The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-02-20 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

CL. P.RICAL "VI; WS.

npv. Thotn,is I), Lacy,
With deep regret we atin,inie th- death of the Very
Archdeacon of Meath, in the
72nd tear of his age, and the 44th
ot his rocumhency of
the Arclore.:eonry of Heat;;.—Dub/n Mail.
. , the Vicar of Bradford, has proposed to
his rarishion rs a plan of dividing the extensive parish of
Bradford into separate vicarages, on the plan proposed by
Dr_ Hook, of Leeds. This scheme. suggested by the fa-
cilities allot dd bt the Church Extension Act, passed last
session, has been for months negotiating between Dr.
Scoresby, the Bishop of Ripon, and the trustees of Mr.
Simeon, who are the patrons of the parish. All parties
are agreed on the desirableness of the measure, which, it
is hoped, will he effected by a private Act of Parliament
during the present session.

CHURCH EXTENSION: Al UN IFI CENT GIFT.—We
learn from a copy of a letter to the Secretary of the Ec-
clesiastical Coinmissiont rs, from the Lord Bishop of
Gloucester and Bristol, which has just been printed, that
his lordship, having reflected upon the manner in which
his diocese may be benefited by the Act of 6 and 7 Vic.,
c. 37, called the " Endowment Act," has, under the pro-
vision of the 22nd sec'ion of that measure, placed in the
hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners TWO THOU-
SAND POUNDS, " towards erecting churches, of dimen-
sions proportioned to the population, in poor neighbour-
hoods of the diocese, to which the commissioners shall
assign ecclesiastical districts in the present year." The
Bishop adds—" In regard to the power of nominating
the ministers of the districts, I wish to leave the decision
to the commissioners; stipulating only, that they shall
not be placed in private patronage." This truly noble
gift requires no eulogy. May all who have the means,
also give a portion of their worldly substance for the pro-
motion of the good and holy end in view!

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

IMPORTANT JUNCTION RAILWAY.—It is said that a
junction line to connect the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway with the Sheffield and Manchester and Birming-
ham lines, near Piccadilly, Manchester, is likely very
soon to be carried out, a survey being nearly completed by
Mr. Locke and Mr. Buck, under the direction of the two
latter companies. It will only be about 2,400 yards long,
with very easy gradients, capable of being worked by loco-
motive power; thereby preventing the danger and delay
inseparable from lines worked by stationary engines.
BLACRWALL RisteveAY.At a meeting of the Black-
wall Railway proprietors, which was held on Thursday,
at the London Tavern, Mr. J. N. Daniell in the chair,
the report stated that the number of passengers conveyed
in the last six months of 1842 was 1,087,195, and the
amount received £22,811 Os. 4d., and in the correspond-
ing period of 1843 there were 1,460,877 passengers, and
£23,818 3s. 7d. ; showing an increase of 273,672 in the
number of passengers, and £lOO7 3s. 3d. in the receipts.
A dividend of 2s. 6d. per share was declared.
GREAT NORTH OF ENGLAND RAILWAY COMPANY.
—The half-yearly meeting of this company was held on
Tuesday last, at Darlington. The report of the directors
stated, " that compared with the corresponding period of
the previous year, there is a diminution in the working
expenses of £2,240 Os. lid. ; while there has been an in-
crease of £2,763 2s. sd. on the traffic. With the excep-
tion of the coal trade, almost all the branches of the
company's traffic have contributed to this increase." The
directors recommend that a dividend of £1 12s. 6d. per
share, clear of income tax, be declared and made payable
on the 4th of March next, which was agreed to.
NORWICH AND YARMOUTH RAILWAY Co.—The half-
yearly general meeting of this company was held at Nor-
wich on Friday, the 9th instant. . The report stated, that
arrangements bad been made to open the line to the public
on the Ist of May, instead of the Ist of June ; that the
capital for the branch to Brandon was all subscribed,
without their incurring any additional liability ; and that
the directors had contracted for efficient working of the
line at a saving of £4,000 per annum on the Parliamen-
tary estimate. The totil receipts to Dec. 31 last were
£161,937 45., and the expenses were £142,836 lOs 4d.,
leaving a balance at bankers of £19,100 13s Bd.—The
report was unanimously agreed to.
BIRMINGHAM AND DERBY JUNCTION RAILWAY.—
The half yearly general meeting was held on Thursday,
the 15th instant, Samuel Beale, Esq., in the chair.—The
report, which was read by Mr. Sanders (the secretary)
stated that the receipts of the railway during the half-
year ending 31st December, 1843, were £38,547 5s Ild.,
being an increase of £2445 18s 4d. over the correspond-
ing period of 1842. The working expenses of the half-
year were £14,225 16s 11d., being a reduction of
£4270 19s 5d., as compared with the corresponding
period of 1842. The net balance of the half-year was
£13,899 2s Id., and this sum (with the balance of last
half-year's revenue account) was available for a dividend,
and gave 28s. on the £lOO share, 9s 4d. on toe third share,
and is 4d. on the eighth-share—leaving a small balance
to be carried over to the current half-year.
LONDON AND DOVER (SOUTH-EASTERN) RAILWAY.
—On Saturday week, a special meeting of the proprietors
of this company was held at the London Bridge terminus,
to determine on the propriety of applying to parliament
in the present session for an act to enable the company
to improve the harbour of Folkstone, with a branch rail-
way, and approaches thereto ; also, to consider the pro-
priety of making a branch line from Ashford to Canter-
bury, Ramsgate, and Margate ; and further, for autho.
rising the directors to take a lease of the proposed Has-
tings, Rye, and Tenterden Railway. Resolutions were
agreed to for carrying out the proposed undertakings, and
it appeared from the chairman's explanations that resolu-
tions bad been unanimously passed in furtherance of them
at public meetings of the inhabitants of Canterbury, Mar-
gate, Ramsgate, Hastings, and Broadstairs. A commu-
nication from the consul of the Netherlands, resident at
Ramsgate, stated that the project was hailed with much
satisfaction by the inhabitants of that important point.
It was stated, before the meeting dispersed, that a sp-cial
court would be convened at an early day to consider the
expediency of issuing 28,000 new shares, for the capitali-
sation, as they fall due, of the greater portion of the com-
pany's securities.
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.—The half-yearly meet-
ing of the above company was held at the Paddington
terminus. The receipts of the last six months of 1843 ex-
ceeded those of 1842 by £18,420175. 6d.—the total amount
being £377,797 10s. Bdd., of which sum £309,445 ss. had
been separately received on the Great Western Railway.
The receipts in respect of the Bristol and Exeter Railway
amounted to £56,543 18s. 9d., and on the line between
Swindon and Cirencester to £11,408 6s. 11d. A reduc-
tion, amounting to £7,000, in the general expenditure for ,
the half-year, had been effected, but the directors re-
gretted to add that more than this sum had been absorbed
by the increased duty and parochial rates. The balance,
after discharging all interest, is £116,820 13s. 6d., from
which the directors recommended a dividend of 3 per cent.
for the half-year, which would require £102,678, leaving
a balance in hand of £14,142 13s. 6d. The report went
on to state that the branch lines were satisfactorily pro-
gressing. The Oxford Railway would be opened early in
June; the whole line to Gloucester would be completed
within the stipulated time, June 1845, and the Bristol and
Exeter line was expected to be completed and opened by
the month of May next. Full powers were given to the
directors to apply to parliament for a bill authorising the
formation of the line in question, and thanks having been
voted to the chairman the meeting separated. In the
course of the chairman's address he stated that the sub-
scription towards the erection of a church at Swindon
already amounted to £4,600, without any assistance from
the awe!, Building Society, and £1,380 bad been col-
lected towards the school fund. A library for the workmen
had been established, and it was in contemplation to in-
close a plot of ground in order to afford them the means
of amusement by cricket and other manly sports.
ST. Ht:LENS AND RUNCORN GAP RAILWAY.—A spe-
cial general meeting of the proprietors of this railway was
held on Tuesday last, at the Clarendon-rooms, in this
town, to consider and determine on certain arrangements
and agreements submitted by the directors, for the pur-
chase or junction of the Sankey Brook Canal and Navi-
gation by or with the said company, and for raising the
necessary funds for that purpose, and on the expediency
of applying to parliament for an act to empower the said
company to carry out the proposed arrangements. Mr.
Greenall, M.P., occupied the chair. The directors re-
ported that a negotiation had been made whereby the
railway company should purchase the canal at the price
of £144,000, being £3OO per share on 480 shares; in ad-
dition to which there was a bond debt of £30,000. In
order to carry out the arrangement and raise the neces-
sary funds, it was proposed to create 1440 new shares of
£lOO each, which should, in the first instance, be entitled
to a dividend of 5 per cent. per annum out of the revenues
of the entire concern, and the surplus income then to be
divided amongst the holders of the present railway shares
and of the new shares. The payment of the purchase
money to the canal company would be from the calls on
the new shares, in five annual instalments of £2O per
share each ; the first instalment being payable on the issue
of the scrip, and the amount of the purchase money bear-
ing interest at 4 per cent. It was intended to apply to
parliament for an act to authorise the amalgamation of
the two companies, but not to seek for any powers to in-
crease the rates of tonnage already authorised to be levied
by the existing acts ' • and, in order to enable the proprie-
tors to judge of the desirableness of completing the pro-
posed arrangements, it was stated that the nett income
of the two concerns for the past year, had been equal to
paying the proposed preference dividend of 5 per cent.
The directors concluded by stating their belief that, when
united, the joint concern would yield a considerable in-
crease upon this, by savings from the concentration of
management, reduction of interest upon the bond debts,
and in various other ways, resulting from the cessation of
the injurious competition which had hitherto existed. The
report, after some discussion, was adopted.
NORTHERN AND EASTERN RAILWAY.—The half-
wyeeaerkly. mTebeet intgr a
ffiof e this
tcompany. y
et vaars
ehnedl n
go nt
bTe hArsstd anyf
December last had been £43,767 Bs. 7d., being an increase
pOenrt
che enct o. r; r ea snp ond
increase
ig ha n
olff- ya
revenue
erof £wB,h ioc2hl 7s. 6
had d. or 22
per
been,
gained 2
without any great addition of expense. From the net
profits, the directors recommended a dividend of 41 per
cent. per annum, less property tax. The works on the
extension line to Newport were in active progress, and
would be completed within the time originally stated.
The report next referred to the agreement concluded with
the Eastern Counties Company, with reference to the line
to Newport, and also to the determination come to for
the extension of the Northern and Eastern Railway to
Cambridge and Ely, thence eastward to Brandon, and
westward to Peterborough. The directors were engaged
in realising the surplus property of the company, which
was considerable, and would, in their opinion, produce a
larger sum by the course they were pursuing, than by
proceeding to an immediate sale. The capital account
could not, therefore, be closed at present ; but the direc-
tors felt confident that the cost of the railway to Bishops
Stortford, with the Hertford and Ware branch, would
not exceed the sum of £910,000, the maximum amount

of expenditure upon which the Eastern Counties Company'had guaranteed 5 per cent, per annum, in perpetuity. ,he
directors further felt satisfied, that, when the ptojected
extensions ware completed, great as the advantages of the
amalgamation were to the Eastern Counties Company,
the proprietors of the Northern and Eastern Company
would, in.due time, realise a considerable addition to the
5 per cent guaranteed by the terms of the agreement.—
The Chairman, in his address to the meeting, referred to
tire opening of the Hertford and Ware branch, and said,
from the receipts of the last two months, the most unpro-
ductive in the year, he had no doubt it would prove a
most profitable source of income.—A resolution, increas-
ing the proposed dividend from 41 to 5 per cent., was
adopted; and the sum of £l,OOO was placed at the dis-
posal of the directors, as a compensation for their past
services.

CORRESPONDENCE.

GAS QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SlB,—From the proceedings at the Quarter Sessions
on Tuesday last, as reported in the Courier, it would
appear that the application of the Guardian Society was
to obtain an order from the Court to canipel the New
Gas and Coke Company to reduce the price of gas, and
that the Company was compelled to reduce in consequence
of the application; whereas the fact is, the Company had
already announced to the public, at the annual meeting
on the 31st January, reported in all the Liverpool papers,
that they had determined to reduce the price to 6s. per
1,000 feet from the Ist of April next. The Guardian So-
ciety, therefore, gained for themselves and friends nothing
by their proceedings, except the privilege of paying costs
on both sides ; for such will in effect be the result, it
being quite clear the proprietors of the Gas Company can
lose nothing, their dividends being secured to them.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE STAFFORD
AGRICULTURAL PROTECTION SOCIETY,
THE EARL TALBOT.

MY LORD,--j have been invited by the joint secretaries
of the society over which you preside to become one of its
members, and to attend a meeting on Tuesday next.
I most heartily concur in the objects of the association,
and shall be happy to have my name enrolled ; but I regret
that it will be totally impossible for me to be present on
that occasion. I however, enclose fifty pounds in support
of the ca use.
Your lordship will, perhaps, allow me to congratulate
you on the energy which the agriculturists begin to dis-
play. After enduring the calumnies, the falsehoods, and
the buffettings of the League, with a patience which has
but added fresh force to their assaults and more audacity
to their statements, the yeomanry of England have nobly
vindicated themselves ; and the sneer of a late minister
of the crown, who charged them " with having heads as
thick as their own clay,".will never be repeated.
But, my lord, the agriculturists have to contend against
an active and well disciplined body ; an heterogeneous
body, consisting, in part, of able, honest, and enthusiastic
men, but, for the greater part, of paid advocates and
selfish and unscrupulous mill-owners, who pass from town
to town with wonderful celerity—who diversify their
meetings by a change of speakers—who gather intimidating
crowds by the lure of "cheap bread"—who have money
to influence, and, if they choose, to corrupt the consti-
tuencies—who compassionate the poor, with a tear in one
eye and a sly wink in the other, being " all for themselves
in this world,"—whose emissaries distribute Tracts
amongst the labouring peasantry, creating discontent,
without actually suggesting crime. This is the body that
has to be encountered ; but, my lord, let us not mistake
übiquity for numbers, nor importunate clamour for the
public voice.
The cause of the agriculturists, if rightly understood,
is intimately connected with the power and prosperity of
the nation, and, if vigilantly and earnestly maintained,
will never succumb to such assailants.
I have stated that the League have been guilty of false-
hood ; perhaps misrepresentation would be a less
offensive term. I will proceed to the proof. In the
Times newspaper of the 30th December last Mr. Cobden
is reported to have said, at Derby, " that the average cost
for carriage, &c. of bringing foreign wheat to this coun-
try, was 10s. 6d. per quarter. Take the cost at 40s. per
quarter, if they liked, and that was 25 per cent. carriage
before the corn could be landed here."
It is astonishing, after the repeated contradictions which
similar statements have received, that any man can be
found daring enough to repeat them. I now beg to state,
from my own intimate knowledge of the foreign corn
trade, that the freight from Hamburgh has long ranged at
Is. 3d. to 2s. per quarter, and that foreign wheat, so im-
ported, is subject to no charge, to which English, moved
from one port to another, is not subject likewise : and,
moreover, I state, without the fear of contradiction, that
the rate of freight on such English wheat, moved coast-
wise, is as often above 2s. as it is below it. He is a bad
calculator, who thinks that the merchant in Yarmouth
who buys wheat, and the factor in Wakefield who sells it,
work without a commission. The charge for " commis-
sion, porterage metage," and the " imaginary profits" of
Mr. Macculloch, are common to all wheat, wherever
bought or sold. Freights from the Danish ports vary,
from 2s. 3d. to 2s. 9d. per quarter, and from the Baltic
ports, from 3s. to 4s. per quarter, to which must be added
6d. per quarter Sound dues.
It is true that Odessa freights have been as high as 10s.
to 15s. per quarter, but unless the cost and freight of
wheat together were considerably below the cost and
freight of wheat from the Baltic, the trade to Odessa and
the South of Europe would be at an end. 1 have known
the price of wheat to be as low as 12s. per quarter at
Odessa, and, at the present moment, the price, on the
Danube, ib only about 18s. to 195., and the price of barley
only 6s. 3d. per quarter. I have known the price of the
finest Baltic wheat (which is Bs. to 10s. per quarter better
than Odessa) to remain at 18s. to 19s. per quarter for
years together; but I should consider it as dishonest to
ouote these as average prices, as I should deem it unfair
to quote the average rate of freights at 10s. 6d. per quar-
ter. But it is contended that free trade would raise both
the price of wheat abroad and the rate of freights. I deny
the consequence. That might be the first effect, but there
is nothing more certain than that a steady demand for any
article, the production of which can be progressively ex-
tended, will finally establish a fall in price. Look at the
decline which, within the last few years, has taken place
in cotton, salt, coal, and iron. Look also at the reduction
in the rate of freight on coal between Newcastle and Lon-
don—the most constant and steady of all trades. These
reductions, in part the result of over-trading and excess,
and for which some allowance must be made, will become
a permanent feature in the history of prices.
Perhaps I may be excused by your lordship for exhort-
ing the landed interest to adhere rigidly to the principle
of the sliding scale. The corn law has a double object
it protects the land of this highly-taxed country from the
free competition of the vast territories of Poland and
Russia, inexhaustible in their fertility. It protects the
tenant from the wretchedness of the occupiers of those
lands, and it protects the labourer from being reduced to
the condition of the miserable serfs and slaves who till
Basutfairt
ahsashuamnoatnhelergiosblajteieotn,
an
stuhemme.
prices. citpdroot,ecatgsaitnhset choignh-
rs,

What can be more consonant to common sense than a
duty varying with the price? At one time protecting the
producer from ruinously low prices ; and, at another, the
consumer from oppressively high prices. With great
submission to many powerful authorities, I consider a fixed
duty as a fixed injustice, and that it possesses no other
merit than being a sort of " ready reckoner" for the
merchant. But can such a duty be permanent? In the
mutations of times and seasons, distress will reappear ;
and when the excitable masses (the " reserves" of agita-
tors) are converted into mobs, as they inevitably will be,
can any man hope that a fixed duty of Bs. or 10s. per quar-
ter would last many months; and being suspended, that
it ever could be resumed ? More than forty years' expe-
rience leads me to conclude that, under a fixed duty of Bs.
per quarter, the average price of wheat, with good crops,
would not exceed 355. or 365. per quarter.
Before concluding this letter to your lordship, I have a
word to say on free trade. The League boasts of the ac-
cession to their cause of the Marquis of Westminster, and
they avail themselves, very naturally, of the grace and
influence which rank always confers on a popular move
ment.

His lordship seems enamoured of his new allies, but he
has yet to learn that the " hounds would as soon hunt
the huntsman as the hare." Rank and title are nothing
in the hands of a leaguer, when contrasted with the rights
of that never-to-be-defined personage, the public.
His lordship is for all manner of free trade, and is, at
the same time, for maintaining faith with the public cre-
ditor, but he has not told ns how that is to be accom-
plished. Now, if I know what thorough free trade means,
it amounts to this; that every man who has a privilege or
a protection of any sort, or kind, for his calling, should,
at once, voluntarily surrender it for the public good, that
all things may be in common. I submit, that when this
state of things has to be enforced by statute, it is demo-
cracy in disguise, or, as Sismondi has happily described
it, a Game of Beggar my Neighbour."
It is the prevailing error of the present times to test
every question of state policy by money's worth. Things
different in sort cannot be compared in degree, nor can
the value of an annuity, which every man may be said to
have in good government, be estimated by an actuary.
The man who, being suddenly possessed by " economic
views," determined to repair his own clock, found no diffi-
culty in pulling it to pieces, but on attempting to put it
together, he had a bowl full of wheels, for which he could
find no use. So the free traders will find, that the whole

is not the parts separated, nor the parts the whole. The
complicated machinery of state government, with all its

ramifications of property and industry,—with all its ba-
lances and maintaining powers,—is not a whole to be
broken up on speculative suggestions.
It has been said that the first duty of a statesman is the
"care of his own times." A prudent minister, like a
skilful physician, will discriminate between an organic
disease and a functional derangement, and will restore
when others would destroy. The tariff modified, and re-
gulated protection. but carefully preserved the principle.
It has been maintained by many, that all the lands of
England are under mortgage for the public debt, but by
what force are they to be entered on, if, in the latitude of
change, the title should be disputed, and " there are more
things than are dreamt of" in the league's philosophy.
The public creditor, however, is wise in his generation,
and instictively knows,. that it is on the well and steadily
requited industry of the nation that he has to rely for
payment, and that " the first creditor on the soil is the
plough."
In the sincere hope that the association will not play
the game of their adversaries, by abusing the leader of
that party from which only they
can look for permanent
protection.—l am, my lord,

• Your most faithful and obedient servant,
JOS. SANDARS.
Johnstone Hall, Beele.)hall, Feb. 3, 1844.

THE FOR[ IGN-AID SOLiE;

On Wednesday week, a meeting r I tire of
the association called the Fa-eigii-Aid Sno • , -a • pea_
n r t;og the objects of the Continental i!;vanye"-
liques, was held in the Music-hall, and wi; very Otillle
rously and respectably attended, notwithstanding its bring
called together within the business hours of 'tie day.
Amongst those on the platform were the lies Richard
Burgess, 8.D., of Chelsea, sesrtiary to the parent soci-
ety in London ; the Rev. Edwd. Bickersteth, of Watton ;
and many of the clergy and religiously-dist inguisio-d laity
of our own town. A considerable number of kuniiss were
also present ; and all, as the objects of the society became
more fully developed by the several speakers, evinced a
warm interest in its behalf.
The Rev. HUGH M'NEreE was calledkto the chair, and
the proceedings commenced by a fervid-Prayer offered up
by the Rev. J. H. STEWART.
The Rev. CH AIRMAN then addressed the meeting.
He said the immediate object of the present meeting was
to receive a deputation from the parent society, whose
object was, to cheer by manifested sympathy, arid to aid
by pecuniary contributions, the poor struggling Protes-
tants of the Continent of Europe. To enter into this
object with intelligent and lively interest, it was necessary
to know something in detail of the existing circumstances
of those Protestants, relatively with the laws, or the ty-
rannical disregard of law, or the ingenious perversion of
law, under which they live. (Hear.) Hitherto the chief
field of this society's co-operation has been France; and,
concerning France, a very general idea prevails in this
country, that since the last of her revolutions—the revo-
lution of 1830, or of " the three days," as it is called—
the charter resulting from that movement, the charter
under which the present King was rased to the throne,
has secured to all classes and denominations of professing
Christians a perfect equality, not only of state toleration,
but also of state countenance and support. Such indeed
are the flattering words of the charter ; but it has been
conveniently discovered that the privileges secured by
this charter—at least the religious privileges secured to
Protestants--are conditional, being, in every disputed
instance, still subject to the decision of the chief magis-
trate, or maire of every commune. In France there are
eighty-six 6partments or counties, each with its prilet
or lord-lieutenant. In each of these there are five aeon-
dissements, literally circuits, or as we should say ridings,
each with its sous preet, or deputy-lieutenant. And in
each of these, there are several communes, each with its
maire. The total number of maires is forty-four thou-
sand. (Cheers and laughter.) They are all appointed
by the King. In some of these communes, where Pro-
testant pastors, trusting to the charter, have proceeded
to give religious instruction in their own simple way to
their little flocks, the maires have interfered and put a
stop to it by the police. There is a clause in the 291st
article of the Code Penale, subjecting all assemblies of
the people to the surveillance of the local magistracy, that
no breach of the peace may be allowed. This is ingeni-
ously played off against the charter, and by means of this
the maires interfere to put a stop to religious assemblies
of Protestants, under pretence of keeping the peace.
(Hear, hear.) The Protestant pastors have complained
of such treatment as an infringement of their rights, and
pleaded the words of the charter. The maires have per-
severed, alleging that those privileges of the charter were
never intended to contravene their authority as local
magistrates, but must be held subject to that authority.
This question has been referred to the superior court in
such cases in Paris, and decided against the letter of the
charter, and in favour of the jurisdiction of the maire, to
such an extent as leaves Protestant worship absolutely at
his will. (Hear, hear.) A remarkable instance has
lately occurred, which is likely to bring the matter
for final decision before the Chamber of Deputies.
A number of Protestants in a small commune in the
neighbourhood of Versailles hired a room for divine
worship, and invited a pastor, called Russel, to come to
them and officiate. He accepted the invitation, and gave
notice to the Maire of his intention to come, under the
guaranteed privileges of the charter. The Maire did not
approve of it • this might have been his own private feel-
ing, or possibly he might have been personally careless
about the matter but instigated by some of the priests to
act. It was easy for them to manage to have information
laid before him that if Protestant worship were allowed,
there would be a breach of the peace ; and thereby to sat-
isfy him that in preventing it, he was acting legally under
the article above cited from the Code Penale. Whatever
may have been his motive, or the proximate influences
under which he acted, the fact is that lie gave orders to
his armed police to prevent the assembly for Protestant
worship, and when Pastor Russell arrived at the hired
roam, he was turned away from the door. He appealed
against the Maire's conduct to the local court at Ver-
sailles, and the celebrated Mons. Odillon Barrot, came
from Paris to plead his cause there. In vain, the court
confirmed the sentence of the Maire, and the Protestant
Pastor was silenced. He appealed to the Court de Cassa.
lion in Paris, where the cause was again heard, and again
the decision of the Maire was confirmed. (Loud cries of
hear, and cheers.) The last appeal is to the Chamber of
Deputies, and we learn that is to be made this session.
By the decision as it now stands, the exercise of Pro-
testant privilege, the advantages of scriptural instruction,
and the enjoyment of scriptural worship, are all at the
mercy of the Maires. Where the Maire is tolerant or
Protestant (as in some few cases), the Protestants may
shew. Where the Maire is intolerant, Protestants must
hide. Thus there are communes with open doors, and
communes with closed doors : and scattered throughout,
there are little companies of faithful men and women kept
by the grace and mercy of God, from the poison of papal
s9perstition on the one hand, and from the pestilence of
infidelity on the other. These little companies are so
scattered, so separated, so disorganised, and as yet, so
incapable of centralization ; that any thing approaching
to unity of church government or ecclesiastical discipline,
cannot be expected. For their encouragement, and as
we hope for their eventual consolidation, protection, and
increase, evangelical societies have been formed in Paris
and eleswbere. (Hear, hear.) But the members of them
are, with few exceptions, poor people. That part of the
apostolical description of the primitive church, may with
strictest accuracy be applied to them " not many rich not
many noble are called . The price of books is an object
to them, the hire of rooms is an object to them, the tra-
velling expenditure of their itinerant pastors is an object
to them. To whom can they took for help? The great
and rich and noble of their own land are unhappily against
them. True it is, they have access by faith, to the best
of all providers, even to Him who opens his hand wide
and supplies every living thing ; but God works by means,
and even when be refers his people to the ravens as an
example of dependance, still the reference if fairly con-
sidered, will be forced to involve the use of means, means
as appropriate to man, as the use of wings and eyes and
claws is to ravens ; for ravens are not fed by miracles
while sitting idly in their nests. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) In the use of means, the Protestants
of the Continent have uttered a cry to England,
and this society is giving the only response which
has as yet arisen to cheer their hearts, or help their re-
sources. Yet this cry so raised demands a response
from England, not merely from disinterested Christian
sympathy with fellow Christians in distress; but because
that distress arises from the operations of a common ene-
my,—(hear, hear, and cheers,)—all but triumphant in
France, and seeking to extend his triumphs over the
whole world. (Cheers.) The circumstances of this case
as they now develop themselves in France, are full of in-
struction. The plan of attaching the priests of the Roman
Catholic Church to the state, by making them stipendiary,
has been tried. (Hear, hear.) For a time it seemed to
succeed in France. All was quiet, and the supreme au-
thority of the civil power was not questioned. But now
that Rome has had a little time to consolidate her re-
sources and bring her combinations to maturity, she is
putting forth afresh her old attempts at the mastery.
This has appeared, at what is indeed, the fountain head of
national strength in years to come, v,z.,—the institutions
of national instruction. In each of these there has been
a chaplain, a Roman Catholic priest, by royal order under
the charter ; and, hitherto, the hierarchy have seemed
content with this. But some among them have now de-
clared that this is quite insufficient to secure the interests
of the church, and demanded admission for their various
orders, or what you will better understand by confrater-
nity men. This has been refused by the state, and some
of the bishops have retaliated by ordering the chaplains to
leave the seminaries of public instruction. In the instance
of the Bishop of Chalons, the case has come before the
king in council, to determine whether there has been any
abuse of their authority on the part of the bishops. The
decision has been against the bishops, and I am credibly
informed that instead of submitting himself to the royal
ordinance, the Bishop of Chalon gloried in his resistance,
and on receiving the royal communication summoned his
dean and chapter into the cathedral and sang a Te Deem !
How this will end, remains to be seen, It is supposed
that the priests have moved prematurely, and must for the
present yield. The Archbishop of Paris, it is understood,
is unwilling to resist the royal authority. The CUM..
stances, however, supply a fair modern specimen of what
the Romish hierarchy is, and of what they must ever
strive to be ; as well as of the natural consequence of act-
ing on the delusion that a state support can ever make
them willingly submissive to any civil power. (Loud cries
of hear, and cheers.) This, as you may suppose, is
creating no small stir in France, and will probably be
loudly and warmly debated in the chambers. Already it
forms the theme of the leading paragraphs in many news-
papers. One editor illustrates the present state of things
by a fable of a number of foxes whose tails were tied to-
gether, while each was striving to run his own way. The
largest fox, with the longest tail, ends by dragging all the
other foxes after him. The writer winds up by assuring his
readers, what it requires but little observation to believe,
that "le renard de plus longue une, c'est le pape." The
fox with the longest tail is not his majesty the king,
although he appoints the 44,000 maires. No ! the fox
with the longest tail is his holiness the Pope ! (Laughter,
and cheers.) The rev. chairman concluded by saying that
be had just received two notes, with no writing within,
but with contents that were highly gratifying and accept-
able. One of them contained £5, and the other £25, for
the society. (Loud cheers.)
The Rev. Richard Burgess then addressed the meeting
at considerable length, and with great force and eloquence,
explaining more in detail the objects and operations of
the Society, which extended not only to France, but bad
penetrated to other nations of Europe, and had done
much with comparatively small means in diffusing the
religion of the Reformation over the continent. Like
Hannibal they bad paved the way to Rome itself. He
furnished many cheering instances in point. Besides
their agents in France, they had three in Germany, who
were contented to work effectually for the small allowance
of £25 each, per annum. They had commenced in Spain
and Portugal, and had also got the wedge in in Italy.
He depicted the encroachment of popery in France and
other countries, and the dreadful prevalence of blasphemy
and Maryology in infidelity in various parts; and noticed
amongst other modern abominations the distribution of
40 millions of the pretended miraculous medal of the
Virgin. He stated that some of the Mayors of France
were favourable to their views, and some new Protestant