The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-11-03 00:00:00

PROSELYTISM AT CAMBRIDGE.

Several letters have, during the last few days, been
addressed to the Editor of the Times, disclosing several
very melancholy particulars relative to the perversion to
p pery of a young undergraduate of St. John's College,
Cambridge.
The first letter, dated the 15th October, and signed
" A Father," alludes to a paragraph in a Cambridge
paper, announcing the unhappy perversion of the youth,
and also to a letter written in allusion to it by the M•A.;
and " A Father" supplies a statement of facts, connected
with the case, in the hope that it may awaken the authori-
ties of the College to a more decided performance of their
duties, and serve as a warning to parents and guardians of
the present state of undergraduate society at Cambridge.
The victim is a youth not yet 20 years of age, and was
intended for the Church. His father has long been absent
from England, and he (the son) had been educated by a
clergyman for three years, previous to his going to Cam-
bridge in October, last year, when he entered Trinity
College. Unhappily for him, " The Resident M. A."
became his tutor. A letter, which the latter wrote in
reference to his victim. is quoted, and justly and severely
commented. upon by " A Father." That letter admits,
on the writer's part, that he had often conversed with the
youth on the position of the Roman Church, the difficulties
that prevented him from wishing to join it, and the sympa-
thies he entertained for not a few of its practices, and even
doctrines. Having imbued him with his ownsentimentson
this subject. he obtained the youth "indirectly," an intro-
duction to Dr. Wareing, the Roman Catholic archbishop,
who happened to be at Cambridge, and with whom he
(toe M. A.) had much interesting conversation. '1 hrough
him a party of several was formed, amongst whom were
two Roman Catholic priests. The M. A. personally in-
troduced the youth to the' bishop, merely that "as a
matter'of interest :he might know a dignitary, of the Ro-
man Church, and have the opportnnity of some ordi-
nary conversation." This led to an invitation to meet the
bishop at tea the same evening, and thither the "tutor"
accompanied the youth. The result of the "conversation"
was that the youth declared his determination to join the
Roman Church immediately. The "tutor" states that he
advised him to postpone his intention, on account of his
youth, the absence of his father, and his want of spiritual
counsellors ; but the mischief was done. The father justly
states, " I am at a loss for fittiag terms of condemnation
with which to visit the conduct of this gentleman ; but I
trust that you will hold him up to the scorn and indigna-
tion of every honest and virtuous mind. Cognisant of
every part of this youth's position, aware of the absence
of his father, of his intended profession for him—the
Church—he avails himself of his opportunities as his tutor
"in his ear to pour the leprous distilment," and then
mocks him with pretended caution against the very course
along which, without sufficient honesty openly to embrace
it himself, he has scrupled to hurry a mere boy intrusted
to his teaching. I hear that his College has dismissed
this recreant son, but I think you will agree with me that
it is the bounden duty of the University, if it be anxious
to retain the estimation of the public, to mark its sense of
his delinquency in a more open and avowed manner than
a mere private deprivation from any future pupils. As a
father of a family having the intention of committing my
sons. I, at least, for one, requiret some better assurance of
their safety from pollution. I__

After severely but deservedly reprehending the conduct
of Dr. Wareing, who professes the divine obligation of
the Decalogue, "A Father" concludes—

"As far as this youth is concerned the die is cast, but
I trust that as regards others (and I fear that many are in
extreme peril at this moment at Cambridge, which is now
my only motive in addressing you) I shall not have raised
my warning voice in vain."
To this letter of " A Father," the Tutor and M.A.
attempts an exculpatory reply, but the conclusion to be
drawn from it is most impotent. He consented, forsooth,
to introduce the youth, at his own request, to Dr. Ware-
ing, which ho admits was " extremely wrong and grossly
indiscreet," but he " can only say it was an error in
judgment, done on his part most innocently !" He de-
nies that he was the wiling instrument of converting the
youth to Romanisrn, or that he has ever interfered with
the religious opinions of his pupils, and urges the injury
to his own prospects which misrepresentation of the event
is calculated to produce. His young friend acted, he
says, solely on his own convictions ! He concludes,
however, by admitting that the step taken was " precipi-
tate, unfortunate, and injudicious," and that if he were
the unconscious cause, he must answer for it. He also
complains of the " allusive attack" made upon him, and
of "A Father's" procrastination in making it.
"A Father," in a brief and indignant reply to this at-
tempted exoneration, proclaims the re,-reant M.A. to be
Mr. F. Paley, and accounts for the delay alluded to by the
fact of the father of the youth having only recently arrived
in this country from India, and his friends being deterred
from pressing the publicity of the case until they obtained
his sanction. He adds :

"A son has been lost to an attached father, and his fall
must ever be a weight upon his heart which Mr. Paley's
deepest contrition could not have lightened ; but he would
appear rather to rejoice in his defection than sympathise
with the sufferings of the parents and friends cf the youth.
I will only add, that the infatuated young man was prof-
fered, if he became a convert to Roman Catholicism, dis-
pensation to appear as a member of the Established
Churcb,—to attend chapel at the University. &c., for the
openly expressed purpose of deceiving his mother, till his
father's return to England, when he was counselled fo
gradually unfold his apostacy to them."
It appears to us, from this exposure, which the attempted
defence only serves to confirm, that Mr. Paley was guilty
throughout, though lurking under the wing of an English
Protestant University, and looking to her for premotion
and pay, of allowing, or at all events of not doing all in
his power to prevent being handed over, from her pro-
tection and tenets, a youth whose mind as scarcely
formed, to the antagonist and pernicious school of
Romanism !

" C-in such things be,
And overcome us like a summer cloud,
Without our special wonder."
If such doings are permitted in our national universities,
and the recreants, as in this case,—the angttes in lierba—
not expelled, the'e can be no safety for the youth of our
country who aspire to high and dignified stations in life,
clerical or lay, through the education imparted at those
establishments.

INVENTION OF A MOST USEFUi, MACHINE

FOR THE TRIMMING OF SHIPS AT SEA.
We have been favoured, through the politeness of the
Chairman of the Dock Committee, with a sight of an in-
strument called "A Ship-Trimmer," the invention of a
talented officer in the naval service—Captain Ilathorn.
Considering the importance of its practical results, it is
simple in construction, and in working ; yet is such that
we cannot, without the aid of diagrams, (which we cannot
readily get up,) well and distinctly describe it. The in-
strument we have seen, and which is intended for common
uses, consists of a heavy pendulum, turning an index as
the vessel pitches, and is contained within a mahogany
box, 44 to 15 inches square, and about 5 inches in thick-
ness, with a lateral door so far glazed as to show the
operation of the index. This flat box is to be hung, or
suspended, with links, as near as possible in the centre of
the vessel, and on a line parallel with the keel, giving it
also room for the rolling motion. There is an arc, or
segment of a circle of brass, and similar to a bridge, on
which are indications on each side from the top, and to
which points a hand or arrow. If the vessel be upon an
even keel, the band will point to the centre, or key-stone
of the arc. If not on an even keel, the hand will indicate
the fact, and the gradations, when read off, indicate the
trim at the time, in inches,—that is, how much the
ship is down, both fore and aft. There are instruc-
tions for the use of the instrument, with an expla-
natory table, referrable to vessels of from 57 to 230
fret in length of keel. It is supposed, as a matter of
course, that the best sailing trim of a ship has been pre-
viously ascertained (when under weigh); and when this
happens to be a foot or more by the stern, the instrument
must be adjusted to that trim, and placed parallel to the
horizon. The object is, that vessels, whether under sail
or steam propulsion should, in fine weather or in rough,
after alteration through consumption of provisions and
water, or other causes, be so trimmed by removal of weight
from place to place that her progressive qualities may be
best elicited,—and this even during stormy weather, when
the depth of draught or depression, fore or alt, cannot
otherwise be ascertained. The inventor states that his
instrument is, he conceives, of equal importance to steam
as it is to sailing vessels ; that most ships already have the
common pendalum, to show the angle of inclination due
to the rolling motion ; but that to indicate the quantity
that a ship is out of trim fore and aft, by any common
pendalum, would be very difficult. The " Ship Trimmer"
is recommended as a simple, portable, and cheap instru-
ment, for indicating fore and aft, as well as lateral trim.
A compound lever forms a pendalum for vibrating
fore and aft, " and (says the ingenious and Jisinterested
inventor, who generously throws open his contrivance
for his country's good), any tone can construct such an
instrument for a few shillings, and in fwure no ship need
go to sea without this means of indicating her trim, in the
day of trial, chasing, or being chased, or desiring to
make a quick passage." The " ship trimmers" are
manufactured and sold by Messrs. D. and E. Bailey, 272,
High Holborn, London. The instrument we have seen
has a pendulum of lead, 9 inches long, 1 inch thick, and
weighs about 121 b. The price required appears to us to
be extremely moderate ; but we refrain from all further
commendation, preferring to recommend parties interested
to communicate with the inventor or the manufacturers,
and to judge for themselves.