The question with which this extract closes seems to be fully answered by the testimony of history and experience. Individual clergymen may here and there be on the best of terms with their Dissenting brethren, and view their success in the Redeemer's cause as so much gain to their own. But even their intercourse must be restricted, and their Christian liberty and liberality must be restrained by the laws of canonical obedience, and by sectarian notions of consistency and order. No complete and thoroughly fraternal co-operation can take place. The orders of the Establishment forbid the admission, even to occasional services, of ministers, however excellent and devoted, not of its own church. So that the best disposed to the cause of unity are inhibited to encourage or welcome publicly as ministers of Christ, those whom in their hearts they love and revere. But the vast majority of the clergy have no wish for the practical exhibition of any such fraternity. They look with jealousy and scorn upon all who follow not with them. They assert that the laws of the land have given them a monopoly of the religious interests of the population-they feel strong in the arm of flesh with which the Establishment surrounds them, and they look upon all other teachers of the people as so many poachers upon their manors, to whom they not only will not say, 'God speed,' but whom they denounce as enemies to Christ and his church. This is the inevitable result of exclusive state patronage. The spirit that it promotes is anti-christian, sectarian, and uncatholic in the highest degree. There is no remedy for the evil as long as the Church is allied to the state. Christianity in these trammels is shorn of its strength and despoiled of its beauty. The spiritual body of Christ cannot be one while so large a portion of its members are forbidden to show their charity or use their liberty towards those whom they feel to be their brethren in Christ. Whether it is possible for the Established Church to be made truly catholic and apostolic we leave our readers to judge. At present it is the most sectarian and illiberal in its practice of all the Protestant churches. Its spirit is the most schismatical of any, though it stands foremost to impeach all others of the very sin by which it is preeminently disgraced: witness the foregoing extracts from Mr. Palmer's work on the Church, and Mr. Gladstone's, recently reviewed by us.

In drawing our remarks on the present work to a close, we need say little concerning its general excellence. The preference which has been given to it by the eminent individuals who were chosen as adjudicators, is a sufficient guarantee of its merits. It is throughout executed with admirable learning and ability. The style is plain and clear. The spirit generous and catholic. The author has availed himself of the sentiments and reasonings of most of the writers, ancient and

modern, upon the same subject. Those of his readers who are acquainted with the writings of an eminent living minister upon Union' and Schism' will observe a pleasing and striking accordance with the admirable sentiments of that maligned and misrepresented individual. If we may be allowed to express a general opinion upon the whole essay, we should say it is rather too long for its object, and much too learned for general readers. It embraces nearly the whole subject of the visible church, and most of the controversies relating to its constitution and administration. We heartily wish it may be read by all denominations. It will undoubtedly add to the knowledge of many, and, we should fain hope, improve and enlarge the charity of more.

Art. IV. A Diary in America, with Remarks on its Institutions. By CAPTAIN MARRYAT, C.B. In three volumes. London: Longman and Co.

WE have some difficulty in keeping pace with the works which

have recently appeared on America, nor are we disposed to grumble at the fact. It is well that the English people should be familiarized with the aspect under which their character appears, as modified by the influences of the New World; and we therefore welcome the contributions made by our countrymen on their return from a trans-atlantic tour, however diversified may be their reports on some points of main interest. We can readily allow for the political toryism, whiggery, or radicalism of the reporter, can bear in mind his churchmanship or dissenterism— his love of antiquated forms and artificial combinations, or his attachment to a simple, unfettered, and masculine form of Christianity. We want to collect facts, and these may be gathered from the pages of almost every author, to whatever class, in politics or religion, he may belong. It would be difficult to select any one, whose production is valueless in this respect. There may be much prejudice, many errors, some wilful misstatements; there may be the effusions of national or of party spleen, the disappointment of ungratified vanity, or the embittered hatred of an irreligious mind to the new, bold, and energetic form of Christian truth with which it has been brought into contact. But notwithstanding all this-and in some cases as the very result of itthere may yet be gathered important information illustrative of the character, institutions, and social and religious state of the American people. It may be somewhat difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, and temporary errors of serious magnitude may occasionally be committed in the attempt to do so; but still

it will be found, on a comparison of the present with the past,of the information now possessed with that which we had some twenty or even ten years since, that steady progress has been made towards a clear, impartial, and comprehensive knowledge of the case. This is matter for gratulation, and cannot fail of important and beneficial results. The experiments now making on the soil of America will aid the intellect of Europe, and of Britain in particular, to solve many problems in the science of religion and politics. The rigidity of our habits, as well as the immense force which vested interests have with us, prevent our testing, by actual trial, the soundness of doctrines long current among our sagest philosophers. Not so, however, in America. A vast and unoccupied field is there open, and the genius of the people is essentially active. Importing the literature and philosophy of Europe, they are free to engraft upon their young and vigorous institutions whatever commends itself to the judgment and heart of the nation. No class is sufficiently powerful to hold any other in vassalage, while the interests of all conspire to give rapid circulation to whatever is suited to develop the resources, or to perfect the administrative functions of the republic. Such being the position of America, it is of the last importance to the people of this country, to be well informed as to the working of its political machinery and the general tendency of its affairs. Under this impression we took up the volumes now before us, and though discouraged by the tone of the author's Introduction, we have yet found something to instruct and more to amuse us in its perusal. Captain Marryat's previous reputation as a novelist prepared us to expect more of humour than of sage philosophy,'-the broad limning of the caricaturist rather than the nice and delicate perception of character which distinguishes a high order of intellect. In this we have not been disappointed, as some of the extracts we shall presently give will

show.

In the Introduction to his work, extending through thirty-four pages, the author freely indulges in remarks depreciatory of his predecessors, and puts forth pretensions which are hardly justified by the worth of his own communications.

'It is not,' he remarks, my intention to follow the individualising plans of the majority of those who have preceded me in this country. I did not sail across the Atlantic to ascertain whether the Americans eat their dinners with two-prong iron, or three-prong silver forks, with chopstics, or their fingers; it is quite sufficient for me to know that they do eat and drink; if they did not, it would be a curious anomaly which I should not pass over. My object was, to examine and ascertain what were the effects of a democratic form of government and climate upon a people which, with all its foreign admixture, may still be considered as English.'-Int. pp. 25, 26.

This is sufficiently contemptuous and self-complacent, and makes one smile when re-read after the whole work has been gone through. But it is greatly exceeded in point of bad taste and bad gentility, by the eagerness with which every occasion is seized to damage the reputation of Miss Martineau, and to bring her statements into doubt. The manner in which this is done is very foreign from our taste, much as we differ from many of the opinions, and fallacious as we deem much of the reasoning of that lady, between whom and our author-so far at least as their works on America are concerned-it would be an insult to the former to institute a comparison, in point of talent. In our notice of Miss Martineau's productions we did not hesitate to express our thorough dissent from many of her views, and we may therefore make this passing reference without being suspected of ranking among her warm admirers. There is another feature of Captain Marryat's Introduction, which it is necessary to note in order that the animus of his statements should be duly appreciated. Having adverted to what he deems the abuse of American hospitality on the part of previous visitors from England, and to the reserve engendered in consequence, he gives utterance to his feelings in language, under the affected indifference of which, mortified vanity and the spleen consequent thereon, are but too apparent.

The man who was pleased with the neglect' which he experienced; who voluntarily decided when he had not been three weeks in the country, upon accepting no more invitations, even 'charily as they were made,' was not likely to have employed such language as the following, which we transcribe in fairness to the Americans, that our readers may be able to judge of the reliance to be placed on the cool and dispassionate judgment of the

author.

But if I admit, that after the usage which they had received, the Americans are justified in not again tendering their hospitality to the English, I cannot, at the same time, but express my opinion as to their conduct towards me personally. They had no right to insult and annoy me in the manner they did, from nearly one end of the Union to the other, either because my predecessors had expressed an unfavourable opinion of them before my arrival, or because they expected that I would do the same upon my return to my own country. I remark upon this conduct, not from any feeling of ill-will or desire of retaliation, but to compel the Americans to admit that I am under no obligations to them; that I received from them much more of insult and outrage than of kindness; and, consequently, that the charge of ingratitude cannot be laid to my door, however offensive to them some of the remarks in this work may happen to be'-Ib. pp. 13, 14.

Passing from the Introduction, we proceed to the body of the

work, the first chapter of which we shall no otherwise notice than to remark that, it is got up after the most approved fashion of modern book-making, and may be omitted altogether without loss on the part of the reader. It occupies just eleven pages, and this is the only purpose it answers.

Our author arrived at New York during the commercial crisis of 1837, when the banks had stopped payment in specie, and all the public works of the day were suspended. Some humorous anecdotes, evidently gleaned from the newspapers, and to be believed or not as the reader pleases, are given in illustration of the anxiety which prevailed so widely. The following may amuse, and is somewhat characteristic.

The Americans delight in the hyperbole; in fact they hardly have a metaphor without it. During this crash, when every day between fifteen and twenty merchants' names appeared in the newspapers as bankrupts, one party, not in a very good humour, was hastening down Broadway, when he was run against by another whose temper was equally unamiable. This collision roused the choler of both.

What do you mean, sir?' cried one; 'I've a great mind to knock you into the middle of next week.'

This occurring on a Saturday, the wrath of the other was checked by the recollection of how very favourable such a blow would be to his present circumstances.

Will you! by heavens, then pray do; it's just the thing I want, for how else I am to get over next Monday and the acceptances I must take up, is more than I can tell.''—Vol. i. pp. 47, 48.

The following is, we suspect, after the same fashion, and will serve, while it excites a smile, to acquaint his readers with the political creed of their author.

The radicals here, for there are radicals, it appears, in a democracy

In the lowest depth, a lower deep'

are very loud in their complaints. I was watching the swarming multitude in Wall Street this morning, when one of these fellows was declaiming against the banks for stopping specie payments, and robbing a poor man in such a willanous manner,' when one of the merchants, who appeared to know his customer, said to him-Well, as you say, it is hard for a poor fellow like you not to be able to get dollars for his notes; hand them out, and I'll give you specie for them myself!' The blackguard had not a cent in his pocket, and walked away looking very foolish. He reminded me of a little chimneysweeper at the Tower Hamlets election, asking- Vot vos my hopinions about primaginitur ?'-a very important point to him certainly, he having no parents, and having been brought up by the parish.

I was in a store when a thorough-bred democrat walked in: he talked loud, and voluntarily gave it as his opinion that all this distress