The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-16 00:00:00

`ME LIVERPOOL STANDARID, AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL AIORTISER.

tiberpoot tanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 16, 1854,

WASTE OF TIME IN PARLIAMENT.

aT is not easy to define the purpose for which
Parliament is now assembled, unless it be for
voting supplies and making a show of doing some-
thing by long discussions upon measures, about the
failure or success of which the public at large are
.utterly indifferent. The long list of promised bills
with which the Government commenced the session
has dwindled down to that for the reform of Oxford
University, and two or three more of perhaps even
less importance; so that legislation has e
literally a farce, and we are fast hastening the
-times of CHARLES 1., when Parliaments were voted
unnecessary. The Ministers appear to be totally
unwilling to do anything themselves, for, no doubt,
sufficient reasons ; and their example has become
contagious, so that no one else can do anything.
On Wednesday week,which is a day usually devoted
to the measures of independent members, no fewer
than three bills were thrown out in succession, on
the -motion for the second reading ; and on Wed-
nesday last a similar fate attended three more.
measures, two of them being thrown out, and a
third referred to a select committee, which is
equivalent to a rejection. Their demerits may
have demanded such a fate, but the opposition
seemed evidently to have arisen from a determina-
tion on:. the part of the majority of the House to
follow the Ministerial example, and do nothing ; so
that legislation has come to a dead lock, and the
progress, upon which Sir JAMES GRAHAM expressed
his determination to take his stand, and which has
formed -the bye-word for professing Liberals, is
literally interpreted by standing still. It is,
however, instructive to notice the reasons which
are given for this obstructive course. Lord JOHN
RUSSELL'S sweeping measure of reform—or rather
revolution—is postponed to a more convenient sea-
son, because the public mind is too much occupied
with the war and its vicissitudes to give due atten-
tion to such a comprehensive scheme. But failing
in obtaining much, we may still have little ; and
members whose -time is not occupied in preparing
estimates and other efforts of administrative genius,
employ their humbler talents in devising remedies
for evils considered more pressing. Alas ! for such
ill-directed industry; for they are met with the
converse of the argument. The great scheme of
Reform will not do, because it is great, and we
have no time to discuss it properly ; and the little
scheme will not do, because it is little, and all
reforms should be of a comprehensive character.
Such are the arguments of our Ministers of pro-
gress, and the result is a session barren of results,
except additional taxation, financial blunders, and
a few minor measures on subjects of the least pos-
sible consequence. The day may come when the
people of this country will awaken from their
apathy, and become convinced that a Ministry
composed of the shreds of faction, with no intelli-
gible policy, and without an atom of principle, con-
sistency, or honesty, is incompatible with the
national welfare. It would, indeed, have been
better that rampant Radicalism had tried its hand
at official business, and then we might at least
have had the satisfaction of a Parliamentary Oppo-
sition. equally distinct in its policy and purposes,
and appealing to the country upon intelligible
grounds. Now, unfortunately, we have neither,
but a confusion of parties and principles, a surren-
der of convictions to a hollow peace which leads to
nothing, and no hope for the future except some
signal disaster should rouse the country to the
necessity of restoring distinctive Conservative
principles to the ascendant. It is the price we are
paying for the political treachery with which the
late Sir ROBERT PEEL brought about the plausible
and yet destructive system of Free Trade, a system
which is converting the once loyal and chivalrous
people of England into a nation of shopkeepers,
measuring everything by its money value, and some
even refusing to provide for the common decencies of
public worship, because it would involve the pay-
ment of a three-farthing rate. We do not, however,
despair that brighter days will come. We have too
much confidence in the sterling qualities of English-
men to believe that they will long continue in error,
when once it has been made apparent to them ;
and we look forward to the speedy arrival of the
time when Whigs, Peelites, and Radicals will be
driven from office, with the execrations which have
ever accompanied the termination of their official
career.

PRINCE ALBERT A PROTESTANT.

WE cannot feel quite consistent with our duty
as public journalists to allow to pass in silence the
well-considered and weighty remarks of the Prince
Consort, at the anniversary of the Sons of the
Clergy on Thursday last. His Royal Highness
said :

" When our ancestors purified the Christian
faith, and shook off the yoke of a domineering
priesthood (loud cheers), they felt that the keystone
of that wonderful fabric which had grown up in
the dark times of the middle ages was the celibacy
of the clergy, and shrewdly foresaw that their re-
formed faith and newly-won religious liberty would,
on the contrary, only be secure in the hands of a
clergy united with the people by every sympathy,
natural, personal, and domestic (cheers). Gentle-
men, this nation has enjoyed for 300 years the
blessings of a Church Establishment which rests
upon this basis, and cannot be too grateful for the
advantages afforded by the fact that the Christian
ministers not only preach the doctrines of Chris-
tianity, but live among their congregations, an ex-
ample for the discharge of every Christian duty, as
husbands, fathers, and masters of families—
(cheers)—themselves capable of fathoming the
whole depth of human feelings, desires, and diffi-
culties. (Loud cheers)."
This is the language of a decided Protestant.
We affect no surprise that his Royal Highness
should utter such sentiments ; but we may reason-
ably express our high satisfaction that he should
express them publicly, with so much force, decision,
and clearness. The Prince is not daunted by the
increasing arrogance of the Romish party. On
the contrary, he seems rather to feel that it sup-
plies a fresh reason for plain speaking.
A member of the House of Commons has recently
proposed to that assembly to inquire into the work-
ing of one part of the law of celibacy in this coun-
try, by investigating the state of the convents in
these icingdoms. Indignant that any one should
dare to think that any practice of theirs required
investigation, the Romanists have been meeting
and declaring themselves " insulted !" They have
even gone so far, in some cases, as to threaten us
with the anger of the Emperor of the French. It
is in the midst of all this insolence that her Majes-
ty's Consort stands up in the centre of the metro-
polis, and gives utterance to a few simple words,
which, in the most direct and effectual manner, as-
sert -the Protestant principle. His Royal High-
ness has thereby set us a noble example. Already
in Parliament, men were flinching from an encoun-
ter with the brazen men of the Pope's band. They
held their breath and minced their words. The
Prince shows them how quietly but firmly the
truth may be asserted and maintained, without
furnishing any just ground for complaint to any
reasonable Roman Catholic.—Morning Herald.

LORD 'MELBOURNE once said in hearing of Sir Buiwer
Lytton that "he rejoiced to have been Prime Minister,
for he had thus learnt that men were much better, much
more swayed by conscience 0441 honour, than he had before
suppose/3_o

" SAINTS" AND .ROMISH
SINNERS.

THERE are certain classes of individuals to whom
Englishmen are wont to apply, metaphorically, the some-
what coarse proverb, that " they will hang themselves if
you give them rope enough," To no class of persons does
this more apply than to modern Anglo-Romanists in ge-
neral, and the "converts" ,to Romanism in particular.
Hence we have repeatedly -urged upon the opponents of
Romanism that the plain unvarnished texts and facts
furnished by Romanists themselves are far more useful
than the most laboured comments and arguments. We
venture to say that (generally speaking) a single number
of the Tablet contains better materials for exposing and-
estimating the real character of existing Romanism, in
theory and practice, than will be found in nineteen-
twentieths of the volumes, pamphlets, speeches, and lec-
tures which are being continually putting forth.
Among the leading articles of the 'Tablet of Saturday
last, we find the following :
"We cannot help calling the special attention of our
readers to a most interesting letter, given elsewhere in
our columns, under the title of " Visit to Ars and La
Salette.", It contains some highly-edifying particulars
relating to the holy Cure of Are, of whom many of our
readers have heard, and who is regarded with profound
veneration throughout France as a most saintly person,
whose prayers have extraordinary power. But interesting
as those particulars are, and we seldom have to communi-
cate information more pleasing to the Catholic heart,
they are surpassed by the facts which the writer has
mentioned in the same letter relative to the apparition of
Our Lady at La Salette. It is impossible to read them
without a sensation of awe and gratitude to Almighty
God, and we have no doubt that in this month of May,
dedicated as it is to the special devotion to Our Holy
Mother, this will add a fresh and lasting impulse to the
prayers which are offered for the conversion of England,
as well as for the sanctification of individual souls, and
for any blessings which the devout Christian may have
most at heart to obtain by her all-prevailing intercession."
We naturally turned to the communication referred to,
in order to see what kind of information it is which so
pleases "Catholic hearts" in these days; and we venture
to say that a glance at the communication in question will
convince any sober, well-instructed and genuine Catholic,
that the " Catholic" of Rome is a very different character
from the Catholic of apostolic and primitive times, if he
takes delight in such things as are there set forth.
The Cure of Ars is described as "a living saint, known
all over France," who " rises throughout the year at mid-
night, after having slept for two hours—then he goes to
the Confessional, where crowds are waiting for him" (at
midnight o—that " an omnibus has been established for
the express purpose of conveying pilgrims to him"—that
" at twelve o'clock he takes his single meal, a small portion
of -bread and milk, never breaking his fast till the same
hour of the day following." In the first place, we very
much doubt the truth of these alleged " facts." But
admitting them to be true, we see nothing saint-like in a
man's taking upon himself, and encouraging others, to set
at nought God's Providential order and arrangement, by
turning night into day, unnecessarily, and rejecting that
seasonable rest which He who "made man," and "knew
what was in man," has appointed to be the rule and order
of the whole creation. We have never had much reverence
for those " saints" who were principally remarkable and
notorious for voluntarily and unnecessarily violating the
laws, order, and appointments, which God has established
for the preservation of health, strength, and efficiency of
the mind and body. We have no special respect for men
or women who voluntarily and deliberately weaken both
body and mind, and shorten their lives, by systematically
and continuously taking much less food and rest than their
bodies and minds require for healthy action. Still less
respect have we for those—and they have not been few—
who were voluntarily filthy and disgusting in their habits.
The preaching of the Cure of Ars is next described as
follows:

" Dinner over, he preaches, and then goes to the confes-
sional. His preaching is absolutely nothing but a repeti-
tion of those famous words so familiar to St. John the
Evangelist,. "My children, love one another." He chiefly
insists on the happiness of loving God, often repeating the
words, " Oh, qu'il est dour daimer le bon Dieu ! ' and at
each repetition shedding torrents of tears. The same
occurs whenever he mentions the sufferings of Our Blessed
Lord and our obligation to love Him in return. When he
preached on this subject before our travellers, he was
obliged to stop from the profusion of his tears, and such
was the effect on his congregation, that there was not one
dry eye in the whole church. His manner, though so
simple, was impressive and moving to an extraordinary
degree. Nothing more striking than his personal appear-
ance. He was the image of death, very old, had lost his
teeth, and his cheeks had fallen in. He looked like a
person dreaming, or rather walking in his sleep. He never
seemed to look at or to see every one. There was some-
thing altogether unearthly in the expression of his eye."
In all this the Romanist—fond of excitement, and reck-
less of the mean 4 for" obtaining it—sees a Saint. We see
simply a poor old man, much past work, who ought to be
allowed to rest, , even from the ordinary duties which his
own flock require, and upon whom it is sheer inhumanity,
and selfish indulgence, to lay the additional burden of
ministering to a parcel of idle, sight-seeing, or sentimental
men and women, who, leaving their own pastors (able and
willing to attend to them), choose to call themselves
"pilgrims," and go in "an omnibus," to bother this poor
old man to "hear their confessions" at midnight, when he
and they ought to be in bed and asleep. We should very
much like to relieve the old pastor, by undertaking the
office of imposing penances upon such people. We would
venture to say that the midnight crowds of " pilgrims "
would soon cease.

The narrator of this precious history continues :
" One of our party stopped him as he was passing through
the church in his old, poor, mean surplicet to preach.
She asked him to bless her rosary. He stopped imme-
diately, took it into both his hands, bent reverently over
it for a moment, blessed and returned it, evidently with-
out having seen, heard, or at least noticed her. This
rosary she afterwards dipped in the fountain of La Salette.
. . . From every corner of France pilgrims flock to
him. Our whole travelling party succeeded in getting to
confession to him, but, contrary to their expectations, he
hurried them all. On inquiring afterwards, they found
that he does this with many persons."
- •

Here we see plainly that- the object of these people is
not simply to confess certain sins, because they felt the
burden of them, but their object is to confess to a par-
ticular Priest. They make up a confession in order to
have an interview with this poor superannuated Pastor.
Their success is in getting him to hear them.

We now come to a more painful and serious portion of
this narrative. From the Cure this "party" goes to
Salette, which, as our readers may remember, is the
scene of an alleged appearance of the Blessed Virgin, and
her communication of a secret message to a shepherd-boy
and a young girl, some years ago, which message was to
be told to the Pope alone. - Speaking of the girl (Melanie)
the narrator says :

" She can describe the Blessed Virgin's appearance,
with the exception of her eyes. She says she could never
meet them, they were so intensely bright. The whole
face was luminous, and what has been called " yellow,"
merely the two children's description of sun-light, golden
coloured. The wreath of roses round the Blessed Virgin's
head was blue, red, and white. One of the party observed
to Melanie, " Blue roses are never seen." No matter,"
replied Melanie, " the Blessed Virgin had blue roses, and
from each rose a ray of light proceeded, having something
like a star in the middle."

" The high headdress was made of light ; it quivered
all the time ; and what was most striking, the figure of
Our Lord• on the crucifix was as if alive ! Melanie saw
the blood most distinctly, and it was certainly alive, she
'says. When the Blessed Virgin left them, after crossing
the brook, and walking up the mountain, she stopped at
one spot, and turning her head over her shoulder, looked
as if at some remote object. When this was described to
some Priests, they ascertained that she threw this linger-
ing look in the direction of Rome.
"Melanie is frequently found in tears. She instructs a
class of children, and the first prayer she teaches them to
say is, Misericorde pour la France !' Though she keeps
her secret inviolably, yet this much she has said in answer
to the' many questions put, that no prayers can avail to
avert the predictions of the Blessed Virgin, and that what
is to happen will happen in her (Melanie's) own lifetime !
" She and the boy (Maximin) have an ardent desire for
the conversion of England, and this conversion is sup-
posed to be in some part of their secret, so confidently do
they speak of it. When one of the party explained to
Maximin how obstinate the English were, and how far
from a knowledge of the truth, he observed with great
emphasis, "Yes, England shall be converted." Nay,
Melanie, before making her profession, stipulated that if
any Religious of her Order went to England she should be
of the number. This was one of the conditions of her
vows, and the promise has been made her. One of the
party advised her to commence learning the language at
once, and offered her the English Prayer-books she held
in her hand, and Melanie accepted them with great
pleasure."
This boy, Maximin, who has such an " ardent desire
for the conversion of England," and who pronounces so
oracularly that "England shall be converted," is described
as " a great lad of seventeen," who " prefers play to
study," confessing "that all learning tired him, and that
it was dull work." It is worthy of remark that girls are
always found the most apt pupils of Rome in working and
managing her supernatural machinery. She finds them,
intellectually much better dupes and de-
votees, skilful and
dyattractive actors, than "great
and
lads of seventeen," who " prefer play to study," and find
learning "dull work."
more and
physically,

The place where the Blessed Virgin is said to have ap-
peared has for some time been regarded as peculiarly
sacred ; some buildings are being erected near the spot,
and many miracles are narrated in connexion with it.
The following extracts from the history before us will
afford our readers some specimens :

"The church on the top of La Salette is a fine building,
and nearly completed. They are also erecting two hos-

pitals, one for men, under an order of La Salette Monks ;
the other for women, managed by La Salette Nuns.
Many postulants are already on the mountains. One of
these is said to have been raised from death to life ! Her
history is this :—Long afflicted with internal cancer, she
was also covered all over with large boils of twelve months'
standing. In consequence she was bedridden, and so
weakened that her recovery was wholly despaired GE
Convulsive fits and paralysis followed. The last sacra-
ments were administered, and prayers for the agonising
said. Before dying she made two requests of her mother
—one was to have a mass said for her the morning of her
death ; the other to place in her hand, after her being
laid out, a small image of Our Lady of La Salette, which
she had devotion to, and that it might be buried with her:
These were her last words. She grew worse, and died
that night. Her mother sent word to the parish church
-to have the mass said, and sat up with others to wake the
Corpse. In the course of the night she recollected her
promise, and taking the image out of a press in the same
room, she had no sooner laid it on her daughter's bosom
than, to the astonishment of all present, the corpse gave
a deep sigh, and was heard to articulate, "0, Divine Mere,
si je dois vivre, c'est pour vous server toute ma vie sur
votre sainte montagne !" Great was the terror of all
present at this, but greater still did it become when the
corpse gave signs of life by turning on one side. Sleep
for three hours followed ; and she who had been dead
awoke in perfect health !—she who could not move her-
self in bed sat up, asked for her clothes, walked to church,
and heard the very mass which was to have been said for
1-the repose of her own soul. One of our travellers, Mr.
—, talked long with this person, who seemed to
enjoy perfect health. She has entered the Order of La
Salette, though she does not remember the words uttered
by her as above. Every material for building the church
is carried up the mountain on mules. Mr. met a
loaded mule going. up ; he carried one plank and one stone
on each side. The sand and mortar are carried up in the
same way. The labour is excessive. The expense cor-
responds. What costs but one franc in the valley, costs
-thirty when it reaches the summit, where the work is
going forward. The total expense will be 40,000 francs ;
but so liberal are the donations that they have already .in
hand 40,000 francs.

' Very wisely has the spot where the Blessed Virgin's
thrice-blessed feet have trod been left untouched. The
stations of the cross have been put up along the path by
which she ascended, and a little chapel marks the place
where she disappeared. The church is built about fifty
yards off.
" The miracles wrought by Our Lady of La Salette are
most stupendous and almost inconceivable. Here is one
which occurred to a Nun of the neighbourhood. The
mistress of the work awoke in the middle of the night,
hearing, as she thought with good reason, some robbers
in the workroom, where some very rich vestments then
were. Imagining the robbers would fly if disturbed, she
advanced and opened the door, but they, two in number,
rushed upon her and gave her several severe wounds.
She fell, calling on Our Blessed Lady of La Salette for
protection, and promising, if she obtained it, to make a
pilgrimage to the holy mountain. The robbers escaped ;
she was found to have received no less than twenty-six
wounds, many of which were, by the surgeons, pronounced
mortal. But three days afterwards she was miraculously
cured, no mark whatever remaining on her ! The Bishop
gave her permission to perform the pilgrimage, which she
went through, accompanied by the whole community."
Most of the narratives, of this kind, proceed from Eng-
lish "converts" we suspect, and it is certain that some of
them set a very high value upon this affair of La Salette.
Such are the instruments to effect the " Conversion" of
England ! Such are the " Saints," and the " Miracles,"
for which we are called to abandon the Catholic and
Apostolic Church of England, and to renounce the Scrip-
tural and Catholic teaching of the masculine minds, and
the example of the holy men and women, with which God
has blessed us in every century since the Reformation,
down to the present hour. It is true that we have had no
"La Salettes"—no " Apparitions" of the Blessed Virgin
—no " secrets" supernaturally conveyed to our shepherd-
boys—no omnibusses full of " pilgrims" going to worry
an aged Priest to hear confessions at midnight—no molten
or carved images of the Blessed Virgin to which we ascribe
the life-giving power of Him who, alone, is the Resurrec-
tion and the Life. We have none of these things. The
apostles and the primitive church had none of tt em ; and
it will be only when we have abandoned their faith and
practice that we shall seek such things, and find them.
God grant that England may never be brought to such a
"conversion" as this !—English Churchman.

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.