The Sun.
London, England, 1836-01-22 00:00:00

DENS'S THEOLOGY.

(From the Caledonian Mercury.)
REV. MR. CUNNINGHAM AGAIN.
Mr. Editor,—ln reading this evening (and such things
I seldom read), the Rev. Mr. Cunningham's speeCh at
the meeting of the Protestant Association, December Oa,
as printed in Blackwood's pamphlet, I find the Rev.
Gentleman delivering himself a I
follows :—" You have
all heard of Dens's Theology. do not mean to show
how the Doctors of the Romish Church in Ireland are
responsible for the doctrines of that book. In the end of
the last century, when Mr. Pitt was Prime Minister of
Great Britain, he consulted the Theological Faculties on
the Continent, whether the Romish Church held the
doctrines of persecuting heretics and of deposing Princes,
and he received solemn disclaimers of all the doctrines
imputed to them. Now the curious fact is, that while
Dens's Theology contains all these intolerant doctrines,
Dens himself at the time was a Professor in the Univer-
sity of Louvain, and Dens was a member of that very
Faculty." (Loud cheering.) But will the following
statement justify these cheers. Dens published his work
a little after the middle of the last century, a time when re-
ligious differences were unfortunately fruitful in acrimo-
nious feelings, and when penal laws against Catholics
were enforced with no little rigor in almost all the Pro-
testant States of Christendom. The dedication of his
book was dated from the seminary of Mechlin, in which
he was a functionary on the 12th of January, 1758. He
was not a Doctor, but a mere licentiate of Louvain, and,
therefore not a member of the Faculty. It does not ap-
pear that ever he taught at Louvain, or that ever he
gave up his office in Mechlin, in which town, (accord-
ing to Feller's Historical Dictionary, Paris, 1833) he died
in the year 1775, aged 85 years. The disclaimers referred
to from Louvain and other Continental Universities were
addressed to Mr. Pitt in the end of the year 1788.
Of so little authority is this terrible book of Dens among
Catholics, that I do not remember to have ever heard of
it before the late famous Exeter meeting.—l am, &c.
AND. CARRUTHERS, Catholic Bishop.
Edinburgh, January 4, 1836.

We have just heard of the death, at Edinburgh, of
Colonel Alexander Mair,:Deputy Governor of Fort George.
—Courier.

DARING BURGLARY BY, AND RE-CAPTURE
OF, AN ESCAPED CONVICT.—On Friday last information
was received at the station-house, Greenwich, that a con-
vict named Robert Berkensall, had escaped from the Jus-
titia hulk, Woolwich, to which place he was conveyed a
few weeks since, having been found guilty of a burglary
in Preston, Lancashire, and sentenced to transportation for
life in October last. Orders were promptly issued by Mr.
Superintendent Mallieu to the constables in the district to
recapture the convict, if possible, and on Saturday morn-
ing, about four o'clock, Richard Skinner, R 162, while on
duty in the Woolwich-road, observed a man dressed in a
rough white top-coat pass him, when he fancied that he
heard the chinking of irons, and suspecting that he might
be the convict who had escaped, followed him for the pur-
pose of asking him some questions, but they had not gone
far when the convict drew out a large dinner knife, very
sharp at the point, and made a desperate attempt to stab
the constable, accompanying the act with a dreadful oath
that he would murder him. A scuffle ensued between the
officer and the convict, in which the latter got the better,
but fortunately the constable had his cutlass with him,
which he drew, and prevented Berkensall from committing
murder, which there is very little doubt would have been
the case, as he is considered a most desperate ruffian.
Skinner having obtained assistance, the knife was taken
from the convict, and he was conveyed to the station-
house, when it was discovered that he was heavily ironed
on each leg, and on searching him a chisel, a hammer, and
other tools for striking off his irons were found in his pos-
session, together with a bunch of keys, a pearl-handled
knife, and various articles. On inquiry it was ascertained
that the articles were stolen from a house in Plumstead
that had been entered on Friday night, and on further in-
vestigation it appeared that the convict immediately after
his escape from the hulk, which he effected by scaling a
twenty-feet wall (and in doing which the iron round his
waist broke,) proceeded to the house in question, and
having obtained an entrance by the cellar-flap, he proceeded
to a room up stairs where two young men were in bed, and
stole the articles above described with the great coat, a pair
of trowsers, and a hat which he had on when captured. The
convict's dress was afterwards discovered in the garden ad-
joining the house that had been broken open. He was sent
in charge of the police back to the hulks, when he was se-
verely flogged. At the station-house lie told inspector
Thomas that he wastried for his life, and if not very shortly
sent out of this country, he should commit suicide. The
convict was again flogged on Monday.