The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-01-13 00:00:00

REFORMATION SOICIETY v ROMISII CHIPACI

The last time we adverted to Mr. Shanks's lectures on Ro•
manisin, we mentioned that, in consequence' of an interruption
sustained by him in retnarking on the subject of popish inuulg.
enees, and an invitation, an hts-part, to either bishop or priest
- of the Burnish body to come forward; and debate with him the
topic of indulgences, he had thought propier; in view of an ac-
ceptance of his challenge, to quit that subject for a 'time, and
betake himself to the theme of purgatory. lie has lectured one
night on that,fianting topic, and, since there was no appearance
of his gauntlet being taken up, he returned ou Tuesday to...the
subject of indulgences, and gave au excellent sketCh of their
history, tracing them from their origin down to their expansion
into jubilees, even to the last grand occasion of this kind, as
celebrated by the popish world in 1825. At the close of the
leaure we were astonished to find Mr. Shankswith a small.knot
of indignant Romanists, whose blood had apparCntly. been brought
-to the boiling point by his strictures on their beloved indulgences,
-headed by a youth,evidently an impurtationfrom the Emerald Isle,
with " fire in his eye, and paper in his hand." The said fire was
in part occasioned by the effect of the lecture upon bis nervous
system, and by the laudable refusal of the beadle to take up the
said paper to the pulpit, previous to the close of the lecture.
With gesticulation and excitement that might have graced a
devotee under the operation of• the penitential scourge,• he in-
sisted that the document, which, by ;he by, had been originally
. iuteuded fur us, should Out only be read, but should be met with
animmediate and categorical answer. '['he reading part of the
• demand was agreed to on the ground of curiosity and-charity—
that its contents might he known, and, if possible, a partion of
the youth's dangerous and superabundaut excitement alight he
- draiued off. It was in the shape of a letter to the rev. lecturer,
in which, after a due proportion-of downright scurrility, shaded
off at times into a style of would-be sarcasm upon his controver-
sial labours, the challenge formerly e'iveu was accepted, not by
a priest, not by Bishop Alurdoch,but by "-a catholic"—we
suppose the raw, and rash, and sorely. troubled youth in she
Fancy
faded surtout. the grand condition of the whole, alias
" the tattle"—"That. the discussion be carried on in the Latin
language, which is best adapted for augmentation, and which
will be: understood ,by the learned, who can be the - -only
competent jiaiges!" Conceive an open assembly, as it ought
to be, listening with grave and stolid dignity, like a couvo-
cation of ,geese, to the weighty arguments—the words of
'"learned length and thundering sennti;' proceeding from the
-rev. lecturer uu rornanism and the furious youth in the surtout;
and having heard both sides, say for two or three days, with as
much edification as the Khan of Tartary would derive from a
Gaelic debate, deciding solemnly and authoritatively upon the
merits of the question. It may do for the hierarchy ofdtome to
blind its ignorant votaries by a show of profound .knowledge.
It may do for it to retain them under the gross shadow of dark-.
ness, and aver that, they are incompetent judges of the doc-
trines of religion. It may do for it to jabber in a dead tongue,
seeing it is a dead faith; and teach its people so to do, in the
'hope of binding them for ever to its yoke. But protestantism
abhors the darkness, and seeks continually to the light. It
'desires to diffuse knowledge in a known tongue. It goes to the
:bible as an open book—as the only standard of faith and man-
-ne.s; and while it draws from this source. the doctrines of pure
and undefiled religion, it tells the people to judge of the priu-
ciples which it teaches, and. to test them by the Word of God—
the only standard of the truth. On the whole, the conditions
of the debate were alike preposterous and ridkulous, even
though "every objection was to be solved, and every argument
answered, according to
,the approved rules of logic"—that is,
according to the .Aristoteliati mode—the approved system of
the dark ages; so that the learned audience would have been
-enlightened With the action of the entliymeme and the soritcs,
-and every species of syllogism, on the heads of the respective
combatants. The youth in the surtout, having calmed down
with the reading of the document. which evidently called forth,
on his part, thekindly defnonstrations of paternal -feeling, would
not acknowledge the autlnirship of the production, or say whe-
ther he was the acceptor of the challenge; aud, of course, no.
answer could be I...turned to an anonymous and most calum-
nious document. Ile was, therefore, given to understand, that
it was time to retire with his tail, winch he did with greater
courtesy than he had entered, finding that, instead of alarm, ,
his' rhodotnontade had only excited amusement ; so, doubtless,
he would adjoUrn to Bishop Murdoch, whese Champion' he had
aspired to be, to receive solatient fur his Woutvied dignity. Can
the-catholic clergy of Glasgow" rind no better advocates, and
no fairer means• of annoyance; than the youth in the surtout,
with his-,-equivocal-looking tail, "amidst their important and
multifarious duties ?"—Oluvip paper.

FOUR CHAPTERS ON MANNERS.

COI.NIER

We have asserted, and are convinced that no travelled per-
son'. will gainsay the observation,, that the "manners of the
Engl4A. stage" pre inferior to those of all conimental coun-
tries. But in the matter of the "manners of the counter," we
are proud to re-assume ourn-itional snperiority. Tee deport-
ment and habits of our trading classes are as eminently aborts
those of France; Gerniany, and Italy, as the manners of those
civi!ized -countries may'hemore agreeable than the familiarities
of America, or the' servilities of Russia and eastern Europe.
The trading classes of Gre,it I3aitain are, in fact,- the best edu-
cated, the inost'enlighteried, and consequently the best man-
nered. A thriving -London shopkeeper steers a middle course
between courtiership and independence. lie is civil enough to
engage you,to become his customer—assiduous ,enough to make
it Werth a stranger's while to re-visit' his store—without over-
whelming you with- the "gracious sirs" and "noble madams"
which adorn the address of the Austrian or. Italian dealer. lie
does not "kiss your excellency's• hand" at every coming and
going, hut rather brings to band, with diligence and activity,
every commodity of • which you stand in need. If "out of the
article,g? or the article happen tube a novelty beyond his imme-
diate ken; he promises•ta despatch a messenger in-the city, or
to write- to. the manufactories;- and•the next morning, atycnr
waking, your commission, without extra...eharge or unseemly
boastings of assiduity, is executed. It is not one foreign tradesman
in five thousand who.wiil ofler.to procure an object not actually
and :immediately comprehended in his warehonse. if so re-
quested,.he.generally makes some excuse; or. if Applied to .fcr
inforrnatiim:touching other.sources of supply, he knows nothing
about ti.t: article, nothing taunt any other-shop; he wishes.you
a'o morning, and recommences, before .your face, an ergo--
ment with some chum-visitor of his own, touching the prosecu-
tion.of -the National. Such are the "manners" acituired by
Anouuting guard at the-National Palace era-citizen King.
-Sterne, a man muclt hsed to the melting mobil, fell a victim
to the courtesies of the gentle yriaelte .who sold him,. his first;
-
pair, of Grenoble gloves.; . and: from the drys of poor Yt.rick
until now it has been much- the custom, of .e'lderly gentle Men
addicted to-touring to expatiate upon. the•.gracP alld'gentilesse
of theyoutig ladies who do the honenrs of the noureatue amps
cf the line. de la•Paix. -They are not aware that this quarter of
the town is actually got pp for the English, who'are there made:
to pay _double price for.the advautage-otgas-tights, showy coun-.
ters, and courteous griseties. The '.',-.A.litinteri3of the Counter"
in the old fasinoced. Outer of the Falthotirgh StAlerniain, the.
obsolete Marais and ,Pays Latin, or republicanised suburb of
St. Antoine, are.widelyAilfereut. In such places you are forci-
bly reminded,i the moment you enter the shop, that the French-
maiVa Illag.azin is his castle, and that he is• prepared' to act on
-the defensive against your negociations. Elsewhere it is the.
customer who anticipates being overreached : there it is the
shopkeeper, who. seems apprehensive -of being cheated in -his .
sales,.-hesuspects that youare-come to bargain with him. His
cumirtxsseri swath and uninviting brow silently-dew:taupe, "not'. '