given to the communes where these religious bodies resided, for works of public utility and educational purposes. Here is a bold challenge to the sacerdotal party; enough to put them on their mettle if other causes of excitement had been wanting. The whole existence of monachism in the Italian peninsula is at stake; the wants of a civilisation, exigent in proportion as it has hitherto been starved, must at last be satisfied. The country is no longer content that its people should grow up uninstructed for want of schools, and its resources remain undeveloped for want of roads, bridges, and harbours; it is resolved to raise all it can by taxation; but that is inadequate. The demand is nothing less than to make up in a few years for the idleness and malversation of centuries. The funds may be obtained from a source on which even devout Spain herself has laid hands. Among the causes of poverty and misery existing in Italy, none are more obvious or more offensive than her monastic and conventual establishments; to abolish them would be in itself a blessing, even if their abolition required a large outlay of public money. Of all forms of unproductive consumption known to mankind, none is worse than the maintenance of large communities of both sexes, vowed to perpetual celibacy and perpetual idleness, contaminating industry by their evil example, and poisoning the morals of the community, either by the scandal of their lives, or by the reputation acquired by useless and hypocritical austerities."

This witness is true, but the marvellous thing is, that what is so bad for Italy and Spain should be imagined to be good for Great Britain-that what the Italian and Spanish Governments find it necessary to suppress by force, our blind and infatuated Government should be commended for fostering into power by grants from the public treasury.-Bulwark, Nov., 1865.

THE POPE AND THE PAPACY.

ABANDONED by all the European Governments, the Court of Rome feels that it must continue its struggle alone, and it is preparing to do so with all the energy of despair. It is now organizing the Italian Catholic Association for the defence of the liberties of the Church. The statutes of the Association are being drawn up at Rome. The object will be to organize the numerous clerical party in the peninsula, so as to exercise a powerful and inevitable pressure at the coming election, and on the governmental machine as it now exists. Great exertions, too, are being made to obtain as many signatures as possible to the address from the Italians to the Pope, protesting against the rupture of the negotiations with Rome by the Italian Government. The address is being signed both in the kingdom of Italy and in the Papal territory, and the priests in the neighbourhood of Rome recommend the faithful from the pulpit to affix their names to it. In every small town commissioners have been appointed to receive signatures, together with subscriptions in

money. Finally, the Pope has formed a project which will cause the greatest excitement throughout the Catholic world. Pius IX. was much struck by the fêtes at Florence in honour of Dante, and he has resolved next year to celebrate the eighteenth secular anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Peter (crucified A.D. 66) at Rome. The Catholic bishops of the whole world are to be summoned to the canonization with which the celebration will commence; and Pius IX. wishes the whole of the Catholic laity (that is to say, all the faithful of the five parts of the globe) to be invited. The invitations to the bishops will be sent out in November; and each bishop is, in his turn, to call upon so many of the faithful of his diocese as can do so to undertake a pilgrimage to the Eternal City. On this occasion, it is certain that important measures will be taken, and that an ecumenical council will be held. But where are to be lodged all the Catholics who will flock to Rome? Perhaps modern enterprise will come to the rescue, and English or French speculators will erect temporary accommodation for the faithful in the Roman Campagna.-Pall Mall Gazette.

AN AWKWARD MISTAKE.

(From the "Times of India," Bombay, Sept. 29.)

It is well to note sometimes into what deplorable absurdities people may be led when once they surrender themselves to one idea. Accordingly we occasionally take a dip into the "Bombay Catholic Examiner "'-a publication which has about as little catholicity in its nature as it is possible for a public journal to have. We would not for a moment identify the crotchets of this "Examiner" with the views of our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens. To do so would be more unjust than it would be to confound the fanatical Wahabees with sensible Mussulmans who are good citizens of Indian society. The "Examiner” seems to make the essential of Christian faith to consist in a belief that the visible Head of the Church not only should, but always will, dwell on that little spot of earth called Rome. All and every who fail to see that there is any essential connexion between the Pope's temporal power and the religion of Christ, are by the "Examiner" banned as with "bell, book, and candle," and all the available appliances that pro-priestly vindictiveness can in these modern days put into motion. This would be harmless and contemptible enough in its way; but when we see any English-written print attempting to portion out the will of the Supreme according to its own petty sectarian notions, it is well to call attention to what all true religious feeling prompts men to condemn. The "Examiner" has been presumptuously stealing Jove's thunder, but, whilst using it in impious fashion, has succeeded in making itself intensely ridiculous. The "Delhi Gazette" published a telegram stating that "Joseph Bonaparte was dead," and that journal was indiscreet enough to assume that this name stood for the Prince Napoleon-Joseph-Charles-Paul, familiarly known as "Prince Napoleon," the cousin of the Emperor, and the only able politician con

nected with the family. Upon this hint, the "Catholic Examiner donned the garb of the prophet, and took up its foolish parable as follows:

"Proofs have been given that a blessing is on the side of the Roman Pontiff, while misfortune has weighed heavily on those against him. It would not repay us the trouble, or else we might note down name after name of those whom, during the last twelve months, death has removed from the revolutionary party. Suffice it to say that already some five or six have fallen, and now we learn, when we were least expecting it-though we are not therefore surprised at it-that Prince Napoleon, otherwise called Joseph Napoleon, is dead. He is deadthe head democrat of Europe, the arch revolutionist, the declared enemy of Pope Pius IX.-at the close of his forty-third year of life, he has been cut off, and is no more. Truly the finger of God is here, and blind is he who cannot read the writing on the wall. Many will laugh at us, and say it is all the work of chance; but, after all, they must allow that chance has become wondrously intelligent, so that its blows fall all upon one side, and its caresses upon the other. When the Convention was passed, our answer was simply to insist that patience be kept till the end of the two years, when we shall be much better able to judge; but half of that period has now passed, and has not the invisible aid that stands by Pope Pius IX. sufficiently shown itself?"

Of course people "will laugh" when they see that "chance has been so wondrously intelligent as to take the "Examiner" in its own impious craftiness; and that, instead of interpreting the decrees of Heaven by its sacrilegious use of the phrase "finger of God," it has only made itself ridiculous. The person who has died was probably a much better Catholic than the "Examiner" itself. He was Joseph Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano, who died at Rome; so that the "Examiner" must mend its instance, and (if one could hope so) reform its vindictive theology. What are Hindoos, Zoroastrians, &c., to think of Christianity, when they see its name used to harbour the dreariest dogmas of priestly impiety?

THE LATE MR. MACKLIN.

THE inhabitants of Derby have, in the death of the Rev. Roseingrave Macklin, to lament the loss of an earnest minister and a faithful friend. Till recently Mr. Macklin occupied a prominent position in the rank of public local men, though he was of a retiring disposition.

Mr. Macklin took holy orders in Ireland, and held, for many years, a living in the county of Wicklow. He commenced his ministerial career in Derby in 1835, as Curate of St. Werburgh's, under the late Rev. E. Unwin. His energetic performance of the duties of his office led to his appointment, in 1841, to the Incumbency of Christ Church, in the same parish. This living he held for twenty years, resigning it,

from failing health, in the year 1862. In his theological tenets, he was thoroughly Evangelical. He was an avowed and firmly-attached member of the great Evangelical party, and was conspicuous in every special demonstration of a polemical character made by that party. Like most of the Irish clergy holding similar opinions, he was an indefatigable opponent and denouncer of the errors of Romanism, and was actively engaged in every movement which had for its object the defence of the Protestant Church, or aggression on the Romish, particularly in his native land.

It has been well said by a contemporary that it is hardly possible to speak in exaggerated terms of the veneration and affection with which he was regarded by his congregation, and the people of his charge generally. Possessed of ample private means, while his ecclesiastical income was of trifling amount, he was enabled to follow the dictates of his benevolent spirit in ministering to the temporal as well as spiritual necessities of the numerous poor of the populous district placed under his pastoral care. But he won more hearts, and attached them more closely to himself, by his sympathy and tenderness, than by the exercise of his bounty. Mr. Macklin had enjoyed the advantage of a liberal education, and was a man of highly cultivated mind. In his youth he pursued, to a considerable extent, the study of medicine and surgery; and, retaining his fondness for the department of knowledge upon which he had then entered, he became in after life an advanced proficient in natural science and philosophy. In all matters of a literary or artistic character, in all that pertains to the embellishment of ordinary life, domestic or social, he possessed a refined taste, without fastidiousness or affectation. In address and demeanour the model of pure courtesy, he was a true and perfect Christian gentleman.

The remains of the deceased were interred on Friday last, and the occasion was marked by the partial closing of shops in Derby, and by other outward demonstrations of sorrow.

On Sunday appropriate sermons were preached at St. Alkmund's by the Rev. E. H. Abney; at All Saints', by the Rev. E. W. Foley; and at Christ Church, by the Rev. R. Monck Mason.-Derby Mercury, Nov. 22.

DEATH OF THE REV. DR. MCCLURE.

THE REV. A. W. McClure, D.D., formerly one of the Secretaries of the American and Foreign Christian Union, died at his residence, in Cannonsburgh, Pennsylvania, about five o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, the 20th of September last, in the sixty-first year of his age.

He was an excellent man, an accomplished scholar, an able divine, an exemplary Christian, an agreeable companion, and a trustworthy friend. Many of the readers of "The Christian World" doubtless

remember him; and many others, in this country and in Europe, who knew him personally, or in his official relations, will receive the announcement of his death with sadness; for in his departure a heavy loss to the cause of humanity and of evangelical religion is sustained.

He was ecclesiastically connected with the Reformed Dutch Church, whose doctrines and discipline he cordially embraced, and by whom he was highly respected and sincerely loved. But while he strongly adhered to his own denomination, and preferred it to any other, his views of Christian liberty and fellowship enabled him to recognise, in all the Protestant Evangelical denominations, the true Church of Christ, and with pleasure to commune and co-operate with them in plans for doing good.

He was of ardent temperament; and whatever he attempted to do, he did it with all his might. Having a comparatively feeble physical constitution, the earnestness with which he was prone to pursue a work committed to him frequently overcame him, and brought upon him temporary sickness.

In the winter of 1856-7, by exposures and over-exertion, his health received such a shock as ultimately led him to seek a release from the burdensome duties of the post which he occupied in the Society. His resignation was tendered to the Board of Directors in the autumn of 1857, but it was not acted upon and accepted till early in the following year. To human appearance, and in his own judgment, he was then near to the end of his earthly life; but it pleased God to spare him, and allow him to recover somewhat from his extreme prostration, yet with constant fluctuations, and, in great feebleness in general, to continue with his family and friends, until a few weeks since, as above stated.

During the eight years of his sufferings, and withdrawment from public life and labour, he enjoyed some brief intervals of comparative relief from pain. He was at times enabled to visit the sanctuary, in the place of his residence, to meet and enjoy the society of friends, and, on a few occasions, to preach or perform other parts of public worship. He was also, by careful economy of his strength, and the improvement of the moments of relief from distress, able to contribute some interesting and valuable papers to the periodical

press.

Thus has his life been led. But it was not to him a profitless discipline. His sufferings wrought him to a high standard of religious views and feelings. The various Christian graces seemed to show themselves in him in a marked manner. He was eminently submissive, patient, mild, kind, thankful, forgiving, and Christ-like. He lived in constant communion with God; and, as he drew near to the end of his course, he seemed to anticipate the happiness of the celestial state. His conversation, night and day, was upon subjects connected with the "great salvation." His anxieties and fears for his own acceptance with God were allayed, and his trust in Christ was absolutely complete.

A note to his former colleague in the Secretaryship of the American and Foreign Christian Union, the Rev. Dr. Fairchild, now