XXXVII. 1839. 1839. made the subject of legal trial in the noted case of Auch- CHAP. terarder; and the Court of Session and House of Peers successively decided in favour of the patron, thereby nullifying the ecclesiastical Veto Act of 1834. Upon May 3, this, Dr Chalmers brought forward a motion in the General Assembly of the Church, which, while it enjoined obedience to the decrees of the courts of law, so far as the civil rights of patrons are concerned, asserted in, the most express terms the principle of Non-Intrusion, as it was called, or the right of the majority of parishioners to put a veto upon the appointment of any minister who was displeasing to them.* This resolution was carried by a majority of 36, the numbers being 197 to 161. As the effect of this resolution was to put the Church, on religious rights, directly at variance with the declared law of the land, it could not fail to lead to a schism. Lord Dalhousie said, "I shall not again consent to sit in any Church which, gloss it as you may, has resolved doggedly, but virtually, to set at defiance the law of the land. The knell is now rung of the Establishment of the Church of Scotland." It was followed, accordingly, by a secession of about two-thirds of the clergy of the Established Church from their cures, and the establishment of a vast dissenting church in every part of the country, which ere long came to number seven hundred congregations in its 1839, 302. bosom.1 1 Ann. Reg. the schism. The effects of this great schism, as of most similar 75. movements which originate in the wants and are sup- Effects of ported by the feelings of a large portion of the people, have been partly beneficial, partly injurious. On the one hand, it has led to the establishment of a new or additional church, supported entirely by voluntary contribu * "And whereas the principle of non-intrusion is now coeval with the reformed Kirk of Scotland, and forms an integral part of its constitution embodied in its standards, and declared in various Acts of Assembly, the General Assembly resolved that this principle cannot be abandoned, and that no presentee should be forced upon any parish contrary to the will of the congregation."-Dr CHALMERS' Resolution, May 22, 1839; Ann. Reg., 1839, p. 302. XXXVII. 1839. CHAP. tions, and which, like all similar voluntary establishments, in the first instance at least, has been supported with uncommon liberality on the part of the congregations, and adorned by a splendid array of oratorical ability on the part of the pastors. In a community where manufacturing and mining undertakings, on a very extended scale, have congregated the working classes in huge and neglected masses in particular localities, there can be no doubt that this has proved in many cases a very great benefit; and it may be doubted whether any old establishment, or anything but the fervour of an infant voluntary church, could have effected it. It has adorned our cities with splendid structures, and in many places brought to the destitute and debased portion of our people the light of Christian faith. On the other hand, it has induced many evils nearly as formidable-some, it is to be feared, still more lasting. It has brought to an unparalleled degree the bitterness of sectarian division into private life; divided brother against sister, father against child; turned charity itself, the bond of peace, into party channels; starved down the great establishments which, without any distinction of creed, look only to the alleviation of human suffering; rendered a poor-law universal and unavoidable from the absorption of a large portion of the funds of charity in the support of a new ecclesiastical establishment,* differing from the former in no respect except in the parties in whom the choice of the minister is vested, and in its being supported entirely by voluntary contri- . butions drawn chiefly from the working classes. But * The subscriptions to the Glasgow Infirmary, which is open to the sick and infirm of all nations and creeds, are now (1856) less than they were forty years ago, when the city had not a fourth of its present inhabitants, or a tenth of its present wealth. Nearly all the catholic (not Roman Catholic) charitable establishments are labouring under similar difficulties, while the poor-rate, then unknown, or a mere trifle, now amounts to £80,000 a-year, and was £120,000 in 1849. On the other hand, £130,000 has, within the last six years, been expended in building Free kirks in that city, and its ministers are as numerous, and have larger congregations, than the Established Church, and are nearly as comfortable. XXXVII. 1839. whichever of these opposite sets of considerations may be CHAP. deemed to preponderate, there can be but one feeling, and that of unmixed admiration, for the many conscientious and courageous men who, actuated by a sense of duty for what they considered a point of conscience, abandoned the sweets of home, independence, and long-cherished associations. 76. on this sub This question of the party in whom the appointment of the clergy should be vested, is one of general impor- Reflections tance, and has distracted many ages; and though it ap-ject." peared first in Scotland in these times, which is pre-eminently a religious nation, yet it is of general interest, and will come to shake other countries besides the land of the mountain and the flood. Leaving it to theologians to determine whether the Divine grace is most likely to follow the " apostolic succession" in which some of the Episcopalians believe, or the popular election for which the Presbyterians contend, it is the duty of the temporal historian to apply himself to the practical and momentous question, In what way are good and faithful pastors for the people most likely to be secured? And the same principle will probably be found to apply here which regulates mere worldly appointments. No lasting security is to be found for a proper selection but in singleness of patronage, coupled with reality of responsibility for its exercise. There is no doubt that there was great truth in what the zealous Presbyterians alleged, that patronage in Scotland had run very much into a mode of providing sinecure retreats for decayed tutors in families, whose abilities, never very considerable, had been entirely worn out in teaching idle boys the rudiments of the dead languages. On the other hand, although, in the first fervour of innovation, much talent, especially of an oratorical kind, has been imported into the Free Kirk, yet the continuance of such disinterested feelings is not to be permanently relied on, and little security CHAP XXXVII. 1839. 77. Canada. is to be found for right appointments in the majority of a promiscuous multitude of five or six hundred persons, in whom numbers have destroyed the sense of responsibility without conferring the power of discrimination. Many improper appointments may be laid to the door of the Cabinet, when no one often knows by whom appointments are really made; but such complaints are seldom heard in regard to the filling up of judicial offices, which is known to be done by the Lord Chancellor, under the vigilant surveillance of the Bar. Perhaps when the first heats consequent on the Disruption have passed away with the generation in which they arose, it will be found that the present system in the Established Church of Scotland, by which a list of five or six persons is presented by the patron to the congregation, and they make choice of the one whom they prefer, and which permits objections to be made, on cause shown, in the church courts, is the one which presents the fairest chance of lasting success in a matter in which a choice of difficulties is to be expected, and provision is to be made rather against the ultimate inroads of selfishness than for the present admission of zeal. When so many causes, some deeply affecting material Affairs of interests, others keenly arousing political or religious fervour, were agitating the mother country, it was not to be expected that the colonies could escape convulsion. Least of all was this to be looked for in Canada, the lower province of which, nearly equally divided between persons professing the Romish and Protestant faith, presented a fair field for O'Connell's intrigues; while the upper, exposed to the constant influx of several thousand discontented emigrants from Ireland, afforded a growing nucleus of Radicalism utterly at variance with the general and devoted loyalty of its inhabitants. The progress of the dissensions has already been detailed, which for several years had divided the House of Representa XXXVII. 1837. tives and the executive, the decision of which had been CHAP. postponed, not effected, by successive governor-generals. But at length matters came to a crisis, and appeal was made by both sides to the sword. The Canadian revolutionists contended that the Senate or Upper House, which had hitherto, according to the analogy of the British constitution, been appointed by the Crown, should be elected by the people; and that the executive should be rendered accountable to the House of Representatives. The first demand was naturally suggested by the analogy of America, where the Senate is so elected, though by a double election; the latter was strictly in accordance with the British constitution. The demand, however, was made in such menacing terms, and it had been preceded by so long a course of passive resistance, in the form of withholding the supplies in the province, that it was resisted by Government, and negatived by the House of Commons, after a long debate, by a majority of 269 to 46. “Look," said Sir Robert Peel, who supported the Government on this occasion, "at the position of Lower Canada, commanding the entrance of the mouth of the St 1 Parl. Deb, Lawrence, and then ask if a population of half a million xxxvi. 1304, had a right to insist upon a measure which, in the heart 1290; Ann. of the British colonies in North America, would estab- 167-169. lish a French republic." 1 xxxvi. Reg. 1837, 78. temper of Upper The difference between the temper of the people in Lower and Upper Canada at once appeared upon the Different receipt of this intelligence. The habitans of the lower Lower and province were instantly in a ferment, and the leading Canada. demagogues made a skilful use of the agitation to fan the flame into a conflagration. Confidently relying on Mr O'Connell and the Irish Catholic members, who composed the chief part of the majority which retained Ministers in power, to avert any extreme measures, they vigorously proceeded to stimulate instant insurrection. Armed men assembled in great numbers to listen to the most violent and seditious harangues, in which the tyranny of the |