The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-22 00:00:00

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE LIVERPOOL I WHAT ARE THE ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLICS
LICENSED VICTUALLERS' SOCIETY. TO DO?

The annual meeting of this society was held at the large
room of the York Hotel, Williamson-squire, on Wednesday,
when a numerous and respectable body of the members was
present. The chair was taken at four o'clock by Mr. James
Hamer.

Mr. JAMES ROBINSON, the secretary, commenced by
reading the minutes of the proceedings for the past year, and
the report, which noticed an increase in the funds of the
institution. The report then went on to notice the clauses
of the Metropolitan Police Act affecting the interests of the
licensed' victuallers, which had been defeated through the
assistance of the borough members. The committee had
awarded the soot of £3O to the Hull society for prosecuting
certain parties of the name of Hughes, who had been pro-
ceeding through the country and defrauding the licensed
victuallers extensively. A very handsome sum had been
realized from the ball at the Town-hall, and the committee
have set apart the sum of £lOOO for the purchase of land and
buildings eligible for the purposes of the society. An in-
crease has been made to the allowance given to three children
of the late Mr. Milligan. The committee call earnestly upon
the members to unite for the general protection of the trade,
and affirm that had it not been fpr the vigilance of the society
their interests would have been materially affected by recent
attempts of legislative interference. The report concludes
by stating that the sum in the bands of the bankers is much
larger that year.
The SECRETARY next read a statement of the accounts for
the past year, from which it appeared that the receipts had
amounted to £533 4s. 2d., the expenditure to £283 9s. 10d.,
leaving a balance in bank and treasurer's hands of £1255
Os. sd.

Upon the motion of Mr. WHITE, seconded by Mr. Conn-
Cillor JONES, the report was received and adopted.
The fourteen following gentlemen were proposed and se-
conded as the committee for the ensuing year :—H. W.
Gerard, J. Owens, J. L. Evres, R. Jones, R. Edwards, J.
Wilson, L. Williams, J. M`keverigan, Vim. Lawton, Robert
Bickerstaff, Wm. Forde, Philip Brew, Thomas Jackson, and
W. E. Whiteman.

Mr. Thomas Clerke was continued in the office of treasurer
so also was Mr. James_Robinson in that of secretary.

On the motion of Mr. BRYDEN, the quarterly meetings
were discontinued on account of the heavy expense of call-
ing the members, and their non-attendance.

The rules of the society are in future to be given gratis to
the members.

Some conservation was then held as to the purchase of
land for the building purposes of the society. One letter was
read from Mr. Musker, of Bootle, offering two field at Faza-
kerley, for £2400. Another offered to sell part of the pro-
perty of Kensington for £B5OO. No motion was, however,
submitted on the subject.

In reply to a letter from Mr. Benwell, it was agreed that
his benefit at thel'heatre Royal should be under the patron-
age of the society.
_

-Mr. GREENE then brought under the notice of the society
the conduct of one of the trustees, who had, in his opinion,
been a great injury to the society. Many had refused to join
the society in consequence of the connection of that trustee
with it. Only for him 360 additional persons would be in the
society. He begged to move that the gentleman be expelled
from the trusteeship
Several voices : " What's his name?"
Mr. GREENE.—His name is Mr. Bryden.

Mr. JACKSON said he had worked' with Mr. Bryden on
the committee, and be respected him as a gentleman, but he
must observe that he had had it thrown in his face in almost
every three places out of four, that, if Mr. Bryden remained
in the trusteeship, the members would not remain in the
society. Independent of this, Mr. Bryden had, in London,
deceived their best friends—namely, the two members for the
borough, when he was there as a deputation from the society,
along with Mr. Robinson. It was a well known fact that
Lord Sandon and Mr. Cresswell had done all the good they
could for the society. He wrs glad to say that Mr. Robinson
had not betrayed his trust, but he felt bound to add that Mr.
Bryden had.
Mr. BRYOEN then made a furious speech, in which he
characterised the present attack upon him as a matter of
politics altogether.
Mr. GREENE' called upon the secretary to state the feeling
which existed out of doors with regard to Mr. Bryden.

The SECRETARY hoped he should be excused from entering
into particulars, and thought that if any differences had sprung
up between members of the society, such differences ought to
have been settled without the pale of the society, and in a re-
spectful manner, and not introduced at the annual meeting.
Mr. MAY said he could bear his testimony to the unplea-
sant remarks he heard out of doors, from many members of
the trade in various parts of the town, and entirely apart from
politics, with regard to Mr. Bryden. Many who coincided
in politics with Mr. Bryden, thought he assumed an autho-
rity which did not belong to him. If the names of those
parties were required, he would note each of them down
within the next twelve months, and then present Mr. Brydeu
with such a list as he had never seen before. (Hear, hear.)
He rather thought that Mr. Greene's proposition had not
emanated from any private bickerings : the question had
been raised on higher grounds.
After some conversation as to the power of the meeting to
expunge Mr. Bryden,
Mr. JONES, of Lime-street, moved, as an amendment,
that Mr. Bryden be continued in the trusteeship.
Mr. THORNTON seconded the amendment.

The CHAIRMAN then put the question, when there ap-
peared,

For the amendment ..
For the original motion

The motion was consequently lost.
Upon the proposition of Mr. JACKSON, thanks were then
voted to the chairman, and the meeting separated at a quar-
ter after six o'clock.

ROMISH CONTROVERSY

TO THE REV. DR. BUTLER.

SlR,—Your publisher and advocate, the Editor of the
_Mercury, announced, a short time previous to the late elec-
tions, that you would accept the invitation 1 had given you
to discuss the doctrines of Romanism as soon as the excite-
ment of those elections should have been over.

Hoping that your mind and the minds of your followers
are now sufficiently free from political excitement to permit
you to investigate the truth of your principles, I beg to re-
mind you of your friend's promise, and also of your own
published one to meet me when I had answered your work.
Truth sir, needs no have not suffi‘.4
confidence in your ability to defend your religious system,
you should not have published a controversial work : and if
you are fully assured of the truth of that system, you will
not fear to bring it to a fair, open test, by meeting its im-
pugner face to face, and appealing, in the presence of your
people, to the written Word of God.

You have entitled your controversial work, "THE TRUTH 6
OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE

Now, sir, I have publicly proved that you have failed to
establish your assertions. You have called the dogmas of
Romanism the truths of the Catholic religion, and you have
not proved them from Scripture.
The best test which can be given of this to those who are
unhappily led astray by Romish priests, falsely calling them-
selves Catholic, is this :
If the doctrines of Romanism be Catholic truths—

And if Catholic truths can be proved from Scripture alone—
Then there must be passages of Scripture which teach
iose doctrines.

I call upon you, therefore, to meet me, in the presence of
your people, and to bring to the test of Scripture the follow-
ing Romish doctrines :
1. Romanism teaches that the host is to be worshipped as
God.

Have we precept or example in the New Testament for the
worship of the host ?
2. Romanism teaches that the sacrifice of the mass is a
propitious offering for the sins of the dead.
Where, is this taught m Scripture ? Do we read anywhere
of Christ or his apostles making an offering for the dead?

3. Romanism pronounces the man accursed who believes
that justifying faith is nothing else than a confidence in the
Divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ's sake.
Where does Scripture pronounce that curse ? Did Christ
or his apostles teach that it is a damnable heresy to trust
alone in God's mercy through Christ?
4. Romanism pronounces the man accursed who believes
himself to be in the number of the elect.

--Where is that curse pronounced in Scripture ?
5. The Bishop of Rome claims supreme authority over the
whole church as the successor of St. Peter.
Where does Scripture teach us that St. Peter was ever
Bishop of Rome? or that he conferred any prerogative upon
the Roman See _ .

I have thus, sir, given you a fair opportunity of testing the
truth of your principles. You assert, in the title of your
work, that Catholic truths (by which you mean Romish
dogmas) can be proved from Scripture alone.
I have selected five dogmas „hie', you admit to be Romish
doctrines. It is of the 'ugliest importance to ascertain whe-
ther they are true or false. They involve the question whe-
ther that which you worship be God, or only consecrated
bread ; whether sins can be expiated after death, or whether
the church which teaches a sinner to hope for cleansing and
atonement after death is teaching him to trust in a false re-
fuge, and to go down to the grave, as the Word of God says,
" with a lie in his right hand."
They also involve the question whether that blessed God.
was mistaken, who inspired the Apostle John to say, "
know that we have passed from death unto life " ; and St.
Paul to affirm, " Neither height nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
They involve the inquiry whether the supremacy claimed
by the Pope, and exercised over the souls of men, to the
everlasting ruin of countless thousands, be a mere human
invention, unsupported by the Word of God.
Ah, sir ! I feel constrained to address you in the words of
the Apostle, " Glory not, and lie not against the truth."
You and your brethren are the advocates of a false system.
The Word of the living God denounces you as teachers of
error. It forewarns the people who listen to you of their
danger. It entreats them and you to return to the ways of
truth and holiness. May God of his mercy give you all
" ears to hear what the Spirit saith to the churc hes."
I have now only to add one word respe,Aing myself.
Adopting the language of an eminent controversialist and
honoured servant of God, of old, I earnestly ask my Romish
fellow-countrymen,
Am I
,therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth ?
I remain, sir, your faithful servant in Christ,
JOSEPH BAYLEE.
Parkfield, Birkenhead, Oct. 21, 1841.

It has for years past excited at once the surprise and the
spleen of our local Whigs, that the names of certain leading
Roman Catholic families in Lancashire were to be found,
upon all occasions, arrayed ou the side of good order and

settled government, and supporting, at every contested elec-
tion, the cause of Conservative candidates. Unscrupulous
in their ow•n political alliances, ready themselves to embrace

any pollution which might serve the immediate purpose of
the hour, it had never entered into the imagination of the
Whig party that a body of men could he found, in this age
of ultra-liberalism, unwilling, for the mere purposes of fac-
tion, to merge all feelings of self-respect—to break through
those social ties which bind them to the order to which they
belong—to stain their hereditary honours, and debase their

ancient lineage—by fraternizing with revolutionary levellers,
and snaking common cause with a vulgar and insolent demo-
cracy. But that a body of Roman eatholi

ntlemen should

thus hold aloof, when the object, too, for which they were
urged to confederate, was the destruction of the established
Protestant church of the realm ;—that such a body should
not only hold aloof, but even be ready to interpose their in-
fluence between the tide of hostile aggression and the object
against which it wag directed—was an anomaly which at
once baffled Whig ingenuity to account for, and drew from
Whig lips, upon the heads of the recusants, a perfect storm
of ignorant frenzy and objurgation.
It would not, however, be difficult, we think, for any man,
whose mind is not hopelessly warped, or obscured by the
mists of factious radicalism, to discover in the conduct of the
Roman Catholic gentry of Lan".ashire the prompting of lofty
and honourable, and, withal, of consistent motives. To us,
we must confess, the alliance of the Roman Catholics of
England, as a body, with the combined forces of infidelity,
latitudinarianism, and dissent, has always appeared unnatu-
ral, and, upon the face of it, unprincipled. But that the
Roman Catholic gentry, " casting aside their STUART me-
mories, their Jacobite predilections, their aristocratic sym-
pathies, and their old English associations, should league
themselves with the legitimate descendants of those who,
through long years of bitterness and reproach, ceased not to
persecute their fathers," does really appear to us a prostitu-
tion of principle for political ends, which is at once shame-
less and suicidal. With such allies, they at least (whatever
might be the case as regarded the demagogues of their body)
could have no common object in view beyond, perhaps, the
destruction of an establishment viewed with hostility by each.
The Church of England prostrated, to what ulterior mea-
sures could they advance hand in hand? Obviously to none.
Here the alliance must, perforce, be dissolved ; and in what,
we ask, would its success, thus far, have advanced the object
which the honest and conscientious Roman Catholic has ever
in view, viz., the restoration of the supremacy, temporal and
spiritual, of his own church ? In nothing most assuredly,
unless catholicity can be gratified in seeing that position,
which she thinks it her sole right to occupy, filled up by a
multiform and heterogeneous dissent, or abandoned to infide-
lity itself, rather than see it held by a scriptural church,
within whose pale is included at least the majority of the an-
cient gentry, the lovers of old usages, and the possessors of
the old kindly notions and feelings which have ever distin-
guished the English aristocracy, and the sounder portion of
the English people.
That the Roman Catholic gentry of Lancashire, therefore,
or at least a portion of them, have withdrawn themselves, in
limine, from the contamination of an alliance with the " li-
berals" of the present age, will be recorded, we think, to
their honour, not only as loyal subjects of the crown and
supporters of the constitution, as established in the three
estates of the realm, but also as consistent professors of their
own faith. For, upon what other terms does the church of

Rome occupy her present prominence amongst the unassorted
materials of that alliance than by a fraudulent suppression of
her real ulterior views, on the one hand, and by the forbear-
ance of her temporary allies, for expediency's sake, on the
other ? No reasonable man can doubt with what fiery zeal—
(the first object of the rabid crew of fanatics with whom she
is associated having been achieved)—the energies of dissent
will be devoted to crush and trample upon herself—its hated
ally ; and there can be as little question as to the amount of
aid which it will derive towards the achievement of this ob-
ject, from the preliminary destruction of the church of Eng-
land, in the effecting of which its future victims is now made
so prominent an instrument.

It has been urged, indeed, that no such feeling of aversion
to the Roman Catholic church is to be found in the breast of
your modern liberal—that the spirit of persecution which dis-
tinguished the fanaticism of the commonwealth is extinct in
the present day. Be it so. But, we ask, has any better

spirit taken its place ? Has any feeling more in consonance
with the views or with the prejudices (if you like) of an
Anglo-Catholic gentry been substituted? Is there any one
feature of the many-headed thing which can draw towards it,
or ought to draw towards it, for its own sake, the respect or
the affection of such a body of men ? On the contrary there

is no such feeling ; there is nothing to excite either affection

or respect in the breast of th 3 conscientious member of the
church of Rome, who is at the same time a loyal and pa-
triotic English gentleman. Upon this point we may be al-
artf-
lowed to quote from a letter addressed to LORD EDWARD
I
" 111...111r volai.la *lac poliQr

required from the English Roman Catholics, (and which has
already been adopted by the Roman Catholic gentry in our
own county,) is traced with an able hand, and in bold and
vivid colours.

" In the stern, unrelenting, uncompromising fanaticism of
a BROOKE, or a PRYNNE, I can see something to respect ;
but allow me to ask, what do you see in the conduct of a
MACAULAY or a BAINES to remind you of catholic virtues
or anti-catholic greatness? Too selfish and too sensual to
believe in catholic verities themselves, it is true your modern
liberals will not restrain or inveigh against Protestant heresy,
nor Roman Catholic superstition ; but do they, therefore,
the more respect your belief, or the less indulge the lax
irreverence of their tongues ? And yet it is with these men
you are to ally yourselves! With these men are the How-
ARDS, and the EvaEs, the DIF. CLIFFORDS, and the
TOWNLEYS, and the THROCKMORTONS, and the VAVA-
SOURS, the CONSTABLES, and the JERNINGHAMS, to swear
eternal friendship, and merge all minor differences' in—
what ? One grand scheme for propagating the faith ? For
resisting a foreign enemy ? or rallying round the old citadel
of the monarchy ? Alas ! no ; but to strengthen the en-
feebled powers of latitudinarianism and dissent, and prop up
a tottering administration, who claims your support to
divorce religion from the state—regards the ballot-box with
greater reverence than the font—and exalts the will of the
people over the voice of the church."
And such, we believe, is the spirit which is gradually
taking possession of the minds of the Roman Catholic
gentry, not of England alone, but of Ireland itself. A feel-
ing of deep repugnance to be dragged in unreflecting help-
lessness at the chariot-wheels of a truculent democracy—to
be bandied about at the of a mendicant's immunity is
fast rallying to the side of law and order, the well-disposed
and conscientious members of the Romish church on both
sides of the channel ; and before many months have elapsed,
we venture to predict that a vast majority of the Roman Ca-
' tholic aristocracy and gentry will be found, if not imitating
the example of their fellow religionists in Lancashire, by
taking up their position to stem the advancing waters of
democracy and irreligion, at least convinced—(to quote the
language of the same eloquent writer)—that the time has
arrived " when those who desire to stand upon the old ways
—to maintain the old things—to keep up the old English"
(and Irish)—" aristocracy—to preserve what title remains of
old fashioned charity and social intercourse between the
higher and the lower classes, must make up their minds to
withdraw from the fellowship of the atheist, the democrat,
and the dissenter, and the leveller ; or be content to close
their eyes, and go down the stream into the sea whereunto is
no bottom."

THEATRE-ROYAL-7

THE POSTILION OF

LONJLTCE AU."

Another new opera under this title has been produced at
our Theatre, but we have not had an opportunity of witnessing
its representation. It is thus described by a contemporary :
The plot is simple, but clever and effective. The piece opens
with a chorus of villagers in celebration of the wedding of
Chapelou (Mr. Wood), a postilion, the handsome but fickle
beau of the village, and Madeline (Mrs. Wood), the young
mid pretty hostess of the Fleur-de-lys. In the midst of the
merriment, and while Chapelou is deprecating the arrival of
any traveller that night to interrupt the nuptial Etc, the ill-
omened crack of a whip is heard, and a most important tra-
veller makes his appearance in the person of the Marquis de
Courcy, and demands the services of the reluctant Chapelou
for the next stage, in spite of his entreaties and those of his
pretty bride. The carriage of the Marquis has just broken
down while he is on a most important royal mission, namely,
seeking through town and country a first-rate tenor for the
opera, to supply the place of one whose default has suddenly
left the Marquis, who is director of the menus plaisirs of his
Majesty Louis XV., grievously in the lurch. The royal
commands are imperative and unconditional, to create, find,
or educate, a first-rate tenor, and, as the Marquis, like other
managers, is aware that first-rate tenors are not quite " as
plenty as blackberries," he is in an amusing state of perplex-
ity and despair, till, on coming out of the little inn where he
has been waiting till his carriage is repaired, he hears the
voice of Chapelou singing his postillion song in the midst of
the villagers. The Marquis is astonished, enraptured, and,
as the song proceeds, beats time to it with an air of increas-
ing self-satisfaction, and, at length, draws the postilion apart
and offers to make his fortune by introducing him to the
• king, telling the puzzled rustic that his B fiat is magnificent.
After a short. pause of incredulity the fickle bridegroom
accepts the offer, and departs with the Marquis quite ohh-
, vious of his young wife, who is left for ten years in her bridal
widowhood.
The second act opens, after a lapse of ten years, at the
splendid chateau of Madame Latour, no other than the for-
saken bride, Madeline, who has become possessed of wealth
, by the death of a relative. The Marquis is also there, as
I gallant, but considerably more wrinkled, than before.
lie is
a suitor to Madame, unaware that she is already married,
and, by way of paying his court to her, brings the principal
vocalists of the Grand Opera, of which lie is director, to
rehearse au opera of his own. With them comes Chapelou,
now Mons. de St. Phar, the first tenor in Paris, an exquisite
of the first water, whose captivations have made as much
havoc among the nymphs of the opera, as formerly among
the girls of his almost forgotten native village. Ile also is
ignorant of the real character of Madame Latour, but In-
stantly recognises her as the lady who has never missed
gazing at him from her opera-box every night for three
months. Chapelou is heartless and vain as ever, and intends,
by means of a sham marriage, to secure possession of the
lady, hale dreaming the nature of the real claim she has
already over him. The Marquis overhears the plot, and the
lady baffles it by getting the ceremony, which makes her
doubly the wife .of her faithless lord, performed by a real
priest. With this the second act closes.
At the beginning of the third act,
life within
discovers
that his successful rival has brought his within the reach
of the law by this supposed act of bigamy, and goes in tri-
umph to fetch the myrmidons of the police. In the mean-
time the confederates who were to have conducted the sham

marriage, apprise Chapelou of his position, and an amusing
scene takes place, in which they assure him he will be banged,
and then make their escape on hearing a loud knock at the
door. To add to this consternation, Madeline makes her
appearance in her own dress as the waiting-maid of Madame
Latour, and, dropping the candle, with a scream of affected
astonishment, assails him in the darkness that ensues, now
on one side in her character of femme de chambre, and then
on the other as Madame Latour. After sufficiently tor-
menting her faithless lover, Madeline astonishes the assem-
bled characters, delights her husband, and mortifies the
Marquis, by declaring that the sole guilt of Chapelou is, that

he has married the same wife a second time ; the piece ending
with a reconciliation.

The simple outline is well filled up with piquant and well
contrived situations which admit of some very capital acting,
and the music, which is thoroughly French, is very lively
and agreeable. In the first act, after some honey-sweet pas-
sages between the newly-married pair, there is a very arch

!101l tells I

'y word I tell you," in which the vain

bority of the wise women

of the village

that he might have made a much higher match,
and she retaliates in pretty mockery, enlightening him as to
the opinion of a hump-backed old shepherd with regard to

iu making

the match

Acapital

scene occurs in the second act, where the opera vocalists,
headed by the arrogant prima tenore, suddenly all turn
hoarse when the marquis's piece is about to be rehearsed, till
the former, on discovering that the performance is for Ma-

s them their cue by

" Beneath the Spreading Tree

PORTFOLIO.—No. VI

here there is so much rough work,
treat misfortune to be'overburthened with