The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-02-08 00:00:00

on the Madiai case ; but it may be useful, nevertheless,
to point out the most characteristic feature in his letter to
Lord Carlisle, inasmuch as it not only affords an illustra-
tion of the tactics habitually employed by his. party in any
country " where heretics are strong," but also presents a
favourable opportunity for an accurate statement of the
precise crime alleged against the Madiai, about which
two opposite errors are prevalent in this country. Roman
Catholics say it wcs " sedition, or " incipient revolu-
tion." Some Protestants say it was " reading the Bible."
Both are wrong. The crime was Proselytism.
These errors may no doubt in many cases be purely the
result of misapprehension. But unfortunately for our
" distinguished scholar," while labouring to convince the
Earl of Carlisle that the Madiai are punished for a civil
instead of a religious offence, he must needs indulge in a
little of his usual egotistical grandiloquence by saying
" As I hold in my hand the indictment of the Tuscan At-
torney- General [the italics are his own] I can command
your lordship's attention whilst I instruct you," And
this is what exhibits him to such perfection. For any
one who reads that same indictment (not one word of
which does the Dr. quote) together with the Attorney-
General's speech, will see that not the slightest charge of
revolutionary conduct is made against them, but solely
that of proselytism. Witness the following extracts front
the " Act of Accusation." " The Chamber of Accusa-
tion has ordered that Francesco and Rosa Madiai be
accused of the crime of impiety."

" It is likewise ascertained that they lent their dwell-
ings jor the convenience of meetings, both for RELIGIOUS
EXERCISES, and TOTE INSTRUCTION OF THE MEMBERS.
* * * And that the 11Iadiai even out of the meet-
ing profiled by every favourable occasion to exercise PRO-
SELYTISM, preaching and insinuating among other things,
maxims contrary to the sacrament of confession, to the
real presence in the Holy Eucharist, to the sacrifice of
the mass, to the doctrine of Purgatory, to the worship of
the Sacred Image, to the intercession of the blessed
Virgin and the Saints, to the Priesthood, to the Pontifi-
cate, to the observance of certain feast days, to the for-
bidding of certain jbod, &c." They are not accused of
even " insinuating maxims contrary to " loyalty or
civil obedience. "In consequence Francesco and Rosa
Madiai are accused of IMPIETY, committed by them ire
the course of last year, BY MEANS OF A PROPAGANDA
AND PROSELYTISM TO THE SO-CALLED EVANGELICAL
CONFESSION OR THE RELIGION OF THE PURE GOSPEL,
not so much by teaching as by the distribution of books
and tracts, to the prejudice and insult of the Catholic-
religion predominatino in the Grand Duchy; a crime
foreseen and punishable by the 60th article of the law of
Nov. 30, 1786, and by judicial observance." Yet this is
the very law which Dr. Cahill calls " a prudent and essen-
tial enactment," which he says " had no reference what-
ever, either directly or indirectly, to forbidding the circu—
lation of the Word of God," which " was framed not
against religion of any kind, but against blasphemy; not
against liberty either civil or religious ; but to protect God
and man from a scene of blood and devastation."
The speech of the Attorney-general, which may be
found, together with other most interesting information-
upon the subject, in the " Prisoners of Hope," follows the•
tone of the indictment. Not a hint is thrown out of the-
Madiai being " incipient revolutionists." On the con-
trary, he confesses that " the acts of goodness, naturaL
probity, and benevolence, that Madame Madiai wished to,
urge in arrest of judgment, may cause one to grieve more
over her separation from Catholicism, but cannot free her•
from the present crime."

Now, Sir, the whole of Dr. Cahill's letter, from begin-
ning to end, is grounded on the assumption that the
Madiai were charged with revolutionary intrigue. The
" indictment" itself, which he says he " held in his
hand," distinctly proves that they were not. Therefore,
unless he plead guilty to a pretty strong Liguori, by ad-
mitting that he had not read the document which he
held in his hand, it is somewhat difficult to see, if be does
passess " one of the finest intellects that adorn the
church," how he can escape from the charge of having
wilfully slandered the Madiai, and deliberately attempted
to deceive the Earl of Carlisle.

One great good that can scarcely fail to result from this
agitation is the dragging to light Rome's true character.
Englishmen surely must see through the shameless hypo-
crisy of that " increasing majority" of Roman Catholics,
as Mr. Chisholm Anstey candidly and sorrowfully con-
fesses, who clamour for unbridled license as their just
right in this Protestant country, the slightest restraint
upon which is denounced as a violation of " the sacred
cause of civil and religious liberty," whilst they profess to
believe in the infallibility of a Pope, who stigmatised that
same liberty as "an absurd and erroneous maxim,
or rather wild notion ;" and whilst they justify the
imprisonment of a poor Tuscan woman, whose cha-
racter commanded the admiration even of her accuser,
for no other crime was alleged than that of "leaving her
dwelling for the convenience of meetings for religious
exercises and instruction, and promoting"—(ob, fright-
ful enormity in the eyes of a Church that loves darkness
rather than light)—" the distribution of books and
tracts !"—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
SAMUEL MINTON, Incumbent of St. Silas.
Liverpool, 7th February, 1853.