The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-13 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS

" A Waverer's " doubts are quite uncalled for. Let our
correspondent ascertain that the course which the Council
are pursuing with reference to the Corporation Schools is
right and all apprehensions of injustice vanish. The same
thing cannot be both right and unjust at the same time.
The circulation of the STANDARD needs no such propping-
up as the gratuitous distribution of trumpery almanacs
would afford it. We have had frequent indications lately
of the decrease in the issue of some of our contemporaries,
which is, perhaps, one reason, amongst others, of the now
rapidly increasing circulation of the STANDARD.
" Disappointment "'gives way to unnecessary sorrow. The
progress of the Corporation Schools is extremely satis-
factory ; and so far from there being any intention of re-
linquishing their management on the part of the council,
we believe some members of the Education Committee are
strongly impressed with the opinion that more accommo-
dation will shortly be required for the children, if their
numbers continue to augment as they have done lately.

Etherpool &,tanDatt.

TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 13, 1342

Before proceeding to deal with the arguments and
statements, put forth on Wednesday by the speakers
in favour of a " liberalised" system of education in
the schools of the corporation, we must confess that
we are not at all disappointed in the gentleman by
whom an infraction of the present scriptural system
was proposed. Mr. George Hall Lawrence has always
appeared to us to possess an unhappy indecision of
character, which is calculated to stand seriously in the
way of that career of usefulness, for which his talents

so well befit him. Surrounded, by family ties and

intimacies, with men entertaining principles directly in
opposition to those which he professes to entertain
himself, his mind is of that plastic order which allows
itself to be moulded, unconsciously to its owner, into
a shape which, if he could see it, he would spurn as
unworthy of him. lie stoops to view the world, and
to look at principles through the vision of other men.

Knowing and valuing the truth, he still coquettes
with its opposite; and has imbibed the fatally erro-
neous notion that right and wrong can be made to
meet, in some imaginary midway of expediency or
accommodation.

The question of education, so much mooted in
our community—what is it viewed upon its broad
ground ? It is simply this : upon what system
of teaching can we most advantageously, and legally,
expend the funds devoted by the council to educa-
tional purposes ? To enable us to reply to this ques-
tion, go back to the purpose for which we give educa-
tion at all. We do not seek to make philosophers, or
political economists, or chemists, or mathematicians,
of the children of our indigent fellow-townsmen ; we
do not seek merely to instil into their minds a certain
quantity of abstract knowledge; but, emphatically, we
seek to render them in after life, by the seeds which
„,
we thus sow in early life, good men, good Christians,
and good subjects! To effect this best object of all
education, the system of teaching which we adopt
must be one of which religion constitutes a vital por-
tion. This position Mr. Lawrence fully recognises :
nay, it is almost universally recognised. But if there
is to be religious teaching, there must be a test. We
must have some criterion whereby to distinguish be-
tween the true and the false, or we may find ourselves
engaged in teaching Mahomedanism, the worship of
Juggernaut, or the religion of the American Indian,
with the funds set apart for educational purposes by a
Christian community. Accordingly, we have provided
a test, the most universally received which we could
provide—viz. the authorised version of the Word of
God.

What more of latitude, we ask, could be allowed, in
devising a system of education which comprises, as an
indispensible requisite, religious teaching ? Surely
none. To the children of dissenters we give teaching
in the truths of the Bible, without obtruding upon
them the tenets of any particular church. The chil-
dren of members of our own persuasion we take to
church every Sabbath; the children of dissenters we
leave to be taken by their parents to their own place
of worship, and exact from those parents a pledge that
they will be so taken. Few will deny that, here, we
open the door to the greatest number of those who
desire—what alone is worthy of being received—a
scriptural education for their children. The Roman
Catholics, however, stand aloof, and refuse the boon
which we offer them, They will not, or cannot—for
our present argument it matters not which—accept
teaching in the truths of the Bible, unaccompanied by
the glossing of their own priests. They cannot read
that Bible, or allow their children to read it, even as a
school-book ; and are, therefore, excluded—self-ex-
eluded—from our schools.

We deplore this circumstance as heartily, and perhaps
more heartily than some who make larger professions.
We are more the real friends of our Roman Catholic
fellow-townsmen, than all the Blackburns and Rath-
bones who have philosophised and declaimed in their
behalf. We wish to give their children what we deem
the best gift which we have to offer—the same gift
we give to our own children; but BIGOTRY steps in—
and surely this is BIGOTRY !—and denounces the gift
as an unclean thing. In this state of things Mr.
George Hall Lawrence obtrudes upon the Council a
proposition which, no doubt, he conscientiously be-
lieves is to solve the difficulty.
Mr. Lawrence proposes that " such a modification
be made in tile existing rules and regulations as would
render the schools more available for the classes of the
poor professing different religious opinions, by allow-
ing their children the benefit of the secular instruction
of the schools, the parties giving an assurance to the
Committee that their religious duties should not be
neglected." It is argued, "if you cannot induce these
children to accept your religious teaching, give them
what is the nearest approach to the whole good, which

they refuse,—secular teaching." Tint is this, we ask,
the nearest approach to what we believe to be the
whole good ? 'We doubt much whether it is ;
doubt our right to give it; and we utterly deny that it
can be given without deteriorating the value of Me
whole, which we give to those willing to receive it,
Religion, as a portion of education, should be mixed
up with it so as to be inseparable from it. It should
pervade our whole system of teaching, and mingle
with every atom of the knowledge which we convey.
We might patch up, it is true, a thing with a prayer at
the beginning, a hymn at the close, and reading,
writing, and arithmetic in the middle, and then dock it
at both ends for the benefit of those who desire
" secular instruction ;" but has such a system any
right to be called a system of scriptural education?
Certainly not; and we defy Mr. Lawrence or any of
his supporters to lay down a system, so divisible into
" secular" and "religious," which is anything less than
part INFIDEL and part RELIGIOUS ! In operation
the whole scheme, we believe, would be found utterly
impracticable; and instead of a concession, only a
mockery.

Upon grounds of expediency, even, the proposition
of Mr. Lawrence is indefensible. That gentleman
professes, by the sacrifice of a principle, or its stir
pression in some cases, to seek peace; to put a stop
to the agitation which has for years existed in the
Council and the town upon the question of education,
and to allay the animosities which that agitation e%.
cites. But where, we ask, is the hope apparent that
such will be the result ? We do not find it in the
temper of Mr. Hornhy's speech; still less in the ani"
mus displayed by Mr. Blackburn. These gentlemen
seek, for their party, a position in our schools. widely
different from that in which the adoption of the Po'
position of Mr. Lawrence would place them. TM'
contend, as a matter of right, for a full share of the
education provided, proportioned to their numerical
strength in the community ; and to enable them to
acquire this, they would revert to the late system, or
they would secularise the system altogether. Nothing
less than this would satisfy them ; and although, for
the moment, they might accept the instalment offered
them, it would only be to enable them to point to the
principle which it would establish, and to say—and
with justice—" You concede our right to an education
which is not an education in the Scriptures as inter-
preted by the Church of England, and how can YOU
draw the distinction, between our right to that and
our right to instruction in the Scriptures as inter:
preted by ourselves ? You admit that the teaching of
religion, at all, is not compulsory upon you; and yet
you capriciously deprive our children of a portion °I
the benefit which is their right, whilst yon are teaching
religion to your own."

View the whole question as we will, the conviction
forces itself upon us, that there is no safe middle path
between the system at present established, and such a
system as would satisfy the party of Messrs. Blackburn
and Hornby. That system, however, it must be evi-
dent, now, can never be legally carried out. (JP°
this point, the opinion of the I own-clerk himself, in
whom, at all events, our opponents ought to:place con-
fidence, is conclusive. The system of the late VII;
cation Committee is clearly and directly illegal; and
although the Town-clerk was guarded in deciding that
the " secular instruction" contended for was illegal,
we are satisfied that the spirit of the decisions, which
he referred to, is equally opposed to the legality 01,
such teaching. Religious teaching there must be, in
any system of education provided for at 'the public
cost ; religious teaching there must be, to render edw
cation a boon worth receiving ; and we ask—with con'
fidence that the judgment of every candid man will be
with us—can there be devised any system which satis-
fies the requirements of the law, which fulfils all the
objects which we have in view in giving education 3t
all, and is at the same time more tolerant to those who
differ from us upon points of interpretation of the
Word of God, than the system established by the Pre"
sent committee ?

Let us urge, then, upon those Conservative men'
hers of the Council, who have betrayed a leaning
towards concession upon this vital point, to re-examine
the question intently, before they commit themselves
to the ignis fatuus chase which they are urged to enter
upon. There never can be a compromise upon this
question ; there never ought to be one ! It is an
amiable feeling, no doubt, which urges them to hold
out every inducement to the children of their poorer
brethren to embrace the advantages of education. it
is a Christian feeling which teaches them to symPa-
thise with the deprivation to which they are coerced by
their religious belief. But they can never, we feel
assured, satisfy their consciences that they are doing 3
kindness to those children in giving them infidel know'
ledge—in giving them an education from which the
very name of God, and of the Saviour of the World,

is to be excluded. They may attempt, indeed, to
salve over the feelings of repugnance to such a course
which will sting them in their solitary hours, by re-
ferring to the saving clause in Mr. Lawrence's motion.
They may say, it is true, we have consented to bring
up these poor children " without God in the world,,
for a portion of the day; but we have taken security
from their parents that religion will be taught the°
in their own homes—in the wretched cellars and alleys
in which they live, surrounded by vice and immorality
in all their most loathsome forms. But oh, what
mockery is such a dependance !

Throw away, Gentlemen, this flimsy covering with
which you are endeavouring to exclude the light froln
your eyes ! Cast off the deadening weight of that aul-
bition to stand well with all men, with which you are
seeking to stifle in your own hearts the convictions of
truth ; and be, upon this great question, at all hazards,
and in despite of the sneers of the world, coNsisTENI.
and MANLY !

We are quite as sorry as the Journal can have been
that it was out of our power, by quoting his "argo'
ments for the STANDARD," to place both sides of the
question before our readers ; and also that it was cool'
pulsory upon us to divide our remarks, in reply to
them, into two portions. The demand upon our space'
created by such an arrangement, would have been much
too great ; and, moreover, the public do not relish very
lengthy articles upon any subject. As we see, there"
fore, that, without such a course on both sides, Or
contemporary does not think it is worth while pursuing
the controversy, we shall, at present, merely reply to e
few portions of our last week's remarks, in which he
has a little misinterpreted us.

In the first place, then, we have not, at all, given op
the advocacy of a sliding scale; and shall not do 0°
until we are convinced that the present one has failed
in its objects, which were, we conceive, to combine a
regular trade in corn, with adequate protection to the
native grower. We submit that, to some extent, it
has been successful already ; but the trial which it 10
had is scarcely a fair one. When it has failed, after
(a
fair trial, to produce the results which we anticipated
from it, we shall not hesitate to say so.
In the second place, we took exception to the Jour-
nal's entering upon a lengthy argument against °
sliding scale, because we conceived that such argument
was beside the immediate subject which was propo6e"A
for discussion—the mode in which free trade in corn
was to operate upon the manufacturer. We may have
been wrong in restricting our opponent from entering
upon the alleged demerits of a sliding scale. In strict
fact, we scarcely did so restrict him; but we were rot
called upon to enter upon its defence. If we were
successful in showing that his expectations of advantage'
and those of his party, from such a change, were
fallacious or overstrained, we were abundantly satisfied'
And we maintain that we have so succeeded. We
have shown that, by the admission of the fours°
himself, the sum of benefit to arise is measured by the
amount of foreign corn which we shall be able to con-
sume, and an imaginary power acquired to inp lir..
regularly as a remittance for our manufactures.
establishing this point, we conceive we have done
something for the cause of truth—something to dissi-
pate the absurdly exaggerated anticipations of free-
traders ;—for we are satisfied that the disappointment
of the fears of the advocates of moderate protection
.
to the agriculturist will not be one-half so greats at.
the small amount of injury sustained—should such he
the result of a free trade in corn—as will be that of the
manufacturer, at the small amount of benefit derived
by himself.

With respect to the ability of the United States to
compete in corn-growing with continental nations, the
Journal has not satisfied us. The present moment,
when the ports of the continent have been drained to

upply this market, whilst America, with a large sur-
plus produce, has not succeeded in disposing of it, is
scarcely a fair criterion to go upon. Take the average
prices in the United States and in continental markets
for the past ten years ; and we shall willingly be guided
by it. The question, however, is not material : if
Great Britain is to become a large and regular im-
porter of corn, her markets will guide the prices both
in Europe and America, and the supply must be di-
vided. We shall never in practice, without discrimi-

native legislation, procure our corn, of necessity, from
countries which take our goods in return; but, upon
the acknowledged principle of free trade, buy where we
can buy cheapest. We do not think that America is
the market in which we can do so.

The most important part, however, of the Journal's
article is, his remarks upon the nature of the con-
nexion between the price of food and the price of la-
bour. We quote them entire, because we consider
them about the cleverest we have met with, upon the
subject. Whether they are more honest, however,

than the somewhat opposite opinions of the

Man-

chester Guardian, and other anti-corn-law writers, we
shall not offer an opinion. The Journal says :

" The assertion that the rate of wages follows the price of
food, is one which has not even the prestige of antiquity, nor
the sanction of a great name. It is a mere modern piece of
country-squirism. It only astonishes us how any reflecting

man can repeat it.
" If we are asked whether we do not think that to main-
tain, or rather regain, our manufacturing prosperity, we must
have cheaper labour and cheaper food, we are much disposed
to answer the question in the affirmative, though that is no
part of our argument against the corn-laws, from which we
should expect moderately lowered prices, and greatly in-
creased means of consumption. Though some people may,
we think very foolishly, it is not from mere cheapening of
corn that we expect prosperity. If that will make us pro-
sperous, we are likely to have it full soon. Under the old
law, we had corn down in one year (1835) to 365. In the
first year of the present one we have it down to 48s. If we
have an abundant harvest next year, we shall to a certainty
have it down to 365. again. Without a change, to fight
against all the disadvantages of not taking corn and sugar
from foreign nations, and of taxing cotton and wool, wages
of labour and (as a consequence and not as a cause) prices
of food must be reduced to at least as low a rate as on the
continent ; for we are sacrificing all the advantages of our
position. To maintain those, to avoid such a calamity,—for
the ruin of the agricultural interests, we feel as strongly as
any one, would be a great one,—we would repeal the present

corn-law. We should then calculate on an import never at
a lower rate than 405., rarely higher than 505., usually about
455. By this, all classes of workmen would be able to buy
themselves plenty of food ; four hundred thousand able-
bodied paupers would be enabled to buy for themselves and
families the two millions of quarters of corn now given to
them for doing nothing ; and the three hundred thousand
added to our population every year, instead of going into the
workhouses, would forge, and spin, and weave, to buy the
food which they now beg or steal, or starve for the want of."
We were never enamoured of those abstract prin-
ciples by which political economists would regulate all
commercial legislation. We do not even subscribe to
the dogma—whether of Sir Robert Peel or of any
other man—that we should always " buy at the cheap-
est market." Carry out this doctrine to its fullest
extent, rind all commercial legislation is uncalled for—
nay, even prejudicial. We have no right, then, to have
colonies. The whole principle, and details as well, of
our tariff, are unwise. If we can buy our silks, our
cottons, our hosiery, from other countries as cheaply
as our own, we ought to be permitted to do so. Reci-
procal treaties, even, are so many treaties of injustice
and folly. But what sane man, we ask, would go this
length ? Circumstances must ever guide us in legisla-
tion, and not mere abstract principles ; and these cir-
cumstances will be found to operate upon the realisa•
tion of the doctrine that low wages and cheap provisions
accompany each other•. It is the natural state of
things; and wherever it does not occur, depend upon
it there is something artificial in the state of society in
which such a phenomenon is produced. _ _

We admit that cheap food has not produced cheap
labour, as a general rule, in this country ; and especially
amongst our manufacturing population. In 1935, the
Journal reminds us, the price of wheat was, in one
week, as low as 365. the quarter. Now, what, we ask,
was the state of wages in that and the following year ?
They rose, in the manufacturing districts, as Mr. Ed-
mund Ashworth, a competent anti-corn-law authqrity,
assured the Somerset-hcuse Commissioners, ten per
cent. The demand for labour exceeded the supply ;
and the same gentleman implored the Commissioners
to grant relief to the manufacturing capitalists, from
the source within their reach—pauper migration. The

prayer was granted ; and the downward progress of
wages, which had for years been going on, recom-
menced. Cheap corn then produced, first, good wages
and increased comforts to the labourer ; and, NEXT,
migration of the agricultural population to the fountain
of those comforts, with ultimate overstocking of the
labour market. The cheapness here, however, it must
be borne in mind, was produced by abundant harvests.
A good home demand had created employment for the
manufacturing masses. The China and East India
markets had just . been opened. The railway mania
was in its height; and we were in the midst of a ficti-
tious prosperity. Hence, good wages was the tempo-
rary accompaniment of cheapness. But let that cheap-
ness be created by foreign importation, and even the
temporary refutation of the principle that cheapness of
food and cheapness of labour go hand in hand, will not
occur. The agricultural labourers, dispossessed of em-
ployment upon the poorer soils, will flock to the labour
market of the manufacturing districts, and will take
employment whenever it will bring them the decreased
amount of wages which will buy them food. Such a
result our contemporary evidently contemplates ; and
the more corn we import,—the lower we drive the price
of corn, the more rapidly it will be produced.
But the Journal says, cheap corn is the consequence of
low wages, and not vice versd. Why what a fallacy is
here ! Surely wages were low enough last year; hut
was corn low ? Or can wages, however high, make
the price of corn high, with open ports ? But the ab-
surdity is too palpable, and we leave it.

We cannot let pass the opportunity, which offers
to-day, of expressing our thanks for the firmness, in
repressing those unseemly exhibitions of ill-temper
and ill-breeding in the Council, which has thus far
been exhibited by his worship, the present Mayor.
That the task is a difficult one we well know, and the
more, on that account, we appreciate the effort to per-
form it. We do not say that it will be entirely suc-
cessful, for you might as well attempt to harness a
grasshopper, or to extract silence from a green parrot,
as to restrain within any assignable bounds of decorum
one member of that Council, whom we need not name.
Men who cannot be looked at, even, without breaking
out into unseemly buffooneries, are xot easily con-
vertible into orderly members of any deliberative
assembly : and our only hope, therefore, in this quar-
ter, is, that the constantly recurring admonitions of
his worship may at length produce that disgust in the
entire body of the Council, which will make itself felt
even by one so impenetrable to ordinary appliances.
Of this we are certain, that a respect for their own
character ought to urge even the " liberal" party to
lend their best aid to the efforts of Mr. Gladstone to
elevate the character of the assembly over which he
presides. Conduct towards an opponent which would
be scouted as impertinent in a tap-room, should not
be countenanced by educated gentlemen in the Coun-
cil.

It will be seen by a paragraph in another column,
that a system of espionage has recently beex intro-
duced into our police force for the detection of
publicans and beer-sellers, in breaches of the new local
act affecting them, the fairness of which, as regards
those whom it is sought to punish, and its policy as
regards the parties employed to carry it out, appear to
us to be highly questionable. We allude to the order-
ing of police officers to watch and enter inns and
taverns, in the disguise of sailors, or workmen of pecu-
liar garb, without staff. truncheon of office, or other
badge or proof of authority. A female, a Mrs. Chis-
nall, who keeps a public-house in the borough, and
who was brought before Mr. Rushton on Friday last,
has the merit of being the first to protest, before the
magistrate, against such a practice, which she consi-
dered (and we think ,on good grounds,) as unfair to
the trade, and as vesting the constabulary with a power
that is liable to the grossest abuse. She stated that
her house had been entered by several men, in the
guise of sailors, who produced no authority, nor even
informed her that they were policemen, but whom she
now found were the officers who appeared against her.
The men, indeed, said that they did tell her they were
constables; but admitting that they had, any sailor, as

she remarked, might say the same thing, and thereby
get into her house after hours, she being liable to a fine
if she refused admittance to the police; and it is obvi-
ous, we may add, that if they were not officers, and got
in by a false personation, it was difficult to get rid of
such customers ; and the probability would be, that if
they were there found by the real " Simon Pures," and
any dregs or ale bottoms were left about, she would be
equally amenable to a fine. Besides, no publican can
have a personal knowledge of every man in a force of
between six and seven hundred men ; and when one
or more of them enter a house in unwonted attire, and
afterwards appear against the keeper, in police uniform,
as witnesses, it may be difficult for the defenaant to re-
cognize them as the same individuals. The defendant's
witnesses, too, may be equally puzzled in this respect,
for difference of dress frequently gives a very different
contour or appearance to persons. Defendants may
thus be put in a doubtful or indefensible position; and
in candid minds the evidence becomes liable to suspi-
cion, which would not arise were the proceedings open
and above board. Mr. Rushton appeared to be c f
opinion that there was some justice in Mrs. Chisnalfs
complaint, and properly remarked that he was not him-
self aware of such a practice being adopted, but he
should make inquiry into it.

We know not by whom the system was introduced.
We are informed, however, that it was adopted—
doubtless with good intentions—for the purpose of
detecting certain publicans who employ persons at the
entrances of their houses (after or before legal hours)
to watch the coming of the officers, and who, on a
signal being made, contrive to clear the decks, and get
rid of their company; thus evading what we consider
to be a really salutary law. If this be the reason, we
think it one that is untenable; for it admits that the
very sight of a police-officer is a powerful check to the
evil in question, and that the disguising of such officer
as a sailor, or otherwise, is an aim at detection rather
than at prevention. But, be this as it may, the system
(which may be very well in some cases for the detection
of felonies, or secret conspiracies) is doubly objection-
able :—first, as regards the trade, on the grounds
stated, as well the pre-supposing their guilt—which is
rather unconstitutional ; and, secondly, as regards the
officers themselves. It casts a stigma upon the former,
unmerited by them as a body, many of their houses
being conducted in an unexceptionable manner ; and
it tends to degrade the latter, by lowering them to the
obnoxious character of spies. Amongst the abuses to
which, if persisted in, it will open the door, not the
least is, that, under its wing, constables in disguise
may obtain admission into public-houses at all hours
of the night, and getting—if they think fit—a glass
here and a glass there, may become intoxicated; for it
is quite clear, that though publicans are liable to fine
for such supply to men on duty, the promise of suffer-
ance in such cases held out, by the officers themselves,
—who can alone become informers—and the. fear of
giving offence to these lynx-eyed guardians of. the
night,—must generally result in compliance. It would
be unjust to assume that this would be the general
conduct of the officers; but that it would give such
facilities to the less steady amongst them, at hours
when few of the public are abroad, and still fewer to
recognise them in their plain clothing, is, we think,
unquestionable. Surely, the vigilance of the police
as officers, numerous as they are, is quite sufficient to
carry out the purposes of the legislature, without re-
sorting to schemes of mere detection, at once insidious
and abhorrent to English feeling. The secret system
to detect political offenders had its day. It was some-
times available for good, but was found to be beset
with so many concomitant evils, that it was, by almost
common consent, consigned to " the tomb of all the
Capulets." We deprecate its revival, even on a small
scale, in the social relations of life, and trust the
proper authorites will see reason to abandon it. The
police force has need of all the popularity which an
open, undisguised, impartial, and uncompromising ex-
ercise of their legitimate functions can supply; and it
were unwise to subject them to the unenviable notoriety
of occasionally appearing amongst any class of their
fellow-citizens as spies.

LOCAL NEWS.

The Cheshire Foxhounds meet to-morrow ("Wednesday),
at Mere Hall ; on Thursday, at Tabley ; and on Saturday,
at Taryen ;—each day at half-past ten.

MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.-It will be observed in the
advertisement of the Mechanics' Institution that Mr. Henry
Russell, the popular vocalist, will appear to-morrow evening,
and sing many of his excellent compositions.
THE LATE CHARLES BIRCH, ESQ.—A handsome mural
monument of white marble, in the form of a sarcophagus,
surmounted by a sepulchral urn, has just been erected to the
memory of this gentleman, in the interior of St. Mary's
Church. Edge-hill.
Major-General Nott, of the East India Company's service,
who has recently so gloriously distinguished himself in India,
is a Welshman, and was educated at the Mathematical Aca-
demy at Cowhridge, under the care of that exemplary man
and much honoured preceptor, the late Mr. Thomas Williams.

CHARLES WILLMER'S AMERICAN NEW S-LETTER.—
We have seen a copy of this new publication, and consider
it will be highly advantageous to the mercantile interest on
the other side of the water. The latest intelligence is con-
tained in it almost to the time of the steamer sailing.
COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.-Mr. Wareing Webb is about
to publish a line engraving on steel of this beautiful build-
ing, from a drawing by Mr. Elmes. We have seen a proof
impression, and though small, it gives a correct idea of the
noble institution. The engraver is Mr. J. H. Le Keux, who
has great eminence in the art.

THE GREAT FIRE.—COMPTON HOUSE.—It will be seen
that our spirited townsmen, Messrs. Jeffery and Morrish,
have been the first in the field in purchasiag part of the large
stock of Mr. Joseph Norton, the manufacturer at Clayton
West, near Huddersfield, whose premises were lately de-
stroyed by fire. This purchase is to be marked at extraordi-
narily low prices ; and we recommend ladies, this December
weather, to be early in the day in making their visits to the
Compton House Establishment.
FALSE REGISTRATION.—Mary Hall was placed before
Mr. Rushton, on Saturday, charged with having defrauded
a registrar of births, marriages, and deaths. It appeared
that the prisoner had twice, since the beginning of August
list, given false information to Mr. Edward Lovatt of the
deaths of two children, on each of which occasions she re-
ceived a shilling. She attempted the fraud a third time, but,
suspicion having been excited, inquiry was made, and the
frauds were discovered. The prisoner was committed for
trial.

RETURNED EMIGRANTS.—AIthough it is usual, during
the latter part of the year, for numbers of persons to return
in the steerages of the ships from New York, this year the
number has been much greater than usual. The majority of
them are people who emigrated early in the year, and who,
disappointed on their arrival in the United States at not
getting employment, have returned, many of them in a state
of utter destitution. The Liberty, which arrived in the early
part of the week, brought 120 in the steerage, and the
Hottinguer, which arrived on Friday, brought 200. From
the scarcity of employment in the cities on the seaboard, it
is likely that hundreds of disappointed emigrants will yet
return.

THEATRE-ROYAL.—At a general meeting of the proprie.
tors of this establishment, held on Thursday last, at the
office of Messrs. Foster and Lloyd, it was unanimously re-
solved, that legal measures should be immediately resorted
to for the protection of this establishment from allinfrac-
tions of the patent rights exclusively granted to the proprie-
tors of this theatre. Notices to this effect were, on Friday,
served upon the managers and different members of the un-
licensed theatres now in Liverpool. At the same meeting,
the proprietors, in the most liberal manner, agreed to a con-
siderable reduction of the rent now paid for the theatre. We
congratulate the lessee, Mr. Hammond, upon this arrange-
ment, and trust, after the many difficulties he has had to
encounter during the past year, that he will now enter upon
a prosperous career as manager of our theatre.—Journal.
PUBLICANS AND BEER-SELLERS FINED.-At the Po-
lice-court, on Friday, ten publicans and four beer-sellers
were brought before Mr. Rushton, for various infractions of
the regulations affecting them, particularly selling at illegal
hours on Sunday morning. A few were acquitted, and the
rest fined 60s. and 40s. as their cases appeared. One of
them, a Mrs. Chisnall, made a spirited appeal to the magis-
trates against the novel practice of sending policemen in the
disguise of sailors to watch publicans, enter their houses, and
fine them. She considered such a practice very unfair, as
any sailor might come in and represent himself as a police-
man. She added that they came in that guise without any
stick or badge of authority. Mr. Rushton admitted the com-
plaint to be proper, and said he would make inquiry about it.

THE FUNDS.—SATURDAY EVENING.—The market for
public securities has not exhibited much business to-day.
Prices in the case of Government stocks were as they closed
yesterday—Consols for the Account being quoted 93i to 91;
Bank Stock, 1721 to 1731 ; Exchequer Bill, 51s. to 535. pre-
mium ; Three-and-a-Half per Cents. Reduced, 101 ; India
Bonds, 455. to 475. premium; Three per Cents. Reduced,
941 to -a ; and Long Annuities, 12a. In foreign securities
there were few buyers. Spanish stock closed flatter on ac-
count of the unfavouaable intelligence from Barcelona. The
Actives closed 17-K to 18 ; the New Three per Cents., 231 to
; Portuguese Five per Cents., 38 to 1 ; ditto Three per
Cents., 221 to 3; Mexican, 30i to 31k; Dutch Two-and-a-
Half per Cents., 52 to -1; ditto Five per Cents., 101 to 0 ;
Brazilian, 69 to 70; Colombian, 211 to ; and Belgian, 102
to 1.

TOXTEEH-PARK OPERATIVE PROTESTANT ASSOCIA-
TION.-At a meeting of the committee of this association,
on Friday evening last, we understand that the following
motion was passed ;—" Resolved, that this committee views
with deep regret the step which has been taken by G. H.
Lawrence, Esq., and those who supported him in his motion
respecting the new plan of education, in which is seen a com-
promise of God's truth, and a plain proof that they care
more for the bodies of the poor Roman Catholics than they
do for their immortal souls. And in the face of their
boasted love for the Church of England, which says in her
22d article That the Church of Rome teaches doctrines not
grounded upon any warranty of Scripture, but rather re-
pugnant to the Word of God.' They purpose giving secular
instruction to the children upon the condition that their pa-
rents take care that they are taught these doctrines which
the Church of England condemns ; and it believes it is quite
evident to every sound churchman that these gentlemen have
betrayed the very principle which sent them to the council;
therefore, this committee entreats humbly and affectionately
the electors of these men to request them to resign, and send
others who will not tamper with the enemy of all that
Englishmen ought to hold dear as their lives—' the unerring
Word of God,' which says, ' Train up a child in the way he
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' "

LIVER THEATRE.—The Liver Theatre is now open. Mrs.
Itzwilliam is playing several of her amusing characters.
Ir. Hoskins and Mr. I'. Lee are engaged.

Toe New CHININEYSWEEPING ACT.—George Ryley, a
master sweep, was, on Saturday, charged before Mr. Rush-
ton, by a young man who had been in his service, with having
compelled the said young man to enter a flue in the premises
of Messrs. Taylor and Co. The defendant was fined £5
and costs. In default of payment, he was committed for 21
days.

THE BOLD-STREET CLUB.—Mr. Shaw, Secretary of the
Bold-street Club, appeared before Mr. Rushton, on Satur-
day, having been summoned by William Dickinson, a sailor.
The latter stated, that, during his passage to Quebec, in Au-
gust last, he fell into the hold of the vessel, and broke his
arm. He remained off duty till the 30th September. On
the 17th November they were in dock at Liverpool, and on
the following day he sent a notice to the club, according to
the second rule. Mr. Rushton examined the rules, and
found that if members resided at a distance the Secretary
should, on receiving a form, pay any allowance, to which they
were entitled, over to such person as might be appointed, and
in the form it was set forth that no person should receive
more than one week's pay for time elapsed. Mr. Rushton
said as the accident occurred in the performance of duty, the
ship was bound to pay wages, and give medical and other at-
tendance. The claimant allowed that he had received all
this, but said he paid 2s. 2d. per week to the society, and if
he could not claim now where was the benefit. Mr. Rush-
ton said if the claimant had broken his arm on land, the club
would have been bound to pay him his allowance, as he could
not have received any wages while unable to work, but geo-
graphical circumstances had here prevented him from com-
plying with the rules, and;•'as a sailor, the law protected him,
and granted him wages and medical attendance during the
time he was disabled. The complaint was dismissed.
Cor.msioN ON THE RIVER.—On Friday, the master of
the steam-boat " Cheshire Witch," which plies between
Rock Ferry and Liverpool, appeared before Mr. Rushton to
answer a charge preferred against him by the owner of the
schooner Devonshire, who claimed damages for alleged in-
jury done to the latter vessel by the steamer running foul of
her. The captain of the Devonshire said that on the Friday
night previous he was steering his vessel into George's Dock
basin, and when near the entrance he saw a steamer coming
across the bows of his schooner, and she soon came in con-
tact with her. There was, lie'said, plenty of room for her to
have passed between his vessel and the pier head if she had
kept her course, which she did not, there being a space of
from 200 to 300 yards. Witness, on seeing her, had the helm
put hard-a-port. Mr. Jenkins, solicitor, who appeared for
the owners of the Cheshire Witch, said that that vessel started
on her last trip to Rock Ferry at nine o'clock that night, and
immediately on leaving George's Pier, endeavoured to get
into the strength of the tide, in doing which she had to pass
on the lee side of the Duke of Bridgewater steamer, which
had several flats in tow. In going out he saw something
black, and ordered the helm to be put a-port ; but directly
after a small boat came from under the bow of the schooner,
and he was obliged to stop the engine, otherwise the boat
would have been run down. He admitted that had the
steamer kept on her course she would have cleared the
schooner, but in that case the boat would have been swamped,
and the men in her killed or drowned. He had witnesses to
prove that had the schooner kept her helm a-port the colli-
sion would have been avoided.—Mr. Owen, a passenger on
board the steamer, spoke to the facts stated by Mr. Jenkins,
and Mr. Rushton said that the case must be dismissed, as
the captain of that vessel had acted in a humane and praise-
worthy manner ; for had he not stopped the engine at the
time, the boat would have been swamped, and the men
drowned.

FORGING A CHERUE.—A charge of forging a cheque, for
£5O, was preferred at the police-court, yesterday, against a
young man named Alexander Mason. It appeared that the
prisoner is the son of the late Mr. Robert Mason, boot and
shoemaker,. of 80ld-street, who died about two years ago.
Mrs. Mason and Mr. Pattinson (who died two months after-
wards), were left executors of the deceased's will. Mrs.
Mason, heft°. in ill health, entrusted Miss Mason and the
prisoner with the power of drawing cheques upon Messrs.
Moss, bankers ; and it, therefore, became requisite that
whenever a cheque was drawn, it should be signed by both
parties. On Saturday last, the prisoner presented a cheque
for £5O at the bank, which purported to be signed in the re-
gular way by himself and his sister, and the money was
paid to him. In the course of the day it was disco-
vered that the signature of Miss Mason was a forgery ;
and information being given to the police, the prisoner
was apprehended by Inspector Maddox whilst drinking in
the Shakspeare Tavern, Dawson-street. The sum of
1.75. 3d. was found upon him. Having been placed in
custody, he said, " I received the money : do you think they
will transport me ?" Mr. Peter Cottingham Moss. who
cashed the cheque, stated, that, in the first instance, a stran-
ger came to the bank, with a sheet of paper, on which the
form of a cheque was given ; but he went away on being told
that the signature purporting to be Miss Mason's was not
considered genuine. Shortly afterwards the prisoner came
himself, with one of the bank cheque forms filled up, and the
money was then paid to him. The money would not have
been paid to him on his own signature alone. Miss Mason
having proved that the signature was not her's, and that she
had given no authority for it to be appended, the prisoner
was called upon for his defence. He said, all he had to say
was, that he owed several sums of money, and he got the
cash out of the bank to pay them. He was committed for
trial at the next assizes.

SERIOUS ASSAULT UPON A SHIP-CARPENTER.—Yester-
day a man, named Robert Marsh, who is a ship-carpenter,
was brought up at the Police-court, before Mr. Rushton and
Mr. Benn, under a warrant, charging him with an assault
upon William Williams, also a ship-carpenter. Mr. James,
the barrister, and Mr. Leather, solicitor, appeared for the
complainant, and the prisoner was defended by Mr. Yates,
solicitor. Mr. James said this was one of the cases arising
out of the disturbances which, for some time past, had
existed among the shipwrights. The prisoner had taken an
active part in those disturbances, and, on one occasion, he
attempted to put a rope round the body of the complainant,
who was engaged in repairing a vessel in Queen's Graving
Dock No. 2, with the view of his being dragged out of the
dock by a body of about 200 of his associates, u-ho were
crowded on the quay above. Had that been accomplished,
Williams would either have lost his life or have sustained
some very serious injury. The learned counsel then called
Williams, who said, that, on the 3d of November, he was
employed by Messrs. Humble and Milcrest in making
stages for a vessel in the graving dock. He was halfway
down the mud wall, when from 150 to 200 men made their
appearance upon the quay. They made a great noise, and
asked him if he was going to " knock off?" He replied
that he should not, unless he was ordered to do so either by
his employers or by the foreman. The prisoner, on hearing
this, came to him halfway down the mud wall ; and, there
being a or inch rope, with a noose at one end, hanging
from the quay, he attempted to slip the noose over his head
and body. He got it as far as the shoulders at first, but
complainant lifted it off, and this process took place several
times, the men on the quay having hold of the other end of
the rope, ready, when it should be fast, to hoist him up.
Finding that he could not succeed, the prisoner struck
him upon the head, and finally threw him to the bot-
tom of the dock. This was the assault complained
of ; and this account was confirmed by the testimony of
Joseph Royle, the foreman. Mr. Yates cross•examined the
witnesses, but being unable to affect the credit of their evi-
dence, he stated so to the court. Mr. Rushton, in giving
the decision of the court, said, this was one of those lamenta-
ble instances of disorder on the part of workmen, which arose
out of a total misapprehension of the rights and duties of
workmen, and out of an ignorance of the law of the land.
The law of England would not permit any man to be inter-
fered with in the disposal of his labour upon whatever terms
he might think it right and equitable to sell it. No man had
right or power over him whilst he was doing that which was
laudable and right in endeavouring to maintsin his family and
himself by his own honest industry. It was a painful thing
to find, that men, like the prisoner, who had every opportu-
nity of acquiring the best information upon their own posi-
tion and the rights of others, should think it proper to resort
to violence. After going through the facts of the case, Mr.
Rushton added, that the decision of the court was that the
prisoner should be committed for trial at the sessions ; but,
in the mean time, he might be admitted to bail on finding
sureties, himself in 430, and two others in ;00 each, to ap-
pear and answer any indictment which might be preferred
against him.
SERIOUS ROBBERY.—Thomas Spooner, a middle aged
man, was placed at the bar of the Police-court, on Friday,
charged with having committed a fraud on his employers,
the Messrs. Crossfield and Co., wholesale grocers, carrying
on business in Temple-court. It appeared that the pri-
soner had for the last six years been their confidential ware-
houseman. His duty was to deliver the article sold during
the day by the firm, and enter it into the books by the
clerks. The article of rice the Messrs. Crossfield did not
keep in their own warehouse, but purchased large quantities
of it at a time from different rice merchants in the town,
and which was delivered as they required it. Spooner being
well known to the firms from whom the articles had been
purchased, they were delivered to him, when he applied, on
account of his employers. He took advantage of this facility,
and sold to Mr. M`Levy, of Preston, 25 bags of rice and
about one ton of raisins, the latter article being taken direct
from his employer's warehouse. He also sold, within the
last three months, to Corless and Co., who carry on busi-
ness as cocoa manufacturers, in Parliament-street, in this
town, 274 bags and several tierces of rice, the value of the
latter, altogether, amounted to nearly £5OO. The whole of
the articles sold by the prisoner were disposed of to the two '
different parties considerably below the price charged by the
merchants to the Messrs. Crossfield. Mr. Rushton said
that it was a case of great suspicion against Mr. Corless,
and told him that he should consider him implicated in the
transaction unless he could satisfy him that he had taken
that precaution, which, as a respectable tradesman, he ought
to have done in the transactions. Mr. Corless stated that
he had made inquiry from the Messrs. Hall and Smith, rice
merchants, of Edmund-street, and from what they had
stated, he believed the transactions to be perfectly correct.
A messenger was immediately sent to those gentlemen, re-
questing their attendance at the court. Shortly after Mr.
Medcalf, who manages the business of those gentlemen, ap-
peared in court, and stated that he knew Mr. Corless only
by sight, but never knew him to make any inquiry of the
kind. Mr. Rushton then ordered Spooner to be committed
to the sessions, and ordered Corless to find bail to the
amount of £2OO. About half an hour afterwards, bail was
produced to the amount required, and he was liberated. By
letters found upon the prisoner, it appeared that M`Levy
had questioned him about the mode in which he had become
possessed of the articles, and the letter of Spooner, in reply,
was produced, which satisfied the mind of Mr. M`Levy as
to the correctness of the transactions. Under these circum-
stances, the magistrates considered that in the transactions
of Mr. M`Levy, with the prisoner, there was nothing that
would implicate his character.—On Saturday the prisoner
Spooner was again placed at the bar. Mr. Corless appeared
in court, attended by both his partners, Mr. Isaac Dale
Edwards and Mr. John Stephens. Mr. Davenport, solici-
tor, attended on behalf of Mr. Corless. Mr. William Bol-
derston and other witnesses were called, who showed that it
was very customary for clerks and others in the service of
large firms to do business on their own account; and testi-
mony was given which showed, that the rice purchased by
Messrs. Corless and Co. from the prisoner was not under
the market price. it further appeared, that the prisoner
Spencer had on one occasion purchased some sugar and

other articles from Messrs. Crosfield ; that Messrs. Corless
had purchased from Mr. Thomas Medcalf, Messrs. Cros-

field's clerk, twine and hags, in which he dealt, and had paid
the money for them in Messrs. Crosfield and Co.'s office. It
was also shown, that Messrs. Carless and Co. had dealt
largely with confidential persons, who, being in the service
of other individuals, were allowed to traffic on their own ac-
count. It appeared that Messrs. Corless and Co. were led
to believe that the prisoner was a confidential servant, who
was struggling to advance himself, as he represented to them,
in reply to their inquiries, that he had several shares in
building societies, and had drawn out some of them to the
amount of £3OO for the purpose of trading with the money ;
an assertion which Mr. Stephens the more readily believed,
as he knew that Spooner was building several small houses.
In his transactions with them he wrote orders at their office
for them to go to Messrs. Hill and Smith's for the rice, and
the orders were signed in his own name, so that any suspi-
cions which they might have entertained were completely
lulled. The establishment of these points, and particularly
that with regard to the fair price of the rice, completely ex-
onerated Messrs. Carless and Co. from any imputation, and
Mr. Rushton expressed his gratification that he was relieved
from what would have been a painful duty. He still blamed
Messrs. Carless and Co. for their carelessness in having,
without more inquiry, dealt so largely with a man holding so
subordinate a situation. Mr. Stephens, in reply to a ques-
tion from Mr. Rushton, said they had paid £3OO to the pri-
soner on account, and there was still about £lOO due on the
transactions. The depositions against the prisoner were read
I over, and he was committed for trial.

TESTIMONIAL OF RESPECT TO THE REV.

HUGH M'NEILE

Last evening a very numerous meeting of the members
and friends of the Operative Protestant Association was held
in the Portico, Newington, for the purpose of forwarding the
intended testimonial of respect to the Rev. Hugh M'Neile,
which was suggested some time ago by Mr. John Howard.
On the motion of Mr. Taylor, JOHN MIDDLETON, Esq. was
called to the chair, and the proceedings commenced with a
supplication for the divine blessings upon them.
The CHAIRMAN said it afforded him unspeakable pleasure
to meet his operative friends at their various meetings, but
he must say that he met them with increased delight on
this occasion. The object they had in view was to at-
tempt, in some measure, to discharge that debt of gratitude
which they all owed to the Rev. Hugh M'Neile. (Loud
cheers.) lie really was not aware how to commence, so
as to speak sufficiently the praise of the reverend gentle-

man. He saw before him; many who were themselves
living monuments of the efficacy of his preaching ; and
when he told them he was himself a monument of the
efficacy of his preaching, he knew he should be speaking to
the hearts of many whom he saw before him. About six
years ago he came from the Metropolis of this kingdom to
reside in this town a confirmed dissenter from tha Church ;
he came
i recommended to join one of the dissenting congre-
gations n the town, particularly that conducted under the
ministry of the Rev. Dr. Raffles : but by the kind Providence
of God he was invited by an esteemed friend to attend the
ministry of the Rev. H. M'Neile. The rev. gentleman at
that time happened to be preaching a series of sermons upon
the services and liturgy of the establited Church, in which
by the Providence of God he was directed to touch upon
many of those subjects on which he (the Chairman) objected
to the Church of England. He need scarcely tell the meet-
ing that his objections gave way. He waited upon Mr.
M'Neile privately more particularly to consult him upon
his objections to infant baptism, the younger branches
not having been baptized, as his own inclinations
leaned to adult baptism. He should not forget the kind
manner in which Mr. M'Neile spoke of his former pastor,
the Rev. Dr. Liefchild.—(Hear.) Mr. M'Neile had been
represented by some portion of the press of this town, as a
narrow-minded bigot. Now, he (the Chairman) well recol-
lected his conversation with him respecting the Reverend
Doctor. " Pray, what minister did you sit under in London ?"
Mr. M'Neile enquired. He replied, " The Rev. Dr. Lief-
child ;" and never should he forget the evident delight with
which the rev. gentleman spoke of that eminent man ; he said
that Dr. Liefchild was one of the greatest preachers in the
kingdom. He was shocked, therefore, when he heard Mr.
M'Neile set down as a bigotted narrow-minded man; and it
was with peculiar delight he (the Chairman) now came for-
ward to lend his aid in raising some testimonial of the respect
in which they held that esteemed man.—(Loud cheers.)
From what he had heard he was happy to say, that this pro-
posed testimonial would not be confined to Liverpool ;
in fact, that there was every prospect of its becoming a
national tribute. ( Immense cheering.) The intention
had been heard of in the town of Manchester; and he had
good reason for believing that the Protestants of that town
would join their brethren in Liverpool in this laudable un-
dertaking. He had also had an intimation from a friend in
Birmingham, that the Protestants of that town would rejoice
to join them ; so that, although the present might appear but
a very small beginning, great things might be properly aimed
at. The cause indeed would gather strength as it went on.
(Loud cheers.) The chairman concluded by calling upon the
mover of the first resolution.

Mr. Joarr HOWARD rose amidst much applause and moved
the first resolution, which, with the others, will be found in
our advertising columns. He said he felt he request made
upon him to move this resolution as an unusual honour, and
he complied with it with a great deal of pleasure. He little
thought, indeed, that the suggestion which he, in the fulness
of his heart, threw out at the anniversary of the Operative
Protestant Association in the Music-hall, that some public
testimonial should be given to that excellent and eminent
man, Mr. M'Neile, would have had the influence and power
which, by God's blessing, it appeared to have. It was ano-
ther exemplification of the truth that God chose the weak
things of the earth to confound the wise. We might also see
in it a verification of that other passage from the word of
truth, " how great a matter a little fire kindleth." He
hoped the present would be a great matter; and he rejoiced
to find there had been, so much notice taken of the few
words that had fallen from him on the occasion alluded to—
that they had called forth a spirit which ought to have been
called forth long ago—that we were now about at length to
pay what our enemies called a tardy tribute to one who so
well deserved our attention and regard. (Cheers.) Mr.
Howard here read the resolution, and it was received with
the most enthusiastic and prolonged cheering. He knew, he
said, how their hearts would bound as soon as they heard it.
It was a resolution fitting for the occasion, suitable to the
individual to whom it applied, and fitting to the case for
which it was intended to apply. Having, in these words,
borne the testimony of friends to the merits of Mr. M'Neile,
he would next give them the evidence of an enemy proving
the fact. Mr. Howard commented upon an editorial article
in the Liverpool Chronicle of Saturday last, headed " The
M'Neile Testimonial," written in reply to the letter in the
STANDARD, which he showed, contrary to the intention of
the writer, furnished the strongest grounds for such a tribute
to the reverend gentleman. He concluded by repeating the
words of the Chronicle—" that some testimonial is certainly
due to Mr. M'Neile from his party." (Loud cheers.)
Mr. JOSEPH CRISP said that, in seconding the resolution,
he was placed in this awkward and unpleasant predicament :
with every desire to say a few words in support of the reso-
lution, he had nothing left to say ; for his friend Mr. How-
ard, with all his kindness, had done him a great cruelty, for
he had taken the very bread out of his mouth. (Laughter.)
He (Mr. Crisp) had also brought the article from the Chro-
nicle, and was about to move a vote of thanks to the editor
for giving him something to read in place of a speech. But,
still thrown upon his own resources, he must say a few
words. No eulogium was required, from so humble an in-
dividual as himself, to heighten the estimation in which Mr.
M`Neile was held, not only by that meeting and this town,
but by the whole country. He quite agreed that the Rev.
Hugh M'Neile had done much. through the instrumentality
of the Protestant Operative Association, he acting as their
bead, both towards returning conservative members for the
borough, and in the town council ; aye, and in helping us to
turn some liberal conservatives out of the town council, when
departing from sound principles. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
They were not proposing to raise an annual rent of
£20,000 for Mr. M'Neile : they merely proposed to present
him with a testimonial of their regard for his never ending
exertions in defence of Protestant truth. (Cheers.) A
meeting had been lately held in this town to commence an
O'Connell compensation fund, and in the speech of the Rev.
Mr. Parker he found Mr. O'Connell eulogized for his friend.
ship to the poor and enslaved, whetherin Africa or America,
but he saw nothing about the enslaved factory children.
Perhaps Mr. O'Connell did not receive £1,000—" say one
thousand"--to vote against the factory question. (Hear.)
By the bye, Irishmen were very fond of boasting that they
had no venomous reptiles in Ireland ; he wondered then
what they called this reptile with a sting in his tail?
(Cheers.) If ever there was a time in which Protestant
Associations were required more than another, even in the
rough-shod days of whig misrule, now was that time—when
Popery was marching with giant strides through the country
—when, with daringeffrontery, three cheers were given, at a
public meeting in this town, for the Jesuits, an illegal body,
and a proposition was made to build a Jesuits' College ; when
one of our best buildings was taken for what they call St. Ed-
ward's School, under a clergyman appointed by Dr. Brown, and
which he would take the liberty of calling a Jesuits' College.
—(Hear, hear.) If their exertions were wanted, they wanted
champions, and where were we to look for them, but in our
known and tried ones, in the foremost ranks of which we
found the Reverend Hugh M'Neile—(hear, hear),—who
had laboured long and fearlessly in the cause. (Cheers.)
It was a debt due to such valiant champions to avail our-
selves of every opportunity to encourage them in the good
work. (Loud cheers.) He bad great pleasure in seconding
the resolution.

Mr. GLEAVE in a very energetic speech, in which he en-
larged on the extent of Mr. M'Neile's services to the cause of
Scriptural education and Protestant truth moved the second
resolution.

Mr. BARROW seconded the resolution, and the meeting
unanimously adopted it.

The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution and it was car-
ried unanimously. The announcement was received with
tremendous cheering.
The CHAIRMAN then read a list of the subscriptions at
present obtained, and announced the several places where
they would be received. He mentioned that a Wesleyan
Methodist had subscribed half a guinea, as his first instal-
ment. towards the testimonial, and also promised that, al-
though be belonged to another congregation, his purse should
be again opened in the cause.
A vote of thanks was then presented to Mr. Middleton for
his able and courteous conduct in the chair. The doxology,
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow," was next sung,
and the proceedings terminated.