Old Hall, in a manner most satisfactory to the strictest rubrician," &c. &c. (p. 289, Dec. Number.*)

Let us turn to another account of the same ceremony, and read what this magazine considers satisfactory to strict rubricians in the rite.

...

"The attendance of the London (Roman catholic) clergy, owing to unavoidable circumstances, was by no means numerous. The procession was numerous and imposing, &c. &c. &c. After a few prayers, the reading of the Pope's Bull commenced. The bishop elect was swORN to oppose error, to chastise heresy,-to obey the Pope,-to inform him of every conspiracy coming to his knowledge, either against his holiness's person, or the interests of the holy see,-to visit the holy see once every three years, and ... never to pawn his plate!!! [What does this mean?]

"The bishop elect appeared overcome with the weight and responsibility of his office, &c. &c. &c.

"The remainder of the day was devoted to jollity and good humour. The entertainment, under the superintendence of the Rev. James Whelland, was ample in the extreme. It is well known that the kind hospitality of our brethren of the London district, is as proverbial as their piety and learning. The glass therefore passed merrily round, and every luxury graced the festive board' !!!"—(Catholic Magazine, Dec. Number, pp. 70-73.)

This is not printed here with the view of offering insult to the Roman catholic church itself, or its clergy, but for the sake of shewing what are the tone and style of the magazine which puts itself forward as the champion of that church, and is conducted by priests.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

ROMAN CATHOLICS.-Nothing was wanting to give the very splendid ceremonial its proper effect-excepting room. If such a cortege as we witnessed at the consecration (of the Roman Catholic Bishop)-mitred bishops in scarlet, gold and lace; train-bearers, surpliced priests, two and two; croyziers, lights, clouds of incense, &c., &c., all in slow procession-could have been translated to Westminster Abbey, and moving up its nave to the solemn sound of the organ now there, all would have been perfect; but the splendid throng

• Having understood that Roman Catholics had that respect for their rulers which even episcopalians often want, the following observations struck the writer not a little. Does all this portend that a radical feeling among Roman Catholics is

rising too?

"The Right Rev. Dr. Baines preached a very excellent and appropriate sermon ; yet rather too long. His lordship will pardon us; but, insensibly to himself, he is becoming lengthy. The ceremony began at about ten in the morning, and lasted till nearly three in the afternoon-that is to say, five hours! We hope, in pity to the weaker brethren, that the next consecration may be shortened by two hours at least. The music was very respectable; SOME parts were excellent; but the old fault,-it was too long-too long,—a great deal too long,-long to weariness, to vexation; as is the case, generally, in colleges among young choristers,-in convents, among old la. dies, and, in west-end-of-the-town chapels, among your ashendits in chælums. As it cannot be a matter of general interest to know if Mr.. presided at the organ, and if he played his voluntary well, or did not play it all, we forbear to mention the subject. We really do not deem it necessary to name the gentle youth who led the treble, who it was that stamped at the bass,-cried out at the tenor, or screamed in alto; whether the mass was Bethoven's in B, Haydn's in C, or Mozart's in D; or if it were in three sharps, sung by half a dozen flats, or vice versa, or all in flats, executed by naturals. The whole affair we leave to be settled by the tweedle-dums and the tweedle-dees."

wanted room to shew itself to advantage. For the due exhibition of our religious rites we want space, not chapels of fifty-by-twenty, but the dimensions of the lofty cathedral. May the day yet come when these things shall be!-Roman Catholic Magazine, pp. 289, 290.

THE FRENCH CHURCH.-A religious journal, which seems to be well informed of the state of the negociations with the court of Rome, acquaints us with the following facts -The French government is stated to be inclined to suppress seven episcopal sees-viz., those of Chartrés, Chalons, Nevers, Viviers, Marseilles, Acre, and Paniers. Viviers to be united to Pay; Chartrés to Orleans; Nevers to Sens; Marseilles to Aix; Acre to Bayonne; and Paniers to Toulouse.-Standard.

Ar a meeting held in Glasgow, on Thursday, numerously and respectably attended, and over which Mr. Ewing, M.P. for the city, presided, it was resolved to petition Parliament to abolish Patronage in the Church of Scotland, and to address his Majesty, praying him to relinquish the patronage vested in the crown.-Berrow's Worcester Journal.

RADICAL ADMISSIONS AS TO THE CHURCH, AND MEASURES RESPECTING IT.

THE following is an extract from one of the letters of O. P. Q., the Parisian correspondent of the Morning Chronicle. The writer is arguing that it is right to touch private property in certain ways which he recommends, and the argument which he alleges is, that it has been touched in many ways already. It is rather curious to find the radical using the very same arguments which, when used by the friends of the church, he reprobated as monstrous; or rather it would be curious, if one had not had so many examples of the same dishonesty. This Magazine has already pointed out how the argument that tithes were a tax was used by the radical leaders while they wished to raise a clamour, and how, now that they think the work done, they confess the truth, and say that the notion is an untenable absurdity.

And my third illustration shall be the Irish Church and Tithe Bills-and the measures now projecting for the reform of the English church. Church property is, in every sense of the word, private property; and yet church property has been attacked. All those who have been brought up to the church have received certain educations, laid out certain portions of their future fortunes and capital in those educations, and made all their future arrangements for life in the expectation that church property would not be touched, that tithes would remain the same, that ecclesiastical preferments and endowments would all go on, and that the same, and not an entirely new, scale of salaries and benefices would be continued. But what has happened in Ireland? Bishoprics suppressed-livings put on another footing-and hundreds, nay, thousands, of young men, brought up in a certain way, and at a certain expense, laying out a good portion of their capital on that education, in the sure and certain hope of receiving it all back again, with liberal interest, at a future period of their existence, are now thrown back on the remainder of their little capital, and forced to seek another means of subsistence, or follow a profession which will no longer hold out the same pecuniary recompences. And, if we may believe the reports which are in circulation-and which, indeed, we must believe-the English church is to be subjected to yet more important and sweeping changes. Do I blame this? No! Still it is not the less true, that the changes in the system of tithes, and the reforms introduced, or to be introduced, in to the Irish

and English churches, are attacks on private property-are the appropriation for the general good of a portion of private fortunes-and are not only the 'touching,' the laying the finger on private property,' so much dreaded and censured by some, but that these church reform measures are even more radical than the Trades' Unions require to be adopted, with reference to some other descriptions of property."

SHEWING A RIGHT TO TITHES!!—A CURIOUS DOCUMENT, NEVER BEFORE

PUBLISHED.

(From the Carlow Sentinel.)

"OUR contemporary states-We do not, for obvious reasons, publish the name of the gentleman to whom it is addressed; suffice it to say, that, as public journalists, we pledge ourselves for its authenticity; and, should we find it necessary, we shall satisfactorily account for the manner we obtained possession of this famous document, clearly recognising tithe property as bona fide 'right.' We leave our more influential contemporaries to make any use of the document they may deem essential.'

"Carlow, September 3, 1832.

"My dear Sir-I was favoured with your letter of 2nd inst., and can have no objection to the publication of any portion of my evidence before Parliament; and though I have not seen the Evening Post you mention, I presume the evidence was correctly reported therein. I fear very much you will not succeed to the extent you ought in the recovery of the tithes due to you; but though you may suffer inconvenience at present, I have no doubt that in the next Session of Parliament an arrangement extending to all tithe property will be made in a manner to secure to you hereafter the peaceable enjoyment of your rights. With the most sincere regard, I have the honour to be, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

"JAMES DOYLE,"

"To

Stuart's Dispatch (an Irish Paper.)

DISSENTING PAPERS.

The following extracts from Dissenting and Radical Papers demand attention for their tone and contents. The Dissenters expect to frighten the Ministry. When they talk of their numbers, let it be remembered that they do not claim, when prest by calculations, to be more than one-fourth, and are not more, at the outside, than one-sixth of the people. Mr. Hadfield, lawyerlike, knows what is a good point to make play with, and, hoping that all calculations are forgotten, makes the boldest and most unfounded assertions as to the number of the Dissenters. Be it remembered, then, that when not declaiming, they do not claim more than one-fourth of the population.

No. I. (From the Sheffield Independent.)

In addition to the grand and fundamental subject of protestation against the union of Church and State, the following are the principal objects which the Dissenters should resolutely claim

The repeal of all laws which sanction the extortion of money for the support of the church.

The repeal of all invidious legislative distinctions between the members of

the established church and the Dissenters; and especially of all oaths and tests touching their religious sentiments.

The reformation of the national seminaries of education, and an unrestricted admission to them.

The right of marriage without the forms of the church service, or the payment of fees to the clergyman; and equal rights in places of public burial. The reformation of the laws relating to registration.

These we have a right to expect, because they are essential to our liberties, and the integrity of our consciences. But, let it not be forgotten, that they cannot be obtained but by the use of means. Much as we were helped by the friends of civil and religious liberty in Parliament, to our own exertions and perseverance are we mainly indebted for our present emancipation from religious intolerance. On our own arms, again, under the Supreme Being, must we depend for success. The government will give us willing audience, for they must be sensible how much they are indebted to the support of the Dissenters for their maintenance in power, and for the success which has attended their various measures of reform. And they will need our support in future time: their course will become more difficult in proportion to its excellence. The enemies of reform -the friends of the establishment, whether of the high church or of the evangelical party, will obstinately oppose them, and they will not, they can not, be expected to increase their difficulties, by patronizing the Dissenters, unless the Dissenters first shew energetic zeal in the cause of reformation, and in the assertion of their own rights.

No. II. (From the Leeds Mercury.)

The proceedings of the meeting held in this town on Tuesday last, on the subject of the claims and grievances of the Dissenters, have already excited a powerful degree of interest throughout the country. It is highly probable that meetings for the same purpose will speedily be held in every part of the kingdom. The Dissenters are strong in their numbers, wealth, and influence, but they are still stronger in the justice of their cause. We feel confident, indeed, that no administration would venture to treat with lightness their well founded demands for redress; but the Dissenters have a peculiar claim upon the favourable attention and zealous assistance of the present Ministers, as they have always been the consistent and uncompromising advocates of those liberal measures, the profession of which placed, and the support of which has maintained, Ministers on the high ground on which they stand. We fervently hope, that when the administration shall clearly understand that the wishes expressed by the Leeds Dissenters are entertained by the whole body throughout the kingdom, they will not hesitate to introduce such provision into the English Church Reform Bill as shall satisfy their just expectations. That great body felt indeed, as was well expressed at the meeting, that while our constitution imperatively demanded renovation, and the injured sons of Africa sighed for liberty, it was wise and humane not to press their own particular hardships on the attention of government and the legislature. The time for action is, however, at length arrived; the rotten borough system and slavery has fallen: no greater question now stands, or ought to stand, in the way of the settlement of those important ones which have been brought before the public during the last week. It would be foolish and pusillanimous in the Dissenters for a single session longer to delay their petitions. Let the members of other denominations here, and of all sects elsewhere, at once act as the Independents and Baptists of Leeds; let them now tell government what they want, so as to afford no possible excuse for ignorance; let them be respectful, but firm and comprehensive, in their petitions; and we cannot doubt that ultimately, nay, in a very short time, they will be perfectly successful. Strunge indeed would it be for reason and justice, in these days, long to contend in vain for their right!”

It is a matter of the deepest regret and surprise, that no steps are taking by the Dissenters in England at this critical juncture to assert their principles, and claim their just rights, when it is generally understood that his Majesty's Ministers, or at least the majority of them, will concede nothing to us which they can possibly avoid, and that they intend to bring forward, next session, their plan of Church Reform, the tendency of which will be decidedly unfavourable to our interests, and will consolidate the political power and influence of one dominant sect. It will be useless to point out to them that the bishops and clergy are almost unanimously opposed to a liberal government, and that there can be no religious peace in the land whilst one class is exalted, and all the rest are made subservient to it; for the Premier's brother is a bishop, and though (like most of our prelates) he is politically opposed to his government, yet we have lately seen him enriched with a stall; Lord Palmerston once represented in Parliament the University of Cambridge, which means the clergy, and his predilection for the dominant party is well known; Mr. Stanley's family has, in this county, the largest patronage in the church, and one living (Winwick) in their gift is worth 8,000l. a-year, being one of the richest in England; moreover, it is a convenience to most of them so long as they hold office. On the other hand, the Dissenters have almost unanimously supported government in all their late struggles, and, in return for this, we have absolutely got nothing but our labour for our pains.

A FEW SPECIMENS

OF THE GOOD SENSE, CANDOUR, AND MODERATION, OF THE LIBRARY OF ECCLESIASTICAL KNOWLEDGE.

THE editor must fairly avow, that he has utterly given up reading this miserable work. It is, in truth, utterly impossible to go on reading a book where it is hard to say which is the worst, the grammar, the sense, or the taste, merely because it contains gross falsehoods and specimens of unchristian temper. He is, therefore, obliged to an excellent country paper, the Brighton Gazette, for the following beauties:

:

"We cannot help recollecting what are called churches without congregations; the Sabbath bell tolled regularly in the morning that the sexton may claim his salary, and the doors unlocked only to be locked again, because no congregation assemble even to air the church."-(Library of Ecclesiastical Knowledge, No. xlvii. p. 165.)

"The New Testament," the same number says, "is little indebted to the established clergy for its elucidation. Nothing they have produced can equal the critical works of Moses Stuart on the Epistle to the Hebrews and Romans.""

The question is, whether these wretched people believe all this themselves, or whether an union of folly and malignity leads them to believe that they can persuade other people that the English churches are empty, and that the English clergy have written nothing worth reading on the New Testament. To be sure, it does not much matter which.

GOVERNMENT CIRCULARS.

It is stated in the public papers, that a circular has been sent to all schoolmasters, requesting them to return the number of their pupils and of their assistants, and the salaries allowed to the latter. Can this possibly be true? Surely not. If it is, to what a state are we come indeed! The Spartan living in public will soon be realized.

But the same papers state, that the Lord Chancellor's Secretary has also VOL. V.-Jan. 1834,

M