The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-05-04 00:00:00

INSPECTION OF NUNNERIES.

GREAT MEETING AT THE AMPHITHEATRE.
On Tuesday evening last, one of the most crowded and
enthusiastic meetings ever held in Liverpool took place
at the Amphitheatre. John Cropper, Esq., occupied the
chair. The object of the meeting was to adopt a petition
to the Queen on the subject of Nunneries, that they
might be thrown open to the inspection of the civil
magistrate, and not be practically beyond the power of
the law.

The first speaker was the Rev. Canon STOWELL, of
Manchester, who moved

" That this meeting, thankful for the privileges, civil
and religious, of the British constitution, desires for all
their fellow-countrymen the full enjoyment of the same
privileges, uncontrolled by priestly domination."
His speech was one of great eloquence and argument, its
object being mainly to show that the precautions adopted
to prevent the escape of the nuns practically disproved
the tales respectinetheir happiness and contentment. In
allusion to the present political struggle, he intimated
that two Conservative candidates would be forthcoming
for Manchester. The rev. gentleman was frequently and
loudly cheered.

The Rev Mr. NEWSTEAD seconded the resolution, and
in the course of his speech quoted the extraordinary
prayer by Father Ignatius (the Hon. and Rev. Mr.
Spencer), for the conversion of England. It was taught
to the people in and round Vienna, where he was collect-
ing for the purpose. The prayer is not addressed either
to God or even the Virgin, nor does the mention of any
person of the Trinity occur in it. It is addressed to St.
Gregory, the pope under wnose auspices Augustine intro-
duced Christianity a second time into England :—" 0
adorable defender and propagator of the Catholic faith,
St. Gregory, from thy seat of glory in heaven, behold
how great a portion of the noblest British empire is
without the pale of that holy faith which through thy
zeal it received at the hands of St. Benedict, sent thither
by thee ; and how other regions of this miserable world
are in danger of losing the most precious of heaven's
gifts, that most admirable charity which did animate
thee; obtain for them the increase and diffusion of the
Catholic faith, and for us the grace that we may never
waver in the true faith, which would be the most severe
chastisement that could be heaped upon us for the
punishment of our sins."
The second resolution was moved by the Rev. VERNER
M. WHITZ, in the following terms :
" That the claims of the bishop of the Church of
Rome, to be keeper of convents, so that no nun can
leave the premises without their permission, is at once
un-English and un-Christian, and such as ought never to
have been endured in this Protestaut country."
The following is the close of his very excellent sceedi,
the words of which in italics took some of the audience
by surprise :—They must not be astonished if the poli-
tical tyrants of Europe should join with the ecclesiastical
tyrant of Europe, and form a league against Britain and
against Britain's religion. But should she fall in conse-
quence ? (" No, never.") They had once leagued
against her, but yet she had lived ; and if Europe leagued
again, by:God's grace she should live still. (Cheers.)
But, though England might fall, would truth fall ? No.
tHear, hear.) Their trust was not in princes or man's
synse. They trusted not in the House of Hanover, how-
ever illustrious. They trusted not in the wisdom of British
senators, however wise their heads, however sublime their
genius, or fervid their eloquence. They did not trust
in the valour of British soldiers, however great, and
though led on by England's Iron Duke. (Great cheer-
ing.) But their trust was in God. He could save by
many, or by few ; and trusting in Him and His divine
goodness and protection, they must eventually prevail ;
and if he were spared to the ordinary period of human
life, he believed he should lire to see the coming and
kingdom of our blessed Lord, and rejoice in the accom-
plishment of that which prophets and righteous men
desired to see but could not—" Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, and all her idols are cast out." (Great
cheering.)
The Rev. Dr. M`Neux (who was received with great
enthusiasm) seconded the resolution, and in the course
of his address read several extracts from Roman
Catholic and other works bearing upon the subject.
The following anonymous letter had reached him in
the morning :

" Liverpool,. 211'th April, 1852.
" Rev. Sir,—As you respect your standing in Liverpool,
as you value your own peace, 1 implore you• not to take
part in to-morrow's meeting at the Amphitheatre.
(Laughter.) As, if you do, you—(continued laughter)—
will find an opponent who will show you no mercy—(con-
tinued laughter)—either there, with his, powerful argu-
ment, or afterwards through the press-. Froping and
expecting that you will observe and profit by this friendly
advice, I remain, yours respectfully,

ONE OF THE CATHOLIV CLERGY."
This note he believed to be a forgery, but be had
troubled them with it lest there should be the remotest
possibility of one of the Catholic clergy being present,
who approved of the note, and who was willing there, in
that Amphitheatre, by powerful argument, to defend the
system of nunneries, as-practised on the Continent. The
rev. doctor dwelt strongly upon the artifices- used to en-
trap ladies of wealth into the cloister. After expressing
an opinion that foul pihy was adopted to get rid of some
of the members of the convents, the speaker said that
Mr. Drummond, the lest time he was in Rome,.accam-
partied a woman of the middle rank of life to see her
daughter, a young girl, of about sixteen, and exceedinley
beautiful, who had been induced to go into nconvent by
the artifices of a moat. Her mother, according to the
rule or the nunnery, went to see her at an interval, of
about a year ; and, when she appeared at the gate of the
convent, so much was• she- altered and reduced,.that the
mother only knew her by her voice, and the daughter
said, in Italian, " O my mother, the cruelty of _OP
mother abbess knaensati on . h e
insciphnecliher for her pride, and had put her
to all' kinds of laborious and' disgusting. work ;: had made
her to-sleep in a damp bed, in a cell below the level of
the Tiber, and so much abused her that in two years
from her entrance she was dead. In conclusion he read
the foilbwing petition

"'PO' THE QUEEY"S MOST EXCELIENT MIAJESII6.
" May it pleree your Majesty,
"We, the undersigned female inhabitants of Liverpool,.
grateful for the blessings which, in the good providence
of Giod„ we enjoy under your Majesty's government, de-
sire to'approach, as humble petitioners„ to, implore your
Majesty's protection-on-behalf of a class of yottrMajesty'h
subjects who appear to your petitioners more espeolall7
to require it.

" We•refer to the ease of the inmates of nunneries-,. in
different parts of your M'ajesty's dominions. There
reason to believe, that amongst the number of young and
inexperienced females who, from various motives, enter
these establishments, not a• few are induced to seek ad--
mission by the representations of interested and designing:
individuals ;: once admitted, their property passes from
them to others, and they are deprived of free intercourse
with friends and relatives;: and though they may bitterly
repent of vows so taken,, yet such is the system-practised
ia,these nunneries, that for them there is neither redress,
nor escape.

" Considering, therefore, the many evils incident to.a
conventual' life,. we, your Majesty's, loyal and devoted
subjects, valuing the blessings.conferred on us by our froe
Protestant constitution, and relying on your Majesty's
willingness t® extend your powerful protection to all
classes of your Majesty's subjects, most humbly and
earnestly beseech your Majesty to take such steps as are
requisite for the purpose of securing, for all conventual
establishments, a complete and regular inspection by the
civil magistvete,—so that if.any be founclin them, other-
wise than by their own free choice, they may be liberated,
and enjoy,, equally with the meanest of your Majesty's
subjects, the freedom cad protection of our happy
oonstitut!on.

" And we, your humble petitioners, as in duty bound,
will ever pray, that the Almighty may greatly bless and
long preserve your gracious Majesty,, and your Majesty's
royal house, to reign in peace over a free, happy, and a
Protestant people."

The petition was adopted, and the meeting closed by
singing the Doxology.

A CAUTION TO SCHOOLAIASTSRS.—A few daps ago, a
fine-young man had his right hand amputated,. a short
distance above the.wrist, by Mr-.Milner, surgeon,. of Old-
field-lane, Manchester. About seventeen years ago, when
thil young man was a boy of about seven or eight years
of age, and just going to a boy's school, he committed
some breach of school discipline which raised the ire of
the master of the establishment (then living in Todmor-
den), who in his indignation told the lad to, " hold out
his hand," ar4d he then struck it (the right) violently
with a ruler—after the semi-barbarous fashion of applying
the " cuts" of the cane so much in vogue-at one time.
The blow " told." The little fellow's hand became ex-
ceedingly tender in one spot over the joint below the first
finger. Gradually the pain increased tits, the hand could
not be used.. At length a soft bleeding cancer developed
itself, an' all ordinary remedies having failed, seventeen
years of suffering were terminated as above, and a fine
young man, the sole survivor of eleven sons, thrown
mutilated upon his aged parents' hands. The same
schoolmaster was known to have lamed another boy by
similar violence, The master has since gone to his long
account.—Blackaurn Standard.

DROUGHTS.—The dryest year of the present century,
we believe, was the year 1826—the whole quantity of
rain falling in that year not exceeding 24.91 inches. In
the four months the fall was, March, 1.280 inch ;
April, 2.095 inches ; May, 0.385 ; and June, 0.200 of an
inch ; altogether (122 days) 3.870 inches. The heat was
intense, the thermometer. on the 28th June, standing
at 89i deg. in the shade ; several deaths were caused by
the excessive heat, amongst others a son of Lord Grey ;
so long an absence of rain had not been known for half
a century ; and Lincoln spring water was exported by
steam-packet to Boston. But the recent year most re-
sembling the present, in the length and extent of its
drought, was 1844, when dry weather sot in about the
26th March ; the fall during April was only 1.19 inch ;
that of May, 0.09 inch ; June, 1.56 inch ; and the
drought continued till the 13th July, on which day 0.74
inch fell ; the total fall of the first twelve days of that
month being 0.40 inch. This gives an aggregate fall of
rain during 109 days (from March 26th to July 13th) of
3.21 inches. The grass was quite dried up, and the price
of hay rose enormously in consequence. There were
many deaths from excessive heat, and the want of water

was seriously felt ; many of the rivers being very low,
and ponds throughout the country nearly dry. Hardly a
drop of rain fell during eleven weeks. With this v
to compare the present still-continuing drought,

.e have

now counts 69 days, with only 0.28 of an inch of rain I
Fortunately, it is in the spring rather than the summer
months, that this dry weather has visited us ; had it
come accompanied by the fervid heats of summer, as in
1826 and 1844, we should have felt its effects much more
severely.—Manchester Guardian of Wednesday. Gentle
but copious rain fell in Manchester and the surrounding
country on Wednesday and Thursday, the moisture
descending in an almost continuous drizzle for many
hours together.