The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-31 00:00:00

PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION

A meeting of the Christ Church Branch of the Liverpool
Operative Protestant Association was held last Wednesday

ied the meeting with prayer, the reverend chair-
man proceeded at some length to address the assembly, and
to account for his being announced to preside on the occa-
sion by the'absence of their much-beloved friend, the Rev.
Fielding Ould, who would otherwise have readily occupied
the position which he (Mr. M.) then filled. (Cheers.) He
would here, he observed, take the opportunity of vindicating
Mr. Ould from sonic imputations which had been cast upon
him recently by a journal of this town. It was known that
Mr. Ouid was now at Coleraine, in Ireland, of which place
he was a native, and had made a speech at a dinner given to
celebrate the return of the member for Coleraine, in which he
was reported to have said, that Lord Brougham was once
returned for Liverpool, and much censure had been unjustly
cast upon him for having so spoken. Now, he held in his
hand a private letter from Mr. Ould, in which he thus wrote
respecting the observations contained in the paper alluded to :
" I have seen the Mercury. * * * * *
The newspaper report of my speech is full of mistakes—con-
taiuing many things I never said, and omitting much that I
did say. The whole account of the dinner, and speeches,
and all was extremely defective, as might be expected, from
the reporter being seated in a crowded and noisy room. The
cheering was tremendous while I was speaking, that it was
quite impossible for the reporter to hear. /never said that
Lord Brougham was returned for Liverpool. I was merely
alluding to the radical feeling of the constituency during the
great contests between Brougham and Canning, and Ewan
and Denison, and contrasting this with the present conserva-
tive spirit, which made Sandon and Cresswell, in 1837, and
still more in 1841, " the popular candidates," which was
never the case before ; and this I ascribed to the legitimate
influence of the clergy," &c.
He would not then at greater length trespass upon their
time, but would call at once upon Mr. Lord to address them.
(Cheers.)
Mr. LORD said, the reverend chairman had well observed
that their objects were not of a party nature. It was with
principles, and not with men, they had to deal. It was to
maintain, unimpaired, the Protestant institutions of this
country in church and state, for which they were now con-
tending. (Cheers.) And was not this, he would ask, an
object worth contending for? Were no attacks made upon
our institutions? Did we not see ourselves to be encom-
passed with dangers ? and was it not their duty to defend
themselves from those attacks—to ward off those dangers—
and to show their readiness and determination to support,
and to uphold those institutions which they valued dearer
than their lives? (Hear, hear, and great cheering.) It
was cur privilege to be a Christian people—to enjoy those
blessings which a pure and reformed faith had given us. The
Bible was a part of the law of the land. It was the basis
upon which rested heretofore the enactments of our legisla-
ture. Contrary to its precepts no law should be enacted,
least of all should any provisions be made that could tend to
compromise or to violate that law. (Cheers.) In private
and in public life this principle should be respected, and it
became all, whether in the more humble or the more exalted
walks of life, to testify their regard and obedience to this

Having o

law. (Cheers.) It was by acting upon these principles that
our nation had been so signally blessed, and had risen to that
high and palmy state she had so long enjoyed among the na-
tions of the world ; and the more fully and entirely a like
course was adhered to, the greater reason was there to ex-
pect an enlarged and an increased blessing descending upon
us and our proceedings. It was with pain, therefore, he had
read in one of the leading journals of the day, that those who
are regarded as the leaders of the conservative party, and are
looking forward to be the.confidential advisers of the crown,
had made use of Sunday* as the only, or best, or most conve-
nient day, on which to arrange the course of their future po-
bey, and the line to be adopted with reference to proposing
amendments to the address in reply to her most gracious
Majesty's speech. This, he repeated, he was grieved to see.
How, he would ask, could earthly legislators expect that
their laws should be obeyed, when they set the example of
impugning and disobeying the Divine laws. (Hear, hear.)
If those laws, which had a higher sanction than any of mere
human enactment, were to be set aside at the mere conveni-
ence of parties, it could not well be otherwise than that mere
human laws and institutions would be held light by others.
Any attempt, therefore, by a professedly Christian nation to
legislate in defiance or forgetfulness of Him " by whom alone
Kings reign, and Princes decree justice," would bring a
blight upon the policy of that nation, and tend to alienate
from it the favour and protection of Him without whose
blessing all their laws, however good they might appear, and
all their policy, however expedient it might be deemed,
would be found absolutely inefficient to attain those great
and good ends they might have in view. (Great cheering.)
Mr. Lord then passed on to other points, and adverted to
the ill-timed, and injudicious he might say unprincipled
liberality with which those who called themselves protestants
were to be found voluntarily giving their subscriptions and
donations to support and disseminate the errors of Po-
pery. He asked, did they who so acted, expect a
like return ? Was it to be imagined that when the Roman
Catholics should have acquired that power after which they
are now seeking—if, by our own culpable neglect, our apa-
thy, and our indifference, they ever should acquire it—was
it then to be supposed that they would extend to us the same
liberality which we had conceded to them? (Cries of " No,
no.") They had rightly answered, no; but he believed
there were many who would have given a very different re-
ply. It was for this very reason they had found their exer-
tions so much required. It was because they believed, and
knew, that there were erroneous opinions entertained re-
;pecting the real principles, the tendency, and the objects of
Popery, that the Protestant Association had felt itself coin-
selled to make those exertions which it had made. They
sappily, the men of Liverpool, did not so much require in-
'ormation upon these subjects. Thanks to the exertions of
he clergy of this town, and their own conduct under their
'ev. president, Mr. M`Neile. (Vehement cheering.) They
sad shown that they were at once alive to the dangerous
.endency of Popery, as affecting their rights as freemen and
is Christians, and resolved to exert themselves to the ut-
most, to dissipate the ignorance which yet prevailed among
many of their own class, and to protect their native land
from the evils but too justly to be apprehended, should Po-
pery ever gain that ascendancy after which she is struggling.
(Cheers.) But it might be asked, what good are these asso-
ciations doing, and how are they effecting it ? To this he
would briefly reply by reading a statement which had been
put into his hand a short time before his coming to this as-
sembly, from which it would be perceived, that it was not
by meetings and lectures alone that they were working.
These were excellent modes of occasionally advocating the
cause, but they had a machinery that worked more silently,
though not less efficiently, aiding them in their endeavours
to elicit and to keep alive an interest and a right feeling
upon these important subjects. They had their magazines,
their pamphlets, their petitions from time to time, and thus
a practical result from their labours. But more than this,
they had at the present time, in Liverpool alone, between
30 and 40 tract distributors, to whose constant, zealous, and
self-denying exertions they were indebted for much of the
good which had already been affected, and to which they
looked forward for a yet greater degree of success. (Cheers.)
Fourteen hundred families had been visited, and supplied
with tracts weekly. They had 4,000 readers of tracts weekly ;
and 70,000 tracts, by the instrumentality of these men,
changed hands yearly. This, he thought, was doing great
things. They were men, he said, not ashamed of their
honest vocations—happy in the position of life in which
Providence had placed them—content in the sweat of their
brow to earn their daily bread, and that their own hands
should minister to their necessities. But they were not
satisfied with this alone. (Hear, hear.) They knew, as
Christian men, that there was something far more worth
caring for, and a meat to be laboured after which " endureth
to everlasting life." (Vehement cheering.) Yes, they knew
it,—he was glad to see they felt it, and were led to seek for
that happiness which pure religion only can bestow, which
spreads its benign influence over the daily walks of life, and
shall endure, when the fleeting shadows of time shall be no
more. (Vehement cheering.) They could not, therefore,
he was well aware, betray this religion themselves, nor see it
betrayed by others. They could not see it endangered, with-
out rushing forward to its de once,. and had, therefore,
formed themselves into these societies, had held meetings,
lectures, and distributed pamphlets, tracts, &c., &c.
But all this entailed upon them a greater expenditure of
time and money, than it was in the power of every one to
bestow. Each one could do something. Of those be was
then addressing many could, many had assisted with their
time and labour, many had assisted, and he trusted more
would yet assist with their contributions. If those who had
leisure gave time, and those who had wealth gave money,
matters would proceed with a yet greater degree of success.
It was with pain he had witnessed application made to the
committee only the other day for more tracts, at a time when
they had it not in•their power to make any adequate grant
for the purpose, and he trusted that, while many of the
operatives classes Were found thus ready to deny them-
selves for the sake of benefitting others, those whom
Providence had blessed with a greater degree of wealth,
would sympathise with them in their exertions for the
common good, and so far assist them with funds as to
enable them to carry out their operations. (Hear, hear,
hear, and loud cheers.) After reading a few extracts
from Popish periodicals, shewing the tendency of Popish
principles, he proceeded to detail at great length the
nature and objects of the Riband conspiracy—a conspiracy
in which men were bound together, by secret and illegal
oaths, for the purpose of intimidating juries—preventing the
due execution of the laws—rooting out Protestantism and
Protestants from the country—preventing the exercise of the
rights of property, and seeking the dismemberment of the
empire. (Hear, hear.) He believed that never before, in
any age or country, had there existed a conspiracy such as
this, so extensively ramified, under so complete, yet myste-
rious an organization and controul. Some idea might be
formed of it from the fact that all Protestants were carefully
excluded—as men who were associated for such lawless pur-
poses could entrust their dreadful secrets to none but those
of the Romish faith—lest anything being prematurely di-
vulged, their plots might be marred—their plans discomfited
—and timely precautions taken, by Protestants, to prevent
the enactment of those cruelties which these conspirators
against the laws of the land—the peace of society—the inte-
grity of the empire—and the Protestant institutions of our
country—were prepared to perpetrate.
When a system such as this—a conspiracy formed for
purposes so frightful was known to exist—when, moreover,
members of the same body were in England—he asked, did
it not become Protestants to be upon their guard ? Were we
to imagine that the possession of liberty and pure religion was
a guarantee for its continuance ? Did they not know the
principles of Popery to be unchanged—that the same com-
plicated treachery, perfidy, and cruelty were still her's ? the
same desire of aggrandizement? the same thirst for power?
the same determination to attain supremacy? And should
we vainly seek to conciliate by concessions? Should we
fondly hope to disarm her of the hostility she always bore to
Protestantism, by giving her the power of destroying it?
(Cries of " No, no.") He believed that it was only need-
ful to inform the Protestant portion of the community of the
unchanged nature of Popery, and its present machinations
against us, in order to lead them to imitate the conduct of
their forefathers in resisting all further concessions, however
loudly they might be clamoured for, and however some might
deem it expedient that they should be made. (Hear and
cheers.) After going into this subject at greater length than
our columns enable us to report, Mr. Lord concluded his
address amid loud and continued cheering. A vote of thanks
having been moved, and put by the chair, the meeting con-
cluded by singing the doxology.
* This has been since contradicted. No such meeting took
place on Sunday.

ST. HELENS.—A lecture was delivered in the Town-hall
last Tuesday evening, by James Lord, Esq., one of the
secretaries to the Parent Association, on the nature of the
education given at Maynooth College, and its effects on
Ireland. The lecture was numerously and respectably at-
tended, and those present seemed to take a deep and lively
interest in the proceedings. It happening to he St. Bartho-
lomew's day, Mr. Lord was led to enter at great length into
the intolerant and persecuting nature of Popish principles,
and distributed several impressions of a medal, which had
been struck in the mint at Rome by order of the Pope, to
commemorate that atrocious and unparalleled butchery.

BURNING OF TILE. SHIP .DUKE OF REICIISTADT, AND
Loss OF LlFE.—Accounts have been received in London of
the total destruction, by fire, of the ship Duke of Reichstadt,
a fine vessel. 400 tons burden, belonging to Alexandria,
Master Captain Marteo, with the loss of one of her crew, on
the night of Sunday fortnight, near the Mount of Christ, an
island in the Adriatic, while on her voya with a rich cargo
and several passengers to Venice, an ge
d thence to England.
The loss is supposed to be £6OOO.