the wishes and intentions of the Church are not clearly avowed.

The proposal of a transfer of the right of patrons to the people is indeed specious and attractive; but whatever might be proposed or intended, there is too much reason to apprehend, that, in no long time, the whole power would fall into the hands of the Church itself, a consummation which you will probably think with me, would be no less injurious to religion, than dangerous to to the State.

The disposal of patronage, how ever, is a matter of secondary importance, compared with the spiritual welfare of the people, and the free exercise of ecclesiastical authority in the selection of persons duly qualified for the performance of the duties of the sacred ministry,

Doubtless in times past the right of patronage has been abused; but stringent and wholesome corrections have been progressively applied.

The choice of the patron is now limited to licentiates, who derive their right of preaching from the will of the Church; who are subjected to long training under ecclesiastical discipline; and who undergo the most strict examiuation before the licence to preach is granted.

The powers of rejecting candidates for this licence is absolute in the Church.

But even after this ordeal, the presentation of the patron only opens the way to a second examination.

The licentiate, when presented, is taken on trials by the Presbytery; his qualifications are tested; if he be not fit and suitable to

stated; reasons are heard, of which the Presbytery alone may judge; and although Presentation is a civil right, examination belongs exclusively to the Church Courts.

It is open to the Presbytery acting as judges, with the sense of their moral responsibility attaching on them, either to give effect to objections on cause shown, or to overrule them; making in both cases a judicial deliverance.

Admission also is an ecclesiastical act.

The Church Court alone can create the pastoral relation between the presentee and his parish: or dissolve it, when it has been created.

The licence, then, which precedes presentation, in the power of the Church -the examination and admission which follow it, and without which presentation is ineffectual, are fully conceded to the Church; and unless it be contended that patronage itself must be either directly or indirectly abolished, the matter in dispute is reduced to narrow limits.

The refusal to take the presentee on trials, under the operation of the Veto Act, constituted in the Auchterarder case the defeat and violation of the patron's legal rights.

The statute is imperative; the presentee is entitled to be taken on trials: the Veto Act interposes an obstacle; this obstacle can be of no avail, except in defiance of law; and it is no answer to say, that the Presbytery is an ecclesiastical body; for this is neither more nor less than a claim for churchmen of exemption from the duty of obedience to the Statute Law.

If the Veto Act, which is illegal, were rescinded by the Assembly,

to present, of the congregation to object, and of the Church Courts to examine, to hear, to judge, and to admit, or to reject, could be clear and well defined.

In the hope of peace, Lord Aberaeen, one of Her Majesty's present advisers, sought by legislation to remove doubts, which by some were supposed to exist, respecting the admission of ministers to benefices in Scotland, by declaring the law, and by defining with precision the respective rights and powers of the different parties interested

in the settlement of a minister.

In the same spirit I expressed, on the part of the Government in the course of last Session, willingness to attempt legislation on these same recorded principles, hoping, that both the Church and people of Scotland might be found desirous to terminate this unhappy

controversy on terms which are strictly conformable to Presbyterian discipline, and to established rights.

The Acts of the General Assembly, the Claim, Declaration, and Protest, the Address against Patronage, the demand of the repeal of the statute of Anne, have unhappily diminished, so far at least as the Church is concerned, those reasonable hopes; and Her Majesty's Ministers now understanding, that nothing less than the total abrogation of the rights of the Crown and of other patrons will satisfy the Church, are bound with firmness to declare, that they cannot advise Her Majesty to consent to the grant of any such demand. I have, &c.,

J. R. G. GRAHAM.

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the French, having judged it expedient, with a view to the better administration of justice, and to the prevention of crime within their respective territories and jurisdictions, that persons charged with the crimes hereinafter enumerated, and being fugitives from justice, should, under certain circumstances, be reciprocally given up;

Their said Majesties have named as their Plenipotentiaries to conclude a Convention for this pur

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable George Earl of Aberdeen, Viscount Gordon, Viscount Formartine, Lord Haddo, Methlick, Tarvis, and Kellie, a Peer of the United Kingdom, a Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, and Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;

And His Majesty the King of the French, the Sieur Louis de Beaupoil, Count of Sainte Aulaire,

of the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold of Belgium, His Ambassador Extraordinary to Her Britannic Majesty ;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

Article I. It is agreed that the High Contracting Parties shall, on requisitions made in their name through the medium of their respective diplomatic agents, deliver up to justice persons who, being accused of the crimes of murder (comprehending the crimes designated in the French Penal Code by the terms assassination, parricide, infanticide, and poisoning) or of an attempt to commit murder, or of forgery, or of fraudulent bankruptcy, committed within the jurisdiction of the requiring party, shall seek an asylum, or shall be found within the territories of the other: provided that this shall be done only when the commission of the crime shall be so established, as that the laws of the country where the fugitive or person so accused, shall be found, would justify his apprehension and commitment for trial, if the crime had been there committed.

Consequently, on the part of the French government, the surrender shall be made only by the authority of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, and after the production of a warrant of arrest or other equivalent judicial document, issued by a judge, or other competent authority, in Great Britain, clearly setting forth the acts for which the fugitive shall have rendered himself

the British Government, the surrender shall be made only on the report of a judge or magistrate duly authorized to take cognizance of the acts charged against the fugitive in the warrant of arrest or other equivalent judicial document, issued by a judge or competent magistrate in France, and likewise clearly setting forth the said acts.

Article II. The expenses of any detention and surrender made in virtue of the preceding Article, shall be borne and defrayed by the Government in whose name the requisition shall have been made.

Article III. The provisions of the present Convention shall not apply in any manner to crimes of murder, forgery, or fraudulent bankruptcy, committed dently to the date there of.

antece

Article IV. The present Convention shall be in force until the 1st of January, 1844, after which date either of the High Contracting Parties shall be at liberty to give notice to the other of its intention to put an end to it; and it shall altogether cease and determine at the expiration of six months from the date of such notice.

Article V. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London at the expiration of three weeks from its date, or sooner if possible.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms.

Done at London, the 13th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1843.

ABERDEEN.

Ameer,-The men you sent to Roree are robbing you. They will tell you that they are bribing my soldiers, and they extract money from your highness, under that pretext. If they were really bribing my soldiers to desert, I would punish them, but they are doing no such thing; your highness is robbed by your servants. However, if you are not robbed, and that, as they pretend, they were bribing my soldiers, it was high time to turn them out of Roree, which I have done; and if I find them attempting to disturb the loyalty of my troops, it will be worse for them. Ameer, I have received my orders, and will obey them. I laugh at your prepara

blood being shed: listen to my words,-consult with your brother, his highness Ali Moorad. Your own blood will not deceive you-your servants will. These men were four days in Roree, and did not deliver your letters to me; had I not sent for them, they would still have kept them from me to gain time, that they might rob you. Eight days have passed, and I have not heard that your highness has nominated a commissioner of rank to arrange the details of the Treaty. I expect to have in writing your full acceptance of the draft thereof, by the return of the bearer. Your highness is collecting troops in all directions, I must therefore have