The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-11-15 00:00:00

re occupied with notices
ings upon the subject of the Belgian

customs union, and with dis:
paigns in China and Affgl

ations upon the British cam-
stan. Bordeaux and Lyons

lave declared in favour of the union, p

,enting an exception
to the general expression of the towns and districts of France.
The declaration of Bordeaux can be easily accounted tor, by
remembering that the union would be favourable to the wine
trade; but it is not so easy to explain the part taken by
Lyons; though as Belgium has no manufacture to rival that
of silk, Lyons might be indifferent. The use which the
Journal des Debats makes of the declarations in question
proves a disposition on the part of the court to return if
possible to the abdicated project.

THE CASE OF CAPTAIN DOUGLAS.—A writ of habeas
was, on Tuesday morning, moved for in the Bail Court to
bring up this gentleman, who was committed, on Friday week
as a deserter from the East India Company's service. The
writ was moved for by Mr. Chambers, and was granted by
Justice Patteson, and it was expected that Capt. Douglas
would have been brought up before the full court. It had
been understood, that he would not be removed from Tothill-
fields before half after two o'clock. On the messenger ar-
riving at the prison, at a quarter before two o'clock, for the
purpose of serving the habeas, he was informed that Captain
Douglas had been removed from the Bridewell about a guar-
ter of an hour before for Chatham in custody. Messengers
were instantly dispatched with the writ, in order, if possible,
to overtake the prisoner before he should be removed out of
the jurisdiction of the Court. The writ was served, and the
return to it made in the court of Queen's Bench on Thursday,
The arguments on it will be heard this week.

RAILWAYS IN FRANCE.—The Siecle states, that Messrs.
Mackenzie and Brassey, contractors for the Paris and Rouen
Railway proposed to execute the first portion of the Paris
and Belgian line. Their offers were rejected ; but now it
seems the Minister has thought better of it, and accepted

the prof
Messrs.

The contractors are,

ssey, Locke, C. Laffitte, ThibanL

deau,
named

Englishman- of the Jewish persuaticia
These gentlemen set off on Friday week to
'he Journal des Debats states that " the

isit the line

:s of the railway trom

,elgium, con

on Monday, will cost 1,122,000 f., of which 400,000 f. will be
expended on embankments, the remainder on works of art.
Messrs. Sherwood, who constructed the line from London
to Croydon, under the direction of Mr. Gibbs, the Engineer
are the contractors. The Moniteur announces that the
adjudication of the works of the first section of the projected
railway from Paris to the Belgian frontier, was made at the
Prefecture of the Seine on Monday last.

CONFESSIONS TO CLERGYMEN.—The Standard of last
night contains the following remarks as to whether con-
fessions made in contemplation of death to clergymen ought
to be:privileged. The question is of great practical import-
ance in reference to a fearful confession which has been made
by a female in the Forest of Dean :—" The doctrine of the
Scripture is clear, that a public confession before all his
brethren (' one to another') is the only confession upon
which the sinner can place any dependence as a means of
grace, and thus in the Scripture view a private confession is
no confession at all. But if the law once comes to sanction
private confessions by its protection, the public confession
will rarely, if ever, be made. Of this the practice of Roman
catholics affords painfully frequent proof. As regards the
clergy, we do not understand how a minister of religion can
be justified in receiving a confession, involving proof of
wrongs offered to the state or to individuals, without im-
pressing upon the penitent the awful consequences of with-
holding these proofs. For ourselves, we should very much
dislike to be the depositaries of secrets of the kind • for we
cannot help thinking that he who conceals the evidencg by
which a crime may be punished or prevented, or a just right
asserted against a wrong-doer, is very much in the condition
of a partaker of other men's sibs. The Church of England
has gone on very well for three centuries without auriculrr
confession ; but let the law privilege such confessions, and
we must naturally expect that the system of compulsory
periodical confessions made in private will creep into our
church, as it crept into the Church of Rome. After all,
what evil is said to result from the actual state of the law ?
A criminal withholds from the clergyman who attends him
some piece of evidence (for it is about evidence only we arc
concerned) necessary for the administration of justice : is
the disposition which permits the desire to withhold this
piece of evidence that truly religious disposition which the
laws ought to respect? or, is it the disposition in which a
clergyman can safely leave a penitent ? We think not ; and.
therefore, upon every ground we maintain the advantage of
that state of the law which gives the clergyman a motive to
urge his penitent to a proper frame of mind."