The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-26 00:00:00

THE IMPRISONED: ADIAI.

Yesterday a public meetinO the members and
friends of 'the Protestant Alliance was held in Exeter
Hall, "to adopt resolutions respecting the persecutions
in Tuscany, And the aspect of. Popery in this country."
The Earl' of Cavan and Captain Trotter attended, as
part of the deputation to Florence, to give an account
of the mission. The room was densely crowded.
The meeting baying beeii"Opened with prayer by the
Rev. Dr. Marsh,

The CHAIRMAN said he felt that the occasion was one
of deep interest and of great importance both to liberty
and to religion. (Hear, hear.) An outrage had been
committed upon the rights of conscience—an injustice
Perpetrated which was adapted to awaken the sympathy
and arouse the attention of the whole civilised world.
(Cheers.) The chief purpose of their assembling was to
listen to some of the facts of the case from the lips of
gentlemen of high character and position, whose veracity
was beyond all question, and who had visited the spot
and examined into' the , matter for themselves. The
whale subject was deeply interesting, t 9 the minds of all
who loved liberty, or cared of religion .
Their object, however, was to create a public opinion
with regard to it throughout Europe—(loud cheers)—
not merely to satisfy themselves by their protests,
and their pledges, and their expression of attach-
ment to their common Christianity, but to circulate
the real facts of the case, leaving them to leaven in
the mind until the whole of society should be
leavened, and there should be one general shout of
indignation at the injustice which had been perpe-
trated. (Loud cheers.) They were called upon that day
—they would be summoned by the facts which were
about to be detailed--to act 'as missionaries for the
Scriptures, and to contend for the inalienable right of
every man to worship God according to the dictates of
his conscience. (Cheers.) There must be nothing ne-
gative in their religion ; they must not be supine on this
question, but must feel it to be an all-absorbing matter,
talk to their children and neighbours about it, and, by
calling meetings and attending to support them, aid in a
general movement in furtherance of the object. '
(Cheers.) He felt this to be a question. which belonged
not only to Protestants, but to Catholics. (Hear, hear.)
There were, he was convinced, many intelligent and
liberal-minded Catholics in this country ; but, if there
were also some who desired to see a certain amount of

slavery upon the human conscience, he called upon them
to reflect what could be more injurious to any system
than to shun the light, and to .show that it was afraid of
the circulation of that revealed word whence Roman

Catholics as well as Protestants, professed to have got
the great facts of their religion ? It was for Roman
Catholics to consider whether that was good policy ;
and he trusted that, when all the facts of the case came
to be circulated throughout the length and breadth of

the land, many of their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects
would come forward and protest against an aggression
which was inconsistent not only with the principles of
religion, but even with those of humanity. (Cheers )
The chairman concluded by reading a letter from the
Earl of Roden. in which his lordship expressed regret at
his inability to attend, in consequence of being detained
by important business in Dublin. Similar. letters had
been received, it was stated, from Mr. Chetham, M.P.
for Lancashire, and from Sir G. Goodman, of Leeds.
Mr. T. CHAMBERS, M.P., moved the first resolution,
which was as follows :—" That it has been the desire

and ;prayer of the church of Christ in all ages, 'That
God's way may be known upon earth, His saving health
among all nations ;' that to the attainment of this end
the free circulation of the Bible and the preaching of the

gospel are the appointed means, to forbid the use of
which means is to obstruct the progress of Christ's

kingdom, and to deprive man of his highest privilege ;
that it is therefore with mingled feelings of regret and
indignation that this meeting has learned that there are

at tilis moment many Christians immured in the dun-
geons of Tuscany, under no other charge than that of
reading and distributing those Holy Scriptures, which
are able to make men wise unto salvation, through faith
that is in Christ Jesus.' " He felt, and he thought
numbers present would agree with him, that there were
recent indications on the continent that whatever states-
men, senators, or governors might desire, there was a
certain influence which permeated the whole mass of the
governments on the continent and overruled statesman-
ship ; that by that influence governments were ruled and
nations tyrannised over ; that, in point of fact, they
had got to fight the whole battle over again, with this
great advantage, however, that the two armies were
drawn up in hostile array for a fair contest of principle -
(hear, hear)—and that the plain issue to be decided was,
whether a man was to be allowed to read the message
which God had sent to him, or whether he was to be
deprived of that message. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Let Churchmen and Dissenters--sound Protestants of all
parties—combine together to defend the bulwark of Pro-
testantism alike from the attacks which assailed it from

without, and from the treachery which~ threatened it
from within. (Cheers.)

The Rev. W. W. CHAIIPNEYS, rector of Whitechapel,
seconded the resolution.

Mr. R. BEVAN supported the resolution.
The Earl of CAVAN then addressed the meeting, as a
member of the deputation to the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
He said the subject which had convened the meeting was
he felt, one which was not limited to Tuscany, but in-
volved the best interests, and even the very existence of
their own country. (Hear, hear.) No one could have
failed to observe the rapid progress which Popery had
been making of late throughout Europe ; and he firmly
believed that it had yet a very awful part to act in con-
nexion with the destinies of this island. A Roman
Catholic journal in France—the Journal dalDebats—
while denouncing the persecution of Tuscany, had de-
clared that it was Protestantism which had made
England what she was ; and he believed this to be a noble
truth. As regarded the mission to Florence, so much
had already been said at public meetings by his esteemed
friend Captain Trotter, and so much had been
printed too on the subject, that he should simply touch
upon some of the leading features, leaving it to his
friend to supply anything material which he might have
omitted. He thought it was wisely determined to post-
pone for a time the holding of a large public meeting in
London ; for, by rousing the indignation of the public,
it appeared not unlikely that they might add to the
severity of tile treatment of the Madia,i, and even pre-
vent their immediate release—an event which there
seemed good reason to expect. But they had—and
there was no use in concealing the fact—been deceived
in the matter. (Hear, hear.) Not only had they been
deceived, but there were those in a higher position than
themselves who had been deceived also ; and, after all,
it was nothing more than a carrying out of the principles
of the Roman Catholic religion to break faith with
heretics, for if no oaths with them were binding, much
less could promises be so. (Hear, hear.) It was a sub-
ject of rejoicing to the deputation to find, on their
arrival in Florence, that there was no difference of
opinion among them. They all felt that the simple
object of their visit was to obtain the release of the two
imprisoned Madiai, and to do everything with a single
eye to the glory of God. No doubt many present had
read the correspondence which took place with the Tus-
can minister, a statement of the subsequent application
to the Grand Duke for an audience, and a report of
the proceedings, and he trusted that this information
would be printed in a portable form for the use of
aod. spread. Among
e at least who had
the public generally. (Hear, hear.) During their
stay the deputation endeavoured to
plea,scewrititn,
wbays
been imprisoned since their return
the meanswt ehnootfmt ov
theywi shi
those
; and the dowtrcast
rovtCiseshittreaidnsttiawidnaseasPohne
countenance of numbers, showed how deep was their
outward oppression, though in many cases, he trusted, it
tiscthhus tPo
was combined with internal peace. The oppression was,
indeed, greatet than any one here could well understand.
First, there was the oppression of the priests, whose
numbers almost equalled those of the army ; then the
oppression of the Austrian power ; and, lastly, the op-
pression of the gendarmes ; and, with all these to watch
them, whether,they turned to the right or to the left,
escape was no easy matter. They had no instruction in
doctrinal matters, no churches or chapels, scarcely any
Bibles ; and there was marked joy on their countenances
when they received the smallest portion of Scripture.
Some of them made an application to the Government to
be allowed to meet together, with policemen to watch
over them, declaring that their simple object was to read
God's Word and unite together in prayer, and that they
had no desire whatever to interfere with political mat-
ters. It was almost needless to say that their request
was refused, the desire of the Government being to
crush Protestantism, which the reading of God's word
tended to support. There was a touching incident
connected with the case of Francesco Madiai, which
was not perhaps generally known. The poor man
was kept for a time in solitary confinement ; and so
deeply oppressed was his mind by the death-like silence
n his cell, that he requested to be al-
which reigned i
lowed to have his watch in order that he might hear the
ticking of it. The governor's reply was, however, that
there was no need of watches for persons of his class,
and so the matter ended. His oppression almost put
him out of his mind, and indeed Lord Roden had told
him (the Earl of Cavan) that some of the expressions
which the poor prisoner used to him convinced him that
he was not then of perfectly sound mind. They had all
heard, no doubt, of the severity of the Tuscan police
law. Such, indeed, was the extent of that severity that
it was in the power of a policeman to have any one in-
carcerated eight days on the bare suspicion of having a
Bible in his possession ; while a magistrate could order
imprisonment for 12 months on the mere information of