5 JUNE 1841, Page 7

SCOTLAND.

The case of the seven ministers of the Presbytery of Strathbogie, who were suspended by the General Assembly for the preference which they gave to the jurisdiction of the Civil Courts in supporting the pre- sentation of Mr. Edwards to the living of Marnoch, came before the Assembly on Thursday ; the suspended ministers appearing at the bar. They were defended by Mr. Robertson, as advocate ; who spoke for upwards of two hours. They were then removed from the bar, and the Assembly went to prayers ; after which Dr. Chalmers, in a long speech, moved that the relevancy of the libel be sustained ; or, in other words, that the seven ministers be found guilty of acting in contravention of the authority of the General Assembly. Dr. Chalmers began by insisting that it was necessary to come to a right understand- ing of the real question ; which must be considered entirely on its ecclesiastical merits, without reference to the question between the -Church and the Civil Courts. Into that question, however, he did enter, arguing for the separate independence of each jurisdiction. The elo- quent Doctor conducted his argument in this fashion- " If the Government of this country were to pass a law which the Govern- ment of France disliked, and if the Government of France should instigate a number of the subjects of the Government of this country to rebellion, there would be nothing in the character of the law which could alter or affect their character as rebels: he law might have been good or bad; it might have been repealed tomorrow, or left on the statute-book; but the essential delin- quency of the men would have remained unaltered. They had been tampered With by foreign influence ; and by every maxim of jurisprudence, they would have been found guilty, and dealt with accordingly. And so it was in the pre- sent case : the Veto law might be a good or a bad law ; it was the law of the Church, and these Strathbogie clergymen were bound to obey it. They had no doubt been tampered with by foreign influence, but that was no excuse for their conduct in rebelling against that law. The essential delinquency of the -rebellion remained the same whether the Veto Act were to be repealed or not."

He maintained that it would be possible to define the boundaries of the two jurisdictions-

" There is no power in the empire that can force a Bishop to admit s man into holy orders ; and we, the Church of Scotland, will submit to no edict or usurpation of power to that effect, that the ecclesiastical authority in England would spurn away, and hold as a degradation to the Church, or as a gross out- rage on that sacred prerogative which they have received from the Lord, their supreme lawgiver in all things visible or invisible, and the head and fountain of all authority. Let it not be supposed that this sacred prerogative rests on the line of demarcation between the two authorities spiritual and civil, or on such an ambiguity as can only be solved by one of the two coordinate jurisdictions being empowered to decide on the limits of the authority of the other. The issue rests on no such impracticable obscurity. The limit can be settled in various ways, so as not to leave one inch of land whereon men could take their stand to raise a doubt on the subject. It could be done by an enumeration of the subjects which it is competent for the Ecclesiastical and Civil Courts respectively to take up : it might even be done within the compass of a single definition, as was done last year from the Conservative hustings in Perthshire, when it was given forth by Mr. Home Drummond, that the power of the patron and Civil Court should cease the moment the presentee was handed over to the Church Courts."

He admitted that there must be an independent appellate jurisdiction somewhere, and stated where he supposed it to reside-

" I say that this power of regulation does not only not lie with the Court of Session singly, but I will say that it does not even lie with the House of Lords when sitting in their judicial and not in their legislative capacity ; and I will admit that it certainly does not lie with the General Assembly when sitting in the capacity of a body administering the supreme judicial ecclesias- tical power. But that power rests with the Legislature of the empire, to whom all along we have been addressing ourselves since the beginning of the present question. We are not willing to be overborne in our principles and extinguished in our establishment by the Court of Session ; we have gone more constitutionally to work ; we have knocked at the door of Parliament, and sought a settlement there: we sought Parliament to say on what terms we were to continue our connexion with the State ; we sought them to say whether they were to take us out of our troubles by a legitimate and consti- tutional exercise of their power, or if they were to leave us exposed to the war with the Civil Courts, and to be mercilessly assailed by decrees, interdicts, and law-processes."

Dr. Chalmers wanted to include in the proposed finding the punish- ment that should follow ; but upon its being suggested that the question of guilt should be decided first, the motion was confined to that.

Dr. Cook led the opposition to Dr. Chalmers. He placed the offence of which the seven ministers were accused upon its real footing—their obedience to the law of the land ; and then went into historical argu- ments to show that patronage was a part of the constitution of the -Church ; that the Veto Act, which went to nullify the rights of patron- -age, was itself ab origins null and void ; and that the seven ministers could not therefore be punished for disobeying it. He quoted Dr. Chalmers himself to show that the Veto Act was felt to be a nullity- - " He told us here, that when his attention was first directed to the Veto law, he warned those who proposed it that it could not be carried into effect without an act of Parliament, it being beyond the powers of the Church: be afterwards admitted that the passing of it by the Church was a blunder. About two years ago, it was understood that, at least previously to the meeting of the Assembly in 1839, be was of opinion that the preliminary step to composing our unhappy differences, and leading to some arrangement in which we might all acquiesce, was to rescind this law when it legislated. And in a pamphlet which be recently published, entitled, What Ought the Church to Do? he pressed this anew upon the public, and on the ground upon which he had for- merly rested it. And why was all this ? Manifestly because the Church, in legislating in the manner which he condemned, was -encroaching on the pro- vince of the Legislature. If so, does it not follow that punishment for not being accessory to this is monstrous injustice ?—is, in fact, instead of enforcing duty as a church ought to do, teaching that duty ought to be transgressed: and how any person holding the premises to which I have alluded can consistently resist this practical conclusion from them, 1 acknowledge that I cannot con- ceive."

Dr. Cook proposed an amendment, declaring the Assembly incom- petent to censure proceedings in obedience to the Civil Courts, and dismissing the libel. The original motion was carried, at about two o'clock on Friday morning, by a majority of 222 to 125. Dr. Chalmers then made a motion that the ministers should be deposed from the office of the holy ministry. A long statement of the case was read at the bar by one of the accused, Mr. Allardyce, of Rhynie ; after which, Dr. Chalmers's motion was agreed to. The sentence of deposition having been carried, Dr. Cook read reasons of protest against it ; in which it was stated, that he and those who signed the protest along with him would continue to regard the deposed as ministers of the Church of Scotland, and still stand by that Church as supported by the con- stitutional authorities of the land. The protest was very numerously signed. The Assembly having ag::in engaged in prayer, the Moderator pronounced the sentence of deposition, declared the seven churches of the deposed vacant, and ordered the sentence to be published from all the pulpits of the Presbytery of Strathbogie. He was afterwards in- structed to acquaint the patrons of the seven churches with the pro- ceedings, that they might make new presentations. On Saturday evening, an interdict of the Court of Session was served on the Moderator of the Assembly, prohibiting the execution of the sentence of suspension.

On Saturday, the Assembly sentenced Mr. Edwards to be deprived of his licence as a minister of the Church ; and instructed the Pres- bytery of Strathbogie to proceed with'the presentation of Mr. Henry. Ou Monday, on the motion of Mr. Candlish, the Assembly passed a string of voluminous resolations, describing how the officers of the Court of Session had intruded into the House ; how the intrusion did occasion very considerable embarrassment and confusion, and did most seriously interrupt and impede the momentous business which the As- sembly had on hand ; from which; interruption the Assembly sustained very great inconvenience and injury ; and closing thus- " That in circumstances so peculiar and so critical, this Assembly is solemnly called to protest against this violent intrusion of the secular arm into the eccle- siastical province, and to represent this most alarming state of matters to the

rulers and legislators of this great nation, on whom must rest the responsibility of upholding the Established Church in the full possession of all her Scriptural

and constitutional privileges; to make her Majesty aware of this act, so dero- gatory to her royal prerogative, and disrespectful to her royal dignity ; that with this view, these resolutions ought to hs transmitted to her Majesty the Queen in Council, and that the General Assembly resolve accordingly." At the same meeting, however, the civil officers again intruded, and served an interdict upon the Moderator, the Procurator, and Agent of the Church, prohibiting their carrying into effect the sentence of depo- sition on Mr. Edwards. Mr. Dunlop remarked, that he did not know how the messenger obtained access to the house ; but as it was so, that interdict had better follow the other, and be laid before the Queen. The Commissioner was requested to do so. The Assembly was dissolved shortly after ; but the Commission of Assembly met next day in St. Andrew's Church. In addition to this its great work, the General Assembly at its late session, deposed a minister of admitted piety, Mr. Wright, of Borthwick, for a technical heresy, in a theological work which he published many years ago.

A public meeting was held on Monday, in the Edinburgh Assembly- rooms, to express sympathy with the seven deposed ministers. It was- called by advertisement ; and the advertisement was signed by a great number of the most influential and respectable inhabitants of the city, of all parties. The list of signatures, which opens with " Abercromby," occupies several columns of the Edinburgh newspapers. The large room was densely crowded, and many were unable to obtain admis- sion. Lord Dunfermline was called to the chair. On taking it, he reviewed the history of the Veto Act ; remarking that the recent con- duct of the majority in the General Assembly had shown what a dan- gerous concession of power it would have been had the provisions of that act been legalized. He showed that what was now the position of the seven ministers might be that of any Presbytery, threatened by the Church unless it defied the law of the State ; and asked how men could be expected to perform their duties, when their courage and virtue were submitted to so cruel a test? The inevitable tendency of such a state of things would be to degrade ministers to a shuffling evasion of duties rendered doubly dangerous- " In such a state of things, we may feel great compassion even for those who have fallen or failed in the performance of their duties : but if that be the case in regard to those who have thus fallen or failed, what must be the condition and strength of the feelings with which we must regard the conduct of those who, under such painful circumstances, might have flinched or failed in the performance of their duty—(Great cheering.)—but with cordial feelings of thankfulness and approbation, we must look to the conduct of those men who, amidst trials and persecutions, surrounded by difficulties and perils, have had the courage to perform their duty faithfully and boldly, in such a manner as becomes dutiful and loyal subjects to the law of the land and to the church of which they are members, and of which I think they are ornaments." this state of things may be, that there may arise from it some interruption to the public peace and tranquillity. I do not at present expect that ; but I en- tertain another feeling in the strongest manner, that if this state of things is permitted to continue, it will become the prelude to a struggle which will con- vulse Scotland, and which, if convulsed by such a struggle, will not be confined to one side of the Tweed."

Mr. Adam Anderson proposed the following resolution-

" That this meeting express their sympathy with the seven ministers of Strathbogie in their present painful position, and their strong disapprobation of the conduct of the majority of the General Assembly, in attempting to depose them from their offices of parochial ministers of the Established Church because of their having yielded obedience to the law of the land."

It was seconded by Sir James Gibson Craig; who heartily denounced the "shameless instance of tyrannical interference" of the General Assembly, and its " atrocious resistance to the law of the laud." A Dr. Glover, called in one account " a rabid Chartist," proposed an amendment, to the effect that " the Strathbogie clergymen had been deposed in consequence of disobeying the regulations of the Church " ; but the meeting refused to bear him ; nobody seconded his amend- ment ; and on his persisting in the attempt to make himself heard, he was removed by a policeman. The original resolution was then agreed to unanimously. Sir Francis Walker Drummond moved that the re- solution be sent to the seven ministers ; and Sir Francis Grant Suttie seconded that resolution, which was passed. Thanks having been voted to the chairman, on the motion of Sir George Warrender, seconded by Provost Keoch of Leith, the meeting separated.

In Scotland the Budget propositions have gained the support of meetings in Dunfermline, (the meeting was held in Chalmer's Street Park, and six or seven thousand persons were present,) Dunblaue, Cumnock, Markinch, Haddiugton, Largs, Portobello, Newtown Stewart, and Palnackie.

The meetings at Dunfermline, Cumnock, and Markin* were in- terrupted by Chartists ; but their original object was carried out.

At a general meeting of Guildry of Dundee, last week, resolutions were adopted declaring in favour of Free Trade, accepting the Govern- ment propositions as a step towards it, and especially anticipating from the results of the alteration to a fixed duty on corn that the agricul- turists would be reconciled to a total repeal of the Corn-laws.

Resolutions of a similar tendency were adopted at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday last.