The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-07 00:00:00

LADIES' CHARITY.

A general meeting of the trustees and subscribers to the
Ladies' Charity was held in the Blue-coat Hospital on Fri-
day, for the purpose of considering the expediency of adding
wards to the charity for the reception of difficult and danger-
ous cases of parturition. Several ladies and gentlemen at-
tended._ .

The Rev. JONATHAN BROOKS, M.A., took the chair
shortly after two o'clock, and explained at some length the
causes which had led to the holding of the meeting. An in-
stitution had, he said, been proposed to be erected in Caz-
neau-street, the object of which was to take into wards built
for the purpose those cases which were peculiar to married
women, at the time of their confinement. The same object
bad been proposed and treated of among the ladies of the
charity some time before. It was suggested to them by the
medical gentlemen who attended the charity, and who had
published, in the form of a pamphlet, their reasons for think-
ing it a desirable measure. At that time several ladies had
done him (the chairman) the honour of consulting him on
the subject, and he then thought that the object was to have
a regular lying-in hospital. To any such measure as this he
was both then as well as now, equally inclined to object, be-
cause he thought there were some powerful reasons for ob-
jecting to a regular lying-in hospital. It was unnecessary for
him to go into those reasons upon the present occasion, in-
asmuch as no such proposal was before the meeting ; but
there having been a great deal of lukewarmness at the time,
the matter was never brought before the subscribers at large.
It was merely brought before the committee, by whom it
was left in abeyance. It was neither determined on nor was
it positively put aside. It was under these circumstances
that certain gentlemen, with the best possible motives, wish-
ing, no doubt, to provide for what they considered a neces-
sary want among the lower orders, thought of bringing for-
ward a new institution for receiving cases of parturition.
Two of those gentlemen, Mr. Cropper and Mr. Battie, had
waited on him, and when they stated what their object was,
he certainly replied at once that he thought it a very injudi-
cious thing to establish a new institution, by which money
would necessarily have to be wasted, when what was wanted
might so easily be created in the present institution ; and,
in consequence of what had since taken place, the matter had
been brought before the present meeting for discussion and
determination. It no longer seemed to be a question whe-
ther there should be any wards for the reception of the cases
in question. but whether it should be taken up by the Ladies'
Charity or by others. The chairman went on to give his rea-
sons for thinkinea, Epultiplication of charities a great evil,
and concluded by saying that if the meeting should iresolve
upon adding wards to the charity for the reception of the
cases in question, they would have taken away the excuse
and necessity for establishing another institution.
Mr. MARRIOT proposed the first resolution, to the effect
that it was desirable that the wards should be added.
Mr. HEYWORTH seconded it in a speech of some length,
and after some observations from Mr. JOSEPH B. YATES, it
was carried unanimously. _ _

Mr. ADAM HODGSON proposed the second resolution, to
the effect that provision be made at present for six patients,
and that they be admitted.
Mr. THOMPSON seconded it.—Carried._

Mr. ROBERTSON GLADSTONE proposed the third resolu-
tion, that it was necessary to obtain an additional amount of
subscriptions. He said he had been given to understand
that the accommodation proposed for six patients would incur
an increased expenditure of about £2OO a-year.
Mr. ROBINSON seconded the third resclution.

Mr. MARRYAT proposed that a communication be seat to
the secretary of the new institution, stating that the present
meeting had adopted the plan of having additional wards for
the reception of cases of parturition.
Mr. A. HODGSON seconded the proppsition..

Mr. HZYWORTU proposed the thanks of the meeting to
the medical gentlemen of the charity, for the able report they
had published, showing the necessity that existed for having
additional wards for the treatment of cases of parturition.
Mr. TuomrsoN seconded it. _ _

. .
Mr. BAINBRIGGE, M.D., returned thanks for the vote on
his own behalf, and that of his medical colleagues.
Thanks were then voted to the chairman, and the meeting
separated.

NEW ORDER OF KNIGHTHOOD IN HONOUR
OF CAMBRIA. AND TWO WELSH PROFESSOR-
SHIPS AT THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES.

On Friday evening last a meeting of the Welsh inhabitants
of Liverpool was held in the Music-hall, Bold-street, for
the purpose of presenting congratulatory addresses to the
Queen, Prince Albert, and the Duchess of Kent, on the birth
of a Prince of Wales ; immediately after which another
meeting of the same parties was held, for the purpose of
petitioning the Queen to institute a new order of knighthood,
to be called The Royal Order of St. David," and to found
two Welsh and Celtic professorships at the English univer-
sities. _ _

John Richards, Esq., was voted to the chair.
The first resolution, embodying the main object of the
meeting, was moved by Mr. John Roberts, of Bedford-
street, ;and seconded by Mr. David Lewis, of the Branch
Bank of England ; and carried unanimously.
The second resolution was moved by the Rev. D. James,
of Kirkdale, and seconded by Mr. Alderman Griffiths.
. .

And it was unanimously resolied,—that the following peti-
tion to the Queen be adopted. and signed on behalf of the
meeting and the Welsh inhabitants of Liverpool, by the
chairman and an enlarged committee .
" To HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY, VICTORIA, QUEEN
OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND. -

IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY,—We, your Ma-
jesty's most loyal and devoted subjects, natives of the princi-
pality of Wales, resident in Liverpool and its vicinity, in
public meeting assembled, having already expressed our
ardent attachment to your Majesty's person and throne, in
our united address of sincere congratulation on the birth of
a Prince of Wales, venture now most respectfully to approach
your Majesty with our national petition.
" We desire most dutifully to submit to your Majesty, that
the birth of a Prince and heir apparent to the Crown, uniting
in himself the royal blood of England, Scotland, and Wales,
is an event so pregnant with beneficial issues to the British
empire as to deserve to be especially marked in the annals of
our country by the institution of a new order of knighthood.
" The Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order having with the
independent sceptre reverted from the British throne to the
independent Sovereign of Hanover, makes the present a
most fitting opportunity for the institution of a new order of
knighthood in Britain. And as there exist the noble Orders
of the Garter and the Bath for England, the Ancient Order
of the Thistle for Scotland, the Distinguished Order of St.
Patrick for Ireland, the Order of St. Michael and St.
George for the United States of the lonian Islands and
Malta, we feel assured that your Majesty will see fit, in
gracious consideration of the just, but long-neglected, claims
of the principality, that the new order shall be designated
the Royal Order of St. David.'
" And we humbly pray, that a new order of knighthood,
bearing this name, in commemoration of the birth of your
Majesty's illustrious son, the Prince of Wales, may at this
time be instituted.

" AND MAY IT LIKEWISE PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY,—
We, your Majesty's petitioners beg further to represent,
that, as by the birth of this Prince his august parents are
become peculiarly endeared to the Welsh nation, it is our
anxious wish that some appropriate memorials of their illus-
trious names may be identified with the future history and
literary advantages of our native land.
" It is with deep regret we observe that the want of some
provision for the cultivation of Welsh literature at the
English universities has been long felt by the Principality as
a serious evil. The Welshmen who resort to those semina-
ries for their education are left without the means of con-
tinuing their acquaintance with their native tongue ; and
destined as most of them are to fill important stations in
their own country, either in the magistracy, in the law, or in
the church, their imperfect knowledge of the vernacular
language renders them, through life, less efficient than it is
desirable they should be, and operates very prejudicially
against the administration of justice on the one hand, and
the interests of true religion on the other.
" But, irrespective of this, we are deliberately of opinion,
that if the Welsh language had long ceased to be spoken in
the Principality, its cultivation as a dead language would be
deemed indispensable to the successful prosecution and ad-
vancement of national literature in Britain. As an impor-
tant branch and pure representative of the ancient Celtic,
the original language of Europe, it supplies the key to the
import of the names originally given to mountains, plains,
rivers, and cities on the Continent and in the British Isles ;
and proffers to the student of antiquities, and to the writer
of history, advantages the want of which no other acquire-
ments could possibly supply.
" In confirmation of this opinion, we beg to quote the fol-
lowing passage from a speech delivered by the late lamented
Bishop Heber, at a congress of Welsh bards at Wrexham :
' Though not myself a Welshman, and though I have not the
good fortune to be able to appreciate any otherwise than
through the medium of a translation, the treasures of your
elder bards, I cannot at all forget that it is from them Gray
and Southey have borrowed some of the most striking poetry
which my own language contains. Nor can I forget that in
the pedigree of almost all existing tongues, and in the his-
tory of all civilised nations, a knowledge of your antiquities
is necessary to a certain extent, whether to the philologist or
the antiquary, inasmuch as they were your ancestors who
first colonised the widest and fairest regions of Europe ;
and who have left behind them, intermixed with the lan-
guages of their successors, and impressed on the most stri-
king features of nature from Caucasus to Denmark, the
traces of their previous occupancy. Saxon as lam myself.
and proud of my nation, I am certainly very far from bla-
ming—l am naturally disposed to rejoice in—the pains which
we have taken to preserve and illustrate the most remote
and barren of the Gothic dialects. But I cannot perceive
why the Mabinogion and the Gododin do not call for editions
equally splendid with those of the Icelandic sages, and why
there should not be a WELSH as well as an Anglo-Saxon
professor at ONE OR BOTH OF THE UNIVERSITIES.'
" The desideratum so disinterestedly expressed in behalf
of our country at the close of the above passage, by the dis-
tinguished Bishop Heber, is that for which we at present
humbly petition,—convinced that the foundation of two
Welsh professorships at the English Universities, to be
called respectively The Victoria Professorship of Welsh
and Celtic Literature at Oxford,' and The , Albert Pro-
fessorship of Welsh and Celtic Literature at Cambridge,'
will best associate the name of your Majesty, and that of
your royal consort, with the future welfare of the country
from which the Prince, your son, derives his highest title.
" We feel less diffident in submitting this request as re•
gards the University of Oxfords inasmuch as your Majesty
has graciously intimated to parliament your royal will and
intention to found two new professorships at that university,
to be competently endowed by the annexation of two canon-
ries in the chapter of Christ Church, when such canonries
shall become vacant. And your Majesty will be aware, that
the deanery and chapter of Christ Church derive £2,500
annually from rectorial tithes in Welsh parishes ; so that
one of the new professorships may well be spared, as it is
justly claimed by your Majesty's petitioners, for the benefit
of the principality of Wales.
" But with respect to the endowment of a Welsh and Cel-
tic professorship at Cambridge, we beg to throw ourselves
on your Majesty's royal bounty, in the assurance that, as
the name of Albert cannot be less dear to your Majesty than
to your Majesty's devoted subjects of Cambrian blood, it
will please your Majesty to order that such a monument as
we have indicated shall be erected, to transmit his name to
posterity as the benefactor of that people whose national at-
tachment to his illustrious son, the Prince of Wales, defies
all description.
" And your Majesty's petitioners will ever pray, that Al-
mighty God may vouchsafe to your Majesty a long and pros-
perous reign, accompanied by every domestic comfort—may
bless your royal consort with health and grace—and continue
to spare and protect the infant Prince, until he shall ascend
the throne of his ancestors, amidst the undivided loyalty and
enthusiastic acclamations of the millions of his subjects."
Signed, on behalf of the meeting and the Welsh people
in Liverpool, by the chairman and committee.

NARROW ESCAPE OF HER MAJESTY'S STEAMER AVON.
—Her Majesty's steamer Avon, was nearly lost on the rocks
under Steel Point, near Flamborough Lighthouse, on Sunday
night week, during the dreadful hurricane from the south.
The steamer got on the rocks in the early part of the evening.
As soon as she struck signal guns were fired for assistance,
as well as blue lights exhibited, which being perceived by the
Manchester steamer, Captain Polwart, and the captain of
another large steam-ship, belonging to the London and Leith
trade, they bore down, and on coming up to the Avon attempts
were made to tow her off, but in consequence of the danger-
ous condition of the rocks it was impossible to get ropes on
board. At length, after heaving the guns overboard, and
also part of the provisions, she got off, but it is supposed her
bottom sustained much damage.

INVITATION TO. UNITED PRAYER, FOR THE
OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,
ON SATURDAY, Ist JANUARY, 1842,
Being the First _Day of the New Year.

DEARLY BELOVED IN TIIR

The kind Providence of God has brdught us to that inte-
resting season at which, for some years past, I have had the
privilege of inviting you to unite ON THE FIRST DAY OF

THE NEW YEAR, IN A GENERAL CONCERT FOR PRAYER,
FOR THE _OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

The New Year commences on SATURDAY, JANUARY Ist,
1842, and will thus afford the opportunity of engaging with
increased fervour in this devotional service : for, the follow-
ing day being the Holy Sabbath, the spirit of prayer granted
on the Saturday, we may trust, will be still more abundantly
given on the Lord's Day, and thus a double blessing be ob-
tained. May the Lord of his great goodness and tender
mercy thus favour us. May lie make it a Season of great
refreshment to every one who engages in this concert; and
of joy in Heaven over many, many sinners, brought to re-
pentance. _ _ .

We may be the more encouraged to expect a great blessing
from the very gracious answer given to the united prayers
His people offered on the first day of the present year.
It may he in your recollection that in my last Invitation,
exclusively of those reasons which had shown to all who
united in this concert, the unspeakable blessings connected
with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, three special calls for
fervent prayer for " the promise of the Father," were then
presented to us. Ist, The state of the Jews ; 2d, The condi-
tion of the Eastern Churches, and 3d, The Great Enterprise
then just going forth for the extinction of the Slave Trade,
and for the general Civilization of Africa.
Each of these important subjects were commended to the
earnest prayers of those Christians who assembled on Janu-
ary Ist, 1841.
We have only to refer to those delightful events which
have since taken place to be convinced that our God does
indeed hear and answer prayer.

Instead of the scattered remnant of Judah being as they
were last year at Damascus and Rhodes, subject to the most
grievous persecutions, the Lord has so inclined the hearts of
his people towards them, that Jerusalem is becoming the
centre of union, in which Protestant states, holding the same
faith, though varying in their modes of worship, may act
together in harmonious concord. The King of Prussia, with
that Christian liberality which does his Majesty so much ho-
nour, has given a considerable sum towards the endowment
of a Protestant Church in Jerusalem ; whilst our Gracious
Queen has used her influence with the Ottoman Porte to ob-
tain an official promise that the Turkish authorities in Jeru-
salem shall not oppose the erection of this church although it
be built on mount Zion itself! In connexion with this royal
movement, the Spiritual Heads of our Church have conse-
crated the Rev. M. S. Alexander, a converted Israelite, and
an ordained minister of our Church, to be the Bishop of the
United Church of England and Ireland, in Jerusalem, with
an episcopal jurisdiction, extending to Egypt, Abyssinia,
Chaldea, and Syria. Surely these events may remind us at
least, of those animating predictions, " I have set Watchmen
upon thy walls, 0 Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day nor night." " Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers,
and Queens thy nursing Mothers." "The sons of strangers
shall build up thy walls, and their Kings shall minister unto
thee."

Whilst these pleasing occurrences regarding the Jews have
taken place, the following answers to the prayers offered for
the revival of the Eastern Churches have been vouchsafed :
A society has been formed for the endowment of Colonial
Bishoprics, and, amongst others, for a Bishop of Malta,
who is to have the oversight of the Lord's cause on the coasts
of the Mediterranean. Five Oriental Prelates, namely, one
Patriarch and four Metropolitans, have written to the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, requesting
protection and assistance. The Druses of Mount Lebanon
have applied to her Majesty's government to obtain under
their sanction, such means of instruction and civilization
as in:,y also best secure their becoming sincere christiaus.
The Coptic Patriarch has consecrated as Abuna, or Bishop
of Abyssinia, an Egyptian youth, who was educated by a
Missionary of our Church ; and several of the Coptic clergy
have applied to our Missionaries for the Holy Scriptures,
and other religious books, and have held friendly communi-
cations with them upon spiritual subjects.
The expedition to the River Niger has since sailed, and by
the divine blessing has reached the shores of Africa, after so
prosperous a voyage, that not one case of severe illness oc-
curred. After spending the Sabbath at Sierra Leone, and
taking with them several persons as interpreters, they pro-
ceeded to the Niger, accompanied by the prayers of a very
numerous congregation of converted Africans, who assem-
bled at Free Town for this purpose.
These great blessings the God of all goodness has bestowed
since our last concert. Nor can it be forgotten that among
many other tokens of divine mercy in this year, our Arch-
bishops and several of our Bishops have voluntarily become
the Patron, and Vice-Patrons, of our Church Missionary
and Jews Societies; thus removing whatever scruples any
persons might have had in assisting those excellent institu-
tions in fulfilling the command of our blessed Saviour, "that
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his
name among all nations,- BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM."
It is thus encouraged, my beloved Christian friends, that
I am once more privileged to invite you to join this union
for Prayer on the first day of the New Year ;—a year which
opens upon us as no previous year has done since the destruc-
tion of the second temple—A year in which a converted
Israelite will probably have arrived in the holy city, as the
spiritual representative of the United Protestant Church of
England and Ireland, and it may be, ere it closes, have con-
secrated the building in which prayers will be offered accord-
ing to the Liturgy of the Church of England ; the pure
word of God will be preached, and the Sacraments be duly
administered, according to Christ's ordinances ;—A year
also, when the nations who profess the faith of Christ are all
in amity with each other ' • indeed, when the only part of the
world in which the sound of war is heard, is on the distant
coasts of China ; A year, still further marked by this
favourable circumstance, that God in his providence has
granted to her Majesty so strong a government, that what-
ever plans, dependent upon legislative enactment, they may
propose, for promoting the spiritual benefit of our own
country or the general good of mankind, they will, if the
Lord permit, have the power to carry their measures.
At such a crisis, what language can express the vast im-
portance of her Majesty's counsellors being under the special
guidance and direction of the God of all grace ?—of His
granting to them the spirit of wisdom and godly fear—that
heavenly wisdom which will enable them to see the high po-
sition in which He who is " King of Kings and Lord of
Lords" has placed our country ? That such is the powerful
influence the Almighty has granted to our Protestant Queen,
who, and her infant son, our Protestant Prince of Wales,
may God long preserve ! that through the instrumentality of
her Majesty's government, the most distant regions may re-
ceive unspeakable blessings.
Surely the sincere followers of our Lord, in whatever land
they may at present sojourn, bearing this in mind, will entreat
the outpouring of the Spirit upon our Rulers in Church and
State.
This earnest prayer is more loudly called for from the pe-
culiar activity of the church of Rome at this moment. For,
laying aside all disguise, we behold a prelate of that church
publicly advocating a union between the church of England
and the church of Rome, and using this as one of his strong-
est reasons, that such a union is much desired by many of
our clergy. Alas ! that there should be even one amongst us
who should have given the least countenance to such a charge,
or one who should have so lamentably departed from his
ordination vows, as a minister of our Protestant church.
Let, however, these unhappy delusions, and the-artful so-
phistries used to entrap the younger clergy and other mem-
bers of our church, rouse us from our slumbers; make us
more earnest in prayer that the Lord would in his tender
mercy restore those who have fallen, preserve the simple
from being taken in the snare, keep us stedfast in the faith
of our Protestant forefathers, and make us willing rather to
lose the last drop of our blood, than neglect the solemn warn-
ing given to us from Heaven, " Come out of her my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not
of her plagues : ' above all, that " The Mighty God" would
grant that when " the enemy shall come in like a flood, the
Spirit of the Lord may lift up a standard against him."
There are other very important subjects which I would
gladly notice, as calling for special prayer ; but this address
requires brevity. Referring, therefore, to invitations given
in former years, in which many of these subjects are set
forth, and requesting you still to bear upon your hearts the
state of the Jews ; the condition of the eastern churches ; the
expedition to Africa ; the crisis in which Christendom is now
placed ; and the extention of the kingdom of our Lord, both
among ourselves and the unconverted Heathen.—Entreating
you to bear these and other interesting topics in remem-
brance, I would now affectionately invite all who love or
Lord Jesus Christ, in sincerity, TO COMMENCE THE
YEAR BY UNITING IN THE GENERAL CONCERT FOR PRAYER
FOR THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ON SATUR-
DAY, THE IST OF JANUARY.
The following suggestions are respectfully offered to assist
hose who are desirous of doing this.
lat.—Let Christians follow the example of our blessed

Lord (Mark i. 35), who rose up a great while before day for
secret prayer. Let them thus secure the blessing of Him
who says, " pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
2d.—Let them call upon the Lord in their families, for his
Spirit to be poured upon themselves and their households,
their neighbours, their country, the ministers of the Lord,
the Churches of Christ, the remnant of scattered Judah, and
outcast Israel, and upon the gentile world.
3d.—Let the ministers of the Lord afterwards privately

meet with their brethren of their own communion, in earnest
prayer for themselves, their flocks, the whole body of Christ,
and the world at large • and then specially consult together
upon the most effectual means for hastening the coming of
the Lord's kingdom, and particularly for the continuance of
such a general concert for prayer, that the year may proceed
according to this devout commencement.
4th.—Where circumstances will admit of a morning ser-
vice, let the congregation be assembled, and in addition to
the appointed prayers and a suitable sermon, let all who are
devoutly disposed partake together of the supper of the
Lord ; or,
sth.—As may be more convenient, let the whole congrega-

tion meet in the evening for public worship, and let an Eipp-io-
priate discourse be preached.
May the Lord accompany these means of grace, or such
others as may be adopted, with his abundant blessing. Oh !
may it indeed be a season of special refreshment from the
presence of the Lord.
Let this be the prayer of all who read this paper, and, as
the new year is now approaching, it would be a great kind-
ness if those who approve the object, and have influence
over the press, WOULD REPUBLISH AND CIRCULATE THIS
INVITATION, which any one, into whose hands it may fall,
has full permission to do.
Peace be with all who love the Lord Jesus Christ iu sin-
cerity.
Thus prays their affectionate brother and servant in the Lord,
JAMES HALDANE STEWART.
Si. Bride's, Liverpool.

DARING ROBBERY.—Great sensation has been created in
Myerscough and the neighbourhood, in consequence of a
most daring and violent robbery having been committed in
Fencefoot-house, Myerscough, in the occupation of Mr.
Cottam, (a farmer,) his sister, a lad, (a farm servant,) who
having been more or less seriously injured, were bound hand
and foot and fastened into their chairs. The house stands
in a very lonely situation, at least three or four hundred yards
from any other. Mr. Cottarrr is an elderly man, of perhaps
65 years of age. On Saturday evening last, at about eight
o'clock, as he was just opening his door, intending to go out
to fodder the cattle, a body of eight men presented them-
selves before him. One of them seized him by the breast
and thrust him back from the lobby, which was in darkness,
into the kitchen, others of the party telling him that if he
did not be quiet they would blow his brains out. The robbers
were armed. Mr. Cottam says he saw a double barrelled
blunderbuss, or large pistol, and also some smaller fire arms
amongst them. Considerable violence was used towards him,
and a great scuffle ensued. Mr. Cottam fought the men for
a full half hour before he was overpowered ; the flag flooring
of the kitchen was covered with blood. He was, however,
at last, fastened into a chair, after having been much cut and
otherwise injured by his ruffianly assailants. Mr. Cottam's
sister was also treated very roughly. The robbers having
left nothing unturned in their search after money tied the
hands of Mr. Cottam, his sister, and a boy, who lives with
them with catgut cord which they had taken with them and
fastened them into their chairs with halters and ropes. They
then decamped with money to the amount of about £lOO.
The boy after the robbers had left succeeded in gnawing the
catgut in two, and then released the old man and woman,
when information was immediately given of the robbery.
Six men had been taken into custody on suspicion of being
concerned in the„robbery, but the case at present made out
is very slight indeed.

SOCIALISM AND ITS JUVENILE INFIDELS

We have been told by conservatives, and good conserva-
ses too, that the impious doctrines and projects of social-

are, from their own weakness and the insignificance of

the parties by whom they are propounded, unworthy of the
serious notice of the conservative press or the conservative
public. We cannot, however, admit the soundness of this
view, and are convinced that it can only proceed from an
entire ignorance of the character of those doctrines, and of
the seductive means adopted to effect their propagation.
The open and undoubted atheism which is the root and
heart of the system, is calculated indeed to shock rather

than to attract the minds of the great body of the commu-
nity ;—the avowals, on the part of the hired itinerants and
their duped and defrauded disciples, of utter unbelief of
Scripture—the ribald abuse of every ordinance of religion,
which form the staple of the nightly or weekly lectures of

their " halls of science"—the mockery of all which we have
been accustomed to hold sacred, are so revolting to the
Christian portion of the people of England, that they cannot
believe that a system of which such profanities constitute
the essence can do any material injury to the cause of reli-
gion and order, and are ready to maintain that, unopposed
and unnoticed, it will ultimately expire of inanition, or :)e
crushed beneath the indignation of its defrauded dupes.
But they must be unaware, in connection with these di-

ing profanities, and to induce the unthinking to embrace

them, what enticing lures are held out—what specious pro-
fessions put forth—what attractive shows devised—to lead
step by step the young and the giddy from the path of truth
into mere contact, at first, with the noxious thing, until they
are engulfed at length in all the abomination of its immo-
rality and blaspheming infidelity. They cannot be aware of

the fact, that not only by the temptations offered in the form
of social balls and concerts, are the young of both sexes
drawn into the vortex of irreligion, but that even the infant
mind is laid hold of by these arch-apostles of atheism and

purity, and sedulously trained up in the belief of their

famous blasphemies.
We have been induced to call the attention of our fello

townsmen to the proceedings of this body, by an exhibition
to which the public were invited on Sunday afternoon, in the
Social Hall, in Lord Nelson-street, and of the doings at
which we are in possession of information. What does the
reader think of the public examination, in a Christian town,
a Christian England, in the middle of the nineteenth cen-
-11, of upwards of fifty juvenile—almost INFANT-INFI-
And yet by no milder language can we describe the
outrage upon decency, and upon the feelings of a Christian
community, which was perpetrated within the walls of this
den of infamy in the afternoon of the Sabbath ! Upwards
of fifty poor children avowedly trained up to believe religion
a fable—the Bible a book of lies and immorality—the exist-
ence of a future state, and the possession of an immortal
soul, delusions ; and their infant lips taught to lisp blasphe-
mous hymns to the God of Nature, and to scoff at and de-
ride the God of Truth ! Can we safely shut our eyes to such

DELS !

a tnonstrous profanity ?
" We do not, in educating these poor children," explained
a social expounder of the social system of education,

" teach

them any thing about David and Goliath, if ever such men
existed, or about Sampson carrying off the gates of a city,
if ever such a man as Sampson existed. We throw away
the Bible and teach them useful knowledge." A nice system
this we should think for not a few of the liberals of our
council ! The kind of useful knowledge provided was made
known by the examination of the juveniles themselves, who
went through a description of the anatomical structure of the
human body ;—explained the nature and form of nerves,
arteries, sinews, muscles, &c., with all the gravity of a
college of surgeons ; displayed a profound knowledge of
botany, its classes, orders, species, &c., and there can be no
doubt could have equally enlightened the auditory upon
other branches of philosophy. In real fact, farcical as
obviously is the attempt to drill such subjects as these into
the memories of complete children, and little calculated for
such a task as the diffusion of a correct knowledge of them,
as are the half crazy and half rascally pretenders who under-
take it, the object must be plain—viz., to pervert the young
minds,—to lay the foundation for the rejection in future life
of scriptural knowledge, and the erection in its stead of a
superstructure of materialism and its consequent or ac-
companying infidelity. And yet all this is done under the
superintendence of females (!)—mothers of families—and is
paid for with the money exacted from the curious, the idle,
and the giddy, who are drawn nightly and weekly within the
walls of this temple of infidelity, from a morbid desire to
listen to the blasphemies which are uttered purposely to
attract such visits.

We, will not, by noticing any of these proceedings, excite

further curiosity towards them; but really we do think that
it is a duty on the part of the magistrates of Liverpool to
endeavour, at the least. to restrain them within the bounds
of outward decency. On Sunday week last, we are informed,
that the atrocities uttered were beyond measure disgusting ;
and notwithstanding all our toleration towards mere error in
religious teaching we cannot think that toleration ought to
extend to these ribald exhibitions.

HORRIBLE MURDER NEAR ST. HELENS

(From our own Correspondent.)

_ .
ST. HELENS, SUNDAY MORNING.—It becomes our pain-
ful duty to record the facts of a most diabolical:and barbarous
murder which has been committed on a highly respectable
farmer residing at Rainford, about two miles from St. Helens,
whose name was Mr. Henry Grayson.

The unfortunate gentlem-an was in the habit of visiting St

Helens several time; during the week ; and on Saturday last,
being market day, he had been at that town on his ordinary
business. Having property there, he had received some
rentals during the day, and therefore had a considerable sum
of money on his person before he set out for home.
Mr. Grayson, it is known, was in St. Helens after mid-
night, because he was applying for admittance at the King's
Head public-house between twelve and one o'clock, but being
refused it he went away from there. We have not yet heard
that he was afterwards seen until found at a place called Den-
ton's Green, which is about a mile from the town, and the
direct road to his own house.

About five o'clock on Sunday morning a man, employed
as ostler by the Denton Green Brewery Company, was pro-
ceeding to his stables, when he discovered the body of a man
lying in the centre of the highway, and his suspicion was that
he was drunk and asleep. He, however, raised him up, and
finding him incapable of either speaking or helping himself,
carried him into a barn immediately adjoining, and which
belongs to Mr. C. Blades,:of the Gerard's Arms, Denton's
Green. There the man left him, supposing he was still asleep,
but returned some time after with a lantern, when► he fonnd

that he had been dreadfully wounded ou his head and other
parts of his body, and if not then dead, was utterly insensible.
He immediately gave an a arm, and medical assistance was
procured, but the unfortunate gentleman was dead before it
could be of any avail.

The body is now lying at the Gerard Arms, public-house,
where hundreds have been this day to view it. It is shock-
ingly disfigured, so that his late most intimate friends could
scarcely recognise it. There are several severe wounds on

the skull, which, it may be surmised, have been inflicted by
a hammer or some such instrument. The ribs are nearly all
broken, and the face is covered with bruises, and very much
swollen. No money was found on the person of the decea-
sed, and the right-hand trouser pocket is cut out.
The police, under the direction of Mr. Superintendent
Storey, have been very vigilant and dexterous, and four par-
ties are in custody on suspicion. The names of these ate
Thomas Meadowcroft, Robert Wood, Charles Wood, and
Isaac Jacques. These men are well known to the authorities
as desperate characters, who have long infested the neigh-
bourhood, and been imprisoned for various terms very re-
peatedly. As yet we cannot detail the principal grounds of
evidence which will come out against them on the coroner's
inquest ; but the imprint of one of the prisoner's shoes,
which is remarkably formed, corresponds with some foot-
marks near the spot where the fatal deed was realized. A
clasp knife, besmeared with blood, was found in the posses-
sion of one of these suspected characters, and a spot of blood
has also been detected on his trousers.
The excitement produced by the untoward event in the
neighbourhood is, of course, very intense; and this is en-
hanced by the deceased gentleman being one who was well
known and highly respected.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 4 O'CLOCK.—Another party has
just been taken by the police, but no justification of the cause
for his imprisonment has yet transpired.