The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-10 00:00:00

DISCUSSION ON SOCIALISM BETWEEN MR.
BRINDLEY AND LLOYD JONES, THE SOCIAL-
IST IMISSIONARY.-UTTER ROUT OF THE
BLASPHEMERS!

During the present week the indefatigable Mr. Brindley
has been engaged in a discussion with the " pet missionary"
of this infamous system in the Queen's Theatre, which has
been nightly crowded, or we may say crammed, to the very
roof. The charge proposed to be shbstantiated by Mr.
Brindley was that " Socialism is a lying, swindling, fraudu-
lent scheme, which has robbed the working classes, and is
now robbing them, under false pretences ; and that it, in
theory, denounces all marriage and all religion, and denies
the existence of a personal intelligent God." The Rev. J.
ii. Connor was the moderator chosen by the meeting ; and
the proceeds of admission, after deducting expenses, were to
be presented to the charities of the town.
During the first two nights Mr. Brindley, to the satisfac-
tion of by far the greater part of his audiences, indelibly
fastened the mark of lying and swindling upon the system;
and even compelled the missionary Jones to acknowledge his
having taken an oath of his belief in the Bible, whilst, at the
same time, an avowed Atheist. It will be remembered that,
under the title of Rev., which he attained by this perjury,
Mr. Jones attended at the anti-corn-law conference of mi-
nisters of ALL denominations in Manchester. On Wednes-
day night Mr. Brindley was equally successful in proving,
and that by living evidence too, that the system denounced
all marriage, not in theory alone, but in practice as well.
On Thursday (yesterday) evening, Mr. Brindley proceeded
to prove the infidelity of Socialism, and from the books of
Robert Owen, and the lips of the Socialist Jones himself,
completely established this position. After a brief summing
up, in the course of which the socialists present, by knocking
sticks on the benches, and other noises, endeavoured to pre-
vent his being heard, the question was put to a show of
hands by the rev. chairman, and carried in favour of Mr.
Brindley by an overwhelming majority amidst deafening
cheers. _ _

The Socialist missionary, Jones, with his friends, and
amongst them the well-known John Finch, immediately left
the platform, greeted on their course by the very unequivocally-
expressed disgust of the meeting ; and three cheers having
been given for Mr. Brindley, that gentleman proposed to it
to express its sense to the services of the rev. gentleman who
had filled the arduous office of moderator of the discussion
during the four nights' stormy proceedings. A round of en-
thusiastic cheering was the reply, after which Mr. Bonnor rose
and in a beautiful and feeling address which we regret that
at this late hour we cannot convey to our readers, returned
thanks to the audience who had placed him in the chair, and
supported him in it during the discussion. He had taken
the chair from a sense of duty—from a sense of kindness to
the socialists themselves, who, he was confident, would be
benefitted by hearing the dark sophistries of their infidel
leaders discussed and exploded by the eloquence and argu-
ments of their friend Mr. Brindley. As for the unhappy
man whom they had heard that night glory in his shame,
and who had last night claimed him (Mr. Connor) as
a countryinann—as an Irishman—in the name of his
countrymen, in the name of Ireland, he renounced
him. They would have no socialism in Ireland—(a voice,
" nor in England")—they would have no socialism in Li-
verpool. He was proud of the spirit which he saw evinced
by the operatives around him. They would not be entrapped
by the cobwebs of socialism, or submit to have their pockets
sucked by the spiders which dwell amongst them. The ope-
ratives of Liverpool would cling to their Bible. He had seen
to-night that they were proud of their Bible; and for that
he thanked God and their Protestant Church of England.
He trusted that when they left this meeting they would leave
it in a spirit of seriousness, and before they retired to their
rest they would pray for the souls of the unhappy men who
had that night stood up before them to revile the Word of
God and his ordinances.

lie could not allow them to separate without expressing
his feelings as to the deserving of the David who had come
forth to combat this dark system of error. Their friend Mr.
Brindley ought not to be left alone to sustain the expenses
of the tight; and he would briefly suggest that one hundred
of his operative friends would undertake to collect each their
10s., which would make £5O, and shew the example to the
merchants of the town, who ought to double that sum. He
proposed that one hundred of the protestant operatives
should call upon Mr. Crisp, who would give them cards each
to collect amongst their brother operatives, in the course of
Friday, Saturday, and all next week. _ _ _ _

The reverend gentleman, after a few more remarks, (which
again we regret we cannot give,) proposed to close the meet-
ing with praise ; and the Doxology having been sung, and a
short prayer offered up, the meeting separated.
We learn that the gross receipts of the• four nights were
£95 Hs. 6d., which, after deducting the necessary expenses,
will leave a considerable sum for the charity. _

Throughout the whole of the four nights' discussion•the
tricky, and therefore dangerous character of the system was
well exemplified in the tactics resorted to by its advocate,
Jones. Ever shuffling and equivocating—flying off from the
point before him into all manner of extraneous philosophy
which was likely to attract a popular audience—never meet-
ing a charge without first endeavouring to misrepresent its
nattue or its wording—resorting to all kinds of personalities
and slanders—it was with the utmost difficulty that Mr.
Brindley could fasten the attention of his audiences to the
questions brought before them ; and we are satisfied that few
men indeed could have so perfectly succeeded as to attain the
triumphant result which he did, in spite of the frantic efforts
of these wretched beings to obstruct the fair expression of
the sense of his hearers.

We cannot conclude this notice without expressing our ad-
miration of the talents which Mr. Brindley has devoted with-
out reward—(to the sacrifice of his other pursuits and to the,
serious injury, we fear, of bis health itself)—to the exposure
of this infamous and destructive system. The Christian
world is under a deep debt of gratitude to him for his un-
wearied efforts; and we are satisfied will ungrudgingly award
him their hearty thanks, if indeed something more solid than
thanks should not be the return for so many sacrifices of
time, of money, of domestic comfort, and of severe mental
and bodily exertion, as those which have been cheerfully
made by Mr. Brindley in this cause.

It will be seen that the Rev. Mr. Connor, at the close of
the meeting, pointed out a mode by which such a tribute
could be paid to him ; and in whidh we have no doubt our
operative friends will zealously co-operate. We would only
suggest, that there be no restriction as to the sum which
each should undertake to collect; but that every operative
who can raise anything, if only 6d., should offer his services
in so good a work.
It will be seen by our advertising columns that Mr.
Brindley will deliver another lecture to-night in the same
place ; and, as we have heard that many of our female friends
have been kept from attending hitherto, we can assure them
that every convenience and protection will be afforded them
this evening.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.—TuEsDAY

DARBON

Ross En.

This was an action for a breach of promise of marriage,
which has been magnified into an undue degree of import-
ance from the paragraphs which have appeared in the news-
papers from time to time. The declaration contained four
counts, alleging promises and breaches in July, 1837, Sep-
tember, 1837, in June, 1839, and April, 1810. The defend-
ant pleaded—first, that he did not promise ; and, next, that
he had invested the sums of £666, £366. and £215, in the
purchase of Government stocks, in satisfaction of the breaches
of promise, and that the plaintiff had received the same in
satisfaction thereof. Mr. Platt stated the case for the plain-
tiff, and described in most ludicrous terms the letters and
advances of the defendant, who is a practising solicitor in
London, between seventy and eighty years of age, and wrote
about 700 letters during the time of his courtship, which
lasted between three and four years. The plaintiff, on the
contrary, was only a few years beyond her teens, and had
written also a considerable quantity of amorous epistles. sl r.
Thesiger addressed the jury for the defendant, and charac-
terised the conduct of the plaintiff as designing in the ex-
treme to entrap an old man into compliance with her wishes.
The jury, on hearing that the £666 were entirely under the
control of the plaintiff, found a verdict for the plaintiff—
Damages £l6OO.