The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-24 00:00:00

REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN PARIS

(From the Times' Paris Correspondent.)
To-day all is gaiety. The weather is beautiful, and the
festival (Whitsuntide) observed more universally than I can
recollect in Paris, not merely by increased numbers of people
making holiday, but in a religious sense.
A great revolution has, in truth, occurred here within a
dozen years. Twenty years ago' on visiting Paris for the
first time, 1 was forcibly struck by the impiety, the blas-
phemy, and the bad taste which distinguished the conversa-
tion one was compelled to overhear in public and in private.
During the Empire irreligion made in France the most ex-
traordinary progress it is possible to conceive. At all the
public institutions, the Polytechnic School for example, ridi-
cule of the Deity and of revealed religion appeared to have
been more strongly inculcated than any branch of learning
or science. At all convivial meetings the songs of Beranger,
and others equally impious and blasphemous without his poe-
try to recommend them, were in the mouths of all. Even
at church Beranger's songs, and others which none but the
most vile and odious of the mob ought to be thought capa-
ble of uttering, were substituted by the young men who
chose to form part of the congregation for the sacred hymns
and canticles. In short, you everywhere found or met proofs
of the deep seat which impiety and infidelity appeared to
have made for themselves in the public mind. Tout cela est
change maintenant. Not only are you now spared the dis-
gust which the revolting language of the cafes and the streets
occasioned to you when it could be applied to the Deity and
to religion, but even amongst young men of good society it
has become de mauvais ton to speak even contemptuously on
such subjects. Not only has this negative effect been pro-
duced, but a positive one, which the most sanguine Christian
could not have hoped for. Not only are the churches
crowded on Sundays and holydays by women, as formerly,
but by men also, of all ages and of all classes; and not only
do they frequent the church,* but the sacraments. (The
Catholics have seven, as you know.) Even in the Polytech-
nic School, that hotbed of irreligion, as it is and was the
nursery of military talent, this progress is remarkable. Not
only are the students not now prone to the expression of im-
piety and infidelity, but at least 140 of them go regularly to
church.
How has all this been brought about? you will ask. Much
of it is ascribed to the admirable management of that incom-
parable wife' mother, and Christian, the Queen of the
French, who has never ceased to be notoriously most devout,
but without a tinge of intolerance, and whose charity, in
every sense of the word, has rendered her respected and be-
loved by the entire nation. She made religion the fashion.
To Queen Marie Amelie is, I repeat, in a great measure,
due the recal of the Parisians (at least) to a sense of religion,
by her charities, her piety, and her liberality ; but it has been
chiefly effected by the discretion and moderation imposed on
the clergy by the occurrences of 1830. Not all their good
conduct nor sanctity could have propitiated the people, had
remnantcharacterised of th et
haerirro ghaundcye
duringthat
enemies they
in the education of youth, but, a avoided
Restoration. They have worked
bwuivtehuzll, eatlhaevndhawvith effect
ispslaayyedatevleeansta)
h to coercion or domineering. This secret of
followed, their object must be
giving offence to this excitable people leTbhyisthise
thesliglitest ap-
proach
their success. If this line be
pretensions and assume an attitude
b ut this almost
contributed to bring a mira-
culousattained. But if, as their opponentdsihffoepteen,
tthfreuymputhtuftowrwhaierhd
has so mainly
tion of religion in France
been achieved' towards the restoration
since 1830
change, they will run the risk. of undoing all. that has

Pentecost* this I witnessed an example last night. was, about
eight o'clock, passing by the church of Notre Dame de Lo-
rette, and, being struck by the entrance of a number of per
!?ns was induced to follow to ascertain the cause. I found
the church full (one-fourth of those present were men), and,
°thnein%l`, 1
Try, I learned that no particular ceremony attracted
ecobeatt it was the mere ef ening service of the eve of the

THEATRE.ROYAL, LIVERPOOL

Tha New Grand Cowie, Itamantic, Operatic, Melo-Drat-nal°
Fairy Extravaganza, called THE WHITE CAT, continu-
ing to be received with increased acclamations of applause,
will be repeated Every Night This Week.
THIS present TUESDAY EVENING, the 24th instant,
the Musical Play of

GUY MANNERING.
To conclude with THE WHITE CAT

EXTRAORDINARY EXHIBITION
NOW OPEN,

EVERY MORNING; AFTERNOON, & EVENING,

AT THE
ROYAL LIVER THEATRE, CHURCH-STREET.
AGRAND CENTRIFUGAL RAILWAY, 200 feet long,
with a Vertical Circle upwards of 40 feet in circum-
ference, round which a Carriage of 200 pounds in weight,
containing a Lady or Gentleman, will REVOLVE at the rate
of ONE HUNDRED MILES PER HOUR, with perfect safety ;
also immense Iron Weights and Buckets of Water will be
placed in the Carriage, and although the whole will be com-
pletely inverted, not a weight or a drop of water will he dis-
placed. Also, a brilliant display of the OXY-HYDROGEN
LIGHT, with other interesting Scientific Experiments.
For the convenience of Parties who cannot attend in the
Evening, the Railway will be open every day from Eleven
to One, and from Three to Five. In the Evening from Six
to Nine o'clock, with other Entertainments.

Admission—Boxes, is. ; Pit, 6d.l6allery, 3d.
Schools may be admitted on advantageous terms, by appli-
cation being made at the Theatre by their Tutor, during any
of the above hours.

Efir Etbrrpool. &tanbarDi.

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 24, 1842

In addition to what may be called the leading mea-
sures of Sir Robert Peel's government—the new Corn
Law and the Tariff—the public must be gratified in
noticing the earnest desire manifested to proceed with
legislation upon a number of other questions, infinitely
important in their bearings upon society, although not
of that exciting character which attracts most the ob-
servation and comment of journalists. Among these,
not the least important and practically valuable is a
bill which went through committee in the House of
Commons on Friday, and which has for its object the

enabling of ecclesiastical corporations, by an extension
of their power of leasing, to secure a more just value
of the property vested in them than they are enabled
to do under the existing system. It is a notorious fact
that the church property throughout the kingdom is at
present producing a rental, in many cases almost no-
minal, and in all cases infinitely below its real value.
By the measure in question it is considered, and we
conceive on grounds which cannot for an instant be
denied, that whilst the advantage of a more permanent
holding will be conferred upon tenants, and a release
from the arbitrary fines, levied upon them under the
present law, be gained, a large additional revenue will
be secured to the church, and increased ability con-
ferred upon her, to provide for the spiritual destitution
which still, unhappily, abounds in the land.
That such a measure should be met by the carpings
of Radicalism and Dissent in the House of Commons
is not surprising, when it is compared with those mea-
sures by which the late Melbourne administration pro-
posed to deal with ecclesiastical property. With them
an increase in the revenues of the church was desira-
ble, only so far as it tended to create a fund for "ap-
propriation " to other than church purposes. When,
for example, a bill almost identical in many respects to
this was introduced by Lord John Russell, it proposed
that the increase expected from it should be devoted
to the extinguishment of church rates. By the present
bill, however, the sacred security of ecclesiastical pro-
perty is to be kept intact, whilst its usefulness is to be
extended, by the progressive augmentation of small
livings throughout the country, under the direction of
the bishops. By the various ecclesiastical corporations
themselves in whom such property is vested, no addi-
tional income is to be reaped. In the case, however,
of property held by corporations sole, the additional
income, secured by this concession of the power of
granting long leases, is to remain with the incumbents
themselves; the effect of which provision, according
to the views of Sir James Graham, will be " to in-
crease the incomes of poor vicarages in large towns
to amounts more commensurate than they now are
with the duties performed."
That by this bill the usefulness of the church and
the comforts of its poorer working clergy will be in-
creased we are satisfied ; and we hail its introduction
with gratitude, not, however, on this ground alone, but
because we see in its provisions, and in the-spirit in
which it is devised, satisfactory assurance that we have
LI ow a government whose study and delight it will be,
instead of " dealing heavy blows" against our venera-
ble establishment, to cherish and to strengthen,--to
build up her walls and extend more widely the bless-
ings which she is calculated to confer upon mankind.
Another bill, of great mercantile utility, went through
committee the same evening, on the motion of Mr. W.
E. Gladstone. The bill to which we allude—" the
Merchants Act Amendment Bill"—it was stated by
Mr. Gladstone, had been " founded upon the very ear-
nest representations of all the principal mercantile men
in every branch of foreign and home trade in Liver-
pool and London, and had received the concurrence of
the mercantile community generally." Its provisions
are the same which have already been advocated in our
columns ; and we have no doubt that it will be accepted
as an important boon by the commercial world

A correspondent of the Morning Herald, on Satur-
day last, remarks upon the circumstance, as a singular
one, that the inspectors and excise officers in no less
than one hundred and thirty-eight towns, from which
the average prices to regulate the duty upon foreign corn
under Sir Robert Peel's bill, were to have been re-
turned, have not yet thought proper to make such re-
turn ; and adds, that " the public are thus defrauded
of all the advantages which would hare accrued had
these servants duly performed their duty." The Li-
verpool Times of Tuesday alluded to the same alleged
negligence or mismanagement. We, of course, can-
not pretend to explain such a circumstance, or to deny
that blame is attributable somewhere. We may, how-
ever, suggest that the want of returns may have been
caused, in part at least, by the want of matter to re-
turn ; and that the public have not suffered, or been
" defrauded," in the slightest degree. In many of the
towns recently added to the list from which returns
were made under the old law, and especially in some of
the manufacturing towns, a sale of wheat from the
grower to the dealer or miller is, at any time, a rare
occurrence ; and at the present moment, when the
stock of wheat in the farmer's hands is so limited
throughout the kingdom, in many parts of it there is
positively not a bushel to be brought into the market.
The returns from these places certainly ought to have
been made ; but it is highly probable that, had the re-
quirement of the law been fulfilled, they would have
contained "nil," and the average thus have remained
unaltered.

STATE OF TRADE, MANUFACTURES, &c.

The demand for our leading staple—cotton—has been gond
throughout the week, and especially towards the close, both
the trade and speculators purchasing freely. This revival is
in part attempted to be accounted for by the fact, that whilst
the stock of all kinds on hand exceeds that of last year by
120,000 to 130,000 bales, the estimated receipts from the East
Indies are 60,000 bales less than the proceeds of last year's
crop. In addition, the nett yield, to the spinner, of the
American crop will decrease the apparent receipts from that
country some 30,000 bales. The stagnation, too, and we
may almost term it panic, caused by the recent awful occur-
rence at Hamburg, is fast being dissipated. It is now hoped
that the results, to the commerce of Europe, will not be
nearly so serious as was anticipated, the sound basis upon
which monetary operations in Germany are carried on in-
suring the commercial world from the serious embarrassments
which must have been created had the business of Hamburg,
with this and other countries, been one of merely paper and
credit exchange. The cost of the stock of goods destroyed,
therefore, will not fall, as was feared, upon the British ma-
nufacturer, whilst its almost total destruction will, for a time,
give active employment to our manufacturing industry. The
total sales of the week, ending Friday, amounted to 31,250
bales, including 4500 American and 500 Surat on speculation,
and 2000 American and 100 Pernam for export, leaving the
amount taken by the trade 24,150 bales.
On Saturday the market opened with considerable excite-
ment, and 5000 bales were sold, at the hill priceser lb., which,ofFriday
and, in many instances, at an advance of id• p
however, it was thought was scarcely maintained at the close
of the market. Yesterday, however, a firmer feeling was
manifested ; buyers showed a disposition to purchase freely,
even at the advance noticed on the previous day, and the de-
mand was at first scarcely met by holders. Ultimately,
however, a speculative demand, in addition to that of the
trade, sprung up, and an advance of an id. and Id. was rea-
dily paid, and acceded to by the holders, at which rates full
'OOO bales were taken off, at the established advance of id.
per lb. on the lowest business of last week. The market,
altogether, displays a more healthy appearance than we have
noticed for some time past; and a sanguine hope is enter-