The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-09-26 00:00:00

THE LATE PERVERSION AT LEEDS.

We gave last week an article from the Morning Herald
which copied some statements from a recent sermon,
preadhed by , Dr. Hook, condemnatory of the Rev. J.
Jephson. one of his curates. The following reply, ad-
dressed by Mr. Jephson to the Churchwardens of Leeds,
certainly places the matter in a more favourable light as
regards the writer, but leaves Dr. Hook in rather an un-
enviable position :

" Birmingham, Sept. 15, 1848.
" Gentlemen—l have this day received a sermon pub-
lished by Dr. Hook, with a preface addressed to you, in
which he says, You will judge, gentlemen, of the sur-
prise which 1 experienced when I received information
last week, that Mr. and Mrs. Jephson had been received
into the Church of Rome, not on their quitting Leeds in
August, 1848, but in the year 1846, before his coming to
Leeds ; even then, while professing himself to be a decided
Anglican, he was actually a member of the apostate
Church of Rome.' _ _

" This statement, from whatever source Dr. Hook re-
ceived it, is simply untrue. Neither I nor my family be-
came Catholics till the 9th of August last, when we had
the happiness of being received into the Church of Bir-
mingham.
A paragraph did appear in the Church and State Ga-
zette in the year 1846, to the effect that I had acknow-
ledged the supreinacy of St. Peter's successor; this I im-
mediately contradicted, as I had not then gone further
than to be, as Dr. Hook expresses it, unsettled ;' and so
completely was the Bishop of the Diocese satisfied, that I
continued to hold my curacy, and finally resigned it of my
own free will, for the purpose of coming to Leeds, or
some other place where I expected to find the Anglican
system carried out thoroughly. The editors of the Ca-
tholic Directory' probably' copied from the Protestant
papers, the accuracy of whose information they had no
reason to doubt, and placed me and my family in their
list of converts without further inquiry. That Permissu
Superiorum,' in the title page of an almanac, means-that
the Catholic Bishops have examined the accuracy of every
statement contained in it, is really absurd.
" But the fact is, Dr. Hook knew, at the time I be-
came his curate, that I had been unsettled,' as he says
himself; that is, that I had had doubts of the claims of
the Protestant Church, as some persons, very much in
Dr. Hook's confidence at present, have also had. I, my-
self, after I came to Leeds, and before 1 was licensed to
the curacy, told him and Mrs. Hook that a report that I
and my family had become Catholics had been mentioned
in my presence at a party in Leeds ; to which he replied
to the effect that I need not trouble myself about it, for
that he himst It had been held up to reproach in the news-
papers as being a Catholic. Not being satisfied with
this, l told the clerk in orders of it (he being supposed
to be in Dr. Hook's confidence), and offered at the same
time to leave Leeds, that I might not bring suspicion on
Dr. Hook, whose principles I then believed in, and de-
sired, to promote. So that what Di'. Hook treats as a
piece of intelligence he received last week,' with sur-
prise,' he really knew, and acknowledged to be false from
the very beginning of our acquaintance. And Dr. Hook,
in the secret of his heart, at this moment knows it to be
false, though he affects to believe the contrary to save his
party from the reproach of leading men to the Catholic
Church. But he need not flatter himself that his state-
ment will deceive any unprejudiced person ; even one of
his own curates, writing to inform me of the sermon and
preface in question, uses the following expressions—' As
this statement is absolutely incredible by any who, like
myself, have ever been in your friendship, I should feel
obliged! by a line from you empowering me to contradict
it upon your authority.'—l have the honour to be, gentle-
men, your obedient servant, JOHN M. JEPHSON.
" To the Churchwardens of the Parish of Leeds."

SECOND EDITION.

Standard-office; Ten o'clock.

SERIOUS FIRE IN NELSON STREET, THIS

MORNING.

A little before six o'clock this morning, smoke was dis-
covered issuing from the premises of Mr. Wright, (late
Rigby and Wright,) timber merchant, of Nelson-street,
immediately contiguous to and in the rear of Dr. Raffles'
chapel. The fire, the origin of which is unknown, broke
out in the lath-room, whence from the extreme-dryness of
the materials, it rapidly spread to the surrounding timber;
the store-room in the yard, forming one side•of Griffiths-
street, was completely destroyed, and its valuable con-
tents, chiefly mahogany and furniture woods, fell a prey
to the flames. The engines of the West of England Co.
and of the Liverpool fire police were quickly on the spot,
but from a total absence of water from the mains for a
considerable time after their arrival, they were rendered
inoperative. At the lime we are writing (9 a.m.), the fire
is burning vigorously on the site of the store-room, but
all danger of its extending is happily past.
The premises and stock we learn were insured, but
whether so as to cover the damage, which must necessarily
be very great, we do not know, Mr. Wright being absent
from town.

Had the flames extended in the opposite direction to
which they did, in all probability that beautiful structure,
Great George-street Chapel, would ere this have been
again in ruins.

THIRD EDITION.

Standard-office, Two o'clock, p.m.

LIVERPOOL SHARE MARKET.—Tms DAY.

There has been a fair amount of real business: done in the
Share Market this morning, though the sales of weak holders
preparing for• the settlement have made the quotations a shade
lower. Cheshire Junction, n dis. ; Leeds Fifths, 31 dis. ;
Leeds Preference, 1/3 preen ; London Stock, 110 UN-; Quarter
Shares, 13/9 2 dis. ; Midland Stock, 84; Half Shares, 10k 3/9
dis.; Dovers, 23i; No. 1; 92 dis.; No 4, 46 18/9; Newcastle
Preference, 21/3 22/6 dis.

COTTON MARKET.—THIS DAY.
Sales 3000 bales. Quiet market. No change in price.

LIVERPOOL CORN MARKET.—Tars DAY.

The arrivals into this port during the past week furnish, prin-
cipally, a large influx of Indian Corn from the American States,
a good accession of Wheat from the north and south of Europe,
and of Beans, mostly Egyptian ; but of other foreign produce,
or of any coastwise or from Ireland, our present supplies are
only moderate.
In addition to the above arrivals, we have a good supply of
new Wheat this morning from the neighbouring growers, and,
as the millers in general vi ere rather inactive, we.have to note
a decline of Id, to 2d. per 701 b. upon prime qualities of this
grain, and 2d. to 3d. upon all other descriptions.
Flour was also Is. per sack and Gd. per barrel cheaper.
Barley remained unvaried. Malt is. per or. cheaper. Beans
receded 6d. to Is. per qr. Pc.ase remained stationary, and dull.
Oats, being still scarce, were Is. per 451 b. dearer, but Oat-
meal declined Is. per load.
Prime Indian Corn was Is., and all other kinds 2s. cheaper;
and Corn Meal stationary.

h,
'4 I . b.D IC4
Co2C4
o—. _ _

C.,01 001
tzw

—-- to b: I
• .4.
• •
ea ..,
• c+ 4.v 0D 0,
tJ
'''''
...., 1,0 1

= . 1
..,—. c),

,--
Ca Ca GO
t co .
co 0 •-• C.,-,
tO oa C. 0-0 5-. 0 i p