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yearly sums of 138. 10s. 9d. each. The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury usually give their order for the issue of this money, in the month of May or June, upon the periodical application of the Treasurer of the Committee, who places it in the banking-house of Messrs. Bosanquet and Co., to meet the drafts, signed by the Pastors and Widows of Pastors, who enjoy the benefit of the Royal Grant.

For the last two years the 20% appropriated to education for the ministry have been reserved for the New Academical Institution established at La Tour, but the accumulation will be remitted and applied this year.

The several Institutions, dependant on the Subscriptions raised by the Committee, continue to be of essential service to the Vaudois population, and to call forth their warmest expressions of gratitude.

The benefits derived from the Hospital at La Tour, in the valley of Lucerne, have excited so strong a desire, on the part of the inhabitants of the Valleys of Perouse and St. Martin, to have a similar establishment in their own district, that preparations are made among themselves to extend the Infirmary of Pomaret, and to convert it into an Hospital.

The Girls' Schools have not yet been put upon a footing which is entirely to the satisfaction of the Committee; but imperfect as they are, they are introducing improved habits in the female part of the Vaudois community; and a system is in contemplation, which will render them as efficient as they are capable of being made.

The Committee have reason to hope, on the authority of one of their Members,-Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Beckwith, who has lately spent much of his time in the Valleys,--that there is a general spirit of emulation excited there on the subject of Education. Colonel Beckwith was present at the last Examination of the Scholars of the Latin School at Pomaret, (which was restored in 1831 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, at the instance of the Committee, and of the Students of the College of La Tour; and he has expressed his surprise and gratification at the progress they had made. "When I thought," said he, "of the homes they came from, with a piece of dry bread in their pockets, and their heads full of patois, I was lost in admiration to hear the ideas of men of the Augustan age rendered into very tolerable French by these poor lads."

It is now ten years since the Committee was first appointed to raise a Fund, and to apply it consistently with the objects explained in the Royal Letters Patent of his late Majesty King George III., bearing date 1768, viz., “To enable the Vaudois to maintain their Ministers, Churches, Schools, and Poor, which they are not able to support in any tolerable manner." The Waldensian community were then in a state of extreme depression. 1. Their pastors had been deprived of the Royal Grant. 2. Two of their churches had lost the services of a regular ministry for want of the necessary stipends. 3. Their Grammar School at Pomaret had been suspended, and their Communal and Hamlet Schools were indifferently conducted, and ill-supplied with Books. 4. Their young men intended for the ministry, for want of proper education at home, were obliged to pass six or eight years in a foreign country, in preparing for Ordination, at a great expense, and at the hazard of their religious principles. 6. They had no Girls' Schools. 7. They had no asylum for the reception of their sick and destitute poor. 8. The ancient Treaties, by which England was bound and empowered to extend its protection to the Waldensian Church, were overlooked or neglected. Attention has now been paid to each of these objects; their most pressing wants have been supplied; and a foundation has been laid for superstructures which will prove beneficial to future generations of the Waldenses, even in a greater degree than to the present. There must not, however, be any abatement of vigilance or of attention to the condition of our protestant brethren in Piedmont. The animosity of their adversaries is so undiminished, that if Providence had not made all

things work together for their good, the light, which shone through the darkness of other days, would have been extinguished in this age of supposed toleration and security. We must therefore continue to watch over the interests of this feeble but faithful community, while we give God the glory for their preservation to the present period.

Committee His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Earl of Clarendon; the Earl of St Germans; the Lord Bishop of Winchester; the Lord Bishop of Exeter; the Rt. Hon. Sir G. H. Rose; Sir T. D. Acland, Bart.; Sir Robert H. Inglis, Bart., M. P.; the Archdeacon Wrangham; the Archdeacon Hamilton, &c. &c.

Trustees-The Archdeacon Hamilton; Sir George Harrison; Samuel Bosanquet, Esq.

Secretary and Treasurer-The Rev. Dr. Gilly.

Auditors-W. R. Hamilton, Esq.; C. F. Barnwell, Esq.; Rev. J. Wigram. Subscriptions are received by Messrs. Bosanquet and Co., No. 73, Lombard Street, London, Bankers to the Committee.

THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM.

THE following paragraphs appear as Advertisements in a late number of the Salisbury and Winchester Journal."

Statement respecting the Proceedings of a Church Meeting, held in Endless-street Chapel, Salisbury, on Thursday Evening, August 6th, 1835.

In consequence of the disturbed state of affairs at Endless-street Chapel, and it appearing desirable that, if possible, things might be brought to a final arrangement, the Rev. Charles Williams, together with some of the officers and members of the church, solicited the advice of several of the neighbouring ministers on the subject.

In compliance with this request, we met at the minister's house on Thursday morning, August 6, 1835. After serious deliberation upon the whole affair, and entertaining the fullest conviction that the society, as it now exists, could never more live in Christian fellowship, we came to the conclusion that the church be earnestly recommended to dissolve itself.

At a special meeting of the church, publicly summoned, according to the usual custom, over which the Rev. Richard Elliot, at the request, and as the substitute, of the pastor, presided, it was, after a few prefatory observations from the chairman,

Moved by Mr. Blatch, and seconded by Mr. Armstrong, deacons,

"That this church, deeply afflicted with the present state of its affairs, in consequence of the proceedings of some of its members, and convinced that peace is not likely to be restored by the usual means adopted to effect such an object, deems it advisable that this Christian society should be entirely dissolved; and that, agreeably with this conviction, this church does now dissolve itself, and no longer exists in its associated capacity."

On this motion being read from the chair, a violent opposition was raised against it; and, at length, an amendment was

Moved by Mr. Thomas Griffin, and seconded by Mr. John Griffin, jun., "That the proposition now submitted to the church be taken no notice of." When the clamour of the supporters of the amendment had subsided, a division took place; the numbers in favour of the amendment being 49, and against it 45; the original motion was therefore lost by a majority of four. The meeting then separated.

We should charge ourselves with no small degree of injustice, if we were to conclude this statement without expressing our admiration of the Christian

patience which has governed the spirit of our brother, Mr. Williams; and, likewise, of the truly amiable temper of mind which has shewn itself in that section of the church who have sufficient wisdom and goodness to appreciate the services of their pious and talented minister.

Under circumstances of the most unhallowed provocation, they truly have, in our opinion, exemplified a spirit highly becoming that religion of meekness and forbearance which they profess.

Having thus discharged a duty which has been very painful to our own minds, we will resign the issue to that Infinite Wisdom who has promised "to make the wrath of man to praise him," and the remainder of that wrath to restrain.

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To such Persons as feel an interest in Endless-Street Chapel.

You should be made acquainted with the means made use of, at a church meeting, holden on Thursday, the 6th of August, at Endless-street Meeting, when the Rev. Messrs. Elliott, Curwen, and Ashton attended, for the purpose of finally ending all disagreements amongst the members; on which occasion Mr. James Blatch proposed, and Mr. Armstrong seconded, a resolution, "That this church be dissolved," which so alarmed those who were not in the secret, that much confusion followed, and upon a division the numbers were, 45 for, and 49 against, the motion. How much more likely would it be to stay the disagreeable feelings which at present prevail, and be the means of restoring peace, if Mr. Charles Williams was to resign and leave! The contention on his account would then cease, other ministers might be engaged, who would be useful; peace would be restored, and prosperity follow, which is the sincere wish of JOHN LEACH.

Salisbury, Aug. 8, 1835.

We learn from Mr. Massey, an enemy of the church establishment, whose statement appeared in the Christian Advocate, in February last, that the popish peasantry of Ireland, the poorest populace of the poorest country in Europe, pay to their priests at the rate of 1,500,000l. per annum; the poverty of the country thus paying just twice as much as is paid by the whole landed property of the island! One million and a half per annum, divided amongst the Irish Roman catholics, according to the last return, gives just 5s. per head -five shillings for the infant in the cradle, or, as we should rather say, for the infant separated from the cold clay-floor by a few dried leaves !-five shillings for the beggar by the way side !-five shillings for each of the six or seven children of the half-starved labourer, employed, perhaps, not above one month of the twelve! These are the gentle shepherds who spare the flock!-who only mulct a pauper population in 5s. a-head as a poll tax !-Standard.

CHURCH MATTERS.

THE actual condition of things in this and the sister country is such, and their progress is such also, that it would be idle to talk of abstaining from politics. Party politics, indeed, cannot find a place here, except as far as they find a place unconsciously; but general politics are (at present, at least,) so closely linked with Christian and Church

Matters, that it would be wrong as well as vain to keep silence on them. The pressing subject at the moment is IRELAND, but if there are any English readers who listen somewhat impatiently to discourse on that subject, let them be assured that they need have no fear of the matter not being pressing enough for them if they will take the pains to consider it a little. The real difficulty, however, to be encountered in writing about Ireland is not that of mere selfish, and therefore inattentive, hearers. It is the critical condition of that unhappy country which forbids any thinking man to write of it except in one tone, and that a tone, if not of alarm, at least of expectation of the most serious events, and the almost impossibility of getting persons to listen to anything spoken under such feelings. We have gone on very long in a state of almost entire uniformity among ourselves. We have never heard with our ears, nor have our fathers told us, of actual destruction of institutions, of total changes in this realm of the form of government or of religion. We believe as firmly that king, lords, commons, and church, and connexion with Ireland, &c., &c., will go on as we do that the sun will rise to-morrow, and we think we believe so on the same kind of evidence-viz., that all this has been going on quietly so long. He, then, who talks of such things as the change of the monarchy to a republic, of the downfal of aristocracy, of the abolition of the church, of separation from Ireland, is looked on either as an alarmist, or a fanatic, or a fool, and can scarce gain a hearing. To suggest that any great movements are contemplated by any set of men-that the measures which they bring forward are parts of a large and comprehensive plan for effecting great changes -is looked on as gross injustice, arising from mere party virulence, or visionary fatuity. If Mr. O'Connell demands an Irish Church Appropriation Bill, he, of course, has no other meaning than to get for the instruction of his own people some of the property of a church which he dislikes. What can be more natural? Why look farther? If he manages to have a strong attack made on Orangeism, what again can be more natural than that, as a Romanist, he should dislike a protestant association? Who can blame him? Why suppose that he has any other view than that which every party man has, of diminishing the power of an opposite party? Nay, why look on Mr. O'Connell as anything more than one of those thousand ambitious and selfish people whose career the world is perpetually called on to witness, who is using the power which he happens to have to raise himself, and secure himself place, or pension, or political importance? These suppositions are all so easy, they fall in so entirely with our every-day lives, they call on us so little to disturb our natural indolence and rouse ourselves to the trouble of contemplating large plans and the mode of resisting them, that they are sure to find acceptance. Nor are they accepted only by private individuals. Statesmen (it is one of the besetting sins of all but first-rate statesmen) hate to be put out of their way, to feel that there is any call on them for any other judgment of men, or motives, or actions, than is demanded by the common-place view that every man is trying to see what he can get, to know that they must exercise every faculty which

God has given them in order to penetrate into the actual state of things, and meet the schemes of their adversaries. In former times, perhaps, there was too much readiness in imagining a plot and a conspiracy every where; and now there is just as much or more danger in our stupid resolution not to believe that anything can happen different from what we have seen with our own eyes, and what is going on openly, and might be proclaimed at Charing-cross.

The simple history of all that is and has been doing actively in Ireland for many years past, is, in fact, only what any one who knows anything of Irish history, and is aware to what spirit it bears witness, must expect would be doing as often as any occasion offered, or any hope shone forth for that spirit, dormant, indeed, but not extinct, to work. It is not the spirit of Romanism only, or even chiefly. The one predominant feeling in the real Irish is a hatred of English domination in Ireland, of English possession of property in Ireland, quickened, aggravated, and inflamed by the remembrance that this domination is protestant as well as English ;-that it is degradation indeed, to be ruled by accursed heretics, as well as by odious foreigners. Look over any History of Ireland from the days of its conquest in Henry the Second's time, and see the same spirit always living and often growing. As the various kings of Ireland disappeared, or sunk into insignificance, and thus the appearance of war between king and king ceased, the hostility between nation and nation grew. We have not King Henry the Second, or King Henry the Third, against Roderick, King of Leinster, or Dermot, King of Munster, but "the English” against "the Irish," the "citizens of Dublin," or even "the Prior of Conall," killing so many of "the Irishmen." So things went on till Shane O'Neal's time. So they went on afterwards till the rebellion of 1643. And although the petty wars between "the Irish” and "the English," or an expedition of a lord deputy to put down a rebellious earl by force of arms, have not been heard of much since, history bears its undoubted witness to the embers glowing-to the spirit alive, though asleep. And the bloody history of 1798, and the constant repetition of petty but real tragedies, in the burning and murder of "the English," give the fullest proof that the occasional indications which history presents are not fallacious. There is, at this present hour, the same impatience of English control, and the same burning wish to throw it off, and to recover forfeited property, that there was in Shane O'Neal's time. It is kept up among the descendants of Irish families, and perpetually cherished and nourished by the priests.* Look at Wolfe Tone's Memoirs, look at any of the published evidence on the rebellion of 1798, and of that collected by committee after committee of the House of Commons, and say whether the conviction that the struggle in Ireland has been, is, and will be, a struggle of nation against nation for power and property, though outwardly for religion only, can be resisted, except on the one obstinate and indolent belief, that no hope of regaining lost power and lost property subsists in

As a single instance, take the anecdote in Dr. Phelan's Life, of what was said to himself by a priest.

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