EXETER HALL.

Auckland Times, Volume 3, Issue 148, 8 November 1845, Page 4

EXETER HALL.

(From the Sydney Morning Chronicle.) A curious incident occurred at the great meeting held in this hall of brotherly love, on Tuesday week ; the Marquis of Breadalbane in the chair. We had a brief account of the matter in type for last week, but cannot regret that we could not find room ibr it, as the following 'vivid description of the Scene from the Freeman, of Friday, cannot fail to prove more acceptable to our leaders:—"* * The meeting, however, did not break up till the treasurer to the fund, in trying to render the appeals for money more (effective, introduced to the meeting one of those audacious forgeries which are ever sure to pass current in this country, if they but contain a libel on Ireland or her priesthood. But the scene that followed I must give you from my shorthand notes. The treasurer, Mr. Paul, after a lengthened address, stated that the coronation oath, as was by another speaker remarked, declared that " Popery was superstitious and idolatrous," but he would go farther, and say that it was blasphemous. (Tremendous cheering.) Yes, it was blasphemous, and he would not ask them to believe it if he could not prove it. (Renewed cheers.) He would read an extract from a sermon which he then held in his hand ; it was delivered by a Roman priest in a crowded chapel, and in the presence of the Archbishop of his diocese. (Cheers.) By it they would see that the mystery of iniquity, the mother of harlots, the Church of Rome, was still the same as ever. (Tremendous plaudits, and shouts of * No Popery.') He then proceeded to read the passage he alluded to, and which I here subjoin : * A ny person who practices the reading of the Bible will inevitably fall into everlasting < estruction. I would, therefore, my dear friends and followers, most earnestly beseech you, by the love that you bear to the Virgin Mary and to the saints—by the love that you bear to the dear priests— not to allow these Bible readers near your houses—not to speak to them when you meet them on the roads ; but put up your hands and bless yourselves, and pray to God and to the Virgin Mayy to keep you from being contaminated by the poison of the Bible. The worst of all pestilences the infectious pestilence of the Bible—will entail upon yourselves and children the everlasting ruin of your souls. They who send their children to schools where the Scriptures are read, give their children bound in chains to the devil.* The reading of this passage caused the most profound sensation ; a low murmur issued from the great mass that occupied the body of the house, and was immediately succeeded by renewed shouts of * No Popery.' A voice Name. Mr. Paul proceeded, when the same voice again cried, * Name, name. 1 After a short pause the speaker was about again to proceed, When several voices cried, • Name, name.' Mr. Paul-Well, then, I will name; the Friar Jennings was the preacher, and the Bishop present was the Archbishop of Tuam. (Great cheering.) A voice Name the printer and publisher of the pamphlet. A long pause ensued, and Mr. Paul was about to proceed with his speech, when he was again called on to name the publisher. Mr. Paul—lf the gemleman gives me his address I will send him a copy of the pamphlet. At this moment the gentleman who called out * Name,' and who it afterwards appeared was Dr, Gray, was observed to be in earnest conversation with the chairman. He was heard at the reporters' table, which was immediately under the chair, to say, ' I can pledge myself to your lordship that the pre tended sermon is a forgery, and 1 consider your lordship bound to apprise the meeting of that fact, and to call on the gentleman either to prove its authenticity, or to confess it a fabrication." The Chairman was understood to assent, but Mr. Paul was again about to proceed, when Dr. Gray went up

to him, and said, * I mean you no personal offence, but I am convinced that the document you have read is a forgery.' By this time the whole platform was in commoiioh, and the meeting became much excited, the words ' no forgery,' ' genuine,' * authentic,' having been passed in rapid succession from mouth to mouth. Mr. Paul continuing to refuse to give either the name of the publisher or printer of the pamphlet. Br. Gray again entered into conversation svith the Chairman-, but the uproar consequent on the stoppage of the proceedings was so great that I could not catch the conversation. Mr. Paul sat down after much disorder. The Chairman then addressed the meeting, acknowledging a vote of thanks 5 but having concluded wrhout any allusion to the communication made him, Dr. Gray ascended the platform amidst a scene of great tumult, and said, in a very loud voice, I have appealed in vain to chair, I now appeal, as an Irish Protestant, to this meeting of English Protestants. (Here a shout from the platform, which was echoed by a terrific yell from the House, prevented his proceeding.) Chairman You cannot be heard. (Shouts of put him out, put him out.) Dr. Gray—l bow to the chair, but if I will not be heard you must state to the meeting that I tell you this document is a forgery. (Terrific yells and cries of put him out, put him out.) Here a scene of inuiscribablo confusion ensued, during which a gentleman, whose dress indicated the clerical profession, thrust Dr. Gray off the platform on top of the reporters ; he, however, again communicated with the Chairman for a few seconds. The tumult having somewhat subsided, the Chairman rose and said :—lt is but right to state that a gentleman, who says he is an Irish Protestant, and that he knows the clergymen whose names were alluded to, denies the authenticity of the document read by Mr. Paul, and wishes Mr. Paul to give him the name of the publisher and printer. After a long pause, during which Mr. Paul was observed to be in anxious communication with several clergymen, he came forward and said the sermon was authentic, but that he was unable to give the name of the publisher. (Sensation followed by cries of, it is genuine, it is genuine, police, put him out.) Two policemen having appeared at the opposite side of the reporters' box, Dr. Gray walked over to them, and expressed his readiness to accompany them if they desired it; upon which a clergyman, an Irishman, who I understand to be the Rev. J. Armstrong, offered to escort Dr. Gray from the platform by a private passage. This extraordinary scene having occurred at the close of the meeting, immediately after Dr. Gray retired, they proceeded to sing the doxology, in a state of pious excitement more easily imagined than described. Among the speakers was the Right Hon. Fox Maule, a member of the late Whig Government. He entered fully into the views of the meeting ; but it is due to him to state, that he abstained altogether from the ribald abuse in which his coadjutors indulged. The Marquis of Breadalbane is, you are aware, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, to which sect Fox Maule also belongs.—B/' Royal Presents.—A deputation from the operative jewellers of Birmingham has arrived in town for the purpose of presenting to her Majesty and Prince Albeit some costly and unique specimens of British handicraft, accompanied by respectful addresses. The present to her Majesty consists of an armlet, a brooch, a pair of ear-drops, and a zone buckle; that for Prince Albert of a seal, key, and' chain, after the substantial fashion of the " old English gentleman.' The armlet is most elaborately executed ; the centre piece consists of a diamond sprig upon blue enamel, with a border of niue orient pearls let into blue enamel, surrounded with acorns and oak leaves. The band is composed of solid gold, delicately elastic, and ornamented by the emblems of peace and plenty, with which the national emblems —the rose, thistle, shamrock, and leek—are gracefully interwoven ; a ruby hand forms the buckle, which is ornamented in similar style, and studded with diamonds of the purest water. The address to Prince Albert refers to his Royal Highness s patronage of the fine arts, and expresses a hope that the same generous encouragement may be extended to the operative art. It is worthy of mention that 10 the execution of these ingenious and elegant ornaments no fewer than 22 trades were employed, while the operatives represent s,ooofamilies,or 20,000 persons.

Abolition of Gretna Green Car-riages.-—One of the nine bills brought in by Lord Brougham a few evenings since in the House of Lords, and just printed, is a bill " for amending and declaring the law of marriage." The first clause of this proposed act declares, that from and after the Ist of January next, no marriage solemnized in Scotland shall be valid, either in Scotland or any other part of the United Kingdom, or of the dominions belonging thereto, unless both the parlies wero born in Scotland, or had their most usual place of residence there, or had lived in Scotland for three weeks next preceding such marriage; " any law, custom, or 1 sage to the contrary notwithstanding-." The Bill also proposes to enact that all children who are legitimate in Scotland shall be deemed so in all parts of the United Kingdom; and further* that all marriages and divorces, valid by the law of Scotland, shall be deemed so in all other parts of the United Kingdom. The bill finally declares that all persons forging marriage certificates, are to be liable to transportation for life} or any smaller term the court before which they may be tried may think fit to award. The Gaol and the Wor&house.— From the SouthwarK Police Office, yesterday, Mr. Cottingharft committed eight persons, five women and three boys, to gaol for a fortnight for breaking windows, I hey were delighted at the sentence, and said they had waited till a constable was in sight before they committed the offence, as they greatly preferred a gaol to a workhouse. They laughed triumphantly to each other as they left the court. A Giant Turtle.—Among the most remarkable additions to the fauna of the aneient world, is the Collossochelys, whose remains were discovered in the Sub-Hima-layan Hills, by Captains Cautley and Falconer. It is a gigantic fossil turtle, whose length was about eighteen feet, and its height at least seven. Here was a monster creeping on feet, whose carapace or shell, would have formed a respectable diningroom, and whose height and bulk would have freighted a moderate steamer. Aborigines Protection Society.— The eighth anniversary meeting was held O'u Monday at Crosby Hall, Bishopsgatestreet, Mr. James Bell, the treasurer, in the chair. The chairman having feelingly alluded to the loss which the society had sustained in the death of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart., the late president, stated that that office had been filled up. The report congratulated the meeting on the improving prospects and condition of the society, and stated that in no previous year was the ntimber of official acts, by which the rights of aborigines were protected, greater than in the last. Amongst various subjects to which the attention of the committee had been directed, they had appointed a conference on the subject of native rights to landed property, which appeared to be well understood by the natives of New Zealand. From various parts of the world the reports were very satisfactory, and at Adelaide, in Australia, some important changes had been effected, as native information and evidence was now received without the sanction of an oath ; and a comprehensive plan had been introduced for the education of orphan children. The treasurer's report announced that the expenditure had been reduced to the lowest possible limits, and that there was every probability that it would be covered by the receipts.— Humbug, Emigration.—The number of persons bidding a long faiewell to their native shores is almost incredible. From Cork, VVaterford, Limerick, Dublin, and New Ross, and on the western coasts, nothing has exceeded the quantity of emigration ibr which this season has been remarkable.— Tipperary Vindicator. New Penal Settlement, Penal colonies in which convicts are subject to coercion having proved a failure, Lord Stanley proposes to try the experiment of a colony in which the convicts shall go at large, and be indeed the only denizens. Its site is to be the north-west coast of Australia : thither are to be removed all the surplus felonry of Van Diemen's Laud, who having conducted themselves with tolerable propriety, will accept of a pardon on condition of removing to the new settlement; thither are to be removed English delinquents, who, to escape a worse fate, will voluntarily banish themselves to this Stanley - Utopia; and, lest the

generation of thieves should become extinct, the parishes to which these modem anti-types of the founders of Rome have belonged, are to be invited and encouraged to send out their families to them,—. Spectator. Making Clean the Outside,—The v are cleansing St. Paul's of the soot and dust of many years. Washing won't serve the purpose ; walls and pillars are scraped and holystoned ; the church gets a "dry scrub"—like Nicholas Nicklebv when the well was " froze." At this moment the facade resembles nothino- so much as one of those portraits, clear carnation on one side of the face, and smirched with asphalt on the other, which dealers in paintings expose, to show how well they cau '• restore" pictures. Of course, the Dean and Chapter know too well the maxims of their own religion to rest satis. tied with mere external purification; the cleansing outside is only typical of a moie thorough scrubbing to be begun within. And within there is an accumulated dirti. ness, of which the outside smoke and weather-stains give no idea—the dirt of mammon.rusted souls. The buyers who were scourged out of the Temple did not venture to make the privilege of seeing it a matter of purchase and sale. The only person on record who sought to earn something by showing the view from the pinnacles of the Temple was one whom the Dean and Chapter Would scarcely venture to take into their service. And yet what was never dotie in the Temple of the Jews except by the Devil himself, is daily prac. tised by the servants of a Christian cathedral. The Dean and Chapter pay their menials as tavern-keepers do, by permitting them to levy contributions on visitors* At the threshold of St. Paul's, at every landing-place on its stairs, in every dim gallery, the luckless visitant is attacked by some extortioner in the shape of an old man or older woman. Even during the reading of prayers these semi ecclesiastical show-men continue to gather pence in the aisles. It will be a most unchristian act in the Dean and Chapter to spend so much money in making clean the outside of the cathedral, if a few wheelbarrows are not hired at the same time to carry away this moral muck from the interior.— Spectator. —The following notice has been posted up :—" While the works are going on in the church the morning service will be discontinued. The afternoon service will be continued daily as usual." A Useful Hand.—The following advertisement appeared a short time ago in the London Times: —" To Newspaper Proprietors and others.—The advertiser* who has had great experience in every department of the printing business, is desirous of an engagement as editor, subeditor, or reader, or in the more mechanical occupation of maker-up of a paper, overseer of an office, or in the jobbing department, being used to design and cut every kind of ornamental posting bills and wood letter, as well as any ordinary wood engraving. The advertiser believes that to any parties about to establish a newspaper in any remote provincial town or any of the colonies he will prove an acquisition, possessing considerable versalily, and being ready at any time to turn his hand to anything, Apply to T. N. r 12|, Gough'Square." How to write for Periodicals.Much time, words, ink, and paper, are wasted on introductions. Periodical writers should be brief and crisp, dashing into the subject at the first sentence. Sink rhetoric. Nobody cares how you came to ihink of your subject, or why you wrote upon it; of course, the exordium is unnecessary. Commence with your leading thought, and avoid irrelevant digressions* You may be less scholastic, but you will be more original, and ten times more amusing. Take it for granted, that your article at the first is four-fif'hs too long. Cutting it down requires resolution : but you gain experience as well as improve your article, by every excision. For tbe mode of doing it, begin by crossing out all explanatory sentences. Leave uothing but simple propositions. Young writers always explain a thing to death. Never commence an article till you know what it is to be about. Some writers have an incontinence ot words, and will dilate you an idea to twenty pages.