The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-03-24 00:00:00

PORTRAIT 'OP THE REV. HUGH M'NEILE,

[Tie dolt who does the dirty work for the Albion has lat-
terly been raking together everything which he imagined
would detract from the Rev. H. M`Neile his well earned ho-
nours ; and we therefore present for his instruction a more
candid sketch from one of our contemporary's own party.
The following is from the pen of the author of " Random
Recollections of the Lords and Commons," " The Great
Metropolis," Ric.]
The Rev. Hugh M`Neile has been five or six years minis-
ter of St. Jude's church, Liverpool, where he has a handsome
salary, and where his ministrations are attended by a very
large and opulent congregation. Prior to his settlement in
Liverpool, Mr. M•Neile had, for several years, been the mi-
nister of Percy Chapel, Fitzroy-aquare, in the metropolis.
While officiating in the latter place, he adopted the vagaries
of the late Mr. Irving, respecting the gift of speaking with
tongues, and the restoration of the power of working miracles.
His heterodox notions on these subjects, however, were hap-
pily of but short continuance ; he only entertained them for a
few months, and then returned to the faith which he had be-
fore abjured.
The reverend gentleman is a man of strong feelings, and of
extraordinary decision of mind and energy of character. He
feels warmly on every subject ; he cannot entertain a princi-
ple without attaching the deepest importance to it, and mak-
ing a full and fearless avowal of it in all places, and under all
circumstances. Whatever he thinks he speaks ; and, for the
opinions he expresses, he is ready to suffer any pains and pe-
nalties which may be inflicted upon him. He would make an
excellent martyr ; that is to say, he would go boldly to the
scaffold or the stake, and cheerfully testify, with his latest
breath, his attachment to, and firm faith in, any opinion, no
matter what, which he had avowed and advocated. He is a
decided and vigorous opponent of the Church of Rome. I
do believe that be would glory in being subjected to the pains
of martyrdom for his attachment to the protestant cause, and
his uncompromising hostility to the papal system. As it is,
he suffers what, to most other men, would be a living mar-
tyrdom, from his hostility to the Romish church. No man
of the present day has assailed that church with greater
spirit, or greater effect than the Rev. Hugh M`Neile; and
the result has been, that scarcely a day has passed, within the
last five or six years, during which he has been resident in
Liverpool, in which lie has not been most violently attacked
by the friends of the Papacy. 1 know of no man who has
been more largely or liberally abused. He is a standing
topic of abuse to some of the Liverpool papers. I have
heard Mr. O'Connell say, that he looks on himself as a sort
of stock in trade to the Orange papers in Dublin, adding that
all their leading articles are directed against him, and that if
he were to die, it would prove one of the greatest calamities
which could befal the proprietors. Mr. M‘Neile may say
something very similar regarding two or three of the Liver-
pool papers. Their columns are weekly surcharged with
abuse of the rev. gentleman. Who ever, for example,
Look up the Liverpool Chronicle, without encountering
attacks on " Hugh," as he is familiarly called,—both in the
leading articles, and in the letters of correspondents. It
would be a sad misfortune, it would be a heavy blow and
great discouragement to the editor of that journal, were
Hugh" to be either removed by death or otherwise, from
his present locality.
Mr. M`Neile is a man of unbounded moral courage. If
it was said of John Knox, the reformer, that he feared not
the face of clay, so may it be said, with equal truth, of the
Rev. Hugh M`Neile : nothing daunts—nothing disheartens
him. What would paralyse other men's nerves, has no effect
upon his he has nerves of iron. He waxes more and more
bold and courageous with the occasion. Opposition in a
meeting, no matter how great or how menacing, instead of
disconcerting, only makes him the more resolute and deter-
mined. It is, indeed, a positive luxury to him. I have never
seen him look so much at home or so happy, as when he had
by his speeches thrown a large meeting into a state of per-
fect uproar. He seems on such occasions as if the storm
were his native element.

Mr. M`Neile is a powerful platform controversialist. He
not only displays indomitable courage in his conflicts with
his opponents, but he is skilful in the distribution of the
blows he gives his antagonist. And his blows are, moreover,
what Lord Melbourne would call " heavy blows." He
gives them with a force and good-will which causes his un-
happy adversary to reel and stagger under them. He is
ready in.debate, and dexterous in turning an antagonist's
weapons against himself. He is quite a theological gladiator
in all his conflicts with the Church of Rome. Even " Tom
Maguire" himself, as he is familiarly termed, by friend as
well as foe, even he is afraid to meet Mr. M`Neile in theo-
logical warfare, on a public platform. Mr. M'Neile, a few
years since, sent him repeated challenges, but he declined
accepting them.

The reverend gentleman is a man of superior general
talents. No one can have heard him open his mouth without
being struck with his abilities. He is often eloquent and
highly argumentative, though no man can, on occasions, be
more prosy or declamatory.
As a preacher he ranks high. He was very popular when
in London ; and his popularity has increased since his settle-
ment in Liverpool. He is a special favourite with the ladies.
They trooped to bear him from various parts of the metropo-
lis, when here; but their numbers, in proportion to our sex,
have nearly doubled since he went to Liverpool. They like
him for his evangelical preaching: they admire him, per-
haps, for his hatred of Popery, and for the pugnacity of his
disposition as a theologian for it is a strange fact that all
pugnacious preachers are prodigious favourites with the ladies.
Why this should be, is a question which is beyond the range
of my philosophy to answer.
I have spoken of Mr. M'Neile's moral courage ; his phy-
sical energies must also be great. He has all the appearance
of a:man of surpassing muscular power. The very aspect of
his countenance bespeaks a person of great mental decision,
and of unbounded confidence in his bodily strength. He is
just such a person as, were a stranger meeting him in the
streets, would be at once set down as a man who could,
should ever the occasion arise, distinguish himself in any
physical-force exhibition, No foot-pad would ever think of
encountering the rev. gentleman, lest he should come off
second hest in the scuffle that would be sure to ensue.
He has a genuine Irish expression of countenance; you
would take him at once, if meeting him accidentally in the
streets, to be a true " Emeralder," and but for his black
coat, and rather gentlemanly appearance, there would be no
small danger of your coining to the conclusion—" Ah, that
is a Paddy, who has given and received many a broken head
at Donnybrook fair." No one could bestow a momentary
glance on the reverend gentleman without feeling the convic-
tion forced on his mind, that he must be a person whose
element is strife, and whose happiest moments are those
which are spent in the arena of warfare.
But I must not anticipate my description of the personal
appearance of the reverend gentleman. It is difficult to say
whether he appears to greatest advantage in the pulpit or on
the platform ; some prefer him in the one sphere, some in
the other ; while there are many of his greatest admirers
who say, that he shines equally in both,
Mr. M'Neile is a most laborious mail, In addition to his
pastoral duties, he has always on hand a greater or less num-
ber of squabbles, He is rarely engaged in less than three or
four controversial quarrels at once ; sometimes he is over
head and ears in twice that number. And I have often
thought, in observing the way in which the rev end gentle-
man acquits himself, when fairly embarked in six or seven
squabbles, compared with the exhibition he makes when he
is only involved in half that number, that there must, after
all, paradoxical as it may appear, be some truth in the position
which I heard Joseph Hume gravely propound, a few weeks
ago, in parliament, namely, that the more a man has to do
the better he does it.
Mr. M‘Neile is constantly engaged in newspaper warfare.
If he were to collect and publish all the controversial letters
he has written in the public journals, he would astound the
public by the voluminousness of his writings, putting out of
view scores of sermons he has published, or which have been
published for him, and the many pamphlets, lectures, &c.,
which, at different times, have proceeded from his pen.
Mr. M`Neile is a powerful and impressive speaker, He
arrests the attention of his audience the moment he opens
his mouth, and keeps it up to the conclusion of his speech or
sermon, no matter how long. He possesses great extempo-
raneous resources. Whether in the pulpit or on the platform
he is always ready both with arguments and words. His
voice is sonorous and powerful; in many of its intonations
there is something highly musical. His lungs are strong;
his voice is stentorian enough to be heard with ease in the
remotest corner of Exeter Hall—the largest public place in
the kingdom. His action is not extravagant; it is generally
subdued ; sometimes' it is chaste. He is never motionless ;
he always displays more or less gesticulation. He makes
a pretty free use of his body ; he keeps it in constant motion.
The same may he said of his face ; at one time it turns to the
right, at another to the left ; and sometimes he looks directly
before him. He is listened to at all times attentively by all
who hear him ; but, in addition to paying the most devoted
attention to everything which escapes his lips, the ladies
usually express the intense gratification with which they
listen to him by an approving expression of countenance.
The reverend gentleman has just concluded a course of
lectures, in the Hanover Square Rooms, in favour of church
establishments. Though not so well attended as the course
of lectures delivered in the same place, and on the same sub-
ject, two years ago, by Dr. Chalmers, the theological Goliath
of Scotland, they have been very numerously and respectably
attended. Had the room been open to ladies also, instead of
being confined to gentlemen, it would, on each occasion,
have been crowded to suffocation.
Though unduly, in my opinion, partial to controversy, I
have always regarded Mr. Al'Neile as a generous-minded
man. I believe that everything he does may be traced to his
convictions of right. I look upon him as a decidedly honest
man in all his opinions, and as being solely influenced by a
sense of duty in every course of action in which he engages.
Mr. M`Neile, as will be inferred from some observations
I have incidentally made, is what is called a man of bone and
muscle. He is above the average height, with broad shoulders,
and more than the usual circumference. The conformation
of his head is striking. He has one of the largest sloping
foreheads I have ever seen. He has a quick, clear eye,
which is ever active in its motions. His face inclines to the
oblong shape. His complexion is slightly tinged with a cop-
per hue, and his hair is dark, short, and bushy. The pre-
vailing expression of his countenance is that of mingled reso-
lution and reserve. I cannot be far wrong in the supposition,
that be is about forty-eight or fifty years of age.
There are several inaccuracies in Mr. Grant's portrait, but
our readers will be able to detect them. We may observe,
however, that the course of lectures now delivering by the
reverend gentleman, is, in the estimation of numbers, more
numerously attended than that of Dr. Chalmers.