The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-01-20 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS,

The remarks of " Observator" are well merited, but they
have not sufficient point.
" A. B." is perfectly correct ; but the insertion of the Ad-
vertisement to which he alludes was inside.
We are sorry that it is not in our power to give a satisfac-
tory answer to "S. H.." but we will not forget his pro-
posal, and only regret it is not in our power to make use
of his intelligence and information.
" S. S." suggests that the debt still hanging over the In-
firmary should be liquidated by the proceeds of a fancy
ball, which he thinks would be numerously attended, as
we have not had such an attractive amusement for three
years.

We are unable to afford " Enquirer" the information he
seeks for. The directors of the Mechanics' Institution
have certainly shown more than usual activity within the
last few weeks, and probably the committee of the Colle-
giate Institution will shortly be in a position of bringing
its claims more prominently before the public.
In our leading article on the coming Sessions of Parliament,
last Tuesday, we attributed, in the haste of composition,
the celebrated character of Lord John Russell to Lord
Brougham, instead of the Rev. Sydney Smith. The error
is of no great consequence, but there may be certain cap-
tious spirits who will think a good deal of it.

Riberpoot &tanbarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, JANUARY 20, 1843.

The zeal of the present age in matters of religion,
so far at least as it is evidenced by the liberality of
individuals or of the nation in the erection of places of
divine worship, is, we fear, immeasurably below that
of our fathers, centuries ago. Enter any of the an-
cient cities or towns of the United Kingdom ; and
there you will almost infallibly meet with some noble
specimen of architecture—some lavish expenditure of
baronial wealth—devoted to the furtherance of the
religious instruction and comfort of the people. Visit
our cathedral towns; and what stately erections arrest
the gaze ! erections many of which must have occu-
pied in their progress more than the space of an or-
dinary life; of which few of their pious founders could
have hoped to witness the completion, and which must
have swallowed up the value of a dozen estates of no
contemptible worth. And then what finished art !
what elaborate execution, carried out into the most
minute feature, into the most hidden corner, as if the
builder grudged no expense of time or cost in a fabric
to be dedicated to the Most High! how different is
this from the nakedness of finish displayed in some of
our modern erections! 'What vastness, too, of design!
and—may it not also be said ?—what consummate
taste displayed in the selection of localities, from which
these sacred temples might display their beautiful pro-
portions to the admiration and reverence of admiring
worshippers ! Durham and Lichfield, 'Winchester
and Salisbury
—could nobler sites have been chosen
for any one of these noble piles ?
Enter the metropolis. Ascend St. Paul's, and look
eastward and immediately below you. Within the
walls of the ancient city, pile beside pile arises, from
the light and graceful pillared spire to the more
unadorned and ungraceful steeple, until the eye is
absolutely wearied, and you might imagine that you
stood in the centre of a city of churches. Listen to
the sabbath bells as they ring out from the lisart of
that crowded hive of busy commerce; and tough
you may doubt the temper of the generation, which
now inhabits it, to obey the sacred call, you cannot
doubt the deep conviction of past generations of its
wealthy citizens, that the pursuits of commerce are not
less prosperous, though a portion of its accumulations
are occasionally devoted to rear temples to the name of
Him who gives the increase. But, alas ! look beyond
these very restricted limits, which' held the forefathers
of the present mighty and overgrown metropolis. Let
your eye stretch towards Kensington, Walworth, and
the Dover road to the south; turn westward and
northward, and glance over the magnificent squares—
the residences of the nobility, the leading gentry, the
leading members of the learned professions, the
wealthy merchant, and of that vast
Population which
may be said, in. worldly position, to hang upon the
skirts of gentility—a wretched class, by the way, more
numerous in the metropolis of England than in any
other city in the world. Upon what a blank does the
eye fall ! Here at least—side by side with those
magnificent palaces—in those stately streets, the resort
of fashion and high birth and wealth—here the eye is
not wearied with the multitude of churches, or with
their gorgeous architecture. On the contrary, we
believe we are correct in stating that ther is not
church accommodation, or accommodation e for any
kind of religious worship—so little does voluntaryism
effect !—for one fortieth part of the population !
We have dwelt upon the particular instance of the
metropolis, because it most strongly and strikingly
illustrates our position. We have, in a portion of that
mighty city, a locality distinctively ancient; and we
find in it the marks of a profuseness almost unexam-
pled, and which modern utilitarianism would term
wasteful, displayed in the provision of " decent and
convenient places" for the performance of religious
worship. We have another portion, as distinctively
new, the resort of fashion, wealth, talent, distinguished
character, and noble blood ; and there we see the
marks of a niggardliness, both in the number and
architecture of its places of worship, which is dis-
graceful to the religious character and taste of the
nation. But we need not dwell upon the example of
London; for the same contrast there seen may be
found existing, between the ancient towns of England
and those which have been created by the giant accu-
mulations, with which commercial and manufacturing
activity has been rewarded, during the past century.
Where are the deodands, if we may so term them,
of the great bulk of the millionaires, who have been
made within the past two or three generations ? 'Where
the temples reared by those hands ? Where the noble
appreciation of the example set them by our more
humble-minded and religious forefathers ? Few, in-
deed, are the evidenceS to which we can point in reply;
and those few—how miserably poor, in design, in
architecture, and in adornment—how strongly illus-
trative of the narrow spirit, with which an avaricious
and utilitarian generation gives to God and to religion,
whilst it lavishes, without measure or bound, to pro-
vide objects of worldly pleasure or luxury ! Those few
evidences, too, which the past twenty years have pro-
duced, of care for the spiritual wants of the increasing
population of the resorts of commerce, can we award
credit for them to the spontaneous liberality of the
wealthy ? In a few cases we can. Our own town
bears evidence of such a feeling—of a remembrance,
in prosperity, of that God whose goodness had accorded
it. But in the great majority of such towns, the aid
has come from without; and has been seconded by
the exertions of the local clergy, and the benevolence
of individuals, who have not given " of their abun-
dance "