Much caution is requisite in making a purchase, not only to the man whose means are limited, but even to him who has a considerable command of money. In purchasing from Government or the Canada Company, great care must be taken to ascertain the qualities of the soil; the access to roads; the facilities of water communication; the existence of good mill-streams, or, as the Americans call them, water privileges.

In purchasing of private persons, care must be taken to ascertain that the property is perfectly unincumbered by debt, for which the land in Canada is, at all times, answerable.

Into whatever township or district the emigrant passes, he will find many persons who will represent to him that the land in their particular neighbourhood is the best in the country; who will point out to him the great comfort and advantage of purchasing cleared land; how much expense of cutting down trees, burning them, rooting out stumps, and fencing the fields, he will thereby save: how much the land has been increased in value by these labours, but without once alluding to the number of crops that have, in the mean time, been taken from the ground, or hinting that hitherto no system of agriculture has been adopted in the country by which the land can be kept in proper heart.

I have observed land in Canada that had been cropped until apparently it could be cropped no longer; covered with weeds and totally neglected.

I believe it to be an every day occurrence in the Canadas, as well as in the United States, for persons to dispose of lands in this condition, and remove further into the bush, (or woods,) where they can purchase at a lower price.

I am apprehensive that, from the price of Government land in Canada, four dollars per acre, many emigrants may be induced to go into the States, where they can purchase at one dollar and a quarter per acre, who would not otherwise think of doing so.

Many respectable settlers disapprove of Government giving small grants of land to industrious labourers and persons of small means; for no better reason than that the difficulty of obtaining good and respectable servants, which is already very great, is thereby increased.

The immense tracts of land in the Canadas in the possession of Government are of no real intrinsic value so long as they remain in a state of nature; the first object, therefore, would seem to be, to people the country, in order to convert the wild and now uncultivated forest into a fruitful soil, increasing the revenue of the colonies themselves and the commerce of the mother country by a continually increasing demand for her manufactures; providing the means of still further exertion, and thereby tending, in no small degree, to promote the stability and welfare of the British empire.

I do not advocate indiscriminate or unlimited emigration, aware of the evils and misery that would arise from such a measure; but, if it bear a fair proportion to the increase of capital carried out, and if it be made, after previous arrangements, well and duly considered, the country cannot be too soon covered, from one end to another, by the frugal and industrious.

It is certainly most desirable to secure the labours of the actual cultivators of the soil (for the labourer is the producer of capital) by allowing to many, or to all, a small portion of land, from ten to thirty or forty acres, at a very moderate price, thus giving them an interest in the soil, and attaching them to their country.

It is not less desirable to provide some check to the number of speculators, who purchase land with the view of making a profit by the advance in price; but actually clear no more than they are compelled to do by the conditions of sale.

VOLUNTARY SYSTEM.

Taunton, 7th Feb. 1828.

MY DEAR SIR,-Enclosed you have one pound six shillings and sixpence, the amount of subscriptions paid to me by the undermentioned persons for Yours truly, RICHARD MEADE.

Dr. Davies, to Christmas last.

Atkins, Thomas

Staley, Benjamin
Warren, Mrs.

Daw, Miss

Nepcott, Mrs.

Warren, Mr.

Hutchings, Elizabeth

Pursey, Elizabeth

Hall, Richard

Phippen, John

Warren, James
Wilkins, Eliza

Lewis, Mary

Spiller, Joseph

The man that dares INSULT, because he can
With safety to himself, is not a man.

The above is a copy of a note addressed by Mr. Meade, now Mr. King, to one of the treasurers of Mary Street Congregation, soon after I had ceased to be its pastor. Till within these few days, I was always accustomed to regard the mean and wanton insult thus offered to me as meditated and sanctioned by all the parties whose names were alphabetically inserted, to prevent, as I presumed, the indulgence of any jealousy with regard to the post of honour. Lately, however, I have had sufficient reason to doubt what I had too long taken for granted, and I lost no time in writing to Mr. King, particularly requesting him to inform me whether he was authorized in affixing to the original, for the purpose for which he had employed them, ALL the names that it con tained. Mr. King has deigned only to open and return, but not to answer, my letter. At this conduct I am not surprised, as it appears to be in perfect keeping with the note itself, which requires only to be read, to be instantly viewed in its proper light.

Neither from Mr. King's refusing, nor from his own peculiar mode of refusing, the requested information, do I draw any inference; but from what has recently been told me by more than one individual, I find it impossible any longer implicitly to believe that TWENTY members of a religious society could have ever combined to outrage so disgracefully the feelings of a minister, as to pay each, on an average, one shilling, three-pence, three-farthings, and threefifths of a farthing, to defray his half-year's salary. However, if I am wrong in thus withholding my belief from what now seems to be so extremely improbable, as that such a number of worshippers within the walls of Mary Street Chapel should have actually joined Mr. King in deliberately and gratuitously insulting their former minister, who never injured them,-if this should eventually prove to be the fact, they will, I hope, pardon the error into which I have fallen, and enjoy, undiminished, the satisfaction which must always arise from the remembrance of their truly Christian behaviour. H. DAVIES.

FEW things can be more grievous and afflicting than the imperious necessity which exists of giving so much thought and time to matters of finance and pecuniary arrangement respecting the church. An air of mere secularity is thus spread over all that is written or said, which is anything but satisfactory or grateful to the feelings. For

this, as well as many other such good things, we have to thank the busy race of reformers who occupy their own time and other persons' in discussions which tend neither to peace nor to advantage of any sort, but which cannot be declined, because silence would imply approbation, or, at least, non-condemnation, of mad and mischievous projects. Hence come long discussions about incomes, and tithes, and fees, and rates, which are perfectly odious; and the only consolation for which is, the knowledge that it is a duty to expose falsehood and folly, and to state truths respecting the temporal establishment, by means of which, as we believe, the gospel is more fully and effectually taught than it could be by any other manner. Such were the feelings under which the last paper on this subject, and many others, were written. Such are the feelings with which another yet more odious subject is approached now,-viz., the feelings of dissenters towards the church. But, fortunately, hardly anything need be said. All that is necessary is said by dissenters themselves. This only should be observed, that the one truth that shines out from all which the active and prominent dissenters say and do is, that dissent is political, not religious, in essence; but that it is most dangerous because it gives those who look on it merely as a political engine, the power of working on the mass of their adherents through the most powerful of all motives, religion, and thus leading them on to conduct of which the effects cannot be painted in too strong colours. Religious faction, in short, is by far the most dangerous of all faction. The manifestoes of the Red-cross Street Committee, and the Committee of the Congregational Union, were given in the last Number. The reader's attention is now requested to the following documents, from several quarters. They are particularly desired to observe the tone of Mr. Timothy East's answer to Sir R. Peel, and the truly Christian temper and decorous and gentlemanly style of this minister of the gospel.

1.-(From the "Patriot," Dec. 31st, 1834.)

"All suspense is at an end. The glove is thrown down. His Majesty having, in the ill-advised exercise of his undoubted prerogative, dismissed his liberal Cabinet, has thought fit, by and with the advice of his present ministers, to send his faithful Commons back to their constituents,-the only punishment of which the constitution itself admits. Yesterday the first reformed Parliament was dissolved by royal proclamation. The new Parliament is to meet on the 15th of February for the dispatch of business; and on the composition of this new Parliament, it is admitted, will depend, in a great degree, the peace and well-being of the United Kingdom for many years to come.

"All ye, then, who think that the late ministers had deservedly forfeited the confidence of his Majesty by their too liberal reforms, vote for the Tories. All ye who think that the last Parliament deserved to be broken up for going too far or too fast in the march of improvement, vote for the Tories. All ye who think that Colonial Slavery ought not to have been abolished, vote for the men who opposed the emancipation of the negroes. All ye who think that to abolish the vestry cess in Ireland, and to reduce the number of sinecure bishopricks of the overgrown Beresford church was spoliation and sacrilege, vote for the supporters of the Rodens, Percevals, and Stormonts. All ye protestant dissenters who love the yoke which your fathers were not able to bear, and who wish to transmit your political grievances as an heir-loom to your children, in order to keep up unsocial and sectarian feelings towards their fellow-subjects, vote for the men who have consistently opposed every measure of real redress. All ye Church-of-England men who agree with the Bishop of London's friend, Mr. Gathercole, that dissent is as great a crime as drunkVOL. VII.-Feb. 1835. 2 D

enness, vote for the Tories. All ye who wish to see the Reform Bill itself converted into an engine of misrule and oligarchial tyranny, vote for the anti-reformers.

Every man who has a vote, every woman who can influence one, is called to take part in this vital conflict of opinions and principles. Neutrality is treachery. Protestant dissenters, the eyes of the country are especially fixed upon you. Firmly and religiously do your duty."

2.From the “ Christian Advocate," Jan. 5th.)

"The elections commence forthwith. It is rumoured that if the first attempt should fail (as fail it must) a second will be made. The Tories trust in their own long purses, and in the fact, that the liberal candidates are too honest (!) and too independent to resort to bribery, treating, &c. (!) But they trust in vain. The people also are more independent than they used to be; and they will in no sense of the word be trifled with. Let the Duke beware.

"One of the means which the high church party” have adopted to influence the elections is characteristic. They have formed what they impiously call a Christian Candidates' Committee, and have issued bills bearing, amongst other texts of Scripture, the following:- Meddle not with them that are given to change. They propose to steer quite clear of political party, and yet this is one of their mottos, What a perversion of the word of God! And, besides, it cuts both ways. It may be interpreted as a warning against supporting a Tory ministry calling themselves reformers, as well as a caveat against the movement party. Change! we must have abundance of change, both moral, spiritual, and political, before the Scriptures are

fulfilled."

3.(From the "Christian Advocate.")

"Never were the people of this country so shamefully trifled with as they have been within the last two months. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel first proposed a coalition with the Conservative Whigs. They refusing, the Cabinet was to have consisted of moderate Tories. This the ultra-Tories would not brook. Then the Whigs were applied to. They had too much respect for themselves to accede. There was, then, nothing for it but resignation, or a Cabinet composed of the very garbage of Toryism. Do not these various negotiations, all of which have taken place within scarcely more than as many days, make it clearly manifest (if any man doubted the fact), that power and place are everything with Wellington and Peel? Except the reformers, there is no party in the state with which they have not shewn themselves willing to unite rather than return to Rome and Walmer Castle. We beg leave to remind our contemporary, the "Standard,” and his immediate friends and admirers, that the ultra-Tories, the Rodens, and the Knatchbulls, and the Wynns, were last resorted to that, in other words, the Government, as now constituted, is a pis-aller Government!

"The Premier tells us, that he has pledged himself to nothing. Pledged himself to nothing! Why, there is not a name in his Cabinet, from his own to that of Herries, which is not a pledge in itself-aye, and a pledge that will be faithlessly redeemed, (?) if the people are foolish enough to allow the opportunity. But, talking of pledges, is the Rathcormac slaughter no pledge? Down with the bloody Irish Church, and down with the Tories!"

4. (From the "Times.")

At a meeting of dissenting deputies held this day, December 26th, at Ebenezer Chapel, the Rev. Timothy East in the chair, the following resolutions were unani mously adopted :

"Sir Robert Peel's manifesto, addressed to the nation through the electors of the independent borough of Tamworth, having been read,

Resolved, That this meeting views the manifesto as a crafty manœuvre to con

*The regard for truth here shewn is remarkable.

ciliate the good opinion of the dissenters, by holding out promises of relief, but in a form so vague and Jesuitical that we feel the demand for a 'fair trial' ought to be refused to this wily politician, because he has been tried already, and found in opposition to our just and reasonable claims, and because he avows that he has not accepted power on the condition of declaring himself an apostate to the principles on which he has heretofore acted.'

"Resolved, That while this meeting would gladly receive, in common with the dissenters through the kingdom, the redress of their grievances at any time, as a measure essential not only to their own dignity, but to the tranquillity of the empire, yet they should prefer remaining for a season in their present degraded condition, for the following reasons:-Because of their utter detestation of the political character of the men who are now in office a detestation which their enlightened countrymen will not deem either unnatural or unjust, when told that these self-same men have always proved themselves the bitter, and some the malignant, foes of the dissenters, whose liberties they would rather abridge than extend, holding them up in the great councils of the nation as schismatics, fanatics, and atheists, whose children, even though clothed with virtue, or sparkling with intelligence, they have asserted, possess a contaminating influence which precludes them from an honourable association with the sons of episcopal baptism and confirmation.

"Because the measures of relief which such an administration would offer, if they act in accordance with their avowed principles, would necessarily prove unsatisfactory, and thus, by adding insult to the reproaches and contumelies they have so often heaped upon the dissenting body, produce a degree of contempt for the British government which we never have felt which we do not wish ever to feel.

"Because, if they offer bills of relief, which in themselves would prove satisfactory, yet this would exhibit, on their part, such an extraordinary species of political profligacy and hypocrisy, as would prove injurious to the morals of the country.

"And because, though in most cases delays are dangerous, yet the redress of our grievances cannot be endangered by postponing the adjustment till the moral power of the nation has compelled the present Tory faction to assume the character of His Majesty's Opposition,' while the more patriotic and disinterested constitute His Majesty's Government.'

"Resolved,That to avoid a participation in the guilt and disgrace of political profligacy and hypocrisy, and to convince those who are comparatively ignorant of the character and principles of dissenters that we are not to be beguiled by flattery, nor duped by cunning, we will never seek the redress of our grievances from the hands of the present administration; and if they should bring forward the Bills of relief alluded to in the manifesto of Sir Robert, we will instruct our representatives to reject them, as unworthy our acceptance.

"Resolved, That this meeting pledge themselves, and call on all the advocates of civil and religious liberty to give a similar pledge, in the event of a new election, to vote for no candidate who will not distinctly and unequivocally avow his utter detestation of Toryism, and his disapprobation of any set of public men who, to gratify their lust for power, or obtain the emoluments of office, are willing to abandon principles which they have always defended, to advocate measures which they have always opposed, feigning the character and employing the language of their political opponents, that they may first deceive the British nation, and then govern its enlightened and patriotic monarch.

"Resolved, That this meeting presumes that no dissenter, nor any friend of civil and religious liberty, will give his vote for Mr. R, Spooner, who now stands as a candidate to represent the borough of Birmingham.

"Resolved, That the above resolutions be advertised in the Birmingham Journal, London Morning Chronicle, and Patriot newspapers, and that a copy of the Resolutions be sent to his Majesty's Ministers.

"TIMOTHY EAST, Chairman.”

"Whitehall, London, Jan. 1.

"Sir, I have received the communication which has been made to me, by the direction of a meeting at Birmingham of the dissenting deputies, over which you appear to have presided.

"I cannot believe that either the sentiments embodied in the resolutions of that