The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-31 00:00:00

whether the jury would be pleased at having been saved
trouble of hearing these extracts read, but certainly
his lordship had relieved him of a good deal of
additional trouble.
_ln 'conclusion he would_ ask the jury

were they about to destr9y. the press of this country by
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sacrificing his client to Macfiinations of Popery; add
disclaiming any intention of attacking or injuring the
plaintiff in his private :capacity, called upon them to
award to him as damages nothing beyond the smallest

coin of the realm.
His Lordship then proceeded to charge the jury : lie
briefly recepitulated the facts involved, and read the
paper which fell from the plaintiff 's pocket, and on
which the article in the Harald was founded. His Lord-
ship then said : It appears that the object proposed
by this paper was the conversion of the country to Roman
Catholicism. Now, that object has been said, upon the
part of the defence, to be inconsistent with the liberty of
the country, and acts of parliament have been referred to
with which it is also said to be inconsistent. My own
notion would be this, and you will consider how far your

own minis go with it,—lf a man desires to be free him-
self, the proper way to establish freedom is not by insist-
ing that his own opinion must be absolutely takrm for
gospel and for truth. He must, if he would be free him-
self, allow freedom to others. There can be no true free;

dom in any country where any person, whatever the
position he may happen to hold, any person who may
choose to set up "as editor of a newspaper is allowed to
impute, without foundation—if you think it has been done
•.•

in this case without loundation;--the offence of treason, or

rebellion, or any other form of felony, to_any other per:

son, merely because the latter happens to be a member of
a different religion, and because being a sincere member
of that faith, he has also a sincere desire that others

should think as he does, and should go up to Heaven th,

It is competent, and it is lawful fur
any man entertaining any view of the Christian faith, to
endeavour by all fair means to induce other people to join
that faith, if he can satisfy their coniciences that that
faith is right. Different people take up different views

same way

from many very different causes. Some people belong to
a different faith because their fathers, and grandfathers.
and others, have been so before them. They see no good
reason for departing from the opinions which those who
had gone before them had professed, and they remain in
that faith to the end of their days. ;Other people whose
minds are more active upon religious subjects, think fit
to inquire for themselves. That, with deference to the
learned counsel, was the origin of Protestantism. The
_ _

spirit of free inquiry, that each man should look for him-
self, should find out that which he thinks best, and should

adhere to it ; should, if he has formerly been of another
faith, that, to which his forefathers belonged, leave it, and

go to any other faith which he has satisfied his mind is
right, the power to do this, to remain in the faith of a
man's [father, or, if he sees good reason for chang-

ing it, the power to adopt another; this is religious
and Protestant freedom. It is not because a man differs
in his creed from the religion of the majority of those
around him, and from the religion of the State, that,
therefore, he is properly to be exposed to observation
upon his conduct, imputing to him crimes, as is insisted
upon by the defendant to be the true view of religious
freedom, according to what he has put forward. You
will judge, gentlemen, how far such a view is consistent

with your own notions. But, so far as I can see of t.,is

paper, there is nothing suggested which, if done in a lawful
way, by fair means, by persuasion, by setting before the
people, who are attempted to be converted, the views
which are entertained by Catholic or Protestant, as the

case may be, which is not perfectly consistent with a man,
being a good subject of her Majesty, and being as much
to be respected .as any other person in the kingdom,
. .

whatever faith may be.

NoW, let us see what is sug-

gested by the defendant for the purpose of bringing your
minds to the conclusion that the plaintiff is a person who

intends to overturn the church, and to subvert the con-
stitution of the country—rather a large work for a Liver-
pool tidewaiter. " All Catholics are invited to direct
their efforts in a special way to this point." Thee are
_

the words upon which your attention has been fixed. Now,
no proof is offered on the part of the defendant.
. . . . .

The books which the learned counsel wished to read in the

course of his address to you, were not books which it was

proposed to prove in evidence for the purpose of estab-
lishing any facts relative to the case, but books to estab-
lish generally that the scope and object of the Roman

Catholic r

dagger or by the stake

I should hope—and I do not know

wtiaher 1 am fond in that belief—that such days are gone
by for Catholics and for Protestants. l am not aware

that any good can follow by continued reference to the
scenes of past days on either side. This is my private
opinion, which I have a right to, you having each a right
to yours. No such days can return. Mankind is too en-
lightened at the present day to tolerate any such persecu-
tion. The notion of Mr. Darby, a tido waiter, having
entered into an association with a view to dethrone the
Queen, or to bring you and me—l say you, in reference to
any of you who may be Protestants—to the martyr's stake,
appears to me to;be perfectly preposterous. I see that Mr.
Ouseley ,in his article, refers to apassage from a great writer
in this country. and a writer who certainly never uttered a
sentiment which was not tolerant. I shall refer to another.

It appears to me that a person who can impute, without
further proofs than the words "in a special way,'' such
an effect as this, belongs to that class of people who " see
more devils than vast hell can hold." It is a gross exag-
geration, and one which does not recommend itself to the
common sense of any man, who looks upon it as a man of
business or a man of the world. The recommendations
contained in this paper are couched in the spirit of a

church which i 3 essentially missionary, and has al ways
been actuated by a :desire to extend the faith and the
doctrine which she professes. That is its object no

doubt. One recommendation which the paper contains
is that the members should make the conversion of Eng-
land the daily object of their prayers. Well, we may
object to the form of prayer which is pointed out, but
while objecting to the form and mode in which it is
addressed, or the personage through whom it is addressed,
I apprehend there i 3 no person of any denomination who
would .not pray, and pray most fervently, that all the
people of his country should be brought, as here ex-
pressed, into the one fold of Christ, that we may all

be one, even as He and His Father are one." It
depends entirely upon the spirit in which it
is done, and the means which are resorted •o. Now, let
us see, according to this paper, what these are " That,
as it is the continual prayer of the just man which, as we
read, availeth much with Almighty God, and since, next
to the efficacy of holy prayers, it is by the virtuous lives
of those who profess the Catholic faith, that others will
be brought to acknowledge its truth, all who enter this
association are called upon to renew daily the solemn
purpose of sanctifying their lives by the practice of all
the duties enjoined by our holy religion, and by continual
eff ,rts to advance in all Christian virtues." Well, I
think there is nothing which can be objected to in that.
The fourth recommenaation is that, "as our Divine Lord
has made special promises in favour of united prayers,
and as we can hardly expect a general return of all those
separated from the church, while so many Catholics re-
main wholly indifferent to the extension of their faith,
and while so many dishonour it by their scandalous lives,
the members of this association are expected to exert
themselves, as their zeal and prudence may direct, to
engage all Catholics, 'not only in' their own
country, but throughout the world, to take part in this
holy enterprise, at least by their daily prayers and good
examples. ' The fifth refers to the granting of indulgen-
cies on the conditions which are mentioned. Now with
-reference to this fifth we are all aware of the wide differ-
ence which exists between the creed of Protestants and
the creed of those who belong to the Church of Rome.
There are certain matters on which possibly we may find
by and bye, in another world, a more enlightened state, that
the two churches agree in certain points essential to salva-
I lion. Possibly those of each church who consider that
there is no salvation out of their own field may be mis-
taken when we come to the great judgment. But un-
donbtedly on matters which appear to us, who are Pro.
testants, to be of great importance, and which appear to
usSto involve great danger to the souls of those who belong
to the Church of Rome, there is a:wide difference between
the two churches, and the fifth recommendation refers to
those differences. Regarding the doctrines of purgatory
and transubstantiation very serious differences exist,
and this refers to one of them—it refers to the doc-
trine of indulgencies, and to the doctrine of the
intercession of saints, that is praying to God, instead of
directly praying to him, through holy persons of more or
less dignity, in the list of saints, the Virgin Mary being
at the head. This is to our notions objectionable, but it
is, in the notion of Mr. Darby, essential. But it is not
because he entertains that doctrine chat he is not entitle I
to the ordinary protection of one of her Majesty's sub-
jects. Now, the proprietor of this paper prepares himself
an article upon the subject, which he inserts in the paper.
He prepares it himself; he does not merely insert the
manuscript of another, which might have slipped in by
chance. In the first instance, he issues a placard, having
in very large letters, " A Papal Rebel in her Majesty's
Customs,' and beneath, in very small letters, "Progress
towards Peace." (Laughter.) Then comes out the
article, which thus begins. (His lordship read the open-
ing sentence of the article.) One cannot help observing,
in passing, that the act of a man who takes up a document
which he sees to fall from another man's pocket, and
makes use of it for, purposes of his own, is. an a-t of
theft ; and that the act of a person who knowing
that it was so obtained, uses .it for the purpose, without
the
person, inquiry and further evidence of bringing
person, from whose pocket it had fallen, before_ the public,
was an act which I only do not characterise, because it is
your duty to judge of it. It has been suggested that this
article is written in a spirit of religion, and in a spirit of
freedom, and with the desire of protecting the country
from some great evil. Ido not know how it strikes your
mind whether it is credible that the person who wrote
that could have believed that such was the object of this
tidewaiter in her Majesty's Customs. " Yes, this
wretched traitor to his sovereign, to her crown, and the
constitution of the country, has enlisted himself
in the service of a foreign potentate, and is
bound by a solemn oath never to. decline from
the holy purpose of annihilating all heresies.
In reward for his villainy (on condition of saying every
day three Hail Marys'), he is to be granted 300 days
indulgence; that is, he may commit any sin during that
period, without a dread of offending his Creator I We
put it to the present government whether Papists belong-
ing to such a society as this are fit to be entrusted with
the property of the crown ? True, in Ireland, at the
bar, there are at least four Protestants to one Papist ;
true, also, the preference of government to Papists, in
that blood-stained country, amounts to a proscription of
Protestants; true, that for the first time since James II
all the legal advisers of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland are
Papists; true, the Attorney General is a Papist, the
Solicitor General is a Papist, the law adviser at the Castle
is a Papist; of the three Queen's Serjeants, who rank
next to the Solicitor General, two are papists ; true, too
true, that Lord Palmerston and his colleagues have bar-
tered away the rights of her Majesty's Loyal Protestant
Irish subjects, for the,j'arliamentaryEsupportEofathe