The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-11-25 00:00:00

SACRILEGE !

A miscreant, in the dress, and assuming the appearance
of a " Lay Brother," took up Lis station in the front of
Clarendon-street Chapel on Sunday last, armed—with a
plate for the reception of the " Tribute ;" and being more
eloquent in action—for he uttered no sound, and more ac-
tive in his motions—for he was the first to approach every
new comer—than his associates, it was soon manifest by
the appearance of his platter that success attended his
mission of charity and love. Envy was generated in the
minds of some of the rival collectors; and, whether to
satisfy an idle curiosity, or with a view of emulating the
example set, one of them asked the name of the ward
which boasted of so zealous an agent ? The " Lay Bro-
ther" coolly replied that be did not appear there in a
representative capacity, having a wholesome horror of the
provisions of the " Convention Act" before his eyes, that
he was "collecting on his own account;" and, "suiting
the action to the word," he instantly emptied the contents
of the plate into the capacious side-pocket of a long black
surtout, and bid defiance to the threats of those by whom
he was surrounded, and who appeared shocked at his
blasphemous exemplification of the " Church appropria-
tion clause" thus reduced to practice. Straightway the
" miscreant" was dragged off to the Head Police Office,
from whence he was transmitted for examination to the
magistrates in College-street; Clarendon Chapel, where
the alleged robbery bad been committed, being in that
division. On being brought up, Mr. Tyndall, the sitting
magistrate, asked " who is the prosecutor in this case,
and what is the nature of the charge?" Some hesitation
having been evinced, the prisoner took advantage of the
silence, and became on the instant his own prosecutor,
and with all the simplicity and all the force of truth, pre-
ferred the following charge against himself :
" Please your worship, I wanted a few pounds for a
particular purpose; and not choosing to work, and not
being inclined to earn it, I thought it would be a very
handy way just to go and hold a plate at Clarendon-
street Chapel and collect it for myself from such as were
willing to give it voluntarily. The people were very kind
and very good. I made no misrepresentation, nor any re-
presentation at all—having never opened my lips. What
I got, I put in my pocket, and there it is this moment. I
had as good a right to collect a trifle for myself, as the
others had to collect for themselves, or for Mr. O'Con-
nell, or Mr. Anybody else ; and I contend for it that I
committed no crime whatsomever."
Mr. Tyndall having asked the parties who brought the
"miscreant" in custody what they had to say to the state-
ment he had made, and they admitting that his story was
perfectly true, the worthy Alderman declared that he had
no jurisdiction in the matter, for that no violation of the
law had been committed, and that therefore the man must
be discharged. And the money ? He must keep that
too, continued the worthy Alderman (all Aldermen are
" worthy" by courtesy) unless some one proves a legal
right to it. No such right being proven, the " miscreant"
walked off scott free, with the trifle of change in his poc-
ket. There's no use in " Bell, book, and candlelight," if
this fellow don't catch it.
We beg to assure our readers that the case is literally
true in every particular.—Dublin Mail.