The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-07-08 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANfiAiii)

PROTESTANT OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION.

The general half-yearly meeting of the members and
friends of the Protestant Operative Association was held
last night in the Music Hall, Bold-street. There was a
numerous attendance in the body of the ball, and on the
platform we recognized several warm hearted friends of
the cause. The president of the Association, the ltev.
H. M'Neile, was announced to take the chair. but we
regret to say that an accident which is described below in
his own words, prevented his attendance. An able and a
zealous substitute, however, was found in the person of
the Rev. Frederick Parry, who was called to the chair on
the motion of the Rev. D. James.
A prayer having been delivered by Mr. JAMES,
The CHAIRMAN read the following letter from Mr.
M'Neile

ROSCOMMON-STREET. Monday Afternoon.
My Dear Mr. Parry.—Will you have the kindness to take my
place this evening at the Protestant Meeting, and to make my
apology. I have met with a slight accident which must keep
me in the house. To-day, when I was arranging some books
and pape s in my library, a writing desk fell from a table on my
foot. The swelling consequent upon the blow soon obliged me
to take off my boot. and now I cannot put on a shoe, or stand
up without pain. The thing is of no consequence in itself, and
wonld not deserve this passing notice; but for the unfortunate
coincidence of my eng••gement for this evening, and the con-
sequent necessity of disappointing our Operative friends.
Believe me very faithfully, yours,
Rev. F. Parry. fIUGH M'NEILE.
The reading of this letter elicited much sympathy.
The Chairman then proceeded to eulogise the services of
Mr. M' Bile in the cause of Protestant frith, and to urge
upon the meeting the necessity in these times, when ex-
pediency was the main principle of our rulers, to main-
tai 1 that faith with consistency and in prayerful depend-
ence upon the promises of God's truth.
The Rev. J. BROWN, of St. Andrew's Scotch Church,

Rodney-street, then rose, amidst great applause, to pro-

pose the next resolution, and after -a
few remarks on the
importance of having a body of sound protestant opera-
tives, proceeded as follows : the resolution entrusted to
me assumes that Popery is making progress. Is that the
fact? Who with either eyes or ears in his head can doubt
it ? Ido not speak of the increase in the number of its
chapels, though that is indisputable; nor in the number
of its adherents, though that too seems certain ; but con-
sider the position it now occupies in reference to the con-
stitution of this kingdom. It is defended, diluted, ex-
plained away by our legislators, who wou'd be mightily
improved by a few lectures from their Chaplain explana-
tory of the Roman Catholic religion, after players are
over. It is patronized by her Majesty's ministers ; the
prime minister especially cares no: a jot from what
quarter the wind blows from, so that it only fills his sails
and enables him to keep his hand upon the helm. It is
sanctioned by the Queen. It has falsified the coronation
oath ; and, what is more monstrous still, bishops, aye
and archbishops, Protestant bishops, Protestant arch-
bishops, have been seen standing up in their place in par-
liament and pleading for support to a system which, by
their education and learning, by their ordination vows,
by the name they bear, by the doctrines they teach, by
the emoluments they draw, by the title they possess, to
sit upon that bench and lift up their voice in that august
assembly, they are bound to oppose as the depository and
disseminator of error, detrimental to films ,enaimrbl in-
terests ; dangerous to the salvation of their precious
souls Is there no progress here? No progress ! when
you have Popery not merely creeping into the cabinet but
climbing up to the throne. No progress ! " Give me the
fulcrum to fix my lever," said the ancient philosopher,
" and I will move the world." Maynooth is that fatal
spot where the Protestant Church will be convulsed.
No wonder men's minds have roused in reference to that
most unprincipled grant. It was the Hougeomont in the
moral contest. It bas been lost; and as surely as Ireland
is an island, an attempt will be made to endow the
catholic priesthood, and if successful, ;as from
the aspect of parties there is too much rea-
son to apprehend, the Reformation is torn up by
the roots; and if Puseyism, that Judas Iscariot within
the church, make common cause with Popery, that Pon-
tius Pilate without, then the civil and religious constitu-
tion combined of this mighty empire, like the ship on fire
in the storm, can be saved from the wreck and wretched-
ness of revolution by nothing short of a stupendous moral
miracle. [The rev. gentleman then, in a strain of stir-
ring eloquence, pointed out the leading truths and false-
hoods which must grapple for the mastery in the ap-
proaching conflict. He afterwards went on as follows.]
Chiefly, however, politically speaking, the registration
courts are to be the scenes of conflict. They are the
forts which govern the country. Take them from the
abettors of Popery, and the victory is won. " Keep your
power dry," used to be said in the old Orange times.
Keep your pens wet—sterling steel pens, wet with true-
blue ink—is now the order of the day. Give in claims
for yourselves, claims for your friends, relatives, and
acquaintances—that is, if they are of the right sort.
'What is your first duty as s citizen this month of July ?
Register. Your second ? Register. Your third ? Re-
gister. Arid when the time for voting comes, the old
British lion, animated afresh by the spirit of Wicliff and
of Knox, sh 11 be heard bellowing from the Land's End
to John-o'-Groat's House—" No one shall provoke me
with impunity." \Ve have had duplicity enough, and
trickery enough. We are disgusted by men hoisting the
flag of the friend outside the harbour, and the flag of
the foe inside. \Ve prefer an open enemy to a trea-
cherous ally. We think the cabinet council too
respectable a place for the accommodation of jug-
glers. Measures, not men,—deeds, not words,—is
henceforth to be our motto. Protestantism shall be em-
blazoned on our banner, and beneath that banner tor-
getting all lesser differences of doctrine and discipline,
shall Churchmen and Dissenters, Episcopalians, Presby-
terians, Methodists, gild Independents, rally. Tory,
Whig, and Radical shall fling to the winds their petty
disputes, as to what shall be the amount of the franchise,
what the restrictions upon trade, and rising like Paul
titer his three days' blindness, Christian Britain shall
shake off her temporary drowsiness, and from the re-
sounding Cathedral to the simple village church—from
the populous meeting house, and the whitened chapel,
perched high amidst the lonely pastoral hills, crowds of
God-fearing men, not carrying the cross in their hand,
not wearing it on their garments, btur having it planted in
their hearts, shall pour along in firm, but peaceful array,
towards the spots where the battle of peace, religion, and
genuine freedom is to be fought. Different corps shall
that army consist of, but their heart and purpose shall be
one ; an open Bible, in their mother tongue, shall be their
emblem, in their march they shall trample under their
feet Rome's false keys of the kingdom, and wielding poli-
tical rights which God and the constitution of their
country bestowed on them ; they shall yet, with the Di-
vine blessing, bear back this inundation of irreligion with
which we are threatened,and so save this prosperous land
from the agonies of civil war, and the wreck of a revolu-
tion.

Mr. RADCLIFFE, in a speech of considerable energy,
urged the meeting in behalf of Protestantism, and con-
chided by seconding the resolution.
The resolution was then put, and the motion was unani-
mouslyadopted._

The Rev. D. JAMES, on rising to propose the next re-
solution, was received with warm applause. He said he
had no he,itation in recommending the resolution to the
adoption of the meeting, because he conceived it to be
drawn up in the spirit of Scriptural instruction. After
alluding to the claims of the Pope and the Church of Rome,
and ably proving that they had no foundation either in the
Bible or theFa,liers, the rev. gentleman observed that he

considered the Protestant church as a noble vessel brought
by the hands of our martyred forefathers safely through
the storms of persecution and rage which beset her, to
anchor in the haven of Rnace and safety. She had been
safely riding at her mooPEgs for two centuries, under the
protection of our glorious constitution ; but now it was a
subject of regret that Ministers were endeavouring to cut
her cables, to leave her to drift again into danger and dif-
ficulty. But when the billows again began to roll and swell,
would Protestants remain apathetic? (Cheers, and " No,
no.") No, he believed a noble band of men would leap
into the boat, take the vessel in tow, and bring her back
to her moorings ; and if in that boat a Peel and a Wel-
lington should found—should he say it ?—men who
had been convicted of the crime of deserting their posts
like Jonah, must be prepared for Jonah's fate. (Loud
and long-continued cheers.) Let them be removed
from the power they now hold, and never again
permitted to return to the helm of the State—(loud
cheers)—never again to betray the trust which God has
committed to us as faithful members of a Protestant
country and an Apostolic Churc i.—(Tremendous cheers.)
The rev, gentleman concluded by moving the following
resolution :—" That as a good Christian is a good citizen,
't is the duty of -1, Prote-

_ _ zstants enjoying the elective fran-
ehit•e, to pay all taxes due to the government, before the
20th July. and ensure to thpoi,Apiv,..

voting for a sound Protestant at the next Parliamentary
election." (Loud applause.)
The Rev. C. MARSHALL., curate of St. Thomas's, se-
conded the motion, whi passed unanimously, ar.d
after singing the doxology, the meeting separated.

STAGSHAW-BANIE FAIR.--This great summer Fair
was held on Friday, when the number of cattle shown was
greater tban for some years past, and there being a great
many south country dealers present, as well as farmers
and graziers from all parts of the district, the demand was
much greater than was anticipated, and much of the stock
was sold two or three times over, with an advance
on each occasion. Indeed, there has not been such a
fair for many years. In the horse market there was
a good deal of business done, and late prices were fully
maintained. In sheep, the demand was very brisk ;
and, indeed, all descriptions of stock commanded ready
sale, and brought high prices.
CHARGE OF STEALING MONEY FROM A SHOP.--
At the Police-court, yesterday, a well-dressed young man,
named James Pettit, who had been for some four or five
years employed by Mr. Gillharn, hatter, Lord-street, as
shopman and porter, was charged with the offence. From
the evidence of Samuel Hall, the foreman, it appeared
that some suspicion had arisen against him, and that
witness, with a view to detection, had marked on Thurs-
day and Friday last, some sovereigns, &c. On Friday
evening three of the sovereigns were missing, and on
Saturday three sovereigns were found in his hand, and
he was given in charge. He then refused to state where
he lived, but it being discovered that he lodged in Devon-
street, his bed-room was searched, and in a small box the
sum of £123 12s. 6d. was found, including one of the
marked sovereigns, which was identified. It was en-
deavoured to shew that he had recently received a legacy,
and also stated that ho had got money by his wife. The
finding of the marked sovereign was however conclusive.
against him, and he was committed for trial at thesessions.
CARLISLE WRESTLING.—The wrestling took place, as
usual, at Carlisle, on Wednesday and Thursday last, when
the sum of thirty pounds was given to be wrestled for. The
prize of 10 pounds 10 shillings was won by Jonathan White-
head of Workington, throwing John Ivison, of Carlisle. 30
couples wrestled, the first time over: For the prize of 20
Pounds sixty couples entered, and the rounds were not
closed till yesterday, when Isaac Taylor, of \Vythe Moor,
was declared the winner, having thrown Robert Gordon,
of Plumpton, the final fall,

ELECTIONEERING MOVEMENTS

The recent Anti-Protestant measures are gradually
telling upon the strength and security of the Ministerial
majority. Where Conservative members a few months
ago would have gone to the poll confident of victory, and
secure in the name alone of Sir Robert Peel ; where to
be a supporter of the Ministry, would a few months ago
have constituted a sufficient recommendation to ensure to
the candidate the countenance of an undivided Conserva-
tive interest in any county or borough ; the name must
now be breathed faintly—the profession of the principles
of that Ministry must be evaded—and unless the aspirant
to Parliamentary honours is content to accept of the sup-
port of opponents of the Protestant interests of the
country, his defeat is morally certain.
In proof of the spread of this feeling, turn to the
elections just past, or which are pending, caused by deaths
and recent official changes. Dartmouth, vacant by the
death of J. Sornes, Esq., Conservative, has returned a
Whig opponent to the Maynooth Grant, Mr. Moffat. in
preference to Mr. Prinsep, a gentleman in every respect
qualified for representing the borough, but who, unfor-
tunately for himself, presented himself to the electors as
a Conservative of the Pet 1 school. A staunch Protestant
Tory, it is admitted, would have been returned tri-
umphantly. As it is Mr. Moffat has been returned with
an ease which surprises even his own party. In Exeter,
vacant by the lamented death of Sir Wm. Follett, for a
length of time not a Ministerial candidate dared to present
himself to supply his place. Mr. Teed, a Barrister, of
Conservative principles, after issuing an address to the
electors, found discretion to be the better part of valour,
and withdrew. The ground was subsequently sounded
in behalf of Mr. Fitzroy Kelly, the new Solicitor-General ;
but the response was not satisfactory, and at length a
resident gentleman, Sir J. Duckworth, very greatly
respected by the inhabitants, was invited to offer himselt,
and consented. But even Sir J. Duckworth, it was
found, must first satisfy the electors of his Protestant
faithfulness before he could so far combine his party as
to give him a hope of success. Whether he will be able
entirely to do this, and what will be the result of the
election, time will shortly prove. If the seat fails, how-
ever, into the hands of the Whig party, it will be because
a staunch Protestant candidate did not present himself
in time.

Abingdon, vacant by the elevation of Sir F. Thesiger,
has been for years considered a pocket borough, and has
rarely been contested. Under any ordinary circumstances
the return of Sir Frederick would not have been opposed.
So strong, however, is the repugnanoe of the inhabitants
to the Government' policy, and especial!, tea 1%1"". ouotli
Endowment. that an opposition candidate has been
brought forward, General Caulfield, who has addressed
the electors, His chance of succe,s is, perhaps. not very
flattering ; but the very fact of such an oppositi n being
attempted speaks volumes as to the spreading feeling of
dissatisfaction with the Ministry.
From Cambridge, vacated by the elevation of Mr.
Fitzroy Kelly to the Solicitor-Generalship, that learned
gentleman runs away, not venturing, it would appear, to
risk its verdict upon the Ministerial policy. At present
the only cadidate is Mr. Shafto Adair, on the Whig
interest. Who is to be the Conservative candidate, or
where the new Solicitor-General is to find a seat, is as
yet to be seen.

Surely, these things ought to make assurance doubly
sure to Sir Robert Peel that in his recent measures he has
succeeded in alienating the confidence of the British
people. What a sound of triumph used to run through
the ranks of the Conservative opposition when a borough
or a county was wrested from the late Whig government!
How Sir R. Peel himself was wont to chuckle in his place
in the House, and to taunt " the Noble Lord opposite"—
the (then) leader of her Majesty's government. Confi-
dent in his subservient majority, we dare say he regards
little these demonstrations of declining influence in his
own ease; but dare he face a general election ? The
question would be an unpleasant one for his candour to
answer.

SUBSCRIPTIONS THIS YEAR TO NEW RAIL-
WAYS IN MANCHESTER AND IN LIVER.
POOL.

By an analysis of the parliamentary return we find
that the amount of subscriptions of £2OOO and others to
new railways has been, in Manchester £6,113,564, and in
Liverpool, £5,116,030; in all, £11,229.594, or upwards
of one-sixth of £64,603,707, the total amount subscribed
throughout the kingdom. So far as Liverpool is con-
cerned, however, it must be borne in mind that upwards
of £1,100,000 is subscribed by two gentlemen as Direc-
tors of the South Eastern Line, for the shareholders ; and
a considerable amount of the Manchester subscriptions
appear to be signed in the same way by Directors of the
Manchester and Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham,
and other lines.

GRATIFYING TESTIMONIAL.—OR FridayeVenillg last,
the teachers, members, and friends, of the Adult School
in connection with Christ Church, assembled in the
school-room, Christian-street; for the purpose of pre•
sentmg the Rev. E. Wolfenden, one of the curates,
and who is about to leave the congregation, with a token
of the esteem and regard which they entertain for him.
The present consisted of Scott's Bible and Commentary,
in three elegantly-bound volumes ; Commentary and
Pharaphrase, by Patrick, Whitby, Lowth, and others,
in four volumes, uniformly bound ; and Cruden's Con-
cordance, in one volume, ,bound. The books were pre-
sented by Mr. Kennedy, who, in the name of the donors,
acknowledged the zeal and fidelity of the rev. gentleman.
Mr. Wolfenden returned thanks, in very feeling terms.

• a.
RELIGIOUS SPECTACLES OF' HOME.—The religious
" spectacle" is to our generation superior to every sort of
" spectacle." It is in a church, and not in a theatre.
The actors are priests, not players or danseuses. The
things represented are sacred, mysterious, tnuching ! The
excitement is religious. To be sure, there is a great deal
of superstition and idolatry ; and all these crossings, and
howings, and tinklings, are very shocking ; and the gum..
flowers and tinsel are very tawdry. Yet it is good, say
they, to learn, by beholding, to abhor such things; at any
rate, the general impression is solemn, awful, and salu-
tary. So say the moths and bats that flicker round that
tempting light, not reflecting how perilous to the un-
armed, uninstructed heart is the very gazing upon evil.
But if they reflect not upon this, the pope and his clergy
are not ignorant of the gain that is to he made, by draw-
ing around them, even as- beholders, the facile and im-
pressible multitude. With what condescension, accord-
ingly, and with what exemplary patience, they give a place
of favour and advantage at all their ceremonials to a gaz-
ing, chattering crowd of unworshipping, unsympathising
spectators; setting up galleries for the ladies, and allow-
ing the gentlemen to come almost close to the holiest pre-
cincts of the high altar ! How busy are their scouts and
light troops of teachers, artists, dilettantis, simpering,
cassocked dandies, and other carpet functionaries, with all
the recent converts and fresh sentimental recruits, in giv-
ing all information as to times, places, services, and func-
tions, to the simple, unconscious strangers. And, lo!
here comes forth the Rev. Dr. Beggs himself, cameriere
d'honore to his holiness, and, moreover, till laiely, head
of the English college at Rome, with a work of instruc-
tions for these spectators, written expressly for his coun-
trymen, and " keeping constantly in view the present
state of liturgical science in England." To show how
truly it is under the idea of a " spectacle" that these
strangers are invited and expected to approach those ce-
remonies, and how utterly absent from the mind of the
Romanist is the idea of the possibility of their being shared
in by them as the worship of Almighty God, the work is,
as it were, prefaced by a few sentences, under the follow.
ing title, " Directions for seeing the Ceremonies," begin-
ning thus:—" Provide yourself with,a Holy-week-book,
or Uffizio dells Setlimana Santa. Take care that your
dress is according to rule. For many of the ceremonies,
ladies require tickets signed by M._ Maegiordomo. On
Palm Sunday morning the pontifical ceremonies begin at
St. Peter's at about nine o'clock. No stranger can re-
ceive a palm without a permission signed by M. Maggior-
domo. On the afternoons of Wednesday, and Thursday
(between four and half-past four), and of Friday (half an
hour sooner), the office of Tenebrm begins at the Sixtine
Chapel.. After it is over, you. may go to St. Peter's to
hear the conchs ion of a similar sera ice : where on Thurs-
day evening the high altar is washed by the cardinal,
priest. and chapter ; on Friday the pope, cardinals, &c.,
go thither to venerate the relics, after Tenebrte, in the
Sixtine Chapel, and on the afternoons of both days the
Cardinal Penitentiary goes thither in state. In the even-
ing of the three days the feet of the pilgrims are washed,
and they are served at table by cardinals, &c., at the Tri-
nita del Pelligrini," and so forth. And so forth. Is it,
then, the worship of Almighty God, or is it only one of
the " pomp and vanities," ' which all good Christians re-
nounce? If the former, how does the chief bishop of all
the world reconcile it to his conscience, that the central
and pattern temple of Christendom, the sublimest edifice
that the earth has sustained since the time of Nebuchad-
nezzar, should, on the days most sacred to God and most
revered by every Christian heart, at the very moments of
most earnest worship, of nearest spiritual approach to God
which is permitted to the creature, be converted into a
playhouse ? that the very altar which he regards as the
highest altar in the whole visible Church, and all that is
transacted there, should be cut off from the sight of one
half of the faithful assembly, by scaffoldings crowded with
the gay, and, perhaps, the mocking children of schism and
rebellion ? Could the thing be conceived if it had not
existed ? Are the desecrations which occur there un-
known to him ? Verily, great is the charity of the Vicar
of Christ, or small is his jealousy for the honour and wor-
ship of God.—The Spiritual Perils of British Travel-
lers, in Fraser's Magazine.

COLLARS—Ur OR DOWN ?—Which side are we to take
in the collar question—ups, or downs. or none at all ?
We confess ourselves to be practically in a dilemma ;
although, aesthetically speaking—and, indeed, from mo-
tives of comfort—we have no hesitation. in saying, turn
down your collars ; they never were meant to be turned
up. But it is now become so much of a French and
English affair, that we shall be suspected of want of pa-
triotism if we do not say, keep up your collars, and up-
hold the national dignity ! As for the no-collar view of
the subject, much may be said for and against it : it de-
pends a good deal on your complexion, reader, and also
on the colour of your cravat. If you have got on your
cambric and your lace, you need no further contrast for
your physiognomical tint; but if you are wearing a black
kerchief, and you are of a bilious brown and yellow hue,
pray let us see half an inch, at least, of white beneath the
lower jawbone. This point of contrast is the real reason
why the collar should, as a matter of taste, be allowed to
lie down on the cravat. It produces greater effect--it
looks cleaner--it is certainly more comfortable. If the
majority of free-born Englishmen shall ever so far sur-
mount their prejudices as to take a hint from France (for
'tis an invention of la jeune France), we will walk over
from our side of the house, and, in the face of the nation
:tad our constituents, vill join them.—Blackwood's is.
thetics of _Dress.