The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-01 00:00:00

VISITATION OF THE LORD BISHOP OF CHESTER The lord bishop of the diocese held his visitation at St. Peter's Church, yesterday, which was attended by a large body of the clergy. The Rev. Jonathrn Brooks, senior rector, read prayers, and the sermon was preached by the Rev. W. W. Ewbank, incumbent of St. George's Church, Everton. The rev. gentleman selected as his text the 26th verse of the xiv. chapter of St. John- 7 -" But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever 1 have said." The sermon was peculiarly appropriate. After the sermon, the names of the clergymen in the Liverpool division of the deanery were called over by the diocesan registrar. The lord bishop, having taken his seat, then delivered the following charge : My Reverend Brethren,—The course of years has glided quickly on, and I am again permitted to come officially among you as a witness of your exertions, the adviser of your diffi culties, and the encourager of your labours. Many whom I see around me, I now meet for the fifth time. whilst others who once filled up our number, and had all our company, are gone to their great account. I feel convinced that in the nearer prospect of this change, they did not repent of their work of faith or their labour of love ; that their zeal did not seem to have been too rigid, their devotedness too complete, their labours too unsparing. May God give us all grace to remember that Re remain still entrusted with that steward ship which in many cases has been brought to a close, and that it is required from stewards that they be found faithful ! The years to which we look back as having been united together in the duties of the ministry have been eventful years, not marked indeed with such outward changes in the history of nations as many of those which preceded, but dis distinguished by domestic occurrences more important to the church, and more affecting its various interests. Some of them were thought even to endanger her constitution as a national establishment. Upon the one side there have been fears, and upon the other side hopes, that the time was ap proaching when her 'vantage-ground would be cut away, and her outward and earthly barriers overthrown. By God's blessing, the fears and the hopes have been alike disap pointed ; and the clouds which are now fast passing off have not been without their use, for they have cleared the atmos phere' and enabled us to perceive upon what alone the secu rity of the church as a national establishment must depend. Being ordained of God for the eternal welfare of the people, it must fulfil the purposes of its appointment. As the people advance in knowledge, and the collision of many minds sharpens intellectual acuteness, its ministers must advance together with their Hocks, and maintain their lead ; as the country grows in population, the church must widen the shelter of her tent, and extend the exercise of her ministra tions till they be commensurate with the charge entrusted to her,. There have been, and with justice, complaints of hard ship, when with means diminished rather than increased fresh and-unlimited services are required. Ciur case may be com pared with that of the Israelites in Egypt, when public expectation is little more reasonable than Pharaoh's task masters ; but this we do not plead, except in extenuation of failure, or in reply to an unjust accusation.. The church, — we limit her services by no bounds except the bounds of the poWer that binds her. She will meet the fresh demands upon her by prayers that increased strength may be supplied ; in going forth in the name of the Lord, she will trust in his blessing to fulfil the pnrposes intended by His sovereign will. Our own diocese, brethren, may well lie cited to encourage our hopes, if encouragement were needed, and to desperse our doubts if doubts were entertained. The diocese presented some years ago a specimen of religious destitution, which might well be deemed in every point of view appalling; and there are large districts—large and populous districts, still re maining, where darkness yet covers the land, and gross dark ness the people. But, then, there are various portions where the picture is very different, and where the prospect so greatly brightens as to justify a sanguine belief that God has still mercy in store for us, in designing that our church shall remain as a blessing to the land, even to those sections of it which would seem from circumstances to be furthest re moved out of its reach and influence. Since our first meeting,now twelve years ago, the measures already commenced for increasing the efficacy of the church have come into fuller operation, and the spirit which excited them has spread in many unexpected directions. Our in ward strength has been increasing in an unexampled degree. Our hundred and fifty churches have opened their doors to admit our overgrown and still growing population. Thus, in many a spot where hundreds of families were congregated without any regular pi °vision for their spiritual culture, mi nisters are now permanently settled in their parsonage, the children are collected in schools, and what was a moral desert bears the aspect of a christian community. In other places if there is not yet a church there is the threshhold of a church ; there is that in a double sense, if I may use the term, in those licensed buildings, which are alike preparing the way for churches, and serving as substitutes for them, in which thousands of the poorer classes are receiving instruc tion, which they cannot obtain elsewhere, at the hands of curates, supported partly by private liberality, but chiefly by the two noble societies which have relieved our urgent wants by supplying the salaries of curates. Through this united aid the church has gained a vast accession of strength in those districts where her weaknes had been previously most promi nent, and where the existing clergy were hopelessly struggling against a multiplying population, in attempting to fulfil the task assigned to them. Another important means of usefulness and influence has advanced with corresponding success, the department of education. Through the indefatigable exertions which have established the diocesan board for this object, we have returns approaching to perfect accuracy from every division of the diocese. It would be tedious to enter here into de tails; but the exertions which have been used to provide the machinery of education for our increasing population, may be estimated from the fact that, during the last ten years, within the parish of Whalley alone, forty-three school-rooms have been erected, at an expense of £13,000. I will not here allude to what I have before alluded, the exertions made in the place from which I now speak for the same great ob ject. And if we were to estimate what has been done through the whole extent of the diocese, and calculate it from the example I have just been -citing, we should fall below the truth if we thought that the result would be less than 350 schools, and the expenditure, including grants from the National Society, and from government, not more than £lOO,OOO. It is no less important that through the successful institution of the training school at Chester, the character of popular education bids fair to be brought within the reach of as high a standard as the practice—l fear I must say the increasing practice—if early labour will permit it to be, in the way of education. The effect of these various means is proved in a growing attachment to the church, in an acknowledgement of its ex cellency, and, in a practical sense of the value of its services. The number of attendants upon public worship, the number of communicants, the number of candidates for confirma tion have increased far beyond the growth of the population. In some of our most extensive parishes, and especially in the two great towns of the diocese, the communicants have nearly doubled since the first accounts I have received. The candidates for confirmation have trebled, and thus our clergy —especially those whom I am now addressing—have the re ward of knowing that the labour, the anxiety, and the per sonal sacrifices which have proc.tired an increase of means of grace have not been employed in vain. Proofs, moreover, are thus beginning to be given, that opposition and indiffer ence towards the estabiishment, and even separation from it, have not generally arisen from any distrust of its discipline or its doctrines, but from the difficulty, or rather the prac tical impossibility of obtaining instruction within its pale. This has been so long suffered to exist that the effects cannot be denied. Interest and prejudice have had time to take deep root, and to ramify extensively ; and we must be strangers to human nature indeed if we suppose these will not, like the surf which disturbs the sea long after the storm has subsided, sway the judgment, and influence the conduct, though the cause has ceased to which they owed their origin. Perhaps it is too much to expect, what, nevertheless, we must desire, that there should be no schisms or divisions. The church of Christ will ever be what it is ; and no con gregation of faithful men will ever be so strongly one as to think alike, and believe unanimously upon all subjects, upon such subjects, for instance, as episcopacy, or psedo-baptism, or liturgical forms, or church membership, or national esta blishments. There must be always some minds, which, upon questions such as these, will differ from the conclu sions which we believe to be justly deduced from the scrip tures and from experience. Just, as for example, a few ad venturous or impatient spirits may be found to leave their native country, whatever advantage they forego, but the mass of mankind will dwell in their native land ; so it is with those who dissent from the church which authority has accredited, antiquity bequeathed, and the judgment of succeeding ages sanctioned. They will not abandon it so long as they can Benefit by its blessings. I am firmly convinced that the vast multitude of our community will seek instruction from the Church of England, where it offers it to the people in the substantive shape of an effective ministry and accepta ble ministrations. Her plain and scriptural articles, her spiritual and comprehensive liturgy, are agreeable to the earliest examples of Christian discipleship, and united with the advantage which she possesses, and justly pos sesses, as the church of the nation, and the church of our forefathers—these grounds of preference will combine as they ought, to influence in her favour the great majority of our population. They are grounds of preference which can only be counterbalanced by the individual consideration— " this church is not available to me, it is the best and purest channel of divine truth, but no truth-can flow to me through that channel, its forms of worship approves itself to my un derstanding, but I have no means of knowing it, its minis ters are in direct succession from those whom Christ him self commissioned, but I am out of the reach of their instruc tion." Where these considerations individually exist, they must come with over-powering force to persons once awaken ed to the important concerns of their immortal souls ; they are such as no reasoning can resist—they are such as we cannot answer, who take our stand upon scriptures, and argue with them in our hands. The only mode of meeting them must be to remove the causes from which they spring, not to deny the means of satisfying their thirst to those who are eager for instruction, but to open fresh fountains and wider channels, that all may partake of the waters of life freely. No further attractions will be needed than the purity and the sufficiency of this stream. But thankful as I am for these encouragements, I should be deceiving you, and deceiving myself, if I supposed every difficulty overcome, or if I thought the time had arrived when our exertions might be relaxed or dispensed with. There is often an inclination to hope that this may be ulti mately achieved ; but, though we are only putting on our harness, we must remember we have t oo l ong d e l ayed i t, and we must now boast of those who ha ve t a k en i t of and ob tained the victory. There is proof, real proof, that the doc trines of the gospel, when faithfully taught, and diligently in culcated, will not be proclaimed in vain, b ut w i ll enlist men upon their side, and upon the side of the Saviour who teaches them ; but there is no proof, and there never can be tat the same effect can be p roduced without th ose means, n or by any other means. The harvest will reward the diligent but not the careless ; the sower of good seed, not of blighted seed. The truth in Christ must be preserved, in its purity and simplicity, or we shall look in vain for the fruits we de sire, and which the present state of things specially requires— attachment to the preacher, attachment to the church to which he belongs, generosity and active zeal in the cause of God and man of which he is an advocate. It sheathes the heart against the subtle arts of that adversary against whom the church is set up, and whose power it is designed to over throw. His activity is in exact proportion to the activity used against him. His vigilance never fails to seek an oppor tunity with which our weakness supp lies him ; and no soon er is the good seed sown than tares are thrown in, and are found springing up among the wheat. That has been the case throughout the whole history of the church ; it has been sin gularly and unexpectedly exemplified in the present day by favour shewn to men which might seem inconsistent with the advancement of righteousness, or by the revival of error which might have been supposed for ever buried. To enter upon this subject generally would be quite incom patible within the limits of a charge, and to treat it cursorily would not be respectful to my bearers. I shall confi ne my self to a brief review of t wo points, in which the interests commitied to us are especially concerned. I shall first observe, that the principles by which in all ages of the world the power of Satan has been most success fully assailed, and the human heart most strongly acted upon, is that of simple reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the simple acceptance of the truth that he is made of God wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemp tion. Accordingly, by this doctrine, lying under God's wrath and condemnation, we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ—this plain and simpl e truth has uniformly been assailed by every instrument which the enemy could bear against it. From the time that certain men went down from Jerusalem, and troubled the church at Antioch, from the time when Paul had to grieve over th e disciples a't Galicea, that were removed from the grace of Christ into another gospel, which was not another, for it was no gasps at all, from the earliest ages until now this has been the point of attack. We are still experiencing the same and from the like causes. Through the merciful providence of God the true principles of the Gospel have been spread through the length and breadth of the land, and effects were flowing which they alone are capable of producing. Mean while the enemy is upon the watch ; he knows well there is a danger, and he contrives to cast reproach upon the doctrine which is the hinge of Christian truth and Christian practise, to confound things which ought to be kept distinct, things inherent in men with things extraneous, individual duties with vicarious offerings, and so reduce all things to that state of doubt and uncertainty which never has led, and never can lead, to a consistent course of action. It is notorious that this attempt, frequently made, has been unsuccessful where the gospel has been faithfully preached ; and the will of the Lord is, that all should know the truth—that the gospel should be preached to every creature. Those have now risen up who oppose the doctrines of the gospel, who affirm that the propitiation made for sin is a doctrine too dangerous to be openly disclosed, too monstrous to be generally admitted. This would deprive the sinner at once of the motives to re pent, and comfort in repenting, It has been another part of the same system to involve the article of our justification in obscurity. What has been done for us, and what is to be wrought in us are confused together, and, practically, man is induced to look to himself and not to his redeemer for acceptance with God. In all this there is nothing unforseen. The Apostle has plainly warned us to beware of philosophy and vain deceit, which turn aside from the simplicity of the Gospel—that fair simplicity which fits us for the reception of the benefit here, but which some men profess to be afraid of lest mercy should be too free, or the way of returning to God too open. This, in truth, the offence of the cross renewed under form, the objection which corrupt nature has always opposed under various disguises to the apostolic doctrine. "By grace are ye saved through faith, not of works lest any man should boast." The scriptural truth is as clear as it is true." When all were dead, Christ died for all ;" so that " He that bath the Son bath lite, and he that hath cot the Son, hath not life." By one way alone can man propitiate the Son, and that is by believing on him; faith alone can bring to us that remedy which God has appointed ; faith alone can give us an interest in that security which God has. accepted as the satisfaction for his Son. Thus being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ. It is true, and it is never to be forgotten, that being thus accepted with God. and embued with his spirit, man becomes a new creature through that spirit dwelling in him ; but he is ac cepted with God, not because be is a new creature, but be cause Christ had made atonement for wrath which in his old nature he had not. His faith in this atonement, which leads to his acceptance, leads also to his doing work meet for one that is accepted ; but the works which follow his being jus tified, and are its effects, can never be the cause of his justi fication. Suppose a remedy were proposed to a man lying under a mortal disease, and by applying it he was restored to health, it would be sophistry to affirm that it was not the re medy which saved him, but that it was the constitnrion strengthened by the remedy; it would be unjust to the re medy and ingratitude to the Creator. So it is an indignity -to God to depreciate the virtue of Christ's justification by mixing it up with the religiousness of his redeemed people. Let no misrepresentations, no false phi iosophy corrupt the wholesome truth that man is delivered from the wrath to come, not by works of righteousness which he has done or may do, but by Him alone who dicd for our sins, and rose again for our justification. The state ment which came fresh from the reformers lips is the state ment to which we must still refer. " There is a justifying and a sanctifying spirit. The righteousness which justifies is not in either." In all the reformed churches this is the corner-stone—that we are accounted righteous before God through the merits of Christ's atonement, and not for our own works or deserving: ; that a lively faith is known by its works, as a sound tree is known by its fruits, though they bear not the roots, but the roots them. Thus, we are at no loss to see why the reformers were so diligent in laying this foundation. They had seen the conseuuences of departing from it. They knew how the corruption of man had been first lost sight of, and the atonement made for the sins of the world. How closely the two are connected we have this morning heard. The reformers knew how the satisfaction made by Christ had been set aside, and human works substituted in its stead, even such works as were nei ther accepted by God, nor approved of man, till a system overspread the word, which had neither God for its author, nor salvation of man for its end—they were debased by what was sent to purify them, and deceived by what was intended to deliver. If these facts have been forgotten, as they seem to have been forgotten by the tendency of certain writings which have lately been thrust upon our attention, it is high time they should be brought back to our remembrance. But if I endeavour to stir up your minds by this admonition, it is not because I believe such admonition is necessary to you who have not ceased to make the ruin of man by sin, and his restoration through the sacrifice of Christ, the cardinal points of all your preaching. God forbid you ever should, and so close the door against your own ministerial usefulness. There are many other subjects of instruction, but all must proceed from this as from a centre ; many duties are to be performed, but they must be inculcated so that the great principle may be permanently preserved in all its integrity and usefulness. If it is necessary to keep under the body and to bring it under subjection by abstinence and mortifi cation, and by whatever means general or indldvidual ex perience has shown to be the most profitable; still for what purpose ? Not that we may atone for the offences of the body by the laceration of the body, but becanse this is the will of God, even our sanctification. It is necessary to cultiaate humility, to practise charity, to exercise kindness, not, however, that we may be thereby justified, but because we are justified by Christ, " for if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his". In these days you may find ingenious men to argue against this simple truth. They who have studied reason and philosophy more than the word, or who know more of the world's history than the history of the human heart, may think we are leav ing the narrow gate too widely open, and making the road to heaven too smooth. So it has been from the beginning. The apostles were accused of encouraging sin by publishing the abundance of divine grace; the Jews were jealous that the Christian should be permitted to bear the burden that they had borne themselves, and that he should have escaped out ward ordinances ; and the adversaries of the Christian faith a few centuries back made it one pretence of their opposition that it offered the divine Saviour to the profligate and male factor. But then those to whom the truth was committed do not meet this imputation by denying or concealing that they believe that Christ cleanses from all sin, by a false accu sation or by an abandonment of truth. They do not confound the propitiation which atones with the santification which that atonement works in the believer's heart : so far from it we find St. Paul speaking in a vein unusual to him, and saying, " that if any man preach any other gospel than that he have received let him be accursed." Surely, we find here what we might expect to have found, that God destroys the wisdom of the wiseand brings to nought the understandings of the foolish. While learned men are elaborately proving that outward acts and services are only means of holiness upon which we de pend, and that bodily exercise and voluntat y humility are the proper means in which a sinner should approach his God, the preacher of the gospel is confuting them, not by words, but acts, and the honest disciple is showing that they who have believed in Christ will be careful to maintain good works. In religion, as in other things, many a truth which the philoso pher passes by, is picked up by others, while many a thing in which the philosopher prides himself, is contradicted by ordinary observation; and thus, in the present question, ex perience proves that the only doctrine which conveys real comfort to the soul, is the only doctrine which produces a genuine spirit of Christian piety. The more we labour to establish ourselves in the practice of holiness, the more need we find of clothing ourselves in the righteousness, not of our selves, but of our God ; and the more firmly we trust to that righteousness, not our own, the nearer we advance to that personal righteousness which we are striving to attain, 'and which we will not be content without. The other error to which I purpose to allude is no less in jurious to the Saviour's glory. Practically he is treated with dishonour when the church which he has established is made to usurp his seat, to receive his homage, to perform his office, to be virtually the author of salvation instead of the channel through which salvation flows. This is in truth the deposing of him from his throne, and to invest his subjects with the authority which belongs to himself. It is convenient, no doubt, in language to embody the multitude who believe in Christ under one comprehensive term, and our Lord himself taught us, for example, that we may do this safely and legiti mately ; but language may mislead. We may personify a body for the convenience of discourse, and by degrees forget that a community is not a person. It is still worse if the body, which was first personified, comes afterwards to be deified. Yet a process of this kind has gone on in regard of the Christian church. When Christ declared that he would build his church upon a rock, and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, he simply declared that there should be ever hereafter a body of men, believing in him as the Son of God, whom Satan might assail, but should never succeed in destroying. He did not say he would set up a power on earth which should possess his authority, act in his stead,'or act as his vicegerent to dispense either his favour or his anger. We look in vain for a single sentence which, without the grossest perversion, could imply a purpose such as this. But advantage has been taken of the obscurity of language to nsaintain and encourage this view : the church has been made first an abstraction, then a person, and then a Saviour. The church thus invested with divinity has a ministry, and has her visible representatives who, explaining her prophetic an ticipations, ha s assume d the place of God. We know what opportunities this has given to the exercise of the worst of human passions. We find it supplied in malice, hatred, pride, covetousness, and ambition; so that one of the first and most needed works of the reformers was to repress the evil and divest the church of the mystery in which it was shrouded and disclose it to the world in its true and scriptural form as a congregation of believers. The church is that body which assembled in the upper chamber at Jerusalem, and there received the visit of their aisen Lord ; the church is that party which abode together, had "all things in common," and con tinued in apostolic fellowship ; the church is that company of faithful men in all ages and countries who maintained their fealty to the doctrines and institutions of the gospel. The mi nisters of this churchare those called to serve the united world, to perform the prescribed rites, to teach, to rebuke, to exhort, to warn, to comfort, and to commit perpetually to their fel low men the things which they have themselves received. Such is a simple analysis of the church—the Holy Catholic Church—of which Christ is the head, and with which He has engaged to be present by his spirit. to the end of the wolll. We must beware of applying to the members of the body, which members compose it, the power which really belongs to the Head alone. If we speak of the ark of Christ's church, we must bear in mind that we are still speaking me taphorically. That ark is not limited to any special locality on earth, like the ark of Noah ; it extends as far as the knowledge of Christ extends, for He is the tru e ar k th a t saves all that commit themselves to him. The ministrations of the church are those through which the community on earth enter, but Christ is the only door through which heaven is entered; still many will be admitted into the visible ark who may remain for ever excluded from the heavenly one. The members of the church are branches of the vine • the church is not the vine—that name belongs to Christ alone; the church is the pillar and ground of truth, but the church is not the truth, neither has it life in itself: Christ alone is " the way, the truth, and the life" through which every individual member of the church must seek ac cess to God. Vet all this, undeniable in itself, is practically contradicted whenever the services, and the ordinances, and the ministerial offices are magnified beyond their due proportions or placed before the people with a prominency, and we knew the importance of prominency, to which they have no claim. Church principles in their proper sense we must approve. All must approve of that cordial agreement with the articles, that sincere preference of the services, that willing conformity to the discipline of the church which shows that our profession is honest and con sistent ; but upon the contrary, I must think that to set up, as it were, church principles in opposition to the principles of the gospel, and to place them in an invidious contrast is unreasonable and unscriptural. It is to confound the means of grace with the author of grace—to worship the thing made and to dishonour the maker. It is to array against Christ the instrumentality he has established against Satan. Heap pointed his ministry, and there must be a perpetual provision made for opposing the powers of darkness and carrying into effect the work of conviction, conversion, and sanctification — his purpose on earth—and winning many souls to glory. He instituted his sacraments that they who observe them might be a visible body of witnesses in the world, and after the usual manner of divine operation, that there might be a manifest channel in which his spirit might avail to the edifi cation and comfort of believers. Therefore he ordained the ministry, and therefore lie ordained the sacraments that there might be a church—a continual congregation of faithful men; and shall this church turn round and set up itself aga inst its author ? Shall the earthly members assume the authority if their heavenly principal ? And yet such seems to be the fact when they confound church membership with faith, or so magnify the ministrations belonging to their office as to leave it to be inferred that except through their instrumentality there can be no salvation. . n addition, the church has weapons enough raised against her, warning us how .those who ventured on this course wandered away, endangered their own safety, made wreck of their faith, and left an example to future ages. The Jew ish nation has shown us what it is to make a boast of faith, to ascribe undue importance to outward ordinances, to pride themselves as the people of the Lord, to be satisfied that they were Israelites, and that they were of the seed of Abraham. The proof furnished by the Bornish church comes nearer home. In their creed they hold their own, as we do. Practically, their dependence was—shall I not say, is ?—in their church. To be without that pale was the loss of salvation ; to be within that pale was indispensable to salvation ; to receive absolution from the priest was—might I not say is ?—security. Having claimed the power of sanctifi cation, with the washing away of sins, and that church hav ing, in abort, placed herself in Christ's stead, we know all that we will know of what would lead to confusion and ter rible consequences. My Rev. Brethren,—l combat what I hold to be a mistaken view of the church and ministry, because I believe it to be mis taken, and not because it is inexpedient to maintain. If the doctrine I oppose be true, let it be upheld without reference to expediency or inexpediency ; but certainly if it be not true, we have every reason which discretion can furnish to forbid of our preaching it. Had an enemy devised the plan, he could not have fallen upon one more likely to effect his purpose. We have to reclaim the population of the established church of the land, which has been in a greater or lesser degree estranged from her through causes to which I am unwillingto allude, that I may not seem anxious to accuse my nation ; estranged at least we may say through causes over which the present generation are notaccountable, and which we are strongly endeavouring to remove. Can we admit a doubt concerning the way in which we should approach such a population? Must it not be on the broad principles of the gospel, proclaiming the mercy of God in not imputing their trespasses into them, but in reconciling the world unto himself. Are we not to set before persons, circumstanced as a large proportion of the people of this country have been. the exclusive privileges of the church as not the way in which we can expect to draw them within her walls? If they are to be so drawn, the apostles must be our models, who, whether towards the instructed or the unin structed people, exercised their office with meekness, raised no unnecssary barriers against truth, which nature is but too reluctant to conceive, and who even made personal conces sions, if by any means they might win souls. In this one thing they were incessant, namelpf in proclaiming the only name under heaven whereby man might be saved. Let this be our example. Whilst weicannot avoid desiring to remove the prejudices of our enemies, let us show that our first anxiety is that they should be converted to God ; and, as our God will not be evil spoken of, let not ourzeal be ascribed to party spirit or private interest, which really spring from honest and just convictions. I am sure, my rev. brethren, you will judge me candidly while I specially revert to other matters. .When so much is being accomplished to render our church available to all her people, I must not be suspected of disparaging her mi nistry, or undervaluing their sacred callings. How could I, knowing, as I must, the disinterested duty, the self-im posed exertions, the self-denying labours, which prove to me their election in God to the office they hold. Oh 1 can I think light of a ministry of which 1 have so many opportunities of seeing most instrumental to the highest purposes of divine mercy, which I see so successfully employed in enlightening the blind, civilising and fertilising the wilder ness, and which I see made able, through the grace given them, to reclaim the profligate, to comfort the mourner, to strengthen the weak-hearted, and to send light into the darkest re cesses of human indigence. What can I but admire the man who, animated with no other feeling than a zeal for God's glory and compassion for his fellow-creatures, goes forth with his Bible in his hand to meet the contradictions of the infidel and the sneers of the scorner, pursuing the service of his Lord, not among green pastures or beside the waters of comfort, but amid scenes of wretchedness and degra dations into which only Christian love could carry them. And so again we love and revere our church, for we be lieve that it is founded on the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, and also because we believe that God has appointed her to great and peculiar distinction. There are other congregations of Christians which profess the same truth. We honour those also, rind gladly say, " Peace be with all men that love the Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity ;" but we attach especial im portance to the church of the English nation, and we rejoice that it has pleased God to distinguish her as a witnesss to himself. We are thankful that the reformed church, of which most is known in foreign countries is the church which has most strictly adhered to primitive doctrine and discipline, and which most nearly approximates both in her articles and creed, as well as in the order of her ministry to scripture itself, and to what may be proved from scripture. Let us, theJefore, be content with these advan tages, and let all boasting be excluded. It is no sign of great ness to vaunt of authority. In the sight of man as well as God, he that humbleth himself is more likely to he exalted Then he who assumes an air of autnority. which could never be entrusted to man in after ages as it was to the apostles, unless men like the apostles were enabled to read the heart. But though none can forgive sins but God alone, and though rege neration is not of the will nor of the work of man but of God, yet God ,whose spirit goeth where it listeth,has given much to us which we may justly prizeas a talent, and esteem as an office of infinite importance sufficient to give us cause to tremble at the position we hold. It is much to sit in the apostle's seat, and to‘hold the office they did. We, like the apostles, are ambassadors for Christ. Our calling is like theirs. We entreat men for Christ's sake to be reconciled to God. We are stewards of ,his mysteries. We are overseers and shepherds of his flock. As successful ambassadors, as faithful stewards, as diligent overseers, and as watchful shepherds of the flock, if we have the holy spirit work ing within us, enabling us to do of his great power, we shall need no higher honour, and we shall want no greater dig nity. And is in no other way can we attain to real dignity. so in no other way can we assure to ourselves the authority to which we are called. We cannot in this land of light maintain the fatal claims which the Roman priests assume, and which nothing except the darkness in which they enshrouded their people could enable them to take. We pity them, whether deceivers or deceived. God forbid that we should ever intimate thetn. The church, the flock of the true shepherd, will not fail to be distinguished. We will, at least, be as much distinguished as it is good that frail and fallible man should be esteemed. We shall have to the full as much honour as we can bear. The greatest joy Christ experienced was when His children walked after the truth, and the surest sign of an apostle is when he is diligent in " works of faith, labours of love, and patience of hope," which his disciples exercised, and were known by exercising, and which . resulted frem the knowledge that God was with them. "To turn many to righteousness ;" that is real, pre-eminence; "to win souls to Christ ;" that is lasting honour; "to take heed to ourselves and to the doctrines ;" that is both to our selves and them that hear us ; "to preach the word ;" " to be instant in season and out of season ;" to testify both publicly and from house to house " repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ ;" that is to be a successor of the apostles—to be gentle unto all men ; " in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves ;" that is to be a man of God. While many who have been first shall be last, those who adhere most faithfully, and " turn ninny from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God," will have the surest rejoicing, and shall wear the brightest crown. . His lordship then retired from the communion, and the service terminated. We understand that at the request of the clergy the charge will be published. PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION Last evening a crowded meeting was held in St. Jude's School-room, Oake's-street, for the purpose of considering the propriety of petitioning against the continuance of the parliamentary grant to the Popish college of Maynooth. chair was occupied by the Rev. H. M`Neile : The CHAIRMAN having opened the proceedings with prayer, delivered an eloquent address, for which we regret that we can fi n d room f or on l y th e f o ll ow i n g passages. Doubtless many of you have seen Dr. Butler's letter to me. I have not wr i tten an y re j o i n d er , for two reasons : first, hie letter is not an answer to mine ; and, secondly, instead of containing argument, it contains language more characteristic of Billingsgate than of religious discussion. In the reckless use of opprobrious personalities, which dis grace only those who use them, I readily concede the palm of victory into the hand of Dr. Butler. In this branch of the controversy with me, he is, I am happy to say, facile prin cepa. - . I.—l wish now to put you briefly in possession of the rea sons for calling Romanism a schism in England. You have all heard of, and many of you have read, what is called the Creed of Pope Pius IV. It is the avowed Creed of Roman ism. It consists of 24 articles—twelve ancient and twelve modern. The twelve ancient articles of it were compiled by the Fathers of the Christian church in the year 325. The twelve modern articles were compiled by the Pope in the year 1564. Now observe ! The twelve ancient articles were, and are, the creed of the Church of Christ here in England. They compose what we call the Nicene Creed. This was the creed of the English Church for centuries before Pope Pius IV. was born. This is the old, the real ancient Christian faith ; and as such is held and constantly read in the Church of England. But what is Romanism ? Romanian. consists in the twelve modern articles. It is a novelty, intruded into the Christian church. It is a heresy opposed to the ancient faith. It is a schism from the body of Christ. And we say nothing more than the grave and stern demands of historic truth, when we say that the priests of it are priests of the Roman schism in England. _ _ _ Here is a case containing a bottle of good old wine which cheers the heart of man. The bottle is open; its contents are unadulterated ; and the invitation of its great Owner is free, to every one that is athirst, to come and drink, without money and without price. Now, here is another case ! It contains two bottles : one of them is labelled the good old wine, but it is close corked; the other is open, and full of new drugs. which stupify and degrade all who drink them. These dre gs are carried about for sale. The prices asked are indeed accommodated to the circumstances of the purchasers, but all must pay something. Yet so palatable to sinners are these drugs, that the thou sands of fallen men prefer paying for them, to drinking the good wine without pay. The first case represents old genuine Christianity as ex pressed in the Nicene creed, and retained without any delete rious mixture in the Church of England. The second repre sents Rotnanisrn, with its label of antiquity on a corked bottle, and its open bottle put up for sale filled with modern palatable poisons„such as cause men to nauseate the good wine, and to take pleasure in the intoxicating stupor of the drugs. Take a specimen of each. First. " The offering of Christ once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation and satis faction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin, but that alone." Here is good old wine, the wine of the Kingdom of Heaven, administered freely to all her dear children by the scriptural church of England. Secondly. " I profess likewise that in the mass is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiato r y sacr ifi ce f or th e li v i n g and the dead. Here is a modern drug full of deadly poison, poison for eternity, sold at accommodating prices to all her superstitious customers by the Church of Rome. 2.—1 wish to guard you against deception in the matter of Mr. and Mrs. Galwey. What I allege is, that a Romanist bishop in Ireland endeavoured to coerce Mr. Galwey in his political conduct, by refusing to allow the ceremonies of their faith to be administered to his sick wife. This is proved by Mr. Galwey' s letter, who says, " Whatever differences your lordship and myself may have on the subject of politics, it is an act of cruelty that a religious female, in a bad state of health, and enable on Christmas Day to leave her bedroom, should be the sufferer." And again Mr. Galwey writes : " I beg respectfully to ask whether any act of my life, as a Catholic, merited such conduct either towards myself or any of my family, and whether it is not solely on account of political differences, this system of tyranny is attempted to be practised towards me ?" Thus, Mr. Galwey charges his bishop with cruelty and ty ranny. But Dr. B u tl er sa y s , " Let it be remembered, no act of tyranny, as appears by Mr. Galwey's letter, was exercised." It is a pity that Dr. Butler did not enable his Romish and liberal readers to judge for themselves by printing Mr. Gal wey's letters. If Mr. Galwey's letters showed that no act of tyranny was exercised, I venture to express my conviction that Dr. Butler would have reprinted Mr. Galwey's letters. I reprinted them ; and if Dr. Butler, or his friend the Mer cury, be lovers of truth and fair play and honest discussion, they will reprint them also. But they will not. They dare not allow their readers to see such an exposure of Rocaish temporal tyranny, exercised by means of what they call spirituals. 'Evading this, which is the main 'point at isstre;Dr: Butler makes much of another point, inferior in itself, and imma terial in its consequences. Against my sermon upon the subject, he has nothing to say. My charge of tyranny against the Papal system remains unanswered I When I preached the sermon I had heard nothing more about Mr. and Mrs. Gnlwev, and knew nothing but the facts as exhibited in Mr. Galwey's letters. I afterwards heard that they had become Protestants. I did not know this to be the case, and I never asserted that it was the case. At the meet ing in Manchester, when I had stated the facts as they appear in my sermon, and read Mr. Galwey's letters, I was about to pass on to another subject, when a gentleman on the platform called out, " What was the result 7" 1 replied, I can't say; I HAVE HEARD that Mr. and Mrs. Galwey have become Protestants, but that is immaterial to my object : my object is to illustrate Popish tyranny. When Dr. Butler saw the report of my speech at Man chester, he did not dare to touch the important facts which I stated as facts ; but evading all these (for reasons suffici ently obvious) he fastened upon an unimportant circumstance which I (lid not state as a fact, but as a thing I had heard, and in itself immaterial to my object. And now he has done the same thing again. He dares not to meet the facts of the case, by reprinting Mr. Galwey's letters ; and he ingeni ously endeavours to turn away public attention from the facts. He proves himself afraid of the facts, by suppressing from his readers Mr. Galwey's letters. I heard that Mr. and Mrs. Galvvey had become protestants. I did not say it was so, but that I heard it and that it was immaterial whe ther or not. It appears that they continue Romanists. Well ! what then ? It is immaterial, wholly immaterial to the question in hand, 'whether or not. The papal system is stamped with tyranny in its accredited standards : and that tyranny, iii its modern working, in this country, is illus trated by Mr. Galwey's letters. Will Dr. Butler reprint those letters ? No. Will the Mercury ? No. Why not ? An answer is needless : judge ye what I say. 3.—A few words in conclusion about St. Bernard. My sermon on Antichrist contained two quotations from that ce lebrated writer. Dr. Butler, after telling us with some pomp of his reference to the original in the library at St. Anthony's, charges one of my quotations with forgery. He proceeds to give a translation from St. Bernard himself, and in it, behold the very passage quoted in my sermon and called by Dr. Butler a forgery! This speaks for itself. Of my other quotation he conveniently omits all notice. Now it so hap pens that the copy of St. Bernard's works in the library at St. Anthony's is not the only copy in Liverpool. I also re ferred to the original. Ifound my quotation, and reprinted it, with all its context, both in the original latin and in a translation written for that purpose. In Dr. Butler's letter, professing to be a reply to mine, he prudently avoids this troublesome passage, and leaves his Romish readers, as he found them, in profound ignorance of what St. Bernard said upon the subject. If I don't greatly mistake, some of them have read my letter, (a second edition of which is already sold,) and will not henceforth be so easily satisfied with the ipse dixit of the doctor, or the Mercury. The Rev. Chairman concluded by some observations rela tive to the excellent Protestant charge delivered in the fore noon, by our venerable Diocesan, which elicited great applause. The Rev. J. BAYLEE, and the Rev. W. FALLOON next ad dressed the meeting, and all the r esolutions were unanimously carried, after which the meeting separated. The petition against the grant received a great number of signatures. GREAT SUCCESS OF JOHN TOLLEMACHE, ESQ., AT BIRKENHEAD. Yesterday morning, at ten o'clock, this gentleman, who is a candidate for South Cheshire, arrived in the township of Birkenhead, in the progress of his canvass through that part of the county, accompanied by J. D. Case, Esq., and Messrs. John Peacock, Wm. Sharpe, C. A. Watson, John Robin, W. W. Perry, Latham, &c., at Poole's Hotel, Woodside. He proceeded with his friends on his canvass through the principal part of Birkenhead, and met with a most cordial reception throughout, having 'received promises of support from three out of four of the electors, besides those of many parties who had voted against him at the last election. The parties afterwards went to Tranmere, where Mr. Tollemache visited the Regent's Society, in the character of a private gentleman. On his entering, the band struck up " See the conquering hero." He addressed those present, congratu lating them on the advantages of such societies—his own tenantry having flourished under them ; and on retiring, a lively shout was raised of " Tollemache for ever ! " The success of this highly respected gentleman at Birken head has been far beyond the expectation of himself or his friends, exceeding, indeed, that of any former candi date on the conservative side on any former occasion. Mr. Tollemache has also been highly successful in Northwich, Nantwich, and Congleton, and his ultimate success is beyond aldoubt. The Wilbraham party will scarcely venture. we should think, to show " their diminished heads." This day the highly popular candidate, whose head-quarters are at Poole's Hotel, will, with his friends, go through Tranmere and Higher and Lower Bebbington, and during the week will visit other parts of the hundred of Wirrall, where he will doubtless meet with an equally flattering reception. We have elsewhere noticed his visit to Rock Ferry. ROYAL ROCK FERRY AND BEBBINGTON CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION. A meeting of the members of this association took place last evening at the Royal Rock Ferry House, for the purpose of having an interview with Mr. Tollemache, and hearing his sentiments and political principles. Joseph Ackers, Esq. briefly introduced Mr. Tollemache to the meeting, congratu lating the members of the association present with the suc cess that had hitherto met that gentleman in his canvass in the Hundred of Wirrral. Mr. Tollemache commenced by stating how highly gratified he was in meeting the gentlemen present, and he felt most proud when he reflected upon the handsome way in which he had been everywhere received in that neighbourhood. He had a large stake in the county, and he felt that unless a very great change took place in the administration of government, that stake would be worth nothing. Mr. Tollemache was totally opposed to the unholy alliance which had taken place between the government and the catholic party. He came amongst them a perfect stran ger, but he considered it a duty to his country to come for ward—it was contrary to his feelings ; but he hylieved that the battle of the constitution was about to be fought, and un less those who supported him did not believe him sincere, he could not ask them for their votes. He was a stanch sup porter and uncompromising adherent to the protestant faith, and therefore, opposed to the grant to..Maynooth. (Cheers.) He was a warm supporter of the church, and considered it a most invaluable institution, by which means a man would be qualified to enter the kingdom of Heaven. He was not a bigotted churchman, he had a great respect for dissenters, there were many men in his own immediate neighbourhood for whom he entertained the greatest respect and esteem, and he believed that the Wesleyans as a body were greatly at tached to the church of England. (Hear, hear, hear.) Mr. Tollemache dwelt strongly and forcibly upon the conduct of O'Connell, and the adherence and support of him by the ad ministration, which had at one period denounced him as a 'rebel. He knew for a fact that he (Mr. O'Connell) had been offered a judgeship. (Oh ! Oh !) Mr. Tollemache would avow his intention of supporting Sir Robert Peel and Lord Stanley, so long as they did their duty to the country. (Loud • cheers.) The Rev. Mr. T. F. REDHEAD, (Intended incumbent of the new church at Rock Ferry,) said that he was most happy to meet so influential a body of gentlemen as that he now saw before him. As a clergyman of the church of England, he did not like mixing in what are termed politics, but he thought the present was a time when all men ought to wave their private feelings, and he trusted he should have the pleasure of seeing Mr. Tollemache go hand in hand with his friend, Sir Philip Egerton, into the House of Commons. (Cheers.) The rev. gentleman dwelt most forcibly upon the strides made by Popery in the country, and that it was the duty of every man to stem the tide—it was now a question of life and death. He would do all he could, and use all the, influence at his command in forwarding the interests of Mr. Tollemache. (Loud cheers.) Mr. PEACOCK congratulated Mr. Tollemache upon his, re ception in the township. They were all eager for battle, and never were in a better condition. The registration was in a most prosperous condition. He had been disgusted by the apathy ahewn by the conservatives, and he had deelared that he would never have any thing to do with them again; but he now came forward, seeing that there was an intention of making a strong demonstration. Mr. TOLLEMACHE said he felt confident that the welfare of England depended upon the result of the forthcoming election. The Rev. Mr. REDHEAD begged to inquire whether it was Mr. Tollemache's intention to support Sir H. Inglis's efforts in advancing the cause of church extension? Mr. TOLLEMACHE said that his conduct, in reference to the Weaver Church building question, he thought, would show what his opinions were upon that subject. Sir H. Inglis was his friend, and he would give him his support, and he thought that perhaps it would be as well for him to enter into an explanation of his masons for encouraging the building of the Weaver churches. He briefly detailed the circum stances under which he considered it was necessary to erect those churches, and dwelt upon the ignorance of the flatmen and navigators on the Weaver. They had been prevented working on the Sunday ; but as they had no religious instruc tion, their idleness had made them in a worse condition. He considered that it was the bounden duty of all who had pro. perty to promote the religious instruction, and . promote the moral welfare of those who were dwelling around them. Mr. ,LYON said he was a manufacturer and an agricultu rist, and he should certainty like to hear Mr. Tollemache's opinion on the subject of the corn laws. Mr. TOLLEMACHE denounced the fixed duty on corn as a complete humbug, and said that a fixed duty would end in a total repeal. Mr. Tollernache entered briefly upon the ques tion, much to the satisfaction of those present. Mr. NELSON WOOD, after a few remarks, put the follow ing resolution, which was seconded by the Rev. Mr. RED.. HEAD; who expressed his pleasure at Mr. Tollemache's straightforward and manly exposition of his principles. " Mr. Tollernache having explained his political views— Resolved that this meeting do pledge themselves to use every legal means in their power to return him in conjunction with Sir Philip Egerton as members to the House of Commons for the southern division of the county of Chester." Mr. TOLLEMACHE, in conclusion, thanked the gentlemen t, and said he hoped t h at he wo uld not be found want rg. presen He could do his juty.—Three cheers we re th en g i ven for Mr. Tollemache, when the meeting separated. [Our reporter received instructions , from Mr. Tollemache to apply to our contemporary the Liverpool Mail for a copy of his address to the electors of South Cheshire. On making application for it he was refused the document ; we are, therefore, sorry we cannot present our readers and the sup porters of Mr. Tollemache with it—but we shall not fail to lay it before them on FridaY next.—[E.L.S.] LIVERPOOL AUXILIARY BIBLE SOCIETY. —The annual meeting of the friends and subscribers of the Liverpool branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society was held at the Mu sic-hall, Concert-street, on Friday evening. At the com mencement of the proceedings the attendance was thin and scattered; but in the course of an hour after the room began rapidly to be filled, and presented, towards the close, a large array of respectability. The chair was occupied on the occa sion by the Rev. Dr. Byrthe. We noticed the following clergy men and gentlemen on the platform :—The Rev. Frederick Parry, Rev. Mr. Carter, Rev. Thos. Dwyer, Rev. Dr. Raffles, Rev. Dr. Pinkerton, Rev. Robert Davies, Rev. D r . B eau . moat, Rev. Charles Havdon, Rev. James Lister, Rev. Wm. Rawson, Rev. Edmund Spencer, Rev. William Vevers; Messrs. Thomas J. Bourne, John Cropper, William Kay, John Priestly, John Edon, Thomas 0. Cooper, W. J. Thomlinson, Isaac Harrison, Thomas Rimmer, Thomas Eccles, Joseph J. Godfrey, Wm. Cook, William Rushton, Michael. Ashton, Thomas Sands, and Alderman Bulley. The meeting was addressed 'by the chairrn - an, the Rev. Mr. Davies, Mr. John Cropper, the Rev. F. Parry, Mr. Thos. J. 'Bourne, the Rev. Mr. Haydon, and the Rev. Dr. Pinkerton. BIRKENHEAD TEA GARDENS—FIREWORKS, &c.—yes terday evening a splendid display of fireworks, by our talented townsman, Mr. James, professor of Pyrotechnics, took place at Mr. Willoughby's pleasure -grounds, Birkenhead Hotel, and was roost numerously and fashionably attended. The artist produeed a most s uccessful and highly -applauded series .of beautiful devices in fireworks, including wheels, stars, rockets, &c. A good military band was on the groun d there were numerous variegated lamps, and the whol e scene was moat exhilirating. A beautiful view o f S t. J ean D ' Acre formed the back-gr o und, to be exhibited with a li ne repre r entation of the siege on Monday next. CORRESPONDENCE ON THE PRESENT POSITION OF OUR WEST INDIA COLONIES, AND THE BEST MEANS OF RESTORING THEIR PROSPERITY LETTER II TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STAND.IRD, In our last letter we endeavoured to show the advantages to the Indies, both East and West, which would result from the establishment of a system of migration from the one to the other, on the most extensive scale ; and to prove the ur gent necessity which exists for the immediate organization and legalised use of the means for effecting so desirable an object. But it is not alone to Hindostan that the West In dians look for the supply of their deficiency of labour. Another fruitful source presents itself in that country which has hitherto been the scene of the inhuman slave trude—the unhappy shores of Africa—and though such a proposition may at first have startled the friends of the negro race, it is one which has now, we hope, begun to engage their most serious attention, and one which promises, above all others, to produce a favourable effect on the destinies of that un happy race. _ We need not here enlarge on the importance that has for many years attached to the civilisation and elevation of the benighted African in the scale of humanity. We need not dwell on the self-denying exertions of all the benevolent philanthropists, who, since Wilberforce took up the glorious theme, have distinguished themselves in the good cause. We need not enumerate the sacrifices of treasure, and of the lives of her hardy sons—from the enthusiastic Mungo Park down to the lowest seaman, who year after year perishes in the discharge of his duty of rescuing the defenceless victim of slavery from the hands of his ruthless ravager—which Britain has offered up as her tribute on the shrine of this great principle. We need not point to the many settlements she has made on the pestilential shores, as places of refuge for her hapless sons, and as centres for the diffusion of the arts of civilisation through the neighbouring districts. We need but mention these numerous evidences of the spirit of earnest anxiety which is abroad in this country in this great cause ; but, alas ! that we should have to allude to them only for the purpose of lamenting that they have all so signally failed in their object, and that the great work of African civilisation seems just as remote, if left to the operation of these means, as ever. In whatever direction we look at the evils which afflict the negro race out of the British domi nions, either in their fatherland, or in their passage across the Atlantic ; in the islands or on the continent of America, on both sides of the line, so surely do we find, that from the time when Las Casas, the Wilberforce of the Indians, from one-sided motives of benevolence, first founded the African slave trade, down to the present hour the course of events has been only from bad to worse. It is very evident then that we must look to some other plan for the attainment of this object : and where will we find one so pregnant with pro mises of mighty import. as in the opening up of a stream of voluntary emigration between that country and the West Indies? The African race will by this means be brought in contact with the arts and customs of civilised life, in a country where they flourish—will be stimulated by the prospect of re ward to habits of industry and honesty—will acquire a taste for the comforts of life—and will, after the lapse of years, when the work of moral regeneration has taken effect, perhaps return, and, by the force of example,sstimulate their countrymen to follow in their footsteps, and become like them useful mem bers of the social system. We might compare the production of this artificial current of migration, to an,operation very similar in practical engineering, by which the waters of a sluggish river—that, from some obstruction, have spread themselves over the face of the country in the form of a pes tilential swamp, under the influence of a tropical sun, teem ing with evidences of animated nature in its most repulsive form, and exhaling the noxious miasmata, which blight with their poisoned breath whatever comes within their baneful influence—are drawn off through a well-regulated channel, to spread the blessings of fertility and the beauties of vegetation over the " dry parched lands wherein no waters be." Thus bringing to a state of wholesome consistence the soil formerly destroyed by stagnant moisture, and with that very element of injury, when transferred to another scene, making the land to smile with the cheering fruits of industry. The preventive system, as applied to the suppression of the slave trade, is confessedly quite inadequate. Lord John Russell himself acknowledges that the whole British navy would be insufficient as a marine guard to suppress the in famous traffic, along the extensive shores of Africa. What ' then can be expected from the efforts of a few small cruizers, whose efficiency is always more or less crippled by the effects of the dreadful climate to which their operations are con fined? If we are unable, with all our complicated machinery of coast guard and revenue cruizers, to prevent the smuggling of French brandy, and lace, upon our own circumscribed coast, how can we look for any useful effects from any system of prevention we can possibly put in force in Afrita ? For not only is the risk of capture so much less in the case of the African smuggler, but the temptation, from the profits of his speculation, is infinitely greater. The result of all our efforts in this direction is, therefore, as might have been expected from the inadequacy of the means that can possibly be brought to bear upon it, that the slave trade has increased in extent, and deepened in atrocity. Why, then, continue the unavailing sacrifice of so much valuable life and treasure, in the face of such woful results as must be obvious to any one, when, if a mere moiety of the expenditure were directed into another channel, we should have every reason to hope that the most beneficial consequences would follow ? —a course which would just bear the same relation to the one now in operation, that the act of laying the axe to the root of the tree bears to that of lopping off a stray twig here and there, when the object in view was the destruction of the pa rent stem ; for, destroying the sources of the profit, by ren dering free labour cheaper than that of slaves, would he to this traffic precisely what the cutting off of the supply of sap from the roots, by a well-directed blow, would be to the tree; while the effect of capturing now and then a solitary slave vessel with its hapless cargo, is precisely analogous to that of endeavouring to stop the growth and vigour of the tree by depriving it of a few superfluous branches. Alas ! that there should be so wofully striking a confirmation of the truth of our position in the wall-known fact of that inhuman tratli still " flourishing like a green bay tree," or rather like the deadly upas, spreading out its poisonous branches with des tructive luxuriance, and blighting with its baneful shadow the useful vegetation, now struggling on for a sickly exist ence, which might otherwise soon overspread the land with its heneficial fruits. Standing out, however, as this fact does, in striking, but me lancholy relief, from the open page of history, we cannot refuse to the reality of its existence our reluctant assent ; and the time must very soon come when this country, seeing the folly —the destructive folly—of persevering in her former course, must turn her attention to some other expedient than any of those that have already so signally failed. Let her at once abandon her costly and destructive preventive system, and devote at least a portion of the sum expended on it to the conveyance of the thousands who will gladly embrace the op portunity of removing to a country where, under the opera tion of just and equitable laws, they can live happily on the fruits of their honest industry. There is another feature in the working of our slave trade preventive policy, which shows in a very striking view the very unaccountable manner in which the framers of it seem to have studiously endeavoured to prevent our own colonies receiving the smallest benefit from the results of their exertions. We allude to the law by which all cap tured negroes are sect to be adjudicated on by the mixed courts inthe Havana, Rio Janeiro, or Sierra Leone, by whom they are distributed out among the planters, under in dentures of eight years duration, on payment of £3 a head as a bounty to the captors. It is now well authenticated, that the poor beings thus abandoned by their captors, are us a much worse condition than if they had been smuggled into the country in the regular manner, and sold to the planters. The reason is obvious : in the latter case the planter will find his own interest best consulted by treating his slave in such a manner that he may expect to have the benefit of his services during his lifetime, while in the other, he has manifestly no motive (that of benevolence excepted—by no means a very powerfully-moving principle in the slave owner's breast) for treating his slave in any way but that which will extract the greatest amount of labour out of him during the period that he remains his bondsman. The planter is in no way under a stipulation to account for him at the end of his period of so called apprenticeship—say rather of aggravated slavery ; and indeed the court with whose sanction the engagement was made, entirely lose sight of the poor wretch after he passes through their judicature, and his identity is so completely lost that it is a very common practice for such slaves to be smuggled into some other slave holding state, such as Texas, Mexico, and even the Southern States of the American Union, and again sold to the highest bidder, like any other beast of burden. _ _ Mr. Turnbull, in his work on Cuba, states, that from his own actual observation these " apprentices" were the worst treated and most dejected of all the unhappy victims which he saw, and that so apparent is this even to the negroes themselves, that the regular slaves actually look down upon those " emancipados" with contempt, as an inferior order of beings. So that here, by the operation of our most unjust interference, we have given a most melancholy practical proof that " in the lowest depth of human woe there is in deed a deeper still." With these facts before us, how can we, if the slave-cap turing system is continued,—how can Ile persevere in such a mode of disposal of our unhappy captives ? Why continue to send them jute a state of aggravated bondage, when, in the same neighbourhood, we have free communities of their brethren, to whom, as we have already endeavoured to show, and to themselves, such a disposal of them would prove so great a benefit ? Really, of such a course of perversely in jurious policy the history of modern times affords no parallel. So long as we were ourselves slave-owners, there might be some semblance of an excuse for thus giving a preference to foreigners ; but now that we should continue to pass our own colonies by, when their wants are so much increaser, and their claims to a preference so obviously paramount, to enrich the slave-owner of Cuba and Brazil at the expense of the hapless being who has thus " met us in an evil hour," is, to say the least, one of the greatest anomalies which the history of our legislative enactments affords. Britain, before she car, with that proud feeling which springs from a conscious ness of benevolent intentions, guided by judicious measures, to results of practical utility, say to the negro race; at least, " Opifer que per orbern dicor," . . . must pursue a widely different course with reference to them than she has vet followed. Let her people with them those magnificent colonies, where every individual is as free as the wind, and now pointed out by Providence as the garden of civilisation for the benighted sons of Africa as well as for the perishing outcasts of India. Then may we hope to realize what Mr. Fowell Buxton, in one of his energetic appeals in favour of the negro, states, " That Providence must have overruled slavery for the purpose of ultimately civilising Africa." (To be concluded in our next.) THE GOVERNMENT AND MR. EASTHOPE'S CHURCH -RATE ABOLITION BILL. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD Sist,—When I took up your valuable paper this morning, I was somewhat disappointed to find that you had not ex posed the very obvious trick of Mr. Easthope's bill for the abolition of church-rates. The omission, however, is easily to be accounted for on looking over your miscellaneous co lumns, subjects of local and evanescent interest requiring more immediate attention on the part of a generally read paper than matters which involve contested principles. I do not, when speaking of Mr. Easthope's bill, mean to shrink from the application of the phrase " contested prin ciples" to church-rates. Church-rates, I contend, and every matter appertaining to the church, involve contested principles, but principles contested only'by two parties, one of whom is verbalised by the term popery, and the other comprises the restless class who years ago were denominated political dissenters. Singular to state, the united efforts of these bodies, combined with persevering agitation and the circulation of most novel doctrines as far as constitutional evidences and biblical truth are concerned, have produced and are producing the opposite consequences to those in tended. To prove this, I lay before your readers th e follow ing table of the church-rate contests at Brighton, which, although sometimes the abode of monarchy, has achieved some degree of eminence for maintaining principles which must eventually lead to republicanism. The subject of . a church-rate has been contested there four tim es since tue Manchester voluntaries formed themselves into an agitation committee [1835] to overthrow the established church, and the following are the results : Date. For the rate. Against. Majority for the rate. Nov. 24, 1836.... 1702 1 389 313 May 2, 1839.... 1157 747 410 Jan. 9, 1840.... 737 62 657 March 9, 1841.... 804 236 568 In all of these cases the majorities ha ve proportionately in. creased. The trick of Mr. Ealtbope'm motion is to eatch rolunta ries' votes. He asked for leave to introditaa kis bill an Tuesday night, the day after Sir Robert Peel had given notice of his, want-of-confidence motion, and the government consented to its introduction, but with beautiful consistency spoke against it—not, however, upon the ground that to establish church-rates would destroy the nationality of the establishment, but because the bill proposed to accomplish the designs of its promoters in too straightforward a manner for them. Her Majesty's present ministers, it seems from Lord Morpeth, are willing, then, to destroy the impost; hut, say they, something must be provided in its stead — that is, a wet blanket must be thrown over the church esta blishment, by which it may become palsied in an important extreme, and a lingering though certain death be the ulti mate issue. The truth is, there is a mutual understanding between the mover of this bill and the existing administra tion, just as there is a compact between them and the great Irish mendicant, for a common object which is sufficiently obvious. There remains, I am bound to say, but one hope for the Church of England—that is, in the zeal, energy, learning, Christian faithfulness, and evangelic laboriousness of her ministry being devoted to the religious progression of the people. Sound gospel principles sown in the soil of a prac tical Christian population never return unprofitable. I am, sir, yours respectfully, PENSATORE. Fridap Afternoon, 28th May, 1841. TO THE REV. J. BAYLEE have this morning received a note, signed " Charles Maguinness, curate of Trinity Church," enclosing a news paper slip, with your answer to my manuscript note, which was addressed directly to you on the Bth of May. Without intending any offence to you, I must express regret that the necessity which your previous silence, and the refusal of the STANDARD to insert my note, put upon me of asking this favour from a political opponent, should be availed of as a reason for exports reflection. Difficult as it is for us all to judge impartially of our own or our neighbour's spirit, I yet apprehend that good men will not less deprecate the tone of your's than of mine. But I shall not recriminate nor further enlarge on this insignificant point. You have put to me two irrelevant questions, which it were quite fair I should decline to answer. From their insi dious tendency, however. I shall candidly reply to them when I have remarked upon the inaccurate reference to my first letter, by which both you and the editor of the STANDARD have bespoken the prejudice of your own readers. You con sent to say I " designate the Church of England as the vain glorious first-born of the mother of harlots," with a mani fest hastiness of spirit and morbid sensibility, mistaking a hypothetical for a positive proposition ! I do not " designate" the Church of England, nor do I think it such as you assume. I regard it as an integral of the Catholic Church, but no more. My words are, " If" your's "be the prevailing opi nion of its ministers" (which I do not think is the case) in respect to other Christian churches, " this exclusive bigotry would justify" the designation. The sentiment I deliberately repeat, with as much, and as disinterested sincerity of love for its consistent members, as its most vehement partizans. You ask me— 1. " Is that sentiment put forth by you as the opinion of any body of persons with which you are connected, or is it the mere expression of individual opinion?" The previous step to justify this query would be, to an nounce whether on commission or individual responsibility you put forth the primitive allegation which I assail. But I answer, as the question rests upon a bare assumption of your own, it is a nullity. 2. Have you, Within the last twelve months, consulted with a Liverpool clergyman as to the possibility of obtaining orders in our church ?" To which plain and simple question I answer plainly and simply, NO. With this I might be content to await the advantage to myself of a further challenge that should educe facts of a quite opposite character. But I have no object of this kind, nor will I fasten your inquiring to a date or a fact. I had conversation upon that subject with a Liverpool clergyman more than TWO years ago, arising out of a proposal Mat came from him. An Irish gentleman, then and now incum bent in Liverpool, introduced the subject TO me in the spring of 1839, representing the enlarged sphere of usefulness which would be afforded me, should I obtain one of the nine new churches that it was intended to build in the town and neigh bourhood, and which (as he was pleased to express himself) my talent and respectability, he had no doubt, would en sure; and himself offered me letters to another clergyman and the bishop of the diocese. That was the only " con sultation" I ever had with a clergyman upon the "possibility" you mention. My sentiments and feelings upon the occasion were given to that gentleman in a letter on the lOth of May, 1839, which you are at liberty to obtain from him for any candid use, at his pleasure. Should he have mislaid it, and concur with you in desire for its publication, I will take the trouble to transcribe it, and forward the copy, on your pro mise that it shall be published totidem verbis. Having answered the tangible points of your Socratic pre liminary, and supplied you with data for the scrutiny of my claims to your condescension, " I," in my turn, " feel as sured that every person of real integrity of principle will admit" that your open challenge, as to " the Church of England being the ONLY branch of the Catholic church ex isting in England," is at my acceptance, and within my right to oppugn. This I do; and call to you for proof. I remain, Sir, J. B. M'CREA Crescent, Waterloo, May 31, 1841 LIVERPOOL YOUNG MEN'S ESTABLISHED CHURCH SOCIETY. MEETING AT ALL SAINTS' CHURCH. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. SlR,—There is an inaccuracy in your report of the meet ing of this excellent society which was held on the 24th inst. The rev. chairman is incorrectly made to class "Methodism" with the God-denying heresy of " Socinianism." Being present at the time, I can correct the error. His observa tion was, " The preacher who was bound only by this"— alluding to a particular creed—" might iptroduce Socinian ism, Deism, or any other ism, until himself borne down to destruction in the stream of error or infidelity, his congre gation were involved in the same perdition." - It would be a source of unfeigned regret both to the re spected pastor of All Saints' Church and myself, if, by rea son of the remark in question, any untoward feelings should have been excited in the minds of our respected non-con forming friends. I verily believe that the Weslovans, as a body, have the " truth" ; and whilst I hold the Church of England to be " a living temple of the living God, the pal ladium of British piety, and the glory of our land," I am still ready, notwithstanding the misrepresentation of the semi-popery of Puseyism ' to hold out the right hand of fel lowship to all those " who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."—l am, sir, yours most obediently, JAS. :MATHEWS, Secretary to the Liverpool Young Merl's Established Church Society. Clarendon-buildings, South John-street, 29th May, 1841. [The mistake alluded to arose evidently from a misappre hension on the part of our reporter ; and, as it is very de sirable that such an impression as our correspondent refers to should lie dissipated as early as possible, we insert his communication with pleasure.—ED.] ANTI-CORN-LAW FAILURE AT NORTHWICH TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD Norilarich, May 27111, 1841 SIR,—As corn-law and anti-corn-law meetings seem the order of the day, 1 am unwilling that the welcome fact fur nished by an anti-corn-law assemblage last night in this town should be lost to your readers. It was mustered by the posting and parading ail over the town of large and flaming placards, printed circulars, and public notice last Sunday in a place here known as " the Tabernacle," in which some dozen or two of dissenters meet for preaching (!) and other purposes. This was the scene of action. A large loaf and a smaller one were exhibited in the course of the afternoon upon two poles, carried by some rough lads of sixteen years of age, hired by the " league " for the purpose. Lawrence Hayworth, Esq., a ,Liverpool radical, yeas announced to preside, and that the meeting would be addressed by many gesitlemen !! The platform was occupied by six gentlemen—one Dignum, a tailor; Mister Joh n S u tt on , a sc h o olmaster; a Mr. Green, who was, I understood, lately a clerk in one of our lawyers' offices; another gentleman, who wore shabby mourning, who was, I understood, a dissenting preacher; " Robert Gorst,'' from about the Liverpool docks ' • and Mr. Heyworth. These occupied the stage. I ns t ea d o f acting fairly, by placing the " whig-and-something-more" in the chair, as they had pro mised they would, they placed the lawyer's clerk there, who is a Unitarian, the aforesaid Mr. Green ; and truly green he seemed to be, for on getti ng u p to announce what the meet ing was called for, he was at sea, until Mr. Dignum reminded him, and then he began muttering something about a cheap loaf, &c., and called up " Robert Gorst." Robert looked around him, and then dashed off in a rhapsodical announce ment that he was for the repale of the corn-laws, those haistly laws, he said, that had lowered down man to the liaist of the field. Robert next tried his hand at Scripture quotation ! and soon arrived at the conclusion that the 25,000,000 of people ought to share the estates of the 30,000 landlords ! Not by Scripture, nor the principal of rason, could the reverse be justified, or the bone be impartially held. He now turned sharply round to the " rich man" from Liverpool, and said " Misther Hey worth ! 1 appale to you, Sir !" which made Misther Hey -1 worth laugh no little. Robert concluded by showing a lot of crackers. (1 suppose sea biscuits,) not for the purpose, I fear, of giving them to the poor creatures who were, with open mouths, listening to Robert's logic. * Mr. Heyw'orth then said a few words, and the meeting broke up. And now, Mr. Editor, of whom did this meeting consist? Of about twenty-six poor men and women, who appeared to have nowhere else to go. and who were doubtless glad of an opportunity of being seated. Where were our swarms of creditable watermen ? where our hundreds of honest artisans ?—where our respectable shop keepers and tradesmen ? our wealthy rock and salt proprie tors ? our professional men, and our numerous gertry ? Where were all these important classes of our town and neighbourhood on this occasion, after all this exertion to get it up? They know better. A more complete failure there never was ; and this is the fact I wish your readers to know. These anti-corn-law men will never surely try their game in Northwich any more, where they found last night that the people were too well instructed.—l am, sir, Your obedient servant, A YOUNG CONSERVATIVE. ♦N ADDRESS TO ANTI-CORN-LAW CONSERVATIVES. FELLOW COUNTRYMEN address you, because an ad ministration which has shown itself ready to disregard all integrity of principle, and to adopt any line of conduct, however inimical to the welfare of the country, ventures to suppose that you will contribute to give it a longer tenure of office, and that you will assist to protect it from a deserved and threatened tate. Will you allow yourselves to be drawn into the snare placed for you ? My sentiments agree with yours—l am opposed to the present corn-laws; but this fact should never induce me to forget that a desire to amend the system now in operation is not the only qualification requi site in a parliamentary candidate. Must every other poli tical consideration be merged in your efforts to promote this measure ? Will you sacrifice to the advancement of lhis object the principles you have long cherished—principles which, if acted upon at this juncture, might secure the safety, happiness, and prosperity of your native land? Is it your desire to remove (what we consider to be) an evil, by the substitution of others more exceptionable in their cha racter, and vastly snore injurious in their effects ? Desert the cause which is identified with the welfare of your country, and you may, perhaps, procure " cheap bread." But how dears price will that cheap bread cost? You must pay for it in the wasteful expenditure of a reckless and profligate government. You must pay for it in the increased taxation, which will fall alike upon the incomes of the wealthy and upon the earnings of poverty. You mu s t pay f or it in the annual deficiencies of a mismanaged and exhaustedexche quer. You must pay for it in the thousand evils spring from an administration destituteofevery senti ment of religion, justice, and patriotism—an ad ministrati on bound by no laws but those of self-interest, consistent only in inconsistency —an administ ra ti on which has violated every principle that deserves the esteem and respect of mankind. This, fellow-countrymen, is what you will have to pay for the " cheap bread" offered you by those whose promises have ever been considerably in advance of their perform ances. Are you enatent to par such a price for it ? The principles yo■ profe.s--- tii(se principles embodied in the motto you have long ago adopted as your own—" Our God, our Queen, and our Country"—forbid it. Thee let the elm duct and the solicitations of those who would seduce you from the path of duty meet with the contempt which they merit. So you will secure, for your country, the benefits of a righteous government, and for yourselves the blessings of posterity. _ _ I am, Fellow Countrymen, Yoarl, 'cost 'sincerely, AN ANTI-CORN-LAW CONSERVATIVi Liverpool, May 31, 1841. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD Stu,—Observing in this day's Albion a statement that there are no loaves to he bought in Liverpool, for sixpenoe, of the size of the English loaf exhibited in your window, allow me to say, that I saw that identical loaf broken off from several others, at a shop where it and others of simile-r size are always to be had at the price quoted. Tho reality of this assertion may easily be ascertained by weight. The correspondent of the Albion has thus Unintentionally paid a remarkable tribute to the fan proportions of the Bri tish loaf. I have no doubt but that many others, as well as the gentleman who wrote to the Albion, world be ninth benefitted by a little sober investigation. I remain, Sir, yours, &c., Liverpool, 31st May, 1841. R. G. J. [The writer of the above loter is well known to us, ant his statement can be corroborated. The letter in the Albion is a distinct proof that the anti-corn-law advocates hate so sensible reply to any tangible argument on the subject.] TO THE NVESLEYANS OF LIVERPOOL DRAB. BILETIIREN,—I am informed that Lord Palmerston and Sir Joshua Walmsley are, through their agents, soliciting your votes and interest at the next parliamentary election. What are the politics of these men as regards religion ? Don't forget this .—Palmerston is one of the present government, who brought forward, and supported, that infernal national education scheme, which called down the just indignation of the Wesleyan conference; Lord Palmerston is one of the present government, who advised our blessed Queen to take Roman Catholics as her advisers; this Lord Palmerston is the supporter of Viscount Melbourne, the man who, by in troducing Robert Owen, the wicked socialist, to our blessed Queen, caused socialism to hold up its head in triumph in our land.--Who is this Sir Joshua Walmsley ? he is at the head of the party who wish to take the Bible from all our schools ; he is the friend and supporter of Dan O'Connell ; he is connected with the party who encourage Popery in onr land ; the party who have promoted the inspector of police, who on being asked why he had not reported to Mr. Wbitty, the superintendant, that a political meeting was held on the Sabbath-day, headed by a son of Dan O'Connell, and friend of Sir Joshua's, this Roman Catholic inspector said it was such a trifling thing, that he thought it was not worth no ticing. Since, then, Sir Joshua's party have promoted him. .Wesleyans! vote for no man who is connected with and sup ports infidelity and idolatry. As Lord Palmerston and his party place Roman Catholics among the councillors of one Queen, so Walmsley and his part} place Roman Catholics in nearly every situation that becomes vacant; this sugar, tim ber, and corn law question is a bait made by O'Connell, and made use of _by Walmsley, Rathbnne, and the rest of his tail in this town to catch you. With the Rev. James Dixon, let us be determined never to vote for a man who does directly or indirectly encourage Popery in our land.—From an ad mirer of John Wesley, though . _ _ A POOR SHOEMAKER Mr. Robert Beattie, of 43, Russell-street, has requested us to state, that he is not the person who put forth last week, in the LIVERPOOL STANDA RD, an advertisement, cautioning the public against trusting his wife—that he is in no way connected with the advertiser, nor does he know him per sonally. Nervous disease of the heart has generally been considered as depending on some disarrangement 'of the stomach. That this is generally not the fact, we have only to call attention to the havoc this distressing affection makes on the constitu tion, and that in almost every instance of fresh attack, its as. verity is increased, until it terminates in completely destroy ing the action of this important organ. We are gratified that Mr. Cronin's treatment, which we have already noticed, has been most successfully tested in five severe cases within the last fortnight.—See Cronin on Disease of the Nervous System. COMMITMENTS, YESTERDAY.—Margery Johnson and Ann Hill were yesterday, at the police-office, committed to the sessions, to answera charge of having, o n Saturday night, robbed a carter named Christopher Batrersby of 14s. 6d. The prisoners stopped Battersby in Church-lane, asked him to treat them, and when he refused, Johnson put her arms round him, and took from his pocket the money, which she transferred to her companion. On her it was subsequently found by an officer.—A black man, named Joseph Cooper, was sent to take his trial on a charge of having stolen from the person of Mr. James Bimpson, publican, of Scotland place, his watch. Mr. Bimpson, on Saturday night, was making up his premises, when he fell into a fit, and the pri soner took advantage of the circumstance to extract from the fob of the publican his watch. The prisoner was afterwards apprehended by police-officer No. 113, on suspicion, and the watch was found upon him. LIVERPOOL DOCK BILL.---RUNCORN EXEMPTION CLA usE.—Thuraday, the 20th ult., was a merry day in Run corn; the parish church bells were sending forth their plea sant sounds, and the venerable tower was surmounted with a streaming banner—the quays and warehouses were decked with flags, and the vessels lining the spacious docks testified to the general feeling of rejoicing by displaying on their masts and rigging their union-jacks, and pendants, and en signs. The cause of this public demonstration was the coming into operation, on that day, of the Liverpool Dock Act, which contains a clause exempting all vessels trading to Runcorn, and not using the Liverpool Docks, from the un reasonoble exactions of the Liverpool Dock Trustees. Run coin is now a free port, entirely independent of Liverpool ; and the Irish, Scotch, and Welch traders to the commodious docks of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, and the Bridge water Trustees, at Runcorn, will now be exempt from all dock dues whatever, which will be a consideration so im portant to freighters and ship-owners, that we shall expect to hear of the Runcorn trade so rapidly and greatly increas ing as to make the 20th instant to be a day of long and grate ful remembrance in the town and port of Runcorn.—Man cheater Courier. THE OLD TRICK BECOME QUITE STALE.—A few days ago a young gentleman, son of Mr. Goodhind. supervisor, of Bol ton, was in Liyerpool, for the purpose of seeing a young lady, a relative, embark for America. While in the dock-yard, a man of good address and respectable exterior entered into conversation with them, giving them the best of advice, and seemingly interesting himself very greatly in their welfare. The young lady having got on board, the accommodating gentleman would stand cigars and a glass of brandy, and forthwith they adjeurned to a neighbouring hotel. After some conversation, the stranger began to talk about the great number of pickpockets that infested the borough, and related several instances of their dexterity, concluding with an appeal to Mr. Goodhind to allow him to fold up his money, and place it so that it could not be stolen. Mr. Goodhind, who had suspected the man for some time, at once discovered his intentions, and happening to have four or five papers in his pocket which he could dispense with, resembling bank notes, at once took them out, and handed them over to the man, who folded them carefully up, and thrust them into his clothes. Both, as may be expected, were anxious to depart, and little ceremony was required. Mr. Goodhind examined his papers on leaving the hotel, and found that his friend had actually left him twopence in exchange ; so that he was bran dy, cigars, and twopence gainer by the exchange. RIVAL. DOCTORS.-At the Police-court, on Friday, a lean named Michael Sweeny, in the employ of " Doctor" Taylor, of Marybone, whose liberality in supplying the town gratui tously with accounts of the many surprising, cures be has accomplished on the afflicted lieges, is notorious, was placed before Mr. Rushton on a charge of having " wilfully and with malice aforethought,' defaced and disfigured the signs fixed at street and entry corners, of a brother " son of Esculapeus," " Doctor" Higgins, of Mersey-street, of simi lar celebrity, and one of which decorated the back entrance to the complainants " medical institution." It appeared from the evidence, that the defendant, with a certain instru ment, to wit, a white-wask brush, dipped in black coal tar, had daubed and obliterated the letters on the aforesaid tiu sign -board, inviting all who were ill, or fancied themselves to be so, to lose no time in calling on the doctor, who, with disinterested philanthrophv, and within the short space of an hour, would " take away all the real (or imaginary) ailments, and restore them not only to health, but to juvenility." The defence was as modest as it was cogent. It was gravely alleged by the defendant, that his own feelings, as well as those of his master, were exceedingly shocked by the lan guage of the complainant's signs and advertisements, which they considered (seeing that they called things by their right names,) wholly unfit for publication, and moreover, deroga tory from the dignity and decorum of the profession. The signs, some of which were exhibited in court amidst much laughter, were, it was added, much damaged and deteriora ted. Mr. Rushton inquired if any one were present who could speak to the amount of the damages sustained ? The reply being in the negative, the aggrieved doctor himself assessed it in evidence at the suns of fifteen shillings. The magistrate stated that in law the testimony of the sufferer as to damage precluded him from recovering the amount—an intimation which was a bitterer " pill" to the doctor, than any of his own to his patients. His rival practitioner's man Friday was then fined 15s and costs for his delinquency, and the parties left the court with as much mutual acid in their visages as would stock the Apothecaries' Hall for a month. Jesse Watts Russell, Esq., of Ilam-hall, has lately is vested £1,300 in the names of the Trustees of the Charity at Ashbourn, for the widows of poor clergymen of the Church of England, for the purpose of producing an increase of ten pounds per annum to the income of the inhabitants of each house on the foundation. The numerous friends of Captain Fayrer will be rejoiced to learn, that, on Friday, he received official notice of his appointment to the command of the steam-frigate Forth, one of the splendid ships belonging to the West India Steam Navigation Company. THUNDERSTORM.—A thunderstorm visited the metropolis on Thursday evening, extended over a large space in the sur rounding country, and was even more violent at a distance. In the forest of Berkshire, huge hailstones fell amidst terrific thunder and lightning, and injured several mansions. Ac counts of the storm have been received aiso from Porstmouth and Brighton. In the metropolis, William Taylor, a hair dresser, was struck speechless by a flash of lightning, while sitting at his shop-door. SANDIP:Rs.r.—The thunder-storm of Thursday was ac companied, in the vicinity of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, by a violent fall of hail, which i n a f ew m i nutes completely destroyed almost every pain of glass in the ex tensive front of the public buildings of the college, along the whole fine facade of above 900 feet, as w e ll as the front of the professors houses, 26 in number, sod tke south face of the governor's house. Vie are sorry to h ear t h at t h e da mage thus sustained by the buildings of this national institu tion is estimated at above £BOO. " TIIERE'n AN ESPECIAL PROVIDENCE FOR LITTLE CIIILDREN."—One of the miraculous escapes from death by accident, which, good folks say, children and drunken men. alone are favoured with, took place on Sunday week, at the White Hart, Cletnent's-lane, Strand, London. The wife of the landlord of the above house was, on Sunday afternoon, visited by a female friend, who brought with her a little son,. aged three years. Whilst the friends were chattering in the front room of the second floor, one of the windows of which. was open, the restless urchin climbed unperceived upon e , chair placed immediately inside the open window, and felt through it a height of thirty-five feet. A woman passing on the opposite pavement saw the accident, and, stepping aer the lane, c aug h t t h e child by the clothes in its descent, too but its weight, i ncrease d b y the momentum of i ts fall, was on to. much for h er , an d s h e was f orced to l et t h e c hild fall the pav emen t . Th e f a ll , h owever, was b ro k en , and, thoith the child was t a k en up i nsens ibl e , a nd conveyedto king'. reeeyered. College Ho s pit a l, C arey - s t ree t, it so o n sface alone was injured , partially None of it s limbs were broken ; and the treatment of the medical ° the child was discharged so successful that, on Mond a y , safely cured. it fficers of the hospital Was intend establishing a. 50, intend Navigation Cons party, whose e stand between London and New York. A communication . from London for New York, regular fortnight vessel is to start every New Yorkevery fortnight for London. number that o the General vessels GeneG ene r i a s l and another is to leave six of their first-class ships, a rc ton vessels, for this rurpese. The are to about 1,- being . is, and to limit their trade to tie estrerprowle carry the The company , m e a n t (' light goods. The vessels ape to earl at Potts. Ipto employ passengers $ tii went/tart a d n ampton,