The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-11-12 00:00:00

and studies of his sacred calling. Nor could anything
have induced me to act otherwise but the conviction that
a moment was came at which the Church's rights must
be vindicated at once, or abandoned for ever.
Such was the ground of the declaration which I made,
and which I have no intention to retract; and, however,
degrading I may feel it to have to deal with such charges
as you have recently advanced, I do so with perfect calm-
ness, because I can appeal not only to the testimony of
my own conscience, but to the sentence of the public;
for the particular obligation which you assert me to
violate is guarded by specific penalties which it would be
in the power of any one—which it would be the sworn
duty of my ecclesiastical superiors, to enforce. The pub-
licity of my act is the best guarantee, therefore, of its
innocence. I shall take no further notice, then, of your
complaints; for if the right which 1 claimed is not ques-
tioned by the public, by her Majesty's Government. or
by the heads of the Church, I shall not be induced to
forego it by your disapprobation.

Your obedient servant,
ROBERT J. WILBERFORCE

TO ARCHDEACON WILBERFORCE
. -.-

••••
Venerable am quite content to, leave, as it now
stands, our discussion of the question opened by your de-
claration and circular. I cannot wonder at your repeated
attempts to draw away attention from it. Your last is of
such a character as fully to justify a few closing observa-
tions from me.

Here it is:—" Whom you designed therefore by
Jezebel, and with what justice, is a point which rests al-
together between yourself and her Majesty."
When the editor of a Dublin paper invented, and the
late Mr. Daniel O'Connell circulated the fiction, that in
a speech of mine against Romanism I designated by the
term "Jezebel," not that corrupt and idolatrous system,
but our own most gracious Queen, no one believed the
clumsy falsehood—no, not even the man who gave it
circulation. But he was not scrupulous. Never was a
more unfounded calumny invented by malice, and propa-
gated by envy or hatred. lam quite persuaded that you
do not believe there existed a shadow of a foundation for
it. That you should make any allusion to it, an l still
more, that you should lend yourself to a repetition of it
by such an insinuation as the above, betrays, to say the
least, a lack of argument. A good cause requires no such
departure from the matter in hand—no such travelling
out of the record.

The aspect before the country of the great question be-
tween us, in its real practical merits, has greatly clanged
since our correspondence commenced ; and changed
greatly for the better, thanks be to the premature sin-
cerity of the Pope. 1 am one of those who have not
ceased, for five•and-twenty years, to tell, and Cassandra-
like, to tell in vain, that Romanism, not merely as an
ecclesiastical organisation for the diffusion of false doc-
trine, but also as a political conspiracy for the establish-
ment of a universal despotism, was unaltered, and only
waiting her opportunity. Her attack on England is made.
I trust it will he found that the hidden conspirators
have not had patience to keep quiet till the wooden horse
was effectually within our walls. I trust also that the
Laocoons among us have survived the slime and sting of
the serpent, to rejoice in the deliverance of our Church
and nation; or, at the least, in a fair stand-up fight.
The days of wily betrayal are at an end. We are spared
the horrors of a mid night massacre. Our Prime Minis-
ter has sounded the trumpet to arms. Our bishops
marshal the ranks. The country, disgusted by masked
Romanism, starts into simultaneous activity against un-
masked Romanism. The Pope's advisers have been ill-
advised. Thu standard of 1688 still crowns what remains
of our ancient citadel—it waves in the breeze, and dis-
plays the animating inscription, " The Protestant religion,
and the liberties of England." What true subject of
Queen Victoria (whom God preserve) will hesitate to sub-
scribe, "I will maintain."

I am, Venerable Sir,
Your obedient servant,
HUGH 111`NEILE

London, Nov. 8

STEAM TO THE MEDITERRANEAN

Under this head we last week directed our readers'
attention to the facilities offered for a delightful excursion
by steam to the Mediterranean, Egypt, &c., by the new
line of screw steam ships now about to ply between those
interesting quarters of the world, the first of which, the
" Nile," will shortly be despatched from this port. This
splendid steamer is rigged as a three-masted schooner,
and sitting gracefully on the water, appears more like a
gentleman's yacht than a regular merchant vessel. She
has a rakish-looking bow, ornamented with a full-length
female figure-head, in Eastern costume. Her stern and
quarter-galleries are also appropriately decorated with
Oriental and other figures, in recumbent positions. Her
deck accommodations are ample and the arrangement
compact, her quarter-deck forming a fine promenade for
passengers, and whilst the appearance of the whole is
sufficiently- tasteful, the introduction of flimsy ornaments
has been avoided. her dimensions are as follow :—Length
over all, 173 feet ; do. between perpendiculars, 166 feet ;
beam, 26 feet ; depth of hold, 15 feet ; but then, 550 tons;
with engines of 15U horse-power. In the engine-room we
noticed an admirable plan for keeping cool this apartment,
which consists in the coal-bunkers, which are usually
fixed to each side of the vessel, being placed between the
boilers arid machinery, but at the same time allowing a
passage from one compartment to the other. The engines
have been manufactured by Messrs. Hicks, of Bolton, on
the same principle as those made by them for the
Victory, with reversed cylinders, each 48 inches in dia-
meter, and stroke of piston 2 ft. 10 in. The boilers are
tabular, by the same makers, and will be heated by six
large furnaces. The screw, or " propeller," is 12i feet in
diameter, with a " pitch," or obliquity of range, of 19 ft.,
more, we believe, than in any other screw-boat, and from
which it is calculated that she will attain a very high
speed. The length of the connecting shaft is about 56 ft.,
and the " disconnector"—a bulky affair, weighing some
three or four tons—is placed near the stern, the object
being, that the screw shall have less dead weight to turn
round, when left to revolve from the action of the water
alone. We next visited the cabins, and on entering the
saloon were struck with the taste and elegance displayed
in her interior fittings. The " walls" of the saloon, if we
may be allowed the term, are formed of pannelling in
polished oak, relieved by carved cornices, and enriched
with a chaste moulding in white and gold. Down the
centre are two long tables, covered with crimson cloth,
and ranged alongside of these are cushioacd seats,
also covered with rich crimson-coloured figured velvet.
Leading from the saloon are the ladies' and captain's
cabins, furnished in the same style. The sleeping-berths
are ranged up each side of the saloon, and those for the
ladies round their own cabin. They are forty altogether,
but if requisite that number can be at any time increased.
The saloon shelves are filled with a library of well-selected
books, and on the whole everything has been done to
conduce to the comfort and convenience of passengers.
The Nile, we may add, is the property of Messrs.
James Moss and Co., and others in this town. She is
commanded by Capt. Bulkeley, a gentleman who, from his
able seamanship and courteous bearing, is in every way
fitted to take charge of such a clipper craft. She sails
from this port on the 14th instant, for Alexandria and
Beirout, calling at Sicily on her outward, and Malta on
her homeward voyage. We understand she will be
accompanied on her outward trip by Wm. M. Moss, Esq.,
one of the principal owners. We wish her every success.
On Wednesday the second of these beautiful steamers
was launched at Glasgow, from the building yard of
Messrs. Wood and Reid. She received the name of
" Arno" from the lady of Mr. Reid, and will, we under-
stand, be commanded by Capt. George Haram, a gentle-
man who, as is well known in this town, has had conside-
rable experience in steam navigation. She is now receiv-
ing her machinery.