MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 613, 18 June 1851, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Protestant Worship at Rome.—Several communications have appeared in the daily papers relative to the accommodation allowed by the Papal Government for Protestant worship at Rome. The Rev. R. Burgess, who was chaplain to the English residents from 1822 to 1836, and his successor, the Rev, james Hutchinson, have published letters descriptive of the innumerable difficulties they have encountered. The granary first taken by the English congregation outside the Flaminian Gate is thus described by Mr. Burgess t —“ In the upper part of a huge building, a space large enough to contain 700 or 800 persons was hired for 375 scudi ayear; it was reduced to shape by means of lath and plaster ; it had a ceiling of canvas to hide the rafters and cobwebs, and carpets laid over straw for covering the mud floor; the rats and mice ran races over the canvas above the heads of the worshippers; the pigs in great numbers squalled in concert in the story below, and sometimes the donkeys, laden with racks of corn, disputed the common staircase with the congregation.” Some attempts have lately been made to prove that Rome has grown tolerant, and the existence of a Protestant chapel is the proof; “but,” Mr. Burgess remarks, “if any one can ’believe* that it would be possible for the English to erect an edifice either within or without the walls of Rome that should have any appearance of an ecclesiastical structure, his credulity can only be explained by his ignorance of Romanism at Rome. It seems the English people are to be persuaded that Protestants at

Rome may do as Cardinal Wiseman does in London, or that a St. George’s Chapel miHjt be erected in the Field of Mars with the same hcentiasuperiorum as in the borough of Southwork. Every one in England ought to know this—that by the existing laws of Rome any word or act tending to impugn a dogma of the Church, or to question the priest’s authority, is a felony; and every time that English bury one of their dead near the Pyramid of Caius Cestius they commit a felonious act, which is however, commuted to a fine of eight dollars/ How, then, is it possible for a protestant place of worship, as such, to be permitted at Rome ?” , Lunatic Asylum on Fire.—A large hospital for the insane, at Augusta, (Maine ) was destroyed by fire on the 4th December

and at least twenty-eight of the lunatics perished m the flames. It is supposed that the fire was occasioned by a defect in the chimney. Some of the lunatics gave the alarm as soon as the fire was discovered, but the keepers supposing the noise to be the accustomed ravings, gave no heed to them until the building was filled with smoke. The entire building and several others were destroyed. Those who perished were all males. Those in the female galleries were all saved. Much difficulty was experienced in removing the insane, some of whom had to be forced out of the °i lers ’ after bein i out, would rush back. One poor fellow after being twice taken away, ran back to his gallery and perished. There were 124 inmates; *79 males occupied the wings in which the fire raged. Large numbers of the inmates were necessarily turned loose at once, and were wandering at random. Others were taken to the gaol, to the alms-house, and to the dwellmgs of citizens.