The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-15 00:00:00

THE PASTORAL AID SOCIETY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
Sir.,—l have just received a copy of your paper published
on the ,Ith instant, containing a letter from the Rev. W. C.
Lawrence, on which letter I will trouble you with a few,
very few remarks. _

Everything that has been said by him,
by yourself, and
by your other correspondents, on the subject of the misun-
derstanding between me and the Pastoral Aid Society, has
been to me highly satisfactory ; because everything so ad-
vanaed has had a tendency to disabuse the public mind with
regard to the principles and operations of the society.
Mr. Lawrence says that " there are different views of
church principles entertained among churchmen." " The
Pastoral Aid Society is ready to assist those who agree with
her in priuciple ; the Additional Curates Fund will afford
scope for the liberality, or supply funds for the necessities,
of her friends. Now, sir, this is speaking plainly : this is
the kind of honest admission which we have a right to expect
from a respectable clergyman like Mr. Lawrence. But why
has not the society spoken out as plainly as this honest,
straightforward local secretary? Why has not the society
confessed that it is established for party purposes? Why
has it not acknowledged that it will only employ Simeonites,
of whom I entertain precisely those opinions which you have
expressed (in language stronger than I should use myself)
with respect to the more orthodox members of the church ?
Why this system of deception ? Why this concealment of
the truth hitherto, which I, whom you will call a semi-
Papist, should regard as a truly Papistical method of obtain-
ing money from persons who would not have given it were
the objects of the society honestly avowed ?
If the Pastoral Aid Society had declared its character, in
stead of concealing it ; if, instead of assuming to itself the

appellation of a church society, it had avowed (what its ac-
credited local secretary has so candidly asserted) that it was
established for party purposes, I should certainly never have
applied to it for aid. But the Additional Curates Society
acts strictly in accordance with its professions : it is a soci-
ety for providing an income for curates in places where they
are required ; and it is nothing more. It is not formed to
support a party, but it is formed to aid the church; and it
was because I found that some Simeonite clergy had obtained
grants from that society, and had appointed Simeonites as
their curates, that I applied to the Pastoral Aid Society,
expecting it to act as fairly on its professed principles as the
committee of the Curates Fund had done. The committee
of the Curates Fund make no inquiry as to the opinions of
the clergy they pay ; they know not whether the curates hold
or renounce the Simeonitish heresy; they leave it entirely to
the incumbent to appoint, and to the diocesan to approve of,
the curate. I 'lave thought it necessary to say this in be-
half of the Additional Curates Society. According to the
confession of the local secretary, and according to its prin-
ciple of action, the Pastoral Aid Society will henceforth be
regarded as a party society, and no one not holding the
Simeonitish heresy will, I presume, apply to it for assistance.
The Curates Fund belongs to no party. To have produced
this confession is an ample repayment for the trouble to
which I have been put. It has, moreover, been discovered
by the correspondence which has taken place, that the curates
paid by the Pastoral Aid Society are, like the lay agents,
strictly speaking, servants of the society—bound to treat
their masters with respect—not permitted to regard a society
of which a layman is the president, and which recognises no
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as a lay society. It has also been
confessed that no one not swearing allegiance to the princi-
ples of the society (none having been avowed, though Sime-
onitism is implied) ought to apply for its aid.
I do not quarrel with the society for thus proclaiming its
party views and objects. I readily admit that henceforth
none but a Simeonite ought to apply for aid ;—but while the
society professed to be guided, not by Simeonite, but by
church principles, I contend I was justified as a churchman,
though opposed to the Simeonite heresy, in seeking its as-
sistance.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,
JOHN CLARK

Grove Villa, Hunslel, Dec. 9th, 1840.

ASSOCIATION OF ASSISTANT TRADESMEN OF
LIVERPOOL.

Last, evening a meeting of the assistants engaged in all
branches of trade in Liverpool, was held in the Clarendon-
rooms, South John-street, for the purpose of forming an
association for the progressive and uniform curtailment of
the hours of business.

Mr. FLOWER having been called to the chair,—He said,
that the errors in the management of retail trade, in this
country, had for a long period been a subject of great consi-
deration in his mind. It was not the business of that meeting
to dwell upon those errors-in general, but to advert to the
head and front of them all, viz., the hours of attendance.
The evils of those long hours were manifested in a melancholy
way, in the decay of health and, he was sorry to say, in the
laxity of morals, amongst a large proportion of the assistants.
These manifestations were most perceptible where the regu-
lations were most severe ; and the contrary was the case
where the regulations were the reverse. It was their duty,
certainly, to respect the means by which they lived; they
must respect the business which affords them subsistence.
Business he looked upon as a means of living, and not as the
end for which we lived. One of the purposes of the Creator
towards man, was, that he should earn his own subsistence;
and it was a wise dispensation which made our lives lives of
labour. We, therefore, laboured in the first instance for our
subsistence ; but it must not be forgotten that we had other
duties of a higher grade to perform. It must not be forgot-
ten that our duties, intellectual'and moral, which were the
bond of social happiness, the link between man and his Cre-
ator, were superior to all others. Amongst their duties he
had no hesitation in saying there was none more sacred than
that which they owed to their employers. On the present
occasion they had not met to conspire against the interests
of their employers, but, on the contrary, by every fair, up-
right, and honourable means, to strive to diminish the hours
of labour, and, in that diminution, to serve the interests of
their employers. (Hear.) Their object in seeking to obtain
more time, was, to make themselves more efficient for the
discharge of their duties—not to induce idleness or drunken-
ness, as some had said. They had been told that if more
time were allowed to the assistants, it would all be spent
at the alehouse—that they would seek their enjoyment
at the brewer's tap, rather than at the fountain of wis-
dom and knowledge. Considering the very little oppor-
tunity afforded themfor improvement, he contended
that very honourable instances had been shown that the re-
verse of this statement was the case. Amongst a large body
of men it certainly could not be expected that all should be
perfect; but be believed that the great majority of them had
been what they ought to have been. (Hear.) He had not a
doubt that if more time were given them, and if their minds
were cultivated in that time, not only would their employers
and themselves, but the country at large would benefit by
the cultivation of so much mind which was at the present
wasted and lost to the world. (Hear.) There had been a
time when the institutions of the country were supposed to
be supported by the ignorance of the people, and when the
fear was that if they were taught those institutions must fall.
It was now confidently believed on the other hand, that the
institutions of their country had their best support in the in-
telligence of the people ; and he did not mind risking a sneer
or a smile, and saying that, among so many minds as were
shut up under the regulations of the late and present race
of shopkeepers, there might be some such as John Locke and
Lord Bacon, perhaps a Shakspeare or Milton, perhaps a
Byron, a Campbell or a Tom Moore. Why not ? God had
not given mind to station, but he had given minds which
should command the station, provided they were cultivated.
The mind having been given, it was the business and duty
of man to cultivate it. It was a talent, riot to wrapped in a
napkin, and laid by, but to be used. If we were prepar-
ing for a better state, which was all intelligence, and if
the regulations to which the assistants were subjected,
were such as to frustrate the design of the Creator, surely,
there was no wrong in their endeavouring to alter those re-
gulations. It was far from his wish, and-from the wish of
the gentlemen who co-operated with him in the undertaking,
to preach up anything like insubordination. Their object,
as he had said before, was to do good, not only to themselves,
but to their employers, and generally to the whole world.
The regulations of which they complained were made in the
oldeh time, when a man was considered to be c ited if he
could read, write, and cast up a column of figures. A boy
who could do these was considered good enough for any busi-
ness—the whole object of a man-of -business being to accu-
mulate money—to earn a living—that was all. Making a
fortune was no more than earning a living in a larger sense.
Certainly the purposes of God were not answered, nay, they
might be defeated, if we all lived for such an object. The
education now looked upon as necessary for man, was such
as should make him acquainted with nature in as many of her
operations as the time of man could make him acquainted
with, and therefore to make him an honour to his Maker.
But that could not be done without the application of suffi-
cient time; and with these views, a few friends and himself
had formed an association, the object of which was, exclus-
ively, to obtain an amendment in the present regulations of
business as regards the hours of attendance. From time to
time there had been public meetings of the assistants for the
purpose of appealing to their employers, but experience had
taught them that applications to their employers were useless
without they were accompanied by the co-operation of the
public. It was utterly impossible, for instance, to get any-
thing approaching unanimity among such a numerous
body of men. One would be liberal, another sordid, and,
with the present competition in business, it was impossible
to get them all to consent to close their shops at a certain
time. But if the public would say to them,—" We will so
accommodate matters---we will so arrange our domestic af-
fairs as to perform this part of your business within certain
hours"—the employers would be most ready to accede to
that ; but it could not be done by calling a single meeting, or
by having the proceedings of that meeting reported in the
public newspapers, and then ceasing their exertions. It was
only to be effected by a constant, never-ceasing course of
appeals, which could only be carried on by a regularly or-
ganized society, and such society he hoped would arise out of
that meeting. Among the plans they proposed, provided
their funds admitted of it, was that of having a course of pub-
lic lectures on this subject. These lectures to be addressed._
the first to the assistants; the second to their employers;
and the third to the public. Another of the proposed opera-
tions was, to petition the mayor and council of the town for
their co-operation. A third of their plans was, to petition
and apply to the Members of Parliament. A fourth to appeal
to the clergy. And last of all to appeal to the public, again,
again and again. (Cheers.) They might, perhaps, eventu-
ally have to apply to Parliament; but he hoped that would
not be necessary. They had already e.:perienced the valuable
kindness and aid of the press in their cause; and they had
every reason to believe that this liberality, based as it was
upon justice, would still be exercised on their behalf. It
had been their own fault, or, rather, their own want of ex-
perience which had delayed so long the acquisition of the
great boon they sought. They had'ealled meetings of their
own trades • but that would not'do. It was not likely that
the closing of shops in one line would be sufficient ;
to accomplish the object the practice should be adopted by
all, and it was for the public to remember this fact. The
thing bad been done in Edinburgh, it had been better done
in Dublin, and it had been tolerably well done in Manchester ;
but still not to the extent that it ought. There was good
authority for saying that no man should not work longer than
the mechanic, namely ten hours a day, which was surely
long enough ; eight hours sleep was quite necessary, and six
hours for rest, recreation, and mental cultivation, was cer-
tainly not an overbearing demand. He trusted the meeting
would not separate without every one present enrolling him-
self a member of the association, and he sincerely wished that
the institution might succeed, more for their sakes than his
own. The chairman concluded by reading a series of resolu-
tions, unanimously passed at a meeting of assistants, in five
or six different trades, declaratory of all the principles of the
society.

Mr. CHARLES Wir.r.mEn then came forward and said,
that after the able address just made by the chairman, it
would not be necessary for him to enter into any details con-
nected with the object of the association. He felt that, in
taking the part which he was, he was usurping a place which
did not belong to him ; but he had been obliged to come for-
ward through the timidity of many of the assistants. That
timidity he traced to the long continued turmoil of business,
preventing them from having that time for application and
improvement which, under better management, they would
hate.. That was the only apology he should offer in rising
to move the first resolution, which was as follows :
" That this meeting hails with unfeigned satisfaction the
formation of the `.Association of Assistant Tradesmen of
Liverpool,' and, entertaining high hopes that its object—
that of obtaining a gradual and uniform curtailment of the
hours of business—will tend largely to improve the health,
the morals, and the intelligence of the assistants, pledges
itself to co-operate with and to support that association, by
every means which shall not militate against the real and
permanent interests of the employers."

It appeared to him that there Was- nothing in this resolution
which could receive opposition from any of the true friends
of the assistants, or from their employers, if they had at
heart the real and permanent interest* of their assistants.
They sought not by coercion to attain their object, but to
accomplish it by reason and argument. They had no wish
to go in opposition to their employers, but they felt bound
to say, that the same amount of business would be done in
nine hours as was tr,w extended over fifteen or sixteen.
(Hear.) If this could be accomplished, why should they be
crmfined so long to business, wearying the mind, corrupting
the morals, and blinding their perceptions ? Why was this
but because they did not make an effort to respue themselves
from their state of moral slavery and degradation ? He
trusted, therefore, that all who had heard the resolution,
and who had at heart the interest of themselves and of gene-
rations yet unborn, wonld rally round the association, and
give their snpport to it, TIPt only by their voices, but by their
subscriptions. That the health of the assistants was injured
by the present long hours of business' was evident; for,
on reference to the official statistics of the country, it
would be found that the mortality, or early deaths,
among shopkeepers' assistants in this country was greater
than among any other portion of the community. Was not
this a convincing proof that the present long hours were in-
jurious ; and was it not, therefore, a duty to themselves to
make an effort to alleviate their distresses? (Hear.) That
the morals of the assistants were impaired by the present
system was also evident; that their intelligence was injured
was still more evident than the two first, for if the assistant
had not time t,o study he could not possess that information
and intelligence which he would had he the necessary time.
When they 'knew that the same amount of business could
be done if the hours were relaxed, it was their duty
to make an effort for the shorter period, not
by a single meeting, but by constant agitation. (Hear.)
This resolution called on the meeting to co-operate in the
formation of the association. Union and co-operation amongst

the whole body of assistants was required, and unless they I WHITCHURCH PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION
were given, this association would die like others, its voice
unheard, and its attempts unheeded. On the other hand, i
support were given, the employers would see that their a
sistants were not content to remain hi their moral dezr2a
tion, but that they were now

and they would agi
had in view. He I

itate until they out

hours per day. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WILLIAM RUSSELL, in secor
glanced at the points suggested by ti
ers, observing that it was witt
mortality w

Led that which th

two precedir

regret he saw- that t

le annua

of the memt

lers of the Protestant As

sociation which is in operation in the populous and flourish
ing town of Whitchnrch, was held on Wednesday last, in till

Among
Whitct
W UT

as greater amongst shopmen than amongst any
other class of the community. He remarked that the
mechanic, after his day's labour, might attend any of the nu- •
merous institutions which had been founded for his benefit, R. Peakt
for the purpose, of improving his mind : but the --*
could not boast of any
They had none whatevar

~ C. R

It was mo:

numerous
clergy of

J. Toiler

Esq., of Terrick Hall, Join

a, B.
H. E

assistants T. thus,
len institution for their advantage. Gibbons
-'hick they could call their own. R. B. Brockleban

Yet it was not from want of numbers or intellit,
they had not any, but from the length of time for wf
were compelled to labour. However, it was the;-
if, through this association, they did not suer—
their hours of labour
they would be dili
the other means of improvement.
The resolution was then put and carried.
Mr. SCHOLEFIELD, in moving the second resolution said,
he feared that this association might to some sound some-
thing like a trades union, but he could not see the slightest
similarity between them. In a trades union the members
would not return to their employers until all their demands
had been complied with ; but they recognised no such prin-
ciple. They contemplated the benefit of all parties, and the
1 1 • • .•

:nee that
ich they

4d in abridging
.. When they were shortened, he trusted
igent in their attendance upon lectures and

ray 4,11
sion the power of argument, and the claims of fustil
concluded by moving—

" That this meeting desires publicly to express its appro-
al and confirmation of the resolutions, read this evening by
the chairman, upon which the association has been founded.l"
Mr. PYEFIELD seconded the resolution, and expressed
the satisfaction he felt at finding that the association meant
to appeal to the public. It must not, however, be forgotten
that many of the employers had conceded as much as they
could with safety to their interests, considering the great
competition there was in all branches of business. If the
public, indeed, could be brought on the side of the assistants,
he was satisfied that the majority, if not all, the employers
ild rr the conce---- he was h- to see the

wot,_ :ssion, ana nappy
efforts of the association directed to that end.
The resolution was then put and carried.
Mr. DYER moved the next resolution. It was very de-
sirable that a curtailment of the hours of business should
take place, and observed that the education which the assist-
ants already possessed, was in fact lost to them, when the
extension of knowledge was the chief feature of the age. He
concluded by calling upon the, ministers of religion, the me-
dical man, the philanthropist, the philosopher, and upon all
classes of society, to support the efforts of the assistants of
Liverpool in this cause. He begged to move—
" That regulations framed in times when education was
condemned as a curse to the poorer classes, are unfitted for
the present enlirhtened are : that while .rho” ~r

btamar, J.
J. Morrall
J. Harding

were the R

Messrs. C. A

H. Harding
J el.__i

of Oat

M. Lot

John Hill

1, D. Vawdrey, I

ary to ti
[l, W. (

C. Dunn, F. Russell, M. Plla;Te, J
T. Atkinson, H. Wigfield, J. Colley

w. Black-ley,
il,...uyrroouungghes: 8R..-Eulplitso,ll7.a.nSto

~: M'Gr.

the Right Hon

On the motion of the Rev. B. ELLIS,
Lord Kenyon was requested to take the chair.
Lord KENYON, on taking the chair, was greeted with loud
cheers. His lordship then suggested that, as was usual, the
proceedings should commence by supplicating the divine
blessing upon them.
The Rev. C. M. LONG having offered a most impressive

prayer, •
The Noble CriAIRMAN proceeded to address the meeting.
He said, that in presuming a second time to occupy the chair
of this association, to which they had been pleased to elect
him, he felt that be ought to apol

D had r.

tinction than any he could
take the liberty of saving.

pretend to.
_He must, however

honoured by

importance of the subject

n, and that he felt the extreme
le felt the duty which the con-

%I •
community have advanced in mental culture, the assistants
have stood still ; that it is the want of leisure only that has
brought them to this degraded position ; that the designs of
Providence are frustrated by regulations which so impede
the cultivation of the mind ; and that the loftiest considera-

I zealous Protest
by all the mean:

to come forward bol

and
m the tide

r power, endeavour to

of Popery which was being exerted against us in the most
unparalleled manner for upwards of 200 years. He could
not but rejoice to observe the great interest which was ex-
cited upon this question in the populous town of Whit-
church and he must eenrpsa hie hifri, apnea ne

tions which the association were under to his rev. friend
Mr. M`Ghee, and others, for enlightening them on the sub-
ject by their superior knowledge and information. He him-
self (Lord Kenyon) should not do anything so rude and im-

a
proper as to endeavour to enter on the details or particulars
which Mr. M`Ghee was. so much better able to give ; nor

e time of the meeting further than to call
'cation. The noble

upon that gentleman to
lord ebncluded by readin,

" Resolved,

the resolution :-
-That the increased exertions and the grow-

ing influence of Popery in the British empire, demand a
counteracting effort on the part of Protestants ; and that it
is their duty, by united and increasing efforts, to use their

tions of duty, therefore, impel the assistants to seek an
amendment of those regulations."

st strenuous endeavour

Papal apostacy,
truth, and of t

both to-del

.r their fello

ritual and temporal thraldom of the
rye the blessings of God's holy
on established among us, fm

iselves and th

Mr. W. B. JOX;,ir7;,;naing the resolution, remarked
that all practical men allowed the justice of the assistants'
claims. He mentioned an instance of a young man, in his
own business, who, owing to the lengthened hours of labour,
joined to his own strong taste for study, died at the prema-
ture age of 22. From these circumstances Mr. Jones
founded a very neat and satisfactory argument in favour of
the resolution.

The Rev. J. R. 111.'GnEE then rose for the purpose of
moving the resolution. He said, although he had frequently
had the honour and privelege of addressing the noble chair-
man upon occasions similar to the present, this was the only
one on which he felt constrained to say that he rose to speak
with regret. His regret arose, not from seeing his Protes-

Mr. EDWARD M. PILCHER announced himself as a shop-
keeper, but as a friend to the cause of the association. Al-
though the Botanic Gardens were opened twice a week, he
should like to know what assistants had had the pleasure
of going there at all this summer. (Hear.) A committee
had been formed of the council for the purpose of making
public parks for the recreation of the inhabitants ; but who
were to enj, t' T•

.nem : _he shop-keeper's:hours of business
were to eight o'clock at night, and after that there was no
time. He, himself, had never been able, in consequence, to
visit the Botanic Gardens, as his shop was in Ranelagh-street,
and some of his own trade would not agree to close until
nine o'cicck. N" if the TradeQ— '

tant brethren assembled on such an occasion as this, an
presided over by one who had taken a faithful interest in th

cause of the Protestant church and Protestant truth in this
country. On the contrary, he rejoiced in that ; but he re-
gretted that the present meeting should have been convened
only, he feared, to be much disappointed. He regretted that
he was obliged to apologize for the absence of his reverend
brother, Dr. O'Sullivan, who had been expected, but who
was prevented from leaving Ireland by circumstances over
which he had no control. He had also to apologize, he re-
gretted to say, much more for the only individual who had
come from Ireland to address them. This was the first time
in his life that he had ever risen to address a P-

estani
„ed the

meeting without having carefully studied and arrai_o_
documents which he intended to produce; and the. reasoi
Tfas,_tl-inaslitawvieielkibleeetriladscii3eeexnhuaunsatbelde
tboyrehz
aesxienritzren:ool

Sheffie

,ow, r. ..srnens .ssociation wow.
only petition the Corporation " that they should have
the privilege of going to those parks, and those gardens,
something, he hoped, would be obtained for them. Allusion
had been made to mechanics. He had himself, the other
day, whilst at one of the graving docks, in which a vessel
was ready to come in, heard a mechanic say that he would
not work any more that afternoon, but take out his wife and
faniily for a walk. No assistant could do that; he had ne-
ver had an opportunity of doing it himself. He understood
that in Chester the shops closed at six o'clock, and in Man-
chester at seven ; and he did not see why that meeting
should have longer hours than they at Manchester or Chester.
A TRADESMAN, although he approved of the idea of pe-
titioning the corporation, thought that body could be of no
use, except individually and collectively with the shopkeepers
of the town in general. The speaker then took a rapid view of
the principal topics urged upon the attention of the meeting,
suggesting that one cause of the shops remaining open so
late, especially on Saturday nights was, that employers fre-
quently did not pay their workmen till late on Saturday
night. He trusted the plan would be adopted of paying
them on Friday night, by which means they would be able
to supply all their wants early on Saturday, and so render
the late attendance of the assistants unnecessary, and so
prepare them for doing their duty on Sunday. The speaker
concluded by stating that the speeches of that evening had
shown what they could do, if they had greater opportunities
for improvement.—The resolution was then put and carried.
The CHAIRMAN then said, that before dissolving the
meeting, he would make one or two remarks. The first of
them was very important. He had said that the assistants
could not hope all at once to leap from a very bad into a very
good regulation ; but they expected that it was practicable.
Among their schemes one of the most cherished of all was,
that they should be enabled to establish a regulation that their
hours of business should not be longer in summer than they
were in winter. If they went through this winter upon the
hours they stood now, they could procure an amendment of
the rule so far that as summer came in they should be allowed
the privilege_of walking,ahrnaLiehila the sun shone, and not
be made to work longer because the sun did not set till later.
It only required to be represented to the employers that such
a thing was fair, and it would be granted. That was the first
step they hoped to attain. The Chairman concluded by call-
ing upon those present to join the association.
The thanks of 'the meeting were then voted to the Chair-
man. The meeting separated soon after ten o'clock.

tt buig. Ile naa oeen sunt...
much from pains in the head and chest that he had o
had the power to open a book. He therefore appeared before
totally unprepared but extremely weak
,d mind. But he had not now to experier
.neL-for he had often experienced
ir—
ell to.be weak
might be thrown entirely upon the strength, the mercy and
the faithfulness of our God. In this great and sacred cause
more than in all others, " it was not by might, nor by power,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord." If he addressed that or
any other meeting relying upon his own strength, energy, or
power, or upon his own knowledge of the tremendous facts
which it was his privilege to lay before them ; or if he called
upon men to stand up in their own strength, for the main-
tenance of God's truth in this land ; nothing might be looked
for but disappointment. But on the other hand, if he came,
weak though he felt, yet relying as he trusted he did, upon
the strength of God for his blessing upon what he might be
enabled to say ; and if they were enabled to ask for God's
direction and strength, both in understanding the importance,
of this great subject and in using their exertions for the main-
tenance of the cause of truth, then out of weakness would
they be made strong, then would they wax valiant in the
fight, for they should be relying not on their own strength,
but upon the arm of Omnipotence, upon the strength of God.
(Cheers.) In proposing the resolution for their adoption,
the principles and sentiments of which he would maintain,
he trusted they would bear with his weakness and incapacity
whilst merely endeavouring to lay facts only before them.
(Hear.) The first subject to which he would call their at-
tention was one of great importance to this empire and to
the protestant religion. He held a book in his hand, to the
unimpeachable character of which he would shortly call their
attention.

both in body

for the first

rid as nothing, in order that v

In the year 1812 a baronet in the House of Commons (Sir
John Cox Hippisley) conceived a plan for emancipating the
Roman Catholics, having at the same time securities that in
so doing they should fully preserve the Protestant church
and the Protestant constitution of England. In pursuance
of this_plan, he movecLfor a committee of the House of Com-
Pions to inquire into the regulations, ordinances, &c., of the
Roman Catholics of all foreign states. The committee was
granted, and the minister for foreign affairs requested the va-
rious ambassadors to furnish Sir John Cox Hippisley with all
the particulars sought for, which they did, and the documents
from all these foreign powers were transmitted to him. He
held in his hand the report of the committee, which showed
that while the popish states found it necessary to protest
against papal supremacy, England alone was unprotected
against popish agression. There was no law in England to
prevent the publication of popish bulls, or to check the pro-
gress of the Antichristian doctrine, whilst in the foreign po-
pish states no bull was allowed to be published unless it had
previously obtained the sanction of the government of such
country. In Austria, an empire with a popish sovereign and
popish subjects, the duplicity of that Antichristian tyrant and
man of sin, the Pope, was so well known, that a law was in
existence, that no work emanating from him should be pub-
lished without the sanction of the government. The follow-
ing anecdote was told in the report of Sir C. Stuart from Por-
tugal :—" A Portuguese clergyman, intimate with the Nun-
cio, who had written a pamphlet in support of the Italian or
ultramontane doctrines, having been refused the licenses
necessary to publication, printed the work in England
' and a numb

THE ROCK HARMONICON.
We were yesterday favoured with a sight and hearing of a
most extraordinary musical instrument, bearing the above
title. It is to be seen at No. 15, Bold-street ; and we most
cordially recommend our readers to pay Mr. Richardson,
the inventor, a visit. Several eminent musical men in Li-
verpool have already heard it, and all declare it to be the
most singular invention they have ever met with, not only
from the novelty and singularity of its construction, but also
for the strange and wild quality of its tones. The following
able description, from the Cumberland Pacquet, will give
the reader an idea of it •

" The history of the invention of this instrument is interest-
ing : it shows how much may be effected by a combination of
ingenuity, industry perseverance, and skill. Mr. Richardson
the inventor, is a plain, honest

• 4J, UILCIJJUULLLIg
. •
country man, not refined by education, but possessed ( f
musical talent, and a considerable share of discrimination
and judgment. He is a mason by trade, a native of Crosth-
waite, near the town of Keswick, where his wife, and part
of his family still reside. Mr. Richardson was in the daily
habit of working at the rocks among the mountains, and in
pursuing his avocations experience taught him that almost
every variety of sound might be extracted from the rude
materials which he hourly met with in the course of his
labours. Being convinced that even the fragments of rocks,
uncouth as they seemed, might be collected and so judiciously
arranged as to form a musical instrument of surpassing
power and sweetness, Mr. Richardson was induced to com-
mence those labours which bid fair to hand his name down
to posterity.

of copies having been distributed in this coun-
try, the principles they inculcated attracted the attention
of the censor, who immediately drew up and transmitted to
the government a very able review, showing the dangerous
tendency of the doctrines supported by the court of Rome
in Portugal, and inducing the government to direct the attor-
ney-general to commence legal proceedings against the
author." That publication was not published by any autho-
rity of bishops, but merely by a priest—yet proceedings were
instantly instituted against the author. This popish priest
having charged those who attempted to oppose the ultra:non-
tane doctrines of the pope with being Lutherans, the royal
censor of Portugal, reviewing the tract, took up these words
and went back through the act of various sovereigns in the
history of the country who had successively resisted the
papal power, and he stated that they were not Lutherans.
When he came to the Queen of Portugal, he said, " Our
august queen was not a Lutheran when she ordered to be
examined, and her royal assent to be denied to, two bulls of
the holy father Pius VI., the first super soliditatem, against
a small pamphlet written by Egbel, entitled Quid est Ponti-
fex ; the second a dogmatic auctorem fldei against the coun-
cil of Pictoria : nor could all the means employed by the
Nuncio either lull the piety of her majesty, or overcome the
integrity of the Marquis of Ponte de Lima, then her prime
minister." Yet these very bulls, the first of which was
named Super Solititatem, which this papal queen would not
permit to be published within her empire, were published in
this country. Here was the very bull in the canon law
which, the popish bishops had set up to govern the Roman
Catholics of Ireland. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) But this
was not all. We had here their bishops informing us why
they published this bull. They told us at the head of it,
that it was published to establish a certain tractate in Dens,
to give the force of infallible papal law to certain dogmas in
that author; and when we turned to those principles which
this bull was so published in order to confirm, we found they
were principles setting up the temporal power of the see of
Rome, the indirect authority of the pope over all temporal
sovereigns, his right to deprive them when he pleased,
and when he could, of their dominion over their Roman
Catholic subjects, and to absolve those subjects from
their oath of allegiance to their sovereign. (Hear hear.)
A certain bull, the Bulla Licence Domini, the Romish bishops,
when examined by the committee of both houses of parlia-
ment in 1823, strenuously denied was or ever would be re-
ceived in Ireland. He could quote extracts from the autho-
rities of all the foreign states to show how this bull was uni-
versally opposed an execrated, and shut out from all the
papal states in Europe, but he should limit his quotations to
one short extract from a document of the highest possible

In the year 1827, the inventor of the Rock Harmonicon
was employed in building a house at Thornthwaite, and
afterwards at Braithwaite, in the neighbourhood of Keswick,
and he then, for the first time, began to collect the stones of
which the Rock Harmonicon was intended to be composed.
The stones which he first collected, however, did not answer
his purpose, and thus, at the very commencement of his
undertaking a large portion of time and labour was necessarily
lost. This would have almost been sufficient to have dispirited
an ordinary mind ; but it only served to increase Mr. Richard-
son's efforts, and to convince him that with industry and
perseverance success yet laid within his reach. Having dis-
covered that the stones best calculated for his purpose were
only to be met with amongst the rocks on the breast of the
mighty Skiddaw, he began to explore the mountain in search
of the musical treasures which it contained. The inventor
bore these stones from the mountain to a considerable dis-
tance home upon his back ; he had afterwards to reduce many
of them, to shape them, and to try their varied tones, before
he could pronounce a favourable opinion on their merits.
This was a work of immense labour and time, and required
much determination, industry, labour, and perseverance for
its accomplishment, and after many hard day's labour in the
mountains, Mr. Richardson denied himself the repose which
exhausted nature required, and spent whole nights, after his
family had retired to rest, in hammering the rude materials
of which the instrument is composed, and in selecting and
arranging them, ere he brought to its present state the sweet-
toned instrument which cost him thirteen years of unwearied
labour and perseverance, under circumstances such as few
minds, not possessed of uncommon fortitude, could have
surmounted.

" In the execution of his arduous task the artist (for he well
deserves the name) experienced many difficulties of a private
and domestic nature—,he had a family of eight children de •
pendant upon his daily labour for support ; but what can
oppose the progress of ingenuity and perseverance, united in
the accomplishment of a favourite object? Mr. Richardson,
amid every obstacle, kept steady to his purpose, and in the
course of time he produced the rude but surprising instru-
ment, which has gratified and won the admiration of all who
have listened to its astonishing powers, and certain we are,
that the more it becomes known the more generally will it
become admired. Mr. Richardson's modesty would not
allow him to flatter himself that his labours and ingenuity
had produced an object worthy of public notice, and the in-
strument, as far as his views went, was doomed to obscurity.
Having got a frame made and the fragments of rock arranged
in musical order, and to his own taste, the inventor set
about teaching his sons to perform upon it, which they do
with small wooden mallets, with great taste, and with scien-
tific skill and dexterity.

authority. It was a requisition from the Attorney-General
to the parliament of France to issue their law by this infamous
bull That this bull has always excited dissatisfaction,
thnt it prejudiced all sovereigns, that it altered the laws and
ordinances of kingdoms ; that it deprived the crown of its
privileges, of its prerogatives, and its pre-eminence ; that it
abolished the liberty of the alliean church ; and that, under
the pretence of preserving the rights of the holy see, it in-
vaded the king's power." Mr. M'Ghee then read an ex-
tract from the decree of the parliament, forbidding not only
the publication of the bull by any ecclesiastical authority, but
its being printed by any individual, under pain of being pu-
nished as being guilty of high treason. But whilst the very
printer or vender of this bull was to be punished as guilty of
high treason in France, the papal bishops in Ireland could
issue it and put it in force there. The following note was
given by Cari:nal Erskine to Sir J. Hippisley relative to
this bull :—" The bull, which is generally named in Coend
Domini, because it was published every year on Holy Thurs-
day, until Pope Clemont XIII., out of a compliment to some
princes to whom some parts of the said bull were obnoxious,
left off the publishing of it on the said day—this bull, al-
though the formality of its publication is now omitted, is
nevertheless implicitly in vigour in all its extension, and is
likewise observed in all countries where there is no impedi-
ment to the erection of the pope's authority. Therefoie it
must be legally looked upon as a public declaration to pre-
serve his rights. This bull has undergone at different times
some alterations as to the form by the several popes by
whom it was published. The paragraph above transcribed
is taken from the one published by Gregory XIII., anno
1583, 4th April. It is inserted in the Bullar ad Main-
ardi, tome 4, part Li." "The above is in the hand-writing
of Cardinal Erskine," says Sir J. H. Hippisley; " I received
this note from him at Rome in the month of August, 1793 ;
he was then in the office of Promo(ore della Fide, and in a
few days afterwards he departed on a private mission for
England. S he

" After having bestowed upon the Harmonicon thirteen
years of labour and attention, Mr. Richardson began to allow
his neighbours, and others who chose to favour him with a
call, to inspect the instrument, and to listen to its musical
powers. No scientific person—no musician or any person
of taste or judgment, whose opinion was at all calculated to
enhance the object of his labours in his estimation, however,
had yet pronounced any flattering encomium upon Mr.
Richardson's handiwork, and the sole use of the Rock liar-
monicon was so far merely to teach his sons the performance
of music, and to sweeten the hours of relaxation from severe
labour by listening to its enchanting and animating tones.
At length, however, the Harrnonicon began to acquire some-
thing like local fame, and visitors, more numerous and more
distinguished, found their way to Mr. Richardson's abode.
" The softest notes of the " lacivious lute," the sweetest
tones of the piano, the shrillest sounds of the " ear-piercing
fife," and the loudest and most sonorous peals of the organ,
can be seat forth with a rapidity which produces the most
ravishing sensations, and fills the mind of the listener and
beholder with delight, astonishment, and wonder. It ex-
tends to a compass of nearly six octaves, accompanied with
all the additional semitones. Thd Rock Harmonican is in
'fact an orchestra of itself ; the softest or the loudest tones of
any instrument may be effectually excelled, or imitated with
extraordinary resemblance.
" The invention of this wonderful installment forms a new
era in the annals of harmony, and though it has been ushered
in to public notice in a rude and unpolished form, and conse-
quently possesses little that can attract the eye, its delightful
tones make ample compensation to the ear, The success of
the invention, however, is complete ; Mr. Rischardson has
established a claim to merit beyond dispute ; and though
the instrument may in future undergo much improvement,
both with respect to its appearance and its musical capabili-
ties, the musical world is indebted to the inventor for a most
novel and surprising instrument, possessed of rich, sweet,
and animating tones, and of almost unrivalled power."

defence of the protestant cause. (Loud cheers.) The growa.
of popery during the last few years was most extensive, as
would be seen by the number of new chapels, particularly in
the north of England and that neighbourhood. In 1814 there
were only 45 papal chapels in England and Scotland, but
now only 26 years had - -4 1

( 1:1 ear ,) He founde I a
Pt
heaat nan;)i
nurri
ar

were no
thPri" xxr,

less than

Lincolnshire 10, in Middlesex 20, in Shropshire and Cheshire
19, and in Staffordshire 32. (Hear, hear.) The reverend
gentleman continued as follows—l speak upon the authority
of a statement published by the Reformation society, which
is accurately true, as it came f

faithfis
country ever saw—l speak of his name with reference and
affection, and I only mourn that he is not at this moment
placed in a situation of health sufficient to bring his honest,
bold, uncompromjsing fidelity in this cause to the service of
his country—ls nfean my friend Captain Gordon. In the
Year 1814 there *ere 45 Popish chapels in England and Scot-
land; in the year 1840, twenty-six years afterwards, how
inane are there ? " Grand total of Catholic Chapels in Great
Britain, 522." (Hear, hear.) No single body of men pro-
fessing Christianity have been so forward, so successful in
erecting places of worship for the living God as Anti-Christ
has been erecting chapels for the perversion and destruction
of the Christian truth—for such is the papacy. (Loud cheers.)
Here is an address in this book—the Roman Catholic Direc-
tory for 1840—a Pastoral issued by " the Vicars Apostolic
of England. " Dearly beloved brethren. We, the Catho-
lics of the British empire, have great reason to congratulate
ourselves. Our colleges abroad have been transplanted from
their native soil, and in each of our districts an episcopal
seminary has been erected. These, as far as their very limited
means would permit, have been productive of great fruit, but
they are not sufficiently endowed either to supply the requi-
site number of missionaries for our respective districts or to
afford that superior course of education which the exigencies
of the times demand. * * * * Consider how rapidly
our holy religion is again spreading its branches over this
kingdom ; what numbers have recently returned to the bosom
of the Catholic Church ; how many new missions have been
established, and how many of the old established congrega-
tions have so far increased as to require an additional supply
of labourers ; and above all, how many large bodies of Catho-
lics, especially in the western district, are left without a pas-
tor, being too poor to maintain one and too distant to be vi-
sited by any other missionary." Now what is this state-
ment? (Hear, hear.) Wherever it is the interest of the
papacy to conceal you may always imagine that much was
concealed—a great deal infinitely more than they will profess
to acknowledge—and wherever it is the interest of the papacy
to publish these, you may suppose that much more is pub-
lished than you can really suppose to be true. Therefore,
whilst she boasts of the immense multitudes that have
returned to the bosom of the Catholic Church there is no
doubt that she in some placeS and in some degree exagge-
rates; but that numbers of poor Protestants in England
are brought over to the papacy I have not the slightest
question, for whilst the Pope has his einisaries working
through the length and breadth of England—going into every
town—getting into the houses of the poor—furnished with
abundance of tracts and catechisms, yea, whilst he live the
hnmblest means employed—even the labourers that come
over to this country to earn their bread are furnished with
tracts and catechisms to go into the houses of the poor, con-
taining principles and arguments to catch them which the
poor cannot answer; and, therefore, when they cannot an-
swer them, the mind of man is necessarily influenced by
principles which strike his understanding as true, and which
he is unable to refute—l say, whilst they are occupied thus,
the whole mass of England is asleep upon this subject. Our
bishops and clergy are asleep upon the subject, compared
with the exertions they are called upon to make to protect
the Protestants of England from the invasions of papal je-
suitry. (Hear.) I would entreat my rev, brethren not to
he offended at me. I would entreat them to consider and
lay the question before their hearts, whether they do exert
themselves against Popery, as the Papists exert themselves
against the true religion. How is it possible the poor can be
protected against the encroachments of papal jesuitry, unless
they are protected by their clergy ? (Hear, hear.) You are
slumbering, my dear and rev. brethren, upon this subject.
Many of them feel this, but they say, " Let us preach the
gospel faithfully—let us try to educate the people and to in-
struct them—let us do this and the truth will prevail." They
have not studied—they have not investigated—the papal con-
troversy, and they do not stir upon the question, because
they think the preaching of the gospel is sufficient. They
labour—l trust lam speaking without offence 'to my dear
and rev. brethren—when I know there are so many whose
labours put me to shame in their parishes and among their
flocks ; but I say this, that whilst they think that the preach-
ing of the gospel is sufficient, I say it is not sufficient, unless
they shew also the errors of the papacy against which that
gospel is contrasted. (Hear, hear.) Look what the papacy
does, Look at its books and catechisms. There is not a
single one of them that is not controversial ; there is not
one but in which you will find Protestant truth denounced as
error, and papal falsehood set forth as truth in juxta-position.
(Hear.) Now we must set forth papal fasehood as it is, and
Protestant truth—let me not call it Protestant truth, but
God's truth—the truth of the everlasting gospel. (Cheers.)
If we do not do so, we shall not meet the exigences of our
country, and we shall not oppose the labours of papal jesuitry
to pervert and destroy and overturn the religion of England.
(Cheers.) What have they done? Look at the fact. When
the pope wishes to produce a powerful effect in a country—
when the pope wishes to set forth his errors in a country,
what does he do ? He sets up one of his representatives—a
papal bishop for the district—and this papal bishop has all
the infallibility of the pope's laws and of the pope's power
at his command : he sets up that infallibility, and by that he
works in the district, and among the population he is endea-
vouring to pervert. What has popery done in England ?
What has the influence of popery done? (Hear, hear.)
Whilst papists have been admitted to political power upon
the guarantee that our protestant constitutions should be
respected, what has popery done ? Did they not confiscate
ten bishoprics from the protestant church of Ireland, which
they swore there was never any wish on their part to weaken?
And in this Protestant England has it not set up four Popish
bishops to watch over the interests of the Protestant church
in this country ? (Hear, hear.) Just hear the statements
in the Popish papers—just hear the attacks the Papacy is
making upon the Protestant church. I hold in my hand a
paper published at Edinburgh, called the Phoenix, and another
published at London, called the Tablet, and I will read you
an extract from the Edinburgh paper. [Having read the
extract, which was of a most violent character, against the
Church of England, the reverend gentleman proceeded.]
There is the language of the Papacy towards the Protestant
church ! Thus they speak who were all loyalty, all smooth-
ness, all full of sweet, kind, bland, expressions of charity
towards the kiee and their Protestant fellow-subjects before
they gained political power ! Now they have gained it they
think they da:e speak out, and there is their language
against your liberties and against your church ! These men
carry their influence and power into the very heart of
your government ; and the Pope of Rome is issuing his
laws—which they d re not publish in any single Papal state
of Europe—to overturn and destroy all that is and ought to
be dear to us. (Hear, hear.) If these things are not true,
then burn 'all these proofs—burn all these documents—stul-
tify your understandings, and stop your ears; but if they
are true, then I say, if you value your religion, it' you value
your children, if you value your Bible, if you value the
blessings that God has bestowed upon you as a free Protes-
tant people, and desire to maintain and preserve them for
your children,—then, I say, stand up soberly, calmly—with
the calm determination of truth, the sober exercise of solid
judgment, the calm result of the fidelity of men that act
under a sense of duty to their God,—stand up with these
and say, " There is my life, and with it, by the blessing of
my God, I will take care to defend the laws, the liberties,
and the established religion of England." (Loud cheers.)
This observe against the church, at a time when you have
guaranteed them powei—when you have guaranteed them
all they demanded, and more indeed than they ever ventured
to hope they could obtain ! Observe—" they will not give
you liberty—they will not give your countrymen liberty or
privilege of erecting any place of worship, to worship your
God in spirit and in truth, in any place where they can pre-
vent it." (Hear, hear.) I was going to read you documents
from Naples and the Havanna!), in which you have the tes-
timony of Sir Robert Peel and Lord Palmerston to the feet,
that British subjects are not allowed to build a house of God
in order to worship him in those places ; but I have not time.
Then the question becomes, " What is to be done ?" The
answer that men have given is, " Turn them out of parlia-
ment." It is easier said than done. That they can be de-
prived of political power, and that they can be effectually
deprived of it—and that they can be deprived of political
power upon grounds that they cannot defend, and that their
most liberal supporters dare not stand to defend before the
British empire—I firmly believe. I ens sure of it : I know
it. But, what is far better, they can be deprived of it upon
those grounds which are the best grounds of all that a Chris-
tian man can come forward upon, namely, Christian princi-
ples—(hear, hear)—not arrayed in hostility to the Roman
Catholics, because I do not think that a man arrayed in
hostility against them can ever do any good. Now mark
my words plainly. A man that is arrayed in hostility against
Roman Catholics, I do not think can do any good to his
country: but a man that is not so arrayed against Popery—
a man that does not join in the array of Christian men -a
man that does not join in the array of the holy prophets and
the apostles—against the Papal apostacy, and against the
system of Popery—against that accursed anti-Christian su-
perstition, which overwhelms, depresses, degrades, and de-
stroys the souls of Roman Catholics—a man that does not
do this is not, in my judgment, doing his duty towards God
in the Protestant Church of England. The things are most
distinct, and I would entreat you to attend to them. if 1
felt hostility against the Roman Catholics, I could not stand
upon the platform, nor go through the anxiety, the fatigue,
and the toil which I do; but I can lay my hand upon my
heart, and say before my God, that so far from entertaining
hostile feelings against the Roman Catholics, I can say with
the apostle, " My heart's desire and prayer to God for them
is, that they may be saved." (Cheers.) Political Protes-
tantism has been the curse of the British empire. (Hear,
hear.) By that I mean, endeavouring to maintain and sup-
port the Protestant institutions and the Protestant constitu-
tion of England merely because they are established by Bri-
tish laws, instead of endeavouring to maintain the Pio estant
constitution of England because it is established upon God's
holy truth. (" Hear, hear," and cheers.) Therefore, if,
instead of attempting to support your religion by your
political institutions, which I say has been the curse of
the empire, you support your political institutions by
the foundation of your religion, which is, say has been,
a blessing to you and to your country, then you protected
her, and if you had always done so you would have delivered
the poor from the bondage of the horrid papal superstition.
(Hear, hear.) I say, then, that the means I would propose
for delivering this country from the papacy are such that a
Christian man can go forward with Christian boldness and
say, " It is not merely to deliver our country from the papacy,
which we will do, but it is our design, with God's blessing,
to deliver our fellow-countrymen from that yoke which bows
down their understanding in time, and brings perdition upon
their souls in eternity." (Cheers.) The rev, gentleman,
after some additional observations of great eloquence, proposed
a remedy for the unprotected and disastrous state of England,
by establishing a test for the Roman Catholic members of
parliament and electors, renouncing the anti-social principles
of the papacy. He vindicated the Roman Catholic laity from
the crimes and plots of their hierarchy, and proved that, while
the test would lay the axe to the root of papal domination, its
effect would be so to expose the crimes of popery and of the
papal hierarchy as ultimately, under the blessing of God, to
bring out the Roman Catholic laity to renounce the despot-
ism and the superstitions of the papal apostacy, and produce
the happy results of present deliverance to Protestants and
ultimate spiritual and temporal emancipation for the Roman
Catholics of the British empire. He then sat down, amidst
loud cheers, after a most splendid address, the de
which occupied upwards of four hours.

ad able defenders of t

Protesta

one of the most
t faith that this

livery of

Lord KENYON then put the resolution, and it was carried
unanimously with great applause.
Mr, C. K. MAINWARING moved a vote of thanks to the
noble chairman, for his ability and courtesy whilst occupying

oon afterwards he was appointed auditor of t
pope." Mr. M`Ghee next quoted a letter from Dr. Murray,
read by Mr. O'Connell at a meeting of the Roman Catholic
Institute of London in May last, denying the publication of
the Bulla Ccence Dornini, by the authority of the Irish bishops.
He next read an extract from a letter of his own to Dr. Mur-
ray, calling on him to meet the proofs of the fact before the
Roman Catholics of Dublin, which was not attempted ; and
then he read another letter of his own to Dr. Murray, proving
the falsehood of his statements, which was received by the
meeting with loud applause. The rev. gentleman then said
that nothing was more manifest than that England was open
to the pope, and that in fact the pope was now legislating for In the evening another meeting of the Protestant Associa-
England. He would, therefore, call upon every man in tion was held in the School-room. The Rev. C. Long pre-
England to remember, if he had a vote for a member of par- sided, and the meeting was addressed by the Chairman, the
liament, that a solemn responsibility in exercising that power Rev. W. G. Cole, the Rev. Brabazon Ellis, the Rev. G. L.
rested with him, and to send as his representatives to the Stone, and the Rev. F. Russell. The resolutions were
commons house of parliament men who would stand up in unanimously carried.

Lord KENYON, in acknowledging the compliment, said,
that the merits of the question must have been discussed to
the gratification of every one present ; and he hoped that
those who had heard the rev. gentleman would contribute in
any way they .might be able to.the success of a cause which
Mr. M`Ghee had advocated with such piety, such zeal and
such ability. (Applause.)
The Rev. C, M. LONG moved a vote of thanks to Mr.
M'Ghee, and the motion was carried by acclammation ; after
which the meeting dispersed.