The religious condition of Canada East deserves a passing notice. There are very nearly 640,000 nominal Roman Catholics in Eastern Canada, of whom about 40,000 are from Ireland. The wealth of this sect, as a religious community, is very great. The estates of the Catholic Church, in Quebec and elsewhere, in the form of nunneries with their appendages, of seminaries and colleges with ample grounds in the very centre of the Canadian cities, and of colleges scattered over the country, are of immense value. The ecclesiastics of that sect in the city of Montreal alone have an annual income of £30,000. In the rural districts the curés can claim one twenty-sixth part of the produce of the lands, which gives to about 250 of them an average income of $1,450 per annum. Some of the more prominent ecclesiastics receive a stipend also from Government. There are monastic institutions also, containing about 400 monks and nuns.

The Episcopal Church stands next in numbers and in wealth. This denomination has about 50,000 nominal adherents in Eastern Canada; but so little have they been accustomed to rely upon themselves for support, that a conscious weakness in this respect makes them hate the advocates of the voluntary principle bitterly. There are in the British North American Colonies about 250 Episcopal ministers. They receive yearly, from the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, £29,200, (we believe this sum has been slightly reduced lately,) and more than £7,200 from the Clergy Reserve funds. Of these ministers there are forty in Canada who are sustained by their congregations and local funds, and nineteen in Nova Scotia who are supported by annual grants from the Legislature. There remain 191 to be supported out of the £36,400 above mentioned. Thus it appears that the Episcopal Church in Canada is so weak and helpless, that, were the large sums received from abroad withdrawn, two thirds of the congregations would expire in less than a twelvemonth. Stiff Puseyism and High Churchism characterize the Episcopalians of the Provinces, almost universally.

Next to them in numbers and spiritual character are the Scotch Presbyterians of Canada East. The Methodists are next most numerous; afterwards the Baptists and the Congregationalists. We have not at this moment the means of specifying with much exactness the numbers of these and the remaining smaller sects in Lower Canada.

In Canada West the religious and educational statistics are in round numbers as follows:-Episcopalians, 160,000; Pres

byterians, 150,000; Roman Catholics, 120,000; Methodists of all sects, 137,000; and Baptists, 30,000. The remainder of the population is composed of Lutherans, Independents, Quakers, Universalists, &c. In all these religious communities there is yet a great amount of friction and irritation arising from the very diversified elements of which they are composed. But time and sound instruction will remove these evils. Important advances have been made within a few years in common-school education throughout this section of the Province. The amount raised for common-school purposes in 1848 was $406,022. During that year there were 2,800 schools in actual operation; and of 241,102 children of a suitable age for attending school, 130,738 were in attendance. There were 537 schools of the first class, 1,216 of the second, and 1,017 of the third, called inferior. There were 116 new school-houses erected in that year. An excellent Normal School for the training of teachers is now in successful operation in the city of Toronto, so that ere long we hope to see reported a greater number of schools of the "first class." There are no difficulties, we are satisfied, in this part of the united Province, which time, with the present system of government, and a good common-school system, will not effectually remove. Though there is still considerable friction arising from the diversified tastes and habits of the people, yet every year assimilates them more and more to each other. The Englishman, the Irishman, and the Scotchman by degrees become better acquainted with the machine of government, and with the part each must take in it; whilst by frequent intercourse they become better acquainted with each other, and gradually acquire the feeling that they have now one common interest and country. Especially will this be true of the rising generation, whatever may have been their origin, for they generally speak the same language, and are nominally Protestants in religion.

But the difficulties in Lower Canada are real and most perplexing. We see not how its permanent prosperity and peace can be secured, so long as the present differences in origin, language, religion, and intelligence exist. The priests well know that their language and religion mutually support each other, and that ignorance will help to perpetuate both. More than three fourths of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics, and not more than one in ten of the males can even read, nor do they seem to have any desire to learn; nay, they rise up in open rebellion against the laws which are designed to facilitate the work of instruction. Though such a people

were annexed to Paradise, the country they inhabit or govern could neither be very happy nor very prosperous. Evils of this character cannot be removed by the magic of a name. Call a country an empire, an oligarchy, or a republic, still the chief sources of its prosperity and happiness would be the intelligence and virtue of the people.

The British portion of the population generally, and some of the French, are intelligent and enterprising; but if these are to be constantly fettered, hampered, and thwarted by the vast majority of a different character, and the majority will rule, whether they remain as they are, or adopt the republican form of government,-we see not how they can prosper as they otherwise might, or develop the resources of their fine country. This appears to us one of Solomon's crooked things, "which cannot be made straight."

The means by which the French make their influence felt in united Canada, where the British population far outnumbers them, are these. The British inhabitants are divided into two great parties in politics, while the French always act together, and that party must predominate with which they unite. They thus hold the balance of power, and can make their own terms either with the Tories or the Liberals. The present union of the Provinces is more in name than in reality. Hence the French members say to the others, Do you make laws and do what you please in Upper Canada, and leave us to manage the affairs of our own section.

The truth is, that the whole structure of the political parties in Canada is anomalous and unnatural. There is scarcely any homogeneousness, nor are there common principles between the classes of which they are composed. The High Church Episcopalians, the Presbyterians of the Church of Scotland, and the Orangemen, generally fight under the Tory banner. As for the Methodists, (the Episcopal Methodists excepted,) they range their forces, like Lord Stanley at the battle of Bosworth, so that they can join the winning party, who will be likely to pay them best. Then under the Liberal banner are ranged those usually known as Dissenters in Great Britain, with the great majority of the Roman Catholics. Those who have given most attention to these subjects, have long been expecting that some events would occur which would dissolve the present parties, and reconstruct them upon a more natural, and consequently a more permanent basis. The Catholics and High Churchmen should be together; for their religion, their policy and tastes really resemble each other. Then the Liberals and

the Orangemen would be on the same side. And we are inclined to think that the present agitation will go far towards producing these results. It is certain that the old parties are greatly shattered at present, and new ones appear to be springing up, whose character cannot yet be accurately defined. We are quite confident that the present movements in the Provinces will lead to important changes in the commercial relations and policy of Canada; but that they will lead to annexation we think very doubtful, even were the Canadians the only parties to be consulted in the transaction.

We had designed, before closing our remarks, to enter somewhat at large into the commercial affairs of Canada, and to have called attention to the important services rendered to the cause of freedom in the Canadas by the Baptist denomination; but our remarks have already extended themselves beyond the limits we had prescribed for ourselves. In closing, we beg leave to assure our Canadian neighbors that we wish them all prosperity; but we cannot help thinking that, should they devote their energies to the promotion of sound commonschool education, and to the internal improvement of their country, they would be more likely to attain true happiness and prosperity as a nation, than if they continue to agitate for annexation till the day of their death.

ART. II.-RECENT AMERICAN HISTORIES.

GRAHAME'S Colonial History of the United States.

Second

edition, enlarged and amended. In two vols. 8vo. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard.

BANCROFT'S History of the Colonization of the United States. In three vols. 8vo. Boston: Little & Brown.

HILDRETH'S History of the United States, from the Discovery of the Continent to the Organization of the Government under the Federal Constitution. In three vols. 8vo. New-York: Harper & Brothers.

IN a former paper* we have traced the discovery of this Western Continent by Columbus and his successors, and the conquest and settlement of the southern portion of North America by Cortes and his resolute band of Spanish adven

Christian Review for 1849, pp. 610-625.

turers. A comparison between the subjugation of Mexico, the planting of the civilization of Europe on its broad and fertile plains, with the later colonization of the present United States, furnishes more points of contrast and dissimilarity than of resemblance. The prompting motive, the method of accomplishment, and the results hitherto witnessed, have all been widely different.

With truthful vividness and energetic brevity and condensation, Mr. Bancroft thus depicts the ruling passions of the former: "Extraordinary success had kindled in the Spanish nation an equally extraordinary enthusiasm. No sooner had the New World revealed itself to their enterprise, than the valiant men, who had won laurels under Ferdinand among the mountains of Andalusia, sought a new career of glory in more remote adventures. The passions of avarice and zeal were strangely blended; and the heroes of Spain sailed to the West, as if they had been bound on a new crusade, where infinite wealth was to reward their piety. America was the region of romance, where the heated imagination could indulge in the boldest delusions; where the simple natives ignorantly wore the most precious ornaments; and, by the side of the clear runs of water, the sands sparkled with gold. What way soever the Spaniards are called-says the historian of the ocean-with a beck only or a whispering voice, to anything rising above water, they speedily prepare themselves to fly, and forsake certainties under the hope of more brilliant success. To carve out provinces with the sword; to divide the spoils of empires; to plunder the accumulated treasures of some ancient Indian dynasty; to return from a roving expedition with a crowd of enslaved captives and a profusion of spoils,-soon became the ordinary dreams in which the excited minds of the Spaniards delighted to indulge. Ease, fortune, life, all were squandered in the pursuit of a game, where, if the issue was uncertain, success was sometimes obtained, greater than the boldest imagination had dared to anticipate. Is it strange that these adventurers were often superstitious? The New World and its wealth were in themselves so wonderful, that why should credit be withheld from the wildest fictions? Why should not the hope be indulged, that the laws of nature themselves would yield to the desires of men so fortunate and so brave? Nature was here to discover the secrets for which alchemy had toiled in vain; and the elixir of life was to flow from a perpetual fountain of the New World, in the midst of a country glittering with gems and gold." Now contrast with this hybrid