The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-14 00:00:00

THE LAVERPOOL STANDARD AND
THE .ROMISH PRIESTHOOD.

-....
Tur concluding note from Mr. Yates will show the
reason for our giving the readers of the Standard the
benefit of the following correspondence :

TO THE PROPRIETOR OP THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SIB,--The Right Rev. Dr. Brown, the Roman Catholic
Bishop of this diocese, has requested me to communicate
with you on the subject of a leading article, which ap-
peared in the columns of your paper on Tuesday last, and
which contains the following paragraph :—" We could
point to instances, even in our own neighbourhood, where
a Romish priest, professing great piety, and administering
the ordinances of his religion to many young females, is
notorious for infamous profligacy, consorting with the
most abandoned characters, and with hardly the decency
to conceal his atrocious conduct."
Dr. Brown, as the prelate having charge of the Catholic
clergy of this diocese, and responsible for their character
and fitness for the sacred office, is deeply interested in the
truth of the assertion you have made ; and, on his behalf,
I have to request yon will be good enough to furnish me
with the name of the priest to whom you allude, as it will
be his lordship's duty instantly to remove any person
whose conduct is such as you describe, and so prevent him
from continuing to disgrace the priesthood.—l am, Sir,
your obedient servant, JOHN YATES, Jun.
20, Fenwick-street, 10th March, 1854.

The Editor of the Liverpool Standard presents his
compliments to Mr. Yates, jun. He has no knowledge of
any such individual as " the Right Rev. Dr. Brown,
the Roman Catholic Bishop of this diocese," and denies
the right of any person to assume such a title, or to pre-
tend to be " a prelate having charge of the Catholic clergy
of this diocese ;" and, therefore, to have any right to make
the inquiry contained in Mr. Yates's letter. At the same
time, he begs to inform Mr. Yates, that the remark to
which he alludes was not intended to refer to any Romish
priest in Liverpool. Mr. Yates, as a lawyer, must be
aware that more particular reference would subject the
publisher to an action for libel, although the facts may be
notorious in the neighbourhood.
Standard Office, 10th March, 1864.

ISLINGTON PRESB .YT_E'iel N
CHURCH TE.et PARTY.

LAST wisnT, the anniversary tea party of the congre-
gation of this church was held in the school-room beneath
the chcurh. Nearly 400 persons sat down to tea, and the
proceedings were of the most interesting character. The
tea and refreshments aftei wards, both of which were of a
superior character, were supplied by Mr. J. Milbour?,.of
Clarence-street. The Rev. V. M. White, 8.A., the minus-
ter of the church, occupied the chair ; and amongst the
gentlemen on the platform, were—The Rev. Dr. Crichton,
the Rev. A. Cromar, the Rev. David Hamilton, of Belfast,
the Rev. Mr. Trail, of Manchester, and the Rev. F. A.
West, Wesleyan Minister. The Chairman referred, in.
congratulatory terms, to the progressively improving posi..
tion of the congregation externally ; and spoke of the good.
effected by reunions like the present in creating a cordial,
social feeling amongst the members. The Rev. A. Cromar,,
1 in ass eloquent address, dwelt upon the necessity for. homemissions, as exemplified by the drunkenness and immo-
rality so prevalent in Liverpool. He was afraid that,.
whilst they were looking so 'much to foreign and heathen
lands, they were too much neglecting Liverpool.
The Rev. D. HAMILTON then addressed the meeting,.
dwelling especially on subjects connected with the Irish
Presbyterian Church. If they asked him what was one of
the principal evidences by which they would judge of the
life of a church, he should say missions, as taken up and
carried out in that church. Wherever they found a church
dead to missions, he did not care how rich it was—how
crowded its congregations might be—it was a dead church;
and wherever they found a church, whose members had
their hearts set upon the enlargement of Christ's king-
dom, and were giving and working to gain that object,
they found a healthy, a living church. In reference to
Mr. Cromar's remarks, Mr. liamilton said he need have
no fear of their attention being directed from home by
foreign missions. The more they did for home, the more
they would do for the heathen, and the more they did for
the heathen the more they would do for Liverpool. In
1840, the Irish Presbyterian church sent out its first mis-
sion for the conversion of the heathen. They, had after-
wards established a mission to the Jews, and in no year
had so much been contributed towards missions by that
church as in the year just closed. There were two evils
to contend with in Ireland. The first was the inadequate
support of the ministry ; the second was ministerial' beg-
ging for a church or manse. To remedy the latter evil, they
formed a church and manse fund. Belfast alone had con-
tributedllooo towards it, and other parts of Ulster about
£6,000, leaving £9,000 still required to supply the want.
The speaker then said that he had heard with regret that
there was a debt on the church in which they were assem-
bled, and he urged the congregation not merely to provide
as they were doing for paying the interest of the debt.
Now, he did not like intores Let them pay the princi-
pal. (Applause.) No chu,ci. -.- justifiable in staying
longer in debt than it was ail.i to get out of it —The Rev.
Mr. WEST addressed the meeting.—The Rev. Dr. CniciD..
TON, who has just returned from. Constantinople, followed,
and interested the audience by a rapid sketch of the lead-
ing objects of interest in that magnificent city. Re joined
there a company of English and French officers, who were
so far favoured as to get a firman from the Sultan,
permitting them to see through the seraglio and the
different mosques. They were accompanied by a guard
of about a dozen soldiers. The seraglio he described as
a building of about four miles in length. They walked
through all the parts except the portion of the building in
which the women were kept, but there was little to attract
attention, although there was much of Oriental splendour
and a profuse display of cloth of gold and silver. They
went next to the Church of St. Sophia, the largest church
in the world with the exception of St. Peter's, and he was
particularly struck with its extent and magnificence.
There were about 1,000 Turks worshipping in it at the
time of their visit. At another mosque they had nearly
got into mischief, owing to a crazy young French mid-
shipman who had lifted a Koran, when the party were
assailed with a yell from the Mussulmans, who drew their
swords, and had it not been for the guard, and for the
explanations that were rendered, very serious results might
have followed. Dr. Crichton was proceeding with his
discourse, in which the audience appeared much interested,
and there were other speakers to follow ; but owing to the
lateness of the hour, our reporter was compelled to retire.