hiding-places, to show themselves in their real shape and colour, and to disgust men, and to be replied to by persons of larger and more liberal mind. And, above all, when acts of discipline occur, and harsh measures are necessary, it is essential that they should be explained, and the first impressions on men's minds gained in favour of the honest application of necessary correction, and not in favour of the garbled account of personal injustice, which guilty cunning is too well able to dress up. And be it observed, that the habits of society, at present, exact this defence from the heads of the Church, and compel the publication in the newspapers of explanations and correspondence on all matters of interest. The misfortune is, that documents are laid before the world in a crude shape, for the evil-minded to use maliciously. What I desire is, that there should be an assembly able and disposed to deal with them in a different spirit, and to enlighten and guide public opinion.

There is, after all, no such means of governing as persuasion; there is nothing like unity; willing obedience will do more than is wanted, and unity throws the whole strength of "the body" on one wholesome object.

and

With one other topic I would conclude this portion of my subject. It is neither unlikely, nor in itself unreasonable, that the governor Colonial parliament may claim the full powers exercised here over the Church by the Queen alone, or the Imperial Parliament. We see at once a difference between the cases, and are tempted to think the claim absurd. But it is not so. It may be said that there is obviously a difference between the time-honoured Parliament of England and the imitations of it, of recent origin, that have been established in the Colonies, and it seems unreal to apply the arguments that have been used to defend and palliate the power of our Parliament to a Colonial legislature. But it is nevertheless true, that such a Parliament as truly represents the Royal power and the will of the people of the Colony, as ours does here; and it is not consistent with loyalty to use depreciatory language respecting it. It is impossible to deny, that so long as they act within their proper functions, the Royal power resides in the Governor and his Parliament. We may hold, as Churchmen, that so far as this power protects the laity, or the whole community, from unjust acts, or unjust laws, it is perfectly right and wholesɔme, and that in so far as the mere State affects to give law to the Church, not as the temporal organ of the Church, but by its own inherent right, it is mere Erastianism. But it must be carefully remembered that this principle extends, not to the Colony merely, but to the mother country. And we, as well as they, have a duty, carefully to keep in mind these rather subtle distinctions, lest we either deny to the Government what lawfully belongs to it, or concede to it what our religion forbids.

But, unfortunately, we cannot be sure that others will see and respect these distinctions. The last four months have witnessed an apparent disposition to extend the Royal supremacy beyond the limits of the common law, and to assume that it has been created by statute,

and peculiarly affects the Establishment. Whereas, I believe it will be found on accurate investigation, that though large and peculiar powers are given to the Crown by statute, specially affecting the Church, and it only, these are quite separable from the ancient supremacy.

Certain words that Her Majesty has lately been advised to use from the Throne, are not to my mind free from ambiguity on this very important point. The words are, "Our Reformed Church, the Supreme Government of which, under God, is by law confided to me." If by "law" is here meant the common law, there can be but little objection to the expression, but the word "confided" rather seems to point to some positive statute, than to that elementary law founded on the nature of things, which the common law in this instance embodies; and this construction is strengthened by the context, which seems to imply, that this supremacy is peculiar to the Church. It can never be too much insisted on, that the Queen is supreme over all persons and in all causes. This supremacy, being of common law, existed before the Reformation, and extends now to all bodies within her dominions. The different degrees in which different bodies are protected, enabled, or restrained by law, may make great differences as to the mode by which the supremacy acts on them, and custom as well as the legislation attendant on the abolition of Papal authority in England may have distorted somewhat these differences, but the foundation of right is the same over all.

The distinction between the power of the Crown recognised by the common law, and those rights given to it over the Church of England, by concessions of the Clergy, and Acts of Parliament, should be kept clearly before our minds in this country, but it is even more essential in the Colonies. It will be obvious that the common-law rights should never be disputed; nothing can be so prejudicial to the Church, for its own interests, as to place itself above law and right, and externally nothing can result from such a struggle, but a most disastrous defeat. But with regard to the other class of rights the case is different; they can only accrue, in the case of the Colonies, from express enactment; and probably any attempts to enact them would be resisted, and in many cases would be resisted successfully. It does not follow that the Parliament of England would grant to Colonial Parliaments, or be content that they should assume, powers similar to what it has gained over the Church.

Whether the position of the Church of England has been permanently injured by recent events, time will show. If I am right in the view that I have expressed as to the powers of Colonial Governments and Parliaments, it were perhaps to be wished that the same extravagant assertions of authority were made everywhere. Those who are not alarmed at such things here, might perhaps be startled if the same claims were raised by the governors and other local authorities of all our fifty-three colonies, and they might thence be led to look more carefully at the real condition of the Church.

I suppose the Colonial Legislatures, on the whole, would be less

favourable to the Church than our own.

There might, therefore, be a wholesome disposition, on the part of Colonial Churchmen, to resist encroachment; but I can hardly think anything more dangerous, than that they should be led to look to these legislatures for the protection which it is their duty to afford, since that protection would be given in even a more qualified and dangerous manner than the Parliament of the United Kingdom grants it, and would not fail to detach the laity from the Clergy, and establish that feud between them, which is at present, perhaps, the greatest danger of the English Church.

From this dangerous position of the Colonial Parliaments arises a most urgent reason that the Bishops and Clergy should early consult the laity, and give them a voice in the making of ecclesiastical laws. They will speak better for themselves than the Parliament can speak for them. The business of the Church had better be transacted in an assembly of its own members, than in the face of a suspicious public, and before opponents who have a voice as well as they, who will turn what is said to ridicule and mischief, and yet grudge the time for a proper discussion of the state of the Church, while they embarrass her defenders by their presence, which imposes on the latter the incompatible duties of denouncing abuses, in order to reform them, and yet not laying open the wounds of the Church before her enemies. Were the laity themselves entrusted with the functions which Parliament has so long performed in their behalf, the latter power would still protect the rest of the community from any legislative encroachments of Churchmen, and the law would still be open to all, whether Churchmen or dissenters, to protect them from private oppression under pretence of right.

As sure a safeguard would still exist as now, for the substantial interests of every one; and there would no longer be that perplexing union of different functions in the Legislature, and that assumed dominion over men's consciences which some attribute to the Crown, which keep principles in confusion, prevent a right appreciation of the true liberties of the Church, and drive some towards Ultramontane views, and others to Erastianism.

Having thus, in this and my former letter, sketched some of the evils and dangers of the present condition of our rapidly-growing Colonial Church, I must beg you, Sir, to allow me, in another, more fully to develop the remedy which I have here and there indicated. Your obedient Servant,

F. H. D.

DIOCESE OF NEWCASTLE.

WE have been favoured with a copy of the following letter and statistical account of this diocese, recently received from Bishop Tyrrell. The letter is dated August 7, 1850:

"I hope soon to send a map of my diocese, with all the districts marked, and the names of places, that you may follow me in

my tour. Follow me now from a place called Grafton to Armidale, Grafton being on a fine river, the Clarence, not many miles from the sea, and Armidale 140 from Grafton, on the highest level of what is called New England. My companion (a clergyman) and myself have four days to accomplish the 140 miles, no real road, and about ten or eleven cottages, or huts, at intervals on the line. We divide the days into thirty, and fifty, and sixty miles, with one day of rest between. We leave Grafton early in the morning, and ride to a station about eight miles, where we are to have service. After service, and a most hospitable meal, we ride twenty-two miles to the hut where we are to pass the night. The hut is of the most primitive kind: three rooms, all with earth floor, not a chair, but two or three rough stools. The poor woman-Irish-is dismayed at the high company that have come so unexpectedly upon her; for though we sent a man early in the morning with corn for our horses, and to announce our coming, that the place might be clean, he had lost his pack-horse by the way, and we overtook him on our road. One of the rooms is made ready for me; some tea, bread, and one egg. I tell the poor woman this is amply sufficient for us,-in fact, we settle not to eat the egg, but tò have it hard-boiled, that we may take it with us, and divide it in the middle of our long day's ride on the morrow, when we expect to get no food.

After tea, all the persons in the place, and all that have heard of our coming, assemble for service; and what a sight you would esteem those faces!-some old convicts, that may not have been present at any religious service for years; and as I explain a parable to them, they listen with an intense motionless gaze, and you see the tear rise in the eye of one, and then another, as they are convinced of sin, and told of the promised pardon for all who repent. They leave the room; and, after preparing everything for an early start before sunrise in the morning, I lie down on the bed; but the mind is so full of thought, that while my good clergyman is sleeping in the next little room, I do not close my eyes. Before dawn I rouse them: the poor Irish woman prepares for our breakfast what she thinks a treat indeed, a dish of mashed potatoes; and before the sun is up, myself and clergyman are leading the way on horseback, with my good Beaulieu servant Anthony following with his pack-horse behind.

We call at two huts on our way, to speak a few words of kind advice to the inmates,- -one a party of shepherds, the other of sawyers; and then, without rest during the day, as the sun sets, we are approaching the station where we are to rest. We find the house with some difficulty, after a ride of sixty miles, over what you would indeed call mountains; and here we are uncertain whether they have had notice of our coming. The clergyman at Armidale promised to send word; and though we learn on the way that the proprietor is absent, yet, as we come within sight of the cottage, we hear the dogs bark, and see the candles moving, and find at the door the overseer, who has made everything as comfortable for us as he could.

We have earned a good night's rest, and enjoy one; and here we rest a day, that all the shepherds and settlers in the neighbourhood

may assemble for service the next evening. The day is rainy; but at seven in the evening the largest room is full. Three children are baptized. A poor woman has brought two many miles. Her husband was away on a journey, and how could she manage with her four children, two at all hazards she will take to be baptized, and what will she do with the others? There is no servant, no neighbour in whose care she can leave them; so she locks them up in her hut, comes to the service, rejoices with tears to see the Bishop himself baptize her little ones, and then sets off for her home again, almost beside herself with alarm, lest anything should have happened to her children during her absence. The next day we accomplish the remaining fifty miles, so as to consecrate the church at Armidale on the Sunday."

DISTRICTS IN THE DIOCESE OF NEWCASTLE. AUG. 3, 1850.

1. Newcastle.-Now laying out 500%. on the church, and building an excellent school. Forming plans also for a superior church grammar-school. 2. Hexham.-New school, and master's house.

3. Raymond Terrace.-New school. Enlarging church. 4. Hexton, or Hunter.-Nice pretty church just finished.

5. Donjoy.-Admirable school. Very nice church building; and parsonage agreed for.

6. Morpeth.-Church beautifying. Master's house building. model-school built in stone.

7. East Maitland.-The church to be new roofed and pewed.

Admirable

8. West Maitland. The church enlarged and new pewed, or rather seated. Two excellent schools building.

9. Singleton.-Admirable stone church just finishing; to be consecrated in about two months. Good school building.

10. Jerry's Plains.-A beautiful stone church just finished in this district; to be consecrated in about three months. Two others building, one of stone, and one of brick.

11. Wollambi.- Stone church, finished and consecrated. Parsonage building.

12. Muswell Brook.-(Rev. R. G. Boodle's district.) Very handsome chancel added to his church. New church at Merton, just finished. Small new church, wooden, at Meriwa. New school at Cassilis; to be used temporarily as a church.

13. Scone.-Tower building to church; school building at Wurrurmdi (also temporarily as a church).

14. Tamworth.-Parsonage just built. School building. Plans making for a church.

15. Armidale.-Very pretty church just finished and consecrated. sonage and schoolmaster's house building.

16. Clarence River.-Parsonage building.

Par

17. Darling Downs.-Parsonage building. School building. To be used temporarily as a church.

18. Ipswich.-Parsonage building; admirable school building.

19. Brisbane, Moreton Bay.-A beautiful parsonage building; and church according to plan by Miss Tyrrell.

20. Strand.-Parsonage, church, school.

21. Port Macquarie.-Parsonage, church, school, (parsonage now building.)