The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-27 00:00:00

NEW SOUTH WALES

Sydney papers to the 20th of January have come to hand.
They contain no commercial or other intelligence of im-
portance.
A violent storm was experienced at Parramatta and the
neighbourhood on the 21st of December, and did considera-
ble damage.

A sale -of farming stock had taken place, at which 12,000
sheep, in a sickly state, were disposed of at ls. 6d. per head,
a mixed herd of 1,100 head of cattle, at £l, and 50 horses at
£l4 each. This is given as an argument for the admission
of Coolie labour, without which, it is stated, sheep farming
cannot be carried on profitably, and consequently cannot be
carried on at all. European labourers will not be induced
to go into the interior except at higher wages than the farmer
can afford to give.
The Bishop of Australia held an ordination on the 19th of
December, the candidates being, for priest's orders, the Rev.
C. Kemp, late of Queen's College, Cambridge, licensed
minister of Pitt Town ; and for deacons, Mr. Robert Knox
Scone, late of Brazennose College, Oxford, and Mr. Thomas
Wall Bodenham, master of St. James's Grammar-school.

A SON SHOT BY
T HIRE LATTER.IS FATHER, AND SUICIDE
OF

CHESTERFIELD, MAY 24.—Yesterday evening, the peace-
ful and romantic village of Ashover, about six miles from
this town, became the scene of one of the most deplorable
and heart-rending tragedies that ever occurred in this or
any other country.
Mr. Richard Eaton, a gentleman in independent circum-
stances, about 60 years of age. in loading his gun in the
house to go in pursuit of a mad dog, accidentally shot his
son, a youth about 16 or 18 years of age ; and immediately
after, in the phrenzy of the moment, took a pistol and shot
himself through the head, and fell dead upon the spot. The
Oofngriseeefin,
gun was loaded with slugs, and its contents first struck the
young man's arm, and afterpassing in an oblique direction
tatthteeriduigdthe bone, entered his
what shalt\
pistol, rushed Out side.inHe instantly dropped,
not expire till about seven o'clock this morning.
seeing hc•ii.s son fall, the father was seized with an agony
below his aexclaimed, •' My dear son ! what shall Ido !
Hutchinson,
ting the hrigdht lay dear, dear son !" He took a loaded
instantaneous death.
t into the, garden, applied the muzzle just
ear
b odies before,Ml:3.
verdicts
passed ant fired,. when the bullet, after penetra-
ea
ant a little above the left ear, causing
of Scarsdale, and Inquests were this day held over the
was accidentally shot, andreturned to the effect that the son
, the coroner for the hundred
existence in a fit of
ton was
consequent h that the
accident. Mr. Eaton was a gentleman
upon the previous
father put an end to his
by an extensive circle of acqusiunttleemean very highly respected
t:laes, to whom his urbanity
greatly endeared him.
of manners and his known worth
andNl, laCos i? in business in
His melancholy end will be a sub•ecci
all who knew him. He has left wife
unfeigned grief to
resided with himThaet
3,..k.osubiolgveerr, asonnd,awshono
his life as
Nottingham•
above described, was also an apprentice with Mr
the bookseller, in that town, and had returuelr• Micklin,
few weeks at home, in consequence of indisposir t° Spend a
of this at
that be is the circumstance the elder son
adds if possible, to the deplorable character lan• Wh
catastrop , .
in commencing their tour of '
have been married this day, and the wedding party wereast.°
have visited Ashover,
were made to receive them; but alas! how
and preparations
changed the scene.
_...........................

DEATHS BY DROWNING.—TWO lads, the one named
Henry Spence, about sixteen, and the other named William
M'Cracken, about fourteen years 04 age. were dIVIVIICCI
on
Monday forenoon ill the ClYde.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY_ OF THE CHURCH

OF SCOTLAND.

The sittings of the General Assembly commenced on
Thursday week. After the roll was called Dr. Cook intima-
ted that he and his friends adhered to their protest against
the legality of the ministers of quoad sacra parishes sitting
in that house, when Mr. Dunlop immediately announced that
this declaration might be considered as a call on the house,
on a future day, to declare their determination to maintain
the rights they had solemnly recognised in these ministers.
Dr. Welsh was then unanimously chosen Moderator, after
which the Queen's commission to the Marquis of Bute and
the letter to the house were read, and ordered to be recorded.
The commissioner then addressed the Assembly. He spoke
in a pleasing manner, and the passages in which he expressed
his interest in the church of Scotland were delivered with
marked emphasis. There was no illusion in his speech to
the present position of the church.
A discussion was raised on the claim of certain of the de-
posed ministers and an elder to sit under a commission by
the deposed ministers of Strathbogie, as members of the
Assembly. On the one side it was declared that the claim
was utterly incompetent, and even insulting, and the com-
mission ought never to have been even received by the officers
of the house. On the other, the one argument that was
pleaded was, that these deposed men were exactly in the
situation in which they would have been if no sentence had
been passed. A considerable number of members particu-
larly Dr. Chalmers, took part in the discussion, and after
it had continued for several hours, it was carried by a ma-
jority of one hundred and thirty in a house of three hundred,
that the commission of the presbytery of Strathbogie should
alone be recognised even though the opposite motion was
merely for refusing both commissions in hoc statu.

On Friday the business of the Assembly was confined to
devotional exercises, or to matters of a more religious cha-
racter. Mr. Dunlop gave a most gratifying report of the
amount of the contributions to the schemes during the year.
Notwithstanding the embarrassing circumstances of the
church, the contributions during this year have amounted to
£30,000, exceeding by £5,900 the amount collected during
the preceding year.
The report of the Jewish scheme, replete with interest,
was then read by Dr. Keith, and adopted by the house.
The business of the day was arranged, and when the hear-
ing of the Irish deputation was entered in the list Dr. Bryce
gave notice of a motion which he meant to press to a division
before hearing the deputation with reference to certain pro-
ceedings in the last meeting of the presbytery, " or, as it was
called, the General Assembly" of the Presbyterian Church
in Ireland.

Saturday.—This has been a day of great and heart-stirring
interest in the Assembly. It having been stated that two of
the members of that Court had been interdicted by the Court
of Session from taking their seats, it was moved by Dr. Cand-
lish, who characterised this interdict as " the most direct
invasion of the constitution of the Assembly that had yet
taken place," that no attention should be paid to it, which
was met by a counter-motion on the part of Dr. Cook. On
a division, Dr. Candlish's motion was carried by a majority
of 173 to 76.

On the motion of Mr. Dunlop, seconded by Dr. Willis, it
was resolved that extraordinary collections should be made
for the relief of those who are at present suffering under des-
titution.

On the motion of Mr. Dunlop, a warrant was granted to
cite Mr. Duguid of Glass, and the ministers who had held
communion with the deposed of Strathbogie, to appear at the
bar of the Assembly on Thursday next. Mr. Robertson of
Ellon agreed to offer no opposition to this, only protesting,
that his own rights, as well as those of the others concerned,
should not thereby be compromised.
The great interest of to-day's meeting arose from the re-
ception of the deputation of the Irish Assembly. Dr. Bryce
alone, and, as he confessed, " in opposition to some of his
friends," broke the harmony of the meeting by some re-
marks upon the speech which Mr. Wallace of Derry had
made at the late meeting of the Irish Assembly ; but he was
speedily put down by the unanimous sense of the house.
The deputation consisted of Mr. Wallace of Derry, Mr.
Gibson of Belfast, ministers ; Counsellors Gibson and Grier,
elders. The last spoke very shortly, and the able and Chris-
tian speech of Counsellor Gibson was unfortunately but
imperfectly heard throughout the house; but Mr. Wallace
of Derry, and Mr. Gibson of Belfast, addressed the assem-
bly in speeches of thrilling interest, and which stirred every
tender and hallowed association. The assembly adjourned
at five till half-past six.

At the adjourned meeting in the evening, Mr. Cunning-
ham commented upon the act of 1799, whereby the hands of
ministers had been tied up from admitting into their pulpits
any who differed from the church in subordinate matters of
government, however much they were at one with them in
the great doctrines of the gospel ' • and contended that it was
high time that the restrictions of that act should be relaxed.
Dr. Candlish and Mr. Guthrie enforced the same views, the
latter remarking, what is well known to have been the case,
that " the act in question was passed, not to exclude error
from the church, but to exclude truth." Several other mem-
bers, on both sides, having spoken, the proposal was agreed
to without a vote.

Dr. Buchanan then brought forward his overture to pro-
vide for the religious superintendence of students while at
college. A numerous committee was appointed to consider
the best way of carrying the object into effect.

On Monday the overtures against patronage were taken
into consideration, when Mr. Cunningham moved a resolu-
tion to the effect that patronage is a grievance attended with
injury to the cause of pure religion to the Scottish church
and kingdom—is the source of all the difficulties in which
the church is now involved—and,:therefore, ought to be abo-
lished. The procurator moved as an amendment that the
General Assembly, having considered the overtures and pe-
titions, find that it is inexpedient in present circumstances
to adopt the motion. On a division, the numbers were—
for the motion, 216 ; against it, 147 ; majority, 69. The
debate was a lengthy one, but did not elicit any novelty
of argument or illustration on the subject, and the result
was not different from what had been anticipated. On
Tuesday the Assembly was occupied with a discussion on
the jurisdiction of the church. Dr. Chalmers introduced the
subject in a very eloquent speech. Dr. Cooke made an able
statement of the position and views of the two parties in the
house, vindicating the conduct and motives of the minority,
and clearly expounding their principles, in order to show that,
though opposed to acts of the majority, they concur in the
leading doctrines of the church—the headship, spiritual in-
dependence, and non-intrusion. The discussion was conti-
nued by Mr. Dunlop on the one side, replied to Mr. David
Milne, in an able speech, who was followed by Mr. Robert-
son, of Ellon, Dr. Buchanan, of Glasgow, Dr. Bryce and
Mr. Gray. After a lengthened debate, the house divided,
when 241 voted for Dr. Chalmers's motion in support of the
overtures on the exclusive jurisdiction of the church, and 110
for Dr. Cooke's resolutions—majority 131. The effect of
this decision will be that the existing difficulties of the church
will remain as great as ever, and as far from any settlement.

REDUCTION OF THE LANCASHIRE COUNTY
CONSTABULARY.

In the Standard of the Ist ult. we gave a brief report of
the proceedings at an adjourned annual session of this county,
held in the Court-house, Preston, on the previous day. At
this meeting it may be remembered that a motion of Mr. P.
E. Townley for the discontinuance of the force was lost, and
resolutions were adopted, that each hundred in Lancashire
should be formed into a separate police district, corres-
ponding with the petty sessional division, and that, when the
magistrates for the different petit sessions had arranged as to
the number of men considered sufficient for each division,
the result should be communicated to the Secretary of State
for approval. In compliance with this, a letter and state-
ment were transmitted to Sir James Graham, of which the
following are copies :7 _

" Clerk of the Peace's Office, Lancashire,
Preston, 17th May, 1842.

" Sir,—We have the honour to transmit -fOr the Secretary
of State, a copy of resolutions passed at the adjourned an-
nual sessions for this county, held on the 31st of March last,
relating to a new arrangement of the county constabulary
force.

" In pursuance of the resolutions, the magistrates have
held meetings in their respective petty sessional divisions,
and have intimated the result to the clerk of the peace for
transmission to the Secretary of State for final approval as
to the number of constables required for this county : this
result appears by the paper which we have the honour to
enclose.—We are, sir, your most obedient servants,
66
GORSTS & BIRCHALL.
" S. M. Phillipps, Esq."

" Lancashire:---Count; Constabulary.
" Number of constables required in each petty sessional
division, as reported by the magistrates in petty sessions,
pursuant to the resolutions of the annual sessions of 31st
March, 1842:

No. of No. of
Names of Divisions. Townships. Cons. required
Lonsdale, North Sands
Lonsdale, South Sands 45
Amounderness
Blackburn Higher....
Blackburn Lower ... 34
Leyland
Bolton
Middleton
Ashton-under-Lyne 4
Manchester ............. ....... 33
Kirkdale ...................... 18
Ormskirk ..
Prescot
Warrington 34 ...... 45
General Staff—Chief Constable 1
Assistant Chief Constables ..... ......... 2
Chief Clerk 1
Assistant Clerks
Storekeeper 1
Messenger

Present strength of the force ....
Total reported by the magistrates

Contemplated reduction
" GonsTs and BIRCHALL,
" Deputy-clerks of the Peace."
In reply, Sir James Graham expresses his " approval of
the proposed districts, and of the reduction of the consta-
bulary force consequent upon the resolution of the justices."
On this the Manchester Guardian remarks as follows :
" We regret to find, that Sir James has given his sanction
to a plan which we cannot but think will lead to numberless
abuses. It is not of the large reduction in numbers, which,
however, amounts to more than one-fourth of the whole, that
we complain ; but of the apportionment of the force into
petty sessional districts—the expense to be borne in propor-
tion to the number of men serving in each. It will soon be
found, in practical operation, that the expense will fall very
unequally on different districts, in every other respect simi-
larly situated; that whilst some have retained a sufficient num-
ber of constables to protect them, other and neighbouring dis-
tricts have reduced their numbers so considerably:as to afford
encouragement for the dishonest to abide there, as in a place
of sanctuary, whence they can sally out to commit depreda-
tions around, counting upon the ease with which they can
elude the police when they are thinly scattered over a consi-
derable extent of country. Take, for instance, the divisions
of Higher and Lower Blackburn. In the former, there are
to be only 10 constables to 45 townships; in the latter, 25
constables to 34 townships. To come nearer home, 13 con-
stables are deemed sufficient to protect 17 townships in the
,its
property
guarded, Middleton division ; while in that of Ashton, 14 constables
are required for four townships. Deducting the eight indi-
dikefour
viduals called ' the stafff,;hethmeugnriecaiptalcbouornotuygohfsLwahn.cashhairvep,
with the sole exception o
is
ftoorcbeeofwsaotnicheethdingani
guarded, by a constabulary fifths
a police of their own,
of a constable to each township in the county."

A Sandwich Islands paper, the Polynesian, says—.. Typo-
graphical errors cannot altogether be avoided, as much of the
type-setting is done by the natives, who are unacquainted
with the English language."
KINSALE PETITION.—This petition is not to be prose-
cuted :—why, is a question which, except on rumour, we are
abandoned, unable to answer. It is said that Mr. Watson is, at a time
specified, to retire, and that the seat is then to be left to the
chances of a new election. If any such arrangement has
Coan explanation been. made, we think it will be regarded as a very unsatisfac-
but which, however, übirryceonclusion. Mr. Watson, it is to be presumed, would
do,tieand why, this being so. the
l'salater.have proposed nor agreed to it unless he felt himself
1 Cork Cora petition should be now
iowe cannot comprehend except we are to adopt
not very complimentary to the constituency,
titizoenver, has, we understand, been offered.—

ebt Eicarpoot atanbarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 27, 1842.

More than one of our contemporaries have of late
" made • themselves merry" with the notion that the
government of Sir Robert Peel is prepared to disre-
gard—nay, to outrage—the feelings of the Conservative
party, by whom it has been advanced to the possession
of power. Where are now, we have been scoffingly
asked, the election pledges of a great portion of the
Conservative body ? Where is the consideration shown
to the Protestant feeling which denounced Maynooth ?
—to the feeling of humanity which denounced the ini-
quity of the new poor law ?—to the supporter of agri-
cultural protection ?—to the opponent of the factory
system ? That consideration, we feel bound to reply,
upon some of these important questions, exists not.
The government of Sir Robert Peel chooses to isolate
itself with respect to them, from the sympathies of
powerful masses of its warmest supporters. It is
drawing around itself a barrier of cold respect,—re-
pelling the affection,—scorning the high enthusiastic
feelings which have battled with that heartless abstrac-
tion, Utilitarianism, and would have battled with it
still in its behalf. It has thrown down the affection-
ate support which would have grown with its growth,
strengthened with its strength—aye, clung around it
and warmed it in its ruin, if such an issue could, by
any possibility, have been the end of a perseverance in
the cause of truth and justice.

Sir Robert Peel has chosen and is pursuing this sui-
cidal course, we admit, and we grieve whilst we record
the admission. Lofty as is the character of that states-
man ; much as we still long to be able to confide im
plicitly in his constitutional integrity—in his Protestant
feeling—in hiS humanity, and in his justice ; he has
struck down many of our fondest hopes, and taught
the Protestant Conservatives of the empire to rely,
more than upon him, upon their own strength and the
justice of the cause which they have at heart. " Put
not your faith in princes," was the wise counsel of one
who knew well human nature and the world, and who
sought not to scatter the seeds of disaffection. Put
not your faith in governments, is the counsel which,
without the most remote desire of engendering oppo-
sition or even dissatisfaction towards the administra-
tion of Sir Robert Peel, we are constrained to offer to
the Conservatives of Great Britain. Maintain Conser-
vative principles rather than merely a Conservative go-
vernment! Maintain the cause itself, rather than the
men, who shrink from asserting it in its stern inte-
grity !

We lay down this course advisedly, as that which it
is the bounden duty of the Conservative body to pur-
sue;—not only in justice to themselves, not only in
justice to those principles which are clear to them, not
only in justice to the country, but in justice, even, to
the Right Honourable Baronet himself, who is at the
head of the government. That distinguished states-
man, elevated to the leading station in the councils of
Great Britain, by Conservative opinion, when, at
length, securely placed there, has taken up views, upon
several important subjects, which we feel are distaste-
ful to a great portion of the Conservatives of Great
Britain, and are calculated ultimately to damage, in the
affections of the people, the Conservative government
of which he is the head. We have no desire to impute
to Sir Robert Peel any wilful desertion of the known
principles of Conservatism ; we impute to him no
breach of faith with any section of the Conservative par-
ty—no " betrayal," as the policy in question has been
termed by his Whig Radical opponents, But when we
see in the conduct of the Right Hon. Baronet, a wish
to be guided solely by his own judgment as to the
direction of public opinion, and are compelled to ack-
nowledge that that judgment betrays, too often, a
leaning towards concession to the factious agitation,
and the utilitarian projects of Whig Radicalism, we are
impelled to the conclusion, that Conservatism must,
perforce, speak out upon those questions in which it
feels the policy of government wanting ; and, if need
be, even agitate, respectfully however and peacefully,
to ensure its voice being heard by Sir Robert Peel
himself, and by the country.
With the complaints of the agricultural party against
Sir Robert Peel, we have no syrripathy. That he has
legislated for the injury of that party, we do not be-
lieve; and that he has " betrayed" its interest, is utter-
ly untrue. It is not, therefore, with his financial or

commercial policy that we quarrel at all. With respect
to the Protestantism of his government, we have, as
yet, no weighty cause to complain, although we may,
justly perhaps, entertain serious doubts. With his re-
fusal, however, of a full measure of protection to the
infant labour of the kingdom, and his determination to
maintain unbroken the stern despotism, by which the
poor of England are ground down to the abject and
hopeless misery of the workhouse system, we have just
and deep cause to quarrel ; and no consideration shall
induce us to refrain from expressing our thorough de-
testation of the course pursued by him, with respect
to those questions.

And this we are satisfied will be the course pursued
by the great conservative party throughout the country.
That party has looked up to a Conservative govern-
ment, for a mitigation of the evils inherent in the fac-
tory system, and in the regulation of labour in other
branches of industry. It has looked up to a Conserva-
tive government for the adoption of at least a Christian
system of poor laws ; for a system which does not treat
the unfortunate poor man as a mere machine—a mind-
less, soulless, unsentient thing, which, when its hour
of usefulness has passed by, may be cast out from the
busy workshop of society, to rust and rot unheeded.
It has looked, above all, to a Conservative govern-
ment for a firm and unflinching maintenance of the
Protestantism of the empire ; and upon none of these
questions will the conservative people of England per-
mit their just and temperate demand to be denied, or
even temporized with.

We invite the Whig Radical party, who taunt us with
the alleged disregard for conservative opinions, on the
part of Sir Robert Peel's administration, to challenge,
as unworthy of a great party, the course which Con-
sevatism is prepared to pursue, in this emergency. On
the one hand, it will take up no factious position ; it
will pursue no measures of undistinguishing hostility;
it will resort to no intemperate tone or language ; yet
neither will it shrink from offering a firm and unflinch-
ing resistance to every deviation of the Conservative
government of Sir Robert Peel, from the maintenance
of sound Conservative principles of legislation. In such
a course, its object will be not to weaken but to fortify
that government; not to destroy, but if possible to res-

cue it from shipwreck upon the rocks a-head, towards
which, by a subserviance, or at all events an evident
leaning, towards the utilitarian opinions of Whig
Radicalism, it is being fast hurried; and to bring it
back to its only sure ground of rest and strength—the
affection and respect of the people.
The faction, who for the last ten long years, smoth-
ered the anti-corn law agitation, to enable a profligate
administration to enjoy, at ease, the sweets of office,
and to gorge upon its plunder, might, instead of taunt-
ing Conservatism with its present position, improve
itself by contemplating the course which we propose to
pursue for its amendment. Ours, at least, is not the
feeble party which dares not express its honest opinions,
at all times, and upon any question ; and the govern-
ment of Sir Robert Peel is not that ricketty, swaddled
thing, which need fear the fullest expression of opinion
from its friends, as well as from its opponents.

The league party in the House of Commons were
thrown on Tuesday night into a chuckle of perfect
ecstacy, by a fancied "admission" of the noble mem•
ber for Liverpool, with respect to the working and ob-
jects of the new corn-law, and the clause in the
amended tariff which regulates the admission of Fo-
reign cattle :

" There was a wide difference, his lordship contended,
between the two articles involved—namely, corn and cattle.
There was no ground whatever for apprehending that this
country would be inundated with cattle. (Cheers from the
opposition benches.) The foreign markets were exceedingly
limited as regarded a supply of cattle, but of the article of
corn there was an almost unlimited supply (Cheers from
the same quarter.) Therefore, was it, that those who were
desirous of affording some protection to native industry
deemed it necessary to accommodate the amount of that pro-
tection to this state of things. It was evident that in no
single year would there be produced an extraordinary amount
of cattle. Not so with corn. In one year there might be so
extensive a crop of wheat as to inundate the English markets,
to the injury, and perhaps ruin, of the English farmer, if he
were not protected by a duty, which, under this circum-
stance, was perfectly justifiable mid perfectly consistent With

cam= tenso, but nrhlch was unnecessary, and therefore
notjustiflable, ae regarded cattle."

Well, what is there in this, the reader will exclaim,
except what is perfectly consistent with the declared
views of Sir Robert Peel's government in regulating
those important measures ? Certainly nothing. The
object of the corn-law was to secure to the farmer that
moderate protection which the interests of native agri-
culture require, and to the consumer those moderate
prices to which, in justice, he was entitled. The object
of the reduction of the prohibitory duty upon Foreign
cattle and meat was, equally, that of securing to the
farmer a moderate protection, and, at the same time, of
securing. the consumer from scarcity and immo-
derately high prices. In both cases the duties were
adjusted, as Lord Sandon justly observes, "to accom-
modate the amount of protection" to the circumstances
affecting the two commodities.
The ex-President of the Board of Trade, however,
—Mr. Labouchere—affected to discover, in this plain
and intelligible explanation, an abandonment by Sir
Robert Peel's government of the principle of free trade,
added to " great inconsistency ;" and that amazing
philosopher, Mr. Richard Cobden, whose profound
observations are duly re-printed and scattered abroad
by anti-corn-law ladies " at the low charge of one half-
penny each,"—(as the peripatetic hawkers of " last
dying speeches and awful executions have it)—abso-
lutely thought that " he might be excused for rising to
express his astonishment at such a declaration from
such a quarter." The same oracle went on to inform
the house that "he had recently returned from Lanca-
shire, where he had found precisely the same opinion
of this tariff as that just expressed by the: noble lord.
The people of Lancashire believed that they were legis-
lating, as stated by the noble lord, for the purpose of
admitting articles which could not be imported, and of
excluding those which might be introduced from all
points of the compass."

We will not enter into any serious refutation of the
flimsy and seditious remarks ventured upon by this
very flimsy personage upon the occasion under notice.
We will not either be guilty of the supererogation of
vindicating Sir Robert Peel's government, or Lord
Sandon, from the charge of inconsistency made by a
Whig ex-Minister t 7) Our readers, however, will par-
don us for referring to the amusing confession at
length wrung from Whig Radicalism of the lying pre-
tences with which, for months past, its followers have
deluded the people of England. Let it be borne in
mind that these very "ARTICLES WHICH CANNOT BE
IMPORTED," according to the haypenny member for
Stockport, are the very excellent beef, mutton, and
pork—" the fine, fresh, and tempting beef, fat and lean
beautifully mixed"—so eloquently descanted upon by
the veracious George Thompson and other anti-corn-law
worthies at many a free trade gathering ! This very
commodity, " which cannot be imported" at a penny a
pound, is the " three halfpenny beef and pork" of
friend Henry Ashworth; the excellent mutton which
Mr. Charles Holland assured the admirers of his see-
saw oratory could be imported " through our house in
South America," in such unlimited quantities ; the
same which had been eaten with such exceeding relish
by Mr. John Brooks, of Manchester; the same stuff,
in fine, whose cheapness and superior excellence was,
by the aid of such a reduction as that which is now
discovered to be a perfectly inoperative reduction, to
drive "the roast beef of old England" out of the mar-
ket, and to enable every working man throughout the
kingdom to add a joint and gravy to his dish of pota-
toes!

Oh, rare leaguers—excellent free-traders—veracious
spouters ! HUMBUGS are ye of the first water !

We are not in the habit of remarking upon the line
of conduct which right-minded and pious clergymen of
the Church of England may pursue in the exercise of
what they may conscientiously deem their Christian
duty. We are not, either, inclined to maintain that
such clergymen should withdraw their helping hand
from the support of works of Christian benevolence
because men of a different form of worship, entertaining,
however a belief in the essentials of Christianity, are to
be associated with them in it. We must, however,
protest against that excess of complaisance which leads
a man, in entering upon such a fellowship in well-
doing, to go out of his path to pay compliments to dis-
sent which never have been, and never will be, received
in the same spirit in which they were bestowed.
Our attention has been led to this subject by the
perusal of a report of a meeting of "the London Mis-
sionary Association," a body composed exclusively of
Dissenters, at which a reverend gentleman of this dio-
cese—the Rev. Doctor Byrth—is stated to have made
use, amongst other expressions honourable to himself,
of the following somewhat extraordinary language :

" I should be false to the very purpose for which I am
here, if I did not say, that, as a churchman, I feel it an ho-

nour to be present at this meeting. I should forget some of
the most delightful associations connected with my own study
of the progress of evangelical religion in this country, if I did
not say that I believe I am, at this moment, occupying, how-
ever humbly, my own proper position."

With due deference to the Rev. Doctor we are in-

dined to doubt whether, as a speaker at such a meet-
ing, he was occupying the " proper position" of a mi-
nister of the Church of England. Upon this subject,
however, we will not enlarge here, but proceed with
another quotation.

" I feel it, indeed," continued Dr. Byrth, " to be a privi-
lege to say, that, all Churchman as I am, and fond of Episco-
pacy as I have avowed myself to be, and attached to the
Church of which I am a minister, yet there is a bond still
holier than that—a feeling which triumphs even over that
affection—a principle which is mightier than that which
unites me to the section of the Church to which I belong;
it is the love of our common Christianity. (Cheers.) It
appears to me that it is impossible to behold such a meeting
as this—keeping in view its past proceedings and successes,
looking at the spirit which now animates it, regarding the
glorious object which it has in view—and not to feel that it
is a benefit to the spiritual character to withdraw one's self
occasionally from the circle in which, commonly, our best
affections are engaged, in order to contemplate what is the
beauty and the grandeur of Christianity when looked at

alone."

Undoubtedly the reverend doctor felt, whilst he
uttered, this beautiful sentiment. It was one which
might have befitted a good man to utter : but that it
was one which was likely to be appreciated in the place
where uttered, we leave it to Dr. Byrth to determine
after the perusal of the following extracts from the
report of a meeting of the Voluntary Church Associa-
tion, abridged from the same dissenting organ, The
Patriot.

The Rev. Dr. Byrth had felicitated the dissenting
body before whom he spoke, upon the " denunciation
of what has justly been called the Modern Heresy,
Puseyism," which he had heard that day "coming as
if from the heart of that large assembly ;" and added,
" I believe that I shall not stand less accepted in the
few observations which I propose to make, because I
boldly, before this audience, declare myself to be an
Episcopalian." At the meeting alluded to, of the
" Voluntary Church Association," held the 14th May,
two days after this confidence in dissenting love for
the Church was expressed, the Rev. C. Stovel re-