The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-02 00:00:00

THE SUGAR DUTIES.

We have long ago intimated our opinion that the pro-
gress of free-trade principles cannot be stayed at the limit
of a repeal of the Corn-laws; that the farmer's class, in
common with other portions of the industrial community,
who have now to enter upon the race of competition with
the foreigner, will demur to the retention of the duties
upon commodities which enter extensively into their
consumption, and listen to no pleas which involve the
continuance, to other classes. of that protection which is
denied to themselves. This consummation is about to
present itself to us. The sugar duties have shortly to be
brought before the House of Commons; and even in the
Ministry we understand that there is division of opinion
as to the course to be pursued. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer and Mr. Gladstone are opposed to the ad-
mission of slave-grown sugar. The remaining portion of
the Government see no other course left open to them.
The Premier is undecided, and will probably go with the
strongest section amongst his colleagues. As in the case
of the Corn Bill, he will be unable to defend protection to
free labour in our colonies.

The fate of the bill, therefore, will depend upon the
opinions of the protectionist party ; and here, we are
assured from good authority, there is a split. The dis-
inclination to tolerate the introduction of slave-grown
produce is great; bat it is argued by an influential section
of the party that the agriculturist must now look, irre-
spective of considerations of humanity, to his own imme-
diate interest, and that he cannot deny himself the ad-
vantage of cheapness in so important an article of
consumption as sugar. The Whig party will undoubtedly
follow the leadership of Lord Palmerston, who is to move
the abolition, or the reduction, of the present discrimi-
nating duty. The great probability, therefore, is that the
present session will see added to the other movements in
favour of free trade the reduction of the discriminating
duties upon foreign slave -grown and British Colonial su-
gars. At all events, such an arrangement cannot be far
off, however unfortunate may be its results towards the
cultivators of the British West Indies and of our East
Indian possessions.

BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS.—A meeting of this
Board was held last night, in the Board-room, Hamilton-
square: J. H. Green, Esq. in the chair; but the only
business transacted was the signing of the amended Im-
provement Rate, so as to enable all who have removed to
vote at the election of commissioners this day.
THE Docx BILL. —The alterations proposed to be
made in the clauses of the dock bill, by the opponents
who are represented by Mr. Evans, were submitted to a
special meeting of the Dock Committee yesterday. Mr.
Bramley Moore, the chairman, presided, and there was a
full attendance of members, but the proceedings were not
public.
On Sunday last the sum of seven pounds was contri-
buted by the congregation of St. Barnabas Church,
towards the relief of the sufferers by the late melancholy
collision on the river. The sum will be considered a
very handsome one, when we state that no notice was
given of the collection, which was made by boxes held at
the doors.

THE STRIKE IN TAE BUILDING TRADES.—Although
we still head our remarks upon this subject as heretofore,
the unfortunate disunion between the employers and the
employed is now confined to the masons, who, contrary to
the expectations indulged in last week, have thought fit to
stand out for other terms than those accepted by the
other trades, viz., for a deduction of half-an-hour per day
from their time of labour. To this Mr. Tomkinson, to
whom it was first proposed, dissented as unreasonable;
and his example has been followed by other masters. At
present there are no symptoms of the dispute being acco-
roodated.
ROYAL MERSEY YACHT CLUB.—The first sailing-
match of the season, of this distinguished society, or
elegant prizes of plate, will take place on Friday next, for
yachts belonging to members of the club. The start will
be from Rock Ferry, about eleven a.m., sailing round the
bell buoy and back. The fine steamer, the Iron Duke, is
engaged to follow the match for the accommodation of the
members and their friends only. If this fine weather
continues, a delightful day's excursion may be anticipated
for those parties who are fortunate enough to possess
tickets to view the match. A band of music will enliven
the day's proceedings, the officers and members attend-
ing in their uniforms.
ST. MATTHEW'S CHURCH.—On Sunday next, and on
tha following Tuesday, sermons will be preached in this
church for the purpose of defraying the indispensable
expenses connected with it; and the churchwardens have
the most pressing occasion to appeal to the public for
liberal contributions, as in consequence of the Liverpool
and Bury Railway Company having intimated that they
are likely to want the site of the church, and the ground
attached to it, for their station, many persons who would
otherwise have taken pews have declined doing so, and iu
consequence the pew-rents being very small, the church-
wardens depend principally for support to the quarterly
collections. The following statement will exhibit the
positicn in which the pecuniary affairs of the church will
stand at the end of the present month :
Due the treasurer from last quarter £ll 16s 8d
Due the minister 42 0 0
Salaries, gas, &c... ...

63 6 8
Collected from pew-rents

Leaving a balance of ...... 57 2 8
A GIRL FOUND DROWNED.—On Saturday forenoon,
the body of a girl named Eleanor Owens. aged seven
i
years, who resided with her parents n Cinder-street,
Kirkdale, close to the gaol, was found by her father,
drowned in a pit, in the brick field where he works for Mr.
Rowlands. Her mother had left her in the field, half an
hour previously.

LIVERPOOL PROTESTANT AND REFORMA-
TION SOCIETY.

Last evening, the half-yearly meeting of the above ex-
cellent and important society was held in the Concert-
hall, Lord Nelson-street, the Rev. Canon M'Neile, pa-
tron of the institution, in the ,chair. The spacious hall
in which the meeting was held was crowded, and the gal-
lery was graced by the presence of a great number of
ladies. Among the gpntlemen on the platform we no-
ticed—the Rev. Canon M'Neile, the Rev. H. Carpenter,
the Rev. W. Pollock, the Rev. J. R. Conn*, the Rev.
D. Anderson, the Rev. G. Cuthbert, the Rev. T. Nolan,
the Rev. M'Call, the Rev. H. Jones, Dr. Batty, Mr.
Webster, Mr. Middleton, &c. &c.
On the Rev. Chairman making his appearance on the
platform, he was greeted with several rounds of enthusias-
tic applause. After the cheering bad subsided, he rose
and said—Our national Protestantism possesses many ex-
cellent qualities, the highest of which is the liberty it se-
cures for the pure worship of God. (Hear.) You are
aware that upon all these occasions we commence our
meeting with that worship—prayer and praise. This
evening we commence by singing the first hymn upon the
paper that has been circulated in the room. I t is called
" A Hymn for English Protestants."
The meeting then sang the hymn in congregational
style, with admirable effect. The tune was " the old
hundredth," and at its conclusion a fervent end appropri-
ate prayer was offered by the Rev. J. Cuthbert.
The CHAIRMAN then addressed the meeting as follows:
—Fellow Christians and Brother Protestants,—l have
come among you upon another half-yearly meeting, for
the purpose of performing what I conceive to be an im-
portant duty ; and that is, to communicate to you such
scriptural instruction as seems to me specially seasonable
at the present time. There never was a period in which
you were more imperatively called upon to enter into a
personal and intelligent examination of the foundations of
your Christian faith than the present time. Touching our
national Protestantism, we have enjoyed a long period of
authority which is now giving place to a period of
argument. Among the authoritative restrictions under
which we have hitherto been protected, one has been
a statute which rendered it penal for any one to main-
tain, or assert, the supremacy of the Pope in this
country. Whether it was right to have such a statute or
not is not the immediate question. As a matter of fact,
such a statute did exist since the reign of Henry the
Eighth ; so that if a Romanist asserted the supremacy of
the Pope in England, instead of taking the trouble to
argue against the assertion, you might have prosecuted
him under the statute for an offence against the laws of
the realm. It is now proposed to repeal that statute ;
so that in the event of such an assertion being ad-
vanced, there is no longer any appeal to the law ; our
only appeal is to argument. This is what I meant
when I said, that we had had a period of authority,
which is now giving way to a period of argument.
The statute in question, which rendered it an offence to
assert the supremacy of the Pope in England, did, as it
were, close the question from argument ; it rendered
argument needless, because it presented a legal hindrance
in the way of even the assertion. We can Quite under-
stand that members of the Church of Rome have felt this
statute to be a serious restriction ; and if it had applied
simply to their liberty with regard to their own religion ;
if it had hindered them from a conscientious recognition
of the Pope as the head of their own Church ; it would,
I freely confess, in the present state of our law, since other
concessions have been made—it would be unfair, if their
religion be tolerated in England, that this part of it should
not be, tolerated like every other part. I do not offer any
opinion upon the abstract question as to whether it should
be tolerated or not. We believe it to be utterly opposed,
radically opposed, to the revealed will of God. Still you
are aware that it is tolerated, and that latterly many
concessions have been made to it; and it is fair, and quite
in harmony with those concessions, that the part of this
statute which hindered the Romanist from asserting the
supremacy of the Pope in his own church and over him-
self, should be removed; and, if this were all that it is
proposed to remove, we should have no fresh cause to
complain. Romanists assert the supremacy of the Pope,
not only over their own consciences as members of the
churchof. Rome, but over all the world beside. They assert
his supremacy over kings and states, and over all baptized
persons, so that he has a right, according to their assertions,
to coerce baptized heretics into the faith. The repeal of
the statute in question will open a wide field for them to
assert that the Pope is and ought to be supreme in Eng-
land. Here is a (resit question then. We have not
hitherto been called upon to argue this question, and why
so? It is worthy of your consideration for a moment.
We have been arguing the questions of transubstantiation,
of purgatory, of penance, and of various other views which
they hold, and which we believe to be utterly opposed to
the word of God. And why is it that we have not been
called upon to argue this question of the supremacy of
the Pope in England ? As I said before, the reason
simply was that the statute book closed it. Suppose a
statute to be passed which rendered it penal to agitate the
question of the repeal of the Union in Ireland. That
would close the subject. Instead of being called on to
argue the question with Mr. O'Connell, or with any of
those who agree with him, of the repeal of the Union, he
could be prosecuted for agitating it as for an offence
against the law. (Hear, hear.) I say this by way of illus-
tration to show you bow the matter stands. It was an
offence against the law to assert the supremacy of the
Pope in England ; but if the bill brought by the present
Lord Chancellor of England into the House of Lords,
durinesthe present session of Parliament, passes into a law,
it will no longer be an offence in a Romanist to assert the
supremacy of the Pope in England. Therefore, it behoves
you, the Protestants of England, to have an answer, for the
time of argument is come. It is somewhat singular that
as this period of argument advances, an indisposition to
enter into the argument appears to advance also amongst
many Englishmen. There are not a few called Pro-
testants who maintain a painful, a morbid, diAnolination
to, the argument. Yet' they have no protection now but
in argument. The shield of the statute is removed, and
where is the protection? (Hear, hear.) These are briefly
the grounds upon which I hold myself to be in my proper
place as aminister of the reformed church established in this
country, when explaining in this simple mode, and endea-
vouring to make myself intelligible to all of you—explain-
ing the present state of things—that you may apprehend
the reason for the instruction thht is to follow. I proceed
to give you instruction upon this subject. That you may
know what answer to give to those who assert the supre-
macy of the pope in England, you ought to know the na-
ture of the assertion itself, not as it may be now glossed,
but as it is really made by the most distinguished canon-
ists of that church. I will therefore state it to you in the
language of the celebrated Dr. Barrow, in his ' Treatise
of the Pope's Supremacy." He says :
" They ascribe to the Pope an universal, absolute, and bound-
less empire over all persons indifferently, and in all matters;
conferred and settled on him by divine, immutable sanction :
so that all men, of whatever degree, are obliged in conscience
to believe whatever he doth authoritatively dictate, and to obey
whatever he doth prescribe. So that if princes themselves do
refuse obedience to his will, he may excommunicate them,
cashier them, depose them, extirpate them. If he chargeth us
to hold no communion with our prince, to renounce our alle-
giance to him, to abandon, oppose, and persecute him, even to
death, we may without scruple, we must in duty obey. If he
doth interdict whole nations from the exercise of God's worship
and service, they must comply therein. So that, according to
their conceits, he is in effect Sovereign Lord of all the world ;
and superior, even in temporal or civil matters, unto all kings
and princes."
I am quite aware that such a statement will now be
charged with gross exaggeration. I feel assured that if a
simple Romanist, taking what his priest tells him for the
mind of the Church Catholic, were here present this
evening, and upon hearing this statenaent, he would feel
in his own mind thus—" No such thing; this is quite a
misrepresentation. The supremacy of the Pope is merely
over our consciences, as head of the church, and it is a
gross calumny to charge His Holiness with asserting his
supremacy over princes and governments—he asserts no
such thing—it is only a spiritual supremacy, not a tem-
poral." And such a man might be honest in the opinion
that what I have read is an exaggeration. Why so? be-
cause he is not told all that his church holds. (Hear.)
He is only told what it is convenient and politic now to
say in England; he is not told the whole truth. (Hear.)
In justification of the statement I have read from Dr.
Barrow, I will mention an instance or two of the exercise
of this prerogative by the Pope. (Hear, hear.) These
are mentioned bp Dr. Barrow himself. The first is that
of Pope Sixtus the stb, in the year 1585, against Henry,
King of Navarre and Prince of Conde. It begins thus :
" The authority given to St. Peter add his successors, by the
immense power of the Eternal King, excels all the powers of
earthly kings and princes—it passes uncontrollable sentence on
them all—and if it find any of them resisting God's ordinance,
it takes more seven vengeance of them, casting them down
from the thrones, though never so puissant, and tumbling them
down to the lowest parts of the earth, as the minister of aspi-
ring Lucifer."
And then he proceeds to thunder against them—
" We deprive them and their posterity for ever of the domin-
ions and kingdoms," and accordingly he depriveth those princes
of their kingdoms and dominions, absolveth their subjects
from the oaths of allegiance, and forbiddeth them to pay any
obedience to them. " By the authority of these presents, we do
absolve and set free all persons, as well jointly as severally, from
any such oath, and from all duty whatsoever in regard of do-
minion, fealty and obedience, and do charge and forbid all and
every of them, that they do not dare to obey them, or any of
their admonitions, laws, and commands."
The next comes nearer home. It is that of Pius the
sth against our own Queen Elizabeth. It opens in these
words:—
" He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in
heaven and in earth, has committed the one holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church, out of which there is no salvation, to one
alone on earth, namely, to Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and
to the Roman Pontiff, successor of Peter, to be governed with
a p'enitude of power : this one he bath constituted prince over
all nations, and all kingdoms, that he might pluck up, destroy,
ruinate, plant, and build.' And in the same bull he declares
that ' he thereby deprives the Queen of her pretended right to
the kingdom, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege what-
soever; and abs,lv-,, all nobles, subjects, and people of the
kingdom, and wh „ ..lac have sworn to her, from their oath.
and all duty whatsoever, in regard of dominion, fidelity and
obedience.' "
1 need not add to these proofs that the power to
absolve subjects from their oath kf allegiance, and the
power to depose princes was claimed by the Bishop of
Rome. This is an historical fact, and if any man say
now, "It was, but it is not," we ask, " What then be-
comes of the infallibility of the Church of Rome ?"
(Hear.) When the Pope claimed what I have read, was
he infallible ? If so, he cannot change without ceasing
to be infallible. Does he not make the same claim now ?
Is he infallible? (Hear.) Does infallibility change its
opinion? Does infallibility become liberal to suit the
times? Was he infallible when Pius the sth was in the
chair, which they blasphemously call Peter's chair ? Is
he infallible now ? They are taught to say he is—they
are taught to say that his claim now is not what it was
then. It is what it was then ; and I have a very simple
proof, which will be satisfactory to educated minds at
least, and ought to be satisfactory to you, when the re-
ferences are pointed out, that the claims I have read are
by no means obsolete. I hold in my hand a number of
the work by the celebrated Ranke called " The Popes of
Rome." A translation of that professor's book is now
going forward is SCotlaPds and i§ seat Nrth to the public

in shilling numbers there have come out twelve
numbers ; and in the tenth, which I have now in my
hand, there are notes appended by the translator—very
valuable notes. In one of them he informs us—
" These principles are by no means obsolete or extinct. They
have boldly avowed and eloquently indicated in the nth cen-
tury by de Bonald, de Mastre, and other ultra montane writers
In France. The time for their open avowal in Britain and Ire-
land has not yet come. It would be tedious' says the Count
Montlosier, 'to name all the ultra-montane doctors; they
amount to above ahundred, almost all Jesuits. After this we
can understand on the one hand the furies of the League, and
the horrible assassinations to which it led, and on the other, the
just apprehensions of Louis the 14th and Lewis the Isth, and
the precautions which our magistrates may have taken to this
effect. At the present time can it be said that such apprehen-
sions are chimerical? Yes no doubt, and I hope so in se far as
respects corrying them into execution; but are not such doc-
trines embellished, as we have seen them in our day, with a
racy eloquence, sufficient to shake allegiance, and to produce,
sooner or later, violent commotions ? Thanks to a celebrated
writer, nothing is wanting to us in this way ; he gives us the
foimulas cut and dry. After a chapter in which he esta-
blishes the papal supremacy over temporal sovereigns, M.
the Count de Maistre, takes the trouble, for our greater
convenience to draw out himself the terms to he employed for
an act of deposition. In another chapter we find, The most
humble and respectful remonstrances of the states general of
the kingdom of —, met at to our holy father Pope
Pius 7th,' to the effect of deposing their sovereign. These re-
monstrances end as follows .—' It ist o you, most Holy Father,
as the representative of God upon the earth, that we address
our supplications, that you would deign to absolve us from an
oath of allegiance which attaches us to the royal family that
governs us, and to transfer to another family those rights which
the present possessor can no longer enjoy, but for his own infe-

Hedy and oars.",
Not one jot of the most arrogant claims ever put forward
by the most ambitious Pope has been given up by the
Popedom. It has been politic to refrain from asserting
the claim in open terms, but no part of the claim has ever
been authoritatively relinquished. They are ready at any
time when it shall seem politic to reassert it, to make that
reassertion. The way is now clearing for them in Eng-
land. It is no longer an offence, or will be no longer
when this bill becomes law, to make the assertion. I
should tell you that the excuse pleaded, as an argument
for the repeal of the statute, was, that the common law of
the realm is sufficient to guard the Queen's supremacy, and
that we do not require a statute for the purpose. I do
not suppose there are many of you much versed in the
law, but I may inform you concerning the common law of
the land that its practical safeguard depends upon tha con-
struction put upon it by the practising lawyers and the
presiding judges in our courts, and in the last resort by
that of the law lords, to whom the final appeal is made, in
the Upper House of Parliament. I need not inform you,
that in point of fact all these respectable functionaries
with the single exception of the Lord Chancellor, might,
in the present state of our laws, be Roman Catholics.
To their construction of the common law the question
might as a matter of law then be left. And what is a
law prohibiting an offence which enacts no penalty for the
commission of that offence ? You ought to be aware that
at common law, althongh lawyers may show vou cer-
tain acts are illegal—there are no stipulated penalties ; that
it depends on the mind of the judge after the verdict has
been given, and the act, whatever it is, is thus contrary
to the common law of the land. But without a statute
there is no penalty ; the penalty as I said is in the option of
the judge. It may be a day's imprisonment, or a year's ;
or banishment for life ; it may be a fine of Gd, or £20,000 ;
it is arbitrary. Hence we value our statutes because they
make the appeals to our courts of law definite. In this
statute the question is thrown open for argument ; full
claim of the Pope's supremacy is brought out in their
own canonists before you; a fair opportunity is thus
given for arguing this question ; and I ask, is it not
proper, is it not fitting, that you should have informa-
tion on the subject ? Is not the time come when
you ought to charge yourselves with procuring right
information on the subject? and is not the time come,
when your authorised pastors of the national esta-
blished church of the realm should feel it their duty
to give you information on this subject? and I would
respectfully appeal to my brother clergymen of the Estab-
lished Church, who may be of opinion that it is quite
right to repeal the statute, and I would call upon them—
of all ranks and degrees—our bishops, deans, archdeacons,
all in their respective places, as well as on the inferior
clergy, to put the memhers of the church now in pos-
session of the facts and arguments of this case, seeing that
the question is open, and the shelter of the statute no
longer afforded to Englishmen. (Cheers.) You have beard
the claim of the Bishop of Rome to pass uncontrollable
sentence upon kings and princes, because he has a power
that excels all the earthly power of kings and princes.
The question naturally arises, where did he get it? (A.
laugh.) Who gave it to him? (Hear.) The answer
readily is, he received it from the Lord Jesus Christ,
through t. Peter. But, unfortunately for the effect of
that answer, the king received his authority from the
same divine source. (Hear.) And one of the elements
of valuable instruction which I now desire to bring before
you to refresh some of your minds, to instruct others, is
upon this great question of the divine origin of civil go-
vernment. (Hear.) The divine origin of civil govern-
ment was felt to be very much in the way of the Pope's
claim to supremacy over princes at the time of the Re-
formation ; and therefore the Protestant reformers in-
sisted largely upon this truth of the divine origin of civil
rule. I think it highly probable that few, if any among
you have realised any doubt or difficulty about it.
Men reading their Bible could never entertain a doubt,
while men who desire to get rid of the authority of the
Bible, have invented theories of this matter, and you
ought to be apprised of them. I think lam performing
an important office in refreshing, as I said, some of your
minds, and instructing others on this great subject on the
divine origin of civil government. [The rev. gentleman
here entered into a scriptural argument, proving the divine
origin of civil government.] Civil role is then an ordi..
nance of God. This truth was felt to be a very
great hindrance in the way of the asserted supremacy
of. the Bishop of Rome ; for if the authority of the King
be derived from God, as truly as the authority of bishop,
upon what pretext could the bishop attempt to usurp
authority over the king ? If they both came from the
same source, how should one assume superiority over the
other. It is a remarkable fact in history, that this very
point was damaging the Popedom. The time had passed
when assertion, without some reason, or some show of
proof, could practically move the communities of Eu'rope.
They demanded a reason ; and if no authority had been
stated to decide many minds on the subject, the divine
object of civil rule, proved by the references, would
have been most fatal to the Popedom. It was to that
point among many others, but to that point chiefly,
that the then newly-started society of the Jesuits came to
the rescue. How came they to the rescue? Why, they
saw how this matter bore on the popedom, and they boldly
denied the divine authority of civil government. They
asserted that all civil rule was a mere compact of the na-
tion. They asserted the omnipotence of the people ; and
thus they made the omnipotence of the people to har-
monise with their views of the supremacy of the pope,
because they. said God did not appoint the pope at all, but
the people. God did appoint the bishop, and therefore
the bishop was paramount. This was their argument ; so
that, in point of fact, the Jesuits were—l will not say the
original inventors, for it may have been thought of before
—but as far as the modern history of Europe is concerned,
they were the re-introducers, if not the original inventors
of the supremacy of the Pope, and that civil rule could be
traced no higher than a compact between the people and
their rulers. This is illustrated in the history of Ranke
also. It had been for a long time the received opinion in
Europe; an opinion received without much examination
that the Roman Church was favourable to monarchical
government •, and that an opposition to the church was
akin to rebellion in the state, but at the time of the re-
formation it was found that this was a mistake ; it was
found that Romanism was favourably to monarchy only so

long as monarchy was favourable to Romanism, and that
where a monarch presumed to think for himself and to
differ from the Pope • the agents of Rome appealed to the
against the monarch% the stirred up his own vaysels
against him, and they represented him as well as them
as mere creatures of the supreme bishop; they preached
insubordination to them. deposition against him. This is
a very instructive part of the history of Europe, and you
ought to be in full possession of it. It is curious enough
to see how some our modern politicians, drawn aside by
the liberalism which asserts the supremacy of the people,
declaring all power proceeds from the people, rejecting,
as an exploded notion, the divine right of kings, snd ap-
pealing to the people as the source of all power. Here
these men are taken in the snare of the Jesuits, and lend-
ing themselves to remove the statute against the supre-
macy of the Pope. [The rev. gentleman then showed
from Scripture that the supremacy claimed by the Bishop
of Rome over the other bishops had no true founda-
tion.] I must now, he proceeeded, call upon some
of my rev. friends to follow up these arguments, and give
you farther instruction, reminding them that the
time of authority is past, and the time for argument is
come; and I must remind you that it will not answer the
purpose merely to manifest your zeal at meetings of this
kind, but you must exercise your understandings to give a
reason for the hope that is within you. Let me tell you that
there are many of the emissaries of Romanism ready for this
line of argument; they have been preparing and drilling the
disputants, and now that the restriction in the way of dis-
pute is-removed by the statute being repealed, they have
their controversialists ready. If the field be open far ar-
gument, and if those upon one side are prepared, and
those upon the other side are not prepared, what must
the end be ? Are we afraid of argument ? (Loud
cries of " No, no, no.") No, but I will tell you
what we are afraid of. We are afraid of ignorance ; lam
afraid of your ignorance, and I am afraid of the ignorance
of my reverend brethren in the church—of the ignorance
of dissenting ministers; I am afraid of the ignorance of
Protestants in general—that they have not been studying
the subject as they should do, and that they are not pre-
pared for the argument, and they do not know what their
adversaries are pledged to do, and that they are gulled by
what their authors choose to say. Do you think that the
emissaries of Romanism are fools enough to tell at once
the real objects they have in view ? (Hear, hear.)
No. The fact is, they have, too much to hope
from the ignorance of Protestant governments to tell
their meaning all at once. (Cheers.) The rev. gentleman
closed a speech of more than an hour's duration, which
was listened to throughout with great applause, by ad-
dressing a few words of exhortation to the operative por-
tion of his audience.

The Rev. H. CARPENTER apologised for the absence
of the Rev. Messrs. James and Parry, and read a letter
from the Rev. J. B. Owen, whose name was mentioned
in the placards calling the meeting, and who was pre-,
vented attending by an engagement in Leicestershire,
which was received with loud applause. He then said
that he was happy to have it in his power to make a state-
ment relative to the concluding remarks of the chairman,
which he was sure would be as gratifying to his reverend
brother as it was to himself, and that was that he (Mr.
Carpenter) could, from bis own personal knowledge,
testify that man-; In that room were well acquainted with
the articles 01 Church of England—(loud cbeers)—and be
trusted tr.,any more, who were unknown to him. (Ap-
plause, The principal And most diatinguishipg feature

June 2, MM.

of the present day was religious activity; every form of
religion, true and false, had seemed to have acquired.a fresh
impulse ; and it was astonishing the amount of money and
zeal now employed in the cause of religion beyond what
was employed 50 years ago. For his own part, he did
not fear the activity of false religionists, if the Protestants
would be true to themselves and to their religion ; for he
did not like cold, inert, good-for-nothing Protestants.
(Loud applause.) It was necessary they should bestir
themselves, for their enemies were many and active. The
chairman bad told them that the period of argument was
comet and he (Mr. Carpenter) had been lately in Ireland,
and be had been struck with astonishment at the number
of argumentative books published by the Romanists.—
Mr. Carpenter then proceeded to read extracts from at
twopenny weekly issue, called " Cheap Volumes of Ca-
tholic Divinity," under the sanction of the present Pope
of Rome. The number he quoted related to the rosary,
and he exhibited one which had been blessed by the Pope,
and had belonged to a converted Papist ; and explained
its decades, hail Marys, &c., to the audience, and nar-
rated many extraordinary fables propagated among the
Romanists as true stories, respecting various miracles
performed by the Virgin Mary by those who bad shown
great zeal :n honouring her by the use of the rosary.
Atter an allusion to St. Dominick, the fosnder of the
order of preachers, an order which he in his ignorance
had imagined was founded by our blessed Lordhimself, he
remarked, amid loud applause, that he would confidently
show their chairman against the best of the seas of St.
Dominick ; he concluded by a long statement of recent
persecutions in the Dingle, and in other portions.of the
sister kingdom.
The REV. T. NOLAN, in an admirable speech. which we
we are obliged to omit, in consequence of the late
hour at which it was delivered, impressed upon the au-
dience the necessity of their being well versed in the prin-
ciples of their own true faith, in order that they might, the'
more effectually be enabled to unmask and defeat the in--
sidious attempts made by:the Romish hierarchy to seize on
the bright gospel diadem of England. The rev. gentle-
man's excellent address was received with loud cheers
throughout.
The Rev. Mr. CUTHBERT, who was received with loud
cheers, next addressed the meeting. He powerfully urged
upon the assemblage to follow up the glorious principles
of Protestantism, for to be a Protestant was synonymous
with being a good Christian. Let them not be dismayed
at the dangers that surrounded them ; for notwithstand•
ing the wiles of Rome, if they but knew their Bibles well,
not all her subtle contrivances could beat them from the
rock of their salvation.
The CHAIRMAN, in an emphatic concluding address,
said their duties as Protestants had that night been set
before them ' • and they ought to endeavour to hand down
the spiritual blessings they enjoyed to their children. He
combated the idea entertained by many even educated
Protestants, who though t there was nothing in concessions
made to Popery, and that nothing was now'to be feared
from it. Romanism was unchanged and unchangable.
Many of the Dissenters said that if the union of the
church and state were abrogated, true religion would
flourish; but if the Dissenters (as he showed by a variety
of excellent arguments) had the power, they would,
if the monarch was favorable to them, also seek to be
supported by the state. This, he illustrated by the fact,
that, when the Queen of Tabeite became, through the
Dissenting missionaries that visited her kingdoin, of their
religion, and asked one of them what she should do, the
reply immediately was, oh ! establish the church by -all
means. After a fervent exhortation to those before him
to discharge their duties as Christians and as men ; to be
thankful that they were in work; to keep their tempers
under contradiction, to do their duty, and daily to pray, to
God. he concluded by pronouncing a blessing, and the
meeting broke up.

On Saturday the London and York scripholders agreed
;o proceed with the bill.

Earl Fitzwilliam, through his agent, has caused £lOOO
worth of potatoe-seed to be distributed amongst his te-
nantry in Wicklow.

J. C. Colquhoun, Esq., M.P., has announced, in an
address to the electors, that be does not intend to offer
himself again for Newcastle-under-Lyme.
The Court of Exchequer was occupied on Saturday'
with the arguments cn the rule for a nonsuit in the cele-
brated railway case of Walstab v. Spottiswood. The
court took time to consider.

Ibrahim Pacha will leave Paris on Wednesday, (to-
morrow,) for the Chateau d'Eu, from whence, it is said,
he will cross to Portsmouth on the following day, en
route to London.

A St. Petersburgh letter, in the German Journal of
Frankfort, mentions a report that Prince Albert .will, on
the occasion of the marriage of the Grand Duchess Olga,
return the visit which the Emperor of Russia paid to
Queen Victoria, her Majesty being unable to do so in
person.

Prince Napoleon Louis Bonaparte arrived in England
on the 26th ult., the day after his escape from Ham. We
learn that the Prince has written a letter to Sir R. Peel,
and one to Count St. Aulaire, the French Ambassador.
In the latterhe states that " in quitting his prison he was
not actuated by any idea of renewing against the French
Government a war which has been most disastrous to
him, but only to be enabled to go to his aged father."
In the Vice-Chancellor's Court, on Saturday, a motion
was heard to dissolve an injunction granted in May last,
restraining the Birkenhead Dock Company from throwing
a pile bridge across Wallasey Pool, whereby the property
of the plaintiff (Mr. Bibby, of the Seacombe Copper Roll-
ing Mills) was injured through his vessels not havinX
sufficient room to navigate the stream, in consequence 0
its being narrowed by the erection of the bridge. The
arguments were not concluded.
SWINDLING.—A genteel person, calling himself "
Wyndham," contrived last week to defraud several per-
sons at slough, Windsor, uml Eton, by false cheques. HO
plans were well laid, but he does not appear to have reaped
a larger harvest than about £3O. He began by paying into
a Windsor bank a cheque on a London house, to a consi-
derable amount, and thus obtained a cheque book from
the local bankers, and was thus enabled to effect his pue-
pose before the news of the dishonoured draft reached
Windsor.
CONVERTS TO PROTESTANTISM.—On Sunday last,
(Whitsunday,) q most interesting scene took
place in the
French Protestant church in St Martin's-le.grand, Lon-
don, where two (formerly) Roman Catholic ladies, finely
convinced of the truth of the Protestant faith, and con-
verted under the instruction of the ministers of the churchr
presented themselves for the purpose of publicly renounc:'
ing the errors and superstitions of the Church of Rome'
and rejecting the delusions of Popery, to embrace the re'
ligion of Christ. On the conclusion of the sermon the
now Protestant believers partook with the rest of the Cell:
gregation, of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's SupPe'i
thus solemnly and eternally abjuring the unscriptural se
heretical creed which they had formerly professed. Sie°,6
the opening of the new church' n St. Martin's-le-graeo,
three years ago, no less than six persons have been the
converted from Popery to Protestantism.
THE CORN BILL IN COMMITTEE.—The on dit in V.Tisi
don, with respect to the probable fate of the minister; t
measure in the Lords' Committee, is, that an amendoril;
will be moved, substituting for the decreasing slill3to
scale a permanent duty df 4s. per quarter to come iitlhe
operation immediately. It will be remembered; that d. 4
second reading was carried by a majority of 47, including
proxies, the majority of peers present being- enlY of
This majority, it is thought, will be diminished in °sive
such a compromise being proposed in committee. , it
have, however, little faith in the rumour,
comes to us from good authority. Few of be
anent
would be inclined to rush to a dissolution of parliarn
and its consequent turbulent excitement for so paltrY
object as a four shilling duty; and Lord Stanley Ivo::
assuredly not be the statesman to head such a movernff
The proper and constitutional course, of referring
whole question to the people, having been omitted by !0",;
peers, they will scarcely right themselves in public °pull
by the adoption of the poor substitute proposed.
OUR FREE TRADE POLICY EXAMINED, By A
although
VERPOOL MERCHANT.—We noticed recently with,
probation, in two successive publications of the Sfantiliree
a vamphlet under this title, in which the effect 01 t
4,
ministerial policy upon the national industry, andeslod
cially upon Colonial industry, was ably canyassed2jor
the views of the writer supported by an overwheir„e9o
mass of statistical facts and calculations, the corral: foe
of which we have never seen impugned. We have tter
observed the pamphlet in question noticed most 000;
ingly by several of our contemporaries ; and, after goo:
,
through the debates upon this measure in both 103
as we do in the performance of our ordinary dutkle';ll
impossible to avoid noticing the weight which it Ps-yor,,
with a considerable number of the speakers., ir
George Bentinck on three occasions has quoted if,clo
°
f
pages and its figures, complimenting its author ; and ,
though not decidedly referring to it, the able sPeof o'4
Lord Stanley was upon all fours with the views tietic
tional policy which it contains, and many of his stBoritie.,
:r
facts appeared to be derived from the same all,.t“cliet4
and to have impressed‘his lordship's mind wit,'
thor's conclusions. st
On Friday the African Roscius takes his benefit
Theatre Royal.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.
AO
MONDAY, Jux,...‘ I.—Wind S.E. AD-
ARRIVED.—AdoIphus Yates, Ohier,fram Leghorn-- el!'
from Newry. Stgor
SAILED.—IrIam, Morphew, for Havana—Molt:oli
Cushing, for New Orleans—Arab, Gardner, and Itrtl
son, for Riga—and Priscilla, Taylor. for Pernamboc%joni.s4
VESSELS SPOKBN.—WeiCOMe, from Amherest jo Ist,-
.Tan. in lat. 4 N, 10ng.87 E Bucephalus, 3rd fetarata'ditt,"
long. 86 E ; Georgetown, from Calcutta to De tta tato Slfc;
March, in let. 31 S, long. 33 E; Aurora, from Calcfoce,atio4.
15th March, in lat. 32 S, long. 34 E ; Canoptls,,,
16th April, in lat. 2 N, long. 20 W; Theodore, CV.' 1,0"'4,
Amsterdam, 3rd May, in lat. 39 N. long. 34 rl'iialsr°'
outward bound, in lat. 4,7, long. 16, by the Robe!'

ler
105 aal
LIVERPOOL CATTLE MARKS-1,
The supply of Beast at our market to-day /2 ~ ;0 an out
than of late. We 'nave had a fair average of S""-eronl
Beef met with dull sale, at a shade of advance., price'
prices. The Melton trade was dull at a decline sd.
53d to bid per lb. ; Mutton 7d to 70; Lamb 7d t°

----_____--------------1,
1 POTATO At"'<sl.l
1846.

lERPOOL HAY ANI .. 6'
311N13 1, _ s. si•
Ii
s. d. :i
Hay, old 2011, .. 0 d.
7 @s. 0 9} PotatoeS, 4, 9'11'.9 g ' 3 0
Clover
- '
0 24 Cups •• •
0 0— 0 o i KemPo 3 ° -....
4 5
Vetches o l}— 0 2 Short TOPS'. 3 9
.5 4
Grass .
Straw, Wheat o 3 0 t (')
Pink Eyes. •• • 0 0
'"- g
0 0
Oat
0 3 0 3i Cattle •** ten 22 ~ ~.
Barley
.. 6 v
Carrots

LIVERPOOL : .° tg
TUESDAY, JUNE H' ED 1,--"
TUESDAY,PRINTED AND PUBLISH o
nlp
TUESDAY
SY _ a."—
J (r3HUA FLETCHER LACE, of 53. Gravy- :I:.et,
LEONARD ADDISON, of 14, Great Orford-su.
At No. 4, ikr. Glsonsx's cassava-10411°

EVER,y

EH ATRE-ROYAL, WILLIAMSON-SQUARE

'Untlerlhe Management of Mr. Mercer H. Simpson.

It is requested that all demands upon the Theatre may be sent
in iminedirrtely.
Last Night hut Four of the AFRICAN ROSCIUS.
FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR. G. COOKE, Boxkeeper.
HIS present TUESDAY EVENING, the 26th inst.,
be presented the Tragedy of

HAMLET.
Mr. Creswick. I Polonius .... Mr. Addison.
To conclude with
FATHER AND SON.
Antoine By the African Roscius.
TO-MORROW, (Wednesday,) will be presented the Tragic
Spectacle tof THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS, founded on Lord
Byron's Poem-of the same name, Dramatised by W. Dimond,
Esq., and acted at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-lane, with im-
mense success. To conclude with a DRAT A. in which the
African Roscius will perform.
On THURSDAY, a PLAY, and other ENTERTAINMENTS,
in which the African Roscius will appear.
On FRIDAY, OTHELLO and 081, for the BENEFIT of the
AFRICAN ROSCIUS,
On SATURDAY, the Last Night of the African Roscius.
On MONDAY, the celebrated Tragedian, Mr. ANDERSON,
of the Theatres-Royal, Drury-lane and Covent-garden, will ap-
pear in Schiller's Romantic Play of THE ROBBERS. To
conclude ~with the Last Two Acts of GUY MANNERING.
Meg Merrilies, Mr. Addison.
Stage Manager, Mr. ADDISON.

Hanllet