will shew that our American brethren have been lauded in a strain too little qualified :

At the Baptist Convention in Cincinnati, one of the topics of discussion related to the periodical press, and, especially, to the error of multiplying religious newspapers, without an adequate support. The history of the religious press in this country would be a TALE OF WOE ON THE PART OF

PUBLISHERS.

The following facts were reported respecting Baptist papers :-The Christian Watchman was for many years a losing concern. It costs thousands of dollars beyond its income. The Lowell Evangelist is dead for want of support. A Baptist paper started in Rhode Island became bankrupt. The Baptists of Connecticut raised 2,000 dollars, as a gratuity for a religious paper, but it failed for want of support. Zion's Advocate is a losing concern. The Vermont Telegraph has not a support. The New York Baptist Register, which has vastly more subscribers than any other paper among Baptists, cost an immense sum for years in the outset, and now only yields a profit of 300 dollars. The Baptist Repository, of New York, has already ruined the property of four brethren who published it. In Pennsylvania, Baptist brethren have laid out more than 5,000 dollars in two papers, neither of which has ever paid its way. Dr. Going, of New York, said the report had his hearty concurrence. One large, well edited religious paper was enough for Baptists in the west. The Methodists had had more wisdom than Baptists and Presbyterians in these matters. Look at their New York Christian Advocate, with its 30,000 subscribers, and all their ministers pushing it forward. Publishing religious newspapers was generally a losing business:-Because such publishers seldom got their pay. Scattered in small sums over the country, their money was seldom collected. Their paper cost money; their ink cost money; their type-setters must have money every Saturday night: but, alas! their subscribers had little conscience on the subject. They would dodge off to some new place, after taking the paper for years, and that was the last they heard of them. Indeed they treated the publishers of religious newspapers much as they did the ministers of the Gospel. They paid such debts last, if at all. Whether such subscribers could ever get to heaven, even with the help of a religious newspaper, the doctor left very doubtful. He urged the propriety of subscribers to newspapers paying in advance, or certainly at the end of the year, and then

THEY WOULD READ THEIR OWN PAPERS.

The Rev. Mr. Peck, of Illinois, said, one great reason why publishers of religious newspapers failed was, that such papers had little advertising patronage. This patronage in other papers would amount, sometimes, to thousands of dollars in a year. Office-holders and office-seekers would sustain political papers of their own liking at a great sacrifice. They often furnished gratuities of 500 or 1,000 dollars, to sustain their favourite paper, and in this way a little political paper could be kept up in any large place. But the effort to establish religious papers in such places, and rely upon local patronage, would certainly fail. Politics first, then religion. Could such persons be Christians? To attempt to multiply religious papers in the west, was folly. Let them have one large, well-conducted paper, at a central point, and throw their whole strength into it, and then it would be sustained; for it would be worth sustaining.

To the above abstract of the Baptist Convention, the editor of the Ciacinnati Journal adds the following notices respecting Presbyterian papers:The dismal tale might be much extended. The Presbyterian and Congregational churches furnish abundant specimens of the same thing. We will not go over the mountains to take from their ashes the Rochester Observer, the Utica Christian Journal, the Albany Telegraph, the New England Christian Herald,

These are the Christian Advocate's own Italics.

&c. &c. &c., which have lived piously and usefully, but died of starvation. We wish not to speak of the Presbyterian, which devotes its profits to the " Board of Education," but in five years' existence has had no profits to devote; nor of the Philadelphian, which, ably conducted as it is, furnishes no compensation to its able editor, and involves its publisher in debt.

The Presbyterian press in the great Valley is all we have to remark upon now. And we begin with the Pittsburgh Christian Herald, which, the editor says, has less than 1,500 nominal, and not less than 1,000 paying subscribers. The Ohio Observer has about 1,600 or 1,700 paying subscribers, and lives on from week to week as healthy as could be expected with such a support. Paying a small salary to its editor, it has a lean subsistence.

The Western Luminary, with 1,500 subscribers, probably sustains itself, but it can afford no competent support to an editor without involving the interests of the publisher beyond his receipts.

The Standard, of Cincinnati, cost its publishing committee 1,000 dollars out of pocket, and finally was sent away to live cheaper in Indiana.

The Millenial Trumpeter, of Maryville, Tenn., has between 400 and 500 subscribers. Its existence is a constant loss to the publishers; and in a late exposé, they avowed themselves almost ready to give up in despair. If they fail, they will have companions in misfortune.

The St. Louis Observer is still doubtful whether it will be able to pass its infancy without fatal disease.

The Youth's Magazine, of Cincinnati, has nearly 1,500 subscribers, but thus far it has yielded no profit to the publishers. The editor has never yet received a cent for his services. It lives, and only lives.

The Cincinnati Journal has much the largest circulation of any Presbyterian paper of the great valley; but leaving out of view between 4,000 and 5,000 dollars lost in getting the paper started, it even Now does not yield ONE CENT OF PROFIT to the publishers.

The editor of the New York Evangelist does not tell us what his circulation is.

THE "PATRIOT" AND "CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE."

It is rather curious to find how the "Patriot" is maintained. By a pamphlet of Mr. Winter's (the late Secretary to the Committee of Deputies of the Dissenters) it appears that it is made their organ, as one item in one of his bills to the committee, is for 3,500 copies of the "Patriot!" Doubtless, such substantial patronage fully accounts for the perfect carelessness of the managers of the "Patriot," as to decency, veracity, or charity. The character of this paper, however, had better be given by a dissenter, and not only a dissenter, but an eminent dissenting minister. It will be remembered that Sir Robert Peel sent for Dr. Smith, Mr. Clayton, and another gentleman, some weeks ago, to confer with them. The following are Mr. Clayton's remarks on the account of this conference in the "Patriot." "There is an extremely defective, a contradictory. and an unfair statement of the interview referred to above, in the "Patriot" newspaper; defective, as it does not report what took place at the Meeting which it proposes to describe; contradictory, as it asserts, in italics, that no other subjects but that of the Marriage Bill was adverted to, and in the same paragraph declares, that Dr. Smith delivered his opinion upon the comparative characters of the former and present Administration in his esteem; and unfair, as it leaves the reader to conclude that though the Editor had held no communication with Dr. Smith and myself, (though both of us were easily accessible, and charged with no vicious secrets,) yet that he had received intelligence from Mr. Edgar Taylor, which was not the fact. I had intended to write a line to the conductor of the paper, but as the unimus of the whole paragraph is so distinctly apparent, I content myself with appealing to my respected com

panions on the occasion, whether the interview was not conducted, on the part of Sir Robert Peel, in the most frank, manly, and Christian-like spirit, and whether any thing was uttered or implied which in the slightest degree compromised our principles as Protestant Dissenters, or as the avowed ministers of the Prince of righteousness and peace."

Nothing can be more complimentary to the "Patriot," both as to its good sense and its honesty. Having a reason for mis-statement, it goes to its work so wisely as to contradict itself, and so honestly as to insinuate what is not the fact! This is the accredited organ of dissent! The paper of which 3,500 copies are bought by the Committee of Dissenters for distribution !

Its politics are, if possible, more furious every day. Indeed, the exhibitions made by the dissenting organs on political matters just now are tremendous. The following is one of many of a similar kind :

:

"The days of our years, says the Psalmist, are three-score-years-and-ten. Our King has therefore entered on the last year of the ordinary term of human existence. The rumour of the Queen's pregnancy has been denied as by authority. It is consequently highly probable that the throne will shortly be filled by the Princess Victoria. To this event we cannot look forward without recognising the goodness of Providence, in the class of advisers by which there is every reason to expect the youthful sovereign will be surrounded. Woe to the country were she likely to have for her Prime Minister a proud, heartless, ambitious, desperate despiser of the people! Woe, perhaps, in such a case, to herself! Instead of this, however, there will preside in her councils a man who has always been the friend of his country, a man who, knowing, as he has himself declared, that the industrious classes are the sinews of the state, will act on the persuasion, that, in protecting their interests, he is best consulting the safety, honour, and welfare of his sovereign and her dominions. That man is the patriotic Durham."-Christian Advocate.

This declaration as to Lord Durham is constantly repeated just at present, and the King's death anticipated with that satisfaction which so clearly evinces the loyalty of these dissenting organs. They are very busy also just now with proclaiming the infamous character of the clergy. The "Patriot" (after its bitter complaints about Mr. Gathercole) accuses many of them of making the farmers drunk at their tithe feasts, in order to cheat them; and the "Christian Advocate" represents them as regular fox-hunters! Really, it is hard to say which of these papers does most discredit to dissent by its tone, style, and spirit. How can dissenters complain of being mis-understood when they allow their organs to be so shameless?

ROYAL BIBLES.

In the manuscript department of the King's library, at Paris, a case containing several interesting autographs has much excited the attention of visiters. They are written in a manuscript Bible, on two pages at the end, as follows:-1. "This Bible is ours, Charles, the Vth of our name, King of France. It is in 11 volumes, and we caused it to be made. Signed, Charles.” 2. "This Bible is ours, Henry, IIId of the name, King of France and Poland. Signed, Henry."-3. "This is our Bible. Signed, Louis XIII."— 4. "This is our Bible. Signed, Louis XIV."-Record.

EXTRACT FROM REV. G. TOWNSEND'S SPEECH AT DURHAM. "LET me say one word on the subject of the great inequality which occurs among the clergy. When Christianity was first established in England, the owners of estates endowed the parishes-which were generally co-extensive VOL. VII.-March, 1835. 2 U

with those estates-and nobles, great men, and princes endowed the cathedrals with lands for the perpetual maintenance of daily worship. The consequence was, that both parishes and cathedrals were always unequally endowed, and some of the clergy were always comparatively poor, while others were more enriched. This difference was greatly increased in the reign of Henry VIII. and his immediate successors, who plundered, without mercy, both parishes and cathedrals, and bestowed the ecclesiastical revenues on those whom they pleased among the laity, or otherwise disposed of them. Therefore, we are no more responsible for the supposed largeness of our revenue than Sir James Graham is responsible to the mob which may envy Netherby, or than Mr. Lambton is responsible to the Spenceans who may long for the division of the lands at Lambton. (Loud applause.) Let us now return, however, to the question of the blessings which have hitherto attended the establishment of the two classes of the clergy to which I have alluded. I boldly declare that the property of the church is the property of the people of England, and that the poorest person in the land who can send his son to the lowest and to the cheapest school where a competent education may be acquired is entitled to hope for a share of that property, and to anticipate the possibility that his own old age may be relieved or be benefited by the success of his child. All the landed property of the country, by a fiction of the ancient law, belonged to the King-that is, to the State. The King and the State have ordered that the greatest portion of that property should be appropriated to various individual noblemen or gentlemen, and that it may pass from one person to another by descent, by will, or by purchase. Another large portion of the landed property is permitted by the state to be functionary property-to pass from one person to another, neither by descent, by will, nor by purchase; but to be granted, by appointment, to such individuals who, by their education, their character, their virtue, their wisdom, their perseverance, or their clerical qualifications, generally considered, may be deemed worthy of possessing it. Such is the church property of which we are speaking, and one great benefit of this tenure of a large mass of landed property is to maintain among the people the hope, the happy, the endearing hope, that their families may obtain a portion of this property, and while their sons are useful to their country by the right discharge of the duties of an honourable station, they shall not be dependent upon the alms and contributions of their congregations, but shall depend upon their share of the functionary property set apart for that purpose. (Loud applause.) I again, therefore, say to the people-I speak to you-I beg of you not to surrender your own hope of sharing in the common good. Let the poor man who has a large family of sons, and who, in the declining of commerce or the failing of agriculture, sees but a small prospect of success to his children, and therefore of comfort in his old age to himself-let this, or any poor man, go down to the beautiful domain in which the gentleman who insults the church of Durham is an inhabitant-let the poor man go to Lambton Castle, and there let him gaze at the rich woods and the pleasant valleys-let him mark the lovely landscape of that enhancing spot, with all its wide-spread variety of field, and water, and garden, and then let him remember that no virtue, no wisdom, no knowledge, no political, no religious merit can by any possibility give his child a share of the magnificent inheritance. It is the property of another, and God grant that the laws of property may long continue undisturbed, and that the Earl of Durham, his family, and his brothers, may receive no interruption to their lawful and honourable possession. Let the same poor man, when he turns away in the midst of his admiration, with a sigh of regret that he is not so wealthy as his noble neighbour, come to Durham, and climb the tower of our splendid cathedral, and there gaze upon a domain quite as lovely and more extensive than the domain of Lambton; and then let him think and reason, and say, “Oh, if I give to the child of my love a learned and a Christian education, if I so train up my son that he become a useful and good man, it is possible that one share at least of this wide-spreading property

may be his. My son may take his portion, and contribute to the support and bless the old age of his father." (Applause.) And is it nothing, my lords and gentlemen, is it not a real blessing to the nation, that hope should thus animate the breasts of the poor, and that some prizes should exist, whatever be the extent of our proposed reforms, which should encourage such feelings as these?"

EMIGRATION TO CANADA.

MR. EDITOR, I am induced, from the interest that you appear to take in the emigration of some of our redundant working population to Upper Canada, to transmit to you an outline of a plan which is now in agitation from the same quarter and in furtherance of the same design. Owing to the favourable accounts of the undertaking, as mentioned in your last Number, the Earl of Egremont feels sufficient encouragement to induce him to purchase a large tract of land in Upper Canada, with the intention of making clearances, and letting it out into farms to such of the younger sons of his tenantry, or industrious labourers of a superior description, as may be disposed to try their fortunes in that colony.

A gentleman, highly qualified in every respect for such a task, is to have the superintendence of the proposed settlement. I cannot forbear mentioning, on this occasion, a circumstance which will, I am sure, rejoice many of your readers. My allusion is to the first object which will engage the attention of the managers of the proposed scheme, which is no other than the building of a church and school annexed.

This serves to take off the bitterness of our losing from our parishes some of the most valuable of our labouring population, which was strikingly felt on the occasion of the last emigration, when, owing to the attachment which had prevailed between the clergyman and his parishioners, who were on the point of leaving their native country for ever, they expressed the deepest regret that they should see their pastor's face no more. Now, however, they will no longer be looked upon as sheep without a shepherd. We have the satisfaction of knowing that no step will be taken in this expedition without a security being made for the enjoyment of the services of the temple by our countrymen; and, in addition to this, that all human means will be taken to carry into effect a sound and religious education.

SENEX.

CLERICAL SLAVERY.

GREAT blame has often been cast on those who believe that there is the least disposition to deal illiberally with the clergy. Perhaps the following extracts, from an account of a meeting of the Sussex magistrates, to consider of the appointment of a chaplain to Horsham Gaol, may shew that such suspicions are not altogether without grounds. The following are the speeches of a Mr. Seymour, and of the Duke of Richmond.

THE DUKE OF RICHMOND “I think that the Chaplain should have no other duty to perform than the important functions of his sacred office in the gaol, which, if duly executed, will engross the greater part of the Sabbath day, and that his Sunday evenings should be devoted to catechize this his family. As he will be well paid for the task required of him, he will have no occasion to undertake other duties."

MR. SEYMOUR "had no intention of adverting particularly to what was done at Horsham gaol, but he merely stated what he thought ought to be the duties of a new Chaplain. If they thought the duty ought not to be increased, then he would say, diminish the salary. He thought 160l. a year a very