hur-ch

^

Si-Vl

m hNA/

This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in
cooperation with Yale University Library, 2008. You
may not reproduce this digitized copy ofthe book for
any purpose other than for scholarship, research,
educational, or, in limited quantity, personal use. You
may not distribute or provide access to this digitized copy
(or modified or partial versions of it) for commercial purposes.

MEMORIAL
OF A
MEETING OF ELDERS OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND,
HELD AT EDINBURGH,
on the 1st February 1843,
to THE
RIGHT HON. SIR ROBERT PEEL, Baet., &c,

OTHER MEMBERS OF HER MAJESTY'S
GOVERNMENT.

MEMORIAL
OF A
Meeting op Elders of the Church of Scotland, held at Edin
burgh on the 1st February 1843,

Right Hon. SIR ROBERT PEEL, Bart, &c, and the other
Members of Her Majesty's Government.

The Memorialists, deeply impressed with a sense of the imminent
danger which now hangs over the Church Establishment of Scot
land, desire respectfully and earnestly to intreat the most serious
attention on the part of Her Majesty's Government, to a considera
tion of the means by which that danger may be averted.
They might, indeed, have deemed any representation to her Ma
jesty's advisers on this subject, precluded by the answer recently
given by the Government to the Church's " Claim of Right," were
it not clearly established by that answer itself, that it has been given
under the most erroneous apprehensions and unfounded assumptions,
as to the real nature of the claims of the Church, and without in
quiring into the statutory foundations on which these are rested.
It is there represented, contrary to the pleas always maintained
by the Church, that she asserts an exclusive right to determine what
is civil and what is spiritual.
It is assumed, that the abolition of patronage is an essential ele
ment in any settlement to which she can submit.
The statutes in respect of which she contends that the Civil
Courts have exercised powers not conferred on them by the constitu
tion, and have encroached on a jurisdiction secured to her by that
constitution, are not considered ; but the fact of the Civil Courts
having done the acts which are complained of, is held, of itself, a
conclusive proof that they had- power to do them ; even although the
alleged encroachments have reference to the matters of " admission"
of ministers, and the formation and dissolution of the ," pastoral re
lation," which her Majesty's Government admit to belong exclusive-

ly to the jurisdiction of the Church, while they decline to give her
protection in exercising that jurisdiction.
The Memorialists, in these circumstances, venture to hope that a
reconsideration of this great question will not be refused by her Ma
jesty's Government, and that if a decision is to be given against the
Church, it will at least be pronounced after a consideration of the
legislative sanctions to which she appeals, with reference to her true
claims, and not under misapprehension and erroneous assumptions
as to what these are.
The Church of Scotland, the Memorialists confidently believe,
has, by her past services and present usefulness, a just title to a
favourable consideration of her claims by the Government and Le
gislature; for scarcely ever, has any state derived from a church, at
a charge to the community so slight, such valuable services as have
been rendered by the Church of Scotland.
The parish ministers of all classes amount to upwards of 1100 ;
among whom non-residence and pluralities are unknown.
The duties of the pastoral office are in general faithfully and la
boriously performed. The course of education for the ministry is
liberal and ample. The attainments and character of the body of
the clergy most creditable; while among them are individuals who
would do high honour to any church in Christendom.
Of those who have lately declared their resolution to separate from
the State, if such a measure of redress as they deem essential to
admit of their conscientiously remaining connected therewith, be
not conceded, the Memorialists can very confidently assert that they
are, as a body, the most eminent, learned, pious, and useful of the
ministers of the Church of Scotland.
Nor have the services of the Church of Scotland been confined to
the performance of the ordinary duties of the pastoral office.
She has ever been the zealous, and to the extent of her means,
the successful promoter of general education among the people.
Foiled in her efforts, at the period of the Reformation, to secure
a portion of the property of the Romish Church for the maintenance
of a liberal system of instruction, including parish schools, grammar
schools, seminaries of a still higher grade in the larger towns, and
universities, she, at a very early period, and when her ministers
were themselves in general chiefly dependent for support on the con
tributions of their flocks, obtained, by her unaided exertions, the
erection of elementary schools in a large proportion of the parishes of
the country, supported by a voluntary rate on the inhabitants; and
when exercising influence in the councils of the nation, one of the
objects she urged and attained was the legal establishment of paro
chial schools over the whole kingdom. This was effected by a statute
passed in 1646, which, though rescinded at the Restoration, was

again enacted in 1696, after the Church was re-established, and
forms to this day the foundation of the system of parochial schools
in Scotland.
It was owing also to the unremitting exertions of the Church, that
this act, when passed, was carried into execution, as has at last been
done in every corner ofthe kingdom.
When too, from the great increase of the population, the legal
establishment of schools became utterly inadequate to the necessities
of the people, she applied herself with energy and zeal to supply, so
far as she could, the deficiency, especially in the Highlands and
Islands, where, from the absence of any means of supporting adven
ture schools, the inhabitants must otherwise have been left without
any means of even elementary education ; and she at present, by the
voluntary contributions of her people, supports 143 schools, afford
ing education to upwards of 13,000 children, chiefly in the High
lands and Islands.
Active exertions have also been made of late years for the erection
of sessional schools, particularly in large towns, and it is not unde
serving of notice, that out of L. 28,241 granted up to 1838, for the
purposes of education in Scotland, out of the recent annual parlia
mentary votes for that object, on the usual condition of an equal
amount being locally contributed, L. 21, 059 was granted on the ap
plication of ministers belonging to the present majority ofthe Church.
The education provided under the superintendence of the Church,
while based on the Bible, and embracing instruction in the truths of
religion in accordance with the creed of the Church, has at the same
time been so conducted as to have given no cause of jealousy or
ground of exclusion to Christians of other denominations, and its
effects may be recognised in the character and intelligence of the
Scottish population, to which witness is borne in every quarter of the
globe. In regard again to the administration of the poor, upwards of 6,000
members of her kirk-sessions give their gratuitous labour in this ser
vice; while, of the total sum of L. 155,000 raised in Scotland for sup
port of the poor, upwards of L.38,000 is received in contributions at
the church doors, and L.20,000 from their sessional funds. Large
sums are, besides, collected at the church doors for the various cha
ritable institutions for behoof of the poor.
The charge to the State for the services thus rendered is compara
tively slight.
The total amount of tithe in Scotland (which has generally been
commuted into a fixed and unalterable rent-charge at an extremely
low rate under arrangements made in the reign of Charles I.) is
about L.324,000 per annum. Of this, L.143,700 a-year is in the
hands of impropriators and heritors, enjoyed as their own, but

by law forming a fund liable, at the discretion of the Teind Court,
to be called up for the support of the ministry; though, in regard to
the endowment of new or additional charges, subject to the condition
(which is nearly tantamount to an absolute exclusion), introduced for
the first time in 1707* that the heritors of the parish holding three-
fourths of the land give their consent to the erection of these. The
remainder of the tithe, or rather of the yearly rent-charge into which
it has been commuted, is, under deduction of L.2700 drawn by the
universities, appropriated in stipends to the parochial clergy. The
amount so applied, is, according to the late Church Commission
Report, L.177?470 per annum ; and including the value of manses
and glebes, and the Exchequer allowances for stipends to the Parlia
mentary Church ministers, and for additions to small livings, the
whole value of the State Endowment of the Church of Scotland is
under L.200,000 a-year.
Such is the burden of maintaining the Scottish Establishment ;
and at no period of her history, the Memorialists can confidently
assert, was the Church in a state of greater efficiency, or better fitted
in proportion to her extent, and the means at her disposal, to pro
mote the great objects which a State ought to have in view in the
establishment of religion.
It is no doubt difficult to present palpable proofs of this asser
tion to those not personally cognizant of the character and labours
of her ministers, the manner in which they perform their duties,
and the fruits of their ministrations. The testimony of the Memo
rialists, however, on this subject, as of parties having at least the best
means of knowledge regarding it, is entitled, they venture to think,
to some weight; and other proofs more tangible, if not so direct, are
not awanting.
The Memorialists refer to the great increase in the efforts for the
advancement of religion and religious education at home and abroad,
of necessity implying the prevalence of a deeper and more extended
religious feeling than previously existed, that has marked the period,
commencing in 1834, during which those now threatened with ex
pulsion have had an ascendancy in the councils of the Church.
While in a minority, that portion of the Church now referred to,
had long exerted themselves in vain, to induce the General Assembly
to countenance Missionary enterprises. In 1824, however, (by which
time, though not in a majority, their influence had greatly increased,
and their views on these subjects had come to be adopted by many of
their opponents in matters of church polity,) the Assembly instituted
two schemes; the one for the propagation of the gospel in foreign
parts— -the other for promoting education in the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland. These were the only schemes in operation

in 1834, when, for the first time for about a century, the present
majority had a preponderance in the General Assembly.
In that year they established the Church Extension scheme. In
1836 they instituted that for aiding Presbyterian settlers in the
Colonies in providing means of religious ordinances, a scheme emi
nently calculated to preserve the attachment of the numerous settlers
in these colonies to the religion and constitution of their mother
country; and in 1838 they adopted their fifth scheme — that for
the conversion of the Jews. Down to the present day all of these
have been constantly increasing in extent, and advancing in useful
ness. In 1834, the amount of the whole annual contributions made
within the Church for Missionary objects was L.4857- In 1842 it
was L.25,307.
Besides this ordinary annual revenue, large donations and local
contributions have been made for the erection of churches, amounting
in the eight years since 1834, to not less than L.300,000.
During the same eight years, nearly 200 new churches have thus
been erected by voluntary contribution.
In the course of the whole century immediately preceding 1834,
in which time the population of Scotland had been doubled, while
about 600 places of worship had been built by dissenting commu
nions, the number of places of worship in connection with the
Church of Scotland erected in this way was sixty-three.
In regard, again, to the discipline of the Church, it was at no
time more pure or more just.
The period since 1834 has also been marked by a more liberal
spirit towards other communions of Christians, — intercourse and cor
respondence with many such having been renewed, and the law
passed in 1799, with a view to the exclusion of ministers ofthe Church
of England from the pulpits of the Scottish Establishment, but
which also effected the exclusion of ministers of all other commu
nions, having been repealed.
At the same time, the Church strenuously maintained the prin
ciple of Establishments during a very arduous struggle. The de
fence of that cause was mainly rested on the assumed independence
of the Church in matters spiritual, though in connection with the
State. To her efforts in this cause, and the conviction of the strength
given to it by the principle of spiritual independence co-existing with
a State Establishment, the Church owes much of the opposition
offered to a settlement of her difficulties by one class of her opponents,
which opposition alone, it is believed, prevented a legislative sanction
being given to the Veto Act at a period of the contest when this
of itself would have effectually accomplished a settlement of the
question now in dispute.

8
She also, during the period in question, secured the return to the
Church of one of the bodies which had seceded from her pale in the
course of last century, and favourable prospects were entertained of a
more general restoration.
In various other matters, too, improvements have been introduced,
or are in progress. The course of the education for candidates of the
ministry has been extended and raised in character, — the oversight
of students made more constant, effective, and religious, — the visita7
tion of parishes, and the stimulating the diligence of ministers, more
attended to, — the election of their elders restored to the people, —
and generally, a progress towards amendment introduced into every
branch of the administration of the Church, which had long been
unknown. It is at this period of her efficiency, vigour, and usefulness, that
it is proposed forcibly to rend the Church in twain, — to compel a
large body of her faithful ministers to abandon their livings, — to
drive them with a corresponding proportion of her people into a state
of separation from the State,— and to leave that part of the Church
which shall remain established, enfeebled and deserted, bereft of po
pular support, and of the means of effectively fulfilling the functions
of a national Establishment.
For what object is this great evil to be perpetrated, and the hazard
of the accompanying dangers to be incurred ?
This injury is to be inflicted and these dangers risked rather than
replace the Church in the position in which she stood between 1834
and 1838, — while the Veto Act had not been declared inconsistent
with the civil law, — the validity of the acts admitting the parlia
mentary and chapel ministers into Church Courts, and assigning
them quoad sacra parishes and kirk sessions, had not been ques
tioned, — and the Court of Session had not yet asserted the jurisdic
tion it has since so extensively exercised.
Were then the practical evils suffered during these years, by
the operation of the Veto Act and the Parliamentary Church and
Chapel Acts, so great as to outweigh those to be incurred by the dis
ruption of the Church ? Far from it. As to the latter acts, it is
admitted on all hands that great unmingled good has resulted from
them. True, it is said, and said justly, that if the quoad sacra
parishes established by them had been erected quoad civilia, still
greater good would have been achieved. Undoubtedly to give full
efficiency to the new churches and parishes erected by the Church,
it would be necessary that these should be endowed, and provided
with a parish school, and all the other advantages of civil parishes.
Nothing certainly would tend more than this to promote the religi
ous and moral well-being of the population, and as a consequence to
lighten the burdens on the land, occasioned by poverty and crime.

9
But it was not in the power of the Church to place these on the
footing on which they would have been most efficient. She strove,
but in vain, to accomplish this. All that she could do, however,
she did. She erected nearly 200 new churches, assigned to each a
parish quoad spirilualia, and established a minister, with a session of
elders, to maintain pastoral superintendence, and exercise discipline
within it; and unspeakable benefit has thence been derived to large
masses of the population previously utterly neglected, in every quar
ter of the country.
In illustration of the advantages thereby secured, the case of two
parishes may be mentioned, — that of St Cuthberts, Edinburgh, and
the Barony parish, Glasgow.
The former contains 70,000 inhabitants. Besides the parish
church, with two ministers, there were in it, in 1834, three chapels
of ease, each with its assistant minister, but without a session or the
power of discipline ; the discipline and pastoral superintendence of
the whole parish being vested in the two ministers and single session
of the parish church. There are now nine churches and nine kirk-
sessions with their respective ministers, having each a special district
within which they exercise discipline and pastoral superintendence.
In the Barony parish, in like manner, its 110,000 inhabitants were
in 1834i under the superintendence of one minister and session, aided
by four assistant ministers of chapels of ease. Now there are eighteen
churches, with their respective ministers and sessions, exercising dis
cipline and superintendence within the districts or parishes, quoad
sacra, into which this enormous civil parish has been subdivided
by the Church, for purely spiritual purposes. The effect of one of
the recent decisions of the Court of Session, if submitted to, would
be to annihilate all such kirk-sessions as those, to suppress their quoad
sacra parishes, to throw the whole of their inhabitants once more
upon the single minister and kirk-session of the original parish
church, as their sole and exclusive source of discipline and pastoral
superintendence, to prohibit the Church from " in any manner
altering or innovating upon" the state of the parishes under her
charge as to these matters, and to subject her in extending them,
though importing no patrimonial burden, to the absolute veto and
uncontrolled will of any proprietor or proprietors holding one-fourth
of the land in the parish.
As to the Veto Act again, which, when passed, had the sanction
of the law officers of the crown in Scotland, and met with the ap
proval of the Lord Chancellor, expressed from the woolsack, even
those who had opposed it had become, in a great measure, reconciled
to it. Principal M'Farlan acknowledged that it had proved " less
injurious and more beneficial" than he expected, and Dr Cook de
clared that it appeared likely to prove a " blessing" to the country.

10
It was comparatively unfrequently resorted to by congregations. The
dread that rejected presentees would be irretrievably injured in their
future prospects was incontestibly proved to be unfounded. It was
admitted that no conscientious scruple was felt to acting under it by
any office-bearer of the Church, and between the passing of the act
and the first decision in the Auchterarder case, a general acquiescence
in it was evinced ; and a degree of harmony and cordial co-operation
between all parties in the Church subsisted, which had scarcely at
any time been surpassed.
The objection subsequently taken, after the Veto Act had been
declared contrary to the municipal law, arose not from its practical
operation, but from the want of legal sanction to it. Consequently the
interposition of this sanction would have removed the objection, and
restored the Church to the condition in which she was while it was sup
posed to be in accordance with the law, and before the encroachments
of the Court of Session. Is the disruption of the Church, then, pre
ferable to such restoration ? Was that condition so unbearable that,
rather than again submit to it, nearly one half of the ministers of
the Church must be driven from their livings, and the stability of
the Establishment endangered ? The Memorialists cannot imagine
that any one will seriously allege this.
Assuredly the Government could not have thought so, when in
1835, while the Church was in that very condition, — the Veto Act
and the Parliamentary Church and Chapel Acts being in vigorous
operation, — they advised his late Majesty, to call the attention of
Parliament from the throne, to the means by which it might be ex
tended. It is, indeed, alleged that the ministers of the Church are con
tending for power to themselves, and that there is great danger to
liberty from any encouragement to what is represented as clerical
domination. The Memorialists trust that their testimony may be deemed of
some weight as to the utter groundlessness of this calumny against
the ministers of the Church of Scotland, who have put their temporal
means of subsistence in peril by a contest on behalf of popular rights
and who, by one class of their opponents, have been represented as
thereby subjecting the powers of the office-bearers ofthe Church to the
will of the people They also venture to hope that they do not undulv
presume on the character given to the Church Courts by the mixture
of elders who are exercising the ordinary professions and mixing in
the daily concerns of life, in the government of the Church, when they
submit, as they confidently do, that the fact of these being composed
to the extent of one-half in the inferior courts, and neafly oTe-half
in the General Assernbly of elders, and those too now appointed-
not by the ministers, but by the communicants of the Church affords

11
a sufficient practical guarantee against the exercise of that clerical
domination, which is so erroneously represented to be matter of appre
hension. Whether or no danger of such domination may exist in regard to
churches of which the ruling body is composed exclusively of the
clerical order, and which afford scope for individual ambition, the
exercise of despotic power is scarcely possible in a Church constituted
like that of Scotland. Accordingly, in past times, in Scotland,
the religious freedom and independence of the Church has uniformly
co-existed with, as it ever greatly promoted, the civil freedom and
independence ofthe people; while the exercise of secular control over
the Church has always been accompanied by a disregard of the liber
ties of the subject, and has itself occasioned the most grievous tyranny
and oppression. Nor do these matters appear altogether dissociated
in the present day. The Church's struggle for her exclusive juris
diction has been rendered necessary by her resolution to protect her
people from the forcible obtrusion of pastors upon them against their
will, and to secure to them a voice in the appointment of the office
bearers and rulers ofthe Church. The control of the secular courts
over her has been exercised in thrusting unacceptable ministers on
reclaiming congregations, — driving nearly the whole population of a
parish out of their parish, church, — interdicting the parishioners from
expressing their dissent against a presentee, and prohibiting, in oppo
sition to the fundamental principles of toleration itself, the preaching
of the gospel, and the administration of ordinances, by any minister
or licentiate of the Church of Scotland, within the bounds of a whole
district, under the penalty of fine and imprisonment.
In common with those ministers who have adhered to the re
solutions adopted at the recent Convocation in Edinburgh, the Me
morialists cannot efficiently carry on the functions of a Church of
Christ subject to the conditions with which, according to the courts
of law, the establishment is clogged. The government and jurisdic
tion of the Church are confined to spiritual -matters, and her discipline
to the voluntary members of her own communion — (for she disclaims
any temporal power or authority, or any control over those who differ
from her) — but these are paralysed. The preaching of the gospel,
and administration of the sacraments under her authority, have
been in different districts altogether interdicted. Men deposed by
the Church from the holy office of the ministry, are by the Civil
Courts pretended to be restored to, and are maintained in, the exer
cise of their functions. Men not ordained by the Church, and de
clared by her not to be, and never to have been ministers of the
gospel, are secured by them in pastoral charges. Presbyteries are
prohibited from providing additional pastoral superintendence and
means of discipline to over-populous parishes. They are interdicted

12
from proceeding against ministers and licentiates accused of immora
lity, thus subverting the very foundation of Church discipline.
Agents are prohibited from affording their professional services in
such prosecutions, and witnesses from giving evidence. Nay, the
very table of the Lord itself is invaded, and the office-bearers of the
Church are prohibited from withholding its privileges from those
whom the Church has excommunicated.
If a power in secular tribunals to do these things be settled to be
a condition of the Establishment in Scotland, all who really hold the
true principles of the Church of Scotland must sever a connection
which implies submission to it. Accordingly, a declaration is in course
of signature by the elders ofthe Church who approve ofthe resolutions
adopted by the Convocation of Ministers lately held in Edinburgh,
expressive of their determination to make common cause with these
ministers, in the event of their being compelled to separate from the
State in consequence of the redress required by them not being con
ceded — of the constitution and jurisdiction of the Church not being
again acknowledged, as it has been hitherto held to subsist — the
Civil Courts not being restrained from continuing the encroachments
they have recently made, — and the liberties of the Christian people,
in regard to the appointment of their pastors, not being secured.
Many, too, concur in these sentiments who deem it premature thus
to declare them.
Corresponding declarations have been made by large masses of
her people throughout the bounds of the kingdom; and there can be
little doubt, from the evidences even already afforded, that after the
impending separation shall have taken place, the members of the
Establishment will be a minority ofthe people of Scotland.
The Memorialists would earnestly press upon her Majesty's Go
vernment the duty of fully weighing the evils that must inevitably
result, before forcing on a disruption so complete.
The individual suffering brought on so many ministers of unble
mished life and piety, driven from house and home for conscience1
sake, grievous though that will be, sinks into insignificance in com
parison with the injury that will be done to the community at large,
and the shock that will be felt by all existing institutions.
The emptying of so many pulpits, — the impossibility of creditably
supplying the places of those who shall be expelled, and who have
rooted themselves in the hearts of their people, — the driving of so
many congregations from the places of worship provided by law for
their use— the consequent destitution of the means of religious ordi
nances of which the people can conscientiously avail themselves, —
and the burning sense of injustice which must be the inevitable
result of all this, cannot be contemplated without anxiety and alarm.
Nor will the evil effects of such a disruption be confined to Scot-

13
land. It will extend to all the colonies in which a branch of the
Church of Scotland is planted, producing dissatisfaction, and division,
and disaffection among her children to the land in which their
church has suffered so much wrong, and destroying a strong link of
attachment between a large body of the colonists and their mother
country. The withdrawal of a large proportion of the pecuniary aid and per
sonal service now rendered by the Church in the administration of
the poor, must augment evils already great, while the risks to which
the Missionary schemes of the Church will be exposed must grieve
the heart of every Christian.
It will not, however, be the institutions connected with the Church
of Scotland alone that will suffer. The cause of Establishments
generally will receive a shock that sooner or later may bring them to
the ground. The persevering energy with which the enemies of
Establishments have co-operated with their own bitterest opponents
to bring about the impending catastrophe in the Church of Scotland,
might of itself lead all thinking men to suspect this, which, besides,
is at any rate sufficiently obvious.
Apart from weakening so greatly one Establishment, and bringing
it into a condition in which it will be a more easy prey, it cannot be
expected that those who are driven from it, in consequence of its
being placed on an unscriptural footing, will thereafter be found very
zealous in the defence of an institution they condemn. Large num
bers, too, both in England and Scotland, who, though not members
of the Established Churches, approve of the principle of an Estab
lishment, and have hitherto lent them their support, on the assump
tion that spiritual independence was compatible with connection with
the State, when they find that, practically, this will not be allowed,
will abandon their defence, at least of existing Establishments.
By the loosening of the foundations of the Church, all other
established institutions will be shaken. Even the judicial institu
tions of the empire will be exposed to hazard, by its being shown
that they can become the instruments of virtually annulling the
Constitution of the country, in a most essential particular, by
means of a construction never before dreamt of, and an assumption
of a new power to themselves not contained in the statutes by
which they were established, and not only not asserted, but posi
tively disclaimed by their predecessors, and of overturning privileges
achieved by an arduous and long-continued struggle, and guaranteed
by statute and national treaty, under the sanction of the most solemn
oaths. Differing, as the Memorialists do, in questions of secular politics
they are united in their conviction that to the connexion which has
hitherto happily subsisted between the Church and the Civil Insti-

14
tutions of the country are to be ascribed very many of its social ad
vantages, nor can they contemplate any disruption of that connexion
such as is now imminent without the greatest alarm. Blended and
associated as the Church is in the feelings of the people with these
other institutions, and endeared as the Church is to them by the
most venerated of their historical recollections, it is very painful to
be compelled to believe (what however it is impossible to doubt) that
such a catastrophe cannot fail to weaken their attachment to what
remains of the constitution of the country.
The Memorialists would willingly hope from her Majesty's Go
vernment better things than a course of policy so destructive. They
would trust that, in deciding on this very solemn question, it may be
regarded strictly in its true character, of one which affects peculiarly
the people of Scotland, and on which therefore the history and consti
tution of the Church of Scotland, in its adaptation to their religious
feelings and habits, ought mainly to be considered ; and they would
rejoice to find her Majesty's advisers acting in the spirit of the
recommendation of the late King, in the speech from the throne
already referred to, in which his Majesty, addressing his Parliament,
observed, — " I feel assured that it will be our common object, in sup
plying that which may be defective, or in renovating that which may
be impaired, to strengthen the foundations of those institutions in
Church and Stale, which are the inheritance and birthright of my
people; and which, amid all the vicissitudes of public affairs, have
proved, under the blessing of Almighty God, the surest guarantees
of their liberties, their rights, and their religion?''
Signed in name, and by appointment of the meeting,
JAMES FORREST, Chairman.

At a numerous meeting of Elders from every part of the country, approv
ing ofthe Resolutions of the recent Convocation of Ministers, held in St
Luke's Chdkch, Edinburgh, 1st February 1843 —
On the motion of Dr Smyttan, the Right Hon. Sir James Forrest, Lord
Provost, was called to the chair.
The meeting having been constituted with prayer by C. M. Christie, Esq.
Of Durie, Mr Dunlop read a Report from the Committee appointed by a
meeting of Elders, held at the time of the November Commission. Dr
Chalmers, who had been invited by the Committee to attend the meeting,
was here introduced. Mr Dunlop then laid before the meeting a scheme
prepared by the Committee for making preparations against the apprehend
ed disruption of the Established Church ; and Dr Chalmers having been so
licited to address the meeting, made a most interesting statement, showing
the practicability of the scheme proposed.
The cordial thanks of the meeting having, on the motion of P. B. Mure
Macredie, Esq. of Perceton, been given to Dr Chalmers, the following Re
solution was
Moved by Claud Alexander, Esq. of Ballochmyle, seconded by W.
Stothert, Esq. of Cargen, and unanimously agreed to : —
I. That this meeting cordially approve of the scheme submitted to them
for making preparations against the event of the apprehended disruption of
the Church, and resolve, in accordance therewith, to appoint a number of
their body to constitute, along with the members of the Committee of minis
ters nominated by the recent Convocation of ministers, a " Provisional Com
mittee" of interim administration and management; the details of the said
scheme to be subject to such modification as the Provisional Committee may
deem necessary ; and that this meeting farther earnestly urge on all who ad
here to the great 'principles for the maintenance of which the Church is
threatened with the loss of the benefits of an Establishment, the necessity of
instantly forming themselves into Associations in their respective localities
and congregations, and commencing active and energetic exertions for ob
taining contributions to both of the general funds (for the erection of places
of worship, and for the permanent support of the ministry), so that when
the disruption actually takes place — which, if God in his mercy do not gra
ciously avert it, seems near at hand — preparation may have been already
made to enable the Pastors to continue their ministrations without interrup
tion, and to provide at once the means of public worship to all who may ad
here to the disestablished Church throughout every part of the kingdom.
The following Resolution was then moved by Alexander Thomson,
Esq. of Banchory, seconded by John Gray, Esq., Greenock, and una
nimously agreed to : —
II. That this meeting, considering that the wishes of the Scottish nation,
in regard to the great question now at issue, have been, on two former occa
sions, laid before Parliament, by petitions signed by an almost unprecedent
ed number of the population, though without effect, and that no greater
impression can be expected from their repetition, while the attention and
exertions of the friends of the Church would be thereby diverted from ob
jects of far more vital importance, would earnestly, but respectfully, dis
suade the friends of the Church from having recourse to this mode of at
tempting to influence the Legislature ; while, at the same time, they would
cordially approve of private and local representations to individual Members
of Parliament, from the constituencies or inhabitants of the places they re
present. Mr Dunlop then submitted to the meeting a Memorial which it was
proposed to lay before her Majesty's Government ; and the following
Resolution, moved by Sheriff Spiers, and seconded by W. Collins,
Esq., Glasgow, was unanimously agreed to : —

16

III. That this meeting adopt the Memorial now submitted to them, ap
point it to be subscribed by their Chairman, in their name, and to be trans
mitted by him to Sir Robert Peel ; and direct copies also to be addressed to
the several Members of the Cabinet.
It was then moved by Duncan Darroch, Esq., younger of Gourock,
seconded by William Buchanan, Esq., Glasgow, and unanimously
agreed to : —
IV. That the following Elders be appointed to constitute, with the Mem
bers of Committee of Convocation, the Provisional Committee above-men
tioned, with power to the said Provisional Committee to assume any addi.
tional members whose services they may require.

Sir James Forrest, Bart.
William Brown of Kilmardinny.
Henry Dunlop of Craigton.
William Collins, Esq., Glasgow.
John Gray, Esq., Greenock.
Graham Spiers, Esq., Edinburgh.
A. E. Monteith, Esq., Edinburgh.
John Thomson, Esq., Edinburgh.
Archibald Bonar, Esq., Edinburgh.
Alexander Dunlop, Esq.yEdinburgh.
Convener M'Lagan, Edinburgh.
Charles Cowan, Esq., Penicuick.
Robert Paul, Esq., Edinburgh.
John Bain, Esq., Glasgow.
Captain J. G. Hay, Largs.
Henry Maitland, Esq., Edinburgh.
J. G. Wood, Esq., Edinburgh.
John Cadell, Esq. of Tranent.
Dr Charles Crawfurd.
Claud Alexander, Esq. of Balloch-
myle.
A. Thomson, Esq., of Banchory.
P. B. Mure Macredie, Esq. of Perce-
ton.
G. M'Micken Torrance, Esq. of
Threave.
R. J. Davie, Esq., Haddington.
Robert Hislop, Esq., Prestonpans.
H. F. CadeU, Esq. of Cockenzie.
Captain Sheppard of Straloch.
J. M. Nairn, Esq. of Dunsinane.
Major Darroch of Gourock.
Mr M'Kinlay, Rothsay.
Mr William Dods, seedsman, Had
dington.
Provost Andson, Arbroath.
David Clark, Esq., Coupar-Angus.
Mr A. Gardener, Paisley.
Mr Henderson, Kelso.
Mr H. Maben, Perth.
C. M. Christie, Esq. of Durie.

W. H. Crawfurd, Esq. of Crawfurd-
land.
James Hamilton, Esq. of Ninewar.
J. Thain, Esq., Dundee.
Dr Henderson, Aberdeen.
William Brown, Esq., Aberdeen.
Alexander Balfour, Esq. of Dundee.
Patrick Tennant, Esq., Edinburgh.
William Johnston, Esq., Edinburgh.
Dr Smyttan, Edinburgh.
James Crawfurd, Esq., Edinburgh.
Dr Russell, Edinburgh.
Wm. Whitehead, Esq., Edinburgh.
Alexander Ross, Esq., Edinburgh.
.Alexander Hean, Esq., Dundee.
Hugh Cogan, Esq., Glasgow.
William Buchanan, Esq., Glasgow.
D. Crichton, Esq., Dundee.
D. M. Makgill Crichton, Esq. of Ran-
keilour.
George Blair, Esq., Greenock.
William M'Fie, Esq., Greenock.
P. H. Thorns, Esq., Dundee.
Thomas Turner, Esq., Greenock.
George Buchan, Esq. of Kelloe.
F. L. Roy, Esq. of Nenthorn.
Dr. Miller, Kilmarnock.
Mr Carlisle, Paisley.
Dr Lang, Largs.
J. A. Rankine, Esq., Irvine.
Robert Waugh, Eweford.
Mr Playfair, Port-Glasgow.
Mr Campbell, ditto.
Provost Kemp, Musselburgh.
S. Sawers, Esq. of Newhouse.
Mr D. Lusk, Kilsyth.
Mr Geddes, Bannockburn.
James C. Brodie, Esq. of Lethen. '
Mr Brown, Maybole.
John Barclay, Esq., Catrine.
Patrick Guthrie, Esq., Brechin.

The thanks of the meeting were unanimously voted to Mr Dunlop for
preparing the Memorial. r
On the motion of Mr M'Micken Torrance, the thanks of the meeting were
given to the Lord Provost for his conduct in the chair; and Dr Chalmers
having pronounced the blessing, the Meeting separated. J, FORREST, Chairman.