this very contest at Derby. Truth is great, and will prevail.' In a moment of allowable vexation, and of honest indignation, it thus prevailed over the Protestant prejudices of the Standard:

'We cannot take leave of the Derby election, without repeating a piece of advice which we have often inculcated, "Never expect truth or honesty from a political Dissenter." We say from a political Dissenter, because we readily acknowledge that there are many pious good men conscientiously separated from our church of whom any church might be proud-but these are not political Dissenters. The political Dissenter is one who hates nothing so much as the Established Church and the Established Government; and who would ally himself with the enemy of mankind for the destruction of either.

'We have lately had an example of this in the miraculous indifference with which the bill for promoting the slave trade was received by the very same men who, a dozen years ago, made England to ring with the expression of their horror of slavery, even in the mild form in which it existed in the British colonies. Who does not remember the number of Quaker grocers, Quaker pastry cooks, Quaker bakers, &c., who advertised the ardour of their piety and the tenderness of their humanity by announcements, that they would sell none but East Indian sugar— that they would not traffic in the "blood-stained sugar" (that was the phrase) of our western colonies? Well, where were these gentlemen last month? We could not hear a whisper from one of them to reclaim against the admission of the "blood-stained sugar" of Cuba and Brazil. No factious or sectarian or sordid pecuniary object was to be gained by noise, and, therefore, all the political Dissenters were silent as the factious sectarian and sordid pecuniary interests indeed persuaded to silence-a Whig-Radical and Church-hating ministry was to be supported, and money was to be made by millowners from the traffic in the "blood-stained" commodity.

If we may trust to the reports we have had from Derby-reports, we may add, confirmed by what we find in the morning papers the political Dissenters played at the late election the part that they always playthey promised their support to Sir Digby Mackworth, on the ground that Mr. Strutt had voted for the Maynooth Bill, and then voted for Mr. Strutt against the gallant baronet. Certain it is, that the political Dissenters of Derby were among the loudest and angriest opponents of the Maynooth Bill, equally certain is it that Mr. Strutt supported that. bill, and no less certain do we find it than either of these facts, that Mr. Strutt polled, in 1846, a dozen votes more than he polled in 1841. So much for the reliance to be placed on the professions of political Dis

senters.

We do not like to reproach our friends, even indirectly, by reminding them of the advice which they did not follow, but we cannot allow to be lost the benefit of useful instruction, merely because we have before used it to no purpose. In 1845 we told our Protestant friends that the petitions of the political Dissenters proved nothing against the Maynooth Bill, but that if these petitions proved any thing, it was that the bill must (as, however intended, we believed it would) serve the interests of the Protestant religion, and of the Established Church; because

we well knew that political Dissenters, if they disliked Romanism, of which we doubted, hated the Established Church with an intensely bitter hatred, compared with which their dislike of Romanism might pass for love.

Again we say, that from political Dissenters the Country party can expect nothing but enmity and treachery. We know that short-sighted men will blame the frankness of this declaration, as likely to diminish what is always of some value to a party-the apparent force of the Conservative party; but it is unwise to deceive ourselves by counting upon false allies, and it is mere madness to fill our ranks with traitors, that they may show to more advantage on parade. The Country party in itself and by itself is quite strong enough to resume the government, and it will only embrace weakness in taking allies from among the enemies of the Protestant Church, or the enemies of the national industry.'*

There, we repeat, is our very case proved. We entirely concur with this declaration of the Standard, the 'frankness' of which is by no means its least recommendation. We would go further, indeed, as respects the apparent numerical estimate of 'political Dissenters.' They are certainly the rule, not the exception. There is a political, as well as a religious principle, inherent in Dissent. Resisting and disobeying the Divine will, it scruples not also to stand opposed to the civil power. It is the well-known saying of Dr. Johnson, that the devil was the first Dissenter'-the first to assist the unrestrained right of judgment and of action-the first to rebel-the first to create confusion. From those who are thus tainted 'the Country party can expect nothing but enmity and treachery.' And it is mainly because we deem it unwise to deceive ourselves by counting upon false allies, and mere madness to fill our ranks with traitors, that they may show to more advantage on parade,' that we have gone at so great length, and with so much detail, into this exposition of the PRESTIGES OF PROTESTANTISM.

We utterly disclaim all Romanizing views or Romanizing sympathies. We wish for no communion with Popish Rome, any more than with Protestant Dissent. We would endeavour, as respects our fellow-subjects of both communions, to act in accordance with the divine injunction, As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.' Even as regards the Romish Church, we would look upon our sister's fall' more in sorrow than in anger; and towards every denomination of Dissenters, though we may not indulge a feeling of Protestant brotherhood, we would yet cherish a sentiment of christian charity.

But as Churchmen we are called upon to stand upon the defensive. These are no times for concessions in sacred things to a false liberality. With the Church, above all things, there must

* Standard Newspaper, Sept. 4, 1846

be no compromise, no surrender. He that is not for us is against us.' There can now be no halting between two opinions. The weakness of the Church has chiefly arisen from a systematic yielding up of some one or other of her principles. She must, to regain her position, re-assert her authority; and how can she do this if her distinctive characteristics are to be obliterated, and her integrity frittered away? No cant about Protestantism,' and Protestant principles,' and 'Protestant cause,' must be permitted to impair her Catholic attributes. It is in no hostile attitude against any Christian community that we would place the Church. God forbid ! But she must be upheld, nevertheless, in the maintenance of her just ground, and in the exercise of her sacred influence, as the witness and keeper of the truth,' 'the ground and pillar of the faith.' It is an institution, as Burke has well expressed it, in which you have the true image of the primitive Church in its ancient form, in its ancient ordinances, purified from the superstition and the vices which a long succession of ages will bring upon the best institutions.' And its priesthood are the representatives of that religion which says that their God is love, that the very vital spirit of their institution is charity. It is not with Protestants of every persua sion' that such an institution can have communion. Its standard is that of Catholic and Apostolic truth-its authority that of divine and primitive ordinance. Neither must be lowered, to accommodate the whims and caprices of a perverse and crooked generation. Its great safeguard, under Providence, from error and corruption, as well as its preservation from stagnation and decay, must ever be found in a strict adherence to its principles, in doctrine and discipline. And all who would infringe this rule, however high-flown their Protestantism, may justly be suspected as crafty foes.

'Church quacks, with passions under no command,
Who fill the world with doctrines contraband:
Discoverers of they know not what-confined
Within no bounds-the blind that lead the blind.'

*Speeches of Edmund Burke.

On the Colliery Act, and the effects which have been produced by it upon the population of the Mining Districts.

(Coutinued from page 268.)

Mr. Tremenheere's attention having been called to several complaints that females were still at work in collieries and mines in Scotland, that in other parts of the kingdom wages continued to be paid at the public-houses, and that numerous other abuses remained unchecked,' he proceeded to take the necessary steps to enforce the provisions of the law. This was on the 25th of July, 1844-that part of the Act which rendered the employment of females altogether unlawful, having come into operation in March, 1843. It seems that the usual practice had been for the men to employ the women in the mines, so that it might be possible for females to be employed without the cognizance of the proprietors. To obviate this, however, the proprietors published notices of the act, and called upon the work-people to conform to its provisions;'-and on the 3d of January, Mr. Tremenheere himself addressed a letter to all the proprietors or managers of works, apprizing them of his intention pay them an official visit, and he had assurances from most that they would assist him in carrying out at least this part of the law, and his belief was clearly at this period, that the displacement of females was nearly, if not entirely, accomplished— a belief unhappily, however, obliged to be suspended, as, in a note, he says, "since the above remarks were written, prosecutions had been commenced against the proprietors of the Redding and Clackmannan Collieries and in Lanarkshire.

to

The Rev. J. Adamson, who furnishes the inspector with the details of the parish of Newton, in Mid Lothian, estimates the collier and its dependant population of the parish, at 1,100, of which 180 females were affected by the Act. Of these 61 were married, and whose remaining at home, he says, though it may diminish the income of, must be a great benefit to, the family in respect of comforts and care of the children Of the remaining 119,-49 have obtained permanent employment, 10in factories and the remainder as domestic servants; and there are 70 unemployed, of which a certain proportion are young people from nine years and upwards, not yet fit for any other employment.' And Mr. Tremenheere adds, that if a fair deduction be made for those who can be maintained by the earnings of their fathers and brothers, not more than 40 out of the 180 are subject to severe privation by the operation of the Act.' And again, in East and Mid Lothian, exclusive of the parish of Newton, the number of females

employed on the passing of the Act was 227, of whom 158 were, when taken from the pit, either married or supported by their relatives; and if from the remainder the same proportion be deducted as above, scarcely then one-fifth of the whole, were suffering much from the transition which the Act had occasioned. Let us place these figures once more before us to see collectively what has been the result:

Married. employment. unemployed. Deduct. Remain.

407 females were displaced from colliery labour; of these about 136 were married women, 132 have found other permanent employment, 54 are supported at home, owing to their tender years, and 75 are thrown into destitution. Let us refer now to what Mr. Franks, the commissioner, says in his report of the state of the mining population of Newton, and East and Mid Lothian. He gives the persons employed in the mines of Edmonstone and Sheriff Hall, in the parish of Newton, as follows, viz.

and he speaks of the workings being in narrow seams not exceeding twenty-two to twenty-eight inches in height, in which the females have to crawl,' and of women and children being employed to carry coal on their body with burthens varying from three-quarters to three cwt.

And he adduces the evidence of Janet Cumming, eleven years old, who says,