The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-02 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIR,—A controversy that savours of personality
must always be disagreeable to a rightly-constituted
mind. Mr. Caine, conscious that he has "no case," has
set himself with all his powers to "abuse the opposite
counsel," and, therefore, the greater part of his letter
contained in the Liverpool Standard of the 22nd inst:nt
is a tissue of low personalities directed against myself—per-
sonalities which have not the least connexion with the ques-
tion at issue, and of such a character that they would only be
admitted into the columns of the press in the form of an
advertisement—a fact all the more marked from the circum-
stance that, if something was not very far wrong with the
document itself, the Mercury, at least, would have gladly
opened its pages to what was fully intended as a heavy blow
at the political parsons." The more io its credit, however,
it refused ; and now, as an example of how the innocent
suffer with the guilty, I suppose I can only expect my reply
to appear in the same form. I might, therefore, have safely
left the matter to take its course, and have paid no further
attention to it. _

Two considerations, however, have induced me to reply.
The first is to remove unj ist misrepresentations that have
been very i idustriously circulated ; and the second is that,
if Mr. Caine will insist upon being a public man in Liverpool,
and, as the leader of a party, is determined to acquire in-
fluence which he employs to injure the character and useful-
ness of ministers of the gospel, it is right that those be
aspires to lead should at least have the opportunity of under-
standing the spirit by which he is animated, and the measure
of confidence that is to be placed in the truthfulness of his
representations. _ _

In regard to the first, it will be enough for me simply to
state the facts out of which this correspondence arose. The
public are, no doubt, aware that there exists in this country
a society called "The British Reformation Society," under the
patronage of the Earl of Shaftesbury and others, having its
centre in London, with its ramifications extending through-
diAt the provinces. One of these branches exists in Liverpool,
called "The Working Men's Branch of the British Reforma-
tion Society." As its name implies, it is mainly composed of
working men. Its object, like that of the parent society, is
to extend the principles of the Reformation. This is done by
the circulation of tracts, by private conversation, and by
viva voce discussion at public meetings, attended, as I have
been informed, in some instances, by 400 or 500 persons,
principally members of the Church of Rome. Thus, with the
Bible in their hands, they endeavour, as God gives them op-
portunity, to expound, maintain, and propagate the glorious
principles revealed by Christ and his apostles, and revived
by the Reformers and martyrs. In the month of November
last a tea-meeting was held in Beau-street, in connex►on with
the branch, and in consequence of the speeches made then
and there, Mr. Caine felt constrained to deliver his oration
in the Concert-hall, in which he attacked, in the most
violent manner, the ministers who took part in the meeting
at Beau-street. These, in turn, replied at tho meeting held
in Hope-hall, on the 17th April, and this reply drew forth
his letter of the 22nd inst.

Before entering upon the contents of the letter, it is of the
utmost importance to be fully satisfied as to the character of
the speeches delivered on these occasions, and the spirit in
which the proceedings were conducted. The following are
the terms in which they were described by Mr. Caine In his
speech at the annual meeting of the Working Men's Sunday
Services _

"On looking over the report of their proceedings, all we
can see is a long, weary tirade against the Church of Rome.
So, to advance the cause of Christianity, we have Protestant
ministers—messengers of peace and good-will—appealing to
the prejudices and iNflaming the passions of ignorant and
violent men. Protestants appeal to the people.! A platform
or parsons pit citing into Popery ! And is this all our boasted
Protestantism can do ?—excite envy, hatred, malice, and all
uncharitableness ?—promote rancour among neighbours?—
provoke party feuds and street lights?
Are broken heads,
With bloody noses and black eyes,
To be the Church's sacrifice?
Are the professed ministers of peace to hound on the orange
shipwright to belabour the poor Papist lumper ? and are the
workshops of Liverpool to be the perpetual arenas of faction
and strife, while two contending systems of priestcraft
squabble for ascendancy?"
Now, as I was one of the ministers here alluded to, and as
in his letter Mr. Caine has selected me as the object of special
attack, I appeal to the subjoined extract from my speech on
the occasion. It is not, as he states, "an ex-post facto (Ls-
covery of what ought to have been done." It is not some-
thing which may have been said, but " which is not in the
report of the meeting;" it is what was actually spoken and
fully reported in the account of the proceedings as given in
the Standard of the next day. The whole speech is com-
pressed into about the sixth part of a column, and the words
I am about to quote form its first sentence; so that it is im-
possible for a man to have looked at the report at all and not
to have seen them. They are as follow:
" It was necessary (Mr. White said) to distinguish between
persons and principles. They spoke, in the present contro-
versy, in reference to principles. They loved the persons of
the Papists, and it was because of this that they endeavoured
to do them good by telling them the truth ; but they hated
the principles of Popery."
The word principles, let me observe, in the original report as
here is in italic, as if the reporter, being obliged to condense,
felt it necessary to notice the fulness with which .I dwelt upon
the necessity of distinguishing between hatred of the principles
and love to the persons of 'Papists. I can only repeat what I
stated in Hope-street, that similar sentiments were avowed
by every speaker on the occasion. So much for the spirit of
the Beau-street meeting.

Next let us turn to that in Hope-street. The two extracts
here given are token—the first from the standard's report of
the meeting, and the second from the Mercury's:—
" In proceeding to overthrow error, however, we must do
it in a charitable-spirit.; we must love the men while we repu-
diate and ablinr the sins; and in doing this we shall only be
following our Saviour's blessed example."

"Theriter. V. M. White, on being called upon, was warmly
received. lie described Popery:to be despotical and blasphe-
mous—an enemy to man both here and hereafter, and they
were not doing their duty to God or their neighbour unless
they rose and strongly protested against the system. But
whilst they abhorred and repudiated the principles of Popery,
he enjoined love towards its unhappy followers.
In addition, I cannot forbear mentioning a fact which with
many will probably weigh even more than the extracts, and
with all will corroborate their testimony. At the close of the
meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. It. A Macfie, for
the use.of the hall ' • in acknowledging which he said that he
was there merely from curiosity—that he •catue to see the
accommodation the hall supplied for tea-parties, that being
the first held in it—'that being in lie was unable to get out,
and was thus obliged to remain to the close; but having clone
so, he could not help expressing his entire approval of the
manner and spirit in which the proceedings had been con-
ducted—that he would see Mr. Caine and endeavour to correct
the erroneous impressions he had formed, and, as the best way
to convince him of this, that he would urge him to attend the
next meeting ' • that he' hoped, also, the Roman Catholics
would attend the meeting, and hear the truth adverted to in
truly Protestant and temperate language. In justice to Mr.
Macfie, I give the first part of his remarks; in justice to our-
selves, I give the second.
So much then for the spirit of both meetings, as seen by
the published report of our speeches, and by the impartial
testimony of an u'tinterested spectator, and that spectator a
friend of Mr. Caine's. A most remarkable an ! striking
contrast to the fact, that, after Mr. Caine's speech in the Con-
cert-hall, one of the.ministers who spoke. also a friend of his,
felt bound to protest against his address ; a circumstance
which 1 have from the lips of the minister himself, though I
believe it was not given in the report of the meeting. I leave
the reader to compare the extracts and draw his own con-
clusions. . . .

We shall now, turn to.the letter. The writer begins thus:—
"At a meeting held in this town, on Monday evening last,
it was my singular good fortune to be the subject of attack by
three reverend gentlemen, and in no fewer than five speeches
to be lectured in unmeasured terms. The cause of offence
was a speech delivered by me three months ago in-connexion
with the Working Men's Sunday Services."
Upon this I have only to remark that Mr. Caine was himself
the first aggressor. That the speeches alluded to were replies
to an unprovoked attack on his part, which, however suited
to the section of themorking-classes which lie is in the habit
of meeting. will, l think, before I close, be admitted by every
impartial reader to be altogether unworthy either of a gentle-
man or a Christian.
In the same paragraph he says :
_

"I am not itidisp‘Osed toteceive in good feeling any advice
to act charitably towards my fellow-men ; yet such advice
hardly comes with good grace from men who seldom appear
in public without betraying the absence of true Christian
meekness and charity, and it is rather inconsistent in them,
when their misconduct is exposed, to turn round and lecture
any individual who has the temerity to draw aside the reil
and exhibit their proceedings in their true colours."

•
I freely admit that I never courted the applause of an
audience by an assumed charity, based upon a compromiseof
the truth of God. As to the:statement that I "seldom appear
before the public without betraying the absence of true
Christian meekness and charity;" that is a matter of opinion
upon which the public will thiak for themselves. I can only
express my regret that even Mr. Caine should hold it ; but
when he undertakes "to exhibit our proceedings IN THEIR
CfRI:E COLOURS," then he comes to matters of fact, and bear
4n mind that he had the following words before his eyes, the
.very opening sentences of my speech, fully and fairly reported
in .the public press :—" It was necessary to distinguish between
persons and principles. They spoke in the present contro-
versy in reference to principles. ri-IRY LOVED THE PERSONS
of Papists, and it was because of that that they endeavoured to
do them good by telling them the truth., but they hated the
renscLeLss of Popery;" and yet, with these words before
him., in "exhibiting our proceedings in their true colours,"
he deliberately taxes us with "appealing to the prejudices
and inflaming the passions of ignorant and violent men ;"
with exciting "envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitable-
ness ;" with " promoting rancour among neighbours;" with
"provoking party feuds and street fights," with "hounding
on the Orange shipwright to belabour the Papist lumper."
How am I adequately to characterise such conduct on the part
of Mr. Caine.? It is in. possible, without descending to lan-
guage unbecoming a gentleman. "'The wisdom that cometh
down from above" is " peaceable," but it is " first pure."
Charity, that brightest of the jewels of the Christian, is most
unlike the counterfeit of the mere professor in this, that " it
rejoiceth in the truth ;" and when Mr. Caine feels himself
bound to urge Amon others "the rew commandment,"
" to love oue another," I would moat earnestly press upon
himself the study, and, what is better still, the practice of
the old, "'thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbour."
the second paragraph is too important to be passed over.
In speaking of " the Protestant priests," "reared In Ireland,
and reeking from its orange hotbed," and in expressing his
wonder that they do mot "select Papist Ireland as a better
field for their zealous And disinterested labours," he says—
" Would it be uncharitable to suppose that there are ster-
ling reasons why the Roman Catholics of Ireland are left by
these gentlemen to the teachings of their priests, whilst Eng-
lish Protestants are diverted with polemics, to the neglect of
the more important duties of religion."
It is a melancholy fact that, in so far as Mr. Caine is con-
cerned, such is the fulness of his charity, and such is his fear
of exciting rancour and 11l will, that the Papists of Ireland
are " left to the teachings of their priests." It may possibly
lie out of the range of his reading to become acquainted with
the efforts that the churches, with which we are severally
connected, are making to emancipate Ireland from the thral-
dom of her priests, both lay and clerical, and of the unparal-
leled success with which they have been attended. I cannot
stop to remark upon the inconsistency which accuses me,
because I don't go to Ireland to preach the Gospel to the
Papists, and then, when I go, as I did last summer, and
narrowly escape with my life from the civil and religious
liberty of Popery, lam told by these same men— Served
you right, it is just what you deserved." I pass over these
matters, and call attention to Mr. Caine's most charitable
construction of ova MOTIVES in settling in England. It is
worth observing that, in speaking of the working classes,
with whom he professes an extensive acquaintance for five-
and-twenty years, he informs us that " scores and scores look
upon all churches as so many shops; priests,clergymen, and
ministers, as so many hirelings ' • and the various sects of re-
ligion as just so many crafts." And again, he gives it es " a
fact, which long personal experience enables him to verify,"
that "they look upon clergymen as mere schemers,and religion
as a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence." That there are
socialists and infidels anion.. the working classes, as amour
the higher classes, I cannot 'deny ; I also admit that they, in
common with like minded men of all classes, scoff at religion
and entertain a special antipathy to its ministers, and the
more bitter, just in proportion as they are the more faithful.
That Mr. Caine, for 25 years, should have been thrown into
such company, for his own sake I exceedingly regret. A wise
author asks—" Can a man take fire in his own bosom and not
be burned 7" Such is the rule, and it is with sincere sorrow
that I am compelled to express my fears that Mr. Caine, by
his own words, is not the exception ; for whether he has sue
ceeded in bringing them to his mind upon religion and its
ministers, or that they have brought him to theirs, or whether
he is simply publishing his own opinions under the name of
the working classes, not having his singular grace of charity
I am unable to say; certain it is, that he has openly in-
sinuated against us the very motives which he tells us these
men ascribe towards all ministers.
In the 3rd paragraph I am charged with unjustly accusing
him of "condemning Scripture Readers' Societies, town
missions, and foreign missions," whilst I held in my hand
proofs to the contrary, Here is one of these proof.,—"(The