v.^ ■; ^ Kv, >: I r ■ ■^, V •,-, ■ ••■, iw ■ -■ ;• M. Vtt^irr.ty^^M! Jl. 1 B R -A. R ^ T' The.ojogical Seminary PRINCETON, N. J. BX 9225 .B767 W3 1887^ Walker, Norman L. Robert Buchanan, D.D. (^qj 1^ r tj DR. ROBERT BUCHANAN. KOBP]RT BUCHANAN. D.D. ^w (Sciicsiastical ^iogvaphi). BY THE REV. NORMAN L. WALKER, AUTHOR OF "our CHURCH HKIilTAGK.'" " AN EARNEST PASTORATE," KTC. SECOND THOUSAND. LONDON: THOMAS NELSON AND SONS. EDINBURGH AND NEW YORK. 1877. PREFATORY NOTE. This work was undertaken at the request of Dr. Buchanan's family. I was also urged to it by many of his most intimate friends in the Church, and in a way that made it impossible for me to decline the undertaking. I do not, however, propose to make any apology for the manner in which the work has been executed ; it must, of course, be left to be judged on its own merits. Dr. Buchanan's public career stretches over a remark- able epoch, — from 1827 to 1875, — and in his Diaries he has left most interesting notices of the politico-ecclesiastical negotia- tions of the period. These have been embodied in the work, and of themselves add greatly to its value. I am anxious to take advantage of the opportunity afforded in a Preface to express my special obligations to D. Maclagan, Esq., of Edin- burgh, and Dr. James Walker of Carnwath. Both of them read the proof-sheets as they passed through the Press; and as both have a peculiarly intimate acquaintance with the ecclesiasti- cal history of the period through which Dr. Buchanan lived, there was scarcely a single chapter in connection with which I did not benefit by their suggestions and advice. NORMAN L. WALKER. Dysart, May 1877. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. EAELT LIFE AND MINISTRY AT GARGUNNOCK. Birth — School and college — Ordination — Snowstorm — First parish — The manse and church — A high watchword — Parochial labours — First Assembly — Bible Society 1-6 CHAPTER II. THREE TEARS IN EAST LOTHIAN. The new i)arish — The Fletchers of Salton — Diary — Visitation — A ministerial dif- ficulty and conference — The Apocrypha Controversy — Dissent — As a country minister — Early fruit — Dr. Andrew Thomson 7-16 CHAPTER III. THE NEW EPOCH. French Revolution — Time of excitement — Modem era begun — History of Reform Bill — Social movements — Stir in ecclesiastical circles — Chalmers — Campbell of Row — Heresy trials — Literature — la the wave spent ? — The Oxford Movement — Breaking up of the Scottish Church 17-25 CHAPTER IV. SETTLEMENT IN GLASGOW. A former election to the Tron Parish^A change for the better — His new sphere of work — Dr. Dewar — Sabbath schools — The Veto Act — Vote in the Presbytery of Glasgow — Engagement in public business 26-33 CHAPTER V. EDUCATIONAL REVIVAL. Complaint of Parish Teachers — Mr. Dunlop — The " Presbyterian Re\-iew " — An Education Board — Scotland, a half -educated nation — Proposed Normal seminary — Maiden speech in the Assembly — Our National Schools and our National Church 34-41 VUl CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. AGITATION FOB CHURCH EXTENSION. Kapid increase of Dissent — Moderate obstructiveness — The "Darling Object of the Chiirch " — Mr. William Collins — The Moderatorship Controversy — Appeal for fresh State Endowments — Whig and Tory ministers — Royal Commission of Inquiry — Deep dissatisfaction— Meeting in Trades' Hall — Speech by Mr. Buchanan — The Dean of Faculty's warlike blast — Independence of the Church — The Dissenters — Working of the Commission — Deputation to London — First experience of railway travelling — Diary — Disciission in the House of Lords — Character of Sir James Graham — Last talk with the Tory leaders — No con- fidence in the Whigs — Banquet to Sir Robert Peel — A lesson 42-105 CHAPTER VII. THE VOLUNTARY CONTROVERSY. Sermon by Dr. MarshaU^The Christian Instructor — Lectures on Church Establish- ments — Mutual misunderstandings — Two parties in Downing Street — -Uses of the controversy — Its relation to the Veto Act 106-119 CHAPTER VIIL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. The Auchterarder disputed settlement — Appeal to the Civil Courts — Ominous utterances from the Bench and the Bar— Mr. Dunlop's challenge on the subject of Ordination — Assembly of 1838 — Mr. Buchanan's speech — The debate and vote — Thickening of the conflict — Dr. Chalmers' motion in 18.39 — Disenchant- ment— The Tories as faithless as the Whigs — Lord Aberdeen — Sir Robert Peel's advice, and the answer of Chalmers — Principles of the opposite party — Devotion to THE CONTRACT — An illustration — ]\Ir. Gladstone on Dr. Norman Macleod— What the Evangelicals really contended for — Lord Cockbum on the relations of the Civil Courts to the Church 120-159 CHAPTER IX. PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. Government appealed to — Mr. Buchanan and IMr. Dunlop as deputies in London — Interview with Lord Melbourne — Meetings with the Politicians — Lord Aber- deen's Bill — Marquis of Breadalbane — Threats in Parliament — Duke of Argyle's Bill — Claim of Right rejected — The Forty — Sir James Graham does not fulfil the hopes of the Church Extension Deputation — Letters to Mr. Dunlop and Dr. Harry Rainy— Dr. Buchanan and Sir Robert Peel — The Strathbogie ministers — Too late repentance of the Tory Statesmen 160-208 CHAPTER X. THE DISRUPTION TIMES. Encouraging letter from the Marquis of Lome — Chalmers on the Whig and Tory Ministries — State or People — Lord Cockbum's account of the Disruption — Letters from the Assembly of 1843 — Speech in Canonmills — Last sermon in the Tron — CONTENTS. IX First semion iu the Free Church — Scene in the City Hall — Degree of D.D. — Church History Chair in Glasgow University — Busy days — The Glasgow Assembly — Strength of the Free Church — Its Finance — Its Missions — Its catho- licity— Site-refusing — Call of Dr. Guthrie to London — Claims of the Metropolis recognized — The Inverness Assembly — Dr. Macdonald's famous text — Culloden — Letters from the Assembly Hall — Dochfour — Chalmers, Candlish, Guthrie, and Begg — Chai-acter of the times 209-257 CHAPTER XL PROBLEMS OF FINANCE. Principle of a Sustentation Fund — Chalmers pronounced Utopian — The Reality — Dr. Buchanan designated to the Convenership*— Success of his hrst efforts — Professor MUJer — The djTiamics and mechanics of the Fund — Paper read before the Statistical Society — First two Secretaries — Collectors — Eipial Dividend — Modifications — Surplus Fimd — Principles ascertained — Ministerial incomes in the Free Church — Dr. Buchanan's conclusions — Effect of Giving on Church work — Progress — Last letter from Rome 258-287 CHAPTER XII. THE WRITING OF THE STORY. Two possible Historians — Publication of " The Ten Years' Conflict " — Opinions of Mr. Dunlop, Lord Jeffrey, Mr. Smith of Jordan Hill, and others — Letter from Mr. Gladstone— The Ten Years' Rebuilding 288-299 CHAPTER XIII. MISSION WORK IN THE WTND8. Mr. W. Campbell of Tillichewan — The Wynds — First evangelistic efforts of the Free Tron Church — The SchooLmuster in the Wynds — Glasgow Church Statistics — Speeches in Presbytery and General Assembly — New Building Society — The erection of the Wynd Church — Workers in the territory — Offshoots — BuUding of the Bridgegate, Trinity, Barony, and Augustine Churches — Extraordinary success — Characteristics of the mission — Dr. Buchanan's relation to it.. 300-338 CHAPTER XIV. TRAVEL. Furloughs — Interest in foreign countries — Paris — Brussels — Holland — Switzerland — Free C'hurch of the Canton de Vaud — The Holy Land — Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives — The Dead Sea — Lake of Galilee— A yacht-voyage to Norway — Appreciation of natural beauty 339-360 CHAPTER XV. THREATENED RENEWAL OF THE CONFLICT. The Cardross Case — Joy of adversaries— Position of the Free Church — What might have happened if the Erastian view had been enforced — Lord Deas — Break- down of the Prosecution — Correspondence with Mr. M'Millan — Mr. Dunlop on Liberty of Conscience — Dr. Buchanan's speech in 1860 — Christ and Caesar — X CONTENTS, The Scottish Bench now knows no such institution as a Church — A union between Church and State on Confession of Faith principles no longer possible 361-385 CHAPTER XVI. HONOUES. Translation to the College Church — Chosen Moderator of General Assembly— Dr. Cunningham^Tercentenary of the Reformation — The Revival — Dr. Cand- lish's congratulations — Presentation of four thousand guineas — Characteristic letters — Dr. Buchanan's fame as a financier 386-402 CHAPTER XVII. BEGINNING OF THE UNION MOVEMENT. A postponed duty — Drs. Chalmers, Candlish, and Cunningham in 1843 — Proix)sal made in 1863 — Dr. Buchanan's speech — Dr. Charles Brown — A clear under- standing of the issues — Dr. Gibson's amendment — Mr. Dunlop — Dr. Begg 403-424 CHAPTER XVIII. OVERCASTING OF THE SKY. Fniit of first year's Conferences — Common principles — Differences — The shadow of a doubt — Dr. Buchanan anticipates it — His arguments for proceeding — Dr. Julius Wood's opposition — Increasing hostility to the movement — The crisis of 1867 — Charges of inconsistency — Dr. Buchanan on Voluntaryism as understood by him in 1835 and in 1865 — Dr. Cunningham on the weight to be attached to a theoretical difference 425-443 CHAPTER XIX. THE CONTROVERSY. Too soon to tell the Story of the Controversy— An incredible theory— The true explanation— Appearance of two tendencies — Misunderstanding — Revival of Moderatism — National Religion — Correspondence — A Scottish Church- man 444-472 CHAPTER XX. THE NATIONAL CHDECH OP THE FDTUBE. The Church after 1843— Union Movement— A new issue raised— Two views— Plan in 1865 — Anti-Patronage Deputation— Mr. Gladstone's Answer— The hereditary claim — A coup d'etat— Dr. Buchanan on the Patronage Act— Lord Ardmillan— Letter to Mr. Dodds— Conclusions 473-490 CHAPTER XXL REVOLUTION IN THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL SCHOOL SYSTEM. The Parochial Schools— Compulsory Free Church Scheme— Dr. Robert Macdonald — New National System— Result of a sectarian policy— Glasgow Normal School— School Board 491-499 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XXII. A CITIZEN OV GLASGOW. Motto on coat of arms — Sabbath trains — Bible Society — Irish famine — Penny Sav- ings Banks — Interest in educational institutions — The university — Principalship of Free Church College — Loch Katrine Water Scheme — General interest in the city. 500-514 CHAPTER XXIII. LAST YEAR AT HOME. Death of Dr. Candlish — Last interview between Candlish and Buchanan — Letters — Union with Reformed Presbyterian Church — Proposed visit to Rome — Personal influence — Last speech on Sustentation Fund — Dr. Roxburgh — Preparation for visiting Italy — Free Church Continental Charges 515-531 CHAPTER XXIV. ROME. Journey from England — The Carnival — First imjiressions — Garibaldi and Gavazzi — Sight-seeing — Tivoli and the Appian Way — Chiesa Libera and the Waldenses — Roman Protestantism — Imxwrtance of Free Church Station — Appii Forum and the Three Taverns — Roman climate — Meeting of Presbytery — Italian infidelity — Need of a Luther — Last illness — Death 532-550 CHAPTER XXV. THE NECROPOLIS. A city of the dead — Dr. Buchanan's grave — The two funerals — Conveyance home of the remains — Streets of Glasgow on 18th of May 1875 — Family left behind 551-555 CHAPTER XXVL "A grave and stately figure" — His "splendid courtesy" — A reproach — Dr. Rox- burgh on his personal character — Appreciation of humour — Kindliness — A sailor's testimony — Dr. Goold— Exposition of Ecclesiastes — His consistency — \Vhat changes he had seen — Dr. Cairns — Lord Moncrieff— The end 556-574 DR ROBEET BUCIIANAK CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE, AND MINISTRY AT GARGUNNOCK. Robert Buchanan was born on the 15th of August 1802, at St. Ninians, near Stirling, where his father carried on the combined business of a brewery and farm. At the usual age he was sent to the Parish School of his native villarre ; and there, and at another school in the neighbouring town, he acquired such a knowledge of Latin and Greek as qualified him for entering the University in 1817. The greater part of his undergraduate course was taken in Glasgow, whither his parents had in the meantime removed ; but he went to Edinburgh for his last year in the Arts, and there also he studied Divinity. Not much can now be recalled of this early period of his life ; but one thing is well remembered, — that when at one time he himself was inclined to turn to a secular profession, it was the influence of his pious and excellent mother which secured his devotion to the Church. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Dunblane. His term of probation as a licentiate was very brief For some years he had acted as tutor in the family of the Drummonds of Blair-Drummond, and through their influence 2 CALL TO GARGUNNOCK. he was presented, in October 1826, to the Parish of Gargun- nock. That he well deserved this distinction was soon made apparent to all, but at first the settlement threatened to be not entirely harmonious. Some of the people had set their hearts on another good man, the late Mr. Leitch of Stirling ; and this preference was strengthened by the consideration that Mr. Buchanan had preached his very first sermon from their pulpit, and had then nearly "stuck" in one of his prayers. This tradition about the prayer lingers in Gar- gunnock to this day, along with the explanation that when the young preacher stood up to lead the devotions of the con- gregation, he was startled and discomposed by the entrance into the church of a band of friends from Stirling. This little hitch, however, was easily got over ; and when the call was moderated in, on the 18th of January 1827 (Mr. Dempster of Denny presiding on the occasion), it was signed by " many heads of families," and at once sustained by the Presbytery. A correspondent, who was himself a student of divinity at this time, writes that he heard Mr. Buchanan, immediately before his ordination, preach for the late Dr. Bennie of Stirling. " His text," he says, " was Luke ii. 13 and 14. The discourse was a masterly one, and made a deep impression on my mind. His manner was calm, measured, and dignified, yet very earnest and impressive — and, after the service, there were many inquiries made as to who the young man was." By this time the Evangelical movement which issued in the Disruption of the Church had begun. Dr. Andrew Thomson had reached the zenith of his power as Editor of the Christian Instructor, and already he had done much to rouse the country to a sense of the evils of Moderatism and of the need for Bible circulation and the preaching of the doctrines of grace. How Mr. Buchanan became so well ORDINATION. 8 acquainted with Dr. Thomson, we do not know. It is more than probable that he sat for a time under his ministry. But certain it is that he spent some of his last hours in Edinburgh before ordination in the house of the minister of St. George's, and that he entered on the work of his first charge in a large degi'ee under the spell of his influence. The ordination took place on the 6th of March 1827, Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Bonar of Larbert preaching and presiding. A tremendous snowstorm came on the day before. It has been described as " the greatest snowstorm of the century." While it lasted, a neighbouring minister, already alluded to (Mr. Leitch, then of Gartmore), had his communion, and Dr. Hamilton of Strathblane was engaged to assist him. Dr. Hamilton set out from home to fulfil his engagement, and proceeded a considerable distance ; but the road at length became impassable, and he was obliged to return. Happily for Mr. Buchanan, the worst had not come by the time that he required to reach Gargunnock. He set out from Edinburgh on horseback, and was able, by forced marches, to arrive at his destination, not quite at the hour appointed, it is said, but sufficiently near to it to allow the Presbytery to proceed. Such a ride, undertaken under such circumstances, was not likely to be forgotten, and the whole details of it seemed to be present to him even in the later years of his life. Gargunnock lies about six miles west of Stirling. It is bounded on the east and south by St. Ninians, and on the west by Kippen, Balfron, and Fintry, while the River Forth separates it on the north from Kilmadock and Kincardine. It is beautifully situated, and the scenery of the whole district is attractive in the highest degree. Nor is it without interest historically. Several objects, for example, are pointed out — among others, a fort — which are associated with the patriotic enterprise of Sir William Wallace. But more. 4 ■ HIS PARISH. perhaps, to the present purpose, is the fact that this parish was one of the few which shared largely in the spiritual blessing which came with the great Revival of 1742. "In the parish of Gargunnock," says Robe, in his " Narrative," " there are, as I am well informed, near a hundred persons awakened. There were some of them awakened at Kilsyth, when the Lord's Supper was given on the second Sabbath in July ; others at Campsie, when it was given on the last Sabbath of said month ; others at St. Ninians, when that sacrament was given on the first Sabbath of August. Upon the Thursday thereafter there were eighteen awakened in their own church while the Rev. John Warden, their own aged and diligent pastor, preached to them. There was also a considerable awakening the week thereafter — the minister of Campsie, his son, preaching there. The minister of the parish hath always had a singular dexterity in instructing and dealing with the consciences of the people under his charge." The predecessors of Mr. Buchanan, in the cure of Gargun- nock, were not all of the stamp of good Mr. Warden. Still later in the century, the parish had as its minister a Mr. Thomson, who achieved for himself a peculiarly unenviable place in the Church History of Scotland. He was presented to St. Ninians, but was vehemently opposed. Not regarding the opposition, however, he persisted in the assertion of what he believed to be his legal rights, and after a contest which raged in the Ecclesiastical Courts for seven long years, he succeeded in making good his entry into the coveted sphere. But the Church paid dear for his victory. A Relief Congre- gation was forthwith formed, which has continued till this day to be one of the largest in the country. A single ministry, if maintained for a good many years, tells more and longer, we believe, than many imagine ; and although, after an interval of half a century, it would be THE CHURCH AND MANSE. 6 impossible to trace distinctly any of the evil fruits of Mr. Thomson's labours, yet some of these fruits without doubt remained even till 1827. Anyhow, it is far from being improbable that among his more godly parishioners Mr. Buchanan found some who were inheritors of promises made to their ancestors in the days of the Kilsyth awakenings. Dr. Robertson, afterwards of South Leith, was minister of Gargunnock when Sir John Sinclair's " Statistical Account of Scotland" was being prepared, and the description of the parish which appears there is from his pen. He tells (per- haps with some feeling) that the manse was built for a bachelor, and was too small for the accommodation of a family. It has since been added to, we understand, but that was not in the days of Mr. Buchanan, — who nevertheless married, on the 5 th of March 1828, his first wife. Miss Handy side. " Few houses of the kind are more pleasantly situated," but its size was certainly a disadvantage. The church was not perfect, either, as an ecclesiastical edifice. It was and is a somewhat ungainly building, with outside stairs leading to the " lofts" or galleries above, and old-fashioned outside shutters closing in the windows during the ordinary days of the week. But some ancient incumbent had looked far above and beyond the unattractive features of the place. A little gate in the sun'ounding wall connects the churchyard with the manse. Through this each Sunday the minister passes to reach the pulpit ; and here, on a very old stone which forms the lintel, this inscription is engraven : " Hac itur ad astra." It seems rather a hijjh-soundino: motto in such a connection, but we cannot doubt that it was piety, not ambition, which inspired it ; and who can tell how much of a stimulating influence it has exerted on the successive preachers who have read it on their way to the exercise of their office as ambassadors for Christ in the unpretending sanctuary ! 6 HIS FIRST ASSEMBLY. The population of the parish was almost entirely agricul- tural ; and this circumstance, joined to the secluded situation of his cure, made Mr. Buchanan's life at this time very still and unexciting. But this was no disadvantage to him. He had time to devote himself to study and pastoral work, and he seems to have made the fullest use of the opportunities offered. He not only preached twice every Sabbath, but he added — what was by no means common at the period — a week-evening service. (A course of lectures which he de- livered on the Wanderings of the Israelites in the Wilderness is still spoken of in the district.) Sabbath schools also were commenced by him, with large attendances ; and he is still remembered as an assiduous visitor and catechiser of old and young, and as unusually faithful in the exercise of discipline. Altogether, the impression one gets of him is that of an earnest, whole-hearted, evangelical minister ; and we do not wonder that when, at the end of three years, he was invited to move into another part of the vineyard, his departure was regarded with universal regret. We may only further add that, alonef with Dr. Moodie of Clackmannan and Mr. Bonar of Larbert, he represented his Presbytery in the Assembly of 1829 — that famous Assembly in which Dr. Inglis was able to announce, on the part of the Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, that £5000 had been collected for the establishment of a mission in India, and that a suit- able agent — Mr. Duff — had been found willing to proceed to the East to begin the work. The Apocrypha controversy had then commenced. A fresh interest had been awakened in the circulation of the Scriptures. And among the contri- butions to the Bible Society acknowledged in the Christian Instructor of the day, is one of considerable amount from Gargunnock, transmitted " by the hands of the Rev. Mr. Buchanan." CHAPTER II. THREE YEARS IN EAST LOTHIAN. After a short pastorate of three years at Gargunnock, Mr. Buchanan was translated to the parish of Salton, in East Lothian. How this came about, we have not been able to learn. But one link between the two districts is known to have existed at the time, and that may, as has been suggested, have had something to do with the transference. The patron of Salton, Mr. Fletcher, had a brother resident in Stirlingshire, and might have become acquainted with the young minister of Gargunnock through him. Certain it is that it had become imperative to get a good and superior man for the vacant parish. Mr. Buchanan's immediate predecessor there had almost ruined the interests of the Church of Scotland in the district. " Religion," we have been informed, " had sunk, under his ministry, to the lowest ebb. Vice and Sabbath- breaking prevailed to a scandalous extent. Children in gi'cat numbers were growing up in ignorance and ungodliness. The parish church was all but deserted, the few worshippers sitting in it 'like crows in a mist!' And a large proportion of the people had become Dissenters, and had joined the Seceding churches in the town of Haddington." Whatever might have happened to be the private sentiments of the patron, he could not view such a state of matters with any satisfaction ; and in looking round for a person whom he 8 TRANSLATION TO S ALTON, could trust to rally the cause of the Establishment, it was his special good fortune to have his attention directed to one who possessed very peculiar qualifications for the office. Perhaps, too, it was no drawback to Mr. Buchanan, in the Laird of Sal ton's eyes, that he had in addition the qualities which fitted him for mingling in refined society. Once before, at least, a candidate for this same cure had failed of success, not through any defects in his doctrine or literature, but because he had borne himself uncouthly in the dining-room at the Hall. It counted, therefore, we cannot doubt, as a point in the new presentee's favour, that he had not only been a successful minister, but was unmistakably a gentleman. Salton is a small parish two miles by three in extent, and it had in 1831 a population of eight hundred. It lies seven- teen miles east from Edinburgh, and is distant four miles from the county town of Haddington. It is beautifully diversified by hill and dale, extensive woods, and highly cultivated farms. With the exception of some workmen employed in making bricks and burning lime, the population is almost exclusively agricultural. On many accounts the charge was a very desir- able one. There were attached to it a good stipend, a plea- sant manse, and a valuable glebe. It was, besides, within easy distance of Edinburgh. And, to crown all, there was what must have formed a strong attraction to a young and studious minister, — an excellent theological library. This library had been founded by a former resident, Norman Leslie ; but it was afterwards greatly enriched by Bishop Burnet, who was for four years incumbent of the parish, and who bequeathed to his successors in office all his books, with a permanent endowment of fifty marks (or £5) a year to add to their number. The church is a commodious and stately edifice, with a lofty spire, situated on a commanding central height, and is seen for many miles around. DIARY. 9 "At Stirling, 16th March 1830, the Presbytery of Stirling met, wheu there appeared Dr. Hamilton and Mr. Smith, Commissioners from the Presbytery of Haddington, to prosecute the translation of the Rev. Robert Buchanan, minister of Garguunock, to the church and parish of Saltou." So runs the Minute which tells of the commencement of the process which ended in the transference of Mr. Buchanan to his new sphere ; and we are able to complete the narrative in his own words. The following are some extracts from a diary which he commenced at this time, but which, unhappily, he seems soon to have discontinued : — " April 22. — Admitted minister of this parish [Salton] by the Presby- tery of Haddington, Mr. Smith of Gifford .preaching and presiding. His text was taken from 1 Cor. ix. 16 : ' Necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is uuto me, if I preach not the gospel ! ' The reception given me by the people was most cordial and encouraging. May it be a token that a door is opened among them for my ministry. " April 25. — First of my Sabbaths in this parish. Was introduced by my friend, Dr. Gordon of Edinburgh, who preached an admirable discourse on the prophetical office of Christ. My own discourse was on the mutual obligations, as pastor and people, which we took on ourselves by the rela- tion into which we had entered. Text from Ezekiel. Church very crowded. Fear curiosity brought many to-day who will not be very constant after- wards. " May 2. — Preached on the obligations upon parents to train up their children in the knowledge and reverence of the Scriptures. Announced my purpose of opening a Sabbath school. " May 9. — After service, opened a Sabbath school in the parish school- house. Great attendance of children. Uncertain as yet how we may get on. " May 15. — Finished on the 12th my first visitation of the village of East Salton, which occupied me three days. Was gratified to find the men gene- rally at home to receive my visit, as well as their wives and children. Their homes in general seemed well kept, and more comfortable on the whole than those of a similar class at Gargunnock. Was everywhere very cordially welcomed, and my exhortations were respectfully listened to, though with what spirit and with what degree of understanding it will require a mpre intimate acquaintance with their state and character to ascertain. A few families I encountered that seemed decidedly interested in the things of reli'aon. From them I learned of the existence of a Bible Society in the parish, auxiliary to the county one. They also informed me of a monthly prayer-meeting held among them in the West Salton school- 10 PAROCHIAL PERPLEXITIES. house. My predecessor, it seems, bad given no encouragement to the Bible Society ; from what motives, does not appear. " May 17. — Began the visitation of West Saltou, being anxious to have it completed throughout the parish before dispensing the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Having no elders (for though there are two in existence, — Lord Sinclair and Mr. Horn, — their long-continued non-residence makes them of no avail here), I am without any source of information as to the state of the people — who may be communicants, and who not — and am resolved, from personal inquiry, to have a communicants' list made up before the Sabbath. " May 23. — Went to Edinburgh to attend the General Assembly. Heard an appeal from Presbytery of Irvine on the subject of enjoining parish schoolmasters to open their schools with prayer and reading a portion of Scripture, not as a lesson, but as a devotional exercise. Decided in favour of Presbytery. Among many other cases, one of very great importance was determined upon, — an application from certain parishioners in Neilston for aid to carry on a process with their heritors. [The heritors had claimed the right to roup the church seats, and to appropriate the proceeds.] " May 30. — I have now had four meetings with my Sabbath-school class. The children, upon the whole, behave with much outward propriety. Their reading, generally speaking, seems to me inferior to that of children of similar ages whom I taught at Gargunnock. Some of them, no doubt, read the Scriptures very well indeed; but a considerable number, on the other hand, get on very awkwardly : no great proof, as it seems, of the Bishop's Fund for education being productive of much benefit ; but rather an illustration of the old saying, that what is got for nothing is often little cared for. Happy to find so many of the jDarents attending, for whom there is abundant accommodation, — it having been found necessary, after the first day's meeting, to remove the class to the church, on account of the great number of children who had presented themselves for admission to the class." Under date June 2, there follows a long account of a difficulty which the young minister encountered at the outset of his visitations. He found in each of his two villages a fellowship meeting in existence, which different individuals attended, and in which laymen took their turn in the exposi- tion of the Scriptures. Should the minister of the parish be present at such meetings ? That was the question about which he was perplexed, and on which he sought the advice of, among others, Mr. Mackellar of Pencaitland, Mr. Flyter of APOCRYPHA CONTROVERSY. 11 Alness and Mr. Buchanan of North Leith. He himself wa-s disposed to think that the parochial clergyman should not attend the meetings, — except, perhaps, once a year or so for their encouracfement, when he could take the whole conduct of them into his own hands ; his chief reason for this opinion being, that it would never do for ministers to put themselves in the attitude of receiving instruction in the Word from men over whom the Church had placed them as teachers. In this view all whom he consulted concurred except Mr. Flyter, who testified that he had himself tried the thing and saw no evil results. At the same time, Mr. Flyter admitted that his neighbour, Mr. Stewart of Cromarty, had found it necessary to give over attendance at such meetings ; and Mf. Buchanan of Salton adds, on his own account, that " it is suspected that the Ross-shire ministers are a good deal in bondage to ' the men,' as they are called, — a class in the community who are .said there to arrogate to themselves the direction of religious matters. What they say, and what they influence the people to think, the minister, it is alleged, sometimes finds it neces- sary to assent to." ''June S. — "Went to Haddington to attend the annual meeting of the Bible Society. They have not raingled in the Apocrypha controversy ; having agreed, with a view to keep all parties and denominations together, to contribute neither to the London nor to the Edinburgh Society. Their funds are divided among other societies, about the purity of whose manage- ment there is no question. I have some doubts, however, whether there be not something objectionable in this neutrality. It involves us in co- operation with men who may be as unsound as any of the London Com- mittee ; whereas taking up the controversy would, if it lessened, have at the same time also purged, the Society, and given those who remained in- creased confidence in each other. And, besides, such a neutrality involves the withholding of the Society's testimony on a most important subject, and at a time when it appears so many are unsound upon it ; withholding it not only from the public and from the Church, but also from a Society — the Edinburgh — which, by its distinguished eiforts in the cause of the ' pure Word,' has earned a title to the acknowledgments of all to whom that cause is dear. The attendance of ministers was considerable, but the 12 THE SECEDERS. general audience was small. Report written and read by Mr. Thomson, Prestonkirk. ^^ June 10. — A meeting was held to-day of the trustees of Bishop Burnet's Fund. Only Mr. Fletcher and myself present. Filled up the vacancies, and ordered the children's clothing, but deferred the examina- tion of accounts and of the general state of the funds till the 5th July, till which day the meeting was adjourned. '•'■ Jvly 6. — Meeting of Presbytery at Haddington. I applied for assessors to act with me in forming a kirk-session, and discharging its functions in my present want of an eldership. The Presbytery complied with my request, and nominated Messrs. Mackellar and Abernethy to act with me. " October 28. — A meeting of inhabitants of the parish took place in the church, in consequence of an intimation made the previous Sabbath, to form a parish Bible Society. The meeting was very numerously attended. I delivered an address on the objects and prospects of the Bible Society cause, after which regulations for the government of the Society were adopted, and a list of office-bearers elected. " November 26. — Lectured this evening on the Fulfilled Prophecies of Scripture, — the fii'st lecture of a series to be continued occasionally during the winter. Church about two-thirds filled." In the whole of the diary from which the above extracts are taken, there is no reference whatever to the existence of Dissent in the parish. Yet it is certain there was a good deal of it ] and among those who attended the fellowship meetings spoken of, there were, without any doubt, some — perhaps many — who worshipped on the Sabbath in the Secession con- gregations of Haddington. This ignoring of the currents outside the Establishment is in its way significant. The Evangelical clergy of the time had not a little of the High Church spirit ; and there was no one who, in the later years of his life, was so ready as Dr. Buchanan to acknowledge that in his youth he had often done scanty justice to those who had kept the lights burning when the National Church was, to a great extent, in darkness. It is still remembered in Salton, that at a Bible Society's meeting — probably it was the very one noticed above — a Seceder minister rose from among the audience to make a speech, and was summarily set now HE FULFILLED HIS WORK. 13 down by the chairman. Mr. Buclianan, in what he did, was, we can imagine, entirely in order. The minister may have indicated in some way that he was about to support the friends of the Apocrypha, or those who wished to maintain the neutrality which existed at Haddington, or he may have come to a parish meeting without the qualification of being himself a parishioner ; but the people put upon his summary suppression their own interpretation. They saw in it, and we dare say they were so far right, something of that super- ciliousness with which the clergy of the then powerful Established Church treated their Seceding brethren, and which, by-and-by, did a good deal to embitter the Voluntary controversy. With regard to the results of Mr. Buchanan's three years' pastorate in Salton, we cannot do better than quote the words of the Rev. Arthur Thomson, now minister of the Free Church at Yester : — " Having been minister at Salton," says he, " for twenty years, I can testify that his [Mr. Buchanan's] pastorate was invariably spoken of by all classes in terms of deepest grati- tude, as marking the beginning of a new and blessed period in the annals of the parish. He visited regularly from house to house. Moral and religious statistics were carefully gleaned, clearly and comprehensively arranged, and patiently submitted to the consideration of all persons of influence in the community. Elders were ordained, the kirk-session having long ceased to exist. The first Sabbath school in connection with the Established Church was set agoinjr. On the Lord's day, the Scriptures were clearly expounded, 'verse by verse ; ' the greater part of the Acts of the Apostles having been gone over in this way. The gospel of the glory of God was proclaimed from the pulpit in all its fulness ; and some have told me, and I have no doubt many others felt, that the 14 SPIRITUAL FRUIT. glad tidings came home to their hearts and consciences as for the first time. Very soon every department of pastoral work was so thoroughly organized, that Mr. Buchanan's successor at Salton was often heard affirming that everything was in such perfect order, that he had merely to carry forward what had been commenced. Vice and irreligion in their open and gross forms were dealt with so firmly, wisely, and efiectually by the new minister of the parish, that they soon disappeared ; and a marked difference for the better was observed in the whole external aspect of things, — especially on Sabbath-day and in the house of prayer, which was soon filled to the door. There is reason to believe that the Great Head of the Church was there, as elsewhere all over Scotland, preparing the people for the sifting crisis of 1843, and that the parishioners of Salton then acquired a love for an evangelical ministry, which many subsequent events have amply proved remains unabated to this day. In illustration of this, I may mention an incident of 1843, when Mr. [afterwards Principal] Fair- bairn cast in his lot with the Free Church of Scotland. One of the most sagacious men in the parish remained in connec- tion with the Established Church. The patron consulted him as to the sort of successor he should appoint in place of Mr. Fairbairn. The astute agriculturist at once answered : ' What- ever you do, Mr. Fletcher, if you please, don't put in a Moderate ; for we canna cZesgest \sic\ a Moderate after such ministers as we have had,' — such men as Buchanan, Hamil- ton, and Fairbairn. " To what extent the highest ends of Dr. Buchanan's min- istiy at Salton were realized, the Great Day alone will declare. It does not admit of doubt that the Master owned and blessed the labours of his faithful servant, and that as preached by him the gospel was the power of God unto salvation. There still lives in the village of East Salton a most excellent and HISTORY OF ST. GEORGE S. 15 estimable and Christian woman, now well nigh fourscore years old, who has always testified that she was brought to the Saviour by the instrumentality of Mr. Buchanan, who repeatedly visited her in the house of her master (the well- known Lord Gillies, then resident at Herdmanston, in the parish of Salton), during a season of severe and protracted sickness. No minister of the gospel could desire a more satisfactory seal to his ministry. For more than forty years this woman, by the grace of God, in the midst of sore and manifold trials, has really adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. It was not, I believe, until 1872, when Dr. Buchanan had occasion to visit Haddington on business connected with the Sustentation Fund, that he heard for the first time of this fruit of his early ministry; and I can never forget the grateful emotion which beamed in his coun- tenance when he heard of the works of faith and labours of love of this humble but most devout and really honourable woman. * Cast thy bread upon the watei-s, and thou shalt find it after many days.' " Reference has been made to Mr. Buchanan's early inter- course with Dr. Andrew Thomson. Mr. Maclagan, in his interesting " History of St. George's," mentions another circumstance which connects their names together. Dr. Thomson literally died in harness. He preached in his own church on the forenoon of the last Sabbath he spent on earth ; and on the succeeding Wednesday he was present at a meeting of the Edinburgh Presbytery, and took part in its business. It was his last work, however. He walked homeward from the meeting in company with a friend, and made no complaint to him of illness. But as he was about to enter his house in Melville Street, he suddenly fell down, and died in a moment. This was on the 9 th of February 1831. Mr. Buchanan at that date had just been about ten 16 DEATH OF DR. THOMSON. months in Salton. It was possibly to give some relief to the overburdened minister of St. George's, that he had come into town for the 6th, and had taken for him the afternoon service of that day. Anyhow, the very last sermon to which Dr. Thomson listened, was preached by one who was himself, for many a long year afterwards, to help to keep alight the torch of evangelical truth in Scotland. Mr. Buchanan attended the after-meeting of Presbytery referred to, and heard Dr. Thomson speak there. The same evening, while dining with Dr. Gordon, a note was handed in, which, in the midst of the conversation, was not immediately opened. When it was at last read. Dr. Gordon became speechless with emotion. It was an announcement of the fact that the Church had been, with awful suddenness, deprived of the leader whose tongue and hand appeared at the time to be most indispensable to it. The sound of his voice was, as it seemed, still ringing in their ears, and already he had passed from them into the silence of eternity. The death produced a profound impression over all the country ; but we may well believe it was, in the circumstances, felt as a peculiarly solemn event by the young minister of Salton. CHAPTER III. THE NEW EPOCH. The years which Mr. Buchanan spent in Salton were stirring and memorable years in the public history of the country. Another French Revolution had taken place (in 1830), and although it would scarcely be correct to say that the very same " political humcane " by which it was produced crossed the Channel and swept over England as well, still this is cer- tainly true, that as in the deepest and quietest bays the waves break restlessly on the shore when there has been a storm out at sea, so society in Great Britain became everywhere more or less disturbed in sympathy with the agitation which about this time was convulsing the neighbouring nations of the Continent. Nor was the excitement here altoirether uncalled for. Our Government was nominally a representative one, but the representation, as all are now ready to admit, was a good deal of a mockery. The members of Parliament, for example, for the great city of Glasgow, were chosen not by a fair pro- portion even of the propertied inhabitants, but by the Town Council, whicli was self-elective, and which included a member- ship of only some thirty persons. Long before, at various times, cries for Reform had arisen ; but these had been sup- pressed, and there were not wanting many thoughtful men who would, had they been able, have put down the similar IS TURN OF THE TIDE. demand which sprang up anew now. The cry, however, which broke out at this period was too loud and persistent to be disregarded; and if the agitation did not end in London as in Paris with a revolution and the erection of a " Column of Jul}'-," this was owing in a good measure to King William the Fourth, who had wit enough to see the imperativeness of the popular demand, and to concede it. There are still surviving some who have a vivid remembrance of those days, and the accounts they give all confirm the statement of a historian that the nation had never before been so much in earnest since the days of the Long Parliament. The remark is a trite one, but it is true, that history goes by cycles. If from 1789 we date the commencement of the modern era in Europe, we may with equal justice affirm tliat a new page of life was opened for Scotland about 1830. Then a tidal wave began to be visible, which is not yet per- haps wholly spent ; and in tracing the career of a public man who lived through the generation that followed, and took a leading part in the direction of events, it is impossible to pro- ceed without stopping occasionally to survey his surroundings. With this in view, therefore, it may be useful to say a word or two, at this point, on the subject of the turning of the poHtical tide. The Revolution in France affected so sensibly the elections which took place in England during the autumn of 1830, that when Parliament met in November its progressive character was made apparent at once. The Tory Ministry under the Duke of Wellington was beaten in the first testing vote, and the Whigs came into power with Earl Grey as Premier. After a short prorogation, the House of Commons met again in February 1831 ; and on March 31, Lord John Russell's Reform Bill was carried by a majority of one. But the Liberal leaven had not gone veiy deep into the Parliament then sit- I'ARLIAiMENTARY STRUGGLK. 19 ting, and when the Bill began to be mangled in committee, the Ministry refused to go forward with it, and made an appeal to the country. The new Parliament assembled in June, and was soon discovered to reflect more perfectly the mind of the nation, for the second reading was now carried by a majority of 1 3G. But all was not then gained. The measure had to run the gauntlet of the House of Lords, and there, as was fully expected, its progress was arrested ; the Peers, by a vote of 199 to 158, declaring emphatically that, in their opinion, there was no need for any change. The House of Commons, however, refused to bow to the deliverance. By a fresh vote it reafiirmed its former judgment ; and when it met anew, in December, after the recess, the Bill was reintroduced and sent up to the Lords once more. The story of the career of the Reform Bill in the Upper House is one of the most exciting in Parliamentary history. Nothing could be more distasteful than it was to many of the hereditary legislators ; and several expedients were resorted to with a view to its suppression, or to the removal of its most objectionable features. For one, the plan was tried of allowing it to pass a second readinsr, and then extracting: its sting in committee. But the Whigs refused to accept the composition. Then the duke was asked to resume the reins of oflice, and to introduce a Reform Bill of his own, which might take the wind out of the enemy's sails ; but Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the party in the House of Commons, declined to support the arrangement. And at last there seemed nothing for it but to cut the else impracticable knot. The consent of the king was got to the creation of as many new Peers as were necessary to secure a majority, and the Lords, alarmed at the prospect thus opened up of the degradation of their order, most reluctantly succumbed. The opponents of the Bill would not consent to vote for it, but a sufficient number 20 EFFECTS OF REFORM BILL. ' of non-contents stayed away to allow it to pass ; and it accordingly became law in the month of June 1832. And the change in the spirit of the country appeared at once. The first Reformed Parliament met on the 29th of January 1838, and among the first measures which it passed were one for the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, and another for the protection of young people in factories ; the latter of the two being introduced by Lord Ashley, afterwards and still (1877) the Earl of Shaftesbury. But the quickening of the national life at this time did not tell only on the philanthropists. It also aflTected more or less all the ecclesiastical societies of the kingdom ; and in particular it gave, in Scotland, a distinct impulse to two movements, both of which had their springs or fountainheads in the far past, but which, previously to the Reform agitation, had been proceeding, the one almost like a stream underground, the other with such unobtrusiveness that it had failed to awaken on its behalf anything like enthusiasm. We refer, on the one hand, to the fierce agitation which sprung up for the abolition of the connection between Church and State ; and on the other, to that struggle for popular election within the Church, which resulted in 1834 in the passing of the Veto Act. These movements, we repeat, did not originate with the Reform Bill, or with the commotions which preceded it. The principles of Voluntaryism had been virtually adopted by a section of the Seceders so long before as 1795 ; and although they were not all at once pressed to their practical conse- quences, there can be no doubt that during the interval their significance was always becoming clearer, and their hold on the minds of those wlio professed tlioin more and more firm. When Dr. Marshall of Kirkintilloch, therefore, sounded his note of defiance in his famous Glasgow sermon in 1829, the response it evoked was in his own denomination instan- KLECTRIC CHARACTER OF THE TIME. 21 taneous, and a controversy afterwards began which compelled the adherents of the Establishment to fight as for their hearths and altars. It is equally true that the demaml made within the Church on behalf of the people had a far deeper spring than the democratic instinct of the period. The claim which was then put forward was itself as old as the Reformation ; and formed, indeed, an article in tlie Church's constitution. And, besides, events of a more recent date had been operating with tremendous force in the direction of the overthrow of Patronage long before the political cry for Reform had become articulate. We refer, of course, to the Ecclesiastico-Evangelical movement which, under Andrew Thomson and Thomas Chal- mers, had begun to tell everywhere on society in Scotland. At the same time, while keeping these things in view, we must admit it to be a fact, and in its way a not uninteresting fact, that both movements were contemporaneous with the political revolution which marks the commencement of the strictly modem era in the civil history of Scotland, and that that revolution had not a little to do in quickening even the ecclesiastical currents that were then running through the land. And we may think of this without any discomfort, whatever be our personal opinions on the subjects controverted in these days. For although there was then a great deal of false political economy abroad, and the people deluded them- selves with foolish hopes that could never be realized in the way they expected, yet what was at the root of the agitations was alwa3-s a more or less intelligent demand for "justice," — a desire that the good God had given might be shared by as many of his creatures as possible, and a determination that privileges should be enjoyed only by those who deserved them. It helps us to realize the more vividly the electiic charac- ter of those times, to observe the effect they seem to have had 22 HERESY TRIALS. even on theological thought and general literature. Mr. Camp- bell-of Row was ordained in 1825, and he had not been two years in the ministry when it became plain to all who heard him that he was leaving the beaten tracks. A keen con- troversy at once sprang up in the pages of the Gltrldian Instructor and elsewhere, and at last ended in a trial for heresy. The case came first before the Assembly of 1830 ; but it was then remitted to the Presbytery of Dumbarton to proceed by libel, and the issue was the deposition of Mr. Campbell in 1831.* The movement, however, which he inaugurated, did not end at this point. No thoroughly earnest man was ever long left without followers in those exciting days ; and among the men who drank of the charmed spring on the Gareloch, and then struck out new and still more extravagant paths for themselves, were Edward Irving, and Principal Scott, afterwards of Owen's College, Manchester. Mr. Scott's name was erased from the list of the Church's probationers in 1831 ; and if the proceedings taken in the case of Mr. Irving were conducted more slowly, this was owing to the circumstance that he had become a minister in London, and was thus "furth" of the kingdom. But Mr. Irving, though let alone at first, did not hide his light under a bushel. We have been seeing that from 1829 onwards the feeling of the country was at fever heat in the matter of politics. It may be said, with equal truth, that during the same period the religious world of Scotland was as much excited on the subject of theological doctrine. Like all men * " I hold and teach," said Mr. Campbell, " that Christ died for all men; that the propitiation which he made for sin was for all the sins of all mankind ; that those for wliom he gave liimHclf an offering and a sacrifice niito God for a sweet-smelling savour were the children of men, without excej^tion and without distinction." Further, and as a corollary from that, he thought that pardon was the gift of God to all, and that saving faith was ju.st the individual realization of the fact that God is so reconciled to men. In bliort, Mr. ( 'airipl)eirH view of tl)e gospel was sulwtaii- tially that taught later in the day by Maurice. EDWARD IRVING. 23 of strong convictions and perfervid mind, Mr. Irving was an eager propagandist ; and from the beginning of the year indi- cated he made the whole country ring with his teaching. Not only from his own pulpit of Regent Square, but in the pages of a periodical started for the occasion — The Morning Watdt — and in his public lectures in Edinburgh and elsewhere, he delivered a series of bold and unprovoked attacks upon the orthodoxy of the country. Such a course could not but lead to judicial action. His views of the Atonement and of Christ's human nature, and his accejitance as divine manifesta- tions of those extraordinary "tongues" which were heard first at Row, compelled his mother-Cliurch to interfere ; and in March 1833 he was cut off from its communion by the Presbytery of Annan. These bald facts and dates, however, give no idea of the commotion which he created. To have any conception of that, one must realize the man, his piety, his sincerity, and his eloquence ; and one nmst listen to those survivors who can tell of hearing his lectures on Prophecy delivered to crowds at six o'clock in the morninff. There are very many fewer "heresy trials" in the Church history of Scotland than her enemies imagine. But it is a sirrnificant fact that during 1830—34- there w^ere more such than ever occurred in any former period ; and we note it here, not so much as proving the increasing fidelity of the Church, but as illustrating the revolutionary character of the time. An intense spirit of inc^uiry was abroad, and the old ecclesiastical landmarks were not, any more than the political, respected by the innovators of the age. We may close these references to the times upon which Mr. Buchanan was now entering as a public man, by giving one more proof of the fact that they denoted in many ways the commencement of a new historical era. Mr. Stopford Brooke, in his Macmillan Primer on English Literature, 24 EFFECT ON LITEKATURE. says that after Cowper there was no longer any large wave of public thought or feeling that could awaken poetry. But he goes on to say : " With the Reform agitation, and the new religious agitation at Oxford, which was of the same date, a new excitement, or a new form of the old, came on England, and with it a new tribe of poets arose, among whom we live. The elements of their poetry were also new, though their germs were sown in the previous poetry. It took up theo- logical, sceptical, social, and political questions. It gave itself to metaphysics and to analysis of human character. It carried the love of natural scenery into almost every county in Eng- land, and described the whole land." Mr. Brooke thinks that the wave is spent ; that the impulse given in 1832 is exhausted. "Within the last ten years," says he, "the impulse given in '32 has died away. The vital interest in theological and social questions, in human questions of the present, has decayed, and the same thing which we find in the case of Keats has again taken place. A new class of literar}'- poets has arisen, who have no care for a present they think dull, for religious questions to which they see no end. They too have gone back to Greek and medieval and old Norse life for their subjects. They find much of tlieir inspiration in Italy and in Chaucer ; but they continue to love poetry, and the poetry of natural description." In these thoughtful remarks Mr. Stopford Brooke has only England in his mind, but they apply in spirit to Scotland as well. It is unquestionable that appearances are a good deal in favour of the idea that the "slack" of the tide has come. At the same time, it is very doubtful, indeed, whether we have really yet reached the close of the epoch. All the religious movements of the Reform period have effloresced into energetic associations, and the ends for which they HAS THE EBB COME < 25 were called into existence remain as yet unacconiplishod. It is more than probable that the tendency is still onward, and that what is to be seen at pi-esent is not the final ebb of the wave, but only its momentary subsidence ; for the history of the Ritualism into which the Oxford movement developed is obviously not yet finished, and the providential reasons are still to be made more clear for the forced formation of a new and powerful Protesting Church, as the very unexpected issue of the Scottish ecclesiastical revival of 1S34. CHAPTER IV. SETTLEMENT IN GLASGOW. When the Tron Church, Glasgow, became vacant in 1814, by the removal of Dr. MacGill to a Professor's chair, the appointment of a new minister was regarded as a very serious business indeed. Mr. Chalmers of Kilmany was named by some as a suitable candidate, but there were others who had no hesitation in pronouncing him "mad;" and a fierce contest arose for the securing of the votes of the thirty-one Town Councillors, with whom lay the power to nominate to the office. In those days the patrons had no notion of trans- ferring their privileges to the people more immediately con- cerned. As a matter of fact, they had a civil right conferred upon them — the right to say who should have the cure of souls in a certain district of the city — and they allowed them- selves to become, with reference to it, the objects of a canvass as keen as if the covet(!d post had been that of Provost or Town-clerk. " I have this instant," writes good Dr. Jones of Edinburgh, when all was over, " received the accounts from Glasgow, that the battle — the great battle — has been fought, and the victory won. For Chalmers, 15 ; for M'Farlan, 10 ; for Maclean, 4 ; and 1 noii liquet. Heaven and earth, and all the principalities and powers in high places, have been moved : from the great officers of state at St. James's, and the Court of Aldermen in King Street, and the Crown MINISTERS OF THE TRON. 27 lawyers in Edinburgh, down to the little female piets, who were taught to squall what they did not understand, — ' No fanatics ! ' ' No Balfourites ! ' ' Rationalists for ever ! ' No small stir, I'll assure you, has been in that city; and no such stir has been there since the days of John Knox, it is said, about the choice of a minister. And oh ! miserabile dicta, tell it not in St. Andrews ! the fanatics have prevailed, and pre- vailed against one of the most numerous and well-appointed armies which ever took the field on such an occasion." Things had very considerably changed from this when, in 1833, the Tron Parish became again vacant, by the transla- tion of Dr. Dewar, the successor of Dr. Chalmers, to the Principalship of Marischal College, Aberdeen. By that time the Reform Bill had passed, and although the municipal arrangements remained as before, and the patronage of the city churches was still vested in the Town Council, it was no longer considered superfluous to ask such congregations as happened to want ministers whether they had any preferences of their own. Anyhow, the Town Council of Glasgow inti- mated to the congregation of the Tron Church, which was again large and influential, that, if they could agree upon a man, he would at once receive a presentation at their hands. A meeting was accordingly called, and a committee of forty persons appointed to look out for a minister. The choice of this committee fell first upon Dr. Barr of Port Glasgow ; but, after some hesitation, he declined their invitation : and, at the suggestion of Dr. Black of the Barony, who was acting as Moderator of Session, they then turned their eyes in the direc- tion, first, of ^Ir. M'Lagan of Kinfauns, and finally, of Mr. Buchanan of Salton. Mr. Buchanan was asked to assist Dr. Black at his communion ; and upon his consenting to do so, arrangements were made for his being heard by as large a number of the Tron people as possible. 28 UNCONSCIOUS " TRIALS. " The committee," writes one of their number, who yet survives, " had agreed that, while the congregation was dis- missing on the Monday, each member should try to learn the sentiments of as many as he could as to Mr. Buchanan's acceptability, and that they would meet immediately after and compare notes. They met accordingly, and the report each member had to give for himself and for those he consulted being identical, ^ — that all were satisfied, — a minute and memorial were adopted on the spot, and transmitted to the Town Council. Thereafter a presentation was issued in Mr. Buchanan's favour, and he was settled with the unani- mous concuiTence of the congregation." Another surviving member of the old Tron remembers having heard Mr. Buchanan preach, about the same time, a charity sermon in St. George's, and she thinks that that also constituted a part of his unconscious " trials." But, in any case, his way into Glasgow was made wonderfully plain ; and when, on the 22nd of August 1833, his formal induction took place, — Dr. Lorimer of St. David's preaching and presid- ing on the occasion, — he had good grounds for believing that his removal from the quiet of an out-of-the-way country parish, to the bustle of a great and populous city, was a step in his life-history on which he was warranted to expect the Divine blessing. His new sphere was as different as possible from those in which he had laboured at Gargunnock and Salton. The old Tron Parish is bounded on the north by the Trongate, on the south by the Clyde, on the west by Stockwell Street, and on the east by the Saltmarkot. At present, its condition is not excessively pitiable. The pressure for room in so great a comnlercial centre has driven away the poj)ulation, and so many of the dwelling-houses have been turned into places of business, that, within the compact square just defined, there STATE OF THE PAKISH. 29 nre now pioLably not more than two thousand people. When Mr. Buchanan, however, became minister of tlie parish, it was inliabited bv some e'nAit thousand souls ; and in the three Wynds which ran through it, there were very many "who had no connection witli any church whatever. It has been seen how the subject of these notices addressed himself to genuinely l)astoral work in Salton, — how he was not content with preach- ing as faithfully as he could on the Sabbath, but took a real oversight of all the families of the Hock ; and it may well be supposed that it was liis determination to be not less thorough as a parocliial minister in a region which had so recently been under the graciously revolutionary care of Chalmers. When Dr. Dewar was appointed to the parish in 1818, he found himself in a wilderness in more senses than one. The Wynds were still nnevangelized ; but that was not all : the army that had been gathered together to subdue them was in a state of disorganization. Dr. Chalmers had moved to St. John's, where he expected to be able to carry out his economic and other schemes untrammelled, and " the workera " of the Tron had gone with him almost en masse. Even the kirk- session was threatened with dissolution. That it did not become extinct altogether, was due a good deal to the cir- cumstance that two of the elders were Moderates in principle, and had all along opposed themselves to the innovations of the Evangelicals. They had objected to the settlement of the "wild" minister of Kilmany at the first, and they con- sistently remained unaffected when he took his departure for another although a neighbouring sphere. That the successor of Dr. Chalmers had thus great difficulties to contend with may be easily imagined, and it is greatly to his credit that he so soon and so successfully built up again the walls that had been broken down. By his preaching, whicli was at once sound and earnest, he attracted a new congregation to 80 SABBATH SCHOOLS. the Tron, and so filled up its emptied pews. Quietly and wisely, he introduced into the kirk-session good men to occupy the places and carry on the work of those who had transferred their services elsewhere. And when, in 1833, he himself left, he was able to commit to Mr. Buchanan a charge which not only had become important for its size, but towards the ordinary equipment of which nothing was now wanting. One change only is noted in the kirk-session minutes of the period as having been proposed by the new minister in the parochial organization. The Sabbath schools of the parish had, up to the time of his settlement, been under the superintendence of a " Sabbath-School Society." Whether that society was strictly congregational, or had a wider basis, we do not know; but to Mr. Buchanan it seemed desirable that the schools should be brought into closer connection with the session, and not many weeks after his induction he made a formal motion to that effect. The result was the appoint- ment of a committee, whose report, given in on the 21st of October 1833, was as follows. We read it with interest, because it shows incidentally that Mr. Buchanan applied him- self to his ministerial work at once ; and that in Glasgow, as in Salton, his vejy earliest efforts were on behalf of the young :— THE TRON SABBATH SCHOOLS. " While your committee are fully satisfied that tJie New Wynd and Princes Street School Society, in its present state, has been the means, under the Divine blessing, of diffusing, to a very considerable extent, the inestimable benefits of religious instruction among the children of the Tron Parish, and that they are well entitled to the grateful acknowledg- ments of the kirk-session for the labour of love which they have so faith- fully prosecuted, your committee are, at the same time, persuaded that the permanence, the complete efficiency, and the adequate extension of Sabbath- school instruction in this parish, can be secured only by such a measure as that with reference to which your committee were appointed. " They would therefore beg to submit the following as regulations, on the adoption of which by the present Sabbath-Schools Society, in addition BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT. 31 to the rules wliicli form their present constitution, the kirk-sessiou shoul.\). 164 EAJIL OF ABEKDEEN. Found him more excited about the question than before. Spoke as if there could now be no permanent arrangement — it must lead to abolition of Patronage ; and he said he thought the j^eople would make as good a choice as any one could do for them. He feared, however, that might be a step towards a Voluntary Church — that they would think they ought to pay the minister they chose (a curious noiisequitur). He then talked com- pkiniugly of the majority of Assembly, as if they had raised all this out- cry; that the people were not seeking in 1834 any alteration of system — the patrons were acting well, &c. I said decidedly that I entirely disagreed with his lordship on all these points, but that I saw no advantage to be gained from discussing them. However it had come about, or whoever might be to blame, here we were, and the practical question was. What was now to be done ? He admitted this, and returned to the subject. I then brought him to the point on the 1649 plan. He was very cautious; said he was afraid to commit himself to more than general principles — that he was most anxious to give fullest effect to the honest dissent of the people. I then said their dissent should be held as honest, unless some one having interest could prove otherwise. He admitted that to be fair, and concluded by saying he saw no objection to it. He told me tliat Lord Melbourne had been talking to him of the matter, and that he had assured the Premier he would not make it a party question. He was sure Lord Melbourne would not do it either; but I told him he said there were people about him who would. I wrote Dr. Chalmers and Mr. Dunloi) several letters, describing aU this, and further urging consideration of it. Note from Mr. A, H., announcing that Standard will receive letters. Times declines, alleging risk of controverey. FehrvMry 28. — Went to visit by appointment the Duke of Argyle. Found him still more zealous than before. He is now quite prepared for the Committee's plan — dealing with the people on their reasons, not ad- judicating on them except when malice or faction is alleged. The young Marquis of Lome present, who seemed deeply interested, — a fine intelli- gent youth, who appears to be ciitching the spirit of his forefathers. The Duchess also came in, and was equally interested. The Duke mentioned he had received notes of acknowledgment for the copies of Mr. Buchanan's pamphlet he had distributed, from Lord Aberdeen, Duke of Welliugton, Sir E. Peel, Lord Elleuboi'ough, &c., who all said they were reading or would read it. He mentioned he had noticed the subject last night in the House of Peers, and also Lord Galloway, urging Lord Melbourne to an early measure. He wished me to put down shortly for him in writing the wishes of the Committee, as he intended asking an interview with Lord Melbourne to talk over it — Lord Melbourne being an old friend. Had a long conversation with Sir George Clerk at his house, Caven- dish Square. He will come to the 1649 plan, with the specific details INTERFERENCE WITH PERTH ELECTION. 166 already noticed, but refuses to go further, and, like Lord Aberdeen, says he thinks popular election would be better than the more absolute irresponsible Veto. He expressed himself most anxious to speed the mea- sure forward; but till Government came out with its plan, it was dillicult to say what would be the likeliest way to promote it. Called on Sir William liae, but missed him. Visited my old friend Mra. Dennistoun in the same street. Spent an hour with Turner, and at four met Colquhoun at Athenaeum. He is keen against my leaving London till the Bill be tabled. Difficult to consent to this. He is of the same mind still, — to labour to bring up Conservatives to highest point, higher than 11349 if possible, and to endeavour to get Government to come to the same. Saw Sir George Sinclair, who is in a state of strong feeling on subject, and thinks they ought to put questions in the House of Commons to urge on Lord John. February 29. — Eeceived letter from Dr. Chalmers, entreating me to remain in London. Wrote in reply, agreeing if Committee think it indis- pensable; request immediate answer. Webster has fixed interview for me with Dr. Lushington, for Tuesday, eleven a.m. Monday, March 2. — Letters from Dr. Chalmers and Mr. Dunlop, en- treating me not to leave London; the former saying he thought the plan I had suggested as to the settlement of the question would be highly satis- factory. Mr. Duulop intimated that the Committee were to meet on Monday (to-day), when the plan would be submitted. He states that he had been at Perth about the election. Intimates that a meeting of ministers and others had resolved that Mr. Drummond's views on Non- intrusion were unsatisfactory, and that Mr. Stewart's were so. Think this interference of Mr. Dunlop's a wrong movement. We should limit our efforts to our own sphere, and leave political afiairs to those whom they concern. It appears to me impossible to tell whose return for Perthshire would be most desirable for us. Let us trust in Him " who doeth .ill things well." Found that Mr. Bruce of Kennett had arrived to join the Edinburgh deputation. He had been in search of me, but mistook my address. A note from him to meet him at the Burlington Hotel to-morrow. He states his fears that Dunlop's visit to Perth has been irritating the Conservatives here. Tuesday, March 3. — Met Bruce at the Burlington Hotel at ten. He had called on Lord Aberdeen yesterday, and found him very testy indeed about the afTair of Dunlop's visit to Perthshire — took it as almost a breach of faith in regard to the understanding between him. Lord Aberdeen, and the Committee, as to the terms on which they were willing to treat. lu short, he was very angry, and expressed himself accordingly. A pity this has happened. It helps to complicate a negotiation already sufficiently intricate. 166 DR. LUSHINGTON. At eleven a.m. went to Webster's. With him proceeded to Dr. Lush- ington's, St. George's Square, Westminster, the great ecclesiastical lawyer, — a man about fifty-five to appearance, mild and amiable and aflixble in his manners. He began by expressing his fear that we were coming in a wrong attitude to Parliament. We should have appeared at the bar of Court of Session when Strathbogie interdict was a^Dplied for, and appealed to House of Lords when it was granted; that now coming for a change of law, without having exhausted all means of redress under existing law, would prejudice us gi'eatly. A long discussion ensued, in which he en- deavoured to establish his views from a reference to the courts of Eugland. His Admiralty Court, he said, admitted of no appeal but to the Privy Council, and its jurisdiction was independent; but if Queen's Bench inter- fered with him, he must apply to House of Lords for redress. Same, he said, sitting in Bishop's Court, in a case of Church censure. He could suspend, though not deprive, — only bishops do that, — no Civil Court had right to touch his judgment; but if they did, he must appeal to the House of Lords for redress. I endeavoured to make a distinction by alluding to the haK-secular character of his office in the Bishop's Court, which might therefore be consistent with an appeal to a secular tribunal. But our Church Courts were purely and inherently spiritual, composed of Christ's officers, holding of and acting under Him immediately. He answered that he was really the " Bishop's voice," acting in his court. My acquaintance with the constitution of these Courts was not sufficient to enable me to point out the distinctions which I was nevertheless clear existed. But I cut the argument short, by reminding him that however that might be, we did not come to Parliament on the footing of the Strathbogie interdict, but on the footing of the Auchterarder decision, in which we had exhausted aU the remedies of law. There, he allowed, we stood firm. I pointed out, moreover, that the Strathbogie interdict had actually grown out of the view of the Court of Session's jurisdiction assumed in the Auchterarder case, and sanctioned by the House of Lords, and therefore that, strictly speaking, any appeal, even if we could have consented to it, in the matter of the interdict, was useless. Dr. Lushiugton xoas clear that the Strathbogie inter- dict was utterly incompetent and illegal. I was very thankful to have had this conversation, as otherwise he might, in this crotchet about the interdict, have risen uj) and done us mis- chief in the House of Commons. I hope he is now quite clear as to the ground on which we came to the Legislature. He said : " We have many loose reasoners in Parliament, who will not see the logical order of the case, and may do you injury by dealing with it as if it rested on this interdict." I said my hope was that he would keep such loose reasoners on the course, and not allow them so to misrepresent us and our cause. He told us confidentially that the Procurator had just written to ask his advice whether an appeal was competent, should the Court of Session, in enforcing SIR GEORGE CLERK. 167 their interdict,/n« or imprison. He seemed to think that would be difficult; and was not aware of any ionn in the Scotch Courts which allowed it. I told him what Mr. Dunlop hail written me — that the Court, it was now understood, were not to enforce their interdict. Joined Bruce at the Union, and with him called at the Athenoeum, and left a note for J. C. Colquhoun. Called at the Carlton for Sir George Clerk, and found him. His tii-st motion was to pull out from his pocket a printed copy of the Perth ministers' resolutions, sjiying it was Dunlop that did it all. He did not seem, however, to mind it much, though he complained strongly of his interference. He read us a part of a letter from Mr. Drum- mond just received, from which it appeared some of the Perth Non-Iutru- sionists waited on him after the resolutions meeting, and were satisfied with his explanations. He named Mr. Craigie of Glendoick, and did not seem to think his election likely to be much affected. Sir George alluded to the convei-siition which took place last night in the House of Lords, as showing how slow Lord Melbourne was to commit himself. Lord Hadding- ton was evidently angry in his speech, and attributed all the excitement to the Commissioners disregarding the civil law, and suspending the seven men who were obeying it. Loid Aberdeen begged to be understood as not assenting to that statement. Duke of Eichmond made a good speech, urging Government to proceed ; and also Bishop of London. Called for Sir George Sinclair at Arthur's — missed him. Went to Duke of Argjie's. The Duke agreed to go with deputation to Lord Mel- bourne. His son was present, — a fine youth, red hair, bi'ight complexion, fine forehead, open, frank bearing, intelligent countenance. Wednesday, March 4. — Received letter from Dr. Chalmers, containing appointment of me by Committee as their deputy here sine die, and kindly and warmly acknowledging my services, and the necessity that exists for my remaining in London. He seems to anticipate some injurious influence from the movements of our friends in Perthshire, but has apparently no idea of the irritation caused by Dunlop's interference in the election. He will learn more from my letter of yesterday ; and from the Times of to- day, which contains a most gross and outrageous attack upon Dunlop as a place-hunter. Little do they know his real character who so say ! Met the Edinburgh deputation just coming out from Lord Melbourne. There had been present with his lordship Lord Normanby. The deputa- tion were. — the Provost of Edinburgh, Graham Speirs, and Bruce of Kennett; with them, Duke of Argyle, Sir J. Campbell, Sir George Sinclair, Mr. Pringle, Gibson-Craig, Baunerman of Aberdeen. All urged on him the necessity of legislation. Bannerman, when appealed to, spoke strongly as to the state of feeling in Aberdeenshire, and as to the unanimity of the people for Non-Intrusion. The Duke of Argyle, nearly the largest patron in Scotland, expressed his anxiety for the measure, and his readi- ness to subject his patronages to every restriction necessary for the good 168 THE DUKE OF RICHMOND. of the Church and people. Hope some good done by this additional pressure. The conversation which took place last night in the House of Commons (above alluded to) shows Lord John is as slow as Lord Melbourne to com- mit himself. Thursday, March 5. — Breakfasted with Bruce at Burlington Hotel, and talked over our business. Went to call on Duke of Richmond. He declined expressing his views, as he said he had never done it to any one, but would when measure is produced in Parliament. From the tone of his conversation, he seems favourable to our views. Has evidently been attempted to be prejudiced by letters from Strathbogie. As to undue means of exciting people, I endeavoured to make him see where blame of that really lay ; in rebellion of ministei-s and outrageous interdicts of Court of Session. He could not defend ministers, and condemned the interdict. Corrected some en*oneous views he had received about new church at Huntly. Glad I had the inter- view, as it wUl remove some misapprehensions, and help him to sound views. March 6. — Letters from Mr. Lorimer describing proceedings of Com- mission up till evening sederunt of the 4th. Motion condemning the con- duct of the seven suspended ministers, and reporting the whole case to the Assembly, carried by 108 to 11. The general question of the jurisdiction assumed by the Court of Session in gi-anting the interdict to come on in the evening. Resolutions to be moved on the subject. Went to see Lord Aberdeen, agreeably to his request. Found him more frank and cordial than ever. He had great difficulty, he said, in bringing the leading men of the party to the point he had come himself. When he came up from Scotland in January, he found Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington full of the Dean's pamphlet, and had im- mediately set to work, by putting Hamilton's pamphlet iuto their hands, to lead them to more moderate views, and had so far succeeded ; but now the risk was of their resiling. Immediately on getting my letter yesterday he had acquainted Sir Robert Peel with its contents, stating my assurance that the proceeding of Mr. Dunlop was totally unauthorized by and unknown to the Committee. He hoped that he might be able, by impressing this fact on the minds of his friends — as he trusted it was the fact — to prevent their breaking off all friendly negotiations on the subject. When he came through Edinburgh, he had seen, he said, the Dean, who was a personal friend of his own ; and the Dean had then attempted to dissuade him from seeing or having anything to do witli the Committee. " You will repent of it, if you do," said the Dean. "They will seem to acquiesce in your views, and to be quite fair and reason- able ; but, depend on it, they will betray you !" (How insolent !) " I con- fess," said his lordship to me, " this proceeding of Mr. Dunlop goes too far to justify the Dean's anticipation." Nothing, he said, could have been more PARLIAMENTARY IGNORANCE. 169 gratuitous than his interference. He would not have in the least complained of the Perth ministers acting as they were doing of their own spontaneous movement, or of Mr. Duulop going into Perthshire had he been a mere private individual ; but as the servant of the Committee, and a member of the deputation, he could not conceive anything more out of his way. In this I strictly concurred, as it exactly expressed my own views, being a decided departure from that purely ecclesiastical position the members of Committee were bound to maintain. Moreover, I added that the bearing of the Perthshire election on our cause seemed to me so uncer- tain, that had the power of determining on which candidate it should fall rested in my hands, I would positively have been at a loss how to decide. I felt that we were involved in events we could not control, and whose eflects we could not foresee ; that our wisdom and duty was to leave these to the All-wise Disposer, and to confine ourselves strictly to our own sphere. In this his lordship strictly concurred. Looking at the interests of our cause, he was almost disposed still, after all that had happened, to say he scarce knew whose return would be most desirable. If Mr. Drummond got in, no doubt the Conservatives would be less angry ; but then Govern- ment would say the power of the Church party is not worth our courting — it cannot turn an election. If, again, Mr. Stewart succeeded, the Conserva- tives would be deeply oflfended ; while the Government, having found the question so useful, would be inclined to keep it in retentis for a general election. This reminded me of what Colquhoun told me last night that Charles Butler had said to him : " This Scotch Church question is too good a quarrel. We shall not settle it in a hurry." Lord Aberdeen expressed himself jis anxious as ever to have it adjusted, and assured me he would do his utmost to soothe irritation among his friends. He was pleased to say he considered my stay in Loudon indispensable, — as insuring a medium of friendly communication with himself and his friends, — and pressed on me that I must on no account return to Scotland till we see the matter further advanced. We spoke of the late interdict, and he told me he had written the Dean to express to him his conviction that he had brought himself and the Court into a bad position with the country; that without pretending to decide whether or not the jurisdiction assumed was strictly legal, it was fitted to outrage the feelings of society, as an interference with the preach- ing of the Word of God. He referred to a speech he had made last night in the Lords to explain to the House what he saw they were utterly ignorant of. As an illustra- tion of the confusion of their ideas on the subject, he told me, laughing heartily at it, that even the Duke of Richmond, though now living so much in Scotland, uniformly presented his Non-Intrusion petitions "as petitions against the Non-Intrusion !" Nothing could be more open and unreserved than his lordship's whole conversation in this interview. " I have epoken 170 MB,. DUNLOP AND THE " TIMES, » to you," he said, "in the most undisguised and confidential manner;" and we parted on the most friendly terms, he inviting me to come to him as often as I wished. Dr. Brown of Aghadoey and Mr. Denholm of Derry, two ministers of Synod, tell us the sympathy with our Church is universal and warm among the Presbyterians of Ireland, and that this struggle had done more to draw out their love and veneration for the parent Church than anything that ever haj^pened. They believe there will be petitions from all their congre- gations. Monday^ March 9. — Received letter from Mr. Dunlop, intimating that he thinks he will start for Loudon to-morrow, and also that the Committee have agreed to an advertisement disclaiming all participation iu the Non- Intrusion proceedings connected with the Perth election. He sent me the Witness, containing a letter from him to the editor of Times, in answer to that journal's indecent attack on him. The answer is triumphant. With these documents I went immediately to Lord Aberdeen, to show him how completely they confirmed all I had stated last week as to my conviction that the Committee knew nothing of the Perth proceedings at all. He was quite satisfied as to Committee, though still thinking Mr. Dunlop's conduct unfair while the negotiations were pending. At same time, he entirely vindicated Mr. Dunlop from all jDersonal or party objects in what he had done. He had heard from Dr. Chalmers this morning, expressing the same thing as to the Committee's entire ignorance of Mr. Dunlop's visit to Perth. Lord Aberdeen, before I called, had seen Sir Eobert Peel, and showed him that letter. He hoped that no harm would now come out of all this, though it had been very vexatious, and fitted to inject feelings of distrust into the minds of the Conservatives. He was evidently, from his tone and manner, conscious that the Perth business had put him upon stronger gi'ound in holding out against the utmost of our wishes. Still, he said he would not go back a step ; but evidently would not 710W be easily moved further forward. I reverted to the 1649 scheme, to which he seemed still quite favourable. He hoped Government now were more likely than ever to propose such a scheme as he and his friends could support. He thought there was now no chance of Government pro- posing to legalize the Veto Law as it stood. He thought the Perth election had settled that. He mentioned that Lord Melbourne and one or two other members of Government had been confidentially consulting him about the matter; and in this view I thought more important to press such a definite plan on his attention as that of 1649, as he may use it in his con- ferences with the Premier. He asked me a number of questions as to the mode of admitting to the communion in Scotland ; being anxious to shov/ Englishmen that being communicants was a far higher test of character in Scotland than in Eng- land, where there is no restriction imposed. He mentioned that though LORD ADVOCATE RUTHERFURD. 171 sincerely and conscientiously preferring the Church of Scotland to that of England, it so happened that he had never talceu the comniuuion in Scot- land, and consequently that he was not well informed as to the mode of admis- sion to that ordinance. I, of course, gave him the information he wanted. He asked the meaning of the distinction made in the Veto Law in favour of heads of families, saying there is no foundation in Scripture for such distinction. I reminded him the distinction was made by Lord Mon- creiff, avowedly by way of making the encroachment on Patronage as limited as possible, when he framed the Veto Law, and that Lord Moncreiti' did not acknowledge the Spiritual view of the matter, but treated it as a question of expediency and constitutional ecclesiiistical law. The heads of families were supposed, tinally, to be the most staid and sober-minded people in the parish, and the most stationary. March 10. — C'alled this afternoon on the Lord Advocate,* and was immediately struck with his manner, as indicating that there was a grudge in his mind. " You have been in town all this while," was his first remark, after the ordinary salutation. " Yes, my lord." " Seen a great deal of Lord Aberdeen, have you not?" "I have seen him several times," I answered quietly, " and various other people besides." " It is a pity there has been so much of a double negotiation going on." " I don't know what your lordship means." " Oh, so much con- sulting and communicating with one party while negotiating with an- other." " If your lordship means that there has been auy consulting inconsistent with the avowed plan of operations of the Committee, or that carries in it anything disingenuous towards the Government, I shall make the Committee aware that such is your lordship's opiuion, and they will no doubt answer the charge." " But I don't mean, Mr. Buchanan, to make any charge of the kind against the Committee, and you must not so understand me." " Then, my lord, I am at a loss to know what you do mean. As far as I have understood the avowed purpose of the Committee, it was this, — to confine their communications to no one party in the State, but, regarding the question as one altogether apart from and above party, to deal with it as such by inviting all parties to concur in the adjustment of it. And this, my lord, I understood to be the light in which Government wished to regard it." " Certainly ; it is their wish so to regard it. But Chalmers has been writing in very violent terms against the Government, and that is calculated to irritate." " Why, my lord, I can of course know nothing of private letters ; but I can only say I have heard the very opposite alleged a.s to other members of the Committee, and in both cases the report is perhaps equally untrue. But however this may be, surely your lordship and the Government will not allow yourselves to be influenced in dealing with a great public question by random words reported to have occurred in the private correspondence of individuals." * Andrew Rutherfurd. 172 JEALOUSY OF THE TORIES. " No ; certainly we will not. You may depend upon it that whatever Government do, it will be done without regard to anything Dr. Chalmers may have said about them." " I really am taken quite by sui-prise at hear- ing of offence being taken by the fi~iends of Government at the Committee. I was prepared to hear the very contrary — that the offence taken would be on the other side; for nothing certainly has been done that I know of against the Government by any of the Committee, while a very overt act has been done in their favour by Dunlop going into Perthshire. If there was to be a fire, I certainly expected to find it kindled on the other side. I say frankly, as I have always done, that I think Dunlop did wi-ong iu going to Perthshire, as I am clear that members of the Committee, while this negotiation is pending, should keep completely apart from all political movements on either side. But unquestionably I was not prepared, in the actual circumstances of the case, for any offence being taken, on the side of Government, with our proceedings." " Were not letters written by Lord Aberdeen and others to the Committee from London ?" " Not since we came here. So far as I know or believe, not a single letter was written by any of the parties in question, except in answer to a circular sent them by Dunlop to ascertain their sense of the conversation which took place between them and the Committee at the interview they had in Edinburgh. This correspondence arose out of the publication of a newspaper paragraph giving a false account of what had occurred. I believe no other correspond- ence with the Committee has since been held by any of the individuals in question." " Well, well! I am sure I am most anxious there should be no disagreement. For God's sake, let us allay all irritated feelings, and endea- vour to go on with the negotiations calmly and amicably." " Nothing, my lord, can be more in accordance with my wishes; and I trust I have ever so acted as to evince that such is my desire." " Certainly ; I have never seen in you anything but what strictly corresponds with that sentiment. I assure you I find no fault with you ; quite the contrary." And he again reverted to Chalmers' letters. I have no idea to what he alludes. He ended by begging that Dunlop and I would come and breakfast with him on Friday morning at Groves' Hotel, 38 Albemarle Street; which I of course agreed to do, on the supposition that ere then Dunlop will be up. He said he had not a doubt that by Monday or Tuesday we would get our answer form the Government, but did not indicate — if he knew — what that answer was likely to be. It appeared to me that the complete defeat* in Perth- shire has probably exhibited a result very different from what he and Fox Maule had been teaching Government to expect, and that in conse- quence they feel very uncomfortable. And as this question was mixed up with the election, and made probably a main ground of their hopes of success, they are disposed, being out of humour, to throw blame on any- body or anything, by way of easing themselves. * Home Drummond elected by 1586 over 1128 for Mr. Stewart. LONDON PRESBYTERY DINNER. 173 In the evening dined with the Loudon Presbytery, in the same room, London Cotfee-house, in which, exactly two years ago, at their ^March meet- ing, I dined with the same body when up with Drs. Macleod, Muir, &c., on the Church Extension business. Dr. Brown, Aghadoey, and Mr. Deuholm of DeiTy, were on the present occ;ision the only strangers besides myself. The Moderator w;is Mr. Thomson, Scotch minister at Woolwich j* an ami- able and pious young man, doing well in his position at Woolwich. He had this day got a grant of ground from the Ordnance for a new church and schools. The Presbytery had to-day a discussion on the Non-Intrusion ques- tion, Mr. Burns, of London W;ill,t having proposed a petition to Parliament. It w:is carried. Ministers in the majority — Dr. Brown, Mr. Burns, Mr. Lorimer, Mr. Thomson ; in the minority — Dr. Crombie and Mr. Gumming. In the evening some interesting statements made regarding the pro- gress of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and of the National Church in Scotland, which forced the company to bethink themselves of the stagnant state of Presbyterianism in England. Measures were suggested for mak- ing a movement in this cause, as by getting up statistics regarding the nuriiber of Scots in London, their places of residence, condition, &c. ; then dividing the town into districts, assigning them to district committees, and labouring to raise funds and churches where the Scots most abound. Will this vanish in words ?;}: March 11. — Heard to-day what explains the Lord Advocate's irritation about the letters of Dr. Chalmers he spoke of yesterday. It is rumoured that Dr. Chalmers had written to various parties in Perthshire, telling them not to trust the Ministerial candidate, as his party could not be depended on, while Mr. Drummond's might with safety. If this be so, the irritation is quite intelligible. The Times admits the return of Mr. Drummond to be no proof of the weakness of the Non-Intrusion principle, but merely a proof that Mr. Drum- mond's professions on the subject were believed, while those of Mr. Stewart were not. A good deal of talk after party left as to what should be done in case of the Ministry refusing to meddle with the question. Think, upon the whole, it would be best to have a Bill brought in by Lord Aberdeen in the House of Lords, where it would be well advocated, and meet with a less factious opposition, and passing one branch of the Legislature, would make it more ditficult to resist it in the other. Must talk of this with Dunlop. March 12. — Went to Union Hotel at half-past two, and found Dunlop had arrived. I told him of the Times' apology and insertion of his letter — which he was very glad to hear of ; also, that I had made sure of Lord • Still minister there— 1877. t Now Free Church minister of Kirkliston. J No. There were then half-a-dozen congregations in the Presbytery of London : now there are upwards of sixty ! 174 CHALMERS POLITICAL PROGRAMME. Aberdeen becoming acquainted with his letter, by going personally with the paper — the Wit)iess — the instant I received it, and reading it to his lordship. Dunlop felt much obliged by this, and, with the candour which belongs to his noble nature, at once allowed that it was an unwise step his going into Perthshire, calculated as it was to give an appearance of the Committee intermeddling. He mentioned the extreme dissatisfaction which Lord Aberdeen's speech, approvmg of the Government's procedure very deliberately, had given in the Committee. The Committee have fixed a meeting for Tuesday the 24th; thus giving us the whole of next week to get the Government's answer, but limiting us to that \oeek. Dunlop told me the Edinburgh Committee had divided — twenty-three to nine, or seven, I forget which — in favour of taking the Government grants for schools; to the extreme astonishment of Dr. Muir, The Govern- ment have agreed to name as Inspector, Mr. Gordon, the Superintendent of the Assembly's schools. This will no doubt serve to remove jealousies. "We agreed not to write the Government till we had seen the Lord Advo- cate, with whom we breakfast to-moiTOW morning. Friday, March 13. — Dunlop and I breakfasted with Lord Advocate. His wife with him ; a quiet, lady -like, agreeable woman. General talk during breakfast. When we did come to speak of our business, the feature most promi- nent in the little he said was a wish not to press Government very much, but to give them next week. He twice said, in the course of his conversa- tion, " I believe you will get their answer next Thursday." It seems from this there must be some understanding among them about that day. Though very guarded, his conversation would certainly lead one to suppose they have a measure in progress. On returning to the Union, Dunlop received a letter from Mr. Brown, Aberdeen, giving an extract from a letter of Mr. Bannerman, M.P., to a friend of Brown's, in which Bannerman describes himself as doing his utmost to get a measure speedily introduced, and expressing his conviction that " it will very soon appear iu Parliament." This letter of Bannerman'a was of date 7th March. Went with Leighton to the House of Lords. Glad to see the " Duke" in his place, and looking well again. Nothing doing of importance. Saw J. C. Colquhoun there, who came into the bar to give Lord Aberdeen a letter he had just received from Dr. Chalmers, containing his intended resolutions in case of Government doing nothing. First, To condemn inac- tion of Government ; second, To apply to Conservatives ; third. To appeal to country. These were read at Committee some days ago, but not put or recorded till it should be seen what Government do. J. C. Colquhoun says that this would do good, as the Whig members of Committee would no doubt communicate the matter to the Advocate, and he and his party will thus know that " delay may be dangerous." C. told Lord Aberdeen how DR. HUGH M'NEILE ON CHURCH AND STATE. 175 much regret his speech encouraging Government's delay had produced among the friends of the Church. Tuesday, March 17. — Nothing new, except that from the Advocate's conversation with Dunlop it is plain the Government are working at a measure, or they and he are cheating us. He was anxious about some of the details, particularly as to there being some stop to the Veto. That in the Cabinet was made a great difficulty, he signified. "We had agreed, should this be pei-sisted in, to recommend that after three vetoes the Presbytery should be entitled to inquire and judge whether these had been so exercised as to allow the vetoing to be continued. Dunlop had given this answer to the Advocate, who seemed to think it would do. Wednesday, March 18. — We are positively to have our answer on Mon- day, 23rd. This on authority of an official letter from Advocate. Went with Dunlop to hear Mr. M'Neile's* fourth lecture on Church and State. Not very good. Clever things said, sometimes with a striking manner, but lecture poor as a discussion of a grave and profound question. As to establishing the position that the Church of England stands in a Scriptural relation to the State, he never touched it, though he said he did. He certainly pointed to various things in its doctrines and practice that were Scriptural, but not bearing at all on its relation to the State. This is what I went to the lecture mainly to hear him attempt, and of course was dis- appointed, though not surprised. The tone of the lecture was too much anti-Government — bad policy in every sense, as it was giving the Voluntaries all the additional aid of the Whig party. From what I read in the news- papers of his preceding lecture, in which he had professedly stated our question, it is evident he had entirely misunderstood it. They get out of the difficulty very cleverly by treating the people like heathens or children —giving nothing whatever to say in the settlement of their pastor. They have nothing corresponding to our call, or induction into the pastoral cure. As Hooker says, the patron now consents ybr the people ! Friday, March 20. — Called on Lord Aberdeen, to explain to him why we were holding no conference with him — that having got no answer from Government, we could not take a step one way or another. Very long con- versation as to the whole bearings and consequences of present movement. Saturday, March 21. — Called by appointment at Mr. Hamilton's, Cheap- side. He communicated the unanimous wish of the Kegent Square con- gregation that I should become their minister; urged many reasons for it, but I could not see it to be my duty, in all the circumstances of the case. No letter having yet been received from Lord John Kussell or Lord Melbourne, we deemed the note of the Lord Advocate, assuring us we were to get our answer on Monday, as by no means a sufficient reply to our communications. And accordingly we wrote a respectful but firm letter to Lord Melbourne, recapitulating our note of the 14th referring to Lord • Now Dean of Ripon. 178 COOL LETTER FROM THE PREMIER. John Russell's assurance that we were to have Government's answer by middle of Maich, and stating that we were still, notwithstanding of all this, without any acknowledgment of our notes of the 14th at all. We then called on Lord Advocate to tell him of this letter. He said we were quite right to send it, but that he had as little doubt as ever we would get our answer on Monday. We thought his tone in regard to the nature of the answer on the whole less encouraging than some days ago. About half -past four p.m. an answer was sent back from Lord Mel- bourne, in the coolest manner "entreating pardon" for not sooner having answered our communications, but adding at the same time that he was not able at present to name a time for giving the answer ! Not being at the hotel at the time, Dunlop opened it, and went down immediately with it to the Lord Advocate, whose honour was implicated, he having given us a written assurance, as from Lord John Russell, to the effect that we were certainly to get our answer on Monday; and this he gave us as the ground on which we were to ask, and did ask, the Edinburgh Committee to post- pone their meeting to the 26th. The Advocate was much annoyed on i-eading Melbourne's letter, and went off in quest of some members of Cabinet to talk it over. He returned to Dunlop at the hotel at six, saying he had only got Lord Normanby, and that he still felt sure we would get our answer on Monday. He begged us to breakfast with him on Monday, by which time he hoped to have it all arranged. This is a queer business. I had a note this evening from Lord Aberdeen, begging me to let him know on Monday what the answer of Government was. I wrote this afternoon a long letter to Dr. Chalmers, contemplating the possibility of Government doing nothing, and the course we must then pursue. Described a plan of Dunlop's to get the Civil Courts' interference shut out, leaving them all their power over the benefice. This interhn measure he thought both parties would pass. I disapproved of this strongly. It would be con- demned as an attempt to do underhand, and by ecclesiastical censures, after we had got the civil power shut out, what we could not carry by fair force of law. Told Dr. Chalmers I could never concur in this proposal, but would prefer Lord Aberdeen securing us full judicial power — free from all civil interference — to give full effect to the Non-Intrusion principle. With regard to those resolutions that condemn the conduct of Govern- ment, circumstances may render them necessary, but I begged he would do nothing without full consideration. I would be loath to drive out the Procurator and the other adherents of Government. A split in the Com- mittee would have most injurious effects, and is to be avoided if possible. Monday/, March 2S. — Met Dunlop after breakfast. The result of his conference at breakfast this morning with the Lord Advocate was this, — " You may still get an answer from Government to-day if you insist on it, but it will tell you nothing definite. If you wait till Wednesday you wiU really have their ultimatum." In explanation of this he had told Dunlop HISTORY OF THE VETO. 177 that a meeting of Scotch members, iu the Liberal interest, was to be held to-morrow to hear Government's plan laid before them, as Government wished to know their minds about it before committing themselves to it in Parliament. Of course, in these circumstances, we had nothing for it but to acquiesce. I went to call on Lord Aberdeen, to let him know of this new cause of delay. Had a long couversjition with him. He told me he had heard on Saturday, from what he considered good authority, that Government designed to propose the Veto. If they do, he said, it cannot be honestly; it must be with the design of leaving the whole matter unsettled, as they know that will be decidedly opposed. He said he was therefore unwilling to believe they could be intending to bring iu the Veto, and thereby to act 80 dishonestly towards the question. After a great deal of interesting con- vei-satiou, he stated that, on the whole, he was becoming more and more inclined to settle the question on the footing of a positive call, as being the true, old constitutional usage of the Scotch Church. He asked me if I thought that would be satisfactory. I assured him it would be so in the highest possible degree; as it was the very thing the majority of the Church wished to have had, when, through Lord Moncreili's great influ- ence, the Veto form of it was carried. I remarked that the only reason we did not press for the positive call now was, the feeling that it would be more difficult to obtiiin tlie concurrence of the patrons to it than to the Veto ; and that this, in fact, was Lord Moncreifl:''s avowed reason for pre- ferring the Veto. Lord Aberdeen was quite aware of all this, and was anxious to know whether, when Lord MoncreifF spoke of the Veto being a lesser encroachment on Patronage, he meant to contrast it with the positive call of a majority, or of some smaller proportion. I answered, I believed of a majority, as many of the overtures prayed for that, and it was difficult to fix on any lower number. Lord Aberdeen admitted it was difficult ; that all human aflau's were regulated by majorities; and that if therefore any lesser proportion were taken, it would be considered arbitrary, and based on no principle. I mentioned that I believed it would be quite satisfactory to the Church to have "a majority of those assembled in congre- gation at the moderating of the call." This practically would be less than the gross majority, and yet would fairly preserve the principle. His lord- ship seemed to think this nearly met his views ; said he wished to think more about it, and wished me not to mention it to any one till he had made up his mind. I used the freedom of urging his lordship strongly to adopt this mode of settling it, as it would not only be so satisfactory in itself, but so free from all the difficulties which embarrass the other form of the question. He intended, if I had brought him word to-day that Government had given their answer, to ask Lord Melbourne iu the House this evening to say what it was. 12 178 GLASGOW MODERATE MEMORIAL, If we could get Government to propose the positive call, this would secure the passing of the measure. Means used with Maule and Advocate to bring this about. The former gi'asps at it as infinitely the preferable mode. The latter more cautious about it, but promises to state it at the meeting of members of Parliament as an alternative proposal. He wishes to adjourn his meeting of members of Parliament from Tuesday, after making his statement to them, till Wednesday, and fixes our interview with Government for Thursday. Wrote to Dr. Chalmers, letting him know our position, and begging him to adjourn the meeting of Committee from Friday to Saturday, to receive our communication as to ultimatum of Government. Tuesday, March 2^. — Was waited on at Union Hotel by Mr. M'Lellan of Glasgow, as to Moderate memorial from that city which he has been entrusted with. Told him I considered first and second resolutions gross calumnies. They accuse certain of the clergy of resistance to the law of the land. Let them call it resistance if they like, but don't falsely describe the parties making it. It is not certain of the clergy, but certain Church Courts — not individuals, but courts ; and that is the point on which the whole con- troversy about resistance turns. And then these courts are not composed of clergy exclusively, but in nearly equal proportion of elders. I told him I thought it most unmanly to make such an attack upon the clergy. He confessed the resolutions were too strongly worded, and that if he and others had had the drawing of them they would have been diflfereut. The memorial was signed by nearly four hundred — respectable as to station ; few of them could I recognize as the names of religious men. Called on the Advocate at four. His meeting had gone off well, and was adjourned till Thursday morning, and we are to have our interview that day. Wednesday, March 25. — Wrote Lord Aberdeen, explaining that we were not to get Government's answer till to-morrow, and urging his lordship to the further and favourable consideration of the positive call. Thursday, March 26. — Called, Dunlop and I, on Lord Advocate at twelve, and expressed our disappointment that no communication had reached us from Lord John Russell appointing the expected interview. The Advocate said the cause of it was that the meeting of members, adjourned from Tuesday, had not been held ; that meeting could not take ])lace tiU three p.il, and it would be difficult to get an interview to-day. We represented the extreme awkwardness of the position in which that would place both us and his lordship, as we had written on his assurance to the Committee at Edinburgh that we were certainly to get our answer to-day, and had urged the Committee to consent to an adjournment till Saturday on that account. He admitted it was very awkward ; engaged to see Lord John, and endeavour still to secure the interview. At three he sent us a message, saying Lord John Russell would receive us at quarter past four. LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 179 At tlie time fixed we were at the Colonial OflBce. Lord John left it while we were in the waiting-room, and crossed over to the Treasury, as we saw from the window, — no doubt to talk to Lord Melbourne. In a little he returned. The servant came in to the waiting-room to inquire if the Lord AdvocMe had arrived ; and finding he had not, after another interval of a quarter of an hour was sent back to invite us into Lord John's room. He said he expected to have seen the Lord Advocate here, but that he did not like to detain us longer. The Cabinet, he said, had considered our question. They thought they could frame a measure fitted to serve the object we had in view, and which ought to be satisfactory ; but that they did not see any sufficient evidence of being able to carry it. There was so much division on the subject, in the Church, in the country, and in Parliament, that they despaired at present of being able to carry through a measure satisfactory to the Church and country. It might be that by-and-by there might come to exist a greater unanimity on the sub- ject, and then they would be able to do what they could not effect at present. We, of coui-se, represented to his lordship the extreme danger of leaving things as they are — that the existing evils must be aggravated from the inevitable couree of events, as the Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts were and must be hopelessly at variance so long as the law continues as it is. His lordship, however, adhered to the answer he had given. We proceeded immediately to the hotel to write our letters, as it was now within twenty minutes of the close of post. Dunlop wrote to Candlish, and I wrote to Chalmei-s, briefly announcing the answer we had received from Government, and iutimating our intention of immediately consulting with the leading Conservatives in order to arrange for their moving in the business. Our letters had just been despatched, when the*Lord Advocate came up to the hotel in haste, to prevent our writing north until we had considered what he had now to say. Of course that was past recall, but we begged him to proceed. He then told us that we had scarcely left Lord John when he arrived there from the meeting of Scotch members. That the result of the meeting, which he then communicated to Lord John, was this, — that the decided majority in numbers and influence of the Scotch Liberal members were of opinion that the time for legislation had come, and that Government should move in the matter ; that a measure should be indicated in Parliament, so far, at least, as to get the opinion of parties, of the country, and of the Church regarding it, but that it should not be passed till after the Assembly, as the opinion of the Assembly, if strong and decided in its favour, might greatly influence the passing of the Bill in the Lords ; and further, that the meeting very decidedly approved the scheme of a Bill which he had submitted to them. The Advocate said that Lord John, on hearing all this, expressed his regret that he had not known it before giving the deputation the answer 180 VACILLATION OF THE GOVERNMENT. of Government, and that if they chose they might hold the answer as siis- pended, and the communication still open with Government. "It is for you, therefoi-e," said the Lord Advocate, addressing lis, "to con- sider whether you will write Lord John, referring to what I have now stated, and reopening the negotiations." We said we should take till next day to think of it ; and that meanwhile we should send another letter to Dr. Chalmers by a gentleman who was going down to Scotland to-night, and who would deliver the letter before the others sent by the post could reach ; and that in this supplementary communication we would ask Dr. Chalmers to confine the contents of onrjirst letters to the Committee, ajid not to let anything go abroad till we wrote again. This placed us in a difficult position. If we refused to reopen the negotiations, we might be blamed as having ourselves shut the door of Government against the cause. If we did reopen them, we might be blamed for replacing ourselves in the unsatisfactory position in which we had been held too long already, hanging on upon Government without getting any- thing done, and wasting most precious time. We need wisdom from above. Friday, March 21. — After mature reflection on the difficulties of our position, I resolved, without communication with Dunlop, and on my own responsibility, to take the advice privately and confidentially of Lord Aber- deen. It is to him we must look, if Government refuse to move ; and should we entangle ourselves anew with Government and waste time, he may hold himself acquitted of all obligation to interfere, on the ground that we have allowed the proper time for his moving to be trifled away. It seemed to me, therefore, indispensable, for our own vindication, and for the safety of our cause, to advise with him on the point. I accordingly went to him at ten A.M., and said I hoped he would allow me to make to him a confidential communication, with the view of obtaining his private advice. He kindly and cordially agreed ; and I narrated to him all that had passed yesterday at the Colonial Office and with the Lord Advocate. After the fullest consideration of the subject, he was of opinion that it was our duty to write to Lord John, and ask if the communication he had received since we saw him led to any change in his views. It would be a strong step to refuse to do this, having, as we had, been invited, though indirectly yet very plainly, to do so, — and an ill use might be made of our refusal afterwards. Fortified by this opinion, I proceeded to the hotel, and told Dunlop what I had done. He was at the moment preparing a note to the Lord Advocate, stating that we did not feel justified in reopen- ing a communication so little likely to lead to any satisfactory results. He was, however, but imperfectly resolved as to the propriety of this course ; and when he heard Lord Aberdeen's opinion, he said at once we should not hesitate an instant. He was very glad I had taken the course of asking his advice, as it placed us on very safe ground. I wrote, therefore, immediately a note to Lord John Eussell (a copy is PROPOSED MEASURE. 181 kept), referring to the Lord Advocate's commuuication, — to the possibility of a consequcut change iu the views of Goveruiiieut, — and that we would call at three p.m., when we hoped to be informed whether the answer of yesterday was adhered to. We called accordingly, and after waiting about a quarter of an hour were shown in, and found with his lordship the Lord Advocate and Sir George Grey. Lord John then invited the Lord Advocate to state what he had to say ; and he accordingly went over very exactly the account of the meeting of Scotch members he had given last night to us. Lord John then reminded us that yesterday he had said that Govern- ment's declining to introduce a measure at present did not arise from their being unable to agree wliat the measure should be, but from their uot seeing any good prospect of carrying it ; that the communication made by the Lord Advocate had iu some degree altered the circumstances, and warranted the reconsideration of the matter. He said the difficulty would be to know whether the Assembly would approve the measure. We said there was no reasonable ground to doubt that, if the measure satisfied the Committee, it would satisfy the majority of the Assembly, and therefore it was not necessary to wait for the Assembly to learn what would satisfy the Church. Sir George Grey remarked that he rather thought Lord John meant that their measure might not be found to go far enough to satisfy the majority of the Church. Of that, we said, we could not judge without knowing what the measure was. Lord John indicated that their measure involved some modification of tlie Veto, without saying what it amounted to. After some general conversation on the subject, he said he would bring the whole matter anew under the consideration of the Cabinet to-morrow, and press upon them the considerations now presented; and that if we would call upon him on Monday at half-past two, we should hear the result. This was on the whole as satisfactory as in the circumstances we could have anticipated. I saw Lord Aberdeen afterwards, made him aware of what had passed, and begged him to delay putting his intended question to Lord Melbourne till Monday ; to which he agreed. March 2S. — Maule cjiUed on Dunlop at Union, and had a long talk over our business. Dunlop laboured to impress him with the importance of getting Government to adopt the plan of the positive call iis the simplest, most satisfactory, and most likely to carry. Maule undertook to go to Lord John Russell immediately, and endeavour to impregnate him with the same views before the Cabinet meets to-day. Ultimately the Whig Government refused to face the diffi- culty, and the settlement of the Church question was under- taken by Lord Aberdeen. At first things seemed to pro- 182 DISAPPOINTMENT, mise exceedingly well. His lordship was willing to propose legislation on the footing of the positive call ; and " there can be no doubt," says Mr. Buchanan in his history, " this would have been more satisfactory to the Church than even the Veto itself." But, unfortunately, Lord Aberdeen was not decided enough to act on his own judgment in the matter. He consulted with, it is believed, the leaders of the Moderate party in Scotland ; and the result was, the beginning of that course of backsliding to which allusion has been made in a previous chapter. One of the earliest indications given of a change in the temper of the Conservative leader was his refusal to receive Mr. Buchanan and Mr. John Hamilton as deputies from the Non-Intrusion Committee. This was in the beginning of April 1841. It was then made plain that his lordship meant to break with the Church as represented by its Evangelical majority, and to attempt the forlorn task of composing the deep-cutting differences of the Church in the lines followed by the minority. He failed, of course. Dr. Chalmers told him at once, " with inexpressible grief and con- cern"— for " all his tendencies wei-e on the side of putting the most favourable construction on every clause" — that the Bill which he introduced could not possibly be accepted; and this view was confirmed shortly afterwards by the emphatic divi- sion of 221 to 134 against it in the General Assembly. But Lord Aberdeen persevered, and on the 16th of June he carried the second reading of his measure in the House of Lords. It looked as if the story of the passing of Queen Anne's Act were about to be repeated. The State seemed about to im- pose again, in a high-handed fashion, its sovereign will upon the Church ; and, for anything we can see to the contrary. Parliament might, without much difficulty, have been got at the time to agree to the outrage. But a strongly-worded petition from Scotland, asking that the Church might be CHANGED SPIRIT OF CONSERVATIVES. 188 heard by counsel at the bar of the House of Lords, backed up as that was by a bold speech from the Marquis of Breadal- bane, had the effect of arresting the deluge. Lord Aberdeen shrank from pursuing a course which threatened to issue in anything but pacification, and, although not with a very good grace, he withdrew his Bill. It could not be said, however, that thereupon things re- turned again to the same state in which they were before this abortive attempt at a settlement. The rejection of Lord Aberdeen's proposal, taken in conjunction with the suspen- sion by the Assembly of 1840 of the Strathbogie ministers, had greatly provoked the future Premier, Sir Robert PeeL To him the " rebellion " of the Church of Scotland appeared intolerable ; and on the 27th of July he spoke in his place in the House of Commons in a way which made it all too certain that when the Tories came into power, as they seemed likely to do ere long, even less was to be expected from them than from Lord Melbourne. This was discourafrinfj enoujrh for the Evangelicals, but it put fresh heart and hope into the Moderate party ; and from this point we may date a new and more bitter recommencement of the struggle. The Strathbogie ministers (who, as we have the best reason for saying, had had at times their serious misgivings) were stirred up to a more obstinate resistance to ecclesiastical authority ; the Moderate leaders also became more reckless in their methods of carrying on the war ; and the foolish confidence was every- where sought to be propagated that nothing was needed to cause the Non-Intrusion agitation to collapse, but a resolute pressure of the compulsitors of law. As a matter of fact, the calculations failed. The Evangelicals were not dispersed but compacted by the pressure. But, apart from that, it is worth remembering that it is in a very great degree to the shortsighted statesmanship of Lord Aberdeen and Sir 184 DUKE OF ARGYLE S BILL. Robert Peel that we owe at this time the exacerbation of the conflict. Things, however, could not possibly be left as they were, and another nobleman presented himself as ready to make a fresh attempt at pacification. This was the Duke of Argyle, whose Bill was read a first time on the 6th of May 1841. As its provisions proved satisfactory, the clouds again lifted ; but in June the Ministry was defeated, and all further pro- gress was stayed until after the general election which ensued. It was then found that the reign of the Whigs was over, and that the Church must thenceforward look to Sir Robert Peel. A deputation was accordingly sent to him in Sep- tember ; but the interview to which it was admitted was not encouraging. The great statesman was ominously reticent ; and as the little knot of Scottish Churchmen retired from the audience, to compare notes among themselves, one of the shrewdest of them said to his associates, " That man will never sanction the independent jurisdiction of the Church." And he was right. The Duke of Argyle' s Bill was transfei-red to the House of Commons, where Mr. Campbell of Monzie undertook to take charge of it. That it would have been carried there at the time under any circumstances, is of course extremely doubtful. But the Government did not give it the chance. Its second reading was set down for the 4th of May ; but before the debate came on Mr. Campbell was requested to postpone his motion, on the ground that the Ministry now saw its way to propose a satisfactory measure of its own. Mr. Campbell, suspecting no evil, consented. Mr. Fox Maule and others refused to agree ; but their opposition was of no avail. They were beaten on a division, and the ground was thus left free for Sir James Graham to do his best. That best proved to be nothing. The secret of his inteiiDOsition at all is now well understood to have been, that in the meantime THE FORTY. 185 there had begun to be put forth the baneful influence of tue FORTY.* Thuy succeeded in convincing the politicians that the Non-Iutrusion party was divided ; that some of its represen- tatives, at any rate, had no intention whatever of pressing things to an extremity ; and that the idea of a great Disrup- tion might be very safely dismissed as a chimera. Any thought, therefore, that might have been entertained of con- cession was abandoned. Events were allowed, so far as the Government was concerned, to take their course. Mr. Camp- bell's Bill, when at last brought in, was thrown out on a technicality. The Claim of Right was ignominiously re- jected— Sir James Graham stating on the occasion that " these pretensions of the Church of Scotland" could never be recognized " in any country in which law, equity, order, or common sense prevailed." And at last, on the 18th of May 1843, the crash came which drove the Evangelicals out- side the Establishment, to seek in a separated condition that independence which the State denied to them in a state of union with it. This short narrative will suffice to make the letters which are given below intelligible to every reader. It may, how- ever, be desirable to add two things more. One is, that for a time Sir George Sinclair's proposal of a liberuim arbitrium, as it was called, had a very disturbing influence on the Non- Intrusion party ; and the other is that, as he shows in his history, 'Mr. Buchanan had very good cause to complain of the conduct of Lord Aberdeen. The refusal of the Church to accept his Bill seems to have turned the love which his lord- ship had for it before into positive hatred. When Dr. Cand- lish's appointment to the Professorship of Biblical Criticism in * A party of men who had hitherto acted wath the Evangelicals, but who now separated from Chalmers and others of the same class, and began negotia- tions on their own account. On them lies chiefly the responsibility of the Dis- ruption. 186 LORD ABERDEEN BECOMES AN ENEMY. the University of Edinburgh was challenged, because he had dared, in the face of a Court of Session interdict, to preach the gospel in Strathbogie, Lord Aberdeen was one of those who insisted most bitterly that it should be cancelled. It was he too who most strongly supported Lord Dunfermline in assailing the Church when a petition from the Strathbogie ministers was presented to the House of Lords. And when, on the loth of June 1841, he appeared as protesting against the deposition of these ministers, his indignation seemed to know no bounds. " The presumption," said he, " manifested by the General Assembly in these proceedings, was never equalled by the Church of Rome. Tyranny such as was exhibited in this case would annihilate the liberties of the people of this country ; but it surely would not be tolerated in the present day." Such was the spirit of the Ministers under whose adminis- tration the Disruption actually took place. But, without a word of further comment, we shall let the letters speak for themselves. They are addressed to two of Mr. Buchanan's life-long friends, Mr. Alexander Dunlop and Dr. Harry Rainy of Glasgow. {To Mr. A. Dmilop.) "London, February S6, I84O. " I had an interview with Sir George Grey, who seems favourable to our views, and desirous to promote a settlement. I have also had long interviews ■with the Marquis of Bute and Duke of Argyle. The former would go all the length of the Committee so far as he is personally con- cerned ; but he said he was confident the Conservatives as a body would not. He was quite sure they would, as a body, agree to the 1649 arrangement, — putting in 'causeless prejudice' in addition to 'factious motives,' — and that they would readily consent to have it arranged that the dissent should be held good, and should stop the settlement unless some party having interest should prove that it was tendered under the disqualifying terms of the Act — of which terms, at the same time, the Church Courts should be the sole interpreters. He said if the Committee should think fit to accept this arrangement, and say to the Government, ' Give us that,' it would be sure to DARKNESS OF FUTURE. 187 pass speedily through the two Houses. I suggested the risk of the Govern- ment answering the request by proposing, on (hat very account, a measure making the people's dissent absolute, and so indulging their grudge at the Church, which woulil then infallibly get no measure at all, and get at the same time for the Church a possible odium from the people. " He admitted tliis fear was too well founded ; for he told me in con- fidence that Lord John Russell had been heard to say last summer, ' he would not be the man to help the Church of Scotland out of her difficulties.' This, of course, entre nous. The Duke of Argyle was most kind and friendly. Up to the point of 1649 he is quite firm and decided ; and both he and Lord Bute were strong against the late interdict. " I am going to-day to call on the Duke of Richmond. I shall also endeavour to see Lord Aberdeen, and ascertain distinctly what he means, I am thoroughly convinced that our wisdom and our duty is this, — to bring the Conservatives up to the highest point we can ; and ascertaining what that is, to use our whole influence to bring the Government to the propos- ing of a measure as near to it as possible, without, of course, hinting what the Conservatives will do." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " London, March S, I84O. "I confess it appears to me so entirely doubtful how these political movements are to aff"ect our cause — the way of Providence in this whole question is so much ' in the sea,' that any attempt to trace it at present seems hopeless. And therefore my feeling is to go steadily on, using the means which lie plainly within our own sphere of duty, leaving the issue to Him who ruleth over all." {To Br. Harry Rainy.) "London, April 24, I84O. " With regard to the great object of my mission, I found, on my arrival on Wednesday evening, a note waiting me from Lord Aberdeen, saying that he was in the country, and was coming to town next day to meet me. I went to his house accordingly yesterday forenoon, and we had a very long confidential discussion, which lasted upwards of two hours, in the course of which he told me the nature and provisions of his intended measure, the difficulties he had to contend with — in short, opened his whole mind with- out reserve on the subject ; of course on the understanding that the conver- sation was to be held as strictly private. He is to submit his Bill to Mr. Hamilton and myself on Monday ; and till one sees the terms of it, it is im- possible to speak with confidence. He pledges himself that it will at least remove all difficulties on the side of conscience, by leaving us full power to determine in what circumstances the pastoral relation shall be formed. 188 LORD ABERDEEN S BILL. aud by giving full effect to our refusal to form it, whatever may be the grounds on which we decide that the settlement cannot be proceeded with. " I find there is great activity on the part of our enemies, exhibited chiefly in efforts to pervert and alienate Lord Aberdeen. By telling me candidly what had been stated to him, he gave me an opportunity of put- ting many things to rights. It is a very delicate business altogether, and makes me very anxious, as it places me in a position of so much responsi- bility. I am conscious, however, of being influenced by no consideration but a regard to the welfare of the Church ; and if I do my best to promote that end, I must be contented to leave the issue in better hands than mine, and to be blamed, as I may very likely be, for not accomplishing what is beyond my power." {To Dr. Harry Rainy.) " London, April 29, I84O. " Mr. Hamilton and I had a three hours' discussion yesterday with Lord Aberdeen, with his Bill before us. He put us strictly under quarantine; which, of course, interferes considerably with our freedom of communica- tion. It is not violating his lordship's interdict, however, to mention generally the character of the Bill to one who is so swift to hear and slow to speak as yourself. In a word, then, it takes away all our difficulties so far as co7iscience is concerned, leaving the Church Courts to give full effect to any objections of aiiy kind against the presentee or his settlement which the people may urge. It pronounces the presenting of the minister to the people when he goes to preach before them, as a part of the ' trials ' which 'are wholly in the j^ower of the Kirk.' It entitles the people to object if they think him unfit to edify them, — with power to appeal if unsatisfied with the Presbytery's judgment, and the appeal to be exclusively to the Church Courts. It makes no reference to the Veto Law direct or indirect ; and leaves the Presbytery, so far as I can see, full power in each case judicially to give effect to the veto of the parish if tendered on the ground that the presentee's gifts are not suited to their edification. " It would have been unspeakably wiser and simpler had they just left the Veto to stand as a general rule, instead of risking the litigation which the separate judging of each case as it comes may produce. But still, as it leaves the Church perfectly free, absolutely to determine when they shall constitute a pastoral relation and when not, our conscience will be delivered; and though I would not actively conczir, I think we would not be warranted in directly refusing and repudiating it. We are to have a coj^y of the Bill put into our hands to study immediately. He had only the one copy he read from yesterday, which was to be transcribed last night. He will give notice to-morrow night in the House of Lords as to the night when his Bill will be introduced." THE EARL AN ENIGMA. 189 {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, June 12, ISJfi. " I am both astonished and gi*atified beyond measure to hear that Lord Aberdeen has begun again to tliiuk of the 'call.' The man is a perfect enigm.a. I have ceased to speculate about his movements. I hope you have resolved on sending up the deputation — the step seems indispensable." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " London, June 13, 1S40. " As it may possibly be useful for you to know exactly Lord Aberdeen's state of mind in reference to the proceedings of the Assembly, I subjoin an extract from a letter I have just received from him. He seems to be in no humour to amend his Bill. I had written him in regard to what he said lately in Parliament about the necessity of the Church obeying the law. He 'keeps to his threap' on that subject, insisting that the maintaining of the Veto Law even under the existing limitations is ' a Auolation of the law.' After leaving this point he comes to his Bill, and writes as follows : — ' Undoubtedly it wouhl have afforded me pleasure if I could have adopted all the amendments of the Bill proposed by you and Mr. Hamilton, con- sistently with a sense of my own duty, and with the main objects I had in view when proposing the measure. But my present fear is that I have already .adopted too many of these amendments ; and I assure you that I rejoice from the bottom of my heart in having firmly resisted the adoption of that which you inform me would have secui-ed the adoption of the Bill by the Assembly, but which would also, in my judgment, have led to the ruin of the Church. The temper and spirit evinced by the leaders of the Assembly, and their proceedings, have been such as to produce any other effect than an inclination to extend their powere.' His lordship is evidently angry." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, July 8, ISJlfi. " Not a word from London or Edinburgh. Are you equally without information as to Lord Aberdeen's movements ? A preliminary meeting I called yesterday has adjourned till to-morrow, eleven A.M., in hopes of having more definite information to guide us as to the intended public meeting. We have fixed conditionally for Wednesday next, and have ensracred Begg and Makgill to attend it : and we are most anxious for Guthrie, who is new here, and who would create a sensation. I wish you would second our application to him, and urge him to come. It is very important " I am glad and 4hankful the Moderate manifesto is such an ozit and outer, as the Americans say. They have overshot the mark," 190 PEEL S SPEECH. {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, August 3, 1840. "This speech of Peel's makes the cause very clear as to the League. If, before, it was expedient, it is now indispensable. I presume it is to go on as was agreed. I trust no cross accident has arisen to mar it. It is time now. Colquhoun is dismayed at the speech of Peel, and says the party had no conception it was coming. Be that as it may, it has broken the party's back, and all their surgery wiU not mend it in Scotland for years to come. " I am glad Gordon approves the League, and trust that Chalmers will be of the same mind. Peel's speech will help him to a right conclusion, if he was in any difficulty before." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, September 22, 18^0. " The preparations for the Bicentenary dinner are going on prosperously. To all appearance we shall have an ample attendence. The Committee wish you to prepare as a toast, ' The memory of the Scottish worthies who in foi-mer days contended for the liberties of the Church of Scotland.' Something to that effect. And if Lord Lome be present, we would say, ' The memory of the Earl of Argyle, and the other Scottish worthies,' &c. He and the Duke are invited ; but no answer has been returned. They are both in town, and we may expect to hear to-morrow. If either of them engage to attend, I shall write you. " Cooke is coming over to represent the Irish Presbyterians. " Chalmers is to speak on the union of aU orthodox Presbyterians ; a subject of which he is quite full." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, October 23, I84O. " How does your municipal election look ? It is a pity that any fresh fuel should be flung on the fire that has hitherto burned so mischievously between us and the Dissenters. It was, of course, unavoidable at Edin- burgh. But it would be an immense matter if the division between us could be healed. I cannot help thinking that if one had access to know what is going on among them behind the scenes, there would be found to be some materials for union." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, February 8, 1841. " I enclose for your information a letter received this morning from Colquhoun. If Lord Melbourne represents the feelings and intentions of JOHN Hamilton's pamphlet. loi Governmeut as to our question, what he has written Sir George Sinclair is certainly ominous enough. There seems certainly to be no help in man ; and perliaps it is to bring us to a more unreserved dependence on God that we are to have every human stay broken." {To Mr. A. Duiilop.) " Glasgow, February 22, I84I. " Now that Hamilton's admirable pamplilet is likely to give a fillip to our cause among Parliamentary men, should not a decided eti'ort be made privately to get some such Bill as he sketches in the Appendix introduced into the House of Commons? It is not so remote from the views on which Mr. Maule and the Advocate were willing to legislate last year, as to render it unlikely that they would support it ; while many of the Conservatives, I am inclined to think, would not be unwilling to aid it. The return lately made to Maule's order about the Veto Settlement would afford a reasonable ground for his supporting it, or even introducing it, or something like it. " I have written Colquhoun and Mr. Home Drummond about it." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, March 12, 1841. " I had come, before receiving your letter, to substantially the same conclusion you have expressed ; and have resolved to do nothing till the smoke of this explosion so far clears away as to enable one to see distinctly the real state of things. I have written Hamilton that, at least in the meantime, I cannot go to London ; but have urged his setting out, without delay, as in truth now more necessary than ever. To get a Bill on sound principles even introduced, is a point of great importance ; and no pains should be spared to secure it. Above all, we must be on our guard against giving way to the sort of despondency— the feeling of its being hopeless any longer to struggle to avert the catastrophe — which late events are calculated to produce. "We can now, however, distinctly see the breakers without climbing to the masthead. The seven have only to get an interdict against the Assembly pronouncing sentence of deposition. After the views expressed by Lord Normanby, in name of the Government, their Commissioner cannot remain while an interdict is violated ; and then comes the crash. " It is a solemn thought. I shall endeavour to be in {D. V.) on Tuesday. There ought, perhaps, to be a conference of a more select kind than the ordinary meeting in the Religious Institution Rooms. It is time to be setting our house in order ; but we must do nothing rashly — nothing to precipitate so frightful a calamity. A false movement, in our present critical position, might not only ensure the Church's overthrow, but leave on us the re- sponsibility of the event." 192 CHUECH PRINCIPLES CONSERVATIVK {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, April 9, I841. " I heard from Hamilton this morning, and am glad to hear there is some light beginning to appear. The old proverb says, ' Clear in the sooth beguiled the cadger,' I hope Mi'. Hamilton's hopes are not doomed to end the same way. " He is anxious to have letters addressed him showing how really Con- servative the popular movement of the Church is, and how grossly errone- ous it is to imagine it has any affinity with Eadicalism. I have set two such letters agoing to-day, which will exactly meet his views. The one from the secretary, or rather political agent, of the Conservative party here, proving that the active adherents of the popular party in the Church have been the chief instniments in bringing about whatever reaction has taken place towards Conservatism in this town and county, as well as in the neighbouring counties and burghs. The other, from the secretary of the Conservative Operatives' Association, showing that, out of its 500 members, not more than 6 are opposed to the Church's movements; and that the whole of the remainder so entirely identify their Conservatism with the Church's principles and present proceedings, that at this moment they will not move as a political body at all, under an impression that Peel and other leaders of his party are unfriendly to the Church. And, further, that Conservatism is absolutely out of the question among the operatives, apart from the Church question." (To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, Mot/ 21, I84I. " By a letter from my brother-in-law, Mr. Lee of Campsie,* I have just heard that the seven are positively to hold out. Lee was anxious they should give in, and pressed Cooke, when over at Principal Haldane's dinner, to advise them to do so. He says he thought he had made some impression on him in private ; but once with his party, he finds him taking another tone. I need not tell you all this was his own spontaneous act. Of course, the information may be relied on, and you will therefore have no occasion to deal with the embar- rassing question of what kind of acknowledgment would suffice? The course now is clear, and the duty plain; but the circumstances in which the Assembly is placed are unspeakably solemn. How the two parties are to continue one Church, if the minority support the seven out and out, is what I cannot see to be possible. We are therefore, to all appearance, on the eve of a great change. May God give us all the grace which the emergency requires. " The great thing will be to bring out the true character of those prin- ciples which the seven have been trampling on. Votes are valuable; but a powerful exposition of the truth is more valuable still. * Afterwards Dr. Robert Lee of Edinburgh. ASSEMBLY OF 1841. 193 " I hear it has been resolved to discuss Auti-Patronage, and to take the debate before the day for considering the Duke of Argyle's Bill. " I am perhaps no judge, not knowing the grounds on which this arrangement has been adopted. One would say, at a distance, it would have been better to t;ike the Bill first." {To Dr. H. Rainy.) " Edinburgh, May 25, 1S41. '■ We got safe here yesterday, within the four houre, after a very plea- sant journey. We were quite a party of ourselves — Dr. Ilenderson, Mrs. Brown, and Miss Graliam. liobert* dined here, and we went to the Assem- bly in the evening, when he got his first sight of that venerable Court. He went down to Pilrig in the evening. I took him this forenoon to the Com- missioner's Levee, to see the little piece of State ceremonial that goes on there ; and to-morrow he accompanies me to the Moderator's breakfast, where one gets something more substantial than a bow. As to the Assem- bly, things hitherto have gone on very satisfactorily. Wright of Boilhwick's dangerous and insidious heresies were discussed last night. He was found guilty, by an overwhelming majority, and deposed. The minority's motion was only for some delay. All concurred in condemning — for the Moderates have now become wonderfully orthodox. Candlish's speech was a masterpiece. "To-day we have had the India Report, the English Presbyterian Church Deputation, and the Anti-Patronage discussion, now in progress (half- past five). It was opened by Cunningham in an able and temperate speech. Clialmers followed in a speech not well conceived, I think, and not aiming very decidedly at anything. Dr. Makellar succeeded him, and moved the amendment (for which Clialmers will vote) to the effect that the motion of Mr. Cunningham would not facilitate but retard the settlement of the Church's difficulties. It is so framed that the Moderates may vote for it ; and if they do, it will, of course, can-y by a decided majority, and leave the way open for the discussion of the Duke's Bill to-morrow unembarrassed by Anti-Patronage. " If it be the result of to-night's debate that M;ickellar's motion carries, I should think the Duke's Bill likely to have a very large majority to-morrow. Strathbogie is fixed for Thursday. There are still rumours about some concession on the part of the seven. But my belief is they will come to nothing. Nothing seems to be known as to what the Mode- rates will do in the event of the deposition of the recusants." [To Dr. Harry Rainy.) " 59 York Place, Edinburgh, May S7, 1841. " Resolutions in favour of the Duke of Argyle's Bill were passed by the Assembly about one o'clock this morning by a majority of 230 to 105. The • Now Principal Rainy. 13 194 DR. CANDLISH S APPEAL TO THE OPPOSITION. subject was introduced by Mr. Candlish in an able speech expository of the Bill, and which he concluded with an appeal to the Moderate side of the House. The appeal was most touching and impressive, and thoroughly solemnized the minds of the audience. The counter-motion was made by Dr. Hill (that the Bill was not calculated to settle the difficulties, and that the Veto Law should be repealed) in a very weak and paltry speech. Though as a body the Moderates held together, there were honourable ex- ceptions of men who broke from their ranks and met the appeal made to them in a corresponding spirit. Dr. Brunton was one of these. He could not support all the resolutions ; but he would not oppose the Duke's Bill, and would concur in no movement to obstruct its progress. "With some amendments, he thought it would work well. Lee of Campsie took the same view, in a vigorous and manly speech that was most distasteful to his own side of the House. Dr. Ferrie of Kilconquhar voted for the re- solutions; and several Moderates were silent. On our side, some half- dozen High Anti-Patronage people, such as Makgill Crichton, Bridges, &c., did not vote. " The debate was conducted in the most admirable spirit, with the ex- ception of the speech of Dr. Hill, and one of Mr. David Milne (Sir David Milne's son), which Dr. P. Macfarlan discussed in fine style, giving Mr. Milne himself a rebuke which he will feel for some time to come. " The seven men ai'e resolved to hold out. By a private agreement. Dr. Cook, Principal Macfarlane, Dr. P. Macfarlan, and I, had an inter- view with them yesterday afternoon. They would not yield a peg. ' Wha will to Cupar maun to Cupar,' as the old adage says. They deserve their fate, and they will certainly get what they deserve. It is a serious busi- ness ; but the Church has no choice but to go through with it." {To Dr. H. Rainy.) " London, June 10, I84I. " The approaching dissolution of Parliament and succeeding elections engross every mind hei'e, and hardly any one will look at our question at present. The Bill of the Duke of Argyle must, of course, be postponed till next session. The Duke will state his views on Monday night in the House of Peers, and refer to the strong support his Bill has received from various quarters, and above all from the Church herself, the party chiefly concerned. He will intimate his purpose, and reintroduce it early next session. Lord Belhaven comes to town to-night, and to-morrow we shall have some consultation regarding the resolutions of the Assembly against the interdicts. I ho])e the Government may be induced to present to Mortlach, as the speediest way of bringing the question to an issue whether or not the courts of law will give civil efTect to the deposition of the Strathbogie ministers. We shall know in a day or two. " It is of the utmost consequence to get some of our ovm friends into NEW CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENT. 1P5 next Parliament. We .shall never do any good till this is attained. Now, I liave to lueutiou to you, in confidence, that there is some idea of Mr. Dunlop coming forward for Ross-shire, if lie can be assured of a sufficient territorial support (that of Whig jiroprietors) to back the influence the purely Clniroh party may be able to exert. He would, of course, come forwanl as an independent member, and avowedly as the supporter of the Church's cause. He is anxious to have the opinion of any judicious friends who know that county, wliether they think he would have a reasonable chance of success. Various persons will, of course, be consulted; and it has occurred to me that you may have some knowledge of the state of matters. Pray write me, in course, what you think, and suggest any- thing that occurs to you on the subject — such as names of individuals who could be of use, &c. " Another point I have to mention. Mr. Patrick Stewart is to contest Renfrewshire. He is an able man, and piiblid!/ committed on our question in its whole extent. It is considered by our best friends here that his presence in Parliament would be of great service. Can you do anything there? Your friend, General Darroch, used to support the Stewart family, I believe. Would he be inclined to do so at present? It would probably decide the contest. Stewart speaks well, and we need such a man greatly in the House of Commons. Our impression here is, that if Sir R. Peel get a large majority, and come into office with a strong Government, he will try to criuih us. I am not without hopes that a seat in Ireland may be got for Makgill Crichton." {To Dr. H. Rainy.) " London, June 12, IS4I. " There is little good to be done here in our question at present. We had some hopes of getting Government to present to Mortlach (one of the seven parishes, and which is in their gift); but the Lord Chancellor, after taking two days to think of it, declines to recommend it — and, of course. Government will act accordingly. He is afraid it might be misunderstood as if it were an indication of Government being on the side of the Church, and against the Civil Courts ; whereas they wish to stand neutral, and give no opinion either way. They are a poor, shuffling set. All we can say is, they let us alone ; whereas Peel would interfere actively against us, if his party were in office with a strong majority at their back. " There really is no help for us in man, and we have much need to be putting our trust in God. " Lord Aberdeen is to ask a question of Lord Melbourne on Monday night about the proceedings of the General Assembly ; of course as a pretext for making an attack upon us. We are taking measures to have Lords Rosebery, Breadalbane, Belhaven, and the Duke of Argyle, in readi- ness to say something in reply. 196 THE WESLEYANS. " The Moderate deputation have been waiting on Lord Brougham ! Think of that. Ultra- Tory Moderates in league with the most profligate of the Ultra- Radicals. I look upon it as a bad omen. It shows to what lengths the Moderate party are ready to go to prevent a settlement on the only principles that will prevent the overthrow of the Establishment." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " London, June 17, I84I. " In consequence of what passed at our last conference with the Wesleyans, and of other circumstances growing out of it, I liave consented to remain here till Friday night. The Watchinan of this morning has a strong article addi'essing electors on our question. Dr. Bunting, Mr. Beecham, and the editor of the Watchtnan, came to my lodgings last night at nine o'clock to revise it; and they seem now resolved to make common cause with us. A slij) containing merely the article was to be sent to Sir Robert Peel, enclosed in a letter, calling his attention to it, ' from the Watchmayi office.' This will secure its meeting his eye ; and I should hope it will have some effect in deterring him from meddling with us. " I have been with the Duke of Argyle this morning about seeing Lord Stanley. The Duke thinks it desirable ; is to see him or write him to-day, and endeavour to arrange an interview for to-morrow. The Duke is most indignant at Lord Aberdeen ; talked of his attack on the Church last night as disgraceful, and expressed his conviction that it must suiely ruin his influence with all who have the least respect for the Church of Scotland. He himself was not reported, but he is to send to the papers a report of what he said. It was he who called up the Chancellor by a question as to the proper extent and effect of the Auchterarder decision. The Chan- cellor's few remarks, the Duke says, evidently implied that he did not wish to be understood as sanctioning the subsequent proceedings of the Scotch courts of law. Lord Melbourne, on the whole, did well ; and I feel sure the discussion will do good in the way of forcing men to consider the sub- ject, and at length to discover that it does involve a great constitutional question. " I am going to ask the editor of the Watchman to extract from your pamphlet two pages on Montgomery's case— the one referred to by Lord Melbourne — as the most parallel to the present controversy. Giving it entire, will show that the Church triumphed in that case." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, Am/uH 19, ISJ^l. *' I have this moment received a letter from Chalmers. He is very anxious that the resolutions should stick to the grand question of juris- diction, as the one on which we differ with the Moderates, and which lies at the bottom of the threatened schism — the one on which they are to AN EDINBURGH CONCLAVE. 197 appeal to Parliameut. lie thinks it will present a simpler view uf our case to the public and to Parliament, and unite the larqest number of our own friends in the Church. I am satisfied he is quite right. The occasion seems to dictate and demand this policy. Anything else brought in should be, at any rate, incidental and subordinate." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, August 21, J84I. " Macleod left this on Wednesday to dine at the Dean's, to meet Lord Aberdeen, professing to be most anxious to bring his lordship to more rational views, — condemning Cook's movement, &c. He came back quite changed. On the other hand, I have had a letter from Dr. Chalmers this morning, saying that Sir G. Sinclair appears, from a letter he has had from him, to be ' highly satisfied ' with the conversation of Lord Aberdeen ! He, Sir George, was, I believe, at the dinner-party which Macleod went in to attend. " We have had enough of his lordship. Let us hold on our own course." {To Mr. A. Dunlop) "Glasgow, November 26, IS41. "Grant's* speech is indeed warlike; but he belongs to that class who wish to push things to an extremity. I don't believe he has any other ground to think he will be backed than that which he expresses in his speech, — that the known sentiments of members of Government are such as must in consistency carry them that length. His speech seems to have been very much meant to instigate public men to maintain ihut fatal consistency, by putting into deeds what they have some of them indicated in words." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) "Glasgow, April 5, IS42. " In answer to your note of yesterday, I shall as briefly as possible state my views about the proposed resolution, — the stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae of next Assembly. (I.) That it should be quite distinct from any resolution to which the Assembly may come on the subject of Patronage. With this view, I would recommend that the question of Anti-Patronage should be founded on the overtures on that subject, and that the resolution on the juri.sdictiou should be based on the report of the Non-Intrusion Committee. This would keep the two matters quite distinct, and yet would avoid even the appearance of casting Anti-Patronage into the shade. " In order that the Independence resolution should grow naturally out of the Non-Intrusion report, I assume that that report will be so formed as to give the chief prominence to the fact that the Government have declined • Dr. Grant, late of St. Mary's, Edinburgh. 198 OUTLINE FOR CLAIM OF RIGHT. to propose any legislative settleraent of our difficulties, and have announced their purpose to enforce the law as it has been or may be declared by the (yivil Courts. I would make that announcement the starting-point of the Assembly's resolution, — narrating in the preamble of the resolution how that, by this rejection of the Assembly's appeal to Parliament, and throw- ing of us upon the decision of the very Courts of whose encroachments we are complaining, we are thus of necessity driven to contemplate the result which may in all probability be awaiting us, and to intimate beforehand what the Church will hold herself bound to do in case of the Civil Courts confirming by a formal decision the Erastian supremacy they have recently. without any formal decision, assumed. " Having got a good broad platform laid in this way for the superstruc- ture, I would straightway set to work to build up the resolutions ; and — " (1) I would state what is meant by the Headship of Christ as the doctrine out of which the Church's exclusive jurisdiction in matters spiritual Hows, — state it, that is, as a religious principle, embodied in Scripture and laid down in the Standards of the Church. " (2) I would set forth concisely the legal gi'ounds on which we rest our claim to this jurisdiction as an essential article of that Church constitution which the State has ratified. " (3) I would narrate the usurpations upon that jurisdiction involved in the i^eceut proceedings of the Civil Courts, selecting those cases which tire best fitted to bring out clearly and unequivocally the assumption on their part of spiritual power. In doing this, I would take ocaision to advert to the origin of this contest, bringing out the fact explicitly that it was in a course of practical reformation, and in the very act of guarding and secuiing the privileges, not of the courts of the Church, but of the members of the Church, that her jurisdiction was assailed. Moreover, in detailing the usurpations of the Civil Courts on the ecclesiastical province, I would be at some pains to disclaim all idea of the Church desiring to invade the civil province. " JV.B. — Perhaps the proper place to 'redd the marches' between the two provinces would be at the close of the second resolution ; and so, having laid down the pri7iciples there, reserve the third entirely for fcKts. " (4) I would bring out the fact that all the foremeutioned usurpations were in the face of statute and of usage, and unsupported to this hour by any one single deci-sion. And here it might be important to show what the Auchterarder decision — as yet the oidi/ decision — did fairly establish, and what it did not establish. " (5) I would bring out the points now at issue in the Civil Courts, and show that under these the whole question of the Church's jurisdiction is now under litigation ; and that if the actions pending be decided against the Cliurch, the Erastian supremacy of the Stewarts would thereby be restored, and the key-stone with which the Revolution Settlement crowned the arch CAMPBELL OF MONZIK. 109 of our religious liberties would be wrenched from its place, in defiance of the Treiity of Union, by the mere dictum of a Court of Civil Law. " And having thus brought the matter to a point at which all Scotch- men might see that the very liberties for which our forefathers shed their blood like water were on the point of being wrested from us, I would — " (G) Biing out simply, but solemnly, the unequivocal intimation of our purpose to stand or fall on this ground, — that, like Luther at Worms, we are brought to the ^hier stehe ieli!' — that the affirmance of the supereminent jurisdiction of the Civil Courts will reduce the Church to the necessity of saying, and saying at once, to the Legislature, 'Give us back our freedom, or we must of necessity regard your simple refusal to do so as ipso facto breaking up our Establishment.' " I do not know if this sketch will be of any use to you, but it will at least set before you the general idea of the thing which, after a good deal of reflection, approves itself to my mind." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) "Glasgow, March 18, I842. " Peel calls on Maule to bring in a Bill, if he can frame one that will satisfy Scotland, and put an end to our disputes. Would it not be worth while to take him at his word, and to have the Duke of Ai'gyle's Bill brought in either by Mr. Maule, or (if the Duke of Argyle would not agree to give his Bill up to a Whig) by Campbell of Mouzie ? It may be brought in on the mover's own responsibility, and without any connection with the Ajssembly's case at all. " It would give us the benefit of a fresh discussion, and give occasion to try the pledges of last general election. "This is a Parliamentary question. The question, what our ecclesi- astical parliament, the Assembly, should do in the shape matters have now assumed, is very important. I wrote Candlish on the subject this morning. The more I think of it, the more I am convinced that we may turn this determination to leave us in the hands of the Civil Courts to good account. The grand question now under litigation is shortly this, Is the Church of Scotland an Erastian Church ? Do the conditions of her Estab- lishment make her such ? If the jurisdiction claimed and exercised in the late proceedings of the Court of Session be found by them, when the point has been fairly raised, to be theirs by the law of this laud, and if this be affirmed by the House of Lords, of course we are then at the wall, and can have nothing more to do but to teU the State either to alter that law or disestablish the Church. " Now, is it not our duty and our policy, in a series of carefully prepared resolutions, to trace the questiou to that result at next Assembly, and to set forth what, in the event of an adverse decision, w^e shall feel ourselves 200 FRIENDLY FEELING FOR DISSENTERS. solemnly bound to do ? This would be the best of all bonds or leagues. The question is one that would unite our party to a man. The Assembly having aifirmed these resolutions, we could immediately afterwards take measures to have them signed, not only by the members of Assembly who vote for them, but by all our ministers and elders over all Scotland ; and then, and best of all, we could take them to our individual congregations, by whom, when the matter came in that form, they would be signed so extensively as to make us a body worth looking at. This, if we are to be driven to the wall, would be a noble preparation for the day of trial. Humanly speaking, it would secure what we have been long aiming at as the grand desideratum, — a means of binding us to stand or fall together." {To Mr. A. Dunlop.) " Glasgow, June 3, 1842. " Let me urge upon you the necessity of allowing no time to be lost in having the Claim of Eight signed by ministers and elders all over the Church. The momentum of the Assembly should be taken advantage of. Remember it is our ' Torres Vedras ' in this struggle, and we should bestow as much pains in strengthening it as Wellington did those famous lines. Again, therefore, I entreat, let no time be lost. " To save me writing Candlish, will you say when you see him that I hope the co-operation of other religious denominations in the observance of the day of humiliation will be sought respectfully and early. It will not do to call on them to join us at the last hour. Would it not be well to send a copy of the Assembly's Deliverance to the Moderators of all their Presby- teries, and to the different Independent ministers? I have an idea that many of the Secession and Relief are not \iuwilliug now to come to a better understanding with us of the Establishment. Let this state of feeling be improved, and we may yet be one." In addition to those letters written in the confidence of friendship, we give one or two more of a different class. So anxious was Dr. Buchanan to avert the catastrophe which he saw approaching, that he left no means untried which might promise the preservation of the Establishment in its integrity. Even, therefore, when prevented from continuing the negotia- tions in person, he endeavoured to influence the men at the head of affairs with his pen, and during the whole of the year 1842 he seems to have carried on a confidential correspond- ence with Sir Robert Peel. It would serve little purpose to reproduce that correspondence at length here. The ground CORRESPONDENCE WITH SIR ROBERT PEEL. 201 gone over was very much the same as that which we have already seen traversed in liis journal and letters to Mr. Dun- lop. But the following will be read with interest, — as a sample, — especially as they show that the Evangelicals were too eager for peace on honourable terms to be in the least imprac- ticable. The Strathbogie ministers were righteously deposed, not for " obeying the law of the land," as it was the fashion of the Moderates to say, but for contumacy of the most reck- less and gratuitous description ; and there was the best reason for being seriously offended with them. But, to bring about a reconciliation, the leaders on the popular side were willing even to make a bridge for them to return. On the other hand, Sir Robert Peel exhibits, in his view of the situation, a loftiness of air which said sadly little for his comprehension of the true nature of the crisis. {Dr. Buchanan to Sir R. Peel.) " Glasgow, June 2, 1842. " The communication I was allowed to make to you in regard to the affairs of the Cliurch of Scotland, when lately in London, will, I hope, plead my excuse for again addressing you on the same subject. " Lord Bute will probably inform you of what has been done privately in order to bring about the restoration of the Strathbogie ministers, and thereby to remove the difficulty which their case to some extent may inter- pose in the way of an amicable settlement. Meanwhile, having been con- sulted by his lordship on the subject, and immediately concerned in the measures which have been adopted, and conceiving it to be extremely desirable that you should know exactly in what shape the matter stands, I venture to place a short statement of what has been done before you. " At Lord Bute's request I gave him in writing a summary of the terms on which the Strathbogie ministers might be reponed. His lordship there- upon framed a paper embodying the declaration they might make to the Church, and after showing it to a few leading members of the Assembly, submitted it to Mr. Whigham, wlio had been counsel for the deposed minis- ters. Mr. Whigham thought the paper and the other conditions connected with it contained materials for a settlement of their case which might be acceded to. He was, however, of the .same opinion which I had previously expressed to Lord Bute, that it would be impossible to complete the nego- 202 DEALINGS WITH THE DEPOSED MINISTERS. tiation during the sitting of the Assembly, as several of the Strathbogie ministers were at home in Aberdeenshire. In these circumstances I ven- tured to suggest to his lordship that the likeliest way to bring matters into the proper train would be by some influential member of the Moderate party asking from the Assembly authority to the Commission to receive any application from the ministers of Strathbogie presently under censure, and from all other ministers who had become involved in their proceed- ings, and to remove the censures imposed on them respectively if the Com- mission should see cause. His lordship, concurring in the propriety of this suggestion, spoke of it to Mr. Whigham, by whom it was entirely approved. It was then communicated by his lordship to Dr. Cook, who received it with the utmost cordiality. Accordingly, when the time for appointing the Commission arrived, and for giving it the usual instructions. Dr. Cook rose in the Assembly and formally moved that, in addition to these, it should be further empowered to act in regard to the ministers under cen- sure in the manner above described. The motion was met with the greatest unanimity on the side of the majority, and the Commission was instructed accordingly. " The best feeUng has prevailed throughout the whole sitting of the Assembly between the two parties in the Church ; and in promoting and maintaining this friendly feeling, Lord Bute, in his office as Commissioner to the Assembly, has been of most essential service. " My conviction is decided — and it is that of all who are best acquainted with the state of our Church affairs in Scotland — that if Her Majesty's Government continue to manifest a disposition and pui-pose to bring about a settlement of the Scotch Church question, the measures which under Lord Bute's auspices have been set on foot will be crowned with complete success, the threatened schism will be prevented, the integrity of the Church maintained, and peace and unity restored. An object so unspeak- ably important will not, I feel assured, be deemed by you unworthy of your couiiteuauce. " I hope to have your forgiveness, if I shall venture in another letter to address you in a day or two on the subject of the more public proceedings of the Assembly, especially as regards the votes on Patronage and the Spiritual Independence of the Church. The former of these in particular is not unlikely to be regarded in England as interposing a fresh obstacle to the settlement of the Non-Intrusion question. If rightly understood, the impression, I feel assured, will be ditferent." It can iDJure no one, at this distance of time, to have the private and confidential grounds stated on which the restora- tion of the Strathbogie ministers was actually proposed. They were as follows : — CONDITIONS OF RESTORATION. 203 THE 8TRATHBOOIE MINISTERS. " Edinburgh, May 28, 1842. "The grounds on which the Strathbogie miuistei-s were deposed require that any jJioposiU for their restoration should be treated as a case of dis- cipHne. This of necessity implies some acknowledgment of error and expression of i-egret — not merely for the consequences of the course they have i)ursued, but for that course itself — accompanied at the same time with whatever explanations they may think fit to otl'er. Those members of Assembly who have had an opportunity of examining the paper handed to them ai'e afraid it does not satisfy, as a statement of the present views and feelings of the parties, the conditions necessary in dealing with a case of this kind. The statement prepared with the same view by Sir George Sinclair, in concert, as is understood, with the late Dean of Faculty, having been refused by the deposed ministers, they feel a difficulty in assenting to any statement less full and explicit. " With these general remarks on what they consider as the defective character of the statement, they have further to observe that, should it be so modified as to meet the exigencies of the case, it would be further indispensable that the parties should intimate to the Assembly their willingness — 1st, to withdraw the actions raised in the Court of Session against the Church ; 2nd, to agree to abstain from the exercise of all cleriail functions during the period between the date of their making the above statement and the time to be fixed for recalling the sentence of deposition, in deference to the sentence and authority of the Chui'ch. " It is quite necessary that it should be understood, further, in connec- tion with any arrangement of this kind, that the Church must be held as reserving full power to make provision for having the ordinances of religion aflrainistered to those pei-sons in the seven parishes who have adhered to the Church and separated themselves from the seven ministere, and who may be conscientiously of opinion that it is not their duty to return to their ministry. To force them to do so would be, in the circumstances, alike impolitic and unjust. While the members of Assembly who have consulted together as requested on this subject have come to the conclusions above expressed, they feel strongly that, amid the pressure of the business of the House, and the shortness of the time allowed for considering the question, they are not in circumstances to do full justice to the subject, in the way of explaining the grounds on which these opinions rest. They are afraid that, within so brief a period of time as now remains before the rising of the Assembly, it is not possible to bring this matter to an adjustment in a way that would be doing justice to a case so difficult and to interests so grave and mo- mentous. " At the same time, they feel assured the Church will always be ready 204 THE VIEW FROM WHITEHALL. to give prompt attention to this matter so soon as the parties concerned shall put the Church in a position for doing so. " It is necessary to add, in order to prevent misapprehension, that the Church cannot possibly consent to entertain any proposal for the toleration of the seven deposed ministers, if it be made a part or condition of any an-angement for the settlement of the Cliurch question." {Sir Robert Peel to l)r. Buchanan.) Whitehall, Juiie 20, 181,2. "I beg to apologise to you for having omitted, through the extreme pressure of public business, to acknowledge the letters which I had the honour of receiving from you, dated respectively the 2ud and 11th of June. " The proceedings adojited and the declarations made at the meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, compelled Her Majesty's Government to abandon the hope of being enabled by the means of present legislation to compose the unliappy differences which have prevailed among members of tliat Church. " The unwillingness to exasperate them, and to diminish the chance of a satisfactory adjustment of them, has induced men of different views on the Church question, and different political opinions, to avoid discussions in Parliament which might have increased irritation, but could not have led to any useful practical result. "I hope this example of forbearance may have its just influence in Scot- land, and dispose the members of the Assembly to more moderate and con- ciliatory courses than might be inferred from their public acts and declaxa- tious." {Dr. Buchanan to Sir Robert Peel.) " Glasgow, June 24, 1842. " I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 20th in answer to my letters of the 2ud and 11th inst., and beg leave respectfully to offer my acknowledgments for this mark of your attention. " It is unfortunate that the proceedings of the late General Assembly of the Church of Scotland should have appeared to Her Majesty's Govern- ment to interpose any fresh difficulties in the way of the settlement of those questions which for some time past have stood so urgently in need of legis- lative adjustment. They certainly were not intended to have this effect. The imminent danger in which the Church's whole jurisdiction and govern- ment rights and liberties have come to be involved, through the neglect and opposition under which she has been allowed to suffer, — and from which it did not seem that there was any intention to relieve her, — appeared to call for those measures which the Assembly adopted. " Whenever Her Majesty's Government shall be prepared to take up this important subject with a view to its settlement, I venture very con- APPROACH OF THE CRISIS. 205 fideutly to assure you tliat the niembei"3 of the Church will be fouud most anxious, Hc/5 of Churches have blown up the best ecclesiastical Establishment in the world. No individual power could have reared this Free Church. It is the result of a confluence of circumstances. But the men who have had the deepest share in directing these circumstances and in moulding the results have been Chabnei-s, Candlish, Alexander Dunlop, and Craham Spiera. Neither of the clergymen could have succeeded without the two laymen. Dunlop, in everything except impressive public exhibition, is superior to them both. Calm, wise, pure, and resolute, no one ever combined more gracefully the zeal of a partisan with the honour of a gentleman. His sacrifice is fully as great as that of any of his clerical friends ; for the absorption of his time and thought by the Church, in the service of which he has never accepted of one farthing, has. I fear, ruiued his practice. I trust that a scheme now under consideration for getting him to write the 218 THE " RABID BENCH. liistory of tliese memorable transactions will succeed. He is the only person qualified to do it with the intelligence of an actor, and yet with the candour of a disinterested spectator. Yet was even he surpassed by the apostolic Spiers, whose calm wisdom, and quiet resolution, and high-minded purity made his opinion conclusive with his friends and dreaded by his opponents. He had no ambition to be the flaming sword of his party, but in its darkest hours he was its pillar of light. Amidst all the keenness, and imputations, and extravagances of party, it never occurred to any one to impeach the motives, or the objects, or the siucerity of Graliam Sjjiers. Ou looking back at the whole matter, what I am chiefly sorry for is the Court of Session. The mere purity of the judges it would be ludicrous to doubt. They all delivered what each, after due inquiry, honestly believed to be the law ; but passion sometimes invades the Bench, and when it does it obstructs the discoveiy of truth as eflectually as partiality can. The majority of the Court may have been right at first, and to a certain extent ; but they soon got rabid,* insomuch that there seemed to be no feeling except that of pleasure at winging Wild-Churchmen. The apology was that they were provoked by their law being defied ; but a court has no right to be provoked. Admitting that the law as laid down ought to have been obeyed, there is no rule which condemns those who are injured by its judicial decision from openly questioning its propriety ; and the opposite rule can scarcely apply to the collisions of rival jurisdictions. Where two supreme authorities clash, they cannot be both obeyed ; and there is a class of gi'eat public questions, involving high public rights, claimed by the people at large, where, though submission to decision may be the rule, disregard of it cannot be wondered at or severely condemned, and will often be applauded even by the peaceably disposed. What more would the Stuarts have required to legalize their tyranny than that the people should have been obliged to obey all that the judges decided ? The Court of King's Bench decided that ship-money was lawful ; but Clarendon says that when the people " heard this demanded in a court of law as a right, and found it, by sworn judges of the law, adjudged so, ujpon such grounds and reasons as every stander-hy was able to swear was not law, they no more looked upon it as the case of one man, but the case of the kingdom; nor as an imposition laid upon them by the king, but by the judges, which they thought themselves bound in conscience and public justice not to submit to. The general conviction among candid men, that the Court of Session had not always delivered the law, and had scarcely ever done so in a judicial * What a curious illustration is here furnished of the fancifulne.ss of the theory that the State and the Church were the two parties in tlie ciuarrol, and that the Court of Session was a dispassionate third party who had no interest but in dis- covering and declaring the meaning of a "contract." On the authority of one who was himself behind the scenes, we are here told that the arbiters themselves " soon got RABID 1 " PRErARATIONS FOR THE CRISIS. 219 manner, openitod ;is strongly in favour of the Free Church among one cla&s of tlie peojile as its evangelical principles did among another. It is this conviction that has given it the aid of such of its adherents as are not religious, but who instinctively resist what they think injustice. Many a thousanil jiounds, and many a good name, has this feeling got it. The Scotch C^ourt was no doubt supported by the House of Lords — that is, by four English lawyei-s; and much good did this do it. They only got two or three cases to consider, and these they decided on principles flowing from the law of English King-headed Episcopacy. Dr. Buclianan was a member of the General Assembly of 1S43, and took a leading part in its proceedings. What that part was the published reports tell us, but the reader will be glad to receive also a more private and confidential account of his experiences during those eventful days, and such an account is fortunately furnished to us in the follow- ing extracts from letters addressed to Mrs. Buchanan : — " Edinburgh, May 16, ISJfS. — You will be happy to hear I reached this in safety. I had Mr. Crawfurd, Cravvfurdlaud, in the same carriage, which made the journey the more pleasant. There was a prodigious multitude in the train, ami a perfect scramble for the luggage on arriving at Edinburgh. There had been a meeting last night — the first for consultation — Dr. Chalmers in the chair, who made .an admirable statement. In the course of the evening Dr. Gordon made a most jjowerful and impressive .speech, which was received with the utmost enthusiasm and unanimity. It is roost encouraging to see so much decision and so much of one mind among ministei-s and eldera. It augurs well." " May 17. — It is quite wonderful to see the perfect unanimity which prevails. Men seem fully to have made up their minds, and to be quite prepared for the great crisis of to-morrow. It is also comforting to observe the entire mutual confidence and affection which prevail among the ministei-s and elders who have assembled. All seem to feel like brethren, and to be deeply impressed with the conviction that God has some great work for ns to do, since he has been so evidently and so wonderfully preparing the hearts and minds of all to encounter, calmly and cheerfully, the events that are before us. I forget if I told you that the Protest we are to give in to-morrow to the Assembly is prepared, ami was read over several times yesterday at the meetings and unanimously approved. It is a most admirable document, drawn up with great precision and beauty, and very solemn at the close. Dunlop, to whose pen we are 80 much indebted, drew it up. We meet at one o'clock to-day for the 220 MAY 18, 1843. purpose of signing it, and finally arranging about the way of tabling it to-morrow. Probably there will be only a brief statement made by Dr. Welsh, and then the Protest given in at once. " You will see many interesting things in to-day's Wit7iess. Isaac Taylor's letter you will read with satisfaction ; it is striking and beautifuh Hugh Miller's article on ' State Carpentering ' is also extremely good. If I can find time I will write a few lines again at night." "Mai/ 17, half-past seven evening. — I am here in John Hamilton's house, where I came to dine and snatch a few minutes before going back to the evening meeting. We had the signing of the Protest this forenoon. It has been resolved that on leaving the Old Assembly to-morrow we should go, not to the New Church* in Lothian Road, but to the great building at Canonmills. The impossibility of finding room for the multitude of elders and others who wish to be admitted is the reason for this change. It is trxily a most eventful time ; and it is most comforting to see how men's minds seem to be prepared for it. We are all to go to the levee to-morrow, and to be quite respectful to the Queen's representative — all the more that we mean to leave him in the Assembly." " May 18. — The eventful day has at length come, — a day that will be memorable in the annals of this kingdom and of the Christian world. All the preparations are now made. The signing of the Protest was continued last night, aud was resumed this morning, and will go on till twelve o'clock. Between three and four hundred ministers had signed by the time I left St. Luke's Church last night ; the entire number of signatures will not be ascertained till mid-day. The meeting last night was like all those that preceded it — full of harmony and mutual love ; while there was much solemnity, there was at the same time the greatest cheerfulness. Men seemed to be enjoying the calm consciousness of discharging a high and sacred duty. " It is finally agreed we are not to say a word in the Assembly. Every- thing is to be done by the Moderator, Dr. Welsh." ^^ May 18, half -past seven evening. — I have just time to say every- thing has happened in such a way as to make our hearts overflow with gratitude to God. His hand has been most visibly present in the blessed harmony with which this great movement has been made. Immediately after the prayer Dr. Welsh rose, and having briefly stated the nature of the step he was about to take, and the grounds of it, he read the Protest. '* It was listened to in solemn silence. The instant he was done he left the chair, and we all followed solemnly and in order. From St. Andrew's Church to Inverleith Row the streets were lined with a dense throng, and every window and staircase crowded, and the most intense excitement was exhibited among the peojjle. On arriving at Canonmills, the spectacle of the enormous hall, filled to the roof with the vast assemblage, was most * Built hastily for Dr. Candlish's congregation. UNPRECKDENTED LIBERALITY. 221 impressive. After a beautiful prayer by Dr. Welsh, Dr. Chalmers was chosen Moderator amid deafeuiug applause. He gave out the last sixteen lines of the 43rd Psalm, which was sung with the utmost ardour aud devo- tion. Thereafter Chalmei-s prayed witli most impressive power aud sub- limity. He then addressed us from the chair, iu a style of wisdom and eloquence worthy of the greatest event of modem times. Thereafter the business of the Assembly was arrauged. When Dr. Welsh took the chair iu this vjist assembly, next to him, ou the left, was the Provost ; next, Dr. M'Farlane ; next. Dr. Candlish. On his right, next to him. Dr. Chalmers ; next. Dr. M'Kellar ; aud next, myself. It was a high privilege to be in such a place. We hear the Commissioner's speech was Sir James Graham's letter over again. Altogether, the events of the day are so marvellous that none could fail to say solemnly within his own heart, ' Verily, God is in this place.' To-morrow I shall write more calmly; at present I have no time, and I am under an excitement of feeling too great for a calm con- sideration of the events that have taken place. T cannot yet describe them so clearly as I shall be able to do to-moiTow." " Maij 19. — I was quite unable to write you this morning. We had to- day, along with the devotional exercises for which this day was specially set apart, some admirable speeches from the deputies from the Irish Pres- byterian Church. The members of the deputation all spoke ably aud im- pressively. To-night we are to take up the coucun'ence in our Prote.st of the elders and deacons, the preachers and students of divinity. The motion has been put into my hands, aud, totally without preparation, I must ven- ture on it. Dr. Goi-don is to second the motion ; then, after the concur- rence is taken, Candlish is to conclude the whole. I intend to make the Queen's speech the subject of my statement, and to try to show it up, — of course, with all the deference due to Royalty, or rather to the Government, whose letter it really is. It is Sir James Graham over again. And this is what we were to wait for ! ! !" " May 22. — I arrived in all safety here [after the Sabbath], and had Dr. Smyth and some other friends as my companions. On getting to the Assem- bly in the Lothian Road Church, I found them discussing various matters connected with the schemes of the Church. This last year, £35,000 in all was raised for the different schemes iu spite of all our distraction and dif- ficulties, which is £9000 more than the year before. The expectation is con- fident that even in the midst of all our troubles more will be raised for the Church schemes than we have done when living at ease. It was announced by * Monzie ' in the Assembly to-day that the Dowager Lady Breadalbane has subscribed £1000 to the Free Church. This is marvellous, as she was hitherto opposed. We thereafter had a private meeting of ministers to consider the draft which is to be submitted 'publicly to the Assembly to- night alx)ut the form of our final separation from the Establishment. My present feeling is, from the form in which it has been .arranged, that I shall 222 NO LONGER MINISTER OF THE TRON. not appear again in the Tron Church, and that I shall have to arrange about opening our new place of worship on Sunday first. I expect to see some of our Glasgow people at the Assembly to-night to fix about it, and shaU wiite you to-morrow morning what I decide on. Of course, if I determine to open the new place on Sabbath first, I shall have to return myself to open it. The crowds at the sermons here yesterday were enor- mous. Candlish preached inside Canonmills in the evening to 3500 people. C. Brown and Mr. Chalmers of Dailly outside to two congregations of 1200 to 1500 each. Guthrie in Cunningham's Church." " May 22. — The Moderate Assembly have to-day declared our parishes vacant! This of course makes it impossible for me to preach in the Tron Church a^ain. Dr. Brown of St. John's and I have agreed to take the City Hall between us for Sabbath first, and to put both our congregations into it at least for one Sabbath. He preaches in the forenoon, and I in the afternoon and evening. I have sent a draft of a hand-bill to Mr. William Brown to advertise, and also to paste up through the streets, and have also written instructions as to all the necessary arrangements. The Moderates have been very prompt, which is all the better for us. " Mr. Ewing, Levenside, wrote a letter to Dr. Chalmers to-day, which was read in the Assembly, intimating that he casts in his lot with us, and subscribes J2000. This letter will be valuable for the testimony it bears to our principles." " May 24. — You would be disappointed at receiving no letter from me this morning, but I was so engrossed last night that I had not a moment to write. We were at the Assembly till near midnight ; and the work of yesterday was the very solemn work of completing everything by a formal deed, which, after prayer to God for strength to make this sacrifice to truth and duty cheerfully, we signed publicly in face of the Assembly, thereby renouncing our status and emoluments in connection with the Establishment. Now, therefore, I am no longer minister of the Tron Church or Parish, though still, blessed be God ! minister of the glorious gospel of Christ, and pastor, I trust, of a flock ready to follow me to such new place of worship as we may by-and-by procure. We had a meeting of Glasgow ministers at eight o'clock this morning, and resolved that our new places of worship should all be opened and occupied by us, God willing, on Sabbath week, but that we should supply our late pulpits on Sabbath first, either person- ally or by substitute. For myself, I am quite resolved not to preach again in the Tron Church ; but I shall send a minister to do so on Sabbath first, and to intimate to the congregation that those who intend to adhere to the protesting Church and to follow me, will meet the following Sabbath in such place as shall before then be fixed on." To a proposal of Dr. Buchanan, made on the very day of the Disruption, is apparently due an arrangement which has FIRST SPEECH IN THE FREE ASSEMBLY. 223 now continued in the Free Church for a generation — the devo- tion, namely, of a large part of the second day of every Assem- bly to religious exercises. But the outstanding incident of his life at this time is his delivery of what the Witiiess describes as " a singularly able and eloquent address " on the principles of the Church. It had been agreed that the evening of Friday the 19th of May should be devoted to an exposition of these principles ; and when that evening came the vast hall at Canonmills was crowded to excess. To Dr. Buchanan was (quite unexpectedly, as he tells in one of his letters) entrusted the moving of the first resolution, which was as follows : — " That the Assembly do now invite the concurrence of the elders, and deacons, and probationers, and students of divinity, who have been requested to be present at this meet- ing, in following out the separation from the Establishment." We cannot give the whole speech here, but the peroration is well worth reading, as containing a particularly vivid exhibi- tion of that doctrine which some minds find it so difficult to grasp, that a Church virtuall}'^ surrenders its liberty and inde- pendence "when it concedes to another power than itself the right to define the limits of its jurisdiction. " The State," said he, " is willing to allow us exclusive jurisdiction in spiritual things ; but in regard to the question what things are spiritual and what are civil, they tell us they are to be the sole and sovereign judges. We know there was a time when the independence of our ancient kingdom of Scotland was at stake, and when its rights and liberties were endeavoured to be wrested from it by the power of England. Imagine then that after the Balliols, who were prevailed on to surrender their country's rights to England, had disappeared from the scene, and the heroic spirit of a Bruce had come up to the rescue of his country's liberties, and infused the spirit of patriotism into the hearts of his country's sons, — imagine 224 REDDING THE MARCHES. that when Bruce had come to Bannockbum, and marshalled his host in front of the powers of mighty England, prepared to restore that liberty and these rights, or perish in the attempt to do so, — imagine that, even while the two armies stood lowering on each other, ready to commence the deadly onset, England had sent her servants to Bruce with this intimation : We do not dispute that there is a kingdom in Scotland ; we will allow that Robert Bruce is Scotland's rightful king ; that within it Bruce shall have exclusive jurisdiction ; but if a question should arise as to the limits of the two kingdoms, England reserves to herself the sole right to draw the line and to point out the boundary — (much applause) — that question must be determined by England alone, and at that spot to which the truncheon of Edward points must be the limit of the Scottish kingdom. What answer would Bruce have re- turned to an announcement such as this ? He might indeed have looked around him, as we have often done in these eventful times, to see if, in the sight of England's chivalry, there were any hearts failing for fear, and might have said to him in language which has been rendered familiar by our national poet, — ' Wha wad be a traitor knave, Wha wad fill a coward's grave, Wha sae base as be a slave, Let him turn and flee.' — (Loud cheers.) But while I say that this might have been the befitting lan- guage of Bruce in struggling for the liberties of his country, it is not the fit language for the servants of Christ in main- taining the prerogatives of the Lord. It becomes not us to taunt any man with the name of coward. 'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' And if we know ourselves, if we know our own frailty, we will be ready to say that by the grace of God we stand ; and if any of our brethren have given way to temptation at this great crisis, we VITIATING PRINCIPLES OF LEGISLATION. 226 will not upbraid them, we will not aggravate the anguish which their own minds must feel, but in such circumstances will only pity them, and pray for their restoration." (The Rev. Dr. concluded amid great applause.) On the last day of the Assembly some conversation took place on the subject of a loyal address to the Queen, and on that occasion also Dr. Buchanan spoke some most memorable words. " With regard to the State," he said, " I confess, Moderator, I am not careful with regard to the details of any legislative measure which may be either spoken of in the Houses of Parliament or ultimately passed into a law. What I look to, and what the Assembly looks to, is the pHnciple on which legislation must necessarily proceed from the State after hav- ing assumed the position it has taken in reference to that Claim of Right that was offered by the General Assembly. They have laid down the principle that the State is supreme ; that it is not an ally standing in a co-ordinate position to the Church of Christ, but that the instant the connection between Church and State is formed the Church loses, so to speak, its individuality ; loses its own distinctive characteristics and prerogatives, and becomes a mere part and parcel of the State itself. This is laid down unequivocally in the late letter of Her Majesty to the Assembly It matters not what legisla- tion the State may offer on this footing. So long as the State maintains and asserts principles like these, we have no desire for any connection with the State at all." It is also not a little significant that the one official duty which Dr. Buchanan was required to discharge in the Dis- ruption Assembly was to give in a Report of the Committee of Correspondence with other Evangelical Churches. While, as Lord Cockburn points out, one of the first acts of the new Established Assembly was to cut off all connection with other 15 226 CHRISTIAN UNION. Churches, one of the first acts of the Free Church Assembly was to seek to draw closer than ever to the other Churches of the Reformation. " It has been," said Dr. Buchanan, in submitting his Report, " it has been the unhappy practice of the Churches of Christ in times past to think more of the points on which a difference of opinion exists than of those greater and more important doctrines in which they agree. If the Chui'ches had culti- vated communion with each other on the ground of their agreement in the great cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, the very fact of their cultivating that communion in the light of the spirit of Christian love would enable them to see sooner eye to eye as to their lesser points of disagreement." To a superficial eye it may seem as if a great gulf had come to divide the once almost intolerant advocate of Estab- lishments from the chairman of a committee aiming at the union of all Nonconforming Presbyterians. But a look beneath the surface reveals the deep underlying consistency. The one anxiety always felt by him was to secure evangelistic efficiency for the Church, and so early as 1843 he who had been fighting for Expansion and Liberty added another legend to his flag, and sought thenceforth for Unity. Almost incessantly engaged as Dr. Buchanan had been in the public work of the Church, one could not have been surprised if his labours abroad had proved injurious to the interests of his congregation at home. But this does not appear to have been the case. It is indeed strikingly indicative of the high and unselfish spirit of the time, that the office-bearers of the Tron Parish loyally held up the hands of their minister while he was pleading with the statesmen of the day — now for the extension of the Church, now for the preservation of its liberties. These expres- sions of confidence were naturally greatly valued, and some TRON PARISH KIKK-SESSION. 227 of them remain unto tliis day. We give one as a speci- men : — ' Glasgow, 25th January 1S43. " Rev. and Dear Sir, — We the Subscribers, Elders of the Trou Church, haviuff met ami takeu iuto cousideratiou the Resolutions of the late Coavo- cation of Ministers, fully sympathizing in the circumstances of difficulty in which our National Church is jilaced, have drawn up and signed a declara- tion of adherence to these Resolutions; which we beg now to enclose to you, with the request that you will transmit the same to the Committee in Edinburgh. " In thus bringing before you our feelings in reference to the Church of our fathers, we gladly embrace the opportunity of expressing to you our cordial sympathy and approbation in the course you have yourself pursued, and the sacrifices you have made in these trying and difficult times ; and that it is our earnest prayer that the Lord may give you much of His presence and grace, to enable you to persevere in the same firm and judi- cious course. " Assuring you of our continued Christian affection and esteem, we remain. Rev. and Dear Sir, yours very faithfully, " WILLIAM BROWN, Elder. "WILLIAM RIGBY, Elder. "JAMES M'GROUTIIER, Elder. "JAMES M'CALL, Elder. "ROB. PHIMISTER, Jun., Elder. " GABRIEL WALKER, Elder. " ALEX. LAIRD, Elder. "ROBERT BURNS. "NATHL. STEVENSON. " WM. LAMONT, Elder. " WILLIAM LOCIIHEAD, Elder. ' " WM. M'LAREN, Elder. " To THE Rev. Dr. Bdchanan." With such a spirit prevailing in the congregation, there was not much likelihood of disappointment when the crisis came. And, in point of fact, the response made to the call to join in the exodus was gratifying beyond all expectation. We are indebted for the following interesting account of what took place in connection with the Tron Church at the Disruption period, to one who has himself since done much good service in the parish as an office-bearer of the Free Church : — * " On the 14th of May 1843, Dr. Buchanan occupied the pulpit of tlie old Tron Church, Gla.sgow, for the last time. I was present at both dictvS of worship, but cannot recall anything special in the services, except that in the afternoon the text was 1 Peter iv. 17 — ' For the time is come that * Mr. Morison, of the firm of Collins & Co. 228 LAST SABBATH IN THE ESTABLISHMENT. judgment m\ist begin at the house of God.' There was, of course, special alhision to the solemn and peculiar circumstances in which the Church was at that time placed, with a pointed application, setting forth the duty of every member of the Church to realize the responsibility of the times, and to decide and act accordingly. "At the close of the service, just before pronouncing the benediction, Dr. Buchanan made a short statement to the congregation regarding his own resolution as to the impending crisis in the Church's affairs. He referred to the rejection of the ' Claim of Eight ' by the Legislature in the month of March preceding ; and that as this was the final decision of the Government to the Church's claim, there seemed no other course open to the Church, consistent with true allegiance to her Divine Head and Lord, but that of separating from the State, whose terms of Establishment were contrary to the Word of God and the Church's own Standards. " He further intimated that in all human probability he would before next Sabbath have ceased to be a minister of the Establishment, but that he would most probably be permitted to occupy the pulpit of the Tron Church once more ; but that it would be merely to inform the congrega- tion of what had taken place during the week, and to state what arrange- ments had been made for their accommodation for the future. " Before next Sabbath, however, the great crisis had come, and what had been anxiously expected by some, and so stoutly denied as ever likely to happen by others, had become an accomplished fact. " Dr. Buchanan having, along with so many others, signed the Protest and Deed of Demission, had thereby ceased to have any legal right to appear in the pulpit of the Tron Church. He seemed, however, to have entertained the hope that he might have been allowed to occupy his old pulpit once more ; but on the Monday after the Disruption the Assembly of the Established Church passed a resolution declaring the parishes of all the ministers who had signed the Protest vacant— thus interposing a legal barrier to his carrying out his intention or hope of appearing once again in the old familiar place. " This prompt action on the part of the Assembly of the Establishment rendered it necessaiy for Dr. Buchanan and those of his oftice-bearers who adhered with him to take steps at once to secure a place of meeting for the congregation. This was no easy matter, as only one or two days were avail- able for the necessary inquiries and an-angements. On Saturday, however, June 1st, it was announced that the congregations of St. John's and the Tron would meet together for worship in the City Hall, the largest place of meeting at that time in Glasgow. The venerable Dr. Thomas Brown of St. John's w;is to preach in the forenoon, and Dr. Buchanan in the afternoon and evening. " Dr. Buchanan had been detained in Edinburgh on the business of the Church till far on in the evening of Saturday ; coming home, we believe, to Glasgow by the last train, whea he had no opportunity of learning how FIRST SABBATH IN THE FREE CHURCH. 229 mattera exactly stood— at least, he was not aware of what kind of reception lie was to jret next da v. I liave heard liim tell with what au anxious heart he left his house in llichmoud Street on the Sabbath morning of the 2l8t May, but that all his fears were completely dispelled when he came to the head of Caudleriggs Street, the principal entrance to the City Hall. The large, eager, anxii)us crowd •which at that early hour thronged the street, tolil that the excitement and enthusiasm he had witnessed in Edinburgh during the previous three days were not confined to the actual scene of the Disruption, but were as intense and deep in the west as in Edinbui-gh itself. " Not estimating the extraordiuai-y feeling which had taken liold of the community, I had not considered it necessary to go to the City Hall till twenty minutes before eleven o'clock, when I found it utterly impossible to get even near the outer door of the building. Several hundred people were at that early hour crowding the street ; and I was told the hall was completely tilled, and large numbers were eagerly inquiring where Dr. Lorimer, Dr. Forbes, or Dr. Henderson were to preach. " I was again at the City Hall door about one o'clock, when the congre- gation who had worshipped in the forenoon was dismissed. Many of these, liowever, preferred remaining in their seats, enduring a long fast, and what in most circumstances would have been a weary waiting, to losing the chance of hearing Dr. Buchanan. By great exertion and hard squeezing I got inside the hall at a quarter past one o'clock, but could only obtain standing room in the west gallery. The hall was at that time (three quar- ters of an hour before the time of public worship) completely packed. It was estimated that there could not have been fewer than four thousand people present. The position I occupied was one well adapted for seeing the audience, but I greatly feared the speaker's voice would be lost at such a distance. I had only recently come to Glasgow from a small village in Stirlingshire, and had not been accustomed to see large masses of human beings together. I was greatly interested in watching the crowd below in the body of the hall, as well as that thronging the gallery around me. Wliat struck me most was the evidently suppressed excitement and sub- dued earnestness of the mass. No one could fail to see that there was a deep feeling of anxiety on almost every countenance ; but there was scarcely any one who cared to give expression to their feelings by conversation ; even the usual custom of whispering to one's neighbour, common enough on ordinary occasions, was hardly to be noticed. There was, however, a flutter of excitement when at two o'clock Dr. Buchanan entered the hall. After taking his place on the platform, he commenced the services in the usual way, his whole manner betokening a sense of deep solemnity. His text was Exodus xiv. 15: — 'Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.' The first part of the discourse was a clear, graphic descrip- tion of the position of the Israelites — pui-sued by the Egyptians, hemmed in on the right and left by the mountains, with the Eed Sea before them. 230 DR. BUCHANAN AS A PREACHER. This sketch was one of those masterly histoi'ical descriptions which all who attended Dr. Buchanan's ministry knew he so greatly excelled in. So vividly was the whole scene described, that for a while nearly all remem- brance of the occurrences of the last few days were forgotten — so com- pletely did he throw himself into his subject. When he had thus gained his audience, and brought them into complete sympathy with himself and his subject, he then applied it to the circumstances in which the Church was placed, — giving, in a brief, comprehensive manner, an account of the various stages of the conflict in which she had been engaged, and the position into which she had now been driven ; and that to us, as unto the children of Israel, the word of the Lord was, ' Go forward.' " It is impossible, at this distance of time, to convey an adequate idea of the profound impression this discourse made on those who heard it. Dr. Buchanan was then almost in his very prime ; and though his head had grown prematurely grey, he had all the vigour and elasticity of his youth. Coming so recently, too, from the exciting scenes of St. Andrew's Church and Tanfield Hall, he was glowing with the enthusiasm of the great event in which he had taken so conspicuous a part, and of which he was to be the future historian. He rose at times to passages of great eloquence, deliver- ing them with a fire and warmth of manner which he only allowed himself to give way to on great occasions. It is not too much to say that his words that day stiiTcd many a heart like the sound of a trumpet, and that some who were faint and hesitating were fairly captivated by his eloquence and power, and from that day imhesitatingly cast in their lot with the Free Church of Scotland, as the party of progress and the hope of their country for the future. " For a few Sabbaths after the Disruption the congregations of Free St. •John's and the Free Tron continued to worship together in the City Hall. This, however, was found to be inconvenient in many ways, and especially as the place was too small for two such large congregations. Dr. Brown's congregation therefore found another place of worship in Blackfriars Street ; and the Tron, under Dr. Buchanan, was left to occupy the City Hall till the new church in Dundas Street was opened. This did not take place till the summer of 1844. " After Free St. John's congregation left the City Hall, the real strength of the Free Tron became manifest ; for though no doubt existed that the great bulk of the congregation had left the Establishment, it remained to be seen whether they would remain as a united congregation, especially after the excitement of the Disruption was over. If any fears were ever entertained on this point they must have been speedily dispelled, for Sab- bath after Sabbath the City Hall was respectably filled with large and attentive audiences. There could not have been fewer than fifteen to eighteen hundred present every Sabbath ; and this continued during the whole time the congregation remained. ACADEMIC HONOURS. 231 "At the Disruptiou there were thirteen elders iu the Tron Session ; and of these ten separated along with Dr. Buchanan, while the relative pro- portion of the congregation was even greater. By October 1843 the con- gregation was so organized that the city was divided into convenient dis- tricts, these being allocated to the eldei-s, with lists of the members in each." At this stage, marking so definitely the opening of a new page in the Life, we may go back for a moment to recall some points of personal interest which the nature of the narrative (lid not admit of being taken notice of at the time. " Will you hold up your hands if I tell you," writes Mr. Buchanan to his friend Mr. Dunlop on the 18th of December 1840, "that the Senatus of Glasgow College has just con- ferred upon me the degree of D.D. ? I have this moment had a note from Professor Ramsay, announcing the fact. It was altogether unknown to me, his proposal, and was, he says, cordially and unanimously agreed to." In the following year a vacancy took place in the Church History Chair of Glasgow University. The right filling up of so important a post was, of course, a matter of keen con- cern to the Evangelical majority in the Church. But the appointment was in the hands of an unfriendly Government, The vacancy occurred in the height of the conflict, when men were preaching in Strathbogie in open defiance of Court of Session interdicts. And the difficulty was to find a candi- date who was at once on the right side and not absolutely obnoxious to the State authorities. By universal consent Dr. Cunningham was hailed as the fittest man ; and as long as there was any hope of his receiving the post, no other ven- tured to present himself from out of the ranks of the Evan- gelicals. But when it was made unequivocally known that there was no chance of his being honoured as he deserved, attention was turned to the claims of Dr. Buchanan, who had served the Church as heartily, but who, as it happened, had 232 GLASGOW CHURCH HISTORY CHAIR, not broken the cordon which the judges had drawn around Strathbogie. Dr. Buchanan himself was earnestly in favour of the proposal that he should stand for the Professorship. He was at the time harassed and disheartened by the pressure of public business, and he longed for the quiet and composure of a Chair. But even he was held to be too dangerous a person to receive anything like a political distinction, and the current of State favour was allowed to flow in another direc- tion. It is very curious, however, to look through the letters of that period, and see at how many points the chains were then fretting. " I spoke to Drs. Welsh and Candlish," writes Mr. Dunlop, " about the Glasgow Chair, and both agree that if Cunningham's appointment be hopeless, you are decidedly the person whom the friends of the Church should endeavour to have placed in it." " L am quite satisfied," he wi-ites again, "that Cunning- ham's appointment would be quite hopeless, and as soon as he aiTives I hope to get him and our other friends to concur in giving up the idea altogether. I have been told here that Government will listen very mainly to the request of the Liberal Professors in the University, but that they look to Dr. Forbes. If it had been the Chair of Mathematics or Natural Philosophy, I could have understood this Cand- lish has gone to Huntly to open the new church there. He was served with an interdict before he started." " Cunning- ham," he reports at a later date, " is reluctant to abandon all hope of the Professorship. I believe it to be perfectly hope- less, however, and as I presume the Liberal Professors won't stir a finger for him, I really can see no reason why they should not be allowed to follow their inclinations as to you. The Tories are vicious against the appointment of Candlish [to the chair of Bibhcal Criticism in the University of Edin- burgh]. I trust, however, the Government won't show the DR. CANDLISH AND STRATIIBOGIE. 233 misemble weakness of yielding to their clamour." The Government, however, did prove as weak as Mi\ Dunlop hoped it would not be. Dr. Candlish's appointment was cancelled, and the following was written in consequence : — " After what has fallen from Lord Normanby, we ai'e here clearly of opinion that it would only be degrading ourselves and court- ing insult to allow any ap})lication from Glasgow for any oi our friends, whether individually they may have broken the interdict or not. It would also be subjecting them to a mis- representation, already used here, that the leaders were trjdug to get into snug quarters before the storm. What else we may have to do requires some consideration ; but, black as things are, boldness and decision are more than ever our only course The petition and complaint against Candlish [for opening the new church at Marnoch] was printed, but on hearing that the Government had done their work for them, the advisers of the seven [Strathbogie ministers] counter- manded it." Tm'o days after, Mr. Dunlop writes again : " There is nothing to prevent their appointing Candlish which does not apply to you ; and if they could be so bullied as to appoint you, they could as easily be bullied to appoint Cun- ningham himself I hold the attempt absolutely hopeless, and even were it otherwise I would not descend to make it. In my own case, I have written to stay any proceedings in a matter pending for my own benefit, and even if voluntarily offered I don't think I could, in my present frame of mind at least, accept an appointment. Candlish has written a noble letter to Lord Normanby. It goes off' to-night, and I hope will appear in the London newspapers of Monday." In tracing the history of a public man, and meeting constantly the expression of his anxieties about outward events, one is apt to forget that he moves also within an inner circle where the surroundinof circumstances are not less 234 HOME LIFE. influential in their way than those which appear to the ex- ternal world. Dr. Buchanan experienced, during the years we have been reviewing, the usual vicissitudes of family life ; and one trial in particular came upon him in the midst of the correspondence of which a sample is given above. His wife died on the 29th of April 1841, and during the two years which followed — while the conflict was at the hottest — his fireside was without the cheer which had been hitherto maintained in it by the sympathy and support of the dearest friend of his youth. Happily the breach was made up in March 1843, when he married again. His second wife — Miss Stoddart^who survives him, proved all through his after-life a true helpmate, and contributed not a little to his effective performance of the manifold duties which, as time wore on, came to be laid in increasing number upon his shoulders. " I have," writes Mrs. Buchanan, " a very perfect recollec- tion of the continual demands made upon Dr. Buchanan's time after the Disruption. Our home for the first year of our married life was in Bichmond Street, and he used some- times to say that he might almost as well live in the street as in his study, which was very accessible to callers. His absences from home were unavoidably very frequent — in Edinburgh (often), and on deputations to Ireland, England, and through- out Scotland. At the same time, the care of his own flock was by no means overlooked." It was indeed a busy time. Though the Disruption was in the most real sense an act of faith, and many went out under the constraint of conscience who literally knew not what was to become of them, there was no presumptuous fanaticism about the transaction. When the crisis was seen to be inevitable, such provision was made for it as was dic- tated by an enlightened common sense. Under the direction THE GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. 235 of Chalmers, associations were organized for the raising of money and for other Church arrangements ; and nothing was neglected which seemed likely to aid in the great business of launching and sustaining the disestablished Church. In this service many workers were needed, and conspicuous amoncr these, in the west, was Dr. Buchanan. The same unwearying activity which had been shown in the endeavour to preserve to Scotland the benefit of a free Establishment, was now directed to the upbuilding of the Church in its despoiled and separated state. The importance of Glasgow in connection with the Free Church movement was recognized from the outset, and em- phatic evidence of that was given in the resolution to hold a special General Assembly there within the year of the Dis- ruption. October was chosen as the month most suitable for this purpose ; and so early as nine o'clock in the morning of the seventeenth day of that month, every available place in the City Hall was filled by an eager and interested audience. Dr. Chalmers, the past Moderator, preached from Nehemiah xi. 16 — "And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chief of the Levites, had the oversight of the outivard business of the house of God;" after which he proposed as his successor in the chair Dr. Thomas Brown of St John's. Here, in this Assembly, we come on many of the springs from which issued the fuller streams of after-days. The Dis- ruption Assembly had necessarily a great deal of the aspect of a demonstration about it. Much substantial business indeed was done ; for the leaders of the movement of 1843 were not only not mere enthusiastic dreamers, but were among the most thoroughly practical men of their day. But the Church in May had little time to realize itself. It did not even know its actual numerical strength. It had yet to ascertain how the people throughout the country were to regard the sacrifices 236 THE FREE CHURCH IN OCTOBER 1843. made on their account, and all was yet dark as to the amount of work requiring to be faced, and the character of the diffi- culties needing to be overcome. It is deeply interesting, therefore, to pass into the second Assembly of the Free Church, and observe the result of five months' experience. 1. Dr. Candlish, as Convener of the Acting Committee, was now able to report the following as to the available ministerial force in the Church, and the extent to which there was a demand for its services : — "First as to Congregations — Number of congregations of adhering ministers, 449 ; of congregations supplied with ministers since the Disruption, 47 ; of congrega- tions with ministers called, 29; of congregations still unsettled, 90; of preaching stations, 139: total, 754. Labourers — Minis- ters outed, and remaining in their old charges, 432 ; ministers removed to new charges, 18 ; ministers unsettled or called, 1.5 : total, 465. Probationers ordained since the Disruption, 30 ; probationers adhering at the time of the Disruption, and not yet ordained, 110; probationers licensed since Disruption, and not yet ordained, 28. There are therefore 432 who have left their old charges, and it will thus appear that we have at this moment about 754 stations to be supplied. Of these upwards of 600 are fixed congregations, and several others nearly ripe for the calling of ministers. To meet the 754 places where supplies are to be given, we have 465 ministers who left the Establishment, 30 probationers who have been ordained since, and 240 probationers — in all from 600 to 700 labourers." 2. On the subject of Finance, Dr. Chalmers made a long statement, which is in many ways a memorable one. We can extract from it only one or two sentences. " I have no doubt," said he, " that it is the duty of a Christian Govern- ment to supply funds for the support of the gospel, and to see to the future support of the go.spel, in the country over which DR CHALMERS ON FINANCE. 237 they are placed. Aud I would have been very glad to draw from them so long as I cherished the hope that I could get anything from them ; but the first Government we had to deal with on the subject refused to endow ; and the second would have been very willing to endow, but then they first wanted to enslave. On their terms we could not accept of any assistance ; and here then we are reduced to the necessity of drawing from internal and external Voluntaryism alone. I shall be exceedingly delighted with the success of our experi- ment ; and in point of fact we have some reason for looking forward to the sufficiency of these two resources. We waited upon Government for six years, and got nothing for our pains. We were forced, in fact, to relinquish all connec- tion with the latter Government ; and turning round to the population of the country, after years of unavailing negotia- tion with the Government, in a few months the population came back with the magnificent response of £800,000. I look forward now, therefore, with more hope than I did with reerret before ; and in rcfjard to our friends the Voluntaries, we have come to understand each other better. I am glad to understand they are taking a leaf out of our book. They are beginning to institute a general fund. I rejoice to hear it ; for the more our points of similarity are multiplied, the greater likelihood is there of our being amalgamated before all is done. They have taken that leaf out of our book, and we have many a leaf to take out of theirs. Well, then, what is the amount of the diti'erence betwixt us ? It is simply in regard to the duty of a third party, with whom neither the one nor the other has any connection in matters of this kind. And what is the general fund ? The general fund, if I have taught you to comprehend its functions, is a fund which owes its origin altogether to external Voluntaryism. It is the contributions of the wealthy, and the contributions indeed of all congrega- 238 INDIAN MISSIONARIES. tions, going to the support of all the other congregations in Scotland, or external coming in aid of what internal Volun- taryism will do. I quite agree with Voluntaryism in this generic sense of the term, as comprehensive both of external and internal. Then, I say, the only difference between the Free Church now and the Established Church before, is, that whereas the Established Church was a State-endowed Church, the Free Church, still retaining the principle of an endowment, is a people-endowed Church." 3. It was very natural that great anxiety should have been felt in connection with the question of how, with so much to do in the way of reconstruction at home, the Church was to be able to face the work of carrying on also missionaiy operations abroad. At the Assembly in May, it was not known even whether it would have any missionaries of its own to support. Dr. Brunton, the Convener of the Estab- lished Church Committee, had written at once an official letter to India, expressing an anxious wish for the continued co-operation of Dr. Duff and his co-adjutors in the mission there ; and as, until the mail could go out and home, it could not be ascertained what was to be the result, the letters received from Calcutta and other fields during the summer of 1843 appeared in the Missionary Record of the Establish- ment, while the new organ started by the Free Church had to content itself with using such material as it could lay its hands on anywhere. A few weeks, however, before the meeting of the Glasgow Assembly, all doubt on the subject was brought to ati end ; and Dr. Gordon, the new Convener of the Foreign Missions Committee, was able to make this announcement : — " Your Committee have very little to report in regard to their own proceedings. But, in the absence of the usual missionary intelligence, it is their privilege to record an event which not only gives a peculiar interest to CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 289 the first re[ioit of your Committee far beyond what any efforts of theire could have given it, but which will, they believe, be long memorable in the history of your great enterprise. With unspeakable satisfaction, and, they trust, with a feeling of deep and devout gratitude to God, they have now officially to announce, what they ventured in their late address to express their hope of, that ten of the thirteen missionaries in India have declared their adherence to the Free Protesting Church of Scotland." On a later day the Moderator interrupted the proceedings to make an intimation which he said he had received that morning, to the effect that all the missionaries at Madras had also sent in their adherence to the Free Church. There was, then, to be an unbroken mission band in India. But since 1839 efforts had begun for the conversion of Israel also, and in May it was not known in what relation the disestablished Church was to stand to that mission. The venerable Dr. Alexander Keith, the author of " The Prophecies," had been appointed Convener, but he was not able to be present in Glasgow in October, and Dr. Candlish made the following statement on his account: — "I have the pleasure of reporting to the House that all the missionaries and all the agents employed by the EstaVjlished Church in the conversion of the Jews have declared formally their adherence to the Free Church of Scotland. Not only have the missionaries all declared their adherence, but those other persons, some of them converted Jews, who were agents along with them in this work, have also signified their adherence. We have the concurrence with us, therefore, in the maintenance of our principles, of all the labourers in this department of the vineyard of the Lord. I have the pleasure of reporting, secondly, that as it has pleased God to honour this Church by giving to us the men whom he has raised up and sent forth into the field, so since 240 ADDRESSES FROM OTHER CHURCHES. our separation from the State he has put it into the hearts of his people at home to contribute so liberally that the Com- mittee are now in possession of funds for the support of the Jewish Mission, on the same scale as it existed before, during the present year." 4. More significant, however, even than all this, was a report submitted by Dr. Chalmers on the addresses which, as Moderator of the first Assembly of 1843, he had received from other Churches. On the 18th of May one more came to be added to the already too great number of Protestant denominations, and to a superficial observer it might have seemed as if the movement of the Free Church had been on the line of disunion and disintegration. " But," says Dr. Hanna, "as there is that scattereth and yet increaseth, so there is that divideth, yet it tendeth to unity. So it was with the Disruption. Blamed by many as a schismatic act, a great prompter to and promoter of division, no public incident of our times has done more to brine: together into one the scattered Churches of the Reformation Within two years, and around the Moderator's chair, of those Assemblies more Christian ministers of a greater variety of profession, and from greater distances on the surface of the earth, met for Christian fellowship, than have ever congregated in modern times at the councils of any of our existing Churches." " I confess to you," said Chalmers, " that I was much interested by the arrival, one post after another, of addresses and resolutions expressive of approval and congratulations from various Churches, of whose very existence I was not aware till I received their letters. And I think that every man whose heart is in its right place will be delighted with such move- ments. They are movements quite in my own favourite direction, because* one and all of them are movements of convergency ; or, in other words, movements which point in ASPIRATIONS AFTER UNION. 241 the firet instance to union, and as soon as is possible and prudent I trust their landing-place will be incorporation. These movements are not altogether new ; but they are, at least, very rare in the Christian world. The movement genei-ally within the interior of Christendom has been a movement of divergency ; or, in other words, a movement which led to splits and separations innumerable. It is quite in keeping with the delightful transactions which I trust one and all of us shall witness this evening, that I should com- municate the fact of having received, as the Moderator of the Free Church, a number of formal addresses and resolutions from various bodies in England and Ireland, as well as two or three from foreign places. They amount, those I have received directly addressed to myself, to nineteen ; and there is one that has been handed into the Clerk since we met ; so that, altogether, these addresses and resolutions congratulatory of the movement which has been adopted by the Free Church of Scotland amount in number to twenty," One of these addresses (that from the Synod of the Original Seceders) was of a specially gratifying kind. It recognized the Free Church as the Church of Scotland to which, if they had lived to see it, the Erskines would have proposed to return ; and although in some of the other letters of congratu- lation received the joy was expressed a little too strongly, as was thought, simply on account of deliverance from any con- nection with the State, yet it is marvellous to read how lightly the members of Assembly had already come to regard the advantages of an Establishment. " My friends," said Dr. Candlish, " will bear me witness that I am the very last person who would stand on the rigid assertion of the mere theory of Establishments, for the purpose of keeping up division or schism in the Church. So far from that, it appears to me that the distinct refusal of the States 16 242 RECONCILIATION WITH OLD OPPONENTS. and Kingdoms of this world to recognize the only principle on %vhich we can consent to have the Church established — their refusal to establish the Church of Christ, while they recognize her spirituality and freedom — leaves us to a very great degree of practical liberty, and a large measure of practical discretion, as to the terms on which we should stand with other Churches. Is the division and schism of the Christian Church to be kept up by a question as to the duty of another party over whom we have no control ? Let it be that we maintain our different opinions as to the duty of the State to support the Church, and the duty of the Church to receive support from the State when it is given consistently with spiritual freedom ; still shall that question which has become a mere theoretical ques- tion in the Church of Christ, and which, so far as we can judge, seems destined to be a theoretical question till the time when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ — shall that question prevent cordial co-operation land harmony among ourselves, and our united action in defence of our common Protestantism against the common foe? The questions that remain among ourselves may stand in part as an obstacle against the union of incor- poration ; but I rejoice to adopt the words of my respected father, and say that they do not for a moment stand in the way of the union of co-operation." But a still more wonderful phenomenon presented itself when some of the leaders in the old Voluntary controversy appeared — Dr. Struthers of the Relief, for example, and Drs. Heugh and John Brown of the United Secession Churches — and openly fraternized with their ancient antagonists, the Church Extensionists. And now all their talk is of combined effort for common ends. " We inhabit," said one of them, " the same favoured and beloved land ; we have the same encouragements and discouragements, — the same coadjutors SITE REFUSING. 243 and opponents, — the same motto of Spirituality and Inde- pendence inscribed upon our banners,' — and that Lord, who, as Lord, is both ours and 3'^ours, points to the same land to be occupied, and says to the one and the other of us, ' Go ye up and possess it.' It will not be understood that I wish to j)rccipitate imion. I do not tliink we are yet ready for in- corporation. The event, I believe, will come ; and I think we may take sin and shame to ourselves that it is not nearer. But as we cannot unite at present, whatever may be the blame attaching to the impossibility, all I suggest is that we keep the end in view, and beware of committing one act, or even uttering one word, that would either retard or embitter the happy consummation." 0. One more feature in the Glasgow Assembly may be noticed, as illustrating the circumstances under which the Free Church commenced its career. Somehow or other the idea had laid strong hold upon certain great proprietors that the Disruption movement was of the nature of a summer flood, and that as it must soon pass away it would be a thou- sand pities to give it any artificial help. Such was the con- viction, for example, of the Duke of Sutherland ; and he and others took up the position of refusing sites for the erec- tion of churches. A letter read by Dr. Candlish gives a gi-aphic picture of the state of feeling in which this intoler- ance originated : — " To the Committee for the Free Church in the Parish of Cawdor. " Gentlemen, — As factor for the Right Hou. the Earl of Cawdor, and as authorized by his Lordship, I have to state, in reference to your applica- tion for a site on which to erect a place of worship in connection with the * Free Church,' that his Lordship, though feeling compelled by a sense of duty to decline granting your request as then made, is now willing, in the hopes that time may compose the unhappy differences on ecclesiastical matters which at present exist in the parish, to allow the erection of a shed or temporary place of worship on the jiasture or waste lands at Newton of Budgate ; but under the following conditions and reservations, — namely, 244 SPEECH OF DR. BEGG. that the said erection shall be wholly of (wood) timber, and that it shall be removable by me, or the Earl's factor for the time being, at any time, on giving three months' notice in writing to any one of your number, or to the minister ordinarily officiating therein at the time. Should you fail to remove it yourselves within that time, the materials, if removed by me, as being his Lordship's factor for the time being, to be sold, and — [mark, I pray you, the generous liberality of his Lordship's offer] — the proceeds, if any remain after paying the expenses of the removal and sale, to be lodged in the British Linen Company's Bank at Nairn, or other bank there, for your behoof. [But this is not all : mark the generous and princely manner in which access to and from the church is to be secured to the con- gregation.] That the consent of John Grant, the tenant of Newton of Budgate, shall be obtained by you to such erection, and that any claim by him for abatement of rent, or for damages on account thereof, shall be borne by you, he expressly relieving his Lordship from any such claim ; and that you shall likewise indemnify his Lordship for any damage which may be done to his plantations and fences, as well as his tenants for any damage done to their crops and fences, or property, by persons going to, or return- ing from, the said place of worship. — I am your obedient servant." The indignation excited by such a style of acting was immense, and the vehement cheering which followed any allusion to the subject revealed the existence of an amount of impatience with the site-refusers which might have proved dangerous in various ways if they had not eventually seen it to be best to give in. A note of warning, in particular, was sounded in an eloquent speech by Dr. Begg. " We heard much said last night," said he, " and very admirably said, of the hateful and odious persecution to which we are exposed in Sutherland and elsewhere, and an excellent resolution was passed on that subject. But I am persuaded that we shall in all likelihood require to aim at more than this before the evil is remedied. If the British Parliament can drive a railway through the English estates of his Grace the Duke of Suther- land, is it not reasonable to ask that the same body should control his individual will, and by Act of Parliament should secure that he shall be compelled if necessary — " (The close of the sentence was lost in enthusiastic cheering). "Something DR. GUTHKIE CALLED TO LONDON. 245 has been said about the ignorance of his Grace. I cannot hold that a man in his position is entitled to be ignorant of the state of any portion of his property. But if he is igno- rant, our deputations to England — especially if they go, as I hope they will go, to the neighbourhood of Trentham Hall, where his Grace resides, and hold, as I trust they will, meet- ings in his immediate neighbourhood — these deputations will dispel his ignorance. Something has been said of the danger of starting questions about the origin and rights of property ; but the only way to prevent the starting of such questions is for the Legislature to take the matter into its own hands, and by Act of Parliament to do that for the public good which an individual will not do, and as the consequence of not doing which all the interests of the empire are put in jeopardy." Dr. Buchanan, though a member of this Assembly, did not take much part in its proceedings. He thought it best, pro- bably, to allow the people of his own city to hear as much as possible from those with whose voices they were less familiar than with his own. In one case, however, he took a prominent lead, and the speech which he delivered in connection with it has some significance. A new Presbyterian congregation had been formed in the west end of London, and a call had been addressed to the then most popular minister in Edinburgh — the Rev. Thomas Guthrie — to go south and become its minis- ter. It was a bold invitation, but it is strikingly indicative of the far-.seeing w^isdom of the men of those times that the thinix was not at once dismissed as preposterous. Mr. Guthrie him- self loyally placed his services at the disposal of the Church, and the Assembly fully and intelligently recognized the fact that the claims of the metropolis were such as might well warrant the transference to it of one of its foremost men, even 246 DR. BUCHANAN ON THE CLAIMS OF THE METROPOLIS. in the very crisis of the Disruption period. Ultimately the conclusion was come to that the eloquent minister of St. John's could not yet be spared, and the translation was refused accordingly. Dr. Buchanan moved the judgment of the House, and in doing so he said (we can see clearly the results of his experience of London life while engaged on deputation- work in his remarks) : — " It was certain that the Church of Scotland had never been, since the Union, adequately repre- sented in the metropolis. And it might be that the events which had brought them there, and which had separated them from the National Establishment, were a too impressive com- mentary on the neglect of the Church at home in not provid- ing for a representation of its interests in that city where existed the political influence which regulates the affairs of this great empire. But it was needless to look at these times gone by ; and he was sure that while they might have regretted that neglect at one time, as having, among other fatal effects, injured their influence at headquarters, when seeking a settlement of the great question that so long agitated the Church, they did not, on a larger view of that question, regret its consequences now. It might have been a sinful neglect on the part of the Church, but God had overruled it for good to the general interests of the Church of Christ. Still, if they were to take full advantage of the position Providence had opened for them, they were more than " ever called upon to do that which the Church in former times had grievously neglected. They were called upon to have minis- ters of their Church in that great metropolis — whose influence was felt, not through the empire alone, but throughout the world — ministers qualified not only to preach the Word in such a manner as might edify the particular congregations over which they preside, but qualified to lift up in that great city, and to make known in the midst of that mighty ENGLISH PRESBYTEIIIANISM. 247 comaiunity, the great principles for which we in Scot- land had been called to witness and to sufler. Knowinor from personal observation the circumstances in which their beloved friends were in the metropolis — knowing the circum- stances, trying and painful, in which they had been placed — he felt bound to express the deep and heartfelt sympathy that filled his breast for them in those painful circumstances, and to indicate — not for himself only, but for that entire Assembly — their cordial and anxious desire that measures might be taken — immediately taken — in good earnest, in order to have this evil provided for, — in order to have this great end satisfactorily achieved." It is pleasant at this time of day to reflect that Dr. Buchanan's hopes in regard to the future of Presbyterianism in London have been more than fulfilled. The Scottish churches in England which, till the period of the Disruption, had maintained a feeble existence by hanging on to the Mother Church in Scotland, set up in 1843 for themselves; and there is now on the south of the Border a great and expanding community,* which has achieved much good already, and which promises to accomplish yet far greater things in the time that is to come. We have thought it well to give this outline sketch of some of the leading features of the Glasgow Assembly, because they show what the Free Church was at the outset of its history. It is not necessary to refer to the two Assemblies which followed. They met in Edinburgh, and were full of interest, but nothing occurred in their proceedings which it falls in our way specially to notice. The same thing, however. * In the j'ear 1876 a union was effected between the English Presbyterian Church (representing the Free Church) and the English Synod of the United Pres- byterian Church ; and the body has now 2G7 congregations in alL 248 THE INVERNESS ASSEMBLY. cannot be said of the great Free Church Gathering which was convened on the 21st of August 1845 in the Capital of the Highlands. It was an adjourned meeting of the Assem- bly which had met at Edinburgh in May ; and as Inverness was far away from the centre, the members present were not so numerous as usual, but all the leading men (including Chalmers) were there ; and as no such event had ever before occurred in all that region, the interest excited was wide- spread and intense. Dr. Macdonald of Ferintosh was elected Moderator, and he began his part of the work by preaching a Gaelic sermon from the text, Acts xvii. 6 : " These that have turned the world upside down have come hither also." There has happily been preserved an account of the meetings in the handwritincf of Dr. Buchanan himself The letters which follow were addressed to Mrs. Buchanan, and give a familiar but very lifelike picture of the history of a week. With a number of others. Dr. Buchanan was, during his visit to the North, a guest of Mr. Forbes of CuUoden, "CuLLODEN House, August, 1845. "The House of CuUoden was built about seventy years ago, on the foundations of the old castle which previously occupied its place. It lies about a mile ofi" the Moray Firth. Beyond and above it is an extensive wood, about a mile in breadth ; and beyond and above that is the far- famed CuUoden Moor, the battle-field on which the hopes of the Stewarts perished. I shall not say more of it till I have seen it, which I hope to do one of these days. " The mansion-house is large and commodious, the apartments being aU of great si^e and very lofty." "Assembly Hall, Inverness, August 25, 1845. " I resume my notes. On Saturday the Assembly was occupied in dis- posing of a number of cases which had come up by reference or appeal for decision ; and all of which were settled easily and amicably, without division or vote. These cases afforded a favourable opportunity of exliibiting to our northern friends and to the English strangers who were looking on the judicial proceedings of the Assembly. Some of the latter, I have reason to know, were much impressed with this part of the business. It gave A MEMORABLE SABBATH. 249 them a view of the working of our PresLyterian constitution fitted to raise it greatly iu tlieir esteem ; showing as it did how con)pletely it secures attention to the voice and the interest of all parties who have any right to be represented or considered in the administration of ecclesiastical affairs. Moreover, it served to bring out palpably the corporate character of the Church, and to show that it is no local or individual preference that is consulted, but the greater good of the Church as a whole. " We had no evening meeting, and got home to Culloden to dinner about half-jiast six o'clock, where we had a very large i)arty, including our friends ShLi-itl' Monteith, John Hamilton, Campbell of Monzie, Nairue of Dunsinnane, iu addition to the large number of guests residing in the house. " It turns out that we have Mrs. Hall, the authoress of ' Scenes in Ireland,' at present in Inverness. She is writing 'A Month iu the Highlands ;' and I have no doubt, from a letter of hers which I had occasion to see on Saturday evening, that the Inverness Assembly will have some considerable place in her forthcoming volume. " Yesterday, the Sabbath, was a gi'eat day in Inverness — the most exciting since the year of Culloden. Not fewer than seven thousand people worshipped here yesterday with the Free Church. In the Pavilion, Candlish preached a noble discourse* to an audience of about four thousand. I never heard him to greater advantage ; and no wonder — such an audience would have warmed even a Moderate ! In the afternoon Mr. M'Bride of Eothesay preached in Gaelic to an audience of Highlanders packed like herrings in a barrel. And this second audience gave way to a third in the evening to hear Gutlu'ie. I have heard more striking discourses from him; but those who were hearing him for the first time thought nothing could be better. While these services were going on iu the Pavilion, the three Free churches were all occupied and filled — with Gaelic services in the forenoon, English in the afternoon, and Gaelic in the evening. Our friend Bunting, when in search of the church in which I was preaching, stumbled into the Gaelic church of the Establishment, where, he says, he found a minister expending a very unnecessary amount of zeal, and energy, and noise on about thirty hearers. " Those who were competent to judge assured us that, if nothing more had been achieved by the coming of the Assembly to Inverness than was gained by the preachings of yesterday, it would have been far more than enough to compensate all the expense and trouble of this movement. There were people in Inverness yesterday from almost every quarter of the High- lands, who will carry away with them impressions regarding the Free Chuich which they will never forget, and which they will disseminate on their return over the whole Celtic territory. As Roderick M'Leod of Skye said to me yesterday, it was a day of great gladness in Inverness ; a day in which * Dr. Candlish's discourse on this occa.sion was his famous one on " The Heaven- lies." Dr. Guthrie preached on the True Vine. 250 THE EDUCATION SCHEME. the hearts of God's people were mightily refreshed and encouraged, and the fruits of which, I doubt not, will be found many days hence. " This morning Caudlish, Cunningham, Guthrie, and I came in at seven in the morning to attend a conference between the Home Mission Committee and the Highland ministers. The subject was the means of meeting the destitution of the means of gi-ace among the GaeUc-speaking population — the idea, once partially entertained, of ordaining, or at least licensing, without an academic education, some of those pious men who have been for years labouring as catechists in these districts. It was thought, and I think justly, that this would have been a rash and hazardous measure. "What was actually agreed on was to increase the number of these cate- chists, and to bring them more formally under the superintendence of the Church. It was also resolved that Gaelic ministers of competent preach- ing gifts should be sent to labour in these destitute districts for a month or six weeks at a time, so as to nurse and foster these infant congregations. " After a hurried bi'eakfast, we had a conference with the members of Assembly at large, on the subject of College business. It was agreed to establish a Theological Professor at Aberdeen, so as to secure proper in- struction for those students connected with the north country who cannot go up to Edinburgh ; only requiring these students to go at least one session to Edinburgh, to get the benefit of the fuller system of theological instruc- tion there provided. " Another very interesting step was taken — in appointing Dr. Fleming of Aberdeen, the first naturalist of the day, to the Professorship of Natural Science in our College at Edinburgh. We shall thus secure, in a way never before enjoyed in any theological system in Europe, a full exposition of natural science in its bearings on actual life and on divine revelation. It will place, in short, the curriculum of study for the ministers of the Free Church ahead of every other at present existing. " At twelve the Assembly met. "We have various matters going on since. And at this moment Cunningham is thundering, on the other side of the table at which I write, on the subject of Education. It is proposed that the Free Church should now embark in the cause of Education far more extensively than we have done hitherto. In order to this, some adequate provision must be made for the salaries of the schoolmasters. All are agreed, and Dr. Chalmers very decidedly, that the teachers should be, as soon as possible, connected with the Sustentation Fund. It is the only way of raising the necessary funds. And all our friends are of opinion that it will greatly augment the popularity and prosperity of the Sustentation Fund. " The attendance at the Assembly is larger than ever; the huge Pavilion is quite full. We are to have the question of Sites in the evening. " Dr. Chalmers, contrary to exj)ectation, has written to say he will be here to-night, which will throw additional lustre on the Inverness Assembly. " THE NIGHT OF THE ASSEMBLY. 261 " We have uever yet had au opportuuity of visitiug the battle-field of CuUoden ; but we have made a plan to do so to-morrow moruiug. I shall not forget to note what we see and hear." "CuLLODEN House, August 26, 1845. " If you were in luveruess you would hear every one exclaiming, last night was ' the night ' of the Assembly, so far as it has gone. The subject was the Refusal of Sites. There were just three speakers — Begg, Candlish, and myself. People were pleased to say we all did well. I shall answer for my coadjutoi-s. Begg's speech embraced a graphic sketch of his late tour through the West Highlands, and depicted scenes of hai'dship and oppression which in a ruder age would have unsheathed many a good claymore. As it is, the better spirit of the gospel, for which these perse- cuted people are suffering, teaches them to endure wrong. Candlish, especiiUly towards the close, was in his happiest vein. Some of his bursts of vehement earnestness and moral indignation electrified the House. For the report of the speeches I must refer you to the newspapers. The result of the whole was a motion to instruct Presbyteries immediately to report all cases of the refusal of sites for churches, schools, and manses existing within their bounds to the Assembly's Committee ; to renew their applications to the recusant landlords ; and to bring the whole matter before the Commis- sion in November. So that, if it shall appear that our just claims are not conceded, we may make the uecessaiy preparations for another and more energetic appeal to Parliament. " We drove home to CuUoden about eleven o'clock at night. The moon, looking through some light filmy clouds, was throwing her silver light alonff their edfjes, and streaming it down on the smooth surface of the Moray Firth. The greater part of the heavens was spangled with the bright stars, sparkling with that soft and quivering light which usually betokens the approach of rain. The omen has been too true. I rose this morning before six o'clock and dressed ; but before I had half accom- plished my toilette the gathering clouds began to pour down a torrent of rain, and our expedition to CuUoden Moor has been as effectually defeated as Prince Charles himself. I regret this the more that I shall have no other opportunity, on this occasion at least, of visiting that memorable field. " I have promised to go out this evening to Doclifour, the seat of Mr. Baillie, which, you may remember, I mentioned that we passed as we approached Inverness last week. Of course I return to the Assembly on Wednesday morning, and on that day our proceedings are to be brought to a close. I shall not close this letter till the afternoon, by which time I shall be able to subjoin some account of what is done in the Assembly to-day. We are to have Guthrie's Report of the Manse Scheme — the fund for which is now about £.37,600 ; an amazing sum to be raised in a few weeks from a single Synod of the Church. 252 GUTHRIE AND CANDLISH. "Assembly Hall, Forenoon. '•'Before leaving Culloden to-day I went down to the lower story of the mansion-house to inspect a place that has a painful history connected with it. The lower story of the house, as I think was mentioned in one of my former letters, formed part of the old castle of Culloden, and is at the present day exactly as it was when the castle stood. It consists of a series of vaulted chambers of enormous thickness and strength. One of these was the dungeon of the castle. After the battle of Culloden seventeen officers of the Highland army, who had been wounded and taken in the fight, were thrust into this dungeon, left with scarcely any food, with their wounds undressed, for three days, and then carted up to a gi'ay stone on the edge of the moor and shot in cold blood. The spot on which they died, and where they wei'e buried, marks by the greenness of the sward over it this stern act which perhaps war can justify, but which undoubtedly condemns war. " We are now once more in the Hall, and the business is proceeding. There will be nothing of much interest till Guthrie comes on, and till then I pause. " Guthrie has come on. He spoke, I should think, for I did not mark the time, about two hours. Candlish, who can never sit idle, set himself, as the speech proceeded, to record the number of jokes. He made out no fewer than 106 ! The House was absolutely convulsed ; and yet all his wit told with inimitable skill on the furtherance of his cause. With the ex- ception of a single word or two from Mr. Thomson of Banchory and Mr. Nairne of Dunsinanue, Candlish and I were the only speakers after Guthrie. " The House was most cordial in its reception of this great scheme. We are to have a breakfast to-morrow morning to begin the i^ractical applica- tion of the subject. I trust it will be successful. We have had a Ijrilliant platform of ladies all day, and indeed it has been always crowded with our fair friends. I hope they will muster strong to-morrow evening. " This evening we are to have Dr. Chalmers and the Sustentation Fund. He is looking well, but thinner than when I last saw him. He was greeted with loud and universal cheers when he entered the house. " We are now occupied with a Report of the State of Religion in Shet- land, and as to the means of meeting its religious destitution." " Inverness Assembly Hall, August ^7, 1845, " At the evening diet of Assembly yesterday the great subject was the Sustentation Fund, and the great hero of it Dr. Chalmers. His address was of great length — too long for his strength — exceeding two hours. It was thoroughly practical. He gave the Highlanders, and esi)ecially the Highland ministers, a very good scold for their timidity, or want of out- VISIT TO DOCHFOUR. 253 spokeimess, in pressing tliis great scheme of the Church. He wart«d them to all men as every man had need,' there never has been a nobler outburst of joyful, self-denying, large-hearted, loving liberality to tiod's cause than was exhibited by this Church of ours in the ever memor- able 1843. Uli ! it was a blessed time ; truly a time of refreshing from the })reseuce of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Would that the windows of heaven were again opened, and that we were again baptized in that cloud and in that sea ! Though nearly the quarter of a century h;us passed away since that marvellous time, who that had any part in it can look back upon it, even now, without feeling as if no other words could adequately describe it but those of the Sixty-eighth Psalm : — ' O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God : even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. Thy congregation hath dwelt therein : thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. Tlie Lord gave the word : great was the company of those that published it.' Never can we be sufficiently thankful for the blessing we then received, and which, through us, was more or less shared in by many other Churches both at home and abroad. Its results among ourselves it will tax the powers of some future Church historian to sum up and to describe : — Nearly a thousand churches built, and almost as many manses and schools ; nearly a thousand congregations formed, and as many ministers and missionaries sustained all over the length and breadth of the land ; — in a word, the whole equipment of a Christian Church set up and provided for, with its theological halls for the training of candidates for the ministry, its missions to the heathen and to the Jew, and to our own expatriated countrymen in every quarter of the world. In view of all this, not we oui-selves only, but onlookers outside of us, have been constrained to s;iy, "What hath God wrought !" 17 CHAPTER XI. PROBLEMS OF FINANCE, We are told that the children of Israel went up " harnessed" out of Egypt. Whatever that expression may amount to, it at the least means this, — that the Hebrews did not commence their march through the wilderness as a rabble, without order or method, but under regulations which had been deliberately planned and made known beforehand. A similar statement may be made in regard to the Evangelical party which came to form the Free Church. Its sagacious leaders did not wait till the catastrophe had arrived, before considering how it was to be met and what was to follow. Preparations on a large scale were made in anticipation of the Disrup- tion ; and in particular one principle was adopted, and so far applied, which has ever since been regarded as the key- stone of our Finance. The principle seems to have occurred with more or less distinctness to two men about the same time ; for Dr. Candlish outlined something like it at a public meeting in Edinburgh before he had ever heard of its being entertained by any other person. But it is especially to Chalmers that we are indebted for the exposition and inaugu- ration of the system which has enabled the Free Church to occupy the whole of Scotland, and to which all Churches will certainly look if there should ever come a time of universal disestablishment. IDEA OF THE SUSTENTATION FUND. 269 The principle is a very simple one ; its basis being just this, — that the Church of a country ought to regard itself, not as a congeries of separate and independent atoms, but as a unit. Carrying out this idea, every Free Churchman was taught from the commencement that it was his duty to contribute to the utmost of his ability to the support of the Church as a whole, and to send his contributions to a fund at the centre, from whence they could be diffused as they were needed, even to the furthest extremities of the community. The advan- tages likely to follow from this arrangement were apparent on the surface. First of all, it was manifestly calculated to foster a generous and unselfish spirit. Next, it opened a channel wide enough for the outflow of the liberality of every individual member of the Church. And, thirdly, it secured the maintenance of ordinances in localities where otherwi.se it would have been impossible to provide a minister with ade- quate support. In the Highlands the people joined the Free Church almost in mass ; but if each separate congregation north of the Grampians had been left to itself, the Church would have disappeared from many parishes there within a generation. As it was, the benefits of the central Sustenta- tion Fund were extended even to the Outer Hebrides, and the same dividend was paid to the minister whose people were too poor to contribute more than £50 a year, as to the minister through whose congi-egation the Church benefited to the extent of thousands. No Church had before this been in circumstances to make a fair trial of a system so thorough -going and so brotherly. There had indeed been already great disruptions both in England and in Scotland, but the intolerance of the ciNil authorities, in the days when they took place, rendered anything like an organized scheme of ministerial support impossible ; and with respect to the Scottish secessions which 260 THE IDEAL REALIZED. had occurred in the middle of the eighteenth century, these were small in their beginnings, and too gradual in their gi'owth to have suggested the need for any central fund on a large scale. But in 1843 the problem presented was this, — How to provide for nearly five hundred men at once, and how to sustain the many others whose ordination was likely to be immediately demanded. The necessity for instant action was thus imperative ; and happily there was everything in the freedom which the law permitted, and in the loving, trusting, and enthusiastic spirit which was then abroad, to secure se favourable field for the trial of the experi- ment. After a period of more than thirty-three years the .system may well be allowed to speak for itself. When Dr. Chalmers spoke hopefully in the Convocation of raising even so much as £100,000 a year, he saw, he says, a smile of incre- dulity pass over the faces of his auditors. We may imagine, then, how they would have looked had he taken a higher flight and reached the platform of the present reality. In 1876—77 there was paid by the Free Church, in the shape of stipends to its clergy, the sum of £225,000 ; and there is no reason whatever for thinking that that sum may not in the course of other thirty years be doubled. At the Disruption two Committees were appointed — the one called the Iv/jathering Committee, of which Dr. Chalmers was appointed Convener ; the other, the Distribution Com- mAttee, at whose head was Mr. Alexander Dunlop. In 1844 these two Committees were united under the name of " The Comm,ittee for the Sustentation of the Ministry," — Dr. Chalmers Convener. This arrangement, however, only lasted for a year. The health of the Convener required that he should retire as much as possible from harassing work, and he resigned office in favour of the Kev. W. K. Tweedie of Edinburgh, in 1845. In the Assembly of 1847 another change was made. Dr. CHALMERS AND BUCHANAN. 261 Buchanan, who had been appointed a member of the Dis- tribution Committee in 1843, and ^vho continued to act in the combined Committee after the union had been effected, was appointed Convener of the Sustentation Fund, in room of Mr. Tweedie, who had also resigned, and the office was from that date filled by him till his death. It will thus be seen how early and how intimately the name of Buchanan came to be as.sociatcd with the working out of a scheme which has far more than a sectional or Free Church interest; and as the financial problem meets us at the threshold on leaving the Establish- ment, we shall make no apology for completing what there may be to say on the subject here, although this will necessi- tate disregard of chronological order. The special fitness of Dr. Buchanan for the position which he filled for so long a time, and with such distinction, was early recognized by Dr. Chalmers, as the following letters will show : — {Dr. Chalmers to Dr. Buchanan.) " Edinburgh, August 30, I844. " I wish much to see and to consult with you on the subject of our financial affaire. I am no longer fit for any personal or active superintend- ence. Tlie doctor interdicts me for the present from all that can fatigue or agitate, and it would contribute greatly to my repose and satisfaction if I could have the Sustenation Fund settled on a right basis, and jilaced in the hands of a zealous and effective man of business. I do not mean to flatter when I say that I have more confidence in your judgment than in that of most othere. I have tlierefore the greatest wish to see you, ami I ha ve the feeling that a great public service might be eft'ected betwixt us. In my feeble state of health I have no prospect of moving from home soon, but the sooner you come to me the better." {Dr. Chalmers to Dr. Buchanan.) " Edinbukgh, Axujust 4, 1S45. " Forgive my urgency. I feel it a great acquisition — a mighty strength- ener to a good cause — that you should have become a member of our Sus- tentation Acting Committee. Allow me then to specify a very high service which you, and none but you, can render to the Sustentation Fund. You 262 A.PPOINTMENT AS CONVENER. know that Glasgow, whenever there is no other element needed for success than pure liberality, greatly outrivals all other places in Scotland. It has done so in regard to the College subscription ; it has done so in regard to the Bursary subscription ; and it is on the way of doing so in regard to the Manse Fund. It is not, then, from the want of liberality, it is from the sheer want of organization and agency, and a well- worked mechanism, that Glasgow has not attained her right position in regard to the Sustentation Fund ; and what I would press upon you, with all deference, yet with all earnestness, is that you would assume it as your special vocation — the fulfil- ment of it were worth the undivided labour of a twelvemonth — to put Glas- gow into right working order, so as that the produce of her Presbyterial associations shall not only come up to but shall overpass those of Edinburgh. " I take a great liberty, but I feel myself called to it by the sense of a great interest, and by my confidence in your judgment and ability for the undertaking which I have ventured to suggest. Do then, my very dear sir, make a study of the subject. Few things have delighted me more than your testimony to my scheme ; and sure I am that, would you give your strength to it, you would achieve not only a great local improvement in Glasgow, but a great and general amelioration of our financial system for the benefit of the Free Church at large." The Report submitted by Dr. Buchanan to the Assembly of 1848 thoroughly justified the opinion expressed by Dr. Chalmers and the confidence placed in him by the Church. The new Convener addressed himself to the work he had undertaken in thorough earnest. Accompanied by Mr. Handy- side, the Secretary of the Fund, and bj' one or two other friends as he could secure them, he traversed the whole country from the Solway to the Firth of Dornoch, and held consultations with every one of the sixty presbyteries of the Church. It was, it will be remembered, a memorable year in the history of Europe. Several of the continental kings lost their crowns for ever J and the revolutionary spirit, in the shape of Chartism, caused not a little anxiety even here. With things so dis- turbed in the political world, trade suffered, and men's minds everywhere were unsettled and preoccupied. And the season altogether was not a favourable one in which to aim at the strengthening of a benevolent enterprise. But the results FRUIT OF FIRST EFFORTS. 263 of the cfibrt were by no means discouraging. The income of the year before had been £83,117; whereas the income for 1848 was declared to amount to £88,99G — showing an increase of £5,879. Dr. Buchanan pointed out that this was a very remarkable increase upon an increase. In 1844 the whole sum collected, including £16,000 in the shape of donations, had been only £G 8,704 ; so that within five years the Church was seen to be contributing for the support of its ministry £25,000 per annum more than it gave at the outset of its career. It did not necessarily follow from all this that the dividend would be increased. The number of charges was always growing, and with a constantly enlarging divisor the sum paj-able to each individual minister could never be certainly calculated by looking at the total amount raised. It did so happen, however, that a sensible benefit was the issue of Dr. Buchanan's labours during the year. The dividend due turned out to be £128 ; a higher figure than had been reached since the Disruption, and higher too than was attained by the Church during the six succeeding years. The Assembly was not ungrateful for the service thus rendered to it. The adoption of the Report was moved by Professor Miller, one of the many remarkable laymen of those days who were always ready to place their talents and influ- ence at the disposal of the Church. " Surely," said he, " the emotion which fills the breast of every one who has heard that Report and the accompanying statement, is one of deep thankfulness that, from a season of great depression and dis- tress throughout the country, our Fund has emerged, not only unharmed, but having made an advance, and that not incon- siderable. (Hear, hear.) And while for this we forget not to give thanks to the Great Source of all good gifts, we are bound to acknowledge, also, with much gratitude, that for the present favourable position of this Fund we are indebted, 264 PROFESSOR MILLER S SPEECH. under God, to the indefatigable labour, to the ceaseless zeal, and to the matured wisdom of the Convener, Dr. Robert Buchanan. (Applause.) God, sir, has been very good to our Church, in lending her fit men for special acts in critical times. Some, — alas ! to our short sight, too many, — their mission over, he has taken to himself There was a Welsh for the Church's exodus ; there was a Chalmers to raise, consolidate, govern, and dignify her reconstruction ; the name of Hamilton is inseparably connected with the rearing of her temples of worship throughout the land ; that of Speirs — alas ! only in name and memory present now — is as intimately associated with the obtaining of sites whereon these might be built. These men grace our halls no longer ; they have been called to give an account of their stewardship at another and higher tribunal ; and who can doubt that on each has been bestowed the gracious welcome : ' Well done, good and faithful servant^, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' (Hear, hear.) For these men we can never cease to be grateful ; but shall we be less so for those that still remain ? Men of rare gifts — and, thank God, not few in number — whom I need not name, one of whom stands conspicuously our creditor in thanks on this occasion. (Hear, hear.) This Assembly, sir, surely will but ill discharge its duty, if it take not this opportunity of testifying to Dr. Buchanan, in the most marked and emphatic terms, their entire acknowledgment of the wisdom and zeal which he has brought to bear on their great Scheme, and their deep sense of gratitude and obligation for his effectual labour on its behalf, — labour which has been crowned with success only at the cost of much fatigue, anxiety, and no slight risk to his own health, (Hear, hear.) Aware as I am, sir,* of your personal objection to noisy plaudits in this place — (laughter and applause) — I am sorely tempted, nevertheless, to seek tho * The Moderator whose displeasure is thus deprecated was Dr. Patrick Clason. ON WHAT SUCCESS DEPENDED. 265 excitement of a momentary emeute against your authority in this matter — (great laughter and applause) — that Dr. Buchanan may at once be assured, and that by no uncertain sound — (great applause) — that he possesses not merely the entire con- fidence, but also the entire gratitude of this Assembly, and of the Free Church of Scotland, for his faithful, disinterested, and successful discharge of the onerous duties which lay upon him as the Convener of the Sustentation Fund Committee during the past year." (Renewed applause.) It was not always, however, that the sky was as serene as it appeared to be to Professor Miller. At a later diet of the very Assembly which was then sitting, the principles on which the Fund was managed were formally called in question, and there then took place one of the many debates through which the Church has had to pass before it was able to work its way to the solid and probably unassailable position which it is now happily occupying. It was not to be expected that so great a machine should get into gear all at once. There was no experience to guide those who were directing it. And the wonder is, not that difficulties should have arisen, or that mistakes should have been made, but that the solution of the problem should have proceeded so smoothly, and should have issued so soon in such remarkable results. A Sustentation Fund in a Church depends for its success on two things ; the one is the existence of some moral earnest- ness in the members, the other is the adoption of a system which can stand business tests. As Dr. Chalmers used to put it, the former represents the Dynamics of the subject, the latter its Mechanics. No scheme for the support of the Christian ministry can ever flourish greatly where there is among its supporters little sense of the value of the ministry itself But it is just as necessary to bear in mind that it is equally vain to expect satisfactory results if the methods used for its 266 THE DYNAMICS OF THE FUND. execution are not in their own nature the best fitted for the practical working of the scheme. In looking through the history of the development of the Fund in the Free Church, it is impossible not to be struck with the fact that Dr. Buchanan seems never to have lost sight for a moment of these two principles for himself. His successor in the Convenership of the Committee, Dr. Wilson of Dundee, referred, after his death, in emphatic terms to the lofty ideal which he always had of the enterprise which he directed : — " The Sustentation Fund," says he, " never pre- sented itself to his mind, nor did he suffer it to be presented to the Church, as merely or chiefly a matter of Finance. He held it forth before the Church, even as he always regarded it, as a fjreat instrument for the Christian welfare of the people — as the means for carrying on and sustaining a Home Mission enterprise by which people of all classes might be brought to the knowledge of divine truth, and established in the way of holiness. To contribute to the Sustentation Fund with such an end in view, constituted of itself a sort of Chris- tian training by which the whole character was elevated, and men were brought both more fully to realize their indebtedness to the Saviour, and the obligation that rested upon them to carry forward the great commission He gave to His disciples, remembering the grace of Him who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor. It is not difficult to perceive how all this might have been reversed — by what an easy and natural transition what was really a sacred might have been converted into a secular work, and the business of the Susten- tation Fund might have become little else than a devising of fiscal regulations similar to those which are adopted by benefit and friendly societies. It was impossible, indeed, not to have respect to the fact that the Fund was designed to aflTord an adequate maintenance to the ministers of the Free Church, PIETY AND LIBP:RALITY. 267 and the increase of it was pleaded for with a view to secure this result. But this was always in subordination to the higher end of continuing an educated and efficient ministry, whose services, by the blessing of God, might be the means of turning men from darkness to light, and of perpetuating to Scotland the rich inheritance bequeathed to us by our fathers." This statement of Dr. Wilson's is amply confirmed by Dr. Buchanan's own published utterances. In the Assembly of 1850, for example, he had occasion to dwell with some severity on the reluctance shown by ministers to speak to their people on the duty of Christian libci'ality ; and after oftering an apology for his frankness, he went on to say : — " It is now three years since this House was pleased to devolve upon me the over- sight of the Sustentation Fund ; and the more closely and carefully I have studied it, the deeper and stronger has my conviction become, that in the direction to which I have now been pointing will be found to lie the true sources of its strength. Other things, indeed, must conspire and co-operate, as I shall by-and-by proceed to show ; but without the pre- sence and the power of a living and laborious ministry all appliances and agencies besides will be of no avail. The assi- duities of our office-bearers and collectors, and the wise and well-adjusted machinery of our associations, are all invaluable in their place ; but mere husbandry will never bring plentiful and perennial harvests out of a barren soil. A state of spirit- ual barrenness among our people will defy the effi)rts and the arguments of the busiest agencies we can employ. Unless men have first given themselves unto the Lord, they will grudge him everything else besides. In other words, the prosperity of this great Fund is inseparably bound up with the piety of our people ; and to what, under God, can we look to uphold and increase the piety of our people, if it be not to the pains and the prayers of our ministers ? It will be seen 268 LONDON STATISTICAL SOCIETY. from these remarks, that, according to my humble judgment, by far the most important service which we ministers can render to the Sustentation Fund is by doing the work of evangehsts, and watching for our people's souls as they that must give account. In saying this, however, it is by no means intended to imply that we have nothing more directly bearing on the Fund to do at all. To think so were a very grievous error. The duty of upholding the ordinances of God must be expounded and enforced by all those solemn and affecting considerations with which Scripture presses it home on the hearts and consciences of men. The piety that thinks to serve God with what costs nothing — that brings the torn, and the lame, and the sick — must be rebuked, in the Ian- • guage of the prophet, as a 'weariness' to the Lord — as a service which he will despise." Nor had he in any way altered his opinions in this connec- tion when, twenty years afterwards, in the spring of 1870, he read a paper before the Statistical Society of London, in which he gave the results of his long experience of the Finance of the Free Church of Scotland. To carry his hearers along with him, he had begun by giving some account of the origin of the Free Church, after which he went on to say : — " The dynamics of Church Finance do not lie in the physi- cal force which silently backs the tax-gatherer's demand, but in the region of conscience alone. What the Church member shaU give, or whether he shall give at all, is a question between himself and God ; a question in which he may be advised and exhorted, but on which he may not, by any human force, be compelled. He to whom the offering is professedly brought will not have it given grudgingly or of necessity. It has and can have no acceptance with Him save in so far as it is brought, not by constraint, but willingly. And hence the true secret of abiding success for any system THE FUND AND ITS MECHANICS. 2C9 of Church Finance, however wisely planned, will he found chiefly and ultimately to depend on the Church's own prac- tical efficiency in sustaining and cultivating the moral and spiritual life of its members. Superstition, indeed, may thrive and grow rich among an ignorant population ; but in an intelligent community true religion can obtain adequate sup- port for its ordinances and institutions only in proportion as it is accomplishing its high ends in the hearts and minds of men. If this greatest of all the factors out of which the result comes be not taken into account, no reliable calculation as to the efficiency of any system of Church Finance can be made. It is for this very reason I have thought it necessary, in the earlier part of this paper, to explain the causes which threw the Free Church on the support of its members, and to brine: out the fact that these causes were of a nature to touch powerfully and lastingly some of the deepest religious convic- tions and sympathies of the Scottish people." But while upon this point the convictions of Dr. Buchanan were never for a moment shaken, no one was more profoundly pei-suailed, on the other hand, that it is a mere tempting of Providence for a Church to expect that its spiritual forces will accomplish everything. And if any one wants to dis- cover what has been the secret of the success of the scheme originated by Chalmers, he must ask in what way it has been carried into execution. Nothing has contributed more, or so much, to the success of the scheme, as the able administration under which it has all along been directed. Dr. Buchanan himself had a unique combination of gifts for the position which he was called by the Church to occupy as Convener of the Fund. His un- wearying interest in all that affected its progress, his remark- able business aptitude, his courteous and patient bearing often amidst unreasoning opposition, and his readiness to welcome 270 FIRST TWO SECRETARIES. suggestions from any quarter, if only they were offered in good faith, commanded the respect and deference of the whole Church. But unless he had been adequately and efficiently sup- ported by his more immediate fellow-labourers, all these qualities might have failed to achieve the practical results which followed from his incessant care. The two men who for more than thirty years acted suc- cessively as Secretaries to the Fund — Mr. Hugh Handyside, Writer to the Signet ; and Mr. George Meldrum, Chartered Accountant — were possessed not only of the experience which the training of their honourable professions supplied for the special duties of their office, but were full of love for the Free Church, and of zeal for this special department of its work. Their professional and social positions gave them great weight both within and beyond the borders of the Church, while their personal characteristics marked them out as unmistakably Christian gentlemen. In the management of the affairs of an immense society within which moral forces chiefly operate, their business qualifications and recog- nized moral and spiritual worth were simply invaluable. Mr. George Meldrum, whose removal so soon after the death of his chief was felt as a peculiarly severe dispensation, was of a race that is fast passing away. He had lived through the conflict — he had taken an active part in the pressing w(jrk of reconstruction — and as an elder in Free St. George's, under the ministry of his warmly-attached friend, Dr. Candlish, and one of the Church's most trusted advisers, he had done an immense amount of public ecclesiastical service long before he was invited to assume any official position in connection with the General Assembly. His helpfulness, in fact, was so conspicuous, that when a vacancy occurred in the depart- ment of Finance, the only question that it was thought neces- MR. GEORGE MELDRUM. 271 sary to discuss was that of his willingness or otherwise to till it. " Wo must have, without your presence, of course," wrote Dr. Buchanan to him on the loth of May 1868, " some conversation next Wednesday at the Sustentation Fund Committee on the Secretaryship. My heart is set on having you in that post. Now, in view of a conversation on the subject in the Committee, I should like to have a definite idea of the sort of footing on which alone you would under- take the work, and what its financial result would be as com- pared with past arrangements. Pray give me your mind frankly and without reserve." In the end the matter was adjusted. Mr. Meldrum was appointed by acclamation Secre- tary of the Fund, and at the same time Depute-Clerk of Assembly; and it is not too much to say that to his earnest- ness and geniality and perseverance is due in a very large degree the progress which has been achieved of recent years. No one would have been more ready to acknowledge this than Dr. Buchanan himself He and Mr. Meldrum continued to the last to maintain toward each other the attitude, not sim- ply of partners in a business enterprise, but of warm and atfectionate friends. They thought alike on all subjects, — on questions of ecclesiastical polity, on the plans to be pursued in the interest of the Fund, and on the great spiritual ends which were ever to be kept in view in order to the attain- ment of any real or lasting prosperity. We believe we are safe in saying that, although occupying a position of peculiar delicacy, Mr. Meldrum never made an enemy, or inflicted, by any rash or unkind speech of his, a moment's needless pain. And we are offering no more than a just tribute to his memory, when we take in his life at this point as having con- stituted a material factor in the history of the success of the Sustentation Fund. But while thus acknowledging the important influence of a 272 SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT. high-minded and congenial superintendence, it is also most true that the mechanism othenvise of the Scheme was equally adapted to serve its ends. With a Central Board meeting monthly in Edinburgh, containing about a hundred members, lay and clerical in nearly equal proportions, and these coming from all parts of the country ; with a correspondent, repre- senting the Board, in every Presbytery ; with Deacons' Courts in every congregation ; and with possibly ten thousand col- lectors quietly going their rounds every four weeks to receive the contributions of the adherents of the Church, — there was organized a system which is now probably as nearly perfect as anything of the kind can well be made, and which works with all the smoothness, and regularity, and noiselessness of a machine in which there is no friction. Of course, such a phenomenon as is here presented is only possible in a religious society. It would be vain to hope that, except under the constraint of conscience, ten thousand persons could be got to pay periodical visits to their neighbours for the purpose of collecting money. If the work had to be paid for, it would simply require to be given up. No Government even would face the cost of a collection carried on on such a gigantic scale. But it is a most remarkable and significant fact that, as a rule, it is not diflBcult to find collectors, and that all over the country are to be found individuals who have cheerfully, and even joyfully, continued to render this service to the Church for a whole generation. It has frequently been said that there is sometimes most beauty in processes of Nature which are too quiet and unobtrusive to force themselves on the public atten- tion. A similar remark may be made in regard to those regions in which spiritual forces operate. To us there seems something more sublime in the steady, continuous, and un- wearying prosecution of their little-thought-of labours by the collectors of the Free Church, than in many other more public AN EQUAL DIVIDEND. 273 proceedings which have called forth universal applause and admiration. It is not to be supposed, however, that the disestablished Church saw through the whole problem of its Finance from the fii-st, and established the system which is now in operation at once. It had to learn by experience. It made mistakes which it had to correct. It encountered difficulties which it did not anticipate. And the principles which it is now able to lay down with confidence as the basis of whatever action it may take in the future, were only reached after a great deal of thought, and after much discussion. At the Disruption, under the impulse of the intensely brotherly spirit which then prevailed, the theory seems to have been adopted of an absolutely " equal dividend " — that is, it was assumed that the whole funds of all the congrega- tions of the Church were to be sent to Edinburgh, and that these were to be divided, share and share alike, among all the ministers. Six months' experience showed the inexpediency of that system. It furnished no check upon congregations which mifjht be indolent or selfish. It allowed no channel for the outflow of the natural desire of congregations to do something special for their own ministers. And it failed to recognize the fact that the expenses of a person living in a city must necessarily be greater than those of one who has his home in the rural districts. So early, then, as 1844, the pro- cess of modification began. Dr. Chalmers, who, in a letter now before us, expresses the strong conviction (very striking then) that it would be good for the whole ministry if some of the incumbents of city charges had as much as £1000 a year — Dr. Chalmers was especially alarmed at the prevalence of what he regarded as the unbusiness-like idea that an equal dividend involved no obligation to make an equal effort to maintain it. At his suggestion, therefore, it was enacted by 18 274 MODIFICATIONS. the Glasgow Assembly that " every minister admitted to a new charge shall receive from the Sustentation Fund the con- tribution of his association if up to or less than £100, and the half more.'" The object of this regulation, of course, was to stimulate the liberality of aid-receiving congregations. It had been agreed to aim at a minimum dividend of £150 a year, and the attainment of that sum was placed within the reach of not a few to whom in other circumstances it would have been impossible. The rule, however, did not work well, and its unpopularity grew to be so great that it was abrogated in 1848. But the return to the old sj'stem did not issue in any benefit to the Fund. Strenuous efforts were made by deputa- tions and other means to rouse the Church, but the effects were not perceptible. The dividend was less in 1849 than in the previous year, and it continued, as has already been noted, to keep less for six years in succession. During that time another plan was tried — that of what was called (im- properly, as Dr. Buchanan was in the habit of sayiug) the Rating System. That is to say, the Sustentation Fund Com- mittee endeavoured to come to an understandin^r with each congregation as to what sum it might be considered fair to expect from it. But this plan also was a failure, and affected the results in no appreciable degree. In 1854, however, an experiment was tried which proved more satisfactory. A definite proposal was made to all the members of the Church to increase their contributions by one- fourth. The grand recommendation of this proposal to many was, that it was so intelligible. People knew precisely what it was expected of them to do, and as their givings were cer- tainly not yet by any means on a level with their resources, the thing which was in such plain terms asked of them was done with a wonderful amount of cheerfulness. The Fund increased in consequence by over thirteen thousand pounds. SURPLUS FUND. 276 and the dividend was raised fi'om £1 19, to which it had sunk, to £140. But the minimum dividend of £150 named at the Disruption was still apparently in the clouds. The Fund kept the ground it had gained, but it made no sensible advance, and it became more and more plain to its far-seeing Convener that something was still wanting to give proper efficiency to the Scheme. His meditations on the subject issued, in 1867, in the regula- tions under which the system is at present worked. The dis- tinctive feature in these regulations is the existence of a Sur- plus Fund, which supplies the stimulus needed to keep the congregations up to the standard of their duty. Dr. Buchanan proposed to ask the Church to contribute enough (1) to give to each minister £150 a year ; and (2) to provide an overplus for division among those ministers whose congregations gave at certain specified rates per member. Here was again a definite object set before the people. They were told that if they each gave at the rate of seven shillings and sixpence a year, or of ten shillings a year, the result would be, in the first place, that the very moderate ideal of the Disruption times would at once be realized ; and, in the second, that their own ministers would receive a more or less material benefit over and above the equal dividend. The response was immediate. The very next year the Fund rose £10,000; and it has gone on increasing ever since, until in 1875-76 the sum directly contributed for general sustentation purposes amounted to £160,427, which allowed a dividend of £157 to be paid to 774 ministers, with, in addition, grants out of the Surplus Fund of £30 and £18 respectively to 553 of the first class, and 1 2 5 of the second. Out of all this experience certain principles, as we have said, have been evolved, which may now be accepted as demonstrated. One is this, that very much depends on the 276 PEINCIPLES ASCERTAINED. mechanism! While there will be no water if there is no spring, the water in the spring will not be got in any quantity if the laws of nature alone are allowed to act. There is so much to be overcome in human nature, even when it is in a degree sanctified — in the shape of indolence, and selfishness, and inconsideration — that no disestablished Church is safe to depend on the efiicacy of mere general appeals. Something definite and intelligible must be set before the people to do — every lawful stimulus to exertion must be taken advan- tage of — and whatever system is established, it must be superintended unwearyingly in every part. But let these common-sense considerations be regarded, and there is no Church with any life and activity in it which need fear to be left to its own resources. It was a new life which the Free Church had to enter on when it went forth from under the protection of the State ; and, astonishing as was its liberality, there was then something about it which was so far unreliable. It was open to men to say, and men constantly did say, that the whole thing was an outburst — a passion — a sudden fit of enthusiasm, which would exhaust itself and collapse. More than thirty years have gone, and its Sustentation income has not only risen from £68,000 in 1844 to £160,000 in 1876, but that income comes in with a steadiness which shows that there is now another force than impulse sustaining it. Giving has now become with us a settled habit ; and although, as has well been said, " habit has no power of elevation," and we need to look to some higher principle when a flight is contemplated, yet habit is influential in sustaining us when we rise : and no more striking illustra- tion could be furnished of the fact than this, that " the Sus- tentation Fund has never been very sensibly affected by periods of commercial or agricultural prosperity or depression ; and when, by some energetic movement on its behalf, the MINISTKUIAL IN'COMES IN THE FREE CHURCH, 277 contributions have been raised to a higher level, it has always been found to continue in that position." Before passing from this subject, it may be proper to men- tion that the incomes of the ministers of the Free Church are not wholly derived from the Central Sustentation Fund. There is also within that Church a system of supplements, under which each congregation contributes directly to the support of its own minister; and it may interest some to learn how near an approach has already been made in a Church without State endowments to the condition of a Church in which such endowments are still enjoyed. The following is from a very interesting and able statistical report which was submitted, in May 187G, to the General Assembly by Mr. Meld rum : — "A return recently made by order of the House of Commons, and published by its authority, furnishes the means of making a comparison between the income of ministers of the Free Church and the livings of ministers of the Established Church of Scotland. That return embi-aces the income of parish ministers and ministers of parliamentary churches. The total number in the return is 1044, but of these 74 are blank, leaving 970 charges, in regard to which the following particulars are given, viz. : — the stipends from teinds and other sources, — the sums legally payable for com- munion elements, — and the annual valuation of each manse and glebe as stated in the assessment roll of the parish. The return does not include quoad sacra and mission charges. The following table exhibits the platform charges * of the Free Church (omitting colleagues) set over against those parish and parliamentary charges of the Establishment. Free Established Church. Church. Number of mini.sters whose stipenrls are loss than £200, 320 261 Number at and above £200 and under £300, 355 250 II „ £300 „ £500 130 432 M M £500, 27 27 841 970 The average stipend in the Free Church is £245 0 0 .. II Established Church, ... 2S4 0 0 * The platform charges are the ordinary charges of the Free Church, the ministers of which draw the equal dividend. There are other charges in a transition and exceptional condition. 278 COMPARED WITH THOSE IN THE ESTABLISHMENT, "It will be observed that the comparison here is made between the platform charges of the Free Church and the parochial and parliamentary charges of the Established Church. The non-platform charges of the Free Church left out of view are about 90 in number. In the case of the Estab- lished Church, the quoad sacra, mission, and other charges amount to a much larger number — probably three hundred. The reporter has not been able to find materials for instituting a comjiarison of the whole ministerial charges of the two Churches, but there can be no doubt that the advan- tage in favour of the Established Church shown in the above abstract would be very much diminished. The addition made to the average stipend of Free Church ministers since 1867 is about £50. It only there- fore needs another such advance to place the ministers of the Free Church fully on a par, as regards money stipend, with the parochial ministers of the Establishment. " It would be out of place, and aside from the object of this report, to prosecute further the present inquiry, but it would be easy to show that as regards manses the Free Church is fairly abreast of the Establishment. Glehes, of which there are in the Established Church nearly 900, of the annual value of about £28 each, are as yet comparatively few in the Free Church ; although the number of such pertinents of the living, or of local endowments in another form, is increasing." In one of the very last letters written by Dr. Buchanan, he speaks with fervid thankfulness of the great success which had thus attended his efforts in connection with the Sustenta- tion Fund. The letter was addressed to Mr. Meldrum, and is dated the 24th of March 1875 : — " The state of the Fund, though not all we wished, is still satisfactory. If we keep hold of our increase of £10,000 till May, it will give us an income of £162,000,— which will be £40,000 ahead of 1867, the year this effort began. In other words, our jjeople will in this connection have done practically as much for our Fund since 1867 as if they had given us a capital of a Million of Money, — twice, that is, the amount of Mr. Baird's great gift to the Establishment. In the form of an annual contribution it is far better and safer for the Church and for the ministry than if it had come in the form of a millionaire offering or of a State subsidy. How miserable that, with such experiences of God's faithfulness and of his people's liberality, should be doting on his selfish dream of getting the teinds for a new Established Church ! " It will be seen from this letter that Dr. Buchanan's views had changed considerably since 1838, when he was seen knocking DR. Buchanan's conclusions. 279 importunately at the door of Downing Street for a dole out of the public funds. He still believed in the lawfulness oi" Slate endowments in proper circumstances, but he had come seriously to doubt their necessity and utility in the present condition of the world. He had lived long enough to have ssen a fair trial made of the third alternative* of which Dr. Chalmers had spoken. The appeal had taken place " to the general jpopidatlon" and the result had not been disappoint- ing. The Sustentation Fund had been subjected to the strain of every description of breeze, and had proved itself sea- worthy in all weathers. Vicissitudes in trade — times of spiritual revival and declension — bitter ecclesiastical contro- versies— the wear and tear of not always good-natured criti- cism and discussion — and above all things the vis inertice of an indolent and self-indulgent time ; — it had encoun- tered them all, and it had not only held its ground, but had gone on steadily, though it might not be always rapidly, in- creasing. But the possibility of working such a system with a measure of financial success was not the only discovery which Dr. Buchanan believed to have been made. He was persuaded that the moral effects of such a scheme had been in many ways good and wholesome ; and his assurance of this made him — toward the end of his life, especially — peculiarly jealous of any movement which seemed to take the direction of a reunion on any terms, in present circumstances, with the State. It was his profound conviction that God had been speaking to the Free Church in his providence, — that the amazing measure of success which had attended it was meant to convey an intimation of His will in regard to its immediate future ; and that its whole history before the Disruption and * The three methods of extending the Church which Dr. Chalmers had tried were, — (1) An appeal to Whig politicians, (2) An appeal to the Tories, and, (3) An appeal to the general population. 280 LESSONS FROM EARLY CHURCH. after was well fitted to make it hesitate about diverging from the line on which it had been placed through no choice of its own, even although the Government were to express its willingness to concede its Claim of Right to the uttermost farthing. He had even his doubts about the utility of partial endowments ; and he never showed any favour, in conse- quence, toward a proposal made in certain quarters for a reunion of the Scottish Churches on the basis of an appropria- tion of the National Ecclesiastical Funds, as far as they would go, to the sustentation of the whole Presbyterian clergy of Scotland. " For three centuries," says he in his paper read before the Statistical Society, " the primitive Church made its way in the world, in so far as its means of temporal support was concerned, without any help whatever from State countenance or aid ; and during these centuries it not merely stood its ground, but made conquests upon a scale with which it would perhaps be difiicult to find anything in its subsequent history that could advantageously compare The voluntary obla- tions of the Christian people were chiefly relied on for the supply of the Church's temporal wants. These oblations, according to the authorities quoted by Bingham, were of two sorts, — the weekly oblations that were made by those who came to partake of the eucharist, and the monthly oblations that were cast into the treasury of the Church. To these were added, as the converts to the Christian faith multiplied, gifts of lands or houses, — which, indeed, became in the course of time so considerable as not only to have tended to secularize the clergy, by involving them in the care and management of this ever-accumulating property, but also to dry up the weekly and monthly offerings, these being supposed by the people to be less urgently required. Referring to this tendency of the one source of support seriously to injure the other, Bingham VALUE OF DK. BUCHANAN S TESTIMONY. 281 takes occasion to make the following significant statement : — ' If any one is desirous to know what part of the Church revenues was anciently most serviceable and beneficial to the Church, he may be informed from St. Chrysostom and St. Austin, who give the greatest commendations to the offerings and oblations of the people, and seem to say that the Church was never better provided than when her maintenance was raised chiefly from them. For then men's zeal prompted them to be very liberal in their daily offerings. But as lands and possessions were settled upon the Church this zeal sensibly abated ; and so the Church came to be worse provided for under the notion of growing richer, — which is the thing that St. Chrj^sostom complains of in his own times, when the ancient revenue arising from oblations was in a great measure sunk, and the Church, with all her lands, left in a worse con- dition than she was before.' That experience of the primitive Church would seem not indistinctly to indicate that the Free Church of Scotland was well advised in founding, as she did, her financial system, not on two sources of revenue, but only on one." What we chiefly admire in all Dr. Buchanan's utterances in this connection is the noble and generous confidence which he placed in the Church and the Christian people. This trust may have been the fruit of mere enthusiasm, but even those who have themselves least sympathy with it will readily allow that there is something worthier of respect in such a faith than in the spirit which has led others to speak as if the very organization which Christ him.self established for the conversion of the world could never be trusted to fulfil its mission without the support of the secular arm. The peculi- arity, however, in the present case, is that Dr. Buchanan was no mere enthusiast or dreamer. He was, in the best sense of the expression, a sober man of the world, notoriously dis- 282 OTHER SCHEMES OF THE CHURCH. tinguished for his business-like qualities, his calm judicious- ness, and his common-sense. And it is therefore a fact worth making known, for the benefit of any Church which may be looking with apprehension into the future, that such a man, after an experience of seven and thirty years, has left it on record that in his opinion there is no cause to fear for the interests of religion when the Christian people are left to sus- tain these solely out of their own resources. What led Dr. Buchanan to speak as he did on this subject was, doubtless, an additional fact which it is necessary to re- member if we are to have a complete view of the financial experience of the Free Church. The fact is this, that the burden laid on the people of sustaining their own ministers had an effect, in connection with other schemes of Christian benevolence, the direct reverse of what, according to mere human calculation, might have been anticipated. If a man is giving literally up to the limit of his ability, then it must necessarily follow that the diversion of his liberality into a new channel must dry up one or other of the old channels through which his charity had been accustomed to flow. And if the resources of the Scottish nation had been drawn upon to the uttermost before the Disruption, then the new demand made after the benefits of an Establishment had been taken away could not but have issued in the suspension of all missionary effort in the Free Church. But we are a long way yet from the point of contributing to Christ's cause literally " as God hath prospered us." There is still lying behind an immense reserve of unexhausted capabilities. And since 1843 we have learned a somewhat startling lesson, — namely, that it is not those who have most done for them who do most for others, but that a principle rules which seems to be the direct converse of this. The Free Church was called on in Providence, not merely to sustain the five WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISUED. 283 hundred ministers who came out, but an ever-increasing number of men who were settled in fresh charges.* It liad also to establish and equip theological seminaries for the training of its students, j" The pressure of the times also necessitated its carrying on an extensive education scheme. And it required hundreds of thousands of pounds to rear over all the land the material structures needed for the execution of its work. Yet (and this we regard as by far the most notable point in the history of our finance) the Church has not done less for the propagation of the gospel abroad than it did before the burden of the support of its ministry was thrown upon it, but iinTnensely more. In illustration of this, two things only need to be mentioned: one is, that the Free Church has done more for the Colonies and the Continent * The follo\ving Table shows the progress made by the Chtirch since the Disruption : — -.•0.2 c V *^ . ^11 •a o -•Si ois V > o - - c Ot/5 ^ u U rt ^ Jill c5 o u - -.. IT " u" ir Q U'" ?J' Q 1844 £68,704 14 8 583 £105 1861 £112,093 5 0 859 £138 1845 77,630 12 0 627 122 1862 112,616 6 5 872 137 1846 82,68117 4 672 122 1863 114,292 19 9 885 137 1847 a3,117 16 10 673 120 1864 115,784 19 6 894 138 1848 88.fK»(i 9 5 684 128 1865 119,450 3 11 903 144 1849 87,115 3 4 705 123 1866 120,296 11 5 902 143 1850 89,7<>4 3 6 729 123 1867 121,725 0 3 917 144 1851 91,527 8 8 736 123 1868 131,312 10 5 . 923 1.50 1852 90,794 10 5 745 122 1869 132,125 16 7 942 1.50 1853 90,885 8 0 759 121 1870 131,262 19 1 947 150 1854 94,635 10 6 765 119 1871 137,398 11 9 948 150 1855 103.535 17 3 786 132 1872 1.38,06111 1 957 1.50 18.56 108,972 12 5 790 140 1873 136,779 19 8 9(59 1.50 1857 108,638 4 5 811 138 1874 1.52,112 8 4 975 1.50 1858 108,920 7 0 825 138 1875 163,696 16 0 972 157 1859 110,14111 8 827 138 1876 166,427 9 3 1014 157 1860 109,259 17 11 846 135 t There are three of these,— one in Edinburgh, another at Glasgow, and a third in Aberdeen. Endowments to the extent of over £150,000 have been provided for them ; and the system of education is more complete than in the Universities. There are thirteen professors. 284 THE HIGHER INTEREST. than any other Presbyterian Church in the world; and the other is, that its Foreign Missions have since the Disruption continued to expand, until its income has risen from £6,000 a year in 1843 to £52,000 in 1875. Although it may sound like a paradox, therefore, it is the sober truth that, in the interest of the conversion of the world, the Free Church could not afford to re-connect itself with the State. The teaching of its experience has been this, that whatever hardship it has itself been compelled to endure, its disestablishment has been for the advantage, on the whole, of the kingdom of God. No one was more impressed with this than Dr. Buchanan; and it was as a practical man, having an eye not to abstract theories, but to the testimony of undoubtedly ascertained facts, that he was always ready to assert that the Free Church had found an absolutely better method of doing the work of Christ in modern society than if it had the help of State Endowments. It would be impossible to convey in these pages anything like an adequate impression of the amount of time and thought and hard labour expended by Dr. Buchanan on the enterprise which he superintended from 1847 to 1875. His correspond- ence alone on the subject was enormous ; and it is most touching, in looking through so much of it as we have seen, to observe with what heartfelt satisfaction he heard of any- thing that was of an encouraging nature in connection with the Fund, and how keenly he felt the conduct of any who, by their carping criticism, cast needless difficulties in his way, or by their half-hearted ness and indifference threw cold water on his most hopeful and generous propositions. The Chair of the Convencrship was not always an easy seat, and nothing but his strong faith in God, his loyalty to his Church, and the profound conviction which possessed him that he was working out a great practical problem whose LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. 285 solution mifjlit be of advantajce to other communions besides his own, could have supported him under the toils and anxieties to which he was subjected. " The discussion of yesterday," lie writes to Mr. Meldrum on the 17th of April 1SG7, referring to the launching of the great scheme which resulted in an increase within less than ten years of £40,000 per annum to the Fund — "the discus- sion of yesterday was not promising. Anything more unin- telligent than the remarks of Mr. and Mr. could not well be imagined. As to , he can ' aye objek,' as Professor Miller used to say long ago. Of course, if the scheme is simply tolerated, it would be a sheer absurdity to attempt to work it. Nothing but a cordiality of the most marked character could give us a chance of success. If the wet-blanket system of yesterday is followed to any extent at next meeting, I shall withdraw it from the Committee altogether, and say my say about it in the Assembly on my own individual re- sponsibility. In that case, I shall probably present it as my last contribution toward the improvement of the Sustentation Fund." His scheme w^as launched under happier omens than he thus feared it would be; and in February 1 870 we find him writing that he has been greatly cheered by the response. " I have never," he says, " on the occasion of any former circular, re- ceived from so many treasurers such hearty and earnest letters of sympathy, and expressing such a desire to make progress." And his zeal continued unabated to the last. Three days before his death, he wrote as follows to Mr. Meldrum : — " Roma Via Angelo Cdbtode, March 27, 1875. "My Dear Mr. Meldrom, — Looking forward to the Assembly, I have begun to turn over in my mind one or two things which induce me to write this letter. I really feel that we ought to be putting things in trim for the appointment of a successor in the Convenership of the Committee. 236 LAST LETTER FROM ROME. The only thing that has hindered me from taking steps in this direction sooner is the difficulty of finding the right man, and who would have general acceptance with the Church. You may remember I spoke of Whyte of St. George's some time ago. I still think favourably of this idea. His general ability, his being at the head of our greatest congregation, and the decided interest he takes in the Fund, all speak greatly in his favour. I have an impression that he may plead the arduous and responsible nature of his charge as a reason for not undertaking any important extra work. But I hope this might be got over. I may be wrong, but I rather think the congi'egation would like to see him in the office in question. And if he be disposed to say. Not now, but by-and-hy, I would be contented to retain the Convenership — if spared — for a couple of years longer, on condition of his taking the Vice-Convenership. Between ourselves let me say, I am now within less than two years of having completed fifty years of my ministry, at which date— if I live so long — my purpose is to withdraw from all Assembly official work, if not from Church work altogether ; and I would therefore make up my mind to hold on to my connection with the Com- mittee for a couple of years {D. V.) on the footing of having a Vice-Con- vener to lean upon, and to look to as my successor. I don't think it is wise to be leaving so important an appointment to be made on the sudden, and, it may be, without due consideration. " "Will you talk this over privately with Maclagan and Dr. "Wilson ? " If you and they approve of this general idea, I can communicate it to the Committee at its meeting the day before the Assembly meets. " In prospect of some review I may possibly make of the past history of the Fund, and of my connection with it, at next Assembly, will you kindly let me know — (1st) "When Dr. Tweedie came into official connection with the Committee, and whether it was from the first as Convener, or as Vice, to Dr. Chalmers 1 " (2nd) Also, how long Chalmers' half-more scheme continued in force, and when it was laid aside ? " (3rd) "Wlien the resolution of the so miscalled Rating Scheme was adopted, and when it was withdiawn ? " I think it a highly important fact that the Assembly, as the supreme administrative body in the Church, has not only always claimed, but again and again has exercised, without challenge, the right to alter or modify the constitution of the Fund. " I shall be glad to hear at the earliest how the Fund stands at the end of the eleventh mouth- " T have caught a chill, which brought on a bilious attack which has a good deal annoyed me ; in consequence of which I am writing this with the paper lying on my knee, at the fireside, though it is a glorious day. The attack is passing off, and I hope to be all right in a day or two. " We are going down to Naples on Monday week, for four or five days, INDICATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. 287 to see the luagnificeut bay, with its beautiful surrouudiugs, and to help Mr. Gi-ay, the interim miuister, to form a Deacons' Court. I hope this will set lue completely up agam. " With kindest regards to Mrs. Meldrum, in which Mrs. Buchanan joins, — Yom-s ever affectionately, Robert Buchanan, " G. Meldrum, Esq. " Please send me, on receipt of this, a copy of Moucreiff's Report on the Reformed Presbyterian union, if it is in print. If it is not, it should be put in type at once. R. B." The introduction of such a letter at this stage of his Bio- graphy may seem to be an anachronism. But if the important subject spoken of in this chapter was to be dealt with to advantage at all, it was clearly necessary to look at it histori- cally. If the currents of the present day do not deceive those most competent to judge of them, events are certainly tending towards the dissolution everywhere of those ties which now unite the Church and the State. And in view of that, the experience of the Church which was disestablished in 1843 may not be without its significance and value. That Church did not die for lack of State endowments. Its whole income for the last few years has been considerably over £500,000. And there is no comparison between the amount of the work it is now doing for God in its separated state, and the work it achieved when it had the support and fostering care of the secular arm. CHAPTER XII. THE WRITING OF THE STORY. It was obviously desh-able that a historical record should be prepared of the remarkable ecclesiastical revolution that had taken place in Scotland. This was demanded at once by the importance of the principles that had been involved in it, by the interest of the events that had occurred, and by the far- reaching consequences which were seen to be certain to follow from it.* And there were two men who were naturally * One of the consequences foreseen is referred to in the following letter addressed by Dr. Cooke, of Belfast, to Sir Robert Peel, two days after the Disruption : — "My Dear Sir Robert Peel, — A solemn sense of accountability to God and of duty to his Church in these lands compels me once again to bring before you the affairs of the Church of Scotland. I formerly ventured to foretell, in the face of all contrary information which you had received, that at least four hundred ministers would retire in case no relief bill were conceded. I have this day seen the roll of the protesters. It contains four hundred and twenty-five names, and includes the greatest and best of Scotland's ministers. The enthusiasm, though passionless, is great ; and the enthusiasm of Scotsmen is no bubble of an hour. Would God you had taken my humble advice, and prevented this calamity when prevention was so easy ! Would that I could even yet persuade you to avert calamities still greater. I am a Presbyterian by conviction ; yet, for my friends' and brethren's sake, I am a* anxious to prevent the overthrow of the Established Church of England and Ireland as I was to prevent the Disruption of the Established Church of Scotland. Yet here I would not be misunder.stood. I profess no affection for Prelacy, but I do for many prelates and godly ministers ; and so long as they do God's work in up- holding true Protestantism and opposing Popery in the garb of Puseyism, so long would my ' aversion of them that are given to change ' lead me to preserve what is practically settled rather than incur the fearful risk of theoretic improvement. But that the Disruption of the Church of Scotland, which is held to be the fault of the Government, will be followed by the overthrow of the other, I entertain no more doubt than I do of my own existence. The evil will begin in Ireland ; it matters little where it will end. In Ireland, this Disruption is felt by every Presbyterian MR. DUNLOP'S PUKPOSE. 289 looked to as specially qualified to undertake the duty in question. We refer, of course, to Dr. Buchanan and Mr. Alexander Dunlop. Both of them had, without consultation with one another, entertained from a very early period the idea of writing a history of the conflict; and when, in 1846, the former communicated to the latter his settled purpose of beginning the undertaking, Mr. Dunlop's reply was to the effect that he had not himself yet entirely abandoned the thought of writing on the subject, and that he could not promise to be of any service to his friend until his own political prospects had been made more clear. His wish was to enter Parliament; and if he failed in that, he was desirous of reserving for the leisure of the lat^r days of his life the congenial task of placing on record his thoughts about a movement which he had done so much to direct. As it turned out, Mr. Dunlop did get into Parliament, and his closing years were spent usefully and honourably as a statesman. But one cannot help regretting that he was thus prevented from doing something, at least, in the line he indicated. The History might have been left, as it came to be, in the hands of Dr. Buchanan; but there would have been ample room, and a cordial welcome, for a com- panion volume, on the Philoso})hy of the Histoiy, by Mr. Dunlop. as an injury intlicted on himself. But can anything now he done? I know not: but surely something may be attempted. The remedy I would therefore propose is this, — the total extinction of Patronage by purchase, and the concession of the same spiritual independence to the Church Courts in Scotland as the Presbyterians of Ireland enjoy. " I do, even at the eleventh hour, most earnestly entreat you to consider these things. Do not listen again to those who at least attempted to deceive j'ou before. What now has come of Dr. Leishman's and Dr. Cook's predictions, against which 1 warned both yourself and Sir James Graham ? They have been proved worse than nothing and vanity. For God's sake, I beseech you, trust such fallacious prophets no more. " I fear I shall still continue to speak and to prophesy in vain. But my accuracy in the pa^t ought to gain me some credit for the future ; and, be the result as it may, I feel that I have done my duty." 19 290 DR. BUCHANAN S LITERARY WORKS. Dr. Buchanan, besides having a very intimate personal ac- quaintance with the course of the events which he was required to describe, was far from being unpractised at this time in the use of the pen. We have had occasion to refer to various publications of his already ; but in what has been said a very incomplete idea has been given of his literary achievements. Besides his Lectures on Establishments, for example, he had published Lectures on Popery and on the History of the Jews. He was also, in the crisis of the controversy, a constant leader writer in the Scottish Guardian; and when he was in London on deputation work, he spent a considerable portion of his time in endeavouring to enlighten the English mind through the columns of the Morning Chronicle, the Standard, and the (Wesleyan) Watchman. His book " The Ten Years' Contlict " did not appear till 1849; but the wonder is that, with his many distractions, he was able to complete such a work even then. For while he was in the middle of his labours he was appointed Convener of the Sustentation Fund Committee, and spent the greater' part of the summer of 1847 in travelling over Scotland. Two letters now beside us give a good indication of the spirit in which the work was proceeded with. The first is from Sheriff Gordon of Banff, and suggests the idea of his having spared no pains to equip himself for the task; the other is addressed to his old friend, Mr. William Brown, and reveals the sense of dependence he had on the direction of a higher Mind. Mr. Gordon's collection of the literature of the period was particularly full and comprehensive, and he placed the whole at Dr. Buchanan's disposal. The mass of informa- tion thus despatched to Glasgow is summarized in the follow- ing list: — 19 Vols. Pamphlets, large set, bound. 5 Vols. PamphletH, small set, bound. 128 Pami)hlets and Papers, unbound. PLAN OF THE HISTORY. 291 2 Vols. Auchtfrartler Case, Court of Session. 1 VoL Letbendy Ca.se. 1 VoL Session Papei-s, Auchtenirder Case. Sydow on Scottish Church Question. Noel's State of the Ciise for the Church of Scotl.ind. Report of the Stewarton Case. £rastus, with Preface by Dr. Lee. Tlie Late Secession, by Dr. Macfarlatie. To Mr. Brown he said: — "As I proceeded with the work, it was my constant and earnest prayer that I might obtain from above the needed wisdom for the execution of so important and responsible a task, and that it might prove such a work as the Lord would approve and bless. The distractions in the midst of which I carried it* on were often most overpowering; so that my heart many times all but failed me. But I was helped through with it; and sometimes with such a felt ex- ]>ericnce of the help I wanted, as was very encouraging and wonderful even to myself" The object of the work, as the author himself indicates in his Preface, was to explain the causes and to trace the history of the Disruption of the Established Church of Scotland. " The principles," he adds, " involved in that ecclesiastical convulsion have an immediate bearinor both on the constitu- tion and prerogatives of the Church of Christ and on the great question of its relation to the civil power. The subject is therefore one of catholic importance, and it derives addi- tional and peculiar interest from the character of the present times. In one form or another the points at issue in the ' Ten Years' Conflict ' are at this moment, in almost every nation of Europe, the questions of the day." After explaining the " Nature of the Question," he proceeds to trace its fortunes through the Church from the Reformation. * Afl the book approached completion he sometimes worked, he tells, sixteen hours a day; and it is not wonderful that under such circumstances his health should have suffered. The publication was followed by an illness by which, for a time, he was laid aside from duty. 292 OPINIONS OF ME. DUNLOP AND MR. SMITH. Coming to more recent times, he describes the Assembly of 1834-, when the reign of Moderatism ended, and shows the happy fruits of Evangelical ascendency. The Conflict then beofins with the Aiichterarder Case, and throughout the Second Volume we have a graphic picture of how the battle then went on. At last the fighting ceases. We come into the new world of the Convocation and the Disruption Assembly. And the whole concludes with a last look of that Establish- ment which it is found necessary to abandon. The importance of the work as a contribution to the Church History of Scot- land cannot be doubted, and one may safely predict that, as time goes on, it will increase rather than diminish in recog- nized value. Some opinions expressed about it at the time of its publi- cation will be read now with not a little interest. The fol- lowing is from Mr. Dunlop : — • " Edinburgh, June 15, 18^9. " I was not able till yesterday to begin to indulge myself in the perusal of your ' Conflict,' which I have now nearly finished. It has afforded me very great delight. The introductory part is most admirable and complete, both as a succinct and clear and most interesting summary of the past history of our Church, exhibiting distinctly her characteristic features, and as a foundation for the new portion of it of which you have become the his- torian. Of this part of the work I am not so impartial a judge, because in the circumstance of my being engaged while reading it in fighting over again battles in which I was a combatant there is a special interest which the bulk of readers will not feel ; but I shall be surprised if it do not deeply interest every reader, however little concerned with the Conflict itself. For myself, I have read it with such interest as to have had no time to act the critic as to the legal and constitutional discussions detailed, but no defect or error struck me as I went through it — though I shall, of course, give a more heedful attention to this branch of it on a future occasion. I sincerely congratulate you and the Church on your work." Here is another, from Mr. Smith of Jordan Hill, whose work on the Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul is so well known to students of the Acts of the Apostles : — LOUD JKFFREY. 298 " Yacht ' Ravk.n,' Akrochab, June 9, 1S49. " You will, 1 trust, excuse lue, residuary though I be, for expressing to you the iutereat aud aihuiratiou with which I read your History of the Ten Years' Conflict iu the Church of Scotland. It is indeed too interesting ; for I could not lay it down till I finished it, and thus exhausted what I meant to be my study on the voyage. " You are fortunate indeed in a noble subject, but your Church is also fortunate in a Jiistorian ; for, independent of the interest which it excites, it appears to me, who took different views from you in some respects, to be a perfectly fair statement of the events and principles at issue, so clearly stated that we may hope that the objects for which you struggled may be comprehended by English readers. I never met English hearers who could. " I never can think with patience on the conduct of our Conservative st;vtesmen, and very little with the party in the Church with whom I was in the habit of voting, for not combining to procure an enactment which would have insured the principle of Non-Intrusion. I am happy to reflect that in my humble sphere I did my best. If I had been in the thick of the battle as you were, I have often thought I would have left the Church ; but I went abroad in 183 J), and did not return to Scotland till 1846. I wa.s, however, in England iu 1841, and acted cordially with John Hamilton, Dr. M'Kellar, &c., as a member of the Non-Intrusion Committee. " Nothing gives me gi'eater pleasure than the justice you have done to the attempt made by my late right-hearted and clear-headed friend, the Duke of Argyle." Still more interesting are the following notes by Professor Miller. We give them all, although it is only the last which specially refers to the book of which we are now speaking : — "Lord Jeffrey, in July 1849, talked much with me about the Disrup- tion ; and his general tone indicated great disappointment and discontent with the conduct of his leading political friends in that matter, both in the Lords and Commons. " Inter alia — He told me that he believed the opinion of Lords Cotten- ham and Brougham was not an honest one. They had not studied the case fully when it first came before them ; having been told, on authority they placed confidence in, that the question was both a trumpery and a temporary one, that it would soon be heard of no more, and that it was of vital importance for the public weal that the decision of the court below should be sustained. They decided accordingly ; and Lord Jeffrey's im- pression and belief was that, so far as they had studied the question on that occasion, their conviction was opposed to their decision ; that they stifled this for the majus honum — non ecclesice. 294 MR. R EDDIE OF GLASGOW. " Subsequently, that this conviction deepened ; but from pride and other considerations they resolved to adhere to their original decision, un- sound though they knew it to be ; the more especially as they still believed that the excitement was evanescent, and that there would be no disruption. "Lord JeflFrey had personal and repeated dealings with Lord John Eussell on the Church question. He warned him (Lord John) of the danger and folly of the coui-se he and his friends were pursuing in that matter. And Lord John always received this objurgation with a ' pooh pooh.' On one occasion Lord Jeffrey was specially urgent, saying, * Take my advice, my lord ; you know me to be a safe man in such matters — no bigot — no zealous and enthusiastic religionist — no partizan. And I warn you that you are committing a great blunder, and that in consequence you are on the eve of a great calamity.' ' Nonsense,' rejilied Lord John ; adding, ' How many, think you, will come out ? Twenty or thirty ? ' Lord Jeffrey at once answered, ' We will not count them by units, if you please, or by tens, but by hundreds. And as many of these as there are digits on that hand will remain stanch to their principles.' Lord John still remained unbelieving ; declaring kis conviction that, if there was a break-up at all, only a few turbulent, hot-headed spirits would leave, whose absence they would find a gi^eat relief. And on that he acted. " Lord Jeffrey at my request read ' The Ten Years' Conflict.' He was much delighted with it, and told me so more than once ; commending the work especially for accuracy, impartiality, argumentative power, skilful aiTangement, and general literary merit ; adding : ' As to the last, you must remember that my opinion is worth something. I am entitled to be considered a judge in that department.' But the merit which he chiefly dwelt on was what he termed courage; explaining that no difficulty or objection was ever flinched from or evited, but was always met and mastered in a manly and masterly way. " More than once he said, ' There is no work of the kind of greater merit, so far as I know.' " We may also give a pleasant reminiscence sent to us by Mr. William Brown. The value of Mr. Reddie's testimony will, we have reason to believe, be very specially appreciated in Glasgow : — " An important testimony to the sound foundation of constitutional law on which the leaders of the Church rested, the able manner in which that legal foundation is set forth in Dr. Buchanan's history of the Ten Years' Con- flict, and all the proceedings of the Church were based upon that founda- tion, may be had in the opinion, mature, though casually given, of the late Mr. James Eeddie, advocate, one of the best lawyers of his day, who SIU HENRY W. MONCREIFF. 295 was long Town-Clerk of Glasgow, and whose judgment commanded respect both in the t'ourt of Session and in the House of Lords. "Tiie writer, who had been Dean of (Juild, and was then a member of the Town Council, and was also Mr. Reddie's personal friend during two or three years before the Disruption, had frequent occasion to see Mr. Reddie at his chambers, when the latter took the opportunity several times seriously to impugn the proceedings of the Non-Intrusion party, and to say they were all wrong in point of law, and were ruining the Church. His visitor, of course, demuned to this, and quoted the judgment of Lord MoncreiflF and some other eminent lawyers against it ; but Mr. Reddie always concluded by asserting that the whole weight of the lawyers in the country is against you. " Late in life Mr. Reddie became an invalid, and so great a sufferer he could actively engage in nothing. He could still attend to reading, and had many books read to him ; one of these, which was lent by the late Dr. Henderson, was ' The Ten Years' Conflict.' It was read to him by his daughter, and he took a very attentive interest in it. When it was finished, he said to Miss Reddie, ' When you return that book to your friend, you will give him my thanks, and say I am now satisfied that the Free Church leaders were right in point of law.'" Among those within the Free Church itself who were moved to express to the author their opinion of his work, no one was more elaborate or more generous in his criticism than Sir Henry Wellwood Moncreiff Dr. Buchanan care- fully preserved several long letters of his, in which the whole book is carefully and in detail reviewed. One extract from these letters is of some personal interest : — " I have so many reasons for being gratified with your fourth chapter, that I am rather unwilling to criticize it at all. Your manner of alluding to my grandfather, at i)p. 205, 20G, is far too agreeable for me to be impartial in judging of the portion of your work where the allusion occurs. Still 1 think I do not go beyond the general opinion when I say that no portion of it seems more happily adjusted, or more suitably and skilfully expressed, than your series of sketches beginning with Robertson and ending with M'Crie. I consider your picture of Dr. Andrew Thomson to be the only one extant which truly and sufficiently portrays him. The brevity of the sketches is one of their great recommendations ; and I have nothing to desire respecting that of my grandfather, except, perhaps, that I might have felt it satisfactory, if you had thought it worth while, for the sake of strangers, to advert to the very great length of the period over which his course of service extended, as having enabled him to accomplish far more 296 MR. GLADSTONE. than he could otherwise have done. But I make this remark simply in the spirit of faithfully recording whatever has occurred to me, and not because I am otlierwise than fully satisfied and pleased with your felicitous description." Last of all, we give a note from a statesman to whom the Free Church has been in various ways deeply indebted, and whom Dr. Buchanan always regarded with the warmest admi- ration,— Mr. W. E. Gladstone : — " On my arrival in town for the opening of Parliament, I have found awaiting me the copy of j'our work on the history of the Free Church of Scotland which you have done me tlie honour to present to me. " I beg you to accept my best thanks for this mark of your kindness, and to assure you that I look forward with much interest to making myself fully acquainted with the contents of your important work, at which I have already had a rapid glance. " A friend of mine, a conscientious and earnest-minded French Eoman Catholic, well acquainted with our country and language, once told me that, amidst his discouragements in witnessing the progress of unbelief in so many quarters, he had found a singular comfort in the testimony borne by the ministers and members of the Free Church of Scotland to the authority of conscience and of positive religious belief. " I claim, therefore, no special credit when I assure you that, differing myself from the Free Church in some points of belief, I nevertheless find in it very much that claims from me both sympathy and honour, much that deserves attentive study, much that holds out the promise, under God, of future good in times when it appears as though, notwithstanding many signs of good, the masses of professing Christians were gradually relaxing their grasp of truth, and their belief of the gospel as indeed a revelation given to man, and not proceeding from him, and independent in itself of all his impressions concerning it." " For the work which he has so happily achieved," says a Critic of the time (the late Dr. James Hamilton of London, as we have some reason to believe), " Dr. Buchanan possessed singular advantages. With all the arcana of that eventful story he has the minute acquaintance of an immediate actor ; and yet, from the mildness of his nature and his habitual self- I>ossession, he has learned to view it with much of a spectator's NEW WORK CONTEMPLATliD. 297 dispassionate eye. Instinctively a gentleman, he has withal the generous chivalry which characterizes the nobler combatants in every strife, and which makes them foremost to do justice to antagonists worthy of themselves. And in many of the narrator's artistic qualities these volumes betoken no mean accomplishment. Eloquent without rhetorical eftbrt, the story is told with delightful continuousness, and a dramatic unity pervades it to the close. Intractable materials have been handled with consummate skill ; long debates arc condensed into vivid dialogues, and by a rapid recital, or on a current of lively description or earnest feeling, the reader is tided over the more tedious technicalities. It is the story of a modern incident, and therefore the writer does not affect a stately or antique style ; but in dispensing with the tragic stilts there was no danger that he would forget the inherent dignity of his theme. Accordingly, by writing a book, the honest expression of a cheerful but earnest mind. Dr. Buchanan has at once secured good-will for his sprightliness and sympathy in his seriousness. It is a noble production ; and by its masterly ground-work of principles has given catholic importance to a local feud, just as its preliminary sketch of Scottish Church History shows that, instead of being a mushroom movement, the Revolution of 184<3 has a root deep as the martyrs' graves, and a vitality enduring and intense as is the nation's heart." The success of Dr. Buchanan in connection with this his- torical effort led him, a few years later, to contemplate another work of a similar kind. What its character was intended to be will be gathered from the outline which he drew up, and copies of which he circulated, with a view to the collection of suitable material. The prospectus before us now is in print, and its completeness shows how thoroughly the plan 298 THE TEN YEARS REBUILDING. of the book had been thought out in his own mind. The reader will look through it with a melancholy interest : — THE TEN YEARS' REBUILDING; OR, THE BREACH MADE BY THE STATE REPAIRED BY THE PEOPLE: BEING A SEQUEL TO THE HISTORY OF THE DISRUPTION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. CONTENTS. Introduction. — The Church Disestablished; a Preliminary Sketch. Section First. — Disruption Sacrifices; or, the "Great Price "of the Church's Freedom : — Chap. I. — A Houseless Ministry ; or, the Leaving of the Manse. (Illustra- tive Cases— Showing the severity of the trial.) Chap. II. — A Churchless People ; or, the Congregation in the Fields. {Cases —Preaching and dispensation of the Sacraments in the open air — Hardships to which congregations were thus exposed. ) Chap. III.— Domestic Trials; or, " Five in One House Divided — two against three, and three against two." (Examples — Showing painfulness of conflict between feeling and duty.) Chap. IV. — Public Wrongs and Private Persecutions ; or, the Site-refusers and their Kindred Oppressors. (Cases — In which sites were refused, and the consequent hardships of ministers and people — oppression of landlords in coercing tenants to conform to the Establishment, and of masters in coercing servants.) Chap. V.^The Unseen Victims; or, the Martj-rs with no Scaffold and no Stake. (Cases — Of ministers losing their health, or dying, under the pressure of the hardships to which the Disruption subjected them— like cases of members of congregations, from exposure to the severity of the weather where sites were refused. ) Section Second. — Disruption Blessings; or, the Payment of the "Great Price" acknowledged with a Great Reward : — Chap. VI.— The Large Adherence of the People to the Church's Testimony for Christ. (Cases— Of congregations, and of whole districts of country — statistics of Free and Established churches, then and now, in these localities — the jiromptitude with which the i)eo[)le came out at the Disruption — adherence of all the Church's missionaries, and of most of her colonial ministers and congregations. ) Chap. VII.— The Cordial Sympathy of other Churches. (The Deputations at the Glasgow Assembly, and at Canonmills Hall, in 1843— Letters of sym- pathy— feeling manifested in America and on the Continent.) Chap. VIII.— A Time of Reviving and Refreshing— the People Hungering A HOPE UNFULFILLED. 299 aud Thii-sting for the Word. (Exampks — Cases of spiritxial fruit — favour shown by Divine Providence in the weather of 18-13, when the congregations were mostly worshipping in the fields.) Chap. IX. — Enlarged Opportunities of Usefulness opened for the Church at Home and Abroatl. (Cases— Of access to Moderate parishes, and good resulting — acceptance of the Free Church in the colonies, and in foreign countries.) Chap. X. — Unanimity of the Church's Councils, and Energy of her Pro- ceedings. Chap. XI. -The Breach Repaired; or, the Free Church of Scotland as she now is. Sbction Thibd. — Effects of the Disruption :— Chap. XII. — Social Effects of the Disruption. (^HAP. XIII. — Political Effects of the Disruption. Chap. XIV. — Religious Effects of the Disruption. CoNOLDSlON.— Chap. XV.— The Hand of God in the whole Movement. Among Dr. Buchanan's papers are various proofs that he had done something toward the execution of this plan. He made a tour in Sutherlandshire in 1853, with a view to seeing the state of the Highlands with his own eyes ; and the Journal then kept by him is still preserved. He also received from various quarters naiTatives detailing the ex- periences of country ministers at the Disruption. But the pressure of other occupations became too much for him, and the idea had in the long run to be given up. There is some reason, however, for thinking that he never wholly abandoned the thought of reviewing the history of the Free Church. He indulged the hope that in the late evening of his life he might be able to carry out his long-cherished plan, to some extent; and there can be no doubt that, if he had done, so, the work would have been more valuable than even one written earlier. But the day never came; and his reputation as a historian rests wholly on " The Ten Years' Conflict." CHAPTER XIII. MISSION WORK IN THE WYNDS. It has been the distinction of Glasgow, that during the last half-century it has produced a larger proportion of liberal- hearted men than perhaps any other city in the kingdom. Of these, one of the earliest to make his influence felt was Mr. William Campbell of Tillichewan. He was among the first to catch the generous spirit of Chalmers ; and he lived lonjr enourjli to brino: forth fruit in old age. In 1855, for example, we find him presiding over a meeting which had been convened for exactly the same ends as had led him, twenty years before, to propose a scheme of his own to the then unbroken Church of Scotland. At the earlier period he had planned to raise £140,000, with a view to the erection of one hundred new places of worship throughout Scotland ; at the later date he is seen acting as the chairman of a building society, whose object was to meet the spiritual destitution of the particular city in which he lived. Mr. Campbell, in his opening speech, referred to the history of Church Extension in Glasgow. Forty years before, he said, Dr. Chalmers had come to the city and found only seven parish churches for a population of nearly 200,000. Shocked at this inadequate supply of the means of grace, he had pressed on the Magistracy and Town Council the duty of adding to the church accommodation ; and had so far succeeded. MR. CAMPBELL OF TILLICHEWAN. 301 that at his solicitation they built St. John's, and purchased St James'& But the disproportion between the supply and the need was still far too great, and as the movements of the constituted authorities were too slow to meet the emer- gency, certain laymen resolved to take up the cause and prosecute it at their own hand. Mr. William Collins took the lead in this enterprise, and the success of it was triumphant. Within five years twenty new churches were built in Glasgow by voluntary contribution, and the available sittings of the Establishment were increased from 7000 to 18,000. Nor was this great multiplication of places of wor- ship found to be superfluous. The population was all the while rapidly growing; and many, it was ascertained, had not been attending church, simply because there was no church in their neighbourhood. " We have got a new scheme now," Mr. Campbell went on to say — " that of Dr. Buchanan ; a scheme ivhich goes deeper into the mass of the community than did the schem,e of Mr. Collins; for while his was rather adapted to accommodate the middle classes. Dr. Buchanan's is intended and fitted to reach down to the very roots of society." Mr. Campbell added that he was more hopeful of the lower class than of those who were not so degraded in their social position ; for they were so friendless, so unhappy and depressed, that it was the consolations of the gospel alone which could bring them any comfort. How Dr. Buchanan came to undertake the scheme here spoken of is very well told by Mr. Morison, to whose recol- lections of work in connection with the Free Tron Church we have already been greatly indebted. But before giving his account, it may be well to interpose here two things — (1) some reference to a great work of church building which the Disruption necessitated, and to which Mr. Campbell had 302 FREE CHURCH BUILDING ERA. no occasion to refer; and (2) some description of the territory whose amelioration the Tron Free Church felt itself called upon, after a time, to undertake. In 1843, a large proportion of the ministers in the city of Glasgow "came out." Those who held parochial charges were, of course, at once required to find accommodation for them- selves and their congregations elsewhere ; but it was thought extremely hard that the new churches, which had been raised chiefly by the exertions of Mr. Collins and the Evangelicals, should be abandoned by the very persons who had so recently erected them ; and an effort was made by these parties to establish a claim to them in a court of law. The effort failed. Their title in equity was in most quarters recognized ; but, with a blind belief in the certainty of relief from Parlia- ment, they had almost universally bound their churches to the Establislmaent whatever it might happen to be ; and at so late a date as 1849 a decision in the House of Lords was given which compelled ten fresh congregations to leave the sanctuaries in which they had up till that time been worship- ping, and to face all the difficulties of finding other places in which to rest. This circumstance greatly extended the ordinary building era in Glasgow over the time it had occupied else- where, and to it, perhaps, we are to attribute the fact that the work of Church Extension proper did not commence there till almost ten years after the Disruption. In the interval, however, between 1843 and 1853, the framework of the Church was completely restored, — twenty-eight new Free churches having then been built in the city and its neigh- bourhood at a cost of about £107,000, — and now as this busy time was drawing to a close the missionary spirit began to stir, and to seek expansion in the breaking of fresh ground. With regard to the territory in which the Trou Free THE WYNDS. 808 Church commenced operatious, here is what is said about it by Mr. Maccoll : — "The Wyn(Is*lia