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rator, my noble-minded and talented friend, Dr Begg, hinted to me his ultimate views upon this subject, and I feel no breach of confidence in declaring them to this house. He said, "Mr Makgill Crichton, you and I know pretty well the mind of Scotland upon this question. And, moreover, we have had occasion to discover the mind of the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire, and of the west of England upon the subject; I wish that this case were fairly laid before the public of Britain before we give it up in despair." Sir, believe me that if this appeal is made, the yeomen and merchants of England, and the people of Scotland, will not be embarrassed by the sophisms which so easily perplex the members of the House of Commons. (Hear, hear.)

Dr R. BUCHANAN said,—I just wish to make a single remark, and it is this, that the Assembly will not allow itself to be even supposed to be committed to any wholesale condemnation of the Lord Advocate of Scotland. (Hear, hear.) We cannot forget the eminent and distinguished services which the Lord Advocate rendered to the great principles for which we as à Church were called upon to contend, by his professional, and public, and official character. It is impossible that we can forget the advantage which our position, largely considered, derived from the stedfast and uniform advocacy which it received at his hands, not only as a professional man before the courts of law, but also as a high legal officer in the courts of Parliament-(hear, hear)—and because he may have differed in opinion from most of us on another question, I am sure that we will not suffer ourselves to be driven into the position of condemning him, and treating him with unbecoming slight and disregard. (Hear, hear.) I have therefore merely to put in a disclaimer against any such condemnation. We do not know what may have influenced that gentleman in the course he has thought fit to take in regard to this matter, but I presume we must concede to him that liberty and right of judgment which we demand for ourselves. (Hear, hear.)

Mr DUNLOP said-He rejoiced at the remarks made by Dr Buchanan in reference to what had fallen from Mr Makgill Crichton. He felt assured that not only the eminent public services of the Lord Advocate to this Church, but also his private aid and munificence, in many instances not fully known, had too strongly impressed upon the minds and hearts of its members the well-founded conviction of his being a sincere and most valuable friend to the Free Church of Scotland, to admit of that conviction being done away by his having, in this particular instance, in the course of his official and Parliamentary duty, adopted a view different from their own. (Hear, hear.) On the subject under discussion, he would not add to the proofs adduced by Mr Gibson of the gross inaccuracy of the pamphlet referred to, further than to say, that one case he knew so well, as to be able thoroughly to test the truth of what was there set forth under the title " Facts of the Case." That was the case of St Paul's; and so discreditably deceptive was the account of it given in the pamphlet, that he could place no reliance whatever on any statements made by parties who were capable of giving such an account. (Hear, hear.) In relation to the suit still depending in regard to the Glasgow Church case, he might mention, that it was under appeal in the House of Lords, and their friends in Glasgow had hitherto conducted, and been at the expense of the appeal. The parties to that suit entered into a subscription some time since to try the case in the court below, which subscription was now exhausted; and he wished the authority of the Assembly to appropriate the amount of a collection made some years since towards defraying the expense of this appeal. They further thought that, as it was a general question, they ought in some way or other to be relieved of the whole burden of the trouble and expense. As Mr Gray seemed to consider that the Committee had so little to do that they need not be re-appointed, perhaps they would undertake the duty of co-operating with their friends in Glasgow to raise the funds that were still needful, as in some way or other it was necessary that funds should be raised. The only other thing to which he wished to refer, was to correct an inaccuracy of Mr Gray as to the decision of the Court of Session in the case of St Paul's Church. He had said that the Court had decided that the place of worship having been built for a parish church, could not be used as a chapel of ease. Now, there had been no decision, in terminis, to that effect. The Court, doubtless, held this; but their interlocutor simply appointed the Establishment party to put in a minute, stating

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how they intended to fulfil the purposes of the trust; and they accordingly lodged a minute, stating that it was proposed to have the place of worship erected into a parish church by the Court of Teinds. This interlocutor proceeded on the assumption that the Establishment, in order to keep it, must have it made a parish church; but it did not, in so many words, decide this. What he asked this house now to do was, to authorise the application of the funds which had been collected to defraying the expense of the appeal; and that they might sanction the exertions that might be used for the raising of further subscriptions.

The Assembly approve of the Report, record their thanks to Mr Gray and the Committee, and re-appoint them, Mr Gray as their Convener, instructing them to continue their best endeavours to secure a just and equitable arrangement of the important matters entrusted to them.

LAW COMMITTEE.

The Assembly then called for "the Report of the Law Committee, when Mr Dunlop, the Convener, made a verbal statement. The Assembly authorise the amount of the collections made some years since, toward the expenses of the litigations regarding the Quoad Sacra Churches, to be applied to the expense of the appeal in the Glasgow Church case now depending.

DELIVERANCE ON THE COLLEGE report.

Dr CUNNINGHAM proposed the following as the deliverance of the Assembly on the College Report.

"The Assembly having resumed consideration of the Report of the College Committee, approve of the Report of the College Committee, and of the Reports of the Sub-Committees on Scholarships, and on the Building of the New College: Express their deep interest in the system of Scholarships which has now been for some years in operation, and their gratification at the results with which it has been attended; instruct the Committee to adopt efficient measures for securing the continuance and extension of the present provision for Scholarships, and strongly recommend this object to the liberality of the friends of the Church: Sanction the measures taken by the Committee with a view to raising funds for carrying on the building of the College; adopt the Minute of the Committee upon this subject, and, in accordance therewith, direct the Trustees in whom the property of the College is at present vested, to hold that property for the repayment in preference to all other claims and objects, of the money that has been, or may yet be, borrowed for the purpose specified Instruct the Committee to make provision, as heretofore, for the teaching of Hebrew at Aberdeen, and to make regulations, suited to existing circumstances, for the Theological Curriculum there, and the payment of fees by the students, after consulting upon these subjects with the Presbytery of Aberdeen and Professor M'Lagan Find, that the course which has been pursued by the Presbytery of Glasgow for the instruction of Theological Students who could not attend the Divinity Hall in Edinburgh, is sanctioned by the existing regulations of the Church, and authorise the continuance of the same or similar arrangements for another session, if the Presbytery see cause: Remit to the Committee the returns of Presbyteries upon the draft of the proposed Constitution for the New College, and instruct them to report upon the whole subject to next Assembly: Authorise the Commission, at its ordinary meeting in August, to make an appointment to the Theological Chair vacant by the resignation of Dr Candlish; and empower the Committee, if they think proper, to suggest to the Commission the name of one or more ministers, whom they may consider best qualified to fill the vacant Professorship: Re-appoint the Committee with their former powers,-Dr Cunningham, Convener.

:

"The Assembly agree to transmit as an Overture to Presbyteries the following Resolutions anent the College and Theological Education :

"(1.) That no person shall be enrolled as a Student of Theology unless he has gone through a full academical curriculum of Literature and Philosophy, and has acquired a knowledge of the Hebrew language.

"(2.) That, in addition to the Presbyterial examinations at present required by the laws of the Church, all Students shall, before entering the Divinity Hall, be examined upon their previous course of study by a Board of ers to be appointed by the General Assembly, and shall be again

examined by the same Board at the conclusion of their Theological course; and that none shall be enrolled as Students of Theology, or be taken on trials for licence, without a certificate that the Board of Examiners are satisfied with their proficiency.

“(3.) That the ordinary Theological Curriculum shall consist of four years' regular attendance upon the Divinity Hall; that in no case shall less than two years' regular attendance be sustained; that exemption from four years of regular attendance shall be granted to particular students only, by a Board appointed by the General Assembly; that two enrolments, in different sessions, shall be required for each of the two sessions for which exemption from regular attendance may be granted ; and that all students exempted shall be yearly examined upon books and subjects prescribed to them.

"(4.) That the Theological Faculty shall consist of five Professors, who shall give instructions both in Exegetical and in Systematic Theology, during all the four sessions of the curriculum.

"(5.) That attendance be required of all Theological Students for one session upon the class of Natural Science."

Dr CUNNINGHAM then went over the different topics embraced in the motion, seriatim, and urged their approval upon the Assembly. He concluded by expressing a hope that his friends who were zealous for extending theological education would allow them two or three years to complete the hall at Edinburgh without pressing their peculiar views upon the Church. He begged farther to state, that he for one never asserted that the establishment of a curriculum as was proposed, necessarily, and in all circumstances, precluded the establishment of another Divinity Hall, even where the same perfect curriculum could not be fully carried into effect. (Hear, hear.)

Dr CANDLISH agreed with the motion in every particular, and cordially seconded it. He also stated, that he was quite willing to refrain from any farther agitation of the question of extending theological education for a few years; and he begged to take the opportunity of publicly expressing his obligation to Dr Cunningham for the readiness with which he undertook the duties of this chair, which he (Dr Candlish) had seen it his duty to vacate.

OFFICE-BEARERS.

On the motion of Dr CANDLISH, the overtures anent directions for the election of office-bearers, interim acts, form of process, rules of procedure in Church Courts, revising minutes of Standing Committees, constitution of Standing Committees, and Report of Committee on sanctioning charges, were remitted to a Committee to report to the next General Assembly.

The Assembly then adjourned.

EVENING SEDERUNT.

The Assembly having met, was constituted in the usual manner.

PETITION AS TO REFUSAL OF SITES.

Mr Hog of Newliston said,—I have to request that the Assembly will now take up the petition to Parliament on sites; a draft of which I will now read to the House. [Mr Hog here read the draft of the petition.] Before sitting down, I think it is necessary for me, as Convener of the Sites Committee, to refer to a report going the round of this House, and which, I believe, first appeared in an article in a newspaper in this town. This article I have not had an opportunity of reading; but I believe it was to the effect that a certain noble Duke, who is notorious in this Church as having resisted the just demands of our people, by refusing them sites on which to erect places of worship, has added to this a system of persecution which consists of removing from his estates those tenants who adhere to the Free Church. The moment I heard this report, I said that I did not believe that it was correct. (Hear, hear.) I did not believe that the noble Duke who has committed one offence against the law of toleration, and for which he has had public opinion so well directed against him, could he be guilty of another act of a similar kind. (Hear.) I have only further to say that no such report has ever reached the Site CommitSe of the Church; and that I do not believe in its truth. (Applause.)

Dr M'KAY said, I wish to put a question to the honourable gentleman who has just sat down. We all know, by painful experience, that we, as a Church, have suffered, not only in regard to the want of sites for churches, but in regard to the want of sites for schools. Probably there may be good and sufficient reasons for schools not being included in the bill now before Parliament; but as many in this Assembly are ignorant of the cause, it would be satisfactory if Mr Hog would mention why sites for schools are not mentioned in the bill?

Mr HoG.-In the draft of the bill sites for schools were embraced, as well as sites for churches; but our Parliamentary friends said, if we asked sites for schools, we were dealing with a grievance which was not proved before Parliament, as that for churches had been; and they thought it would be better, on that account, not to embrace them in the bill, being convinced that, if we succeeded in getting rid of the greater grievance, the lesser one would follow. (Applause.)

Mr Dow of Roberton said,—I have a few remarks to make on the report to which Mr Hog has alluded. I come from Yarrow, where the things are said to have occurred. I do not know the precise position of things; but I know the parties who are said to have been removed, and I at once say, that I would advise the House and the Committee to be very cautious in admitting the truth of this report. I know, for example, that there has been a great many removals in that locality among the Duke's tenants; but it is understood that these have arisen from the Duke (Buccleuch) being desirous of gradually abolishing what are called led farms. These are farms in which the tenant does not reside, He may reside in another locality altogether, and just sends his shepherds to occupy this farm. It is his Grace's intention to make the tenants reside on their farms; and in reference to one case I can speak with certainty. There is one little house on this farm, and it is occupied by an elder of the Free Church, who is a shepherd. The farm has recently been let to a tenant that is to reside on it; and there being no steading on it at present, the new tenant has just to go into the herd's house. That, then, is reason enough of itself for the removal of the shepherd. (Hear.) I am in favour of giving every man his due; and while I am not standing here as the advocate of his Grace, I must say that I am slow in believing that the element of opposition to the Free Church entered into the matter at all. (Hear.) In this I am confirmed by what took place in regard to another man, a blacksmith. He had been warned away; but the thing coming to his Grace's ears, he said he was entirely ignorant of the circumstances of the man's removal, and countermanded it. (Hear.) He would therefore say, let the House not receive reports of this description, until they be well confirmed. (Applause.)

Mr LUMSDEN begged leave to move that the petition be adopted and transmitted, if a formal motion was necessary. The Synod to which he belonged is one in which various cases of site-refusing exist, on the property of Lord Panmure. It was a matter of regret that those cases of hardship and persecution had not been made known more extensively. In the evidence before the House of Commons' Committee, their late lamented and highly respected Convener, Mr Graham Speirs, had, indeed, mentioned four congregations on Lord Panmure's estates which had not yet obtained sites; but beyond this bare enumeration there was scarcely any notice taken of them, except that it was stated that, in one other case, that of Carmylie, Lord Panmure had granted a site. It would have been well that the peculiar circumstances in the history of that congregation had been mentioned, as well as the peculiarity of its success, which as yet distinguished it from all the other congregations on Lord Panmure's estates. His excellent friend Mr Wilson, had unhesitatingly exposed and denounced Lord Panmure's conduct towards that congregation; and it was both instructive and encouraging to know that a site had been granted them, whilst those congregations whose ministers had treated his Lordship more tenderly were still unprovided for, and had no prospect of obtaining relief without the intervention of the Legislature. One of these congregations was that at Arbirlot. It might be remembered by the House that, at last General Assembly, it had been announced that Lord Panmure had granted a suitable site there, and there was a universal feeling of joy and gratitude throughout the Assembly, because it seemed to open up a hope that Lord Panmure was at last willing to do justice to all these congregations. But what was the real state of the case? It was quite true that whilst the House of Commons' Committee was prosecuting its investigations, immediately

after a meeting of the Synod of Angus and Mearns, at which his conduct had been very distinctly adverted to, and immediately before the meeting of this Assembly, Lord Panmure offered a site which was found suitable, and gladly accepted by the congregation. Every thing seemed to be secure. A form of lease was drawn out by Lord Panmure's agent, at the instance of his factor, and handed over to the minister; the ground was staked off, and steps taken for proceeding to the erection at least of a manse. After it was known that the House of Commons' Committee had closed their labours, his Lordship intimated to Mr Kirk, the minister, that for reasons unexplained he withdrew the grant that he had made. This intimation was, no doubt, accompanied with another promise, that his Lordship would grant another suitable site, and although, no doubt, other sites have since been offered, yet they were such as, he ventured to say, could not have been expected to be accepted. The congregation had unanimously but respectfully rejected them, and the Presbytery unhesitatingly concurred in their rejection, and he had no doubt that there was no member of this House who, if he knew the localities, would not approve of their conduct. The Presbytery had applied again and again to his Lordship for such a suitable site as he had promised to grant, but their applications were not acknowledged. In the case of the congregation at Panbride, in a parish like that of Arbirlot, which was entirely his Lordship's property, applications had again and again been made for a site, and all of them had been treated with contemptuous silence. He might advert to another case in the neighbouring Presbytery of Dundee-that of the congregation at Monikie, of which one of the most aged and venerable fathers of this Church was minister. Mr Miller had again and again applied to Lord Panmure, both personally and by letter, as well as along with a petition from the congregation. It might have been expected that, on account of Mr Miller's intimate and long-continued friendship with Lord Panmure, and on account of Lord Panmure's having acknowledged himself as lying under many obligations to Mr Miller, that a course of conduct might have been pursued in this case different from that maintained towards others. But no. Lord Panmure had distinctly and repeatedly refused to accede to these applications, and latterly has treated the more recent applications with the same dignified silence which he preserves towards others. There are other cases in the Presbytery of Brechin to which members of that Presbytery, who are here present, will speak. But he (Mr Lumsden) must confess that he can see no good reason why the Duke of Buccleuch should, week after week, and Commission after Commission, be held up to indignation, just and merited indignation, he acknowledged,—for refusing two sites, while silence has been so carefully preserved regarding Lord Panmure. (Hear, hear.) Lord Panmure is a far greater offender than the other, not only in that he refuses a larger number of sites, and this in a very aggravated manner, but also in that, from the beginning, he has practised that kind of persecution towards his tenantry which the Duke of Buccleuch was said he hoped incorrectly said-only now to have commenced. Tenants had been removed from Lord Panmure's estates expressly and unquestionably for this reason, that they belonged to the Free Church; and, to a far larger extent, threats had been held over their heads, which had, indeed, in many cases, not been carried into execution, because the parties knew, that without incurring the odium of actual ejectment, the same end of terrifying the tenantry was gained by suspending threats over their heads. In one word, he would advert again to the case of Carmylie. His friend Mr Wilson, had been exposed to much reproach and misrepresentation for having unsparingly exposed Lord Panmure's conduct towards his congregation. He had been advised by an individual high in the counsels of the Church to desert his flock, in order that Lord Panmure's character might not be exposed. It had even been proposed that the congregation there should in the mean time be suppressed, to be resuscitated and restored in happier times. Mr Wilson had nobly persevered at his post; and notwithstanding the opposition of open enemies, and the revilings of pretended friends, had achieved for his people, before he was translated, a site, the very best which the parish afforded. (Hear, hear.)

Mr INGLIS of Edzell alluded to the circumstances attending site-refusing in his own case. He mentioned that he had brought the matter, in the first instance, himself before Lord Panmure; and subsequently it was brought before his Lordship by a petition from the congregation, signed by no fewer than 335 individuals, who requested a site for a church within the village of Edzell. That application

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