SAUL AMONG THE PROPHETS.
Tale clergy of the Church established in Scotland have, according to Dr. CHALMERS, " fought side by side with the Conservatives and
Churchmen of England," against the national system of education for Ireland—against pruning off the superfluous revenues of' the Church of Ireland—in short, against every measure proposed by Reformers, or the Government calling itself Reforming. The " Papist Govern- ment" has been a fimvourite theme at all meetings in Scotland for agitating in favour of non-intrusion, additional endowments, and the like. If the Scottish Dissenters were merely to refrain from voting at a general election, the Whigs could not carry one county or burgh in Scotland. The Dissenters of Scotland have by their official organs denounced the Veto-law, as a trap calculated by a false show of li- berty to lure them into spiritual bondage. The Kirk has been the virulent enemy of Ministers : the Dissenters have been their main support North of the Tweed. And yet if there be truth in symp- toms, Government propose in the Perthshire election to cater for support by holding themselves out as the champions of what is called " Non-Intrusion." The Lord Advocate, (" faithful Andrew,"
as people call him since the CRAM acres exposii,) when asked some evenings ago in the House of Commons whether Ministers pro- posed to bring in a bill to settle the Church squabble in Scotland, denied the bill; but expressed himself so guardedly as to leave the impression that by " bill" he meant one already en- grossed, and that the substance might be agreed upon. The Chronicle, after sundry feelers on the subject of " Non-Intrusion"— beginning with letters in small type, and proceeding to letters in large type—has at last ventured upon a leader ; in which, to the astonishment of every Whig, Tory, and Radical, Churchman and Dissenter in Scotland, it is gravely proposed to make " Non-intru- sion" the rallying-cry of the Whigs in the Perthshire election. The Voluntary Dissenters murmur at this ; and already the small re• tainers of Ministers represent their objections as "the factious opposition of the Dissenting clergy afraid of losing their congre- gations." It has for some time been sufficiently apparent, that Lord 31Eil2OURNE is completely at sea regarding the ecclesiastical controversies in Scotland. The soliloquy in the House of Lords at the close of a skirmish with Lord ABERDEEN, which Whig racontutrs ascribe to him, must have burst from a full heart : —" What the M." is to be done with this d**"* Church of Scotland ! " Like Saul when he found his messengers (his Fox MaueEs and EDWARD ELLICES) sent out to arrest the re- bellious prophets, stopping to prophesy themselves, he has gone out in person to do his own work, and has himself been rapt with the prophetic furor. "Saul is among the prophets "—Lord MEL- BOURNE is turned Non-intrusionist. Not contented with giving battle to Sheriffs in London, he seeks to engage the whole Court of Session in Scotland. Instead of canvassing the merits of LARDNER ta'te-ii-Gate with a fair lady, he will now discuss them in solemn conclave with the fathers of the Kirk. " Saul is among the prophets"—But whereas one Saul going out in search of asses found a kingdom, sorely do we fear that the other going out in search of a kingdom has stumbled upon a herd of asses. Or rather, as was the case with Titania's paramour, the long ears rest on his own head " Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee, thou art trans- formed !" We should suspect that in fawning for the support of the Established clergy, Lord Mssnot loss will find himself in the condition of the dog which let go its lump of meat to snap at its reflection in the river. lie will lose the Dissenters, without gaining the High Churchmen. To win the latter, lie must add the cry of No-Popery to that of "Non-Intrusion." The former will tell him that "non-intrusion" is an unmeaning word ; (the Whigs know thus, and therefore they have taken it up so warmly :1 that it is meant to please the multitude without binding its titterers to any thing tangible ; that it is meant (and the Whigs avow it) to strengthen the ranks of the Establishment by alluring deserters from the Dissenters ; that it is meant, in short, to put down Voluntary!sm. But for the Voluntaries, Ministers would long ago have been in a minority in Scotland. This is Ministerial gratitude.
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