The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 9, 1858.

worship to attend the service in the Abbey. Before
the door was opened, at a quarter to seven, the crowd
outside had increased to such an amount that, when
the gates of the Abbey were swung back, a tremen-
dous crush ensued. The police and vergers shouted
to the people to keep back, but so much the more
they pressed forward—so that the inspector on duty
gave orders that the gates should be closed. By
seven o'clock (a quarter of an hour having been
given to enable the vast crowd to enter through the
door) every portion of the nave was full—not full in
the ordinary sense of the word, but the people were
so thoroughly packed and jammed together that
room could not have been found for half a dozen
more. One thousand chairs had been provided, but
there were at least 1,000 more people without seats.
Full choral service was impressively performed by
the Rev. J. C. Haden, M.A., precentor of the
Abbey, the prayers being chanted, an'. the lessons
read by the Rev. Lord John Thynne, D.D., sub-dean.
The music was as follows :—Responses and Chant
(Tallis) ; Service (Rogers) in D. After the prayers,
the 100th Psalm (n.v.) was sung in unison. The
whole congregation, who were throughout most
devout, joined in this noble hymn of praise ; after
which the Very Rev. R. C. Trench, D.D., Dean of
Westminster, robed in his surplice and wearing the
ribbon of the Bath, ascended the pulpit, which was
erected at the east end of the nave, and selected for
his text the Pith and following verses of the 13th
chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. After an eloquent
exposition of the text, the rev. dean proceeded to a
practical examination of the parable, and concluded
by saying that it was one of the main characteristics
of Christ's Gospel that it should be preached to the
poor. In the name of himself and those who were
acting with him, be asked the poor to those services.
They could not keep other persons away, but he
would ask regular churchgoers whether they con-
sidered they were justified in leaving their usual
places of worship and occupying places which were
specially designed for others, who were without
spiritual advantages, and whom it was the object of
the present services to build up in the Church and
Gospel of Christ. If only regular churchgoers at-
tended, then no advantage would be gained, and the
services would be a failure.
On Monday, the special services were resumed at
the four churches which have been set apart for
them. Although the intended services were made
pretty generally known throughout the respective
parishes some days prior to their commencement by
means of printed bills, which were freely distributed
tF roughout the metropolis, it was not until an account
of the proceedings appeared in the newspapers that
the working classes became really alive to the nature
of the services designed for their edification. The

Bishop of London preached at St. Barnabas, Dr.
Trench, Dean of Westminster, preached at St.
Pancras, the Rev. Daniel Moore at St. Giles, and
the Rev. Mr. Cadman at St. Mary's, Whitechapel.

On Tuesday evening the same churches were
thrown open, and on Wednesday night the Rev. Dr.
Hook, vicar of Leeds, preached at St. Mary's, White-
chapel; the Bishop of Oxford at St. Barnabas, Ken-
sington; and the Dean of Westminster at St. Giles-
in the-Fields.

The announcement that the Bishop of Oxford
would address the working men who might assemble
at St. Pancras Church drew together as remarkable
a congregation as probably ever assembled within
the walls of a place of worship. The sermon,
although marked with the greatest simplicity of
diction, and abounding with the most familiar illus-
trations, was a brilliant piece of pulpit oratory.

The other three churches in which services were
held were filled by attentive congregations, composed
for the most part of artisans. The Rev. C. J. Phipps
Eyre, M.A.. rector of St. Marylebone, preached at
St. Mary's Church, Whitechapel, an eloquent and
impressive sermon, founded upon his own parochial
experience in one of the largest of the metropolitan
parishes. The Rev. Capel Molyneux, M.A., chaplain
of the Lock Hospital, m the Harrow•road, preached
at the church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields ; and the
sermon at St. Barnabas, Kensington, was preached
by the Rev. J. Riddell, M.A., fellow of Balliol Col-
lege, Oxford. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings
the services were repeated at the same churches,
and on Friday evening were brought to a close for
his month.

To-morrow evening the sermon at Westminster
♦bbey will the preached by the Rev. Lord John
'Dunne, D.D., Sub-Dean of Westminster; on Sun-
day, the 17th, by the Lord Bishop of Oxford; on
Sunday, the 24th, by the Very Rev. Henry Alford,
8.D., Dean of Canterbury ; and on Sunday, the 31st,
by the Rev. C. J. P. Eyre, 8.A., rector of St. Mary-
lebone.

THE LATE MR. AUGUSTUS STAFFORD.
A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE AUGUSTUS
STAFFORD has been proposed by some of the lamented
deceased's relatives and friends. The following
paper has been circulated among his friends :

MEMORIAL TO THE LATE AUGUSTUS O'BRIE:H STAFFORD,

ZSQ., M.P.

Some of the relatives and friends of the late Augustus
O'Brien Stafford, Esq., are anxious to record by some
worthy and enduring memorial the esteem and affection
with which they regard his memory, and the deep sorrow
which they feel for his sad and untimely decease.
They are also desirous of connecting their tribute to his
memory with the venerable cathedral of St. Mary, Limerick
—a church for which the late Mr. Stafford felt no small
interest, which has been associated for many generations
with his family, and was always frequented by him during
the periods of his residence ou his estate near Limerick.
They feel that they can best carry out their intention by
restoring some portion of this ancient edifice and associat-
ing the work of restoration with Mr. Stafford's name. Fur
this purpose they would select either of the transepts of the
cathedral, at present much disfigured by galleries, high
pews, dr,c.
These transepts are lighted each by one large window of
great height and fine proportions, which, if filled with rich
stained glass of appropriate design, would forma memorial
window of singular beauty.
To carry out this object worthily, they invite the assis-
tance, not only of Mr. Stafford's personal friends, but also
of all who respected his public character and admired his
noble exertions for the relief of our suffering soldiers during
the late Russian war.

Contributions will be received by Mr. Robert O'Brien,
Old Church, Limerick; the Rev. Robert Augustus Mann-
sell, Monastereven, County Kildare; the Rev. Maurice T.
De Burgh, North Strand, Limerick; and the Rev. M. W.
Mayow, Market Lavington, Devizes.

MR. WARREN, M.P., ON COMMERCIAL
MORALITY.

THE Christmas Quarter Sessions of Hall were
opened on the 31st ult., before the Recorder, Mr.
S. Warren, Q.C., M.P. Her Majesty's proclamation
against vice and immorality baying been read, the
learned recorder addressed the grand jury at some
length, referring particularly to the recent commer-
cial panic. "We really seem, as a nation," said the
learned recorder, " to be surrounded by an atmo
sphere of commercial immorality and folly :"
It blunts, it confuses our perceptions of right and
wrong, and seems to set up a different standard for
judging between what is right in private personal
transactions, and in affairs of business: it tends to resolve,
very gently, culpability into misfortune—to convert the
culprit into the victim. Seen through this haze, gain is
swollen into an object of such huge proportions that
it obscures all consideration as to the legitimate mode of
access to it.

In the " pregnant language " of Scripture, Mr.
Warren attributed the cause of all this to " the
making haste to be rich," and to covetousness and
ambition, which, as it were, covered our commercial
community with a network of hypocrisy :

Gentlemen, I do not mince matters ; and I declare that
to the eyes of the judicial moralist the field of immorality
is rapidly extending. And observe further, that as the
number of deceivers increase, so increases the number of
the deceived. A fitting field of action for commercial
profligacy is found in public credulity ; so that at length ono
may almost say with the contemptuous satirist of a former
age :

Surely the pleasure is as great I
Of being cheated as to cheat
And all this—equally in the case of him who is duped—
him who dupes—springs from that accursed making haste
to be rich, denounced in Scripture. It puts every one
liable to it into a false position ; it makes great classes of
foolish and guilty persons walk always on tip toe, straining
after that which is unattainable, and loathing that noble
moderation and modesty which have for ages invested
our middle-classes with dignity. Everything must
now be done on a monster scale, monstrous desires
inducing monstrous devices to gratify them ; monstrous
enterprises involving monstrous frauds and falsehood.
Gentlemen, proceeding only one step further in this direc-
tion, I must say, and I think you will agree with me, that
the existing state of matters mercantile afford such faci-
lities for fraud as are a scandal to the intelligence as well
as to the integrity of the age in which we live; and for that
scandal an indolent Legislature is largely responsible. The
facilities to which I allude are daily in disastrous action,
and are at once temptations to the honest, encouragements
to the dishonest, and snares to the unwary. Can there co-
exist three greater conditions of evil? Gentlemen of your
experience and knowledge of commercial affairs will anti-
cipate my mentioning—among the destructive facilities to
which I have been alluding—the shameful but systematic
abuse of the machinery of negotiable instruments, de-
basing their character, and prostituting them to discredit-
able and mischievous purposes ; the abuse of banking faci-
lities, and of joint-stock companies. The paper produce of
all these sets of machinery, so far from furthering the
objects of legitimate commerce, is too often nothing more
than the cards and dice—the packed cards, the loaded dice,
of the mercantile gambler. It is true that the Legislature
has lately bestirred itself in this direction, by passing an
act which I fully explained from this place at the last ses-
sions, and I devoutly hope that good effects, by preventing,
as well as punishing, will follow ; but, after all, I must echo
the stern inquiry of the heathen poet—" What signifies
specious laws in the absence of good morals ?" Let us
hope, however, that the coming year may inaugurate a
more promising state of things, and enable us, at its dose,
to take a more encouraging retrospect than is permitted
to us this day of the year that has so nearly now passed
away for ever.