5 JANUARY 1839, Page 9

, means of satisfying public curiosity on the point. The

Morning Ckro- . sir—we ilave rec,h,•11 your letter, aumatheing the arrest of Mr. swellens; ono 1■3 brown, grows thin and high upon his head, so as to kave the forehead and

indicate the possession either of =eh intellect or of a good command of his temper, which I should consider tube very hasty ; although lie exerted himself have won for him the improbation of those disposeul to admire him." •

The 7'intcs gives from a, correspondent a biographical sketch, front which the following passages are taken- " Mr. StepheII8 is a s ming num, being in only about his thirty-second year. He is married, and bas several childrei t. llis manners in private are exceed- ingly pleasing and unaisaining. Ile was for some years a prescient in the • Weslessin connexion, among whom he was highly respected both for his talents and piet,v. He was admitted on all hands to be the most promising man amougst the ministers belonging to that Way. About use or six years ago, he bevanw deeply impressed with the evils which hove resulteui to religion front • the connexion loet %wen Church mod Stine; mid what be thus felt, he availed himself of every opportunity which presented. itself to express in the hearing of •

others. This gave offence to the Wesleyan body, the great majority of their number being I timidly to the Church of England. 'What aggravated his de- linquency in this respect, in thefr estimation, was thr circumsttmee of' his allowing the occasional use or his chapel, for lectures and other purposes to persons who Were liberal he their polities, end, in some instances, hrose dick iootions on religious topics. His conduct was le olght before the Conference, meeting itt the time, if we remember right, at Leeds; and he, refusing to acknowledge that Ile hail acted wrung, MIS excommunicated from the Wesleyan connexion.

" Ile was thus all at once deprived of his chapel ; hut still he continued to preach to vast multitudes—for he wag ilt the flaie exceedingly popular as a preacher—from his own wi iodine : new friends daily rallied round hum until they became so numerous and .so attached as to 1,uild a very large and handsome chapel for him: in this chapel, which is in Ashton-under-Lute, he has collat. nued to preach two or three times every Sunday up to the present time. The manufacturers in the I own neishbonthooa were exceedingly indignant when the chapel was opened, rind they saw such crowds of persons in their emplon. bevoining Mr. Stephens's regular tomtits; for by this time he had taken a warm interest on the cause of the factory children ; and at length many of them determined, mid gave due notice to that effect, that the consequence of entering his chapel, under any circumstances, on the Sunday, should be the immediate dismissal of the parties from the factories. Notwithstanding this threat, his hearers, in the great majority of cases, continued to attenul his ministrations. iii hundreds of instances the proprietors of the factories carried their threats into executhm, and at once disinis,.ed the parties from their em- ploy. In various cases the individuals so dismissal did not for a Ion. time mutter receive employment from any other person, and IlTre consequently re'duced to a state of the utmost destitution. Mr. Stephens, feeling acutely flit. them— the more acutely, perhaps, because their privations were the penalties of their attachment to himself personally, and partiality fur his ministration—came at once to the resolution of not imy longer, while ihey were enduring want in its worst forms, receiving a farthing of the salary to which he was entitled for preaching, the gospel, but that it should be all spent in administering to the necessities of those who had been turned out of their employment because of their attachment to him. It is unneee,sary to say, flint this self-denial on the part of Mr. Stephens had the effect of deepening the affectionate regard is which he was held by the poor workmen in the factories, and of paving the way for that extraordinary influence which he leis for some years exercised over the lower classes.

" Up to the present time Mr. Stephens's chapel has continued to be crowded in every part while preaching on Sundays. It is one of the largest pro- vincial congregations in England. It is computed that the numbers who statedly hear him cannot be under 2,50n. Ile is represented to be a preacher of great talent. All who have heard him speak in public concur in Saying that his acquirements as a public speaker are of a very superior order. His delivery is fluent, his voice pleasant, and his elocution is in every- respect in good taste. " The violence of some of Mr. Stephens's recent speeches strikingly contrasts with his conduct and manners in private life. All who are acquainted. with him—even those who have not the slightest sympathy with his views on public affairs—concur m in saying that a

ore kind-hearted, inoffensive man, or one of a more amiable or modest dmn n

eeaour, ever lived. They account for the violence of his language in his public speeches by ascribing it to the depth of his feeling for the miseries of the manufacturing population ; which feeling takes his judgment prisoner for the time, and hurries ham into those eXCerEeS of language tiir which he has been arrested." Another account says— "Previously to his settlement at Ashton-under-Lyne, he travelled through France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and even Finland, in order to acquire a knowledge of the customs and condition of foreign nations. During this lengthened tour, he contrived to become completely conversant with the various languages of the people among whom he sojourned. ii is flatter, who had been a preacher in the 3Iethodist connexion during many years, is still living in the county of Essex." It would appear from a letter dated the 13th of December, in reply to an invitation to attend a public meeting of the " Men of Northumber- land," near Newcastle, that Mr. Stephens, disgusted with the conduct of some of the working classes, had resolved to abandon agitation. In that letter he says- " With the people in their respective hamlets, townships, borough towns, and counties, I have stood in lawful meeting—the folkmate of our foretitthers. There we have talked these things over a thousand times, and a thousand times again. Roolutions have been passed ; petitions have been adopted ; the prayers of the loyal people have been onistitutionally laid before troth Houses of Parliament, setting forth their grievances, and earnestly suing for the re- dress of' those grievances. These petitions again soul again presented, have been again and twain rejected, I am sorry to say, with scorn and emitempt. Insult has been added to oppression ; mockery lias been heaped upon their miE(ery. * * * * " It is clear that. there are traitors in the ourip. I have been branded as the arch-traitor. I leave it to the People to confirm or to reverse the sen- tence passed upon me by Badival-libertv-nien in my absolute, and without ally opportunity of defence. As I said begire, so I now repeat—I will not wage war with those whom the People have chosen to lead and represent them. 1 Dever chained to be a leader—I do not aspire to 'lue. one—I have no wish to be thought one. If allowed to speak aqua I think to my fellow men, I am satisfied ; and shall then, having disehat.gol my duty to the People, leave the People to follow the counsels they deon to be the wisest and the best. It would be folly in me for the present to appear at any more public Incetin,..4s. To be denounced by Daniel O'Connell. lie Councilmen at Birmingham, Delegates at Edinburgh, or A ssociationists in !minion, is a matter of perfect indin'erence to me personally. No party can dailn mime—no party con injure in a. My opinions are before the People, and to the People 1 appeal. Time will give to th(e(e opinions the potter their inherent truth -has never yet tidieqi to create. Till then 1 bid, you all farewell—praying God to direct you aright in all your consultations, ant to bless you in all ;our undertakings, proceeding from his divine direction. " With my warmest love, and most devoted duty to all my friends in thinly Newcastle—and the good men of Northumberland mid Durham in demonstra- tion assembled, I have the honour to remain, yours truly and devotedly." . Perhaps at the date of ibis letter he had received information of the intended proceedings against him ; for we find the following passago in a speech delivered on Christmas Day, to a party of five hundred workilig men and their families, who gave a public entertaininent to himself and Mr. °ostler- " There may be, as I know there are, more than five, or three times five, who by night, and under a promise of seerci•v null concealment, lt,t. done what they could to swear my tip infiumers, and a,issins. .11 this rug moment this secret COI, iii mesuiiiu is ett work eri lb rh,sed doors ; Magis- trates and Goveroment entisi•aries conducting it, sendinpt for the vileid of the vile to appear befirre them, with all the formality of a legal slaloms's, us a covering, thin and flimsy enough, for their coospiracy, but in reeret, ;Ind with a pledge that their names should not be divulged.. lint they are known. I

know them ; and you shall know tlitim by and by, not now. must lirst

settle with the prime movers of' this dark plot. Little does Engla.lil ilrecin of what has been going on in Ashtnn the last 11.1V weeks. lboe, brutal, (ind bloody as I knew the Whigs to be, I (lid not think them capatile iii thi:. Hut I bide my time. That time cannot Low be fin. away. When it doi•s niumne 1 Shah l be ready for it. Will the assassins oh; have .sinight my Mi., tvlio have panted after my Mood, he ready jiw it I "