The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-05-25 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE,

IMPORTANT DECISION.—CHILTON V. THE LONDON
AND CROYDEN RAILWAY COMPANY.—At the Court of
Exchequer, on Saturday, this case, which is an extremely
interesting one to all railway travellers, came.on for hear-
ing, before the Chief Baron. The plaintiff is the emi-
nent Queen's counsel, who thereby sought to recover
compensation from the defendants for trespass and false
imprisonment. The defendants have justified their con-
duct under a plea which was demurred to, and held bad
by the court in banco on argument, the case now came
before the jury on the plea of " Not guilty." On the
part of the plaintiff it was shown that he had travelled
on a certain day as a first-class passenger from Sydenham
to London, and that having lost his ticket on his journey
he had, on the arrival of the train in London,
taken to a station-house by a servant of the comPannYhri:
his refusing to comply with a demand then made cr by
Croy en,
by the superintendent for the full fare ft"' After having
virtue of an alleged by-law to that been
effect.
the
full duresse for a few minutes the plaintiff paid the
full fare and brought this action. At the close of the
plaintiff's case, Mr. Kennedy, for the defendants, ad-
dressed the jury, admitting that the verdict must go
against his clients, though the jury had not yet been
placed in possession of the full facts of the case. At the
suggestion of the Chief Baron the gentleman was about
to make an apology, but was checked by his client, who
objected on the part of the company to his compliance
with the course proposed. The jury, not being able to
agree, retired from court to consider their verdict, and,
after an absence of nearly two hours, returned with a ver-
dict for the plaintiff for £5OO damages.

THE ANTI-STATE CHURCH LEAGUE.-WHAT
ARE ITS OBJECTS ?

(From the Birmingham Advertiser.)
At the recent sittings of the Anti-State-Church Con-
ference, in London, certain resolutions are reported to
have been carried, which, when divested of their verbiage
and reduced to simple propositions, are calculated to ex-
cite astonishment, if not alarm, in the mind of every one
that values religious peace and national tranquility. Let
these resolutions be translated into practice, and there
will forthwith spring into being an agitation as direful in
its effects upon personal excellence, as it must prove in-
jurious to the cause of truth and piety. It is admitting a
great deal, but candour requires it, when we own our in-
dividual belief, that of all conflicts waged among man-
kind, those are the most bitter and most relentless which
affect religion, and the particular mode of its dissemina-
tion and support. There is something in the rights of
conscience which every candid man will endeavour to
respect ; but there are things attempted under the cloak
of this principle that would make an angel weep. We
admit the right of individuals to select which phase of
truth appears most lovely to the heart and intellect, but if
truth be embraced on its own account, without ulterior
motives and sinister designs, the man embracing it will
never seek to destroy the substance, or to enthrone the
semblance in its stead. So much as an exposition'of our
views upon the great questions of faith and government,
which have split the religious family into such innumer-
able segments, when if truth were rightly apprehended,
andits influence properly felt and yielded to, the great
circle of religious unity would be restored and perfected.
It would seem, however, there is something in the
genius of Dissent that disdains the peaceful principles of"
religious truth. There is not sufficient of excitement, in
its quiet but onward progress, to satisfy the restless
activity and mental inflation of its votaries, and hence the
model of their future proceedings has been selected from
the condemned and rejected armoury. of the Anti-Corn
Law T.p.ue. A fund of £50,000 is forthwith to be
raised, although the charitable institutions of their com-
munity should suffer in consequence ; lecturers are forth-
with to be despatched throughout the length and breadth
of. England ; and the sword is never to be sheathed again
till the principle of religious endowments be obliterated
from the permissive code of Britain, and the Church of
of England be for ever separated from the State, of which
it has so long been the beauty and support ; for a god-
less nation is a nation without hope, and the nation that
would treat religion as a matter too trivial or too maim--
portant for its rulers-to protect, is beyond all remedy.
But our present purpose is rather to elicit truth than
provoke hostility. We really cannot think that the
object implied by the language we have read, has faithfully
presented the intention of the various speakers' minds.
If it be so, then, indeed, it is time that Churchmen bestir
themselves, or their altars will be overthrown, the vene-
rated fabrics of our established religion will be usurped by
unworthy occupants, and religious anarchy, domestic
strife, and rampant infidelity, will overspread our land.-
We would, therefore, simply ask the Dissenting leaders,
who have recently conferred together, what are their real
intentions and purposes ? Are we truly to understand
that the Church is to be bereft of her endowments and
property ? Is it to be inferred that, because a portion of
her temporalities are traceable to a date anterior to the
reformation, that her possessions are to be defeased ?
What is the object of this religious league ? Is it in-
tended to divert the funds of the Church from the pur-
poses to which they are now applied ? Is it thought th,t
the fabrics of the Church will be better used and bet-
ter filled when she is no longer able to support
ministry ? Is it presumed that, because the Church may
not be loved, or her tenets entertained by every individual
in the State, the legislature will overturn the pious pa:
poses of the benevolent and holy men who from day 1°
day, since the period of the reformation, have been ex"
pending their funds in promoting her efficiency and eir,
tending her endowments ? What would be thought el
Churchmen if they carried out this principle with thos,
that differed from them ? What would then become el
their meeting-houses and their various connexional en-
dowments ? But we cannot think it possible that tn:e.
views we entertain can be an accurate representation
the motives of this league. With these doubts we as ti
for information ; we entreat the Dissenters to tell us whs
they purpose. It is essential for the peace of Chriff'of
dom, and the co-operation of religious men in wer"_...,
charity and benevolence, that we know at once the Pn;
pose of this movement. If the object be a religtouM„
volution, and, if under the mask of extended reformruj
the Dissenters are about to do, unwittingly, the WerhLia
Papists and Infidels, they may rest assured that truth ‘;',l
bo compromised, religion dishonoured, and the ne,tl",l,
rent asunder by a commotion more violent than any lou`
our chequered annals perpetuate and record.

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