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If we turn to Catholic Italy, where there is very little manufacturing of any kind, we yet find that the commerce of the country is principally in the hands of foreigners. The merchants of Genoa, Naples, Trieste, &c., are chiefly British, Swiss, or Germans, whose houses again have their own agents in the principal interior cities, so that the trade of the Italian states is in great part transacted by Protestants. We need scarcely add to these statements the fact, which all are acquainted with, that in Ireland the staple manufacture is almost wholly confined to the Protestant province.

"We shall probably be reminded of the former commercial grandeur of Spain and the Italian republics: this was, however, to a great extent, the effect of monopolies, which must, from their nature, be of transient benefit to nations; and, moreover, they flourished prior to the complete triumph of the Reformation, and our object is merely to exhibit a comparison between Protestant and Catholic communities of the same period. Besides, Spain and Italy have left no evidences of the enlightened industry of their people, such as are to be seen, for example, to attest the energy of the Dutch, in the canals and dykes of Holland.

"We have thus briefly glanced at the comparative conditions of the Catholic and Protestant interests in Europe, and disclaiming as we do any theological purpose, we trust we may demand for our argument-what is not often accorded to this invidious topic-the candid attention of our readers. The above facts, then, go far to prove, that, in human affairs at least, the reformed faith conduces more than Catholicism to the prosperity of nations*."

There are some facts on the other side which the author of these remarks has omitted to notice: such as the manufacturing and commercial prosperity of the large towns of Flanders, before the Reformation; and the great embankments of the Po and other rivers in

* England, Ireland, and America. By a Manchester Manufacturer. pp. 14, 15.

Lombardy, and the works at Venice; to say nothing of the mercantile and maritime enterprises of the Venetians, the Genoese, the Spaniards, and the Portuguese, which cannot be considered as exclusively attributable to monopolies. Moreover it is doubtful whether the most active and industrious part of the population in Western Europe did not adopt the reformed faith, because they were also the most enlightened: whether their prosperity and their religious opinions were not joint effects of the same cause. Nevertheless it can scarcely be denied that the general view taken in the above passage justifies the opinion that the reformed is more favourable than the unreformed faith to the causes of secular prosperity, viz., energy, industry, independence of mind, and the desire and aptitude for self-government.

It is on these grounds, and because existing rights ought not to be disturbed without a strong and manifest reason for the change, that we would abstain from abrogating the present Protestant church establishment in Ireland. But while we gave the preference to the Protestant clergy on the ground of actual possession, we would at the same time provide that the establishment should be reduced to a scale commensurate with the wants of the Protestant population. So long as the penal laws were in force, and government held that every Irishman either was or ought to be a Protestant, it was quite consistent to maintain a Protestant establishment which should be sufficient for the wants of the entire population; but now that this principle is abandoned, and it is admitted that an Irishman may legally be a Roman Catholic, there can be no excuse for not reducing the state provision for the Protestants to

a level with their actual, not their possible numbers. The best mode of bringing about this result seems to be that all the annual proceeds of church property in Ireland, whether tithes, ministers' money, or bishops' lands, should be drawn into a common fund, and that the management of the property and the collection of its annual proceeds should be transferred to lay persons, appointed either by dioceses or some other more convenient division, and subject to the general superintendence of the ecclesiastical commissioners. The most desirable course would be, if Protestants of all denominations, who accept the doctrine of the Trinity, were, as in Prussia, united in one communion, and placed under one system of church government. But as this would probably be impracticable (at least for the present) in Ireland, it becomes necessary to find some means of providing for the worship of the Protestants of the Thirty-nine Articles apart from other Trinitarian Protestants. The difficulty of making such a provision on an economical footing is much enhanced by the fact already noticed, that the Protestants of the Established Church are thinly scattered over nearly the entire surface of Ireland. Under these circumstances it is impossible that one minister should be able to provide for the spiritual wants of as many persons as if they were collected within a small area; but the number of clergymen required for the 852,000 Episcopalian Protestants might be considerably reduced if a congregational instead of a territorial system was adopted, and if as many persons were assigned to each minister as could conveniently attend the church or churches at which he would officiate *. In this manner we should

* A change similar to that recommended in the text has been brought

get rid of the absurdity of benefices without Protestants and churches; and the cure of souls would no longer be independent of the number of souls to be cured. Under such a system as this, when the present paro-› chial divisions were got rid of, and the tithes were paid into a common fund, there would be no difficulty in assigning a stipend to each minister according to the number of his congregation and the extent of his district, and by these means apportioning pay to duty. When the number of clergymen had been thus reduced, there would be no necessity for keeping up the Episcopal establishment contemplated by the Church Temporalities Act, viz., two archbishops and ten bishops. Probably four bishops, one for each province, would be an ample provision for the government of such a church. As the Presbyterian clergy in Ireland are maintained on the congregational system at an expense of 25,000l.

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about by the force of circumstances in the ecclesiastical system of the United States. The choice of the pastor (says Mr. Reed) is frequently spoken of as resting with the parish. The term parish, however, does not now describe, as with us, geographical limits; it denotes those persons who compose the congregation, and subscribe to the support of its institutions. In some cases the parish or congregation is allowed a confirmatory voice on the election of the church; this is not deemed desirable, but it is not found to produce any serious evil. . . I am now to refer you to the tenure of ecclesiastical property. You are to understand that there are two bodies that are recognized by the law as holding, and claiming to hold, such property. They are the church and the parish, and they are both corporate bodies. The church is precisely what it is with us. The parish denoted place as well as persons; it now, by the legal changes which have been effected, denotes persons rather than place. The persons in this relation, who are deemed the parish, are the subscribers; and the term, therefore, is nearly synonymous with our term congregation, as distinguished from church. The church has the right to choose the minister; but the parish have a vote on the choice.”— Reed and Matheson's Visit to the American Churches, vol. ii., pp. 122, 129. In this phraseology, church is a select body within the congregation or parish a managing committee of the entire congregation.

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a year, (the amount of the Regium Donum,) and as the Presbyterians are only about 200,000 fewer than the Episcopalian Protestants, it may be reasonably expected that between tithes and bishops' lands the surplus, after the lives of the present sinecure or nearly sinecure incumbents, would not be inconsiderable. This surplus we should propose first to devote to the endowment of the Presbyterian Church: whatever remained might, according to the ministerial project, be employed for purposes of education. The best

course, indeed, would be, if as in Prussia (where education is not considered a secular purpose) the provision for religious teachers, places of worship, and schools, was made from the same fund.

Having thus briefly explained the principle of reform which ought in our opinion to be followed with respect to the Established Church of Ireland and its endowment, we proceed to trace the evils which flow from the maintenance of the Roman Catholic Church of that country by means of the voluntary system.

Preferring, as we do in general, the principle of endowment to the voluntary system, for the maintenance of religious as well as other teachers, we must begin by admitting that some objections have been strongly urged against the latter method, to which we do not consider it as justly liable. The principal of these is, the argument so much pressed by Dr. Chalmers in his work on Endowments, that society, if left to itself, will never provide sufficient means for religious worship, especially in those places where there is the greatest need of it*. He particularly instances the case of the United States; and after speaking of the desertion of

* See also Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, book vi., ch. 10.