per;" from which we are to conclude, clergymen need not, in praying for the Royal Family, make use of the ipsissima verba of the Order of Council. (A laugh.) But did it never strike the mind of the learned lord, that Janet Meiklejohn, who happens to be sick, has a great deal less authority to dictate a prayer for the clergyman than the Privy Council are said to have in prescribing prayers for the Church? Loud laughter.) And yet this comparison is brought forward by the learned lord with wonderful gravity, as a very capital illustration. (Much laughter.) He would say a word about the inverted commas which troubled gentlemen so much. (A laugh.) The learned lord would not grant that they constituted a form of prayer for the Church. But I will suppose that he writes a letter to his steward, and gives him therein a direction in inverted commas; should the steward content himself with obeying the direction in substance, but not literally, would not the learned lord find fault with him for inattention to his pointed and direct instructions? "Did I not," he would say, "exactly express, and circumscribe my order, by putting it in inverted commas?" He hoped this would serve as to remember in prayer. A great deal had been urged as to the proofs of attachment expressed to the Church of Scotland; that they had got this thing and that thing, and a thousand other good things,-(a laugh,)—and that the deputation was so graciously received; and some of the individuals, too, who composed it, receiving no doubt many personal favours. But he was just as ready to acknowledge the benefits received by the Church from the Crown as the most strenuous on the other side, and had expressed the same in his motion; from which, he believed, after all their noise about it, their sentiments upon that point were borrowed. He had

received no personal favour, and yet he was as much attached to his Sovereign as any one. He was of no political party; belonged to no political club, nor ever attended a party dinner; and yet he felt grateful and attached to his Sovereign for the blessings and privileges which he enjoyed under his government. He had been rather unfairly dealt with, he thought, by the learned gentleman the SolicitorGeneral. That gentleman observed, indeed, that he (Mr Thomson) had conducted himself with propriety; but he certainly must remark that the observations of that learned gentleman had not a tendency to make him persevere in that propriety. (A laugh.) He said he was a presumptuous man, because he set himself up as the champion of the rights and privileges of the Church; but he would ever glory in being the champion of the Church, and in defending, against every attack, its rights and privileges.

The Solicitor-General here rose, and denied that he called the reverend gentleman a presumptuous man; he only said, he assumed to himself a presumptuous character. He doubted not but that his language was fresh in the memory of the House.

Mr Thomson said, he was just proceeding to shew that it was fresh in his memory. But as to that charge of presumption, which it seems was attached to his character, and not to himself, (much laughter,) he thought if there was any in the case, it lay with the learned gentleman, who gave a direct and unqualified negative to his assertions immediately after hearing them. He concluded by saying, that it was nothing but his warm and inviolable attachment to the rights and honours of the Church that urged him to make his stand against encroachment; and that he could lay his hand on his heart and say, he sincerely thought that this Order of Council

On the 29th of May, the Assembly took into consideration the overture of Dr Bryce of Calcutta, respecting certain calumnious passages that had appeared in a number of a periodical work, entitled "The Christian Instructor."

The following are the strictures which were the subject of the overture:" If we were not speaking of the venerable Assembly, we should certainly denounce such a measure as iniquitous, cruel, and tyrannical in the extreme. As to the drivellers who supported it by their votes, we think them vastly silly, and not a little malignant; but as to those who conceived and proposed it, we have not words to express the terror that we should feel if they were invested with that power in the state which they have most unaccountably acquired in the Church. Of those who will sit in the capacity of judges, and, after spending a day in prayer to the God of righteousness for light and direc tion, deliberately and coolly condemn any man, or body of men, who have not been permitted to appear in their own behalf-we will venture to say that there is no injustice and no mischief of which they are not capable."

It may increase the interest of our southern readers in this discussion to mention, that the Christian In

structor is well known to be edited by Mr Thomson, the mover of the resolutions relative to the above Order of Council, and considered one of the ablest of the Scottish clergy.

Dr Bryce of Calcutta said, that in directing the attention of the House to this subject, he thought it necessary to state, that it had not been rashly or inconsiderately taken by him. The pamphlet in question came under his notice in October last, since when he had given it his most serious consideration; and he could not conceive any subject of greater importance that could come under the deliberation of that House. He was not sure that any apology was required from him for bringing it forward. If he could satisfy the House that the language of the paragraph that had been read was most calumnious, (and no member of that House could possibly read over the passage in question without being convinced of its calumnious nature,) he should then have justified himself in having brought forward the subject. He had, too, an interest connected with the situation he held in their Church. It had appeared, that because he was far away at the period when the offence was committed, some persons had thought it impossible he could be affected by it; but those persons were egregiously mistaken. He entertained a high respect for the character of that Assembly, and he should endeavour to preserve that respect for it. The members of that House had deliberated for hours, and delivered their opinions; yet they are to be held out to the world as "silly and malignant drivellers." He was not a member at the time, but if he had been a member, he should have been proud to have ranked among the "silÎy and malignant drivellers," as they were called. He thought it was not important whether a majority was great or little; whatever was the num

ber of a majority on a vote in that House, it represented the whole; for it might perhaps be said that this calumny was only against a few members. If he had been in the minority on that occasion, he should have felt that the calumny had extended to him even then. It had been said that the language of the overture was frivolous, and he had consented that it should be withdrawn; but the Committee would not consent to its being withdrawn; and it now came before them, as had been justly observed by a member of the Committee," with all its imperfections on its head." Some objections had also been urged against the competency of that Court to recognise the charge. If the former Assembly became defunct, he could not conceive a greater absurdity than a letter being addressed to a defunct Moderator of a defunct General Assembly; unless it was the circumstance of a reverend gentleman having made so much stir about a dead letter, which had in consequence occupied the attention of that House for so many hours. That letter was addressed to the Moderator; it could not have meant the Moderator of the present Assembly, for the first step the General Assembly always took on commencing its session was to elect a Moderator. But granting that the General Assembly was defunct from the close of its session, was it generous or manly in a public writer thus to attack a defenceless body? He recollected a good old adage-De mortuis nil nisi bonum ; but this was now reversed, and we had -De mortuis nil nisi malum. But if such was really the case with respect to the last General Assembly, and its respectability could be so injured, it afforded the strongest reason for the present Assembly taking it under its protecting wing. When it was considered how necessary the clergy are,

whatever militates against their usefulness was surely deserving the interference of that Court. And granting they had no power themselves to punish such an offence, there may be still a means of protection available to that Assembly.

Dr Nicoll now rose and moved, "That, whereas the language brought under the review of the Assembly by this overture, and contained in No. CXI. of the above publication, (the Christian Instructor,) is, in the opinion of this Assembly, highly calumnious, calculated to injure the character of many ministers and elders of this Church, who were members of the last General Assembly, and to vilify and degrade the Supreme Judicatory of the Church in the estimation of the country. The Assembly therefore remit the matter to the Procurator, who is hereby instructed and enjoined to take such steps as may appear to him to be competent and expedient for correcting the present, and preventing the repetition of similar offences; and, if any difficulty shall occur in carrying this into ef fect, the Procurator is farther instructed to apply for advice and direction to any of the stated meetings of the Commission; and the Assembly hereby authorize the Commission to receive any report made by the Procurator, to give directions, and finally to decide in this matter as they shall

see cause."

Dr Irvine seconded the motion.

Mr Brown of Langton, in a speech of some length, opposed Dr Nicoll's motion, and concluded by proposing the following, as containing the sense of the Assembly:"The General Assembly, having considered the overture, and the particular expressions quoted therein from the Christian Instructor, as requiring the animadversion of the Assembly, find, that the

said expressions are not only highly exceptionable and indecorous, but most injurious and disrespectful to the last General Assembly; and this Assembly think it their duty to express their marked disapprobation of language so improperly applied to the decisions of the Supreme Judicatory of the Church. But the General Assembly having duly considered, and deliberated on the matter set forth in the overture, and having thus solemnly declared their high disapprobation of the above passages in the said publication, do not find it expedient to make this overture the ground of any further procedure, and therefore dismiss the same."

This motion was seconded by Dr Lockhart.

Dr Cook, Mr Gibson, and Mr Moncrieff, seconded the motion of Mr Brown; Mr Wightman, Mr Macfarlane, and Principal Taylor, that of Dr Nicoll.

Mr Thomson said, he remembered instances of viva voce calumnies against the Assembly as reprehensible as this one, which were passed by without any notice. He remembered, on a certain occasion, in the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, when a reverend doctor (we understood him to mean Dr Inglis) had spoken of an Act of the Assembly, the Act of 1814, respecting pluralities, in language every whit as calumniating. He would use the term, as it seemed to be the order of the day, (a laugh,) and yet no regard was paid to it-it came from so respectable a quarter. (Laughter.) The reverend doctor had said, that the Act of Assembly was inconsistent with common sense, and contained a violation of truth. (Laughter.) But then this was said by a person, who, it would now seem, could do no wrong. (A laugh.) In that very House, the Lord President had, in speaking of some act which the preceding Assem

bly had passed, called it the most confused, inconsistent, and absurd thing he had ever seen in his life, a rudis indigestaque moles; but nobody ever thought of calling him to account for such expressions. And why all this indulgence to Dr Inglis and the Lord President? why, he believed, because it never was deemed consistent with the duty or the dignity of the Assembly to issue declarations on such occasions. But now he could see another reason for it. These gentlemen were not "Christian Instructors." (A laugh.) There were manuscript instances. One of these had been alluded to by his learned friend, (Mr Moncrieff;) he begged leave to allude to it still more particularly. It came in the form of an overture from the Presbytery of Dumbarton, of which Dr Macfarlane, who had spoken so keenly on this occasion, was a member. (A laugh.) And what did it say of the decision of the preceding Assembly? Why, it said these things— "And whereas, in 1814, the General Assembly of that year passed an act respecting union of benefices without any regard to this rule, whereby, in the judgment of this Presbytery, the barrier act was infringed, the consti tution of the Church grossly violated, and their rights and privileges trampled on in the most contemptuous and arbitrary manner." (Cheering and laughter.) Here was calumny with a vengeance- uttered by one of our Presbyteries-deliberately laid upon their table-and what did they do? Did they call the Presbytery to the bar and rebuke them for this outrage? No, no. And why? Just, it seemed, because the overture from the Presby. tery of Dumbarton was not the Christian Instructor. (Loud laughter.) And now he (Mr Thomson) would give them instances of printed calumnies, for he would still use that precious

rend doctor, who introduced this unhappy and ill-fated overture, had not consulted a single individual about it; but this was the very thing he (Mr Thomson) complained of; because, if he had consulted any one upon it, they would have said to him, assuredly, "Oh, by no means, do not bring it in." (A laugh.) From what had been said by every gentleman who had spoken on the other side, every one of them would have given him the same advice; though, by the way, he could not help observing, it was rather a strange and unaccountable thing, that these very gentlemen, with all their declared aversion to the measure, had gone to the Committee of Overtures, and most strenuously supported and voted for the motion to transmit it. (Laughter.) Particularly, if he had applied to a certain learned doctor, he would have said to him very earnestly, "Take care, do not bring it in on any account, otherwise we shall bring an old house on our head, for I myself some time ago wrote something of the same kind; and I know there are some very shrewd fellows in the Assembly-(Loud laughter)-who would not be long of noticing it." A pamphlet, published a while ago, speaking of the decision of the Assembly in Mr Leslie's case, has these words" But when a certain party in the state has influence to determine the decision of an Assembly vote, men of the moderate interest do not deem it dishonourable to be found in the minority" (Cheering.) And yet this was not an anonymous publication, but written by John Inglis, Doctor of Divinity, and one of the ministers of Edinburgh! He would put it to the candour, honour, and consistency of the House, whether they could act with such partiality. It seems many had not read this publication which they condemned. He wished they had read it, for they

word. He had read the other day a number of a periodical work, called, or, according to Dr Bryce's jocular phraseology, miscalled the Christian Repository, a statement bearing, in express terms, "that want of principle had long characterised our administration of ecclesiastical affairs." Here was food for the gentlemen on the other side, if they were so anxious to hunt out grounds of accusation and alarm. But no; they would not touch this work, just because it was not the Instructor!(A laugh.) In another part of the same number of the Repository, he had found a review of a pamphlet, by Dr Irvine of Dunkeld; and there the conductors of the work, after accusing the reverend author of much bad grammar-(A laugh)—and of as much Billingsgate-(A laugh)of neither of which things, they were all well aware, the doctor was at all capable-(A laugh)-poured out a great deal of severe animadversion on the Church of Scotland; and he was sorry to observe, that the reverend doctor had given them some grounds for such remarks; for he had admitted in his pamphlet, that not a few of his Highland brethren were " idle dogs" and "slow bellies"—(Excessive laughter) and yet it did not appear that the brethren thus calumniated had entered any complaint to the Assembly. Nay, the reverend doctor himself, who had furnished the calumny, and given the Repository a handle against the Church, came forward this day, and manfully seconded the motion of the reverend Principal, for a severe censure on the Christian Instructor. (Cheering and laughter.) He could give them a hundred instances of the same kind, which they might read for themselves. For all in this Assembly were given to reading, he presumed, more or less. (A laugh.) But he would refer only to one more. It appears the reve

VOL. XIII. PART II.

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