The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-01-30 00:00:00

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SEAMEN'S
READING ROOM AND SCHOOL SOCIETY.

Last evening, a numerous and respectable meeting was
held, at the Music-hall, 80ld-street, in support of this
highly-valuable society, and to receive the report of the
proceedings of the past year. Amongst the gentlemen
upon the platform, we noticed the Mayor, Thos. Sands,
Esq., and the following
clergymen and gen tlemen, v :
Revs. Hugh M'Neile, T. Nolan, W. Fa!loon,iz H.
Hampton, John Irwin, Messrs. A. Hodgson, C. Cotes-
worth, J. Royden, Middleton, Howard, Payne,
Chadwick, and Goode.
The Rev. Mr. MAYNARD, officiating minister of the
Mariner's Church, having opened the meeting with prayer,
it was proposed, and carried unanimously, that the chair
be taken by the Mayor, who proceeded briefly to open the
business of the meeting. He (the Mayor) had been re-
quested to take the chair chiefly on account of the high
office which he had the honour to hold in the town. He
was proud that he had the privilege of so doing ; and he
should endeavour, to the utmost of his ability, to wield
the powers of that high office to advance the cause which
they were met together to advocate. There was no class
of men to whom they were more indebted—he might say,
so much indebted—as to that class. (Cheers; amidst
which Mr. M`Neile entered the meeting.) He
was glad
of that cheer. It skewed that they appreciated the efforts
making to repay their obligations to the sailors. No class
of men had hitherto received so little attention as that
class; but within the last few years the sympathies of the
public had been roused in their behalf. They had been
provided with a church, with a school, and a reading_room,
and the same energies which had accomplished this amount
of good were still at work for their benefit. He would
leave it to those gentlemen who would have to follow him
to explain the objects of the present meeting, and con-
cluded by calling upon the Rev. Mr. Maynard to read the
society's report.
Mr. MAYNARD then read the report, which stated that
the leading object of the society was, to provide a read-
ing-room, with fire, light, and books, which shall be open
to the seamen from six o'clock p.m., till half -past nine:
to supply libraries for the use of the crews at sea: to es-
tablish a day and Sunday school: and to afford instruc-
tion in navigation to boys and apprentices training up to
a seafaring life. In carrying out these objects, they had
been blessed with great success, and rewarded by the gra-
titude of those for whose benefit they had wrought. The
number of seamen constantly frequenting their reading-
room when on shore had increased. during the past year,
by more than 300. As soon as their funds would permit,
it was their purpose to establish a similar room, in con-
nexion with the present, at the north or south end of the
town, as might be thought most desirable. They had also
been able, though to a limited extent, to supply libraries
to the crews of vessels at sea. They desired to call the
attention of merchants and shipowners to their navigation
school, which is open every evening from six to half-past
nine, to which subscribers of one guinea are privileged to
send apprentices free of charge, and at which a considera-
ble number had, last year, received instruction. At the
daily school, established for the daughters of seamen,
there were now fifty-eight on the books, and forty-eight
to fifty was the average attendance. (Mr. Maynard then
read a paragraph from the Liverpool Standard, describing,
in highly flattering terms, the proficiency of the scholars,
as evinced at their last half-yearly examination) and
proceeded to state from the report, that several ladies
had kindly volunteered to visit the school in rotation,
and added that it was open on the sabbath as a Sunday
school—that the attendance of the girls was good, but
that the boys had fallen off owing to the want of teachers.
Upon the subject of the pecuniary condition of the
society the report stated that their income for 1842, in-
cluding a balance of £7 13s. 3d. from the preceding year,
was £lO5 Os. 4d., and the expenses £23 19s. sid., leaving
a balance of £lB 18s. 6id, in arrear. This year the in-
come has increased to £l6l 4s. aid., whilst the expenses
are nearly the same as last year, viz., £123 7s. Bd.
thus leaving a baiance in the hands of the treasurer of
£lO 17s. lid. The report concluded with an urgent ap-
peal to the shipowners and the merchants of the port to
come forward in aid of the society's efforts " to discharge
the debt of gratitude which is duefrom all parties to that
long-neglected, but valuable class of men—our sailors."
After a few brief but feeling remarks, and a description
of the origin and growth of the society, the Chairman
called upon the Rev. Mr. Nolan to read the first resolution.
The Rev. Mr. NOLAN, in a long and eloquent speech,
moved the adoption of the report. ADAM HODGSON, Esq.
seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.
The Rev. W. HAMPDEN moved the second resolution,
to the effect that the meeting heard with satisfaction, and
gratitude to God, the progress which had been made
hitherto by this institution, and desired to express their
opinion, that it had special claims on the merchants, the
shipowners, and public generally, for increased support.
JOHN HOWARD, Esq. seconded the resolution proposed
by Mr. Hampden.
The Rev. H. MiNEILE on rising was received with
deafening cheers. He said :—Mr. Mayor, my Reverend
friend, Mr. Maynard, invited me to come and address you,
sir, and this meeting, and with great pleasure I accepted
the invitation, and I came not into this room, not deter-
mined, as other gentlemen said, to speak, but determined
to speak. (Cheers and laughter.) And the resolution I
have been requested to propose is this :—that this meet-
ing pitying the condition of the seamen while on shore,
exposed as they are to innumerable evils and temptations,
desires to express a hope that this institution will be the
means of promoting the establishment of a sailors' Home,
which has been long wanted in this port." If I mistake
not, this is beginning at the right end ; for I very cordi-
ally enter into the argument which
has been already ad-
duced and well argued with reference to the spiritual be-
nefit and religious instruction of our seamen. All these
argunints, intrinsically excellent in themselves, relatively
important in the bearings they had on missions abroad,
have my very cordial consent and co-operation in every-
thing that can be done to carry them out practically.
(Hear, hear.) But lam sorry to feel compelled to say
that I think, although there are individuals, a few, and, I
hope, an increasing number amongst the seamen who are
in such temporal circumstances as to leave them at liberty
quietly to avail themselves of the literary and religious
provision made for them bybrother, M r. ay-
nard, I think their number is very y few. I think the tem-
poral condition of the seamen of this port demands our
attention in the first instance. (Hear and cheers. ) My
resolution aims at it; and I have ventured to say that I
think it demands attention in the first instance, because,
although no temporal circumstances, however unfavour-
able, can be pleaded in the sight of God as any just ex-
cuse for the intentional neglect of religion, yet it is our
part, as men feeling for men, and desiring to do good to
men as we find them—(hear, hear)—not to men such as
we would have them to be, but to men such as we find
they are. (Hear, hear.) It is our duty to proceed upon
principles of plain, practical common sense; and I
would ask how, on such principles can we expect
attendance on the means, or attention to the words
of grace from—(bear, hear)—men who are exposed to a
system of cunningly devised frauds, which not only rob
them of a part of their property, but also, as a natural
consequence, irritate them into angry passions while they
are sober, and therefore make them willing to throw away
both their angel and their sobriety, and to cast themselves
with rollicking heedlessness into the lap of debauchery,
—another branch of wickedness prepared by their perse-
cutors in this town. (Hear, hear.) Shall Ibe told that
such persons do, above all other persons, require religion ?
I deny it. (Hear, hear.) The fairest moralist, the most
upright, well. fed, well-clothed Pharisee in the town re-
quires religion quite as much as the most dissolute sailor
in the town. (Cheers.) But I shall not discuss that
question now; but this I would say, that whatever super-
human virtue, or whatever super-angelic tempers other
religionists may profess to enjoy, I candidly confess that
if I were called to endure cold and hunger up to the point
of pain, and a man came before me and said, "pray to
God," and another said, " here is a loaf and eat that,"
I would turn away from the first man, and if I were rob-
bed and plundered as many of the sailors in this port are,
shipped on paying an exorbitant price, and unshipped
again because others were fools enough to pay a larger
price, and a man met me and irritated me to religious
disa.ussion and offered me a tract, and another said, " come
here, I value your soul as your chief part, but here is the
way to the registry where you may get shipped on paying
a shilling, and don't go near them alligators or sharks,"
why whether I had an ear or not for the first man, I guess
I would have two open ears for the second man. (Hear,
and laughter.) I think that the evils to which I have
now alluded are not sufficiently understood in this town ;
and if you will allow me I shall let the sailors speak for
themselves. The rev. gentleman here read a memorial
which had been sent by the sailors to the council in the
autumn of last year, complaining of the impositions prac-
tised upon them by the shipping masters. He also read
a memorial, to a similar effect, which was more recently
presented by the sailors to the merchants : and then con-
tinued :—There may be some persons here who are
curious to know what are these shipping-offices against
which the sailors memorialized the council and the mer-
chants. I hold in my hand a paper setting forth the rules
and regulations, and charges they make on shipping a man.
They have entered into a combination, that no man shall
ship a sailor except themselves. (" Hear," and a laugh.)
Here is one of their rules :—" That if we can find out
that any tailor, shopkeeper, or boarding-house keeper,
shall cash any note from the Bethel Union, he or she must
not expect any of our future custom." (" Hear," and
laughter.) This is something like the exclusive dealing of
some of my fellow-countrymen. (Hear, hear.) Is that
meant to intimidate others from cashing the notes, who
get them anywhere else except at their own offices ?
(Cries of " Yes.") Then this is a system of tyranny
justly complained against in the memorials, and against
which it is our bounden duty to move, if we wish to get a
willing ear from the seamen for our religious instruction.
(Cheers.) Perhaps it may be asked, how does it happen
that the captains sanction such proceedings ; and how can
they proceed unless the captains sanction them ? It
should be remembered, in answer to this, that all the
captains who command vessels out of this port are not of
that class that are altogether themselves above temptation.
(Hear.) Some of them are employed, of comparatively a
low class, to whom it is an object to get a present—some-
thing like what the French call a douceur—that is, a
sweetener. (Laughter.) A Plain Englishman would call
ossible I am insinuating that any of
it a bribe; but is it P
masters can bribe the captains ? Oh !
those shipping
there's a way of doing things. (Great laughter.) The
captain, for example, might have a worn-out hat, and a
nice new hat would be very handy before sailing. (Con-
tinued laughter.) And some of those shipping masters,
knowing people, might come quietly, and in a very gentle
and insinuating manner say, " Will you get a ship ?"
" Yes."—" You want hands ?" " I do."—" Take none
but what I send you, and I'll get one of them to drop a
nice new bat in the cabin for you, but say nothing about
it, or a topcoat, or a jar or two of pickles for the voyage."
(Roarl as of laughter, and cheers.) Oh ! it's no strange
thing m speaking. The understanding is entered into,
and the Inca are sent. They are sent from the office, and
they pass the captain ; but, in the meantime, the shipping

masters have cribbed from Poor Jack three, four, or ten
times the price of the hat. (Hear, hear.) And now,
what a curious thing : the crew have paid for the captain's
hat ! (Roars o! laughter, and cheers.) It rehunds me of
what Sydney Smith said of the Pennsylvania men the
other day. He said, that if one of those men were to
come over to England, he ought to give his coat to one,
and his hat to another, and so on; and upon the same
principle, every Jack should have something, and leave
the masters to go bareheaded. (" Hear," and continued
laughter.) Now this is not to be borne. I have put it in
this plain shape, that you may understand; and I think
we ought to make a general move, and show them that we
understand it. I believe it is a fact, that until the tem-
poral circumstances are looked into, until a registry
office is established, and until a Sailors' Home is got
up, we are labouring in vain to
i get them in num-
bers to hear us. Our chaplain sat work, but how
many of the real Jacks go to hear him ? Why,
few. Some do—the more the better ; and where are the
rest ? These gentlemen, the sLipping-masters, could tell
a tale of where they are. (Hear, hear.) They have their
houses for them, and houses of all sorts, except good, all
bad ones, for Jack all day long, to keep him away from
the Mariner's Church ; and until be sees that we are feel-
ing for him, for his body as well as his soul, he will turn
away from the canting hypocrisy that tells him to go and
pray while he is left to be robbed, and plundered, and se-
duced by wicked men. (Loud cheers,) And what can be
done in the way of remedy for this ? A registry office is
alluded to. A registry office might do much good; and
there is a registry office now in operation. It is, I sup-
pose, doing good. It is taking the right course. The
rev. gentlemen having here read the circular from the re-
g!stryoffice, proceeded :—Here is a movement in a right
direction. Some one says, " it is managed by dissenters ;"
and what if it is ? (Cheers.) My answer is—the dissen-
ters have shown churchmen a good example, and let
churchmen follow that example and get another office.
(Chders.) There is plenty of work for two : there is more
than plenty for two. (Renewed cheers.) Do I ask these
gentlemen to give up their good work because they are
dissenters? Far from it. (Great applause.) I wish them
God speed ; and then I turn on churchmen and say—do
you like good work ? if so, establish another office. I
say again there is room for two : I don't like mixing
colours ; I wish every man to show his own. (Cheers.) I
myself go under the colours of the good old trusty ship
the church of England, which was a Christian church
years before there was either dissent or popery in Eng-
land. (Great cheers.) I stand on her old weather bea-
ten timbers, sound to the last. (Vehement cheering.) I
stand, I say, to my tackle or my gun—ready, all
ready: I wo'nt compromise a rope in the rigging,
nor lower one square inch of her canvas before mortal
men. (Tremendous cheering.) Let us have a Church
of England registry ; and now we come to ask, what
has become of the Church of England al merchants
and shipowners of this great town ? Why e they not
thronged here upon the platform? (Hear.) I will tell
you what I think is part of the reason of it, though it
should make you laugh. I believe that many of them if
they bad thought that the object of this meeting was to
get a registry office—that it was to attend to the tempo-
ral wants of the sailors,—that it was to lead on in a direc-
tion towards laying the foundation for a Church of Eng-
land registry and Sailors' Home—l have a strong suspicion
some of them would have come; but they thought that
this was merely got up for the purpose of learning the
methodistical evangelicalism of Mr. Maynard and Mr.
M'Neile. (Hear, and laughter.) They consider that they
have too much good sense to listen to our enthusiasm but
I hope they will be told that we want them to establish a
Church of England registry, a Church of England home,
and a Church of England Chaplain, that the sailor may
have a place to go to where he may meet friends, that
there should be a savings bank in the house, where his
money would be increasing like a snowball rolling on a
green, where he would have a comfortable bed, and where
he would get leave to chew his tobacco when and as
he pleased. (Roars of laughter and great cheers.) Now,
this is not only what we want, but this is, what we must
have ; and I hope we shall never let the merchants have
peace till we get it. (Renewed cheers.) I never under-
stood the matter, as I understand it now, till very lately.
Everything works in a circle. 'When some of the sailor-
men saw my name to the bills for this meeting, one of
them came up to my house, rung the bell and said—" I
want to speak to you, Mr. M'Neile," and he sat down
and told me the whole about the ships' masters, and how
they charged him two shillings in the pound on cashing
his note in a slop-shop. Was not that a shame? (Hear,
hear.) He got half of it in goods ; and for getting money
for the other half, he had to pay two shillings in the
pound. I dont think I have got thoroughly at the/right
bones of the case yet. (A laugh) ; but I wish for informa-
tion on the whole subject. (Several voices—" You shall
have it sir") And, now, I am happy to be able
further to say, that application has been made to the
council on behalf of the Sailors' Home. There was a
building which it was thought might be got. However,
there were good reasons why that could not be given.
But there is a piece of land belonging to the corporation
near the Custom-house, where a Sailor's Home might be
built, and the application is still before the council ; and
now the chairman of the council is our chairman to night,
and we shall send him with three cheers for that land.
(Applause.) This is what must be done, I hope there
are gentlemen here to bear a report of this to influential
parties who hill put down their names on each side,
thus;-- —______ and Co" £500;
£400; and Co., £lOO, until we get a sufficient
sum to build a Sailors' Home; and it must be a substan-
tial building. There must be beds, such as I saw in the
Sailors' Home in London, where they have built one on
the site of a playhouse, and where every man has a bed to
himself, about as broad as the Duke of Wellington's bed.
The duke has a bed that he had with him on the field of
warfare. " Why your grace," said a person to him on
one occasion, " its not broad enough to turn in." " Turn
in," he replied, " when its time to turn in your bed, its
time to turn out." (Great laughter and cheers.) Do
Englishmen require to he stimulated to give money for
such a work as this?—for sailors? Surely, surely, the
very name of sailor should act like magic on the name of
Englishman. (Hear.) Are not England and sailors iden-
tified throughout the world ? (Hear, hear.) Who are they
who have carried the name, and the arm, and the influence
of the Government of England to the four quarters
of the globe? Who are they that, when Europe lay pros-
trate at the feet of the Corsican tyrant, and when Bona-
parte collected his hundreds and thousands of soldiers on
the heights of Boulogne, waiting to pounce upon England
—who manned the ramparts and laughed him to scorn?—
who made his legions good for nothing ? Why, British
seamen. (Great cheers.) And talk of commerce, of
manufactures, of leagues and corn laws—why, sir, what
were mills and machinery without seamen? Why, you
are men of skill—men who know whether they refer up-
wards or not to Him who has placed the constellations in
the heavens, and set boundaries to the mighty deep—men
who know how to wend their way through the trackless
ocean and make the land after a week, or a fortnight, or
a month, full as true as if they had seen the head land all
the time—men of enterprise—men of hardihood—men of
endurance—men who will stand to their post in drifting
snow and burning sun, and finish their work with cheer-
fulness. (Great cheers.) They have emptied the riches
of the Indus on the tables of our merchants; they have
heaped them so, that they revel in the enjoyments
furnished by distant lands. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
These are the men on whom you are luxuriating twice a-
day. Your crop of tea ! Where did it come from ? Why
the British seaman brought it all the way from China.
(Cheers.) And shall E.nglishmen neglect the sailors?
Will English women neglect the sailors ? Will shop-
keepers,—tradesmen, merchants, neglect the sailors?
(Hear, hear.) I cannot imagine a higher climax of in-
gratitude :than neglect of sailors. I have heard of in-
stances of indignation, roused up by feelings of in-
gratitude, but none have greater cause to complain of
ingratitude than the sailors. I have heard of the indigna-
tion of the Athenian orator ; I have heard of the indigna-
tion of the Roman senator; I have heard of the
indignation of the Peruvian hero ; I have heard of the
indignation of one of our statesmen, who asked, " shall
man have property in his fellow man?—shall man be the
sole and degraded possessor of the horse-whipped flesh
of his brother ?" but for indignation, exceeding the
thunder of Demosthenes, exceeding the indignation of
Junius Brutus, exceeding the warmth and fervour of
Rolla, exceeding the touching tenderness of our own
Wilberforcc,—l say, I would rise higher to see ingratitude
to the sailors of England, now seeking a home—a home
from plunder, a home from drunkenness, a home from
debauchery, a home from fraud : " Give us a home and
we will listen to your instruction—send us a chaplain
—send us your Bible and your Prayer-book, and we shall
thank you and bless God ; but give us a home." The
rev. gentleman here resumed his seat amidst loud and
enthusiastic demonstrations of applause.
After Mr. M'Neile had sat down, and while the col-
lecti?n was going on, Mr. MAYNARD detailed to the
meeting a number of interesting anecdotes of circum-
stances connected with seamen, which had come under
his notice during the course of his ministry amongst them,
which we should have been glad indeed ti have given to
our readers had not our space been so largely drawn upon.
Mr. W. J. TOMLINSON seconded the resolution, which
he prefaced with a brief explanation.
Mr.M‘NEILE rose to supply an omission which he had
made in the course of his speech. He had intended to
caution his friends, the sailors present, to avoid any quar-
rel with the seamen's unions ; not to go near them,
and
if they met them in the streets, to get out of their
om-
pany as soon as possible. There might be present some
of those shipping masters, and if he had touched them in
the course of his remarks, he would ask them to go home
and repent of their past sins.
The Rev. W. FALLOON proposed the next resolution,
which called for the thanks of the meeting to the com-
mittee and officers of this association. Mr. Falloon had
been struck, upon coming to this meeting, that the time
was peculiarly appropriate for originating a sailor's home.
It was blowing hard, and his feelings carried him at once
to the poor seamen tossing upon the deep, and to the
desirableness of an attempt to provide for his comforts on
shore, and to prepare his mind for the perils and possible
fate of a mariner's life. The reverend speaker qopealed
to the meeting in a most feeling speech, (of which our limits
will not even allow us to furnish an outline) to give their
thanks to the committee, and to aid them in their noble
exertions.

Mr. ROY DEN briefly seconded the motion, which was
carried nem. con.
Mr. CHARLES COTESWORTH, moved the thanks of
the meeting to the Mayor, which was seconded by Mr.
JOHN EDEN, and carried with acclamation.
The MAYOR briefly returned thanks; and after the
Doxology was sung the meeting dissolved.
We may remark, that on no occasion have we ever seen
the Music-hall so crowded as on this occasion, or a meet-
ing anywhere so enthusiastic. The collection made in the
room amounted to £l7. 14s. 6d., which, we venture to
say, will be swelled by the contributions of merchants and
others out of doors to a much more satisfactory sum.
This, in fact, we trust we may consider as principally the
gift of the poor seamen themselves, a great number of
whom attended the meeting.
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