The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-03-02 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE.

WATSON'S ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
Sra,—l feel it is unnecessary to offer you any apology
for trespassing on your valuable time for a few moments,
while I draw your notice to the dangerous character of the
above bill, inasmuch as you will freely acknowledge as
a Protestant and Englishman, may claim your able advo-
cacy in this crisis of civil and religious freedom ; and when
I use the word crisis, I do so advisedly, and am fully con-
vinced, there is no exaggeration in using that term. You
are no, doubt acquainted with the principal provisions of
bill;this
end and object of it is to allow all orders of Jesuits to
settle in this kingdom, and that without any restrictions,
hounds, or limits whatsoever. The question then comes
—Can we, as Englishmen, jealous of the civil and reli-
gioas liberties of our beloved land, allow a class of men
(sworn enemies of all civil freedom, and determined op-
ponents of a free liberty of conscience) tamely and quietly
to take root in English soil, when they have been ex-
pelkd from all other countries, whether Protestant:or
Roman Catholic, from the simple but astounding fact,
that their doctrines, spirit and practice, are and ever have
been totally antagonistic to every semblance of freedom,
whether in a civil or religious view. Who will attempt:to
prove that they are not the jealous patrons of those doc-
trines which tend to exalt ecclesiastical power on the ruins
of civil government ? Do they not contend for the entire
independence of the ecclesiastic of the civil magistrate ?
Do' they not hold tenets concerning the duty of opposing
princes who are enemies of the Catholic faith (and have
acted on that doctrine within the last few years, as the
Continent can testify) as countenance the most atrocious
crimes, and tend to dissolve all the duties which connect
princes with their subjects. And against Protestants have
they not used every art and employed every weapon ?
Have they not incessantly stirred against them all the rage
of ecclesiastical and civil persecution ? Where is the man
who can with any regard to truth and history deny that
such is not the case ? It is indeed time then that all who
value the-happiness and liberty of their country should be
up and stirring ; and my object in addressing you now is
to throw out the suggestion that a meeting on a large
scale be immediately called, and a petition embodying our
objections to the measure be prepared and sent (with an
urgent appeal to our representatives to support the prayer
of it) to Parliament. This bill is inrinitely more dange-
rous than the Maynooth Grant.—l have the honour to
remain, your o edient servant,
AN ENGLISHMAN AND PROTESTANT.

TIIE DISCUSSION BETWEEN MESSRS. BAYLEE
AND I'IIALL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
DEAR Srn,—l don't know whether you were present
on Friday evening at the Concert Hall, when the discus-
sion took place between the Rev. J. Baylee and Mr.
Miall. I was : and a privilege, in many respects, it was
to be there. I hope Dissenters felt it so :—for I am
sure, they have reason to thank Mr. Baylee whilst they
live, for giving them such full information upon a portion
of the Bible upon which they seem so wofully dark—viz.,
the Old Testament Scriptures. I feel certain, from what
I know of their system, that most of them have not
heard such a sermon from their pulpits, or from the lips
of their teachers, for many a year. Surprised, they must
have been ; instructed, they might have been ; convinced,
tbey ought to have been. It was a remarkable fact that,
though the Word of God was the acknowledged standard
of reference for both. Mr. Miall, in his opening speech,
lasting for one hour, never once touched the Old Testa-
ment at all—never mentioned chapter or verse in the new
—and in his concluding address only took his Bible in
order to allude to some of the passages in the Old, con-
cerning which Mr. Baylee refreshed his memory. If he
be the champion of Voluntaryism, and this be the manner
of Goliath's defence, then it is evident to me, that the vo-
luntary system is not founded on Scripture, but is based
on some sophisms and fancies of origin not divine, but
human. I was also struck with this fact, that bad man-
ners showed themselves amongst the Dissenters present;
for whereas Mr. Miall was heard without sounds of oppo-
sition in his second speech, Mr. Baylee was honoured
with repeated hisses, as he poured forth his tornado of
scriptural eloquence. The pebbles from old brook Cedron,
flung by the hands of an Old Testament Christian, fell
hard and heavy upon the bucklers of the Nonconformists ;
the genius of the voluntary was no match against the ar-
tillery of Moses and the prophets.
I would also observe, that Mr. Baylee stuck to his
point and to the subject, whilst the Dissenter frittered
away much of his time in vapoury declamation. When
Mr. Miall was done, the instinctive expression of my
mind was, and is this all that can be said ? ! ! lam thank-
fully persuaded, that the noble Church of England will
suffer no damage from the assaults of Mr. Miall, and sus-
tain no harm in the defence of Mr. Baylee.
The discussion is adjourned till Monday, and I regret it
extremely, for I think the question should have been con-
sidered as set at rest. Perhaps you will be there, arid let
us have as much of the discussion as you can make room
for, in your valuable paper, on Tuesday.—Yours very
truly, A CONSTANT READER AND
27th Feb. 1847. SUBSCRIBER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SlR,—Allow me, through your paper, to acknowledge
the receipt of £5 175., sent to me by Mr. Hames, in the
name of the Quintette Society of Crewe, Cheshire. I
take this opportunity of offering my sincere thanks for
this welcome aid to our funds, and, I am sure, may
express the deep gratitude of the distressed and starving
people among whom it will be divided.—l remain, sir,
your obedient servant, STEPHEN DICKSON.
Vicarage, Dungarvan, Waterford, Feb. 23, 1847.