The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-06-19 00:00:00

FOREIGN--AID SOCIETY.

Tna annual meeting of the above society was held last
night, in the Hope Hall. The chair was occupied by the Rev.
S. Minton ; and on the platfOrm were the Rev. Richard Bur-
gess, Rector of Chelsea ; Rev. W. R. Freemantle, Rector of
Clayton, Hants. ' • Rev. J. B. Lowe, Rev. J. Bardsley,
Messrs. D. Hodgson, Wm. Jones, John Cropper, H. J. Web-
ster, Edward Parry. Owing probably to the extreme wet-
ness of the weather, the meeting was but thinly attended.
The meeting having been opened with prayer by the Rev. J.
B. Lowe,—
The CHAIRMAN explained the object of the meeting to be
to render assistance to the different societies which by mis-
sionary means endeavour to spread evangelical truth in the
Roman Catholic countries on the Continent.
Mr. ADRIAN NEVILLE, from Geneva, expressed his regret
at being unable to speak his sentiments fluently in English,
but begged the indulgence of his auditors while he should
endeavour to make himself as intelligible as possible. He
proceeded to say the Evangelical Society of Geneva was one
of the oldest on the continent of Europe, and had done much
good by employing missionaries in Europe and America.
They also went to the Catholic 'Cantons of Switzerland, and
also to the Crimea, where they laboured assiduously in the
-distribution of the Holy Scriptures, and otherwise disse-
minating Christian knowledge of a truly evangelical kind.
The work of these missionaries, or converters, as they might
be called, was very important, and had been instrumental in
bringing about many conversions. By their means the
Gospel had been. brought home to the hearts of many who
must have remained strangers to its influence. During
the last year many of the missionaries had suffered from
attacks of cholera, and many of the converts had died.
The change effected by their evangelical labours attracted the
notice of the Roman Catholic authorities, and in some portions
of the French borders they were warned that if they did not
desist from inculcating their doctrines, they would be sub-
jected to persecution; and continuing their meetings they
were subjected to fuses of 600 francs, which was repeated
several times, and being unable to pay these heavy fines,
several of the missionaries were cast into prison, where they
remained for three and a half months. Such calumnies had
been circulated against them as revolutionists, that great
difficulty was experienced in procuring their liberation. Even
that was not all, the chapels were closed, and on their
restoration to liberty they were prohibited from again exercis-
ing their religion, but were told if they chose to devote their
chapels to music and dancing, or other • amusements, no
molestation would be offered to them. Attendant upon the
exertions for liberating those missionaries, great expense was
incurred, and the funds of the society were exhausted. In
France, Italy, Belgium, and Spain, and the other Catholic
countries, there are about sixty millions of Roman Catholics,
and among these the greatest efforts-of the society have been
employed. The-present seems particularly to be the inviting
time for further exertion, as in most of the Catholic countries
the power of Rome seems to be much shaken.
Rev. W.!FREEMANTLE, one of the deputation, moved the
adoption of-the•first 'resolution, as follows : "That this associa-
tion desires' to express its sympathy with those of the brethren
.in France, and other places on the Continent, who have been
called to suffer for the gospel of the Saviour; but, at the same
time, to rejoice-that all has rather turned out for the further-
ance of the Gospel, and has opened a way for the additional
efforts to make known the salvation of God. among the Roman
Catholic population of the European continent." He explained
that the society had no particular connexion -with any class or
section of Christianity, but sought only to spread the
knowledge of real evangelical truth, by which it was simply
meant to secure liberty of conscience. He(eontrasted the bene-
'fits otliberty of conscience in this country with the dominancy
of popery on the continent, and averred that no diplomatic
:attention' however vigilant or bold, would be sufficient to
counteract the dominancy of persecuting Rome. He corn-
batted the general belief in unity of opinion among the ad-
herents of popery, and instanced the differences which -have
been proclaimed in regard to the Immaculate Conception,
.and some other newly-promulgated .dectrines. The
rev. gentleman then alluded to an important move-
ment in the Waldensian Churches, where nearly all the
'tracts familiarly known to the Protestants of England were
freely distributed, in spite of the opposition of the Roman
Catholic authorities. He mentioned all the things to win
'their interest towards their Protestant brethren, to whom
they . were greatly indebted in more ways than one. For
n stance, the foreign Protestant refugees, in former times,
had taught us many improvements in manufactures, and
their services were so much appreciated at that time, that
upwards of £60,000 was raised for their relief in the time of
iJames the Second ;.and that monarch became so jealous that
he actually apologised -to Louis XIV. for the efforts made on
their ibehalf in England. Thank God, we had not now a
James the Second on the:throne ; and lie (the speaker) viewed
in the alliance between England and France a great means of
promoting the spread of the Gospel amongst the-countries of
the Continent. (Applause.)
. The ,resolution was seconded by the Rev. RICHARD
BURGRSS, the honorary secretary of the Foreign-Aid Society,
who directed his observations principally to the present aspect
of Roman Catholic countries on the Continent, which, he
thought, on the whole, to be-very cheering. Great revulsions
of feeling had taken place with regard to the -privileges
allowed to -Protestants. Look at Sardinia, where a law had
lately been passed, suppressing Roman Catholic convents, the
announcement of which measure had been received with tu-
multuous applause by the people.of that country. There-were
signs of improvement not only in the far distant countries
of India, China, and Tartary, but almost at our very doors.
(Applause.) There were two great divisions in the Church of
Rome at present_ Gallicanism and Ultramontanism, the
meaning of which ter:ns he explained. Gallicanism was the
struggle of the Roman Catholic Church of France against the
authority of the .Pope in temporal matters in that country.
Ultramontanism,ohich he designated as the High Churchism
of Popery, insisted,on the. paramount authority of his holiness
over all secular gonernments, and these two questions divided
the Roman Catholic(religiou of France. From this, he thought
a way was opening ,for the evangelists of France ; and be
(eloquently appealed (to those present to assist, by all means
to their power, the carrying on of the good work.
The resolution was -passed unanimously, and the meeting
concluded with a collection in aid of the funds of the society.

COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.—Another of the pupils of the
Upper School has obtained a Greek Testament prize at
Trinity College, Cambridge. The successfuLeandidate on this
occasion is the eldest son .of our townsman, Edward Jones,
Esq.
THE BEST WAY TO SETTLE A LEGAL DOCBT.—Arthur
Crawford, a ship-joiner, was brought up on remand at the
police con-A, yesterday, charged with stealing a quantity of
copper nails, scraps of iron, and other similar articles, which
he hadoffered for sale at Mr. Higgins's marine, store, in Mary-
bone, on Thursday. Some time ago he worked on board the
transport,screw-steamer Sarah Sands, and a number of things
such as those.offered for sale by the prisoner were stolen from
en board at the time. None of the goods could ,be positively
sworn to, but as the prisoner could not give any account of
his possession of them, he was ordered to pay a penalty of e 5,
and sent to prison for two months in ddfault.
THE " CHEAP " NEWSPAPERS.—Edward Peters, a'boy about
twelve years of age, was brought up on remand at the police
court, yesterday, as a suspicious character, being found loiter-
ing in a doorway, in Liington, at one o'clock on Wednesday
morning. Alderman Holme : My boy, why were you. here at
that time of the morning? Boy : (crying) I had no place to
sleep in, because I had sold no papers—because I had not
sold a dozen of the .Daily Post, and could not go home for
fear of my father.—Aldernmn Holme : What would your
father have done ?—Boy : I don't know, sir.—The Father:
I didn't want him to sell papers. It was at his own request I
let him go and sell papers.—The boy was discharged with a
caution.
TUB RUSSIAN PEOPLE.—From an advertisement it will
be seen that a series of three lectures, or conversations, is to
be given in this town by Mr, Turnerelli, on the moral and
social condition of the Russian people, including under that
head the nobles and the serfs ; he will also give one on the
late and present Czar. From a residence of sixteen years in
different parts of the Russian empire ; a close intimacy with
many of.the leading men of that country ; and a sharp intelli-
gence of his own, Mr. Turnerelli seems peenliarly well quali-
fied for his self-imposed task. He has delivered a similar
course of conversational lectures in London, and concerning
these the leading journals of all shades of politics display full
unanimity in their praise.
ST. GEORGE'S HALL.—The ventilating works of this great
building are to be thrown open to the public on Thursday and
Friday next. An advertisement in this day's paper informs us
that orders of admission, which are to he distributed free of
all charge, may be obtained at the Town Hall, at St. George's
Hall, and at the Exchange news-room. The public will not
only have access to the building, but also have the opportunity
of seeing the great chambers below the hall, the engine and
apparatus, and the boiler rooms ; and Dr. D. B. Reid will give
some illustrations of the most important points affecting health
and comfort in individual apartments and in ordinary dwelling-
houses. We shall rejoice if the great works executed at St.
George's Hall shall be the means of enlisting the sympathisers
of a more extended circle in the:cause of sanitasy improvement,
and in the general improvement of the habitations of the
people.