The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-03-30 00:00:00

Is only necessary for

the clause to leave their disability the same under the
sent bill. Now what are the facts (

the case, as they came

out in discussion? Why that the commissioners are in

reality incapacitated from meddling with the administration
of the law in parishes having local acts ; but that they can

incorporate any of those parishes in a union, and thus bring
them effectually under their control—thus set aside their
local act, and render the clause in the general -act entirely
Had Liverpool, for instance, possessed a local

inoperative

act, th

could not have legally brought its poor under their

control; but they could attach to it Walton or Wavertree,
and by forming them into a union, effectually set aside the
local privileges of Liverpool, and elude the provisions of the

very act which gives them existence

Lord John battled out this disingenuous attempt to impose
upon the house and the public as far as he could ; but he was
obliged to yield. Sir Frederick Pollock, Sir Robert Peel,
and, I may add, Lord Sandon, stood manfully in the breach,
and the clause was sent back to the workshop to be re-
modelled. • •

OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY.—No. H

WILLIAM EARLE, ESQ

Step forth illustrious William, and occupy most worthily
niche No. 2in our gallery ! An Earle art thou without an
earldom—without a peer amongst the peerage.
" The Queen may make an Oxford knight,
His dignities and a', that ;"
but to make such a man and such an alderman as William
Earle it would be utterly hopeless for her to attempt. The
blandishments of a court could never draw the stoic mind
aside " from its propriety." Diogenes could be more easily
drawn from his tub, or Dan O'Connell from his mendicancy,
than thee from thy stubborn virtue. Thy knee was not made
to bend, even to receive the honour of knighthood ; thy manly
form, like that described by our immortal bard, was not made
" to caper nimbly in a lady's chamber" ; and although some
might illnaturedly pursue the quotation, and say that thou
was't born rather to " snarl and bite and play the dog," yet
we appeal boldly to thy contemporaries to assure the world
that they have always found in thee " the meekest and most
modest of mankind."

CHURCH PASTOR,.kI, AID SOCIETY

occasion. Amongst tneL
Revs. the Chancellor,
ter, W. Rawson, F. Odd

Monc.rieff, Dr. Byrth,

N. Connoi,

Long, J. Ingram, Birkett, Carr, •
Brasher, R. P. Jones, and Marsden ;
W. Jones, Esq.,,.C. Inman, Esq., --Jawl

T. Bibby, R. Davie:

P. Pemberton, Esq., &c., &c.
The Very Reverend Chancellor RAIKEs took the chair.
The proceedings haying been opened with prayer, by the
BARKER,

Cradled though thou wert in corruption ; thrown " sur-
reptitiously" in thy guileless youth into the midst of that
chamber of iniquity—our unreformed corporation—(a piece
of cruelty for which we shall ever blame thy friends !)—few
would have wondered if thy mind had grown " awry," had
become " tetchy and wayward," or had contracted an incur-
able " squint" by watching constantly the devious doings of
thy associates. Few would have wondered if the milk of
human nature within thy sensitive breast had curdled or
turned to gall, and thy lips had been taught to give utterance
only to " distempered" and bitter speech. But how little is
the world acquainted with thy noble nature ! The tortuous
ways of the politician are untrodden by thee. Thy spirit is
of too volatile a nature to be taught to wind and twist in
pursuit of its objects, " like Monsieur Corkskrew worming
through a cork ;" but flies off at once in a tangent, nobody
knows whither or wherefore. The cunning plausibilities of
an Evans, the heavy dogmatism of a Bolton, the feelosophy
of an Aikin—nay the united efforts of all the talents of that
illustrious body, of which thou art an ornamental portiori
strive in vain to hind down to any determinate cause thy
restless and eccentric nature. Thy " winged words" burst
forth when nobody expects them, like the fizzing contents of
a bottle of ginger beer, before we have got the wire untwisted ;

and then mingled froth and acid shower, as caprice or chance
may direct, upon friend or foe. Nobody was ever knocked

down by the random shots; and although on great occasions
we have known thee to enact a whole battery of pop bottles,
yet the noise and smoke of their explosion have been the only

ffects of an awful nature which we have ever observed to

follow the performance

But let us turn thy countenance to the wall for a moment,
whilst we attempt to convey to posterity an idea of its im-
posing " developements." We have an uncontrollable dis-
like to the task of flattering a man to his face ; and there is
an expression about that of the subject of our sketch which
is not to be trifled with. Mr. Alderman Earle, as we have
before hinted at, is not, either in features or in person, an
Adonis. It is true that his cheek is of " celestial rosy red,
love's proper hue ;" and yet we have never heard that he

sacrificed deeply to the " rosy god,"—as an alderman ought
to do—or that, on the other hand, like Captain Wattle, he
was " all for love and a little for the bottle." No

vermillion tint upon the cheek of William Earle is the pure
emanation of modesty; and as his blue frock and beaver, his

cane and eve-glass come " sidling" upon our view, on " the
flags" or in the council-room, we are insensibly led to asso-
ciate them with the person of one who has " done good by
stealth,- and blushed to find it fame." His forehead is nei-
ther Phidian nor Roman, but only a very ordinary feature,
which seems to have been made expressly to take up little
room inside his grey hat. His eyes are not " deeply, darkly,
beautifully blue :" and yet the alderman can see as far through
a deal board, or a job of his brother Alderman Evans, as the
possessor of more poetical optics. The prevailing expression
of his physiognomy is one of " restless mischief; and if we
could be allowed to manipulate his cranium, we would stake
our phrenological judgment upon the fact that " combative-
' and " destructiveness" are very large, and " venera-

Mr. Earle, although undoubtedly a shrewd and an able
man, is not an orator. He never talks for an hour by

" Shrewsbury" or any other " clock." No,—speechmaking
is not his forte. He does not belong to the regulars—heavy
brigade or light infantry—for this especial reason, that he
never would stand training. But he is a very effective man,
nevertheless, in a skirmish—good in a flank movement, and
superb in " pinking an officer." His great fault is his rest-
lessness. If he has no enemy to fire upon, the moment he
is loaded, he pops his gun in the breach of a comrade, and
goes off in a shriek of laughter; or he jumps like the old
man of the sea, upon the shoulders of some unlucky Sinbad
of his party, and kicks his heels into his sides until he is
weary of the amusement. Our worthy friend James Aiken
vows that he is " uncannie," and Francis Jordan is ready
to asseverate that his relationship to the " good people" is
undoubted.

It has been seriously maintained, that from his standing
and talent William Earle possesses equally as good a claim
to represent Liverpool in parliament as Sir Joshua Walmsley
—a fact which we should be the last to deny. It is unfor-
tunate, however, that the rules of the house would not allow
him to shine to perfection in St. Stephen's. He would
make a good debater if he could be allowed to speak 40 or
50 times in the course of one debate, to interrupt his anta-
gonist every sentence—to chatter like a magpie, or grin like
a marmoset—to let off squibs at the speaker's head, or creep
under the table to play with the mace, or tickle Sir Robert
Peel's feet,—to twirl Tom Duncombe's mustaches, or clip a
hundred weight of Whisker jrom the face of Mr. Muntz, the
Brummagem tea-tray man. Such antics would not, however,
comport with the dignity (!) of the reformed House of Com-
mons; and William Earle must therefore for the present
confine the sphere of his vagaries to that august assembly of
which he is the proper " decus et tutainen."

THE CONVICT MISTER

(From the Shropshire Conservative)

Since his conviction this wretched man has continually
protested his innocence of the crime for which he is con-
demned to die. Mr. Dawson, the governor of the gaol, a
most humane and excellent man, has been very attentive to
the prisoner as far as his sense of duty warrants his attention,
—and the Rev. D. Winstone unceasing in his endeavours
to prepare.his soul for the awful change he is about to un-
dergo. We hear that this day week is appointed for the exe-
cution, and have no hope that Baron Gurney will recommend
a commutation of punishment, although the prosecutor, Mr.
Mackreth, has endeavoured to obtain an interview with the
Judge, and failing, has addressed him a letter which we sub-
join. A. petition for a commutation of the extreme penalty
was forwarded to the Marquis of Normanby, on Thursday
night—but without it is powerfully backed, must prove un-
availing.

The -following is a copy of the letter addressed to Baron
Gurney by Mr. Mackreth on Wednesday morning:—
."
Talbot Hotel, Shrewsbury, 24th March, 1841.

"MY LORD,-I hope your Lordship will pardon the li-
berty I have taken by addressing you in regard to the un-
happy man (Josiah Mister) who now lies under sentence of
death, in the gaol of this town. And although lam satisfied
that the verdict of the Jury was a just and true one, yet, my
Lord, I am prompted by my feelings, and a Christian charity,
which teaches us " to love all men, and to do good to those
that persecute us," most humbly to supplicate your Lord-
ship to incline mercifully to my prayer; and, if it please you,
to mitigate the sentence of the unfortunate prisoner, by
sparing his life. lam much inclined to beg your clemency
for the following reasons : viz.—That as it bath pleased God
to spare my life, and to restore me to a state of health equally
as good as though no accident had ever befallen me ;—for the
sake of the prisoner's youth, his respectable connections, and.
the hope that his present afflictions, may be the means of re-
forming his conduct, and induce him to spend the remaining
portion of his life as a Christian in the sight of God, with a
grateful feeling to his Maker, and the country whose laws he
has offended. For these reasons I. humbly supplicate your
Lordship, that you would be pleased to prolong the life of
the prisoner, by allowing him to live until such time as God
may, in the order of nature, summon him to appear at the
Judgment Throne of Christ.

"'Most respectfully I subscribe myself, your Lordship's
very obedient and humble servant,
W. M. MACKRETH.

tention, and which, as I heard it, I thought I would make it
the subject matter of the address, however brief, that I should
speak to you this evening. (Cheers.) It was the security
The annual meeting of the Liverpool Auxiliary to the which this society has supplied for the true Protestant evan-
Church Pastoral Aid Society was held last evening, in the gelical princi.ples of those whom it will sanction as its agents.
Music Hall, Bold-street. A very numerous and highly re- It was oneeotetnhtetahcactuistaNtviaosnisubterno?ctia against the society at its
eparttoybveiaewpasrt yltoscfluert society—that
spectable body of the friends of the society assembled on the objecten e wasm to,propagate certain

F. Barker, H. M`Neile, H. Carpen- was so. They sak
, Long, W. Falloon, Brown, J. we wished to diffus

i rejoice that it
.t was the " Simemitish heresy" that
and very true ; we do wish to diffuse
long the people the knowledge of the " truth as it is in
" and not to aid ii, reviving popery under a mitigated
"*-srm, as if we thought it to be possible that a
-4—nding to be a Protestant minister at

T, I Jesus,

p. I man mi

ght, though pre

1,311111111 y AL • •
Rushton, T. B. the same time, act as if he were a popish priest. (Hear.)
A. Hodgson, Esq., It would be impossible, it appears to me, that any one really
es, Esq., J. Rigby, having at heart the interest,of the Church of England should
J. Eden. Esa.. T. I givehis money to a society which did not watch most dili-

whom it sanctioned and

!t forth
at of th,

admirably as it is

stated in the report, it is th, very principle of patron-
age connected with the churca from the beginning sanctions

the proceec

the men, it might be asked again, who founded churches,
who gave their property in order to employ ministers perma-

nently, give it without having an object in view ? No ; the
men whom they employ, and the objects for which their pro-
tion of that which they be-

perty W

was the

lieved to be the truth. 4tVe ask no more than this. We
come forward here as a society ; here are men to be em-

ployed for the propagation of what? Surely not of that
which we do not believe, but of that which we do. It
may be that others believe something which is different.
It is indeed a mournful spectacle exhibited in the present
day, that there is a divided church. The fact cannot be
concealed—there are two parties in,the church (hear); and
he is the person who is the enemy of the church that would
forget that fact, and act as if differences did not exist. Why
should we not have the power to sanction such persons as
we believe to preach the truth, allowing to others that they,
if they choose, should sanction, and authorise persons who
should preach what they believe to be the truth ? Can it
be, I would ask any one who hears me, desirable that there
should be a miniater employed who, to the congregation of
the parish to which he was sent, should be one of whom it
might be supposed that he did not preach that which was
the real doctrine of the Church of England? The Pastoral
Aid Society places itself upon this foundation, that it will
sanction no one who does not come forward iu order to
preach that which itself believes to be the true doctrine of
the Church of England. I have pleasure in moving that
this report be printed and circulated. I should have more
pleasure in moving this resolution, if I felt that I carried
ith inc the suffrages of the audience to which I am address-
ing myself. (Cheers, and one hiss.) Oh, for shame ! We
are met fora Christian -purpose. (A cry of " Protestant

that I do. One solitary serpentine
voice, amidst a large audience, only gives assent (cheers) to
the Christian sentiments uttered in this place. (A hiss.) Oh
the time shall be when the very voice that now utters that
disgraceful sound, will change and applaud. That is a tran-
sitory sound, contemptible as it is; and the man who utters
it will feel he is the most contemptible being here. (Hear.)
But he that as it may, I say again, that to me it is a pleasure
to stand here and bear even the pelting of that which is con-
sidered to be a pitiless storm. (Cheers, hisses, and some
laughter, drowned the conclusion of the sentence—.)
The CHAIRMAN—Go on Dr. Byrth.

I feel su

Dr BYItTH.—I will. I move %fiat this report be printed,
and because it is a faithful Protestant document. I move
that it be circulated under the discretion of the committee,
because I believe it will work most powerfully for the great
cause which is dearest to my heart, and that cause is the
prosperity of the Church of England. (Cheers.) I can
bear to he misrepresented ; I can bear to have men mistake
me ; but they must bear with me when I tell them that there is
not a heart in this place that beats more fervently in its wish
for the prosperity of true protestantism, than the heart that
is within the frame that stands before you. (Cheers and
and a hiss.) Give me credit for that, and hiss me if you
like for anything else, but do believe me when I say I would
believe you. The miserable persons who have used such
means to ;put me down, I would believe them, if they told me
that they thought they were conscientiously doing good ser-
vice. I ask of them, then, to believe me when 1 say that
there is not a stronger Protestant in this place than myself,
(hear,) no man who hates popery with a more complete
hatred, no one who would make greater sacrifices in order
to demolish it. (Hear, hear.) With these remarks I re-
sume my seate humbly apologising, not for the expressions
of sentiments which I shall ever retain, namely, hatred to
all bigotry—though it expose me to the direst charge of
spurious liberality, I will cherish it as a christain senti-
ment—but apologising for having had to tell any one who
has come here professessing to advocate a christian cause,
that he has not exhibited christian spirit. The reverend
doctor then sat down, amidst mingled cheers and hisses.
ADAM HODGSON, Esq.-1 rise, sir, to second the resolu-
tion which has just been read to you, and am quite conscious
that after the excellent observations which you, Mr. Chair-
man, have made, there remains little for me to say, as to the
leading objects or operations of this society.' I should, if
time allowed, or my health permitted, be glad to make a few
observations on the secondary or indirect effects which result
from the labours of this society, but I must confine myself to
a single point. Amongst the indirect effects to which I allude.
there is one of peculiar magnitude, and it is—as has been
remarked by our beloved diocesan—a name which it is im-
possible to mention without exciting the most enthusiastic
feelings--that in adding ministers to the church, you are
increasing the number of civil magistrates in the country ;
for every minister of the gospel is, in truth, a most effective
civil magistrate. In this observation, I entirely concur. The
established church is a most effective security for the civil
constitution of this country, and the surest bulwark against
revolutionary sentiment, and at such a time as this we are es-
pecially called upon to strengthen its defences and promote
its efficiency. And in this good work, sonic of us have been
already engaged this day in another place in forwarding dip
interests of the Church Building Society ; and it is a work
to which we shall always contribute in the best way when we
endeavour to make the church a blessing in every part of the
land. It is not by arrogant assumption, by supercilious con-
duct, by unkind, or uncharitable. feelings towards those who
dissent from the church, that her services will be best com-
mended to the people ; no, sir, but it is by making her ser-
vices acceptable to, and valued by, the people, (Cheers.)
This is the true way to defend her and promote both I!"
Welfare and that of the country. In a time like this of a
restless appetite for change, the church and her ministers are
sure to constitute the first objects of attack. This is no new
event in history, and has given rise to an emphatic remark
from one whose opinion comes' with peculiar weight at this
time. I will read to you the remark in the author's own
words, and I must premise that he is neither tory, nor high
churchman—neither a Bishop of Exeter, nor a Sir Robert
Inglis, nor a Mr. William Gladstone, of Liverpool, but one
who considers himself as peculiarly the friend of civil and re-
ligious liberty—one whose feelings are all on what is called
by a sad mis-nomer the liberal side. The remark, sir, comes
from the pen of one who has contributed much to form the
character of many of our statesmen of the present day, and
some of the members of her Majesty's government; it is
from the pen of Professor Smyth—the Professor of Modern
History in the University of Cambridge—and is as follows :
'• Our church, as • I have said, is to be dealt with—and that afte
no ceremonious.or measured manner, but in a way totally alien to
the spirit and meaning of our constitution—in a way perfectly re-
volutionary.

Now, it., is not for me to step out of my province, and to speak
upon the subject of the church, but as a reader of history, and a
lecturer on history, I will leave a few observations with you, which
I hope, when you are in the world, and listening to the sweeping
and irreverant observation that you may hear in it, you will pot
entirely forget. I must then in the first place emark, that when-
ever the times become critical, the clergy are the first to be attached ;
when revolutionary altars are dressed, they are the first victims ;
they are naturally the representatives of peace and order; their
habits, their studies, indispose them to innovation and experiment;
they are necessarily in the way of those who are desirous of change,
still more of those who are ready to risk confusion ; and being
profession it is, by their expostulations, examples and
e, to desseminate piety, and check licentiousness, they
are naturally disagreeable, troublesome and hateful to those who
are the leaders in civil commotions. The possessions too of the
chureh are an insulted species of property, very tempting to re-
volutionists, and those who want it for political purposes. Men of
the ecclesiastical order, are themselves, also, an insulated descrip-
tion of men, neither from their numbers nor their characters
qualified to defend themselves. On all these accounts, they are the
first to be vituperated and insulted, assaulted and plundered by
revolutionists who mean ill, and by revolutionists who know not
what they mean. And as these things are the preludes to civil
calamities, and the ordinary prognostics and harbingers of all sorts
of atrocities, men of this' sacred character are the ljrst whose
rights the thoughtful and the good will set themselves to defend.
and whose political consequences they will endeavour to uphold;
the first whom they will step forward to support on every principle
not only of justice, generosity and humanity, but even on the
principle of common security."
These are very remarkable words, wrung from a man of
candid and honest mind—forced from him by the facts of
history, and the times, against all the opinions he had che-
rished from early youth. I will not attempt to follow the
train of thought which this extract suggests—l will not sum-
mon up those turbulent scenes which it calls to mind, so
little in accordance with the primary object of this meeting.
That object is to supply the religious destitution of the coun-
try, by enabling the Church of England to perform her duty
to every part of the community ; and I consider it a matter
of legitimate congratulation, that while supplying the spiri-
tual destitution of the country, we are at the same time con-
tributing to the strength and solidity of her civil institutionp.
This is that important, indirect effect necessarily pi-minced
by the ministration of the church and the operations of this
society; and when taking part in such a good work, merely
as a member of this society, I feel that, along with the
faithful minister, I am conferring a most important be-
nefit on my fellow men—a benefit valuable to them not only
for time hut for eternity. I have only now to say, that the
time is short, and that we are bound to work while it is
called to-day. When I look around me, and miss so many
from this platform to whose faces I have been accustomed—
some taken away by death, some removed by Providence in
those mutations which take place in a transitory world—
some by domestic affliction—some by ill health and other
causes. I feel strongly impressed with the importance of
labouring in every holy and righteous pause with all our
strength and ability, whilst the power so to do is spared us
by a merciful Providence. (Cheers.)
The Rev. Was. W. EWBANK, incumbent of St. George's,
Everton, then came forward amidst loud cheers, and said
that the resolution entrusted to his care was—
" That the spiritual destitution of our country must
awaken the sympathies of a christian community, and calls
for their energetic and powerful exertions for its removal."
He would fain hope that the mere simple announcement of
such a resolution as that would be quite sufficient to call
back those christian feelings to our hearts, which, be
thought, some of them had nearly been in danger just now
of losing. He was comparatively a stranger among them,
and therefore perfectly ignorant of the cause of this little ex,
citement ; but he did feel that the great object of such meet,
longs as this was not to manifest any unchristian feeling d
that nature, but in order, by the blessing of God and under
the impression of his Holy Spirit, to meet together, in order
to do everything in their power to further the great and
christian objects now brought before them. He would not
enter into any details connected with the society, his sole ob•
jest being to insist upon one or two of the most striking
points in the resolution. The first was the use of the most
emphatic word " must." The spiritual desecration of our
country, it was asserted, must awaken the sympathies of a
christian country. They were aware of the great differences
in the reception into the heart of spiritual blessings from
those, equally the gift of God, which related only to temporal
mercies.
We knew that every good gift comes from the Al-
mighty ; but we had continual and striking proofs before
us that
of ni were apt to forget in the gift the great
Giver
that men could therefore accept
theen gift ;
these good things and yet feel that they had not the
slightest inclination to impart them to others. They often
found that the richer a man became, the more God poured
down the tide of prosperity upon him, and harder his heart
became, and the less inclined he was to be touched by the
misery of his neighbours. But how different it was with re-
spect to these spiritual blessings. He that had received the
largest portion of them had always the most anxiety to ill.'
past them to those who were deficient. In short, our hob'
religion was in complete opposition to the natural selfishness
of our hearts. No sooner had we received those precious
blessings ourselves, than we were immediately led to desire
the imparting of them to others; and therefore he thonght
there was great force in the expression—" that the spiritual
destitution of our country must awaken the sympathies of a
Christian community." It was utterly impossible that a man
could be a Christian without having in his heart a desire to
impart the blessings of christianity to others. But this re-
quired sometimes an awakening ; the Christian sometilvas,
appeared as if lie had gone to sleep, as if he was not
awake to his privileges and to his duty. He resembled scale;
times a man in a trance. lie had within him all the vital
principle in his nature, but that vital principle was not
brought forth into action ; and, therefore, it was necesserY,

meu whc