The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-09 00:00:00

CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND CA-
THOLIC PRISONERS.

On Saturday morning Mr. Cooke, • the Chancery bar-
rister, attended before. the Committee with the Rev. Mr.
Hall, of St. Mary's Chapel, lloorfields, and presented
a memorial on the subject above alluded to, the prayer
of which was, that the Rev. Mr. Hall might have access
to the Catholic prisoners, and that he might introduce
prayer-books for their use. It also prayed that persons
professinc, the Catholic religion should not he compelled
to attend divine service in the Protestant chapel of the
gaol. The memorial also Imputed to the Chaplain of
the Giltspur Compter that he had used some fiery and
indecent expressions towards Mr. Hall, the memorialist.
Sir Peter Laurie and Mr. Alderman Gibbs were of
concurrent' opinion that they could not entertain so seri-
ous a question without previous notice having been given
to the other Aldermen that it would he mooted. The
memorial was addressed to " The. Court of Alder-
men ;" but the Magistrates then present merely sat as a
Committee of Police Magistrates to hear complaints pre-
ferred by or against the City police. If was, in fact,
what is called a Gaol Committee.
Mr. Alderman T. Wood, on the. contrary, held that
all the Magistrates were visiting Magistrates to the gaol,
and might at any time hear complaints respecting the
City gaols.
Mr. Cooke then changed his ground of application,
and shaped it upon a statement of grievances, and the
Worthy Alderinan, with the concurrence of Mr. Alder-
man Kelly, decided that the Chaplain had no right to in-
terfere with any prisoners excepting those who belonged
to his own church, the others to be left to the Governor
and Aldermen. The complaint of the Catholics being
compelled to attend at chapel, was not within his juris-
diction. The law left it to be managed by the local Ma-
gistrates, according to rules, which rules indeed were of
no effect until they received the sanction of the Secretary
of State for the Home Department. The rules made for
observance in the Giltspur-street Compter, were silent on
the subject, except that there was a permission allowing
the Governor to excuse a prisoner in case of sickness, or
other reasonable excuse. The Governor, therefore, and
not the Magistrates, had the poiver,.to afford redress.
With regard to the books, he had given his sanction to
the introduction of the prayer-book, whenever a Catholic
i
prisoner demanded one.
Mr. Alderman Thomas Wood• said there was no
doubt but the Governor had power to admit the prayer- ;
books, and he would doubtless do so in future. With
respect to the interference of the Chaplain. whether pro-
per or otherwise, that was not a matter for inquiry at

present. •
Mr. Cooke said he 'felt very grateful to theCtorieirattefod.r
the manner in which the application had been
the conduct
but he did not state whether he should bring__cCourt of Alder-
of the Rev. Mr. Boddington befor,eh
men: It was quite clear that the Cecatphal.in had no power,
as by the 4th Geo. IV., cap. 64, sst.tte
a"iteEniedrayneCeaotlfioa-
-1 he prisoner is authorised to reque•
Catholic priest." and several other gentle-
rporatiou,,- addressed the
men. connected
olln.nleNc'tei red , Mr. A shheurse• to,
it was conceded that the Rev: Mr. Hall and
his
prisonerspas toaadl
Bench,
b:%r•le:et.h-lisrmercnecio,n and his Learned Counsel bowed
suhioreudh.l.be at liberty to visit Catho-
lic The
Rev.il Gentleman
the Court.
respectfully', and
....-------...---.,--.--

alarm of fire was raised in the
Coldbath-ficlds, when it was dis-
covered House o
to proceed from the wash-house of the female
prison, but was Tee y
dil extinguished by the timely
and fate he fth tti
sistanre of the prison engines an tepo eofficers
SaturfdaeYorarenction,
of the prison. The Governor being on the spot at the
time, zealously assisted, and humanely ordered every
prisoner in the female prison to be unlocked in the event
of danger. The amount of damage is considerable in the
machinery of that department. No blame is attached to
any one, the fire originating accidentally.
DESTRUCTION OF CROPS BY GAIIE.—For
some time the managers of Lord Francis Egerton's Wors-
ley estate have been waging war against the swarms of
rabbits which have infested it for many years, and have
also greatly reduced the number of hares and other
game upon it. Some idea may be formed of the
waste formerly committed by theSe creatures from the
fact that some of the farms on the estate will now feed
from 30 to 40 head of cattle more than they would have
done previous to- the recent clearance.—Shrewsbury
Chronicle.

PETITION FOR A SECOND DRAMATIC PA-
TENT FOR LIVERPOOL.—A petition has lately been pre-
sented to the Queen, signed by no less than eleven thou-
sand of the inhabitants of this great and improving town,
praying for a second dramatic patent. There has been
but one Theatre Royal there fur the last seventy years,
for which a patent was granted when the population was
only 30,000; now WO believe it is upwards of 300,000.
There is, we think, every reason to believe that her Ma-
jesty will comply. The Marquis of Normanby has taken
the opinion of the Town Council of Liverpool on the
subject, and the measure has been approved of there hy.
a large majority, An attempt to oppose the grant has
been made by the proprietors of the old Theatre Royal,
who have reaped a rich harvest from it for years ; but
o the united
voices of eleven thousand inhabitants of the second town.
in the BritiSh Empirvs, We believe it is intended to ap•
ply the expected - nevV' 'patent to the present Liver The-
atre in Liverpool, a most popular. place of entertainment,
conducted by Mr. RiclaardMalen Raymond, a gentle
man of family and connection; a racist popular man-ager: