The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-04-03 00:00:00

THE I.IVERPoOI, sTANDARD.

sacred mysteries—but it would ha a crime to join one's self, upon
that account, With an heretical or schismatical congregation, whose
worship God rejects as sacrilegious and impious. In such a case,
therefore, a Christian must serve his God alone, to the best of
his power, by offering to him the homage of prayer, adoration,
contrition, &c., and must frequently hear mass in spirit, by
joining himself with all the faithful throughout the earth, wher-
ever they are"ng to Goil that dite sacrifice., ever sighing
after those heaventkiahysteries, and' praying for his delivery
from that Babylon which keeps him at a distance from the
temple of God.' Ilavineread this, I wish to observe,' replies
Mr. Blake, that I have no doubt there will he found in this
book, and in other Roman Catholic books, matter that may give
offence to the feelings of Protestants, and that nothing could be
more gratifying to me than to see it utterly expunged.'
" I. too, am unwilling to give offence to the feelings of Pro-
testants; but if passages are to be expunged from doctrinal
books, because they may take offence, it, follows that they should
be purged qf erery Catholic principle, since some would take of-
fence as long as one solitary tenet would remain. There is a spi-
rit of sleep and solemn reverence for the true worship breathing
through the above quoted passage, which shows that nothing
could be farther from the mind of the pious author, than any
Want.of real charity towards those who had the misfortune of
being deprived of its benefits. It reminds me of the fine and
lofty piety of Eleazar, who refused to purchase life by the least
compromise of the stern duties of his religious law. While
such a sincere respect for faith sways the teachers of religion,
there is very little danger of the prevalence of an unprincipled
liberalism, which would mistake indiff,rence of faith fur feel-
ings of charity, and call those bigots who wished to retain the
impressions of any particular creed. The doctrine laid down by
the venerable prelate, in not joining in worship with any other
sect, cannot be controverted or disguised. The style in which the
doctrine is put forth is bold, it is true, and characteristic of those
strong lines that marked the religious opinions of his age; but
with all its apparent harshness, I should prefer the book in its
integrity rather than subject it to the experiments of some of
our moderns, whose peculiarities of faith are so polished by the
perpetual friction of political life as to leave scarcely a visible
trace of any religious character at all. As long as a scrupulous
regard is felt for the obligations which religion imposes, it is a
-pledge of the soundness of . the nation's morality. it would be
almost as safe to entrust the education of Catholic children to Pa-
gans as to any persons who would strive to cancel the sound doctrine
of Dr. Challoner and the Catholic. Church, regarding the sin of
ever joining in religious communion with the sectaries, or taking
any part in the unholy worship of their conrenticles. But once de-
stroy' this conscientious adherence to religious faith, which,
laoperly understood, is always allied with a regard for the con-
scientious opinions of others, and you fill the country with pub-
lic functionaries, who will not scruple to make a traffic even of
the sacred interests of religion.

The passage which has drawn this eulogy from such a
furious bigot as M'Hale, and which expressly designates
the act of joining heretics (Protestants) in public wor-
ship as a crime—which proclaims such worship to be
sacrilegious and impious—this intolerant passage oc-
curs in a book which has been for a long period in use
among the children frequenting the schools of the Irish
Education Board. Said we not truly, then, that the Pro-
testant clergy were perfectly right in denouncing the
Irish Extracts ? Did they not rightly proclaim their
hostility to a system which authorised so flagrant an in-
sult to the feelings of Protestants as the extract which
we have quoted offers ?

But the Tidies rejoins " the system is not sufficiently
Popish for NH-fide." We are well aware of that. The
Popish priests can never rest satisfied with half mea-,
sures. They will not tolerate the " expunging" sys,
tem. They would have the funds of the Education.
Board exclusively employed in teaching Popery, They
would have the whole system under their own manage-
ment. In using this language of the Popish prieSts wP
speak of them generally, for we have the authority of
Titular 111`}fale himself for stating that his views and
those of the body to which he belongs are strictly con-
current. In proof of this we refer to the resolutions
agreed to in a general Meeting of the Roman Catholic'
Bishops, held in Dublin, on the 25th of January, 1826.
In further corroboration of our assertion we may also
refer to the fact that a petition, founded on NPI-lale's pro-
posals, was recently agreed to at a meeting of, and
signed by twenty-two priests, and forwarded for presen-
tation to Parliament The prayer of the petition is,
that the state should provide funds to enable the Romish
clergy to prosecute, or pretend to prosecute, a system of
education with which the state shall not interfere, and
over which it shall exercise no control.

it is evident, therefore, from the present crusade of
M'Hale and his associates against the Irish Board, that
no system of education can possibly satisfy the Popish
clergy which is in any degree administered by Protest-
ant teachers or a Protestant board of co►uu►issioners. It
is likewise evident that any system of instruction which
does give satisfaction to the Mulish clergy necessarily
involves a complete surrender of every Protestant prM-
ciple. Such a system is now in operation in the Pro-
testant town of Liverpool, supported out of the corpo.
rate funds; and we fearlessly maintain that it is impossi-
ble for any Protestant to aid in carrying on such a sys-
teu► without compromising his religious opinions.

SIR FRANCIS BURDETT AND THE CONSERVATIVES OF
LITERPOOL.-Our readers will perceive from the follow-
ing letter, which we take from. the Times of Saturday
last, that Sir Francis Burdett has acceded to the wishes
of a number of tradesmen, expressed through their
Chairman, and will visit this town about the 20th inst.
We have procured a copy of Sir Francis's answer from
the Secretary of the Association, which we subjoin.
We understand, that although ill health has compelled
Mr. Mime to resign the chair de facto, he has been
prevailed upon to remain nominal Chairman of the
Tradesthen's Conservative Association.

" Liverpool, March 24, 1838

" Sta,—A requisition has been presented to the committee
of the Liverpool Conservative Tradesmen's Association, signed
by nearly 200 of the most influential master tradesmen in the
town, calling their attention to the circumstance that you are
about honouring the Operative Conservative Association of
Manchester with your company on the 18th of April next, 'and
requesting them to apply to you, asking you to make Liverpool
in your way, when a special meeting of the association would
be called for the purpose of receiving you.
" Although the committee feel sorry to impose upon your
good nature any additional labour, they could not refuse to
accede to a request front so many right-mindedacd loyal men,
and I have been desired to request, most respectfully, that you
will pay us a visit, to assist in strengthening our hands at this
particalar juncture, when upon the firmness and loyalty of the
middle classes so much depends for the security of those valued
institutions, both of church and state, which have contributed
Under • God's blessing to preserve a greater portion of liberty
and security than any country has yet enjoyed.
" Knowing myself the many demands male upon public
men, and especially upon those so distinguished as you have
been, it is almost with repugnance that I make the request,
Much as it would delight my heart to hail your arrival; but,
should it be at all inconvenient to you to pay us a visit, we
should rejoice to see you at our annual dinner on the 18th of
Oittoher, to meet your noble relative and our beloved represen-
tative, for whom we entertain the highest regard and esteem,
and who will most assuredly represent this important town as
long as he remains a commoner. •

" Permit me, individually, to express to you my warmest
thanks for the noble stand vou have made in defence of our ad-
mirable constitution; and to hope that Providence maylong
spare you to our country, a brilliant example of what an
IfngliSh gentleman and patriot ought to be.

" I have the honour to remain, sir,
" Your very faithful and obedient servant,
" SAMUEL HOLME, Chairman.
" Sir F. Burdett, Bart., M.P."

" House of Commons, March 30th, 1838.

" Sir,—l have been trying to arrange my many engagements
so as to enable me-to have the satisfaction of accepting yours,
and as I dine at Hiirldersfield on the 20th of April and at
Loughborough on the 25th, any day between the two I could
pay my respects to Liverpool. Excuse this, in great haste,
but I thought early notice would be to you convenient.

" I remain, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
" FRANCIS I3UItDETT.

" Samuel ilolme, Esq."
'We hla've no doubt that the conservatives of Liverpool
will receive this true-hearted " old English gentleman'
with those feelings of. cordial respect which are due tc:
him, for his noble stand for the constitution in church
and state.

THE Pri,ol4 COMMITTEE.—HADICAL LIVERALI7.
The " tyrant majority," who now hold sway in the
Town Council of Liverpool, seem determined to Sub-
stantiate their title to the designation of bigotted ex
clusives in the dispensation of all local trusts and in the
alininistration,of all our local afLirs. Year .after year,
before they obtained the ascendancy secured to them by