The Express.
London, England, 1850-12-04 00:00:00

JOHN RIIBBHLL

Mr. Bennett, of St. Paul's Knightsbridge, bu
followed "the -.sidle ere" sx muds in addressing s letter to
the Prise filmiest% It is mutt d, " A First Letter to t►e
Right Hon. Lord John Russell, M.P., on the present Pone
tuition of s certain Portion of the Eighth Church." Mr.
Bennett eddrcnn Lord John as a member of his compete.
ti ,n, sa well es the responsible adviser of the Crown. We
have slit 100111 for the entire letter, nor is the whole of it
worth repeatieg ; but our readers may like to see how the
rev. gentlemen deals with so prentinant a member of " Ms
flock," end what ere his views upon the subject of " the
persecution" he and Lis ere suffering. We, therefore,
append the most intersetiept portion:
• •

My Lsed,—l am desirous of Jemmies your lordship, se
one of my chief periskioners, and as on also charged by our
Soveridga Lady the Queen to administer the government of
this kingdom, and therein to keep order, peace, and has-
luny among her subjects—l am desirous of informing you,
is both these capacities, that I am in great trouble and dis•
teen of mind at the preteens moment in regulating the affairs
of y
m pukka.
I wish to inform you, my lord, that on Benday the
10th of November, while I was performing the duties
of divine service in the church of St. Banasbas, a tannin
icons crowd assembled in the streets round about the
church, and that • band of persons who hsd congregated
together no doubt fur this purpose within the very
church walls, was guilty of • violent &triage against
ail larcener, is uttering hens and exclaiming "
No
mammary ! " " No popery!" and' other simiiar info, slates
lag the decent won't/pen who an is the habit of frequent-
ing our church. I wish to inform you that in consequences
of this outrage, being =nolo in fear lest some very grievous
act of desecration =ie.& be committed, the thurehwardens
and myself thought it adeisaid. to close in thank for the
evening service, cad so it must continue to be elan, nod'
them tumultuous assemblages are stopped, a= that conse-
quently oar poor parishioners, arid other respectable persons
who an in the habit of at-.ending divine service at St. Bar.
palms, are now hindered from so doing, and are in a great
degree deprived of :heir spiritual privileges.
I wish to inform you that since that time it has been
thought necessary by the police emnissimiesen that our
ehuren and residence should be guarded night and day ; cad
that we are at present under the vigilant inspection of police
constables, who are watching the streets without cessation
lest mischief should arise. I wish to inform you that on
Smutty, Nov. 17, a very large mob of most tumultuous and
=orderly persons collected together • snood time all round
the church, and this with a much greater demonstration of
violence than on the preach:lg Sunday ; that a force of one
Macleod constables was required to keep the mob from overt
this of violence ; that notwithstanding the exertions of the
police, much violence sou committed, and a leader of the
rioters taken into custody ; that the mob again assembled et
the afternoon men, at three o'clock, and were gully again
of violent cries, yells, and other noises, battering at the doom
a the church, and disturbing the whole conoregsoion—that
similaioceno occurred again on Sunday, the `24th of Novem-
ber, when I was interropted in my sermon by outcries and
other riga' of disaffection as before ; all this tumult, your
Lordship will please to remember, annoy from persons col,
tweed trom all pars of Landon, noinparishioam. I wish to
Infirm you that the effect of this bus bean, that the poor,
the timid, sad particularly women and children, have
assured me that they dare not any longer attend divine
service ; that they are so intimidated, as well is bodily fear.
as also shocked by the blasphemous xpressiona of the mob
Wade, to which they are compelled to listen, that they
think it advisable to ninth et home until these disturbances
an put down.
I wish to inform you that, in consequence of this, we on
cur part—l mean the clergy—are very seriously crippled
and hindered in the various pastoral works of our calling ;
that the minds of our parishioners are disturbed, and kept
aa unhealthy stretch of excitement ; that the peace and
fereo with which ft is our duty to look upon each ether,
however great our differences of opinion are gone ; that
hatred, animosity, and bitterness of spirit, an engendend
among us all ; and that we are, in abort, both el rgy and
prop* in a very great Este of trouble and distress ; that
we loos forward to the next Sunday, when the greater Ott •
TIPS of the church will again be performed, under consider-
able tear that unto violent outbreak may take place. Is
short, the whole ilea of worshipping our Gad in the peace
and love of Christians is almost destroyed. It is time, indeed,
my lord, when • congtegation of Christian worshippers is
obliged to have detective police within the walls at tneir
church to keep order, and a body of one hundred con-
stables without, to keep off an unruly mob from bursting
in and vidatiog the lord's sanctuary; when, in their et-
teodonce at divine service, the parishioners come in and go
out in actual bodily fear ; when the resideoee of a simple
inoffensive clergyman is obliged to be guarded, all clay and
night, by special police constables, as though be were in a
state of siege, defending himself against an enemy; it is
time, my lord, then, that we ask ourselves the questioo—
W hat is the peening of all this ? How has it come to par?
When is the cease of it? Who has does it?
• • • • •
lam Awed to tell you, my lord, who has done it. lam
about, if you will have the patience to listen, to tell you
where lire the moving cause of all this outrage and blasphemy.
To those who have eyes to see, alas, it is too plain.
In walking through my parish but a few days sine, I was
met by a man offering to me for mle • slip of paper, purport-
ing to be a letter from your lordship to the Bishop of Dur-
ham. And, 'hotly afterwards, I saw in a shop window the
same letter, advertised with a great show of attraction, at
price b. Oat per 100 Of course I could not but be attracted
by seeing your lordship's name appended to • letter to the
Bishop of Durham. Knowing the troubles which now beset
our unhappy church—lts many schism', wants, end infirmi
ties—l might have been pardons dif I had imagined • letter
to the Bishop of Durham suggesting some healing medicine
for our wounds, pointing out tome stay and comfort in our
troubles, promising some synod or convocations fur delibera-
tion ow our distracted state ! I might have imagined •
scheme for additional bishop' —some enlargement of the
national eduction of the poor—something, in fact, to help
us on and guide us to deeper unity and more fervent love
among ourselves.
But, soy lord, what was my surprise when I found that
your letter was no more or less than an attack upon the
Bishop of Rome! that it was a manifesto full of anger end
indignation `went a power said to be leaflet now, though it
had been for -fivo years, or thereabouts, seduloaoly
courted, cultivated, and nursed' up, into its present condition
by no tither than yourself. And what was my surprise, not
unitized with something deeper, to fled that, although the
Bishop of Rome was held up en a great source of danger to
thu mighty empire ot Great Britain, at which I wondered,
there was still a greater danger bellied, at which I wondered
mart.
What followed ? Why of costes the newspapers echoed
your cry. Your lordship had given the major premier
the newspapers supplied the minor—the mob drew the
conclusion.
Did yen want them to draw the conclusion ? However, so
it was. A conclusion iv-vitable. Though I had been only
punned to know why we were so attacked et Bk Banana,
now It was plain coot On For days and days, not a simile
newspaper but teem, d with letters and articles about our
poor tuuttosies church ; though I had heed before sorely
puzzled about It In my simplicity, now it all cams upon
me in a moment of enlightenment. How was It poroble
they should avoid it ? How was it peenble, when the un-
cultivated, Ignorant minds of the common people were so
skilfully y with incendiary matter by the Prime Minister
of Ragland, basked by the L Chancellor and se unecupto
lon pubic prom, that they should not take fire ? When the
law in the Vont of Chancery, and the law in the Court of
Quesa's Beach, represented by grave and solemn men, spoke
out from • Osildhall dinner, cad egged cm the muiituds
with speed= sheet " civil and religious liberty : " and with
many illation about the Pope, and when Sir Peter Laurie
wound up the story by saying :—.• Whether ministers led or
followed, one thing was certain—Britons never would be
slaves;" to what? "either to Puseyisea or to Popery!"
how, my lord, could we wonder any looker at what had
taken place ? Why, it would have been • profess miracle
had we escaped. You might as well have laid • train of
gunpowder from Cheaham-plan, stretchisg along one
streets to poor St Bernabu Church, and than put inn the
hands of your friends, "the people," a torch, sod have
said: "row ycu know where the mischief is; " and then
have expected that the torso would not have been applied
to the train.
• • • • •
I remember a certain period in your lordship's political
life—it wee the year 1835; 'ben, being appointed Minister
of Stets for the Home Departmese, you =ewe a candidata
for the representation of Broth Devoe; sad notwithstand-
ing your popularity as • ministerjust accepting plea,
and other advantageous circumstances In that county, you
were defeated by • majority of upwards of six hundred.
You then addressed the electors io these words : " To the
effects of intimidation end undue infl ;to the tempo-
rary alarm, ou weak minds, nosed by the revival of the
rry of •No Popery,' my defeat is to be attributed." So that
popery and your lordship were at nos identified. I mann-
her well, even earlier than that, the many contests which
need to take plum in the House of Commons on the great
subject of the "catholic claims," and how you void to be
an Invariable champion on their behalf. So that " man"
has am always been a bane to you. I call to mind ttln the
fact of year advocating for many years grants of the na-
tional money for the education of the Roman =bolts clergy
at Maynooth ; mo that neither the propagation of the faith
of the church of Rome could possibly then have been sinful
in your eyes, nor, of course, could its existence In this
country, at that time, hays been thought by you dangerous
to the Qemea's supremacy.
• • • •
I agree with your cry of civil an religions liberty. I'l
believe that penal laws against fallen en the greatest acts
of tyranny of which • mushy can bun . Ws read
many of your lordship's speeches with t e delight in
the euthenist= of my youth, when you lord end
deeperarely against the (as I thought) higeeed ash wereow-
waded cries about the church and et" mad ale& the
dengue of the Popo and his bulls. I have std new&
ingly, as aemlou after session went on, and Item= embalm
were at length admitted to their undoubted ft to elt 19
parliament es Christian men toning loyally Mndula_mwe'
mime. I rejoiced to see penal state= alfr
satith NM=
abrogated, as marks of antiquated le
cells e
well
cella of a mere cowardly fear; ethoseeng Of it I
sib
that believed truth greater than saaboa. Pa
said, if the tenth L with us, what meth= the Pepe? If,
the truth is with the Pope, what maws ear sem of pet-
liement? had I agree with yews We* eve* mom
lately still, even up to lest November 9, whoa your NM:—
" Pumas of all religion' peveuaslons, while *MON the
dictates of their condense, as to the mode of AIM*
they think It right to adept, may rally round the War
'Moms of the onntry, pay a model hew. 99 tie MIMPI