The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-19 00:00:00

and Wheth

lied the word,

. .
female prisoner on the same occasion.
The entry in my journal thus reads :—" Visited the
early this morning for the purpose of examining the boy
girls in the schools in their understanding of what they
" The six senior girls I called up in the first instance.
read three verses between them with some difficulty.
answering. questions they had not the least notion. On,
refused either to -read or speak, evidently upon bigoted pr..
ciple. I had every possible muse to be dissatisfied with ti
state of. the school, where it is evident the children do m
know the meaning of_one word they read."

After considerin, the heavy charge—My -__
you have already heard, and read the entry which gavt
birth—l confess I feel something like difficulty in addressin
you in reply to the accusation of having
female school, of having spoken of the Progress
contrary to the fact, and fif having improperly and indiscreet
applied the words " bigoted principle' to a female prisoner.
My talents as an examiner in the
.mere reading of threw
. Testament, my reflecting on the low
,tate of education in the school, my saying that one girl had
violently acted on bigoted principle in refusing to read from
the scriptures, to me, a clergyman,—are subjects which I
really know not how to answer. T'
-inely contemptible, (I would nr

answer to wly

.e:ilected on th

verses from the Nev

:here is something so ex

the term ifq coul

findanother which would expr

my feelings as well,) tl.

and in amazement that so mar

gentlemen slioult:

ias told you that I took up six girls

She tells .you she did notinarm me they
were not of the same class. She gave me no information to
digpel from my mind the fair and honest belief that they
were her six best scholars.

She tell
ieveral qu

s you I tried them in readlng, that I asked them
[estions which were hard—she tells you she was
ashamed of their reading -and of their answering, that they
were very had.
Take her evidence in her own -words—" They read very

awkwardly, they. Were confused. Ile (the chaplain) put a
few questions. One girl answered .very well, the others did
not. I was ashamed of.thein. I told them to speak up and
answer, for.l know they could. They were very had.

11 agrees With. my eoniplamt

—she did read; and when Dr
Dr. Bud

une ma not refuse to
Buck asked her to read again she 1

n cryin,

said he would report me for refusing to answer.
the girl who cried. The one who read and afterwards cries
was a catholic."

This wi

Thns she says that one girl, instead of reading, began to
cry, that I threatened to report her for her refusal,—and it
came out after some time, that this girl who cried, who in
Mrs. Norris's opinion could have read if she would, was a
Roman Catholic. Bigotry alone could, therefore, ,igave been
the motive of her refusal

She could answ

she would

but she would not, even when threatened to be reported.
Mrs. Norris became acquainted with my complaint of the
school on the 12th of July, for I told her at the time that I
would make an entry. The master of the South Corporation
School examined the school ten weeks afterwards, and re-
ported on the whole favourably of it. Observe, there is no
proof whatever that the same six girls I examined were sub-
jected to his examination ; arid, indeed, it is very unlikely
that the same six girls should be in it; but passing by that

important consideration—when
girls were absolutely ignorant ten weeks before the time h
examined them, he might fairly have expected to find then
as much advanced as they appeared to be at the time of hi
visit, he said at once they might under such circumstance
be more advanced than he found them to be.
" Did you find the children answer well?
" The girls in the highest class answered very well.
" Did they manifest any difficulty in answering you ?

by me whether if t

Some of them did.
Did they, seem put out by it ?
Some of them.

girls, had the others very little notio.

or answering a Question?
" Very little, except one in the second. class.
" Did they read tolerably well ?
" Four girls read well, the others did not.
" Did you ascertain the time they had been in prison ?
" Yes.
" And what acquirements they possessed when coming
into prison?
Yes_
" Making allowance for what was. the general state of the
school ? •
" I did not find it in the state I expected, owing to the
strict discipline to which the pupils are subject. I expected
they would exhibit more general knowledge than they (lid.
It seemed to be a more mechanical than intellectual system.
" Do the defects apply to the system ?"
" Yes ; and it seemed to me that the female had not been
accustomed to teaching and communicating general know •
ledge,"
" Do you think, from what you saw of the first class, if
they had ten 'weeks before known nothing, that if. they had
been well drilled for ten weeks they .wouldhave answered as
well as they did."
Yes ; if they had been well drilled in the first class they
might have answered better."
" Do you consider our schoolmistress well-talented as a

dame schoolmistress ?"
"' I have no doubt she is, and capable of explaining the
meaning of words."
" From what you saw, do you think they understood the

meaning of words?"
" I found they understood the meaning of words; but c.

the tneaninq qf what they were reading I:/bund them very

deficient." -
-
Now I apprehend 'that no refutation of so miserable a
charge as this could be more complete. Its nothingness
causes the only difficulty of meeting it. It is too unsub-
stantial, too insignificant, to be seriously dealt with.
If Captain Williams were to speak tcs the majority of the
members of the corporation of Liverpool, or justices of the
borough, as to Dr. Buck's capability of judging, at even a
first visit, whether twenty girls in a prison could read and
understand what they read, they would smile at him, and
say, we thought Dr. Buck quite competent, at the close of
the year 1837, to examine the whole of the North Corpora-
tion School, consisting of about 800 children, in a very short
time ; we believe his report of that school was a correct one,
and that at that period we certainly deemed .him a good
and useful witness.
You have, gentlemen, I apprehend, heard quite sufficient
of this charge.
I will only, in conclusion, say, that where the idea was
picked up of my having reported on the comparative pro-
!yen of the pupils, I know not—certainly not from_ my jour-
nal. If any complaint is suggested of the chaplain's not being
a teacher of that school, or a weekly examiner, it should
have been openly made ; and I should in reply have put in
all those parts of my journal which shew that I have con-
stantly claimed that superintendance, but ineffectually. I
should also have put in the act. of amnesty, indemnity, and
acquittal of blame, sent by the magistrates to government,
before alluded to. •
The school, however, is not quite deserted, for Miss Davies
says—" I never examined the school much myself. I have
heard them answer questions pretty well. I select 'the chil-
dren for the school. Ido not think it necessary to take Dr.
Buck's advice upon it." She was, therefore, partly superin-
tendant, examiner, and directrix. Mr. Bacheldor, it ap-
pears, had more to do with it; hence the schoolmistress says
—" When .Mr.. Bacheldor visited the schools, up to the
time that Dr. Buck took the management, he used to select
the parts of Scripture for the girls to read, and to examine
them '—a greater exercise of power than the chaplain was
allowed in .any part of the prison.
I pass on to the seventh charge._
THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS WAS DELIVERED AT THE COM-
MENCEMENT OF THE SECOND DAY OF MY DEFENCE :
Gentlemen—l appear before 'you this .morning, with very
different feelings from those which yesterday at this time
nearly pressed me to the earth. I was labouring utEer sus-
picion of uttering wilful falsehood, of purposely deceiving
you by entries made in my journal, &c. These impressions,
so far as my defence has proceeded, I now feel you have
banished from your minds ; that in looking towards me you
believe you are beholding a man of truth, who has scattered
much misrepresentation, and who you hope will disperse
every other imputation to the winds. • .
There is, gentlemen, and it is the cause of all the happi-
ness we know, a glorious superintending Providence, watch-
ing over and directing the most minute events. I have felt
this ; I have realized it ; and would be .most .thankful. I
have had unwonted health during the preparation of my de-
fence; my mind has been. preserved in comparative calm;
so that I have been able to sift, with some measure of suc-
cess, the voluminous evidence taken in these proceedings. I
had strength on the first day, although affected as to the
lungs, to speak without difficulty or exhaustion for hours ; I
had your most patient and kind attention ; and I am spared
to meet you this morning to complete my defence.
I ascribe it to the good providence of a gracious God,
whose I am, and whom I serve, in the ministry of his Son,
that certain-documents, tending materially to make my case
more clear, .especially in -relation to the sixth charge, and
bearing powerfully on the first, have been brought to my
remembrance. From daily records of duty performed, or, as
I should rather say, of circumstances arising out of the per-
formance of those duties,' written day. y day, as reflections
rose, and thus admitting of no after-insertions, I select the

following
May 27th, 1839.—Preached yesterday twice on the Prod.
gal Son ; the congregation exceedingly attentive, and a very
general burst of weeping and sorrow discernible.
To my utter astonishment, Mr. Batcheldor made known
to me to-day, that forty persons had been reported to him
for inattention and ill conduct in the afternoon service. As
I -well knew that this•conanot be true, without having seen
some symptoms of the ill conduct, I expressed my hope that
he had discharged the complaints as ill founded. He in-
Armed me that he had already punished the whole by loss of
food.

Thefact is the people were affected to tears—many sobbec'
aloud; the beads of some were brought down, and in sow(
cases the hand was lifted to the eyes to wipe away the tear
but, alas ! being prisoners, they have been punished ! and the
chaplain has no magistrate to whom to disclose the case with
any hope that his representation may be of the slightest use
in hindering a recurrence of such cruelty.
May 29th, 1839.—Three turnkeys were employed yesterday
(some one of them) to take off in writing my daily sermon.
No doubt with a hope of doing me some mischief. Thus,
espionage freely allowed in this prison, will go to the extent
of neglecting the care of prisoners, in hope of finding some
ground of accusation against the chaplain. To these entries,
gentlenien, as expressive of my feelings at the time, as tend-
ing to clear up much that might yet be in doubt, as shewing
that the turnkeys went to the chapel prepared to take notes,
(the remarkable text giving them a handle, font is. not their
practice to be occupied in chapel with writing,) and that this
was done as part of a scheme then devised for my future
overthrow. To these entries, I say, I beg to call your par-
ticular attention. That I had ground for saying in my
pamphlet, that men by your rules and regulations were sub-
jected to punishment, and were actually punished for lifting
their hands to wipe away a tear, all are to my mind clearly
established by these entries, which, happily for me, were
made at the time, and which, as happily for my defence, have
been brought to remembrance since I was with you yesterday.

EIGHTH ,CHARGE

_ .
' Whether the chaplain performs the ' appointed service' on
the Sabbath as appointed by the Gaol Act : or if the ap-
pointed service is mutilated, or parts only read : the name
of Prince Albert irregularly, and without authority intro-
duced into the Litany : and the reading of evening prayers
delegated to the schoolmaster."

As upon this charge I shall certainly have to explain my
conduct to the Bishop of Chester, you will probably agree
with me, I need not occupy much of your time in its consi-
deration.. _

There can be no doubt that a division has been made in
the' unday morning services—that I have officiated without
a surplice—that I have prayed for Prince Albert—that I have
allowed a layman to read prayers for me, nay, on two or
three occasions, also allowed him to read my manuscript ser-
mons in the chapel of the prison.
Theserious part of this charge, so far as the justices will
think it right to interfere, I consider to be—has the chaplain
wilfully, knowingly, and by false statements in his journal,
deceived the magistrates into the opinion, that the chaplain
had permission of the Diocesan to divide the usual Sunday
morning service into parts ; he not having obtained that per-

* She had now been nearly three years over the femalt
prison school.