The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-03-05 00:00:00

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the hett.of priqeipte,

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the more effectually nia we prAmote its
proof of the excellence of this principle, he would reek
'-'l,trict Provident • Society, in which it was invariably
-mallest districts were the best visited. How

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to the I
found t

could it be expected, for instance, that the Bishop of Bangor
could he perfectly acquainted with what was going on in
Flint? But if the ancient bishopric of St. Asap'', as well as
that of Bangor, were preserved, superintendence would be
sufficient. When he called to mind such men as Horsley and
Burgess, whose talents and piety were of the highest order,
and combined with the mostprofound learning, he must con-
fess that he saw with regret the intention of depriving Wales
of one of hex ancient diocests. Then, the taking away of
ecclesiastical funds from the princihality, to be given to a
place already rich, he considered not only impolitic but un-
just. (Hear, hear.) He had, as he had said before, no con-
nection with the principality, or any party in it; but, as the
only English clergyman present, he felt it his duty to testify
to the evils which would arise from the intended changes.—

The rev. gentleman then seconded the resolution, and re-
sumed his seat amidst great applause. On the resolution
being put it was carried unanimously.
Mr. BARBER moved the next resolution, which was as
follows :—" That this meeting considers the proposed ab-
straction of a portion of the ecclesiastical revenues from
North Wales as inexpedient and unjust, and strongly depre-
cates such a course, so long as many livings in the dioceses
of St. Asaph-and Bangor remains inadequately endowed."
This appeared to him to be an exceedingly reasonable resolu-
tion, and be thought that it would so appear also to the meet-
ing. (Hear, hear.) It was but fair that the meeting should
ask who had come among them with his Saxon tastes and
Saxon tongue to propose this resolution? He would tell them.
So far as Liverpool was concerned, he belonged to the work-
ing classes. He had worked very hard—he did not know to
what purpose exactly—and was grateful to the town which
had sheltered him—and gat all times he considered himself
bound to acknowledge it. So far as regarded the principality,
he was proud to say that he had some Welsh blood in his
veins, and that he was connected by birth and marriage with
one of its first families. These circumstances, he trusted,
would be accepted as his apology for his intrusion upon the
meeting that evening. Had the ecclesiastical commissioners
been empowered to re-distribute the funds of the church in
North 'Wales, he, for one, should not have been in that
meeting—but, as they had authorised the abstraction of eccle-
siastical funds from the principality, he was there to exercise
his privilege of petitioning against it. ( H ear.) Had it been pro-
posed to alter the sinecure livings, and give a pnrtton of their
revenues to increase the income of the poor ones, he should
not have been present. But as the legislature had autho-
rized the abstraction of funds from a comparatively poor
country like Wales, and the bringing of them into a rich
country like England, he chose to,exercise his privilege of
petitioning against it. He had in his hand a table of the
average income of the livings in North Wales, which it was
but fair to read, to sliew the meeting how unjust was the
proposed abstraction from her ecclesiastical revenues. Thera
were only 18 with above £250. per annum ; 17 above £l5O.
and under £2OO. ; 29 under £lOO. ; and between 30 and 40
under the value of £5O. a-year. (Hear. hear.) With these
facts before them, under what plea or excuse could the funds
of the established church in North Wales, or the funds of
one of its bishoprics be brought into a rich country like Eng-
land ? ( Hear. hear.) Again, he asked, under what plea could
these revenues be brought into a rich country like this, and
most of all to Manchester ? He confessed he thought it ex-
ceedingly unjust, and on this account he had volunteered to
be one of those who were willing to petition against it. Upon
the subject of the united bishoprics he was perhaps less com-
petent to speak than those who were better acquainted with
the localities of the country ; but it did nevertheless appear
to him that if there was to be only one bishop over North
Wales, the whole of the seven counties in it might as well be
put at once under the episcopal superintendence of the Bishop
of London, for any advantage they would derive from the
change. He knew that intercourse between many parts of
North \Vales was exceedingly difficult. It was a religious
country : the Welsh were generally a pious people, and con-
templated this alteration with great alarm. It might be said
that the number of persons present at that meeting was small ;
but it must be recollected that there were thirty thousand
Welsh in Liverpool, an immense proportion of whom would
sign this petition. In fact it was the duty of those in Liver-
pool to re-echo the cry of their countrymen in North Wales
on this subject. If they did not ask they could not expect
to receive. (Hear, bear.) They were merely exercising
their constitutional privilege in petitioning, and if they gained
nothing by it, they would have at least the consolation of
knowing they had done their best, and that their friends in
Wales could not accuse them of lukewarmness. (Cheers.)
The Rev. THOMAS PUGHE seconded the resolution in an
eloquent address in the Welsh language, in the course of
which he introduced a variety of statistical details, showing
the injustice and the inexpediency of abstracting the revenues
of the church in North Wales.
The Rev. DAVID JAMES next addressed the meeting. He
commenced by saying that he cordially united in the effort to
secure to their countrymen in Wales the privileges which had
been so largely described by the speakers who had preceded
him. He fully concurred, too, with the sentiments of the
first resolution which had been moved, seconded, and carried
unanimously. He also concurred in the resolution now be-
fore the meeting, for the reasons which had been already as-
signed, but more especially for another reason which would
constitute a subject for discussion at another time, and which,
if not carried, he could not conceive how the advantages which
had been described would be really and fully obtained. He
was relieved from a painful position himself, by an assurance
given to him by the chairman and other gentlemen upon the
platform, that they, one and all, concurred in the desire
which was manifested by their countrymen here and in the
Principality, that the Bishops of Wales should, in future,
be such as could speak the language of the country.
(Cheers.) It was clear from that demonstration of feeling
that such was, and that such would be, the hearty wish and
the ardent prayer of every one who was true to his native
country. (Renewed cheers.) With reference to the small
livings of which they had heard some little from the former
speakers, and more especially from his friend who had just
preceded him and addressed them in Welsh, he might be per-
mitted, now that he was addressing the meeting in English,
to go into the subject somewhat more at length, because he
considered there was in that one reason, without the addition

of any other, sufficient force and power to draw, or rather to
extort from the ministry, and from the ecclesiastical com-

missioners, the concession which that meeting wa

m from ec