The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-12-17 00:00:00

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TUYS'DA I

DEC. 17, 1850

are in extacies nv

what they
Rev Dr.
Sunday, tk

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Ile in nit

!o Use of his sermon c

by the way, tl

give a ver

So far as we ar
n a me.rlihr, (4 b;

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f uniTni

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le tollowir

s a correct version of the

ning in question, the

Rev Gentl

1 in hi

mon, to the

amongst Ronan Catho
bjections to it, on mom

s growl

i stron

ly the fact that,

ltnittee, in 1826

such tvas the system of Rome, that if a murderer
-chose to confess his dk hoquency to a priest, his
vows would not allow loin to hand over the crimi-
nal to he dealt with by the civil power; and that,
if even an intended murder was disclosed to him
under the seal of the roof- -1_ he would not

interfere to protect
order that such et
and

he vict

essior
rn fro

rn his doom

vent t
the ne

perty, and to the peace of the township." No
other more eligible situation was pointed out to
them, and the cominitue had a perfect right to
conclude that it was the wish of the magistrates t(
get rid of the meeting altogether. The concludin
•rtion of the communication was still more cal

culated to create hesitation and fear in the mini
Of the committee. The document proceeds:—
" Indeed, from information that has been received by
the magistrates., tht•y would impress mast seriously Upc
the cornoit,.•.

In whose name you wr

that a very se

.ITC,
iota danger to human ljfe is 'ileum(' liy holding
meeting-, and a very great responsibilitg is placed on Mtn
Who take an active part in calling it."
Whence the magistrates derived such infortnatio

phone that they 8
formed. No such information however was vouch
sated to the committee, who were thus left to tali'
their course under a feeling of indefinite dread u
some outrage resulting, the guilt and respons:biliQ
of causing which they were told would rest upoi
their own heads. The language of the reply tc
this intimation, addressed to the Bench by Alf
Percy Dove, Chairman of the Committee, will Lest
explain the position in which the latter felt them-
selves placed :

" We finally find, in your letter of to-day, a passage
which, if it has any meaninz, tells us that we a e takitig
,sponsibility of a sacrifice of human life ; and tiie
may be shell by the aid of such a vile con-
piracy as that which the chairman of the magistrates
states to have existed on the former occasion you imply,
in pretty plain terms, shall rest on our consciences.
" It requires the exercise of all our I,iyal devotion to
our Sov,.reign,—all our inflexible determination to pre-
serge our Eoglish liberties,—and all our attachment to the
Protestant constitution to enable us to persist in our
course in the face of a document which may be used to
our prejudice hereafter if the magistrates themselves short,
tail

the r
blood which

in supplying military aid suitable to the unlawful op-
position they anticipate."
With such responsibility thrown upon them, and
with such undefined terrors spread before their
steps, what sane and earnest and abiding sense
of their duty could have animated the Committee
and the Protestant people of Birkenhead to carry
out, at much personal risk, their proposed demon-
stration to its most satisfactory and triumphant
conclusion ?
We rejoice at the issue of this important meet-
ing more than all for the lesson which it teaches,
and for the broad example which it holds up to
the contemplation of the world. If it be true, as
it is generally admitted to be, that Great Britain
owes the stability of her reverend insritutions,
aesailed during a period when thrones and dynas-
ties were being trampled upon by brute violence,
to the resistance of offered by the loyal inhabitants
of the Metropolis, who presented their unbought
services in aid of the military and civil powers, it
is equally true that the Protestant people of this
realm will for the future enjoy peaceably the right
of petitioning the Sovereign or her Parliament,
given them by the Constitution, to the spirit, the
determination, and unflincing courage of the men
of Birkenhead. Had they flinched from thtir
duty, and submitted to the dictation of a Popish
mob, what public assembly, convened to discuss
any question connected with the proceedings or
pretensions of Rome, would have been safe from
riotous aggression, wherever a posse of Popish
navvies, or a Popish population was within reach
cf an unscrupulous priest ?
We rejoice, moreover, that the slain has been
wiped from the character of Birkenhead of having
been the first place in England where a papal
triumph had been gained. Our readers will appre-
ciate our meaning when we state, on the authority
of a correspondent of the Manchester Courier, the
following fact. On Thursday evening last a mob
of the lowest class of the Irish resident in that town
paraded the streets, armed with bludgeons, iron
bars, and other murderous weapons, using most
atrocious threats against " the cowardly heretics,"
and particularising several obnoxious parties as the
objects of their wrath. Amongst their threats was
this,—" We'll give them a Birkenhead lesson!"
Thanks to our neighbours in Cheshire, "a Birken-
lesson is no longer an obloquy to Protestant
England!