The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-02-02 00:00:00

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PROTESTANT OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION.-
TOXTETH-PARK BRANCH.

Last evening a public meeting of the members and friends
of the Toxteth-park Branch of this Association was held in
St. James's School-room. At seven o'clocic the Rev. Hugh
M`Neile, the president of the society, entered the room, and
was warmly greeted by the crowded assemblage, chiefly com-
posed of the operative classes. The rev. gentleman, on tak-
ing the chair, reminded the assembly that one of the rules of
their association was that all meetings should commence with
prayer; and in reply to adversaries, who find fault with them
for abiding by this regulation, said he would just make ono
or two observations. It was said that they acted inconsist-
ently in mixing up a religious exercise with matters and bu-
siness which were of a purely secular and political nature.
Such an objection came well from persons whose principle
it was to separate religion from politics : but this principle
was not theirs, neither was it yet the principle of the state.
For his part, he would not lead in any movement in which
the practice was prohibited, or join in any undertaking not
based on the foundation laid in Zion, the Lord Jssus Christ
being the chief corner stone.
The meeting then joined in prayer, after which
The Rev. CHAIRMAN said, I am happy to avail myself of
this opportunity to congratulate you on the considerable
measure of success which has attended your proceedings.
One of the principal objects of your association was to rouse
the dormant spirit of Protestantism in this district—and now
I congratulate you—the spirit of Protestantism is no longer
dormant in Liverpool. There is not, I do assert, a town in
her Majesty's dominions—and God bless her Majesty (cheers)
—where the spirit of Protestantism is more truly and scrip-
turally roused—nor a people any where more fully aware of
their duty than in the town of Liverpool. We are accused—
for we have enemies—of meeting here to abuse our Catholic
neighbours; but one or other of two things is plainly the case—
either those who make this accusation have never attended
our meetings, and know of them only by hearsay; or if they
have attended them, they have paid little attention to matters
of fact. I desire to know who ever heard us abuse our Ro-
man Catholic neighbours? (Hear, hear.) You have heard
me abuse slavery; but who ever heard me abuse the slave ?
Now Popery is to the mind what slavery is to the body. A
slave is not his own master, but has become the property of
another, and a man compelled to open the secrets of his mind
to his fellow-man, ceases to be his own master. The con-
fessional annihilates liberty. No Roman Catholic is a free-
man, because all his secrets are in the keeping of a priest.
Now we are endeavouring to emancipate the slave—(cheers)
—the slave of Popery. (Loud cheers.) The reverend
gentleman enlarged at considerable length, and with all
his accustomed power, on this head. lie then adverted to
the glorious deliverance with which this country had been
favoured by the reformation, and dwelt in a theme of the
most animated eloquence on the heroic deeds of our Ridlevs,
Latimers, Cranmers, and Hopkins. I would, he said, that
we had such bishops now—men not afraid of offending deli-
cate ears. Could we fancy the spirit of Latimer to animate
one of our bishops in the House of Lords—could we believe
lin the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and suppose
him speaking by the mouth of one of our prelates of the pre-
sent day, what an astonishing effect would he not produce !
[A voice—" wait till we have Hugh M`Neile a bishop."]
(Cheers.)
Mr. M'NEILE.—I should rat for that—(laughter)—or
join in the cry for repeal—(laughter)—or write a pamphlet in
favour of the Irish National Board of Education, or of the
Liverpool Corporation Schools. (Renewed laughter.) But
I could not in my conscience submit to do any of these
things, and therefore I have as much chance of being a
bishop as any one of you who by his honest industry is earn-
ing his daily bread. (Cheers.)
Mr. MOORE moved the following resolution:—" That this
meeting considers it highly inconsistent in a Protestant go-
vernment to assist in the propagation of error, and that the
blessing of Almighty God cannot be expected to rest upon
this country so long as the government perseveres in such a
glaring ineonsistency."
Richard Harbord, Esq., Mr. Matthews, and the Rev.
Hugh M`Neile afterwards addressed the meeting ;_ but we
have to express great regret that the crowded state of our co-
lumns and peculiar demands on our time and space this pub-
lication prevent us giving these admirable speeches in our
present number.

MEETING OF THE. SUBSCRIBERS TO THE FUND
FOR THE RELIEF OF THE MANUFACTURING
DISTRICTS.

A. meeting of the subscribers to the above fund was held
yesterday, at noon, at the Clarendon Rooms, "for the pur-
pose of deciding on the disposal of the balance of about three
hundred pounds, now lying in the Borough Bank," the resi-
due of subscriptions raised some years ago for the relief of
the then destitute poor in the manufixturing districts. The
attendance was but slender, the subscribers generally having
doubtless the fullest confidence in the gentlemen who had
taken an active and efficient part throughout in the manage-
ment of the fund.

Mr. ADAM HODGSON being called to the chair, said that
he had taken the liberty to call the meeting, for the purpose
stated in the notice, there being a balance of upwards of £3OO
remaining on hand of the sum raised by subscription in 1826,
and partly in 1827, for the relief of the distressed in the manu-
facturing districts of Lancashire and Cheshire, during that
period of depressson. The original amount raised was
£7,593 lOs 3d ; the balance was £239 16s 3d, to which must
be added the interest since accumulated, making a total resi-
due of £3lB 8s sd. They were now called upon to decide
upon the manner in which this sum should be disposed of.
It appeared to him that the original object of the subscribers
would be best met by applying it to the relief of the destitute
in the town, and he would suggest that it be apportioned to
the three excellent charities upon which the calls were at pre-
sent peculiarly pressing—the District Provident Society, the
Strangers' Friend Society, and the Soup Kitchens.
Mr. JOHN CROSSFIELD was of opinion (and the meeting
concurred with him) that the sum was too small to be bene-
ficially devoted to its original purpose. He believed that the
societies of the town that had been pointed out; and particu-
larly the two first, which were greatly in want of funds,
would expend it to the best advantage, from their thorough
knowledge of the condition of the poor.
Mr. W. COMER said that he was authorized on behalf of
Mr. John Cropper to express that gentleman's regret, that
unavoidable circumstances prevented his attendance at the
meeting, and to express his (Mr. C.'s) opinion that the
balance could not be better appropriated than to the District
Provident Society, the Strangers' Friend Society, and the
Soup Kitchen Charity, in the proportion of one-third the
amount to' each.
The Rev. Rector BROOKS said the District Provident
Society's funds were exhausted, and they had 'in the present
season relieved no fewer than 5,000 families. The society
depended upon donations from week to week, and month to
month ; they had been called upon to relieve 465 familes in
one day. It was a most deserving society, as was he be-
lieved the Strangers' Friend Society, which did much good.
With respect to the Soup Society, it was a question with
him whether they had not more money than they could spend
in soup. That society was by no means in want of addi-
tional funds.

Mr. COMER advocated the interests of the Soup Society.
He stated that the funds towards it had been raised on the
understanding that the subscribers should not be again called
upon before the lapse of four years. The society had, more-
over, to begin the season with a considerable debt.
The Rev. J. BROOKS said that he never knew the town of
Liverpool backward in subscribing when a real case of neces-
sity arose, and there was a confidence that the amount raised
would be properly husbanded. He believed the merchants
and others would not care, in such case, though they were
called upon every three years for the support of such a society.
Mr. CROSSFIELD said much was done for the poor people
who came from the country districts to the town.
The Rev. J. BROOKS disapproved of encouraging such
from coming to the town to partake of its charities. The
manufacturers were wealthy, and ought to support their own.
destitute poor. He complained that the soup society charged
the District Provident Society to the full extent for soup
tickets, while they gave an advantage to the Strangers' Friend.
Society.
Mr. Comxu, said the last society was in debt for soup tickets,
and would pay that debt.
The Rev. J. BROOKS said, that the District Provident So-
ciety would have been insolvent but for a seasonable sum
they had received on the Queen's marriaze.
After some further conversation, in which Mr. LAWRENCE
and others took part, an amendment was moved to Mr.
Corner's motion, by Mr. JOSEPH LANGTON, to the effect
that the balance of the fund should be divided between the
District Provident Society and the Strangers' Friend Society.
This was immediately agreed to, and the meeting separated.

The vicarage of Newcastle-upon-Tyne has been conferred
by the patron, the Lord Bishop of Carlisle, upon the Rev.
R. C. Coxe, M.A., incumbent of Archbishop Tenison's
Chapel, Regent-street, London. The rev. gentleman is ex-
pected to enter upon his important charge.in the course of a
month or six weeks. He has already visited the town and
left a very favourable impression upon those with whom he
came in contact for devout, mild, and gentlemanly demean-
our. He is of Worcester College, Oxford, and took a high
degree in the year 1821.
THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.—The first
reformers in Scotland approved of the use of an established
liturgy, and also that the same views were entertained as late
as 1637. The opposition to liturgies had its origin in the
tumults which commenced in that year ; but the Scottish
church, in her earliest and best days, never imagined that a
prescribed form of prayer was unlawful. Knox's views were
decidedly in favour of set forms. Not only did the great re-
former use the liturgy in public, but he also used one and the
sameform at meals, and a set fo rm in his family. The Eng-
lish liturgy was indeed laid aside ; but another was adopted
in its place: 'We have numerous testimonies in the Scottish
historians to the use of Knox's book. Calderwood, who was
no 'friend to the views entertained by the first reformers,
establishes the point beyond all doubt. He tells us that Mr.
Robert Bruce went to Inverness in 1605, " where lie re-
mained four years, teaching every Sabbath before noon, and
every Wednesday ; and exercised at reading of the prayers
every other night." And a still later period, the year 1620,
the same writer mentions the case of John Scrimger, who,
on being charged with not complying with the articles of
Perth respecting the administration of the Lord's supper,
replied, " Neither is there any warrantable form directed,
or approved by the kirk, beside that which is extant in
print before that Psalm. Book ; according to which, as I
have always done, so now I minister that sacrament!'
It is clear from these testimonies, that the Book of
Common Order was in general use in 1620 among those.
clergy, who were opposed to King James's views respect-
ing episcopacy ; nor is it by any means certain that it
was not used by those clergymen who wished to introduce
the English liturgy. Nay, it is highly probable that the
latter, as they could not legally use the English book, would
be anxious to adopt that in common use. We have also the
positive testimony of Sage, the author of the Fundamental;
Charter, in the passage already quoted, to the fact of its
use by presbyterians and episcopalians, even after the trou-
bles had commenced. In short, all parties in Scotland con-
curred in the adoption of the liturgy in question during a
period of seventy-three years at least ; namely, from 1564
to 1637.—Fr0m Fraser's Magazine for January.
PEERAGE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.—TO the barons of
England, of a truth, it may he said, man is indebted for con-
stitutional liberty ; for if we look but to Greece and Rome,
those boasted lands of freedom, where, as the arts and sci-
ences increased, liberty decayed, we shall perceive myriads of
slaves, governed, as in savage nations, by a few political
chiefs, wboin brute force and superior address had raised
above their fellow-citizens. It was in modern times, through
the. ius.rumentality of the steel-dad nobles of Britain, that
liberty was to dawn on the human race ; and of these Henry,
VII. could only summon 28 to his first parliament ; and only,
36 were summoned to the first parliament of Henry VIII.,
Now the number is nearly 500. It is a fact but little reo-f.
garded, that the first noble family in England was that
v
Lord Co.urtenay, who descended from the Earls o f 0n...
shire, who often intermarried with the blood-royal of France'
and Britain, as may be found at the commencement of:
Sully's memoirs. The Duke of Beaufort is descended
_ from
Geoffry Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, son of Foulk, King of
Jerusalem, and grandson to the Empress Maud, daughter of
Henry I. Consequently this family has flourished as dukes,
marquises, and earls, without descending to a lower degree,
for 700 years. The Duke of Montague traces his descent,
by the female line, from
mh
t e inu
Charlemagne.
0 lls_lTealEbaortl, Shrews-
bury'sotfheterro r family is derived from
of France ; hence they have been peers for 500 years. The
descent of 13 years can be traced to the 11th century, that of
10 to the 12th ; 22 to the 13th ; 13 to 14th ; 10 to the 15th ;
37 to tie 16th z. 31 to the 17th ; and 2 to the 18th • and 37
whose genealogies cannot be traced with accuracy. 'The an-
cestry of 48 Irish peers were foreigners. The numbers of
Roman Catholic peers are 8 for Ireland, viz.--2 earls, 4 vis-
counts, and 2 barons ; in Scotland, only 2 earls ; and in.
England, 9, viz.-1 duke, 1 earl, 7 barons.

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