attempts to enlighten the lower orders must prove ineffectual. In the attempts made to inflame the public mind, the Bible was like oil that calmed the waters in a storm. The Society had been reproached *with the little good that had accrued from their labours. But frequently more good was done than at first.appeared, as those whose morals had been reformed were not wont to thrust themselves ambitiously forward into public view.-- With respect to the poor of Southwark, he could take upon himself to say, that much good had been effected by means of this Society. • The same had been the case with many bred to the sea. The speaker here read a letter from a . sailor on a board a ship, that had been exposed to imminent danger off Margate. After describing the danger, the writer said, 4 The Captain read a portion of .he Bible, and the crew sang a hymn; when, on a sudden, the storm abated, and the boats came and took us all off." [Here the Lord Mayor entered, and took the Chair.] What he had just read was a proof of the effects the Scriptures had on the minds of our brave seamen— (Loud applause).—He hoped this seed, thus sown, would fructify and produce one hundred-fold. The motion for Thanks to the Lord Mayor, &c. was then carried unanimously. The LORD MAYOR, in returning thanks, took oc casion to observe, that no man could wish better to the objects of the Society than himself. At the same time, be should be happy if the Prayer Book always accompanied the Bible. It was much better for the lower classes to be reading their Bible by their own fire-sides, than to be listening to, or talking sedition and blasphemy in an alehouse. Mr. Alderman SCHOLEY, one of the Vice-Presi dents, also returned thanks. a Sir D. MACKWORTH came forward, at the sugges tion of some friends; he should cot trespass on the time of the Meeting, and should only propose certain Gentlemen to be Officers for the ensuing year. The Rev. G. Own: was of opinion, that, in the present state of the public mind, all were bound to advocate the great cause that was before the Meet ing. It was his duty to establish the premises, and :heirs to assent to the conclusion. He was happy that a Layman, bearing high civic office (Sherif Williams), had so ably defended the cause of Truth and of Christianity. An objection had been made, that the Book of Common Prayer did not accompany the Bible; that objection had been stated before to day, and, as often as stated, had been refuted. In ' the present Society there was nothing new, except in the magnitude of the scale otexertion, proportioned to the augmented exigencies of the case. The Society had neither added anything to the Bible, nor subtracted aught from it. Within the space of seventeen years, the objects held in view by the Society had been pa tronized by Porteus, by Burgess, by Barrington, and by Fisher, four of the most enlightened Prelates that the Church of England had ever produced : and the last of whom had presided over the education of the last hope of England, the Princess Charlotte. Could Sur great Reformers, Cranmer, Parker, and Ridley, once more revive, would they not support an Insti tution, to accomplish whose object they had directed their most ardent efforts, and some had shed their blood. Should the Society adopt a narrower prin ciple, their sphere of utility would be circumscribed, and both Russia and America would be shut against them ; the latter of which would certainly refuse to barter her religious liberty for whatever boon we could offer in exchange. But by the plan adopted by the Society, all Christendom had been organized, and the truths of the Gospel had been made known to those who bad formerly not even heard of its name—(Appleese).—For him, an officiating Minister of twenty-hve years standing, to say that he did net love the Book of Common Prayer, would not be tacit but a loud censure on his own conduct; but yet he would not place the Common Prayer on an am. lity with the Bible; GOD had revealed the one, bat he had not revealed the other—(Appkese).--Should all the Established Churches be swept away, still the Bible would remain. If the Bible were taken away, the foundation of the Civic Chair, and all the appa ratus of Magistracy, the sword, the chain, and the robe, would - at the same time become an empty pageant. He had no doubt that the Officers for the next year would exert all their efforts to supply the deficiency in the funds. The presence of a man whom he would not name, but whose name was well known (Mr. Allen), and two New Zealand Chiefs, drawn thither by their zeal to become acquainted with the doctrines of Christianity, would give an additional impulse to the exertions of all the friends of the Society. Upon the motion of the Rev. D. Wagon, the Of. Seers for the ensuing year were then appointed. The Rev. P. TRESUOFI then addressed the Meet ing, and moved a Resolution expressive of the inte rest taken by the Society in the connexion between the parent Society and the. subordinate branches, and calling for additional exertions, in order to supply the deficiency of the funds. [Mr. Sheriff WILLIAMS here left the Meeting , leaving a donation of £s.] Mr. W. ALLEN seconded the motion. At the pre sent time, the friends of morality and religion ought to take a decided part, and to recollect only that they were Christian; and Englishmen, setting aside all minor differences. He bad lately made a jour ney to Russia, where 20,000,000 of fellow-creatures had never seen the Bible in a tongue that they under stood. But now the Emperor Alexander had esta blished schools in the most remote parts of his En-. pire. Prince Alexander Galinski had proposed to make a selection from the Bible, to be read in the schools ; and when he saw it, the countenance of the Emperor beamed with joy, and a great number of. copies were immediately ordered to be printed. He, and his friend who accompanied him, proceeded to Moscow; but though they travelled with consider able speed,' the were oatatttisped tit* *Wee* ef Alesanderi. and. had found copies of the. selection ,everywhere upon the road. In the Grecian Islands, the utmost snooty was felt for the possession of. the Scriptures; and at the Island of.Terredea, after he and his friend had distributed all the copies they could spare, some of the natives swam to the ship in order to procure more copies. He concluded with a motion, calling upon all connected with the Society for additional efforts to carry into effect the objects of the Society. The Re►. H. WATEINS, Rector of St. Swithin's, moved the thanks of the Society to those Ladies who bad co-operated to effect its objects, and proposed the establishment of a Ladies Branch Society, still further to effectuate the same. Mr. J. W. FRISEIFIZLD seconded the motion. Mr. WILSON here stated to the Meeting, that the two New Zealand Chiefs who were present wished to retire. They had come over to this country to learn its religion, its laws, and customs, and to transplant them to their own. They had been at Cambridge with Mr. Lee, the Professor of Arabic, and had been employed, in conjunction with him, in'endeavouring to reduce their language to a grammatical form ; as soon as that should be effected, the Bible would be translated into the New Zealand tongue, and thus this country would impart to that distant part orthe world those benefits that the ancestors of the present Meeting stood in equal need of 1400 years ago— (Great applause). The two Chiefs then came forward, tattooed after the fashion of their country, and, bowing respect fully, withdrew. Mr. FRES/11 , 1RLO then stated, that while the Sub scriptions in London for the last year amounted only to ZOO ; the sum of £1,500 had been collected in Bristol, and £2,200 in Liverpool.—The motion was then put, and curie& unanimously. The LORD MAYOR now left the Chair ; which was again taken by Sir C. S. HUNTER. The Rev. Mr. DILLow moved a Resolution, ex. pressive of attachment to the Bible Society. He then adverted to the public and private virtues of the late ring, on whom he pronounced a high and merited eulogium. He had not, like some other Princes, redeemed the vices of youth by the virtues of his mature years, but, from the commencement to the close of his long and eventful reign, had been a pattern to his subjects, both of public and private virtue. Though equalled by other Princes in indi vidual excellencies, in the combination of them, he would, perhaps, be found without a rival. Upon the motion of Mr. J. POYNDER, the Thanks of the Meeting were voted to the LORD MAYOR and Sir C. S. HUNTER; the latter of whom returned thanks in the name of both. The Rev. D. WILSON begged leave to state to the Meeting, that the Bible had been translated into the Amharric tongue, which was spoken throughout the greatest part of Abyssinia ; and that Mr. Joel, whose absence on the present occasion was caused by indis position, was then employed in translating the Scrip tures into the popular dialect of Malta. After a few words from Sir C. S. HUNTER, ht praise of the late Duke of Kent, for the assistance he had afforded to the objects of the Society, the Meet ing broke up about four o'clock. Persons were stationed at the different doors with plates, to receive the donations of the benevolent ; and a considerable sum was collected. At the Coronation of King Gronez the Second, his MAJESTY. as a part of the ceremony, hissed the Archbishop and Bishops as they knelt before him one after another. The late KING omitted this part of the ceremony, which bad been practised for centuries before en similar occasions. The revenues of the Waterloo Bridge Company were defrauded, the other day, by the following queer stratagem :—Two young chimney-sweepers wanted to pass over the bridge, but having only cnie pensay between them, the thing appeared to be impossible. They were not long, however, in contriving bow to manage it. They tossed up which should get into the soot bag; and the one upon whom the chance fell, instantly enshrouding himself in that sable enve lope, was taken up on the shoulders of the other and carried, without discovery, through the bar. He then as instantly emerged from the bag, and they both ran off together with a loud horse laugh at the toll-keepers' want of vigilance. _ _ DRUiT-LANZ TBSAT-Itt-.-A Mr. Coors:, from the Liverpool Theatre, made his debut on these boards last night, in the character of Romeo. He had pre viously acquired a high character from his provin. cial exertions, but he may rest securely on the efort of last night, without any reference to former suc cesses to make out a reputation. His figure is good, and , -nuntenauce eTressivel in addition to .which he has a powerful, voice, and a very distinct articu lation. His chiefrecommendation, however, is feel ing, and as that has been at all times the most cer tain road to the human heart, did' best security that a performer can have for making others feel, we need not hesitate, even at this early moment, to as sign him an important plate in his profession. Hu was cheered throughout by the ?pules:se of the audience. The Mercado, of ELLiavos, was in his. ' usual style of excellence. The young Lady. Miss CHerran), who was announced for the part of Jurist, was obliged' to relinquish the task, from indi • • and the character was very ably sustained y MR. W. WEST. The Tragedy was announced for repel. &ion this evening, amidst the applause: °fah:him • able and crowded House. SINGULAR INTERPOSITION. -- A Lady had a tame bird which she was in the habit of letting out of its cage every day. gm morning as it was picking crumbs of bread °lithe carpet, ter cat, who always before spewed great kindness for the bird, seised it on a sudden, and jumped up with it in ter mouth upon a table. The Lady was mnch alarmed for the fate of her favourite, but on turning aboutinstantly discerned the cause. The door had been kft open, and a strange cat had just come into the room ! After turning it out, her own cat came down from her place of safety, and dropped the bird without doing it the smallest injury. A challenge of competition to shew 100 ewes from the Sussex flock of Lord asps against the same number from the sheep-walks of Mr. litcstaans. of Firk, took place on Friday, when the Judges decided in favour of his Lordship's ewes. it