The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

THE IRISH STATE TRIALS.

The Attorney-General having on Saturday concluded
Ais reply Jo the arguments of the Traversers'
Counsel for a new trial, the judgement of the court,
which it was expected would be pronounced yester-
day, is of course looked for with great anxiety.
We have made arrangements for publishing an early
Second Edition, which we expect will be ready by
Eight o'clock, giving the whole proceedings in
court yesterday.

Ebr iibirpool Aianbarb.

TUESDAY MORAING, MAY 7, 1844.

We have the painful duty of announcing the
sudden and unexpected death of the lion. R. Bootle
Wilbraham, M P. for the southern division of this
county, some particulars of which will be found in
another column. An able and an estimable man,
a sound Conservative and Churchman, and a zealous
and faithful representative, has gone from amongst
us; and we may go far, perhaps, before we find one
worthy, in private life or in public, to fill his place.

In Parliament Mr. Wilbraham never was distin-
guished, or sought to be distinguished, as a speaker;
but his usefulness was perhaps not the less on that
account. His parliamentary attendance was con-
stant ; and his vote, in support of the great inte-
rests of Conservatism, always to be depended upon.
It was in furthering the private business of his
constituents, however, that his value as a represen-
tative of this important district was most conspi-
cuous. From his place in private committees he
was rarely,absent, and always unwearied in his devo-
tion of time, and talent of no common order, to the
interests of this county. To those who have ever
had to wait upon him as members -of deputations,
or who have watched his career, no words of ours
are necessary to exalt his merits or to extol his un-
varying affability and kindness, which will be ac-
knowledged equally by men of every political party.

By this lamented event, a vacancy will occur in
the representation of South Lancashire; and so
short may be the interval allowed between the
present time and an election, that we are compelled,
against our feelings, to take this opportunity of
urging upon our Conservative friends the necessity
of prompt and vigorous steps to prevent even the
possibility of a radical being foisted into the seat.
The League, they may depend upon it, will fight
hard for victory in this central seat of their agitation.
There will be no lethargy on their side—no hesita-
tion to dip deeply into the stock purse, or, if neces-
sary, into the long pockets of its influential mem-
bers. conservatives must, therefore, be up and
doing. A VIGOROUS PULL; and, despite of faction
and League gold, there is loyalty and intelligence in
South Lancashire sufficient to defeat their efforts,
and seat as its representative A SOUND CONSER-
VATIVE.

We are informed that a candidate will be
promptly before the constituency, whose eminent
knowledge of commercial and agricultural affairs
will invite all Conservatives in the effort to secure
hie return. Let the electors KEEP THEMSELVES
UNFLEDGED, BE ACTIVE AND VIGILANT, AND
LANCASHIRE'S CONSERVATIVE REPRESENTA-
TION IS STILL UNBROKEN !

We refrained at first from entering our protest
against the principle of the bill now before Parlia-
ment, entitled " the Dissenters' Chapels' Bill," be-
cause we never conceived it possible that such a
measure, so repugnant to churchmen and to the
mass of protestant dissenters throughout the king-
dom, could have been seriously entertained by a
Conservative government, or had the slightest chance
of receiving the sanction of the House in which it
has originated. That bill has, however, been brought
forward, with the whole weight of government in-
fluence to support it, and the eloquence and talent
of the Lord Chancellor to urge it forward; and
having already been committed without a division,
there exists now no moral doubt of its passing the
upper house, and scarcely any, we fear, of its pass-
ing into a law. Against such a consummation, late
though it may be, and hopeless its results, we feel
bound to enter our protest and that of every Pro-
testant, of whatever denomination, and however
differing in non-essential forms. We protest against
it, as a sop thrown to appease the cravings of infidelity,
and as a measure alike unjust and impolitic.
What is it that this bill proposes to effect ? Pious
trinitarian dissenters, in tunes past, have devised
money, and in times to come will doubtless continue
so to devise, for the endowment of chapels, meeting-
houses, schools, &c., in which religious instruction
is to be imparted in the tenets of the various
founders, such tenets being recognized and toler-
ated by law. A large number of these endowments
have, in process of time, passed into the hands of
parties holding other opinions than those of the
founders—opinions which those founders held in
abhorrence. Some hundreds of such endowments
are at this moment held by unitarians—the property
of pious believers in the Trinity perverted to the use
of a sect which denies the divinity of the Saviour l—
and upon an appeal to the law, as in the case raised
respecting the disposal of Lady Hewley's property,
it has been decided that such disposal must be in
accordance with the intention, so far as it is
discoverable, of the parties endowing. Against the
carrying into execution of the salutary principle
contained in such decision, the provisions of Lord
Lyndhurst's bill oppose themselves. To prevent
litigation, forsooth, we are not to ask whether wrong
has been committed—whether property, left for the
maintainance of places of worship in which the
religion of the Bible shall be taught, has been per-
verted from its original uses to provide for the
teaching of Socinian or Infidel doctrines—but to
ask only "is such wrongful perversion of thirty years
standing ? " And, if so, we are to give the sanction
of the law to that perversion ! We are to legalize
robbery, if the authors of such robbery have been
for thirty years in possession of its fruits ! We are
to go entirely upon prescription; to leave out of view
the most material consideration, viz :—whether a
charitable request is being used in consonance
with the intention of the party bequeathing, or for
the furtheiance of religion and morality, and
consider only whether the perversion of such be-
quest to purposes beyond, and perhaps totally op-
posed and repugnant to his principles and wishes,
has been sanctioned by thirty years of blind tolera-
tion on the part of those for whose use it was origi-
nally designed, or of fraud on the part of those
seeking its wrongful enjoyment.
We will not go at any length into a consideration
of the clever anti plausible, although we regret that
we must add Jesuitical, arguments by which this
monstrous principle is defended by Lord Lyndhurst.
There are some three hundred cases, in which be-
quests, for the use of Trinitarian dissenters, have
been appropriated by Unitarians, and in which ac-
tions are threatened; and to prevent expensive liti-

gation, by which the amount of these various be-
quests may possibly be eaten up, Lord Lyndhurst
would confirm such amount in the hands of its pre-
sent wrongful owners ! We care not, however, for
this expediency view of the question. We ask what
must be the result of such a measure as this, not
only with respect to existing rights but to the deter-
mination of future bequests of a similar character.
How are we to be assured that property left for
religious purposes may not, under such a state of
the law, come to be applied for the spread of Social-
ism and other forms of infidelity ? You have only
to go through the successive stages, from Trinitari-
anism to Arianism, and from Socinianism to utter
infidelity, with sufficient caution to excite no un-
timely alarm on behalf of the parties who might
claim as the, representatives of the parties originally
meant to be benefitted, or whose principles were to

be inculcated at the expense of the foundation, to

gain for any set of theorists, or enthusiasts, or worse,
a legitimate and well-established title to such pro-
perty.

And how does this bill provide against excessive
litigation ? Why, in fact it offers a daily stimulus

to such litigation. Under such a measure there
must be, amongst those enjoying such bequests, as
the Bishop of London assumed with great justice,
a continual watchfulness of every expression dropped
by preachers, which might he construed into erro-
neous doctrine—a continual jealousy lest forbear-
ance might lead to the ultimate establishment of
such error. And hence continual litigation, and
that of the most perplexing and expensive kind;
viz., litigation to decide doctrinal points. There
could be no peace under such a measure, which was
not accompanied by utter insecurity of justice.
But the most painful feature connected with this

measure remains to be considered. What are we

to consider of a government which, for a mere
purpose of expediency, is thus willing to barter,
not only justice—not only equity—but PRINCIPLE;
which is content to hand over some hundreds of
religious foundations, established for the propaga-

tion of the pure faith of the Gospel, to the hands of
men hostile to Christianity, and denying the God-
head of the Redeemer ? What security can there
be for the Church itself—what security can there be
for Protestantism, or for a Protestant Monarchy—
under such a government ? Alas—alas ! We are
fallen upon strange times !
Now, what is the duty of English Protestants—
of English Churchmen—with respect to this bill ?
It is true the question involved affects only, or most
materially, the Protestant Dissenters of the empire,
a portion of whom, the Calvanistic Independents,
a correspondent of the London limes declared the
other day were a less estimable religious body than
the Unitarians themselves! But is there no prin-
ciple at stake here, in defence of which Churchmen
ought to rally side by side with their Protestant,
though dissenting, brethren ? There is, and a great
principle, too. We have to decide whether the
law is to give its direct sanction, in this case of the
dissenters, to the appropriation of funds, devised for
religious uses, to the diffusion of irreligion and in-
fidelity ; and, the first step permitted to be taken,
who can say where it may stop—whether it may
not in time violate the sanctity of the Established
Church itself?

We have given elsewhere our opinions upon the
subject, which is just now causing such a ferment
amongst the magistrates and the members of the
Watch Committee; and should certainly not have
noticed it in these columns had we not deemed it
necessary to correct the statements in some remarks
which appeared in a Conservative contemporary of
Wednesday last, and which misrepresent the ques-

tion now before the public and the authorities. In
performing this duty we of course acquit the Courier
of any wilful perversion of facts.
The following are the remarks to which we
allude, and which occur in an article defensive of
the conduct of the magistrates, and especially of
the Mayor and the Stipendiary, in the case of the
recent movement upon the subject of Orangeism
in the police force :

" A question which is likely to excite some attention
has just arisen out of the following circumstances. The
Rev. Mr. Parker, one of the Roman Catholic priests in
this town, complained, it avpears, to the municipal
authorities that on the occasion of the last Orange pro-
cession certain members of the force, who are also mem-
bers of Orange societies, stopped before his houve, and
gave vent to their feelings in opprobrious and offensive
language."

Now had anything of the nature, here said to
have been complained of by Priest Parker, in
reality occurred, we should have at once acknow-
ledged that the prompt expulsion of the offending
parties from the police force was loudly called for.
But no such thing ever did occur. No such thing
has ever been said to have occurred. There has
been no " last" or first " Orange procession" in
this town ; and no procession in which " certain
members of THE FORCE, who are also members of
Orange societies, stopped before Mr. Parker's house
and gave vent to their feelings in opprobrious and
offensive language." It has never been attempted
by any other journal, however rabidly opposed to
Orangeism, to impute such outrageous conduct to
the persecuted Orange members of the police
force ; and it is rather an unkind cut that the first
utterance of such a charge should come from a
Conservative and friendly organ.
In his anxiety to defend the purity of motive
which has actuated the Mayor in this business—
and which has never been impugned—our contem-
porary goes on to argue the whole question ; and
although we commenced with an intention only to
deal with the Courier's facts, we cannot resist no-
ticing such puerilities as the following :

" Now, apart from the animus which may have led to
these proceedings—and in that animus we are sure our
excellent Chief Magistrate has not participated—we do
not see much to find fault with in it. Connexion with
an Orange society on the one side, or with a Ribbon
society on the other, is universally recognised as a mark
of strong religious and political opinion. And the
character,of a partisan is obviously inconsistent with the
duties of a policeman. The mere presence of an Orange
policeman among a body of Irish Roman Catholics would
be calculated to excite disturbance rather than to preserve
the peace, as would the presence of a Ribbon policeman
among a body of Orangemen. To require that they
should belong to neither body is therefore only to exact
from them that degree of neutrality which is necessary to
the efficient discharge of their duties. It is not, as we
judge, any interference with either political or religious
liberty."

We must protest, in the first instance, against
the parallelism assumed throughout these proceedings
between an Orange society and a Ribbon society.
The former may be, as the Courier styles it, a so-
ciety of men holding "strong religious and political
opinions;" the latter is a society banded together
for the purposes of murder and midnight outrage.
Orangemen contain amongst their body men of
rank and property, and are more than tolerated by
those who are not members of their body ; but who
ever heard of a respectable Ribbonman ? who ever
heard of a man that dared to confess himself a
Ribbonman ? Why so atrocious is the character
and practices of this society that it is denounced,
and sought to be put down, by the most furious of
the agitators and the most bigotted of the priesthood
of the land in which it holds its secret and blood-
thirsty orgies ; and our contemporary,
who is
quickwitted enough in ordinary, might surely have
seen that, in the ban sought to be directed against
Orangeism, the name of Ribbonism was only asso-
ciated to draw down upon loyal men, holding,

mayhap, " strong religious and political opinions,"
a portion of the execration which is due to men
combined together, as are Ribbonmen, for purposes
of treason and outrage.
But the Courier goes on to inform us that " the
mere presence of an Orange policeman among a body
of Irish Roman Catholics would be calculated to ex-
cite disturbance, rather than to preserve the peace, as
would the presence of a Ribbon policeman among a
body of Orangemen"—a discovery which of course
goes upon the assumption that neither can go
amongst a body of friends or opponents without
proclaiming his Orange or Ribbon membership;
and he deduces from such premises the conclusion
that " to require that they (policemen in general)
should belong to neither body is therefore only to
exact from them that degree of neutrality which is
necessary to the efficient discharge of their duties."
Really, really, this is sad twaddle; and we hope, for
the credit of the magistracy, that they have some
better ground for their proceedings than any that
the Courier suggests. The presence of a Connaught
member of the force in a Connaught and Munster
faction fight, would be calculated to increase the
row rather than veil it, as the Connaughtman's
trunchion might possibly, by a kind of instinct, dis-
charge itself exclusively against Munster craniums,
Vice versa' of a Munster member of the same force.
Again, the men of the " black north," it is well
known, are not in very good odour with the " ille-
gant" peasantry of the south; Repealers, and even
Roman Catholics, are not upon very excellent terms
with loyal Protestants—(by the bye, we have not
heard a word in this matter upon the eligibility or
non-eligibility of men who have been art and part
in the offences for which Daniel O'Connell and his
co-conspirators have been convicted by a jury of
their countrymen !) Any of these opponent classes
coming in collision, the one armed with authority
and the other riotous and disorderly, might not lead
to very pacific results; and we must therefore come
to the conclusion, inevitable upon the Courier's pre-
mises, that Irishmen, of whatever creed or shade of
politics, should be declared incapacited for the
"efficient discharge" of police duties !
It is singular that we never heard a word of this
police philosophy until now. It is more singular
still to find a Conservative organ first broaching the
doctrine of religious or political disability. Bye
and bye, and to be consistent, we must go the whole
length of maintaining that policemen ought to be
men of no religion and no principles; and some
philosopher may in time solve all our difficulties by
the construction of a steam automaton police—pro-
bably cast-iron ones, to save the wear and tear of
clothing, as they could be kept clean and tidy with
the aid of a coat of paint once a year. Why not
cast-iron policemen as easily as cast-iron clergymen,
(of whom we have heard) in an age so fertile in in-
vention as the present ?

THE FUNDS : SATURDAY NIGHT.—The English se-
curities continue fiat, and the business of the market was
necessarily limited in consequence of the early hour of
closing the market on Saturdays. Consols for money
and the amount left off 99+ to I Three per Cents. Re-
duced, 981 to ; Three-and-a-Half per Cents. Reduced,
101+ to 4; New Three-and-a-Half per Cents., 1024 ; Long
Annuities, 12 7-16th ' • Bank Stock. 194 to 196 ; India
Stock, 286 to 288 ; and Exchequer-bills, 75 to 77 premium.
In the foreign market there was no great change, as the
general state of quotations will show. Spanish Three
per Cents. left off 35 to 4; the Five per Cents., 244 to I ;
Danish, 88 to 83 ; Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents., 61
to 4; the Five per Cents., 100+ to + ; Mexican, 354 to 4;
the Deferred, 154 to 4; Peruvian, 29 to 30; Portuguese
Converted, 444 to 454 ; Buenos Ayres, 35 to 37 ; Chilian,
102 to 104 ; Colombian, 14+ to 15 ; Brazilian, 80 to 81;
and Belgian, 1014 to 1024.
THE ORANGEMEN.—The following letter, dated 26th
ult., from the District Master of the Loyal Orangemen to
James Aspinall, Esq., was read at the last meeting of the
Council :—" In answer to your further inquiry of yester-
day, I beg to state, the procession on Easter Monday was
not an Orange procession, as such are diametrically op-
posed to our rules, and would not be countenanced by
the authorities of our body. I find there was one Orange-
man in that procession. who has since then been suspended
by the order for taking any part therein."

Our readers may have seen or heard of a paragraph,
which appeared in some Tractarian publication, stating
that the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel had written a letter
to the students of St. David's College, with' a view to
induce them to withdraw from the Established Church.
Although we differ from this estimable clergyman on some
points, we could scarcely bring ourselves to believe that
this statement, though put forth with so much confidence,
was correct. On enquiry we are happy to announce, that
the whole story is a fabrication from beginning to end.
.lad such a project ever been entertained by any one,
Mr. Noel, we ate authorized to state, would have given
the weight of his influence to oppose it.
THE WEATHER, during the past week, has again been
clear, sunny, and delightful ; and the country is rapidly
assuming her verdant summer garb, The field crops in
this neighbourhood generally, indeed almost universally,
appear to be most healthy and promising, but the long
drought has retarded the " bulk " of foliage that would
otherwise have appeared. The grass and wheat are never-
theless becoming thick on the ground, and a day or two's
mild rain would do wonders both on farms and gardens—
in which last there is a fine show of fruit blossom, which
it is not likely will now be injured by night frosts. The
barometer has frequently fallen a little, now and then,
during the last ten days, but has almost as rapidly risen
to about " set fair." There is, however, at the time of
our writing (yesterday evening) a gathering of clouds that
portend a seasonable and desirable downfall.

THE POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.-At the last monthly
meeting of this society, Mr. D. Waldie read the first part
of a most able paper on " Flame, and its practical relation
to light, heat, and smoke, with especial reference to the
combustion of coal," which he illustrated by diagrams
and tables, to the great satisfaction of his audience. The
second and concluding part of his subject will be sub-
mitted to the members aiad visitors on Tuesday next, and
in our publication of that day week we shall endeavour to
supply an abstract or condensation of the whole. Our
scientific readers who have not yet attended these meet-
ings would, we feel assured, be much gratified by a visit,
and any member has the privilege of introducing a stranger.
The object of the society is to promote the advancement
of new inventions, discoveries, and improvements, in
every branch of practical science, and especially to elicit
native talent.

DEATH OF THE HON. R. B. WILBRAHAM, M.P.—
It is with regret we have to announce the death of the
.hove hon. gentleman, whoexpired on Sunday afternoon
at 5 minutes to 1 o'clock, at Lord Skelmersdale's, in
Portland-place, London. We understand that the de -1
ceased had been unwell for some days previous ; but'
nis illness was considered merely an attack of influenza,
arid, consequently, not the least danger was appre-

vended either by his medical attendants or relatives.
rhe deceased was the eldvst son of Lord Skelmersdale

►nd brother of Lady Stanley. He was born the 27th'
Octo er, 1801, and married the 22d of May, 1832,1
kliss Jessey Brooke, third daughter of Sir Richard
Brooke, Bart., by whom he leaves several children.
Lord Skelwersdale, Lord and Lady Stanley, Lord Al-
anley, Mr. T. and Lady Charlotte Egerton, and other
families of rank are placed in mourning by the demise,
mf the hon. gentleman. In 1835 he was returned to the
House of Commons for South Lancashire, which county
►e bas successively represented in Parliament, in con-
junction with Lord Francis Egerton, to the time of his,
.amented decease.

THE STATE PROSECUTIONS.—What is to follow the
judgment of the Court in the now pending application for
a new trial, remains a profound mystery, save to the con-
spirators and their agents. And it must go very hard
indeed with these enterprising gentlemen, supposing that
the present motion goes against them—an event not very
improbable—if in the chapter of accidents something do
not turn up that may help to ward off until next term at
least the long-protracted sentence of the court. The
Evening Mail says, in reference to proceedings infuturo—
"As it is understood that the Court has not been in the
least shaken in its original decisions by the speeches (for
the case was not arguable) delivered by counsel, and as,
therefore, no time for deliberation would be necessary,
judgment might be pronounced on Monday, and final
sentence passed on Tuesday. And so they would, were
this an ordinary case, and any person other than Mr.
O'Connell the convicted party. But there is now a threat
of a motion in arrest of judgment—one that will doubt-
less be carried into effect--and a boast—that of course
will he attempted to be realiv.d--of the argument upon
that point occupying the entire of next term, as that for
the hew trial consumed the whole of:this. The judges
of the Queen's Bench are conservators of t:republic peace.
They are also trustees of the public time ; and it is
their duty to prevent the whole business of the whole
country remainirg at a standstill, and the interests
of suitors being destroyed, while lawyers are paid,
and not by the validity, but by the length of their argu-
ments—the rent-chest of the Corn-exchange being the
exchequer whence their fees are drawn. One of the
peculiar provinces of their lordships is to prevent the ad-
ministration of the law and the dispensation of justice
from being brought into ' ridicule or contempt.'
We beg to call attention to the advertisement of the
Church Missionary Society.—We are happy to learn that
the meetings on the occasion of the approaching anniver-
sary will be held in the Collegiate Institution.