The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-02-18 00:00:00

GREAT MEETING IN LIVERPOOL
TO PETITION FOR

CHURCH EXTENSION.

On Friday evening, a very crowded public meeting was
held in the Music-hall, Bold-street, for toe purpose of con-
siderlig the propriety of petitioning the House of Commons
to provide the means of extending the Church of England
in the populous and destitute districts of the country, and
in support of the motion of Sir R. H. Inglis, on that seb.-
ject, intended to be proposed after Easter. On the platfdrin
we observed the following gentlemen s—Rev. H. Carpenters,Rev. H. M'Neile, Rev. F. Oald, Rev. (k. 7.lllMstiel4rsAevee
J R. Connor, Rev. W. Falloon, Rev. D. Wilson, vicarlslington, and son of the Bishop of Calcutta, Rev.' W. Hes-
keth, Rev. J. H. Stewart, Rev. J. C. Richards, Rev. M.
Gardner, Rev. Dr. Tattershall, Rev. D. James, Rev. R. P.
Buddicom, Rev. W. M`lvor, Rev. C. Reay, A. Hodgson,
Esq., T. B. Horsfall, Esq., C. S. Parker, Esq., W. Jones,
Esq., J. Howard, Esq., J. Rigby, Esq., J. C. Bailey, Eq.,
of London, B. Jowett, Esq., agent to the Christian Influ-
ence Society, T. Forsyth, Esq., R. W. Preston, Esq.,
S.
Holme, Esq., W. Shorter, Esq., of Oporto, W.
Esti J. Edwards, Esq., and C. Bouttlower, Esq.
the Rev. JONATHAN BROOKS, senior rector of Liverpool,
was unanimously called upon to preside.
The Rev. JAMES STEW ART, at the request of the chair-
man, opened the deliberations of the meeting by the offering
of prayer. After this,
The Cnetemes rose, and addressed the meeting. He
said,—lt becomes my duty, in the honourable and gratifying
situation in which you have placed me as chairman of this
meeting, to state the particular object we are called upon to
further and promote. It will, perhaps, be known to most
of yon that Sir Robert Inglis has given notice of a motion,
in the Commons' House of Parliament, for a vote of a sum
of money, to extend inure generally to the great population
of the country at large the benefits of religious instruction,
through the instrumentality of the Established Church.
(Hear.) Now, in a country where Christianity is acknow-
ledged as a part of its constitution, there can be little differ-
ence of opinion that it is the paramount duty of a Christian
)legislature to provide for the religious instruction of the
people (hear, hear, hear) ; and that it should do so through
the instrumentality of the Established Church, is the natural
consequence of an establishment itself. (Hear.) I would
simply ask the question, what an established church means,
if it is not something which has been so established by the
legislature of the country for the purpose of enabling every
individual in the country to have access by this means to
that religious information upon which its own constitution is
grounded. (Hear, hear.) The very meaning of an esta-
blished church is, that in every coiner of the country,
throughout every portion of it, there should not be a vacant
spot on which the people should be unable to have access to
that instruction which is important both for their temporal
and their ashiteei welfare. (near, hear.) It was nut in-
tended, by the fact of an establishment, that all should he
compelled to accept that information in one particular mode,
but that, at all events, they should have no excuse for being
able to say it was not offered to them. (Hear, hear.) Now
a measure so extensive and universal as it is necessary this
should be--I know not how it is to be carried into complete
effect unless it is to be done by the legislature itself. (Hear.)
We have been told that the voluntary system is sufficient
for the purpose; but I would appeal to the experience of
every one who hears me, if that system has not proved to be
a fallacy. (Cheers.) I would ask whether there has been
any backwardness—whether there has been any reluctance—
upon the part of the great mass of the people of this country,
to furnish, as far as their means extended, that instruction
which is so important to them ? But, when we consider the
rapid increase of population, when we consider the ratio in
which it has been going on for many years, however great
those exertions may have been,—and they have been great,—
when we consider the simple fact that the present Bishop of
our own diocese, during the ten years he has superintended
it, has consecrated more than a hundred churches which
have risen up from the spontaneous efforts of the people
themselves, we have no right to say the voluntary system
has not been brought into effect as far as we could even hope
it to be practical. We know that upon a former occasion
large sums of money were voted by parliament, and the mis-
fortune only was that they came very late in the day. If the
executive government of the country, and our rulers, had
done earlier what at last necessity compelled them to do—
that is to say, if they had, as the population increased, kept
pace with it by providing sufficient church accommodation,
my conviction is, that we should have seen the morals and
the state of this country in a much better condition than they
are at present. (Applause.) However, that not having
been the case, we must take matters as they are ; and the
question is, what is the best mode of providing a remedy?
(Hear, hear.) A great deal has been done by the people at
large, and they have now a right to call upon the legislature
to do their part and to perform their duty. (Hear.) There
is no time at which this matter can be brought forward with
greater propriety tban the present, because I know, and I
believe it is well known to a great number of those around
me, that there are doctrines spreading about the country of
the most alarming kind and nature. (Hear, hear, hear.)
We have now attempts made to prove, by pretended ap-
peals to reason, some of the most extraordinary doc-
trines that ever arose in the human mind—such as the irre-
sponsibility of man, and the 'falsehood of that blessed
Book which, as Christians, we all venerate. (Hear, hear.)
It bas lately fallen to my lot to meet with some publications of
this kind, which in the course of my official duties fell in
my way—they having been intercepted on their admission,
into the House of Correction at Ktrkdale, They were in-
tended for a man confined there for a riot. I perused
them with some attention ; and I never read any thing which
caused in my mind a greater degree of depression andtae-
lancholy. They were blasphemous in the highest possible
degree. They asserted that the Bible itself was a tissue of
falsehoods, and that Christianity was an imposture. They
were addressed to the clergy of all denominations, and they
stated that they all of them attempted to impose upon the
people that which they themselves knew to be false. (Hear.)
These assertions would have been of little consequence of
themselves. because the common sense of the people must
have enabled them to resist doctrines of that nature ; but
with the greatest degree of ingenuity they were attempted to
be enforced by argument and reasoning. Theauthor, in his
address, said' he would not require his -.readers to believe
what he could not himself prove ; and he goes on in a course
of reasoning, specious indeed, and which by men of intellect
and strong mind might easily he proved false, yet to the
gre it mass of the people they would bear upon the face of
them that reasoning character which might induce them to
listen to them. In the discharge of my duty, I, together
with those gentlemen who are associated with me -as., magis-
trates, thought we should ill discharge that duty if we did not
send these pamphlets to the home department. I sent them
to Lord Nornianby, with a letter stating the circumstances
attending them ; and I believe it is to them he has alluded
in a speech lately made in the upper house of Parliament.
(Hear, hear.) I received an answer from his lordship, in
which lie acknowledged the receipt of the pamphlet, and
stated he had put them into the hands of his legal advisers,
to ascertain whether it would not be right to proceed against
the printers of them, and that I should hear further from
him. (Hear, hear.) Now, gentlemen, when such doctrines
are attempted to be disseminated among the lower orders. of
people of this country, I know not by what means they are to
be met, or how an antidote is to he provided against them, if
not by providing the people with better food ; and I there-
fore humbly conceive, that by the establishment of additional
pieces of worship belonging to the Church of England among
the populous districts, they may be led to read what shews
the other side—to the truth, and to the conviction that this
trash, which is so industriously disseminated among them, is
fallacious, and only calculated to deceive them in those points
essential to their eternal welfare—and that their best interest
is to follow those who will provide them with that consola-
tion which the Christian religion affords.to all who really
and truly believe it. (Cheers.) The object of this meeting
to-night is then to determine, whether or not it be advisable
to support the motion of Sir Robert Inglis, by petitioning
the House of Commons in its faiour. Several gentlemen
have kindly undertaken to move the different resolutions
which will be brought forward for your approval, and I shall
begin by canine upon the Rev. Hugh M'Neile to move the
first. (Great cheering.)
Mr. M'NEILE, on stepping forward, was received with
enthusiastic cheers. He spoke nearly as follows. I have
been requested to move, " That the spiritual destitution of
vast masses of the population of England and Wales, and
especially the fact that, wherever such destitution exists, the
poorer classes are the first and the chief sufferers, call loudly
for the aid of a Christian Government and Legislature.',
There are three statements contained in this short resolution.
The first is an assertion that spiritual destitution exists, and.
that upon a large scale ; the second is, thatavherever such
destitution exists the poorer classes are the chief sufferers ;
and the third is, that such destitution, so falling upon the
poor, calls loudly for the aid of a Christian government and
legislature. (Hear, hear.) The first, then, calls our atten-
tion to the multitudes of our fellow-countrymen who are left
in a state of inevitable ignorance and irreligion. The popu-
lation of England and \Vales is now estimated at above fif-
teen millions. The increase in that population has not been
regularly progressive. During the last fifty years it has been
accelerated beyond all former proportions. In 1700, the po-
pulation, as estimated from various returns, digested and
methodised by Mr. Rickman, was 5,475,000. Fifty years
afterwards, in 1750, the returns gave 6,167,000: that is, the
increase during fifty years amounted to less than one mil.
lion, or one-fifth part of the whole. (Hear, hear.) Com-
pare this with the last fifty years. In 1790. fifty years ago,
the population was returned at 8,675,000: and now it exceeds
15,000,000; that is. the increase during fifty years has been
nearly one-half of the whole. (Hear, hear.) .It is needless
for me to say that no approach towards a corresponding in-
crease in church accommodation has taken place. The fol-
lowing statement, illustrative of this fact, is taken from a
late charge delivered by the Bishop of Exeter ;---
In London and its suburbs, there are
34 parishes, with a population amounting to
In the diocese of Chester there are
3ei parishes containing an aggregate of.
In the diocese of York, there are
20 p wishes, containing
In the diocese of Lichfield there are
16 parishes, containing

1,137,000

816,000

402,000

33,3Q0

- „
The a._—.- • '1.2,590,,Q119 ~
mount of church room provided for aggrfgate )g:
301,382 sittings, leaving two millions, two
eight thousand, sic hundred hundred and eighty
as far
as
the
churchilintlred and eighteen
for,souls unprovided
making a most liberal allowance
is concerned. (Hear, hear.) Now
allowance for what dissenters of all
done
denominations have
of!
all
church (which
equals the accom-
modation provided by the
at, but for simplicity in the C.?' (which' however, it' does
calculation we will suppose it
does) and granting that the instruction(aue given in all the cha-
pels is Christian instruction
speak of the Socinian fry, who degradehit is col)
his for not to
the Lord Christ to
mere manhood and therefore reject
of those chapels, and those among the
largest in
are avowedly dedicated to image worship, and
the_kingdoiri,
to be synagogues of Antichrist --,c n)(1 thereby proved
• ( -beers —h, it,
all the insruction given in all the chapels referredl , supposing
Christian instruction, still,
if
we
suppose
the
aggregate
to to be
ate amount
to he equal to the amount of instruction in thgercedg
would be, in the parishes named in the list I haven, there
considerably above a million of our fellow subjects 'fto 'ahme'
there is no provision for Christian instruction whatever.
(Hear, (Hear, hear.) I know it has been asserted that the dissentersever'
give much more accommodation and a much larger proportion
ofo instruction, than the church, hot I know also something
Iflt,bue fictitious data, on which such assertions are hazardedsomething about the statistical societies which have
been'os‘f
made, formed, and the statistical returns which have bech
exporte, or at least upon very inadequate exa-
minatiouil: on(
This applies both to churcheccotnrooda-
tion and—tOhecar).
schools, especially to schools. Such statistical
returns so made and • • d for th •
ostentatiously published e mwmt-
fying of dissent againstthe - *
church, unless they.are promptly
exposed by the ' competent
authorities locally interested, pass
current as accurate and 1 •
luta authentic documents, and are pre-
sently afterwards trium
proots condemnatory of the
referred to, as experimental
church. (Hear, hear.) Unfor-
tunately, however, for then
orne. of these statements have
been submitted to an ordealr'
I heard one of them most inconvenient and provok-
ing.
in London, by m" exposedhold, honest, last year at a public meet-
inghighly valued reverend brotherovisrt, active, eloquent, and
(Applawe.) I will take the liberty ..:ISlose, of Cheltenham.
of what he said. " Now, 1 proceed to ask: to you a part
ad-
mitted want of education, what shall we do?
there is an
quack doctors immediately come forward • -
k number of
You have heard of some of their proposals and a remedy.
Proceedings
to-day. And it is said that certain. papers:will 1
the I-louse of-Commons by Lord. Jobailtussell :en) e.ht before.:
tion on Tuesday night. Now. I am very engines hi C--"j
what is in them. if they prove to be a return, a professed
return, or mous of the state of oducation throughout.---"
the

country, especially as comciared between churchmen and
dissenters—if that be in the bag, I predict it will be nothing
better than waste paper. And provided, I say, it goes before
a committee of the House of Commons, I am prepared to
stand before that committee, and prove it to be so, as far as
my own knowledge goes : and that if it is at other places, as
.it is where I live, these papers tell what is false. I would
speak this fact broadly, and I am not afraid to do it in Lon-
don, as I have done elsewhere. At Cheltenham the dis-
senters returned 826 more children to Government than they
have in their schools. (Hear.) When I proclaimed this,
the return had not been sent out of the town, and the Secre-
t:a-I.Y of the 'Sunday-school ran to the registry- office, and wiped
'<ii4 350 at oriee4, ;It was certainly a confiernation of what I
'said in
.144,14:-,lollY,Agrillge.of the returns, which were 350
less ; yet, at the present moment; the Lancatrian schools-in
Cheltenham have returned 380, and returned them twice
Over. (Hear and laughter.): Now I will prove this statement
to a nicety.. 'When we all most* joyfully net on the day of
the coronation of our youthful Queen, we met very loyal and
very hungry, and it was agreed that we should pay by the
mouth. There we were, elmichMen and dissenters, joining
in holy rivalry ; we all sat down in the market-place, and sang
together, and were very good friends throughout; but rather
an awkward circumstance occurred when ' the mouths' came
to be paid for; it appeared that the church `months' ex-
ceeded the dissenting ' mouths' by 620 ; and notwithstand-
ing you admit the alteration of the able Secretary of the Sun-
day-school at Cheltenham, you will find there is a difference
still, of somewhere about 400, between the mouths on the
day of the coronation, and the recorded numbers in the pocket
of Lord John Russell. (Cheers.) Now, my lord, I know
it would be a bad argument to state. though I am not an Ox-
ford man, that, if this has taken place at Cheitenhaifi, it has
taken place elsewhere, and perhaps everywhere else. I put
it hypothetically; I think it highly probable. I don't think
worse of the dissenters at Cheltenham than of those at any
other place; but putting it hypothetically, as I before said, if
the returns from other places are as accurate as they are from
Cheltenham, and if her Majesty's Government shall in their
wisdom proceed to legislate on those facts, I shall not be pre-
pared to say with Canning that ' all facts are false,' but
that their facts are as false as their principles, and their legis-
lative enactments framed on their facts are far worse. (Hear.)
So much for the bag of Lord John Russell, and as to what
may yet be in it ; but I suspect that this meeting, and similar
ones throughout the country, will stifle a great deal of what
is in the bag, and that we shall never see it at all." This
prophecy of the rev. gentleman was fulfilled. (Hear, hear.)
A great deal of what was in the bag remains there still, for
anything we know ; but something of the kind, either from
that or some similar bag, did get out, and was adopted by the
government, in order to be introduced in the report of the
privy council. lam grieved to be compelled to throw dis-
credit on an authority which ought to he above reproach,
by the exposure which it is my duty to make ; and I shall do
it from a tract just published by the Rev. Mr. Wilberforce,
in the form of a letter addressed to, Lord Lansdowne. The
infitance in que6tion refers to the combined districts of St.
John's and St. Margaret's, Westminster. Concerning the
comparative proportions of children educated in that district
by the church and by dissenters, the report of the privy coun-
cil states the average attendance at church schools to be 579,
and the average attendance at dissenters' schools to be 839.
This,sounds well for dissent, and answers a purpose for the
fabricators 'of statistics. But unfortunately for the success
of any such purpose, several gentlemen residing in St.
John's, Westminster, and astonished by the statement of
of the privy council, limiting the amount of church educa-
tion in that district to 579 children, determined to institute
a close and accurate investigation. The result is thus stated
by Mr. Robert Wilberforce, for which he says his authority
is the Rev. J. Jennings, Rector of St. Johns.
CHURCH SCHOOLS.

Average
Attendance,

I►a St. Margaret's and St. John's, (common
to both parishes.)
Central National School 320
I 90
24
88
. 112
t. 20
20
30
___.

Seven endowed Schools

Workhouse Schools
In St. Margaret's.
Knightsbridge Green
Broadway School (Sunday)
Miss Neave's School
Wellington Barracks' School
Knightsbridge Barracks' School
In St. John's.
{Tufton-street
Sunday Schools.. Vincent-square
*Old Pie-street JJJ
Day scholars, chiefly infants, not attending the
Sunday Schools

Total Church Scholars..
DISSENTING SCHOOLS. Average
Attendance.

In St. Margaret's.
Independent's, William-street
New Pie-street, (two schools)
Dr. Morrisson's School, (a Sunday school)
In St. John's.
Wesleyan School, Horseferry-road—Boys .
Girls .

141
120
142
35

Baptist's, Romney-street—Boys ....
Girls ....
Romanists, Horseferry-road—Boys
Girls ..

Lancastrian School

Total Dissenters
Thus, in a district where the compiler of a return, deemed
sufficiently accurate for adoption by the Privy Council, could
find only 579 children in church schools, a less interested
and more careful examination of the parish gives the names
and the numbers of a list of schools which present an ag-
gregateof two thousand seven hundred and eighty. (Cheers.)
I do think, Sir, this is sufficient to make sensible and
candid men cautious, before they receive the statistics of dis-
senters, although endorsed by the Privy Council, as the basis
of any important .argument, or of any practical decision.
(Hear, hear.) But granting liberally as I said at first, that
the j) ss cuters do communicate as much instruction as the
chiikti;there remain still, in the language of the resolution,
vast masses of the population of England and Wales in a state
of. spiritual destitution. (Hear, hear.) In truth, the fact
itseW is not now denied. Men of all parties are compelled
to admit it : however they may differ as to the right mode of
aiming at a remedy, they arc compelled, by evidence too pain-
fully convincing, to admit the existence of the disease. 1 take
a passage from a speech of Mr. Slaney, delivered at the begin-
ning of this Month in the House of Commons, upon the ques-
tion of the causes of the existing discontent in the country.
Mr. Slaney is thus reported—" Another point to which
he begged alliation was the want of religious instruction in
the manufacturing districts. In Manchester there was
churchroom for only 26000, while the number which ought
to be provided for was 108,000. But, what was still worse,
four out of five in many of those districts had no means of
attending public worship. Even seven out of eight in the
large towns' such as Liverpool and Manchester, weretotally
destitute of religious instruction. He would ask the house
how these people could with justice be punished for crime,
when no opportunity has ever been given to them to learn
what was their duty ?" (Hear.) I need not delay you fur-
ther on this branch of the subject, but advance to the
second statement in the resolution, which is, " that where-
ever such destitution exists, the poorer classes are the first
and the chief sufferers." (Hear.) This consequence of
such destitution follows inevitably from the cause of the des-
titution. The cause is a want of endowed ministers, and the
consequence is, that those who cannot afford to endow their
own ministers, or pay for their own sittings, must go with-
out. (Hear, hear.) Under the system now advocated and
sanctioned by many, and very elegantly described by Mr.
Daniel O'Connell, that ". every man should pay his own mi-
nister as he does his own tailor," the rich may have a minis-
ter as they have a coat ; but the poor man who finds diffi-
culty in paying for his coat, cannot, of course, pay for his
minister. (Hear.) It is thus that this honourable and
learned gentleman; whose professions of being the poor man's
friend, arc about as true as any thing else he says, (cheers
and laughter,) would doom the tens of thousands of the la-
bouring claSses of the community to perpetual ignorance, upon
the highest and best of subjects. Such is, and must ever be,
the operation of what is called the voluntary system. It
will not do to mystify the subject, and entrap the unwary,
by identifying the system in operation amore; his own seven
-millions of the finest pisantry with the voluntary system.
No, sir ; they are under no voluntary system. If the
-poor Roman Catholics of Ireland were left to what this
gentleman describes-as Itis system, that every man should pay
his own minister Its he pays his own tailor, the priests would
soon be starved to death. I_(Hear, hear.) But they are com-
pelled to ray their priests! (Cheers.) Aye, thousands upon
thousands of the wretched sans culottes, who never paid a
tailor, are coerced on pain of eternal damnation, to Share
theirmiserable pittance With the priest: "No penny, no pa-
ternoster"--" no money, no mass"—these are the watch-
words of popish statistics, by which the poor Roman Catholics
of Ireland are bound down. In proportism as the superstition
is strong Which identifies the mass with salvation, the rob-
bery is flagrant that identities the money with the mass.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Thus we have a view of the whole
circumference of the mill in which the wretched Roman Ca-
tholics of Ireland arc made to grind. Superstition urges
them on with a deadly grasp to pay the priest's demands .
these payMents keep them in helpless poverty; their poverty
keeps them in perpetual ignorance; and their ignorance com-
pletes the circle, handing them over again the victims of re-
newed superstition. Thus they toil on in a circle. The
Protestant poor cannot be made to go in rags byssupersti-
tion: (Hear.) They will not be called upon to give their
last farthing by any superstitious fear; and having hardly
earned the wages needful to support their families, it is,
refined cruelty to call upon them to pay also for their
spiritual instruction. (Hear.) They need all their powers
of body to toil for the supply of the animal wants to which
they arc born heirs, and it should be the high privilege of a
christian kingdom, of a christian government, and of a
christian legislature to meet their necessities, to relieve their
wants and to pay for their instruction, which they cannot by
any possibility pay for, themselves. (Cheers.) They do
rmake laudable efforts to pay their tailor ; but they cannot do
so, add paY Minisferi 45-r ro-n- relig --ieri`f:) -Dissenters-
' tiEno nimostrgitiibsatpener(r:iili tor:yeyeh
ulpetraii.
ere r t ebtfeo riot se
mb ebeenr
si no
fs o t
bd
eo i
Church
Dissenters-
acting on the voluntary principle, have built chapels, and
build
of
ghinclaheoftf
esßnuitniT
chapels
atsok ,b
eh osyso•ppaortetetdhe?
By their congregations, whether in the 'shape of pew rents,
rents,h. Well, but t;thned pcooonrseigntai
enn
tcl ayr,i
wnhe
nitthiesr
hperteo-
so;gti
glisf,t3o or
nbro pay pew
do, He derives but little advantage front the new build-
ings and the new ministers. I have not forgotten the free
seats, but I know how few they arc generally, compared with
the taxed or hired seats. The circumstances of the building
require that a revenue should be raised from the sittings.
The claims of the poor are secondary to the debt incurred by
the building. And often, especially amongst the dissenters,
the claims eof the minister himself are secondary to the liqui-
dation of the debt, so tbct it is not uncommon to see a hand-
sonie exp-ensive chapel, with a poor and half paid minister.
Mr.' Maitland, whose book I hold in my hand, quoting from
the Et-angelical Magazine,
and from the Rev. Mr. James, a
dissenting minister,
says—" It does indeed appear that there
have been those among the dissenters who, have maintained
that their ministers ought to be kept poor." "In opposition
to all which has been adduced," says a writer in the Evan-
gelical Magazine, -" in the way of reasoning and exhorta-
tion, some think it sufficient to say —` It is good to keep mi-
nisters poor.' "—(1803, 14,1.) "It will he most cheerfully
etn
admitted by all who love our. Lord Jesus Christ, that his
:faithful ministers ought to be comfortably supported; nor
will any but
iron-heal
" uretch,
unworthy of the name of
plead for the propriety of keeping them poor-andmiserable,
miserable, that they • '
•
a Christian, 1
They treat blur." ; t preach the better."—(lBo4. 75.)
says the Rev. r. James, " they
would treat wild b
by hunger, and keastlYl3m , which are tamed into submission
on
humble by keeping him poor.
It is curious to hearphow
bless their minister in hissl°lams
man, this bare taken e(trp
persons will intreat of God to
-gent
easns
itself re , alas !
poor, . that his basket should be
empty, and his store nothin
else be disposed to ask why
(Hear, hear.)
Now, sir, should you or any one
we meddle with the dissenters at all, wiry We. do not go" on in
-
course, leaving them at liberty
aarea ffair were
manage their af-
(Hear, hear.)
Our own y to
af-
fairs as well as they can, and managing our own e 1 I
curse }yes.
protest 1 should not have interfered with them, they
youman atgbiiiingkl?heTirbeT
attempting to force
their voluntary system upon the country, and
cßoontt ewnbt a
t d witho
have
therefore . challenged us to ascertain, and publish what
that 'system leids we agree in the distinction be-
tween the voluntary system, and the voluntary prin-
ciple.. We have a voluntary principle superadded to our

church system—the. voluntary principle grafted • upon an
established provision; but we repudiate the voluntary sys.•
tem so called. We go, therefore, among the dissenters to
ascertain what it is ; we take up their own books to see what
it is. lam aware those books were not written for us, but
to stir up the liberality of their own people. However they
cannot write books for their own people without our seeing
. Accordingly we find we have reason to complain, not
of the secular parts of the voluntary system, but that
piritual part is fallen into a deplerable,state of poverty.
st trouble you with one or two eitracts'upon this sub-
There are only two modes of-remedying the acknow-
d defect which we lament—either by this voluntary sys-
Lem, or by the method we propose ; and if we can show what
the voluntary principle is out of the mouths of its own advo-
Cates—if We can show that. it iS-Untenable-then we hate the
government upon the other side of the dilemma, and there
remains nothing but a bold, broad, large, and general mea-
sure of church extension for the whole kingdom. (Loud
cheers.) " I will confine myself," says Mr. Maitland, "at
present to four extracts from three of their own writers, of
different periods-. The first of these is the Rev. Mr. Barker,
who, in a letter cited by Mr. Wilson in his history, says,—
' The disposition to charity continues among us Protestant
dissenters, hut I cannot say much as to our faith. Some
charge our fathers with putting believing in the plate of do-
ing : I wish we do not put giving in the place of believing.
The defection of our younger ministers I greatly lament ;
and if the people departed from the.doctrine of the reforma-
tion as much as their ministers, I should begin to think whe-
ther ours Were an interest worth serving.' And again, The
dissenting interest is not like itself: I hardly know it. It
used to be famous-for faith, holiness, and love. I knew the
time when I had no doubt, into whatever place of worship I
went among dissenters, but that my heart would be warm-
ed and comforted, and my edification promoted. Now I
hear prayers and sermons Which I neither relish nor un-
derstand. Evangelical truth and duty are quite old-fashion-
ed things. Many pulpits are not so much as chaste.
One's ears are sodunned with reason, the great law of reason,
and the eternal law of reason, that it is enough to put one out
of conceit with the chief excellency of our nature, because it
is idolised, and even deified. HOW prone are men to run
into extremes! What a pity it. is, that when people emerge
out of an ancient mistake, they seldom know where to stop.
Oh, for the purity of our fountains, the wisdom and diligence
of our tutors, the humility, purity, and teachableness of our
youth" (in 51.) Mr. Wilson, having spoken of the popu-
larity of this very Mr. Barker, says—" When we speak of
popular talent, however, as applied to the divines of the for-
mer age, we are not to be understood as including what is
usually comprehended in that term, at the present day.
It is a fact too glaring to need an apology for stating it, that
mankind are too apt frequently to be led astray by noise and
novelty ; and to sacrifice their judgment to their fancy. A
disgusting familiarity, better adapted to the parlour than
the pulpit, with a strong propensity to drollery, appears to
suit the frivolity of the age, rather than a solid scriptural
strain of preaching, so much the glory of our forefathers the
Puritans and Nonconformists. It is, doubtless, this de-
praved taste, in conjunction with some other causes, that
has contributed to the, decline of the Dissenting Interests,
nor can we expect a revival till a more just and rational taste'
shall prevail. (ix. 41.) He elsewhere tells us that, during
the last twenty. years the cause of Independency has gained
ground considerably. • This has been owing, in a great mea-
sure, to the increase of sunday schools, village preaching,
and the labours of irregular preachers. Numerous congre-
gations have been raised in various parts of the country,
without any particular views of church government, that have
subsided into Independent Churches. But, although the In-
dependent interest has received large accessions in numbers,
it has lost in quality. This has arisen chiefly from two
causes : the introduction of uneducated and illiterate men
to the ministry, and the prevalence of a spurious liberality."
(Iv. 557.) To add, however,' only one more extract on this,
point ; the Rev. Mr. James, of Birmingham, in a letter " On
the necessity of a revival of religion in the hearts of the minis-
ters as the first step towards a revival in the churches," pub-
lished in the Evangelical Magazine—" If there be a revival in
religion in this country, where must it be expected to begin?
who may be supposed to be first partakers of it ? The minis-
ters of religion themselves A question, however,
will here very naturally present itself. Does our religion
need to be revived ? /am decidedly of opinion that it does,
whatever may be the cause of it, I am myself fully and painfully
convinced that the great bulk of the present race of ministers
are by no means distinguished for the more spiritual and
elevated exercises of religion. I think we fall very short in
what may be called devotional habits—in spirituality of mind,
in communion with God, in self-converse and examination.
It is true we are active in what concerns the diffusion of re-
ligion, and much time and labour are spent. in public matters,
a circumstance which probably, in the estimation of some will
furnish at once a cause and an excuse for a deficiency.in other
matters ; but us to out station in respect to personal. religion,
strictly and properly so called,•we are pigmies compared with.
the men of other times, or with some-men- of our own time.
Let us only read the memoirs of Philip and Matthew. Henry,.
of Halyburton,of Doddridge,of Pearce, of Brainerd, of Henry
Martvn, of Fletcher; and compare ourselves with their., to see
how dwarfish is ourpiety." I admire the honesty and faith-
fulness of this exceedingly ; but I think it very necessary
that a fair estimate derived from their own lips of the effects
of the voluntary sytsem upon the ministers of their own
chtirches•shOuld be publicly and widely known. I think men
should'be 'disabused of the 'notion which does seem to have
been put into their minds by some of these writers, that
whenever - they go into a dissenting' chapel they are sure to
hear evangelical religion. It is far otherwise.—(hear.)—Ac-
cording to their own showing, their favourite topics are the
law of reason—the eternal law of reason—and the fitness of
thingsnOt the simplicity of God's message in his dear :on
Jesus Christ our Lord.—(hear.)—Mr. James says further,
concerning the prayers 'that are common in dissenting cha-
pels A minister's prayers do more perhaps to keep up
the 'spirituality of his people than his sermons.• that is when
they are-Of an intense and elevated character. I have kpown
ministers so endowed with the gift:and grace of prayer, that
their public supplications and intercessions -seemed as with a
sweet 'arid holy violence, to hear their. congregations away
with them to the throne of. God. ' But this is not often the
case. Dull formality, wearisome sameness, careless indiffer-
ence, trio often anti too generally characterise our public de-
votion. We act as if the prayer were nothing and the sermon
everything ; and come down too nearly:to the level .of the
sloVenly, in reverent, and inefficient manner - in which the li-
turgy of the Church of England is read by a large portion of
her clergy. I ask no other proof that we as ministers need
a revival of our own personal religion. than the charade,. of
our public prayers."—(lB, 29, 7.)—Surely, sir, I. may ven-
ture to proceed, after adducing such evidence as this,
to ' say a few words upon the- concluding statement
of 'the resolution.—That such destitution as is acknow.
ledged •on every - side, combined with the facts which
hate been clearly deduced, that the poor are the chief
sufferers, and that the voluntary system . cannot sup-
ply'
the' deficiency or maintain the spirituality of religion;
surely, I say, after these facts, I am justified in calling loudly
on a Christian -government and legislature for , aid in this
matter. lam harms to be able to. bring to myassistance in
this branch of the subject, a very important coadjutor—no
less a person than my lord John Russell. (Cheers and
laughter.) That statement I perceive has excited some sur-
prise in the meeting ; and it may he some one is expecting to
hear a quotation from-some of those more sedate, more ad-
vised, and inure statesmanlike speeches of the noble lord,
at an early period of his political career, than he has lately
-been permitted by his political masters. to indulge -in. But
it will be highly gratifying, I have no doubt, to you sir and
to the meeting, to know that so far from this being the case,
I am about to quote from what Lord John Russell said in
the House of Commons within the last week. (Hear, hear.)
A motion was brought forward by Mr. Thomas Duncombe,
to the effect that every person who made a certain declara-
tion of his conscientious dissent from the established church,
should be absolved thereby from the legal duty of paying
church rates. Lord John Russell opposed it, and not merely
opposed it, but spoke in the following terms :
"It might be Mr. Thorogood's conscientious opinion that
religion ought not to be supported by the state, but so long
as we acknowledged the law by which a state religion was
established, so long that law ought to be enforced.'
That, sir, is a good principle as far as it goes ; and good may
come out of the privilegA question, "if enforced," with
however ill a grace it may come from gentlemen Who
had for so many years declaimed against enforcement.
(Hear.) But still, when their own privileges are attacked,
enforcement is the order of the day • and now, so long as
law is established, it must be enforced. (Hear, hear.) That,
however, is not enough. Many might think the law ought
to be changed, but Lord John Russell says this :
" Tint he went further than that :- he thought that the
Established Church of England was founded on just, and
wise, and sound principles. He was not prepared, there-
fore, to agree with Mr. Thorogood in his theoretical opinions i
but even if he could agree with him in his abstract opinions,
still he thought that it would not become Parliament to de-
cide that those who disobeyed the law should not pay the
penally of their disobedience."
Resuming the subject of advocacy of the church, the noble
lord says—
The principle on which alone they could maintain the
Established Church was, that it was for the common good,
and that was a principle which entitled them to ask for that
burden to be laid upon all."
" Now," my lord, " I would say to him, you are pledged by
that speech to church extension—(cheers);,—for if the only
principle upon which an established church can be main-
tained be, that it
,is good for all, the same principle binds
you to apply it to all. To say you will maintain and not ex-
teed is to contradict your own position, and to stultify your
own argument. (Cheers.). To maintain the established
church at a certain dimension, whilst you allow the popula-
tion 'of the country to swell to at certain over dimension, is
wilfully to degrade what you call the established church into
a sect. (Hear.) You allow it to be surrounded by an over-
whelming population to whom you will not extend it. Now,
if it be not for the general good, you cannot maintain it, but
if it he you are bound to extend it." (Hear.) Lord John
Russell deals very freely with some of his friends who are
advocates of the voluntary system. He says—
" He owned that he should be sorry to see those times
return when those who preached the gospel were obliged to
look to the voluntary support .and contributions of their
flocks. He should be sorry f the lines of Dr. Johnson w;th
respect to the drama should become applicable to the minis-
ters of religion—
' The drama's laws the drama's patrons give,
—For-M(10 who livelapiease must please to live.'
He should regret if the circunistances of the church were
to render it necessary to turn those lines thus—
` Y7,e pulpit's lan's the pulpit's patrons give,
For those who live to please must please to live.'
He did not think that those who had to maintain the doc-
trines of the church from the pulpits of the establishment
of this country ought to be left to look to the voluntary
contributions of the people for their,support, or that they
should be supported only because they were popular, elo-
quent, and plausible preachers."
I am prompted here with a word " preach," instead of.
" " Live" is in the papers, but I confess that the
suggestion from my friend behind is a great improvement
upon the print—for it undoubtedly comes to this, that if
ministers are to depend upon the voluntary contributions of
persons disposed too naturally to " make their baskets
empty, and their stores nothingness itself," they must en-
deavour to please such persons if they are to derive bread
from their good opinion. Their position certainly, at the
least, amounts to a great snare. I will not say of every dis-
senting minister, that it supplies his motive, and on account
of it lowers the standard of what would otherwise be his
o u t
teaching. I believe there are many among them who would
do no such thing ; I believe there are many among them who
act honestly and faithfully upon their own convictions—who
woulde rather
Sy s teln) hasdis thatmisse nfid.oennic stt e
ahta
itp o
el
offers
ethanrs ado v
very
y violencegreat
to what they believe to be the truth of God. But 1 believe
that
temptation to he f unu I , annd Igo the length of Lord
John Russell in my belief as to what would necessarily he the
.
result of Ministers. of the gospel beinG, dependent
upon the voluntary contributions of' theirfor support
hear.) I am warned that I have occ,ipeople. (Hear,
the time the meeting, and more than eenocritieienou of
what I conceive he;this necessary statemengt • n making,.
, in laying a
sort of ground-Work of statistical information upon which I
hope some of my friends who follow will build more ably than
I have. That department, at these meetings, has
all • •
fallen upon me, after the information
ngs, usually
has been given,
I have been placed to-night in the position of having to give
you some of those comparatively dry details ; and I will re-
tire exhorting -you to make conscience of this matter—ex-
horting you not to be satisfied. with the enjoyment of the
evening's meeting, but that, if you feel a case is made out, if
you perceive that the population of the country is really in a
state of spiritual destitution, if ._ you perceive that the poor
are the sufferers, if you. believe the duty lies upon the go-
vernment, though you feel/the difficulty any government
would be placed in Which should attempt to perform it—though
you understand they cannot carry it on in the face of the object-
mg-dissenters, unless there is Such an overwhelming demand

for it from the people as to make It appear quite plain to be
the national will—if you feel this, I say, and are there-
fore disposed to do your own part, put yourselves to a
little trouble in signing the petition, and so strengthen the
hands of our friendi in parliament. (Hear.) Remember
there is no security left for the country.but in the extension
of christian instruction. (Cheers.) Rememberthat politiCal
power is now lodged in a certain class. In former years it
was lodged in a class that represented the Established Church ;
it was inairly lodged, when the church was first established, in
the hands of the crown and clergy. It has since been trans-
ferred from their hands, and the turning point of the political
power of the state is'now placed in the handsoof • the middle
classes. (Hear, hear.) The middle classes are precisely
those with \Aloes. the slisseidera ,laave,nwst prevailed. The
EstablisliCsi Chtiich, for -variOns caries,'' eS'ednunended"
itself to the. higher:ehisses. The eletgyi off the E'stablishs4
Church are the only persons who cent effectually clp geoilto
the real poor of the country; but the large class between the
higher and the lower classes; the franchised classes who now
have the votes in the boroughs, return members to the senate,
and thereby Wield the authority of the state ; these are pre-
cisely the clasSes among which the dissenters have been labour-
ingmost, and in which the church has, comparatively, laboured
least ; there are multitudes of these who never willingly joined
the dissenters, but have escaped us for want of church room—
for want of church accommodation. If we ask such persons
to go to church, they say, `• there is no room, we cannot get
in, we cannot find a place to sit down." Now, these. as I
have already said, are the very parties in whom political
power is lodged. If, then, you have put a sceptre in one
hand, put a Bible into the other. (Loud cheers.) Give them
the knowledge of the Word of God. (Renewed cheers.)
There is no hope or desire on our part to retrench, in
the legislature, the liberties of Englishffien ; only let Chris-
tianity go with it and you cannot have too much - liber-
ty ; but liberty is dangerous without religion, and it will
recoil upon its possessors. If we put a sword into the hands
of a child or a maniac who know not how to use it, we may
expect they will cut themselves or others. So it is with
liberty; let Christianity guide its hands and you may safely
entrust it with ten thousand swords. (Hear, hear.) It is
because Christianity has been neglected ; it is because new
fangled systems of general education have been substituted;
it is because there is a fancy abroad that general knowledge will
controul the national character, and that Christian principle
is a peculiarity of sects—these are the real secrets of the coun-
try's danger. It is easy. to see. whence they come. The
experimentalists and the rePtiblicans among us see plainly
the habits inculcated by the Established Church are opposed
to their schemes—they see that the temper of the nation is
opposed to revolution. It was generated within the pale of
the church. The disposition of the nation was always mo-
narchical—a limited free monarchy is the genius of England
still—and that genius has beers fostered and inculcated in our
Established Church. (Hear.) The frame of the laws, the
habits, the associations of the country, the subordination of
the classes—all pointing out the feem of government we have
had, so long, and all fostered und4 the Established Church,
is that temper which it is not easy to break down. It is easy,
very easy, to change the statute book of a country ; but it is
quite another thing to change the engrafted temper of a people.
'(Cries of "hear.") Now, there is that Church monarchical
temper at present in England which is a barrier, stronger
than any statute, against the new notions of ,republicanism.
The new fangledrepublieans are aiming a blow at that har-
rier. They know that if they were to attack it openly, England
would recoil and crush the hopes of these republicans for cen-
turies to come. (Hear, hear.) They dare not, therefore,
attack it publicly. Nay, sonic of them say, they have
a great respect for the Established Church. This sounds
well and gains them a hearing. Then they proceed with
the scheme of a new general knowledge school ; the appoint..
ment of a new committee of laymen, dependent upon the
minister of the day ; and a new system of inspection -by
those laymen, which inspection would mould the whole
system of instruction. They want, in short, to get
a system of instruction applied to the mind of the
rising generation, which will eradicate the church mo-
narchical temper, and which will raise a people that can
be assailed by republican sentiments. (Loud cries of " hear,
hear, hear.") They want to give the generation that will
succeed a general knowledge, one lit for the liberal system
of schools which should teach them not to recoil from
the republican schemes. They are aiming at this ; and
whilst they are doing so, their general ,knowledge schools
societies are professing the greatest respect for the esta-
blished church, but still—she is only a part of the popu-
lation ; they have great respect for her, but then they
could wish she was placed in a situation where she cculd
have no connection with politics. Let her be separated from
social life, let religion be made a thing by itself, and England
is ruined.—(loud cheers.)—But let the church of Christ be
recognised as an ordinance of God, in every department of
life ; the mother in her nursery the source of support and
.sympathy; the father in his family the source of control and
of guidance, the ruler on the throne and in the legislature the
I ' source of law—law, with all its strong enactments, its high,
sanctions, and its awful executions, the prerogative of mercy
with all its blessed interpositions—let all these say, be viewed
as ordinances of God; let Christ be seen in all, let God be
manifest in all, and England remains upon the rock on
which she has stood for the last three centuries, since the
great imposture was dislodged from her—the rock of Pro-
testant, Scriptural, Christian truth, against which the gates
of hell can not prevail. (The reverend gentleman then retired
amidst cheering from all parts of the room.)
ADAM HODGSON, Esq., secended the resolution, and
briefly expressed his concurrence with it.
T. B. HORSFALL, Esq., rose to move the second resolu-
tion, as follows :—" That the theory of the Church of England
is a fold for every sheep, and a shepherd for every fold; and
that she regards the souls of all as of equal value in the sight of
their Creator : hut that this principle had been so lost sight of,
during a long period of national, prosperity, that when the
,Ecclesiastical Commissioners, appointed by his late Majesty
made their'. report in 1836, there were 108 parishes or dis-
triCts, containing an aggregate population amounting, to
2-,690,000; for whom not more than 301,382 church-sittings
had been provided ; and, granting that the chapels of Dis-
senters in those districts furnished an equal number of sit-
tings,- and that not more than half the entire population can
be 'considered capable of attending public worship, still the
conclusion is inevitable, that upwards of 1,300,0.00 of that
population, and those .chiefly of the poorer classes, were
totally unprovided for : and, bearing in mind that upwards
of six millions have, been added to the population of England
and Wales since the commencement of the present century,
it .sielear that sorneahlimlieds of thousanda might be added
to that appalling nunffier, or persons' similarly situated in
other parts of the kingdom." This resolution, like the pre-
ceding, presented a view of theideficiency of church accom-
modation in England and Wales.m,The recent events which
had occurred in some parts of the country, particularly in
Wales, afforded a fearful commentary upon this deficiency,
and loudly appealed to the Christian public to leave no effort
untried, no means delayed, which could by possibility arrest
the progress of that moral disease which seemed to have
seized upon the labouring population in' some parts of the
country—inciting them to disobedience to the laws of God
and man, and hurrying them onward in-that pathway of re-
bellion, which must inevitably lead to their own ruin, and
prove seriously detrimental to the beSt interests of society.
(Hear.) lilted been observed, and the observation was very
striking, that Weanust either provide pastoral superintendence
and church accommodation for the poor, or we must leave
them to the police officers for their pastors, to the gaol for
their church, and to the executioner for their minister of
consolation. (Hear, hear.) That the latter alternative had
been all but. realized, it was needless for him to state ; and he
trusted it Was needless, in a meeting like that,.to challenge
contradiction to the fact, that this state of disorganization
had arisen, in a great degree, from the want of that sound
religious education, which our national Church was so admi-
rably adapted to communicate. (Hear.) That our Church
was so adapted, we had only to trace its ministrations from
the moment it received the new-born babe, at the hands of
its sponsors, requiring from them that it be taught, so soon
as it was able, to read all things which a Christian ought to
know and believe to his soul's health, down to the period
when the body was consigned to its last earthly home,
to feel convinced, that there was no church in this
or any other country, more adapted to the...wants, the
wishes, the feelings, and the affections of the people.
(Cheers.) If it were .asked how additional church accom-
modation was to be provided, he would reply that he looked
in vain to the voluntary efforts of churchmen and dissenters.
Those efforts had failed, and assuredly would fail, to keep
pace with that growing population which was fast over-
spreading the face of the country, and which, if not provided
for by our national church, would undoubtedly overwhelm
the country with the principles of infidelity, of popery, or of
socialism. (Hear.) Again he would ask, how this obliga-
tion was to• be accomplished ? (Hear.) Where should we
turn more legitimately than to the state—to that state which
boasted of its union with the church ? Sorely it was not too
much to expect that the state, which, could afford to vote
two millions of money for the construction of railways in
Ireland, should vote at least one million for the purpose of
church extension ? (" Hear," and applause.) Were.we to
be told that that state; which was ordained of God, that
" the powers that be," though ordained of God, might grant
millions of money for any secular purpose, but nothing for
the promotion of his glory ? (Hear.) The resolution he had
the honour to move spoke of the destitution of church ac-
commodation both in England and Wales. It was not suf-
ficient for the state to provide for the spiritual wants of the
population of the large and populous towns. (Hear.) It
was its duty, and upon that principle this meeting would take
its'stand, to provide church accommodation for all the popu-
lation of the British empire. (Hear, hear.) It was the duty
of the state not only to provide for the large and populous
towns, but to provide equally for every. rural district in the
land—(hear)—in order that generations yet to 'come might,
with grateful hearts and reverential love, point to their village
spires and say,
These temples of our God ! How beautiful they stand !
The glories of our native plains, the bulwarks of our land !
(Loud cheers.) Much had been said of the destitution of
church accommodation in England • and he would trespass
a few-moments upon the attention Of the meeting with a few
facts showing the destitution of church accommodation in
Wales, more particularly in that part where disturbances had
recently taken place. (Hear, hear.) The parishes in Wales
were not like the parishes in England, but extended over a
wild and' mountainous country, rendering it impossible, in
many instances, for the most active and faithful pastor, by
the most unwearied exertions, to visit more than a very few
familiei in the course of the day. (Hear.) In :Merthyr Tyd-
vill, in the county of Glamor,,, it was computed there were
at least 20,000 chartists scattered over a and mountainous.
district. There was but one church and one chapel of ease
for the accommodation of this vast population, and they were
capable of containing only 2600, thus leaving above 23,000
souls totally unprovided with church accommodation. (Hear,
hear.) Three adjoining parishes in Breconshire, called Llan-
gattock, Llanally, and Llanguenider, contained each a large
population living, in each case, at the distance of from five
to nine miles from the church. For instance, in the parish
Of Llanally, was a place called Bryn Mawr, five miles from
the church, containing a population of 5000 souls, congre-
gated together in a close village, to whom a church and a cler-
gyman were equally 'unknown! (Hear, hear.) And the
distance from the parish church was increased by the moun-
tainous nature of the country, intersected, as it was, by
Again, the parish- of tremendous ravines. (Hear.)
Llan-
bardarn, in the county of Cardigan, was 18 miles long, with
a population scattered over it of above 10,060 souls. In this
parish there were nine churches—two within a mile' of each
other, and the third six miles distant. These three churches
took in about eight miles of country on the one side of the
parish, thus leaving the population residing on ten) miles,
without a single church or clergyman. (Hear, hear.) Nu-
rneroos other cases might be cited; showing an equal or a
greater amount of church destitution, but he would content
himself by mentioning the three parishes in the county of
Monmouth, where the chartists, who attacked the town
of Newport; chiefly reside (hear)—the parishes; of Bed-
welty, Myniddyslwyn7Prevethyn, including the Aownship of
Pont-y-Pool. These parishes contained iu the year 1801, a
population of only 3635 ; but at the present moment the
population was estimated at upwards of 30,0(X)—whilst the
church accommodation was certainly not sufficient for more
than between 3000 and 4000--a proportion of not.more than
one in ten. (Hear, hear.) Sufficient bad now been said to
show the lamentable destitution of church accommodation
in Wales ; and as Lord John Russell had already been
brought into court—(laughter)—he (Mr. H.) begged to call
in his lordship again by reading a few remarks from a speech
he delivered in the House of Commons on the 2nd of Aug.
last, when proposing an increase in the army. (Hear.) His
lordship used these words upon that occasions :—" We have,
particularly in the manufacturing districts, very large masses
of people who have grown up in a state of society, which it
is both lamentable and appalling to contemplate. (Hear.)
They have not grown up amidst the usual concomitants of an
ordinary state of society, under the band of early instruction;
with places of worship to attend ; with their opinions of pro-
perty moulded by seeing it devoted to social and charitable
objects ; and with a fair and gradual subordination-of ranks,
But it is, in many cases, a society necessarily composed of
the working classes, with al few persons who employ their la-

boor, but with whale they have little other connexion ; and,
unhappily, neither receiving in schools nor in. places of wor-
ship, that religious and moral instruction, which is neces-.
sary-to knit together the inhabitants and classes of a great
country." (Hear, hear.) .There ! After such a profession
as that, surely we should have Lord John Russell with us
'when an application should be made for a grant of public
money for church extensien. (Cheers.) And he (Mr. Hors-
fall) hoped when the matter was under consideration, the
noble lord and all those connected with him would; at the
same time, devise means for providing better stipends
for some of the clergy in several districts, particularly Wales.
(Hear, hear.) At that niement he believed many of the
mostaiseful and laborious ministers were not .receiving mote
think , a cep-usage lalseerer's wages. (Hear, hear.) In con-
of"'this- stateinedt he would bring forward
the' ease ,'of adedndiVidual...for the truth, .of which.. he
could himself vouch. The party who first mentioned it to
him itated'that the minister was au eloquent extemporaneous
preacher,. and added '" If you had him in Liverpool in his
younger days .[be was now 80] he would have. drawn together
as large and overflowing congregations as even Mr. M`Neile."
(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Horsfall) would give them the
statement in the words of a gentleman who had himself in-
vestigated the case. The aged and faithful clergyin in of
Llandrindod, has- been upwards of 59 years ministering in
that parish. For 28 years of his life he served the three
churches of Diserth, Cefn Llys, and Llandrindod, the
united income of winch amounted to £34, and the duties of
which compelled him to walk ,18 miles every Sunday. On
this limited income, aided by the labour of his own hands,
he has brought up a family of nine children, and although the
perpetual curacy of Llandrindod has of late been augmented
by a grant from Queen Anne's Bounty, the stipend arising
from the two churches of Llandrindod and Cefn Lays, which
he now serves, and which are four miles distant, is less than
£4O a-year. Thus, at the age of upwards of four score, the
venerable pastor of these parishes is compelled to traverse the
mountains, a distance of 18 miles, every Sunday, in addi-
tion to performing the duties of the church." lie (Mr. II.)
trusted that, after such a statement as this, something would
be done, when the subject of church extension was brought
forward, towards increasing the stipends of the poorer clergy.
It was rather hard, when such cases as this were known,
when all the Welsh bishoprics, and many of the most valua-
ble livings in Wales, were filled by Englishmen, that -com-
plaint should be made of some of our English pulpits being
filled by Welshmen ; but he hoped this subject would be
investigated. The time was come, when, in England, Ire-
land, and Wales we must have•faithful pastors; and it was
of no use building additional churches, and endowing them,
unless we had faithful and zealous pastors, who would go into
the highways and byeways, and bid the people to conic hie--
who would preach to them the pure, unadulterated word of
God—neither suppressing the truths of the Gospel from expe-
diency, nor adding, by design, the corruptions of the Church
of Rome. (Loud cheers.) With such a clergy throughout the
land, as had been well remarked by en eloquent Irish divine,
there would never sit a monarch on the British throne, there
would never stand a statesman in the British senate, who
would be able to resist the torrent of the moral influence
which the clergy would possess. (Loud applause.) We should
then have no socialism and no chartism ; we should then
have, to the fullest extent, our earnest wish—NO POPERY
in the bind. [Four several rounds of applause folloWed the
expression of this sentiment.] He had been anxious, in con-
nection with this subject, to lay these few details before the
meeting ; and he would now conclude by expressing his earn-
est hope that this meeting would join cordially in that beau-
tiful prayer in our Liturgy, on behalf of the rulers of the land,
" That it may please God to direct and prosper all their con-
sultations, to the advancement of His glory, the good of His
church, and the safety, honour, and welfare of our Sovereign
and her dominions.' (Loud cheers.)
The Rev. R. P. BUDDICOM, in seconding the resolution,
said he would take the liberty of reading it again, because it
contained some substantial statements, which it was very
important should be known. Having•• read the resolu-
tion, the rev. gentleman proceeded to say, that there could
not be a more important, or, as he thought, a more self-evi-
dent truth than-that of the principle with which the resolu-
tion set out, " that the theory of the Church of England is
a fold for every sheep, and a shepherd for every fold."
(Hear, hear.) Well and wisely had the Church of England
• provided green pastures into which she leads those in her
communion to the still waters of her liturgy, and of her de-
votional exercises, of which they must drink—even of the
waters of the well of life, which are able to make wise unto
salvation, and nourish them up to eternal life. (Applause.)
But the question was how shall the fold be prepared into which
these sheep may be brought ? How shall they be gathered from
the world in which they arc placed, and be brought into
those pastures where they may enjoy the glorious liberty of the
Gospel of God, which the Church of England gives to those
of her communion, and to every one who asks? The gate
seemed to have been closed against them—not because the
duty had ceased, but because it bad been held so long in
abeyance, that many had
.forgotten it was a duty. (Hear.)
In consequence Of -feeling' that 'duty, we 'were now called
upon to reason and argue about those things which ought ever
to have been regarded as substantive and fundamental truths.
(Hear.) •It was very certain that we were called upon to
hope even against hope ; and when his friend Mr. Horsfall
stated his expectation that Lord John Russell might be led
to support, upon his own principles, church extension, he
(Mr. Buddicom) felt his heart sink under a crowd of recol-
lections of the doings of that family with church property
three centuries ago. At that period, that family so far from
being one of the parties to church extension, were one of the
great Leviathans of church spoliation, as Burke once said ;
and he (Mr. Buddicom) should be glad, again to use the
language of Burke, to see a descendant of that house
who did not partake of the cold, acidulous, and me-
tallic tincture of the spring. (Hear, and cheers.) But
we had been told that prayer was effectual, and that it
would be heard and answered ; he would therefore call on
that large assembly, whilst other means were being used,
not to forget that Moses might be upon the mount, and have
his hands held up in prayer whilst Joshua was fighting in the
valley below with Amalek. (Cheers.) Thus they might call
down the blessing of God upon their exertions. -.
MHe had -
been struck with a remark of his rev. brother (Mr. `Neile)
that nothing could be inure cruel than to elevate the Church
of England to a certain point for doing good and there leave
her—without making her means of instruction commensurate
With the ever-increasing wants of the population.. In such
a case as this, the Church of England becaMe a sect. She
became like a human being having an .ossification of the
.heart. There she stood, the ossified part remaining rigid and
iluetteriveable while the siiirounding- parts were elastic and
:expansive, until. at length till the heart burst, and death
took place.. That might be the consequence of attempting to
foSter the Church of England up-to 6 t-ertain point and there
leaving her—(hear). We must not only carry it on till we
reached the point of the present demand, but we must be
prepared to go on, vices acquirit 'eundo to overtake and keep
pace with the population, which he understood had increased
no
.less than six millions within the last forty years—(hear).
The voluntary principle had been tried in all ways and places;
it had been weighed in the balance all over the country, and
everywhere found wanting. And so it must be. If it. could
carry its end out permanently-:-What then?' Could we really
believe that the various communities now spread over the
country, would, even upon. the supposition of their teach-
ing with faithfulness and sincerity, be satisfied with the
union of the Church esf England principle with • the mo-
narchical institutions ? He was sure the sentiments of
Mr. M`Neile on this subject were calculated to make their
way through all hearts ; for if we would have the throne
established, that throne must be built upon the altar,
and the monarch must lay his hands upon the horns of
the altar, and thence dispense religion, and comfort, and
justice, and safety to the community. Whatever therefore
might be the willingness, or, if they pleased, the ability of the
dissenters and - the voluntaries to carryout their systems—
and they had always shown a disposition, although the ability
had been wanting ; we should be deficient in our duty to the
Church, and to the monarchical institutions of the land, and to
the peaCe of the country, which, under those institutions, had
been basedand perpetuated upon a solid foundation, if we did
not enable every one to sit under his own national vine and his
own. fig tree, and enable every one to drink of the waters of his
own cistern, no man making him afraid. (Hear.) We hadheard
a greaftleatabout the advantages which the Church of England
• posseesed, and to say the least, they had been put in a very
invidious light, obtained from its union, with the state. No
'question that there were advantages. There was the advan-
tage of the independence of the ministers of religion, (hear,)
which was an advantage of no common kind. He had had
an opportunity' of speaking to a dissenting minister, who had
left them, and-this gentleman told him, he could form no idea
of the tyranny under which their ministers were placed, of the
difficulties they had to contend with in preaching faithfully
the •Goepel of Christ Jesus, and carrying its truths home to the
lives and consciences of each individual—of the difficulties
they were under in speaking to a class of a certain descrip-
tion', and saying as the Prophet said to David, " Thou art the
man." _So much did he feel these difficulties that he was
obliged to leave them, and now this individual found himself
happy in sitting under the wing of the Church of England !
(Hear.) Thus she was the dispenser of comfort and of sal-
vation, through Christ, to the souls of men. (Hear.) The
Church of England derived great advantages, no question, from
her union with the state. By the assistance of that union had
been founded every institution of the church, and every in-
stitution of religion. All the forms and frame-work of reli-
gion, which were to bring it in its power before the public,
sprang from its connection' with government. This the
Church of England, in common with every other Established
Church, obtained by its connexion with the state, as well as
the means of extending its own usefulness. (Hear.) - But,
we had heard comparatively very little of the advantages
which the state derived froM its connection with the Church.
(Hear, hear.) To say the least, the advantages were equally
great; for, as had been well observed, such was the im-
mediate effect of the ministrations of the Church of England
in their power, their purity, and their spirituality, that this
country stood unrivalled, and must stand unrivalled, among
the nations. The Church exercised a power over the moral
and spiritual condition of the people. To say nothing of the
necessity and duty of the state to take care of the spiritual
necessities of the people—taking it upon the low ground of
'the Church being merely called upon, by its high functions,
to preserve order and morality, the Church of England, es-
pecially as the poor man's Church, had -been this country's
greatest blessing, by its direct influence upon the commu-
nity. But there was its indirect influence upon the commu-
nity, in which the state was materially benetitted by its con-
nection with the Church ; and he held that the state had de-
rived more benefit from its connection with thehChurch, than
the Church had from its connection with the state. (Hear.)
Now it was to promote this end that the meeting was called
upon to assist in the proposed measure of church extension.
Instead of filling our land with prisons and penitentiaries,
instead of multiplying police officers and poor law commis-
sioners, it would be well to try other means to stop the march
of crime and misery, by the infusion of a newer and a higher
principle. (Hear) Mr. Horsfall had read an extract trom
a speech of Lord John Russell. Since the time when that
speech was uttered; in which his lordship plainly demanded
an increase of the army, to meet the appalling wants of that
threatening period, the Bishop of Exeter delivered a charge,
showing the want and the necessity of education among the
poor, in order to avoid those dangers. [Mr. Buddicom hav-
ing read a copious extract from the most reverend prelate's
charge, proceeded to enlarge upon it.] If we looked back
upon the last half century, and saw how the national debt.
had increased from two or three hundred millions to between
eight and nine hundred millions, and considered that out of
that enormous sum just one million and a halt' had been
granted for church extension, what could we say of it ? If he
might be permitted to use the comparison in that meeting,
he would say it resembled Sir John Falstaff 's tavern bill,
found in his pocket, in which were large sums for sack and
delicacies, and only one-halfpenny worth of bread. (Hear.)
Sb it was with the country. Whence have sprung the evils
of socialism and Chartism ; whence springs the cause of the
want 'and squalid misery which prevail. except because the
poet- had been kept ignorant of the first principles of the
oracles of God—because they had not Churches, and because
where there were no Churches there were no schools. It' we
'looked Upon the Churches recently built, we should find that
whetever a Church had been built, there had also been built a
school. Wherever a government Church had been erected
in this town—and it was proposed to erect schools to all the
others—a Church school was built ; and, consequently, if a
Church was not built, there was no school and no instruc-
tion. What then was the deplorable situation of those indivi-
duals who were left without the knowledge of God in the
world ? We might know what it was to follow the sinful soul
through all its walks of crime and sin and misery in this life ;
But further there was a veil over it too dark for human eye to
penetrate. 11 we could follow it into eternity, and see the ter-
rible consequences of having no fold for the sheep or shepherd,
how 'should we be overwhelmed ? If we had a proper sense
of our own privileges and hopes, and of our responsibility
and obligation, which were co-relative terms, we should
never let our hands_ rest, or allow our feet to stay, till we had
remedied this state of things; we should call upon those who
bad piirelands to come froward and help us in a matter that
• • was so much needed as this. (Hear.) We were told it

was a grievance upon dissenters to be called upon to pay
for a religion in which they did not join-' and to which they
were conscientiously opposed. Now nothing was more easy
than to oppose a conscientious objection to an unpalatable
measure. (Hear, hear.) If such objections as these were
allowed, one person might object, conscientiously no doubt,
to contributing towards maintaining• a police force, because he
did not think it necessary : and he might think it a grievance
to be called upon to pay to the new force, because he thought
the old fashioned constabulary of our Saxon ancestors would
do very well to keep the peace ; and a third might say,
with as much reason, that he was conscientiously indisposed
to the execution of the law—and yet, if one man must be
called upon to support the measures to which he objects, so
must all. The Quaker might say he was indisposed to pay
for going to war, and yet he did pay. - . He made this remark
in order to show, that if the, pieii of conscience Was allowed
in one case it must be in 4Suddicom,• after a few
further remarks, concluded by seconding.the,,resolution.
The CHAIRMAN then put the mak*, and it was carried
amidst loud cheers.
The Rev. DANIEL WILSON said he had been requested to
move the next resolution. lie felt that an apology was due
from him as a stranger, to presume, after the powerful and
eloquent addresses which had been already delivered, to add
any thing of his own on that occasion. But he would rather
draw his apology from the overwhelming importance of the
subject which had brought the meeting together. He must
say, as the incumbent of one of the largest suburban parishes
of the metropolis, that a subject more important—more mo-
mentous to the interests of this great empire—more impor-
tant to the temporal, the national, and the domestic inte-
rests of the people—more important, above all, to the eter-
nal interests of immortal, undying souls, could not possibly
have brought together a ministry and a people, than the
present. tie congratulated the chairman, as the rector of
this vast parish, on occupying his present position as chair-
man of the meeting ; and he trusted the example which was
being set in the great and important town of Liverpool would
be followed throughout the length and breadth of the land,
in all parishes and districts wherever they could gather the
people together, in order to send up an united, a simultan-
eous, collective voice to the legislature, urging the importance
of extending the accommodations of the Church of Eng-
land. lie thought there were features in the present day
that rendered the present a peculiarly proper season liar soli-
citing this measure. In the first place, as the meeting had
already heard, the population had increased to an almost in-
credible vast extent, and the .church accommodation was
nearly the same as that which had been originally provided
when the number of the people was comparatively insignifi-
cant : and as the church arrangements were then considered
adequate for only five millions of people, how could they be
considered equally adequate for the .accomodation of four-
teen or fifteen millions? (Hear, hear.) What would be
the feelings of the legislature if the same principles were to
be pursued with regard to our military and our naval esta-
blishments?. (Hear, hear.) He found, from a document
which he happened to have-had put into his hands, of a cen-
tury back, that our army consisted of 18,000 men, who were
maintained at an annual cost of £650,000. • At the present
moment we had an army of 110,000 men, the cost of which was
£,000,000 per annum. Lethim return-to the original army
of 18,000 men, and ask the legislature whether they would
be satisfied with that amount of military force, to provide for
the defence of the vast population of this island ? Again,
our naval force, about the same period, was maintained at
the annual cost of X 350,000 ; but now it cost X 7,000,000.
In like manlier were we to provide the soldiers and the sail-
ors, who were to go abroad to fight our battles and to defend
the barriers our country—were we to enlarge and increase
their numbers, and to do nothing to increase the numbers of
the soldiers of the cross ? (Hear, hear.) Were we not to
enlarge the numbers of those who were to carry forward the
banners of salvation, -and hold up the standard of the
cross of Christ throughout the length and breadth of
the land ? Then we should have what we should natu-
rally expect as the results of this—infidelity spreading
amongst us—Popery increasing—and a spirit of liberalism
and radicalism and insubordination 'prevailing far and wide.
—(hear, hear.)—And could we wonder at it ? Could we be as-
tonished if, wnen knowledge was increasing, when the means
of information were enlarged, and the intellect was being cul-
tivated to a great and increasing extent, and when nothing
adequate was done for the moral, spiritual, and religious in-
terests of the people? He asked again could we be surprised at
this result ?—(hear,thear.) Rather was it not a cause for won-
der that we had not in a more tremendous degree these fea-
tures imprinted upon the land. (Hear.) ien there was
another point which, at the present moment, seemed peculiarly
to prompt this effort. It was this, not only had the volun-
tary system been tried among the dissenters, but it had been
tried, to a very considerable extent, within the pale of our
own -church. He would just refer to what he was naturally
more conversant with than with other similar subjects—the
state of the metropoliS. Within the last three or four years
their diocesan had been making most extraordinary efforts.
They had raised, during that periodsa church building fund
amounting to £132,000. (Hear,. hear) It was just pos-
sible, with the combined resources of the Bethnal fund,
and of other local funds, which were , ready to meet the
Bishop's, that- they should be enabled. to raise, in the
course of the next four or five years, as much money as
would build forty-two churches or chapels throughout the
metropolis. But what said the report of the church com-
missioners ? Forty churches, were they erected to-day, would
be too small to supply the necessity. The report of the com-
missioners, presented some time back, showed this—that
279 additional churches were required, at the present moment,
to meet the wants of the present population of the metro-
polis of Great Britain, not to speak of the rapid increase of
population perpetually taking place: and, as the Bishop of
London had again and again pressed upon us, " if I build
my forty churches, and the population of my diocese ad-
vances, as it does now, the church accommodation, when my
forty churches have been built, will bear a less proportion to
the general population than the present number of churches
does." That was, that the increase of population would
more than counterbalance all that could he done to meet the
demand.
,(Hear.) This was a point which would strike
every one, and which had convinced him that mere voluntary
efforts, however vigorously applied, would not meet the de-
mand. Then, there was another point. Wherever this
voluntary effort had been carried on, within a comparatively
small circle, the result had been so striking, as to encou-
rage, in a remarkable degree, an additional effort. Perhaps he
'might be charged with egotism in referring to his own parish ;
but he should do so with a view to make out his third point—
that wherever church accommodation, from whatever source,
haddieen supplied at all adequate to the increase of the po-
pulatiOnStlie.reSult had been' to giiiPtisi expectation. Thir-
teen years ago, when the present Bishop of Calcutta firstwent
to the parish of Islington, the population amounted to about
30,000. It :ivas now 42,000. There-were then two churches
whi'Ph provided accommodation for about 28,000 ; but neither
of them were filled. The incumbent was superannuated, and
unable to act. He had only a single curate to perform the
duties of that large parish. Now, by the blessing of God upon
voluntary efforts, sustained partly by the report of the church
commission, partly by its destitute state, and partly by the
Bishop of London's metropolitan fund, they had been enabled
to raise seven -additional churches. The number. of conse-
crated churches in the parish was now nine, together with
three licensed chapels—thus furnishing church accommodation
for 13,400 persons, or nearly one third of the gross population
of the parish. The effect had been simply this—that every
new church built •had been gradually filled, and the old
churches were more fully and entirely filled with attentive
audiences than ever. (Hear.) For every new church erect-
ed, they.had bad an a.diiitionatlay pastor working among the
people, and consequently they had now, „sixteen working
clergymen scattered over a district where formerly one indi-
vidual performed the -whole duty. 7(Applause.) The effect
had been, that not only had the spiritual interests of the po-
pulation been effectually promoted—not only had they, in
their nine or ten churches, every Sunday; large and attentive
• congregations ; but they were, at the present moment, sup-
posing the population to increase, and, instead of 40,000, it
should be in a few years 60,000 or' 70,000, in a far better po-
sition than ever for raising funds for the erection of addi-
tional places of worship. (Hear.) They could fall hack
•
upon their multiplied congregations, and increase their united
efforts ; then schools, teachers, and. district visitors immedi-
ately followed. Since the last new church had been erected,
there had been built, or there were now building, twelve ad-
ditional parochial schools, capable of providing religious in-
struction for 2,000 children. (Applause.) Ile would shew
how their funds had increased with this increasing accommo-
dation. When they began, the income of the Church Mis-
sionary Society from this parish was £3OO a year; but now
they very easily raised £lOOO. He mentioned this fact to
shew, that if they could obtain additional churches, and
meet the increasing wants of the population, they were effect-
ing a more important object for the spiritual interests of this
great country, than by any other method that could possibly
be devised—and not only . for our own country, but for our
colonies and our spheres of missionary labour. (Hear, and
applause.) The same thing was going on there as here. He
might mention the colony of Australasia where the Bishop
was erecting schools and churches, and was about to build a
cathedral. He might mention India, where, during the last
five years, the Bishop of Calcutta had sent him word, he had
contracted for the erection of twenty-two new schools, in
connection with the Church of England, in the single diocese
of Bengal. In connection with this, he might refer to another
interesting fact. The see of Calcutta bad been erected for
twenty years, yet, up to the present time, there never had
been a suitable building provided for a cathedral. The present
church used for that purpose was an unconsecrated building,
and in the hands of trustees, who might withdraw it at any
time they thought proper. The Bishop was now making an
effort throughout his diocese to raise funds for the erection of
a suitable cathedral, to which would be attached native canons
and prebends to instruct the natives, to read lectures to them,
and thus be the means of giving a local habitation to the Church
'of England, in the most important dependency of the empire,
which no other single authority could do to an equal degree.
Ile mentioned this because lie might possibly be speaking to
some who were interested in that country. The Bishop was
anxious to raise a subsidiary fund in our own land towards
this object. The Christian Knowledge Society had munifi-
cently contributed £5OOO, and he was happy to say that
Charles Groves, Esq., of the Exchange, Liverpool, had
offered to receive subscriptions, and had sent a dona-
tion of £lO. Mr. Wilson then referred to the reso-
lution, and concluded by moving its adoption, " That
the duty of Rulers, in reference to the public worship
and acknowledgment of Almighty God, is clearly laid down
in his Holy Word—that momentous interests are at stake
--and that—it. is a f.arfal susperimcests for a professedly
Christian Legislabitre to try (whether in deference to secta-
rian opinions, or fb the suggestions of a mistaken and short-
sighted economy) how large a portion of the people can be
safely left without the pale of Christian Institutions ; and
that it is an act of the most grievous injustice to resolve
that that experiment shall be made at the cost of the poorer
classes, who can do little to help themselves, and on whom
penal measures, whenever necessary, arc apt to fall with
peculiar weight and severity."
The Rev. FIELDING OULD supported the resolution in a
very long and able address, in which he replied to several
points advanced by time advocates of the voluntary system at
their great soiree held in the Music-hall in November last.
Alluding to the three watchwords proposed by Mr: M`Neile,
he said he would suggest a fourth, and then the series would
run thus : Scriptural Education, Church Extension, Sabbath
Observance, and repeal of the Emancipation Bill. (Hear,
hear.) He concluded by cordially seconding the resolution.
The CHAIRMAN put the next inotion, which was carried.
The. Rev. Dr. TATTERSII ALL moved the adoption of the
next resolution :---,
" That a Petition to the House of. Commons, embodying
the foregoing Resolutions, and calling upon the Legislature
to take the matter thereof into its most serious considera-
tion, be adopted ; and that the Right Hon. Lord Viscount
Sartdon and Cresswell Cresswell, Esq., be requested to
present and support the same."
At this late hour he should not detain the meeting by any
remarks, but content himself by reading the petition. The
Rev. Doctor then read the petition, as follows :
" TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF GREAT 'BRITAIN
AND IRELAND,, IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
" The humble Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of
Liverpool and its vicinity,
" SHEwETH,That your petitioners are anxious to draw
the attention of your honourable house to the spiritual des-
titution of vast masses of the population in England and
Wales ; and, especially, to the fact, that wherever such des-
titution exists, the poorer classes are the first and the chief
sufferers.
" That your petitioners have been taught to consider that
the, theory of the Church of England is a fold for every
sheep, and a shepherd for every fold ; and that she regards
the souls of all, as of equal value in the sight of their' Crea-
tor : but they lament that this principle has been so lost sight
of, during a long period of national prosperity,. that when the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners appointed by his late Majesty
made their report in 1836, there were 108 parishes or. dis-
tricts, containing an aggregate population amounting to
2,590,000, for whom not more than 301,382 church-sittings
had been provided ; and, admitting that the chapels of Dis-

senters in those districts furnished an equal number of sits
ting;s, and that not more than half the entire population can
be Considered capable of attending public worship, still the
conclusion at which your petitioners arrive is, that upwards
of 1,300,000 of that population, and those chiefly of the
poorer classes, were totally unprovided for : and, bearing in
mind that upwards of six millions have been added to the
population of England and Wales since the commencement
of the present century, your petitioners believe that some
hundreds of thousands might he added to that appalling
number, of persons similarly situated in other parts of the '
country.
" Your petioners respectfully submit that the duty of rulers
in reference to the public worship and acknowledgment of
Almighty God, is clearly laid down in his Holy Word—that
momentous interests are at stake—and that it is a fearful ex-
periment for a professedly Christian legislature to try (whe-
ther in deference to sectarian opinions, or to the suggestions
of a mistaken or short-sighted economy,) how large a portion
of the people can be safely left without the pale of Christian
institutions. And that is an act of the. most grievous injus-
tice, to resolve that that experiment shall be made at the
SF
cost of the poorer classes, who can do little to help themselves,
and on whom penal measures, whenever necessary, are apt to
fall with peculiar weight and severity.
"Tour petitioners, therefore, implore your Honourable
House to take these matters into your most serious considera- _
tion, with the view of providing, through the medium of the
Established Church, that religious and moral instruction
which alone can knit together the inhabitants and classes of
a great country. ,f
"And your petitioners will ever pray, &c., &c."
The Rev. JAMES HALDANE STEWART begged to second -t
the motion, and would only detain the meeting by stating.s
that now was the time for every one to sign their names, and
to come forward as those who had themselves felt the benefit
of church extension. (Hear.) He would put the question .
to every individual present—" Can you lay your hand upon,, '
your heart and say, I have to thank God for the .church ex,,,
tension that has taken place in this great town, for it has ss
brought me, by the grace of God, out of darkness into his
marvellous light, and I desire to say blessed be God, the
father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for making known the Son
of his love to me by his holy spirit ?" If they had not them-
selves found benefit from church extension in this town, he
would strongly recommend them to address their petition
Him who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that they
might receive that personal benefit ; and if they had, by his
grace, then he would say, " Come and sign your names, that
others might." (Hear.) Remember, proceeded the Rev.
Gentleman, that we meet here for business. (Hear.) It is
not to hear speeches, to, applaud those speeches, and then to
go home and do nothing, but to support that christian legis-
lator, Sir Robert Inglis, when he brings forward his motion
in the House of Commons. Every petition that appears
upon the table of that house, will strengthen his hands and
the hands of those legislators who earnestly desire that
christian principles and practice may be established through-
out the land. (Cheers.) I add no more. May the Lord so
Incline all our hearts, that we may not find .this evening go
off unprofitably, but that we may be as ready to act as we
' have been to hear and to plead. (Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN put the resolution and petition, and the
meeting unanimously adopted them.
C. S. PARKER, Esq., moved a vote of thanks to the Revs,
Rector Brooks for his conduct in presiding at the meeting.

---.. .
THOMAS FORSVI'II, Esq., seconded it.
The motion was carried by acclamation.
Ml'. BROOKS briefly acknowledged the compliment, and j-
the meeting separated about ten o'clock, having been occupied „AA
from half-past six. • • 8
s ,-.00

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

TURKEY.
CONSTANTINOPLE, JAN. 22.—The negociations of M.
Zographos for the conclusion of a treaty of commerce with
the Porte, have suddenly taken a very favourable turn. M•
Zographos, who will soon leave Constantinople to return to
Greece, will be able to conclude the affair before his de-
parture, as all the stipulations of the treaty seem to be
settled. It is founded on the basis of the treaty concluded
between Great Britain and the Porte on the 16th of August,
1838.
The Grand Vizier, Khosrew Pacha, had an apoplectic fit
the day before yesterday. Medical aid being quickly applied
the old Grand Vizier was saved. He is tolerably well to-
day.
The death of this man, who alone is able to see
through the crafty-devised plan of the Viceroy, would be at
this moment an almost irreparable loss to the Porte.

HANOVER.
,HANovEa, FEB. 7.—His Majesty has been pleased to
grant the Chamberlains Von Hammerstein and Von Wrede.
at their own request, permission to retire from their post,
with a pension.
In contradiction to other accounts from Frankfort, the
Magdeburg Gazette says, " It is wholly improbable that the
Diet will so soon resume the discussion of the affairs of
Hanover, unless, contrary to all hope and expectation, they
should take such a turn in that kingdom that the interfer-
ence of the Diet must take place as a matter of course."

BELGIUM.
ANTWERP, FEB. 13.—The Commerce Belge says—" We
were well informed when we stated that the visit of M. Ouv-
rard to Brussels was connected with some great financial
operations. We now learn from an authentic source that he
is engaged at Madrid on the realization of a project concern-
ing Spain and Belgium. This is the acquisition of the
Philippine Islands for our advantage on a basis entirely new,
combining the means of deriving the greatest advantage from
these colonies, and making. them a grand deVit for Belgian
manufactures and produce. Besides pecuniary aid and credit
given by the state, a society, with a large capital, would be
founded.—Journal the Commerce d Anvers.

SWEDEN.
The speech of the king of Sweden, on opening the diet at
Stockholm, on the 25th ult. which is of unusual length, re-
presents the kingdom as in: a state of high prosperity, and
states that, although the taxes have been annually diminished,
there has since 1813 been expended in public works upwards
of 15,5000,000 thalers, or about 80,000,000 francs. Parti-
cular attention, it says, has been paid to the moral and
religions education of the people, and the States are recom-
mended to authorise the establishment of a primary school
in each of the 1,200 existing parishes. His majesty enume-
rates all the improvements made in the government since
his accession: Among these is the extinction of the whole
of the foreign and a great part of the home debt ; an increase
of the profits of the bank from -2.18,000 thalers ..baneo to
700,000; the formation of an army of 100,000 effective men ;
the creation of a coast guard of 230 gunboats ; an augmenta-
tion of the fleet ; an increase of commerce and tnanufacturei
and general . industry ; and finally, a perfect union betwecU
Sweden and Norway, which had been previously divided bY
a mutual spirit of animosity. His majesty, at -the conclusion
of his speech, made a feeling allusion to Lis own advanced.
age, and. the great happine-s which the actual condition of
the country atiorded him.—Galignaai's Messenger.

AFRICA.
We have advices from Liberia (Africa) to the 24th of Nov.
The slave trade was-still carried on to a great extent on the
coast of Africa, as during the first fortnight of November no
less than twenty vessels under Portuguese, Spanish, and Bra-
zilian colours had been brought in by. British cruizers' anti
condemned. A great number of American vessels were like-
wise on the coast for slaves, and the British armed brig Lyivo
Lieut. Broadhead, had seized, at British Accla, the
can schooner " My Bov," of New Orleans, and taken her to
Sierra Leone, where she was duly condemned. The com-
manders of the British armed vessels are said to have stated
that they had received strict orders from their Government
not to interfere with any American vessels, unless there was
positive proof that slaves were on board, or the vessels were
in British waters. The slave trade is stated to have been,
prosecuted with unwonted energy in the neighbourhood 0,
the Gallenas, and such was the eagerness with which slaves
were • sought for, that every species of foreign merchandi%e
had fallen in price to a level unusually low.

RUSSIA.
A Bombay letter of Ist January states, that the news of,
the advance of the Russian expedition against Chiva .had
reached that place, and that in consequence the forces st
the camp of Pichavor had been ordered to suspend their retur9
to Bombay. The Temp quotes advices, of one day's pre'
vious date, to the following effect : but it should be observea,
that no date is assigned to the movements alluded to, atl"
what is given from St. Petersburgh, we suspect the account
to be premature Private letters just arrived inform It'
that the Russian army, of 12,000 or 13,000 men, under Ge-•
neral Berokuy (Perowski) which has entered the Khanat
Chiva, not to take revenge for wrongs done, as the St. Peters'
burgh journals state, but as. invaders, has taken the capital'
Tile Khan, on the aearance of the first column of the ene-
my, assembled as strong a force as. he could collect, and made
a show of resistance. Ile was, however, obliged to yield to
superior numbers, and the Russians entered Chiva with
drums beating andi colours flying,"

IMPORTANCE OF A Tot.—A tile fell on a passenger's toe
in Blackfriar's-road the other day and nearly cut it off.
was amputated in the hospital, the patient was seized with
delirium tremens, and died two days after.
SINGULAR MORTALITY AMONG Conk.—A novel disease
of the most deadly character has lately made its appearance'
and caused some consternation in the extensive dairies in the
neighbourhood of Purtleet. The first part attacked is the
tongue, which rapidly becomes so blistered and swollen
utterly to prevent the animal from taking its food. tinleP
the most prompt and skilful means are used to avert its P
10
press, the disease rapidly extends to the animal's hoolis
which in a short time absolutely rot off, and certain death
of course the consequence. This disease, in most cases fatal,
is not known ever to have shown itself before, and is gee"
rally attributed to the extraordinary quantity of rain which
has fallen during the last eight months.—Morning Herald.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CONTROVERSY AT BOLTON.—The
111
troductory sermon was preached by the Rev. Hugh Stowell
of Manchester, on Tuesday night, and the first of the serieS
on " Tradition" by the Rev. W. Dalton, was preached in St'
Mary's Church, on Tuesday evening last. The well-knows
acquaintance of this gentleman with polemical divinity a"g
tracted a most overflowing congregation, numbers not be
in
able even to get standing room in the aisles. The I
Gentleman delivered a powerful discourse, in his usual lin;
pressive and persuasive style, which occupied about an at
and three quarters in delivery. We cannot but hope thB.
these sermons will be attended with much good, especially
they are about to be published at an extremely low rate 11),i
general distribution. The future sermons will be preacheof
in St. Leonard's Church, for the better accommodatioa
the inhabitants ' • St. Mary's Church having been found 01te
too small.—Staffordshire Gazelle.
DIABOLICAL MURDER.—A most atrocious murder bss
been committed during the week. A poor and very old 01°„;
man had been employed for many years as a letter carrl'
between Newbridge and the parts adjacent, and on Weal
day evening she left Newbridge with the letter bags as usuo.
Nothing more was seen or heard of her till the next ma
ing, when her body was found in the river, and upon 0111,,
nation it was found that her head had been most dreadlii.,„;
beaten, and that she must have been dead before she 0;
thrown into the water. It would seem that the perpetral°4
of this horrid deed expected to have obtained a rich bootY,;
it was the day on, which the money (upwards of £2,000) °on
usually sent up to one of the 'works to pay the men.
this occasion, however, it fortunately happened that a sPec.:ol
messenger had been sent down and had taken the money ‘'lzi
him. There is not the slightest clue upon which a hope tl
rest for the discovery of the murderer. It is said that
people on the hills, being now fully persuaded that all c3};„!
tal punishMent is done away with, these things will nqeit
unfrequent, as they care not for secondary punishment, l"io,
observation being that they work so hard here that t 11,,,
portation cannot place them in a worse condition.—Mew'

Guardian. hr.
THE BITER. Birrirs.--On Wednesday last, as a cat, tot
longing to Mr. John Robinson, of Longridge, was in (1",10
adventures, it wended its way to the parsonage house, aatil,
stealthily as possible gaining an entrance into the paaltbie
found, on a low shelf, a small jar, about half full of pals .0:,
eatables. Being the sole mistress of the citadel, Pu53.10e11;
gined she had a right to the good things which it coma tot
but oh ! and alas ! the mouth of the jar would not ar,„ use
admit poor puss's " cranium," which compelled her 1,1"ocr.
"physical" force,' until at last she effected an eutr`,"
When attempting, however, to draw out her head, loi.ioo
was secured fast enough ! If her head was too large Pre poi°
to putting it into the jar;: it was evidently.: much lacgerriote
After vainly endeavoming with;all her might, to e%rboaa'
herself, she strove to escape v:itii'the jar hanging- by her
.1 the
when she wits •seen•by thegktvatiL:.::She then ran ag4inaftil
wall, and the jar breakippOtslspAliberated from her Pa
pillory.—Preston Chronicle. - '