bill for the regulation of Indian affairs. The effect of this bill would have been to perpetuate the power of the minister by the immense amount of patronage which it would have placed at his disposal.

The king then entrusted the government to William Pitt, a son of the great Lord Chatham; who, though only twenty-three years of age, had already held an important office. This extraordinary man succeeded (after sustaining many defeats in the House of Commons) in gaining the confidence of the country, and was at the head of affairs, with only one interruption, for the remainder of his life. He introduced an Indian bill of a more moderate character than that of Mr. Fox; by which the interests of that vast empire are entrusted to a board of control in connexion with the directors of the East India Company. His financial measures were highly beneficial to the country, which enjoyed several years of repose.

sary.

In the year 1788 the king was seized with a disorder of mind, which rendered the appointment of a regent necesThis necessity gave rise to much discussion; but to the great joy of the nation his majesty recovered, after having been incapable for some months of attending to public affairs. The king returned public thanks to Almighty God for his restoration to health, at St. Paul's Cathedral, on the 23rd of April, 1789.

In reflecting on the separation of the American colonies from the mother-country, we may observe that, although the means by which their independence was effected are much to be regretted, the result has proved hitherto beneficial to both countries. The commerce of England has been much greater with that country since it became independent, than in its colonial state; and the United States have rapidly increased in prosperity. It may, however, be doubted whether the republican institutions, under which they exist, will eventually perpetuate their greatness as a

nation.

Another observation, also, is necessarily forced upon us in reviewing the separation of England and America. Whatever the result may have been, the occurrence itself was felt at the time to be a disgrace to England, and a dismemberment of her Empire. Now did not England deserve such humiliation as a punishment for neglecting

to make proper spiritual provision for her colonies? In the reign of George II., Archbishop Secker had attempted to prevail on the English Government to permit Bishops to be appointed for America, but without success; and in 1771 a petition from twelve American priests, ordained in England, praying that a Bishop might be sent out to them, was also rejected. It is true that clergymen were to be found scattered over the vast transatlantic continent, but there was no chief pastor, to confirm, to ordain, to have the chief authority, "to be an example of believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Under these disadvantages, therefore, it was not surprising that the Americans, many of whom were descendants of English puritans, forgot their duty to Church and State. Of the Church they had scarce the shadow-and the State denied them any thing more. We have now learned, it is to be hoped, our duty to our colonies somewhat better; but much, very much, still remains to be done.

It is gratifying, however, to find that after the separation between the two countries America renewed her efforts for episcopacy. In 1784, Samuel Seabury, upon whom the University at Oxford had conferred the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity, was sent over to England by the clergy of Connecticut, to be consecrated Bishop. But England was not to have the honour of sending out the first Bishop to America. Difficulties occurred in reference to the oaths required of every one who is raised to the episcopate in England. A long delay seemed probable, and Dr. Seabury was recommended to apply to the Scottish Bishops, who were not confined by similar restrictions. Moore, archbishop of Canterbury, was favourable to such an application, and Dr. Seabury was accordingly consecrated by Kilgour, bishop of Aberdeen, and two other Scottish Bishops, Nov. 14, 1784. Within seven years of this date three more Bishops' were consecrated for America by English Bishops; and from them and Bishop Seabury the present American episcopate is derived.

The assistance thus given by the Scottish Bishops to America was incidentally advantageous to the condi

2 Dr. White and Dr. Provost, in 1787; Dr. Madison, in 1790.

tion of their own suffering communion. The attention of the English Bishops was forcibly directed to it, and various plans began to be agitated for the repeal of the severe laws of 1746 and 1748. The death of Charles Edward, in 1788, removed a great deal of the suspicion under which the episcopal body in Scotland had laboured; and in the same year, in nearly all their chapels, public prayers were offered up for King George III., as the rightful sovereign. (A brother of the young Pretender, Henry3, still survived, but he had received orders in the Church of Rome, and even the most zealous Jacobites felt doubtful of his title to their allegiance.)

At length, in 1792, an Act of Parliament was obtained, which granted complete toleration to the episcopal communion in Scotland. On this, various episcopal congregations, which up to that year had been ministered to by clergymen ordained in England and Ireland, gradually united themselves to their brethren, and, for the most part, acknowledged the authority of the Scottish Bishops. Within the last nineteen years* an Act has been passed, recognizing a closer connexion between those of this communion and the Church of England. By it the Scottish Bishops and their Clergy are permitted to officiate occasionally in churches this side the border. (By the same Act, also, similar permission is accorded to the Bishops and Clergy of the American Church.) Before we quit this interesting subject, we may notice that the Scottish Episcopalians have now for some years possessed a college at Glenalmond, in Perthshire, for the education of the clergy and laity of their body. The old Universities of Scotland are still in the hands of the Presbyterians.

In 1787, three years after Bishop Seabury's consecration and six months after Bishops White and Provost had received the laying on of hands" from English Bishops, the English Church sent out her first Colonial Bishop, Dr. Inglis, to Nova Scotia. Other consecrations gradually followed. Endowments have been provided, partly by the Government, partly by the East India Company, partly by

3 This unfortunate prince died in 1807. The Pope had given him the title of Cardinal of York. His own coins called him Henry IX. In his latter days he was supported by a pension from George III. 4 This is written in 1858.

the funds at the disposal of the Church Societies, and partly by the piety and munificence of individual members of the Church. There are now (1858) thirty-two Bishops in our colonies and foreign dependencies, distributed in the following manner :-Eight in British North America; four in India and Ceylon; one in China; eight in Australia and New Zealand; four in the West Indies; four in Africa; one for Gibraltar and the Mediterranean; one for Mauritius; and one for Borneo 5. The number of clergy in the colonies has vastly increased since the date of the first Bishop's mission, and is constantly increasing. Colleges for the education of candidates have been established in Barbados, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Upper and Lower Canada, Calcutta, Madras, Colombo, Sydney, Tasmania, Adelaide in Southern Australia, New Zealand, and Malta. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts has been indefatigable in its efforts to spread the word of truth, and provide for its permanently taking root in distant regions; and it has been seconded since 1800 by another body called the Church Missionary Society. The year 1848 witnessed a grand experiment in the same holy cause. A college arose on the site of the monastery of St. Augustine at Canterbury, whose express object it is to educate students for the work of the ministry in the colonies and dependencies of the British empire. It owed its origin chiefly to the munificence of a member of the British House of Commons, Mr.A.J.B.Hope, who purchased the ground and the long desecrated buildings, with a view to devoting them to some object in connexion with the Church. We may trust that this noble act will be blessed both in earth and in heaven, and that the example which it affords to English Churchmen will find abundant imitators.

We have lingered upon these grateful topics, and anticipated somewhat the course of our history. It is time to return to the narrative, though the occurrences to which the year 1789 conducts us are such as the Christian annalist would fain, if he might, pass over.

5 There is also a Coadjutor-Bishop in Jamaica, and a Bishop at Jerusalem.

CHAPTER XL.

GEORGE III. 1789-1802.

PERIOD OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

THE Social system in France had long rested on a hollow foundation. The lower classes groaned under a galling yoke; while the luxury of the court, and the exorbitant privileges of a degenerate nobility, afforded too ready a handle to writers who, under the guise of a false philosophy, undermined the very foundations of civil and religious duty. A revolution at length broke forth, in which the most unexampled horrors were perpetrated under the standard of liberty and equality; and the throne and the altar were alike subverted. The innocent king was, brought to the scaffold (1793), and the public exercise of the Christian réligion was for a time forbidden by law.

It has been the general policy of England to abstain from interfering in the civil commotions of other countries; but the fierce and ignorant fanatics who directed the government of France proclaimed to the world their purpose of assisting all parties who in any foreign country would follow their example. As a measure of self-protection, it became necessary to prepare for war with revolutionary France and the danger of the principles adopted by that country was so strongly felt, that Mr. Burke, together with the sounder part of the Whigs, seceded from the party of which Mr. Fox was the leader, and supported the government of Mr. Pitt.

:

The war, which was declared against Great Britain in 1793, was marked by a series of the most brilliant naval victories, which rendered England the mistress of the seas, and went far to counterbalance the disasters that for several years attended the military measures of the minister. An expedition under the Duke of York to Holland (then invaded by the French armies) was an utter failure. In the south of France the city of Toulon had declared for Louis XVII., but no adequate assistance was sent from England; and Lord Hood, the British admiral, who had been received into the city, was forced to abandon it to the revolutionary army. A young officer distinguished himself in this siege,