The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

VATIVE.

We are informed that a candidate will be
promptly before the constituency, whose eminent
knowledge of commercial and agricultural affairs
will invite all Conservatives in the effort to secure
his return. Let the electors KEEP THEMSELVES

UNPLEDGED, BE ACTIVE AND VIGILANT, AND
LANCASHIRE'S CONSERVATIVE REPRESENTA-
TION IS STILL UNBROKEN

We refrained at first from entering our protest
against the principle of the bill now before Parlia-
ment, entitled " the Dissenters' Chapels' Bill," be-
cause we never conceived it possible that such a
measure, so repugnant to churchmen and to the
mass of protestant dissenters throughout the king-
dom, could have been seriously entertained by a
Conservative government, or had the slightest chance
of receiving the sanction of the House in which it
bas originated. That bill has, however, been broaght
forward, with the whole weight of government in-
fluence to support it, and the eloquence and talent
of the Lord Chancellor to urge it forward; and
having already been committed without a division,
there exists now no moral doubt of its passing the
upper house, and scarcely any, we fear, of its pass-
ing into a law. Against such a consummation, late
though it may be, and hopeless its results, we feel
bound to enter our protest and that of every Pro-
testant, of whatever denomination, and however
differing in non-essential forms. We protest against
it, as a sop thrown to appease the cravings of infidelity,
and as a measure alike unjust and impolitic.
What is it that this bill proposes to effect ? Pious
trinitarian dissenters, in times past, have devised
money, and in times to come will doubtless continue
so to devise, for the endowment of chapels, meeting-
houses, schools, &c., in which religious instruction
is to be imparted in the tenets of the various
founders, such tenets being recognized and toler-
ated by law. A large number of these endowments
have, in process of time, passed into the hands of
parties holding other opinions than those of the
founders—opinions which those founders held in
abhorrence. Some hundreds of such endowments
are at this moment held by unitarians—the property
of pious believers in the Trinity perverted to the use
of a sect which denies the divinity of the Saviour l—
and upon an appeal to the law, as in the case raised
respecting the disposal of Lady liewley's property,
it has been decided that such disposal must be in
accordance with the intention, so far as it is
discoverable, of the parties endowing. Against the
carrying into execution of the salutary principle
contained in such decision, the provisions of Lord
Lyndhurst's bill oppose themselves. To prevent
litigation, forsooth, we are not to ask whether wrong
has been committed—whether property, left for the
maintainance of places of worship in which the
religion of the Bible shall be taught, has been per-
verted from its original uses to provide for the
teaching of Socinian or Infidel doctrines—but to
ask only "is such wrongful perversion of thirty years
standing ? " And, if so, we are to give the sanction
of the law to that perversion We are to legalize
robbery, if the authors of such robbery have been
for thirty years in possession of its fruits ! We are
to go entirely upon prescription; to leave out of view
the most material consideration, viz :—whether a
charitable request is being used in consonance
with,the intention of the party bequeathing, or for
the furtherance of religion and morality, and
consider only whether the perversion of such be-
quest to purposes beyond, and perhaps totally op-
posed and repugnant to his principles and wishes,
has been sanctioned by thirty years of blind tolera-
tion on the part of those for whose use it was origi-
nally designed, or of fraud on the part of those
seeking its wrongful enjoyment.
We will not go at any length into a consideration
of the clever anti plausible, although we regret that
we must add Jesuitical, arguments by which this
monstrous principle is defended by Lord Lyndhurst.
There are some three hundred cases, in which be-
quests, for the use of Trinitarian dissenters, have
been appropriated by Unitarians, and in which ac-
tions are threatened; and to prevent expensive liti-

gation, by which the amount of these various be-
quests may possibly he eaten up, Lord Lyndhurst
would confirm such amount in the hands of its pre-
sent wrongful owners ! We care not, however, for
this expediency view of the question. We ask what
must be the result of such a measure as this, not
only with respect to existing rights but to the deter-
mination of future bequests of a similar character.
How are we to be assured that property left for
religious purposes may not, under such a state of
the law, come to he applied for the spread of Social-
ism and other forms of infidelity ? You have only
to go throu,h the successive stages, from 'l'rinitari-
anism to Arianism, and from Socinianism to utter
infidelity, with sufficient caution to excite no un-
timely alarm on behalf of the parties who might
claim as the representatives of the parties originally
meant to be benefitted, or whose principles were to
be inculcated at the expense of the foundation, to
gain for any set of theorists, or enthusiasts, or worse,
a legitimate and well-established title to such pro-
perty.

And how does this bill provide against excessive
litigation ? Why, in fact it offers a daily stimulus
' to such litigation. Under such a measure there
' must be,, amongst those enjoying such bequests, as
the Bishop of London assumed with great justice,
a continual watchfulness of every expression dropped
by preachers, which might be construed into erro-
neous doctrine —a continual jealousy lest forbear-
ance might lead to the ultimate establishment of
such error. And hence continual litigation, and
that of the most perplexing and expensive kind ;
viz., litigation to decide doctrinal points. There
could he no peace under such a measure, which was
' not accompanied by utter insecurity of justice.
' But the most painful feature connected with this
' measure remains to be considered. What are we
to consider of a government which, for a mere
purpose of expediency, is thus willing to barter,
not only justice—not only equity—but PRINCIPLE;
which is content to hand over some hundreds of
religious foundations, established for the propaga-
tion of the pure faith of the Gospel, to the hands of
men hostile to Christianity, and denying the God-
head of the Redeemer ? What security can there
be for the Church itself—what security can there be
for Protestantism, or for a Protestant Monarchy—.
under such a government? Alas—alas! We are
fallen upon strange tunes !
Now, what is the duty of English Protestants—
of English Churchmen—with respect to this bill?
It is true the question involved affects only, or most
materially, the Protestant Dissenters of the empire,
a portion of whom, the Calvanistic Independents,
a correspondent of the London limes declared the
other day were a less estimable religious body than
the Unitarians themselves! But is there no prin-
ciple at stake here, in defence of which Churchmen
ought to rally side by side with their Protestant,
though dissenting, brethren ? There is, and a great
principle, too. We have to decide whether the
law is to give its direct sanction, in this case of the
dissenters, to the appropriation of funds, devised for
religious uses, to the diffusion of irreligion and in-
fidelity ; and, the first step permitted to be taken,
who can say whore it may stop—whether it may
not in time violate the sanctity of the Established
Church itself?

We have given elsewhere our opinions upon the
subject, which is just now causing such a ferment
amongst the magistrates and the members of the
Watch Committee; and should certainly not have
noticed it in these columns had we not deemed it
necessary to correct the statements in some remarks
which appeared in a Conservative contemporary of
Wednesday last, and which misrepresent the ques-
tion now before the public and the authorities. In
performing this duty we of course acquit the Courier
of any wilful perversion of facts.
The following are the remarks to which we
allude, and which occur in an article defensive of
the conduct of the magistrates, and especially of
the Mayor and the Stipendiary, in the case of the
recent movement upon the subject of Orangeism
in the police force :

" A question which is likely tl excite some attention
ha 4 just ar'..en out of the full wing einuin-uances. The
Rev. Mr. Parker, one of the Raman Catholic priests in
this town, complmiited. it ai pats, to the municipal
authorities that on the occasion of the last Orange pro-
cession certain members of tie tome, who are also
hers of Or..nge ocii-tie, stopped bofore his h,,ur. and
gave vent to their feelings in opprobrious and t,ffensice
language."

Now had anything of the nature, here said to
have been complained of by Priest Parker, in
reality occurred, we should have at once acknow-
ledged that the prompt expulsion of the offending
parties from the police force was loudly called for.
But no such thing ever did occur. No such thing
has ever been said to have occurred. There has
been no " last" or first "Orange procession" in
this town ; antl no procession in which " certain
members of THE FORCE, 'who are also members of
Orange societies, stopped before Mr. Parker's house
and gave vent to their feelings in opprobrious and
offensive language." It has never been attempted
by any other journal, however rabidly opposed to
Orangeism, to impute such outrageous conduct to
the persecuted Orange members of the police
force; and it is rather an ukkind rut that the first
utterance of such a charge should come from a
Conservative and friendly organ.
In his anxiety to defend she purity of motive
which has actuated the Mayor in this business—
and which has never been impugned—our contem-
porary goes on to argue the whole question; and
although we commenced with an intention only to
deal with the Courier's facts, we cannot resist no-
ticing such puerilities as the following : •
" Now, apart from the animal' wAi.h may hare led to
these .proceedings—and in that aninstp, we are sure our
excellent Chief Magistrate fins nor part, iiiated—we do
not see mu .h t:f fit d fault with in it. Connexion with
an Orange society ou the ine side, or with a Ribbon
society on the other, is 'mitt r,rlly recopised Hs a mark
of strong religious and plrc d opinion. And the
character of a partisan is ohylott-h inco .soot rit with the
duties of a policeman. The .o-r, pie-ence of a,l Orange
policeman among a body of Irish Roman Catholics would
be calculated to excite distui !lance rather to t ► prts •rye
the peace, as would the pr -once of a R bboo, voreeman
among a body of ('rats. men. To r. quire tat they
should belong to n-it holy therefore o, ly to exact
from them th it der e of neutra,ity which is necessary to
the efficient dischaige of their duties. It is tot, as we
judge, any interference with either political or religious
liberty."

We must protest, in the first instance, against
the parallelism assumed throughout these proceedings
between an Orange society and a Ribbon society.
The fortneemay be, as the Courier styles ;t, a so.
ciety of men holding " strong religious and political
opinions;" the latter is a society br►nded together
for the purposes of murder and midnight outrage.
Orangemen contain amongst their body men of
rank and property, and are more than tolerated by
those who are not members Of their body ; but who
ever heard of a respectable Ribbonnian ? who ever
heard of a man that dared to confess himself a
Ribbonman ? Why so atrocious is the character
and practices of this society that it is denounced,
and sought to he put down, by the most futious of
the agitators and the most Ingotted of the priesthood
of the land in which it holds its secret and blood-
thirsty orgies ; and our contemniirat), who is
quickwitted enough in ordinary, might surely have
seen that, in the ban sought to be directed against

Orangeism, he name of Rihbonism was only asso-
ciated to draw down upon loyal men, holding,

mayhap, " strong religious and political opinions,"
a portion of the execration which is due to men
combined together, as are Ribbonmen, for purposes

of treason and outrage.
But the Courier goes on to inform us that " the
mere presence of an ()range policeman among a body
of Irish Roman Catholics would be calculated to ex-
cite disturbance, rather than to preserve the peace, as
would the presence of a Ribbon policeman among a
body of Orangemen"—a discovery which of course
goes upon the assumption that neither can go
amongst a body of friends or opponents without
proclaiming his Orange or Ribbon membership;
and he deduces from such premises the conclusion
that " to require that they (policemen in general)
should belong to neither body is therefore only to
exact from them that degree of neutrality which is
necessary to the efficient discharge of their duties."
Really, really, this is sad twaddle; and we hope, for
the credit of the magistracy, that they have some
better ground for their proceedings than any that
the Courier suggests. The presence of a Connaught
member of the force in a Connaught and Munster
faction fight, would be calculated to increase the
row rather than q -ell it, as the Connaughtman's
trunchion might possibly, by a kind of instinct, dis-
charge itself exclusively against Munster craniums,
Vice versa" of a Munster member of the same force.
Again, the men of the " black north," it is well
known, are not in very good odour with the " ille-
gant" peasantry of the south; Repealers, and even
Roman Catholics, are not upon very excellent terms
with loyal Protestants—(by the bye, we have not
heard a word in this matter upon the eligibility or
non-eligibility of men who have been art and part
in the offences for which Daniel O'Connell and his
co-conspirators have been convicted by a jury•of
their countrymen !) Any of these opponent classes
coming in collision, the one armed with authority
and the other riotous and disorderly, might not lead
to very pacific results; and we must therefore come
to the conclusion, inevitable upon the Courier's pre-
mises, that Irishmen, of whatever creed or shade of
politics, should be declared incapacited for the
"efficient discharge" of police duties !
It is singular that we never heard a word of this
pace philosophy until now. It is more singular
still to find a Conservative organ first broaching the
doctrine of religious or political disability. Bye
and bye, and to be consistent, we must go the whole
length of maintaining that policemen ought to he
men of no religion and no principles; and some
philosopher may in time solve all our difficulties by
the construction of a steam automaton police—pro-
bably cast-iron ones, to save the wear and tear of
clothing, as they could he kept clean and tidy with
the aid of a coat of paint once a year. Why not
cast-iron policemen as easily as cast-iron clergymen.
(of whom we have heard) in an age so fertile in in-
vention as the present ?

THE FUNDS: SATURDAY NIGHT.—The English se-
curities continue flat, and the business of the market was
n.-cessatily limited in consequence of the early hour of
closing the market on Saturdays. Consols for money
and the amount left off 994 to Three per Cents. Re-
duced, 984 to 4; Three-and-a-Half per Cents. Reduced,
1014 tog; New Three-and-a-Half per Cents., 1024 ; Long
Annuities. 12 7-16th ; Bank Stuck, 194 to .196 ; India
Stock. 286 to 288 ; and Exchequer-bills, 75 to 77 premium.
In the foreign market there was no great change, as the
general state of quotations will show. Spanish Three
per Cents. left off 35 to ; the Five per Cents.. 244 to 4;
Danish, 88 to 83; Dutch Two-avid-a- Half per Cents., 61
to 4; the Five per Cents., 1004 to 4 ; Mexican, 354 to ;
the Deferred, 154 to 4; Peruvian. 29 to 30; Portucu se
Convert. d, 444 to 454 ; Buenos Acres, 35 to 37; Chitati,
102 to 104 ; Colombian. 144 to 15 ; Brazilian, 80 to 81;
and Belgian, 1014 to 1024.
THE ORANGEMEN.—The following letter, dated 26th
ult., from the District Master of the Loyal Orangemen to
James Arpinill, Esq., was read at the last meeting of the
Council :—" In answer to your further inquiry of yester-
day, I beg to state, the procession on Easter Monday Was
not an Orange procession, as such ar, diametrically op-
rased to our rules, and would not be c .iuntenanced by
the authorities of our body. I find there was one Orange-
man in that procession, who has since then been suspended
by the order for taking any part th,r,in."
Our readers may have seen or heard of a paragrai,h,
which appeared in smie Trac,ariars publication, stating
that the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel had written a litter
to the students of St. David's College, with a view to
induce them to withdraw from the Established Church.
AlthouAll we differ from this estimable clergyunait on some
points, we could scarcely bring ourselves to bell ve that
this statement, though put forth with so much cotaletice,
was correct. On enqu.ry we are hippy to announce, that
the whole story is a fabricati n front beginning to end.
.lad such a project ever been enterraned by any one,
Mr. Noel, we a e authorized to Awe, would have given
the weight of his influence to cp,;ose it.
- -

THE WEATH RR, during the past week, has again been
clear, sunny, and del ghtful ; and the I ountry is rapidly
assuming her verdant summer gar•. The field rops in
this neigitbourtiood generally, iiidred almost universallY,
appear to be most heal by and p►oinis'ng. but the long
droui.ht has retarded the " bu'k " of toliage that woad
otherwise have appeared. The grass and wh at are never-
theless becoming thick on the around, and a day or two's
mild rain w►►uld do wonders both on farina and gardens—
in which last there is a fine show of fruit bliis,oin, which
it is not likely will now be injured by night frosts. The
barometer has frequently fatten a little, now aiol then,
durng the last ten days, but has almost as rapidly risen
to about "set fair." There is, however, at the time of
our writing (yesterday evening) a gathering of mutts that
portend a seasonable and desirable downfall.
-•

THE POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.—At the la,t monthly
meeting of this society, Mr. D. %Odle read the first part
of a most We paper on " Flame, and its practical telati in
to held, heat, and smoke, with especial rekrenee to the
ccnnbustion of coal," which he illustrat-d by diagrams
and tables, to the great satisfaction his audience. The
sec nd and concluding part of his suhj,-,ct ail be
d to the members and visitors on Tnes.lay next, and
io our publication of that day we,-,k we shall endeavour to
supply an abstract or condensation of the whole. Our
scient fic readers aho have not yet atteoci,d the-e meet-
ings vi °slid, we feel asitired, be match gist :fled by a visit,
and ail member has the pritikge if in, rot:ieing a stranger.
Th obja ct of the society is t a proint,te the advanc, m .nt
of n,w inventions, diseuveoies, and improvement:, 10
every hrtnch of practical scient.e, and esp..cially to elicit
native talent.

DRATH OF THE HON. 8.. B. W ILBRATIAM.
it i. with re2r,t we have to announc, t,e deal It of he
-t,ove 11,111. gentlemen. whoexpired on Sunday of (-mm,
that ti•itlhee's,de;in.
aifitosrtiinaini
dm:
Undo'.
z'icdloor(l,.k ,
lelteLunorddenStkaeni
!rased had been unwell for s one dabs previous ; but,
'is illness was considered merely attack of influenza.
nl, consequently, not the least danger was appre-
iended either by his medical attendants or relatives.
['he decease(' was the eldest eon of Lord Skelmersdalel
ind bother o' Lady Stanley: Ile wits horn the 27th'
if than er, 1801, and mat tied the 22d of May, 1832. i
Jessey Brooke, th.rd daughter of Sir Richard
B• Hoke, Bart., by whom he leavts several.thildren.
Lord Skelitiersdale, Lord and Lady Stanley, Lord
anley, Mr. T. and Lady Charlotte Egerton, and other
fomilies of rank are placed in mourning hi" the demisel
if the hnn. gelid, man. In 1835 he was returned to the'
House of Commons for South Lancaeh re. which county
to has ruccessively represented ill Parliament, in con-
junction wi,h Lord Francis Egerton, to toe time ot his
;mewed decease.

THE STATE PROSECUTIONS.—What is follow the
judg,oent of the Court in the n w pending apt liestion for
a new trial, remains a prufound mystery, save to tie cim-
spirators and their agents. And it n ust go v.•ty hard
indeed with these enterprisiog gentlemen, supposing that
the present motion g agarist them—an event not very
imp ottable—if in the chapter of accidents something do
not turn up th it may help to vvarl off null next term at
last the 1 nig•protraeted sentence of the court. The
Evening Mrq a tys, in reference to proceedings in ittfuro—
" As it is understood that the Court M.B not been in the
least shaken in its original deriso y the speeches (for
thy c.se was not arguable) delivered by ct uns.l, and as.
therefore, no time for deldleratims would be necessary,
judgment might be p:ottounced on Monday, and fillet
sett truce pass d '1 uesday. Anti so they would, were
this an ordinary case, and any per, on other than Mr.
O'Connell the convicted Drab/. But there is now a threat
of a motion in arrest of judgment—one that will doubt-
less, be carried itt. effect —at.d a boast--chit of course
wtll e attempted to be re aliz-d—of the argumet.t upon
that point oecuoying the entire of next term, as tha.' ,"
the ew trial nonsTheleil 'lie whole of ih's. The' poet's
of the Queen's Bench ate ron,wrvators .()ft ep.iblii'
They are 111:0 tits era of the pub is time; and it is
their duty to prevent the whole bosiness of the whole
c..tnitty oe,i,ainii g at a s and-t 11. and the interests
of suitors b rug disttoy .1. while lawyers are Patti.
and not by Ur. validity, but by the let gth o 1 their argu •
meat.—the rent-chest of tile Corn-exchange being the
ext hetpier whence their fe.s are drawn. One of
cu•iar too• ince. of their lordships is to prey ot the
from he t:notylit
rotiostr• t fhe law and ma diapen„ti n justice
NV.. be!. ea I att,ntion t the a‘lvertise nen; • f
' ridicule or contempt.'
'he
Chinch NltsSl,iiiary Society.— We are happy to I. aro 100
the iv e tow,- or, the occasion of the attormteiong attni.er-
sary will be held in the Collegiate lostoutio t.