The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-10 00:00:00

SIR. W. M. STANLEY'S HOUNDS will meet

This Day (Tuesday), Feb. 10, at .
Friday, 13, at ..
Tuesday, 17, at

I-1 awarden
. Eastham
.. Denhall

At eleven o'clock.
SIR W. W. WYNN'S HOUNDS will meet on
This Day (Tuesday), Feb. 10, at.. Fourth Milestone on
the Ellesmere and Oswes,ry road
Llangedwin
Ll; ydiarth

Friday, 13, at ..
Saturday, 14, at

Each day at half past ten.
The CHESHIRE HOUNDS will meet on

To-morrow (Wednesday), 11, at .......
Thursday, 12, at ..
Saturday, 14. at
Each day at half past ten

..... Kind Orton
Hartford Bridge
... Beeston Hall

A SUDDEN CONVERSION.

Of all the gentlemen who have been recently " turning
their backs upon themselves," and perplexing their, con-
stituents, commend us, says the Herald, to Mr. Henry
Charles Sturt, late member for Donetshire I

Mr. Sturt is, we believe, a gentleman of the highest
and most unblemished character—a man universally es-
teemed in private life; but it is quite clear that he woe-
fully mistook his vocation when he ventured into public
life in stirring times like these.
So recently as Dec. 20, 1845, Mr. Sturt attended a
meeting of his constituents at Blandford ; and, es the
cahinet-couvulsions then going on drew every one's at.
tention to the subject, he naturally felt called upon to al-
lude very explicitly to the question of the corn-laws. It
was then well-known that Sir Robert Peel had re-assumed
office, with an intention of modifying the existing corn-
laws. Yet Mr. Sturt was not backward in announcing
his own determination. He told his hearers, that "he
was prepared to stand by the '• present protection to
agriculture." His hearers cheered him; but it now ap-
pears that this noble resolution was like the" We—we,—
won't run I" of the terrified duellist in Sheridan's comedy.
linwever. encouraced by their cheers. sturdy Mr. Sturt
went on to say, that—

" Whoever. .I.rought forward a urea-ure for the repeal of
the
.corn-laws, lie would oppose is !"

eerina

Such-was Mr. Sturt six weeks ago. But Sir Robert
Peel has made his speech, parties begin to develope their
plans and intentions, and ML Sturt is naturally expected
to perform in February what he bad promised in Decem-
ber.

Instead of which, what does he d,,? He sits down and
writes a letter to his constituents, in which he Fa} s

" My opinion respecting thejustice of the corn law ha
undergone no change."
Well, then, what has Mr. Sturt to do, but to vote ac-
cording to his own convictions, and according to the
wishes of his constituents ? Could any thing in the world
be simpler or more easy ?
But no, good Mr. Sturt cannot screw his courage up to
this point. He tells his constituents, that
"It is useless, and it is hopeless. Sir Robert Peel, the
Duke of Wellington, and the whole Cabinet, are your
opponents."

And, accorJingly, being apparently unable to conceive
the possibility of such a thing as voting on his own convic-
tions against the Government, he applies for the Chiltern
Hundreds, and leaves his constituents in the lurch ! We
frankly declare, that, were we in Mr. Sturt's present pre-
dicament, we would sell the Dorsetshire estate, and, after
a three years' absence on the Continent, would settle
either in Argyleshire or in Galway. Assuredly, Dorset-
shire should never again behold us !
But observe, good reader, in what way the repeal of the
corn-laws is to be carried. Here is an English county
member, who declares his convictions to remain unaltered,
deserting his post, simply because Sir Robert Peel and the
Duke of Wellington have abandoned the corn-laws. Next,
the Duke of Wellington explains, that his views, remain
unaltered ; but that he yields to Sir Robert Peel's propo-
sal, merely from a fear that her Majesty might be left
Rigout a government.
We come then down to Sir Robert Peel, as the single
individual, from whose change of opinion and of purpose,
all the other changes proceed, ti
And we may fearlessly ask—remembering that Sir Ro-
bert Peel, in 1842, declared that the price which he con-
sidered it desirable that wheat should be sold at in Eng-
land was 545. to 585., and that the present arerafie is
545. Bd.,—we may fearlessly ask, we repeat, is there a
man in England who seriously believes that, if there had
been no League, Sir Robes t Peel would have come for-
ward, in 1846, to repeal his own law of 1842 ?
So that, in fact, the " house that Jack built" runs
thus :—Mr. Sturt, Mr. Charteris, Mr. Wilson Patten,
and sundry others. are converted by the conversion of the
Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel :
The Dnke of Wellington is converted by Sir Robert
Peel :—And
Sir Robert Peel is converted by the League!

RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS IN SWITZERLAND

We were favoured on Saturday, by our respected towns-
man M. Zwilchenbart, Consul of the Swiss Confedera-
tion, here, with copies of the official do:uments relative
to the present ecclesiastical affairs of the Canton de Vaud,
in which, for some months past, a portion of the clergy of
" The National Evangelical Reformed Church " (esta-
blished by law) have thrown off their allegiance to that
institution, and thereby caused great discomfort to the
Council of the State—or government of that repblic,
which is attached to the Swiss Confederation—bvu pro-
ducing disunion to a certain extent amongst the people,
as well as threatening the foundations of the Establish-
ment. The question is one which, to a considerable ex-
tent, interests the whole Christian world ; and we there-
fore lament that the voluminous nature of these docu-
ments—no fewer than twenty in number, several of them
pamphlets, and all of them printed in French—precludes
us from supplying more than a general outline of the
principal facts they disclose on a hasty perusal, but which
certainly appear to us to vindicate the conduct of the
Council, as having acted with patience, liberality, and
forbearance towards the dissentients, with a view to pre-
serve the integrity and true discipline of their national
Church, which has already existed for about three centu-
ries, and, above all, has a firm scriptural foundation.
We may state at the outset, that it does not appear from
these papers that the pastors who have withdrawn from
within her pale have set up any new or old heretical doc-
trine on their own account ; on the contrary, their doc-
trinal views seem to be sound and scriptural : and of this
the government of the Canton seem to be so well aware,
that they have never, since the dawning of the disaffec-
tion, ceased by gentle invitation and persuasion to reclaim
the strayed sheep to the clerical fold, and retain them in
the service of the State.

Amongst the pamphlets we find the new " Constitution
of the Canton of Vand," declaring it (August, 1845,) to
be a "democratic republic," with the usual adjuncts of
such systems of government. Our readers are well aware
that we are no friends to republicanism, but in this in-
stance it has some extenuations; and, above all, the re-
deeming virtue of stam-Ang by an evangelical church, and
upholding the st,te. This leonstitution (as our own)
permits to certain of the provinces the quiet exercise, as
rit e
lbi
geifoo
nre„—e xtihs tee
cdie
rogf
y ofwhatbo
to therecalledber,ai d
by thethe 'r'eCs
respective
treasuries of the departments in which they are situated.
We als, find " The Ecclesiastical Law" of the canton,
dated December, 1839, by which it appears there were
about 144 parishes in the several arondissements, w,th
about 160 pastors of the national church. Another pam-
phlet contains two speeches delivered by M. Henri Druey,
the President of the Council of State, evidently a clever
statesman and orator, at its sittings in November last,
and in which he eloquently and forcibly advocates the
policy and advantages of a national connexion between
the church and the state The minor documents (nearly
all signed by himself in his official capacity) are letters
or addresses to the disaffected clergy, proclamations from
the council, resolutions, judgments, decrees, and con-
ciliatory addresses to the clerical parties resigned from
that body; addresses to the council from the latter, with
M. Druey's replies. &e. The whole are from the press
(different hands) in Lausanne, (the capital,) and the typo-
graphy is highly creditable.
From the whole, it appears that the object of the dis-
unionists is to render the church (in contravention of the
ecclesiastical law of 1839) independent of the state—the
whole affair bearing a resemblance in many particulars,
though by no means in all, to the recent movements of
the Free Church party in Scotland. Some of the dissen-
tients had betaken themselves to preaching in con venticles
(or chapels). Others bad bearded the
government, by
continuing to conduct public worship in the state churches
after they had abrogated their right to do so, by disobe-
dience of the constitutional and ecclesiastical law.
The government, it appears, first noticed this emeute
last May, when they issued reatons' r. r • circular.
lthe,
national
tsti
etodno municipalities,af2l
4t these su rcch e'
ht official cemal
explanatory
and
arpaperst,nhaaent
odmr
yi
addressed
aoasfucrti
ehr sce u l
that a
fa ocf rtbtouhamadel
bapttheraeleeOtnnfeeCncd oeoteloentif and
he
decided
Novemberupon h
et oGroevme
Government
etnhte
iesysiul.e'd'
aF1p0:::::6130nrd.
the others, we deduce the following :
inflicting certain penalties on " pastors " and " ministers'
who had officiated in "chapel houses" out of the pale of
the national church, as on those who had refused to read
from their pulpits a previous proclamation touching the
voting of electors under the new constitution, the plea in
extenuation being that it was political. These parties are
complained of by the Government as having resigned their
clerical posts in the national church, and, without reason•
able cause, exposed the establishment to the greatest
danger. The majority of the citizens of the Canton were
in favour of the Government measures against them, and
the Grand Council of the Confederation invest, d the
Council of the state with extraordinary powers as Fe-
cgharadpeedis ea
nnda t iootnhaelr c haus
sreemh
bl c iages nto) stt r ibt cetlioonng,
ge s steon tti nhge
Church.

The first use made of this power was to offer to all but
the most refractory who had withdrawn and shown strong
hostility to the church, an opportunity of honourably re-
turning to her bosom, and contributing to restore tran-
quillity and peace amongst the whole community. which
had been disturbed by these dissensions. The Council
d'Etat did all in their power to induce them to accept
this invitation, by prolonging the time given them for
consideration, &c. Even the most refractory were not
precluded from withdrawing their resignations of their
own free will, and the time in which resignations were to
be accepted was extended to the Ist of December.
Forty pastors and other ministers withdrew their resig-
nations on this appeal, but four of them resigned anew.
After being necess,tated to retain in pay, or to bring back
to the service of the church the greatest possible number
of ministers, the council found it necessary to re-petition
provisionally the numerous parishes, uniting some of
them under the care of one clergyman ; and they state, if
there be a lamentable watt of pastoral instruction. the
fault does not lie with them, or with the pastors who re-
mained in the service of the church, hut with the minis-
ters who forsook her in the boor of her need, and who for
such dereliction of duty no longer legally officiated as
clergymen in the state.

The council state that they will do all that in them lies
to render this -state of things of as short duration as pos-
sible. They bad appealed to ministers of Vaud out of the
country, to students of theology, to schoolma,tere. to the
laity, and others interested in the church. They had ac-
cepted of proffered services from some, and anticipated
those of others.

As an example of the kindly dealing of the government
with the malcontents,. we may quote the following sen-
tence :—" Perhaps, (says the document,) whin better
enlightened by reflection, mo red by the national church
of their country, and touched by her path nt endurance,
(soufrage) those of the pastors and ministers who have
withdrawn from her, and whose return is will possible,
will commune with thernselrei, while there is yet time to
redeem the past, and again place themselves at the service
of that church ; and not continue to expose herb disu-
nion by the position they have taken."
The Council appeal to those pastors who have remained
faithful, to persevere with that zeal and devotion which they
have evinced during this season of difficulty, so that they
may add to the public gratitude which they have already
so justly acquired. All others studying for the church, or
connected with it or its welfare even more remotely,
are implored to follow their noble example—including
municipalities and citizens. With regard to those who
have withdrawn from the establi.hment, no middle course
is left. They must either frankly and fully return t.) the
service of the church, or abstain from officiating therein,
their acts, whether in administering the sacraments, in
marrying, &c., being declared illegal and void.
The prophets are enjoined to carry out the injunctions
of the Government in respect to the conformists, and to
put clown illegal religious assemblages, but to give a lati-
tude to all meetings that do not affect the public tran-
quillity, and to show no persecuting spirit. It is stated
that Methodism fr.s done much evil in the country, and
that the assumed " independence" of the new party (if
it go s on) can have no other result but to subject the
state and the people to the domination of the digs-ntient
clergy, and prectpit th church into schisth, and finally
into anarchy.

unhuppr differences,
(7f tile Vaudois who s
for the faith v.nd the

sincfrc

with those
Lientiously

heir fore-

titers of the ev

e free to admit. that ti-

ureh. At the same time, we
sentient clergy have siNPeted
ersonal

themselves to many privations,
convenience, in holding fast to

atious con•

victions.

HAPPY

What pot.
—The Aui-

JAMES GRA

YET,

nay lour,

iwer
;ht sway

—Minn Own

ars have passed
wed to thine,

all shine

rds, that find

In combined

y rise
ears they set,

&RIETIES

ssia, ne

rotten of all ? D'ye give it ur

an who was unable to sur-

he French grammar, that, like
id been stopped by the elements.
ICAL ARCHITECTURE.
an alligator's tail strik-
ver was such a thing !

NEW ORDER OF ECCLESIA
ie spire of Grace Church is 1

g up a

New York Trib

smorr.—While they
yes into office, Sir Robt.
constant drag upon the
sent. Their motto was,
s. You gave us the Re-
id a final measure we are
" Pind no more changes did
and to institutions which
less intimately connected
istocracy than the present
ive been. Now let us not
tion of the tenant-at-will
as accomplished with the
of the whole party. It seemed to
against the ten-pounders;
inties, however weak they
,ut did any of the followers
id 1834 look the length of
not; otherwise they would
a measure as the New
letely alienated the labour-
ive them, converting into
Bed to be the humble bat
;racy. Surely not ; other-
uld have consented to the suppression
cks in Ireland, thus weakening the influ-
tantism in the very portion of the empire
Where it stood most in need of support, and encouraging
arch of which they professed
e things, however, they gave
I them that it was wise to do
the affections of the poor by
s, and alarmed and offended
e with which they looked on
ierents, the popish hierarchy,
over the Irish branch of the
oner was a proposal made to
'rfere with the game-laws, or
of the empire, or promote an
than to a man they denounced
istice, they were marvellously
ty and the privileges of the
accepted a Tithe Commute-
?,), said, and perhaps believed
Ild be as advantageous to the
lemen. But they would not
plan of national education.
form, the term was never used, ex-
id then it was hooted down
Thus in every ques-

THE
steadily r
Peel and

:RVATIN
to forc

iariot-wt
Let us t

up, beca
so. Tht

nterpois

In the c

the cle

while O'Connell and his adi

achieved s

of Lord M
is to church
vaguely by tl

triumf

But no