The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-05-07 00:00:00

OF LIVERPOOL

On Wednesday evening a most numerous public meeting
was held in the Music-hall, Bold-street, for the purpose of
considering the propriety of adopting a petition from the
Protestants of Liverpool in favour of the bill brought into the
[louse of Commons by the honourable and patriotic member
for Kilmarnock, Mr. Colquhoun, for taking away the dis-
grace of a Protestant state contributing a large annual sum
for the maintenance of the popish Seminary of Maynooth.

It is scarcely possible to aes.cribe the anxiety which per-
vaded every class to be present at this meeting. The room
was tilled to excess some time before the proceedings com-
menced, and many hundreds. were under the necessity of re-
turning from the doors, from the incapacity of the room to
contain them. Regret was universally expressed that the
use of the Amphitheatre could not be obtained for the occa-
sion.

On the platform, besides a large body of gentlemen, we
noticed the Rev. Hugh M'Neile, the Rev. Hugh Stowell,
the Rev. J. N. Connor, the Rev. Orme, the Rev. J. C.
Hamilton, the Rev. A. Townsend, J. Rigby, Esq., W. R.
Preston, Esq., M. Edwards, Esq., &c., &c. On the motion
of Mr. Ewbank, the meeting unanimously elected the Rev.
Hugh M'Neile chairman.'
The CHAIRMAN said, we were accused of being politicians,
and if the accusation were properly understood we had no
objection to plead guilty. We were politicians, and politicians
of a peculiar character, for we were politicians who recog-
nized the hand of God in the things of this world as well as
in the things connected with the world to come—(hear)—
and therefore in all our proceedings we asked his blessing,
without which there could be no true success. (Hear, hear.)
We did not engage in that species of politics which confined
its view to party conflicts between man and man, but we did
engage in that description of politics which entered into the
conflict between truth and falsehood, between the cause of
God in this world and the cause of the Devil. (Hear.) If
we were correct in the views we entertained, we were en-
gaged now in the cause of God ; we honestly thought so, and
in order to be successful we began our proceedings by asking •
his blessing. (Applause.) Before- he offered any further
observations he should call upon his reverend brother, Mr.
Connor, to ask the blessing of God upon us and upon our
object. (Hear.)
The Rev. Mr. CONNOR hiving supplicated the divine aid
and blessing in an appropriate prayer,
The CHAIRMAN then proceeded to address the meeting.
He must request of them to bear in mind the observations
which he had already addressed to them with regard to the
nature of our politics. We were engaged in a great conflict.
We found truth and falsehood, light and darkness, God and
Satan engaged. It was a perniitted conflict : there could be
no continued conflict that was not a permitted one. It had
pleased God to permit a conflict, for wise ultimate pur-
poses : he could, in a moment if he chose, put an end to the
conflict by making truth universally triumphant, and pre-
venting the prince of darkness from interfering with any of
God's creatures ; but he did not do so. it was his plan, for
wise ultimate purposes, to allow a conflict for a time, and
as he had said, no conflict could be of long continuance that
was not a perniitted one. If two parties were engaged in
conflict, and they were nearly matched, by and by one would
get the better of the other, and the conflict was at aft end.
It could not last long. We might see that in the contention
any two men of nearly equal strength. A small slip in one
of them gave the other an advantage, and the conflict was
over; but suppose we saw a mischievous little child conflict-
ing with a man—a man with the hold of the child, just keep-
ing it off instead of putting it down to put an end of its
little struggles by kicking it : lie allowed the child to kick
and fight, yet he held it ; it struggled just as much as he
chose to let it, and as long as he chose, if he had a
good purpose ; it lie chose to let there be the least change,
he might let it last as long as he pleased. He had power to
stop it, and power to let it go on. (Hear, hear.) It had
pleased God to allow a conflict of this sort. He said to the
devil as to the waves of the sea, ",hitherto thou shalt go but
no further," but he does not utterly push him back. He is
holding him, but allowing him to fight; he allows him to
succeed in iis way ; he allowed him to enter in.o the gar-
den of Edea, and to succeed with mankind for a season, only
he had a reserve among men, among the members of his
own Son Jesus Christ, and these he kept from the devil.
(Hear.) Against these the devil fought, and these God pre-
served. (Hear.) Here was the conflict ; and the church of
Christ kept by the power of God, in a world of which the
devil is the ruler—the permitted ruler. for the time being.
(Hear, hear.) Now, if we judged our own position aright,
we were memberS of Christ's church militant here upon
earth ; we were in an enemy's country ; the world lay in
wickedness, the devil had dominion over the majority—God
permitted it, and we were engaged upon his side in the con-
flict. (Hear.) Were there no members of Christ's church
at all, there would be nothing to disturb the devil's supre-
macy ; then all would be quiet. "The strongman armed kept
his goods in peace ;" but when a stronger than he came, and
some portions were delivered front him, where there were
members of Christ's church, who confessed their master, and '
spoke for him who delivered them, then began a turmoil. There
began immediately a permissive contention. If there never
had been any real religion, and the devil had had all
his own way there would be no controversy ; and it' there
were no truth in the world, no real 'christian protest in the
world, and the great Antichrist of Rome had had all his
own way there would have been no controversy • he would
step it all (hear, hear) ; not a mouth would Le opened
`against him. But when there were mouths opened for the
praise and glory of God,-when there were hearts warmed
and enlightened by the spirit of God, when the truth of God
was spoken, whether men would hear it or whether they
would forbear, then began the conflict. Real christians,
therefore, must continue to b'e agitators so long as this
world was under the dominion of Satan. There could be
no vital religion without agitation. (Hear, hear.) What
were the prophets? Agitators at Jerusalem breaking in
upon the deep slumbers of the ungodly, and awakening
wicked kings, and wicked rulers, and wicked princes to a
sense of the truth of the glory of the God of Israel ! What
were the apostles ? Agitators prOtesting against the Phari-
sees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the Pagans ; pro-
testing against the stagnation to which the devil would
bring the world, and stirring up men's minds to serve the
. living God ! (Cheers.) They were agitators. And who
Were the reformers? Luther was a great agitator. He
found a bible in his convent; he read it; he perceived ele-
ments there that would not remain in the stagnant pool of
the papacy; he brought them out;. he spoke them; he
translated them into his native tongue ; he printed them ror
his countrymen, and what a world of agitators had the bible
caused! (Hear.) There were some persons who found
fault because we were agitators. Whose example he should
like to know was it fit for us to follow? We took up the
history of the world, and if there were three classes of men
whose history stood recorded in the pages of the history of
the world, whose example it was fit and proper we should
follow, they were the three classes he had named—the
apostles, the prophets, and the reformers. (Loud cheers.)
But said our adversaries " you do halm, for you cause your
opponents to combine." He was now stating what sonic
who pretended to be upon our side as Protestants said who
disapproved of our agitation. They dreamed of truth
without agitation just as it this world had never fallen under
the dominion of Satan ! They talked very sweet, and very
plausible, and very amiable things, about kindness, and
charity, and love, and they were certainly very delightful,
but how are they to be 'won? 'Were we to show our kind-
ness and love .to mankind by allowing them to remain with-
out a struggle under the dominion of Satan ? Were we not
rather showing true kindness to them by endeavouring to
deliver them from those trammels, and bring them into the
liberty of the children of God ? (Hear, hear.) We
had some Protestants by name in this country who dis-
approved of our Protestant Associations ; they said
" we are as good Protestants as you, and we hate Popery
as much as you, but (there was a very significant but) by
agitating in this way you combine the Roman Catholics
against us—you cause them to agitate—you rouse them to
activity—and you cause a recoil, so that absolutely your
Protestant Associations are means of increasing Popery."
That was what they said; and he (Mr. M'Neile) wanted to
ask the meeting whether that was true? (Loud cries of
" No, no.") It was easy to say it, but it was not easy to
prove it. (Cheers.) He would ask again were not the
Roman Catholics combined before our agitation began ?
(Cries of " yes.") 'Was there not a Romish agitation
against the integrity of British liberty both in church and
state? (Hear, hear.) Was it not carried on for years, and
did it not succeed in 1829? (Cries of "yes," and loud
cheers.) Was there not a parliamentary reform agitation,
and did it not succeed after some years ? (Hear.) And had
there not been, and was there not now, a Protestant agita-
tion, and was it not succeeding ? (Great cheers.) Compare
the apathy of a few years ago with the vigour, the enthusi-
asm, and earnestness of these days—(hear, hear) ;—compare
the state of things in this country upon the subject of educa-
tion some years ago, and now look around and see our
schools starting up on every side, for the Christian and
scriptural education of our youth—(cheers) i—compare the
want of church room in this country some years ago, and
now see the churches building in every direction, and the thou-
sands subscribed in town after town towards building more
churches for the people—the poor man's church—(great
cheering); and compare the deadly stillness which reigned all
over England, whilst England was year 'after year paying a
large sum of money for the sustenance and education of a set
of popish priests in Ireland—and not one whisper upon the
subject, not a remonstrance, not a petition against the col-
lege of Maynooth—compare that, he said, with the state of
things now. (Hear, hear.) Petition after petition, meeting
after meeting, why England seemed awake to this matter ; and
though a certain class of persons did not come and join our
Protestant Associations, he shrewdly suspected that they
were very well disposed to avail themselves of the benefits of
our Protestant labours. (Hear, hear.) There were always
some persons in an army who were very glad to avail them-
selves of a victory although they were not very forward to
face the enemy in the front ranks. (Hear, at length.) Now
we had a great deal of patriotism about us; his noble name-
sake (Mr. Stowell) was here to-night—(great applause)—
and Mr. Stowell and himself were willing to go forward into
the breach in this fight, they were willing to expose them-
selves, not only to to the assaults of the enemy—(cheers)—
but to the prudent remonstrances of our friends. (Hear.) It
was necessary if an army moved at all, that somebody should
go foremost. If every man said to his neighbour, " you go
first," then nobody would go first, and there would be no
movement at all .; but they would not quarrel with the gentle-
men who refused to come forward in the first ranks, if they
would only bring up the commissiariat, if they would only
supply the ammunition. (Loud cheers.) But it was too
bad to require the very same persons who were foremost in
the fight to be at the same time the persons to take care of
the baggage waggons ; and therefore he had a request to make
of those kind, considerate, prudent, remonstrating friends
who told us they hated popery as much as we did, but who
did not like fighting. (Hear, hear.) He said to them "well,
if you do not like fighting, leave the fighting to us, and do
you pay." (Cheers.) We could not carry on this work
without incurring expense ; these meetings incurred expense,
petitions incurred expense, and who was to pay the money ?
He was, however, happy to say that we were in a very pros-
perous course now. (Hear.) We were assembled this even-
ing, as they knew, for the purpose of adopting and signing a
petition which had been already adopted at a meeting in this
town, and published, so that most of those present were in
possession of its contents. It was upon the subject of May-
nooth College. As they were aware, that subject had been
discussed in the House of Commons for a considerable time.
A motion had been made every year for the withdrawal of
the grant of about £9OOO a year made in the Irish estimates
for the support-of that college. That motion, however, had
been negatived every year. Last year the friends of the col-
lege.had been presse ore closely than they had ever been
before, and they were obliged to put forward more strength
in its defence. One of them, the hon. and learned member
for the county of Tipperary, brought forward an act of the Irish
parliament, by which he alleged, or gave it to be understood,
that the grant to Maynooth College was granted in the act
of union with Ireland. That was a staggerer (hear, hear,)
because the lovers of our country would be sorry to join
those who agitated for the repeal of the union or of any part of
it. However, after inquiry, it was found that no act of the
Irish parliament involved any such contract ' • that the act of
union said nothing about touch a contract, but it was found
at the same time that an act of the Irish parliament,
called the 35th Geo. 111., that was, which was passed
in the year 1795, appointed certain government officers
of state, judges in Ireland, to be visitors of the College
of Maynooth. This seemed to give the College of
Maynooth an union with the state, and some persons
said it amounted to an union with the state ; that was
a matter upon which others held a different opinion,
but so long as that act was in existence, even the friends of
our measure felt they could not ask for a withdrawal of the
grant to Maynooth College. (Hear, hear.) For his own
part he did not see why we might not ask for a withdrawal
of the grant in spite of any such act, as it did not appear to
him to involve any dimpact to continue the grant. Still there

^ere such things as parliamentary etiquettes, and the han
member for Kilmarnock, Mr. Colquhoun, (cheers,) anxious
to remove every impediment out of the way, and to clear the
course for the withdrawal of the grant, had prepared a bill,
which he had obtained leave this session to introduce into
parliament, the proposal of which bill was,. that the act in
question should be repealed (cheers); that is, that by the
authority of parliament the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and
certain of the judges should no longer be visitors of the Col-
lege of Maynooth. (Renewed cheering.) The prayer of this
was strengthened by another circumstance. It so happened
that in the year 1800, just before the union with Ireland,
another act passed the Irish legislature, restraining the powers
of the visitors of Maynooth College, preventing them from
entering into any inquiry respecting the religious discipline
or doctrines taught within the walls ; so that, although by
the former act they continued nominal visitors, by the latter
act they were prevented from efficiently performing the office
of visitors. (Hear.) One act practically neutralised the
other, without repealing it directly (hear) ; and the object
of Mr. Colquhoun's bill was to repeal both of them (cheers),
or at least so much of them as referred to the College of
Maynooth. Then there would be an opportunity for the
hon. and learned member for Tipperary, or any of his com-
panions producing even the appearance of an excuse in any
act of parliament as a screen for Maynooth College. A petition
had been drawn up, then, setting forth, in the first place,
the merits—or rather the demerits—of Maynooth College ;
and, in the second place, imploring the legislature to pass
Mr. Colquhoun's bill. It was for the purpose of signing
that petition they had been assembled that evening, after
they had received further information upon the subject of
the College of Maynooth as a failure, and as to the objects
and merits of the bill. (Hear.) He was happy to be sup-
ported as he was upon that great occasion. He would only
say further at present, • that we were very often told that
our petitions were of no use—that they were treated with
contempt in the House of Commons, and that we petitioned
in vain. (Hear.) We were told superciliously enough that
the House of Commons did not. care for all our petitions.
Ile was not very sure but that was true enough at present,
that our petitions were treated in a very cavalier way in the
house, but then, although sent to the house they were not
confined to the house—(hear, hear.)—they went through the
country. Our petitions, our speeches with regard to those
petitions, and our protestant agitation for the truth and
against error—these were all leavening the mind of the pub-
lic who would soon have an opportunity of selecting another
House of Commons. (Loud cheers.) He did not say this
from any private information of his own respecting any in-
tention upon the part of ministers to resign. (Laughter.)
He believed, upon the contrary, that nothing could be fur-
ther from their intention—(renewed laughter) ; but according
to the constitution of, these realms no parliament could last
longer than seven years, and no parliament had recently been
allowed to last so long. (Hear.) It must then die a natural
death. The practise had always been to exercise the prero-
gative of the crown and to dissolve it before it had reached
its decrepitude, therefore it could not be long. Independent
of beatings in both houses of parliament, independent of exe-
crations in the country, independent of inconsistencies in
themselves, independent of broken faith, broken pledges,
broken words., broken honour—independent of all these
things, it could not be long, lie said, till the peopie of Eng-
land would have an opportunity of selecting another House
of Commons. (Cheers.) In the mean time what were we
doing? They (the clergy) were net men who interfered per-
sonally at elections, like popish priests. (Hear, hear.) You
never found them at the hustings ; you never found them
canvassing for votes—no such thing; but he would tell the
meeting what they did. They interfered not upon the day
of election, but they interfered every day, and every day
throughout the whole year; and year after year, to qualify the
people to act properly at an election. The people got sound
instruction from them in order to know how to exercise their
privileges. The people had duties of various sorts : they had
personal and domestic and relative duties, and from whom
were they to receive the proper instruction for the right dis-
charge of those duties? They had duties which they owed
to their families, duties as parents ; and from whom should
they get instruction as to the discharge of those duties, but
from their pastors ? They had duties which they owed to
the state, and in proportion as they were invested with pri-
vileges, those duties become responsibilities ; from whom
should they get instruction as to the best mode of dis-
charging those duties but from their pastors ? (Hear, hear,
hear.) Was not God the God of the family as well as the
God of the man ? Was he not the God of our duty as the
head of a family, as well as the God of our duty as citizens
of the state? Was he not the God of the state as well as the
God of the family? and was lie not the God of the people's
duties as electors, as much as he was the God of their duties
as fathers ? (Hear.) If .we were responsible to God for the
exercise of the privileges we enjoyed, both public and private,
who should direct us how to use them? (Hear.) They (the
clergy), then, were teaching the people sound scriptural po-
litics : they wanted the people of England to say, in the voice
of a giant that must be heard, that God, and the word of
God, should not be banished from the origin of British poli-
tics. (Hear.) They wanted the people to say, and to make
the honourable, and the right honourable, and noble, and
learned, who came begging for their " sweetvoices" when
the time for election came, understand that the Bible had
been, and must be, in the ascendancy in the British senate.
(Loud cheers.) They wanted the people to tell them they
had no notion of having legislators who could say they were
Protestants, and act as if they were Papists—(cheers) ;—that
they had no notion of men who told them they were members
of the Church of England, the anti-popish Church of Eng-
land,- the protesting Church of England, the scriptural
Church of England, whose articles denounced all the abomi-
nations that Rornish rubbish had heaped upon the fair face
of primitive Christianity, and yet afterwards declaring they
would sit in the House of Commons to pay money for the
teaching of priests, who were to teach the error of those ar-
ticles, who were to teach the very contrary to that church,
who were to teach that that church was heresy, that all its
members were heretics, and that not one belonging to it could
escape everlasting damnation. (Hear, hear.) The priests
of Rome taught this ; and there were senators who told us
they were members of the Church of England, yet who went
into the House of Commons, and quietly voted away the
people's money to pay those priests of Rome.! (Cries of
shame.) Yes, it was a shame; and who was it that taught
the people all this? How were they to know it if they were
not taught? (Hear, hear.) Who were the right teachers of
this hut the clergymen of the country ? (Cheers.) What
was the reason England had fallen into such forgetfulness
of these things, but that the clergy had become too
tender, mild, and forbearing ; that they had confined them-
selves too entirely to spiritual things, and to the personal
duties of men as individuals? (Hear.) They had been teach-
ing their congregations as if the spiritual duties of detached
individuals had nothing to do with the things of the state,
consequently the members of their congregations, whilst they
have had instruction about their personal duties, have been
neglected as to their political duties! (Hear, hear) He heard
a member of parliament once say that he had been ten years
in parliament, and had been to church every Sunday through
those successive years except once, when he was kept away
by sickness, and that he had never heard from the mouth of
a single clergymen, either in town or country, one single
word about his duty as a senator ! (Hear.) And why? Be-
cause the clergy thought it was profane to speak of the duties
of senators. What, was it more profane to speak about that
than to speak about the duties of fathers, mothers, and neigh-
bours ! (Hear, hear.) They did not think it impolitic or
profane to tell them to be honest towards their neighbours ;
was it profane then to tell our senators their duty as neigh-
bours ? (Cheers.) The meeting saw then how they (the
clergy) stood ; and that they were instructing the people of
England as far as their voices would reach. In conclusion,
he congratulated the meeting on the fact of the Protestant
agitation having been wonderfully successful. (Loud cheers.)
The Rev. J. N. CONNOR briefly moved the first resolu-
tion, as follows :
" That this meeting are satisfied that the College of May-
nooth, in Ireland, whether considered as a political experi-
ment, or a seminary for education, moral or religious, has
proved a total failure, and worse than a mere failure."
The Rev. Huon STOWELL rose amidst repeated rounds
of enthusiastic applause to second the resolution. He
had very great delight in seeing his dear friend (the chair-
man) surrounded by so enthusiastic an army of working Pro-
testants. (Hear, hear.) Had he seen him surrounded only
by our rich merchants, or by our men of wealth, of rank, and
influence, he might have feared that our Protestant work
would prove at best but a splendid pageant ; but when he
saw that our Protestant movement was taking a mighty hold
upon the sentiments and the intelligence of the mighty mass
of our mechanics and working men, he believed then, that
because its basis was broad and deep, its superstructure
would be steadfast and lofty. (Hear, hear.) He believed
there was no better test in the long run that a cause was true
and righteous, if it were open and above broad, than that it
carried with it the mass and multitude of the working classes.
(Hear.) We had not forgotten, when our blessed Lord
and Master here below protested against the vices, and abuses,
and errors, and follies of his day, that whilst of the Scribes
and Pharisees, and priests, and rulers, but few followed with
him, the common people heard him gladly. (Hear.) To
the poor the gospel was then preached ; to the poor the gospel
is now preached ; and were he a traveller and chanced to have
to pass his sabbath in a town where he was a stranger, lie
should wish to know where he might hear the sweet silvery
notes of the gospel trumpet gloriously giving forth no uncer-
tain sound ; and he should be disposed to ask, " Where is it
that the poor and working classes love to bend their footsteps,
where is the sabbath speaking bell, that pleasing messenger
which seemed to say to us, as to those in olden times, when we
were going with our families and friends to church, we were
glad when it was said to us, let us go to the house of the
Lord.' " (Applause.) Aye, where the free sittiugswere most
crowded, you might take it for granted that there the truth
of Christ was simply and uncompromisingly preached, that
there was no unrelenting reserve, there, there was no dark
book of human traditions and human misrepresentations,
but there we might look for the plain simple truth, unvar-
nished, undisguised, and uncompromised. (Hear.) He had
no question too, that in proportion as Protestant principles
took root among the working classes, Protestant principles
must gradually force their way upwards to the heads of the
community—(hear)—for after all it could neither be denied
nor disguised, that upon the multitude of the people de-
pended the wealth and happiness and the constitution of any
nation (hear) ; and however the nobles and the aristocracy
of a country might be flourishing and prosperous, unless we
had a well-principled, well-informed, moral, religious, sober,
upright, peasantry and body of mechanics, we wanted that
which was to give stability to the entire fabric. The foun-
dation after all was the strength of the structure, and give
him the sound foundation, even before the sound head.
(Hear.) We could not, indeed, have the one effectually
without having e other ; but let us have a firm christian
foundation, and then wecould not doubt but that in due time
we should have a noble, beautiful, and symmetrical super-
structure arising from that base. (Hear.) He felt, too,
cheered to see that our working men here appeared to be
men who came with intellectual minds, deeply imbued with
the importance of the subject : that they seemed to discri-
minate between what was sound and false in argument.
They appeared to him as if they carried a great deal of Pro-
testant light infused into their minds. When he was asked
" what are your Protestant associations doing," he pointed to
the numbers of working men now composing them here and in
Manchester. All he wanted in Manchester was a room large
enough•to contain those who were desirous of hearing; and
if they had a room to contain them, made of India rubber,
to expand as it tilled, he believed it might be expanded more
and more till it burst, for they had, as we had, thousands
coming to their doors who were reluctantly compelled to
return. (Loud cheers.) But this was not all. This move-
ment was not a mere thing of excitement, from the talking at
a public meeting; but thank God, our working men were
protestant advocates in their own little way. (Cheers.) If
they were shipwrights, they were protestant advocates in the
ship-yard; if they were dyers, they advocated protestant
principles over the dye-vat, and could point out the black—
no, the scarlet dye—(cheers)—as the colour of Rome ; they
could point out also the beautiful blue as the colour of the
true catholic church of England, without any party colour ;
if they were weavers, whilst they were plying
their shuttles
and weaving the texture of their web, they were often weav-
ing beautiful protestant arguments, and fresh intelligence ;
if they were joiners, whilst they plied the saw and cut away
into the grain of the wood, they were applying the saw of
sound protestant argument, and cutting their way through
some of the old rotten timber of the church of Rome. (Loud
cheers.) And then they were not content simply with car-
rying on the holy warfare in their workshops, but they car-
ried it on in the evening hour by visiting their neighbours,
by watching over their protestant acquaintances and friends,
that they might not be lured into the snares of popery,
guarding our protestant lambs that none be drawn out of the
fold among the ravening wolves of Rome. (Loud cheers.)
In this way they were guarding most effectually their neigh-
bours. In several instances they had gone so far—and al-
though it was a delicate negotiation, it was one he would give
them absolution for, as we held it, namely, that absolution
was merely declaratory,—as to be instrumental in more
than one instance in breaking off an unholy match that was

saying,

going to take place between a nominal protestant and a papist
—when it was sure the nominal protestant would have been
drawn over into popery, and have changed light for darkness:
He was happy to see that our working men were the men
suited and adapted for occasions like this, when we had pe-
titions to get up. If they wanted to know how their pro-
testant forces had multiplied in Manchester, let him info' in
them of the number of signatures they had obtained to their
petition against Maynooth. Four years ago, their first peti-
tion got 17,000 signattires ; last year it received 21,400, which
was a great advance ; but their petition this year, which he
supposed Mr. Colquhoun was presenting to the house that
night, or, if not, he would some other night this week, ob-
tained nearly 27,000 signatures. (Cheers.) Thus the meet-
ing saw the Protestant thermometer in Manchester was ris-
ing at the rate of 5000 a-year! (Cheers.) He thought they
would very soon be at fever heat ; but he hoped, at the same
time, it would be combined with a collected judgment, so
that, whilst they had the greatest energy, they would also
have the greatest discretion. (Cheers.) We wanted, in this
holy controversy, to imitate Romanism, which seemed to be
wise as serpents, terrible as. lions, but harmless as doves.

(Hear.) We wished, in this controversy with Romanists,
to render them evil for good ; to have all their wisdom with-
out their craft; to have all their art without their artifice;

and all their zeal and boldness without one drop of their

terness, or one atom of their bigotry. (Cheers.) Now, how
far were the working men of Liverpool going to let the work-
big men of Manchester be ahead of them this year, in the
number of their signatures to this petition ? (Cries of

" None.") In Maricheater they had got 27,000 signatures
within a short time : would they in Liverpool get 30,000?

Perhaps they could get 35,000 (A voice,

" We'll have

50,000," followed by Cheers.) He Was thankful to see the

progress of the cause, and that many of our merchants, gen-

.
. -
w
tlemen of station and influence, were beginning to gather
round, and contend for our Protestant movements. Their
very last meeting in Manchester had a goodly array of rich
merchants, and ladies, and clergy, for men were beginning

to believe they who promoted the;e movements were Honour-
able men, and had no party objects in view—that they did

not wish to be slaves to conservatism any more than to radi-

calistn—but that they professed to be Protestant Christians,
trembling for the ark of God, and willing to lay down their
lives for it. (Cheers.) He was aware that some of the more

political conservatives had drawn back from, them, and were

" Why, you sometimes hit a hard blowevery way

you strike friend as well as foe, in your blind,indiscriinintite.

zeal ; sometimes you give Sir Robert Peel a back stroke as
well as Lord John Russell ;—what do you mean by this ?"

They meant this ;—they loved conservatism, they loved Sir
Robert Peel, they loved the Duke of Wellington, but

they loved Protestant truth ten thousand times Netter

(Loud cheers.) . They said from the bottom of their hearts
God speed Sir Robert Peel, God speed the Duke of Welting-
_ _

. .
ton, that honourable and venerable old man—(great cheers)
God speed Lord Stanley—(cheers)—so long as they stood up

in defence of the liberty of Protestant truth; but if they,
through love of expediency—if they, through political
tergiversation—if they, through the fear of man getting the
. .

better o' the fear of dOil in their hearts, were to tamper with
Protestantism, and try to betray her more than she had been

betrayed. then they said, " We know not the Duke of Wel-
lington, illustrious warrior though he be—we know not Sir

Robert Peel, master mind though he is, and splendid as are

his bursts of eloquence—we know not Lord Stanley, fearless
and honourable as he is, and in debate irresistible as he is,—

when we look at our duty we know nothing else, and we will

by no means consent to any compromise of the truth as it is
in Jesus Christ and the ark of the living God. (Great

cheers.) And lie believed that ere long—it might be but a
very little while—we should have our honesty put to the
test. (Hear, heat.) When our conservative friends came
into power, as come into power he believed they must—
(cheers)—spite of all the tenacity with which whiggism clung
to office more than to honour or almost to life, were we going
to dissolve our Protestant Associations? (Loud cries of

" No, no.") Were we going, if one end had been answered

by getting the conservatives into power, to show that we had
been playing the hypocrite merely to accomplish a certain
purpose ? God forbid. (Loud cheering.) We should con-

tinue our exertions the more, for we had need to watch even
a conservative administration, seeing we had not forgotten
that a friend could do more mischief, and on one occasion
had actually done more mischief, than an open enemy.
(Hear, hear.) But we had learned this lesson, not to put our
trust in man, whose breath was in his nostrils, and that if
we had not put our trust in Sir Robert Peel and the Duke
of Wellington more than in God, we should never have
had our beautiful constitution shorn of its right hand, pre-
senting to the eye the melancholy,. though splendid, wreck
of its former self. (Hear, hear.) He felt, therefore, that
the time was likely to be near at hand, when we should have
it in our power to give to the country, and to our conserva-
tive friends, the evidence that we were more than conserva-
tives—that we were Christian conservatives—(hear) :—when
we should show that if we loved conservatism, it was because
we believed it came the nearest to christianity, that if con-
servatism was what it ought to be, it would be true protes-

taut, christian, political principle. (Hear.) He would give
nothing for your mere party conservative—for the violent,
headstrong man who would run into the pit as well as walk
on the pure, calm plain of truth, if he only saw his leaders
go before him. (Hear.) What he wanted was that conser-
vatism which took no leader, and called none master save
one, the Lord, for he was the only master; what he wanted
was, that conservatism which followed only where Christ's
gospel lead, and where it led not, though all the world went
before, to stand alone and solitary is isolated conspicuous-
ness and grandeur. (Cheers.) And certain he was, even if
the conservative party should come into power they would
not long keep that power, unless they kept it upon high
christian principle. (Loud cheers.) He believed that this
nation was so far awake to its interests, and so far alive to
its dangers, that no administration which could not act upon
the principle that popery was to be kept in its proper place,
and protestant ascendancy to be maintained uncompromised,
or rather restored to its former integrity—(cheers),—he be-
lieved, be said, that no administration which did not act with
this in view—he did not say at once carrying all, but gradu-
ally restoring our institutions, taking from popery the poli-
tical power it had been entrusted with, and withdrawing the
assistance given to popery in our colonies abroad, and to May-
nooth at home, (hear), unless, he said, we had an adminis-
tration which would thus carry out the protestant principle,
for one had little hope that the conservatives would stand
long in power, and he doubted if they would speed, to any
great extent, our progress. (Hear, hear.) Oh, that we
could get one great statesman, to come to the knowledge of
this one single fact; that all sound legislation must be begun,
continued, and ended in connection with the word of God!
(Cheers.) If they would take their bible, and consult
it before they determined upon any measure, they would get
more assistance from one single page than they would from
the whole of their cabinet councils ! How delightful it
would be fora set of ministers, when they were about to de-
liberate upon any great question involving the interests of
this country, and through this country, to a certain extent,
the interests of the world, to kneel down and ask the
God of all wisdom and grace, without whom nothing is
strong, nothing is holy, to guide them ! (Applause.) They
would then have complied with the requirements of his Word,
of the word of God ; they would then be satisfied whether
what they were going to do was for the good of the people,
and if they found it did not accord with that Word, they would
abandon it altogether. (Cheers.) Was this thought to be
fanatical and foolish ? Then it was the fanaticism and folly,
—he spoke it with all reverence and all awe—of the great
Father of all, for did he not give to his people Israel a consti-
tution that was to be in its essential principle the pattern of
all succeeding constitutions ? (Hear, hear). In that consti-
tution was not God to be acknowledged upon all occasions,
and his will set before the people in a manner not to be mis-
taken? Was not God placed supreme in all the laws of the
land ? (Hear, hear.) Should it be said, that was a theocracy,
and therefore it could have no parallel now, he answered that
every government and constitution should be as far as possi-
ble a theocracy. (Hear.) God could not be too distinctly
recognized by the nations, or too much regarded in the laws
of any country, too much feared in the tribunals of justice or
within the walls of the senate house ; his word could not be
too much carried into the words and acts of all in authority
over us. (Loud cheers.) If it was by him that princes
ruled, and senators were taught wisdom, if it was by him
that our Queen was brought to the throne, and he was
pleased to keep the sceptre in her hands ; and if our country
sunk or rose in prosperity as we were faithful or faithless,
we owed much to God for his mercies, we owed much to the
Bible for our laws, and therefore let them ever be acknow-
ledged by our rulers. (Cheers.) Oh, there was not a more
godless and atheistical sentiment than that promulgated in
these our days, that religion had nothing to do with
politics. (Hear.) It was saying that God had nothing to do
with nations, and if he had nothing to do with nations, he
had nothinF, to do with individuals, and if he had nothing to
do with individuals, he had nothing to do with the world,
and if he had nothing to do with the world, we were poor
wretched outcasts, launched upon the cheerless, starless
shore of atheism, without God to govern us, or hope to con-
sole us, and we were at the best but as the beasts that perish
for ever. He knew no language too strong, and no indigna-
tion too severe to launch against that atheistical sentiment.
(Hear.) Disguise it as you might, let it come from the lips
of the religidnist or the infidel, of Romanist or radical, it was
a sentiment that, when weighed in the balance of the sanc-
tuary, was nothing else than cheerless, hopeless, atheism,—
(hear, hear)—it was getting rid of God from the world, from
nations, from individuals, from all mankind, and we were to
live—as he had said before—in a worthless and ruined world,
without a God who cared for us. The sentiment thus turned
out to be nothing less than hopeless irretrievable atheism.
With these views could we not but feel that an administra-
tion which did not set God before it, could not prosper, and
the nation which was so governed how could it prosper ?
He was well aware, however, that in reply to this it would
be said, this may be perfectly true and sound, but
you are not ministers of the state, you are not members of
the administration which is to guide, therefore you have been
thus declaiming uselessly. He agreed with his reverend and
esteemed brother that the clergy of the national church were
the teachers and guides of the national mind in matters of
religion—that they were to teach and guide not only the cot-
tager in his own little circle, but the senator in his loftier
station—nay, the queen herself upon the throne was to be
taught by the ministers of the gospel. (Cheers.) If the
ministers of the Church of England were only faithful to the
poor and faithless to the rich, if they dared to tell the truth
the working man and dared not tell it to the peer and the
prince, where was the fear of God swallowing up their fear
of man ? They ought to know not the faces of men, therefore
he believed in God if his reverend brother (Mr. M'lsleile) or
himself were, through the grace of God, to preach before the
queen and her court, they would use no more smooth lan-
guage, or reserve in divinity, no more keeping back of the
truth, but teaching the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, than they would were they preaching among a
multitude of unenlightened men. (Cheers.) He trusted,
while they would yield to no men in proper and deep respect
to the powers that be, that in their hearts there was a feeling
of loyalty towards their beloved Queen, and that they would
testify that loyalty by shewing they were first loyal to the
King of Kings, and then loyal to their Queen whom be had
placed over them. (Cheers.)—The reverend gentleman then
proceeded to describe Bishop Latimer's faithful preaching
before Henry VIII.—May. said he, his unworthy namesakes
have grace to tread in his steps! May they in hearing a
martyr's name have somewhat of a martyr's spirit, that whe-
ther they be called upon to testify for protestant truth in the
face of a tumultuous mob, or in the face of the mightiest of
the earth, they may take no counsel with flesh and blood,
but simply ask—" Lord, what would thou have me to do,
speak, for thy servant hears ; what thou speaks I will speak,
that thy will may be done !" (Hear.)—Mr. Stowell then
considered the church of England as a protestant association,
and said that although some attempts had been made to de-
stroy the meaning of her 39 articles, they would be main-
tained and preserved in their integrity, in spite of all the
efforts of popery and infidelity. He next briefly glanced at
the vapourings of the popish priest Butler, and expressed the
gratification he felt at the manner in which Mr. Baylee had
had accepted his challenge. But the Doctor was evidently
afraid of his antagonist, and if he should go to Manchester he
would find parties there capable of dealing with him. He had
made these preliminary remarks, with the view of justifying
his friends and himself in taking part in what, strictly speak-
ing, might be called a political measure ; yet it was rather a
politico-religious measure, so far as it was connected with
religion. The object was to put an end to the grant to the
College of Maynooth. Some might say—why attempt this
—why not attack some more gross and glaring evil ? There
were several reasons for that. In the first place, the grant
to the College of Maynooth, made by Mr. Pitt, was
the first step in the sad career of concession, which had
brought us so low. It was the first compromise of Pro':es-
tent integrity, the first attack by the unhallowed hands of
Rome. Therefore, to atop the grant to Maynooth should be
the first step towards a restoration of our Protestant inte-
grity. (Hear.) In the next place, he believed that the de-
mand of Romanism to have the power of legislation overais,
was for the purpose of overturning the securities of Protes-
tantism, and therefore to destroy the character of our national

government; but he believed that to support Popery directly
by grants of money, was a step in advance. (Hear, hear.)
He would not deprive the poor Roman catholic of the legisla-
tive franchise, but he could deprive him of the power of send-
ing men to parliament, who from their principles were not tit
to legislate for us. Neither would hetake away the privilege of
religious toleration. He would not if he could, take one brick
out of any mass-house in England, Ireland, or the world ;
he would not touch a hair of the head of the pope, or of any
Romish priest, or of any man upon earth, for the sake of his
religion, but he would have the true protestant churh of Eng-
land in the ascendant. The rev. gentleman, whose eloquent
address we have been reluctantly obliged to curtail from the
great demands upon our space, concluded by seconding the
resolution, and it was carried with great cheering.
Mr. JAMES MATTHEWS, in an eloquent address, moved
the second resolution
" That this meeting approve of the petition already
adopted at a public meeting in Toxteth-park, in favour of
Mr. Colquohoun's bill, and that every exertion be used to
obtain signatures to the same." [The petition was inserted
in the Standard of the 20th ult.]
Mr. W. R. PRESTON cordially seconded the resolution,
and on being put it was unanimously carried.
The CHAIRMAN then said—You have now pledged your-
selves to the signing of this petition, and Mr. Stowell has
told you how far Manchester have got. The agitation upon
this subject is not confined to Manchester. 1 want to tell
you a very remarkable circumstance that has occurred in the
) south of England. Sir Henry Smyth, baronet, member of
parliament for the town of Colchester. zol.lr ssed hit 4 consti-
tuents some time ago, and in the course of.hts aUtiress tie
made use of these words—
" At our last meeting I used strong language respecting
the College of Maynooth. I think I made use of the words
beastly doctrines taught there ;' and I do not recall them.
A gentleman of this neighbourhood wrote me a letter on the
subject in a newspaper, which I did not answer, because I
thought it not written in such language as one gentleman
ought to address to another. He lives within live or six
miles from this place, and he will hear of this, because what
I say will be reported in the public papers; and I say I am
willing to meet him with any number of friends, and by the
class books of Maynooth, I will prove that I was justified
in using those words ' beastly doctrines ;" and though it
may not satisfy him it will justify me."
The person here referred to is a Mr. North, a Romish priest.
He was roused by Sir Henry Smyth applying to the doctrines
taught at Maynootb, the term " beastly," and he thought
by writing a letter in such terms as Sir Henry says one gen-
tleman ought not to address to another, he should browbeat
the baronet, and claim the Colchester agitation in favour of
the priests and the college. He has been disappointed—
(hear)—Sir Henry Smyth was not to be put down so. He
addressed his constituents again, and told them he was ready
to meet the priest, and from the class-books of Maynootb to
justify the application of the term " beastly" to the doc-
trines there taught. (Hear.) Well, now, the next point is—
the priest refused to meet him—he would not come (hear,
hear, hear) ; but Sir Henry was not so to be silenced, and he
invited a meeting of gentlemen of full age, for he had to
deal with a subject painful to every gentleman, impractica-
ble in a mixed assembly, corrupting to youth, utterly inde-
fensible even for allusion before the female sex. (Hear,
hear.) He had to go into the doctrines opened in the
class-books of Maynooth, in all manner of disgust-
ing detail, from which books you would imagine it was ne-
cessary for every young confessor in his confession box to
be a perfect anatomist, to be a practiced accoucheur, to know
every specie-, of congugal detail, while he himself is personally
sworn to celibacy ! (Hear.) Sir Henry Smyth knew the
subject he lied to deal with, and he invited only men to hear
him. He had a meeting of 150 gentlemen, and I hold in my
hand his address to that meeting, wherein be does justify, by
the most awful disclosures, the application of the term
" beastly" to the doctrines taught at Maynooth. (Hear.)
He read this address from a written paper that he had pre-
pared for the occasion : he had translated the passages from
the class-books of Maynooth, and read them in English to
the assembled gentlemen, exciting instinctive cries of disgust
and horror. (Hear.) He has not printed them in English—
he has used this discretion ; lie knows the difficulty of ex-
posing what is vile, he knows as man is fallen that in the act
of exposure he contracts defilement ; 'that in point of fact it
is the excess of the vileness of the Romist confessional which
has to this day screened it from the exposure it deserves.
(Cheers.) They have made it so detestable that no man who
has any regard to his own feelings, no Protestant man, no
man who loves his Bible, can ever, except under the pressure
of a high public duty, venture to make himself acquainted
with those abominations. (Hear, hear.) 1 solemnly protest,
that in the exercise of the duty 1 have felt myself called upon
to discharge, to make my self acquainted with the class-books
of Maynootb, that in the privacy of my study my mind has
recoiled from them with horror ; that I have been tempted to
shut the book, notwithstanding the sense of duty ; and that.
I have returned to it only under the most painful conviction
that a self-denying duty was to be performed, that 1 might
speak from what I knew and had read, and might not even
upon hearsay libel the Church of Rome. (Hear, hear.) Sir
Henry Smyth expresses himself in the same way: he was
wounded to the quick by the necessity of performing this
painful duty, but he persevered because he felt it was a duty
he owed to his country. He did it; he read these extracts
from the class-books; some of them he has given in English
in this pamphlet ; but all calculated to disgust in detail he
has kept under the shelter of a learned language. Still here
is the substance, with the pages and the volumes of the va-
rious class-books of the college, returned by the professors
to the parliamentary commissioners appointed to inquire
into Irish education. (Hear.) He refers but to three books,—
first, De La Hogue ; second, Bailly.; and third, Cabassutias.
From these books he shows the character of the instructions
given to these young priests. Here is a specimen. You
need not, my delr friends, be afraid. lam not going to read
anything from it unbecoming either of my own character or
of your Christian delicacy. But without doing so I cannot
give you an insight into the nature of the detestable details
that they are instructed to pry into in the confessional. De

La Hogue says—
" If a priest is questioned by a magistrate, as to matters
which he has learned by confession alone, he ought to reply
that he is ignorant of them ; nay, he ought to swear to it,
which he may do without danger or falsehood. (Hear, and
cries of " Shame.") In doing so he neither lies nor equivo-
cates, since he frames a true reply to the intention of the per-
son interrogating him, because the magistrate asks him what
he knows in his character as a man, not what he knows as
God." (Cries of " Oh, oh I")
That is from the first.volume of De La Hogue, p. 292. This
rests upon the dogma that in the confessional the priest stands
as God, that what he learns there, he does not learn as man;
therefore when he is asked upon it by a magistrate, who asks
what he knows "as man," he may say. " I do not know it,"
he may swear " I do not know it," ' and he neither lies nor
equivocates. (Hear.) Now with regard to the mode in
which enquiries are made in the confessional concerning the
sins committed by the penitent. You must know that the
person who come to confess to one of these Maynooth priests
is not left at liberty to make a voluntary confession. (Hear.)
The priest is instructed at the college how to extract a con-
fession—how to put inquiries—to elicits confession, and they
have a sort of memoria technica in a Latin line to help them
to all the particulars r—
" Quis, quid, übi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando."
(Hear, hear.) You do not understand this yet, but I will
teach you the meaning of it :
" Quis? " —Who is the sinning party, and of what condi-
dition ? Old or young? Married or single ? Free or un-
der religious vows ? Quis—enquire all about the person.
(Hear, hear.)
" Quid ? "—What is the nature of the guilty act ? Whe-
ther is it a thought or an act ? Or a thought leading to an
act with all its circumstances and possible aggravations ?
Quid ! (Hear, hear.)
" Übi ? "—Ubi signifies where ? Where was it com-
mitted ? At home or abroad ? In a consecrated place or
not ? Was it in the chapel ? Was it in the grave yard ?
Übi? In public or in private ? (Hear, hear.)
" Quibus auxiliis ?"—With what assistance ? Who was
helping you ? (Hear, hear.)
" Cur ?"—That is, why ? With what motives ? For the
gratification of which of the propensities of your evil nature?
(Hear.) Here is a large field for the young lad to draw out
confessions. (Hear, hear.)
" Quomodo ? " —That is, how ? How ? Sir Henry Smyth
says that is " a little word, but very large in its significa-
tion. comprehending every possible mode or position in which
a vicious act may be committed." (Hear, hear.)
" Quando ? "
—When ? How often ? By day or by
night ? Was it upon a holy day?
Oh, oh, oh ! (Hear, hear.) Now I shall supply you from
this pamphlet with a short portion of ecclesiastical history
with regard to this same private confessional
:
"There is no doubt that during the first four or five centu-
ries of Christianity, the practice of confessions was public.
This afterwards gave way to one of a more mixed character;
the Bishops either receiving disclosures privately, or dele-
gating some priest to do so, and enjoining the penitent be-
fore absolution would be granted to declare publicly such
special sins as the Priest might choose to prescribe. But in
the time of Nectarius, the predecessor of Chrysostom in
the see of Constantinople, an event arose out of this public
custom which caused a change in the ordnance."
That cause led to private confession. A very untoward event
occurred, which led to the public confessional being dis-
continued ; the event was this. A woman was brought to
make her confession publicly, and she confessed publicly
that she had been guilty of adultery with the Deacon of the
Church. (Hear, hear.) Upon this the Bishop commanded
that all confessions should afterwards be private. (Hear,
hear.) Chrysostom opposed the private confession ; the
great Catholic Doctor Chrysostom opposed with all his elo-
quence the system of private confession, but still the prac-
tice prevailed throughout all Christendom.
"Thus," says Sir Henry Smyth, "this practice, instead
of being traceable to. any Scriptural authority, was nothing
but an unjustifiable resource in a vicious extremity."
There is the origin of it ; I have shown you some of
the causes of it; and when you know it is systematically
taught at Mayooth, that the priests are drilled into it, that
they are made to learn the lessons given in this book as to
the quis, the quid, the übi, the quibus auxiliis, the cur, the
quotnodo, and the quando, (hear, hear,) you will contrast
that with the solid, wholesome, kind, delicate treatment
which our blessed Lord is recorded to have manifested when
there came persons to him willing to magnify an offence, and
dragging into his presence a woman taken in adultery. Jesus
Christ stooped down, and wrote with his finger on the
ground as though he heard them not. When they perse-
vered in their charge, instead of gratifying their vile curiosity
by entering into an inquiry, he appealed to their consciences,
" he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her."
They went out, nne by one, convicted in their consciences,
and the poor trembling woman was left alone before the Sa-
viour. What then ? Did he then proceed to examine her as to
the particulars of her fault? No. " Where are these
thine accusers," he said, " has any man condemned thee ?"
She said, " No, Lord." • Jesus Christ said, " Neither
do I condemn thee, go, and sin no more." There is the
dignity, the solemnity, the gravity, the holiness, the delicacy
of the confessional wherein Christ presided ! Oh, contrast
it with the dastardly curiosity, the vile, detestable, indelicate,
anti-christian abominations of the confessional of Rome, and
say, " Is the pope of Rome the vicar of Christ, or the sworn
enemy of Christ, upon earth ?" (Hear, hear.) I am thank-
ful for the solemnity with which this exposure has been re-
ceived. I hail your silence as a token of the depth of your
conviction, and I anticipate much real good from this ex-
posure of Romish iniquity. (Hear.) Well, you see then
that the Protestant agitation has'not been confined to Liver-
pool. (Hear, hear.) I have called your attention to theie
instructive facts which have taken place in the south of Eng-
land, at Colchester, and now we come to our own town.
Sir Henry Smyth has not been down here calling the doc-
trines of Maynooth " beastly ; " but several things have been
said here which have taken considerable effect, more than
they are willing to acknowledge, upon the minds of Roman
catholic priests in this town. There is a very urgent enquiry
upon the subject of religion going on among the Roman ca-
tholic population of Liverpool : there is an anxiety for en-
quiry checked by the painful circumstances of outward ne-
cessity, arising from the conviction if they be known to
enquire, they will lose their situations in which they are at
work. They find it difficult to get employment if it be known
they are hesitating in their allegiance to Rome. (Hear.)
Many in this town are checked by this very thing, but it is
felt that such an enquiry is going on. Accordingly one and
another of these poor men, facing all the risks to themselves
and families arising from possible starvation, consequent upon
their want of employment, do come out. They come as
Nicodemus came to our Lord and Master, after dark, to en-
quire from the clergymen of this town, about the Bible, and
ask them to tell them the way of salvation. (Hear.) They
come at night, poor fellows, when they can creep in and no
spy see them to tell the priests of Rome. (Hear.) The
thing, I say, has been felt : and it is not by accident that
another Roman catholic priest has come here ; things of that
sort do not happen by accident ; priests do not stay eight
or ten days in a town by accident ; they do not deliver
lecture after lecture in towns by accident. (Hear, hear.)

They do not have advertisements and laudatory paragraph
put into newspapers by accident : they do not get the tem-
perature of the Mercury elevated by accident. (Cheers and
laughter.) Now I heard some time ago that this same priest
was brought down here, I say again, not by accident ; but
something must be done, for they feel that something is going
on in Liverpool that they must try to stop. They have tried
it, but they could not ; it was a failure like Maynooth.
I heard this priest spoken of, and I paid very little attention
.to the matter. I suppose at first when I heard his name spo-
ken, I should scarcely have been able to pronounce it extem-
poraneously, and I might have gone wrong like Mr. Stowell.
However, I saw paragraphs in the newspapers evidently in-
tended for a purpose, giving out that he was come to answer
" the anti-christian discourses delivered in Liverpool by
M`Neile and Co." (Hear.) Here was a trap laid to entice
unwary protestants to go to St. Anthony's chapel—where I
believe they have to pay for their admission. (Hear.) Is
there not to be pay for admission. (Cries of " Yes," and a
voice " 2d.") Yes, 2d to the body, and how much to the
gallery ? (A voice, " fid," cheers, during which, a man in
the crowd raised some slight uproar.) I saw these para-
graphs in the newspapers, and at the meeting of our protes-
tant operatives in Toxteth-park, I thought it very proper to
take notice of them. I heard also that this gentleman had
invited any of the clergy of the Church of England, who
chose to meet him in controversy. (Hear.) There are two
modes of carrying on controversy. One is by oral discussion,
and the other is by writing, by sermons or lectures, one in
answer to another, by letter, or whatever form it may take..
( Ono mode in short is by word of mouth, and the other is by
the press. It so happens, that this champion of Romanism,
who is come down to Liverpool, has met with an offer in
each kind, and he may take his choice. (Hear, hear.) If
he prefer controvery in the press, I have offered to be at his
service—(immense cheers) ;—if he prefer controversy by
word of mouth, Mr. Baylee has offered him his services—
(renewed cheers),—so Dr. Butler you may take your choice.
Utrurn horans mavis aceipe ! Take whichever you like best.
(Loud cheers.) If writing is your forte, Mr. M`Neile is
your man ; if talking is your forte, Mr. Baylee is your man.
(Renewed cheers.) But now Dr. Butler has refused to meet
Mr. Baylee until his " Scripture Lectures" are answered ;
and I have great pleasure in telling you, that Mr. Baylee has
given notice that he will deliver a course of lectures in this
room, in answer to Dr. Butler's book. (Loud cheers.) The
Ist is to be delivered on Friday week. •
A Vorce.—What is the entrance?
Mr. M'NEILE.—The entrance here must be in order to
defray expenses ; in a place of worship we charge nothing.
(Great cheering.) One step further. Some one who loves
controversy, and wishes to see fair play, and who can write
short-hand, has gone to St. Anthony's Chapel and has taken
down what is called " The substance of a lecture delivered
by the Rev. T. Butler, D.D. insanswer to the anti-catholic
discourses by the Rev. Hugh M'Neile." This has been
published, but it is not authenticated by the doctor, and he
may shrink from and disown it. His name is upon the title
page certainly, but it only conies from a newspaper, and he
may say " It is only the substance of illy lecture, and it is
not what I. said ; and every now and then the writer says,
" The lecturer said so and so," and " The lecturer said."
Now, here is a loop-hole. (Hear, hear.) He may get out
of it in any way ; but I want to tell you I am willing to run
all the risk of the rev. gentleman denying all this " sub-
stance"—that I have written a letter in answer to it, which
will be printed and within your reach the day after to-
morrow. (Cheers.) It meets two points which are reported
in the " Substance of the Lecture," in which be brings
charges against me. The rev. gentleman then mentioned
these points : the first related to the matter of Mr. and Mrs.
Galway, of Waterford, and the other to an alleged false
translation from St. Bernard. We pass over these parts of
his speech, because Mr. M'Neile's reply is published this
day. In conclusion;he dwelt with great power upon the love
of God to sinners, through Jesus Christ the only mediator.
The Doxology—" Praise God from whom all blessings
flow" was then sang, the whole of the vast assembly uniting
their voices in it, and at hall.past ten the meeting separated.