The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-04-24 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL MARINERS' CHURCH.

Yesterday, the annual meeting of the subscribers to and
the friends of the Mariners' Church was held in the Float-
ing Church, George's Dock, for the purpose of receiving the
report of the committee for the past year, with a statement
of the treasurer's accounts, and for the furtherance of the
general objects of this excellent institution. There were a
considerable number of persons present, including a large
proportion'of ladies, and some individuals of the class for
whose especial benefit the church was established, and they
appeared to take great interest in the proceedings. The
Rev. R. RAIKES, chancellor of the diocese, was called to
the chair, after which the Rev. W. MAYNARD, the chaplain,
implored the divine blessing.
The CHAIRMAN, after having shown that the prosperity
of our national commerce depended on the blessing of God,
proceeded to say, that it was somewhat disheartening to find
the example of the establishment of this church so slowly fol-
lowed in other localities. If a foreigner or a traveller were
to traverse the line of the Liverpool docks, and see the wealth
and population concentred about them, and then find, that
out of the whole number, there was but one which had a
church, (and that by no means adequate to the accommoda-
tion of those for whose benefit it was designed,) he would at
once say there was groundfor an earnest appeal to the wealthy
and affluent, for means of supplying the spiritual necessitirs of
our maritime population. Many were not aware how much
the wealth upon which their hearts were fixed depended upon
the moral character of our maritime population. It was
within our iwn recollection that some of the greatest ob-
structions to the commercial prosperity of the country had
arisen simply from the misconduct of our seafaring men.
Look at the state of our relations with China, for instance.
Our difficulties with that extensive country had almost en-
tirely grown out of the irregularity committed by some of
our sailors ; and, in short, some of the most difficuit nego-
ciations and the most difficult points in our commercial his-
tory had arisen from outrages committed upon inoffensive na-
tives by careless, profligate:sailors, whom we had sent out.
We were, in consequence, shut out from the trade to China.
Similar misconduct might lead to similar exclusion in
other parts ' • and if our commercial wealth could be so in-
different to the moral character of the men employed in our
navy—if they could send out their sailors with no higher
principle than that of sense, the men thus neglected
would be the very cause of our destruction. (Hear, hear.)
In that way God would visit upon the commercial wealth
of England the punishment of the sin of having neglected
the moral and spiritual welfare of their men. It had always
constituted the peculiar charm of this church, that it seemed
to be the first attempt made by the commercial wealth of
England to give to seamen a decidedly religious character.
If the example had been generally followed, and mariners'
churches had been supplied in proportion to other churches,
what might not have been the effect of those means of grace
upon our maritime population! How many causes of offence
might have been taken away ! How many men who had
gone into eternity unprepared, with all their sins upon their
heads, and without having the joy and peace of believing,
might have been rescued from that fearful state ! He un-
derstood that the commercial seamen of this country
amounted to 200,000, and that the average loss per annum
was 1 per cent. on the whole, or 2,000 souls ! lie hoped,
therefore, that the commercial wealth of this vast town and
port would not suffer these poor men, who were the sinews
of their strength and the means of their prosperity, to be
exposed to the perils of the deep without providing for them
the knowledge of that Saviour who alone could give them
calmness in the hour of danger, and strip death of its ter-
rors. The rev. chairman concluded by calling on the chap-
lain to read the report.
The Rev. W. MAYNARD then read the report. It gave
a very interesting detail of the state of the church and
school, and a variety of other information, of which we
regret we are unable to give even an abstract.
The TREASURER next read a statement of his accounts,
from which it appeared that, after paying every demand,
there was a balance left in his hands of £B9.
The Rev. R. P. Be DnICOM moved the first resolution, to the
effect, that the report and the treasurer's statement be
printed and circulated. The rev. gentleman said that if ever
there was a society with more vast and momentous objects
in view, or that aimed at greater or more noble results than
another, and to which the support was in the inverse propor-
tion to the importance of its object, it was the Mariner's
Church. He,'therefore, called upon the wealthy merchants
of the port to come to its assistance, and enable their poor
seamen to learn the way of salvation. Mr. Buddicom con-
cluded by movirDer the resolution.
The Rev. Mr. OLIVER, from Dublin, seconded the reso-
lution, and stated, that 18 years ago a mariner's chapel was
established in that city, since which period a church had been
erected. He was concerned to hear the small amount sub-
scribed by the numerous and opulent ship-owners of this
town, because he knew they were well capable of building
a church for every dock.
The resolution was then carried.

The Rev. HUGH M'IsTEILE was called upon to move the
second resolution. He was glad (the reverend gentleman
said) to respond to the call of the Secretary of the Society
and the Minister of the Church; but he had a very different
expectation in going there. He was ashamed to address that
meeting—not of course ashamed of those who were there,
but of our fellow-townsmen who were not there. He was
confounded at such a sight in Liverpool—at such a disgrace.
lie remembered a number of years ago being in the. gallery
of the House of Commons, on the morning of which day
news had come of a French vessel having been over-
hauled, under peculiar circumstances, by one of our ships
of war, with slaves on board—slaves in circumstances
disgraceful to human nature. Mr. Wilberforce got up
and addressed the house for some time with great animation,
on the subject of the slave trade ; arid then, to the astonish-
ment of everybody, he said, " Sir," turning to the Speaker,
" I am not speaking to this house—no : I am not speaking
to this country, but I am speaking to France, to try if there
remains a blush upon her forehead." Now he (Mr. M`Neile)
would try to speak to the merchants of Liverpool, busied in
the things that perish—some of them giving nothing, and
others satisfied with giving a little of their money towards
this institution, and scarcely any of them finding time,
from the slavery of Mammon, to give the countenance
of their presence at the annual meeting of an institu-
tion like this, which ought to have been swelled and
multiplied by the. number of docks along the river. It
was impossible to take an intelligent, though it were but
a passing view of this vast town, stretching itself north and
south along the banks of the river, and spreading eastward
over the hills, without feeling that iere was a city of mighty
influence for good or for evil ; and this impression was
strengthened when we entered into particulars, threading its
streets, contemplating its vast wealth, meeting its crowds of
all classes and conditions of Illmk ; and when we looked- fur-
ther, and saw the highways and canals and railways con-
verging to it, each bringing their living tides of human na-
ture—the man of wealth for pleasure, the map of commerce
for business, and the man of science for investigation, from
all parts of the kingdom ; and when, again, turning our eyes
along the docks, we saw the flags of every nation under
heaven floating in the breeze,—these impressions, he said,
deepened the solemnity of our eternal responsibility. The
crowds that moved along the busy scene were passing
into eternity ! There, our commerce secured no profit !
There, our banking-houses contained no treasure ! There
our machinery excited no pride ! There God was all in all,
the happiness of the intelligent creation ! To know him was
indeed to be happy ; but there, there were no refuges of self
deceit, and not to know him was to be ruined for ever. Any
of our merchants might have in this world wealth the envy
of his competitors, character the admiration of his country,
amiability the cement and solace of his family circle and
social acquaintances, yet living without Christ and without
God in this world, and continuing so in the world to come,
—without God, without Christ, without happiness, without a
home, an eternal outcast from the harmony of creation, an
everlasting discord, an everlasting grating upon the ear, hate-
ful to himself, hating the sight, because he could not partici-
pate in the enjoyment, of the happiness of heaven. All this
might be. All that wealth, knowledge, rank, and fame could
give a man in this world, was at the mercy of the merest ac-
cident. A falling timber, a sudden stroke of inward paraly-
sis, or an unexpected attack of fever might launch from the
sumptuous table, the purple and fine linen, a wretched crea-
ture into; eternity ; but the true knowledge of Jesus Christ,
God and man, satisfying God and sanctifying man, brought
a peace with it which lived untouched amidst the war
of elements, the wreck of matter, and the crush of
worlds ! This was what every man should have, and
without it no man was safe. And if Christian knowledge
was so indispensibls for every man in all circumstances, how
much more urgently, speaking after the manner of men, was
it for those whose proression exposed them to multiplied
risks of sudden death ! Our mariners were exposed to mul-
tiplied risks : the perils of the sea were added to the common
perils of life. The mortality among them was great—one per
cent. per annum upon the whole seafaring population. The
risk, therefore, at once struck us as being multiplied among
men who spent so much of their time at sea, and as what
should give them habitual preparation. He (Mr. M'lsleile)
was quite aware that even upon land what was called
special preparation for death, after a man was laid upon a
bed of sickness, was little to be depended upon ; but even
that little was not to be found in the case of the shipwrecked
seaman ; there remained no time, there was no visiting mi-
nister, no glimpse of hope whereon Christian benevolence
might grasp, and upon which Christian relatives might fix
fondly au eye of affectionate remembrance after the soul was
gone. -Upon the contrary, the calamity of sudden death
with them was accompanied up to the very moment with
such an exasperation of the natural feelings, such an excite-
nient of the natural character and temper, as to provoke the
reiterated use of offensive language, and even the tone of
blasphemy, until the tongue was silenced in the grasp of death.
Oh! what became the duty of those who knew what Christian
feeling and principle and Christian happiness was, who knew
something of what death might be, because they had felt
God's wrath? What became their duty—their plain and
obvious duty ? Was it to spend their whole time in the
things of this world ; to give their whole influence, their
whole thoughts, their reading and writing, all their calcula-
tions day after day all the year round, to the perishing no-
things of this world ? Was it to turn with cold disdain
and supercilious contempt upon the efforts made by British
Christians among the very men who were the instruments of
loading their tables with the choicest delicacies of every
clime, and-clothing their bodies with the softest raiment that
could be brought from every country? No. If there were a
just feeling of the responsibility that was laid upon the
British merchants who occupied the palaces in and around
this town, as had been already said, there would be Mariners;
Churches by every dock, and the anniversary meetingsnp
this society would not be attended only by a stragghnghad.
ful of people, but no room in the town would be able to
con-
tain the merchants and their families, and their.dependents,
who should be set loose from their daily occupations
to take part in it, that they might so swell and fill the benches
that the Amphitheatre could not hold them;
as a for what meet-
ing should so move Liverpool, as one
meet-
ing for her seamen? He protested, he man,
stood in doubt
about the exhibition of their Christian feeling upon other
subjects, and about the gennineness. of their Protest..
autism, when he saw the Amphitheatre crowded to
the ceiling with meetings to ex.patiate(tohnetitifairie
riPirrosi,esctahnutreinh-)
stitutions, whilst even this loophole
could not be filled for the Mariners Church Society ! He
did not love such
Protestantism, and he was glad of this op-
portunity to say so. He_ had been requested to move, " That
whilst this meeting desires to return thanks to Almighty
God for the measure of success with which he has honoured
its labours, the society calls upon the clergy, the shipowners,
the merchants, and the inhabitants of Liverpool, for increas-
ed exertions iu promoting its welfare." The rev. gentleman
then proceeded, with astonishing effect, to set forth the
amazing love of God to sinners. This, he continued,
is what we want to tell to sailors, and indeed to all
sinners. What we desire to lodge in their bosoms is a fruc-
tifying seed, for we know the fruits that will be so produced
For this purpose then, what should we have in such a town
as Liverpool ? One little church for seamen, and one mes-
senger for grace ? Aye, one at least for every dock !
(Cheers.) Nay, what should our merchants do for their
seamen ? If the men have leisure upon the Lord's day to go
to church, should expense be considered for a moment ?
(Hear, hear.) Should not a large building be erected for
them immediately ? Land can be found when a warehouse
is wanted—(hear, hear)—land can be found whenever money
can be found—(cheers)—and what should hinder the money
being found for this object? It seems, however, as if the
larger the money of each man, the more loath he is to part
with it—it seems as if there was an attraction in money
and a gravitation in men that draws and keeps them to-
gether, and glues them to one another. The men of large
money should remember what Lord Bacon says : he
compares money to a -dunghill—" keep it," he says, " in
a lump, and it corrupts; but spread:it, and it is fructi-
fying manure." (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Every large
lump, then, should be broken up ; and a large building should
be erected for the sailors on Sundays, upon or near the quays,
a building large enough for one, two, or three thousand peo-
ple, if you could get a man with a voice loud enough for them

to hear. That, indeed, would be a noble tl
a noble feature in our town, and I would
nister of such a church, than a bishop. (Cheers.) The rev.
gentleman concluded, amidst loud applause, by moving the
resolution.
lIP
Captain M'CuLLEN seconded the resolution, and, is the
course of his address, he stated that the rapid depopulation
of New Zealand was owing to the vice and diseases trans-
. planted thither by profligate British seamen. He mentioned
the various temptations they were exposed to in port, and ex-
pressed a most anxious desire for means to be taken to pro-
tect them, and- to implant in them sound religious principles.
The resolution was then carried.
The Rev. J. H. STZWART proposed a vote of thanks to the
Rev. Mr. Maynard, and the gentlemen who had acted as
officers for the last year. The rev. gentleman spoke at con-
siderable length on the necessity of merchants and shipowner s
supporting this institution, and on the sin of despatching
their vessels on the Sabbath day.

The Rev. Mr. LAWRENCE seconded the resolution, and it
*as carried.

Mr. T. B. HORSFALL moved the next' resolution, but
before reading it he begged to refer for one moment to the
resolution moved by Mr. M`Neile. It was very rarely that
that gentleman omitted doing ample justice to any resolution
which he took in hand ; but on this occasion there had been
an omission on his part. He (Mr. Horsfall) admitted that
his (Mr. M`Neile's) remarks respecting merchants and
shipowners were very apt and very impressive; but the
resolution included also the clergy : it said that the
society called on the clergy also for increased exertions.
Now if he (Mr. Horsfall) might venture to make one remark,
it would be to request his rev. friend, and those of the
clergy who had addressed the meeting, regretting the
supineness of many merchants and shipowners, to address the
observations to which they had given such powerful utterance,
from their pulpits to their congregations on the Sabbath day.
He felt assured that the good seed thus sown would be
ripened, that there would be an abundant harvest, and, from
the influence those gentlemen had over their congregations,
he was sure we need not despair of having, if not a church
for every dock, at least the large and magnificent building of
which Mr. Al`Neile had spoken. He begged to move a vote
of thanks to the Chancellor of the Diocese for his kindness
in presiding over the meeting.
The Rev. Dr. TATTERSHALL seconded the motion.
The CHANCELLOR briefly returned thanks ; and the
Doxology having been sung mid a blessing p►onounced, the
meeting separated.

BURNING COAL MlNES.—Letters and papers from the
department of the Allier, bring accounts of a remarkable
conflagration which broke out in the coal mines of Commen-
try, on Sunday the 15th ult., and had been burning for a week
with daily increasing fury. It appears that this fire which,
for the last four-and-twenty years, has been silently smoul-
dering in the bowels of the earth—revealing its existence by
perpetual smoke, and occasional outbreaks of flame, which,
however, had always been confined within the limits aban-
doned to its dominion—had, at length, made its way through
some breach into one of the vast galleries of these extensive
workings ; and there, meeting with the air current so long
denied it, had spread through all the subterranean chambers
and passages with a rapidity before which resistance became
utterly powerless; showing itself at every crevice and outlet
of the vast labyrinth, and flinging its points and columns of
fire far up into the air, through all the shafts that led into the
wide field of the rich deposit. Luckily the solemnities of the
day had emptied the workings of their human tenants ; for
no mortal aid could have availed them against the sudden-
ness with which the fiery flood swept over all things. The
authorities of the district were early on the spot, but have
hitherto been little more than idle and awe-struck spectators.
Neither Vesuvius, nor any other irruption, say the accounts,
can give a notion of the dreadful and sublime scene. " If,"
says one writer, " it, were possible to forget that the flames
have been, for three whole days, devouring immense wealth,
and that by this conflagration three hundred fathers of fami-
lies will be thrown out of employment, there would be room
for no other sentiment than that of admiration at the magni-
ficent spectacle. Imagine a deep ravine, nearly circular, in
the form of a reversed cone, with its edges, however, hourly
enlarging. Through fourteen large openings, issuing at about
twenty feet above the ground of this ravine, and giving access
to the innumerable galleries of the mines below, as many
torrents of flame are poured forth, with frightful violence,
from the cauldrons within—flames of a thousand hues, rush-
ing forth like fiery whirlwinds—dividing, and crossing, and
mingling, and rising, and falling, and rising again ! At
times, a hollow cracking sound echoes through the abyss ;
this is some huge block of coal detaching itself from the roof
or sides of one of the galleries, and falling into the blazing
gulph. Then rises up a thick column of black dust, till it
reaches the openings of the galleries, where, pierced in all
directions by the flames, long serpents of fire work through
its volume from side to side. Sixty feet higher up, on each
side of the galleries, two gaping mouths shoot into the air
their dazzling columns of fire. Suddenly one of these ceases.
It seems for a moment as if checked in its wrath. Then
comes a long and startling groan from the entrails of the
earth ; and forth again rushes the flame, blood-red, roaring
and terrible, threatening in its fury to lift up the burning
mountain altogether, and bury the spectators beneath its
dreadful ruins. Again, loot around you ; it is midnight, and
two thousand human faces are there, some grouped on the
opposite crest of the ravine, some sheltered in the cavities of
the rocks. Yet no sound meets the ear save that of the roar-
ing flames." The latest accounts state that the rafters of the
galleries had all fallen, and the founts of flame nearly ceased
to play. The whole had become one huge burning gulph.
The loss is said to be incalculable ; millions of hectrolites of
coal had been consumed. The engineers were preparing to
turn the course of a stream, which flows at a league's dis-
tance, and direct it upon the burning mountain. Workmen
were employed night and day in this operation, by which it
was hoped today the mines under water.—Atheneum.

•SECOND EDITION.

Slamlard-office, 7.llrec o'clock.

LIVERPOOL CORN EXCHANGE,--THIS DAY.

Within the last three days we have to note a moderate
quantity of Oats and Oatmeal from Ireland, but of other
articles thence, or of any coastwise, the arrivals are unim-
portant ; while those from the continental ports of Europe
contain a fair supply of Wheat and Barley, a few parcels of
Oats, Beans, and Pease ; and from the American States
15,234 barrels of Flour, which, with the large accumulation
previously here, form an abundant stock on hand.
By the average returns of the kingdom, received this
morning, the duties upon all foreign produce remain pre-
cisely the same as last week : in anticipation, however, of
those on Wheat receding to 13s. Bd. per quarter, and on
Flour to Bs. nd. per barrel, the buyers since Tuesday, ap-
pearing disposed to wait the result, have been very inactive,
and we have consequently to report an indifferent trade gene-
rally from that time until to-day.
Influenced by the cause above stated, and the prevalence
of fine weather, we had at this day's market a slender at-
tendance only of local millers, who continued to purchase
very sparingly; but, having some demand for the interior of
the country and Ireland, sales of Foreign Wheat were ef-
fected to a moderate extent, partly in bond, to ship free after
Friday next at a decline of 2d. to 3d. per 701b5., and for
present delivery at a slight depression from the rates of
Tuesday last.

English and Irish Flour, superseded by the large supply
of Foreign, remained almost wholly unnoticed ; and States
free Flour moved off slowly at late prices. Of the latter
kind in bond, however, a few thousand barrels have been
taken at 275. 6d., and good parcels would readily bring 275.,
which importers refuse to accept at present.
Fine English Malting Barley, upon a limited demand,
supyorted former rates ; but grinding samples of Foreign,
being difficult of sale, were the turn cheaper.—Beans and
Pease remained steady in value.
Oats, although not in lively request, were rather more
saleable to-day at an improvement of -1-d. to ld. per 45 lbs. ;
and Oatmeal sold a little more freely at our last quotations.

ARRIVALS OF CORN,
From the 21st to the 23rd April, 1840, inclusive

DESCRIPTION. IRE- I COAST-
LAND. wax.

PO- i UNITED
TOTAL.
REIGN. 'STATES.

Wheat Qrs. j 397
Barley Qrs. 66g
Malt Qrs 3
Oats
Rye Qrs.
Beans Qrs.
Pease
Shelled Barley . Qrs.
Indian Corn
Rapeseed Qrs.
Oatmeal .... Loads 2707
Flour Sacks 40
Ditto . Brls.
Into Runcorn, Ireland and
Oatmeal, 286 loads.

6695
5195

2730

155
843

8625
6108
1173
8083

2708
1440
15309

Oats, 768 qrs.; Beans, 5

:-) -?........" ,
4,
,s, ~ - \ ... t• ;, ~, ~ 4.
, 4
9x --• •i 44
.....
.. ,-.4
.0 "
~.. ,:...
--i
e I"-
:74
Ali X

..,) ;77'
)tis:i
: --;'''
e, sr:, -%
, ,;
64
' ‹',:,.,......._!__ ~,,•vi
thing : it wou i he
I rather be the mi-