The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-11-16 00:00:00

containing

SHOPLIFTING.—Mary Wilson was committed for three
months, for stealing six shirts from a shop in Mill-street.
PICKING POCKETS.—A youth, named James Downing,
was committed for two months, for attempting to pick
pockets in Byrom-street on Saturday night.
INTIMIDATION OF Wonxmrw.—Three porters, named
Patrick Welsh, Henry Brown, and William Reed, were
brought before Messrs. Mansfield and Booth, charged
with using threats and intimidation to prevent dock por-
ters from working. It appeared from the evidence that
the porters in the employment of the Waterford and Cork
Steam-packet Company were set upon by a mob of about
150 porters. who used violent language, beat, and threw
stones at them. The case of Reed was first gone into,
and Mr. Blair, who appeared for the complainants, called
several witnesses, who deposed to being at work in the
Clarence Dock on Wednesday last, (there being only 13
or 14 of them altogether,) when they were set upon by the
mob. Reed was identified as being one of the mob.—Mr.
Chilton, who appeared for the defendant, called a witness,
but did not alter the facts of the case. Mr. Mansfield
said it could not be allowed that men, who were honestly
earning their bread by the sweat of their brow, should be
interfered with in such a lawless manner. The magistrates
were determined in such cases to afford all the protection
in their power. The defendant must be committed to
hard labour for three months. By the advice of their
attorney, the other two defendants pleaded guilty, in the
hope of having a more lenient sentence, but Mr. Mansfie
said they could make no differe
gaol for a like period

and the

ere sent to

THE STEAMER. SARAH SANDS arrived at St. Vincent
with the mails, on the morning of the sth October, al
well, and left for the Cape of Good Hope on ith October

FlRE.—Yesterday afternoon, about one o'clock, a fire
broke out in the top room of the premises occupied by
Mrs. Carter, window blind manufacturer, Cases-street.
The alarm was immediately conveyed to the West of
England Fire Station, Mount Pleasant; the engine was
taken out at once, and the fire was got under in a few
minutes. Mrs. Carter was not insured, but the building is.

GRATIFYING TESTIMONIAL.—The congregation of St
Augustine's Church, Everton, have presented to the Rev

J. Herbert Jones, A.M., (on the occasion of his marriage,
which we understand will take place this morning,)
ealehgaanndt design, hearing
hicecoafripnlgatet,hvealufeoitlw2ion,eof
inasecrhipatsitoena:n±
" Presented to the Rev. J. HERBERT JONES, A.M., by
the congregation of St. Augustine's Church, Everton, as
a token of their affection and esteem. IGth November,
1852." The plate has been manufactured by Mr. Word-
ley, of Lord street, where it will be exhibited during the
week.

LAUNCH OF A PILOT-BOAT.—On Saturday, there was
launched from the building-yard of Mr. W. B. Jones, at
the south-end of the town, a fine schooner-rigged vessel,
intended for the pilot service, to replace No. 3 boat. She
was named " The Duke," by Miss Robert
the senior master. Her dimensions arc
feet 11 inches ; breadth, 17 feet 4 inches :
inches ; tonnage, 63 new, and 94 old measur
draught of water when launched was 9 fe

dßughter o

lepth, 10 feet t
ent. Hei

nd 7 feet forward

The Duk

as been modelled son

Upon the Amer

upright stem, and a very light and handsom
and is altogether a beautiful specimen of nav:

THE MAYOR'S VISIT TO ST. P
en Sunday forenoon, the Woi
,n- pool, (Samuel liolme, Esc
he Archdeacw
g- and other c

RC'
of Liver-

several members (

tended Divine
cession, whici:

state of the weather
A. set

by the
.A.I. T

INTOLERANCE OF THE CHURCH On

ROME.

LECTURE BY THE REV.
WHITE.

VERNER M

Last evening, a lecture on the Intolerance of the
Church of Rome, as evidenced in the case of the Madiai,
imprisoned in Tuscany on the charge of being " guilty
of the crime " of Proselytism, was delivered in the
Concert-hall, Lord Nelson•street, by the Rev. Verner
M. White, Presbyterian minister of this town. The
lecture was intended to prove that this act of persecution
was illustrative of the direct tendencies and inevitable
results of Popery, and a very modified embodiment of the
essential and deliberately recorded principles of the
Church of Rome.

Long before the hour announced for the proceedings to
commence, the hall was densely crowded. At half. past
seven o'clock, the lecturer, accompanied by Mr. A. T.
Ritchie, the Rev. John Walker, Alnwick, and the Rev.
Alexlnder Cromar, Liverpool, stepped upon the platform.

Mr. RITCHIE having taken the chair, expressed a
desire that the proceedings should be conducted with the
greatest possible quietness. As he had come to hear the
Rev. Mr. White deliver his lecture, he had no in-
tention to take up the time of the meeting ; he consi-
dered it necessary, however, to state a few facts in con-
nexion with the sufferings of the Madiai. They were
met upon the same case upon which our forefathers met
many times before, in the cause of liberty, oppressed by
an impure religion. They need only to carry their minds
to Lombardy and Tuscany, and especially to Florence, in
Tuscany, one of the most beautiful cities, perhaps, in that
country, to witness the sufferings of two people, Fran-
cisco Madiai, who had fo,merly been a public courier,
but, after marrying, he entered upon a small hotel for the
accommodation of strangers. His wife, Rosa, had been
for nearly seventeen years an English lady's maid, where
probably she became acquainted with the Scriptures. He
bad also been in England, where he had, no doubt, be-
come acquainted with the Scriptures. When married,
they studied the Scriptures together. They made no
attempt to proselytize, but lived a life of holiness. The
parish priest took it upon himself to inform azainst them,
and in August, 1851, they were accused by him ; and the
government was not slow in throwing them into prison,
where they were detained ten months. In June last they
were placed upon their trial, which was conducted with
closed doors, no one being admitted into the court
but those whom the government chose. They were
condemned at the expiration of seven days, and the
man Francisco was condemned to fifty-four months'
at the galleys, and his wife Rosa to forty-four months,
for the sole " crime" of reading the Scriptures.—(Loud
cries of " Shame.") They appealed to the Court of Cas-
sation, and the case was again tried in August last. but a
decision was given against them. They then appealed to
the clemency of the Grand Duke. who stated that he was
obliged, out of " conscientious feelings," to support the
decisions of his courts. He considered them properly
condemned, and would not therefore release them ; and
they are still in the galleys, performing their " pen-
ance." They all knew who kept the " conscience" of
the Grand Duke of Tuscany. An endeavour had been
made by the Court of Prussia to obtain their release
without success ; and since then a deputation from
England, Holland, Switzerland, and France, had in-
terceded with the Tuscan Government for the pur-
pose of endeavouring to have the decision reversed,
or some cessation of the punishment, but this had been
attended with no better success. These facts proved the
tendency of Popery. John Knox, our reformer, they
knew, was condemned to the galleys, in 1547, for a similar
crime. That punishment was now happily abandoned in
England ; but in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany there are
still galleys in 1852. (Hear, hear.) After a few more
observations, the chairman called upon the lecturer to

enter upon the object of the evening.
The Rev. Mr. WHITE, on rising, was received with ap-
plause. He said,—Mr. Chairman and Christian friends,
I do not feel that I have any apology to offer in standing
before you on the present occasion. Francisco and Rosa
Madiai, two of the servants of the living God, are pining
at the galleys in Tuscany ; and I will not insult a British
audience by supposing that any apology is necessary from
any minister of the Gospel in coming forward to state their
trials, and to expose the character and conduct of their per-
secutors. (Applause.) L,1., them rather come forward and
offer an apology—(hear, and applause)—who, when the
cause of justice,religion, and humanity are trampled under
foot, willhold up the hands of the persecutor, and endeavour
to keep the public in ignorance of the case. Sir, you are no
doubt aware that a short time since I published a letter,
addressed in the most respectful terms in which T could
express myself, to the Priests of the Church of Rome,
statedly officiating in Liverpool. My letter contained a
very brief statement of what I considered to be the facts
of the case such as T should lay before the meeting this
evening,—and then three propositions, which I shall after
a while read as arising from, in the way of effect to the
case, the persecutions of the Madiai. I have received two
replies to my communication addressed to those gentle-
men, the one from a priest of the Church of Rome, and
the other, I presume, from a layman who I know nut, but
by the letter which he has addressed to me. The follow-
ing is the reply which I received from the priest :--

"The Rev. Mr. Kelly, in acknowledging the receipt of a
circular addressed to the Catholic Priests of this town,
regarding a lecture about to be delivered in the Concert-Hall,
on the Imprisonment of the Madiais,' does not feel himself
called upon by any means to minister to the ambition of Mr.
Verner M. \Vhite, in his endeavours at obtaining an
unenviable notoriety. The Rev. Mr. K. would however direct
Mr. White's attention to the reports of the case, as contained
in the Morning Herald, &e., as contradictory to the statement
in the circular upon which the lecture in question professes to
be grounded.
- -

" 16, Boundary-street, Kirkdale,
Nov. 12th, 1852."

Now, air, I have just three remarks to make upon this
letter. In the first place, this rev. gentleman informs me
that he does not feel called upon by any means to minister
to my ambition in obtaining an unenviable notoriety.
(Laughter.) Well, of course, I acquit him in the matter,
because I have examined carefully the Taxes of the Apos-
tolic Chancery; and I find that, although there are there
most grievous and fearful crimes recorded, which are in
the power of a priest of the Church of Rome to ab-
solve, there is not any heading which would properly
include under it the ministering to the ambition of a
Nonconformist minister in seeking for an unenviable
notoriety. (Laughter.)
The second remark 1 have to make from this letter is
that it is addressed to " Mr. Verner M. White." Now,
sir, 1 care very little whether a man addresses me by the
title of Rev. or the title of Mr. It will neither make me
more or less useful in the calling to which Providence has
appointed me. But I remember very well, and you will
remember, that a certain class of gentlemen in this country
raised a very loud outcry of religious persecution, because
the laws of this realm, and the people of this country would
not permit them to assume territorial titles (hear) con-
ferred upon them by a foreign and independent monarch.
And yet one of this class comes forward, and at the very
time that he calls this religious persecution to refuse him
the title which a foreign prince has conferred territorially
upon him, he denies to me the personal title which
courtesy, custom, and the laws of the realm have uniformly
given to the ministers of all denominations. (Deafening
applause.)
My third reply to this letter is this. He says I have
not truly stated the facts of the case. Now, the other
gentleman, whose letter, although I know not the man, I
am bound to say, is expressed throughout in language
which becomes a gentleman. The other gentleman refers
me, informing me that the Catholic priests are too busy
with their spiritual duties to attend to the matter,
(laughter)—to extract from the Catholic Standard of last
Saturday, (the Saturday after which my letter was pub-
lished), which he says " is generally considered the organ
of the Catholics in this country on such matters." Now
the extract I will read is as follows. It is taken from an
article under the head of " Religious Equality :—"
" It was not through religious intolerance that-these unhappy
perverts were prosecuted. They are the victims of revolu-
tionary principles, encouraged by Protestant England, and
against which the Italian sovereigns feel it imperative to wage
war in defence of religion, of order, of law, of life, and pro-
perty,—in a word, of society. We shall rejoice at their release
from prison, because we are convinced that Catholic states
cannot do better than leave religious persecution to Protes-
tants," &c., &c.

Well, then, the satr e statement will be the subject of my
third reply to the priest, and my entire reply to this gen.
tleman, J. 0. Wooi, viz., that I have misstated the
case ; and I must ask you to exercise a little patience till
I have this evening laid before you my statement of this
case. _ _ _

Now, the order I propose to observe is the following,
which is, indeed, named by the letter :—First. I will give
a brief statement of details, and then submit to the meet-
ing three propositions.
Well, the details are these. The country is Tuscany,
a beautiful country, thoroughly Popish, in the immediate
vicinity of the Pope himself. In the next place, the per-
sons are Francisco and Rosa Madiai, originally members
of the Church of Rome, but, through the study of God's
Holy Word, led to see the error o f its principles, and forever
to abandon them—( applause)—respectively 48 andsoyears
of age; Francisco by his callings courier and letter of lodg-
ings,asdescribed in the indict mentof the prosecutor. Their
arrest took place on the 17th August, 1851; on the Sab-
bath Day, at half-past seven in the evening, the police
entered their lodgings and found three men and one boy,
whom they immediately took into custody, and seized all
the Bibles and religious books they could find. Both
Francisco Madiai and his wife were from home. He
was apprehended immediately upon his arrival, and
ten days after his wife Rosa Madiai was made a
prisoner and sent into confinement. They were put
into separate cells, cold, damp dungeons—C' Shame")—
so abominably filthy, that a correspondent from Florence
positively asserts that the vermin were falling down upon
their clothes and literally into their food. (Shame.)
in this condition they remained for ten months,
until, on the 4th of June, 1852, they were brought
to trial. Now 1 come to speak of the accusation against
them ; I am charged with making a false statement upon
this subject ; and in order that my friends of the Church
of Rome may not have to deal with me but with
the public prosecutor in Tuscany, I shall state the
terms of the accusation in the words of the prosecutor
himself, taken from a report of his speech on the occasion
of their trial. Their crime is formally designated "the
crime of impiety." Now, in the first place, let me tell
those gentlemen that there is no immoral offence against
the Madiai, and here is the language of the public pro-
Realtor :

" The acts of goodness, natural probity and benevolence that
Madame Madisi wished to urge in arrest of judgment, may
cause one to grieve more over her separation from Catholicism,
but cannot free her from the present crime and accusation, nor
diminish the imputations cast upon her."
I tell the public again, and all the priests of the Church
of Rome in England and Ireland, that there is no political
charge against them ; and again I quote from that speech
of the public prosecutor :