The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-18 00:00:00

C'ORRESPONDENCE.

TO TFIg CHAIRMAN 0 F THE MEETING OF
THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND,
Held at the' Amphitheatre, on Wednesday, the sth inst.

feel that I have, as an Episcopalian, a measure
of right to seek correct information, from those who have
made it their business to appeal to the sympathies of
Englishmen, respecting the real nature of the question
between the Established Church of Scotland and those
who dissented from her on a late occasion.
In the course of the speeches of Dr. Cunningham and
Mr. Guthrie, high representations were made of the evil
of having thieves and ungodly ministers forced upon an
unwilling people ; as, it was said, could be done accord-
ing to the existing laws of that church, as interpreted by
the legal authorities. The latter gentleman (viz., Mr.
Guthrie) gave a very skilfully-framed account of the in-
trusion of a thief upon the people of a parish, without,
indeed, attempting to vindicate the legality of the decision
of the court that convicted him, and degraded him from
office. From these statements, and indeed from the whole

tenor of the speeches of the above-named gentlemen, I
could have supposed that all for which you contended was
that the people ought to have power to reject un,odly
men when appointed as their ministers. If this were the
sole aim of your party, it would appear at least plausible,
and might win our cordial and favourable consideration
as members of a scriptural church " holding the head" :
and I could fearlessly appeal to the vast multitude assem-
bled on the occasion, if this was not the impression pro-
duced on their minds.

I accordingly sent up to you, sir, a question to the fol-
lowing effect :—" Is it contended (by the non-intrusion
party) that the people should have power to reject any
minister, on the ground of immorality or heresy ? Or is
it contended that this power of rejection should operate
towards any minister, though he may be strictly moral in
life, and orthodox in doctrine, merely because he may not
suit the people's feelings 7 "

This question was accompanied by another, equally in
place, I think, when it is remembered that your appeal
was for support as well as sympathy from your English
audience. It was to this effect:—" Are the non-intru-
sion party friendly to the Established Church of Eng-
land ?"

Now, knowing that the meeting was convened, not so
much for the purpose of securing a hearing from the
Presbyterians of our town, as for that of securing the
sympathy and (what will always follow as a consequence
of true sympathy) the support of Episcopalians and others
of Liverpool, it might have been expected that, in com-
mon candour, in honest fairness to the mixed multitude
who were present, you would have answered these two
very plain and very important inquiries. But NO, not a
word of reply. It seemed rather to accord better with
your design to avoid making an open and impartial state-
ment of the case as it is;. for though I patiently waited
till the close of the meeting, not a syllable was uttered
either by yourself or by any of the speakers that bore the
slightest reference to either of the questions. For the
reason of this conduct, I must confess I am not greatly
at a loss.

With regard to the first question,—though Dr. C. most
distinctly, and more than once, stated that the people
should have power to reject, it was not stated at all whe-
ther this power of rejection should extend to all the mi-
nisters indiscriminately whether good or bad, or whether
it was to be potent only towards the bad.

It is plain; if such a'power were vested in the people at
all, how far it would extend ultimately; but the speakers
on the occasion seemed carefully to avoid stating the case
fully and impartially, and confined themselves to the ob-
jectionable intrusion of ministers disqualified either from
immorality or false doctrine, and then allowed us to draw
the inference that these, and these only, wete the men
the people were to have the power of rejecting.
But, sir, the case is notoriously different ; and you know
it. And a plain English answer to the question I now
allude to, would have enlightened English heads, and
would have kept English support in its right place.
The people are not, according to your party, to submit to
the appointment of any minister of the Church of Scot-
land as their pastor (unless approved by themselves),
though he may have been fully approved by the Presby-
tery, and though he may be a man of true piety and sound
doctrine. If, with all his excellencies, such a minister
fail to meet their particular views, or suit their particular
feelings, he is to be liable to rejection by the people over
whom be has been placed, and must seek a church else-
where.

But Dr. C. and Mr. Guthrie instanced only the bad;
and you refrained from taking notice of the question,
which, if answered candidly and honestly, would have
brought out the truth, and would have enabled every at;
tentive person to form clear notions of the real nature of
the case. As it was, the bad only were complained of,
but all were alike aimed at.

With regard to the other question, which was not mine,
I will only remark that it is quite natural that you should
avoid an avowal of dislike towards the Church of England,
as you were doubtless shrewd enough to calculate that
such an avowal would have at once blasted all hope of
succour in England ; and it was equally difficult for you
to profess friendship towards her, without being in danger
of at once damaging your interests with the dissenters,
and stepping beyond the boundaries of truth.

I cannot refrain from remarking, in conclusion, upon
the ill-dissembled dislike which was manifested by the
various speakers towards the Church of England, so
plainly evidenced in the occasional, but very intelligible
observations about " holding the head." This, you may
satisfy yourself by saying, was said in reference to the
Church of Scotland, who, you say, does not hold the
head, because she acknowledges the right of the state to
act in matters of religion. It was spoken with reference
to other parties also, I do not hesitate to say; and the
many professions of kind feeling on the part of the
speakers towards those that " loved the Lord Jesus,
holding the head," only led me to the unavoidable con-
clusion that you had not the same kind feeling of fellow-
ship towards those who acknowledge (as the church you
spurn does) the right of the state to take part in religious
affairs. I felt, therefore, that I, as a member of the
Church of England, was not a sharer in your sympathy ;
though Ifelt, at the same time, that you had yet to prove
that Christ's being the governor of the world put away
the necessity for earthly rulers—that his being the shep-
herd of his people made it unnecessary that they should
have pastors—in short, that because Christ was indeed
the head of his church, no temporal head was needful or
allowable.

ATHENAUM.—The annual meeting of the proprietors
was held in the library of the institution. on Tuesday, J.
H. Turner, Esq., the late president, in the chair. The
meeting was of a desultory character, there being no mo.
tion before the meeting except the one for a fixed salary
to the master in lieu of the usual perquisites, which was
carried; and the appointment of seven members to fill the
vacancy of those who go out by rotation, the names of
whom are as follows.:—Mr. Cunningham, Rev. E. Hull,
Rev. J. Brooks, Mr. J. B. Moore, Mr. Swinton Boult,
Mr. Daniel Mather, Mr. P. Wright.

DEATH FROM SUFFOCATION.—On Monday evening
last, Margaret Cook, an inmate of the Liverpool Work-
house, retired to bed, about seven o'clock-, taking with
her her infant child, Honor Cook, aged two weeks, and
on awaking about eleven o'clock,- found the child dead.
The mother at first stated that she saw the child die, but
afterwards, on cross-examination, acknowledged that it
was dead when she awoke. Mr. Woods,- the junior house
surgeon, made a post mortem examination of the body,
and gave it as his opinion, that death was caused by suffo-
cation, arising, probably, from the child haying been over-
lain. Verdict, accidental.

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE COMMIaSIONERS OF
TOXTETEI-PARK.—The annual meeting of the commis-
sioners for the better paving and sewerage of Toxteth.
park, was held on Friday morning, in the Public-office,
for the purpose of laying before the inhabitants an account
of all the moneys expended by them, assessments made,
and contracts entered into previous to the new election.
Mr. Alexander Smith, jun., presided, and printed state.
merits of the accounts were laid on the table. Very few
of the rate-payers were present. From the statement'ie
appears that the township is under the following
ties :

Debts due to sundry persons 30th of June.. £1,535 9- 1).
Due to Messrs. Moss and Co., bankers 1,210 10
Required to pay tee debts of the
Board of Surveyor

368 14 11

£3,114 15 6
As applicable to meet these liabilities there are certain
rates to be received, which are now being collected, and
£4OO for arrears of highway rates. Some desultory con-
versation took place as to how this state of affairs had
arisen, in the course of which it was strongly urged that
sufficient publicity had not been given to the object of the
meeting. Eventually a motion that the meeting adjourn,
and that placards be issued calling another, was carried
unanimously. An adjournment then took place till Fri-
day next.

ROWLAND'S MACASSAR OlL.—There cannot be a more
just criterion of the excellence of any article than the at-
tempt to imitate it. 7Phe very idea of a counterfeit is a
proud testimony to the great utility and value of the
original. The universally high repute of ROWLAND'S
MACASSAR OIL has induced some unprincipled Shop-
keepers to try to impose upon the public a spurious imita-
tion for the‘genuine; and who, to increase the deception,
have copied the Labels and Bottles of the Original Article
—for which fraud the said Parties have lately been pu-
nished in a Court of Law. The principle on which Row-
LAND'S MACASSAR OIL (the Original and only Genuine)
is prepared, is confined solely to the knowledge and
practice of A. ROWLAND and SON, 20, Hatton Garden,
London, who are still at an immense expense in complet-
ing its preparation. Any Saltinbanco may pretend to
give an analization of its ingredients; but tile fact is, the
amalgamation of this purely vegetable compound neu-
tralizes all attempts to separate its component parts
therefore such a declaration only brings disgrace and con-
tempt on any wretched pretender. ROWLAND'S MA-
CASSAR OIL is a compound of the most costly materials,
has stood the test for nearly fifty years, is Patronised by
the Royal Family of England, the whole " elite" of the
Aristocracy and " haut ton," as well as the several Courts
of Europe, while the thousands of testimonials in its
favour, and the general use of it in all countries, suffi-
ciently confirm its value as a nourisher, preserver, and
beautifier of the Human Hair.
THE MERCANTILE ASSOCIATIONS AND THE FIRE...
PREVENTION BILL.—The delegates from the various
mercantile associations held another meeting on Tuesday,
for the purpose of considering the steps to be taken upon
the reply of the council to the suggestions made to them
by the delegates, for a more practicable working system
than that proposed in some of the amended enactments of
tile bill. Mr. William Brown presided, and the dele-
gates were very numerous. A letter from the mayor, on
the part of council, was read in the first instance; which
stated that the bill should proceed in committee with no
greater haste than was absolutely necessary, so as not to
hazard the carrying of it this session. The council, the
mayor added, would feel pleasure in finding that the
amendments made by the council would render any oppo-
sition to the bill in parliament, on the part of the dele-
gates, unnecessary. The meeting then took the amend!
ments into consideration,. seriatim; at the end of which
it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Todd, seconded by
Mr. William Rathbone, that a petition should be pre-
sented against the bill as it now stands, on the part of the
mercantile associations. A petition was next read, and
adopted, and by a subsequent resolution, Mr. William
Brown, Mr. Crossfield, and Mr. Todd, were appointed
a deputation to proceed to London with the petition, to
watch the bill, and to take such measures as might seem
to them necessary in its progress, Between one and two
o'clock, a conference was had with the fire committee of
the council, which it appeared was disposed to make some
concessions, but they were not deemed sufficiently satis-
factory, and the deputation proceeded to London by the
six o'clock train. The deputation, when in London, were
further instructed to put themselves in communication
with the fire offices on the subject of insurance. In the
absence of Mr. William Brown, Mr. Stewart was ap-
pointed chairman of the delegates, with power to call them
together when required.

COUNTY QUARTER SESSIONS.—These sessions com-
menced by adjournment at Kirkdale on Wednesday last,
before the Rev. J. Brooks, chairman, the Rev. J. T.
Horton, Peter Bourne, Thomas Rawson, Thomas Rodick,
and William Hall, Esquires. The Grand Jury having
been sworn, the chairman addressed them nearly as fol-
lows :

" Gentlemen,—l am happy to say that the offenders to
be tried at the present sessions are fewer in number than
usual, and the offences are such as to require no particu-
lar observations from me, and are of such a nature as,
from the previous experience of many of you on Grand
Juries, you will be able to deal with without assistance
from the court. However, should anything arise requiring
our assistance, we shall be happy to afford it to you. Yon
will now proceed to your labours."
From the calender it appears that there were fifty-two
prisoners for trial, of whom ten could read only imper-
fectly, sixteen could read and write imperfectly, and twen-
ty-six who could do neither. The following presentment
was made by the_Grand Jury :

" The Grand Jury at the General Quarter Sessions of
the peace, held at Kirkdale, on the 12th July, 1843,
respectfully submit to the consideration of the bench of
magistrates : _ _

"-I. That, in the present state of the law, they are obliged
to find true bills in a number of frivolous cases, which never
ought to appear at the Sessions.

"2. That publicans and beersellers allowing persons to
get drunk on their premises, and not exercising a proper
supervision for their protection when in that state, is the
occasion of many felonies, and it is the opinion of the jury,
that, in cases where culpable neglect is proved, the licence
should be taken away.

" That the expenses of prosecutions should not be al-
lowed where the felonies have arisen from their being in a
state of intoxication, or from the careless exposure of pro-
perty on hedges, or at the door or front of shops."
PUBLICANS, &c.—Thirteen publicans and beer-sellers
were on Friday brought before the magistrates at the
Police-court, of whom six publicans were fined in penalties
from 10s. to £5, and two were acquitted ; two table beer-
sellers were fined 50s. ; and one case of the latter de-
scription was postponed until the party could attend, he
being at present in gaol, in consequence of not being able
to pay a former penalty. One of the cases enumerated
above falls within that description which demands some-
thing more than the brief notice usually afforded to them.
It was a charge against Mr. William Ratcliffe, publican,
of Vauxhall.road, for permitting drunkenness on his pre-
mises on Sunday evening last. Mr. Harden, the barrister,
appeared for the defendant. The case was supported by
the evidence of Inspector M`Gill, Robert Taggart, 279,
and who were partially corroborated by Inspector Bibby.
The two former deposed to going into the house of the
defendant on Sunday night, about twenty minutes or a
quarter before twelve o clock, and to seeing fourteen
coloured men and five prostitutes. Four of the coloured
men were drunk, and a white man who was in their com-
pany. Inspector A/I%W stated, that after he went into
the house the landlady, notwithstanding his remonstrance,
gave a glass of whiskey to one of the black men who was
in
spector
at Mr. Harden cross-examined the
at some length, with a view of showing that the rewards
they received from the Watch Committee for extraordinary
diligence rendered them not entirely disinterested wit-
nesses. Mr. Harden addressed the bench at considerable
length, contending that there was not sufficient evidence
to warrant the bench in convicting the defendant. Some
warm observations passed between Mr. Rushton and the
learned counsel, in consequence of his remarks respecting
the police. Mr. Harden then called three respectable
witnesses who were in the house at the time, and who
swore that all the black men were sober. A police-officer
(141), who, M`Gill stated, had conveyed home the white
man, in consequence of his being incapable of going
himself, was then sent for, but he did not recollect any
thing of the transaction, until reminded by the inspector,
when he stated that he walked with the person ashort
distance, and then he went home himself. On this the
case was dismissed.

GAOLS IN LANCASHIRE.—We take the following par-
ticulars respecting the county gaol and houses of correc-
tion in this county, and the Liverpool borough gaol, from
a recent parliamentary return :