The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-29 00:00:00

n the list to move and second the resolutions. The rev.
gentleman, after a few further remarks, sat down amidst en-
thusiastic cheers.

need by the chairman,
rest diffidence-in presenting himself before so

being intro,

saty. u.cs a unit. Ile Was a sailor, and being such, he was hn.
pressed with the fact, that " England expects every inau tc
do his duty," and he would never be backward to the call of
duty.. (Cheers.) He then read the resolution, to the

,
1 • “0S .
popery .1/11141.11J11, ell"t
mu 1 0
that in the opinion of that meeting the system of now
gaining ground was alike inimical to the authority of Hip

ed that his thanks

, well as Chose of the
• general community, were due to those mercantile individuals
present, and especially. to the shipwrights before him, without
whom the commerce of the country could not proceed. He
himself could bear testimony to their skill and industry in their
vocation. The ship in which he had until lately sailed,
during a period of six years, was built at this port;
and he could say, that so faithfully was she built, that
he had as much confidence in her in a gale of wind as
if he were on shore. Yes ! even when the waves were
rolling around him, and her timbers creaked, had he lain
down to rest with as much confidence as if he were on land.
(Hear, hear.) He congratulated the reverend chairman
on the numerous assembly there before him. He considered
these honest working men as the timbers of the vessel of the
constitution, and though some of the planks had unhappily
been stripped off', and those timbers were exposed, they would
rally round the gallant ship. repair her throughout; bret into
her the binding streak, and finally caulk her, so that she may
defy the rush of infidelity, and float securely and proudly
over the waves. They were protestants ; and upon that they
took their ground. A late good old King (Geo. III.) had
said every one in his dominions ought to be able to read the
Bible: and it was for them to-consider whether they opened
that sacred volume, in that. sincerity, and with that attention
which would make us wise unto salvation. What was re-
quired was the whole Bible, and not that mutilation of it
which was distributed by the Education Society. That so-
ciety sent forth mere portions of the scriptures ; which, like
extracts from some fruits, good as a whole, might be poison-
ous. The Bible was believed to be the Word of God, and on
that alone should their faith be established. He saw on each side
of him the British ensign, on which was emblazoned the cross.
This ought to remind them of the Saviour. That flag floated
over an extent of the British territory on which the sun never
sets. Let them then rally around it as a sacred and honourable
banner. He remembered that when he first took command
of -a ship, he was requested to take out six young gentlemen
as passengers to India. He replied that he would not take
them without knowing who they were ; and, finding they
were Catholics, he refused to take them. He always main-
tained Christian discipline in his ship, and he knew that it
was impossible to connect true Christianity with popery.
He had heard that such , discipline could not be introduced
amongst seamen, but he bad lotmd the contrary; and be
knew not a few blue-jackets wOliwould gladly go abroad with I
him again. He had even been offered £5OO to take out tlic
young men ; but they were Jesuits. He instanced another
case in which he set himself against the bringing from China
of four young men of Pekin, to be educated as C holic
priests at Naples ; for he would not be accessory to tlfr pro-
pagation of error. He would riot have fixed upon him what
in Revelations was termed " the mark of the beast." After
some allusion to the idolatry of the Chinese, he rejoiced tint
there was now a prospect of a door being opened to the spread
of true religion in that country ; and he concluded by ex-
pressing his.hope that the blessing of God might so favour
the society about to be formed, and others similar to it, that
England might again enjoy that prosperity which could arise
only from true protestant principles. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. SHEPHERD, after complimenting the chairman as the
Wellington of the army of Protestants, seconded the resolu-
tion. In corroboration of what had been advanced from the
chair, he should, he said, offer a few remarks. He then read
'an extract from the pastoral address of the Catholic Bishops
of 1826, in which they denied all intention to subvert the
Protestant Church, as established in these realms. In Feb.,
1830, on the occasion of the passing of the Catholic Relief
Bill, they again issued a similar declaration. This was Signed
by a large number of the dignitaries of the Catholic Church
in this country, and the sentiments expressed accorded with
those also declared at the same time by Cardinal Welt!. Not
only the Catholic clergy. but the laity then pledged themselves
not to interfere with the Established Church of this country,
yet at a public meeting held at Mayo a few weeks ago, a M.
Hughes, a Catholic priest, said that no Catholic could con-
scientiously do otherwise than maintain, against all others, the
ascendancy of his own church. Their opponents also sup-
ported Mr. Daniel O'Connell, in his agitation for the repeal
of the union. (Mr. O'Connell's name was received by the
meeting with groans and hisses.) And that individual said,
that until the Catholics got what they wanted, he should
not cease to agitate that question, and, if possible, to
bring about the object it had in view. What, he would
ask, did the Catholics want? What would satisfy their
wants ? They had knocked off two bishoprics. They had
got a reduction of £60,000 of Church cess, and various other
large reductions; but as long as they got what they expressed
at the time, as the extent of their wants, they immediately
wanted more. Would the --

or tins country allow
this system to go on ? (Cries of " No, no.") It was said
by some that there were few or no protestants in Ireland:
But when he went to reside in the county of Wexford, he
found a number of poor protestants on the confines of two
parishes, without a church within their reach, and many of
them were drawn over to attend the entimiL.

. rie
represented the fact to Mr. Aleock,. brother of cna
onepei of the
representatives of the county, and drew up, with his sanc-
tion -

a memor

_ oisnop, and a succe
sor, lamented the tact, but nothing could then be done. I
waited, however, on the next, the estimable Dr. Hetherin
ton, who, on his representation --•

s dcstit

U
tion
of the protestants in that part -of the country,
made
personal inquiries, and finally put his shoulder to the wheel,
so that he (Mr. Sheppard) had the satisfaction to see before
he left the county a protestant church erected, which was
attended by from 80 to 90 poor protestants, who were before
totally destitute of instruction in the religion of fathers.
He concluded by an allusion to the protestant press of Liver-
pool. and three cheers were given suecessively for the Mail,
the STANDARD, and the Courier. Some allusion being made
to the Mercury, when Mr. S. remarked that that paper sup-
ported its party strongly; and that the otheis 'tattled did their
duty to the protestants. Let them but consider the toil and
expense of the latter in giving reports of such meetings as the
present, and let them and the merchants support them by
their advertisements and otherwise. Their own press ought
to be supported, and they would find it a powerful engine in
their behalf._ (Loud cheers.)

The Rmi. CIIAIRIfA.I/ then put the resolution, and it was
unanimously carried.

Mr. SAMUEL HOLM] (whose rising was the signal for a
most enthusiastic burst of applause) spoke as follows :
I had hoped, sir, before I was requested by your secretary
to take part in this interesting meeting, that I might have
been permitted to remain a silent though not an uninterested
spectator of your proceedings, because my numerous avoca-
tions render it impossible for" me to make any suitable pre-
paration for addressing such an assemblage as the present.
But this circumstance may he in some degree consolatory to
the meeting, as they will be spared perhaps the infliction of a
very long speech. I have little reading time, and my in-
formation, such as it is, is rather derived from the study of
mankind than from the learning of the schools. But sir, on
such fundamental points as we are met to consider, and on
such vital principles as we are met to support and defend, I
am thankful to say that I am never Wholly unprepared ; and
conceiving it to be my duty at any and at every time to de-
fend the principles with which I am identified, I hesitate not
to throw myself on the indulgence of the vast assemblage,
more especially as I see before me, many old familiar faces of
working men, with whom I spent many of my younger days,
and who remain still, what they were then, the unflinching
supporters of our Protestant church, together with that free
constitution of which the church is at once the foundation
and the bulwark. (Loud cheers.) It is to me a source of
the highest gratification to see so many hundreds, nay
thousands of the working classes assembled together for
such a holy object. A few years ago it would have been
deemed impossible, and yet, such is the judicial blindne-
of our rulers, that they seem absolutely insensible to the
fact, that England contains ten thousand times ten thousand
men of all ranks and of all classes, who love and value the
institutions under which they were born, which preserves to
us liberty of thought, freedom of action, and security for life
and property. (" Hear, bear," and cheers.) In the pre-
servation of these blessings all classes have the deepest in-
terest, and I doubt not but all who hear me will join heart and
hand in preserving and transmitting to posterity the civil
and religious liberty which we ourselves possess. (Cheers.)
Feeling, therefore, that I am speaking the sentiments of
thousands, 1 shall take the liberty of making a few observa-
tions, in drawing your attention to the motion which has
been placed in my hands. And here, sir, let me observe,
that I shall deeply regret if I wound the feelings of any con-
scientious Roman Catholic. It is no part of my creed, or of
the creed of the church to which I belong, to wound indivi-
duals, for it is.systems, not individuals which we condemn.
But I hold that it is the bounden duty of every member of
the Church of England, if he is zealous and consistent, to
defend her doctrines, and to see that lier frame work is not
injured or destroyed. (Several rounds. of approbation.)
Nay more, it is his duty to become aggressive against those
systems which are established for her injury, and to oppose,
vigorously and manfully, every engine prepared for her
destruction. (It is, it is.) If tliechurch of England remains
much longer on; the defensive—she is gone—for it is an
axiom in warfare that a besieged city must eventually fall ;
but if the garrisons is strong enough to make a sortie and
repel the aggressors it is secure. This is now the position
of the church of England. She is assailed by a motley group
whose only bond of unison is a desire for her downfall,
and the time has arrived when the sortie must be made.
She must carry the war into the enemy's camp, must defeat
her assailants, must expose their weaknesses and defects,
and being herself built upon the 'rock of scriptural truth,
must attack the errors of those who are hoodwinking the
people, and forging fetters for the mind and the liberties of
England, that when our political liberties are destroyed, our
religious liberties may follow, and then our beloved country
will easily be laid prostrate at the feet of papal Rome.
(Hear, hear.) Do I Peed, sir, to use any argument to
convince this meeting that great encroachments are now
i
being made by the papal system n England ? Is she not
multiplying her mass houses by dozens ? Are not her col-
leges, her emissaries and her mummeries, springing up on
every side ? Does she not demand and obtain pecuniary aid
from the legislature (more shame.on the British House of
Commons) that our colonies may swarm with her bishops and
priests ? Does she not bar every avenue to the throne, and
reign triumphant in the palace of the sovereign, for the first
time since William' of Orange was called to wear the crown
of protestant England ? Do we not find her represented in
in the privy council, and at the education board ? And is
she not at this present moment ruling the the destinies of this
protestant kingdom, and keeping in power a degraded
ministry, the subservient tools with which she condescends
to work ? (Hisses.) And are not all her movements directed
to the attainment of political supremacy, that all may be made
to bend to her authority and implicitly submit to her decrees ?
She Proteus like, professes to be the friend of education
here, but where her authority is paramount she stifles
the cry for it. Where her visible head is the temporal
monarch, there are no public schools. Slavery exists—
the slavery of the mind I mean, there is scarcely a middle
class, and desolation and filth, commercial stagnation and
mental and moral degradation, reign triumphant. (Hear.)
Judge her then by the fruits of her government, in Italy, in i
Spain, in Portugal, or n, Ireland. What mean the Catholic
Institute, the Protector Societies of England—(hisses)—which
will soon fill us with an increased number of paupers ? What
mean the Popish Associations in Ireland? Why, sir, there
are so many chains forging to bind the liberties of Eng-
land, and surely we are not to sit quietly still till
the manacles are riveted on us. (Loud Cries of " Hear.")
Surely we shall not be so fascinated with the serpent that
we shall remain in torpid inactivity till we are folded in its
deadly coil. (No, no.) And here, sir, lam brought to ano-
ther part of my resolution, the apathy with which the en-
croachments of Rome are regarded by professing protestants.
Many peaceable and well meaning Persons think that it sa-
vours of intolerance to speak out concerning popery : but I
hold that whatever is erroneous and dangerous ought to be
repudiated, whether in 'the Church of Rome or in that of
England, if the latter had any errors either of doctrine or of
practice. Popery is a. double evil. It is a political evil, for
it enslaves instead of giving liberty. It is a religious evil,
for its creed is false, and it withholds the scriptures from the
people, for the pope knows well that popery and the free cir-
culation of God's holy word cannot be coexistent. Being
inimical therefore, both to political and religious liberty,
it is passing strange that they who profess to be the advocates
of both, should be found yoked to her chariot, and like the
infatuated Hindoos, be urging forward the car which is des-
tined to crush them in the dust. (Hear, hear.) If popery were
triumphant in England, dissent would have the privilege of