and rather than submit to such desecrating usurpation, you left the law Church of Scotland, over which are now stretched the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. By this act you have flung back the calumnies of gainsayers, and covered their authors with confusion. Your self-devotion, your sacrifice of personal interests and worldly emoluments-the rending asunder of the thousand associations by which the noblest and tenderest sympathies of your nature were entwined around the Church which you left, the temples which you have forsaken, and the houses which you have abandoned, all declare the paramount influence which your principles must have exercised over your understandings, your hearts, and your affections. In being sent then to communicate the feelings of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, in reference to the Free Protesting Church of Scotland-our parent Church—we declare that there are feelings of intense admiration in regard of the triumphant defence which you have made of your principles-the noble moral elevation which you have exhibited in maintaining them--and the courage and heroism which you have displayed in defending the doctrines of the fathers of the covenant, showing that you are not unworthy sons of such illustrious sires. There is another circumstance connected with the controversy in which you have been engaged, which has forcibly impressed itself upon our minds-and that is, that you have been seeking for no advancement of the interest of your order-that you have been attempting to rivet no chains of ghostly despotism around the freedom of the people-nay, that you have rejected ecclesiastical power, when it was offered to you upon the ruins of the peo. ple's rights; and that you have sacrificed what must have been dear to yourselves, and to your families, for the purpose of securing to the Christian people those privileges which should be free as the air they breathe. These rights, the Church, from which we came, has ever exercised and enjoyed, with what beneficial consequences those amongst you who are acquainted with her can tell, and with what influence upon her advancement and prosperity, the fact, that this day 200 years past, she could only number five congregations, and now she can number 500, will abundantly declare. That the full enjoyment, and the free exercise of the right of the Christian people to elect their own ministers will not lead to anarchy, has been demonstrated by an experience of 200 years—and that it does not induce the ministers to forget their high vocation, and flatter the prejudices, and yield to the caprices of the people, will be admitted in our case, even by our bitterest enemies. Ours is a case directly in point, and the working of our elective system furnishes the most satisfactory refutation of the various objections urged against the enjoyment of the same privilege by the adherents of the Free Protesting Church of Scotland. There may be, occasionally, an abuse of this as well as of any other privilege conferred by God upon man; but the above is not an argument against the use of any right which can be proved to belong to any section of the community. Is not the elective franchise frequently abused; but will our legislators say that, therefore, the people should be deprived of their rights as electors, and that certain patrons should be appointed who would determine who should enjoy seats in the House of Commons? If good for the church would it not be equally good for the state? But that the State would not endure it, even in a modified form, has been proved by the recent history of the nation in its energetic demands for reform. I argue not whether this be right or wrong; but the statesmen who advocated the one must necessarily belie their principles if they do not advocate the other. But those who are hostile to popular election, now appear to suppose that the patron cannot go wrong in the exercise of his prerogative-that to the extent of presenting an individual to a parish, he is infallible. In such logic as this, we Irish Presbyterians have either too much good, or too much bad sense to acquiesce. When, therefore, I stand here commissioned to declare the feelings of Irish Presbyterians with respect to the Free Protesting Church of Scotland, I have to announce that not only their convictions, but their hearts and affections are with you. Your refusal to accede to the principle, that you are bound to ordain whosoever may be presented to a congregation, no matter how the people may resist his intrusion, has been called rebellion; but it is no rebellion against the powers that be to maintain an allegiance to the King of heaven; and at this hour, in all the wide extent of her dominions, there are no men more loyal to our

beloved Queen-no men more determined to uphold her throne-no men more devoted to her person-no men who would peril life itself with more heroism in her cause, than the people of the Free Protesting Church of Scotland, and the Irish Presbyterians, who are identified with them in principles, and feelings, and devoted loyalty. It is the glory of a monarch to reign over a free people; it is a ruler's shame to be the mere tyrant of obsequious slaves. The latter Presbyterians never can be—the former they are determined to be; and with our most cherished aspirations after civil and religious liberty are bound up the principles of unflinching devoted loyalty to our beloved Queen. The time may perhaps come sooner than we anticipate when the threatened upturning of the social fabric shall reveal the loyalty of true Presbyterians. We wish to draw the bonds of amity closer between this country and our native land, because we feel assured that when the hour of danger does come, England has sufficient elements of disorganization within her own bosom to prevent her from putting forth any efficient effort for our protection and deliverance. Such was the case at a former eventful period of the history of our country, but from Scotland came the stalwart arm that crushed our persecutors and freed our fathers from the indiscriminate butchery by which it was intended they should be exterminated from the land. The social elements now at work are strikingly analogous to those which produced that terrific convulsion; and if similar moral combinations should be productive of similar results, we feel that to you we could look with confidence; and we are assured that the heroism which has borne in triumph the Scottish banner amidst the thunder of battle and the tide of its fury, will not desert us when we may be flung into the deadly conflict to struggle for our freedom, our kindred, our religion, and our lives. I have but little to say respecting the purposes of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in reference to the Free Protesting Church of Scotland. As far as our abilities will enable us, we will endeavour to assist you. Our means are not great, but we are willing to share them with you-and I confidently hope that not one of our congregations will be found to have kept back from rendering to you such assistance as God may have placed within their power. Active measures have been adopted at our late meetings of Presbytery, for the purpose of having this accomplished, so that although the sums may be but small, they will be given by a willing hand, and accompanied by our warmest blessings. You have assisted in the erection of our houses of worship-you have contributed liberally to our mission funds; and now, in the hour of your need, cold and indifferent would we be if we would contribute nothing as an expression of the deep gratitude which we feel for the numerous acts of generous kindness which you have conferred upon us. The Presbyterianism which your fathers planted in Ulster has taken deep root there; and in proportion as it has spread, in like proportion have peace and enlightenment and social order followed in its train. We live in a land many portions of which are still in the wild vortex of maddened excitement; and every political empiric has his panacea for the cure of all our disorders, and his specific for all our real or imagined sufferings. But they know nothing about us; the man who is unable to appreciate the influences of pure religious affections upon the social condition of a community, is utterly incompetent either to understand the cause of our errors, or the only cure which will effectually meliorate their inveteracy. Why is it that Irish Presbyterians, amounting to nearly one million of people, are amongst the most moral, industrious, and peaceable classes of the empire? I answer, because of the character of their religion. Why is it, again, that the population in many other portions of Ireland are almost continually in a state of smothered rebellion, giving themselves up to the savage fury of unbridled passions, and the wild justice of revenge? Because of the character of their religion. Legislative enactments will never cure our disorders, or furnish a lasting remedy for our errors. Religion-the religion of the Bible, and not that of superstition-will alone cure all the evils under which we groan, and furnish an efficient cause for the removal of the pernicious influences which shake our social system to its foundation. In the north we enjoy to a great extent the quietude, the peace, and the social order which spring from the healthy tone of moral feeling pervading its various members; and as the foundation of this was laid by the Scottish Presbyterians in the plantations of Ulster, so to you, their

children, and their survivors, are we this day indebted, under God, for the moral pre-eminence which, in our native land, we enjoy. Ungrateful, then, would we be indeed, if now, in the hour of your trial, we would not step forward, and to the utmost extent of our abilities, contribute to the accomplishment of your purposes and desires. With feelings of deep disgust, and in some instances of overpowering indignation, have we heard of the persecutions to which your ministers and people have been subjected, by the worthless and contemptible tyrants who would attempt to coerce the consciences of a free and enlightened, because a religious people. They will not permit the gospel to be preached upon the soil which is dishonoured, because they are its lords-they will stop that tide which has erumbled into fragments of ruins the mighty empires which strove to check its progress-they, with puny and sacrilegious hand, will attempt to arrest the growth of that kingdom which the strength of Omnipotence is pledged to extend wide as the race of man. No! that they will not be able to accomplish-the cause of Christ will flourish and triumph when they are lying in their unhonoured graves; and if, perchance, their children, in coming generations, shall trace back their lineage to them, they will blush to think that they are the descendants of such unhallowed sires, upon whose sepulchre the pen of history shall write, when the adulation of man shall have ceased to utter its lying flatteries-These were the persecutors of the Church of Christ. This, however, is but your dark and cloudy day; soon will the shadows pass away, when your church shall appear before all her enemies, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." You are now in the midst of the storm and the hurricane; but, as when the tempest has swept before it the rack which darkens our horizon, we sometimes see far away in the distant realms of space some fleecy cloud sleeping in sunshine and repose, so will your troubles be swept away, and peace, and calm, and prosperity gladden your spirits as you bask in the sunshine of Heaven's favour, or rejoice in the manifestations of your Redeemer's love. We pray that God may cause you to dwell on high, and make your defence the munition of rocks, that he may establish peace within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. And to you, Sir, and to the members of this venerable Court, we pray that God would grant his richest blessings; and when he has finished his appointed purposes with you here, permit you to enter into that world where they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. (The reverend gentleman sat down amid great cheering.)

Dr CANDLISH said-Considering the vast importance of the momentous subject which is this night to occupy the attention of the House-by far the most important subject which we have to entertain-I shall abstain from any remarks in proposing the resolution which I have to bring before you, further than to say, that deep as is our debt of gratitude to our Presbyterian friends in Ireland, for their hearty sympathy with us during the whole course of that struggle which has ensued in our separation from the Establishment, that debt is rendered deeper by the kind, considerate, and zealous aid which they have rendered to us since that event, and which has been peculiarly seasonable both from the largeness of the amount of subscriptions which they have sent over to assist us in our necessities; an amount larger in proportion to their numbers and the wealth of the population, than I believe any other part of the community has rendered to us. And they have not only added to our debt of gratitude by their pecuniary assistance; but we also owe them a debt for a still more valuable favour-a favour to which I am entitled to bear testimony, as coming peculiarly under my cognizance from the office which I held as convener of the committee of supplies. I refer to the number of brethren and friends who have come over at our invitation to help us in our time of need, to give spiritual supplies to our people throughout the land. (Cheers.) Such were the straits to which we found ourselves reduced, by the unprecedented demand that was made for preachers from every part of Scotland, and such was the scantiness of our supplies, that, I believe, but for the aid of our Irish friends, we must have left a large portion of the territory of Scotland unvisited with the voice of the gospel in connexion with our communion. We cannot over-estimate their assistance, and we cannot repay it, un

less the time should come that God should open as wide and effectual a door to them over all Ireland, as he has opened to us over all Scotland; and I will venture to pledge this Assembly, and to pledge the church, that if that event should arrive, we will repay, by a Scottish raid and foray, the invasion of our Irish brethren. (Laughter and cheers.) And we shall most heartily lend them our assistance to occupy the territory of the green isle with a visitation of the gospel of the grace of God. I beg to move

“The General Assembly receive with profound respect and lively satisfaction the deputation from the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and the assurance which it has given of the unabated interest with which the ministers and people of that Church regard the Free Church of Scotland, and return the thanks of this Church for the cordial reception given by the General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church at their annual meeting in July last, and for the aid afforded to that deputation in explaining the principles of the Free Church, and in procuring contributions to its funds, as well as for their seasonable and invaluable assistance subsequently rendered in the supply of ordinances in Scotland. The Assembly express their earnest desire that the bond which unites the two Churches may long continue to subsist-that it may be hallowed by the divine blessing, and that under that bond we may be found contending against the progress of Antichrist, and in upholding the supremacy of Christ, the alone King and Head of the church, and the spiritual rights of his Christian people. That the thanks of the Assembly be given from the chair to the reverend gentlemen who have now addressed them, and that a deputation of the Free Church be appointed to attend the next ordinary meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and to reciprocate to that Church the feelings of respect and affection by which we are animated."

Dr SMYTH begged to second the resolution which had been proposed by Dr Canlish. Having had the honour to be one of the representatives from the Free Assembly to the General Assembly of Ireland, I feel it a high privilege to bear my public testimony to the enthusiastic devotion which our friends manifested in their Assembly-to the warmth and intelligence of the sympathy which they discovered in regard to all the great points of our question; and when I remind you and this Assembly of the interesting fact, that in one evening the sum of upwards of L. 2000 was subscribed by that Assembly in behalf of the Free Church, I need not add another word to show the deep interest which they take in our success. (Loud cheers.) The motion was then put and carried by acclamation.

The MODERATOR then addressed the deputation, and referring to their predecessors who appeared at the Edinburgh meeting of the Free Assembly, said—The Moderator who then occupied the place which I have now the honour to hold, addressed that deputation with a power and effectiveness peculiar to himself. I can pretend to no such power or effectiveness in my address to you. We thank you cordially for the address which you have read, and for the way in which you have followed that out by the eloquent and powerful manner in which you have expressed yourselves. Throughout the whole of our contendings for great principles, you have sympathised deeply with us. Your sympathy has not been coufined to congregations or to presbyteries, but it has extended to the whole body of your Church, thus showing that you are animated by one spirit in this great cause. And not your ministers alone, but your people also, have throughout shown the deepest sympathy with us; and latterly you have manifested your regard for us by those substantial deeds which have filled us with admiration and astonishment, which we receive at your hands with the utmost gratitude. We reciprocate the feelings which you express; and we shall be willing to reciprocate the course which you have pursued towards us, should you be placed in the same circumstances as we are. Not the Free Church only, but the whole community of Scotland, will come to your aid, and exert ourselves to the utmost in your behalf, in any such emergency. Of the zeal and the energy and the efficiency of your labours we are all aware. The very aspect of external nature tells where you have been, and where you have laboured. The industry, the exertion, and the temporal comfort enjoyed by those over whom you are the ministers, bespeak the value of your labours; and not merely this, but

the peace and tranquillity of the community testify to the value of your ministrations; so that it may be said of the faithful preaching of the gospel, and of the principles which you inculcate, that "godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise both of the life that now is and that which is to come,” and that he that is taught to fear God will also honour the king and the powers that be. I have also much pleasure in conveying the thanks of the Scottish Assembly to you for the testimony you have borne to the course which we pursued, and for the affectionate interest which you have expressed in our welfare both as a Church and as individuals. May you return to your own homes and respective spheres of labour refreshed with what has come under your eye, and with renewed strength to labour in the vineyard of the Lord indefatigably and fearlessly; and may you experience the countenance of your Divine Master-may you see the work of the Lord prosper in your hands; and may many, many souls be won to Christ through your instrumentality. (Loud cheers.)

REPORT ON THE HIGHLANDS.

He said

Dr CANDLISH rose, and was received with loud cheers. As you are aware, Moderator, it is not a full report of the Acting Committee of the Special Commission which is to be called for to-night. A full report will embrace a great variety of statistical details, with several practical propositions and arrangements, for the ensuing winter. The Assembly is aware that the Acting Committee is called to-night to report on one particular subject, to which, indeed, the attention of the Committee has been earnestly and anxiously directed during the whole summer. That subject is the state of the Highlands of Scotland; not their general state merely in reference to religious ordinances, but simply the state of the Highlands in two particulars-the one being the hardships which the adherents of the Free Church throughout the Highlands, and particularly in one extensive county, are suffering from the refusal of sites, and other kinds of persecution; and the other is the melancholy excesses to which some of the people in these districts, particularly in Ross-shire, seem to have been provoked by the hardships which they are enduring. Now, the Assembly cannot well expect a full and written report from the Committee even upon these points, and I trust, therefore, that you will regard the statement which I am now to make as made upon my own responsibility, except in so far as I lay upon the Assembly's tables the documents which the Committee have issued. In regard to the first point, the attention of the Committee was early directed to the great hardships endured by the ministers and people of the Free Church in the north, and especially in the county of Sutherland. (Hear, hear.) On this subject I shall not expatiate, nor give indulgence to the feelings which must naturally arise in the mind of every one who has any value for the rights of conscience and for the principles of religious liberty. I shall endeavour to remember that I speak now in the capacity of convener of a Committee, and simply as giving in a report. I shall not, therefore, dwell on the various kinds of minute and petty persecution which it is alleged the adherents of the Free Church in Sutherfand and the neighbouring counties have been called upon to endure: such as being threatened with the loss of situations or the loss of employment, or threatened, it may be, with expulsion from their lowly dwellings, for no other crime than that of harbouring a venerable father grown old in the service of the Lord. (Loud cries of "hear, hear.") I have more especially to bring under the notice of this Assembly that particular and special kind of persecution of which the county of Sutherland has most reason to complain. The other kinds of tyranny, vexatious and harassing as they are, are yet covered in such a manner that it is not easy to deal with them; and thus they prevent such a decided expression of opinion as that other system of oppression calls forth and demands. That system of oppression is the refusal to the inhabitants of the entire county of Sutherland of the exercise of the right of private judgment, and the liberty to worship God according to their own consciences, none daring to make them afraid; for, disguise it as they mayplace it on the grounds of the rights of property as they will, and on the title of every man to do what he will with his own-it is vain to set up the right of every