The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1848-02-22 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

TAE LIVERPOOL STAADARD.  THE CAUSE OF IRELAND'S SUFFERING.  (From a Sermon by the Rev. H. Melville.) I dwell not upon this—l go on, and I would tell you yet further, that pestilence, the twin sister of famine, has laid her hand on the unhappy districts; fever, and that too of the most malignant character, boils in the veins of the starving peasantry—and thus it is daily becoming the lot of multitudes, in a land most romantic in its loveliness, and most luxuriant in its natural resources, to lie down hopelessly, the victims of raging hunger and raging disease, and there is none to minister to the sufferers; for where famine and pestilence are holding carnival, who shall give to another what he is demanding for himself ? Alas ! alas ! the frown of the Almighty seems to -rest upon Ireland. Nature has done much for her—there is fertility in her soil, and majesty in her scenery—the navies of empire may ride in her harbours—the commerce of the world might float on her rivers and her lakes—yet despite those advantages which appear to mark her out as worthy to share with England the diadem of the waters, Ireland is still but a degraded and half-civilized territory, and there is no bringing out a developement of her internal resources, and violence is the atmosphere in which her children live, and human life too often nothing but their plaything. God forbid I should hesitate to state that I believe the prevalence of the Roman Catholic religion lies at the root of all this wretchedness. There is nothing of bigotry in affirming that it is the very genius of this 'religion to keep a rude population still rude, just because it keeps them still ignorant—and whilst the Irish population continues unhumanised, and unhumanised it must continue until a moral influence has been introduced among its tribes, the landlord will have his excuse for absenteeism, that curse and drain of the land ; and the capitalist will will have his excuse for not embarking his property in schemes for the improvement of the country ; and thus the springs of national prosperity will remain choked and dried up ; and all for want of that moral influence amongst the people, which can only be produced by diffusing the knowledge of the true religion of Jesus. It is because Ireland is morally benighted. that she is physically degraded ; and the energies which must be turned to her to raise her to her due rank in the scale of nations are religious rather than political; she can be thoroughly civilised only by being thoroughly Christianized.  , These remarks are in no sense irrelevant to the cause which has gathered us together. The physical distress of the Irish I believe to be closely connected with their moral destitution; and if you would, God helping, prevent the recurrence of the one, you must labour assiduously at the removal of the other. The legislation which is required for Ireland is heart-legislation. And oh, if her people could be rescued from the thraldrom of spiritual despotism, and if they could be brought to take freely into their hands the words of the everlasting Gospel, Ireland might, in deed and in truth, rise up as the green isle of the ocean, and plenty mantle her valleys, and the music of peace be heard in her mountains—the withering frown of the Almighty would rest no longer upon her an.l beneath the clear sunshine of his countenance she would become the home of civil order, and the seat of piety and happiness.  The Earl of Dundonald preferred a claim for the arrears of pay of which his lordship was unjustly deprived during seventeen years, which the Lords of her Majesty's Treasl'ry have refused' to listen to. TN superb service of ornamental plate which has been presented to the Earl of Ellenborough by his friends in India is now finished. It consists of a grand centre-piece. two candelabra, four ice-pails, four dessert stands, and two ornaments for the end of the table. On Thursday, the Rev. Mr. Wrottesley, rector of Knoyle, near Salisbury, committed suicide by tying his handkerchief tight round his neck, as it was so found. The deceased was an aged gentleman, and very much reected. PARISH EMIGRATION,—The owners of property and ratepayers of the township of Bradford, Yorkshire, have agreed to appropriate the sum of £2OOO from the poorrate towards a fund for defraying the emigration of poor persons having settlements in the township.