The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1832-12-28 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOI? OF THE LIVERPOOL STrINDARD.

SIR,—In a late number of the Liverpool Albion, now the
organ of the sectarian faction in this town, the editor has made
an unwarrantable attack upon the Established Church, and has
even hazarded assertions which may be construed into an
attack upon religion itself. An extract from this article was,
from the same motive, quoted in a London morning journal,
notorious for its support of radical and infidel principles, and
for its almost daily invectives against religion in general, and
the Established Church in particular.
In the indecorous attack alluded to, the editor of the Albion
represents the proportion of the Protestant population of this
country who adhere to the Established Church as but compara-
tively small; that a majority of the nation are dissenters; that
these h?ve, of late years especially, increased more than in
proportion to the population; and, therefore, that the influence
of the Church of England is rapidly declining. To confirm his
statement, he refers to the relative state of the two parties in
this town, as a good criterion by which to judge of what it is in
the whole kingdom. The evident object of this article is to
depreciate the national church, with the view of exalting the
sectarians; the pretended growing importance of whom it has
of late become the practice to.magnify beyond truth, for the
invidious purpose of bringing the established religion into dis-
repute.

To show; hoivever, the fallacy of the statement made by the
editor of the Albion, and of the deduction he makes therefrom,
it is only necessary -to advert to one simple circumstance,
namely, the number of churches belonging to the establishment,
compared with the number of places of worship in the dissent-
ing interest, which have-been built in Liverpool within the last
ten years. The comparison will prove, if it be taken as a just
criterion in the case, how utterly devoid of foundation, how
completely at variance with the truth, is the representation of
the .4/bion.

It has been said; that should the dissenters become so much
increased as'to comprise a majority of the community, the
'funds of the national church ought to be placed 'at their dis-
posal. Nothing, however, but that absurd self-sufficiency, and
the no less absurd propensity to exalt the. merit of their own
faith, which distinguish all' sects, can speculate on the proba-
bility,of the majority of this country ever becoming dissenters,
of their being persuaded' Co renounce the 'male of worship. in
which they have been educated, in order to embrace sectarian
doctrines. Human nature and the very construction of society
oppose it. Those who are brought up in the established reli-
gion are as firmly attached to their faith as the 'sectarians can
.be; and they are unable to discover anything in sectarian doc-
trine or practice, or in their influence on character, which
would induce them to prefer that form of religion to their own.
There, are, in regard to matters of religion, two classes of
persons in society (and these form the bulk of it) who are im-
,pervious to sectarian influence, and whose habits, feelings, and
mode of thinking, will always remain a barrier against the in
fluenee of sectarian efforts, in the inviellou, though futile,
attempts to undermine the,national faith. Those who are less
strict concerning modes of worship will not be induced to change
that to which they are accustomed, in order to embrace one
which will impose greater restraint upon them, even did it pos-
sess, in their estiniation, any superiority'over their own. The
respectable, affluent, and intelligent classes, are equally indis-
posed to exchange the liberal but pure, doctrines of the Church of
England for sectarian fenet. The. austerity, , 'the intolerance,
and habits of sectarians, and especially the cant with which
all sectarians are more or less tainted, are repugnant to the in-
telligent and affluent classes. The bulk, therefore, of the
peoPle of this country, and, in fact, of every civilised society,
are from habit and mode of thinking, necessarily adverse to
sectarian influence, and placed beyond its reach. That influ-
ence can only be applied successfully, and generally, to the
habits and mode of thinking, which belong to a class that form
but a minority of the community.
If the Presbyterians and the Roman Catholics, therefore, be
eXcepted, the sectarians, generally speaking, may be said to
draw their congregations from the inferior grades of the middle
classes, the only portion of the community to whose habits and
feelings sectarian discipline is adapted. Those of the snore
intelligent and affluent classes, who are connected with their
communions, form but an ineonsiderable number. This fact is
sufficiently demonstrated, both by observation and the avowed
poverty of their ministers, who certainly would have been more
liberally remunerated than they are if any considerable propor-
tion of their adherents belonged to the intelligent and affluent
classes.

The observations of the Editor of the Albion implicate him
in a charge of a more serious nature than even that of villi-
fying the national church. He has said, in the article above
referred- to, that all the religion and all the morality which
prevail in the country, and even its preservation from infidelity
itself, are owing to the dissenters. That the Established
Church has failed in the duties which were expected from it;
and that, there exist no morality or religion in the country but
what hdve been derived from the dissenters.

Of the Protestant community of this country (England)
the majority are adherents of the national religion, and this
majority includes, generally speaking, nearly the whole of the
intelligent and affluent classes; the portion of those who have
embraced sectarian doctrines being very inconsiderable. Now
this majority' do not, according to the Alpion, receive any
moral or religious instruction from the church to which they
adhere, because of its unfitness to' impart moral and religious
instruction ; and as they do not attend sectarian places of won_
ship, theymuit, of course, be without the influence of religion.
The majority of the people of England, comprehending nearly
the whole of the intelligent and affluent classes, are, according
to the statement of the Editor of the Albion, without the bene-
fit of religious instruction.

He will not, however, I presume, assert that they are also
without the qualities which are essential to good and virtuous
membeis of society. He will not maintain that, although with_
out 'the succours of religion, the intelligent and respectable
classes' of this good town of LiVerpool, for example, who are
members of the established, church, are not equally qualified
with their sectarian fellow-townsmen, for all the duties and re-
lations of society.'
If, then, the members of the established church, who accor-
ding to the representations of the Editor of the Albion, have
not the benefit of religious instruction, possess, nevertheless,
all the requisites of useful and virtuous members of a great civil-
ized community, does it not follow, as a necessary deduction that
religion is useless ? That it is a delusion, a cunningly deiised
fable, and tbi-.tt it would 13.F:f9rtho benefit of society to threi3Off
its restraints i This, certainly is the-, conclusion to which, the
obscrvatious of the Albion will lead. " •

The utility of religion, the necessity of its succours for even
the very being of society, has afforded an evidence of its truth,
which all the ingenuity of infidel philosophers has never been
able to overconie. •Great and eminent men, in both ancient
and modern times, whilst they avowed their disbelief in it, have,
at the same time, 'acknowledged its necessity for the peace and
welfare of society,.by promoting its institutions, and have thus
given, without intending it, an irrefutable proof of its truth.
But the Editor ok the Albion, however, has discovered what
the infidel philosophers, both modern and ancient, have been
unable to trace, in all their research, that religion 'is perfectly
unnecessary for society, that the most civilized nation in exis-
tence is, with respect to the majority of its members, 'without
religion.

R. N.

ALLEGED TOWN-HALL MEETING.

TO THE EDITOR OF_THE LIVERPOOL ST.eIND"IRD.

Town-Clerk's Office, 26th Dec. 1832.
SIR,—My attention was called by a friend on Monday even-
ing to a statement in the 'Saturday's Liverpool Journal, in which
it is insinuated that a Meeting was held in the Town-hall after
the close of the Poll on the first day of the late Election, in
order to determine on a proposition. made for resorting to Bri-
bery, on behalf of some of the Candidates, and in which meeting
it is added, that I gave some advice or opinion on the subject.
Having long ceased to find in the weekly productions sent forth
to the Liverpool community, by most of the local press, either
amusement or interest, I seldom read them or I should have
sooner published _this letter, but it, is due to the friends of the
Candidates implicated in the accusation, as also to the office I
have now the honour to fill, (without reference to personal
considerations,) that I now request you to give this public and
unqualified assurance of the utter falsehood of the insinuation.
No such meeting to my kOwledge or belief ever took place,
nor did I ever give any such advice or opinion as is imputed to
me in any way directly- or indirectly.
I am, Sir,
• Your obedient Servant,
THOMAS FOSTER.

We are sorry to hear that the Duke of Beaufort has lately
been much indisposed. His grace and the Duchess are at En.
stone, in Oxfordshire, and will not proceed to Badmington, in
Gloucestershire, till the latter part of January.

The Earl of Harewood has already commenced his annual
winter donation of blankets, coals, &c. to the poor tenantry at
Harewood, and on his lordship's other estates.
Princess Lieven continues indisposed at Ashburnham House.
Her highness is attended by Sir Henry Halford. A great num-
ber of the nobility now in town visited her highness on Saturday.

It is said that Lord William Bentinck is to be immediately
recalled from India, and that that splendid piece of government
patronage will be bestowed upon Lord Durham, son in-law of
the premier—in reward, we suppose, for his Lordship's brilliant
services during his late embassy extraordinary. London Staqard.

Mr. Abercromby, the late Chief Baron of Scotland, it is now
said will succeed Mr. Manners Sutton to the speaker's chair.
This gentleman will receive the support of ministers, in come-
Suence of which, It is supposed that Mr. Lytticton and Mr.
pring Rice, who have both been named, will withdraw their
claim. Mr. Abercromby will sit in parliament for Edinburgh.
—London Standard. • • • • •

EXPECTED MARRIAGE IN H I Gil LlFE.—There is a'rumour
of a marriage ,being op the. tai /between the accorriplished and
beautiful daughter of a late gallant Admiral, and a Noble Lord,
the eldest son and fieir of one of the wealthiest and worthiest
Earls in thie nOrthefEnglatili. The parties kaiale be betrOth-
ed to each other are not in. Italy.: young lady is accom-
panied-by, hexmother .and her guardian, a rich and most influ-
ential Noblernan, who, it is generally reported, will give, with
his approbation of the match, one hundred thOusand pounds as
a marriage portion.—Court Journal.
The last week's collection of ConservatiVe rent in Dublin
amounted, as we learn from the Dublin Evening Mail, to about
five hundred and eighty pounds.

DEATH ON THE HUSTINGS.--On the Bath Hinting's, on Mon-
day, MT.-Orchard, aged seventy-seven, was among the electors.
He had been perfectly well all tho'morniy:2:, but was attacked
with sudden illness; a little water was brought, - and he recovered;
relapsed in a. few minutes, and, in a veltshort time afterwards,

HORRIIBLE CASE ,OF -POlSONlNG,'—Therrillage of Wighton,
near Wells, Norfolk, was last week thrown into a dreadful
state of alarm by the following circumstances :—A poor man,
named Wright, aged 41, on the Saturday morning, when :flriv-
ing a load of corn to Cley, for Mr. Mack, became vlOlantly
ill, and on arriving at Cley he was obliged to call in tifegsiist-
ance of Mr. Mirk; surgeon, who pOid him every attention, but
he died on the following morning. -His 'wife, who resided- at
Wighton, was sent for, and as the people of Cley conceived the
case to be one of cholera, she consented with apparent rchict-
ance to the burial of the body on SufidaV. On returning to
Wighton, Mrs. Wright found her father,ltichard Darby, who
had lived with her, also dead. This excited 'some attention, and
a girl was accidentally heard to say that Mrs. Wright had been
buying poison at Wells. It then appeared that she had bought
four ounces of arsenic a few days previous, on !the pretence of
wanting it, for a ratcatcher in the village, and that she had.-put
some in two cakes, which she gave to her husband and father.
Their bodies were consequently disinterred on Friday, and ou
examination poison was found in their stomachs. The woman
was then taken into custody: Two of her children died very
suddenly a short time previous to her husband's death, and the
general opinion is that the woman is insane, and that in killing
her husband she laboured under a fit of jealousy. She rias
been committed to Norwich Castle.—Suffilk Chronicle.