The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-19 00:00:00

nietly true and upright in rn.

neral, state your impres
and a minister of religion ?
always been strictly honour
is a man, and a minister, I have al

ways considered you
•
•
Do you think my performance of entire Sunday duties
twice daily, must have greatly distressed by bronchial. affec•
tion ?

I should not advise you to perform the entire duty ; inas
much as I believe that public reading is more distressing tha
extemporaneou3 speaking.
Question by Captain Wiliam
first called by Dr: B

—When your attention wa

- ,ktiaticuub msease,
sutiering solely under it, or were others of his family
same time?

Dr. Buck first spoke of an irratation of skin which he.ha(
already spoken of to Mr. Archer, who had advised him to d,
sotnething, but what I cannot now recollect ; and I advisee
him, whatever it was, to give it a trial, without looking at th.
'octor's skin. I was then visiting other members of th.
As far as my recollection will carry me, two or thre

weeks after that, my attention was directed to a daughter, on
which occasion I pronounced her to be suffering from itch,
when I was told that her papa's eruption was somewhat si-
milar, and when I next saw him, I found it to be itch also.
After that three others of the family became subjects of the
same disease.

Doe this disease ever come on at first in a milder form, so
as not to be contagious, being vescecular in the first instance,
and afterwards pustular ?
Itch is always contagious, whether vescecular, or pustular.
Do non-contagious eruptions, iu the first instance, ever
change into itch ?
I should say not.

RICIIAILD K

Taken on oath, J. Walmsky.
Cetificate of Dr. Sutherland.—About three months ago
the Rev. Dr. Buck consulted me as to the state of his health
He was suffering from relaxed sore throat, and general lan..
guor of the constitution, which, to a certain extent, he Is
still affected with, and I have all along been of opinion, that
his complaints have, to a considerable degree, arisen from his
occupation as chaplain of the gaol.

J. SUTHERLANT

Liverpool, 21st Oct., 1840.
1 think it right to prove to you that
motive for employing the schoolmaster, but simply the weight
of duty falling upon me on the Sunday, when in a very feeble

:ess was not n:

state of hea!th, brought onTas I verily 'believe, and greatly
increased. by the severe nature and extent of my duties.
Observe, first, the voluntary duty amongst the debtors,
preaching every Wednesday night in their ward until illness
obliged me to desist.
" Report, 29th October, 1838.—Before my;health had suf-
fered by over much exertion, I instituted a weekly sermon
and service in the debtors' ward, which was attended by

nearly every person in confinement.
On looking to my journal, at the date June 3d, 1838, you
ivill find that I preached three sermons; December 9th,
three; December 16th, three; December 23d, four: De-

ember 30th

May 30th, foz
officiated for me amongst the boys the untried met

e entry

and the

misdemeanants, as I

perform r

t when

fully convince you, t

your &e,g,CCS.
These ektracfs will, I trust,
in health, I have never flinched from per t.
forming he
duties. I hope that where there has been an apparent avoid-
ance of fatigue, it will be ascribed to its right motive.
I proceed to the consideration of the charges of mutila-
tion, omission, and superfluity.
Either the entire short morning service has been used, or
the entire litany and communion services, or simply the en,
tire litany with a chapter, or with the psalms of the day-
In one or other of these f
ways been conducted by me.
You have been informed in the evidence that the comm u
lion service has riot heart f read so frequently of late as or
merly, the reason you have had in my
since _ replya few minute

liree ways morning praye

As to ever having wilfully neglected to read the absolution
or the creed, I utterly deny it as untrue. I may through
lapse at the moment have omitted a single prayer, on an oc-
casion ; but wilful systematical omission - I deny in the
strongest terms which the decencies of life will permit. It
is absolutely contrary to matter of fact.
I have always prayed for Prince Albert, as the consort of
the Queen of Great Britain; if it be an offence I am willing
to be punished for it.
I have, however, desisted from the practice, and have read
the entire full services, from the. moment Capt. Williams
expressed an opinion that I had been doing wrong.
I have always performed clerical duties in a master of arts
gown, not in a surplice : my reasons were simply that I
thought it more comfortable, more suitable to a prison, more
cleanly, more convenient. Since my appointment seven
magistrates, or eight, and several members of the council,
have at various times been present at the chapel service, and
have seen me thus attired, thus performing clerical duties ;
no one ever yet spoke to me, except in the language of ap-
probation. The inspector on his first visit saw me thus
attired, and made no complaint. Semper yui non prohibet,
mandaci creditur.

Any departure from mere forms, in a prison, where the
minority only profess to be of the Established Church, and
where nearly all are absolutely ignorant of the first princi-
ples of christianitr; any de-parture from forms (without

,
attention a such• an auditory, I should until now,
thought proper, judicious, necessary, and therefore quit
justifiable. To impart truth to the Ignorant, has been m)
object ; to do which, I have avoided all that could give of.
fence; I have held forms at a very great discount, in a place
where I witness only ignorance and crime, and consequently

You have it in evidence that the service, shortened as it
has been, occupies one hour and a half, of which thirty
minutes are devoted to the sermon. There cannot, there-
fore, have been any very extensive omissions. Now when it
is considered that during 'this pct' • •

LI, the prisoners. very

closely seated to each other, on low forms, without any sup-
port for the back, are subjected to that prison rule which
says, " The following are declared to be the acts of disorder
and punishable as such—namely, any unnecessary looking
round or about (each prisoner being required to look before
him) either at divine service, or at work or meals, &c., and

that'the interpretation of what is necessary or unnecessary
movement, rests with a turnkey; you will surely think that
these wretched beings have been detained sufficiently long by
tne, Witness to this, the fact of 199 reports in six weeks,
and 27 reports on one and the same day, for offences in
chapel—the great proportion of these human beings being
obliged_to attend the service, though contrary to the convic-

Cop.'s of their consciences ; and yOiii will not lose sight of the
fact, that many extremely ignorant and even wortnless cha-
racters, feel keenly on matters affecting their fancied creeds.
Consider once again, gentlemen, the evidence runs all one
way : that the prisoners like to attend the service—that n
dissatisfaction has been expressed—that an indiviC
you know will speak out his mind freely and

managed to steer clear of giving offence to prim.
needlessly arousing angry feelings, but of whom it is wit
nessed that they would think it a punishment to be kep_
away. Shall a person, having this hold upon their feelings,
and under such peculiarly trying circumstances, be degraded !
dishonoured rejected ! subjected to the pains and penaltie
of an ecclesiastical court! for dealing in the truth, rathe
than in forms and ceremonies ? You cannot
you will not, I am sure, assent to such injustice.
Consider the singularity, the absurdity of a trial before a
ecclesiastical tribunal, not in the case of the Church again
Thorogood, but of Christopher Rawdon, Robert Ellison
'Harvey, Richard Vaughan Yates, Esquires, and others, ma-
gistrates, on behalf of the corporation of Liveipool, against
John Buck, D.C.L., Clerk,
" For dividing the usual morning service. •
" For officiating without a surplice.
" For praying for Prince. Albert.
" For allowing a layman to read prayers."
I regret, gentlemen, deeply regret, that such an inquiry,
I mean ou such points, should have been instituted. One
word to me in private would have led to any change deemed
really needful for the good of the prison, or the comforts 01

I's, neve

gentlemen.

;the magistracy. • •
Now, in reference to these departures from matters of
form, I call your attention to some observations which have
,been elicited in evidence, which will shew that good has been
effected, religious instruction well and prudently adminis-
tered. • . ,

Governor.—" The present morning service, including the
sermon, occupies an hour and a half. The sermon occupies
ion an average 30 to 35 minutes.
" I believe magistrates have attended the service, and seen
Dr. Buck without a surplice."
The .magistrates have ordered that in the chaplain's
absence the service should be read by the schoolmaster."
" I believe that Dr. Buck's health has been so weak, that
the employment of the schoolmaster has been in consequence
of it. I have seen him so bad that he was scarcely fit to go
into the pulpit."
" I have the opportunity of knowing whether Dr. Buck
Performs his duty ill or well. I should not apply the word
skulking' to any part of his conduct. Ido not think that
he, with a view to escape his duties, ever went through them
.
a slight or frivolous way."
I always thought that Dr. Buck has done everything in
his power to promote the good and the moral improvement
of the prisoners. lam not aware that he ever performed
service more frequently than the law requires—l mean in the
chapel; but he has done it in the rooms, and on various oc-
casions gone from room to room, when the chapel was unfit
for use, and at other times. He has addressed the prisoners