The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-13 00:00:00

authority over your conscience ? What right do protestants
claim over the consciences of Roman Catholics ? Do we say
they are accountable to us ? No. We say, and we de-
clare, and proclaim, and we call upon them to know thut they
are accountable, but accountable alone to the Lord God of
Heaven and earth. That is the ground upon which we
legislate for them. But when they come to legislate for us
they say, "Aye, but then you are baptised, and brought up
in the church, therefore you are accountable to him who is
the vicar of Christ on earth, our Lord God the pope ;
(cheers)—he has a right to you, you must submit to him, and
if you do not he has a right to compel you by corporeal
punishment to submit to his authority and to the authority of
the church of Rome." I call this not equality but slavery—
installing a foreigner into the right of persecuting me as a
slave, and if the protestants of England will do their duty
they will stand up as one man against it. (Cheers.) Now 1
will go back for a moment to the speech of the right hon. hart.
Sir Robert Peel. He says he calls these religious opinions.
He means by this the test which was proposed and enacted
by the British parliament to exclude Roman Catholics from
power. He calls this a religious opinion. But I would ask
the right hon. Bart. whether he calls the traitorous laws of
Lateran religious opinions ? Will he call the canons of the
council of Trent which authorizes popery to invade the rights
and liberty of the protestants of this empire as religious opi-
nions ? (Hear.) Will he say that power is to be given to
men who are to use that power against their sovereign and
against their fellow-subjects by laws which they themselves
acknowledge would have torn the very foundations of society
asunder, and drenched our streets and fields with blood ?
(Hear.) No man in the British empire would be further from
calling these religious opinions than the right hon. Bart. But
then comes the question,—" How do you prove this ? "
(Hear.) Now we can reply—" Go to your universities."
(Hear.) I have petitioned to be called to the bar of the house
of commons, and lay these laws before them, and let Mr.
O'Connell deny them if he can. (Hear, hear.) My petition
has been shelved. I will never petition again, but I say—
" Let those who doubt go to our universities,--let them go
to the learning and talent of Oxford and Cambridge and in-
stitute a comparison of this test with the principles of the pa-
pacy. I would say to the hon. Bart. you have heard the evi-
dence of these men. You have heard them renounce these
persecuting tenets, you have heard their oaths, their decla-
rations you have them recorded in the proceedings of parlia-
ment. Now go to your universities. (Hear.) Mr. Pitt
sent to foreign universities to enquire into their principles,
but you need not go so far. Go now to Oxford or Cambridge,
there you shall find their doctrines, their standards, and have
their laws, their notes of the Bible by which they instruct
the poor. Compare them with their oaths and ask them—
" Do you mean to stand up and tell the British nation these
are the religious principles of the church of Rome ? "
(Hear.) Now I dare say if the Roman catholic hierarchy
' had to choose between this test and the test which has been
repealed by the bill of 1829, they would ask for that test ten
thousand times over. Here is the secret of Dr. Murray's
letter. I did not propose this test in Exeter Hall as I pro-
posed it to you, but I read it at Exeter Hall. (Hear, hear,
and loud cheers.) Dr. Murray and Mr. Daniel O'Connell
know the tremendous power of that engine, if it was
taken up by the Protestants of this country, and brought
forward in parliament, upon the subject of the papacy ;
therefore the letter was written directly from Dr. Murray,
and out it came, denying this bull and these canons. Let
him have the benefit of his denial, now we have proved it,
when and where he pleases. But I call upon you this day, -
as you value all that is dear to man, to stand forward your-
selves and take this test. Insist upon the men who repre-
sent you in parliament, that they shall stand with that test,
or your petitions upon it, in their hands—present those peti-
tions, and support those petitions which you may prepare.
(Hear.) If the Protestant Association of Liverpool does
but maintain its own bold fidelity, such as I doubt not it
will ; if you do but take it up, it will go through the length
and breadth of the British empire, and a Protestant blow will
be struck at the very heart of the papal superstition. It will,
I trust in God, open the eyes of the Roman Catholic laity,
and make them come out and deliver themselves from such
dark, degrading, damnable slavery as this is. (Great cheer-
ing.) 1 cannot conclude the subject without again express-
ing-, that so far from feeling a sentiment of hostility to my
poor countrymen, before my God my heart grieves for their
subjugation. I say they should take that test. Oh ! that
they might take it! (Hear.) Oh! if the Roman Catholic
laity would take that test, and if they would but take it at
once, Rome is gone for ever in this empire. (Cheers.) Let
them renounce the canons of their creed and the fundamen-
tal articles of their church, by which those canons are brought
to bear upon their consciences and their souls, the infallibi-
lity of popes and councils, and the authority of the popish
hierarchy is blasted for ever in the consciences of the Roman
Catholic population. (Hear.) I commit the cause to God,
and under God I commit it this day to the fidelity, to the
Christian boldness, to the Christian principle, let me say to
the Christian love of Protestant liberty and freedom, let me
add to the love of the Bible, and let me say to the honest
Christian fidelity and love of the souls of our Roman Catho-
lic countrvmen,—l commit it, I say, to these, in the pre-
Swehnocsee adoftmiherPahrole atestdadnrtessosf
occupiedEngla England.
tw(oThheoruervs.
ag
ne nd t
t lausel ewme
na
tny,
minutes, then resumed his seat, amidst thunders of app
from all parts of the house.)

ARRIVAL OF OF THE STEAM-SHIP " ORIENTAL."

'This deservedly favourite vessel arrived in the Mersey, on
Saturday morning, on her return voyage from Alexandria,
after the finest run out and home yet on record, exceeding
imost deeply in speed, indeend, even the sanguine expectations of those
ereted in her success. She accomplished
the passage—
From Alexandria to Malta in 92 hours.
Malta to Gibraltar in
Gibraltar to Falmouth in ll9 "
Falmouth to Liverpool in

3511 hours.
The time within which she would be considered due by the
government at the three first ports respectively, is 120, 115,
and 120 hours ; so that she performed the distance from
Alexandria to Falmouth in 32-i hours less than was thus an-
ticipated.
She brought 26 passengers, some of whom, no doubt, were
desi-ous of landing at Falmouth ; but as there is no Lazarette
at that port, the whole necessarily came round with the vessel
to the Mersey. The vessel, on her arrival, fired a salute from
the large guns which she carries, and proceeded to the
quarantine ground, where she still lies at anchor. There
being no sickness on board, no time was lost in making the
usual application to the proper authorities in London for her
release from " durance vile under the yellow flag; and it is
fully expected that to-morrow's post will bring down the
official order for the "emancipation" of those on board, who
will thereupon disembark with their luggage. Meantime,
they appear to have made up their minds to enjoy the good
things of this life on board, some fresh supplies of which have
been daily sent by the quarantine boats.
Our reporter went alongside yesterday afternoon, and was
kindly favoured by Captain Soy with several Malta papers,
the latest to the 25th ult. Their contents are anticipated.
One of a later date, announcing the arrival of the Oriental
at Malta, with some news from the East, would also have
been handed to him, but had by some means got mislaid in
the saloon. Captain Soy also favoured us with the following
particulars of vessels he had spoken on the passage
Ist Oct.—Passed the barque Florence, of London. Spoke
the schooner Agnes, of London, lat. 38 50, long. 10 54.
sth Oct.—At 9 A.M., spoke the Great Liverpool, lat.
40 19, long. 90 19—about 45 miles north of Oporto. (The
sister ships, it need scarcely be said, exchanged three hearty
cheers on parting.)
As is usual, the newspapers, together with some letters to
be put into the post-office, given to our reporter, were all
taken on board the quarantine-officer's vessel, and fumigated
before they could be brought on shore.
The Oriental had generally fine weather going out to Alex-
andria, and light airs and a smooth sea throughout in coming
home. The ship and the engines worked to admiration, and
the passengers express the utmost satisfaction with the splen-
did accommodations, and the attention and urbanity of the
captain and officers. She has on board 45 tons of coals.
The only paragraph of interest which we find in the papers
before us, relates to the British naval force now in the Me-
diterranean, which has probably since that date been con-
siderably increased. It is from Il Mediterraneo, Gazetta di
Malta, of the 23d ultimo :—" The British naval force in the
Mediterranean now consists of 12 line of battle ships, six
frigates, two post corvettes, one sloop, four brigs, two seam
frigates, four large war steamers, five steam-packets,t one
ne
steam tender, two surveying vessels, one receiving ship,
one coal dep6t, forming in all 41 pendants of the burthen 000
f
45,600 tons, mounting about 1300 guns, and carrying 11,8
officers, men, and boys, of which 2,600 are marines and
marine artillery. The combined power of the 12 steamers is
that of about 2,420 horses. Nearly the whole of this large
force is concentrated off Beyrout. Many other vessels are
fitting out in England, of which no less than five line of
battle ships are for this station."
So soon as the " Oriental" is released from quarantine she
will be towed down by one of the government boats to the
Moyne. She will not dock, we understand, until Saturday,
the deepening of the Coburg Dock not being yet so far com-
pleted as to allow of the gate being closed.

ABDICATION OF THE KING OF HOLLAND,

King William is now in his 68th year. He was born on
the 24th August, 1772 ; married on the Ist October, 1791,
a Princess of Prussia ; in 1793 took the command of the
Dutch army upon the occasion of the declaration of war by
the French Directory against the Stadtholder of the United
Provinces. He took Lanerecies in 1794, retired into Hol-
land with his troops after the battle of Ileums, embarked
with his family for England in 1785, and took possession in
1802 of the small German principalities which had been
ceded to his father in exchange for his rights in Holland,
and which his father in turn had ceded to him. In 1806 he
inherited the sovereignty of Nassau ; commanded the right
wing of the Prussians at the battle of Jena; was taken pri-
soner, and lost his estates after that battle ; afterwards took
service under the Austrian government, and assisted, in
1809, at the battle of Wagram ; was recalled into Holland
at the moment when the entire of Germany marched against
France ; took the reins of government of the Low Countries
on the 6th December, 1813 ; received on the 30th March,
1814, the oath of allegiance as a sovereign prince ; on the
16th of March, 1815, took the title of King ; promulgated
the "fundamental law" on the 24th August, 1815; was
crowned on the 21st September, 1815 ; summoned all Hol-
land to arms on the sth October, 1830, after the success of
the Belgian insurrection ; and declared on the 20th October
in the same year, that he would confine himself to the go-
vernment of the northern provinces. He lost his royal
consort in the month of October, 1837 ; accepted the
" twenty-four articles" on the 14th of March, 1838 ' • on the
26th May, 1839, signed the ratification of the treaty of the
19th of April; and on the 4th of September, in the present
year, promulgated the changes introduced by him into the
fundamental law.
The Prince of Orange is 48 years old, having been born
on the 6th December, 1792. The news of the King's abdi-
cation produced an immense sensation, both at the Hague
and at Amsterdam. In the latter city, the funds imme-
diately fell one per cent, and a still further depression was
anticipated. A letter fro
!'n the Hague of the Ist October
states, that "persons living in the prince royal's intimacy
have already suffered some words
to escape them as to the
line of conduct which the prince intended to pursue imme-
diately after his accession.': He proposes to commence by
two
great measures, the object of which is to restore royalty
to that popularity, which, in the last conflict with the cham-
ber arid with public opinion, it would seem to have irrevoca.
bly lost. The first of these measures consists in taking it
on himself to guarantee the payment of the interest on all
the loans contracted for (such as the construction of the
railway to Arnheim.) It had been a question whether this
guarantee should fall on the king himself, or on the heir
apparent. The new king, by taking this guarantee on him-
self, would solve the question in a mode the most satisfactory
to the holders of these securities. The second measure,
which is much more important still, is the immediate nomi-
nation of a state commission, charged with the duty of
renewing the fundamental law, and proposing, within the
shortest possible period, certain changes which would be
forthwith submitted to the chamber. In choosing the mem-
bers of this commission, it is understood that the new sove-
reign will be influenced by public opinion.
The Belgian papers state, that the King of Holland's
principal motive for retiring into private life is, that he may,
without dispute, fulfil the sacred promise which he has given,
and marry the Countess d'Oultremont. As there is no
longer any obstacle to oppose this union, it is supposed that
it will speedily take place.