The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-02-22 00:00:00

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Letters addressed to the Editor should be accompanied by the
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The Editor wishes it to be understoo that he does not hold
himself responsible for the opinions or statements of his
correspondents.

LETTERS ON FAMILIAR SUBJECTS.—No. I

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD

S I lt,—There are various subjects which occupy the attention
of the English newspaper press, each of them possessing a con-
siderable share of importance, and occupying, in a correspond-
ing degree, a large share of public attention. Politics, the
Church, the Law, Education, Crime, the social and moral Im-
provement of the Population, Sanitary Regulations, Taxation,
the Government of the country, the sayings and doings of
public men, Colonial affairs, the Agricultural, Shipping, Com-
mercial, and Manufacturing Interests, Scientific Discoveries,
popular Amusements, &c., by turns come under public review
and form the subject of conversation. There are, however,
several other subjects which, though considered not sufficiently
dignified for editorial notice, are still not without importance—
as eating, drinking, and sleeping are necessary portions of the
duties of a minister of state—and, with your permission, I
propose to treat on some of these minor themes, in the form of
occasional letters on familiar subjects, and I commence with
that of

DOMESTIC SERVANTS

I do not know whether Liverpool and its neighbourhood is
an unenviable exception to other towns; but few will deny
that there is almost a general complaint of the difficulty of
getting a good domestic servant, or at least such a one as we
can remember in our childhood, or our progenitors have told
us of. I do not menn that such beings do not exist; but the
great majority of families in the middle class of life, who are
obliged to be content with one, or at the most two, of these
domestic helps, find themselves in the disagreeable position of
repeatedly changing, in the vain hope of getting a better; or of
putting up with discomforts, for which remonstrances bring no
remedy, and disputes in which a threat of discharge operates
ineffectually. I will take the case of a small family in want of
a servant. Application is made to the various tradesmen in
the neighbonrhood who are likely to hear enquiries for situa-
tions, and perhaps in a short time there are several candidates
for the vacancy. One had her last place in a public-house;
another refers for her character to a distant place; and then
it is verydubious as to those qualitieswhich are most desirable;
a third cannot undertake to do any washing; a fourth has an
objection to young,children ; and a fifth is dressed in tawdry
finery, as though in emulation of her mistress. The majority
of them are Romanists, who must go to mass and confession at
most inconvenient hours. Almost all ask wages which a short
time back were considered high for good servants; and now
there is a further stipulation for a weekly allowance of tea,
sugar, and butter, and perhaps beer in addition. Then comes
a demand for part of the Sunday out, though it maybe directly
opposed to your own notions of such a day being well spent.
and sadly interfere with your own arrangements. But what,
in such a case, is the poor housekeeper to do ? The mistress
has the only alternative of herself turning household drudge,
or putting up with a domestic which she confesses to her
acquaintance requires more trouble to look after than it would
be to do the work herself. This is no extreme case, but one
which is in the experience of almost every mistress of a house-

hold in Liverpool. She must put up with dirty habits, ill-
performed duties, and accumulated discomforts, for which
a comparatively high rate of remuneration is paid, or
try again with the same results, by being compelled
to take another who has been discharged for the same
faults. But, supposing that, in despair of choosing aright from
the number who seem occupied in finding situations, she re-
sorts to some public institution where young females are trained
and at a certain age sent out to get their living in domestic ser-
vice, she is not much better off. The new maid is, perhaps,
too young to do all that is required, and never having been out
before requires much teaching. After all, she may prove of
bad temper, and vicious disposition ; the terms of the hiring
may preclude the ordinary remedy ofdischarging her; and the
slightest attempt at what should be wholesome coerrction may
result, as was the case a short time since, in a prosecution for
ill-treatment and cruelty, supported on the sole evidence of a
girl, whose great fault may have been the very vice which is
directed to the disgrace and ruin of those who have been so
unfortunate as to have taken her as an inmate. Much has been
said by sentimental writers about the intimate relations of a
domestic servant with the family, as constituting a member of
the household, and the mutual good feelings and confidence
which ought to exist between them ; but how is it possible to
preserve this amiable state of things under such circumstances
as now prevail to so great an extent ? It is clear that there is
something wrong in the system, and it is full time that some
attempt was made to effect an improvement for the mutual be-
nefit of both employers and employed.
It is by many believed that the class of domestic servants
has been considerably deterioriated since the alteration in the
Poor-law, by which the system of compulsory apprenticeship
was abolished. Then the agriculturists were compelled to take
all the poor children who had a settlement in the parish ; the
boys were brought up as farm labourers, and the girls, after the
regular habits of a good farm establishment, formed, when out
of their time, good domestic servants for the dwellers in towns
and private families. Now the children of poor parents—by the
facilities for obtaining employment in manufactories—acquire
habits of independence while still but girls, and resort to do-
mestic service as a mere change of occupation. Having had
none of the discipline of regular training, they are of restless
disposition, spending their money in finery, to display on their
Sundays out, and, reckless of consequences, do not hesitate to
leave a situation rather than amend a fault, although the result
may be a resort to a life of infamy, of which their imperfect
education conceals from them the misery. The blame, however.
is not all on their side, for many housekeepers have themselves
to thank for the inconveniences which they suffer. They are
not sufficiently firm in imposing restrictions; they too readily
consent to stipulations, which they feel theyought not fairly to
grant ; and concede indulgences which were better for both
parties to be withheld.

It is difficult, in such a state of things, to suggest an adequate
remedy; but something might be done by the establishment of
an Institution, similar to the Sailors' Home, where female ser
vants out of place might find a shelter under matronly surveil-
lance, and their character be correctly ascertained. With such
a resort, housekeepers could not have so much difficulty in ob-
taining a 'good servant ;, and this might operate as a check
against the conduct of too many of the latter class, who do not
hesitateto leaveone place and take the chanceof finding another.
If the employers made it a rule to resort to such an Institution,
the good servants would have the preference, and it is probable
that this fact might of itself operate beneficially by proving an
incentive to rood behaviour. I have thrown out these few
wills, in the hope that the question, of which few will deny the
importance, will be taken up by those who possess sufficient
and am, Sir, yours, &c.,
inguence to give it a practical bearing;

EPLIRA.

ROMISH INTERFERENCE WITH RAGGED
SCHOOLS.

The following latter hay been addressed by the Rev. Dr.
M'Noile to Mr. Power, a priest in connection with St.
Patrick's Roman Catholic Chapel in this town :

SlR,—The mistress of our Industrial Ragged School has
addressed a letter to the managing committee, in which she
says that you and one of your brethren visited the school on
Thursday last, and insisted on withdrawing some of the chil-
dren on the plea that their faith was in danger, especially
because they were taken to divine service in my church.
After a description which I need not transcribe, she says :
"I asked Mary to go for a policeman. Finding a different
reception from what they apparently anticipated, they became
quieter, remarking that they considered a great indignity had
been done them, by sending for a policeman, as they moved
in the position of gentlemen, and considered themselves such.
I answered, that when I met gentlemen, I expected gentle-
manly conduct, and as their's had been the reverse I had been
necessitated to act as I did. I farther said that there were
starving Catholic children or the streets that it would be better
to look after and care for thsn to take children from a place
where they were kindly treated, and that the children came
here, we did not go for them; and, moreover, it was their neg-
lect of such children that ctused schools of this kind to be
opened. Mr. Power repliedthat it was the souls of his flock
he was anxious about, not their bodies, and quoted What
shall it profit a man,' &c. The souls of those children in the
streets are not in danger,' but oh! the souls of those in this
place are in danger,' theref)re we will remove them, and by
this day week there shall nit be a Catholic child in this school,
nor while I am pastor of St Patrick's Church shall a Catholic
child be permitted to comehere."
And near the conclusion of the letter she says,

"About this time Mary Ind the policeman appeared. Mr.
Power tried to smile, remarking,' We are good friends now,
behaving better;' but the other priest stormed and used some
abusive names towards Mary, ordering her away, and asking
me to do so also. Mr. Power then began to bravado about
what he had done and what he would further do, saying, My
name is Power.' You have already repeatedly said so,' I
replied. Yes,' he said, 'it is a powerful name !' "
This communication froth the mistress has been sent to me
by the committee, and I am thereby induced to write you this
•
letter.

I am aware that I need not, as far as you are concerned,
appeal to the word of God as contained in the Holy Scriptures;
because, although you profess to believe the inspiration of the
Scriptures, you deny that they contain a complete rule of faith,
and thereupon appeal to the Church as the authorised and infal-
lible interpreter of Scripture.
I shall not now insist upon the fact, that although we know
of men who, in their capacity of individual witnesses, have
written what we can appeal to in proof of the inspiration of the
Scriptures; we do not and cannot know or any men in the ca-
pacity or organization of a Church until we have the Scriptures
first, because it is only in the Scriptures that we can learn what
a church is. You cannot evade this, except by making the
Church bear witness of herself; in which case we apply to the
body what the Head applied to himself—" If I bear witness of
myself, my witness is not true." St. John v. 31.

But in the present instance I am content to appeal to the
Church.

My faith is the faith of the old Catholic Church, represented
by three hundred and eighteen fathers assembled at the Coun-
cil of Nice, A.D. 323. It is what has ever since been known as
the Nicene Creed, and received by the whole Church as resting
on most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.

The same was reiterated at the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431,
with a decree that it should be lawful for no man to " profess,
write, or compose any other form of faith."

The same was reiterated at the Council of Chalcedon, A.D.
451, the Bishops exclaiming, "No person makes any other ex-
position of faith." We neither attempt, nor dare to do so."
The same was reiterated in the third session of the Council
of Trent, A.D. 1546, the assembled fathers reciting The Nicene
Creed, and nothing else, as the faith of tlo Church.
The Nicene Creed is my creed, the creed of the branch of
Christ's Holy Catholic Church in this realm of England. How
comes it, then, that you differ from us ; and in so doing declare
yourself a dissenter from the thcrees of Nice, Ephesus, Chalcs.
don, and Trent ?*

The reason is, that you have unfortunately embraced a new
creed put forth by the Bishop of Rome after the middle of the
sixteenth ceniury. It was published as a 'creed for the first
time, on the 9th of December, 1561.

This new creed contains all the points of controversy between
the Church of Christ and the Church of Rome—the Church of
Christ as she was from the beginning, and the Church of Rome
as she has been fer the last three hundred years.
This new creed contains all the differences between you and
me,—between what you teach and what I teach. What you
hold ih common with the Church from the beginning, I hold
also. Confine yourself to the faith of the old Church, and you
and I will agree.

But all that is peculiar to your faith is new. Of course you

will deny this. Well ! To the proof. I have given yon chap.
ter and verse for my faith.

And I hereby invite you, I will not say challenge; the word
sounds harshly, and I neither feel nor mean to express any
harshness ; but I give you a fair opportunity to show, if you
can, when and where the Church—not some heretical individual
or individuals, observe, but the Church, when and where the
CHURCH—ever proclaimed as her faith, any one of the twelve
articles which I, as a Catholic, reject, and which you as a post
Tridentine Romanist, a follower of the novelties of the 16th
century, maintain.

When I call them novelties, you will observe it is as articles
of faith in the Church. Ido not deny that individuals, in the
exercise of their private judgment, held and wrote many of
them at a much earlier age—indeed I think it is easy to trace
some of them to the Heathen schools of Pythagoras and Plato.
These philosophers taught the sinfulness of matter, the holi-
ness of abstaining from certain meats, the super-angelic sanc-
tity of celibacy, and that the departed spirits of the illustrious
dead were mediators betsseen the gods and men. In their
gropings without revelation they knew no better ;—but I do
deny distinctly that the Catholic Church of Christ ever embo-
died any of them in her creed, or that they were ever set forth
by authority for subscription by the clergy until after the
Council of Trent had finished its sessions, and the Pope saw
that something more pointed than the wordy decrees of that
council was required to stay the progress of the Reformation.
Come, then, the press is open, public opinion is alive, more
alive to this subject than it has been for many years, if you
can show that your distinctive creed is the old creed, do so.
and you will prove yourself better entitled to the name you
seem to he so proud of, than by any conversation, however
triumphant, with a poor school-mistress.
If you cannot do this, if you cannot show that your faith,
where it differs from mine, is older in the Church than 1564,
you will scarcely, I think, be able to justify yourself in the
eyes of the people of England, in taking a poor sick woman
out of her bed and compelling her by your threats to go out
in a cold winter day to demand her child from a school where
the old Catholic Nicene faith is the religion taught to all the
pupils.
You wi❑ scarcely justify yourself in the assertion that the
souls of children in the streets are not in danger, but the souls
of children learning the old Catholic faith are in danger—in
other words, that ignorance, and vice, idleness, blasphemy,
and crime, the teaching of the streets, do not endanger the
soul, but learning the word of God, and the creed of the
Catholic Church does.

You will, however, he a competent witness to prove that
ignorance and vice, idleness, blasphemy, and crime, do not
separate men from the modern Church of Rome, but that
acquaintance with Catholic truth does.
This is the sore place. To separate souls from God costs
Rome little, but to separate people from herself coats her
much.
Therefore, she can forgive profaneness, and Sabbath-break-
ing, and theft, and adultery, and murder; for these she has
easy penances, and easy payments, but she cannot forgive
what she calls heresy; for this she has dungeons, and tortures,
and death.

The people of England were sluw to believe this. They
thought it too monstrous to be true. But facts are forcing
upon them the painful conviction, and you are adding your
feeble note to the sound which has issued from the prison-
house of the Madial.

You may treat this letter as many of your reverend brethren
have treated similar letters from members of our true Catholic
Church ; but, be assured, your silence will be ascribed, even
by your own people, not to contempt, nor to the conscious dig-
nity of strength and truth, but to the norelhj of your distinc-
tive creed, and your utter inability to defend in the light the
unscriptural traditions which you are teaching the ignorant in
the dark.

In conclusion, unless you can disprove the statements of
this letter, not by mere assertion, but by documentary evi-
dence, I charge you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not
to presume to withdraw immortal souls from the teaching of
the Church of God, into a conventicle set up by the Bishop of
Rome in the year 1364.

Waiting yoiir reply, and hoping that you will have the honest
boldness, either toprove yourself right, or to acknowledge your-
self wrong, I am, Sir, a priest (in the sense of wpcaigvrepog,
i Peter v. 1., for there is not, and cannot be upon earth a
priest in the sense of hpEvc, i e a sacrificing priest, Heb.
viii. 4, our sacrifice is ONE, once offered, and our priest is ONE,
once entered into the true holy place, as our faith is ONE ; but
in the sense of presbyter, I am, Sir, a priest) of the Catholic
Church, HUGH APNEII.E.
Aigburth, 15th Feb., 1853.

*DECREE OF THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS,

"These things having been read, the Holy Synod decreed,
that it should be lawful for no one to profess, to write or to
compose, any other form of faith than that defined by the
Holy Fathers, who, with the Holy Ghost, had been assembled
at Nice."

" But those who shall have dared to compose, or to profess
or to offer, any other form of Faith to those wishing to be con-
verted to the acknowledgment of the truth, whether from
Paganism, or from Judiasm, or from any sort of Heresy, that
these, if they were Bishops or Clergymen, that the Bishops
should be deposed from their Episcopacy, and the Clergy from
their Clerical office ; but that if they were Laymen, they should
be subject to an anathema.'"—Mansi, vol. iii. p. 1362.