The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-21 00:00:00

Ilimmob LIVERPOOL PROTESTANT OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION , Operative anniversary meeting of the Liverpool Protesta nt ,‘Porative Association was held on the evening of Friday , in 14 e Music Hall, Bold-street, and was most numerously at tended. M any c l erg y men and gentlemen were present. In deed, so crowded was the room that great numbers were unable to obtain admission. The Rev. Hugh M`Neile was called to the chair. The CnAtrzmax, on taking his seat, was loudly applauded. When the cheering had subsided he said—My Christian !fiends, we learn in our Bibles that the hearts of all men , from the highest to the lowest, the hearts of kings and rulers, by whose instrumentality the nations of the earth are governed, and the hearts of tens of thousands of our people, are all in the hands of God, who turns them whithersoever he will, and overrules all their devices, deliberations, and decisions accord ing to the counsel of his own will, and for the furtherance Ind eventual success of the purposes of his infinite wisdom. !t is our privilege to be assured that nothing, however minute, is overlooked, and nothing however apparently disastrous in our eyes for a time can eventually miscarry. All things (this is the divine record, and nothing less than this) work together for good to them that love God. The wis dom which as revealed this high truth has revealed also the determina tion of the great God, that those who love him shall ask him to do all the good things which he has determined shall be done. Carnal men, elated with philosophical acuteness, and hot humbled under a sense of sin, may cavil at this ; but it is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to those who feel within themselves the workings of the spirit of Christ raising their minds to high and holy things, and acknowledg ing within them the constraining love of the Saviour of Sin ners, and the Prince of the Kings of the earth. (Hear, hear.) So that they have pleasure in presenting all their requests concerning their soul, their bodies, their families, their friends, their countries, their fellow-creatures—all before him. To such prayer it is your privilege now to be invited, making our present objects known to him who loves us. I will now call upon my reverend brother, Mr. Ould, to ask God's blessing through Christ. (Hear, hear.) The Rev. FIELDING OULD having implored the divine blessing, The CuArrtmAN continued : —My Christian friends—a very important, and in some respects a painful, part of the Will of our God concerning us during the present period of this world's history, is, that we should he controversialists. This we learn in our Bibles. So long as falsehood in one shape or other is natural to man, carrying with it the majo rity, the great majority, so long must those who love truth, and are really influenced by it, be involved in controversy. This they must sustain not only against the open and avowed advocates of falsehood, but also against cold professors of the truth, who, not being influenced by the truth, and really not caring about it, are unwilling to be disturbed from their carnal ease, and therefore dislike controversy as a needless troubles of society. There is no new thing under the sun. We find the Jewish prophets, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself, and after him his inspired apostles, all en gaged in this species of controversy. The teachers of Baal who advocated and propagated idolatry, and the false teach ers and the false prophets in Israel who daubed the wall with untempered mortar saying peace, peace, when there was /ID true peace, rendered it imperative upon the faithful wit nesses for Jehovah to be engaged in controversy ; and, ac cordingly, the true prophets were controversialists. A simi lar necessity was imposed upon Christ himself by the Sad ducees who denied the resurrection, and even the existence of angels or spirits, and by the Pharisees who, though they did not deny the truth in wards, yet rendered it of no effect by teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. In like manner the apostles were compelled to be controversi alists against evil teachers inculcating Jewish ceremonies, in culcating the traditions of men, the rudiments of the world, voluntary humility, the worshipping of angels, abstinence from food, and such like—to whom the apostles did not give place, no not for an hour, in order that the truth of Christ might continue among the brethren. So it was then, so it has been ever since, and so it is now. We have to contend with open deniers of the truth, who deny the scriptures alto gether as the socialists; we have to contend against those who propagate idolatry in despite of the scriptures as the Itomanists ; and with those who without boldly denying anything, yet slyly and covertly introduce another gospel which is not another, destroying its power, perverting the simplicity of the gospel of Christ by mixtnres of Judaism and Paganism and Romanism, teaching for doctrine the tra ditions of men, under the pretence of reverence for antiquity. (Hear, hear.) In the midst of all these we have entrusted to us the Holy Scriptures, which command us expressly earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. How then is controversy to be avoided? Suppose we were as anxious as our quiet neighbours to avoid controversy, how could we do it? Surrounded by all these errors, what must we do ? Must we shut our Bibles and close our mouths ? You will say no—we do not mean that. (Cheers.) Then if we open our Bibles and open our mouths immediately we are controversialists, for our Bibles cannot speak without controversy in the midst of surrounding falsehoods. Yet we have many nominal friends—l hope some of them real friends, though they be timid and irresolute—who dislike controversy. I have sometimes aaked them " why do you dislike it?" " Well," they say, " I do not know exactly why, only I do not like it." (Laughter.) " Well," say I, " try and find a re as on ;" and I will tell you the reason they give. They Say, " Peace is the character of a Christian man, peace ought to be the character of Christian society, and controversy dis turbs peace." Well : it is in vain we tell them that the wis dom which comes from above is first pure and then peace able ; in vain we tell them that peace with falsehood is war with truth. They admit the principle, but still they shrink from the practice; and it is evident, when traced home, that their real repugnance to controversy is their love of ease ; they want to be quiet; it gives so much trouble—you force us to think—we wish you would leave us alone. (Hear, bear.) Well, now, my friends, I am very willing and very anxious — very anxious—in all kindness lam anxious, not to annoy our good quiet friends. I bear all kindliness towards them, and wish not to annoy any of them , but how is it to be done ? I cannot let them quiet us down into the calibre of little lap dogs that cannot bark, or if they do bark it is so gently that they cause no alarm. The prophet Isaiah spoke with indig nation against certain professors of the truth whom he calls dumb-dogs. Well, if there be any such, let the lash of the prophet fall where it is deserved, and awake them out of their gentle slumbers. For ourselves we have felt it our duty, as ministers of the Christian church, to give all dili gence, to say in season and out of season, " awake thou that steepest. This is not a world for sleeping in ; this is world for being saved in — " Awake thou that sleepest, aiiii — from the dead, and Christ shall giv e thee life. " What are you about? Believing was we do that the church consists not of pastors only but of the people also, we haie been anxious to put you in possession of the elements of this great controversy, that you, according to your various sta tions, and your providential opportunities, may be able, earnestly to contend for the truth and simplicity of the gos pel. Hence our Protestant societies. For this purpose they were originated—for this purpose are they continued ; and I rejoice to meet you at this anniversary of your society, and as the patron of it, for your continued encouragement of it in this good work. (Hear.) This work of ours which I have now briefly described, has first of all a personal bear ing. It has its effects first upon the individual enlightening him in the nature of true christianity, in the blessed appre hension of divers falsehoods, which would corrupt that Christianity, and in his own personal acts with reference to the same. Then, enlightening one individual after another, it rejoices to have a public effect. It pervades the conduct of those individuals who really receive the light ; it affects their conduct, not only in private, but in public ' • it affects their relative conduct as members of society ; it affects their pub lic conduct as members of the state ; so our work beginning in christianity goes forward into divers branches of private and public morals, affecting the comfort of men's homes and the government of men's countries. In this way it is that our society becomes eventually a political engine. It is not properly so ; it is not so with reference to special party po litics; and I beg the meeting will perceive and feel this, and refrain from any manifestations of that description of party political sounds which for one moment fell upon and wounded my ears at the opening of this meeting. (Hear, hear.) That is not the species of political influence which we designed to exercise. The political influence we exercise is the result of of christian principle imbibed, and not to present the out breakings of party spirit. In order then that such princi ples should be imbibed, instruction is to be given and received, and we come forward as the ministers of the church to give that instruction. We are your servants for Christ's sake. So said Paul—" We preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servants, for Christ's sake." We appear before you both in the stated services of the church, and upon occasions such as the present, and in season and out of season, to those who will come to church, and those who come to meetings, or who will not or dare not, we will communicate scriptural informeion—informa tion directly scriptural, and indirectly controversial—against those falsehoods which assail the scriptures. Now, the falsehood we have chiefly to deal with is, what we commonly understand by Romanism. It consists of those novelties which were brought into the Christian church after it was 1500 years old. Some of you may have seen a report of certain proceedings which took place in the town upon Wednesday last—[published in the Liverpool Standard of Friday)—when I had the happiness of receiving five men, lately members of the Church of Rome, into the communion of the Church of England. Some of you may have seen a report of that in a newsyaper that came out this morning—(the Standard) —containing such a statement as I would be glad again briefly to make to you now. (Hear.) I shall not detain you long with it—only just to put you in possession of the facts. I would observe, too, for your sa tisfaction, that the publicity given to that statement challen ges enquiry—challenges contradiction, if any Romanist can, with the page of history before him, contradict it—that the first Christian, authorised, public, authentic, catholic faith of the church for 1500 years and more was the Nicene Creed, which is in our Church of England prayer book ; that in the councils of the church, of bishops and priests, at Constance, and afterwards in the council of Ephesus, the Nicene Creed was recognised as the faith of the catholic church ; that the council of Ephesus not only recognised it, but pronounced an anathema upon any who should propound any other creed; thatlf a Jew or a heathen were to be received in the Christian church, and if any man propounded to them as necessary to salvation anything that was not in the Nicene Creed, if he were a pastor he should be degraded, and if he was a layman he should be anathematized. That was the view of the creed of the church at that period. Now, you must observe, we do not receive it because the council of Ephesus re ceived it, or because the council of Constance received it; we receive it because it can be proved by sure warranty of Scripture ; but we tell you, as a matter of fact, that in the years 400, 500, 600 and 800, after Christ, and 900, and 1000, and 1100, and 1200, and so on till the year 1500, the Nicene Creed, which you have in the Church of England prayer books, was received again and again as the faith of the catho lic church; and that it was not until after the council of Trent sat in the sixteenth century, that any man dared to put forth another creed, saying that it was necessary to be be lieved for salvation ; and the man who did ;it was no less a man than a pope ! (Hear, hear.) A pope was the first great heretic that put forward the new creed ! (Cheers.) Pope Pius the Fourth was no longer content with the Nicene Creed, but he added twelve new articles to it, and in the last of the twelve all men are required to receive the twelve or they cannot be saved. Here was a wholesale innovation upon the church ; and yet, though it is a matter of fact, which they cannot deny, that our creed is 1800 years old, and their creed only 300 years old, they will tell you with the greatest effrontery, that theirs is the old religion, and yours is the new one. (Hear , hear.) No ! Our creed was in the full vigour of 1500 years before theirs was born ! It is a fact ; for our creed springs from the first century, and theirs was proposed by Pius the 4th in the 16th century ! (Cheers.) Perhaps some of you never knew that before. Perhaps there are some here who have been taught a very different story, and have been told that the Roicish is the old way, and that the Protestant church was never heard of till the days of Martin Luther. The Church of Christ stood upon the old creeds, and resisted the introduction of the new—that is, some of them did. If they had all resisted the introduction of the new, the pope would not have been able to get it in, but he got so many to back him that he got it in, and those who would not have it what could they do but protest against it? If there were of them a hundred thousand—(l am ;Peak ing to simplify the matter to some of your minds)—whatever variety of opinions there may be among them in their own private thoughts, still the only creed that all had was the Nicene Creed. There comes a man, and he proposes a new creed, and 80,000 or 90,000 out of the 100,000 avow that the new creed is agreeable to their corrupt hearts, and say "that is the one for us." The remaining 10,000 or 20,000 hold fast to the old creed, and say " we will stand upon this rock, and You shall kill us before you put us off.' (Hear, hear.) There they were, a little band of protesters, standing upon the old rock, and a great overwhelming host of modern locusts came to eat them up ! (Cheers.) Which then is the oldest church ? I w ill tell you which it is—it is the smallest; and the reason the new one became the largest is, that the new articles are of man, and man's works are always more palatable to carnal men than God's. (Hear.) The new creed is of man, and it is according to man ; the old creed is of God, and it is not natural to man. The wonder is that so many stand by it; the marvel is that there remains a man by it—that it was not swept clean away, and the whole of Christendom carried away with the new flood. But it was the purpose of God ; and the gates of hell, and the assaults of ungodly men could not prevail against his church. His church stood upon the old rock, and maintained the Nicene creed—fought for it, and bled for it, and burned for it, and died for it in this land. (Cheers.) They bequeathed it to us, and we stand upon it now ' • and we invite the followers of the new to come to the old. We invite the followers of the new creed of Pope Pius the Fourth to throw it away and take the Nicene creed. If they would take to the old creed, which they themselves do not deny to be older than the Popish creed; if they would take the Nicene creed as containing the only doctrines necessary for salvation, we might be all one again ; but as long as they stand to these new articles of Pius the Fourth, we never can be one : there is no peace with Rome. (Tremendous cheering.) 1 can imagine a member of that new church in this room at this moment altogether astonished, and saying, " This is a new light to put the matter in,—is it possible that this can be true ?" (Hear, hear, and a laugh from some person at no great dis tance from the platform.) I can imagine such a person grieved that the matter should be treated at all lightly ; and if I address such a person I would say, any degree of lightness in the illustration is not for want of kindly feelings towards you, but merely to make the matter understood to unedu cated minds. It is simply a matter of kindness to those I want to instruct, and who cannot understand abstract language, that induces me to this ; and if in so doing I cause laughter or wound the feelings of any one, I 'egret it; for I am convinced that any fair, dispassionate, and candid Ro manist hearing that statement, will feel that he has been deceived hitherto, and be willing to enquire further, and see whether these things are so or not. (Hear.) Now, let inc remind you, with regard to two or three of the new articles, how important it is to lay fast hold of the oldest. By the new articles the people are defrauded both in spiritual and temporal things. (Hear, hear.) They are defrauded in spiritual things because the wine in the Lord's Supper, which the Lord commanded them to receive, is withheld from them. I consider this a great fraud put upon the poor people who belong to that church. Christ commanded his disciples to drink of that cup ; and if they allege that when he said so only his ministers were present, I answer that the inspired apostle, St. Paul, said so, writing to the whole Church at Corinth. In finding fault with some abuses in that church in the administration of the Lord's Supper he says, " Some of them were drunken, some of them left without any wine, and some took as much that made themselves drunken." It is clear, therefore, *that all the members of that church received the wine, or the abuse which he rectifies could not have arisen. (Hear, hear.) By the new creed the poor people of the Romish persuasion are defrauded of that blessing which Christ commanded. all his disciples to have. Further, they are defrauded of ail intelligent participation in their chief services ; they are taught to believe the mass the chiefest of all their services ; and they never hear it in a lan guage they understand. There is no intelligence to the poor people—the mass in any country ; for this reason, that there are no people upon the face of the earth who speak Latin. (Hear.) It has pleased God to make Latina dead language. Greek is not a dead language, but Latin is a dead language ; yet the new church fixes upon the only language that nobody speaks, to have her chief service in it, that nobody should understand. (Great applause.) This is another fraud upon the people. (Hear.) I said they were defrauded in tempo ral things also, by the creed, and I will tell you how. Al mighty God has ordained that man shall live by the sweat of his brow_; and he has said in one of his commandments, " six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do ;" therefore, a poor labouring man, who is blessed by Almighty God with health, ought to have six days' labour a week— " six days shalt thou l tbour," and lie is to be paid for his la bour. No man living has a right to stop him from labouring six days to get six days' wages ; but the new creed—this new creed which is only 300 years old—sets up so many saint days upon which the people must not labour, and their task masters tell them by no means to labour upon saint days for it is a mortal sin. They keep them idle upon saint days. If there is but one in a week, the poor man can only have five days' wages, and if two, lie can only get four; in many weeks there are more than two, three, or four saint days, and the poor people are thus defrauded of their wages because they are kept, by this new superstition, from going about their work. (Hear.) These are important practical things ; but I shall refrain from enlarging more upon them, seeing there are so many friends who are prepared to address you on this occasion. One point only I will advert to, and that briefly. I think some of you will expect I should say a few words upon it. It has immediate reference to what is of high im portance to you and to your children—(hear, hear)—l mean the scriptural education of your children. The ways of God are very wonderful ; we are sometimes indebted for good con sequences to what was itself a mistake, and so it is here. There was a report of certain proceedings which took place in the Town-council of this town ; it was a very imperfect re port ; it conveyed, respecting some parties concerned, a very erroneous impression. But it produced a powerful effect •, it led to a strong expression of feeling in many places ; and it has been attended with beneficial results. I congratulate you upon the results; and I believe I may say to you, now that there is very little doubt, speaking after the manner of men, I should say there is no doubt, but that a true Protes tant system, with the authorised version of the Bible, and that version alone, will be introduced into the corporation schools of this town. (Great cheering.) I observe that some of the advocates of a different system, who are not now in a condition to give their opinions in the council, but who, nevertheless, do feel a disposition to give an opinion still, are preparing a charge of this kind. 1 see the groundwork of it laid very cunningly, and I will apprise you of it before it comes out, that you may know what to think of it when itdoes come. The charge which is in preparation is this—that in rejecting the Douay version from the schools, we are excluding the Bible. I see, I say, this lodgmeut of the charge—that whereas they were accused of keeping back the Bible, by putting the authorized version out, we shall be accused of excluding the Bible by putting the Douay version out. (Laughter.) It is easy to laugh at that, but not easy to answer it. The answer is this—the Douay version is not the Bible. What! does it not contain a translation of the Scriptures? Yes, it does, but it contains more—it contains notes gathered from the new creed of Pope Pius IV. ; it contains notes involving all the maxims of that novelty ; all the peculiarities of roinanism ; aitd with these notes in it, we say it is not the Bible. As we would say of a loaf mixed with arsenic it is not a loaf, it is a loaf with poison mixed—it is not a loaf. The Douay version is the Bible and falsehood mixed ; it is not the Bible, for the Bible is truth alone. Therefore when we exclude the Douay we are not excluding the Bible, but a version of a translation of the Bible and Popish notes. We had the best of the argu ment all along, and the time is come when we are to have the best of the fact: it is to go out, and the Irish extracts also. (Loud cheers.) I believe I may tell you that all the Con servative members of the Education Committee are unani mous upon this point, and that their recommendation will be submitted to the Council in due time. (Hear, hear.) Now I must go back for a moment to apprise you of the nature of the mistake that led to certain recent exhibitions of strong feeling. It was supposed that all the gentlemenwho voted upon the first day of this month against receiving the recommends , tion of the Education Committee, were in favour of some modification of the semi-popish scheme. That was a mistake, and I will tell you what the mistake arose in. It arose in the fact that the Town Clerk's speech was not reported : the Town Clerk, as the legal adviser of the Council, told them they were not at liberty, in point of law, to rescind all the regulations for the government of the schools without ap propriating others, for, thereby, they would be leaving the schools for a month without any regulations at all. Upon the legal advice of the Town Clerk some of our Conservative friends voted in the majority, who are, nevertheless, as de termined as we are to have the schools Protestant. (Applause.) I will do a friend of my own the justice to name him. I will say this is precisely the case with Mr. Bushell, and that lie in the Council that day made it perfectly clear that this was his reason, but not one word of his speech was reported upon that occasion. He and a few others lay under the im putation of having voted in a way and for a purpose which they repudiated as honestly and fervently as we do. It is only right that such an explanation should be made, and I am happy to have an opportunity of making it among you who are so deeply interested in the welfare of this cause. The rev. gentleman then sat down amidst loud cheering. Mr. LEATHERBARROW, Secretary io the society, then read the annual report of the committee. The Rev. W. FALLOON, of St. Jude's Church, rose amidst loud cheers to move the first resolution, which pro posed that the report be adopted and printed, and the ap pointment of the annual officers. He said—l owe some apo logy to the meeting for occupying the first place this evening, and thereby presuming to hold for a few moments a position which would be better occupied by others ; but as this ar rangement was one made by others and not of my own choice, I feel I cannot lay to myself the charge of presumption. (Hear.) My Christian friends and protestant brethren, I take the liberty of addressing you under two titles—Christians and protestants—not that I would for a moment insinuate or have you to think that there is or ought to be any essen tial difference between a genuine Protestant and a true Christian. But for myself Ido not wish, in these days of soft terms and Laodicean words, to lose sight of that good old ancient name—that beacon of the glorious reformation — the name of protestantism. (Cheers.) Though it has come to sound harsh, and has been felt to be distasteful to the se mi-Popish palates of some of our Oxford divines in these latter days, yet we cannot consent to part with it so easily as that, believing, as we do, and firmly feeling that all that is great, all that is holy, all that is venerable, is bound up and intimately associatedlwith the struggles herein the name of Protestantism was born. (Great cheers.) For, let me ask you, what is great, if the cause of the living God is not great ? What is holy, if that precious book, the law and the testimony of the living God, which he hath given us as a light to our feet, and a lamp to our paths, to direct us to glory, because it testifies to us of Jesus, who is the only way whereby any sinner can ascend to the bosom of his God —what is holy, if that precious book is not holy ?—and what is venerable, if old mother church—not the new church — (hear, hear,) —bending with age, and full of years, that has ever enshrined within her bosom, as a sacred ark, that holy treasure, the charter of our salvation, the precious Scrip turess—what is wenerable, if she be not venerable ? (Loud cheers.) And though that holy cause, and though that pre cious Bible, and though that venerable church existed many hundred years before the name of Protestant, yet are we re solved to adhere and firmly to cleave to that right Christian name which was given to the righteous cause when Luther and the faithful ones of Germany stood sponsors, and when it was so faithfully responded to by our Cranmers, and La timers, and itidleys, at home in England. (Renewed ap plause.) Why do I dwell on this word Protestant ? It seems, perhaps, irrelevant to the point, but that my heart is sickened and my soul moved within me when I find, as our noble and excellent prelate once observed—" those sitting in the reformers' seats are traducing the reformation." (Hear, hear.) What Englishman does not feel himself insulted when reading such a statement as met my eyes to-day in the co lumns of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD ? The source whence it is derived is not given, and therefore I cannot authenticate it ; and though names are stated, I shall not mention names, because I do not wish to charge it home on any individual in existence. The sentiments are these : " I tell you plainly, that, for myself, I utterly reject and anathemise the principle of Protestantism, as a heresy, with all its forms, sects, or denominations. And if the church of England should ever unhappily profess herselfto be a form of Protestantism (which may God of his infinite mercy for bid!) then would I reject and anathemise the church of Eng land, and would separate myself from her immediately as from a human sect, without giving Protestants the trouble to procure my expulsion. In conclusion I once more pub licly profess myself a catholic, and a member of a catholic church, and say anathema to the principle of Protestantism (which I regard as identical with the principle of dissent) and to all its forms, sects, and denominations, especially to those of the Lutherans, Calvinists, and British and American dissenters." Now, though this be not authenticated, yet we have too much reason to fear from other works which we have authenticated that these are but more openly and manfully avowed senti ments—more openly declared and more boldly confessed sen timents—which sentiments are lurking deeply in the bosoms, though unexpressed in the heart of the church of England, of some of those who profess themselves to be members and ministers of that church ? I grieve to read it, and my soul is moved within me ; but I say that this person may read his recantation as soon as he pleases of what he calls the heresy of protestantism. (Hear, hear.) He has virtually renounced all connexion with the established church according to her doctrines, creeds, and liturgies, and the established church disowns such an apostate. (Cheers.) I am free to confess that I as cordially love the name of protestant as the writer of this extract, whoever he be, seems to abhor and detest it for while that name of protestant reminds me of those dark days when the great cause of God was obscured and dimmed by the corruptions and abominable idolatries of an Italian heresy, and while again it reminds me that that book of God was fettered and bound in chains, and kept back from free circulation, and, like the great apostle St. Paul, who himself wrote a great portion of it, was detained as a prisoner at Rome—though it reminds me of those dark days, yet it re minds me of those glorious struggles which were then entered, upon by those who stood on that rock to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, in the face of fire and fag got, maintaining their adherence to the principles of the word of God, and determining to stand or fall with the Bible. And while it reminds me of these things it also enkindles in my bosom a fervent and an anxious prayer, that that same system of anti-Christian error may never again be permitted to obsure and dim the bright-shining of our gospel candle stick, or ever again be permitted to meddle in any way with our national freedom. If David, the king of Israel, in an ebullition of Christian patriotism exclaimed, " If I forget thee. 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning," surely I may be permitted , to say in all humility—it I forget that which broke the iron spell that bound the world in ignorance, and severed those fetters forged by men wherewith they de sired to make captives of immortal souls—if I can cease to love that cause which broke through the mists and dark clouds of men's invention, which had rolled between Calva ry's hill and the eyes of fallen sinners, and which hid from them the glorious cross, and Him who hung crucified thereon, as the sinner's hope and safety, and bringing forth that cross again into prominence in man's salvation, planted it in the foreground, and wrote above it, Neither is there salvation in any other"—and if I can forget the blessed re formation, " then," I sup with the sweet psalmist of Israel, " then let my right hand forget her cunning." (Cheers.) The report of which I have the honour to move the adoption, and which the secretary has just read, points out some lead ing features in the past year. It also reminds us of future holy enterprise, persevering in our good and excellent works, and, at the same time, it enforces present duty. We stand at the close of another year. Another season has rolled over, and, by the gracious protection of our God, we stand at the conclusion of another year. It has been an eventful year in many respects, and one that calls from every heart for deep expressions of gratitude to Almighty God for all his manifold blessings bestowed upon us. Hear, hear.) As the report pointed to national events, perhaps I may be permitted for a moment to glance at one or two. (Hear, and cheers.) As we look along the stream of time during the past year, what do we behold ? We see an impotent and helpless mi nistry, who, instead of accelerating the movements of government, served to be a clog upon its wheels, and who, having lost the confidence of the country, persevered in dragging out a weary existence, until forced by the almost unanimous voice of an indignant nation to give up the reins of government, and to transfer them into nobler and abler hands. (Cheers.) We see men now entrusted with the reins of power—and I am sure we all hail with gratitude their accession to power—from whom we have a right to expect great and good and protestant things ; and if any error has been committed in years past—if a fatal breach has been made in our constitutional liberties and rights, it now remains for those men to repair the breach, and to re store to Britain an unimpaired and unadulterated constitu tion. (Great applause.) We hope for better things in England, and also for my own dear but hapless land— though I grieve to say that in the civic chair of its capital town, there sits a man, who, being a traitor to his country, is unfit to sit in any chair of the kind. (Hear, hear.) Yet we hope that by a strict and impartial administration of the laws—by a discouragement of that turbulent system of agita tion which has so long distracted the country—by a bringing forth to justice of those assassins whose feet have been swift to shed innocent blood—by placing conscientious men in the jury box who will give honest verdicts—by protecting the rights, the liberties, the properties, and the lives of protes tants, and by extending the established church, the spiritual and temporal interests of Ireland will be advanced under the new rule of that country. (Hear.) And what is the next event of importance that meets our view? Oh, it is.a blight and i!autiful one. Hardly had the present achninistratim‘ taken the reins of government, when she who sits enthroned in these realms—and long may she live in health and wealth, and long may she live in the hearts and affections of her subjects—(cheers)—hardly, I say, had the new administra tion entered upon office, when the longings of an affectionate nation were satisfied, when their desires were fulfilled, and their hearts cheered by the birth of a young prince. (Re newed cheers.) Oh ! how men of all parties seemed for a moment to lay aside their differences on that occasion, and joined in hailing the new-born scion of a noble line I I am persuaded that your hearts, beating full of honest loyalty, are ever ready to give fervent expression to that shout—that truly British shout—" Long live our gracious Queen ; long live the Prince of Wales." (Tremendous cheering.) I. regard it as a peculiar and signal manifestation of God's favour to our land, and of his continued blessing upon us; for, surely, if He had been minded to slay us and cast us off, He would not have accepted our prayers, and granted us a son. May that son indeed prove a Sampson towards God and man, and a mighty man of valour in defending the faith of protestantism, and those principles which placed his house on the throne of England! (Continued cheering.) May God Almighty long bless that royal mother and her in fant son ! And if I may be here permitted to allude to ano ther point which has cheered my own heart and the hearts of all those who sympathise with God's will, and who love what he loves, and hates what he hates, I would point attention to a noble act of the King of Prussia—that Christian king. (Cheers.) We know his anxiety to establish a union between the reformed churches, and you are probably aware that he has nobly come forward and asked from England a Christian bishop to be planted in the ancient city of Jerusalem. Need I say how nobly he has laid down his thousands upon thou sands as as an endowment for this bishop—need I say how he has waved many national prejudices and sent to England for a suitable man—need I say how nobly England answered him—need I say how nobly our gracious queen gave her as sent to the measure—how rapidly all things were got in train —and how, on the 7th of November, in the ancient chapel of Lambeth Palace, a converted Jew was ordained as the Bishop of St. James, at Jerusalem, by the hands of that venerable prelate who presides over the Church of England—the Arch bishop of Canterbury. (Loud cheers.) Here is a signal in stance of the continued favour of God to England in having selected her to be the honoured instrument of sending out a bishop to the city that the Lord loves. And if we turn our attention for a moment to our own town, what is the next event that meets our view? Here again we see a turn out, as in the other case, of men, who, to say the least of it, did little credit to the Protestant principles of Liverpool, and we see, thank God, a return and a turn in of others from whom we confidently expect great Protestant things ; and, though a little cloud has for a time arisen and darkened the political horizon, yet we feel assured that, ere long, it will pass away —that they will shine with greater lustre—that things will all be set to rights, and that we shall again have our schools based on the eternal word of God, and all font extracts and abomi nations of men shut out from their walls for ever. (Great cheering.) These are great and glorious blessings ; and we desire, at the close of a parting year, to set up our Ebenezer and say, hitherto the Lord heti helped us ; and here I must observe that the effect produced abroad in higher places, and certainly the effect produced at home, is mainly attributable to the successful movements of the Protestant Associations. (Cheers.) Yes ; if the faithful trumpet has been loudly blown in this town—if there be one among many others that de serves a peculiar meed of praise—if there be cue mouth that has been more faithful to that trumpet than another—that has given no uncertain sound and never flinched from his duty, but through evil report and good report has persevered in the path of Christian patriotism and Christian Protestant ism, I feel I bear with me the hearts of all the people present when I lay them before you, Mr. Chairman, and acknow ledge that meed to be yours. (Most enthusiastic cheering.) Much has been spoken against us, and much has been written against us. We have been calumniated as needless agitators and alarmists. We have been denounced as political fire brands and disturbers of the peace; but still, notwithstand ing all those calumnies wherewith we have been slanderously assailed, we have gone steadily forward, and, by the help of our God, we continue to this moment—" though troubled on every side yet not distressed—though perplexed yet not in despair—though persecuted yet not forsaken—though cast down yet not destroyed ; for the Lord of Hosts is with us— the God of Jacob is our refuge." The rev. gentleman here resumed his seat amid loud cheers. The Rev. FREDERICK PARRY, in a brief speech seconded the resolution, and it was carried. The Rev. THOMAS NOLAN, of St. Barnabas' Church, on rising to move the second resolution, was warmly received by the meeting. The drift of the rev. gentleman's speech went to point out the eagerness with which Romanism gives coun tenance and circulation to the opinion that her character has undergone considerable change and improvement, and that her system is neither so bigotted nor intolerant as in bygone ages. No sentiment more dangerous to Protestantism, nor more favourable to Rome nor more false in point of fact, could obtain credit. This, he observed, was the ground work of Lord Alvanley's recent pamphlet on the state of Ire land, with the details of which Lord Roden had successfully grappled ; and on this account the principle it asserted and assumed deserved a consideration that otherwise might not have attached to it. The great Grattan (he proceeded to say) once remarked in the Irish House of Commons, that there were cases in which the insignificance of the accuser merged in the magnitude of the accusation; so also he (Mr. N.) thought that cases might occur, like this of Lord AWanley, in which the viciousness of a principle might be forgotten in the rank of the individual who came forward as the champion of it. This point he further illustrated by the mention of a work on Ireland, by Gustave de Beaumont, widely circulated on the continent, for which the author was rewarded and ho noured by the Institute of Paris, where Jesuit influence now pr e ponderates, in which this favourable representation is made of Romanism, and the evils of Ireland assigned to her connexion with Great Britain ; in corroboration of which he referred to the second letter—Romanism on the Continent— Dublin University Magazine, November, 1840. By these means, he argued, public opinion is prejudiced in favour of Rome on the continent of Europe, and made to react unfa vourably to the interests of Protestantism in England also — quoting instances, from the history of Romanism in Ireland, of the dexterity with which this abuse of public opinion is made available for the advancement of Romish claims and objects. We regret our want of room for a more lengthened report. The rev. gentleman was listened to with deep atten tion, and sat down amid much applause. The Rev. FIELDING OULD next rose and said Christian friends, in rising to second this last resolution, feel myself in the disagreeable predicament of one who has a great deal to say and very little time to say it in ; but if you will give me your patient attention, I shall promise not to trespass very unreasonably on you at this late hour, but will endeavour to condense the remarks I intend to make into the smallest possible compass. (Hear,) If it be true that there is no security for individual rights or national prosperity but through the influence of true religion on the people ; and if true religion cannot exist unless where the sovereignty of Almighty God and the supremacy and exclusive authority of his word are acknowledged in principle and practice ; and if it be true that those essentials are recognised in the frame-work of the British constitution, and that the agents of the church of Rome are endeavouring now to destroy the distinguishing pro testantism of the British constitution, and that their main ef forts are directed for the overthrow of the church of this coun try ; and if it be further true that their ultimate object is not toleration, (which they have had ever since the repeal of the penal laws,) nor civil equality, (which they have had since the passing of the emancipation bill in 1829,) but that their ultimate object is ascendancy,—then I say it is the bounden duty of all who value their Bible, and who venerate the precious blessings they enjoy under the British constitution, to co-operate for the preservation of the distinguishing pro testantism of the British constitution. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) I think our protestant associations are based on a recognition of those principles. We are contending for the religious principles of the reformation and the political principles of the revolution. (Great cheering.) It is my firm conviction, and all the signs of the times go to de monstrate the truth of it, that the Jesuits are exceedingly busy at this moment in contriving and plotting, and, as far as they can, executing their intents, against all that we love and venerate in the church. I observe that I have been honoured by a complimentary notice on the part of a certain section of the press of this town for some remarks I recently made on this subject at a meeting of the Bolton Protestant Association. With me notices of this kind are of little moment, coming as they do from men whose praise is censure and whose blame is praise. (Hear.) All we have a right to expect from them is, and we are often disappointed in the expectation, that they shall adhere to truth, and that they should not content themselves with misrepresenting and calumniating, but that they should state the truth in what they impute to us as our opinions. It is imputed to me, with a magnitude of falsehood only to be conceived as perpetrated by the peculiar professors of "liberalism," that I connected the recent fires which had happened in this country with the machinations of the Roman catholics generally throughout the country. It has been stated, and repeated again and again, that I charged the whole Roman oatholic body with having accomplished those fires. Now, it is unnecessary for me to tell you. sir, and many present—nay, any present—that I never made any such statement as this. (Hear.) But, as my observations on the occasion in question seem to have interested those journalists, I am not unwilling to repeat what I really did say (Hear, and cheers.) We know that 'the order of the Jesults was established by Ignatius Loyola about the year 1540, and that the expressed purpose . . of their organization was the overthrow of the Reformation. They have found that a troublesome task hitherto, and I think they will continue so to find it henceforward. What I stated was this : that the movements of those Jesuits, whose sole object is the aggrandisement of the Church of Rome upon the ruins of Protestantism, and whose distinguishing princi- ple is, that the end sanctifies the means, ought to be Carefully watched ; and while I distinctly stated in that speech that I those fires on no man or body of mer ' and while I was conscious that thousands of Roman Catholics would have shuddered as much as we would ourselves at the perpe tration of such calamities, I did say, that while a succession of strange fires continuer to be exhibited—the burning of the Houses of Parliament, for instance, the burning of the Royal Exchange, the burn'ing of ships in Portsmouth dock, the burning of the Tower, arid recently, an attempt to fire the Horse Guards—and in no instance any light thrown upon the origin of those fires, nor any one of them satisfactorily accounted for, notwithstanding all the investigations which have taken place, I thought the circumstance called on me and every lover of his country to warn England to be on the watch. (Hear, hear) And 1 ask, is there not a cause? I ask, is it not an' absolUte certainty that the Jesuits have been not wish to speak in any terms of disrespect. He is, I understand, a kind and humane man, and a liberal in poli tics. He is a great patron of the Irish national schools, and he has established a number of them on his estate. For some time Mr. Moore attended those schools, and the protestant children of the parish were also in attendance; but it ap peared after some time that the system was not acceptable to the protestant parishioners nor to Mr. Moore, who consented to allow it to go on for a considerable time, from an unwil lingness to oppose the landlord. Mr. Moore accordingly prayed that he might be allowed to establish a separate school for the protestatds. This Lord Fitzwilliam refused. Mr. Moore then resolved to break up all connexion with the na tional schools, and he sent a letter praying his lordship to give him a piece of ground in the parish whereon to build a scriptural school. This Lord Fitzwilliam positively refused. Mr. Moore was then driven to build a school in his own churchyard, whereupon Lord Fitzwilliam petitioned the bishop of the diocese to prevent him from proceeding with the erec tion. This the bishop not only refused but said he would give a contribution towards the erection. (Loud cheers.) His lordship then moved for an injunction to restrain Mr. Moore from proceeding with the work. The matter was tried before the master of the rolls, himself a Roman Catho lic, in Dublin, who refused the application of Lord Fitz william with costs, and declared that a case of more odious tyranny never came before him, and said it was absolutely disgraceful to the noble lord. Then Lord Fitzwilliam issued in junctions to the tenantry that they should not give auy assis tance to the school, so that, in point of fact, Mr. Moore has been obliged to draw the stones necessary for its erection from another county, and the sand from another also. Driven to these straits, the expenses will be nearly double what was originally supposed ; and, therefore, Mr. Moore is obliged to make an appeal to the benevolence of British Chris tians, to enable him to carry through the erection of this building for the scriptural instruction of at least two hundred children. But his lordship has taken another step. He has brought the matter before the Privy Council in Dublin, and prayed them to interfere and, prevent Mr. Moore from building a new church; and having given the sum of £4OO for its erection, he had the meanness to demand that his £4OO should be given back to him. (Cries of " Shame.") This case furnishes an illustration of what has been already al luded to—namely, that those who are the loudest clamourers for liberty are in reality the greatest tyrants and despots. (Hear, hear.) I have been requested by Mr. Moore to men tion the case. I mentioned it at the Bolton meeting, where several subscribed handsome sums of money to encourage Mr. Moore in his noble stand, and I trust there are indi viduals in this town who will also sympathise in that rev. gentleman's distresses. Mr. Ould here resumed his seat amid loud cheers. The doxology was then sung. a collection was made at the doors, and the meeting separated about half-past ten o'clock. TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART., &c. &c SIR,-With great deference I venture to propose a plan for a modification of the corn-laws, which, on examination, will be found to effect the twofold object of giving at once substantial protection to the agriculturist, and permitting, at the same time, a regular supply of foreign grain, at a mode rate price. It will also be found exempt from the main defects which attach to the present laws. I will first state that the average price of English wheat, for the last ten years (according to parliamentary returns) is 565. 11d. per quarter, observing that, bad the returns been made by the grower instead of the dealer or factor, this average would probably have been lower. The plan consists of three scales of prices (for selection) at which foreign wheat is to be admitted, and three scales of duty. One of these may be selected, (and applied to either scale of prices,) or all three may be adopted in order, in three consecutive years, the last then to be permanent. it will be observed that, in no instance, have either the prices or the duties a wider range than Bs. per quarter. WHEN THE MARKET PRICE OF THE DUTY TO RE ENGLISH WHEAT IS _ Ist scale. 2d scale. 3d scale. Ist scale 525. 48s. 41s. 12s. 535. 495. 455. Ils. 50s. 465. 10s. 51s. 475. 9s. bss. 565. } 2d scale. 3d scale, 10s. Bs. 9s. is. Bs. 6s. 525. } 48s. 1* Bs. } Gs. } 4s. # * 575. 535. 49s 58s. 545. 50s 595. 555. 51s 60s. 565. 52s 7s. 53. 3s Gs. 4s. 2s ss. 3s. ls 4s. 2s. Os *Average. The operation of the above table is as follows FOR EXAMPLE. Average price of wheat, per Ist scale of prices . Average duty on foreign, per Ist scale of duties. Charges on bringing foreign to this country.... Leaving, as cost of wheat at foreign port of shipment 38s - 565. being a protection to the British agriculturist of 47 per cent. By the same mode of calculation, (which it is not necessary to carry out in detail here,) the same average price, (565.,) gives a protection, by the 2d scale of duties (6s. on average) of 40 per cent. 3d (4s. „ ) of 33 per cent. Average of 2d scale of prices (525.) gives a protection by the Ist scale of duties (Bs. on average) of 53 per cent. 2d (Gs. on average) of 44 per cent. 3d (4s. on average) of 36 per cent. And in the same way, the average price per 3d scale of prices (485.) gives a protection by the Ist scale of duties (Ss. on average) of 60 per cent. 2nd „ „ (6s. „ ) 50 „ 3rd „ „ (4s. „ ) 41 ~ These results may appear extraordinary ; any person, however, who will go through the calculations, will find them correct, and will arrive at the same conclusions. If the two lower scales of duty be set aside, as not sufficiently adapted to the purposes of revenue, and the Bs. average scale be adopted, the result will be as follows : By Ist scale of prices (565. on average), protection 47 per ct 2nd (525. „ ), 91 53 „ t 3rd (48s. 60 „ The " charges on foreign wheat," as above, comprise the expenses of bringing wheat from a foreign port to the port of London or Liverpool. They have been obtained from various authentic private sources, and from printed circulars of authority, and consist of the following items : Freight to London or Liverpool, per quarter, from Dantzig .. 65.1 „ all other main ports of Average .. 5 6* the Baltic Marine insurance, Bd. ; dock and town dues, sid. 1 14 Interest for 3 months, at 5 per cent. per annum.. 0 74 Cartage and porterage, Bd. ; storage 2 mos., ld.. 0 9 Commission busily engaged in the movement; which have been goinJ on of late years at Oxford? There is nothing of which r am more convinced than that many of those men who are moving towards Rome have been all their lives Papists and Jesuits too, and that they have latterly been guided by the machina tions of Dr. Wiseman and others of that class. And this is no new thing The Jesuits did the same thing in the reign of Queen Elizabeth They insinuated themselves at that period among Protestants, and became clergymen and digni taries of the Church of England, and then came out and professed themselves divines of the Church of Rome. (Hear.) We know what they attempted in the reign of James I. Perhaps the Jesuits had nothing to do with the gunpowder plot ! (Hear, and laughter.) I believe, however, It is pretty plain that one Garnett, a Jesuit, was executed for that plot. Again, we know how_busily the Jesuits were engaged in the reign of James 11. I - ask, then, have we not some reason to be a little jealous and suspicious of these men, particularly when we know that from every state—every Ro man Catholic state—the Jesuits have, in various years,been solemnly expelled. In 1773 the reigning pope, Clement XIV, expelled them from Italy, and that expulsion, it is to be pre sumed, cost him his life, for he died by poison. (Hear.) They were expelled from France, from Spain, from England, from Naples, from the Duchies of Parma and Placentia; and so late as the year 1829, the British statesmen who drew up the emancipation act looked with suspicion on those gentle men too, for they introduced a clause into the bill limiting the number of jesuits in this country, and insisting on a care ful registry of their names. Under these circumstances, I ask, is there anything particularly monstrous iu my having called upon England to be on her guard against these gentle men, when we know that in England there are three separate •- jesuit establishments at full work at this moment? (Hear.) The gentlemen who write for what is called the " liberal" press are fully welcome to calumniate, abuse, and misrepre sent us as much as they please. We look upon such effusions as perfectly natural from those gentlemen.. They are wincing under some political defeats, which we are looked upon as in strumental in having inflicted upon them, and it is only natural that they should get a vent for the passions which are boiling within them—(hear, hear, and loud laughter)—but if they think they will either terrify or intimidate us, or prevent us from speaking OuCprettyplainly on all occasions, or that . they can silence us in our pulpits, or on our platforms in our testimonies against popery, I can tell them they are most eggregiously mistaken. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) We have not the slightest intention of retreating from our colours in this cause; and whether we be honoured by the thundering declamations of the London Timer, or artillery fired by the puny pop-gun of the Liverpoot Times—(ironical laughter)— or even should both be aided by the groaning Mercury—(con tinued laughter)—here we take our stand. firmly determined to be faithful to our principles until our lives terminate in death. (Cheers.) Having settled this account, I now turn to another subject. lam happy to say, sir, that I was one of those who were present at your church on Wednesday last, at the interesting ceremony which then took place, and to which allusion has been already made; and I would join with those who have expressed , their hope that that will not be the last scene of such a nature which will be presented in this town. I hope that every clergyman in the 'town will be busy, and that every church from St. Peter's down to Christ Church will be able to see converts from popery reclaimed by the anxious labours of the labouring ministry. (Cheers.) There is no word which sounds so Offensive in the ears of certain parties as the word " proselytism." I have no doubt but you sir, will be set down now as a proselyter, and as setting a , n example to those who are rejoiced to follow your example in proselysing from the popish quarters of the town. If to proselytise men from a false to a true religion—from the er .... . .. , ors of man to the truth of God—if this be a crime we are quite willing to be guilty of it. (Hear, hear.) The prophets were proselyters, the martyrs and professors were also prose lyters ; and the mantle which fell from those men of God it never can be unbecoming in us to wear. (Cheers.) The Lord Jesus Christ_ was a proselyter. This was the whole end, and object, and aim of fiis three years ministry on earth ; and never shall we be truly conformed to His image until we we find that proselytising from error to truth, from the doc trines and decrees of men to the true commands of God, is the very first duty to which we have been sworn. The man who seeks not to proselytise to his religion betrays a latent consciousness that his religion is not worth circulating. He resembles a man who holds counterfeit coin, and has area sonable fear of putting it in circulation, from dread of the wrath of the king, and the rope of the executioner; but the man who is possessed of the current coin of the realm, the sparkling silver and the precious gold, and who has also re- ceived the command of his king to circulate the ore, has no fears to embarrass nor no impediments to restrain him. (Cheers.) The man who possesses the whole counsel of God, who_ declares the perfections of the Deity, and sets forth the attainments with 'which Christians shall be invested, and in the preaching of which we would have no reserve, lie cannot be silent on this head. He must preach and tell all me►► the truth. Like Andrew, he must bring each Simon to the Lord. If he could be silent the very stones would cry out against him ; and though such a man might be esteemed by the world, be would be unhonoured in the hitcher estimate of God. When all the pomps and vanities of worldly men shall pass away, the faithful ministers of Christ shall shine as the lights that God has set up and kindled in the firmament of heaven. Yea! when thrones and sceptres shall crumble into dust, and the globe itself shall be burned up, those who shall have been thus engaged will be enabled to stand on the ruins of the world and say they have lost nothing, when they behold those whom they have been instrumental in turning from darkness to light shining brightly in the diadem of King Messiah. (Great applause.) But the church of Rome is only offended at the term " proselyte," when it is used against herself, for she is as active a proselytiser in her own way as is to be found on the face of the earth. It was only a few days ago that I found a young woman in the district of my own church, that Rome had endeavoured to proselytise. She was poor. igno rant, and only twenty years of age. The priest told her that protestantism was a new, and Rotnanism an old religion ; and he baptised her, and ranked - her with the number of his con verts. He left her there, 'but I did not leave her there— (cries of " Hear, hear, " and checrs)—and I have every rea sonable expectation that she will not pay many more visits to the gentlemen who taught her that the one was the old and the other the new religion. We have heard of ancient prose lytisers, who compassed sea and earth to make one proselyte, and, when they had made him, lefthim ten times more a child of hell than themselves ; and in this respect there is a striking parallel between ancient Pharisees and modern Romanists. In these days they are active in proselytising : they have been so engaged in Scotland and England, and are so engaged at this hour. The rev. gentleman having here read a letter which had been written by a convert to protestantism to his priest in Ireland, who had been after cursing him from the altar, proceeded :—We have no objection at all to the diligent and active efforts of the Church of Rome at proselytising. All we want of them is to come out and meet us in contro versy ; and here I may as well ask, between you and me, where is Dr. Butler? (Hear and laughter.) He has been repeatedly challenged, but the return to the writ is non est inventus. (Hear, hear.) We certainly do not like the sys tem they have in England of denying their doctrines. Ber nard Cavanagh and Lord Shrewsbury speak out. The fast ing man in England and the fasting woman in Naples have given us a very important lesson with regard to popery in the nineteenth century. But we do not like their system of denying, and quibbling and avoiding when we endeavour to bring them into close quarters. They fire signals of delu sion. Their system presents the appearance of the harlot's dwelling, fair outside, but within is a den of impurity and robbery, the paralysis of every affection, the grave of every life, the laboratory of every work of hell, and the sure and certain gangway to the dungeons beneath. (Cheers.) There fore there is a necessity, —a greater necessity than ever looking at the signs of the times—for the working of our protestant associations. The time has not yet come when we can afford to disband our ranks. The clergy of the Church of England never can, but with disgrace to them selves, retire from this controversy. From their cradle to their latest breath they are bound to controversy with Rome. When they receive the catechism, it pledges them to con trovesy, by teaching them that there are only two sacra ments. Our articles, moreover, describe the dogmas of the Romish church as blasphemous. We are pledged at ordina tion to drive away all false doctrines, and we are also pledged to preach four times a year against the supremacy of the pope. The individual who is appointed to preside over the affairs of the church at large, is constrained by his duty to administer to the sovereign of England, on the day of her coronation, a solemn oath abjuring the dogmas of Popery, and to remind her that she holds her crown by the tenure of her remaining a Protestant. The sovereign of England must, therefore, be a Protestant, and she forfeits her crown when she ceases to be a member of the church of England. (Hear, hear, hear.) But we are told by men who are cautious and moderate, that we must be wrong because we are in a minority, and that we are only a small section of ranting, roaring fire brands, whose object it is to gain fame and notoriety. Truth has always been in a minority. The prophets were in a mi nority. One of them thought himself so much so, that be said, "I, alone, am left." Our Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles were in a minority ; and those who talk about our being in a minority would do well to consider that Chris tianity itself is in a minority, the vast mass of human kind being as yet unleavened. (Hear.) But we are also told that we are embarrassing the government by speaking out in this manner. We tell them in reply that we have no intention to embarrass the government, but that we consider ourselves their most effective supporters. We are the men who contri buted very materially to place them in the position they oc cupy at present ; and that administration will find a more cordial support from us than they ever can find amid the hollowness of liberalism or the divided allegiance of Popery. What care we for mere party politics? We are contending for religious principle ; and we cannot cease so long as the Lord gives us health and life to bear our testimony against all that is opposed to the truth and honour of our God. No matter what government may be opposed to us or may con sider themselves embarrassed by our movements, we cannot be liars to our consciences nor traitors to the principles we profess. (Loud cheers.) And then we are told to conciliate ! When are we to conciliate ? Is it popery ? The task is im practicable, even if it were expedient. (Hear, hear.) There are men who tried that principle, and what have they gained by it? What was gained by that concession which the so ' vereign of England at the head of the Roman catholics in Lower Canada ? Have we found the Lower Canadians bet ter affected to this country in consequence of that conces tion ? No ; but the contrary. What have we gained by the concession to Maynooth ? That the priests and Roman ca tholic bishops are to a man advocates for the repeal o! the union. We conceded one-fourth of the church property in Ireland, and what have we gained? A loudly reiterated de mand for the remaining three-fourths. And what have we gained by the new municipal corporations ? We have gained O'Connell as the lord mayor of all Ireland, as he is styled. The conciliating policy cannot, then be persevered in with any success. We must continue our protest and you must continue your exertions. (Hear, and loud cheers.) I re joice to find by the resolutions that the Irish system of educa tion in Liverpool is dead. I hope it will soon be buried, and that we shall never hear of any resurrection. (Great cheers.) If you will bear with me for a moment, there is one topic connected with this education question which I am desirous of mentioning. (Hear.) The resolution alludes to the ter mination of the Irish system of national education. You can have very little conception of the tyrannies which some of the faithful advocates of scripture instruction are called to endure in Ireland. In the County of Wicklow, for instance, there is the Rev. Henry Moore, rector of Carnew. He lives in a parish of which an opulent English nobleman is the proprietor. I allude to Lord Fitzwilliara, of whom I do Per quarter lO 0 * The freight from Holland is 45. per quarter, Odessa 105:, Trieste 7s. 6(i., Marseilles tis., America 7s. to ts The Bal tic, however, being regarded as the granary of Europe, I have adopted the freight from that quarter. No account is taken in the above for damage, or for fire in surance in store, or for profit to the importer. The following are the prices of wheat " free on board in foreign port," according to recent accounts from various foreign countries : Baltic sls. to 58s. per quarter. Mediterranean 43s. to 48s. lf U. S. of America These prices include the expense of transit from the place of growth to the port of shipment, a distance, in many in stances, of several hundred miles. The exact range of prices and duties is open to discussion. To obviate the great evils arising from the present defective mode of taking the averages, it is suggested that proper per sons be appointed by government, (whether under the con trol of the customs, excise, or otherwise, in the several towns and districts that may be named) to send returns, weekly, of the prices that shall have been obtained, during the week, by growers, as well as by factors or dealers, (if none of the for mer, in large towns, the latter only) of good, sound, mer chantable wheat, (no other quality) new and old, to a board of commissioners, in London, whose duty it shall be to col late the returns, draw the averages, and fix the duty,—then to transmit it on a certain day in each week to the collector of Customs in every port of the United Kingdom. This mode of taking the averages, combined with the li mited range of prices and duties comprised in these tables, would effectually put an end to fraud and reckless specula tion, and be the means of keeping prices as steady as the seasons would permit, while the supply would be regular and the demand legitimate. Many persons, in other respects well informed, are under the impression that, were the present corn-laws to be mate rially altered, the English agriculturist would sink—that his property, as a means of subsistence, would be annihilated. But these simple calculations ' , rove that he has nothing to fear—that, with a code of duties framed on the principle of these tables, which offer a protection to the agriculturist va rying from 33 to 60 per cent., the foreigner can do us no injury whatever. And an attentive study of these tables cannot fail also to lead to the conclusion, that a system founded upon them, while it would afford real protection to the agriculturist, would also cause the supply of foreign grain to be as regular as the manufacturer could desire. Which scale of duties and prices (if any) shall be deemed calculated to meet the views and wishes of the two great interests of the state, others more competent will determine. To avoid a collision, however, which might go far to en danger the very existence of the constitution, prudence would seem to dictate that the one great Interest should meet the other half way,—the one accepting the fair and ample pro tection afforded by these tables, and the other, secured in the possession of a regular supply at steady prices, cheerfully and willingly conceding it. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, E. W. JACKSON. Liverpool, 14th December, 1841. LET WELL ALONE TO THE LIVERPOOL DOCK COMMITTEE Ye mortals, my dear terrestrials, are restless oft, and sel dom quite content. My ancient pet for ocean's treasures — the Old Dock—ye did away, and now regret your doings, though I warned you against it about anno 1825 ; and this may be recollected by many of my worthy and esteemed vo taries amongst ye. Prosperous affairs I wish to my good old port of Liverpool, and desire to cheer all those who are so anxious for the same. Then let me calmly and kindly ask, if it would not be for the good, and profit, and accommoda tion of my shipping to retain the three adjoining graving docks, and restore the Canning Dock as soon as it is possible to deepen it ? No doubt this sort of system with that loca lity is already determined on ; because how can any im provement be gained unless you had obtained possession of the Manchester or Old Quay Basin ? and parhaps the latter event may be distant many years.—Y our right trusty bene factor NEPTUNUS. Old Ocean's Billows, anno 1841, P.S.—Then ye have taken my other old possession, Salt house Dock. Bethink ye of the law of time and tide; be very quick there, lest I begin to growl! CRUELTY TO SPANIARDS TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD Sut,—l addressed a few lines to you on the 30th ultimo, on the subject of the Spaniards left upon the beach in this river by her Majesty's cruisers, out of the prize slavers. The increased wretchedness of these poor creatures, and the re volting sights which meet the eye at every turn, urge me a gain to trespass upon your valuable time. A few days since, being unwell, I sent my mate on shore to transact a little business for me, and In his progress to the town (in the heat of the day), he encountered the dead body of one of these wretched beings, lying close to the pathway, with the eyes and the greater part of the face and body de voured by guanas and birds of prey. The disgusting sight, combined with the pestilential effluvia arising fgom the corpse, had such an effect upon him, that upon his return to the ship he complained of sickness, and till his death (three days subsequent) he frequently alluded to the revolting sight. There are two more Spaniards, whom I daily expect to see in a like state, being already one mass of disease. It is high time that some other mode of punishment was adopted, as not only British property is sacrificed, and ourselves de graded in the eyes of the very parties we are striving to civi lize, but the lives of our crews are endangered. With many apologies for troubling you, I am, sir, your's respectfully, F. GRANT. Ship Hero, Bonny River, AUDU,t 28th, 1841. LONG "YARNS" OF THE ANTI-CORN-LAW PHILOSOPHERS When any given number of wiseacres meet together to make out a case of grievance, it is almost matter of certainty that they will transgress the limits of truth and probability in their anxiety to establish the object for which they have clubbed their wits " and deserted for a time their shop boards, their counters, and their counting-houses. But when our good neighbours in the manufacturing districts congregate ; when " the League " whips up its " ministers of all denominations," its simpletons of all degrees, or its -story-tellers of every calibre ; we prepare ourselves for something superlative in the inventive line, and expect to be horrified into fits by their daring mendacity, or to be well nigh extinguished by laughter at their outrageous absurdities. We had a gathering of this description in the town of Manchester on Thursday last, which is reported at upwards of twelve columns' length in the Manchester Guardian, under the style and title of the " Great Meeting of the Cot ton Trade at Manchester." An examination, however, of the names of the illustrious individuals who took part in the proceedings, is quite sufficient to satisfy any one acquainted with the district as to the said illustrious individuals having one fraction more right to style their hobnobbing party a " great meeting of the cotton trade," than the celebrated three tailors of Tooley-street were entitled to call themselves " the people of England." The whole affair was just au additional wriggle of the sinking and contemptible Anti- Corn-Law League; and though Cobden out-Cobdened him self—although John Brooks descended " deeper and deeper still" into his native element of farce and vulgarity—although Kershaw, Ashworth, Rawson, and the rest, brayed longer and louder than they ever brayed before,—the only result of their exertions, and those of their painstaking chroniclers, is the production of a mass of varied absurdity, mendacity, and inveterate stupidity, such as we venture to say was never produced by any similar number of bipeds, at one sitting, since the world began. We shall not, of course, attempt to go through the tedious rigmarole which these gentlemen call " speeches," or to ex amine all the one-sided cock-and-bull stories which they designate as " statistical information." We may briefly, however, inform our readers to what it all amounts. The cotton trade of Manchester and its neighbourhood was very good in 1835, and is very bad in December 1841. The peo ple employed in it were very well off and thriving in 1835, but are not well off in December 1841. Poor-rates are higher and wages are lower in 1841 than they were in 1835 ; and the moving cause of this aggregation of calamities is—the corn laws, of course ! Not a whisper is breathed of the existence of any other evil than that monstrous one, the " landlords' monopoly" ! Why, any collection of old women over their washing-tubs could have made just as extraordinary disco veries, backed by an equal quantity of reasoning—that is, by none at all. And yet the rubbish collected together by the " delegates " at this meeting—scraped up from all imagina ble sources in Bolton, Wigan, Rochdale, and even in towns of lesser manufacturing fame, and spun into yarns of all lengths, and to suit all capacities of swallow—is held up by the scribes of whiggery as the quintessence of wisdom, phi losophy, lead truth, and as the moral engine which is to hurl down conservatism, and the government of its choice, to be trampled beneath the feet of rampant liberalism ! Not one new fact that we can discover—not one new argu ment—is contained in this tedious eight hours' talk ; but we have suppressions of facts innumerable, and exaggerations without end. A mass of statistics is brought forward to shew the progressive decline of wages during the past ten years ; but we are told nothing of the increased perfection attained by machinery during the same period, or of the number of pauper families spirited away from the South of England to increase the amount of labour in the matuffac luring districts, and to produce this very decline. We are told nothing either of the fact that, with increasing poor rates and declining wages, mills have gone on multiplying, and production almost doubled itself. We are told of fac tories which are working half time or standing idle; but we are not told how great a portion of these have been actually erected or enlarged since the very period from which nearly all their elaborately-wrought tables of distress take date. We are told, in fact, of all, and more than all, the sufferings of the manufacturing body ; but not a word is breathed of the career of folly and overweening avarice which has brought those sufferings upon their heads, and upon those as well of the abused and unoffending labouring classes. We are thankful, however, to the gentlemen of the League for the sanction and authority which they have given, at this meeting, to many facts and principles which their advocates have hitherto been accustomed to evade whenever they were likely to be used against them. We can now pin them, we presume, to every statement made at this meeting, and to the results deducible therefrom. We shall not enter into any of these just now however, although there are a few upon which we shall remark hereafter ; but shall content ourselves with quoting the only attempt made, during the whole of the proceedings (except by ignorant raving against the corn-laws) for the existing position of the manufacturing interest. The speaker, we must premise, is Mr. Robert Hyde Greg, late M.P. for the borough of Manchester, an extensive manufac- turer, and quite a great gun amongst the anti-corn-law gen try. Hear Mr. Greg, as reported by the Manchester,Guar- " We must remember that, about ten years ago, we began to feel the exclusion from the markets of America and the , German league. In the next place, we began to feel the ef fects of foreign competition in the neutral markets ; but most of all were we suffering from the want of returns for the ex port of our manufactures. At that period a very extraordi nary concurrence of accidental causes occurred. There was a succession of abundant harvests, which gave us cheap food; and there was a consequent increased consumption among the people, and a great additional demand for our manufac • tures arose about the same time in America, in consequence of the extensive purchase by us of American bank stocks and other securities. There were also those joint• stock banks that we hear of everlastingly as the main cause of the dis tress. No doubt they gave a helping hand to it. It is, how ever, no less true, that state of things which now exists was really coming on ten years ago. These difficulties were com ing on our manufactures and commerce under those restric tions, which, but for the extraordinary circumstances I have mentioned, would long since have told a tale. These cir cumstances have not only blinded our rulers, but they have elso blinded ourselves, and we are now suffering more than we should have been, owing to that increase in our produc tion, and it must postpone the time of improvement." Thus far Mr. Greg with respect to the concurrent causes of our present manufacturing distress—" over-production" and over-stimulation being not by any means amongst the least. Add to these the effect of ten years of Whig misgo vernment, and the whole matter is pretty well accounted for, without the necessity of " our rising from the dead," or a new philosophy being discovered, to make it clear to every one who has the disposition to open his eyes and see. A commission de lunatic() inquirendo sat in Dublin on Tuesday on the Right Rev. Robert Fowler, D.D., Bishop of Ossory. The jury fonnd his lordship to he of unsound mind. His property in ready money and the funds was proved to be about £30,000, landed estates in Ireland and England £B,OOO a year, the income of his lordship's see being £5,000 per annum. ASTHMA.—The discovery made by Mr. Cronin, for the relief of this distressing spasmodic affection, attracts, we hear, attention. Medical writers, in general, assert that asthma arises from the tronchial tubes becoming impervious. Mr. C. avers that this disease depends not on impervious action in the tronchial tubes, but on a spasmodic action, peculiar to the abdominal muscles. The days the dispensary to which this gentleman is attached is opened to the poor, may be seen in another column. MR. HARTLEY'S AND MR. GAGE'S PLANS.—The Dock Committee at a late meeting resolved, in consequence of the representations made to tbem by deputations from the seve ral mercantile associations, to take the opinion of Mr. Walker and Mr. Cubitt, the eminent engineers, upon the plans proposed by Mr. Hartley and Mr. Gage. The ques tions for these gentlemen to report upon are, we have heard, which of the two is, under all the circumstances of the port, the best ; and next, whether any improvements can be effected in the approved plan, the preservation of the warehouses being in all cases indispensable. The engineers have heard a great variety of evidence upon the subject, and their in quiries terminated on Saturday. Mr. Cubitt left Liverpool the sane afternoon, and Mr. Walker yesterday. Mr. HEELEY ' S CANDLE SPRlNG.—Without e, ception, this is the neatest, cleanest, and most useful little invention we have seen for some time. These springs are used for fix ing the candle in the socket, and completely prevent accident. We recommend them to notice. Mr. Heeley is always in venting something good. We wonder what will be the next article for which a patent is to be obtained. _ _ WEST INDIA MAILS.—SOUTHAMPTON, THURSDAY NIGHT. —During the whole day the very utmost exertions have been used to despatch the Forth with strict punctu ality, according to the announcement of the advertisements ; but at the hour of our writing she still remains at her anchorage in Southampton Water. At about three o'clock this afternoon she was pretty well prepared for sea, but darkness closing in soon after, it was deemed prudent by the directors, as well as Captain Fayrer, that she should continue. at her anchorage during the night, and proceed to sea at an early hour in the morning. This arrangement is undoubt edly the very best that could be made, insuring the greatest degree of comfort and convenience to the passengers, and enabling the vessel to start free from all confusion and in convenience of a hurried departure. The harbour of South ampton has been one scene of gaiety during the whole day, innumerable boats arriving and departing from the Forth, and all parties seem to enter into the feeling of pleasure which must animate every one in the good prospects which seem to attend the opening of this magnificent enterprise. The Sol way, under the command of Captain Britton • the Tweed, Captain Frankland : and the Clyde, Captain 'Woodruff, are all appointed to sail on Saturday, so that an extraordinary scene of bustle and excitement is expected on that day. The Tay, Captain Haydon ; and the Dee, Captain Oman, will shortly follow in the route, to take up their respective stations. DEATH OF THE EARL OF WESTMORLAND. — At Brighton, on the 16th instant, after a long illness, the Earl of West morland, K.G., in the 82nd year of his age. The noble Earl was born in Jan. 1759; succeeded his father 9th Earl, 26th April, 1774, who was Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1759 to 1 7 6 2 ; married 20th May, 1782, Sarah (who died Oth Nov. 1793, daughter and heiress of Robert Child, Esq. ; m. 2dly. 24th March, 1800, Jane, 2nd daughter and co-heiress of Richard Hugh Saunders, Esq., M.D., and sister of the Viscountess Melville. His Lordship was Lord- Lieutenant of Northamptonshire; father of the Countess of Jersey, grandfather of Hon. John George Brabazon M.P. the Ponsonby, M.P., Dowager Countess of K on e o rr le y, a o n f d t Viscount Lady of Hon. Charles Ponsonby, Lowther, M.P., Hon. Col. Henry Cecil Lowther, Lady of Right Hon. Sir John Beckett, Bart., the Lady of Lord William Powlett •, son of Duke of Cleveland, and J. H. Lowther, Esq., M.P. Was Lord-Lieutenant of I re l an d from 1787 to 1794, and Master ,of the Buck Hounds to his Majesty George IV. He is succeeded in his title and estates by his son, General Lord Burghersh, G. C. H., K. C. 8., who served in Hanover, at the Dardanelles, Constantinople , Roleia, Vimeria, Talavera, Torres Vedras, Bosaco ; and, diplomatically, at the Italian and German Courts. His Lordship was born on the 3d Feb. 1784; married, 26th June, 1811, the Hon. Priscilla Wellesley Pole, youngest daughter of Lord Maryborough. ;.) GREAT FIRE IN MANCHESTER. /7 DESTRUCTION OF PROPEILTI"To THE AMOUNT OF £30,000. (From our own correspondent.) MANCHESTER, MONDAY.—One of the most destructive fires broke out this morning that has been known in Man chester for many years, the flames spreading with such rapidity that within a few hours after thg fire was discovered damage estimated at more than £30,000 was done. The building destroyed is a warehouse situated in Piccadilly, near the heart of Manchester, and was occupied by Messrs. Patchett and Jones, who have for some years carried on business under the style of "The Union Carrying Company." Messrs. Patchett and Jones w'ire canal carriers, and the warehouse. which was originally built by them, but had been recently sold to Lord Francis Egerton for £ll,OOO, was erected, for the convenience of their business, over the Roch dale canal. It had a frontage of nearly forty yards to I'icca- dilly, and extended backwards about twenty yards,—two rooms in front only, occupied as shops, being let off, the one to a commission agent, named Holmes, the other to a saddler. The building, including the basement, was eight stories high, and adjoined, on the west, the silk warehouse of Mr. J. H. Cockburn, the eastern gable abutting upon Auburn street, opposite the warehouse of Mr. John Gibbon, nail manufacturer. The premises were discovered to be on fire about twenty minutes past twelve o'clock this morning, by some persons casually passing, who observed smoke issuing from that part of the warehouse situate immediately over the Rochdale canal, and the alarm being given, information was transmitted by the police, and through several other different channels at the same time, to Mr. Rose, superintendent of the tire-police establishment, at the town's yard. 'That gentleman displayed his usual activity, and was on the spot with his first engine in about twenty minutes after the alarm was given, and four other engines followed in quick succession. The supply of water both from plugs in the street and the canal was good, and the engines were brought into play in an incredibly short space of time. Short as the time lust had been, however, it was too great to leave a chance of saving the property. The goods in the warehouse, which were of immense quantity, supposed to exceed £20,000 in value, were of an extremely combustible nature, consisting principally of cotton, corn, and groceries, and the flames having, it is supposed, got well hold of the cotton, which was in the lower part of the build ing, when the fire was first discovered, spread with a rapidity almost unprecedented. The whole building was wrapped in flames by the time the engines got into play, and under these circumstances the exertions of the firemen were pru dently directed to saving the surrounding property. In a few hours from the first discovery of the fire the whole of this large pile of warehousing was a heap of ruins. The eastern gable, in falling, carried away some portion of the roof of Mr. Gibbon's warehouse, on the opposite side of Auburn-street, and otherwise damaged that property to the amount of nearly £3OO. The shop of Mr. Brown, and the warehouse of Mr. Ouleston, on the opposite side of Piccadilly, were several tunes on fire and received considerable damage also. The stock of Mr. Holmes, commission agent, and that of Mr. Hawksworth, saddler, were totally destroyed; the latter not being insured. The amount of loss has not been ascertained. The value of property destroyed in the warehouses of Messrs. Patchett and Jones we have already stated as estima ted at over £20,000; whether it was insured we have not heard, but there is reason to believe not, as the property con sisted of goods consigned to them merely for carriage on the understanding that all risk was on the part of the consignees. The origin of the fire is not known with certainty, but we have already stated that the warehouse is built over the Roch dale-canal, and in this tunnel was lying a boat load of cotton, there it is most probable the fire commenced, as the boat was discovered to be on fire at the time the alarm was first given. The captain of the boat, his wife, and son, were all sleeping on board, and were aroused by the clamour in the streets ad joining. All three, on being made sensible of their danger, jumped, almost in a state of nudity, into the canal, and were got ashore. The captain was severely burnt while in the water by a quantity of floating wool, which was on fire, and now lays in a dangerous state at the Infirmary. The ruins of the warehouses have choked up the canal, and its naviga tion will consequently be impeded by it, probably for several days. THE NEW ROYAL EXCHANGE.—The Lord Mayor has issued cards of invitation to all the Cabinet Ministers to a grand dinner at the Mansion-house on Monday, the lith of January, to meet Prince Albert, in order to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of the New Royal Exchange. KINMEL PARK.—The splendid mansion of Lard Dinor ben, at Kinmel Park, in North Wales, lately destroyed by fire, will not be rebuilt. In consequence of the great expense (estimated at about £50,000), and his lordship having no heir to inherit the property, the undertaking has been relin quished. UNEXPECTED GOOD FORTUNE.—A singular instance of good fortune has, within the last few days, happened to a poor man named George Peters, with a numerous family, who followed the occupation of a journeyman baker, and re sides in an obscure street at Camberwell. It appears that a distant relative, residing at Bath, and from whom no expec tations were ever entertained, has recently died, bequeathing to the wife of Peters large funded property amounting to near £50,000. Peters has for some time been working at his trade in the city. DEATH OF A PASSENGER ON BOARD THE ORIENTAL STEAMER.—On Wednesday night, between the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock, Mr. Malcolm, one of the passen gers on board the Oriental, went out through the quarter gallery window, and, as there was no possibility of his reach ing the shore, there is no doubt he must have been drowned. It is a singular fact that he had first taken off all his clothes, and left them in the part of the vessel in which the window was situated. One of the - passengers had certificates from medical men to show that Mr. Malcolm laboured under mo namania, fancying that his fellow-passengers had entered into a conspiracy against him. He was at first narrowly watched, but, gradually improving in spirits, be disarmed the vigilance of the others and succeeded in making away with himself. CURIOUS FACT.—On Saturday last, a Newfoundland dog, whilst running along Prince's-street, had his attention at tracted by the stuffed animals in the window of Mr. Carfrae, taxydermist. In particular, his eye was arrested by a large and rather ferocious-looking boar hound, and so enraged did he get by the steady gaze of the stuffed animal, that he actually sprang through the shop-window for the purpose of wreaking his vengeance on it. Thebroken glass, however, cut his face so much, that his courage immediately cooled, and he ran off apparently in great terror.—Caledonian Mercury. A CLINCHER.—The corn-laws must be repealed. That's certain. Mr. Piffles speech did the needful. What do our readers think the corn-laws have done now ? They all know that the epidemic which has for many months been raging amongst cattle, has reduced the supply at market, and con sequently has considerably raised the price of beef. The doctors have tried in vain to discover the cause or the re medy for this visitation. Mr. Plint has beat them. He's found it out. It's all owing to the corn-laws. The infer ence, therefore, is plain. Repeal that obnoxious measure, and the epidemic will cease—cattle multiply and wax fat— beef fall down to twopence or threepence a pound—and wages to two shillings and sixpence a week. FASHIONS FOR THE MONTH.—Coats are very much worn, particularly at the elbows, and are trimmed with a shining substance, which gives them a very glossy appearence. A. rim of white runs down the seams, and the covering of the buttons is slightly opened so as to show the wooden material under it. Hats are now slightly indented at the top, and we have seen several in which part of the brim is sloped off with out any particular regard to the quantity abstracted. Walk ing -dresses, are very much dotted just now with brown spots of a mud colour, thrown on quite irregularly, and the heels of the stockings may sometimes be seen trimmed with the same material. A sort of basket work is now a great deal seen as a head-dress, and in these cases it is strewed over with little silver fish, something like a common sprat, which gives it a light and graceful character.—Punch. THE. EXCHEQUER BILLS.—That any of these bills are forged is clearly up to the present time an assumption of the Treasury, since they have not yet brought a single one out of the whole to the test of legal proof. But, conceding that some of them are so, it does not follow that the whole now detained from the owners are in the same predicament. At the Treasury it is more than probable that the same opinion is entertained, since there is no other imaginable reason for keeping them in their own custody, instead of stamping them forged, and returning them to the owners, than that they fear some bill thus stigmatized being proved to be genuine, and thus stullifying their judgment upon the whole batch of them. That they distrust their own judgment hitherto is evident from the evasions of all proper opportunities for putting it to the test, and this applies equally to the plea accepted from Smith, and to the abandonment of the prosecution of Rapallo. Many persons here even believe, not only that the bills pro nounced at the Treasury to be forged are some of them at least genuine, but that it is quite possible a portion of those accepted as genuine may have formed originally a part of the fraudulent issue. A SINECURE. — The following advertisement, which ap peared in the Clare Journal of Monday, the 7th instant, will show the high estimate set by the New Poor Law on educa tion :—" Wanted, by the board of guardians of the Ennis Union, a schoolmaster and mistress. Both will he required (besides their immediate duties) to assist the master and matron in the routine of the establishment. Salary fur the master, £l5 ; security, £2O. Salary for the mistress, £IU security, £15." The advertisement, after enumerating that the parties are to live in the workhouse premises, and to be provided with other advantages, goes on to state that " can didates for the above situations must send in written applica tions to the clerk of the union, with testimonials as to cha racter and competency ; and attend the meeting of guardians to be held at the workhouse of the union." Here is encou ragement under the New Poor Law Bill to parties to incur the expense of educating their children-435 hard cash to a master, and £lO to a mistress per annum, as a remuneration for spending on an average eight hours a day in "teaching the young idea how to shout," and for assisting, on the Caleb Quotem system, in the discharge of the other " routine busi ness of the establishment !" What scrupulously just and enlarged consciences the commissioners possess ! lint they take small salaries themselves (!) DEPARTURE OF THE AMISTAD AFRICANS. —Thes e inter esting personages, 35 in number, being all that survive, em barked on Wednesday for Sierra Leone, on board the bark Gentleman, Captain Niorris, accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Steele, the Rev. Mr. Raymond, and Mrs. Raymond, mis sionaries, and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, tea chers. From Sierra Leone they anticipate no difficulty in reaching their own country, which is believed to be at no great distance. The farewell of the missionaries and Africans was taken at the Tabernacle on Sunday evening, the exercises being generally similar to those at the exhibitions. held in this city and else where, for the purpose of increasing the Mendian fund. In addition, the Rev. Mr. Jocelyn, in behalf of the committee, addressed the missionaries and teachers, and som e ot h er ad dresses were delivered. T he ceremonies were repeated on Tuesday evening, at the Methodist church for coloured peo ple in Church-street. EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE.—The following ex traordinary account of a murder, and the arres t o f t h e mur derers, is from a French provincial paper : —A travelling dealer in procelain and glass was some days ago driving his cart towards a small town near Lorient, when a little boy, going the same way, asked him for a ride. Nogues, the dealer, put the boy into the basket swung under the cart, as being warmer than the cart itself. They had not gone far before two footpads stopped the cart, murdered and robbed its owner, and then, to disguise the act, drove the cart over the body, in order to induce the belief that the death was accidental. During the terrible scene, the boy lay concealed in the basket ; but, a s soon as b e co nceived the robbers were at a sufficient distance, he contrived to set the horse off at full speed, remaining in his hiding-place, till the horse stop ped at the door of a country and telling gd hisby its tale,when, master. The boy went i n t o t h e h o use, n was among his auditors, h e perceived and denounced the two robbers, who had disguised themselves in the uniform of gend'armes, but were afterwards recognised as convicts who had effected their escape. They were immediately arrested. DISSENTERS' D I SSATISFACTION AT THEIR M ARRIAGE ACT.—There has been no little grumbli ng b y part i es w ho have lately ma rried in the Wesleya n c h ape l , on accou nt of the expense incurred in visiting Hy men ' s a lt ar at th a t place. ues tion started has invariably been—" How is it that, we are relieved by law from being compelled to pay dear T no h w e at t h e church for marryi ng , as muc h or more is now d , m ended by one or another at the chapel for a wedding-- to the steward, I s. for registering, Is. for the chapel-l: and 2s. 6d. for the preacher, seems a good deal of money in these times for so little trouble ; can they legally dem an d it ?" One happy brid egroom stoppe d short in his payment with the parson, leaving him minus his half-crown (which his reverence thought " rather hard") concluding he might more appropriately expend it on the festivities of the occasion at his own fireside.—Lincoln Mercury (Radical paper.)