which arguments of great power are elaborated and exhibited, the works of our later literature bear no comparison whatever; and of all these, Hume was, except when by bare accident he looked farther than the popular works by which he was directed to his authorities, altogether ignorant. Hume thought himself a Whig, and perhaps the temper in which the French writers, whose tone he assumed, then spoke of proposed improvements in their political constitution, might have deceived him into the belief. In every government-the most tyrannical and absolute, as well as the most free-the peace of society must be the first object; and, though Hume would not admit it in words, he seems to think that whenever this is attained all is accomplished. Had Hume written the history of the Church, as he once thought of doing, woe to the poor reformers, unless indeed Rome had, in the days of her first usurpations, put forward, instead of her claim of antiquity, that of development-the dream, it would, no doubt, have seemed to him, of wandering dotage, and a symptom of approaching change. If Hume can be said to have had any sympathies, they were altogether with things as established; and to this, rather than to any thing else, are we to ascribe what we must regard as the entirely false spirit in which his narrative of the civil wars in the reign of the second king of the House of Stuart is conceived. The language of every early document whatever of our history, that can be brought to bear on the subject, proves that the claims of the popular party were not, as Hume would represent them, encroachments on the prerogative, but that the king of England's was a limited power. The extent of his power was defined by the fact, that he could as king only act through responsible officers, no one of whom could without a violation of law, exceed his proper duties. That the power of an English king had its legal limits, was expressed in the maxim so often strangely perverted into a meaning directly opposite to what was meant to be conveyed by it-The king can do

no wrong. From our early history we do not think that with all the confusion of occasional civil wars, and the loose language of documents drawn up without particular reference to a point not in dispute, any case can be plausibly made by the advocates of the doctrine that arbitrary power in the monarch was consistent with the constitution of government in England. The doubt with respect to the rightful limits of the prerogative arose, we think, chiefly from the arrogant claims of the House of Tudor, and were suggested by the anomalous position in which the crown, and a great and influential portion of its subjects, were placed by the king's being declared Head of the Church, before the meaning of that new title, or the claims depending on it, were practically reduced to an assertion,

that the clergy owed undivided allegiance to the state, and were subject to the same jurisdiction as the laity.† To the accession of the family of Stuart, and to the false notions which James, brought up under the laws of another country, from the first took of his position, we ascribe the contest between the crown and people being placed by any one on the grounds which Hume endeavoured to take. All the notions which James brought with him from Scotland were essentially and in first principles opposed to the theory and the practice of the English constitution. All his notions were referable to the civil law; and the effort to engraft on the English law and forms of government those of a system essentially and in every thing different, and to simplify despotism, was a thing not very easily borne. It was easy enough for Hume to make a plausible case for the Stuart kings, on the supposition that the names of king and parliament had the same meaning in England as in countries where the laws and mode of government were essentially different; and while we are willing to believe that the usurpations of the Stuarts arose from their never having fairly considered the true points of difference, it seems to demonstrable that a practical change wholly unjustified was sought

us

to be made by them, which it was an absolute duty in the people of England to resist. James's talents had enabled him to systematise into a sort of theory his notions of kingly government, and when the vanity of an author was added to that of a monarch, it is no wonder that he deceived himself. It is a sad delusion when the feeling of loyalty degenerates into a baseless superstition, and the claim of a divine right is stated, as it was then stated by James, for the purpose of extending the power of the crown beyond anything known by the name of kingly power in the government which he was called on by Providence to administer. To assert in argument, from the facts of a man being king, and of God, who rules in the affairs of men, having called him to that high trust, the further consequence that such man has a right to enlarge the powers committed to him, whenever opportunity offers, is, we think, not only a doctrine wholly untenable, but offensive in the highest degree to those whose feeling of religion and loyalty are least questionable.

Hume has been accused of a dishonest perversion of facts on evidence that, wherever it has been examined, has wholly failed. Of this we shall hereafter give proofs, to our own mind entirely decisive.Hume's history has faults enough without the aggravation of intentional misstatement; but it has beauties of narrative more than sufficient, where the reader is sufficiently guarded against the errors which we have indicated, to redeem many of its imputed faults, and the book is calculated to give more instruction, as well as more pleasure, than any other single account of the same period. It cannot supply, and no book can, the place of the original authorities; but it certainly is, in every respect whatever in which they can be fairly compared, superior "to the orderly and solid works" of Turner, Mackintosh, Lingard, and all those whom Mr. Landor describes in his amusing jingle of wordswhich is not without some meaning too as "the Coxes and Foxes of our age."

THE time has not yet come-we trust it may be far distant-when we would feel ourselves at liberty to express the sense which we entertain of the merits and the services of the exalted individual whom it has pleased Divine Providence to place at the head of the Church of Ireland. But we cannot, without a grave neglect of duty, omit a brief notice of the charge delivered by him at his last annual visitation, and which is important both as it bears upon the present condition of the Irish Church, and as it illustrates the Christian character of its distinguished author.

We believe it is now admitted by

most candid inquirers, that " enormous lying" has been the staple of all those attacks upon the Irish Church by which it has suffered so much detriment. It was basely and treacherously assailed, and feebly or falsely defended. Its enemies evinced a hatred of it, such as the lovers of darkness always entertain towards the light by which their misdeeds would be revealed; and those who were called its friends, were satisfied with such a vague and apologetic line of defence as could scarcely be called any thing better than a species of complimentary condemnation. The consequence was, that timid and de

VOL. XXVII.-No. 159.

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precatory advocacy, which seemed to shrink from boldly grappling with the accusations which were made, was no match for the unscrupulous malignity of assailants who were resolved to stop at nothing by which the object of their hostility might be destroyed; and an impression was made upon the honest and unreflecting English public to the prejudice of our church, which has already wrought against it much of evil, and will, if not promptly counteracted by such just views and reasonings as may produce a favourable effect upon the public mind, in no long time prove fatal to its existence.

First-The enormous wealth of the

Let

Irish Church was made the ground of an attack upon its revenues. us see how the primate disposes of that part of the question :

"And, first, I would refer to the revenues of the Church, which are still spoken of as being 'enormous.' The 'immense riches,' the 'lavish endowment' of the Irish Church, occupy a prominent place in every speech and pamphlet on this subject. In the last of these publications that I have seen, the attempt is made to lead the British public to believe that tithe, meaning thereby, as it is specifically asserted, a tenth part of the produce of the land, is still paid to the clergy by the cultivators of the soil; although, even when what was called tithe was formerly paid, it was not a tenth, but a thirtieth part that was received by them.

And since that which was denominated tithe has been commuted into a rent-charge, paid by the landlord, it has been diminished by one fourth; and it is, in reality, but a fortieth that is paid to the clergy of the Established Church. In other words, they receive a fourth part of the tithe. And, were the income derived from this source, and from minister's money, to be divided equally amongst the beneficed clergy, it would yield them (after paying the salaries of their assistant curates) about £230 a-year each. Were it equally shared amongst all the clergy, incumbents and curates, it would not give to each of them an income of £170. If the value of the glebe-lands be also taken into account, the whole property of the parochial clergy, were it divided into equal shares amongst them all, would not produce for each of them £200 a-year. To call this endowment lavish'-to denominate this income immense riches,' and 'enormous wealth,' is absurd and ridiculous. The fact which I have stated, needs only to

be known, to make apparent the exaggeration of those figures of speech which have been employed on this subject. The phantom of the Church's wealth, which seems to haunt perpetually, and to disturb the quiet of so many of its reformers, requires only to have the light of truth let in upon it, and it instantly disappears."

So much for the "enormous wealth" of the Irish establishment! But an objection has been raised against the distribution of its revenues, which may seem better founded. Upon this subject the primate observes, that "means have been in effective operation for some years past," by which the grievance, supposing it to be one, must

soon be removed :

The revenues of the bishops have been said to be too large. His grace clearly shows, that when all the reductions in progress and in contemplation shall have taken place, they will not exceed, upon an average, the salaries paid to the judges of the land, and that any diminution of them must damage the condition of the possessors, and utterly disqualify them for the position which they are called upon to occupy in church and state, when as peers they take their place in the parliament of the United Kingdom. This, we admit, would be no bar to those who desire to see our prelacy degraded from their pre-eminence, and who would rob them of their revenues, if it were only for the purpose of depriving them of their dignity. But it will assuredly weigh with members of the episcopal communion, whose credulity may have been abused by false representations.

The Irish cathedral establishments have been another fruitful source of calumny; and of calumny the more plausible, because, as the primate observes, the people of England are naturally led to "judge of our church by what they know of their own." It

is not generally understood in England, that our dignitaries and prebendaries have little in virtue of their dignities but the name. Rarely is any emolument connected with the office; "and still more rarely is any residentiary house appropriated for the use of those persons who hold those offices. There are, in truth, but eight dignitaries in Ireland, out of the list of one hundred and thirty-nine, who have houses assigned to them as such; and of the prebendaries, one hundred and seventyeight in number, not one has a residence in right of his prebend."

Another fruitful topic of invective has been the union of parishes. And upon this subject there has been great dishonesty, or great delusion.

Nothing has been more insisted on by the advocates of church reform, than that every parish should have its own minister. And if parishes were what they professed to be, such would be a just view of the case. But, in Ireland, some of what are so called are merely the sites of old religious houses. His grace mentions a remarkable instance of this in the city of Cork, where in the union of which the chancellor of the diocese is the incumbent, one of the parishes was a distillery, and another a sugar house. So much may people be misled by mere lists of names of parishes, without inquiring what in reality those names designate."

Fifteen years ago a commission was appointed, of which a majority consisted of laymen, to inquire respecting the expediency of a dissolution of unions. They reported only respecting the province of Armagh. They found there one hundred and ten unions. Of these they pronounced that there were fortyeight which it would be either impracticable or unadvisable to sever and of the remaining, within the last eleven years, fifty-three have been dissolved. We do not think that this evinces any tardiness on the part of the church authorities to aid in every practicable improvement.

Again, it is said that the number of clergy are too large for the spiritual wants of the members of the Established Church in Ireland. Let us hear what his grace the primate says :—

"I shall not pause here to enter into a statement of the good offices, both

temporal and spiritual, whlch it is the bounden duty of the clergy to render, as occasion offers, to their Roman Catholic parishioners-good offices which I know are rendered willingly, and I know are accepted with gratitude by them; and have tended to alleviate the misery of the poorer classes, to diffuse comforts among them, and to dissipate in some degree the darkness of ignorance and of superstition, which ot erwise would have prevailed more intensely in Ireland. But I proceed at once to a very convincing proof that the number of clergy is not too large. It is this, that seven hundred and forty of them are assistant-curates, whose services are paid for by the incumbents themselves; and that although the value of church property has, within the last twenty years, been diminished by more than one-fourth of its former amount, the number of stipendiary curates supported by the beneficed clergy out of their reduced incomes, instead of being diminished, has been increased by the large number of one hundred and eighty-five within that period. In this diocese there are forty-seven more clergymen employed than when it first came under my superintendence.

"Another proof that the number of the clergy for whom the means of support are provided out of the revenues of the Church, instead of being too great, is really insufficient for the wants of the people, is furnished by the remarkable fact, that a society was formed some years ago for maintaining, by means of private voluntary subscriptions, additional curates in those districts in which the scantiness of the existing endowments, combined with the extent of the territory or the largeness of the population, rendered it an imperative duty thus to provide increased spiritual instruction for the people. No one can read the striking facts set forth in the annual reports of that valuable and most interesting society, without being convinced that the number of clergy for whom an endowment is provided, is inadequate duly to supply the spiritual wants of the people, and that if they are not increased in this way, many hundred souls would be left neglected, devoid of the means of grace, and exposed to the danger of renouncing their religion.

"A still further proof that our Establishment is not too large for the wants of the country, is found in the additional churches built every year, and the enlargement of old ones, effected principally, if not solely, by means of private subscriptions. And here I must allude to another misconception, which seems to exist in

England, namely, that a rate is levied on parishes for the purpose of erecting and repairing our churches. In the recent publications on the subject of the Irish Church, to which I before alluded, this is put forward as being the fact, and as entailing an especial hardship on the Roman Catholic parishioners. The author, though he undertook to write for the instruction of the public, was evidently ignorant that church cess has been done away with altogether, and that our churches are now built and repaired, and all the requisites for the celebration of divine service are supplied, out of the property which belonged to the bishops and clergy. The point, however, to which I was going to advert was this-the sum of money which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners are enabled to expend upon the building and enlargement of churches is so inadequate, as compared with what is required and what ought to be done in this way, that, as their official letter to the Lord Lieutenant states, there are two hundred and forty-four applications now lying before their board for the enlargement of churches, some of them of a most urgent nature, which they are as yet unable to comply with. Within the last twelve years upwards of £100,000 have been contributed out of private funds for the building and enlarging of churches a very substantial proof as well of the necessity of increased accommodation, as of the inadequacy of the revenues of the Establishment to meet its wants, and also of the great interest which the members of our church take in promoting its welfare. That church cannot be in a withering, pining, and decaying state which manifests such vigour, and produces such abundant fruit as this in the service and to the glory of God. In our own diocese, we have erected within the last twelve years thirteen new additional churches, and have obtained but a small sum from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners towards the completing of only two of them. The rest have been built wholly out of rivate funds. And besides these new churches added to our list, fifteen of the old ones have been enlarged. It gives me sincere pleasure to find, on examining the reports which the rural deans have sent in-(and for the pains which they have taken in collecting the information contained in their reports, I beg to offer to them my best acknowledgments) that the new churches which we have built are all well attended. As an instance and proof of the necessity which existed for thus providing additional accommodation for our increasing congregations, I may mention the gra

tifying fact, that having, within a circuit of a very few miles round this city, erected in the course of a short period four additional churches in rural districts, to each of which an incumbent was appointed, every one of them has a full congregation, and yet at the same time the old parish churches, from which they are the offsets, are as largely attended as before these additional places of worship were built. Nor is it to be said, by way of weakening the conclusion to be drawn from these facts, that they relate to a part of the country peculiarly favourable for advancing the interests of the Established Church. The document lately submitted to government by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners furnishes incontestible proof of the need which exists in the southern dioceses also for enlarging the churches, to accommodate the increased number of members belonging to our communion. In many districts they are compelled to make use of inconvenient school-houses as places of worship."

The superior professional qualifications of the Irish clergy, their personal character, their parochial activity and usefulness, have been admitted by all who have had an opportunity of comparing our church at the present day with what it was in a former generation. Upon this subject his grace observes::

"Looking back to the period when I was raised to the episcopal office, forty years ago, and comparing the internal condition of the Church now, with what it was then, the improvement is most marked and gratifying. The growth in zeal, in diligence, in devotedness to their sacred employment, in earnest and laborious exertion on the part of the clergy, call for devout gratitude to Him from whom the ability comes, which has enabled them thus to will and to do of His good pleasure. Their increased attainments in professional learning has been equally observable, and is to be traced to the efficiency of the divinity school of our university, and the care and labour there bestowed on the candidates for the ministry by the respective lecturers, and especially by the learned and excellent Regius Professor, who has so long presided over that school. The generally large and regular attendance of the people at our churches the numbers habitually and devoutly approaching the Lord's table -the attention on the part of the parents in sending their children to be catechised, and of the clergy in cate