The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-09-06 00:00:00

THE BLASPHEMOUS DOCTRINE OF OWENISM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SIR,—In a late number of. the. Stan dcird,'3•ol lard'before
the public the able lecture of Mr. Brindley on 'Cilii.7enism.
Your own remarks on that occasion were valilableoi.S: they
had a tendency to awaken those who were not already aware
of its extent, to a sense of the danger which threatens the _
ignorant portion of the community, from the, indecelit and
accursed doctrines sought to be fastened on them by the de-
luded beings who hav,e become the victims of Robert Owen,
in Liverpool, and various other,parts of the kingdom, 'Yon
have the honour to be the first of the Liverpool edtthrgho
have grappled with this disgusting, degradingiblaphianons'
and brutalising doctrine, for which you deserve the gratitude
of the Christian world. But, sir, it is not from the books,
or publications of this class that one will he ahle'to Nrm a
right judgment of them. No, no;' the crafty Owenite does
not expose the abominations of his system until. be first
shakes the faith of his weakminded auditors. He cunningly •
appeals to the distressed, unhappy, and neglected conditicin'
of the working people—paints the tyranny aliatiaexereised
over them—tells them that all men should have property in
common—that it is in the power of all men to be wealthy;
prosperous, independent, and happy, but for the error's Which
pervade the present state of the world—and, in the air-ere- s;
ated change of his own fanciful imagination, points out the
blessings to be enjoyed under Robert Owen's system in'the
New 'Moral World. Thus having worked upon the feelings
of his hearers, he tells them that they are not accountable
beings—that their " character was formed for theni, not by
themselves"—that they are not accountable to any power`
for their acts, and, consequently, to talk of a place of reward •
or punishment after death is sheer nonsense. Arrived at this
point—half convinced, half doubting—the bewildered being'
becomes an easy convert to the sophistical reasoning of We'
wily atheist, who casts off the mask; ridicules the idea of
worshipping the God of Heaven, deprives man of: his , -
mortal soul, and reduces him to an animal, -a mereAwo- ~
footed brute, and, to make everything suitable to such a
state, calls matrimony an accursed invention, but that in .
the New Moral World " Me odious -appellation of husband
and wife shall' be abolished
,for ever" ! ! I said,' sir,- that-it
is not from their writings they are 'to be judged : their .pub-:
lications are orthodox compared with their sayings and
doings. John Finch declared at a public meeting, when • •
forced to give an answer to a question on the point, put to
him by Mr. M`Kenna, that he did not believe a word in the •
Bible, from one end to the other ! ! He took his Bible,
cut it up into pieces, selected such verses as his own
tled imagination dictated, pasted them into ,a book, and
declares ,that he has as good a right to publish a Bible as
any one that went before him; and deelaresiiilso, that he
will do so !! ! You must hear this man lecture on the m - '•
rality of the patriarchs and prophets. - Go to the Shooting •
Gallery, in Tarleton-street, on a Sunday evening ; pay your
penny or twopence at the door ; then, if you can bear it, •
listen and judge. Before you can form any, nay the slight-
est, notion of the length to which blasphemy is carried on,
you must hear them tell you that, if there be a God, he is an
" OLD FOOL" ! ! for that "he did nothing right." They
will tell you that " his Son," our blessed and holy RE-
DEEMER, " was a drunkard and a thief"! !!—that " he
was the son of a wandering begging gipsy" ! !!. &c. &c. ,It
is painful even to think on these disgusting expressions, from
which the well-ordered mind recoils with horror ; and some
people will say that they should not be brought before, the:,
public. Some objectors know verylittle of the workings,of
the Owenites. I conceive that, it is the duty of a -public
journal to watch over the morals of the people, to curb li-
centiousuess, to beat down profligacy and blasphemy, and,
if I am correct in my notion of its duty, never was that duty
more imperative than at the present time-with:respect tothis
accursed doctrine, established by, Robert Owen, whom
followers consider greater than the God whom we adore, and:
infinitely the superior of Jesus Christ I! I W ill it be believed,7
that this doctrine has been preached in the open air in
verpool? I have heard Green; .the •raissionary of Ilobeft
Owen and John Finch, holding forth in the. Haymarket and
St. James's-place, on different occasions. I nin.no advocate
of street begging, but I must confess that it appears rather
inconsistent in the guardians of• public -decency to place -a
poor man or woman in Bridewell, and suffer the mountebank
blasphemer to go unpunished.
The public by this time must be no doubt anxious to
ascertain the strength of the Owenite body in Liverpool.
Happily in Liverpool they have met in Mr. Benjamin Dix a
powerful and overwhelming opponent. Mr. Dix is complete
-master of his subject;. he- is talented, straightforward, and
persevering ; and I repeat it that Liverpool is Much indebted
to him for his successful opposition to the Owenites in'this
town, as well as in Warrington, Chester, and other places.
While in Manchester their subscriptions in• twelve months
amounted to three hundred and eighty-three pounds, they
could only collect twenty pounds during the same time in
Liverpool. This is a fact which appears on the face of their
own printed report, and is a proof of Mr. Dix's successful
opposition to them here. I have, sir., trespassed too ;him;
on your valuable time; and I will conclude for the present,
by expressing my surprise that the repository for the sale 'of -
infidel publications in Whitechapel, known by the name of
" STEWART'S KNOWLEDGE-BOX,"-is permitted to be open
the entire Sunday for the traffic in blasphemy, and not the
slightest notice taken of it. There should certainly be some
steps taken to have this nuisance closed up on the Lord's
day. I am, sir, &c.,
Liverpool, August 29th, 1839. VERAX,

A letter from Buchorest of the Bth ult. states . positively,
that three real cases of Eastern plauge occurred in the for-
tress of Silistria on the 7th, 9th, and 11th.
MAGISTERIAL APPOINTMENTS AND CIIAN'GES.---Sit"Fl'
Roe has resigned his situation as chief. magistrate.of BMW-
street, and Mr: Hall, of Hatton-garden,. who officiated for
many years at Liverpool, has been appointed in his place
a salary of £l2OO. per annum. Mr. Minshull, after a service
of upwards of 20 years, will retire from Bow-street on a's-a-.
perannuation allowance.. Mr. Twyford is to be-secoud•ma
gistrate at that office, and Mr. Jardine, a barriAter en the
western circuit, has been appointed third magistrate,- The
two latter gentlemen are each to have a salary of £lOOO, per-".
annum. Mr. Bennett, of Hatton-garden-office; is to .be su-
perannuated, and Mr. Coombes and Mr. Greenwood are to
act as magistrates there. The appointment of Halt' AA -
chief magistrate, and Mr. Jardine as third magistrate, 'at
Bow-street, was made known by a letter _frorm Lord !John-
Russell. Mr. Hall sat for a short time at Bow-streityester-
day with Mr. Twyford, but took no part in the business;
There are other changes and appointments in progress, in
order to carry the New Police Act into execution, and these
will probably be announced in a few days.—Titnes:

(From

Uoctrp.

THE CHURCH.

The Ley of the Laureate. 7)

BY ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ.
Bear thou that Great Eliza in thy mind,
Who from a wreck this fabric* edified ;
And HER who to a nation's voice resign'd,
When Rome in hope its vilest engines piled,
By her own heart, and righteous Heaven approv'd,
Stood up against the father whom she lov'd.
Laying all mean regard aside, fill Thou
Her seats with wisdom and with learned worth ;
That so. whene'er attack'd, with fearless brow,
Her champions may defend her rights on earth ;
Linked is her welfare closely with thine own,
One fate attends the Altar and the Throne !
Think not that lapse of ages shall abate
The inveterate malice of that Harlot old;
Fall'u tho' thea.deem'st her from her high estate,
She proffers still the envenom'd cup of gold,
And her fieree,Beast, whose names are blasphemy,
'The:fiame that was, is still, and still must be.
The stern Sectarian in unnatural league
Souls her to war against their hated foes
Error and Faction aid the bold intrigue,
And the dark Atheist seeks her overthrow,
While giant seal in arms against her stands,
Barks with an hundred mouths, and lifts an hundred hands
`a Built os a rock the fabric may repel
4.N"Their utmost rage, if all within be sound;
s But if, within the gates, Indifference dwell,
-e Woe to her then ! there needs no outward wound !
eThro' her whole frame benumb'd, a lethal sleep,
'Like the cold poison of the asp, will creep.
In thee, as in a cresset set on high.
The light of Piety should shine far seen,
A guiding beacon fiz'd for every eye :
Thus, from the influence of an honoured Queen,
:4A.: from its spring, should public good proceed,—
Pine Peace of Heaven will be thy proper meed,
'Stishould return that happy state of yore,
Wlaea piety and joy went hand in hand;
~The love which to his flock the shepherd bore,
, The old.obserrances which cheer'd the land.
The Household Prayers which honouring God's high name,
Kept the Lamp trimmed, and led the sacred flame.

• The Church.

gr CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

" BLOOD MUST BE SHED."

(Prom the Dublin Evening Mail.)
'linen Mr. O'Connell was accused of the utterance of
althi'surrectionary speech at Carlow, in which, after ask-
ing the men of Carlow were they ready, he declared the
time had come when " blood must be shed"—he evaded
the eharge by denying the use of the words ascribed to
frith in the official report; and this self-testimony was
Cylifirmed, to the utmost of its extent, in a written do-
cument signed by the titular Bishop of Ossory, Doctor
Nolan, Mr. •T. Naughton, J. P., several Roman Catho-
lic priests, and the high sheriff elect, Mr. G.R. Keogh,
Wh&bad all been guests at the dinner where the speech
naiatteied.
4
alio. disclaimer in both cases was equally guarded,
•
and extended to no more than the actual words : and
atthopgh 'neither Mr. O'Connell himself, nor any of
thbliftty,''ever offered a more genuine version of the
p4s—"saiie, the limited denial to which we have referred,
•
was, received by Lord Normanby as a sufficient justifi-
catiotr of his subsequently entertaining Mr. O'Connell
at the Castle ; and as a conclusive reply to those who
urged the dismissal of that gentleman from the bench
of magistrates.
The matter rested so, until, on the examination of
Captain Vignoles before the, late Committee of the
Lords, the fact was again elicited and established, that
Mr. O'Connell had actually used the words at first at-
trilibuted to him. And now comes forward Mr. George
Rous Keough with a letter, addressed to the editor of
the Carlow Sentinel, and admitting that something of
the kind was said, gives what he asserts to be the
" exact words, or very nearly so, which were spoken"
on. that occasion.

,Having perused the new version with very great
care, we profess ourselves so unable to perceive any
difference in Mr. O'Connell's favour, that thinking it
an aggravation of the passage rather than a mitigation,
m,,6shall submit both to the judgment of the public in
juxtafposition . _

-O,OL.PI'AIN VIGNOLES'SREPORT OF MR. O'CONNELL'S

LANGUAGE.

(Dated January 22, 1837.)
44_ Men of Carlow are you ready ?—(aye, aye.) I am the
last man to recommend the shedding of one drop of blood ;
bitt,we have tried every means of obtaining our just rights,
and they have failed. We have now no course left us but
thatwhich I have hitherto deprecated, the shedding of blood.
—Blood must be shed."

MR. GEORGZ Rous KEOGH'S REPORT OF MR. O'CON

NELL'S LANGUAGE.

(Dated August 27, 1839.)
If men could not, after having exhausted every consti-
tutional and moral means of obtaining their liberties and
rights—much as he deprecated the shedding of blood—if
blood must be shed ! it were better to let it flow at first,
than after they had submitted their necks to the yoke of the
oppressor."
In one report (Captain Vignole's) the time of blood-
shedding is indefinite ; in the other (Mr. G. R. Keogh's)
it 14. fixed and at hand. In the former, men are left to
deal with the question according to their sense of pub-
lic justice ; in the latter, they are urged forward by
their partial apprehensions. But in both the sentiment
isldentical ; and if the utterer should be dismissed
froth the commission of the peace, or be subjected to a
legal prosecution upon the one, he is equally obnoxious
to punishment on the other. In the words of our
Carlow contemporary, "the distinction is without a
dtfftr4:lice," so much so "that two professional re-
fteja, engaged to take down the speech in shorthand,
c‘o44 not more fully express the meaning of the ora-
tonAhan the reports of Captain Vignoles and Mr.
KeOgle—the language varies very slightly, but both
Vreserved the meaning attached to Mr. O'Connell's
• I Ay,itli great fidelity."
should now be done ? It is clear, that if Mr.
o'. *melt spoke the words, or any sentence like them,
orltort*eying.such a sentiment, he ought to be deprived
°POO "Commission of the peace, and otherwise pro-
cecr: against for seditious; language. The Lord
fitgoitf.:nant has .now a version of the speech by a high
functionary_ of justice, the late High Sheriff for the
county of Carlow. Should he not call on Mr. O'Con-
n-elf ft) admit or deny the truth of this version, or to
sikkitute a version of his own ?
1,4140u1d the honourable gentleman refuse either to
authenticate Mr. K?ogh's report, or give a report of
hiti4ovn, more satisfactory, and equally capable of
course is clear. Colonel Verner was de-
l' of the commission of the peace for toasting the
of the Diamond. May Mr. O'Connell continue
to.lo/d.it after his direct invitation to civil war and
bloodshed ?

4
Xhe Duke of Sussex has been very unwell at Southwick
l‘rk, but is now batter; his Royal Highness has been pro-
fessionally attended by his physician from London.—Hamp-
shire Telepraph.
IELICTION FOR TIPPRILARY.—Dickey Shell, alias " Bub-
ble and Squeak," has got a place, and a new election will be
the result. We promise the Rads they shall not have it all
their own, way ; we'll have a tussle for it, and no mistake.—
Tipperary Constiitition.
'MEDICAL ART IN Eavev.--The pasha has many French
doctors in his employ ; but some of them are deplorably
ignorant and quackish. One was originally a bottle-blower,
stilother an attache-to the army, a third a barber, &c. ; but,
ae,toriling- to Turkish notions, a man who is clever in one
ri.ofession is fit for any other, or else Mahomet gave him
teleilts to fill any station which he may be called to occupy.
Sot good courtier is sure to make an excellent admiral,
tliorrghte. never may have been on shipboard ; and an active
thld4hipman will do for a flrst-rate engineer. One of the
aboVe'doctors had received a list of drugs from a correspon-
deitin- Italp ; and wishing to oblige him, he thought that he
615tild" not refuse to buy a small quantity of some cheap arti-
cle.- • Finding that muriate of soda was marked at a very low
-itte,'he ordered a few pounds of it to be sent; and was in no
small - degree surprised at receiving a package of common
sift; for which he had to pay, no doubt, a good price, by
m'ean' of the carriage from Italy. The circumstance soon
became known, and the doctor had long to bear the jokes of
PYanks upon this exposure of his professional ignorance.
Yet to this same person was committed the medical care of
the laseret during the plague.—MachPair's Sketches of a
Missionary's Travels.
ORIGIN. OF TIIIC TIIRT-BOGS OF IRILLAND.— Formerly
Ireland. was a vast forest ; so powerful was the vegetation
there.thai it was called " the island of wood." It is now
st destitute of trees ' • and when on a fine day in spring
q)c.ars, though bare, full of sap and youth, it seems like
a young and lovely girl deprived, of her hair. It is not
exactly known at what time and by what process this great
destruction was effected. We may, however, be assured,
thsltit was before the Christian era, and probably at a much
more distant daty. Some attribute it to an extraordi-
nary inerelation, which uprooted the trees, levelled the
forests, and buried them in the bosom of the earth. Others,
whose opinion is better supported by scientific study, believe
that the ruin of the forests was the result of violent storms.
When the lofty forests that covered the country were cozy!
pact 'and entire, they afforded each other mutual support
against the violence of the tempests ; but, in proportion as
a man requiring an open space for his house and field effected
clearances here and there, the trees near those that had been
cut down were without support against the fury of the hur-
ricane; and tell before blasts that were previously powerless;
every Tutti occasioned by a tempest produced a thousand
others, rendered more easy as they were multiplied ; the
work of destruction went on, and all the fallen trunks, de-
re:el-sling 'by , the natural declivities to the lakes and the
toky, part of the soil, were stopped on this liquid base,
*here, heaped one abore the other, year after year, they
were mingled together, some preserving their natural form,
otirthillecimposing into vegetable matter, until they formed
tisitt apongy, combustible substance, sometimes red and
soltettienes black, of which the vast turf-bogs of Ireland are
dosed.— Beaumont's Ireland, translated by Dr. Taylor.
•
i;.,4`tiQUIRES" Os' Geo.—At the age of fourteen the title
or.squiee" was conferred on the youthful aspirant (to
the honour of chivalry.) He was led to the altar by his
father and mother, each carrying a wax taper in their hands.
Thasafficiating priest took from the altar a sword and belt,
which; having previously bestowed his benediction upon
tisensehe fastened to the side of the youth, who from that
moused was authorised to carry arms. There were several
degtees Of requires ; the highest was that of the body, or
esquire of honour. He was in constant and close attendance
otriaisimaster, especially in times of danger; carried his
banner when he went to battle, and sounded his cry at arms.
Ilia oilice was to dress and undress his lord, and also to
assist hitreat table.
s` Curties he was, lowly and servisable,
And cart before his fader at the table."
AJAlreides "..singing and fluting all day," we are told that
acylcsbed sqlere
sox
ilia songs make, and well indite,
s
vc~
L4taalulake dance, and well pourtray and write."
Tliongh..this kind of squire, skilled in the wonders of "spell-
ing“writing, and arithmetic, was a scarcity, to him per-
tainedlistOpkasing duty of bearing the frequent messages of
lose acid gallantry. The man also attended his master to
battle,-auarcied hirprisoners, and was allowed to ward off any
tiltors*outiiini. • He was always to be in readiness with a
fnsalasistiriee,and,arins, where' they were needed. From
nurnatovent.t, or the nay* of Ciiirairy,