The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-04-25 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOII STANWIrD.

150,000 depositors existed out of a number of 500,000,
who ought to have deposited, he says :
" Four and twenty years. ago, the people of Paris risked
twenty-nine millions of francs yearly at the lotteries—now,
they risk nothing. Then houses of play were open on all sides,
to the ruin alike of the opulent and the simple artisan—now,
they exist no longer. Then, no .one paid a farthing into the
savings banks—now, we finda
50,000 individuals, and the num-
ber yearly increases by 14,000. By a progress doubly rapid,
the number of depositors among the working classes, once
deplorably small, is now three-fourtha of the whole. Then,
two hundred and five children in the thousand were exposed—
the proportion now is one hundred and twenty in the thou-
sand. This is the fair side of the question—let us look at the
other. Still, one-third .f the people live in a state of concu-
binage—still, one-third of the children are bastards—still, one-
third of the dead expire at the hospital or the almshouse, with-
out father, mother, son or daughter, to bestow a bier or give a
rag to cover the nakedness of the corpse."—(Compte Readu
de l' Academie des Sc. Jai. Sum: 1843, p. 14.)
Such is Paris !

[Rather, the reviewer should have said, " such was
Paris." Such was the progress made in restoring her po-
pulation to something like comfort, and redeeming them
from their state of gross immorality, during the short
period which has passed since the re-establishment of mo-
narchical institutions, and the substitution of order and
industry for the excitement of the Revolution and the-
Em pire. Will the same flattering picture of improvement
be presented ten years hence, as the result of the rule
of the Ledru Rollin's, Blanqui's, and Cabet's. who are
just now directing the passions of its population to the
realization of their absurd theories ? We suspect not.—
ED. L. S.]

ADVANTAGES OF SCHOOL OVER PREMATURE
FORCING AT HOME.

[To render more intelligible the following extract from
a most promising autobiography, commenced in this
month's Blackwood, entitled The Caxtons—a Family
Picture," we must explain, that the boy having in his se-
venth or eighth ear shewn symptoms of losing the ordi-
nary vivacity of his age, and becoming sedate and preco-
ciously thoughtful, whilst his bodily vigour sensibly de-
clined, his father took the resolution of sending him from
the parental roof to a public school.]
A year after the resolution thus come to, I was at home
for the holidays.

" I hope," said my mother, " that they are doing Sisty
justice. Ido think he is not nearly so quick a child as
he was before he went to school. I wish you would exa-
mine him, Austin."
" I have examined him, my dear. It is just as I ex-
pected ; and I am quite satisfied."
What ! you really think he has come on ?" said my
mother joyfully. _ _

" He does not care a button for botany now," said Mr.
Squills.
" And he used to be so fond of music, dear boy !" ob-
served my mother with a sigh. " Good gracious ! what
noise is that ?"

" Your son's pop-gun against the window ; said my
father. "It is lucky it is only the window ; it would
have made a less deafening noise, though, if it had been
Mr. Squills' head, as it was yesterday morning."
" The left ear," observed Squills ; " and a very sharp
blow it was, too. Yet you are satisfied, Mr. Caxton ?'
" Yes ; I think the boy is now as great a blockhead as
most boys of his age are," observed my father with great
complacency.
" Dear me, Austin—a great blockhead 1"
" What else did he go to school for ?" asked my father ;
and observing a sort of dismay in the face of his female
audience, and a certain surprise in that of his male, he
rose and stood on the hearth, with one hand in his waist-
coat, as was his wont when about to philosophise in more
detail than was usual to him. .

" Mr. Squills," said he, " you have had great experi-
ence in families."
__ _

" As good a practice as any in the county," said Mr.
Squills proudly : " more than I can manage. I shall ad-
vertise for a partner."
" And," resumed my father, " you must have observed
almost invariably that, in every family, there is what
father, mother, uncle, and aunt, pronounce to be one won-
derful child."

" One at least, said Mr. Squills, smiling.
" It is easy." continued my father, "to say this is
parental partiality—but it is not so. Examine that child
as a stranger, and it will startle yourself. You stand
amazed at its eager curiosity, its quick comprehension, its
ready wit, its delicate perception. Often, too, you will
find some faculty strikingly developed; the child will
have a turn for mechanics, perhaps, and make you a
model of a steam-boat,—or it will have an ear tuned to
verse, and it will write you a poem like that it has got by
heart from ' The Speaker,'—or it will take to botany,
(like Pisistratus,) with the old maid its aunt,—or it will
play a march on its sister's pianoforte. In short, even
you, Squills, will declare that it is really a wonderful
child."

" Upon my word," said Mr. Squills thoughtfully,
" There's a deal of truth in what you say ; little Tom
Dobbs is a wonderful child—so is Frank Steppington—
and as for Johnny Styles, I must bring him here for you
to hear him prattle on Natural History, and see how well
he handles his pretty Hale microscope.",

" Heaven forbid 1" said my father. " And now let me
proceed. These thaumata or wonders last till when, Mr.
Squills ?—last till the boy goes to school, and then, some-
how or other, the thaumata vanish into thin air, like
ghosts at the cockcrow. A year after the prodigy has
been at the academy, father and mother, uncle and aunt,
plague you no more with his doings and sayings ; the ex-
traordinary infant has become a very ordinary little boy.
Is it not so, Mr. Squills ?"
" Indeed you are right, sir. How did you come to be
observant i_ycu never seem _ _ _

" Hush!'r interrupted my father ; and then, looking
fondly at my mother's anxious face, he said, soothingly,
—" be comforted ; this is wisely ordained, and it is for
the best."

" It must be the fault of the school," said my mother,
shaking her head.
" It is the necessity of the school, and its virtue, my
Kate. Let any one of these wonderful children—won-
derful as you thought Sisty himself—stay at home, and
you will see its head grow bigger and bigger, and its body
thinner and thinner—Eh, Mr. Squills—till the mind take
all nourishment from the frame, and the frame, in turn,
stint or make sickly the mind. You see that noble oak
from the window—if the Chinese had brought it up, it
would have been a tree in miniature at five years old, and
at an hundred you would have set it in a flour-pot on your
table, no bigger than it was at five—a curiosity for its
matureness at one age—a show for its diminutiveness at
the other. No ! the ordeal for talent is school ; restore
the stunted mannikin to the growing child, and then let
the child if it can, healthily hardily, naturally, work its
slow way up into greatness. If greatness be denied it, it
will at least be a man, and that is better than to be a little
Johnny Styles all its life—an oak in a pill-box."
At that moment I rushed into the room, glowing and
panting, health in my cheek, vigour in my limbs, all child-
hood at my heart. "Oh ! mamma, I have got up the
kite—so high !—come and see. Do come, papa."
" Certainly," said my father ; " only don't cry so loud
—kites make no noise in rising—yet, you see how they
soar above the world. Come, Kate, where _is my hat ?
Ah—thank you, my boy." _ _

" Kitty,"said my father, looking at the kite which, at-
tached by its string to the peg I had stuck into the
ground, rested calm in the sky, " never fear but our kite
shall fly as high; only, the human soul has stronger in-
stincts to mount upwards than a few sheets of paper on a
framework of lath. But, observe, that to prevent it being
lost in the freedom of space, we must attach it lightly to
the earth ; and, observe again, my dear, that the higher it
soars, the more string we must give it."

THE BISHOP OF EXETER AND MR. GORHAM.

A practical exemplification of the Bishop of Exeter's
letter on tests has been given in his lordship's diocese, by
the Rev. G. C. Gorham, whose case has been more than
once incidentally mentioned to our readers. The question
more immediately at issue here, however, is the right of
the Bishop to refuse induction to a benefice of a party he
believes unsound. It is one, we have been told by the
Attorney-General in the House of Commons, that will,
most probably, be tried in the law courts. Under these
circumstances, it becomes our duty to lay before our
readers a letter of Mr. Gorham's to a friend, giving his
history of the proceedings. Mr. Gorham commences by
noticing his appointment to the vicarage of St. Just, in
Cornwall, in 1846, soon after which he received a rebuke
from the Bishop for using the words, " The National
Establishment," (instead of " The Church,") in a circular
for building a district chapel. Soon after the Bishop
stated his " high disapprobation" that Mr. Gorham had
advertised for a curate "free from Tractarian error," and
hinted that Mr. G. belonged " to a most dangerous set of
men," and that the Bishop " no longer trusted him."
The letter then proceeds as follows :
" In August, 1847, the present Lord Chancellor (having
understood that I wished to exchange my living for one in
a situation better suited to the education of my children)
signified his willingness to present me to the vicarage of
Brampford Speke, near Exeter, a small agricultural pa-
rish, with a population of only four hundred, which was,
consequently, for the reason above mentioned, more de-
sirable to me than St. Just, though the income is £3OO a
year less. The Bishop took the opportunity of counter-
signing my testimonials for the Chancellor, to inscribe on
the paper the following injurious attack on my ministerial
character, without giving any instance to justify his inju-
rious imputation—
" As my own experience unfortunately attests that the
Rev. G. C. Gorham did, in the course of the last year, in
correspondence with myself, hold, right, and maintain
what is contrary to the discipline of the Church—and as
what he further wrote makes me apprehend that he holds
also what is contrary to its doctrine—l cannot conscien-
tiously countersign this testimonial.'
" I remonstrated—in vain. Very inconvenient delay
was thus occasioned ; but on my explaining the matter
fully to my patron, he was satisfied, and issued his fiat for
the presentation. Thereupon, on the Bth of last Novem-
ber, I requested institution from the Bishop ; but, as an
immediate appointment was not convenient to him, I
postponed my admission, with his concurrence, till I
should have removed my family from Cornwall. I adopt-
ed this plan without hesitation, since he had not given me
the remotest hint of his real intentions. My suspicions,
however, having been awakened, I received, in answer to
an application on the subject, two days after my, ark wal at
my distant home, an official intimation that tile Bishop
would not institute me until he had ' examined' me, to
satisfy himself ' whether I was sound in doctrine.' I in-
stantiv returned into Devonshire, and I earnestly entreated
that the examination might take place without delay, as
the winter was fast approaching, when it would be incon-
venient to remove my family to so great a distance; and
as the Christmas vacation was not far off, when my elder
children would require a home, which St. Just (already
nearly disfurnished) could not afford them. The Bishop
declined to examine, being about to proceed to London
for his parliamentary duties. I offered to follow his lord-
ship to town ; the proposal was absolutely refused. I
then stated my determination to wait in the neighbour.

hood of Bishopstowe till he should return, andnppoint a
day for that purpose ; and I did wait, at Torqnay, for a
whole month longer—namely; the 17th December, on
which day he summoned me for-examination.
" The examination was-exclusively on the unconditional
efficacy of the sacrament of baptism and it was conducted
in the following manner :—The Bishop read eye:Tques-
tion ; which was recorded by; the Rev. W. Memel; his
chaplain, and by myself. Each answer was given by me
orally ; it was then recorded by the chaplain. The exa-
mination was most searching, subtle, and severe ;- and it
very soon assumed the character of a theological disputa-
tion, in which I was required (not merely to state -my
views, but) to maintain my propositions, while the Bishop
was my perpetual opponent It was continued five days,
for eight hours, eleven and a half hours, (to within a
quarter of an hour of Sunday morning,) seven and a-half
hours, five hours, and siritours ; in all thirty-eight hours,
during a period f considerable ill-health, which had been
certified to the Bishop at the commencement of the exa-
mination by my physician., who stated in writing that I
was in too weak a condition to resume my parochial, du-
ties. I repeatedly expostulated on its unreasonable- pro-
traction ; and especially on the unjust motive assigned by
the Bishop at the conclusion of the third day, for its- con-
tinuance, viz., his suspicion that I intended to lay it before
the world, and my silence when questioned on that as-
sumed intention. On being summoned for the sixth day,
1 suspended the examination, (which had been extended
to seventy-eight questions on this single subject,) that- I
might seek advice or redress. It was virtually, however,
continued for six days longer at my lodgings ; the Bishop
having sent me a volume, for comparison, with many ad-
ditional questions, and-the promise of still more. Wearied
with fruitless endeavours to induce the Bishop to desist
from such an extraordinary and unreasonable course, I
thought it necessary to leave Torquay, and to proceed to
London for advice on the 10th of January of this year.
"On the 10th of February, being then in London, I
renewed my application for institution. On the 14th his
lordship required a resimed examination. To this- de-
mand, acting under legal advice, I acceded ex abundanti
cautela, though under protest. His lordship postponed
it, at first by reason of the demands on his time in Lon-
don ; and, on his return into Devonshire on the 26th, by
an intimation that he had a charge to prefer against me (it
was one conected with rubrical exactness) which must be
previously inquired into, as it would involve my suspen-
sion from the ministry, and that he had felt it his duty to
direct that a commission should issue under 3 and 4 Vic.,
cap. 86. Without wishing to occasion the least delay in
the prosecution of that inquiry—yet, this being the first
intimation of such a complaint, I protested in the most
solemn manner against the commission being interposed
between the two parts of my examination. The Bishop
then agreed to resume the examination, which took place
on the Bth, 9th, and 10th of March, and lasted fourteen
hours ; it was brought to a conclusion only by my ulti-
mately giving my answers according to the 36th canon,
which simply enjoins consent' and subscription.'
" This extraordinary examination occupied, therefore,
in the whole, fifty-two hours during eight days, besides
six days of full employment at my lodgings in Torquay.
In the course of it one hundred and forty-nine questions
were proposed to me on the subject of baptismal efficacy,
the Bishop making a constant effort to impose on me this
interpretation of the articles and formularies, while I
maintained my ground of a sincere subscription' to the
articles, in their plain sense, as the standard of the doc-
trines of the Church : and of an honest assent' to the
formularies interpreted in conformity with that standard.
The result was, that on the 11th of March, his lordship
signified his decision to refuse me institution ; and, on
the 21st of March, sent the patron and myself formal
notices of that refusal, on the allegation of my unsound-
ness in doctrine.' "

Mr. Gorham explains that " The general right of ex-
amining a clerk, previously to institution to a benefice, is
maintained by the bishop on a statute A.D. 1315. It is
clearly limited, however, by the thirty-ninth and ninety-
fifth canons, which: mildly define the character and the
extent of the examination. It is to be an inquiry into the
clerk's worthiness for his ministry' (if he has not been
ordained by the instituting bishop), and an examination
into his sufficiency and qualities.' It is also restricted
to twenty-eight days from tendering the presentation,
whereas the bishop did not even begin till the thirty-ninth
day from that on which I delivered the document to his
registrar."

It is understood that this extraordinary case is under
the consideration of the law officers of the crown, and it is
to be hoped that means will be found to frustrate this
" attempt of the Bishop of Exeter to establish his private
dogma of the unconditional efficacy of baptism, by making
that (instead of the Thirty-nine Articles) the standard
without conformity to which admission to offices and
benefices in the church shall be peremptorily denied."