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them to say on which side the sense predominated.

Thomas.-What are these Chartists? I remember hearing a great deal about them when I was at school. I have heard much said against them; but I don't understand the thing.

Andrew.-Thomas, you should do as I did. I went and bought the Charter, which I found to be a very harmless document, "prepared by a Committee of twelve persons-six Members of Parliament, and six members of the 'London Working Men's Association,"" embracing six principles: 1, Universal Suffrage; 2, No Property Qualification; 3, Annual Parliaments; 4, Equal Representation; 5, Payment of Members; and, 6, Vote by Ballot. Now in all this I see nothing either criminal or absurd, nothing incompatible with eminence in sense and learning, patriotism and piety.

Thomas.-The chief offence, perhaps, lies in its novelty.

The

Peter.—It can hardly be viewed as a novelty. In former times parliaments were annual, and members were actually paid for their attendance; and why not now? Banks, insurance offices, railway companies, and all public bodies, pay their directors, and why should not nations? In a number of countries members are actually paid. Gratuitous service of all sorts is generally the dearest. In this case the representation of a county becomes a question not of wisdom and worth, but of wealth and leisure. A portion of the best men of the nation are necessarily excluded from the senate. Nor are the points at all new. name only is a novelty. Not to mention the celebrated Bill of the Duke of Richmond, and his letter to Colonel Sharman, in 1780, at the same time the electors of Westminster, then considered the first constituency in England, appointed committees to consider the whole subject and report to the electoral body. Of these committees no less men than Charles Fox and Brand Hollis were chairmen. And what was the report made on this great occasion? Annual parliaments; universal suffrage; equal voting districts; no property qualification; voting by ballot; and payment of members!

Andrew. Such is undoubtedly the fact; but this is not all. The "Society of Friends of the People," established twelve years after, that is, in 1792, by noblemen and gentlemen, members of the House of Commons, including Charles, afterwards Earl Grey, Thomas, afterwards Lord Erskine, and Mr., afterwards

Sir James Mackintosh, this Society substantially embraced the same views.

Thomas.-What then is the cause of the odium which attaches to Chartism? Is it not unmerited?

Andrew. It arises from the criminal and infatuated conduct of large bodies of men who professed to embrace the Charter, and who, to establish it, forsooth, resorted to violence, thereby not only disturbing the public peace, but fearfully endangering property and life. Courses so disloyal, so fraught with danger to the highest interests of the nation, naturally, if not justly, brought odium and detestation upon principles some of which have much to recommend them, and all of which admit of not a little reasonable advocacy.

Pastor. Quite right; quite right; it is hardly possible sufficiently to reprehend the folly and wickedness of those men who resorted to physical force, or of those who even menaced the country with it. All such things are invariably hurtful to the object they are brought forward to promote. Organization, clamour, and outbreaks subversive of law and order, will never carry out such measures. The history of the last dozen years should teach the millions wisdom. If I could reach the ears of the working classes, I would kindly but earnestly say, "For the present, laying aside everything else, betake yourselves as one man to the work of advancing your own intellectual and moral elevation. I entirely concur in the views of Mr. Miller. God's gospel, and that gospel only, can establish the 'People's Charter;' that is, can work out the happiness of nations, the professed object of the People's Charter.' Let the fear of God and the love of Christ fill the land, and all disorders, both political and social, will soon be rectified. The possession of rights never lingers long behind the capacity for their proper enjoyment; but where the former precedes the latter, the result is less frequently a blessing than a curse, and the penalty of the abuse is generally forfeiture with loss. If you are wise, then, your motto will henceforth be, The Holy Bible! The Christian School! The House of Prayer! These, and these alone, are the instruments by which to effect just legislation and social happiness."

Thomas.—I am really much gratified by this discussion; I think Mr. Miller deserves well for the statements he has elicited.

Pastor.-Robert, did you notice the closing passage of the volume?

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"We pursue our history no farther. Its after course is comparatively well known. The huge sauroid fish was succeeded by the equally huge reptile; the reptile by the bird; the bird by the marsupial quadruped. At length, after races higher in the scale of instinct had taken precedence in succession, the one of the other, the sagacious elephant appeared, as the lord of that latest creation which immediately preceded our own. How natural does the thought seem which suggested itself to the profound mind of Cuvier, when indulging itself in a similar review! Has the last scene in the series arisen and reached the ultimate stage of progression at which perfection can arrive? The philosopher hesitated, and then decided in the negative; for he was too intimately acquainted with the works of the omnipotent Creator to think of limiting his power, and he could therefore anticipate a coming period in which man would have to resign his post of honour to some nobler and wiser creature, the monarch of a better and happier world. How well it is to be permitted

to indulge in the expansion of Cuvier's thought, without sharing in the melancholy of Cuvier's feeling; to be enabled to look forward to the coming of a new heaven and a new earth, not in terror, but in hope; to be encouraged to believe in the system of unending progression, but to entertain no fear of the degradation or deposition of man! The adorable Monarch of the future, with all its unsummed perfection, has already passed into the heavens, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone; and Enoch and Elias are there with him, fit representatives of that dominant race which no other race shall ever supplant or succeed, and to whose onward and upward march the deep echoes of eternity shall never cease to respond."

Pastor. What say you, Robert, to the spirit of that passage?

Robert. Why, Sir, I think it strikingly exemplifies the infinite superiority of the truly Christian to the merely infidel philosopher.

Pastor. It does; and it will be à happy day which shall behold the entire cyclopædia of science thoroughly baptized into the spirit of true and enlightened Christianity.

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This will strongly confirm Mr. Wells's statement that we are not "holding" our proper position in the towns; for,

1. London contains one-eighth of the people, and builds one-tenth of the chapels.

2. The great towns contain one-fifth of the people, and build barely one-tenth of the chapels. 3. London and the great towns together contain one-third of the people, and build only one. fifth of the chapels.

4. But to enter fully into this document we must remark that London and the great towns increase in a ratio just double that of the rest of England. As then London and the great towns have just half the amount of population that is included in these districts, the absolute increase

is the same in each case. Each of these portions increases at the ratio of 100,000 souls annually. For this equal rate of increase the country districts provide four times as many chapels as London and the greater towns. During the last seven years these districts have provided for their respective increments-London and the towns, for its 700,000 people, 68 chapels; the country, for its 700,000, 276 chapels. These are points deserving study. STATISTICUS.

TABLES ILLUSTRATING THE PROPORTION OF CONGREGATIONAL CHAPELS TO THE POPULATION IN SIXTY OF THE LARGE TOWNS OF ENGLAND.

To the Editor of the Christian Witness." SIR, I have been exceedingly gratified by reading your remarks on the want of statistical information as to the state of our body. It is not merely that we do not form statistical tables, but that when we can obtain them we do not use them. Hence, we are obliged to speak hypothetically where we might speak positively. I forward you a statement of the population in sixty of our largest towns in 1841, with the rate of increase of those towns between 1831 and 1841, and a list of the Congregational chapels in those towns, in the years 1829 and 1845; at the end of this paper I have mentioned the authorities from whence I have compiled it.

Before we can fairly compare, we must calculate the state of the populations in these towns for the years 1829 and 1845.

To get at the population of 1829, we must first make a deduction of one-fifth, or 555,674 from the population of 1841. This will give us 2,222,698 as the population of 1831. Supposing the ratio of increase between 1821 and 1831 to be the same, we must make a further deduction of one twenty-fifth for the two years between 1829 and 1831. This will be 88,907, and will give us as the population of 1829, the sum 2,133,971.

The four years between 1841 and 1845 will require an addition of one-tenth: nearly, considering indeed, that these have been years of great commercial activity, we may assume the increase at fully one-tenth, or 277,837. This will give us 3,056,209 as the population of these sixty towns at the summer of last year, 1845; up to which time, the list of chapels in the last Congregational Calendar may be presumed to be

correct.

I have only to remark that, owing to commercial distress, the increase of the towns between 1831 and 1841 was inuch below the usual average, (the increase between 1821 and 1831 was 32 per cent.) so that in all probability the population in 1829 was less, and that in 1845 is more than we have stated.

The average population of these towns in 1829 was 35,563; in 1845, it was 50,936. I regret that I have not been able to extend this table to the Metropolis, but the list of chapels ia the Congregational Calendar is so loosely drawn up, that I have not been able to make any fair comparison. So much for the table itself: now for the use of the table.

Mr. Wells, in the admirable paper printed in your April Number, tells us that "throughout all England there would seem to be one Congregational church to every nine thousand

.

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From this table he might have shown that the proportion of chapels to the people in 1829 was only half as great in these sixty towns as in the country at large, but that since that time the disproportion has been getting greater-1 to 18,000 in 1829-1 to 21,000 in 1845!!

But he might have shown many other startling facts besides this; he might have shown that,

1. In three of these towns with populations of 17,000, 24,000, and 46,000, our body is not represented at all.

2. That in twenty-four of these towns (of which the population in the smallest exceeds 14,000,) we have but one chapel, and that only three of these have been established since 1829. 3. That in five of these towns, in this period of sixteen years, we have suffered loss; in thirty-seven we have been stationary; and in only eighteen have we made progress, or at least such progress as has required the opening of new places.

4. He might have shown that in these towns, during the sixteen years, the population has increased nearly 40 per cent., or two fifths-the chapels only 20 per cent. or one-fifth (116 to 145.) 5. He might have shown that the gross increase of the population in these towns during the sixteen years has been 922,418-the increase of chapels twenty-nine, or one to 31,806 individuals.

6. No one surely would have deemed him too personal if he had illustrated his paper by the cases of the two towns first on the list. Manchester, which had increased during the sixteen years 46 per cent, or nearly 150,000, and had also increased from ten chapels to eighteen ; Liverpool, which during the same time had increased 60 per cent., or about 180,000, and which had made no increase in the number of its chapels!

I hope, sir, I have illustrated what I meant when I said that we did not make full use of such statistical documents as we have. From the absence of such statistical information papers on our denominational condition fall flat; even the word "certainty," compared with documents like these is tame and doubtful.

I have written these remarks currente calamo, hoping they may reach you in time for the documents accompanying them to be inserted in your next. I think you will agree with me as to their importance in the discussions at our annual meeting. I wish you to consider this rather as a letter to yourself as a basis for any remarks which you may be inclined to make, than as intended for publication, and remain, STATISTICUS.

*The following table is compiled from the Population Returns, Supplement to the Congregational Magazine" for 18:9, and the "Congregational Calendar" for 1842 and 1846.

N.B. This list is impe fect, as the Calendar of this year contains only those chapels which were in connection with the Congregational Union. It canno therefore, be used for purposes of general comparis.

224

Table showing the population and increase of population in sixty principal towns in Englandwith the numbers of Congregational Chapels in 1829 and 1845.

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a Given as seven in Calendar, 1846, but acknowledged only four by Mr. James. See Patriot controversy. b Mr. Sortain's chapel included 1945, not previously.

cc Increase of one in each case, by removal of Academies from Exeter and Idle,

THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS.

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LONDON, MAY 1, 1846.

THE CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE. FOR the encouragement of our devoted friends to further efforts, we here present them with a few facts. While their zeal has created the CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE, their indomitable energy has already converted it into an instrument of stupendous moral power. Power, like money and other things, has its measures. The power of a soil is the amount of its produce. The power of a stationary steam-engine is the quantity of machinery it can put and keep in motion; the power of a locomotive is the speed with which it traverses space. The power of a senator is just the number of members he can influence in the House; or, in other words, the number of men he can influence in the empire. The power of a periodical is the extent to which it multiplies facts, doctrines, principles, and motives, and presents them to the human mind. Power is not a question of price or form. Truth loses none of its value by being cheapened; nor is its force at all impaired by the texture of its typical costume, by minion type, the type which echoes the eloquence and records the proceedings of the British Parliament. Thus tested, the institution of the CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE is an era in Nonconformist history. To the Dissenting body it is a new instrument of moral power, and ought to be considered as a special boon from the Head of the church. The extent of this boon may best be understood by comparison with the Metropolitan Press. A statement of the matter, as furnished by the Stamp Office, printed by order of the House of Commons, and published by the "Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge," is as follows:

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