The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-19 00:00:00

Bible rn readini,
Often.

The doctor is now ti

is likely to he

the doctor over and over a

nave you ever seen me gre,
after my return from duties at ti
Repeatedly.
Do you think my labours in the gaol have had any effect it
deteriorating my present health ?
I think they have increased the bronchial affection a goo(
deal.

exhausted immediatel
aol?

Do you know that, during the month of
flicted with any cutaneous disorder ?
This last summer, sometime. I cannot Sp(
Were the members of my family lat.
complaint ?
Two daughters, Mrs. Buck
Name the disease
Scabies. •

May, I was of

nirini under thesam

the true itch

or itch—
Did my family, in-consequence, proceed to the Lie of AI

Yes, sir. -
How long %vere they away?
I have no knowledge of the time, hut they were away se
veral weeks.

From what you have seen of ine in private life, do you be
lieve me worthy of credit?
I have always thought :it
Have you found me s
dealings
Always.
From what you know of

sion of my character as a mat
As far as I have seen, you
able ; and I should

four times a day in the yards, and perhaps six, but I cannot
say, as it is a long time back. I refer to the Sunday services
during the alterations of the chapel. I should say generally
that good to u certain extent has been done by his ministry
among the prisoners. I have been deeply affected by his

I believe members of my faii)ily_liave

I hear(

isoners say they have been, and I shouldthink from their

tears in the chapel it was so."
Sehoolmader.—" Dr. Buck usually preaches with great
warmth. I have reason to think, from my office, that his
ministry has been useful and valuable in the gaol."
" I have never heard from him a doctrine_ opposed to the

39 articles. He is habit of exhorting pri-
soners to moral conduct, and obedience to the rules of the
prison. I never heard him preach a sentiment calculated to
make the prisoners disobedient to the rules."
" I think I have never heard the chaplain utter a sentence
in that chapel which could pain the feelings of prisoners of
another persuasion."

Law.— :now the proportion •of Roman Catholics is
more than any other. I know it from their own assertions
in taking descriptions. The Roman Catholics attend chapel."
" I believe the chaplain was in ill health when no prayers

were read.!'

I have seen Dr. Buck very ill in preaching. I have
always understood that was the reason the schoolmaster
acted."

" Ido not remember one ease of a Roman Catholic r(

sing to yo to chapel on account of Dr. Buck preaching or
their religion. He has often told them, if they wished tt
he would get then

stay away on conscientious principles
- -

leave. .1 think I have heard of liornan Catholics expressing
their delight at attending the chapel. I have often heard
prisoners ask to go to chapel."*
Buckley.—" When living at Kirkdale I usually attended
Mr. James's ministry. I have heard the chaplain preach
pretty often. Ido not think the doctrines he preached are
oppoSed to those of the Church of England. When any re-
markable events happen, such as deaths,—Dr. Buck
takes notice of them, and tries to improve the consciences of
the prisoners. He has done so several times. He constantly
exhorts them to moratconduct, repentance, and prayer. He
' -"--

has taken the prison rules, gone through the wards' and in-
culcated obedience to them on the prisoners. I haveave
wit-
nessed a great burst of emotion among the prisoners during
his preaching. I have approved greatly of his ministry. 1
have walked from Kirkdale on Sunday night twice to his re-
sidence to hear him preach. I cannot say that I have heard
anything from. Dr. Buck in my opinion contrary to the doc-
trines of the church."
Mahon.—" I cannot say that any female prisoner has com-
plained to me of the subject matter of Dr. Buck's sermons.
believe the females in general like to attend the chapel. I
think they would consider it ayunishment to be kept away."

......
School-mistress.—" The catholic females have never mani-
fested any disinclination to Dr. Buck's attention. They once
told me of his mentioning something in his sermon which
offended them. They said it was that the catholics worship-
ped images.l- I told them tha,t they must have misunderstood
him. Only that once have I herird them complain."

Surgeon.—" I have found some of the prisoners have been
greatly pleased with what Dr. Buck has said to them, that
others have felt indignant at what has been said to them with
regard to points of doctrine. I should rather say one, not
others, of the prisoners. There is one man, a butcher, who
appeared indignant at what Dr. Buck had said to him as to
what salvation depended on. Dr. Buck told me he thought
he was not right in his mind."
This is the testimony of officers of a prison where more
than 600 persons are confined. After the chaplain has preached
nearly 1000 sermons in the place. His ministry, he ventured
to believe, would not be thought to have been very injudici-
ous, nor his partial disuse of forms any very grievous or un-
pardonable offence,—considering that nearly 12,000 prisoners
have been under his instruction, professing every variety of
creed.

I believe I have gone through my answer to this charge in
a way that will satisfy you that I have not purposely avoided
any part of it.
I really had the bishop's permission, though he thinks
that permission was only limited to week day duty. I honestly
tholight I had that permission, and made such entries into
my journal as-could not fail to arrest the attention Attie ma-
gistrates, and of the inspector of prisons. I made a bona
tide division of services, which was not departed from, nor
the schoolmaster allowed commonly to take the afternoon
prayers, until the state of my health required the rest thereby
obtained. • I have faithfully and fully performed more than
every duty required of me, without unnecessarily wounding
the feelings of those obliged to hear me. I have studied their
comfort, their welfare, without sacrificing any essential truth;
and men have been benefited. That I shall be able to satisfy
the Bishop of Chester, I have no doubt ; I hope my reply
may be deemed as satisfactory by the gentlemen I now ad-
dress.

NINTH CHARGE, AND CONCLUDING CONSIDERATION.
Ninth.—Whether the general conduct of the chaplain has,
from the evidence produced, tended to union amongst the
officer, and the general good government of the prison.
Tenth.—The consideration of the chaplain's fitness for his
peculiar office, as adduced from the general evidencs on

this enquiry.
- Upon the ninth charge, which is so indefinite, and the con-
cluding query, so completely a matter for the solemn expres-
sion of your opinions, I shall say but few words.

You know the governoei habits and manners ; you have
had before you, in committee, so many instances of his jea-
lousy concerning the chaplain's office ; so many proofs, in
evidence, of his family's interfering with matters with which
they had no right to intermeddle, that really it would lie

miraculous, even if ruling the prison in the usual open man-
ner of fair dealing between man and man, I could have avoid-
ed collision with him. But if you take into consideration
his office, as proved in evidence, to have been conducted' on
that, to my mind, most objectionable.principle of espionage,
you will acknowledge, that were I an angel from heaven,
perfect tranquility could not be preserved for any length of

time. I forbear, from motives you will appreciate, to refer
to proceedings going on hand in hand with those now holding

On several occasions I have been in collision with the go-
vernor, and so would any other man of feeling and of educa-
tion have been. I will endeavour, from memory, to recapi-
tulate the results.

I made a complaint, soon after the inspector's last visit
(for my miseries began then), concerning the dungeons, and
instances of cruelty, connected, as I thought, with
m did not think my complaint at that time, in re-
he dungeons, well founded, and therefore repri-
The latter part of the inquiry, so far as 1 have

heard, was never inquired into. This was in November,
1838. Soon after you returned me your thanks for bringing
instance of oppression against a prisoner. The
is the copy of a letter addressed by me to the visit-

followir

ing magistrates, 31st August, 1838 :—" The chaplain has to
report to the magistrates that he has this morning been re-
fused permission to visit a boy, confined in a dark cell. He
will feel obliged by the magistrates deciding whether, under
any circumstances, the chaplain can be kept from visiting any
prisoner."—This matter was inquired into, and set upon a
proper basis, it being fully explained that no such power was
- governor. Then followed the case of a turnkey,
scharged, on my complaint, for striking a boy.
dispute about the psalmody, of which you

vested in th

whom you

llowed

aware I ought always to have hid the direction.
Afterwards, on the occasion of the governor reprimanding
me, and that most uncourteously, in presence of his clerk,
you obliged him to apologise to me. The resolution entered
thus reads on your minutes :

must be

" The committee is of opinion that, upon the governor's
own admission, he made use of expressions towards the
chaplain which were improper, and such as ought to be ex-
plained ; and that the conduct of the chaplain in the affair
was correct." This minute is dated August 6th, 1839.
On a subsequent occasion, on the governor refusing me the
use of the incident book, you reprimanded him ; and lastly,
for keeping the transports from chapel, and treating me con-
temptuously, through his turnkey, you entered a reproof
against him in your journal, beating date August 4, 1840,
thus expressed :

" The chaplain having stated on his journal, that he came
to the prison on the afternoon of Sunday last, intending to
address the convicts under sentence of transportation, who
were to be taken to the hulks on Tuesday next, and prepared
to do so ; be found they were not in chapel, the exact time
of service being thought by the governor most suitable for
them to write letters to their friends ; and the chaplain and
the governor having been heard by the committee, and the
governor having admitted that, when Thomas Spurr, the
turnkey, delivered to him the message from the chaplain
respecting the convicts, he had threatened to dismiss him if
he at all interfered with any orders relating to the convicts.

" Resolved,—That it is the opinion of the committee that
such want of courtesy to the chaplain is calculated to weaken
the respect which all the officers of the gaol ought to have
for the chaplain."
Now, gentlemen, so far as I can remember, these are all

the collisions which have occurred between the governor and
me since February, 1838, in most of which you coincided
with me. Is it then fair to condemn me because the gover-
nor has not known how to conduct himself towards the chap-
lain of your prison ?

N.s to the turnkeys, with one or two exceptions, I do in
conscience believe you could not more severely, distress

c maker

ll peace as circumstances could

union arm
to the con

meanings
a dec

-.1- These were all school girls.

them (though their feelings being aroused on one point by
the presence of the inspector, 1 can get no support from them
at this moment) than by your dishonouring me by an adverse
verdict. They know me to be their friend; they know well
that, far from having disputes with me, when they have been
at variance wit' C• •kle dispositin-

...-h the governor, (from his he. . utsposition a
3mmoa concurrence,) I have always been applied to as the
_ _ _

1 will repeat what I have already said, that during the last
eighteen months there has been comparative peace in the

have warranted

any reasonable man in expecting, from the close contact of
such materials as the officers of your prison, and I now speak
of them from the highest to the lowest, of course iocluding

The government inspector has seriously called you to con-
sider whether the conduct of the chaplain has tended to

Beers of the prison-, thence leading you

usion that his remaining in office is not for the
good of the public service. Now, let me ask you, if there
has been a want of union, whether that ought not rather to
be ascribed to that under plot, that undermining conduct.
whibli has characterised the government of the borough

lain has done, er

prison, rather than to any thing the cl
could have avoided. Papers, deeply affecting the character
of a minister of Christ, were, at the governor's order, pre-
pared by turnkeys, from memory, from impressions after
hearing a particular discourse, and this at a time when the
governor was at variance with the chaplain. He did not
dare to produce them at the time when they could have been
fully replied to. The governor shews the chaplain an entry
in his journal of dubious wording—l should rather say, that
might mean anything or nothing,—tells him it means one
thing—tells the justices at the time that it had no meaning—
and sustains their .reprimand without wincing. And now,
many months having elapsed, he tells you on oath it had two
On the one hand he meant to call upon you for

ration of your intentions as to prison discipline, your
private instructions to him as to visitors being at variance with
your public orders; and on the other hand he meant to con-
vey an imputation against me, although my name does not
occur in the entry in his journal, nor any one word from
which it might be inferred that I was pointed at.
During the intervals two or three instances of discourteous
conduct towards the chaplain are reproved by you.
chaplain, not knowing the under plot, receives the dat

. .
of :his enemy into the bosom of his own family—at" Mr.
Batcheldor's request, agrees to take charge of his prison as
his' deputy. This person, who tells the justices that the
chaplain was the only officer of the prison in whom he could
pldce confidence, and against whom he was retaining secret
written charges, a week afterwards produces papers deeply
affecting the character of the man he had all along under the
guise of friendship been evidently intending to represent as
having fomented rebellion in the prison.

You will learn, I am persuaded with pain and indignation,
that the most underhand proceedings have been resorted to,
for the puirpose of bringing evidence against me -
rity has been made the medium ,for inducing

Even elm-
:eusations.

a shilling, to
areftigveonie l)re -
meeting with two prisoners jut discharged,
and then, the moment after this
slaednt niiiaecieesskinty"..n his
poverty, gave
gift, coolly inquired, " W'hat kind of a man is the chaplain?
Can you give anY information as to irregularities on the part
of the chaplain ?" - Oh, gentlemen ! my soul sickens at the
thought of such proceedings.
I have answered the charges preferred against me, in a
way which will, I trust, have met your approbation. That
I am innocent—that I have been defamed—that my feelings
have been greatly outraged, I believe the Inspector of Pri-
sons will now think ; and, unless I be greatly deceived, he
41 be of the. first to confess, though some of my remarks
niay have been painful to him, that he had taken an errOne-
oits view of my character.

•* After this evidence, who caiTjustrraccuse Dr. Buck of
sectarianism ?