The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-05-20 00:00:00

The Bishop's memory must have singularly failed.

Part of the original terms were :
" 4. The Roman Catholic Bishop is to bind himself to
defend all the doctrines and authorised practices of the
Church of Rome."

To which Bishop Brown replied :
" 2. I engage to defend those doctrines and practices of
the Church of Rome which have received her formal sanc-
tion."

I shall be glad to see how the bishop will reconcile this
with his letter to the editor of the Catholic Standard,
dated April 10, 1851 :
" He (Mr. Baylee) announces, it is true, that he would
proceed to a third subject, affording free scope for his
peculiar talents ; but this your subscribers need not fear ;
it is a mere ruse to cover his disgrace. He knows well
that the main condition of our agreement was the discus-
sion, on each side, of some vital doctrine—ONE, THERE-
FORE, AND NOT MORE ; and whatever additions or modifi-
cations were subsequently agreed to, they left that condi-
tion in its integrity."
The case then stands thus :

1. Bishop Brown proposed the discussion of " some
vital doctrine."

2. I required that all the doctrines of the Church of
Rome should be open to controversy.
3. The bishop consented to this arrangement on the
2nd of December, 1850.
4. He refused to continue the Romish controversy on
the 10th of April, 1851.
5. He alleged as one reason that the readers of the Ca-
tholic Standard feared the continuance of the discussion.

Such, sir, is the warrant for saying that the bishop has
sounded the note of retreat. The best proof of not re-
treating would be to continue the discussion according to
his own original agreement.
My answer to the charge of suppression is, that the
bishop's third letter is already in the printer's hands.

. .
Illness alone, causing absence from home, prevented its
earlier appearance. _ _

I remain Sir, yours faithfully,
JOSEPH BAY LEE.
_ _

St. Aidan's, Birkenhead, May 16,

ANOTHER CONVENT CASE.

On Monday night a curious debate took place in the
House of Commons of surprising interest at this junc-
ture. Friday's " Votes and Proceedings of the House of
Commons contained" the following paragraph :
" Public Petitions Committee.—Special report brought up,
and read as follows :—` Resolved, that the petition of Pierce
Connelly, clerk, complaining of the forcible detention of his
wife in a convent, and praying the house to take into conside-
ration the whole subject of convents and nunneries in England,
which was presented on the 29th day of April last, is a petition
which ought to be printed for the use of members only, and
that a special report he made to this effect.' Report to lie on
the table.—Convents, &c.—Petition of the Rev. Pierce Connelly
for inquiry, presented April 29, to be printed for the use of
members only."

It will be recollected that Mr. Connelly, a clergyman
of the Church of England, and his wife, agreed to sepa-
rate and go over to the Church of Rome, Mrs. Connelly
becoming the superior of some religious sisterhood, and
Mr. Connelly a candidate for priests' orders in the Roman
Church. Mr. Connelly afterwards repented, but his wife
refused to abandon her new calling. Upon that Mr. Con-
nelly instituted legal proceedings to obtain a restitution
of his conjugal rights. The courts decided in his favour,
but the aegis of the " Holy Roman Church" is thrown
around the rebellious wife. With the knowledge of these
facts it is easy to conceive that the petition must be of an
extraordinary character, and from what took place in the
House on the subject on Monday night it is not difficult
to divine that it contains some extraordinary charges. The
discussion upon the subject arose from Lord Arundel and
Surrey moving that the order for printing the petition be
discharged. The propriety of printing the petition at all
is said to have been repeatedly discussed by the committee
upon public petitions and to have been carried only by the
casting vote of the chairman, Mr. Thorneley. The idea
of privacy with 658 copies printed for the use of the mem-
bers is rather absurd, and particularly now that public
curiosity has been stimulated by the mysterious allusions
which fell from hon. members in the secret, during the
discussion raised by Lord Arundel's motion, allusions
which ranged from "imputations" to "atrocious slan-
ders." The petition, however, is to be printed " for the
use of members only," and Lord Arundel is not to be
prevented by the understanding implied by that, from
taking steps to ascertain from the parties charged what
they have to say in reply. This, to say the least, is a con-
venient mode of insinuating that the whole thing is a
slander, and it leaves Lord Arundel at liberty to shelter
himself under the scandalous character of the allegations
from taking further steps, should he find that the Rev.
Pierce Connelly has good grounds for his charges.

PRIVATE THEATRICALS AT DEVONSHIRE

HOUSE

On Friday the first performance for the benefit of the
" Literary Guild" took place in one of the drawing-rooms
of the Duke of Devonshire's residence, which was fitted
up as a theatre for the occasion. The proscenium and
arrangements for scenery were complete, a royal box was
erected for her Majesty and party on one side of the room,
and the rest of the company were seated on chairs and
benches. Notwithstanding the high price of the tickets,
the room was quite full, and perhaps so brilliant a thea-
trical audience was never assembled out of Windsor.

The piece performed was a new comedy by Sir Edward
Bulwer Lytton, entitled Not so Bad as we Seem ; or,
Many Sides to a Character To sbew the quantity of
artistic talent employed to give it effect, we reprint from
the programme the cast and list of scenery :
The Duke of Middlesex .. Mr. Frank Stone.
The Earl of Loftus .. .. Mr. Dudley Costello.
Lord Wilmot .. Mr. Charles Dickens.
Mr. Shadowly Softhead .. Mr. Douglas Jerrold.
Mr. Hardman .. Mr. John Forster.
Sir Geoffrey Thornside .. Mr. Mark Lemon.
Mr. Goodenough Easy .. Mr. F. W. Topham.
Lord Le Trimmer .. Mr. Peter Cunningham,
Sir Thomas Timid .. Mr. Westland Marston.
Colonel Flint .. .. Mr. R. H. Horne.
Mr. Jacob Tonson Mr. Charles Knight.
Smart .. Mr. Wilkie Collins.
Hodge .. .. Mr. John Tenniel.
Paddy O'Sullivan.. .. Mr. Robert Bell.
Mr. David Fallan .. Mr. Augustus Egg.
Lord Strongbow, Sir John Bruin, Coffee-house Loungers,
Drawers, Watchman, Newsman.
Lucy .. Mrs. Henry Compton.
Barbara .. Miss Ellen Chaplin.
The Silent Lady of Dead- i Mrs. Cox.
man's-lane ..

SCENERY.
Lord Wilmot's Lodgings Painted by Mr. Pitt,

"The Murillo"

Mr. Absolon.

Sir Geoffrey Thornside's 1 ..
Library .. .. .. I 21 Mr. Pitt.
Wilt's Coffee-house .. 2 , Mr. Pitt.

The Streets, and Dead- Mr. Thomas Grieve
man's-lane .. If
The Distressed Poet's Ga r-
Jetqifter Hogarth) I Mr. Pitt.

The Mall in the Park .. „ Mr. Telbin.
An open apace near the
River . I „ Mr. Stanfield, R.A.
Tapestry Chamber in
Deadman's-lane » Mr. Louis Haghe.
The Act Drop .. .9 Mr. Roberts, R.A.
The action of the drama takes place in the reign of George
1., and it is connected with history by a Jacobite plot and
the introduction of Jacob Tonson, the bookseller. The
plot, which is not of the clearest, is somewhat as follows :
—Lord Henry de Mowbray, a celebrated lady-killer, who
has died before the play begins, has left some posthu-
mous memoirs in the hands of Mr. David Fallen, a Grub-
street author. These memoirs contain facts likely to
prove annoying to several persons in high society, and
more especially to the brother of the deceased, the proud
Duke of Middlesex. Lord Wilmot, a leader of fashion,
who is idolised by the rakes of the day, but who conceals
an excellent heart under a mask of profligacy, and Mr.
Hardman, a plebeian member of Parliament, who strongly
supports the Walpole Administration, are rival lovers of
Lucy, the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Thornside, an honest
gentleman, who in early life has suspected his wife of an
intrigue with the deceased Lord Henry, and has led an
unhappy existence ever since. David Fallen, though he is
starving himself and has six starving children to feed, is
too honourable to part with the scandalous bequest, either
for the price offered by the renowned bookseller, Jacob
Tonson, or for that offered by Lord Wilmot, who as-
sumes the name and appearance of the equally renowned
bookseller, Edmund Curl'. But when Lord Wilmot,
throwing off his disguise, addresses David as a friend of
the Duke of Middlesex, the man of Grub-street, remember-
ing that he has been especially neglected by the aforesaid
Duke, gives up the manuscript, by way of taking the no-
blest revenge on the haughty aristocrat. Now this manu-
script, though excessively stinging as far as the Duke
is concerned, is accompanied by a letter which fully clears
the fame of Lucy's mother:; and Hardman, aware of this
fact, obtains the letter from the Duke by an appeal to his
honour. On the other hand, Lord Wilmot has discovered
that Sir Geoffrey's wife, reputed to be dead, is living in
an obscure residence, and procures a meeting between the
mother an 4 daughter, l'hua the game of geuerePitY