The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-22 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING,MRCH 22, 1853.

THE WEEK.

THOSE who imagined that the Winter had gone,
and , that the coming of Spring was for once in
accordance with the calendar, have been con-
siderably disappointed, for on Thursday night one of
the sharpest frosts set in which we have experienced
fora considerable time, and during Friday there was a
bitter cold wind from the East, which gradually
changed, to the North, and compelled many to
resume the warm wrappers which the previous
sunny days had tempted them to lay aside. Yes-
terday was the change from Winter to Spring,
being the vernal equinox. Nature seemed to mark
the event in the most striking manner; for when
morning broke, the earth was thickly covered with
a mantle of snow, which disappeared during the day.
The Amusements in Liverpool have almost been
confined to the Theatres. At the Amphitheatre,
the Christmas Pantomime maintained its popularity
to the last, and the season concluded with the
attractions of our Operatic Company. On Tuesday,
Mr. John Parry gave a musical entertainment at ,
the Great George-street Assembly-rooms, and the
same evening there was an exhibition of Dr. Fisher's
Dissolving Views in the Cornwallis-street School.
We have had an unusually large arrival of
Transatlantic steamers. On Wednesday, the
American steam-ship Arctic arrived from New
York ; on Thursday, the new steam-ship Alps, on
the New York and Chagres line, arrived ; on
Friday, the magnificent screw-steamer, City of
Manchester, from Philadelphia, dropped anchor in
the Mersey, just opposite the Landing-stage; and
yesterday morning the new steamer Arabia, one of
the Cunard line, arrived from New York. There
were some rumours about the safety of this vessel on
Saturday, owing to a report in a Dublin paper, that
she had been passed in the Channel by a steam-
packet, arrived at Dublin.
The celebration of ST. PATRICK'S DAY on
Thursday, at the Concert Hall, was truly an Irish
affair. It was composed of Romanists, though
ST. PATRICK was not one, nor was Ireland at all
connected with the Romish Church until long after
it had been converted to Christianity. The first
speaker after the chairman stated that he was not
an Irishman by birth, only a Liverpool Irishman ;
and then he went on to tell his hearers how ST.
PATRICK, after being six years a slave to an Irish
prince, returned to his native country—France, and
when he returned he entered the priesthood in order
that he might return back and preach to his own dear
native Irish. He gave credit to the Irish people for
clinging firmly to the faith which ST. PATRICK
had planted ; while the fact is, that every perversion
of Christianity which characterises the apostate
Church of Rome has been adopted since, and the
Reformation at which he sneers was but a return to
the old paths. Mr. J.. 8. ASPINALL, in lauding
the genius and literature of Ireland, referred to the
miserable and wretched efforts at revolution which
were taking place on the continent, in convenient
forgetfulness that all these attempts have been
made by the poor dupes of Romish priestcraft.
The Chairman, Mr. R. H. SHEIL gave a lengthened
exposition of his views of religious liberty, and
denied that Romanists enjoyed toleration so long as
they were not allowed to observe the forms of their
worship, and practise its discipline, without inter-
ference or hindrance from any human authority
whatever; so long as the law denied their priests to
exercise their influence over the death-beds of
their dupes, to rob their heirs for the promotion
of superstitious usages ; and so long as they were
debarred from civil offices without taking an oath,—
which
break it when convenient. He claimed the credit
of toleration for the Romish Church, and for his
proofs cited the state of Maryland in America, and
Belgium. Could anything be more preposterous
or absurd ? He had the temerity to refer to the
case of the MADIAI, and reiterated the oft-refuted
falsehoods of Dr. CAHILL, saying that they were
justly imprisoned for holding secret meetings in
their house. He concluded with an inflated eulogy
on the late DANIEL O'CONNELL, whose whole
political life gave the lie to the assertion that
Ireland produces no venemous reptile; and yet we
are told by a contemporary, who publishes a full
report of the proceedings, that this compound of
absurdity and perversion of reasoning was received
with applause by an assembly of about nine hundred
influential people.
The Committee of Magistrates on the alleged
interference of certain members of the Council with
the Police-officer appointed to examine into the
characters of marine-store dealers have presented
their report, in which they have said too much, or
not said enough. They should either have stated
in what particulars consisted the alleged interfe-
ference, or omitted the names which they have
thus vaguely held up to public odium.

There is evidence of an improved tone in public
feeling in the fact, that the Crystal Palace Company
Bill has been allowed to pass the House of Com-
mons without any attempt having been made to
introduce a clause, allowing the Exhibition to be
open on Sundays, notwithstanding the agitation
got up by the Ultra-Radicals and Infidels to make
the Crystal Palace a Sunday resort for the cock-
neys. The London houses should follow the ex-
ample of most of the Liverpool firms, and close
their offices at one o'clock on Saturdays.
The proposal of Mr. GRAIqTRAM to construct a
high level railway along the line of docks has led to
a variety of opinions on the propriety of adopting
the scheme. While some consider that it will afford
great facilities for the increasing business of the
port, and connect the north and south ends, there
are others who view it as a Manchester project,
which would have the effect of dispensing with
warehouses here by enabling the owners to have
their goods conveyed direct from the vessel in the
docks to Manchester by railway.

THE DEBATE ON THE JEW BILL.—A spice
of impudence, characteristic not of the individual
but of the party, closed the dull and ominous de-
bate. Mr. VINCENT SCULLY could not allow the
division to take place without delivering an epilogue.
On the part of the Irish Romanists, he welcomed
the Jews into the imperial parliament, with glowing
smiles, expanded arms, and a melodious " Cead
mille fealthe." The house would have gladly dis-
pensed with the affecting demonstration; but Mr.
SCULLY could not--his heart was too full. The
hospitality of some people is exuberant, when others
pay the shot. What does or can an Irish Romanist
care for the religious character of the British Con-
stitution ? He is giving away that which does not
belong to him, and getting rid of the very thing he
hates. Mr. SCULLY must excuse us if we question
the genuineness of the sudden passion for Jews
which now influences the Romanist communion.
The Jews are what they were two hundred years
ago—and so, as she boasts, is the Church of Rome.
She was then engaged in roasting those interesting
representatives of ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and JAcon,
alive, because they could not swallow the decrees of
the Council of Trent. And although that process—
for the present, at least—lives only in the regrets of
the Univers and in the prayers of the pious, still
we can't quite forget the existence of that delicious
lnitattluerepaorfadthisee—the Ghetto—established in Rome
for their exclusive enjoyment by the tolerant good
government, Dublin Evening
Herald. _
PRUSSIA. —Simple obstinacy and the possession
of a formidable army have sufficed to make FRE-
DERIC WILLIAM absolutely and comfortably mas-
ter at Berlin.
parlia-
ment, which hHe idsopeseonploet airnesquultieot,r a
ind nt hmi
is p
d arl i
ate,ai
obedient to a fault. His Second Chamber has just