The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-21 00:00:00

following is a comparaison of present rates with
those of the corresponding period of last year :

1853. 1844.
New Orleans, middling . 51d. aid.
fair gam, 6td,
Uplands, middling bid. 51d.
fair
WooL.—There having been some extensive
government orders given out, a little more business
has been doing in short Wools this week, and
prices are a little firmer. Combing descriptions
are very difficult to sell. In foreign there is no
alteration to notice ; the market still continues in
the same inactive state as noticed for some time
back ; and, in the absence of demand, transactions
are so trifling that prices are quite nominal. Public
sales will commence here on the 29th instant, when
about 9,500 bales will be offered. Imports for the
week, 3,113 bales, viz. :-187 Buenos Ayres ; 153
Mediterranean ports ; 392 Portugal ; 675 East
India ; 1,536 Peruvian and Alpaca ; 148 Irish, and
22 coastwise.

NOTES, NOTICES, AND OPINIONS.;

BY JOIIANIM RIISTICITS.

XXIII.—CHURCH ACCOMMODATIOR 108 TRB POOR.
—ln this as in most other large towns, we can hardly with
propriety speak of the Church of England as " the poor
man's church ;" for, though it is true that he is at perfect
liberty to enter any church without let or hindrance, and
even invited so to do, yet so little accommodation does he
usually find within, that we can scarcely wonder at his
staying away altogether. The whole system of Church
accommodation for room wants revision, and a better
adaptation to the wants of large populations. There is
wanted-1, more edifices ; 2, a different system of seating;
3, more frequent services on Sundays ; and, (as a necessary
consequence) 4, more clergymen. I know no reason why
a town church must necessarily bella large and stately edi-
fice, costing thousands of pounds, and claiming a wide
space to show off its architecture, though all this is very
desirable when circumstances warrant it. Look at the
old city churches in London—see how they were adapted
to a dense population—small, plainly, but enduringly
built, within a stone's throw of each other, and for the
most part occupying that prominent position in the streets
which in this and in all our modern towns is appropriated
to dram palaces—the conspicuous corners Then look at
Liverpool, see especially the thickly populated tract bound-
ed by Scotland-road and Kirkdale on the one side, and the
Waterloo and Regent roads on the other, probably cover-
ing more ground than the City of London, and having
but four or five churches instead of a hundred. Can we
wonder that Popery and Infidelity should flourish in such
a wilderness ? Build more churches ! not costing thou-
sands but hundreds, not decorated but durable, not occu-
pying a square but a corner, not bearing a tall spire but a
turret, -not repelling poverty but inviting its entrance.
And when poverty has entered let it find a bench —a neat
and comfortable bench—in the best part of the building,
where it may sit or kneel unquestioning and unquestioned,
as a right as well as a privilege. How can we expect a
poor man to look for accommodation in a church where
every square foot is pewed and parcelled and let for an
annual rental, and if there be any free seats they must be
hunted up in some ont-of-the-way corner. Bench the
churches, or if people must have exclusive pews, let them
be placed in the remotest parts of the building—their
occupants can afford ear trumpets better than the benchers.
But besides these,we want more frequent Sunday services,
taking in this matter the example of the Romanists, and
we want, too, shorter services—a morning prayer at one
hour, a litany at another, and a communion service at
another, as was intended by the compilers of our liturgy,
and after each, if you will, a fifteen minutes' sermon. In
the afternoon let us have the catechising revived; which;
if properly conducted, would be most instructive to old as
well as young. Then we want more clergymen, active;
zealous young men, who, for a small salary—a bare liveli-
hood—are willing to devote themselves to the most honour-
able as well as the most laborious duties of their profes-
sion, that of seeking and saving the souls of the perishing
poor. What would it cost to provide fifty such churches
and fifty snail clergymen—say £60,000 to begin with, and
£5,000 a-year to sustain them afterwards—perhaps about
one-third of the cost of St. George's Hall. Liverpool can
do it ! Let our leading Churchmen stir themselves and'
try ! Ten new churches this year, ten next, and so on.
Offers of sites are wanted immediately !

ST. SAVIOITR'S CIITTECIT, FALICNER-SQIIARB, is to be
immediately closed, for the purpose of undergoing exten-
sive alterations and repairs previous to its consecration.
Strenuous efforts have• been made during the past year to
purchase and endow the church ; and £4OOO has been
contributed for this purpose. The collection of such a
large sum in a period so short reflects the highest credit
on all who have been concerned in it. Upwards•of three
hundred free seats are about to be erected ; and the church
is to be thoroughly ventilated, lighted, and painted. As
the committee yet require to raise above B 200„ in order to
bring their work to a satisfactory close, it is hoped that
many will be found ready to give a substantial proof of
their high appreciation of the zeal and liberality which has
so signally marked this•important undertaking. _

LITEI:1;12Y AND PNIZOgDPHICA.L SOCIETY.—An ordi-
nary meeting of this society was held last night, Joseph
8.. Yates, Esq., in the• chair. Mr. Thomas- Rigge was
elected an ordinary member of the society ; after which
the following donations were received, viz., Proceedings of
the Royal Astronomic• Society, XIV. 3, from• the society;
two Ballads on the Battle of the Boyne, edited by Dr..
Hume, from the editor ; Educational Uses of Museums; by
Professor Forbes. The• Chairman then read a letter
written in 1709, from London, giving an account of-' the.
trial of Dr. Sachaverel, and of the indications of popular
feeling in connexion with that• trial. The Chairman,
explained that he had accidentally discovered the letter,
among some broadsheet& in his possession, but he could
give no information as to the writer. The Rev. A.
Fischal next read. a paper on the life and writings
of the Dutch poet Joost Van Vondel, known as the
Dutch Shakspere. In. the paper the reverend gen-
tleman, after remarking that the Dutch minstrel,.
lived at the period when the Low Countries were.
passing from despotic- to constitutional government,
proceeded to show, from some extracts, that one of the
Dutchman's poems indicated him to have furnished Mil-
ton with the plan. and many of the materials for• Ida
" Paradise Lost," the Dutch poem having been written
fourteen years prior to Milton's great work. Dr. Heine
expressed his surprise and regret that the Dutch poets
had not met with more attention than they had done,
and been more extensively translated. Some conversation
followed relative to the prevailing dialects of the German
language. Dr. Heine made a few observations as to the
probability of Milton having being indebted to the Dutch
poet for not only the plans, but also many of the details
of his great epics. The meeting then broke up.