The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-05 00:00:00

FATHER IGNATIUS" ON LIBERTY.

"Father Ignatius" delivered a lecture on Friday eve-
ning, in Barnsbury Hall, Upper-street, Islington, on the
subject of " Liberty." The charge for admittance was
ls. ; reserved seats, 2s. The Han, capable of seating about
200 persons, was not more than half full. There were
scarcely half-a-dozen men present.

The proceedings opened with a somewhat lengthy extem-
pore prayer, offered up by Mr. Lyne, with his back to
the audience. There was a crucifix on the table. The
lecturer chose for the foundation of his lecture the words
of St. John—" The truth shall make you free ; if the Son
make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

Mr. LYNE, in his opening remarks, said that Europe
had been in convulsion for the last century, all for liberty;
but for the most part, amongst the mob, the cry was, not
for true liberty,but for robbery, license, and desecration. The
speaker took France for example. Whilst the loudest cry
was being made in France for liberty, there was blood
flowing in torrents round the guillotine. The cry for
liberty in Spain and Italy ought to be a warning to Eng-
land. For 200 years England had been spared this, and
he (Mr. Lyne) hoped God would prevent this cry. being
raised in this country. There was one sad cry being
raised, " Down with the rich ! " " Down with the aristo-
cracy !" which only meant " Down with parents ! " and
"Down with masters ! " as though riches in themselves
was sin. The Sunday League placarded the walls with
bills respecting the desecration of the Sabbath. This was
one kind of liberty, sheaving that this liberty meant
nothing but going against God. But of all places, Isling-
ton—the most Protestant place —needed liberty to be
preached to it. Referring to the sparseness of the audience,
the speaker said one would have thought people would have
come either out of curiosity or otherwise, for in all other
places there were full audiences ; but had prejudice kept
people away in Islington ? This reign of Protestant
tyranny was on its last legs. Still, keeping
in his eye France as an example, the lecturer
said of liberty what the French Lad said, that Chris-
tianity was a thing of the past, and the Church must be
bundled out of the country. This was the liberty of the
mob—this was their fraternity and equality. But when
they had carried out all they wished—when they had sent
off the King—then the president of their own making
changed his presidential chair into that of a despotic
throne ; the dead old Church, as they called it, sprang
forth into fresh life. And (continued the speaker) let
them try their game in Italy and Spain—let them kill their
monks and nuns—then, after a few years, back must come
the monks and nuns, and back will come the Catholic
Church. The Church of France never knew better times
than during the last century, when persecution did its
worst. "Liberty and the Monks !" was the cry of one of the
best writers in France. Let things be as they would—
yet as it in the beginning so it would be again.

PARLIAMENTARY AND MUNICIPAL
ELECTIONS COMMITTEE.

'The Parliamentary and Municipal Elections Committee,
under the presidency of the Marquis of Hartington, pro-
ceeded to take evidence on Friday in reference to the manner
in which elections were conducted in Wales in the years
1857, 1865, and 1868. The Rev. Mr. Jones, a Dissenting
minister, and President of the Theological College at Bala,
Merionethshire, did not hesitate to say that the agricultural
labourers in the district were compelled to vote against
their convictions as their landlords wished. The majority
of the labouring classes in Wales were Dissenters and
Liberals, and it had happened that in one instance a con-
gregation in Montgomeryshire had notice to quit their
chapel, and in another instance with which he was familar
the chapel had been sold. So great was the Tory influence
that a year ago a meeting of Dissenting ministers and
deacons had been held, and a petition praying for the
adoption of the Ballot prepared for presentation to Par-
liament. Pressed closely by the Conservative members on
the committee, the witness admitted that it was not an

uncommon thing in Wales for chapels to be used for poli-
tical purposes, but he did not know that Dissenting
ministers were in the habit of making political allusions
in their sermons. It had been told to tenants
who had been evicted that it was because
they had voted against their Tory landlords. The report
that a minister had said in one of his sermons that the
Tory candidate for Denbighshire ought to be crucified,
was not precisely correct. The speaker was a "raw "
student, and the occasion was an address. From Wales
the committee passed on to Ireland, Mr. Spate,
a magistrate, of Limerick, detailing that in the
years 1852 and 1858 great violence prevailed at the
elections. In 1859 and 1865 the witness was himself a par-
liamentary candidate in the Conservative interest, but
was defeated, owing to priestly influence and to intimida-
tion. At the last election in Limerick the landlords did
not actively interfere. At every election at which
he had assisted it was the opinion of the wit-
ness that the Conservative voters went to the
poll in bodily fear, and returned in a condition
even worse. The windows of his own house had always
to be closed during elections, and his family had to live
entirely in the back rooms. The priests not only organised
mobs, but made a practice of distributing orders for drink.
Several of these orders, signed by a priest, put in circula-
tion at the election in 1865, were produced by witness.
They authorised certain publicans to supply to the per.
sons named in them drink to the amount of £5, which
drink was eventually received by the mobs of idle persons
who were got together. The Roman Catholic Bishop
was very active at the last election. The description
given by the witness of Limerick elections was exceedingly
lively. On some occasions houses were entered and
the furniture thrown into the streets pell-mell.
Once a doctor's surgery was ;entirely emptied of
its drugs, which were pitched into the Shannon—a fact
which Mr. Bright thought might be taken as accounting
for the unhealthy condition of the fish in that stream.
When the witness was a candidate, his friends, who had
secured a gallery of the Court-house to themselves were
pelted with bottles, stones, and pieces of furniture
by the Liberal party below, the Inia2;loa heincr
with interest by the Conservatives above. Voters
tb. tv L. 10.0,,Erlit ;nt,, 1-I,p city
under large armed escorts. A thousand pounds were
sometimes spent in whisky, and the elections generally
were simply a "mischievous farce."

A woman, named Mary Oldfield, 79 years of age,
has just died at Lower Hall, near Huddersfield. A sum
of .£lO5 ls. lid. in silver and copper has been found in her
house; yet the old woman had for several years been in
receipt of 4s. per week parish relief.

There is no other spoken language so cheap and
expressive by telegraph as the English. The same amount
of information can be transmitted in fewer English words
than French, German, Italian, or any other European
language.
WILLS AND BEQUESTS. Among the wills
and bequests in the Illustrated News this week are
those of Lord Strangford, Sir Edward Cunard,
and Mr. Samuel Scott, the banker. Lord Strang-
ford's personalty in England was sworn under
£3,000. Sir Edward Cunard's personalty was sworn
under £300,000. He has made a liberal provision
for his daughters, and leaves the residue of his property
between his three sons, leaving to his eldest son, now Sir
Bache Cunard, Bart., a moiety, and to his other sons,
Edward and Gordon, the remainder equally between them.
Mr. Scott's personalty was sworn under £1,400,000.
ESCAPE AND RECAPTURE OF A. CONVICT AT
CHATHAM.—The other evening, shortly before the time
fur the convicts employed on the extension works at
Chatham Dockyard leaving their work, one of the number,
a convict named Peter Crane, under sentence of seven
years' penal servitude, succeeded in effecting his escape.
The convict was employed in a gang with several other
convicts, and seizing his opportunity he succeeded in
eluding the vigilance of the keepers, and making his
escape. On the circumstance being reported at the prison
a number of convict warders and others were tlespatched
to search the neighbourhood, in order to effect his cap.
ture. After a minute search over the extension works,
the prisoner was ultimately discovered concealed in a
disused sawpit by police-constable Collins, and conveyed
back to the convict prison, St. Mary's, where he will re-
ceive the punishment awarded to convicts attempting
their escape.