THE EX

AMINER.

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SUMMARY, Sarurcar, March 20, 1853. CeNTRAL ACADEMY.

House in Commitiee on the Bil to continue a certain Act dherem mentioned, relating to the Central Academy ; Mr. Mc- Deuald wn the Chair.

Che Bill, which is merely a continuing Act, was agreed to without anv amendment or discussion, save that, on the sug- gestion of he Hon. F. Longworth, it was agreed that the Act should be continued for five, insiead of ten years; the latter paving been the period of continuation, at first intended, ‘The game hea member, tovk occasion to observe—without, however, ipaking any motiou—that he certainly would] ke to see repealed that section of the Act, which precludes the use of any religious test in the Academy. Not, said the hon, member, that I, by any meuns, think thet there should be any such test, in such an institution ; for { think guite otherwise ; but because that sec- tion which precludes such a test, is, by many, held to xclude alrogether the use of the Bible from the Academy. Whether they who hold such an opimon concerning that section, rigitly construe it or not, | presume not to say. But wy own opulon Concerning it, 1a that it was not originally intended to have any such eff.ct. ‘be simple reading of the Bible among Christians, is certainly not a test of any person’s belief or dis- belief in the doctrines of any particuler Caristian church, or denomination of Christians ; such doctrines as the several Chris- tian churches and denominations concientiously believe to be derived from the Bible may be, end are, used as tests ; but, when ihe Bible, without note or comment, which all Christians receive and venerate alike as the Word of God, is merely read, with- gut being used as a means whereby to inculcate the peculiar creed or doctrines of any individual Christian church or denom:- pation, it is certainly not used as a test of behef or disbelief in any such creed or doctrines. So long however as the interpre- bition now given of that section of the Academy Act, shal! continue to be regarded as its legal coustruction, the ‘Trustees of the Institution, even although, at any time, they might be des rous to have the Bible regularly read in it, would feel therm- selves positively restrained from authorising it, by that section of the Act; and. therefure, | would very giadly see it repealed.

The Chair of the House was then resumed by the Hon. the Speaker, and the Bill, having been reported, as agreed to in Con mittee without amendment, was so received, and ordered to be engrossed.

Mownvay, March 22, 1858.

Sr. Dunstan's Gotieee. .

Mr. Clark, Chairman of the Committee of the whole House, on Petition of the Rev. Angus McDonald, for an annual sum or endowment in aid of the support of St. Dunstan’s College, veported the follawing Resolution, dgreed to therein.

Resolved, That it is inexpediant to grant the prayer of that part of the Petition of the Rector of St. Dunstan's College, asking for an annual sum or endowment for the support of that instiution; but that it be recommended tothe House when tn Supply, to vote a sum for the purpose of obtaining Instruments, Map», and Apparatus, for the Institution. ;

Hon. the Speaker having put the motion thereon,

Mr. Laird moved in amerdment, That it is inexpedient to comp!y with the prayer of the Petiion of the Rev. Angus Mac- donald, Rector of St. Dunstan’s College, for a grant in aid of that Institution.

The questiog being put on the amendment, the House divided thereon ;

Yeas.—Mr. Laird, Mr. Muirhed, Mr. Dingwell, Mr. Pope, Mr. Pouse, and Hon. D. Montgomery—6

Navs.—Honbles. Col. Secretary, Col. Treasurer, &. Whelan, R. Mooney, J. Wightman, and E. Palmer; Messrs. McGill, Cooper, Clark, Munro, Perry, and Mclonald—12.,

So the original Resolution was agreed to.

Fisurry Resexyes’ Birr,

The Fishery Reserves’ Bill was committed to the considers - tion of a Committee of the whole House, and amended, and agreed to therein. The Hon. the Speaker having resumed the Chair of the Llouse, the Bill was reported agreed to with amend- ments in Committee, received, and ordered to be engrossed.

The amendments are two, verbal alterations, and the addition of the following clause, between the last enacting clause and ipe syopending clause :

And Whereas no Grants from the Crown of Townships Nos. B, 12, 20, 25,44 and 46, appear on record inthis Island: Be it, therefore, enacted that, if, at any time after the passing of th» Act, any Grants of the said Townships shall be placed on record ond it shall appear that such Grants contain a reservation simi Jar to, or to the same effect as, the reservation set forth anc recited in the preamb!e of this Act, then the land mentioned ané reserved in and by any such Grant, so to be recorded as afore- said, sliall be subject to all and every of the enactments and provisions in the Act contained. 4 R. B. Invine, Reporter.

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KIRWAN UNMASKED. LETTER III, TO KIRWAN, Auras tHe Reverenp Nicuoias Murray, D.D.,

Of Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Dear &ir,—

You tell us that “ ignorance is the parent of papal devotion ;” (second series, page 86.) How was it, then, that ignorance produced so contrary an effect upcn you? You appear to have been rether good boy, when you said your catechism, at nine or ten years of age. But at eighteen, your mind was a {* perfect blank as to all religious instruction.”’ Could iguorance be greater than this ? How is it, then, that instead of the Catholic Saint, which your rule of *‘ papal deyotion” shonid have led us to expect, we find you at that period of your. life, as you have taken pains to tell us, “am@infidel ?’ It seems that from ten to eighteen years, as your “ignorance” grew more, your ‘devotion?’ grew less— proving that, at least in your case, * igncrance is not tho parent of papal devotion,’ but rather of infidelity. ;

[ insist, as you pereeive, on determining the state of your intellect at the period of your fall from the faith. Your subsequent acquirement of knowledge and education, I have no wis: to question or deny. But the public will be naturally interested in asrertaining the condition of your jaind, when you rejected the Catholic Courch, and embraced infidelity. A life so impcirtant ‘to the philosophical and the theological world as yours, requires to be divided into distinct aud successive epochs, and to have each of its periods considered separately from thewthers, if one would do justice to the whole. ;

First, then, we must leave out the Presbyterian education, which you have acquire! since you became an infidel, at the age of eighteen. Secondly, we must leave out the education of the Catholic catechism, wkich you had forgotten. Thirdly, we must leave out any knowledge which you might haye derwed from the Catholic devotion, for you tell us that you said your

»rgyers in *f Latin, which you did not understand,”’—(page 33.) Fourth- y, we must leav: out all instruction by hearing, for you tell us “ you never heard a sermon preached in a Catholic chapel rn Ireland 3 nor a word of ex- planation on a single Christian topic, or doctrine, or duty,”—(page 29 ) Now according to your own statement this was the condition of your mind whon you left the Catholic Church: —and I doubt whether Christendom gould furnish one other instance of such mental nudity—such utter des- titution of all Christian knowledge.

And now, forsooth, your ‘* Reasons”? for leaving the Church ! What reasons? The existence of reasons in such a mind, on such a subject, was a metaphysical impossibility. Reasons necessarily imply compari- gon ; comparison necessarily supposes know!ed ge of the things compared ; but in your case, as we take it from your own pen, there was no know- Jedge of the things to be compared, and theretore there could be no com- parison ; and therefore no reasons,—tbat is, no reasons for a mind in ihe condition of yours, gs yor have described it.

But you had, you say, “Common sense.”” I donbt it, ‘ Common gense” is by no means 80 commoy as yea seem to imagine. If you take the term to signify the general opinion of the age and country you lived in at the time, it is evident that your renoyucing Catholiaity, and be- coming an infidel, was aot, and could het be called, an exercise of “common sense.” If, on the other hand, you mean that intrinsic facylty of the haman mind, by which a man decides mentally accurding to the evidences of the case, it is equally clear in your case, that common gense had no evidences to act upon ; and although [ do not deny its ex- jstence in the abstract, yet its agency could have had nothing to do with your real or imaginary conversion. Tell an African beneath the tropics about icv, of what avail will his “ common sense*’ be to him in determin- ing the truth or error of your statement ?

But supposing he admits the existence of ice, will his * common sense”’ enable him to determine any of its properties 1 Not at all. His ** com- mon senge” is jast as likely to decide that ice will burn, as that it will chill, the hand, or other part of the body to which it might be applied. Now your case an‘ bis are equal illustrations of “ common sense, ?in the absence of the elemenjs from which is office is inseparable, namely, knowledge of the things to which it is applied. For you, religious knowledge, at the period of your change, consisted of two parts ; the one Presbyterian or Protestant, which you had yet to learn j—the other

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which would be se becoming in a minister of religion, and eepreiely -_ | who professes so high @ respect for * common sense, em nts | acquaintance with ~" “s unfettered Bible. Does the ible | gtatewents as the following * : : . st ae us how the priest used to question you in cuneate Sanat you used to answer him, (page 20.) _ = ou complain -—<— e hag speak to you in English,” but “in Latin,” (same page.) sou = - jew minutes after that you ‘did not understand Latin, eS. Now the difficulty is, how could you answer questions In a language w —_ you did not understand ? It seems that when you went to confessiuD he ‘thing like the wonders of Pentecost took place between ar Ae eg | priest. Ile spoke to youinan unknown tongue, and you answered him wie | the utmost ease, although you you did not understand the language mm wiuc | he addressed you! ! There is nothing more miraculous on record than this, if what you say were true. But it is not true. The ee a to } you in English; you answered him in English. Why oe 0 a i**bear false witness against” the priest, charging him wm * ae }spoken to you ‘ in Latin,” which * you did not ns : oes | Presbyterianism require such services as this, at your hands ? in meat | times ycu found ** tiat you could play your pranks better after confession than before ;°?—but after thirty years of reading the Bible, might me one expect that you would give up “playing your pranks gltogether ? We have already seen that when you left the Catholic Church your mind was, in your own words, a “ perfect blank as to all religious in- > The reader will be eurious to learn when and how you outfit to caver the mental nudity in which you before the public (as you have appeared in secondhand raiment of Catholic

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struction.”’ procured te necessary forsook us, and to appear your recent Letters) decked off in the Theelogy. ; Laven ben much your Letiers are in the style of Autobiography, I am surprised you did not account for your Protestant knowledge as w: ll as your Catholic ignorance. Let me supply the omission as briefly as possible.

It seems that like other spars of Irish shipwreck you drifted to these shoresatanearly age. You had the good or the bad furtune to be picked up by Presbyterian patrons. You were @ stranger aad they took you in. Whether they were gifted or not with that * second sight”? peculiar to the children of the clouds, in North Britain, it does great credit to their penetration to have discovered in you (under all the disadvantages of that ignorance and infidelity to which yot have so often directed our at- tention) what poetry has called, .

A gem of purest ray serene.

Under the influence of this benevolent anticipation, they sent you to college. As your mind was a “ perfect blank,” of course you had no- thing to urlearn. There was no popish rubbish left from the ruins of the former edifice. The foundations were unobstructed und clear, and the new architects had only to proceed with their work and build you up according to the approved rules of Presbyterian “ covstructiveness.” They did so build you up accordingly. And now, you are what you are.

In assigning reasons why you left the Catholic Chureb and now cannot return, I am surprised you have omitted all this. To most Catholics, and indeed to many Protestants, this reasgn alone would be quite sulficient to account for it all. .

And yet, there is nothing in the poverty which caused you to fall into such hands, of which it would not be great weakness, on your part, to be in the least ashamed. If circumstances had not placed you in a false position, I think you would feel proud of the poverty which you in- herited from your Irish parents ; for itis the most incontestable evidence that your Catholic ancestors were “true men,”’ in their generation. If they had been unprincipled hypocrites, capable of betraying their con- science and their God, at almost any period within the last three hundred years, they might bave renounced their religion, and pocketed the bribe which the Gospel, as “ by law established,”’ had set apart as the recom- pense of apestacy from the Catholic faith. But they did not. They supposed that their posterity would be worthy of them ;—they supposed that one Esau, selling his birthright for a mess of pottage, was enough in the bistory of our race ; they submitted to be plundered of their earthly goods; they submitted to be deprived of education; the cruel edict of ignorance thus enacted against them, was a Protestant edict; they submitted to its penalties; but, on the other hand, they asserted the right and superiority of glorious principle over base and mercenary interest; they proved that the material tyranf cannot vanquish the im- material and immortal mind; they bore and defied his torture, while they writhed under it; they spurned and repelled his offered bribe of apos- tacy, whilst to human view it was the only alternative between them and ignorance, poverty, starvation, and death, But they welcomed ail sooner than betray principle or violate conscience.

O, sir, they were glorious men and érue, our Irish Catholic ancestors; [ am prouder of them, so far as I am concerned, than if at the sacrifice of truth, or honor, or principle, they had Lequeathed to me the titles and wealth of the Beresfords. Norcan I believe that you, in your heart, entertain any other seutiments in their regard. You, like myself, have borne the penalty of their constancy to truth and conscience; and in your pulpit in Elizabethtown, in your most fervid and cloquent appesls to your Presbyterian audicnee, if a recollection of your heroic and in- vincible Catholic forefathers should, perchance, flash across yvur memory, vou wil feel proud of them and ashamed of yourself. ‘* Ilow came you there ?”? If I held you cupable of other sentiments I should be uttering a libel on the Jrish beart in particular, and on human nature in general. Sir, I think you made a great mistake in publishing your Letters anonymously ; especially when you took the unmanly and unwarrantable liberty ef blazoning forth my name in connection with them, whilst you concexled your own. But having done this, you have made another great mistaxe in allowing the soft, warm breath uf the @houghtless flat- terer to melt so prematurely the waxen tics of your mask. Your Letters have been compared to those of Junius, but you have net imitated your model successfully, in the important atfair of keeping “your own secret. You have made another mistake still, in weaving in your own diography, your own personality, as the woof of your own polemical web. Another mistake still you have made, in bringing in your parents to embellish your pages. It would be wrong for you, T suppose, ia your new light, to pray for the soul of your deceased father; but you might have written a very clear book against popery without invading his grave or disturb- ing his ashes at all. The same may be said in general of those little stories with which your first Letters are adorned, about ‘* yourself”? and your « house,” and your * hall,’ and the “dark room up stairs,’’ and the « drunken priesv’’ to whom you ministered brandy, &. &. These «“ awful disclosures” would do very well in the pages of Maria Monk, Miss Partridge, or some of the other vestais of their class, of whom the Catholie Church is not worthy. Even in the writings of Monk Leaby, I do not say they would be out of place.

But in the production.of a schelar and gentleman like you, I am sorry to see them. They havea kind of ** mean, tell-tale” appearance— they are a betrayal of former frionds and associates, whieh, to my mind at least, indicates the absence of manly, generous feeling, as well as of elevated taste. But as you have thought otherwise, I mustreview them somewhat at length in my next letter. Meantime I remain with pity and good wishes as usual.

] + JOHN HUGHES, Bishop of New York.

Correspordence.

anne (YOR THE EXAMINER.) THE BIBLE QUESTION.

We have been far from being disinterested observers of the excitement which has for the last twelve mouths disturbed the peace of our usually quiet community, and have bad an “itching palm ” for that moment to arrive, when, not to the passions, but to the reason and candor of intelligent persons, we might calmly, on the subsidence of the storm, offer such observations -as might lead them to pronounce a righteous verdict in behalf of a large portion of their fellow-citizens.

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But previous to entering on the subject, permit us to remark the dignified position of the Catholic body which has, in this trying case, been allotted to it. While the pulpits and the ‘sanctified press” of essociated opposers were teeming with abuse; while public meetings were callé@; aud the platform resounded with declamation, vituperatiou and falsehood—Catholics remaiaed peaceful and quiet, Though numbering nearly one half of the population of the Island, not one public meeting was heid ; not one clergyman harangued a crowd; not one man spoke or wrote in language which could be styled bitter. They placed their confidence tn the honesty of the public authorities—Protestants as well as Cutholies— that liberty of conscience should be no longer violated in the public schools. Vhat was the result? Why, while “ the Gentiles raged, and thé people devised vain things,” the proper authorities quictly resolved that liberty of conscience should be preserved inviolate. Thanks to the noble spirits who came thus to the rescue of wounded conscience and religious liberty. May they fully carry out what they so nobly begun.

How mendacious must that man be, who can affirm that the past was a contest between ‘ Bible” aud “ No Bible ?” | How lost to truth and probity he who. publicly asserts that | Catholics desire the suppression of the sacred Scriptures ? ‘and how unworthy of the dignity he, wha with the words, «“ Tam an Ambassador of Christ,” wpon his lips, weaves from |these two propositions a tissue of calumnies and lies that |would dishonor an ambassador of the D—i!

We will state the case as in truth it stands, and then to ‘the subject suggested by it. ‘There are three versions pur- porting to be sacred Scriptures; the Catholic, the Protestant and the dewish, all of which essentially differ from each other. ‘So important are the points of difference in the view of each

Catholic which you Aad forgotten, or had never Rnown. In the absence of | denomination, that the Jew will not admit the Catholic version

both these divisions of religious knowledge, were you not much in the condition of the African, deciding on the properties of ice, by the standard of *¢ common sense ?”

I think, sir, that you will admiz this reasoning to be conclusive. The premises are your own, the conclusions are logically and fairly deduced. And if so, thea it follows that, at the time of your pretended conversivn, you bad ‘not and could not bave had any reasons for your change of re- ligion. And if so, it follows again, that in assigning those mentioned in your letters as inducing you to wake the change, you have been impos- ing vp tue good faith of your fellow beings, aud exhibiting a waut of that

‘to be genuine Scripture, no more than the Catholic admits

ithe Protestant version, or the Jatter either of the former.

These are not mere assents or dissents to abstract truths: they ‘are points of conscience, on the strength of which each denomination (right or wrong) rests its hopes for eternity.

| They are points of conscience which the laws of our country

This is a natural and not unreasonable curiosity ; and con- |

‘so long as they do not violate the enactments of the land.

Has the Legislature decided that one of these versions shiall ‘take precedence of the others in any of our mixed public ‘schools ?- It has not; it cannot. It views them all with ‘equal eyes. Buta large portion of citizens would have the ' Protestant version used as a class-book ; and because another large portion of citizens will not allow the public mixed schools to become sectarian by the introduction therein of the Pro- testant version, and the consequent opportunity given to pre- sumptuous pedagogues, and ignorant masters and mistresses to * spound” and “ splain” the Scripture lessons according to their respective ways of thinking. Many Protestants ‘declire positively that Catholics wish to do away with the | Bible altogether. This is the true “ finding” that justifies greater severity than is implied in the words mendacity, calumny and falsehood ; but we forbear.

It is not intended here to pursue this branch of the subject, it is connected with so much that is foul, that it might be difficult to restrain emotions and expressions that become aot a transcriber of public sentiment. We have, it is hoped, chosen a more useful task, which is fo shew good and adundant ‘yeason why Catholics can never accept of the kindaess our \friends of the Protector intend for them, by insisting that their children shall assist at the reading of the Protestant version of the Scriptures, and listen to all and every explana- tion given thereto, For Catholics, in the first place, believe that the Protestant version does not contain the whole canon of Scripture; and in the second place, that the Protestant translation is incorrect, and hence cannot be the Word of God.

It is not our intention to extend our observations on these points to the full extent that their importance demands, or to give a minute and critical exegesis on them. This would require more abilities and time than we possess. For us it will be sufficient to vindicate the prejudices of Catholies re- latively to the points in question, And as to the proofs ad- duced, it matters not whether they be just or unjust, well or ill founded, since our business is to show, not so much that one version is bad and another good, as that Catholics deem sufficient cause to exist to reject something that is attempted to be forced upon them.

First, then, Catholics believe that the Protestant version does not contain the whole canon of Scripture, because it is defective of some of the books which the ancient councils of the Catholic Church have ever considered as divine. Origin- ally, the inspired books were written for some specific purpose: either to instruct a particular church in some doctrine, or to reprove its members for irregularity or error ; and if some were intended for general iustruction, from the great distance which intervened between the various sections of the Church, the difficulty of access, aad oftentimes the necessity of con- cealing the sacred writings, many parts of the Church remain- ed for several ages without ever hearing of the sacred books, as St. [reneus testifies: “* Many nations carefully preserved the documents of faith in their hearts, without any knowledge of the Scriptures.” (lib. con. Her. c. 4.) This rendered im- position easy; and false teachers and false prophets issued their spurious books of the Scriptures, to the great confusion of the faithful. To remedy this evil, the Council of Hippo, in Africa, was called, (anuo 393), and four years afterwards the third Council of Carthage. These councils enumerated the books which, according to the traditions of the Fathers, must be considered of divine authority. They issued cata- logues with which that of Trent, and, of course, our English Catholic version, are identical. We might cite several other councils held subsequently to the year 807 in Italy, Spain and Africa, giving the same catalogues of books; but we re- frain for want of space.

To these decrees the venerable Fathers of the Universal Church implicitly submitted, and taught their humbler bre- threa the necessity of yeilding their unhesitatiug obedience tothe authority of their Church. The Catholics of the pre- sent age are not less tenacious of this authority than their forefathers were. They deem themselves, equally with them, bound by this authority, as well as by their loye for the truth and their undying attachment to the faith, to acknowledge no other canon of Scripture than that which was thus defined.

In stating, in the second place, that the Protestant trans- lation is iacorrect, we desire it to be distinctly understood that we mean to say nothing that may be construed hurtful to the feclings of our Protestant brethren; but merely to say that Catholics are convinced that the Protestant authorized version of the Scriptures labors still under many of the de- fects which were noticed by King James the First, and by many celebrated and learned functionaries of the Establish- ment since. We could easily point out hundreds of passages, in which, to meet Protestant views, additions to, and altera- tions of the sacred text, have been fearlessly made. But, as we have said, it is not our intention to carry on religious con- troversies through the columns of newspapers ; but merely to satisfy our Protestant fellow-subjects of the conscientiousness of the reasons which prevent Catholics from allowing the Pro- testant version of the Bible to be introduced into our mixed schools, tu be explained away and desecrated according to the fancy or notions of every numskull or mountebank connected with any of the thousand and one sects in ism and antis which have appeared from the time of the Apostles downwards to the Mormons and Restitutionists of the present day. Such is the blasphemy, contradiction, crime, murder of God’s Word, to which this principle-—“ open Bible,” “the people's safe- guard against false prophets and fanatics’—leads. _We may call it rather a hackneyed and desecrated Bible. God forbid we should charge any deficiency on the Word of God! No; we love, honor and venerate His Holy Word. But we charge wrong, deficiency, imposture upon those who deceive the world by proclaiming themselves “ ambassadors of Christ,” assum- ing his prerogative, yet violating his precepts.

I am, Mr. Editor, yours, COMMON SENSE.

Qucen’s County, Viewfield, March 26, 1858.

« >a?

To tuz Eprrors or Tak Prorecror.

Grntitemen,—LBefore proceeding to redeem my promise of reviewing Mr. Murray’s speech, allow me to come to an un- derstandiag with you on a matter that more nearly concerns yourselves. In the introductory remarks with which you preface my letter you say :—

“ While we willingly give insertion to the following letter ‘we must take exception to one passage which says: It is « difficult to divine the purpose for which Messrs. Lockhead ‘‘and Murray have spoken against the Academy, ‘ unless it ‘be to deprive the Catholies of this Colony of their civil and “religious rights, as recently shadowed forth in the Pro- “ sector.’”

Excuse me, gentlemen, but I said nothing of the kind. What I did say is as follows :— '

‘The rev. gentleman himself seems to have had some mis- givings as to the validity of these objections, (namely those ‘ against the efficiency of the Academy,) and secks to entrench “himself behind others. ‘ But, sir,’ he continues, * it is “necessary that a college should be established for other “reasons, and one of these is—to meet the gigantic schemes ‘‘which Popery has proposed for the overthrow of Pro- “ testantism, and the establishment of its unhallowed prin- “ciples in this Island!’ These gigantic schemes are like “other giants, purely imaginary. They have been called “into existence to serve a purpose. That purpose it is ‘difficult to divine, unless it be to deprive the Catholics of ‘this Colony of their civil and religious rights, as recently ‘shadowed forth in the Protector.”

Let the reader compare the foregoing with what I am made to say in the former quotation, and then find me, if he ean,

_amid the political controversy, with which our Island press.

abounds, a more palpable misrepresentation. Attributing to

| exist only in bis own fertile brain, and not anything he ts

choose to say about the Acadewy, first excited suspicions to ulterior measures. ‘To create a false alarm is a mancearry as old as persecution itself.

We are now prepared to enter on the consideration of }y Murray’s sp2ech. One very suspicious circumstance aaa us 72 dimine, namely, the individuals chosen to move second the Resolution regarding the Academy, Both country clergymen, residing at least 30 miles from sent Neither of them are better acquainted with its organization * ‘its course of studies, than they are with Gira College The eccentric old bankers, in founding that college, euypined, it is said, that no clergyman should ever fill a chair, nor much as be allowed within its precincts. No such ieti exists here, yet we have never been honoured with the sence of either rey. gentleman. Of this we cannot j complain. Time or taste may not lie in this direction, gentlemen have been very unfairly dealt by. Brought from amidst their peaceful flocks, a distance of 30 miles, to take part in a meeting without being so much as made aware ¢f its object, they are thrust forward to speak on a subject about which they knew nothing whatever! This was positive} unkind in the concoctors of the meeting. They bad s themselves several who had at least reconnoitred the enemy's position. Some of these should have led the assault, matter, when the day is won, and the new college establi those who hung back in the day of need wiil be f enough ia setting forth their claims to the best chairs. The arms of Achilles rewarded not the daring Ajax, but the vrafty Ulysses. ©

Kvery age has its own peculiar characteristics, The of the nineteenth destery ia likely to be known to aie as the age of Quackery. Yet it may be doubted whether, in the medical profession, the quacks are not the best allies of the duly qualified practitioner, With us they are at once a stigma on the profession avd the pest of the conscientiogy 1 educator. Writing they teach in 18 lessons, boys are trans. lating from the Greek and Latin classics, as Johnson once — said, into no language at all. Astronomy is taught to both — sexes not only before having mastered geometry, but even arithmetic, Boys lose much time in learning to write Latin

herameters, who are unable to write their mother grammatically, Any one who, with old cor barel Ga little peroxide of manganese can procure some impure oxygen, calls himséif a chemist. Mathematics alone enjoys exemption from quackery, the ¢ests are so simple and effvetual, Pay a visit to a secoud-hand book store; you will find the shelves filled with school and college buoks, These books, however they may differ as to binding and general diiapidation, present a remarkable uniformity in ove particular. While the earlier pages or chapters bear uomistakeable evidence of having served the turn of more than one student, the later chapters, generally more than half the entire work, remain ina state of pristine purity. No matter whether the book be Caesar or Xenophon, Virgil or Homer, or even Telemaque or Boileau, the sume appearances every where present them. selves, the first part in tatters, the rest unread. How is this? Quackery on the part of Educators, ignorance on the part of the public. As soon as boys can construe a few simple sen- tences in Delectus, they are hurried into Ceasar. Just as they are beginning to read this author with advantage, and becuming acquainted with his style and phraseology, that ig when they have only read the first two or three books cor- responding to chapters in an English history, they are taken to Virgil. Children put to read a Latin Epic Poem before they are able to appreciate, certainly before they have read, the Deserted Village or the Pleasures of Hope. Bat yu know the character of the school must be maintained, and this can only be done by having advanced classes. The majority of parents are content, as their children appear to be making rapid progress. Now I have always set my face against this sort of thing. Instead of encouraging parents to put their children to the study of the Greek and Latin, whea even the pupils did not manifest decide] talent, or that the means of their parents or their views regarding their childrens’ future calling did not justify a reasonable expectation of their remaining at school till the age of 18 or 19, I have always endeavoured to dissuade the parents from allowing them te Wegin the classics at all, and to take the French instead, This was to advise them against what the world calls my own interest, for my salary rose and fell with the number who might be studying classics. My motives were probably misunderstood, and by interested parties misrepresented. The manner in which Mr. Murray alludes to Casar, as bei the only classic work read and supporting competition,” is artfully designed to give colour to this misrepresentation, Now as. to the question of my own compeiency. It would be almost as unbecoming in any one to dilate on his own abilities as it is in those who know nothing whatever about them to depreciate them. I shall therefore content myself with remarking, that satisfactory testimonials of my classical acquirements had been placed in the hands of — the Trustees before they appointed me Second Master; what. then will 13 years of varemitted application and constant practise in teaching effect fora person of my habits? I con: sider myself, to say the least, as competent to take charge of the Academy as any one who has undertaken it before me, Nay more, I imagine there are few parts of the Empire where my talents would not be rewarded with a higher situation. The reader is now prepared to enter on the examination of Mr. Murray’s remarks. He was, he says, perfectly amazed to find from the newspaper that the first Latin class had pro- ceeded no further than Casar. Before giving way to his amazement, would it not be acting the part of a sensible man to have enquired the ages of the Sonn composing that class ? How does he know but that for boys of their age to be able to read Ceesar, is very respectable progress indeed? More- over, they have read Czesar (de Bello Gallico) quite thr They can give a written translation of any part of it inte grammatical, even into elegant and idiomatic, English. No one will ever have to set up the same defence for them that has been for certain gentlemen who have /inished theig education.

“ An ignorant old fogy of the clergy told me in discussion, ‘“‘a few days ago, that he considered it the height of “sumption in me to think | could criticise the productions ‘of men who were good «lassical scholars—ihat they were “ not to be considered subject to our common rules of grame “ mar, &c. Strange, indeed, if a kuowledge of the classics “can become a substitute for common seuse and correct “ writing.” — Letter of a Free Churchman.

The same class has this year entered Virgil. They can appreciatethe style, and, to some extent, even relish the beau- ties of that elegant poet. They have in fact as good a knows ledge of the language as many boys who are reading, OF endeavouring to read, Livy or Juvenal. They can most of them solve a quadratic equation—are not ignorant of geometry —and some of them have advanced as far as analytical Trigo- nometry. They are thus in a position to enter on the study of Natural Philosophy dnd Astronomy with advantage. They are even making acquaintance with the use of insirus ments. At the present time they are able to compute

a weekly almanac as that published in the Islander, and which must prove of great service in regulating the time 10 country places. ut motives higher than mere utility prom me to push them forward in this direction. Astronomy, | most sublime as well as the most precise of the ph sclences, rcquires a rare combination of mechanical, matical and optical skill. Accordingly, quackery can find po shelter within its precincts. But there is a misty region

yond, where science ends and speculation begins, where every thing is hazy and indistinct as a vision of the night. Here is a most tempting field for persons with a little Jearning-

recognize aud guarautee;to protect iu all the Qucen’s subjects,’ Catholics, or as he himself culls it, Popery, schemes which They are to be fouud there in hundreds, most of them spor’