published by Ridgway. Of course, men like Dryden and Lord Brougham are not taken in by their own sophisms, but are aware of its uses for the halflearned. What is the simple truth? A test was never meant against atheists. They are, first of all, so few in number, and so carefully avoid disclosing themselves, that there is no danger to be feared from them. Besides, even according to the sophism itself, they are such desperate hypocrites-such deep villains that no device of man could hold them. The wit of man certainly cannot always successfully contend with consummate villainy. A test is used for the maintenance of peace, when a large party in possession has to contend with a large and active party without. It is meant to exclude them, and neither is intended to have, nor can have, any bearing on the very inconsiderable number of atheists or consummate hypocrites, who will not avow themselves, and whom no human sagacity can detect, even if it were of any use to detect those whose fewness deprives them of all power. HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. SIR,-In looking over the Miscellanea in your July Number, my eye accidentally rested upon a short paragraph, in which it is stated that "the Home Missionary Society has held an Anniversary Meeting; and, strange to tell, if the 'Patriot' reports correctly, there was some attention both to facts and to decency of language, at least neither were openly violated." Now, if the meeting here alluded to took place in Finsbury Chapel, on the evening of the 17th of June, of which meeting Mr. Baines, M.P. for Leeds, was chairman, I can, of my own knowledge assure you, that the "Patriot" does report by no means correctly. It so happened, that on the evening of that day, I was passing through Finsbury Circus, and seeing the doors of the chapel open, I had the curiosity to enter, along with some other persons, who, like myself, appeared to be attracted by the bustle of the scene, and wished to see what was going forward. Soon after I had entered the chapel, (which was very thinly attended, not more than from two to three hundred people being present, and those principally females,) a person, who described himself as the Society's Missionary at Midhurst, was called upon to move or second a resolution. The reverend gentleman, after a good deal of coughing and hesitation, proceeded to inveigh against the established church. He said that he came from that benighted part of England, the county of Sussex, where, until the Society had sent its labourers, nothing had been done to preach the Gospel; that the education of the lower orders was wholly neglected, and that all that the clergy thought of was, how they might collect the most tithe. He instanced particularly the town of Midhurst, stating that, on his arrival there, the church of God in that place (meaning, of course, the Baptists) consisted only of forty souls; that the young men and women met every Sabbath, to the amount of three or four hundred, to play at tennis in the market-place, and that, during Divine service in the church, they adjourned to an adjoining common to indulge in cricket, or some other sport. He further stated, that there was no school, Sunday or day, at that time in the place; and the conclusion which he wished his hearers to draw was, that the spiritual interests of the parish had, up to that time, (two or three years ago,) been shamefully neglected. The reverend gentleman then went on to speak of the great change which he had effected, not only on having enlarged the hearers of the Word to the amount of 700 in his own chapel, but also in having established schools, and having been the means of stimulating the church to establish schools likewise. All this, and much to the same purpose, was uttered by this person. I was certain at the time that he had no grounds for stating what he did. His speech, however, appeared to please his audience, and received their cheers in its most violent passages. One of those passages, I particularly well remember, was in ridicule of the method taken to prepare candidates for the rite of confirmation. He unblushingly asserted that, until the age of fourteen or fifteen, no religious instruction of any kind was afforded by the church to its members; that at that time, the boys and girls of a parish were sent for by the parson, and asked their names; that, upon their making a correct answer to this important question, which was not always the case, they were instructed in three things,-viz., the Church Catechism, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer; and that after this their religious education was complete. Of course it is immaterial to observe, that the Catechism, of which he spoke so slightingly, could never have been read by this person, otherwise he would have known that the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments formed a part of it, and would not have spoken of them as separate branches of instruction. The fact, however, strikingly illustrates the happy state of ignorance, with regard to the doctrines of the church, in which those who call themselves conscientious dissenters think proper to continue. I would, therefore, only add, that this portion of the speech was received with loud laughter and applause, and other discordant sounds, which I certainly did not expect to hear in any place dedicated to the worship of the Almighty. The above, as far as at this distance of time I can remember, is a correct account of the substance of this speech, the only one which I stayed to hear. If then the meeting to which you allude, and the one which I attended, are the same, you will perceive that the "Patriot " has given a garbled report of the proceedings,-a course not unusual, I believe, with that veracious paper. I intended, at the time, to have sent you a short acccount of what I had heard, but being obliged to leave town the next morning, the subject escaped me, until recalled to my memory by the paragraph in the British Magazine. I forget the name of this reverend orator: no doubt he is well known in Midhurst and the neighbourhood, and it must be a great satisfaction to the clergymen of those parts to hear that all their labours have been called forth by him, and that if they do now preach the Gospel, it is only of "envy and strife." Your obedient servant, B. July 31, 1834. DOCUMENTS. MR. O'CONNELL'S TITHE PLAN. EXTRACTED FROM HIS LETTER TO MR. CRAWFORD. Darrynane Abbey, 1st October, 1384. MY DEAR SIR,-The subject of my first letter to you is of sufficient interest to justify the length of that letter. This shall be more brief, and will include all I need for the present say on that subject. I have fully developed my plan. It consists First-Of the total abolition of tithes in name and nature, so that the thing itself should never exist in any shape or form, and that its very name should merely denote an oppression which has ceased to exist. Secondly-Of making compensation to the lay impropriators to the full extent of the ordinary market price of their property in tithes. Thirdly Of making compensation to all such protestant incumbents as have parochial duties to perform to a protestant congregation, and have hitherto performed such duty. Fourthly-Of making compensation also to all such incumbents as have at present one-tenth of their parishioners protestants. A question may arise on the ratio of such compensation. Fifthly-Of refusing any compensation to all other incumbents, treating as VOL. VI.-Dec. 1834. 4 R mere sinecurists all protestant clergymen in parishes where one-tenth of the inhabitants are not episcopalian protestants. Sixthly-Of procuring a fund for all these compensations, by means of a tax on the landlord's rents, to be paid only by the landlord-say 400,000l. per annum. Seventhly-Of applying that fund, when the present vested interests should be exhausted, in the sustentation of dispensaries, hospitals, and asylums, for permanent disease, whether of mind or body, PROTESTANT AND ROMAN CATHOLIC CHARITIES. (From the Dublin Evening Mail.) THE following important documents were read at a meeting of the Conservative Society of Ireland, lately held. A Return of the Proportions in which the Landed Property is distributed amongst Proprietors of different Religious Denominations; and of the Proportions in which Contributions to Public Charities are made, within the following Dioceses: DIOCESS OF CONNOR-PARISH OF LAYDE. LANDED PROPERTY.-Total number of acres, British statute measure, in the parish ... Number of such acres of which the chief landlord or lessor, having the fee simple or inheritance, is Protestant Number of such acres, of which the chief landlord or lessor is Roman Catholic Amount of said composition levied off lands where chief landlord is Protestant ... ... PUBLIC CHARITIES.-Amount of subscription to public dispensary in parish Amount of subscription to public dispensary in parish from Roman Catholics ... 20,476 20,476 £237 17 11 237 17 11 33 14 0 990 25 18 0 DIOCESS OF ARDAGH-PARISHES OF TEMPLE-MICHAEL, BALLYMACORMAC, AND KILLON. LANDED PROPERTY.-Total number of acres, British statute measure, in Number of such acres, of which the chief landlord or lessor, having the fee Amount of said composition levied off lands where chief landlord is Pro- Amount of composition levied off lands where chief landlord is Roman Catholic Temple-Michael, 91. 11s. 1d.; Ballymacormac, none; Killon, 3l. 9s. 10d.-Total PUBLIC CHARITIES.-Amount of subscriptions to public dispensary in parish from Protestants-Temple-Michael, 501.; Ballymacormac, none; Killon, none.-Total ... Amount of subscription to public dispensary in parish from Roman Catholics 18,924 18,265 659 £683 16 11 670 16 0 13 0 11 50 0 0 62 0 0 DIOCESS OF FERNS-PARISH OF FETHARD. LANDED PROPERTY.-Total number of acres, British statute measure, in the parish ... Number of such acres of which the chief landlord or lessor, having the fee Amount of said composition levied off lands where chief landlord is Protestant ... Amount of such contributions made by Protestants, specifying the amount to 7,392 0 11 DIOCESS OF LEIGHLIN, QUEEN'S COUNTY-PARISH OF ABBEYLEIX. LANDED PROPERTY.-Total number of Irish plantation acres in the parish Number of such acres of which the chief landlord or lessor, having the fee simple or inheritance, is Protestant Number of such acres of which the chief landlord or lessor is Roman Catholic COMPOSITION FOR TITHES.-Total amount for composition payable for tithes in parish Amount of said composition levied off lands where chief landlord is Protestant Amount of composition levied off lands where chief landlord is Roman Catholic PUBLIC CHARITIES.-Total amount of contributions to public charities in the parish, specifying the amount to each :-Dispensary, 971. 19s.; Abbeyleix Benevolent Society and Soup Committee, 110l. 8s. 8d.-Total Amount of such contribution made by Protestants, specifying the amount to each:-Dispensary, 971. 19s.; Benevolent Society and Soup Committee, 105l. 6s. 7d.-Total Amount contributed by Roman Catholics to each :-Dispensary, 11. 11s.; 7,392 0 11 £507 13 10 507 13 10 209 18 8 202 5 7 7 13 1 BRISTOL CHARITIES. "While it (dissent) has done this, it has been made to contribute its proportion towards the support of an endowed church; and yet it has, as if refreshed by its exertions, greatly surpassed that church in its contributions of service and money to those greater efforts of Christian benevolence, which are not of a sectarian, but of a general character.”—(“Case of the Dissenters.") * All firms, where one partner is a churchman and another dissenter, have been omitted. |