among the young, and seducing them to dishonesty to obtain the means of these guilty gratifications. And while establishments of this kind are the marks and evidences of a low state of moral sentiment, of vice leading to poverty in its worst form, they are also the instruments and means of indefinitely increasing the very evils in which they originate."

From Colquhoun's and other treatises, Dr. Tuckerman points out the facts, that in 1827, one-seventh of the community of England and Wales were dependant on the poor-rates; that from 1601, when the first rate was levied, and which produced £200,000, the poverty of the mass of the people has been constantly increasing, and that to so frightful an extent, that in 1828, the poor-rates amounted to seven millions, seven hundred and eighty-four thousand, three hundred and fifty-six pounds! Penal laws have been enacted to put down crime, and legislators have talked of the prosperity of the country, and the Church has wallowed in wealth-but misery and crime have rapidly increased; showing at once, that the bloated fulness of a few, is not the true riches of a people, and that eventually the neglect and oppression of the many, will recoil with fearful reaction even on the worldly emolument and stability of individuals. How truly has Dr. Tuckerman exposed the shallowness of past legislative doings on this subject!

"At the hazard even of falling under the imputation of arrogancy, I am constrained to say, that the great error, as I think, of legislators and of political economists, has been, that they have looked upon man only, or almost exclusively, as a creature of time and a subject of human government; almost alone as he is seen in the class in which he stands of his fellow-beings; and forgetting, or lightly regarding, his moral nature, they have sought for the causes and the remedy of evil in society, altogether in outward circumstances; and every where, but where alone these causes and remedies are to be found-in the elements, and springs, and capacities of that nature, which makes us what we are, men. It is not indeed surprising that the poor, and that criminals, under despotic governments, have been treated as beings of altogether a distinct nature from that of their rulers and oppressors. But it is wonderful, that, under a government in any measure elective, and free, and under the light of Protestant Christianity, a criminal code should have been retained till the

19th century, which was the disgrace of the 16th; and, that it could ever have been hoped to have restrained the growth of poverty, under institutions which as effectually excluded the great mass of the poor from the means of intellectual improvement, as they would have been excluded by a law which forbade their instruction. It is wonderful that, in a Protestant country, and in the 19th century, the very means employed for the punishment of criminals, should be the means best suited, of all others, to produce an indefinite extension and aggravation of crime; and that there should have been annual assessments, to an immense amount, for the support of the poor, which from year to year have been most manifestly a bounty upon idleness, and a legislative provision for the progress of want, and misery, and sin. These are causes and effects which should be well understood, and seriously pondered, in a young country; and especially in a country, whose law is the will of the people; whose institutions, of every character and name, rest on the will of the people; and whose only true greatness, and security, and happiness, is in the intelligence and virtue of the people. The truth is, that both political economists and legislators, have too generally looked to wealth as the supreme good of a nation; and to the means of increasing wealth, as the means of national greatness and happiness. The working classes have therefore been regarded by them, as is machinery, in relation alone to their productiveness of wealth. The question, therefore, respecting both the poor and criminals, has been-how are they to be disposed of at the smallest expense? This very course of procedure, I believe, has quadrupled the expenses which would have been required, if legislators and political economists had acted upon the doctrine, that a nation is truly great and powerful, only in the intelligence and the virtue of all the orders of its subjects. Let the wealth of a nation be a thousand times that of England, and let it be in the possession of the few, while the many are reared in ignorance, and are left to be goaded by want; and, when they fall into crime, are treated in any way but that in which men should be treated; and the day will come, when all this wealth will not be sufficient to appease the passions of a blind and infuriated mob. Mr. Peel, in the same breath, speaks of 'the prosperity of the country,' and of what he calls 'the frightful difference,' in that very country, between the

increase of crime, and the increase of population.' I will only say, may God save our country from such prosperity as this!"

By an enlightened public sentiment, then, I mean a public sentiment which receives its light and its direction at once from the great essential principles of human nature, and of Christian truth and duty. I mean a public sentiment which regards man universally, be he high or low, rich or poor, as an intellectual, a moral, and an immortal being; which implies in those who possess it, a just sense of the worth and excellence of their own nature, as children of God; and a corresponding sense of the worth and excellence of the nature of every individual of their race. I mean a public sentiment respecting virtue, as the supreme good of every intelligent and moral nature; and respecting talents, and all means of promoting good and happiness, as responsibilities. I mean a public sentiment, which regards the rights of others as dearly and as faithfully as its own; which honours and supports virtue wherever it is to be found; and, while it makes no compromise with that which it believes to be morally evil, will yet feel that the transgressor is a brother, who is to be reclaimed, and saved, and not cast off and destroyed, or left to find his destruction in his sin. I mean, in fine, that sentiment which, while it comprehends the most impartial and incorruptible justice, equally comprehends the most enlarged sympathy and benevolence of the religion of Jesus Christ. Let this be the public sentiment of a city, and of a state, and institutions for the advancement of knowledge, and piety, and virtue, will be supported, and extend more and more widely their healing and saving influences. And then laws will be what they should be, and they will be obeyed."

In his letter to the Foreign Secretary of the Unitarian Association, Dr. Tuckerman observes: "It is easy enough to find ministers for the rich and powerful. Let us endeavour to send out wise and judicious, earnest, but calm and self-denying and devoted men, who will feel what should be felt for the poor and the criminal. Those whom we call criminal, are often very far less guilty in the sight of God, than are many who were never arraigned at a human tribunal. Every thing, I am ready to say, depends on the character of the men to be employed in this ministry. Do not commit this office to the raw and undis

ciplined, nor to the worn-out and broken clergyman. A man who engages in this service, should know human nature as well as Christianity, should know how to find his way to a rough heart without irritating it, and to deal faithfully with a bad heart, without dealing cruelly with it. He must know how to inspire the poor with true sentiments of their own nature, and with a true sense of the worth of character; he should know how to sympathise with human weakness, and how to call forth human strength; how to count and to characterise the pulsations of the mind, and, like a skilful physician, to direct his attention to the prevailing symptoms of moral disease. Do not say that such men are not to be found; let the demand for them be what it should be, and they will be found. I shall hail with joy unspeakable the day, should I live to see it, when I shall learn that this ministry is well begun in England."

We close our notice, with the concluding remarks of Dr. Tuckerman to the American Unitarian Association.

"In closing the fourth year of the ministry in which I am engaged, allow me to say, that I feel a gratitude and happiness which I cannot express to you, in a recurrence to the privileges with which I have been blessed in this most interesting work. During the past year, my visits have been divided between about five hundred and fifty families. With some of them, from various causes, my acquaintance has been short. But even here it has furnished opportunity for useful services. With a very considerable number, however, my connection is that of a pastor with his flock. It is a connection of Christian respect, and sympathy, and affection. They would neither remove, nor would any event important to their happiness befal them, without my knowledge. The relation we sustain to each other, and the mutual influences exerted by it, are, I think, of the most benignant and salutary character. I am sure that it is as grateful to my own heart, as it can be to the hearts even of those who most highly appreciate it. Should the ministers engaged in this service, ever be willing to divide the city into districts, and thus to narrow the circle of their labours, I believe that nearly double the amount of good might be done by each one of them. Many families are without a pastor, which, with no other agent than we now have in this work, might, I believe, obtain all the benefits of a regular pastoral care."

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

OBSERVE that gathering crowd. See the people pouring in from all quarters, swelling its ranks and increasing its denseness. Almost as various as the faces, are the classes who compose it. The lordly and the lowly, the mean and the mighty, the old and the young, the priest and the pleader, the sinner and the saint, are jostling together in the mingled throng. Regard the military array which lines and guards the streets, preserving by warlike menace, a space sacred from the tread of the profane populace. Martial music is resounding. The hum of the multitude is drowned in the war-note of the bugle; and the airs which erst led on to deeds of blood, are only interrupted by the grounding of the musket, or the fixing of the bayonet. Escaped from the pressure of the crowd, and the enforced obedience of military rule, see the windows, nay even the house-tops are crowded with anxious gazers. At one end of the street, behold the Hall of audience; and at the termination of the other, what?—the barracks? the tented field?—No, a temple consecrated to the Prince of Peace!

Fix your eye on the Hall of audience. See carriage after carriage rolling onward to its portals. Mark the occasional presentation of arms by the soldiery, as some of the occupants reach the door. Peer and priest, elder and advocate, all pressing in to do homage to the representative of an earthly king. Look again. The pageant is coming forth. The image of Majesty appears-his train borne by the pages, who ever and anon hold up the robes of royalty. Occupying a monarch's place, he receives a monarch's honours. The military do him obeisance; and amid the shouts of the people, and the clangor of arms, he proceeds to what?-to prayer! He is followed by a motley groupe. There is the noble, seemingly disdaining the earth he treads on; there the naval or military chieftain, going through with light heart and step, the necessary parade of the occasion; there also, is the stern representative of Calvin, scowling at the non-elected throng, and ruminating on those graceless outcasts, who, despite the warning issued by tuck of drum, still desecrate the Sabbath, by preferring the healthful breezes of ocean to the wrath and damnation of his sanctuary; and there, too, is