The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-02-06 00:00:00

vile enough, and capable of outraging manners and mo-
rals to a considerSble extent; but they have never yet
laced to hold their political orgies on the Sabbath. They
know well that, even if permitted, the religious feelings
of the whole conimintity would revolt at the audacious
profanation, and, that low as they are in public estima-

don, they would sink lower still, even to the deepest
depths of infamy, if they were to hazard so obnoxious an
experiment.

It is not so in Ireland. That is a land over which, for
wise purposes no doubt, and for reasons we may not7-we

must not attempt to penetrate—divine PROVIOENCE has
Irawn a dense cloud—shutting her out as it were from
the pale, and the sunshine, and tLe intellectual effulgence

if other nations—confining her to an almost unknown and

untraversed island, like the fallen Emperor of France to

St. Helena—leaving her to the purgations ofcrime and the
stings of remorseL—tuaking her fertile fields the jungles of
proverbial ignorance—her farm-steads the blood-marked

retreats of guilt and the hitting places of the murderer—

and raising her to unenviable notoriety as if to make
crime the ladder of patriotism, by presei:liing one of her
most lawless, unprincipled, and sanguintiry sons from the
gallows or some violent death, so justly'his due—and in
the midst of abundance causing famine, by permitting

the indulgence of unhallowed passions, and allowing
demoralizalion, anarchy, and violence :to sap the very

foundations of social existence. Such is Ireland. The de-

mon who curses it is O'CoNNELL.

He has been raised,

like the " besorn of destruction' alluded toby the pro-

phet, to do certain work. When it is, done the besom

will be flung into the fire. That day ;of final doom is
fast approaching. He is now an old man ; but his crimes
are fresh and his promises and menace more su. We
can gather from his dejected harangues,that be is consci-
ous of his downfal. He weeps over hii, own coffin. He
may not perish by the hand's of the public executioner,
but the infamy which will be inkfibed on his tomb will
be as. lasting and as inglorious-as pk,i,eor(is of Kil-
mainham.

So much for DANIEL OCoNsmu!

We now turn to another subject, and it also has re-
ference to Ireland, for we believe that utttil the affairs of
that distracted and degruded country are effectually
and finally settled, there is no, use id boasting of the
rowers of England. Ireland is now a drag upon us; the
incumbrance must be removed before.we can move on•
wards easily, as prescribed by our interests and our duty.

Sir ROBERT 'PEEL'S
.adminittration'trust perform the
work,' or. SFr ROBERT PEEL'S governMent cannot stand.
We like to be candid on these matters; because our
principles being founded upon truth, ' observation, and
experience, and proved by late events, are to us fixed
stars in our political creed, by which the wise men of
England have .hitherto steered, while those who have
discarded them have made shipwreck.
The principles to which we allude have their founda-
tion in religion. What has raised England to so unri-
valled an efevation in the scale of empires, and made her
in virtue and in arms the Queen of the earth, the " envy
of surrounding nations?" Her reverence for truth—her
attachment to the pure faith of the protestant church.
From this has sprung all her virtues and her noble deeds.
She was among the first of the kingdoms of Europe which
burst the chains which popery had riveted on the world—
she was the first to embrace the gospel in iti.simplicity,
and frame her laws under the sanction of divine revela-
tion. Since that hour she has prospered ; or, if occa,
sionally a blight came over her growth, it was only at
those periods when the people had departed from their
adherence to the church, and, misled by spurious liberty,
had assailed the altar and the throne. With these ex-
amples before our eyes, we sincerely trust ;vat no King
will ever reign in :England, and no ministry.be tolerated
who would impair the usefulness of our religious 'este,
blishments, .or give countenance to that idolatry which
is a curse wherever it prevails.
We throw out these hints in order to meet a question
which is daily gaining ground, and we fear is gaining
converts, namely—the expediency of affording a provi-
sion for the Roman Catholic priests of Ireland out of the
public funds. This would, indeed, be a revival of the
unhappy measures of James II.; for, disguise it as we
might, it woo X be neither more nor less than a direct
encouragemeneof popery. The Standard very properly
puts it, when it says that a pension to etre priest would
make three priests ; and that, so loneasi single shilling
could be drawn from the Purse of England, there would
be a corresponding increase in the number of those who
come out of Maynooth, and spread: darkness and desola-
tion where they go. A dissenting clergy Man of thename
qfMASIE has recently published some statements, founded
upon careful ands accurate calculations,'. showing to .what
extent the Rom ish'priesthood are a burthen upon-Ireland.
They are curious, and merit the elosesrattention. We
give them as wefind them in our London contemporary :
" As to the income of the catholic churth, Mr. Massie said
he had, though with great difficulty, obtained important par-
ticulars. Annual confessions, £300,0(); christenings-, £33900 ;
extreme unction and burials, £ti0,000; marriages, £350,000
funeral services and prayers for the dead, £60;((X); a variety of
other sources, producing about £22,500; the Royal College of
Maynooth, £9OOO, (a government grant ;) other.particulars were
named, making together, £1,426,000, as the annual revenue of
the clergy of six millions of people. • The incomes of the bishops
averaged about £BOO, but some had £5OO. and others £l2OO per
annum. Every bishop held two livings : he received from each
rector £2 per annum, and he made up the rest of his income by
the sale of all the oil used in anointing, Which oil he had the sole
right to bless."
As to the education of the Irish-priests, and their com-
petency for the cure of souls, let the following facts
answer :

" Mr. Massie then referred to the mode of education adopted
in the popish colleges. The students were uniformly lectured
in Latin, and instructed in Romish theology. In those lectures
various books were referred to, hut not produced, or put into the
hands of the students. No student was allowed, on pain of
expulsion, to take a single book into his study, which had not
been duly inspected by the dean ! They were not allowed to
talk to each other, except iu certain li•airs, when some of the
superiors were present. The students were chiefly aspiring sons
of humble labourers or small farmers; their views of society
were generally very contracted, aud the books they were allowed
to read were, .for the most part, in doggerel, or church Latin. As
to the schools of Ireland, they were numerous. About one in
every ten of the population were receiving instruction of some
kind. But the books put into their hands in most of the regular
schools were either unintelligible, or of the most silly and un-
useful description, such as the History of Romulus and Remus,
and the Seven Giants."

Here, then, we have the bane of Ireland placed in the
most conspicuous form before us. It appears from this
that nearly one million and aha f.af money is extorted
annually from the wretched peasantry of Ireland, in order
to perpetuate their igriorance and their misery. Talk of

the Irish church, indeed, being a burthen ! We have it
on the testimony of Lord ALTHOP himself, that the
whole revenues of the Irish church do not amount to
£BOO,OOO a-year, and we all knovetliat these are princi-
pally derived from property which li jit
elongs to protestants.
Father CROLY, too,. has told-us,that h`ettiurproportion of

the revenues of the priests is extorted fenin the peasantry
in an unlawful manner, and contrary to the rules of the
Roman Catholic church. In. fact, people are robbed
by those who should set them an example in piety, mo-
rals, and fair dealing. It is from the root to the branch
a system of gross fraud. How- can we wonder, then,
that tha people are demoralized, When we see them in
such hands, the victims of such rapacious tyrants, who
estimate the worth of eternal salvation at so many shil-
lings, Open or shut the door of wrath for the difference
between a pound and a guinea, and send the mourner
away—a hapless mother, perhaps, who, soliciting a mass!
for her expiring child, brings a sixpence less than the
three half-crowns exacted ? Oh shame! that in our land
such atrocities should be committed in the name of chris-
tianity ! In India we are blamed for tolerating Inman
sacrifices ; and Dr. LUSHINGTON defends the cruelty ;
but are we not platy of as black deeds at home ?. Is
robbing the poor no crime—is cheating the ignorant no
sinis plundering the widow and the orphan in tears no
violation of the laws of Goy ? We contend they are foul
Wrongs conitnitted in Ireland with impunity, and that the
punishment for the wrong must fall.on the nation which
permits it.

Perhaps we shall be told that the people of England
are not parties to the guilt. We assert THEY Atm!
They have the power to prevent it; but they do not
exert that power. What have we high officers of state
for—what a system of laws—what a King, what a minis-
try, what a parliament for—but to defend the pour, and
protect the ignorant, and drive from every corner of the
land those who make pricstcraft the medium of fratid
and spoliation ? We shall also be told, perhaps, that