regard to the New ;-both, we cannot doubt, acting under the special care of God's own providence.

However, to wind up this hasty view,-we feel a kind of satisfaction in believing that he who indulged in these crudities, however amiable and however richly endowed, can never, by any possibility, be raised to the rank of the founder of a sect. Two such notions, hasty and unformed as they were, as we have already noticed, ought to prevent any man from reaching that elevation. To speak of the law of the Sabbath,-a law made for man in a sinless state, and in which God himself condescended to unite with man, in "resting from all his works,"—as something which men ought by this time to have outgrown !—and to bring doubt upon the question, of whether Holy Scripture be indeed altogether "given by inspiration of God; "—form, together such an amount of haste, inconsiderateness and ignorance, as can never be entirely cleansed away from Dr. Arnold's memory. We may continue to regard his name with respect and affection; as a man of warm and pure feelings and an elevated mind,—but we will not be taught by one, who, it is plain, died before he had himself fully learnt "which be the first principles of the doctrine "of Christ."

A FEW WORDS TO THE ELECTORS OF EDINBURGH, with a corrected Report of some Speeches delivered during the late Contest. By Sir CULLING EARDLEY SMITH, Bart. Edinburgh: Innes. 1846.

WE are not among the number of those who regret, or blame, the late proceedings of the Protestants of Edinburgh. Nor can we even admit, what some so confidently affirm,--that Sir Culling Smith ought to have withdrawn from the contest, so soon as he had elicited from Mr. Macaulay a plain and positive disavowal of any intention of " endowing the Romish Church in Ireland." We cannot find that Mr. M. ever made any declaration which can properly be termed satisfactory. His conduct and spirit, which had been haughty and dictatorial, when not seeking the votes of the electors of Edinburgh, became, on the sudden, almost timeserving, when those votes became necessary to his election. He never once, we believe, fairly brought his principle,-that governments ought to endow all creeds impartially,-into the light. He paltered with the question,-shifted, and concealed his real views. Hence we cannot feel the least respect for Mr. Macaulay. Towards Sir Culling Smith we have very different feelings, and we believe that some good may arise from a frank exposition of our differences. Let us, then, first give, in extenso, the Letter to the Electors of Edinburgh, with which he prefaces the present publication.

"GENTLEMEN,-I stated upon the hustings, that I contemplated calling upon LORD JOHN RUSSELL to avow distinctly his intentions as to the endowment of Popery, before the dissolution of Parliament.

"It has since occurred to me, that another course will be more becoming. The government might say with some justice, What right has a beaten candidate to interrogate us? I should be sorry to take any step which might seem presumptuous; and the more so, as the object in view can be as well attained by addressing you. I have therefore resolved upon publishing, with corrections, some of the speeches referring to Protestant questions, which I had occasion to deliver during the recent struggle, accompanying them with this short preface on the solemn and critical position of the Protestant interests. Care will be taken that this pamphlet shall come under the notice of the members of the Government.

At page 22 you will find the quotations made on the hustings, from the speeches of Lord John Russell, and of other mem

bers of the present Government, in favour of an Irish Roman Catholic Establishment. In fact, the wishes of ministers on the subject are too notorious to admit of the slightest doubt.

"The first question which arises from the consideration of these passages is, whether the Government intend to act upon these declarations. It may be urged that the pledges of my Right Hon. antagonist, who is now your representative, prove that such intentions have been altogether abandoned.

"Gentlemen, without discussing the satisfactoriness of those pledges, which might seem merely to savour of disappointment, -without dwelling on the fact that, to the stringent series of questions addressed to him by myself at the declaration of the poll, Mr. Macaulay thought fit to make no reply,-it is enough to say that the Right Hon. Gentleman is not the Government-the Prime Minister and Secretaries of State are not bound by the opinions and promises of the Paymaster of the Forces.

"But suppose for a moment that the present intentions of the entire Government have been brought down to the level of those entertained by your representative! Assume the truth of the rumour, that the new Cabinet is alarmed at the Protestant storm which threatens its infant existence! What security have we for the permanence of those improved intentions? Gentlemen, richly shall we deserve all the ridicule with which statesmen will hereafter reward our simplicity, if we suffer the Protestant interests of the nation to be staked upon such gratuitous assumption of ministerial repentance.

"The fact remains, that the leading ministers of the Crown stand publicly pledged to their friends, and to the country, to take the first opportunity of giving British sanction to the Romish Church. They have not taken up the project lightly, nor will they lightly abandon it. They conceive that the principles of religious equality demand such a course. It were folly then to suppose that Lord John Russell, who sacrificed the last Whig Government to a sense of duty in respect of finality, will abstain from obeying his convictions in regard to Ireland as soon as circumstances shall permit.

"No, gentlemen, till Lord John Russell in person shall tell us in the House of Commons, that in obedience to public opinion the scheme is at once and for ever abandoned, we must believe that it is still entertained, and act upon that belief. The execution may be deferred. The subsidence of Protestant jealousy may be awaited. The subject may be reserved for a new Parliament. But let us rest assured that if Lord John Russell goes to a general election without such an unequivocal retractation of past intima

tions, as his honourable mind will adhere to, he will go there with the intention and desire of getting a House of Commons who will found a Roman Catholic establishment.

"If, therefore, Lord John Russell and his colleagues wish the country not to suspect them, they must pledge themselves at once not to give salaries to the Romish clergy either out of the taxes or out of the Church property-not to bestow glebes and manses upon them, and not to transfer to them the Churches in parishes devoid of Protestants. The Ministers may fairly say that they retain their own opinions, and that they do not sympathize with our religious objections ;-but that in order to avoid an impending out-break of public feeling, they yield to the general opinion, and will never as long as they retain the seals of office be parties to any new recognition of the Roman Catholic Church. At all events, with any less security, it is to be hoped the people of Edinburgh I will not be satisfied.

"Gentlemen, I am thus brought to the consideration of the course, which it will be our duty as Protestants to pursue, should the required assurances not be afforded to the country.

"The excuse for a Romish endowment will be the existence of the Protestant Establishment. Now apart from all apprehensions of a Romish endowment, I do not justify the Irish Establishment. I make no disguise of my sentiments with regard to all Establishments, as you will perceive from the accompanying addresses. While, therefore, I am bound to add that I would not lightly moot the abolition of the Irish Establishment unless driven to it by some new circumstances, I must disavow all objections to its im mediate reduction. It is detrimental to the honour of the Protestant faith-it is a gratuitous offence to the Romish population to maintain a sinecure ministry in any parish in Ireland. Policy, equity, and religion unite in this conclusion, to the justice of which Presbyterian Scotland will respond. Let the proceeds of such a reduction be employed in a manner not antagonistic to the Scriptural Christianity which pervaded Ireland ere Popery was introduced into the country! Let this be done, and I venture to anticipate that no important opposition need be apprehended north of the Tweed.

"But if upon the back of the Protestant Institution, there is to be erected a Romanist Establishment, what will remain for the Christians of this country but to unite for the abolition of the one in order to the prevention of the other? Some of us may be wrong in waiting so long, but none will be justified in hesitating then. When a street is on fire, we pull down a neighbour's dwelling to prevent the flames spreading to contiguous houses. We must re

gard as equally destructive the Roman Catholic religion-a religion of which we have no wish to affront the adherents-but of which, if the question be raised of our nation giving it its sanction, we are forced to say that it is not a form of Christianity, but the antagonist of the gospel. Establishments may be wrong-Prelacy may be injurious-but Popery is anti-Christian. Judging thus, we say that any institution which becomes the willing or unwilling vehicle of the legal introduction of Popery into our country, must be abolished. There ought to be, there will be, I hope, among true Christians, no hesitation about it.

"Gentlemen, do you concur in the arguments of this address? Will you regard Lord John Russell's silence as a proof that he intends to establish Popery? Are you of opinion that an attempt to establish Popery must be the signal for disestablishing Protestantism? Then, gentlemen, your course at the general election, in the event of Lord John Russell's silence, is clear, you must elect representatives who will promise that sooner than Popery shall be endowed, Protestantism shall be disendowed,- men who whether they may be aggressive or not against Establishments in unchanged circumstances, will bind themselves to unflinching aggression in the anticipated contingency. You need not confine your search for such individuals to the ranks of Voluntaries like myself. You will find among Christian Churchmen and Free Churchmen, many an individual prepared to take the course indicated. My services are at your command; but I entreat you sooner to prefer other and more eligible persons to myself, than fail to send to Parliament, at the approaching general election, representatives pledged to the only principle on which a Romanist Establishment can be successfully resisted.

Lord

"While writing this address, the proceedings in the House of Commons on Thursday last, July 16, have reached me. John Russell spares us the necessity of inferring his intentions from past speeches. The head of that Government, of which Right Hon. Members have recently told you that they would not belong to it, if it endowed Romanism-has avowed his adherence to his former declarations. Here are his memorable words, extracted from the Times newspaper :

"With respect to the Church in Ireland, and the endowment of the Roman Catholic Clergy, I voted with my honourable friend the member for Sheffield, in favour of providing for the establishment of Maynooth out of the funds of the Established Church. *** Well, I now say, that I retain my opinions with respect to the Protestant Church, and with respect to the Roman Catholic endowment; but I do not think that it is necessary that I should