The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-01-11 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS,

It is strange, that in the present day "An apologist" can ex-
pect us to palm on the credulity of the public such-fallacies
as are many of those with which his letter abounds. Take
one point,—how can he presume to deny that popery teaches
the value of prayers to the Virgin. Is there not blazoned
over the door of the convent in this town, " Mater miseri-
eordke ora p Nobis."
The letter of An enemy of misrepresentation," is quite
unfit for publication, and the insertion of it in a newspaper
would not be likely to accomplish the writer's object.
The letter of " Senex," and much other original matter have
been crowded out by the length of several important local
reports.
"Sentinel" wishes to know when the augmentation in the
number of master coopers at the Albert Dock took place,
as it is stated that thirty of them recently dined together;
and our correspondent says he always understood that there
was only one master cooper employed there. "Sentinel"
ought, however, to have given us his name, and we might

thin have inserted his letfer

ZEbt Etherpool &tanbarb.

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TUESDAY MORNING, JAN. 11, 1848

A highly valuable lesson, and practically instruc-
tive may be drawn from the doings of Romanism
M Ireland, under the light thrown upon them by
the recent correspondence between the two English
Roman Catholic peers—Lords Arundel and Shrews-
bury—and the Popish archbishop, Dr. M'Hale.
The genius of Romanism is strikingly illustrated :
that secret of its influence and strength is brought
out into a bold relief, viz., its wonderful and reck-
less power of adapting itself at once to the circum-
stances by which it happens to be surrounded ; and
the undeviating fidelity likewise, and untiring per-
severance with which, amidst all its changes and
subterfuges, it steadily holds to its great purpose,
of humbling every rival, removing every obstacle
that stands in the way of the universal• despotism
at which it aims. It would be palpably impolitic
for the Church of Rome in this country to assume,
as yet, at least, the same haughty defiance, or to
exhibit the same bold front, that she has held forth
for so many years back with impunity and with
success in Ireland. Romanism, therefore, as repre-
sented in England, seems not incompatible with the
high and honourable feeling that breathes through
the letters of her noble champions. That is the
very point to which we would be glad to see atten-
tion directed. The object of each noble lord, in his
written correspondence, is to vindicate the system
at the expense of the individuals, such as M'Hale,
Slattery, Laffan, and M'Dermott ; whereas the root
of the matter lies really in this, that the individuals
just named are but the genuine offspring, the legi-
timate exponents of Romanism as taught at May-
nooth. _

Lord Shrewsbury has argued well, and esta-
blished clearly the relationship of cause and effect
between the Monday sermon of Father M`Dermott
and the Tuesday murder of Major Mahon. The
priest denounced him, it is still confidently affirm-
ed, on All Saints' Day, and the benevolent land-
lord was barbarously murdered the day after.
Does Lord Shrewsbury forget that, in denounc-
ing Major Mahon, Priest M`Dermott only car-
riedinto effect what was taught him in May-
nooth, and what is still taught from the well-known
" secunda secundx" of their angelic Dr. Thomas
Aquinuas ? And the Romish peasant, in refusing
rent to an heretical landlord, and keeping forcible
possession of his property, is only acting according
to the accredited teaching of his church, on the
subject of what +l, 'eve is their

re taught to beli
,uch may lawful

vered to

)erhaps

their boc

eny that there may be

among

among

personal worth

that no amount ofpers(

upon as proc
which the b(
Whatever it

le crushing tyranny with

sts of Rome are
be the feeling

-orcea

of the

is ; and

whenever t

of "the church" are con-

cerned, must b

ready, though perhaps reluctant,
inless he be altogether

abettor of deeds from w

recoils. Lo
by chargin

church

individual prelates and
that have awakened the
Igland, while the real facts
) exculpate the body (of

priests the enormi

honest indigna

by fastening on the education under which they
are trained, and the iron despotism to which they
are continually subjected, the fearful condition
and awful state of moral degradation of the help-
less peasantry, that look up to their priests alone

uau ever
vils of unhappy Ireland,
n some way to break the spell
holds the peasant in his grasp.

o measu

)ut on

by whicl
knd, ala

tep in our

cent legislation goes

to rivet the chain it

ihould rather seek to I

sever, aggravating the very evil it professes to heal.
What would be the effect of stipendiarizing the
Romish priesthood of Ireland, as more than hint-
ed at throughout Lord Shrewsbury's letter ? Does
not his lordship know enough of the constitution
of his church to be aware that such a step would
nfold the arbitrary power of Dr.

only enh
WHale

heir vassal minor clergy

vmaster, while

MI-We-and Co. become the patrons of the thou-
sands that would thus be employed to the injury
of the country that paid, as well as of that which
received it. We have hope, however, that in the
transport of his anticipated triumph, and judging

lation by which he has surrounded his own diocese,
as described by his noble correspondent, Dr.
M`Hale has spoken rather too loud, and too soon,
and that England may reflect and pause 1

)efore it

makes any tu
placable foe.
ed the snake, not killed it

At the reformation Englani

V ail(

im-
scotch-

Rome does not