The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-06-08 00:00:00

COURT AND FASHION.

The Court remains at Windsor, where the Duke of
Wellington and a perfect galaxy of illustrious foreigners
have been staying. On Wednesday, the Queen and
Prince Albert, attended by their guests, were present at
Ascot Heath Races, and afterwards the Queen gave a
grand banquet in St. George's Hall to the Grand Duke
Constantine of Russia, the Hereditary Grand Duke and
Duchess of Saxe Weimar, the Prince of Lucca, Prince
George of Cambridge, Prince Edward of Saxe Weithar,
the Prince of Leiningen, Prince F. Liechtenstein, and a
large number of illustrious and noble persons.
THE QUEEN DOWAGER.—It is her Majesty's intention,
at the advice of her physicians, to pass the next winter
at Madeira for the advantage of the climate. The
Dowager Queen will be accompq,pied by the principal
members of her court and a limited suit of domestics ;
and a vessel of the royal navy will convey her Majesty to
her destination.

The Duchess of Kent will leave England to-day for the
continent. _ _

The Countess (Dowager) of Sefton, who has been se-
verely indisposed, is rapidly regaining her health.
The Earl and Countess of Sefton have returned to
town from visiting the Dowager Countess Craven, at her
seat in Berks. _ . _

His Royal Highness Prince Oscar of Sweden, third son
of the King of Sweden, arrived at Portsmouth on Satur-
day, and proceeded to the metropolis by the South-Wes-
tern Railway.
Mrs. Hudson the wife of the Railway King,:had a grand
evening party and concert, at Albert-gate-house, on Mon-
day. Most of the vocalists of the Italian Opera took part
in the concert. The Duke of Wellington was one of the
early arrivals amongst the guests.
The Duke of Wellington purposes to give a grand
entertainment on the 14th instant, at Apsley House, in
celebration of the baptism of the infant daughter of Lord
and Lady Charles Wellesley. The Queen has been pleasedt
to signify her intention to stand sponsor to the infant.
Count D'Orsay has completed a full-sized picture of
the Queen on horseback. The horse, an iron grey, is in
the act of bounding forward ; the Queen, in a redriding
habit and a black hat, sits confidently. It is said that
the likeness of the Queen is good, but that the action of
the figure too much resembles that of a riding master.
THE DUKE OF BUCFINGIIA.M.—A correspondent sends
us the following :—" Painful rumours are afloat as to
matters at Stowe-bouse, the residence of the Duke of
Buckingham. The result of the circumstance is said to
be a determination on the part of his Grace and the
Duchess to leave England for a few years. It is said that
Stowe-house will be shut up, and the gamekeepers, &c.,
dismissed.. We understand the Marquis of Chandos will
forthwith form an establishment, and take up his resi-
dence at Wotton-house."—Globe.

A COUNTRY PARTY GOVERNMENT.
(From the Oxford and Cambridge Review)
There are ample materials left uncorrupted for the for-
mation of an able and honest Administration' as such an
assignment of offices as the following, for instance, abun-
dantly testifies :
First Lord of the Treasury—Lord Stanley.
Chancellor of the Exchequer—Lord George Bentinck.
Secretary of State for the Home Department—Mr.
Gladstone.
Secretary of State for the Foreign Department—Lord
Ashburton.
Secretary of State for the Colonial Department—Sir
R. R. Vyvyan.
First Lord of the Admiralty—Duke of Northumberland.
Lord Chancellor—Mr. Stuart.
President of the Council—Earl Talbot.
Lord Privy Seal—Lord Feversham.
President of the Board of Trade—Earl of Lonsdale.
President of the Board of Control—Earl of Powis.
- Postmaster-General—Duke of Buckingham.
Paymaster-General of the Forces—Mr. Colquhoun.
Woods and Forests—Lord John Manners.
' Secretary for Ireland—Mr. Disraeli.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster—Sir R. Inglis.

LECTURE :BY THE REV. DR. M'NEILE ON THE
TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL OF THE SEVEN

BISHOPS.

'The lecture upon the above subject, as illustrated by the
splendid painting by J. R. Herbert, R.A., which has been
looked forward to with such intense interest by the Pro-
testant community of Liverpool, was delivered on Tues-
day evening last, at the-Amphitheatre, to one of the most
numerous and respectable audiences ever collected within
the walls of that building. Upwards of three thousand
persons must have been present; and probably half as
many more were disappointed of getting admitted, the
tickets issued having been taken up two days before the
lecture. The money realized—a large sumis to be
handed over to the St. Jude's Fund for the relief of the
destitute in Ireland and Scotland. Amongst those present
on the platform and in the house, we noticed the fol-
lowing :—ltevds. F. Parry, David Anderson, Drummond
Anderson, Wm. Pollock, F. Ould, W. Warr, 11. H..llig-
gins, Wm. Hughes, John Jones, (St. Andrew's,) J. Jones,
(St. Paul's,) Groom, Carr, (St. Helen's,) David
James, Benjamin Clarke, J. R. Connor, W. Gibbon, C.
H. Watling, Thos. Irwin, Geo. Cuthbert, and S. Fenton;
S. Holmes R. Harbord, T. T. Glazebrooke, J. Edwards,
Wm. Jones, J. A Tinne, J. H. Webster, Wm. Maples,
E. L. Falloon, Duckworth, C. J. Townley, Charles
Cotesworth, J. K. Rounwthaite, Thos Forsyth, Win.
Rowett, C. S. Parker, Esq., Dr. Vose, and John 'l‘l`Neile,
Esq., of Belfast.
After an appropriate prayer had been offered up by the
Rev. Fielding Ould, the Rev. Dr. M`Neile rose amidst
great applause to deliver the lecture, and, in the first in-
stance, drew a distinction between the use of pictures as
aids or 'illustrations of historical facts and pictures em-
ployed in religious devotion. The former, Protestants
were prepared to sanction, whilst the latter they rejected
utterly. Ho then drew attention to the subject of the
picture. The trial of the bishops was not, in itself, one
in which any religious question was directly involved,
although its result decided the question whether this coun-
try, at the arbitrary will of the monarch, should be sub-
jected to the domination of popery. It turned upon two
points --a point of law and a point of fact. The point of
law was as to the prerogative of the crown to suspend the 1
laws in force against Roman Catholics and Nonconform-
istS, and a point of fact as to the publication of an alleged
libel by the bishops, which publication was construed by
the law officers of the crown to amount to the commission
of a misdemeanour. The rev.'doctor then entered into
an able and detailed history of the steps by , which
King James had pressed the nation on, by the exercise of
his prerogative, in favour of popery, until the crisis in
which the resistance of the bishops was the occasion of
arresting him. On ascending the throne, it at once be-
came clear that his design was to papalize the nation. It
was avowed by him to the French ambassador ; and all
his subsequent acts confirmed the avowal. His appoint-
ments to offices of trust were for the most part exercised
in favour of papists. He made strenuous efforts to pro-
cure a parliament that would consent to repeal the test
acts ; and when he failed, he kept the country a year and
a half without a session, by successive prorogations. To
get his friends into professorships in the universities,
where they might have an opportunity to poison the minds
of the youth of England, was another cherished object,
which the honour of having first thwarted belongs to
Cambridge, which university, through its vice-chancellor
refused to admit a Benedictine monk to the degree of
master of arts, without the oaths prescribed under the
test acts having been duly taken. Forthis conduct the
vice-chancellor was summoned before the ecclesiastical
commission ; and it is worthy of being known, that one of
the deputation from the university who accompanied him
on the occasion was the then professor of mathematics,
afterwards Sir Isaac Newton. In the following year, an
attempt was made by James to force upon the university
of Oxford a Roman Catholic as president of Magdalen
College, which was resisted successfully, and a fitting
party elected. The fellows of the college were suspended
by the king ; their president was ejected by force, and the
king's nominee inducted by force. At this time, Stilling-
fleet,, Tillotson, Sherlock, Wharton, and other lights of
the church were exercising the ministerial office, and were
popular, and hence unpalatable to the court. An example
was therefore to be made ; and Dr. Sharp, rector of St.
Giles's, was the party fixed upon for attack. The Bishop
'of LOndon was desired to suspend him, and refused, for
which lie was himself deprived of his spieitual office, the
king not daring to touch his temporalities, which could
not have been done without an outrage upon the law.
The event which precipitated the crisis, for which these
encroachments had prepared the public mind, was the re-
fusal of the bishops to obey the mandate of the king,
which required of them to cause to be read in all the
churches the declaration of liberty of conscience—a decla-
ration ostensibly directed for the relief of dissenters, but
universakly recognised as being for the aggrandisement ul-
timately of Popery. A memorial, conveying that refusal,
was presented to the king ; and as the result, the bishops
were summoned to appear before the privy council on the
Bth of June, and after undergoing an examination were
committed to the Tower. Their journey thither was a
triumphal progress, the populace pressing forward to sa-
lute them along the whole line of their route. Of the
trial itself much need not be said, the only interestingfea-
tures being the speech of Mr. Somers, one of the counsel
for the accused, from which the reverend lecturer quoted
some passages. The conclusion of the lecture. describing
the effect produced by the delivery of the verdict, we give
in his own words :

The trial lasted ten hours ; and although, as I have
already admitted, the question of the reformed religion,
the question of the Church of England, whether she
should still be preserved as a national establishment, or
whether the law that protected her as a national establish-
ment should be relaxed, suspended,—although these
questions were not actually before the court, who does
not see that all this was involved in the issue of the trial ?
(Hear, hear.) A verdict in favour of the King would have
cast the Church of England without the power of resist-
ance, without the power of remonstrance, without help,
and without hope, at the feet of a Popish bigot. Hence
the awful excitement concerning the trial. The jury re-
tired at seven o'clock. They were overheard in loud
words at midnight, and towards three o'clock in the
morning. It was a night much to be remembered in
England ! The whple difficulty was afterwards ascer-
tained to have arisen from one juror, who held out a long
time against the rest. His name was Michael Arnold,
brewer to the King's household. At last, however, he
was convinced, and at six o'clock in the morning intelli-
gence was sent to the Chief Justice that the jury were
agreed in their verdict. The court sat at nine. All the
bnches were covered with the nobility and gentry. The
hall was crowded. All the streets leading to it were
blocked up with an immense concourse of people, eager
and anxious expectants. And was all this for a mere dry
point of law ? Was there nothing connected with our
religion about it, nothing connected with the preserva-
tion of our national church ? Oh ! yes ; everything; as
regarded the public feeling—everything ! The people
were persuaded, thoroughly persuaded, that their religion
and their liberties were in danger. They believed that
the enemies of their country had found a friend in their
King. They believed that the bishops of the church were
standing in the struggle, heading the true fight for the
defence of the dearest privileges of the nation. (Hear,
hear.) Hence it was that all were in such a state of ex-
citement. BoehtNeve in
jury weeredstuemn
summoned into
itnhteoj ucsoturicets; thetook
made proclamation for silence. Sir Samuel Astrey,
etchirtieeeir:r
the officer appointed to form the jury, asked—" Are you
agreed in your verdict ?" The jury said "Yes." " Who
shall say for you ?,' " The foreman." Sir Samuel As-
trey called on Sir Roger Langley. The foreman stood I
up. That is the moment arrested by thepainter. lam sorry
you are not near enough , all of you, to have an adequate notion
of the power of the painter—his power over his own
art, and the knowledge of our common nature, in the ex-
pression he has thrown into the various countenances and
attitudes at that eventful moment. Here [pointing to
the picture] sit the bishops, and there the judges here
are the counsel for the crown, and the bishops, and behind
here the jury, and there stands the foreman. Though you
cannot see it'close enough here, 1 am informed it will be
at your option to see it in Bold-street, No. 82, on pre-
senting your cards. (Hear.) It was a moment of breath-
less suspense, and the next was a moment of tumultuous
victory. The foreman said, " Not guilty !"—(applause)
—"Not guilty!!" shouted the dense crowd—" Not guilty!"
reverberated the roof, as if Westminster-hall had partaken
of the joyful sound—" Not guilty 1" issued out of the
windows--" Not guilty !" ran along the streets—hats,
caps, bonnets, were thrown into the air—[here the rev.
gentleman was interrupted by deafening cheers]—and as
they arose they were followed by the sound of " Not
guilty !" The ready bonfires and fireworks showed the
tone of the public mind, and the state of expectation they
were for this anticipated triumph. They blazed—they
burst ; and the very rockets, as they rushed towards
heaven, seemed to explode to the tune of " Not guilty !"
(Great applause.) Eye encountered eye—hand was
grasped in hand—men, women and children ran, and
shouted, as they ran, " Not guilty !" (Continued heer-
ing.) The sound rolling across the city, reached the
inhabitants of Whitechapel ; thence it reverberated to
Kensington, and along the suburban road to Hounslow ;
where, caught up by the troops there encamped under
their royal master, it sounded like a knell of death in the
affrighted ear of the King. All England felt it. " Not
guilty !" our Protestant Church is safe ! " Not guilty !"
our Popish King is beaten " Not guilty !" our laws are
preserved ; our constitution has escaped ; our noble Pro-
testant defenders are " Not guilty !" (Immense ap-
plause.) But stay ! Amidst the boisterous clamours of
a triumphing nation, a gentler, a tenderer, a holier in-
cense is arising, from the penetrated bosoms of the bishops.
" Not unto us," I can imagine them feeling and saying,
" Not unto us," however steadfast in the hour of trial ;
not unto our clergy here in London, however faith-
ful in that debate ; not unto our counsel, however com-
petent; not unto our jury, however honest; not unto
man at all but as a secondary instrument, but unto
thy name be the praise, 0 Lord, for thy glory and for
thy name's sake !" Yes ; there was the deepest triumph
of all, in the meek, the penetrated, the humble gratitude
of those men of God. (Applause.) Now, I cannot, I may
not, attempt any very extended application of this subject ;
• but this I must say, that for several years last past our
parliament have been effecting against our church and
constitution what James 11. could not effect. (Hear.)
Liberty of conscience has been on the forefront of their
measures, considered legally ; while substantially encou-
ragement to Popery has been the issue of those measures
considered politically. (Hear, hear.) And now a crisis
is at hand. Not the trial of a few champions in a court of
law, but the triumph of the masses at a general election.
Let Protestantism be the ruling word—Protestantism in-
dependent of all difference in secular politics. The time
has come for mutual sacrifices in defence of Protestantism,
or you will have Protestantism sacrificed while you are de-
fending your private interests. (Hear, hear.) Whatever
we have, Whigs or Tories, Protectionists or Free Traders,

June 8, 1817.

Churchmen or Dissenters, let us by all means have a Pro-
testant. Let us have men who know that the utmost to
be expected from Popery is that when brought in by a ge-
neral toleration, she will get power for a general persecu-
tion. And then there may be some hope still that the real
sinews of our liberty and national strength shall be again
firm, and that the cry, the triumphant. cry, of our nation
again shall be, " Our Protestant defenders are not guilty !"
(Applause.) There is a movement in this direction—
I have heard of it in several parts of the country. Only
this day I got an account by a newspaper from Berkshire
of a movement there, where some faithful Protestants
brought the two members for Reading to the test. And it
appears that Mr. Russell and my Lord Chelsea have taken
the Protestant declaration very handsomely. Now amongst
ourselves. (Laughter and applause.) I very sincerely
regret that anything should happen to render it advisable
for our noble or gallant representative to retire. A better-
member than the noble lord, with respect to all the com-
mercial interests of the town and kingdom, it would be
difficult, I may perhaps say impossible, to find. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) Courteousin his deportment, obliging.
in his disposition, affable in his manner, clear in his intel-
ligence; diligent, regular, punctual, persevering in his
habits of business, he had entitled himself to unfeigned
respect; while at the same time he had won the cordial
affection of all who were thrown in contact with him: I
do sincerely hope that whateter disappointment may be
experienced in the events of the last few days, that no
such feelings, no such irritations may arise, as shall in
duce the slightest want of cordiality among ourselves, or-
create any needless divisions of which our enemies would
speedily take advantage. Let no crimination or recrimi-
' nation waste precious time, and disturb precious harmony.
If there be a large section of the town that wants
a man to represent them, well, let us have fair
play, and let us have peace and quietness. lam going to
take upon me a great proposal,—that two respectable
men, varying in polities, but at one and determined
for Protestantism, shall be sent to Parliament without a
contest. (Hear.) Let our Reformers and our Conserva-
tives, as they call themselves, agree in this matter. Let
them each have a respectable, high-conditioned, and com-
petent man to represent their secular interests ; but as far as
Protestantism is concerned, both Con servatives indeed . And
why not both Protestants ? Why should we suppose that
the Reformers in this town, or in the country, are opposed
to Protestantism ? Why should we suppose they are such
great fools as to he duped with an appearance of liberty of
conscience, which is only a prelude to universal per-
secution. Why should we imagine that they, who ac-
cording to their accounts, stand the farthest from Popery,
should he willing to have it in the country ; when we,
whom they accuse of having a little of it about our-
selves, are anxious to keep it out ? (Hear, and cheers.)
But I must not persevere in this strain : I must cometo a
conclusion, by asking a question to which the subject na-
turally leads,—" What is to be done with Ireland ?" The
first thing is what you have been engaged in for some
months, and which I entreat you to continue doing a
little longer—feed her,-for she'is starving still. It was to
add to our funds for doing thiS that your admission to
place this evening has been paid for, that there might be
no expense attending the meeting, and a fund to add to
our supplies for our poor indigent brethren. But what is
to be done to Ireland politically ? Why, I ask you to
listen to what Lord Ashley says. Hear him when he
spoke to the electors of Bath, the other day. " Instead of
attempting—vainly attempting—to govern the people by
the priests, govern the priests by the people." (Loud
cheers.) But how is this to be done. I quite grant it no
easy matter to govern the priests. (A laugh.) Fcr they
have laws of their own and a sovereign of their own, and
an allegiance of their own, which takes precedence of their
allegiance to Queen Victoria. Therefore it is no easy
matter for our laws to govern them. -But this is the mode
by which we should try to govern them. Educate the
people. (Hear.) Educate them well: educate "tlaem
scripturally, without fearing the bugbear of proselytism ;
carry out sound and efficient Protestant measures, to-the
mortificatiw, no doubt, of a few thousand priests, but to
the substantial movement, every way, of the social and
moral condition of millions of the people (ApplauSe.)
If we had a Protestant parliament and a Protestant go-
vernment, that would put an end, at once and for ever,
to all hopes of success to the conspirators against our
established religion—that would show them that there
was no prospect of success for them in overthrowing the
Established Church and re-establishing Popery—that they
must give it up for ever—and that would educate the peo-
ple in all the departments of civil knowledge, but especi-
ally in the word of their salvation—why, we should soon
have Ireland completely emancipated. We should have
her native millions freed from a foreign yoke: We shOuld
have her native language made the medium of Gospel
blessings instead of Papal curses. We should have her
native resources drawn out—her mines and fisheries effi-
ciently wrought by a capital which would then be safe.
We should have Englishmen going to trade there, and
finding a fit reward for their labours. We should have a
real union—an intercommunion of interest and religion.
(Hear.) Only let the Bible—the Irish Bible—have fair
play, and what the Bible in English did for England—
what the Bible in Erse did for Scotland—the -Biblci in
Irish can do for Ireland. (Cheers.) Then we shall have
the vision verified, not as he would have had it who
wished to see her in the Pope's tiara, but as we would
have it who wish to see her an ornament in the diadem of
Protestant England—

" - Great, glorious, and free,
First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea."
The rev. doctor sat down amidst a tumult of applause-

THE FALL OF THE BRIDGE AT CHESTER.

The inquisition into the cause of this memorable acci—
dent took place on Wednesday. A painter, of the name
of Clegg, proved that, when employed to paint the girders
of the new bridge in April and May last, he observed a
deflection of 11 to 21- inches in the middle girder when a
ballast train went over, and of 31-- to 4 inches when a
passenger train passed over.
Two or three painters gave similar evidence.
General Sir Charles William Pasley said, I was inspec-
tor-general of railways at the time this line was opened.
I surveyed the bridge previous to its being opened to the-
public. That was on the 20th of October last, and my
report, irr which I pronounced it to be safe and efficient,
was dated on the 22nd of the same month. I did not ex-
amine all the smaller details of the bridge. I inspected
carefully all the drawings and dimensions of the various
parts, and examined it as much in detail as I considered
necessary. I compared the drawings and dimensions
given on the plan with the actual building. This is an
iron girder bridge, in three openings or spans of 98 feet
each; wrought-iron tension bars are used to truss or
strengthen-it. I always was of opinion, and am so still,
that these wrought-iron tension bars are not of great use,
because I think that the expansion of wrought or cast
iron, from heat, differs in some degree, though not very
greatly, but that the iron girders being very massive, and
the wrought-iron tension bars thin, and of much smaller
dimensions, that the sun may act very powerfully upon
the wrought-iron tension bars, and not much upon the
iron girders ; and that therefore even supposing them to
be adjusted for a moderate temperature, intensely hot
weather coming on may destroy the proportion, and do
away with the benefit of these tension bars. It mar be
asked, therefore, what was my reason for approving- the
bridge under these circumstances ; upon which I may re-
mark, that there have been a great number of theme
bridges erected on railways in England, both bef°re an
1
some after I held the appointment of Inspector
of:lßira.ilßwoabyes.rt
slopnheeonfsotnheseever expressedfailed.anpinion,
0 Genera
that the
train was proceeding faster than had been stated, and that
the tender by some means got off the rails, and on passing
over the bridge struck the girder a lateral blow and frac-
tured it.
Joseph Locke, Esq., C.E., said—l have inspected the
fallen part of the bridge over the Dee. I have been there
this morning for the first time, and we examined all the
evidence which is furnished to us by the fragments, and
I coincide very much with Mr. Stevenson that this acci-
dent did not occur from the vertical pressure, but from a
side blow. Without going into the question of the ten-
sion bars as an aid to the girders, I take it that the girders
would not have themselves given way from the weight of
the train passing over them at the time ; and I therefore
directed my attention to the fragments with a view to es-
tablish that a side blow had been struck. I believe that
the part of the girder which is broken out could only have
been fractured by a side blow ; and I am confirmed in
that opinion by the fact, that, at the point where the girder
was struck, the leaf of the tension bar has been cut in
two. I have no doubt that the axle-box of the tender
struck that blow, for I find the paint from the tender on
.the bar. I have no doubt also that the tender inn up the
tension rod, stripping off the clips, and struck the masonry
at the termination of these bars. The axle-box would
come underneath the pillar-cap, or cornice stone, which
find is broken off and thrown into the bed of the river.
I then trace the mark of the axle box along the inner side
of the masonry ; and the tender in passing along has dis-
placed the whole masonry about ten inches, by the fore°
with which it was acting against it. To prove that this
was caused by the axle-box, I find a great mark ahoy.°
this corresponding with the wooden part of the tenders.
Believing that the tender had got off the rails before the
point where the fracture in the bridge took.. place, I ell;
deavoured to find whether there were any marks upon 0;4"
road of anything having been off the- rails on the pa-
that is standing ; there is no such indication. Upon hear
ing that some chairs had been found in the river, T ej
atnined them, and I found that some of them were snipP
by the flanges of the wheels, in the ordinary way show"(
by a carriage thrown off the rails. I found a heaP
twelve or twenty chairs, and out of the lot four of tlte'"
were snipped by the flange of a wheel. [They were pro,
duced in court.] Ido not think that mark could be 1015
duced in any other way than by a carriage wheel off t
line. I can account for the tearing away of rods Or Oct
thing of that kind by the falling of the carriages, but 0,0
for the mark in the chair. I believe the supports of
bridge were quite adequate, but I frankly state that Ivo
not like cast-iron girders in any shape myself.
re
Coroner: They are cheaper I suppose 7] No ; therLo
more expensive ; a brick or stone bridge could have
constructed 'much cheaper. Sometimes the Admire, ;0?
the Board of Trade, and the Commissioners of Railln,
require bridges of large span to be adopted, without c
sidering the safety of the public travelling on the railivtViat
or the convenience of the company. lam not aware .%1
the present bridge was constructed at the request of "
of those bodies. cite
Charles Vignolles, Esq., C.E., said he joined gr. lictici
in the examination of the fragments of the bridge,_c aci.
I coincided with him most fully and entirely, that the ';`tiog
dent was occasioned by a lateral blow. From the posit be
in which the carriages were described as having-falle,!9_,;
was fully convinced that it had arisen from a side I,__l°oe
for they lay transversely instead of longitudinallYo..e
came down here with the conviction that the bridge
not sufficiently strong, but that opinion had been • !The
now. He was not in favour of such bridges, though
had been obliged to erect them on several occasions.
The inquest was adjourned for a fortnight.