The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-02-14 00:00:00

THE GOSPEL PROPAGATION SOCIETY

Considerable excitement has for some time existed amongst
the supporters of this society relative to a statement made by
the Rev. Mr. Campbell, the Society's secretary, at a meeting
in Cheltenham, " That the Society never, with their eyes
open, appointed a missionary to a foreign station holding
these (tractarian) opinions ; to prevent this they took double
and anxious pains." The Rev. F. Close was chairman of the
meeting, and in consequence of some explanations entered
into by Mr. Campbell, in a letter to a brother clergyman, Mr.
Close addressed to Mr. Campbell the following letter, in
which it will be seen he refers to those explanations :
Cheltenham, January 23, 1843.

" Rev. and dear Sir,—l regret to be obliged to trouble you
again upon this painful subject, especially as I have reason to
believe that between us personally there is no difference of
opinion relative to the doctrinal views of the party in ques-
tion : and I am sure nothing is further from my mind than to
wish to involve you in controversy. But the principles which
govern a great Society are at stake, and they must be more
clearly defined, or it will lose the support of many persons
why have long been its cordial friends.
" Your letter of the 19th instant to Mr. Kinsey, which is
intended as an answer to mine of the lith instant, is far from
satifactory, and conveys an impression widely different from
that which was produced at the Anniversary Meeting in ques-
tion. And lam bound, as chairman of that meeting, to re-
mind you of what then took place.
" In the close of my introductory address I took occasion
to allude to the principles of the Tractarian School of Theo-
logy : it is true that I named only a few of their opinions—
and it is also true that I did not state them very accurately—
that no mention was made by me of any terms such as • Ox-
ferd Theology,' `Tractarians,' or any similar denomination—
but it is equally true that every person in the room fully un-
derstood what I meant.
" The newspaper report of what I said is not verbatim, nor
is its verbal accuracy material, as my meaning was clear to
every one. I was anxious to know whether the Venerable
Society voluntarily employed persons who held these opinions.
No allusion was made by me to any particular case, nor pre-
vious controversies, and I consider that my question was
essentially the same as the more elaborate one put to the
Parent Society by Mr. Perceval.
" Now I believe I may, with truth and accuracy affirm for
myself and for all present, that you were understood entirely
to disclaim, on the part of the society which you represented,
the intentional employment of any persons holding these
opinions.
" The expression you repeatedly used was,—' The views
alluded to by the Chairman,' but no one could or did doubt
what those views were ; and you distinctly affirmed, That
the Society never, with their eyes open, appointed a
missionary to a foreign station who held these opinions; to
prevent this they took double and anxious pains I' You bad
established this by a fact, viz.:—that on a recent important
occasion, when the Society was called upon to fill up one of
the most responsible offices, they had rejected the claims of a
candidate against whom there was no earthly objection, solely
because it was known that he held the opinions pointed at by
the Chairman !' Your allusions to the sentiments of the
Bishop of Montreal tended to confirm these disclaimers—
identifying beyond a doubt the school referred to, you rejoiced
that his lordship bade his clergy not to conceal the truth,'—
' to be careful that they did not pass the limits of truth,' ' and
exhorted them to be good Protestants.'
"That your meaning was apprehended by the meeting was
manifest by the repeated cheers with which your statements
were received—by the congratulations of each succeeding
speaker upon the Protestant character of the Society—and in
my own concluding observations I am represented to have
said, that I thanked you for your full and unreversed* ex-
planation : it relieved my mind very much, and would afford
a complete contradiction to the various rumours which had
been afloat on the subject. * * With the honest,
Christian, and truly Protestant reply of the Secretary of the
Parent Society, every one present must have been exceedingly
gratified.' If we all thus misapprehended your meaning, you
should surely have disabused our minds : your silence inti-
mated that we had not mistaken what you said. More
especially as you had an opportunity of doing so when you
' thanked the meeting for the unanimous expression of their
opinion.'
" It may be added, in proof that there was no mistake on
this point, that two members of the Society, who favour the
Tractarian School, at the close of the Meeting, intimated
their intention of withdrawing their subscriptions from our
District Committee, in consequence of what had fallen from
the Secretary of the Parent Society.
" Yet now, my dear Sir, you affirm *—'that to represent
you to have said that the Society took care to exclude from
their service all persons holding what are vulgarly called Ox-
ford opinions (which are neither more nor less than " the
views alluded to by the Chairman,) is to make you talk not
only as a liar, but as a fool or a madman, since every one
knows the direct contrary to such an assertion I'
" This is so obviously contradictory of your former state-
ments, that I can only conclude from this disclaimer that
you were not authorized by the Society to say what you did
at our Meeting—that ' the direct contrary' is true—and that
the Venerable Society does not take pains to prevent mis-
sionaries from being sent out who are imbued with ' the prin-
ciples alluded to by the Chairman'—that is, those of the Ox-
ford Tractarian School of Theology ! I see no escape from
this conclusion—and if this be true, I am persuaded that
many, who are far from being party men, will hesitate in
their support of a Society whiCh is careless whether it em-
ploys persons who profess principles which have been offici-
ally and solemnly condemned by so many distinguished Fa-
thers of our Church. _ _ _ .

I must request you to lay this letter before the next
meeting of the Parent Committee, and I respectfully solicit
from them, on behalf of the meeting of which I was chair-
man, and on behalf of_many contributors who are prepared

to-corroborate all that I have advanced—distinct information

on this point—Does the Venerable Society, according to
your original statement, take pains to exclude from its em-
ployment agents at home or abroad who are known to be
imbued with the principles of Tractarian Theology?
" Believe me, Rev. and dear Sir, yours very faithfully,
" Rev. A. Campbell." " F. Ctosz.

To this letter Mr. Campbell replied as follows :
"Pall-mall, January 27, 1843,

" My dear Sir,—ln compliance with your request, I have
read your letter of the 23d instant, to the Committee of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, informing them
at the same time that I consider myself solely responsible for
wheel said at the Cheltenham Meeting, and suggesting to
them that they are not called upon to answer a question
which involves a misapprehensio►► of what I stated on that

occasion.
" I sincerely regret that such a misapprehension should
have arisen; but 1 assure you that I misunderstood you as
completely as you and the meeting appear to have misunder-
stood me. " I am, my dear Sir, yours truly,
" Rev. F. Close." "A. M. CAMPBELL.

Tit E LATE AWFUL GALES.—The sacrifice of life and pro-
perty at sea during the last six weeks has been, we regret to
say, without parallel in the history of our mercantile affairs.
Upon reference to Lloyd's books and other authentic docu-
ments, it appears that the total number of vessels lost during
the dreadful hurricane on the night of the 13th of last month
was about 180, and that the number of persons who perished
with them amounted to no less than 453. On the coast of
England 154 vessels were wrecked, and 190 lives lost; on the
coast of Ireland, five vessels were lost, with 104 lives; on the
coast of Scotland, 17 vessels were wrecked, and 39 lives lost ;
and on the coast of France, four vessels and 100 lives lost.
The value of the vessels and cargoes have been roughly esti-
mated at £585,000.—viz., the vessels at £405,000, and the

cargoes at £lBO,OOO. On the three following days after the
13th numerous other wrecks occurred, to the extent of nearly
60, the losses of which were upwards of £240,000; this, with
the others, making a total of £825,000. To this is to be
added the great loss of vessels that occurred in the course of
the storm of Friday and Saturday last.