The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-10-04 00:00:00

TO THE REV. HUGH M'NEILE.

MY DEAR FRIEND.—I have seen the Liverpool Journal con-
taining
your answer to Mr. Maguire. As I know that your sole
object is the elucidation of truth for the people, I must entreat
of you, for the truth's sake, not to allow your own zeal, or your
conscious capability of vindicating your Master's cause, to force'
you into any acceptance of Mr. Maguire's challenge, (or tuock•i
challenge) till he has the common honesty to answer that which
he has now twice. skulked from in Ireland; first, by pretending
he never saw it for three years, though it was publicly adverti-
sed in the chief Roman Catholic journals, and called about the
streets of Dublin; and lastly, by evading it through unworthy
artifices when it was posted on his chapel door.
The popish priests are trained with the deepest subtleties of
jesuitry and sophistry to make a show of truth under the real
and apparent sanction of authorities, councils, fathers, school-
men, &c. which never will allow the common people, nor even
educated Roman catholics, to get at the plain and simple word of
God, Stich confusion can they raise on every point; that even if
the 'minds of the people are led to doubt by an able disputant,
still there is enough-of ambiguity left to prevent them from see-
ing their way clear nut of the church of Rome.. But the. text
proposed in the challenge which Mr. Magui:e has evaded, and
which no priest in their church dares to meet, forces them at
once into plain open ground, puts their creed, their infallibility,
their vanity, and all the principles of their superstition, to the
test.—They blind the people with arguments, to prove what au-
thority, and power, and infallibility, &e. they possess. This
challenge puts all their I.:Ousted powers to the proof, and would
at once teach the neople by the most summary process of all
argument, namely, plain matter of fact, that all the pretensions
of pripery are one enormous mass of falsehood and imposture.
I, therefore, intreat you, my dear brother, to lead the chal-
lenge which I have sent over to Liverpool. I trust you will see
the plainness and simplicity with which it puts, at once, the
falsehoods of popery to the most clear and conclusive proof. I "
will feel thankful, if you approve, that yoti will adopt it, as I
intend to request that my reverend brethren fn Ireland will do
so; and if you will not think me an unworthy coadjutor, let us
send it forth to all Romish priests, bishops, and vicars apostolic
of the Roman see; and in the strength of our God we shall, I
trust, stand together, and prove the utter incompetence of all
their blind guides to expound the word of God to the people,
and show the people themselves that it is their right and duty
to burst the shackles of that tyranny that enslaves them, and
vindicate to themselves and their children the rights and privi-
leges of rational, responsible, immortal beings.—Believe
my dear friend, your very affectionate but unworthy brother.
' -Dublin, 28th Sept., 1836. R. J. M'GHEE.

We are happy to find that the reprint, by Fraser, of The
Summary of the Session, by Lord Lyndhurst," has reached the
26th edition. "The General Results of the Past Session, and
the Prospects of the Next" has also appeared in the shape of
a small pamphlet, and obtained a very extensive circulation,
This cheap reprints are calculated to render great service to the
cause of conservatism, and we therefore wish the spirited pub-
lisher every success in his praiseworthy undertaking.
Romtsti CATHEDRALS.—We have it (Says the Clonmel Ad-
verti,eo on undoubted authority that Tuam Cathedral,. the
eighth wonder of the world, owes its erection almost entirely to
protestant contributions! The Marquess of Sligo subscribes.a
hundred a-year to the building. Lord Orautnore also contri-
butes largely, and there is scarcely a protestant landlord in
that part of the country who has not sent in his tribute to the
far-famed edifice. In addition to this, the priests have been
touring through England and Scotland collettingsftbscriptions;
and it is only the other day that the Rev. Mr. -O'Connor was
announced with three hundred pounds,. which he had collected
in various parts of the sister kingdom. We believe that a great
part of the labour was performed graiuitensly by the Roman
catholic population, but we all know what Weapons such priest,s
as Dr. M`Hale can bring into requisition to gather ihe " boys '
for a service of that kind, and we believe that it forms the ex-
tent of the Roman catholic part of the subscriptions. So much
for WAlnigrave tranquillity—to much for the cathedrals raiscd
by the unaided contributions of the Roman catholic population.
Bull.