The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-12-15 00:00:00

RELIGIOUS FRAUDS IN IRELAND.

A friend has favoured us with the sight of a curious
document now in his possession, of which the following
is as correct a copy as possible :

"'Tit a pious and salutary Thought to pray for the Dead, tha
"then/ may be loosenedjrom their Sins."
Mac. 2. Chap. xii, Ver. 5.

PITRGATORIAN SOCIETY

Under the Protection of the Most Glorious Name of Jas us.
The stability of this Society depends on the punctual payment
of your arrears the sooner to yield relief to the suffering Souls
in Purgatory, supply the wants c,f our distressed Clergyinen,
and for the spiritual and temporal welfare of its members; the
three principle points of this laudable institution.
N.B. Subscriptions received in the School-room of Rose-
mary-lane, Chapel on the first Monday of each month, from
eleven till two o'clock.

Your arrears are 7s. 7d. being fourteen months subscription,
ending June, 1809.

Signed by Order,
, President.
You are humbly prayed to continue your laudable Exertions (so
happily experienced since the commencement of this Society) in
obtaining New Subscribers.

We have searched in vain in tha Bible fur the motto
which adorns the head of this beautiful scrap of priestly
humbug; the protestant bible, we believe, does not con-
tain it; perhaps it is dug out of some specially-prepared
and amended edition for the use of the faithful, or pro-
bably it was devised for the occasion. The appropriate-
ness of the quotation to the object, leads us to favour
this suspicion ; let others, however, solve the difficulty.
The idea of forming ocieties to save the true flock
from flames and never dying worms is an admirable one;
its operation cannot be too widely diffused (in eland);
but with due submission,. we have a suggestion to make.
It appears that the purgatorian clubs are designed mere-
ly to buy out those already thrown into. purgatory :
might not the benevolent object he extended ? For in-
stance—suppose a Society to be formed for the purpose
of " buyiog off" altogether : let it he called The No-
Purgatory Association let the chief office he fixed in
Merrion-square, Dublin, and obtain the services of Da-
niel O'Connell as actuary. A scale of payments might
be. then drawn up, .adapted to the age, habits, wicked-
ness or godliness of each victim, who thus by means of a
trifling annual deposit might ensure himself against even
a passing visit to purgatory, and lay by a penny securely
with which to pay the passage money charged by old
Charon for rowing the departed across the Styx. It is
notorious that the lack of this small fee has occasioned
many hapless souls to wander long upon the desolate
shores of that black and slimy river:—

Stabant orantes priori transmittere cursum
Tandebantique manus ripae ulterioris amore.

We leave the matter in the hands of Dr. Ai•Hale--a
man ever the foremost in good works—satisfied that if the
scheme is likely to he a paying one, he will not allow it
to-slumber long.—Manchester Chronicle.

HEARTLESS CONDtTCT OF GOVERNMENT
TOWARDS 500 BRITISH SAILORS.

Since the publication of our last journal another ap-
peal has been made to government from this port, im-
ploring aid and assistance for the crews of the eleven
ships embayed in the ice, in Davis' Straits. The follow-
ing is a copy of the memorial :
To the Right Ilonourable the Lord Commissioners of the
Admiralty, London.
The memorial of the undersigned owners of the ships Grenville
Bay and Lady Jane, employed in the Davis' Straits Fishery,
from this port.
That the said ships, with nine others, were left in Davis'
Straits, on the 11th of October last, by the ship Alfred, of Hull,
closely beset in the ice, in lat. 68 deg. 55 M. N., and long. CO
or 65 -deg. W., with a very doubtful prospect of being speedily
liberated.
That the frost had then set in very severely, and as no tidings
have since been received frmu those ships, your memorialists
are seriously alarmed for their safety, and apprehend, if they
are not already lost, they may be compelled to remain in their
peribus situation until relieved therefrom by the breaking up 1
of the ice in spring.
That your petitioners' ships, when they left Newcastle, were
abundantly supplied with prat isions, and every thing necessary
for the voyage, and even sufficient to sustain the crews during
the winter, but it is feared that having, as it is understood, part
of the crews of two wrecked vessels on board, in addition to their
own, they. may be exposed to dreadful sufferings in that incle-
ment region, unless early and effective assistance is rendered to
them as soon as the season will admit.
Your memorialists are fully aware of the frequent supplies
which have been ordered by your lordships to he sent out to
such'vessels, supposed to tie in want of provisions, on the home-
ward voyages, particularly when in fleet from the West Indies,
&c. &c., when ships of war have cruised in the chops of the
ebarrae for weeks fur that express nurpose. Your Ineutorlal-
ists, therefore, with the fullest contidience, pray that your lord-
ships will take into youtiinunediate and serious consideration
the ens" of the unfortunate men who are now presumed to be so
dreadfully circumstanced, and adopt such measures as in your
wisdom may tend to theireffectual relief, that they may be ena-
bled to return home in safety to their anxious and sorrowing
families and friends, with the valuable property intrusted to
their charge. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will
ever pray.
Newcastle, 7th Dec., 1835.
To the above memorial government have returned the
following answer :

Admiralty, 91li December, 1835.
Sir,—Having laid before my Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty the memorial of the Jth instant, signed by you and
others, praying fur assistance and relief to he sent to the ships
which have been detained by ice, in Davis' Straits, I am com-
manded to acquaint you that, much as my lords regret the un-
fortunate situation of the crews of these ships, they do not think
it.possible, from the advanced period of the season, to afford
them the assistance required.
I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) C. WOOD.
We felt it to be our duty, last week, to animadvert, in
strong terms, upon the unfeeling reply of the Lords of
the Admiralty, through their secretary, Mr. Chas. Wood,
to a similar application made by Mr. Thomas Hedley, of
this town. 13at the present answer is still more repre-
hensible. We venture to assert that no government of
a civilized country ever before e%llibited such cold blooded
disregard of human life. What is the nature of the ap-
plicliton ? Why, that government will make an endea-
voueto preserve the lives of more than 500 of our bravest
and most skilful navigators. And are the Lords of the
Treasury urged to make the effort immediately ? No ;
but "AS SOON AS THE SEASON WILL ADMIT." Now, with
these facts, let us look at the answer of Mr. Charles
Wood. He cooly says, "Much as my lords regret the
unfortunate position of the crews of these ships, they do
not think it possible, at the advanced period of the sea-
son, to afford them the assistance required." Mr. Charles
Wood, if he he not as devoid of sense as Of feeling, is
aware that the advanced period of the season" has no-
thing
to do with the application. Government is not
called upon to direct a vessel to proceed to the Straits,
and run amongst the ice so as to ensure her destruction.'
They are- merely desired to appoint and equip a vessel,