The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-25 00:00:00

THE POLL FOR A CHURCH-RATE.

THE poll for a rate of three farthings in the pound, in
order to enable the Churchwardens to maintain the de-
cencies of public wofship in the Parish Churches of
Liverpool, is now being proceeded with. The following
were the numbers at the close of each day :

FIRST DAY-THURSDAY.
Persons.
For the Rate 302 ..
Against it
SECOND DAY-FRIDAY.
For A the Rate 525 ..
Against it

Votes.
. 852
. 635

THIRD DAY-MONDAY.
For the Rate Bl6
• Against it
The poll was yesterday again adjourned' to this dsy
(Tuesday).

On the announcement of the state of the poll yester-
day, and the adjournment being moved, the Rev.
Rector CAMPBELL made the following remarks I—" As
far as lam cmcerned, I would close the poll now, not
because I am indifferent to the subject, as has been
said, but because I am sorry that the parishioners
should refuse a rate for the repairs of their parish churches
and the decent maintenance of public worship, and because
Churchmen seem to show such indifference on the subject,
that I myself would not prolong the contest. But the
continuance of the poll is demanded, and it ought to be
granted, to enable the parishioners to record their de1%0,-
rate opinions."

It will be a disgrace to the town, if the final result of
the poll should be adverse to this small rate, fora pp.riooo
to which no man with the slightest appreciation ()PA.
blessings of Christianity should take exception. It is 04.
surd to contend that the faintest conscientious scruple is
involved in the objection to the rate. The simple question
is the provision of the means of Divine worship for the
poor, and those who have no other means of Christian
instruction. The Church of England is essentially, really,
and practically the poor man's church. Whatever the
Dissenters may do in providing accommodation for those
who are able and willing to pay for it, they do little for
those who cannot afford to pay. It is a fact, which should
induce the parishioners to. vote for the rate by an over-
whelming majority, that there are more free sittings in
the two parish churches of Liverpool (St. Nicholas' and St.
Peter's) than in all the dissenting meeting-houses in the
neighbourhood, numerous as they are. Let it be remem-
bered that the whole of the ground-floor of the parish
churches is free, and then let any conscientious man ask
himself upon what ground he can refuse to tax himself to
the extent of three farthings in the pound, in order that
so much good may be done at so trifling We con-
fidently trust that those who have as yeinlitained from
voting will hasten to the poll, and rescue Protestant
Liverpool from the indelible disgrace which the rejection
of this rate would inflict upon her reputation.
With reference to the absurd objection attempted to
be raised about the conscientious scruples of Dissenters,
we give the following from an undisputed authorits:—
" Until within the last ten years," said Mr. Baron Grassy,
in summing up a case of a church-rate riot, "no man
living had ever heard of conscientious scruples upon this
subject from any class of dissenters. I respect the right
of dissenters, no man more so; but I feel great distress
when I hear conscience prostituted by a mixture of poli-
tical feeling. If a man purchases a house, he gives a
price subject to all burdens upon it, and he calculates that
he shall have to pay certain rates and taxes, and in pro-
portion to that, so does he estimate its value ; and I have
never heard that any of these persons has paid over Whiz
landlord any sum he may have saved in consequence of
the reduction of any tax ; and until any man had done
that, the less he said about his conscience the better. The
church-rate is an ancient rate, payable by law, and it is
the duty of all men to pay it."

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SIR,—I cannot believe that the Churchmen of Liverpool
really understand the church-rate question, or they never
would take it so coolly as they do. If the three farthing
trate is refused, the parish churches will remain unrepaired ;
all the attendants, except the clergy, unpaid ; the organs,
choirs, and bells silenced ; the illuminated clocks darkened;
and the means for the decent maintenance of public wor-
ship withdrawn. Not one sixpence of the twopenny pa-
rochial rate can be applied to the parish churches ; and
do they deliberately and advisedly mean that this should
be done ? The opponents of the church-rate say that the
congregations at the parish churches should furnish the
means. Can they seriously mean what they say ? Half
of St. Peter's Church is occupied by the poor. The whole
of St. Nicholas' is free to all the parishioners ; and the
rectors have given up legal statutable claims to pew rents
which amounted to £6O a year. Is it meant that such
congregations have the ability, or should be called upon,
to furnish money for such purposes as the repair of the
parish churches, and the maintenance of parochial worship
as it ought to be maintained in a wealthy parish like
Liverpool ? They cannot afford it, if they would. Again,
the opponents of the church-rate say that the parish
churches and their clergy are of no use to any but those
who belong to the church, and therefore should be sup-
ported by none but churchmen. Is this true ? Are the
rectors of no use to any but churchmen ? Rector Camp-
bell has, I believe, worked 25 years in the parish, and
done quite as much service to dissenters as he has to
churchmen. Rector Brooks has worked considerably
more than 60 years in his native town, in works of urn-
versa' charity and universal utility, in the service of all,
dissenters as well as churchmen ; and do the people of
Liverpool mean deliberately and advisedly to cast these
gentlemen off in their old age, and throw them on the
voluntary principle, and send them, cap in hand, to beg
for alms and oblations to wash their surplices, and pay
for their organs, and choirs, and the repairs of their
churches ? Is this decent ?is this respectful ? is it really
what tiltiepposeosipbllee. ofALgaiviie'
,rpsopoelakrrilgl
n
do you mean that the Established Church should re-
think ytome churchmen,ca hardly
d
sayn/ain a part and parcel of the British constitution, or do
you not ? If you do, you must support it as such. A
man, personating a cobbler, said in vestry, why should he
pay to the church ? the church was of no use to hiin. If
he paid the parson for a church he did not use, why should
not the parson pay him for a pair of useless shoes ? This
king of the cobblers, no doubt, could cobble a fresh con-
stitution after his own fashion, and say, what use to me
is a Queen, with five or six palaces and 3 or £400,000 a
year ? what do I want with a Mayor, with a cocked hat,
and a fine coach, and £2OOO a year, and a set of upstart
town councillors, swilling champagne ? Dissenters who
advocate a separation of church and state, are only main-
taining their principle in refusing a church-rate. Church-
men, who profess to uphold an established church, desert
their principles if they refuse to vote for it. The church-
rate in Liverpool, after all, has been nothing more than a
voluntary rate for many years. Nobod that could not
y
afford to pay, or had a really conscientious scruple, has
ever been sued, or had his conscientious scruples dis-
turbed ; and therefore the present opposition is an un-
called-for breach of the harmony that has prevailed so
long between the parochial clergy and the parishioners,
and an unmerited affront to men who have deserved better
at their hands.—Your obedient servant,
ANGLICUS.

th,esibTßeoncTialituEtEstDhghrr.4oetliv. OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD'
had been discontinueeddPber
no doubt the clocks, about the most useful i
ir,yesterdaysdearnodf
tiote.
cfiNiiinudcrehintitasel, reieinheigilustr,noch
Churches
will also cease their usual gyrations. I canno'tisebeunt
gthinni
the recent agitation a piece of great folly%romidisstelnie.
churchwardens have not Worced. the rate i
forte r s
y: e indeeda r
years.
The
movement know several
fpamrtesiessrvh;m: hauoanni
nhddaudvphoe
inriottlnejptpaid r
reign
eiyt,
and Co., is another blow at the Chum.
will never rest satisfied untilßomams
rampant throughout the land.
Surely
e 111 thereh , t°w"illli ' not‘`'lie;a I,hhlroae:irt.fthhae purchasedi this
thfislight-e,ghy
est wish to uphold
act of folly. I am, Sir, yours, Art,
its enemies to be successful, nor suffer the merry
toof
betl.eisar
cpriafiriesedh cthouaril
Itbll,eii attack
sel le
isiaalnilodal dfbpcntkds s,
f 0
oli sh, ,
ARGUS.

Liverpool, April 24, 1854,

FISH TABLE D'HOTES will be provided continuously at
Mr. Feeny's Merchants' Dining Rooms Slater-court,
Castle-street, on Wednesday (to-morrow) the Special
Fast Day. First Table d'Hote at one o'clock—will be
continuous till seven o'clock. Charge, ls. 6d. each. Mer-
chants Dining Rooms, Slater-court, Castle-street.