a part of the Church's machinery, not essential to her being, yet we shall find that the effects are so beneficial, that it conduces so to the well-being of her work, that we shall almost recognise it as an inseparable adjunct. It is but a few years since that Sunday Schools were first introduced, and then were thought by many as unnecessary; now we look for them as being almost as indispensable as the congregation who assemble to worship in the church. Thus, too, as we saw in early times the monks and monasteries and hermits arose out of the pressing wants of the Church at that period, and being useful, were adopted, and, as it were, incorporated into her system; but when found to have become instruments of evil rather than good, they were set aside at the Reformation. May we ever keep in view the great end and objects of this Association, and remembering the principles upon which it has been established, seek earnestly for the accomplishment of its work-the welfare of the members, and, through their agency and co-operation with the Church, the furtherance of true religion and the extension of the Gospel Kingdom.

LECTURE II.

"SOME REMARKS ON COLONIAL INSTITUTIONS,"

DELIVERED IN THE MECHANICS' HALL,

BEFORE THE

MEMBERS OF THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE,

ON TUESDAY EVENING, THE 11TH OF DECEMBER, 1855.

HAVING been requested to give the first of this winter's course of lectures, in connection with this Institution, "The Mechanics" Institute of Montreal," I propose to endeavour to turn the occasion to some profitable account by making a few remarks on Colonial Institutions," and this amongst the number.

First, then, let me remind you that from the very expression, "Colonial Institutions," we have brought before us the connection with the Mother Country; and from the rapid and continual intercourse now kept up between England and Canada, from the constant immigration of fresh settlers, from the general circulation of news and information, respecting all that is going on in the Old Country, and from the admiration with which so many of us regard England, and the success of her Institutions, it is but natural that we should wish to see many of them reproduced here, and adapted to our position, that they may be to us, what they have proved to her, elements of social usefulness, and.means of political" greatness. The consequence, however, is that when we have established amongst us such an Institution as this, or, "The Natural History Society," or "a University," or, to go still further, "a.

Provincial Parliament," we are forced often into an unfair juxtaposition, as it were, with such Institutions in England: people look upon this picture and upon that, and because ours here are so comparatively insignificant, or beset with difficulties, many would hold them to be mere failures, unworthy of further support, utterly inadequate to the end proposed. Now I hope you will agree with me when any people do so judge of them, that they have come to an unhappy conclusion, drawn from false premises; and it is to place this more clearly before you, that I shall occupy at least some of our time during the passing hour this evening.

It is not yet quite one hundred years since Canada became & Colony of England; and has not yet, I believe, quite completed the first decade of her present Parliamentary system. Many of the Institutions of the Old Country date from the days of Alfred and Edward the Confessor; and the first assembly of the Commons, as a confirmed Representation, dates back as far as the year 1265 in the reign of Henry III. This Province, compared with the growth of England, has almost started, as it were, into sudden maturity, her population and material prosperity advancing with extraordinary rapidity, and also the necessities for various Institutions to suit her growing life. England has been nearly one thousand years consolidating her greatness and maturing her condition. But, nevertheless, as to public scientific institutions, even in England, they are comparatively of very recent growth. The "Royal Institution," of Great Britain, for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements, and for teaching, by courses of philosophical lectures and experiments, the application of science to the common purposes of life, was only formed in the year 1800, under the patronage of George III. "The Royal Society" for improving natural knowledge, had preceded it about 150 years; and others have sprung up more recently. It is true we have now the use and advantage of all their discoveries and publications; but we have a population very differently circumstanced to work with, and it is but just to take this fact into consideration.

First let us look at the subject, as respecting our Provincial Parliament and public official business. It is made a matter of

reproach very often, in the public newspapers and elsewhere, that many of the representatives of the people are only political adventurers, without any fixed political view or opinions, who seek a seat in the House merely for the sake of obtaining the allowance paid to members, or to get, at some happy conjuncture, their share out of the spoils of office, or to secure some special benefit for their own immediate locality. And again, how often do we hear complaints of the impossibility of getting business expedited through this or that public office, without some special private fee being forthcoming. This may be so in many cases; but if it be, however we may lament it, we must remember how far it arises from the present condition of the country. In a young country like this, where every one is engaged in the active business of life-where there are so few persons of acquired fortunes, who have time and inclination to devote themselves to the public service of the country, we must be more generally exposed to this risk, and with less feeling of an opposite kind to counteract it. But we are not on that account to decry our institutions as failures; but work onward in the hope and expectation of improvement. Nor is it fair to compare our Provincial Parliament with the Imperial Parliament as at present constituted, but rather let us look back but a very few years, and see what is then related of it. Payments, as here, used to be made to members in England for their attendance in Parliament, but they have ceased for a long time; and on the contrary, now, as is very notorious, peopleare willing to expend enormous sums for the mere honor of representing their native county in Parliament without expectation or desire of any pecuniary gain for themselves or those connected with them, perhaps continually occupying the opposition benches. These expenses have been much reduced since the passing of the reform bill; but when Mr. Wilberforce was returned for Yorkshire by the freeholders, free of all cost, in the famous contest with Lord Milton, (the present Earl Fitzwilliam,) his lordship was understood to have expended nearly £120,000.. Moreover, to very few of the leading politicians of the day in England, are the emoluments of office a necessity; and any one now known to have received a direct pecuniary bribe for his vote, would scarcely ever be able to recover from the disgrace attaching to such a trans

action. But it was not always so, how much soever the increase and more general diffusion of wealth may have in time rendered the payments for attendance unnecessary; and also produced a class of representatives, who, being themselves of more independent private fortune, are in a position more easily to despise the attempts of any minister who might try to corrupt them.

As late as 1724 Sir Robert Walpole used to make an allowance to all the Scotch members for their attendance in Parliament, as coming from a greater distance and poorer country. There being about that time, on one occasion, a difficulty about passing a bill, authorising a duty of sixpence on every barrel of beer in Scotland, as an equivalent to the malt-tax in England; the Scotch members were disinclined to vote for it. But the money was wanted, partly to defray an allowance of ten guineas weekly, which Walpole used to give to every Scotch member during the Session, in order, as was alleged, to support the charge of their residence in London. When they waited upon Walpole to remonstrate against this tax on beer in Scotland, he told them that they must find, or acquiesce in, some mode to make up this expense from the Scotch revenue, or else, as he expressed it, they must in future "tie up their stockings with their own garters." The Scotch members might thus have then had excellent reasons for yielding to this impost, but the Scotch people unhappily had none; and its result was a general irritation throughout the country, and a serious riot at Glasgow. But the system of Parliamentary corruption was too common in those days to excite much observation. It had been customary in previous administrations, but it reached its maximum under Walpole. It was just before Walpole's day that the Speaker of the House of Commons (Sir John Trevor), on one occasion, accepted a bribe of 100 guineas from the city of London, and on its detection was himself obliged to put to the vote, that he had been guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor. The Secretary of the Treasury, (Mr. Guy) on another occasion, was sent to the Tower for a similar A shameful system of false endorsement of exchequer bills on the part of several members was detected before; and even Burnett, the apologist of those times, is reduced to admit and deplore the extent of the corruption. In the "History of his own