The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-12 00:00:00

THE NUNNERIES QUESTION.

PROTESTANT PETITION FROM LIVERPOOL.
The following petition was signed in one day by upwards
of eight hundred individuals belonging to the congrega-
tion assembling in St. John's Church, in this town. We
have pleasure in recording this eminently practical con.
elusion to the lecture of the respected incumbent, the
Rev. W. F. Taylor, reported in the last number of the
Standard, and we hope the publication of the form of
petition may stimulate other congregations to do some-
thing before the 20th instant, when the important ques-
tion, inaugurated by Mr. Chambers, will come again
before the House of Commons. The petition from St.
John's congregation has, we believe, been entrusted to
our worthy representative, Mr. Horsfall, and its presen-
tation to parliament will form a fitting introduction to hie
duties. The petition runs as follows :

TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT ASSENIBLED.
The Petition of the undersigned Ministers, Wardens, and
Members of the Congregation of St. John's Church, Liverpool,

Humbly sheweth,—That your petitioners are deeply thankful
to Almighty God that their lot has been cast in this favoured
land of civil liberty and religious freedom; and are sincerely
desirous that the same blessings should be enjoyed by every
individual in the British empire.
_ .

That of late years a considerable increase has taken place in
the United Kingdom of those establishments called Nunneries,
to which places young and inexperienced females are allured,
encouraged to take vows under pretence of which they are
deprived of their personal liberties, and persuaded to alienate
their property in favour of the Court of Rome.
That the Canon Law of the Church of Rome (Council of
Trent, Session xxv., 1. xvii.) plainly admits the possibility
of young females twelve or sixteen years of age being
"compelled or allured" into these places, or being led
to take the step in "ignorance" of the fearful personal sacri-
ficethey are about to make.

That It is plainly stated by a canonized saint of the Romish
Church, "St. Alphonsus Liguori (Spouse of Christ, p. 551),
that young females are sometimes "compelled by their parents,
against their will," to enter into nunneries, and that when
once in, "it is impossible to escape."
Under these circumstances, your petitioners humbly -pray
your Honourable House to take such measures as shall apply
the provisions of the clause in the Emancipation Act, for " the
gradual suppression and final prohibition of Jesuits and other
Romish fraternities" to societies of females bound by religious
vows, as being ins' itutions essentially at variance with the genius
Of the freedom of the British Constitution; and that, mean-
while, all such places be subject to frequent visitation and
inspection by Her Majesty's justices of peace or of royal
commissioners appointed for that purpose.
And your petitioners will ever pray.

THE ADMIRALTY have ordered three new screw line-
of-battle ships and three fifty-gun screw frigates to be
built.

THE GREAT BRlTAlN.—Necessary alterations in this
leviathan screw-steamer will detain her in all probability
till the 11th of August. Having succeeded in rendering
the Great Britain as fine a clipper sailing ship as she is a
steamer, it is now indifferent whether she be placed under
c-invass or steam. Combining both in the most perfect
manner, she will take advantage of favourable winds and
disregard adverse, making rapid progress in light winds
and calms, where sailing ships can make little or none
whatever. Under these circumstances it cannot be
doubted she will perform the voyage in a remarkably
short time, and bring Australia as near by the Cape of
Good Hope as it is by Egypt and Singapore.
THE MURDEROUS ASSAULT ON THE POLICE.—At the
sec)nd Police-court, yesterday, the four prisoners, Richd.
Thomas, William Beresford, William Reed, and John
Leatherby, were placed at the bar, charged with a mur-
derous assault, committed upon Police-officers Thomas
Ireland, (553,) and Edward Hutchins, (43,) on the night
of the 2nd instant, or morning of the 3rd, in a cellar in
Roscoe•street. The details of the case have already ap-
peared in the Standard. The policemen assailed, with
other members of the force, went to the cellar in question
to take the prisoner Thomas into custody, on a charge of
being concerned in a disgraceful " row," which took
place adout an hour previously. Finding the door of the
cellar locked, the officers, without a warrant, forced an
entrance; whereupon the prisoners assailed the unwel-
come intruders, and, with a poker and a flat iron, frac-
tured the skull of Ireland, and severely maltreated
Hutchins, ultimately ejecting the police, and proceeding
to Bridewell to prefer a charge against the officers of hav-
ing illegally entered their premises while in liquor. Mr.
Snowball, who appeared for the prisoners, contended that
his clients were justified by the law in doing what they
did to resist the illegal intrusion ; but the magistrates
took a different view of the case, and the prisoners were
accordingly committed for trial. Police-officers Ireland
and Hutchins were sufficiently well to be in attendance,
though they are still suffering from the efiects of the
assault.

mystery,un d
es w
DISGRACEFUL
FACTION FIGHT IN LIVERPOOL.—The
neighbourhood of Northumberland-street, in this town,
has become notorious for its party fends, which daily give
rise to the most disgraceful scenes of riot, disorder, and
bloodshed. It appears that on the evening of Sunday is
inflicting
tcotidnigscosevveerrtehaivto
" row" arose in Albert-street, in the course of which the
the poll/. - officers, who interfered to restore peace to the
disturbed community, assailed with abuse and brickbats,—
most danzerous modes of warfare were resorted to, and
the former exhibiting very little respect for the law and
those engaged in the affray. The origin of the u r /,
aitlsthoof
ficers,patehim, i
sa
almostn d the i
mlatterposs i
women turned out into the street, and omen Catholic
sault on the Orangeman and his began a fierce as-
friends.
fast and furious ; sticks were The war waxed
Catholics to the pates ant' applied by the lusty Roman
_ other prominent features of
the poor Orangemen; anden at length the policearrived,
the pious worshippers when
their houses, of Rome ensconced themselves in
ses, and from the '
ethe windows sent forth many solid
jaculations
the in shape of bricks and stones, which made
acquaintance of the unfortunate lookers-on in the
street. A
number of the ringleaders in the affray were,
fortunately apprehended, and yesterday they were placed
in the dock at the Police-office, where an Irish interpreter
was in requisition, one of the witnesses who came to
prove an alibi being unable to perform that easy task in.
English. Various persons belonging to the Orange party
—a fact indicated by bandaged caputs and bruised brows
—were interrogated as to the affray, and the upshot of
the case was, that Michael M'Grath, a ringleader,
ordered to enter in his own recognizanc ' was
es in £2O and to
obtain two sureties in £lO each, to be of '
for the space of one calendar month;
William Kelly was
ordered to pay a fine of 405., in default to go to prison for
two months ; John
tourran, to enjoy the '
and Thos. Lavell, PaY 10s. and same fate as Kelly,
costa •
•or go ga to olio
v r
twenty-one days. Ann Kelly, wife of
tharine Herbert, a female with a baby
'at her breast, and;
William-Kelly',
Ca—
John Loftus, a lad who fought ondischarged. the Paregkezde Mt' '