SCOTLAND.
We have heard that Lord Belhaven will now cease to represent her Majesty in the meetings of the General Assembly, and that either Lord Arbuthnot or Lord Strathallan will be the new Lord High Commis- sioner.—Glasgow Courier.
The Edinburgh papers publish a letter by Dr. Candlish, to which is. annexeda " scheme " for reconstructing a new church out of the Non- intrnsionist body, should the Establishment be "broken up." Dr. Candlish says that the scheme has been carefully considered and revised by the Central Church Defence Committee ; and it has been seen, and. in its leading features warmly approved of, by Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Gor- don, and other fathers and brethren. It may be described in a few sen- tences. On their separation from the state, the party will still adhere to one another, and form a "protesting and testifying" church, to be entitled the " Non-Erastian Chinch of Scotland." Funds for the maintenance of the clergy and the building of churches are to be raised by large donations at the commencement, and afterwards by monthly or weekly contributions ; the money raised is to form a common stock out of which the ministers are to be paid. at the rate of 1501. or 2001. a year ; other Presbyterian bodies are to be invited to cooperate with them ; parishes left in the hands of Erastian incumbents are to be dealt With as vacant ; and all the funds raised are to be placed at the disposal of a large Central Committee composed of elders, deacons, and com- municants, exclusively of ministers. In short, it will be the embodied triumph of the Voluntary principle.
The Presbytery of Glasgow withhold the usual Presbyterial certifi- cate needed by Mr. Corkindale in order to his induction to the ministry of Ladykirk, to which he has been presented by Sir James Graham. The certificate was refused before, on the imputation of an understand- ing between the presentee and Mr. Corkindale as to the line of policy which he was to pursue ; and a Committee was appointed to inquire into the nature of a letter which Mr. Corkindale had received of Sir James. To this Committee he refused to submit the letter, alleging that it was strictly a private communication ; but he declared that its contents were not at all of the nature supposed; and he promised to place himself entirely in submission to the Church in matters eccle- siastical. A Mr. Bydie, to whom Mr. Corkindale happened to have shown the letter, as a friend, was examined by the Committee; and from recollection he described the letter as promising" protection" to Mr. Corkindale in his "rights," and implying that the presentee was to obey the law of the land. The report of the Committee stated these facts ; and concluded with a regret that Mr. Corkindale should have felt himself precluded from laying the letter before the Committee, although he had shown it to others. Principal Macfarlan and Dr. M'Leod argued for granting the usual certificate ; but the Presbytery separated without doing so—merely affirming the report of the Com- mittee, by 18 to 8 votes. The Principal appealed to the Synod.
A strong condemnation of the new Corn-bill and Tariff has been recorded by a large agricultural meeting for Mid Lothian, by the Perthshire Association for the Protection of Agriculture, and by the farmers of Moffat. The Magistrates and Town-Counil of Leith have passed resolutions against the Income-tax.
Previous page
