The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-11-03 00:00:00

REPORT.

" The committee of the Liverpool Association Auxiliary to
the Sunday School Society for Ireland, in laying this, their
annual report, before their friends and subscribers, are happy
to be enabled to state, that the Author and Giver of all good
has vouchsafed a continuance of His blessing upon their
efforts to obtain funds to follow the all-important object
which the parent institution has ever had in view. This
object, as the name of the society indicates, is to diffuse
amongst the rising generation in the sister land, by means of
Sunday schools, the knowledge of those holy scriptures which
are able to make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus.' All who have themselves experienced the unspeak-
able peace and joy which flows from a saving knowledge of
the gospel of the grace of God, are called upon alike by
Christian gratitude to a Saviour and God and Christian love
towards their brethren of mankind, to desire fervently
and zealously to labour to promote the extension of the
Redeemer's kingdom upon earth, by spreading abroad the
knowledge of the only name under heaven given among
men whereby they can be saved.' That we live in an age
when those who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth,
are labouring for the accomplishment of this object, is in-
deed, to every real Christian, a source of the purest joy, and
a call for the warmest gratitude to Almighty God.
" But whilst we contemplate with unmingled satisfaction
and delight, the vast tide of Christian zeal and Christian
exertion, which is flowing like a mighty river through our
world, enriching and refreshing every region which it visits,
we should take heed lest our unchristian benevolence delight
rather to expatiate amidst the grandeur of the prospect un-
folded to our view, by the successful exertions of missionaries
abroad, than to fill up our own sphere of missionary useful-
ness at home; and though we should rejoice, even with the
joy of angels, that the heralds of salvation are going forth to
the benighted heathen nations to proclaim to them, ' Behold
we bring you good tidings of great joy, that unto you is born
a Saviour." Oh ! should we not rejoice if possible with
deeper joy, to assist in conveying these glad tidings to the
unenlightened portions of the sister land, where the people
are perishing for lack of knowledge, and more to be compas-'
sioned than even the perishing heathen, because, which the
light of gospel truth is blazing around them, they are still
wandering in the gloom of heathen darkness, and living
without God, and without hope in the world.
" The Sunday School Society for Ireland, in the opinion
of your committee, has supplied in no inconsiderable mea-
sure the spiritual necessities of our heretofore neglected
brethren in that interesting country. By a reference to the
Thirteenth Report of the Parent Institution, we find that
The total number of schools in connection with your
society, on the Ist January, 1840, was 3007, containing
227,391 scholars and 21,792 gratuitous teachers. Of the
total number of scholars 139,533 were reported to be reading
in the Bible and Testament, and 46,871 to be adults above
the age of fifteen. From the returns forwarded to your
society, it appears, that about one-half of the scholars are
now receiving instruction in daily schools.
"The following books have been granted gratuitously, and
sold at reduced prices, since the formation of the society,
after deducting books granted and subsequently returned to
the society) :-
125,074 Bibles 183,469 Freeman's Card for
480,666 Testaments adults

112 Scripture Extracts I 4022 Roll and Minute Bks.
984,632 Spelling-books, Nos. 33,674 Class Books
1 and 2 5964 of the Book of Hints
250,874 Alphabets for conducting S. Schools.
' Your committee deem it important to repeat the state-
ments made in your last report as to the powerful effect of
Sunday schools in counteracting the baneful influence of the
errors of the Roman catholic church upon the protestant
population, especially in districts where the number of Ro-
man catholics preponderates. And they would further ex-
press their conviction that at no former period were the Ro-
man catholic clergy more actively engaged in propagating the
pernicious tenets of their religious system. This well-known
fact is surely calculated to arouse the friends of scriptural
truth to increased exertions, not only by the circulation of the
scriptures to enlighten the members of the church of Rome,
but also to train up the protestant population in the know-
ledge of divine truth ; so that knowing even from childhood
the Holy Scriptures, they may be enabled to stand fast in the
faith which they profess to hold.'
" The committee of the Liverpool Auxiliary Association
have much pleasure in reporting that they were enabled,
during the past year, to remit to the parent society in Dub-
lin, the sum of £164 5s lld • of this amount, £65 16s 4d
have been contributed by the ladies' branch of your associa-
tion, and their zealous and persevering exertions to assist
your funds claim a grateful acknowledgment from your com-
mittee. Their co-operation has furthered most materially
the cause you have in hand, and from the benefit which has
already resulted to your association from the plan of raising
subscriptions through the medium of collecting cards, your
committee trust that a measure which has been found so
practicable and productive in many cases, will he more gene-
rally adopted in Liverpool.
" Your committee would take this opportunity to record
their sense of gratitude to the Rev. Fielding Ould and the
Rev. B. Marshall, who kindly permitted the cause of the
Irish Sunday School Society to be advocated from their pul-
pits, and collections to be made in Christ and St. Mark's
churches during the past year, thus enabling your association
to afford to the Parent Institution unequivocal proof that the
friends of scriptural instruction in the highly favoured town
of Liverpool, are not uninterested in the work of religious
improvement going forward in Ireland.
" Your committee cannot conclude their report without
expressing their regret at perceiving that the hostility of the
Roman catholic clergy to Sunday school instruction con-
tinues unabated. It is, however, important to notice that
Roman catholics, if left to their own choice, would gladly
avail themselves of the advantages of scriptural education.
But opposition to the cause of God, whether it assume the
appearance of cunning or open force, must fall before the
light of truth, when there are found in the land so many
ready to contend for the faith once delivered •to the saints,
and to gird themselves for the defence of protestantism,
handed down to us by those who witnessed a good confession
even unto death—and committing the cause of the Sunday
School Society for Ireland to the care and protection of the
great Head of the church, without whose blessing no work,
however perseveringly continued, can prosper, your com-
mittee would conclude their report in the words of an elo-
quent and distinguished divine of our own time, the Rev.
Henry Melville :
" We know something of the worth of a pure gospel, and
a free Bible : and we will bind ourselves by the name of Him
who liveth and abideth for ever,' to try to preserve unim-
paired the privileges bequeathed at such cost. The spirit of
protestantism may have long lain dormant, but it is not ex-
tinct : it shall be found in the hour of her church's peril,
that there are yet bold and true-hearted men in England,
who count religion dearer than existence ; and who having
received from their fathers a charter of faith, stained with
the blood of the holiest and the best, would rather dye it
afresh in the tide of their own veins, than send it down, torn
and mutilated, to their children.' "

The Rev. A. M'CONICEY moved the first resolution. He
told the meeting from their hearty responses to some pas-
sages in the report, and to some observations from the re-
spected chairmaii, he was glad to see that the meeting knew
what was meant by the Irish Sunday School Society, by Ire-
land, and by Popery. The principles of the society was for
promoting the establishment of schools, facilitating the con-
ducting of them by supplying books to those who could not
pay for them gratis, and at a reduced price to those who
could. No books were supplied by the society but the word
of God. A third principle was, no interference in the inter-
nal administration of any school, and no interference with
the functions of the minister of the place. Although the
society was called a Sunday School Society, it did not promote
merely secular education, but, what was indeed the duty of
the church and of a Christian government, it enabled the poor
man to send his children, to speak Hiberrtice, to suuday
schools in the week day. (Hear and laughter.) Next to our
own attendance upon the word of God, it was our duty to
supply this instruction to the children of the poor. This
being the object of the society, he trusted the meeting this
night would bid it " God speed." (Cheers.) The agent
had stated that the poor Papists were gradually coming to it
by its operations, and he was glad to say that this showed it
was not by the power of man it was doing this. This society
was not merely a School Society, but' it appeared that was
also a Bible Society. (Hear.) It had had but little means
to accomplish what it had done. It had received no aid from
government—he supposed it had not been asked, indeed—not
that the government did not stand in loco parenlis to the
nation, but because it would not probably be granted. It
was therefore cast upon the public for support. £3,200 was
the total income of the society—or about £1 to a school in
Ireland, that moral waste. How was this ? There were two
reasons. One was, that the having such a society stirred up
local supply, so that although the help was little it was effec-
tual ; and the other, that it was all a work and labour of love.
There were 23,000 gratuitous teachers, abridging their own
Sabbath-day enjoyments, separating themselves from their
families, to teach the little children the way to Jesus. The
The work, indeed, was of God—whether the people heeded
it or not ; but oh ! alas for that heart who would not wish it
God speed. (Cheers.) It had therefore claims which no
honest heart could refuse, and no conscience filled with the
fear of God could resist.
At this period of the meeting, Dr. Byrth, being obliged to
cross the river, vacated the chair, and it was taken by Mr.
M'Conkie.
The Rev. ROBERT GAGE, one of the deputation on behalf
of the parent society, seconded the motion. He commenced
by saying that the church was exceedingly active in all parts
of Ireland, and prosperous too,for even in Tipperary the
Sunday School Society was effecting great good. In the year
1809 there was scarcely a single Sunday School in the land,
but now there were upwards of 3000, attended by 227,329
scholars, and conducted by 21,792 gratuitous teachers. This
statement alone ought to convince the public of the excel.
lence of this institution. He was old enough to remember

the time when there was scarcely a single school in his own
neighbourhood [a parish in Ireland]. The first he was con-
nected with he established himself in 1819: it consisted of
three boys, two of whom were Roman catholics and one pro-
testant. Twente years afterwards he received a letter from
one of these boys in which he blessed God for the instruction
he received there. The boy was then ragged and naked, but
now he was the head servant iu a most respectable family in
Queen's County, receiving £5O. a year wages, and next week
he (Mr. Gage), although he did not know the family, pur-
posed to visit his old scholar, expecting an introduction
simply because he knew the family esteemed the man for his
religious knowledge and practise. Shortly aftewards the
school increased to 70 Roman catholic children; but they
had not been long under his religious instruction when the
priest denounced him (Mr. Gage) and his teaching from the
altar. The school, in consequence soon dwindled to ten
children, and eventually it died away. Nearly twenty years
afterwards the parish was visited by himself and other clergy-
men who formed a diocesan mission. He (Mr. Gage) was
appointed to open the mission, and twenty years afterwards,
who did he see present—meeting him at the door as a pro-
testant minister of the Word, but many of those protestant
children whom he had taught before, to hear from his mouth
the Word of Life and salvation. (Cheers.) The work of
the diocesan mission could not be injured. A new priest
came into the parish, and he took a subtle way to accomplish
that object. He went to the protestant minister of the parish
—who was known to Mr. Ould—on the Lord's day, and
asked him if this was not an interference with his parish, and
representing it as spreading poison among men's minds. The
minister was secretly with the mission, and he nobly replied
—" You are going yourself either to what ought to be the
house of God, to your chapel to teach your people—is it not
a shame for you not to teach the people yourself, but to try
to obstruct others in doing so." The priest went to the
chapel ; he denounced the diocesan mission, he said he would
curse from the altar any Roman catholic who attended the
school house. Notwithstanding all his denunbiations, many
of the poor Roman catholics continued to attend to hear
God's Word, and when it was given up from other causes
some of them said—" Remember you give us up—it is not
we who have given you up." (Cheers.) Did not this tend
to shew the advantage of Sunday school instruction in Ire-
land? (Hear, hear.) The rev, gentleman then proceeded to
mention other instances of a desire to receive Sunday school
instruction, the manner in which that desire was spreading,
and its effects upon the lives and conduct of the scholars.
These narratives appeared to excite deep interest in the meet-
ing. He next described the blessings of Sunday school in-
struction upon the Roman catholic population, in the course
of which he read a portion of a letter from the agents of the
society in the city of Tipperary, describing them, and said it
was-a libel upon the character and name of the Roman Ca-
tholic people in Ireland, to say that if they were left alone
1 they would not receive the Word of the living God. (Cheers.)
Several cases were mentioned in proof of this fact. The last
subject to which the rev. gent. alluded was that of inter-mar-
riages between catholics and protestants in the north of Ireland,
which had been carried to a fearful extent. He had a list in
his hand of 44 persons in his parish, married to Roman Ca-
tholics, and among them were only four who remained Pro-
testants. He mentioned this subject because he believed the
priests of the Roman Catholic Church encouraged Roman
Catholic men to intermarry with Protestant females. He
had himself visited 22 out of the 44, and he could scarcely
find a single spark of vital religion among the whole. But
what was the result of Sunday School instruction in that
place? He had in his Sunday School, teachers, children of
those inter marriages ; the father and mother of whom regu-
larly attended the Church morning and evening, having been
brought to the house of God through the instrumentality of
their children, and more children through the instrumentality
of this Society. The Sunday School Society for Ireland was
in this way was trenching upon the enemy's ground, and
bringing knowledge and salvation to men which by the bles-
sing of God was the means of turning their souls from dark-
ness to light.—The resolution was then carried.
The Rev. WILLIAM ARCHER, Vicar of Newcastle, in the
county of Wicklow, after relating many facts to the same ef-
fect as.ahe last speaker, moved a resolution to the effect that
the meeting recognised the sysrem pursued by the Society as
eminently calculated, under the Divine blessing, to promote
the temporal and spiritual good of the sister country.
The Rev. Mr. WHITE seconded the resolution, and it was
unanimously carried.
The Rev. FIELDING OULD next addressed 'the meeting.
He said that notwithstanding they had arrived at an hour
when it was desirable the meeting should close, he would
trespass upon their attention a few moments whilst he endea-
voured to remind them of the great subject which had been
brought before them, and which, be trusted, would not be
forgotten after they had separated. They had assembled to
promote the interests of a great national institution, the de-
sign of which was the promotion of the glory of God, in the
training up of children in the knowledge of his truth. The
motive which it sought to apply was no other than the con-
straining love of Christ, and the means by which it sought
to operate, was the gratuitous assistance of the people of God
voluntarily tendered, and the spontaneous liberality and ge-
nerosity of the Christian public. Its object was no new and
untried experiment. The Society had been in existence
thirty years, during the larger proportion of which its claims
had been submitted to the Christian public of Liverpool. At
its formation, it was ascertained distinctly that there were
not more than eighty Sunday Schools in the whole kingdom,
whilst this Society had been instrumental in calling into ex-
istence considerably more than five thousand. (Hear, hear.)
Let the meeting not forget that he was pleading on behalf of
3000 Sunday Schools, in which were taught upwards of
200,000 scholars by 22,000 gratuitous teachers. (Hear, hear.)
Let them bear in mind, that these 22,000 teachers, if paid but
one shilling a week for their services, would cost the Society
£e7,000. a year; but through their voluntary and gratuitous
aid, the Society was enabled to instruct this immense multi-
tude of children at an expense not exceeding £3OOO. per an-
num. (Hear.) This money was expended in the purchase of
the books of God, 600,000 copies of which had been distri-
buted in a Kingdom which unhappily was distinguished by a
tendency.to privation, drunkenness, insubordination to the
law, and by ignorance of all that elevates the heart. The
Auxiliary Society of this town was one of the most valuable
which the Parent Society had. Last year it sent to the Pa-
rent Society £l6O (hear, hear), and he should mention that
upwards of £6O. of that amount were collected by the kind
and devoted and anxious diligence of one individual lady.
(Hear, hear.) Having urged the necessity of others to ex-
ert themselves in like manner, the Rev. gentleman proceeded
to say that no institution was more important in its
objects, in its success, and even in its difficulties than this ;
and that it was delightful to know that whilst the opposition
of the Roman Catholic priests to it was never more fierce,
there never were more Roman Catholic children in its schools.
(Hear.) He would now briefly advert to an objection often
urged against the society. It had been charged with being
mixed up with dissent, because it gave assistance to schools
not in connection with the Church of England. The meeting
must bear in mind the peculiar circumstances of Ireland in
the consideration of this charge. Of the two millions of Pro-
testants in Ireland, one million belonged to the Church of
Scotland, who were in the position of dissenters, although in
reality they were not dissenters, inasmuch as they were as
attached as ourselves to the principle of an establishment,
and were in close connection with the Established Church of
Scotland. (Hear.) Were the society, therefore, to think it
right to refuse assistance to their brethren of the Church of
Scotland in books, in agencies, and in the various means of
the society in carrying on their Sunday schools ? (Hear,
hear.) Because of this fact, was there any individual so un-
just as to suppose that the society had a dissenting tendency,
or was calculated to further that cause, when he mentioned
that its patron was the Earl of Roden, a churchman—(cheers)
—that its guardians were all churchmen, that its committee,
with one exception—and that a member of the Church of
Scotland—were all churchmen, that its secretaries were
churchmen, and that its four agents were churchmen ? (Hear.)
And when he further stated that an eminent dignitary of the
Church of England, now, alas, no more, was one of the mem-
bers of the committee—he alluded to the Dean of St. Pa-
trick's' in Dublin, whom it had pleased God, only last week,
to call from the sphere of his earthly labours to an heavenly
crown, to the great grief of his own congregation, and the
sorrow of the church, a man of eminent talent and devoted
piety, was a warm and cordial friend of this institution ; when
he mentioned that the Chancellor and the Bishop of this
diocese were warm and excellent friends of the society—the
.former of whom had addressed a letter to him (as we under-
stood) expressing the deepest and warmest interest in its
success—was any one able to say that there was any just
ground for the charge? (Hear.) The circumstances of Ire-
land at the present time were such as to give this society
more than ordinarily strong claims upon our affections and
support. Never was the cause of Scriptural education in so
perilous and critical a situation. (Hear, hear.) Until very
recently the whole of the Protestants of Ireland were in op-
position to the National Board of Education. Unhappily, as
he thought, half of them had thought it right to give in their
adhesion to that board, and to connect their schools with that
system. He did not wish to speak unkindly of them, nor
could he forget that Dr. Cooke had been for many years and
still was a most attached and valued friend of the society ;
but, notwithstanding, he could not but greatly lament that
the strong pressure of necessity—the poverty, and not the
will consenting—had induced these men to take the very
dangerous step of touching the accursed thing. (Hear, hear.)
They had thought it right to make a private bargain for them-
selves with the Board of Education, and to say, " If you will
allow us to have a Scriptural education for our children, we
will not require, as a matter of necessity, that any Roman
Catholic child coming to our schools should read the Scrip-
tures." (Hear.) They thus recognized what we never could
recognize, namely, the right of a parent in saying that his
child shall not do that which God says he shall do—not that
be should wish the meeting to believe that Roman Catholic
parents in Ireland themselvesobjected to their children read-
ing the Scriptures. He had been himself for twelve years of
his life a minister in Ireland; he had laboured in the centre
of a Roman Catholic parish, and had the fullest opportunity
of learning the sentiments of the Roman Catholic population.
Now he had never known one instance of a Roman Catholic
parent, when left to himself, objecting to his child reading the
Scriptures ; but there was a dark mysterious man who would
go to the house when he was told that a Roman Catholic child
went to the Sunday school. When hescowled upon that house,
and accursed its inmates from the altar—when he drew upon the
terrors of the eternal, world in order to accomplish his own
unhallowed ends in this—then the Roman Catholic parent,
not prepared to brave the curse of the priest, was induced to
withdraw and inhibit Scriptural instruction to his child.
(Hear.) We thought that these Protestant brethren, in
becoming connected with the board of education, had recog-
nised this right; for they had said, " If any Roman Catholic
child comes to our schools, and his parent objects to his
reading the Scriptures, we will not force the Scriptures upon
that child." (Hear, hear.) By this conduct they sanctioned
the heterogeneous constitution of the board—they strength-
ened the hands of the board—and they gave it such addi-
tional hold upon the support of the state, that he did not
believe any future government could disturb the constitution
of that board. How was the system working in Ireland ?
He would give the meeting an illustration of it. One of
these Protestant ministers, having applied to the board for
assistance, had a school established for the instruction of his
own people, saying to himself, " I will have a sound Scrip-
tural education given to my scholars, notwithstanding I have
the assistance of the board." The priest, hearing of this,
sends three Roman Catholic children to the school, and
upon a particular day afterwards he visited it. The Protes-
tant minister, immensely astonished at the visit of the Ro-
man Catholic priest, says to him, " By what right or autho-
rity do you come here ?" Says the priest, " I have as good
a right to come here as you : there are three children of my
flock here; therefore, according to the constitution of the
Board of Education, I have a right to come here as visiter,
to see that the rules of the board are observed." The Pro-
testant minister says, " You have no right." " Let us get
information," is the reply. A letter is written, and an
an-
swer comes down from the board, saying that theyicannot
allow any interference with their rules, and that the priest is
welcome to visit the school. , (Hear, hear.) Observe the
consequence of this. The priest sends these three children.
because not one word 'of religious instruction could be given
whilst they were in the school ; he sent them there that they
might close the Bible. When they-were gone away the Pro-
testant minister was permitted to open the Bible, but not
till then. (Hear, and cries of " Shame !") This dark mys-
terious man, the priest, shewed himself even in Liverpool.
(Hear.) Schools were established in this town upon pre-
cisely similar principles. He (Mr. Ould) held in his hand a
pamphlet written some months since by a Mr. Trevelyan, a
secretary to some of the ministers, who, having visited Li-
verpool, thought it might be an exceedingly useful way of re-
commending himself to the notice and patronage of his mas-
ters, to publish a pamphlet upon the Liverpool Corporation
Schools. If the respected members of the press were taking
any notes of what he was saying, he knew what comments
we should have upon his observations. They were made, it
would be said, with a political view : we should be told that
his object in alluding to the pamphlet was the coming elec-
tion next week. He by anticipation replied that he had no
such intention ; and no matter what the press might say, he

never would attend an educational meeting without lifting
up his voice of warning against giving any countenance or
support to the sort of education there pursued. (Cheers.)
This gentleman told us, that when these schools were tea-
Wished, the clergy of Liverpool," both from the pulpit and in
many other ways, made these schools the mark at which party
and sectarian zeal directed their shafts." This gentleman
rejoiced in what were termed " liberal" opinions, yet he was
not liberal enough to believe that the clergy might be influ-
enced in their conduct by something above party or sectarian
views. He (Mr. Ou1d) trusted they had neither. He looked
upon it not to be a paltry question of party politics, but a
deep religious question. But for this he should not think
himself at liberty to touch upon it for one moment. (Hear.)
Let him now beg the attention of the meeting to this gentle-
man's account of the composition of the schools. He says—
" There are 536 Church of England children, '936 Ro.man
Catholics, 37 Church of Scotland, 76 Methodists, 62 Inde-
pendents; 30 Baptists 2 Irvingites, 6 Unitarians, and 1 So-
cialist !"
Here was a model for you! Just to make the picture com-
plete, and that the schools might be a perfect moral omnibus,
they had added one Socialist ! (Hear.) This gentleman told
us, what was extraordinary to say the least, that, although
there were six Unitarians and one Socialist in the schools, no
alteration was made in the religious instruction upon the.r
account—

" There are six Unitarians and one Socialist no.v attend-
ing the schools, but no alteration has been made in the na-
ture of the enannon religious instruction on their account.
The plan of cutting down religious instruction to the &tan-
dard of those who believe least, has never been acted upon
in these schools."

Why not? He must draw a line of demarcation somewhere.
He said no attention was paid to the Unitarian consci, nce,
none to the Socialist conscience, but that the Roman Catho-
lic conscience must be attended to; therefore, the Roman
Catholic priest was invited and encouraged to teach. He
(Mr. Ould) should like to know on what principle an Uni-
tarian minister and a Socialist missionary were not admitted
He would just as soon respect the conscience of one as the
other. And why was it that the Roman Catholic minority of
this town had their feelings and conscience consulted, whilst
the feelings and conscience of the Protestant majority ware
outraged and insulted? (Hear, hear.) Notwithstanding this
strange admixture of all sorts, after the author had told us
that the Roman Catholic children were taught the catechism
of their own church by Roman Catholic monitors acting
under the directions of their priest, he says—
" Besides what has been already mentioned, the last hour
in every afternoon is devoted exclusively to religious instruc-
tion. The Roman Catholics are during this hour always
entirely separated from the Protestants. The former are
taught the catechism of their own church, and they read and
are examined in the Bible, through the medium of the Rheims
version of the New Testament and the Douay version of the
Old Testament. The Roman Catholic monitors, acting
under the direction of their priests, instruct them in their
catechism. The Roman Catholic teachers, where there are
any, hear them read their Bible ; and in the South 'School,
where there are no teachers of that persuasion, the Roman
Catholic children are taught the Bible by one of the Protes-
tant teachers, who explains it to them in strict accordance
with those essential doctrines of Christianity which are held
in common by Protestants and Roman Catholics."
This, taken in connection with another passage, was certainly
a curiosity—
_ _

" The religious instruction g.ven cannot be termed pecu-
liarly Church of England, Church of Scotland, or Church of
Rome; it is only peculiarly Christian."
Was not this curious? It was not fish, it was not flesh, it
was not bread; it was only food. "It is not Church of
England, it is not Church of Scotland, it is not Church of
Rome ; it is only Christian !" (Hear.) Then he says—
" It contains all that is essential and fundamental in those
systems, and in Christianity itself."
These philosophers of the corporation schools must be ex-
traordinary men to obtain what was essential and fundamen-
tal in popery, and so be able to retain christianity. It was
utterly impossible. if there was this obtaining of what was
essential and fundamental in popery, there could be no christi-
anity. The poles were not wider asunder than were what was
essential to christianity and popery, and we might as well try
to make fire and water coalesce as these two. The author
then told us—

" These are very decidedly the most religious schools I
ever saw!"

Churchmen, Papists, Baptists, Independents, Unitarians,
and Socialists all mixed together, taught by all sorts of
teachers! But what was the enumeration of the teachers ?
" Five of the teachers belong to the Church of England,
three are Roman Catholics, four are Scotch Presbyterians,
two Baptists, two Independents, and two Wesleyan Metho-
dists."

Yet these were very decidedly the most religious schools this
gentleman ever saw ! (Hear.) This was exactly what our
christian friends in Ireland had been fighting against for the last
ten years; it seemed the same battle was now being fought in
this town. All the circumstances both of this country and
of Ireland were such as to impress in the strongest manner
upon every individual who loved the truth of God, the neces-
sity and importance of rallying round the standard of scrip-
tural education. (Cheers.) The meeting ,had been told
that the society was not endowed by the state, and that
it had as fair a claim for endowment as any other so-
ciety. The fact was, there was a time when an en-
dowment by the state was offered to this Society, and
nobly refused. Well was it that it refused ; for whilst
other societies which for years had existed, supported
by endowments from the state, had had them withdrawn,
and the societies almost perished in consequence, the Sunday
School Society for Ireland had gone on in its way rejoicing,
doing the Lord's work, sowing the seed of religion, which
exalts a nation, and spreading truth and order through the
land. In the midst of the lawlessness and insubordination
which had existed there, this society could point triumphantly
to its schools and scholars, and ask in what instance any of
them had raised their arms against the laws of their country,
or been brought to appear before the bar of her criminal ju-
risdiction, or paid the forfeit of his life. (Loud cheers.)
Look at Protestant Ulster, with its 2500 Sunday schools,
and at popish Munster, with its 350 Sunday schools. They
would see by statistical accounts recently published, that
there were no fewer than 398 prisoners for trial in the gaol of
Clonmel, of whom 70 were charged with the crime of mur-
der; whereas, in the city of Derry, where he (Mr. Ould)
was himself at the last summer assizes, he knew it to be a
fact that the judges had almost nothing to do—that the bu-
siness of one of the courts was concluded in a few hours, and
the judge in the other court was only occupied by the trial of
a few ribbonmen.—The rev. gentleman then proceeded,
with much eloquence, to demolish the liberal doctrine, that
there were circumstances in which a state, as a state, might
be called upon to promote the teaching even of error itself, if
shared in by a large number of the population of the country.
He concluded by moving the cordial thanks of the meeting
to the officers and supporters of the society.
The Rev. Mr. PEILL seconded the motion, and it was
carried.

The doxology was then sang, and the meeting separated
shortly before eleven o'clock.

SECOND EDITION.

Standard Office, Nine o' Clock.

STAFFORD.
RETIRING COUNCILLORS.
Conservatives
Reformers.

ELECTED NOv. 2, 1840.
Conservatives
Reformers• 0 ! ! !
PRESENT CONSTITUTION OF THE COUNCIL.
Conservatives
Reformers

STOCKPORT.

RETIRING COUNCILLORS.

Conservatives
Reformers...

ELECTED Nov. 2, 1840.

Conservatives

Reformers (one ward uncontested).... 4
PRESENT CONSTITUTION OF THE C0U144119
(AFTER THIS ELECTION.)
Conservatives .
Reformers