cable. The Church may revise her doctrines, and if she find that she has been wrong, she not only may but she must, is in duty bound, to correct it. But in that case it is necessary to go to the government and say that such changes have been made. It is possible that government may concur in such changes, and then all will be peaceful and smooth. But it is also possible that government may not concur in these changes, judging of them not in relation to their intrinsic merits, but in relation to the circumstances of the people of Scotland, and government may intimate an intention to withdraw the endowments. If the question be considered a vital and essential one, nothing remains but a separation of the Church from the State, that the Church may exercise her spiritual functions apart, according to the will of her Master. But if the question be not vital and essential, there is room for negotiation, for obtaining such a modification in the matter as all may acquiesce in; not the best possible settlement, but the best practical one. It appears to me that we have come to such a point now; and that an appeal must be made to government in regard to the competency of the Church to pass the veto. We should either frame such a broad and ample case as may receive the judgment of a court of the last resort, or, what would be far better, we should ask for a parliamentary or royal commission, to have the whole question laid before it, who should view it in all its bearings, and then pronounce a clear and definite opinion upon its merits. But let me beseech you to do this as a Church; not as two parties in a Church violently clamouring for a settlement against each other. Let us go as a united Church asking for such a commission; for, besides the unchristian and unseemly conduct that would be implied in an opposite course, it would defeat the success of our petition to go in a divided and distracted state. I would press some such resolution as this-I care not for the formunder the painful and heart-depressing conviction that, without it, the downfal of the established Church is certain and near. True, the government may do what some seem to anticipate-it may declare that one or the other party inherit the original qualifications; but it will mend the matter little if, after all that have already left us, there should be another great secession, embittered with all the hostile feelings which are now engendered amongst us. There are many already watching for our halting; there are many ready to rush in upon them; and, in the midst of all these, I fear that neither of the separated bodies would be able to stand their ground. The downfal of the Church of Scotland! - these are solemn words, lightly used often ia bravado or in malice; but which could not be spoken by any honest Christian man without feeling the deepest anguish of heart. Consider what is implied in the downfal of the established Church! The loss of the endowments may be undervalued in moments of excitement; but it is a calamity which no Christian husband and no Christian father is en. titled to bring upon those whose earthly happiness is committed to his keeping, till he has made every sacrifice to avert it short of the clear undisputed calls of duty. But look at the matter in a wider view-look at its effects in those districts of the land where the population was too scattered or too poor to provide for the means of religious instruction, or to secure the benefits which flowed from the residence of a pious, affectionate, and faithful minister of the Gospel. What would be the effect on such people but to deliver them over to practical hea thenism? Look at the effects which would be produced on the glorious schemes of usefulness in which the Church has embarked - those bright spots in her horizon on which the eve that loved her delighted to dwell, regarding them as tokens for good, and as pledges of the protection of Him who can rebuke the tempest and scatter the gloom. These schemes, so rich in blossom, must perish with the downfal of the Church; and those sainted and highly gifted men who have gone forth as the instruments of carrying the Gospel to the heathen, and have given themselves up to the service of their Lord and Master, will be consigned to beggary, and, what they will feel worse, will be robbed of those glorious hopes which sustained their hearts amidst the swellings of Jordan. Surely, if the question be looked at in this aspect, you will join with me in thinking that, to avert this calamity, no effort will be too great which Christian duty will permit. If this were gone about in the spirit of kindness and of charity, I am far from thinking the matter hopeless." Why were not these wholesome truths listened to? We cannot but fear that if the leading spirits would search their own hearts they would find a latent fear lest the Voluntaries should triumph-lest the Moderates should still appear, as they always have shewn themselves, the ablest church rulers, if not the best preachers. Let the majority rise above these petty fears, resume the position of 1834, and then constitutionally, if they choose, seek the repeal of existing laws that affect them, and the enactment of new laws whenever such may be required. The present demands of the high party in the Church cannot be conceded. This is a fixed point. Sir Robert Peel's duty to the Church of England, his deference to the almost unanimous voice of the landed gentry of Scotland, the weight he attaches to the decisions and judgments of the Court of Session of which so much unchristian language is used, the precedent he would set by concession of tampering with vested rights, with property held or declared to be such by the leading portion of the present majority when members of the Antipatronage Society, all render it utterly hopeless for the Vetoists to anticipate the concession of their present claims from Sir Robert Peef. They must retrace their steps, and from the position occupied in 1834 soberly, but firmly, petition for such practicable measures as can be given them. If they refuse to do so and duty summon them to do so-then those who have most publicly committed themselves must leave the Church. Only a few will do so. There are not a hundred ministers in the whole Church of Scotland who will desert their livings, their flocks, and their high and holy posts of usefulness, for the sake of following a Quixotic whim. A few must secede. They could not look society in the face if they did not, after the protestations they have made. What we lament is, to see those few trying to stir up the many to do of choice what they must do of necessity. But the fox that lost his tail did not prevail on the rest of the fraternity to part with their appendages. Let those who must secede retire with dignity, with Christian feeling, as becomes true piety, which we know they possess at heart; and if the nation cannot applaud their judgments, they will admire their consistency. It is awful language that of Mr. Candlish, that if he and his friends are driven out, they will pull the rest after them. This is not the spirit of the Gospel. It is not happy. Mr. Candlish is too good a man not to regret it in his sober moments. Two thousand once seceded from the Church of England; and yet that mighty church rose and flourishes. The existing Seceders of Scotland left the church of that country; and yet, till the outbreak of the present agitation, no church was more beautiful, or more prosperous, or more effective. And though the retirement of some of her most healthy clergy, with not a few of her feverish ones, will depress her for a season, yet the same God that preserved her from the violence of the Covenanters on the one hand, and the despotism of the court and Charles on the other, will still befriend her and bless her. Let the presbyteries of that church do their duty by presentee, and patron, and people, and there will not even be a desire for unconstitutional measures. The Moderate side of the church has been deeply to blame. They have been far too lax, far too neglectful of the Christian people, and far too obsequious to peers and patrons. They are now punished for it. They must, as presbyteries, listen to every objection urged by the parishioners against a presentee-they must, in the spirit of impartiality and tenderness, weigh it and do every thing consistent with Scripture and church law to conciliate the people. A veto by the people on the solemn judgment of an ecclesiastical court they never can tolerate. A WORD TO SIR ROBERT PEEL ON THE ABOVE KIRK-QUARREL, BY O. Y. On reading the above sensible reflections, we bethought ourselves of a promise to give you, Sir Robert, the benefit of our ever-welcome counsel. It is necessary you should know, above all things, the tactics of those who are now fostering the Non-intrusion agitation in the North, and of those who are labouring to extend it into the "sweet South "- for the blue bonnets are come over the border also. It is the drift of their whole policy to frighten and precipitate you into their unconstitutional measures. They talk among themselves in this style," Sir Robert was threatened by the Irish agitators into acquiescence with their claims on the subject of Roman Catholic emancipation; and what has been may be." He may therefore be threatened and frightened by Presbyterian phantoms, till, to retain place and power, he feel forced to legalise the veto; which veto they now cannily smother with a new sauce, nicknamed Non-intrusion. Thus you would be driven, they hope, to condemn whom they denounce, and by an ex post facto act sanction the unjust and ungenerous measures of the dominant party. They accordingly vow to destroy the Kirk if they must cease to be its rulers to become Whigs if they cannot remain Churchmen-and to side with the Voluntary opponents of the Church if they are forced to lose their livings. The reasons and Christianity, obviously aliens to such oracular announcements, we do not attempt to discuss. It is certainly a very curious fact in the diagnostics of non-intrusion, that a living makes one a Tory, and the loss of it makes one a Whig. The Dissenters always said the living is the difference. Churchmen indignantly disclaimed it. The Non-intrusionists triumphantly in their own case prove it. Be not frightened. It is all "leather and prunella." The Conservative body in Scotland is utterly opposed to the wild views of the Non-intrusionists. The nobility and gentry, Scotch clergymen whose influence is most powerful and extensive among the higher and educated classes, the Scotch Episcopal Church, and, in fact, nine-tenths of the county electors, abhor the present agitation. Mr. Colquhoun, a man of singular worth and weight, to our certain knowledge lost his election by his identifying himself with the Non-intrusion side. Not one Conservative seat was gained by an alliance with it. In a political sense, the agitation is perfectly innocuous. In a spiritual sense, it is poisonous. If we turn to England, their influence is, of course, the merest bagatelle. Not a few of the Scotch Presbyterian ministers resident in England are, we have good reason for believing, opposed to them. But of this we are convinced, that all the Non-intrusionists in England cannot touch or turn a single election. They wrote circulars, tried to get pledges, and mustered all their might, at the late City election, and were laughed at. They are quite harmless. All that the Christian and Conservative body asks at your hands, is firmness. The existing laws in state and kirk are good. Let them operate. Let those wild men who cannot find room in the ecclesiastical frame-work into which they originally entered with their eyes open, walk out as their seceding fathers did a century ago; and should those who remain desire to have any modification in any one act of parliament, let them, like all loyal subjects, petition. If reasonable, they are likely enough to get it. Concession will originate concession, till there be nothing left to concede. The satisfaction, also, of the claims of the present dominants in the Church of Scotland, would raise similar demands among kindred parties in the Church of England; and thereby a downward course would begin, which would terminate in disaster and revolution. These few facts we press on your notice; they are the fruits of circumspection and sober review; they are the basis, we know, of the policy you have hitherto pursued on this question, and we earnestly and respectfully trust and hope they will continue to be so. The Non-intrusion agitators are losing daily the countenance and cooperation of many who at first cheerfully took their part. Sensible men begin to distinguish between Utopian dreams and Scripture principles; between the solemn asseveration of a sacred truth and the undignified denunciations that are now spread through Scotland, thick as “leaves in Vallambrosa." The mist begins to clear away, and the outlines of sober truth, as well as the issues of ferocious excitement, already make their appearance. Dr. Cooke, of Belfast, who at first took the part of the extreme men, and thereby threw into their side the weight of the Irish Presbyterian Dissenters, has wisely shrunk from the ferment, and has been commented on at Perth the other day by Mr. Candlish, in the usual Non-intrusion style; and after a fashion Mr. Candlish would not dare to speak where Dr. Cooke could reply. The Record, who went with them to a great extent, a few weeks ago advised the leaders to moderate their expectations, and be satisfied with things possible and practicable. Therefore the Witness has fallen on the Record most mercilessly, advising the Non-intrusionists to have nothing to do with it. We assert, also, what Mr. Candlish has concealed. The Wesleyans, as a body, are utterly opposed to the present demands and position of the Non-intrusionists. They neither suffer a veto in their own appointments, nor do they approve of it in the Scotch Church. It is well known that the present able President of the Wesleyan Conference, Mr. Dixon, has expressed himself as perfectly amazed at the demands of Mr. Candlish and his followers, and in every respect opposed to the lodgment of a veto in the people. Your firm hand, Sir Robert, begins to be felt, and the result will be what we always anticipated from you-a measure satisfactory to such men as Dr. Muir, Dr. M'Leod, Dr. Brunton, Dr. Hill, and others of the Scottish Church. Of course Mr. Candlish need not be afraid that his hours of agitation will be terminated, and "Othello's occupation gone." He will enjoy unrestricted license in this matter, only without the Church instead of within it as heretofore. Be firm, and fear not; and we remain your right faithful, right firm admirer and defendant, O. Y. Regent Street, OUR TRUE BRITISH QUEEN. BY ROBERT STORY. IF ever in one British heart there was known A doubt, or its shade, to exist, Of the pure-minded Being that graces our throne, Be it now-and for ever-dismiss'd. As the fair star of eve, when the clouds have pass'd o'er it, So the shadows of faction no longer before it Beams the soul of our true British Queen! They dared to defame her-they said she belong'd To a party, and not to us all; But we knew that her sense and her goodness they wrong'd, Respecting the choice of her people, and taking High care for their weal, she is seen; If attachments there were, those attachments forsaking, For HER-should a menace of battle be heard— How rapid our gathering would be On the Land of our love, on the waters that gird New NELSONS would rise, and again on the ocean And new WELLINGTONS guard, with heroic devotion, ANECDOTES OF ACTORS. HENRY SIDDONS AND MATHEWS. SIR WALTER SCOTT, in the course of his Diary, relates an amusing and characteristic instance of the imperturbable personal dignity of John Kemble that last of all the Romans! --which exhibited itself during the tragedian's excursion with the Great Unknown to the Vale of Ettrick, when an unexpected impediment presented itself, in the shape of a rivulet, which recent rains had swelled into a temporary river, and which the travellers were pressingly instigated to ford by the rapid approach of a furious bull. Mr. Kemble's deliberate haste to remove himself from the threatened danger,- his slow alacrity and stately step,-the constitutional measure of the Kemble locomotion,-resembled, in cause and effect, a similar dilemma in which his nephew, Mr. Henry Siddons, was involved some years ago. Mathews and Siddons were friends, and at one period neighbours,-the former living opposite to the British Museum, and the latter in Museum Street, Bloomsbury. Mathews was much attached to Harry, and out of pure regard would condemn himself to his friend's pace, which was almost painful to the comedian's natural speed (not then being a lame man), on their daily return to their respective homes after a morning's rehearsal at Drury Lane Theatre, to which they both belonged. One very warm day, at nearly the close of the season, these companions in arms were proceeding, side by side, leisurely up Drury Lane,-Siddons in his wonted position, namely, his left elbow resting upon his hip, his right arm stretched forward, the hand meeting that on the left with an action which might have led a stranger to believe him strenuously endeavouring to crack a refractory nut between his palms,-his striking and regular features being at the same time distorted by a nervous habit which he had acquired when not speaking, of drawing his mouth on one side, and making a clicking metallic noise in his cheek. The friends had just crossed over into Museum Street, when suddenly a cry was raised that a mad dog was in the rear; which intimation caused the mercurial Mathews to look back, when, seeing a poor hunted spaniel running at full speed, and rapidly approaching, he promptly made his unconscious friend aware of the peril, and urged the necessity of immediate flight, at the same time setting an example of personal activity, by running a few yards forward, and nimbly ascending the steps of an open shop. In the next moment he was in security, and anxious for his friend, whom he beheld nearly on the same spot upon which he had left him, obviously in a state of great alarm, and executing a more energetic pressure of his hands, while the action of his cheek had become visibly more emphatic, his previously serene brow was anxiously contracted, and it was altogether apparent that the whole of his frame was in a state of excessive trepidation, and equally clear that he was under the impression that he was practising great muscular exertion to reach the goal of safety, such was his air of serious haste. At length, however, his efforts, slow and laborious as they were, brought him to the foot of the steps, when, by a deliberate ascent, he reached the top just in time, by good luck, to avoid the foaming animal, which immediately passed, followed by the hootings and peltings of the pitiless mob, whose brutal pursuit had probably first terrified, and then exasperated, the poor creature into madness. Mr. Siddons looked excessively pale. With his lips quivering, and his whole frame in agitation, he stood in his usual attitude, but without the power to give due force to the accompanying click in his cheek. As the rabid animal ran wildly on, all present were thankful for their escape; and Mr. Siddons could not refuse an honest tribute to his own imaginary powers of locomotion. Turning to his friend with an air expressive of his belief that he owed his safety to his own great celerity of limb, and with self-gratulation on his prompt exertions, in tones measured as his steps, he observed with naïveté to the amused Mathews, "Gad, sir! it was time to run!" |