Romish priesthood, and so deprive the Protestant students of the instruction they ought to receive.

Whatever the advocates of the Irish system may say, it is not founded on any fair, honest, straightforward principle. But, happily, its unfairness is becoming daily more apparent. The Bishop of Ossory has truly said, that "a love of fair play is so strong a feeling in the English mind, as to array the great mass of the nation against any measure which is so decidedly wanting in that quality, as soon as they thoroughly apprehend its character." These words occur in a charge delivered in 1845, and there can be no doubt that public opinion has made steady progress from that day to this, in favour of the claims of the Irish clergy, and in reprobation of the indefensible manner in which successive governments have treated them. Sooner or later truth and justice, and the love of fair play, will produce their never failing results. "And"-to borrow and appropriate the language of the Bishop of Ossory, in the passage immediately following the sentence we have quoted-"if the supporters of the Church Education Society go on quietly in their present course, doing all that they can do to discharge the duty which rests on them in this matter-all that they have done hitherto, and more-while on all proper occasions, and by all proper means, the claims of the Society are calmly and fully brought forward,-I cannot believe that the Church will be long without such a measure of the sympathies of the English public as will in due time reach Parliament and the Government, and free them from the painful constraint under which it is to be hoped that they must have been acting in this case,-by providing a force on the side of duty, of right feeling, and sound principle, which will more than countervail the pressure in the opposite direction to which they have been, I would fain hope, most reluctantly yielding.'

THE GENERAL THANKSGIVING.

THE following circular letter was issued a short time before the late day of thanksgiving by the Lord Bishop of London to the clergy of his diocese, and we trust with very considerable benefit to the society which his Lordship has recommended to their attention. Nothing could be more gratifying than the manner in which the day was observed. The crowds that attended the churches were not less satisfactory proof of the good feeling of the inhabitants of the metropolis than the extraordinary fact, for such we believe

* Charge, p. 50.

it to be, that not a single charge, even for drunkenness, came before the police. Such a circumstance, it is said, is without a parallel.

Fulham, November 3, 1849.

REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,-In the pastoral letter, which I addressed to the clergy of this diocese in December, 1847, with reference to the expected appearance of the cholera, I pointed out certain special duties, as proper to be undertaken by them at that anxious crisis, in addition to the more peculiar functions of their sacred office. I said, that while their first object should be to impress upon the minds of their people the necessity of an implicit trust in God, of an entire submission to His will, of increased degrees of seriousness, vigilance, and self-restraint, and of frequency and fervour in prayer; it would also be an office of real piety and charity, to urge upon them the importance of endeavouring to remove all those physical causes, which might invite the approach of disease, and aggravate its malignity.

I suggested, as a motive to such endeavours, that while we may not look for a blessing upon the resources and appliances of human skill, if they are not employed in humble reliance upon the power and goodness of God; so neither, if we neglect to use all probable and practicable means of prevention and preservation, have we any reason to expect that He will specially interfere, to rescue us from the consequences of our own negligence.

The importance of this caution has been painfully proved by the events of the last twelve months. The expected scourge has fallen upon us with awful severity, and has swept away from this vast metropolis at least 15,000 of its inhabitants. Judging from the unvarying tenor of the reports made by the medical inspectors, and of other persons who have watched the progress of that fatal disease, I do not hesitate to declare my belief, that by far the greater number of those, who have fallen victims to the pestilence, might, under God's blessing, have been saved from death, had timely and effectual measures been taken for cleansing and ventilating their dwellings, preventing their over-crowded state, and draining the courts and alleys in which they are situate.

We shall be chargeable with great folly and want of foresight, as political economists, and guilty, I verily believe, of great sinfulness, as a Christian people, if we neglect to profit by the dearly bought experience of the past, and to take prompt and energetic measures for improving the condition of the labouring classes, by removing the worst, at least, of those evils, which at once render them an easy prey to disease and death, and place them at a hopeless distance from the church's teaching and ministry. I remarked, in my former letter, that persons, immersed in misery and filth, are for the most part inaccessible to the motives and consolations of the Gospel.

Much, no doubt, there is, which can be effected only by means of legislative measures: but much may be done by the charitable efforts of associated Christians, which in the present state of things the law could accomplish only by very slow degrees. Let us not wait, while under the pressure of extreme necessity, for the operations of a

machinery which will require a considerable time to put it in motion; but let us at once take the work in hand, and show that the desired improvement is practicable, to a great extent, by the exertions of an active and well directed charity.

We are about to perform, as a Christian people, a public and solemn act of thanksgiving to Him, who holds in his hands the issues of life and death, for His great mercy vouchsafed to us in answer to our prayers, in removing from us the plague and grievous sickness which of late afflicted us, and restoring the voice of joy and health to our dwellings. God grant that it may be the expression of a real, heartfelt thankfulness; and that it may be followed by its proper results of increased self-denial and charity! You will, I am persuaded, see the propriety of calling upon your congregation to contribute liberally of their worldly substance on that occasion, as a thank-offering to Almighty God for their preservation from that pestilence which has hurried so many thousands to their last account: and I venture to recommend that the alms, then collected, should be applied to the promotion of some well-considered plan for improving the dwellings of the labouring classes.

I would not be understood to prescribe the channel through which the collections should be so applied: but I would suggest, that where the funds, so raised, are not sufficient for carrying out a local scheme for that purpose, they may be safely entrusted to "The Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes," without fear of misapplication or waste. Much good has been already effected by that Society, in setting an example of what may be done towards providing the poor with decent and commodious habitations, by an outlay which will ultimately be repaid with interest, both in a social and a pecuniary point of view. It is a remarkable and encouraging fact, that in the dwellings and lodging-houses belonging to the Society, there was not one case of cholera, and two only of diarrhoea, which speedily yielded to medical treatment.*

I cannot conclude this letter without expressing my deep sense of the exemplary manner in which the clergy of this diocese have discharged their duties, during the late most trying season, in visiting with unwearied assiduity and kindness the sick and dying, and in ministering, to the utmost of their power, both to the bodily and spiritual comfort of the sufferers. Two only of their number have fallen victims to that deadly disease which has carried off so many members of their flocks; let us, who have been mercifully spared, show forth our thankfulness by increa sedligence in every work of pietyand charity, that the Lord, when He cometh, may find us so doing.

Commending you to His holy keeping, I remain, reverend and dear Sir, your affectionate friend,

C. J. LONDON.

The Reports of the Society may be had of the Secretary, John Wood, Esq., 21, Exeter Hall, Strand.

INDEX TO VOL. XXXVI.