The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-15 00:00:00

THE IRISH SOCIETY.-MEETING LAST

NIGHT

The annual meeting of the Liverpool Auxiliary of the
Irish Society was held last night, in the Philharmonic-
hall. The Rev. Dr. M'Neile presided. The Rev. Pro-
feseor Foley, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, and the
Rev. Alexander Dallas attended as the deputation from
the parent society. There was a numerous attendance.
Amongst the clergymen and gentlemen on the platform
we noticed the following :
The Rev. J. Cowan, Rev. D. Foley, Rev. A. Dallas,
Rev. H. Carpenter, Rev. Geo. Dover, Rev. Herbert
Jones. Rev. S. Minton, Rev. Edward Hall, Rev. J. Pisey,
Rev. J. J. Butler, Rev. T. T. Sutton, Rev. J. W. Lester,
Rev. Robert Brown, Rev. T. L. Pain, Rev. S. B. Sutton,
Rev. D. Anderson, Rev. T. Newenham, Rev. C. Clarke,
Rev. H. Marlen, Rev. "Williams, Rev. W. Brewster,
Rev. S. P. Boutflower, Rev. W. Maynard, Rev. F. A.
, Power, Rev. A. Hume, L.L.D. Rev. Chas. H Burton,
Rev. William Rawson, Rev. A. A. Nunn, Rev. J. P.
Jones, Rev. J. Marland, Rev. J. 0. Powell, Rev.. Chas.
W. Lawrence, Rev. W. M. Falloon, Rev. W. H. Duck,
Rev. Joseph Bardsley, Rev. Thomas W. Moeran, Rev.
R. Powell, Rev. G. W. Warr, Rev. J. Ellison, Rev. W.
H. Wright, William Jones, Esq. J. K. Rounthwaite, Esq.
and Herbert Campbell, Esq.
The meeting havine been opened with prayer, offered
up by the Rev. Mr. Minton,
The CHAIRMAN said,—We are assembled in aid of a
society which has been long known, much valued, and
cheerfully assisted in this town. The Irish Society has
occupied a comparatively unostentatious, but practically
a most important place in the modern religious history of
our sister island. (Hear, hear.) Large masses, I believe
I might, without exaggeration, say millions, of the Roman
Catholic population of the west and south of Ireland were
separated from all direct attempts to give them true Chris-
• tianity and increasing civilization, not only by the super-
stitions of their creed, and the selfish ambition of their
agitating political leaders, but also by the barrier of an
unknown language. (Loud cheers). What could our
good friend, and Ireland's benefactor, Mr. Dallas, have
done in West Galway in the year 1820 ? The inhabitants
would have been barbarians to him, and he would have
seemed a barbarian to them. (Hear, hear.) He might
as well have sung to the rocks, like Orpheus, or preach to
the fishes, like St. Anthony, as have wasted his sweet
English, simple, colloquial,and grammatical as it is, on the
aborigines of Connemara. (Cheers). An English ire-
, yeller passing through the country, might not, it is true,
have discovered this state of things ; because on the lead-
ing public roads, and in the inns frequented by travellers,
there were individuals who could speak English. But if
such a traveller forsook the great road and entered into
the little villages scattered about the bogs and heaths,
and swarming as they did at that time with an increasing
population ; if he would have joined the domestic circle
of one cottage after another over thousands of acres, he
would not have heard one word of English. (Hear, hear.)
Toe husband addressed his wife in Irish, and the wife Ler
husband. (Cheers.) Parents spoke Irish to their chil-
dren, and children to their parents. Irish songs were
sung. Irish anecdotes were told. Irish wit was relished.
All was Irish. (Hear, hear). And although some few
individuals in such families, those who had been in the
habit of going to the next market town, might have been
able to understand a short question in English, and to
give a short answer ; yet they were totally incapable of
understanding any lengthened address. or receiving any
useful instruction by means of the English language.
English prejudice against the Irish language has been of
long standing, and was most injuriously operative at an
eventful crisis of Irish history. At the period of the
Reformation Queen Elizabeth had imbibed this prejudice,
and endeavoured to suppress the Irish language. Tnis
was beyond her royal power, but the attempt was at-
tended with incalculable mischief. The Act of Uni-
formity passed in 1560, contained a clause commanding
those pastors of the Church in Ireland who could not
read the Liturgy in English to read it in Latin. The only
medium through which the reformed faith could have
been conveyed to the Irish mind was cut off. Rome
saw her opportunity, and availing herself ,then as now)
by England's mistake, suppressed the Reformation and
stereotyped her own traditions and corruptions on Ireland.
Within a few years Queen Elizabeth discovered her mis-
take, and endeavoured to apply a remedy. In the year
1571 she had founts of Irish types prepared, and
is !recorded by our historians to have uttered the
pious wish, that it might please God to raise up
some of her subjects to translate the New Testa-
ment into Irish. It was too late. The golden oppor-
tunity had been lost. Many years elapsed before any
translation was completed ; and when it was completed,
and ready to be printed, a curious discovery was made
concerning Her Majesty's Irish types. They had been
laid aside when first prepared, and not being in use, they
had been neglected and lost sight of by the authorities,
but not by the Jesuits, who, to do them justice, always
have their eyes about them. Search was made for the
types; in vain for a long time, but at last they were
found. Where, do you suppose ? Not in Ireland ; not
in England. They were found in the Roman Catholic
College of Doway. They had been stolen from Dublin,
and instead of being used to print the New Testament in
Irish, they were used to print Popish tracts for circulation
in Ireland. The Irish people have never since had fair
play in the matter of religious instruction, because it
has never been presented to them, on a large scale,
through the medium of their own language. (Cheers.) This
is no light matter. Its importance is not felt as
it deserves. Perhaps it cannot be fully entered into by
those who have never heard any language but one, or felt
themselves barbarians to a speaker. You would all feel
it Awere I now to cease from English. and speak some
other tongue. To the masses in the west of Ireland, 30
or 40 years ago, English was as useless as Greek is now to
you. But a great change has taken place in this respect—
a pioneering change—preparing the way for " Irish
Church Missions." Various causes have conspired to
produce this change, doubtless. But one of the most
effectual is to be traced to the quiet, steady, and persever-
ing operations of the " Irish Society." How, it may be
asked, would this be, seeing that the object of that society
was to promote the education of the native Irish, through
the medium of their own language ? The process
may seem strange, but it is simple and sure. It
is impossible to invade the ignorance of a people' ,and
teach them to think, by means of a language of which they
are ignorant. The native Irish could never have been
reached by the English language ; but when through the
medium of their own language they were reached, and
taught, and induced to think, they soon saw how advan-
tageous it would be to themselves and their children to
become acquainted with English ; and, although they
were unable to do so themselves to any very great extent,
they had the good sense to avail themselves of the oppor.
tunities afforded to send their children to schools where
English was taught. (Hear, and cheers.) The experiment,
for its fair trial, required the passing away of one
generation and the rising up of another. (Hear, hear.)
It has had the trial, and its success has been
astonishing. The Irish Society reached and stimulated
the Irish mind, creating thereby (under the circumstances
of the country, commercial and political,) a demand for
English knowledge. Other societies were ready to supply
the demand thus created, The operation proceeded
steadily. The school children of 1820 to 1825 became the
men and women of 1845 to 1850 ; and then, when the
fields were white to the harvest, " the Irish Church
Missions" sprang forward as an accomplished reaper.
" Other men laboured, and they entered into their
labours"—not in rivalry or jealousy, but with the same
noble end in view, " that he who soweth and he who
reapeth may rejoice together." (Cheers) It is our privilege
to behold the action of this mutual joy in the arrangement
now made for a wise and prudent division of labour.
That arrangement comprises two points : one has refe-
rence to the fields of labour, and the other to the
collection of funds for the cultivation of the fields.
I must leave it to Mr. Foley and Mr. Dallas to enter
into explanatory particulars with regard to this arrange-
ment, congratulating the latter gentleman on the differ-
ence between the state of things in 1820 and in 1853, in
this respect, that now, let him go where he will, in Clif-
den, in Oughterand, Castlekerke, Ennismore, in creek or
bay, in bog or mountain ; not only is his Christian zeal
duly appreciated, and his affectionate interest in the
well-being of the people gratefully felt, but also his
English tongue is " understanded of the people." (Cheers.)
To these observations on the language, which was long
a serious hindrance in the way of the progress of Protes-
tantism and civilization in Ireland, it may perhaps be
interesting and useful that I should add a few remarks
concerning other co-operating causes. Land, the tenure
of land, the relations between landlord and tenant—
these are topics forced now upon the public attention. A
committee of the House of Commons is busily engaged
with what is called tenant-right. Our liberal legislators
are not likely to connect any considerations of religious
creed with their inquiries about the tenure of land. But
although they will not, others will do this, and have been
doing this, systematically and perseveringly for years. It
ought to be known that before the middle of the last cen-
tury, numerous societies or clubs of Roman Catholics
were formed in Ireland, for the purpose of outbidding
Protestant farmers, at the expiration of the leases by
which they held their lands. They were wonderfully suc-
cessful. The landlords, not all of course, but many,
alas too many, greedy of gain, and more eager for
'an augmentation of rental than solicitous for the
advancement of their country's welfare, encouraged
this species of competition ; and their sordid conduct in
giving a preference to strangers, merely because they
offered a larger rent, drove multitudes of the most active
and useful Protestants to Great Britain or America. The
former holdings of these men were soon occupied by
Roman Catholic tenants, at such rents as rendered it im-
possible for them to enjoy the ordinary comforts and de-
cencies of life, They were degraded into fellow lodgers
with their own swine. Thus the agriculture of the
country was paralyzed,—the diffusion of sound, reli-
gious, and moral principles hindered,— the progress
of Popery accelerated, and the dark night of igno-
rance and disaffection and crime deepened and extended.
It was a wily scheme. Romanism addressing herself to
the known cupidity of the natural heart of man, and
bidding for Ireland by bribes in the legal shape of
increased rents. It will not be difficult to trace it to its
true origin, if we recollect that the Type-stealers, the
confederacy of Jesuits—those master-managers of fallen
man—have always had active emissaries in Ireland. Even
when they were suppressed elsewhere by Papal and by
Royal authority, their slimy path can be traced in the
island of saints, ever since Wancop, the Popish Primate
of Armagh, employed John Codure, Alphonsus Salmeron,
Pasehasius Broet, and Francis Zapata, in the year 1541.
The author of a valuable pamphlet, published anonymously
in 1746, describes, in vivid colours, the partition and sub-
division of lands produced by the speculation of these
Popish clubs, and mourns over the expulsion and con-
sequent expatriation of Protestants thus driven from their
habitations. This continued till the year 1768, when it
received a check. Prior to that period the Irish House of
Commons was rarely dissolved. Its legal existence was
terminated only by the demise of the Crown ; and as an
election, therefore, so seldom occurred, gentlemen cared
comparatively little about the number of freeholders on
their property, and preferred an increase of the pecuniary
amounts of their rentals. But when the Octennial Bill
was passed, and Parliament came to be comparatively
frequently dissolved, voters were felt to be of conse-
quence, and efforts were made to multiply their numbers.
Roman Catholics, however, did not at that period possess
the elective franchise, and proprietors of estates found
themselves reduced to this alternative, that they must
either do without voters, or they must encourage Protes-
tant Qcttlell on their lands. Then commenced a mingled

process, with some landlords low covetousness prevailed
over political ambition, and they continued the race of
Popish serfs. With others, political ambition prevailed,
and they encouraged a Protestant tenantry. By means
of the amount of . encouragement thus given, Pro-
testantism was rapidly on the advance--(hear and cheers)
—and the general habits of the people, in such districts,
were in a state of progressive improvement. This went
on from 1768 till 1793. In that year the elective franchise
was extended to Roman Catholics, and there was no
longer any political object in giving a preference to Protes-
tant tenants. It is grievous to think how they were
again superseded by Romanists offering rack-rents for
their farms. Multitudes of Protestants so dislodged with-
drew in disgust from their native land. And in the in-
solvent, unsettled, and unsafe state of the south and west
which followed, the landlords met with the deserved
retribution for their egregious folly, not to call it by a
severer name. Approaching our own times, Ireland has
been the field of battle, and the battle has been urgent.
Politically, success has been with Rome. Religiously,
success has been with the Gospel. The Emancipation
Bill, the Reform Bill, the Education Board, the May -
nooth Bill, all added, in parliament and out of parliament,
to the power of the O'Connell Anti-Union faction, now
called the Brass Band. There is little doubt that the
forthcoming tenant-right bill will be on their side, and
further aid the accomplishment of their designs. Mean-
time the Trish Society, the Hibernian Bible Society, the
Sunday School Society, the Hibernian School Society,
the Ladies' Hibernian School Society, and the last, not
least, the Society for Irish Church Missions, have been
carrying on their Scriptural labours, and, through .the
grace of God, gaining their bloodless victories. The
Christians of England have been supporting and encourag-
ing these various Societies for the promotion of Pro-
testantism in Ireland ; while successive parliaments and
governments of England have been supporting and en-
couraging Popery in Ireland. And at this hour, our
most urgent difficulties in this conflict, arise from the
reinforcements which our opponents are annually receiving
from the British government. But even so, our cause is
so good, and in such a progressive state of triumph, that
the Priests of Rome, though aided by the Treasury of
England, aro trembling for their very existence in many
parts of Ireland. Our reverend friends will enter into par-
ticulars.—Dr. M'Neile concluded amidst great cheerng.
The Rev. S. MINToN, the Hon. Secretary, then read
the following REPORT,
"The Committee of the Liverpool Auxiliary to the Irish
Society rejoice in being able to fulfil the anticipations,
which they held out at the last anniversary, of having to
address their friends on the present occasion in terms of
unmingled congratulation—congratulation on the progress
of the work in Ireland, on the increased support rendered
to it by the town of Liverpool, and on the present position
of affairs with regard to the two societies through whom
that support is conveyed.
"In Ireland the Reformation marches onward with'
gigantic strides, promising very shortly to cut the Gordian
knot of Irish difficulties, by eradicating from her soil that
one deadly root of bitterness, from which they all spring
in such luxuriant abundance. Scarcely has the excite-
ment subsided, produced by Priest Mullen's note of
alarm from America, which came as a thunder clap upon
his own camp, and a fresh stimulus to ours, namely, that
emigration to America was almost certain destruction to
Irish Roman Catholics, the great mass of them being
immediately lost amongst the sects '—when a still more
pitiable cry of distress is raised by Priest O'Sullivan in
Dingle, who proclaims in the Tablet, that, after mature
deliberation, he has arrived at the conviction that nothing
but emigration can save his flock from perversion.' Nor
is this the only encouragement afforded us from the same
unexceptionable quarter. Within the last few weeks a
priest in the north-west of Ireland publicly told his con-
gregation that 'the jumpers were getting too strong for
them,' and that unless things very soon took a turn, he
should leave the country himself, and he knew many
other priests who had resolved upon doing the same.'
"'With this decisive testimony to the rich blessing be-
stowed upon those devoted labourers who are carrying on
the Lord's work in connection with the Trish branch of
our national Established Church, your committee feel the
utmost pleasure in reporting real progress also on the
part of the Liverpool Auxiliaries, whose purpose it is to
assist in that glorious enterprise. Exclusive of several other
minor agencies for local, or more limited, Irish objects,
there are three great Societies-, whose claims have been
brought prominently before the town. The Irish Society,
the Irish Church Education Society, and the Irish Church
Missions. The sum contributed to each of these during
the past three years, will shew the improvement upon
which your committee so cordially congratulate you.

1850. 1851. 1852.
£ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.
Irish Society 841 3 7 4115 17 11 1161 6 0
Church Ed. So. 10 0 0 311 10 0 32 0 0
Church Ministers 214 9 1 23 9 6 907 10 2

£1063 12 8- 780 17 5 2100 16 2
From which it appears, that the amount raised in the last
year is more than double the average of the two preceding
years.

" The sum of £ll6l 65., which your treasurer remitted
to the Trish Society, for 1852, was contributed as follows
s. d.
St. Augustine's Branch .... . 10 4
St. Bride's
Christ Church, Everton . .
St. Clement's ..
St. Mary's, Edge-hill 20 12 3
St. Mary's, Wavertree........ • •... 6 2' 6
St. George's, Everton 28 0 0
St. John's . .
St. James's; West Derby 15 3 0
St. Jude's 37 0 0
St. Mark's
Mariners'
St. Matthew's, Toxteth .......
St. Nicholas's, Parish Church .
St. Paul's, Prince's Park ..
St. Peter's, Everton..
St. Stephen's, Crown-street ...
St. Saviour's ..
St. Silas . ..... .
St. Thomas', Seaforth .
Collegiate Meeting
Donations and Collecting Cards, less
Expenses

5 0 4

1161 6 0

"The only other point which need be touched upon in
this report, is the present relative position of two of the
above-mentioned societies.

" An alliance has just been formed between the Irish
Society and the Irish Church Missions, with the view of
obviating any danger of mutual embarrassment or incon-
venience, either in their missionary or financial operations.
With regard to missionary operations, the Irish Society
will, for the future, confine itself to the province of
Munster as its sphere of labour, while the Irish Church
Missions undertake to occupy the remaining three pro-
vinces of Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught. With regard
to financial arrangements, the Irish Society has consented
to make no further public• appeal for funds in Great
Britain, on condition of a certain stipulated amount being
remitted to them annually from the Church Missions
Society.

" Your committee rejoice in this concordat ; not only
because of the Christian spirit evinced by the committees
of both those societies in bringing it about, the proof of
real harmony amongst us, which it must convey to the
public mind, and the increased efficiency which will, no
doubt, result from it to both their operations, but also for
the local reason, that it will enable the Protestants of
Liverpool to concentrate their energies, and pour forth
their contributions towards the direct work of evangelising
Ireland through one great channel.

" Had this meeting been called to separate the long
connection which has subsisted between the Irish Society
and the town of Liverpool under any other circumstances
than the present, your Committee would have met their
friends with feelings of the deepest regret. That society
has been made the honoured instrument for breaking up
the fallow ground, and sowing plenteously amongst the
Roman Catholics of Ireland the incorruptible seed of
God's Word. The devoted men who established it, and
the equally devoted men who have been for so many years
carrying it on, bore the burden and heat of the day.
Their's was the arduous, and from man thankless, work,
of trying a new experiment in the face of almost insupera-
ble difficulties. Through evil report and good report,
against the shock of opposing foes, and the still more dis-
heartening coldness of friends, they steadily pursued their
course, trusting in the arm of the mighty God of Jacob.
And that arm has never failed them. They have seen, and
do see, the fruit of their labours ; and now that the harvest
is becoming too abundant for them alone to gather, they
gladly welcome the powerful assistance which God has
raised up for them in a younger society ; and they care
not who may divide the spoils, so long as the strong
rnates castle is stormed and his captives delivered.
" Your Committee have always felt it a great privilege
to be instrumental in supporting such a noble society; and
in terminating, as they now do, under the circumstances
stated, their direct connection with it, they desire to ex-
press, in their own name and in yours, their sense of the
wisdom, perseverance, and zeal with which it has hitherto
been conducted, and their earnest hope that the blessing
of God may still continue to rest upon it in rich abun-
dance, carrying it on to still further conquests, and making
its efforts help forward still more effectually than ever
the real and only possible regeneration of Ireland.
" In conclusion, your Committee would earnestly entreat
you not to relax your efforts in this great cause, but
rather to increase them largely. In the Irish Church
Missions, which will occupy amongst us the position
hitherto held by the Irish Society, an agency is presented
to you which has already been wonderfully blessed, and
whose past history, though a short one, is sufficient to
inspire perfect confidence in the conducting of its opera-
tions. May a double measure of Elijah's spirit and a
double measure of Elijah's success rest upon Elisha ;
and while for the former the new society can only
look directly to God alone, for the latter may it
be indebted, financially at least, to its Liverpool auxiliary,
even much more than ever was the old original Irish
Society."
The Rev. PROFESSOR FOLEY, M.A., and the Rev.
ALEXANDER DALLAS, M.A., respectively moved and
seconded a resolution, in which the meeting pledged them-
seves to support the united societies. In their lengthened
speeches they furnished the most gratifying evidence of
the progress of the Reformation in Ireland.
The Rev. CHAIRMAN delivered a few eloquent remarks,
after which he pronounced the benediction, and at ten
o'clock the proceedings terminated.
We append the amounts of the several collections made
on Sunday at the churches where sermons were preached
on behalf of the Irish Society ;—St. Michael's, Pitt-
street, £7 ; St. Jude's, £2O ; St. Silas's, £33 ; and St.
Paul's, Prince's Park, £95.

We regret that we are unable to find space for the more
extended report of the speeches at this interesting meet-
ing, which we had prepared.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 14

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

PLYMOUTH.—The Australian steamer, bound for Aus-
tralia, has put back very leaky, the passengers assisting
the crew at the pumps.
The Washington steamer arrived off Cowes this day; she
left New York 27th Feb. .

REDUCTION OF TEA DTITIE9.-.-A highly influential