The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-18 00:00:00

A NAVAL VETERAN

THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS
(From the Newcastle Journal.)

The Wesleyan Conference in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
will this week terminate its sittings, and a brief adver-
tence.to the position, which this distinguished body
occupies in the Christian world, and the influence it
has exercised, as an instrument of Divine Providence
for the human race, may not he inappropriate. A cen-
tury has now passed away since the reverend founder
of this religious community first visited the colliery
districts of Northumberland and Durham, and there
are many persons still living who remember his earnest
exhortations, fervent prayers, and meek and affection-
ate admonitions. To these individuals the proceedings
,that we have recorded of the venerable body which
sprung into existence under his own ministration will
have possessed a peculiar and exciting interest.
Mighty events from small beginnings rise, and could
the Reverend John Wesley now behold the goodly
stock that has arisen up from the seed scattered during
the period of his earthly labours, since nurtured by the
influence of Heaven, and protected during the storms
and tempests that have agitated Christian communi-
ties, and impregnated the moral atmosphere with the
efluvia of Socialism, Unitarianism, and Infidelity,
what would be his feelings ? A Christian mind may
conceive the emotion created by such a sight, but to
describe it were impossible.
As a religious body, the Wesleyan Methodists have
always considered themselves as separated from the
dissenters. They hold the same doctrines of religious
faith as the Church of England, and differ only in
some of the minor forms of public worship ; and they
have ever shewn a willingness to co-operate with the
members of the establishment in promoting measures
of improvement, and in defending the interests of re-
ligion from the assaults of modern liberalism.
The influence exercised by the Wesleyan Methodists
is powerful and extensive, not only in this country, but
throughout the world. Their missionary labours have
been herculean, and it is worthy of commendation that
in no instance have the missionaries mixed themselves
up in local disputes, or placed themselves in opposition
in civil matters to the legally constituted authorities.
So much cannot he said of Baptists, Independents, and
other bodies of dissenters. _ _

The resources of the Wesleyan Methodists are im-
mense, and the fact that upwards of three hundred
thousand pounds have been subscribed as a centenary
oblation by the various congregations will be recorded
by the Christian historian in after ages, as an example
for the imitation of posterity.
As hoary time proceeds in his unvarying course, may
he find the same spirit that now animates the Wes-
leyan community sinking deeper and spreading wider
throughout the land ; and so long as the Christian
world shall be divided by sectarian differences, may
that same spirit come in aid, as it now does, of the
Episcopal Church, as bylaw established. May the one
emulate the other in the good work of human ame-
lioration, opposing an impenetrable barrier against the
progress of Popery on the one hand, and the demo-
ralizing effect of political dissent upon the other. May
He, with whom a thousand years is but as yesterday,
bless and prosper his servants, the reverend dignitaries
of our holy Church, and all who, with them, labour to
promote peace and good will among men !

TRIBUTE OF RESPECT TO A LADY.—The inhabitants of
the township of Blackley have lately presented a silver salver,
weighing 135 oz. to Miss Alsop, of Litchfield-hall, as a mark
of their respect, and an acknowledgment of her great bene-
♦olence and unceasing kindness to the poor of that township.
In the centre is engraved the following inscription :—" Pre-
sented by the inhabitants of Blackley to Miss Alsop, of Litch-
field-hall, as a mark of their grateful sense of her Christian
benevolence to the poor of Blackley, evinced especially in the
erection and endowment of a school for their benefit. 1840."
—Manchester Guardian.

Died at Stoke, Mr. William Doyle, late a superan-
nuated boatswain of her Majesty's navy, aged eighty-four.
This venerable man was the last, we believe, who sailed
round the world with Captain Cook. He entered the navy
when very young, and in 1776 sailed from this port with the
redoubted navigator, in the Resolution, attended by Captain
Clerke in the Discovery, and was coxswain of the boat at
Owhyee, Sandwich Islands, when Captain Cook was killed,
on February 14, 1776, and has often detailed, with peculiar
vividness to his attentive auditors, that lamentable affray with
the natives. He was boatswain of the Blanche, in that des-
perate fight with the Pique, in the West Indies, when her gallant
commander, Capt. Faulkner, lost his life, and his brave first
lieutenant, now Admiral Watkins, swam with his sword in
his mouth to board the enemy. He also served in the Atlas,
in which ship he lost the sight of his right eye, and after-
wards in the Magnificent, were the other was injured. He
was wrecked in the Crocodile, and by his exertions saved the
lives of several persons at Salcombe Sands, where he was
eight hours in the water, and succeeded in saving the lives
of Lady Berkeley and her three children. He subsequently
served in the Bienfaisant, and was pensioned from that ship
in 1800 on account of his blindness. After using every effort
to regain his sight, he was advised to try the air of the west.
He accordingly came to this place, and remained till the time
of his death. He was a man gifted with extensive powers of
comprehension in the mathematics, and his extraordinary
qualities have been put often to the test by more than one
experienced naval officer. He was boatswain in the ship
which took the celebrated scholar, Sir W. Jones, to India,
in 1783, by whom the deceased was taken much notice of. Sir
William discovered that Doyle was superior in knowledge to
his compeers, and to this great man he was indebted for his
knowledge in the mathematics. His person was particularly
known to every one in the neighbourhood in which he lived,
and his intelligence and effusions of humour have thousands
of times served to amuse his gossiping neighbours. The de-
ceased's life was one of extraordinary adventure. On one
occasion, while with Capt. Cook, he accompanied a party on
shore, but on returning to the ship Doyle was gone, and his
shipmates, after every possible search, gave Um up as lost,
and there was every reason to fear, from the habits of the
natives, that lie had been murdered, probably roasted alive ;
some time after, however, Doyle was seen on the beach, and
on bis being brought off to the ship he displayed all the ap-
pearance of a native chief. Having strolled from his com-
panions, he fell into the hands of the natives, and was taken
off, but fortunately finding favour in the eyes of one of the
daughters of the chief, his life was spared. lie was tattooed
as one of the " Royal Family," and lived happily and com-
fortably enough for some days, when he had the satisfaction
of seeing three prisoners taken and roasted for a feast. This
was sufficient to show Doyle that his matrimonial elysium
might not be very lasting, and he contrived to make his es-
cape. This served him on another occasion. While on a
and
determined, being a good swimmer, to swim off to his ship,
foreign station, orders to return to the ship were too fre-
quently disobeyed, and the discipline on this point was con-
szaseinntnly:dreramwanin'e'dtanunt.
opreotyoleo aatde fuonrfo therunfortunately,
lastnat boat, e lo
commanded by Captain Holloway; but, by some mishap, he
mistook his ship, and got on board the Pegasus, then com-
manded by his late Majesty. Doyle was ordered to be flog-
ged ; but all hands were so surprised at the ornamented na-
ture of his person, that he was turned ashore. The next
morning an explanation was given, and his royal highness
was ever afterwards a friend to deceased. Doyle was severely
wounded on several occasions, but his nearest escape was in
a fraca, on shore. The ship to which he belonged arrived at
the time of a revel at Stoke, and, accompanied by two of the
mates, they resorted to this
place of general amusement.
Wl*n here, their attention was attracted by one of the Pri-
mitive Methodists, who were about this time first making
progress in the west, and who was charitably offering re-
demption to all, " not even," said the preacher, " excepting
the boatswain of a man-of-war." Whether this was person-
ally applied or not, deceased did not stay to inquire, but,
jumping upon the platform on which.s tthneepsriegancahle
for
r wasa generalplaced,
knocked the orator down. This NNa
uproar, and the deceased received two severe wounds in the
head.—Devonpori Telegraph.

On Wednesday all the interior fittings of the Temple Church
were sold by private contract; the elaborately carved pulpit,
the magnificent organ screen, and the grand alter-piece, each
and all of which had for years been the admiration of visitors,
were said to be purchased at the large price of 1200 guineas,
to be placed in the Christian church, now erecting, at Jeru-
salem, the original Temple Church having been built after a
model of the Holy Church, by the Knights Templars, on their
return from their crusade against the Infidels.—Standard.

POLITICAL CHARACTERS

(From the Oxford Herald.)
LORD DURHAM.
The haughty Lambton next advane'd,
Of all his race the valiant'st,
Durham the great, renown'd in song,
Like Herc'les for repair of wrong.
He rais'd the law, and fortify'd
The weak against the strongest side ;
Part friend he was to reformation,
Until 'twas worn quite out of fashion.
Neat rectifier of every law,
And would make three to cure one flaw.
Learned he was, and could take note,
Transcribe, collect, translate and quote ;
But spouting was his chiefest talent,
Or argument, in which, being valiant,
He used to lay about and stickle,
Like ram or bull at conventicle.

There is something almost repulsive in placing the name of
one over whom the grave is about to close in the list of " Po-
litical Characters." It seems nearly a mockery to call a
piece of cold sodden clay a " Political Character"—to apply
such a term to what will soon be food for the worms, to what
will ere long be rotting in the sepulchre. And this is the
case on account of the wide contrast between the stirring
bustle and exciting activity of political life and the painful,
the solemn, the awful stillness of the tomb. How tremen-
dous the difference between the one and the other ! how vast
the gulf by which they are separated ! On all occasions
death is a fearful visitant ; but there seems something pecu-
liarly awful when he makes his presence in the chamber of
the senate. It is indeed melancholy to see the grim monster
snatching the tradesman from his occupation, the merchant
from his commerce, the scholar from his books, or the divine
from his flock ; and it is perhaps more melancholy still to see
him laying waste the palace of the Monarch or the mansion
of the Peer; but the great lesson that he teaches appears to
strike the mind with peculiar force when the STATESMAN
falls before his devastating scythe. Oh ! it is most mortify-
ing to the pride of humar. nature to behold a man in whose
hands were placed the destinies of a great and mighty king-
dom—to see him who could raise up one nation and throw
down another—him wbo, by a nod of his bead or the scratch
of his pen, could plunge empires into all the horrors of war,
or secure to them all the blessings of peace ; it is most mor-
tifying, we say, to the pride of human nature to see such a
man obliged to shuffle off his mortal coil, and to become but
as the dust of the earth. But as God has willed it, so It must
be ; and perhaps the statesman has no reason to repine at
what is the common lot of every creature.

Glad should we have been had we been able to speak of
Lord Durham as a living " Political Character," but it has
pleased Him in whose hands are the issues of life and death
to call him hence. Disapproving as we do of almost every
act of Lord Durham's political career, and detesting most
thoroughly the political creed that he professed, we should,
now that he is in his grave, have much preferred to have
passed his name in silence, but this cannot be done with
propriety, on account of the prominent position he occupied
in the public eye. Being then under the nece sity of saying
something of him, we shall endeavour to speak of him with
as much of charitableness and kindly feeling as possible. To
war with the dead would be cowardly and disreputable.
It is the misfortune of almost every man of rank or wealth,
but especially of official station, to be surrounded by a set of
interested flatterers—men who, for their own mercenary
ends, will laud their pretended idol to the skies. No man,
perhaps, was more completely hemmed in by gang of such
worthless sycophants than Lord Durham, and no man ever
suffered himself to be so readily duped by people of that
class. Vanity was one of poor Lord Durham's greatest
failings, and the set with which he allowed himself to be
mixed up took care to fool that vanity to the top of its bent.
By dint of the grossest adulation they succeeded in iden-
tifying themselves with his lordship, and it is but fair to
suppose that many of his most mischievous acts were owing
to their suggestions. Although his intellect was of the
commonest order, Lord Durham was led to believe that he
was capable of great things ; and notwithstanding failure
after failure of the most lamentable kind was the result of
his best efforts, he still remained unconvinced that he was
not destined for one of England's greatest statesmen. This
belief, encouraged as it was by his own interested clique,
made him meddle with matters which he could neither
master nor understand ; and, in spite of the many morti-
fications which he had to encounter when his failures and
mistakes became apparent, he remained blind to his own
deficiencies' Every man, in whatever sphere, can commit
mischief, though few can do good ; and perhaps this truth
cannot be more strikingly illustrated than by the

a cases of
many public men, amongst others by that of Loru Durham.
Although he was a powerless and in fact dangerous friend,
he had still enough influence to be able to commit much mis-
chief : nor did he fail to avail himself of his talents for evil.
At times he was a sad thorn in the side of the Whigs. Dis-
trusted and disliked as a friend, he was dreaded and hated as
an enemy. The Whigs feared the man, and crouched before
him ; and when his anger was roused they to appease it did
homage to his vanity. This it was that led to his appoint-
ment as Special Ambassador to St. Petersburgh, and as Go-
vernor-General of Canada. He was sent on both missions
merely to be put out of the way ; but as they enabled him to
make great show and parade, the swelling vanity of the man
was satisfied. His conduct at St. Petersburgh and his ex-
ploits in Canada proved how little he was fitted to fill any
station of national importance. In both offices, being vested
with " a little brief authority," "he played such fantastic
tricks before high heaven as made the angels weep." In his
mission to St. Petersburgh he was flattered and cajoled, and
eventually duped; and in his mission to Canada he plunged
the country into rebellion, and then basely deserted his post
in a fit of petty vexation. In this he would most assuredly
have been impeached had the House of Commons not hap-
pened to have been elected after the passing of the Reform
Bill. Yet for all this Lord Durham's adulators could gravely
tell the world that he was a great statesman and a sincere pa-
triot ! Oh ! shame.

Professedly Lord Durham was a Radical of the most ultra
description, really he was a despot of the first water. The
following lines may be applied to him with propriety :

When nobles
Look'd cold on him, he turn'd, with ready shift,
To base-born citizens, and gain'd their voices ;
With feign'd regard for what they term their rights,
Suck'd in the breath of popular applause,
Even while he loath'd the applauders—any thing
That offer'd food to the o'er bloated pride,
Which craved the more for feeding.'

As a speaker Lord Durham was pleasing; he could talk
with ease and facility, and he delivered his sentiments in
tolerably agreeable language. He was, however, not an
orator, neither was he considered a very awkward opponent
in argument. When he was in the cabinet he was very much
disliked, on account of his imperious, dictatorial demeanour.
Perhaps no man in the kingdom was cursed with a worse
tem per. _ _

Lord Durham was always ailing, though he- was a fine,
gentleman!! looking man. His features were small and
regular, perhaps they might be considered a little effeminate ;
his hair was coal black ; his complexion, according to Can-
ning, was " rather yellow, rather yellow."
Having said thus much we will leave the once proud and
haughty head of the house of Lambton. Poor man! He
has gone in the bloom of his days, from the bosom of a be-
loved and affectionate family to " that bourne whence there
is no return." May God's Peace be with him.