The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-01-28 00:00:00

TO THE REV

THOMAS YOUENS, D.D.
(LETTER. IL)

REV. Satz,—The sole and entire question between you and
the Rev. H. M`Neile is, whether or not the Creed of Pius
IV. be a novelty ; and the closer each of you adhere to this,
and the less extraneous matter is introduced, the more edi-
fied your readers will be.
My last letter treated on a subject introduced by you,
which was foreign to the debate ; my object was to expose
your fallacies, and the present letter has a similar origin and
a similar design.
You say, " Mr
" ed with human nature to know t

Neile ought

sufficiently acquaint-
othing is easier than

" for a man to persuade himself that whateVei religious fan-
" des have taken possession of his mind are the very truth
" of God's word, delivered in the Bible; and that the more
" wild the fancies are, and the more fanatical the mind into
" which they have entered, the stronger will be the convic-
" tion of their truth and accordance with the Bible. To this
" history bears ample testimony, in recording the wild ex-
" travagancies into which men have run when, under the
" influence of religious excitement, they have become ex-
" pounders of the Gospel of Truth." Page 7.
Allow me to inquire, in what sense do you use the terms
" human nature" and " man?" Do you mean to affirm
that " human nature" is .so constituted, that " ease " of
execution is a guarantee for performanc

Do you affirm,

because human nature is depraved and corrupt, therefore
all men easily adopt " religious fancies" from reading the
Scriptures ? Suppose we say, " Dr. Youens, you aught to
be aware that the human frame is so constituted, that no-
thing is easier than for a man to commit suicide or murder;"
but, does this render every man either the one or the other ?
or can any charge be brought against the Creator, because
he has not so fenced in and protected the vital functions, as
to make this impossible? ,gain:
Nothing is "easier" than for a Roman Catholic to wor-
ship the image before which lie prostrates himself, because
he may not be able to distinguish the boundary which his
church places betwee❑ " Duha " and " Latri
therefore follow that all Roman Catholics

Does it

orship images?
hou

(I allude to this apart from the divine prohibition,
shalt not bow down," &c.)
Do you mean to affirm that " every man " adopts
gious fancies" as an inevitable consequence_of stadyin

Scriptures? If so, your proposition is a self-evident fallacy !
You would lay claim to manhood, and would doubtless con-
tend for exemption from " wild extravagancies." Yet I
presume you do (at least sometimes) read the Scriptures !
Or,

Do you mean us to understand that " some men," while
under the influence of excitement (and therefore to an extent
insane), have adopted erroneous views? If this be your
meaning, no one will deny the truth of your assertion ; but
your admission annihilates your argument! Some men,
while under the influence of improper feelings, comtAit for-
gery ; but no one therefore objects to his children learning
to write. Some men have committed suicide with a razor,
yet the government of the country has not therefore prohi-
bited. the manufacture! Some men have poisoned them-
selves and others with prussic acid ; yet its use in medicine
no man has ventured to deny.

Human nature has fallen from its " first estate," and that
is the source of all our weaknesses and all cur errors ; but are
we to sit down bewailing this, without attempting to apply
the remedy ; or shall we blindly attempt a cure by removing
the specific by which alone the disease can be acted upon ?
The specific, and the only one, is that contained in the Re-
velation which God has given—the Scriptures!
But you charge human nature with producing in some
minds "wild extravagancies" from a perusal of the

Scrip-

tures : and this is not denied; but I challenge you to pro-
duce the record of any "wild fancy"—which you can prove
to have resulted from studying the Saliptures—which will
bear any comparison with the cool and deliberate fanaticisms
contained in a book high in repute in your church—" Butler's
Lives of Saints." But it is not here alone that the labours
of the fanatical, the blind, and the ignorant of your church
are found. What are the prayers-yon address to so-called
saints ? Just the result, the outpourings of fanaticism in its
worst form ! You address the mother of our Redeemer as
" The Queen of Heaven," " The Refuge of Sinners," " A.
Mystical Rose," "A. Tower of Ivory," &c. What is this
but an ignorant and " wild extravagance," resulting from
the throes of short-sighted human nature?
In the missal from which I select the above, I detect an
awful interpolation of your church, attributing to Christ
words he never uttered ; and you repeat these words on every
occasion that you officiate as priest in " The Sacrifice of the
Mass." Did you never detect the gross fraud?
The only version of the Scriptures which is authorized by
your church is the Latin vulgate, and this, of course, pro-
hibits the word of God to all who cannot read Latin. Lat-
terly, however, the Scriptures, in defiance of Trent, have
been read and circulated among poor people ; and we may,
therefore, express a hope, that as the prohibition of them
did not preserve you from fanaticism and wild fancies, the
reading and circulation thereof will soon have the effect of
destroying every thing which is not in accordance therewith.
In my next I shall remark upon your views of "Proving
a Doctrine from Scripture," and shall show, that your
church can and does foist into Scripture, or rather passes off
as Scripture, what is no where found therein ; and this is
something more than a " wild extravagance" or a " wild
fancy."—l am yours, &c.,
25th January, 1842

BAPTISTES

O'CONNELL AND THE DOLLARS,

The repeal of the union is now an assured event. Fallen
Irish members of the House of Commons, immediately ticket
your trunks and carpet-bags for College-green ; for one Felix
O'Neill, of New York, has, by will, bequeathed to D.
O'Connell, " commonly called the liberator, the sum of 500
dollars, to be used by him" (who doubts the fact ?) " in ef-
fecting the repeal of the union." This heavy news for Eng-
land was, a few days since, published at the Repeal Asso-
ciation in Dublin, whereupon—
" The Lord Mayor accepted that legacy in the spirit which
dictated the liberal donation, but he received it the more
readily because it incurred a pecuniary obligation on his
part never to desist from the prosecution of repeal. It would
before have been political dishonesty. No man would ever
believe him again if he ever relaxed his efforts, but now it
would be personal knavery. (Loud cheers.) He was now
bound to make his native country legislatively free. It was
in this solemn manner he received the sum ; he trusted that
association would join with him in a tribute of regard to the
memory of that excellent man who thus animated them from
the grave. (Cheers.) That was his retaining fee for the
repeal. (Loud cheers.) He could now remit no exertion in
the most sacred cause that ever the human intellect was em-
ployed in ;he accepted the retainer—he held the brief for
Ireland."
Oh, the moral force of dollars I Before O'Connell might
have been politically dishonest to theliving, but how can he
now swindle the dead ? Before, the cause was a good• cause
—an excellent cause ; but now it is hallowed by ready money
—made holy by five hundred bits of transatlantic silver.
The cause, even before the death of Felix O'Neil, was a" most
sacred cause ;" but what is there divine or lofty that Mam-
mon will not further sublimate ! O'Connell was before a
patriot, but now he is the patriot par excellence for he is a
patriot with a fee ! Mere amor patrice is a flourishing, frothy
rascal, playing the bully and the mountebank ; talking much,
but receiving little. The only mode—hear it, oh ye nations !
—to make him a serviceable, under-handed giant is—to give
him a " retainer !"
The future philosophic historian of Ireland will trace her
liberation, her commercial greatness, and the whole sea of
blessings that is to flow in upon her from repeal, not to the
tardy, yet invincible vindication of justice, but to " 500 dol-
lars." On her house of Parliament we would have this
simple legend—

500 DOLLARS
And is there no way to turn O'Connell from his purpose
Is there no way to make him forego repeal, bound as he i
to it by five hundred dollars ? Yes one way there is :—offc
him—six !—Punch,

The Gazette of Friday night contains a list of sixty-six ad-
dresses of congratulation on the birth of the Prince of Wales.
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland has distributed the munifi-
cent sum of £lOO amongst the poor of the crowded parishes
in the neighbourhood of the castle.

A shocking accident happened on the 10th instant, at Bid-
denden, to a young man named Grounds, about 20 years of
age, and the son of a farmer in this parish. He had just
loaded his gun in his father's house, and in turning round
struck the butt against something, when it exploded and shot
off one side of his face. He lingered in great agony until
the 19th instant, when death put an end to his sufferings.—
Maidstone Journal.

MOST BRUTAL MURDER AT Nxw YORK.—One of the
most brutal murders ever committed in this city, took place
on New Year's Day, at No. 89, Orange-street. The mur-
derer's name is Thomas Tappan, a native of Ireland, and the
subject of his enormities was his wife Elizabeth, aged 35
years. They occupied apartments in the above dwelling,
and were both of intemperate habits. During the morning a
dispute arose between them, relative to his wife's going out
for a pail of water, she desiring to go and he objecting. This
terminated in his giving her a blow with his fist, when she
again endeavoured to leave the room. He then locked the
door, and commenced beating her with a chair, which he
broke to pieces over her head, and then took a broomstick,
and broke it up by striking her on various parts of the body.
Having so disabled her that she could not stand, he threw
her on a bed in the room, took a knife and fork, and stabbed
and cut her head, body, and face in six or seven places. Not
having finished hit brutal work, he then caught hold of a
shoemakers hammer, with which he deprived her of the little
life that was remaining. He then stamped upon her with

his feet, and threw her on the floor. Having satisfied his
horrible passion, he laid himself down on the floor, saying
he would wait until his son George came in, when he would
cut his throat. A woman, named Catherine Kelly, was lying
sick in a bed in the room during the whole time he was corn-
nutting this more than brutal murder, but was afraid to make
any alarm or attempt to leave the room, on account of his
threats to kill her if she moved. When the son of Tappan
came home, he found his father asleep on the floor, and his
mother a mangled and murdered corpse. Alarm was imme-
diately given, and the murderer immediately arrested, and
after examination and verdict of coroner's jury, was com-
mitted to prison. Dr. William S. Tonikins made a Post
mort ern examination of the body, and found ten wounds 01
it, besides a number of abrasions of the skin. She pres.en!,e;
a distressing sight, such as we never before witnessed
%if" I.llfiuve
examination of a murdered person. The wretch
hours beating her before she died.
Nat "
EXTRAORDINARY CA SE •—On Thursday last ~.,,hir,
citement prevailed in St. Clairtown, Path-head,
N. 8., and neighbourhood, in consequence of its boo, that
• d 'HI
made known by Inspector Bett, of the count4ho live „
,i,
the body of Janet Forret, an aged w ~.
°lnn: watches, in, S, t.
one Fergus Wilson, teacher and repairer
ooren gardeU• 111"
Clairtown, had been found buried it?
Wllsd been re-interred
body has since undergone examination, and and
alviini7been
in St. Clairtown churchyard, Wilson taken up by the
lodged in Kirkaldy Gaol, and the c
trange and. suspicious
proper authorities. Under these ciarcsesumstances, we caii only
allude to the general features o!th,isin st. Clairtovvn many
and a few weeks
looking affair. Wilson has 101enaet Forret has lived witli
years, and is 70 years of age. ji,lor several years they have
circumstances,
ncesior relief, which
him for upwards of 30 i_re
NI, ilson's house is situate
been in extremely redYueaced"
_c,_.
for some reason w" 7, the quoad sacra Chapel. He
since Wilson applied tohirel
in St. Clairtown, nearbe second flat, and an old man
and Janet occupietde
b ground floor. About three weeks ago
taught a school "ed by the scholars digging in his garden
Wilson was &mar
round with a line ; they also noticed that
•ng tbe g •
and measuri
d coughing for several days, and that no light
Janet bad cease
oom where she slept. Having made known
d in the r
appear'. stances, one of the neighbours called and in-
these circura
Wilson •
• for her, but gave an evasive answer, and said
quired
at home. Day
she was not after
day
passed without any ap-
e of the woman, and on Thursday last suspicion was
excitear
so d that Mr. 'Walker, Bailie of the barony,
and Inspector called and made the same inquiries. To
them Wilson said that she was unwell, and in the
house, but that they could not see her. Not being
satisfied with this, the inspector proceeded to search, but
did not find her in the house, as stated by Wilson.
The scholars having told what they had seen, forcible en-
trance was made into the garden, and the body of the woman
found in a grave, carefully dug, by the side of a well. The
grave was about four feet deep. The body was wrapt in a
shirt and an old sheet, and a muslin cap covered the head
and face. Sonic straw and a large board were placed upon
the body, Altogether the burial, although betokening the
utmost poverty. had been decently gone about. Wilson
asserts that He has done no wrong, that the woman died a
natural death, and that the session having ref Used aliment,
he did not apply to them for burial.