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ence, from Dr. Wiseman's inconsiderate and ill-deserved attack. We trust his censure of them will not lessen the willingness of the Unitarians of Lancashire, hereafter as hitherto, to lend a helping hand on fitting occasions to their Catholic neighbours.

Nor have their charities been limited to their neighbours. Once it was our pleasant lot to visit the Catholic monastery on Charnwood Forest, in the county of Leicester. The venerable and dignified Abbot who presided over the establishment, knowing not how gratifying the communication was to us, told us that no Protestants had helped them in their destitution so liberally as the Unitarians of Manchester. When the good man learnt that we belonged to that religious body, his attentions were more than courteousthey were truly kind.

Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the State and Operation of the Law of Marriage.

(From the Manchester Guardian.) Few public documents issued during this or any preceding session, present a wider field of social interest than the First Report of the Marriage-law Commissioners, lately issued. The Com. mission was appointed upon an address from the House of Commons, on the 28th June, last year, "to inquire into the state and operation of the law of marriage, as relating to the prohibited degrees of affinity, and to marriages solemnized abroad or in the British colonies;" and the gentlemen to whom this most responsible duty was entrusted were, the Bishop of Lichfield, Mr. Stuart Wortley (late Judge Advocate), Dr. Lushington, Mr. Blake, Mr. Justice Williams, and Mr. Rutherfurd, the present Lord Advocate. The whole question, or at least the most material question for elucidation, arose out of the indictment, at the Liverpool assizes, of a person named Chadwick, living in Manchester, for bigamy, he having married the sister of his deceased wife, and whilst she was yet living having married again. Mr. Justice Wightman, upon the trial, held that the marriage with the sister of the deceased wife was within the prohibited degrees intended by Lord Lyndhurst's Act. This marriage was consequently declared invalid, and the man was acquitted. The main question, then, to which the Commissioners directed their attention was, whether marriage with a

deceased wife's sister is within the prohibited degrees of affinity; and in connection with that subject, they endeavoured to ascertain, as far as practicable, the effect of Lord Lyndhurst's Act of 1835. On the first of these topics, the Commissioners say there is a great diversity of opinion; that the prevalent feeling amongst the witnesses is against such marriages, but that, judging from the evidence, they cannot entertain a reasonable doubt that families of a religious and moral character have, in instances where such connections have taken place among themselves or their friends, been perfectly satisfied, upon a review of the whole subject, that they are not objectionable either on religious or moral grounds. With regard to the Act of 1835, the Commissioners state it was a wise amendment of the former law, in so far as it abolished the distinction between void and voidable marriage; they then state that in 1846, a limited inquiry was instituted, at the instigation and expense of some private individuals, to ascertain to what extent the Act had been infringed, and whether hardships had been inflicted by it to an extent to warrant an application to Parliament for an alteration in the law. The inquiry was short, and limited to a small portion of England alone; but it was discovered that 1384 marriages within the prohibited degrees had been contracted since Lord Lyndhurst's Act, of which more than nine-tenths were with a deceased wife's sister. Only 88 cases were discovered in which the Act had prevented an intended marriage. On a review of the whole subject, the conclusion of the Commissioners is, that the Act of 1835 has failed in its object; and they express a doubt whether any measure of a prohibitory character would be effectual. Such marriages, they say, will take place, when a concurrence of circumstances give rise to mutual attachment. They are not dependent upon legislation; and it is added that such attachments and marriages are not likely to be extensively increased in number, because it is not the state of the law, prohibitory or permissive, which ever will effectually govern them. Among the witnesses examined before the Committee were the Rev. J. Garbett (examining chaplain to the Bishop of Manchester), the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Percival, Dr. Pusey, Dr. Wiseman, Dr. Cox (the eminent Baptist minister), the Rev. R. C. Jenkins, Archdeacon Sin

clair, Archdeacon Hale, the Archbishop of Dublin, the chief rabbi (Dr. Alder), Dr. Bunting, M. Bunsen, Mr. Cobden, &c. &c.

Presbyterian College, Carmarthen.

The annual examination at this College took place on the 21st and the four following days in June last. It was conducted by the deputation from the Presbyterian Board, the Rev. D. Davison, M. A., T. P. Warren, Esq., and P. Martineau, Esq., aided in the Hebrew and Mathematical department by Dr. Davis, Froodvale. After a very severe and minute examination, which lasted four days, commencing at 9 a. m. and continuing till 5 p.m. each day, the examiners and friends of the institution

met in order to declare the result of the examination, and award the usual Prizes which the liberality of Lewis Loyd, Esq., enables the deputation to give the successful candidates each year. Previous to the distribution of the Prizes, a sermon was delivered by the senior student, Mr. W. F. Stevens, the composition and delivery of which gave very great satisfaction.

The Rev. D. Davison then addressed the students at considerable length. He dwelt some time upon their general studies, as manifested by the examination, and expressed great satisfaction at its results. It was quite evident that they had been very diligent in the pursuit of their studies, and that the tutors had done their part of the business with much-care and efficiency. The examination was highly creditable to the tutors and their pupils. Mr. Davison then referred to the importance of an early formation of character in students designed for the ministry, and to the attention which should be paid to the maintenance of a good moral character; reminding them that the good name of the College was in their keeping, as the public would undoubtedly judge of the character of the institution, and that most justly, by the young men whom it sent out into active life. Above all things, they should be careful to manifest the principles of their holy religion, and the liberal spirit of the College, in their "life and conversation." He then stated that only four Prizes would be given that year, one to each class, and that the rest of the students would be divided into two classes, according to their degrees of merit. In this case, presents of valuable books would be made to all the students as a token of general approbation.

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Mr. Evan Jones,

Mr. George Palmer,
Mr. Henry Jones.

the deputation, presented some valu-
Mr. Davison, then, in the name of
able books to Mr. Stevens, who was
this session an extra student, and there-
Prizes. He expressed a very compli-
fore disqualified to compete for the
racter and acquirements, and hoped
mentary opinion of Mr. Stevens's cha-
that he would be eminently useful in
his future career.

Dr. Davis, Froodvale, expressed himthe examination in his department. He self highly gratified with the result of could venture to pronounce it the best examination, taken altogether, he had ever witnessed there, although the character of the examinations had been

gradually rising for the last 20 years.

nister, Swansea, concluded the proceedThe Rev. J. S. Hughes, Baptist miings by prayer.

tlemen, comprising laymen and minisOn Thursday evening, about 55 genters of different denominations, dined together at the Drovers Arms, W. G. Thomas, Esq., Mayor, in the chair. interesting speeches delivered on the We desired to give some report of the occasion, but straitened space compels

us to omit them.

Newcastle and North-of-England Unitarian Christian Tract and Missionary Society.

The third anniversary of this Society was held at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on Sunday and Monday, July 23 and 24. The religious services were conducted in

Hanover-Square chapel by the Rev. Samuel Bache and the Rev. Dr. Beard. Large audiences listened with deep and delighted attention to their impressive, valuable and truly Christian discourses, -the one on Christian Liberty, its Principles and Obligations,--the other

on the Wisdom, Goodness and Harmony of all the Dispensations of God. In the afternoon of Sunday, a meeting was held in the chapel to receive the report of the Committee of the Tract and Missionary Society for the past year. The income had been £44.6s.3d.; the expenditure, £46. 0s. 10d.; balance against the Society, £1. 148. 7d. Tracts circulated, 3299. Missionary services by Mr. Harris at Sunderland, Alnwick, Barnard Castle, Gelling and Evenwood. Sustained missionary labours in these and other places called for and required. Effort of the Alnwick congregation to pay off a debt of £70 on their chapel praiseworthy and deserving of aid. Robert Busby, Esq., of Alnwick, was in the chair at this meeting, which was well attended, and began and closed with religious worship. Collections, £15. 12s. 9d.

Monday afternoon, nearly 400 individuals assembled to tea in the Temperance Hall, Nelson Street, the Rev. Geo. Harris presiding, and J. D. Weatherley, Esq., the Sheriff of Newcastle, being Vice-President. The meeting was addressed by the Rev. Messrs. Bache, Beard, M'Dowell and Harris, and by Messrs. Clephan, Weatherley, Greenhow, Wallace and Dr. Hayle. The Sheriff, on behalf of the members of Hanover-Square chapel, presented Mr. Harris with a handsome testimonial on the expiration of the three years of his ministry.

Services at Cleator.-The following is a list of the preachers, and their subjects, at Cleator, in accordance with the generous wish of Mr. Ainsworth, made known at the recent meeting of the Provincial Assembly at Hyde, by Rev. Joseph Ashton :

1848. July 30, Rev. E. HAWKES, A. M., of Kendal.-Morning: On the benefits, in a religious point of view, of sound secular education (1 Thess. v. 21). Evening: On the duty of parents to give or obtain for their children religious instruction (Deut. vi. 5).

Aug. 27, Rev. J. G. ROBBERDS, Manchester. Morning: The character of God: God is love (1 John iv., part 8). Evening: The promised success of prayer (Luke xi. 9).

Sept. 24, Rev. J. ASHTON, Preston. Morning: On the Communion of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. xi. 26). Evening: The peace of affections centred in God (Job xxii. 21).

Oct. 29, Rev. FRANKLIN BAKER, A.M., Bolton.--Morning: Christ's command

to gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost (John vi. 12). Evening: Enter ye in at the strait gate (Matt. vii. 13).

Nov. 26, Rev. J. SCOTT PORTER, Belfast.-Morning: Heavenly joy for the Penitent (Luke xv. 20). Evening: The hidden person of the heart (1 Pet. iii. 4).

Dec. 31, Rev. Dr. BEARD, Manchester.-Morning: Holy Ground (Exodus iii. 5). Evening: The mutual and combined influence of Faith and Love (Gal. v. 6).

1849. Jan. 28, Rev. H. GREEN, A.M., Knutsford.-Morning: The advantages of giving attention to reading (1 Tim. iv., part 13). Evening: Accountability of the young (Jer. i. 6, 7).

Feb. 25, Rev. JOHN LAYHE, Manchester. Morning: The proper office of reason in relation to our religious life (Luke xii. 57). Evening: The imitation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. ii. 21).

March 25, Rev. JOHN ROBBERDS, B. A., Liverpool.-Morning: The presumption of pleading resignation to God as a substitute for effort by man (Prov. xix. 3). Evening: Faithfulness to duty equally possible and equally important in every condition (Luke xvi. 10).

April 29, Rev. G. VANCE SMITH, B. A., Manchester.- Morning: Jesus the Saviour (Matt. i. 21). Evening: On meditation and self-examination as auxiliary to a life of active usefulness (Rom. xii. 1).

May 27, Rev. R. B. ASPLAND, A.M., Dukinfield.-Morning: Christianity a religion for a man's home (Luke viii. 39). Evening: Miraculous cure of the Centurion's servant (Luke vii. 1—10).

June 24, Rev. W. GASKELL, A. M., Manchester.-Morning: The spirit in which differences of disposition should be treated (Gal. v. 13.) Evening: On the control and direction of Thought (Phil. iv. 8).

Morning service at 10 45; Evening service at 3 o'clock.

Warwickshire Unitarian Tract Society.

The forty-second annual general meeting of this Society was held at Oldbury, on Tuesday, August 8. The Rev. Hugh Hutton, M.A., of Birmingham, introduced the service, and the Rev. Matthew Gibson, of Kidderminster, delivered a discourse on the Paternal Character of God, from Matthew vi. 9, which was afterwards very justly acknowledged in a resolution conveying the cordial thanks of the Society, as "scriptural, judicious and appropriate."

The members and friends of the Society afterwards dined together, under the presidency of Thomas Eyre Lee, Esq., of Birmingham, when various sentiments were delivered in connection with the interests of the Tract Society, and with the general interests of Truth and Liberty. We believe that the feeling expressed by some of the speakers was entertained by all,-that they had seldom, if ever, attended a more interesting meeting.

Correspondence between Mr. Joseph Barker and Mr. Aspland.

It is with reluctance and regret that the following correspondence is inserted in the Christian Reformer. The Editor feels that an apology is due to his readers both for obtruding upon their notice a matter so personal to himself, and for this departure from his recorded purpose with respect to Mr. Barker. But he trusts that the very peculiar circumstances will be taken as a justification of his present course. There shall be no return to the subject. Mr. Barker's future accusations cannot, in the estimation of any right-minded and fair-dealing man, operate to the disadvantage of any one.

To Mr. R. B. Aspland.

The enclosed will appear in No. 12 of The People. If you have any explanation, I will publish it in No. 13, if speedily forwarded. One of my informants was one of your brother minis

ters.

JOSEPH BARKER.

Aug. 10, 1848, Wortley, near Leeds.

[Enclosed were the two letters that follow, signed J. K. and J. Barker.]

A LIBELLER.

Rotherham, Aug. 5, 1848. Dear Sir,-A number of Unitarians are circulating the following story respecting you. They say that you offered to be a missionary among them, on condition that they would give you £500 a-year-£200 for travelling expenses, and £300 to support yourself and your family; and that when some one asked you if it would not be contrary to your principles to take a salary, you replied, "Oh, we can arrange that; let Mrs. Barker receive the salary." This tale was told in a large company of ministers and others at Sheffield, some time ago, by R. Brook Aspland. The story is operating to your injury with many, and you would greatly

oblige a number of your friends if you would enable them, supposing it to be false, to give it contradiction.-Yours truly, J. K.

ANSWER.

Dear Friend, I am sorry that any Unitarians should be guilty of the low and unmanly vices of the Orthodox intolerants. The story is wholly false; and Mr. Aspland will not think it strange if I say, that unless he gives up his authority for the tale, I shall set him down as the fabricator and circulator of a grievous slander.

I say the tale is wholly false. I have never, in any case, done any thing at all resembling the thing which Mr. R. B. Aspland charges upon me.

About nine months ago, two Unitarians called upon me and proposed to raise me a thousand pounds a-year, to enable me to give up my printing business, and employ myself wholly in lecturing on theology. They proposed to give me from two to three hundred as a salary, and to employ the rest in paying the expenses of rooms, bills and travelling, and in purchasing tracts for gratuitous distribution. I objected to that portion of the plan that referred to a salary, but told them, that if they would spend the whole of the thousand pounds in tracts, I should be glad to lecture through the country, and put the and my family by printing. Those gentracts in circulation, and support myself tlemen came to me twice on this subject. They made their proposal in the presence of my wife and family, and I made my objections in the presence of the same individuals. When those gentlemen found that I was not to be induced to accept any thing as a salary, they said no more to me on the subject. Thus, so far from offering to lecture for a salary, I positively refused the offer when made by others.-Yours truly, J. BARKER.

Without the loss of a single post, i. e. on August 11, the following reply was sent to Mr. Barker, in the hope that, as The People, No. 12, would not be published till August 15, the defence might be printed together with the attack, or at least that it might be in good time for insertion, according to promise, in No. 13.

Dukinfield, Aug. 11, 1848. Sir, I have received your letter enclosing a cutting from No. 12 of THE PEOPLE, headed, "A Libeller." If your Rotherham correspondent or yourself had thought proper to submit the nar

rative imputed to me to my inspection, I should have informed you or him that it is grossly inaccurate. I shall content myself with briefly stating what I did say at the breakfast-party at Sheffield, which was a private one, and at which no one from Rotherham was present. A few days previously, I had been informed by a friend from Leeds (whose name I mentioned), that he had been waited upon by a friend of yours with a proposal that Mr. Joseph Barker should be set free from the printing business, for which he had less talent than for preaching, and should be enabled to devote his whole time to instructing the people as a missionary. My friend inquired how it was to be effected? The reply was, "That the Unitarians of England should raise about £500 per annum for the purpose, and that the Unitarians of Leeds should begin the scheme with a liberal subscription." My friend replied, "Mr. Barker's principles respecting the hired ministry stand in the way of such a scheme." It was said that difficulty could be arranged; that £300 could be given to Mr. Barker to pay his travelling expenses, and that the rest could be applied, without passing through Mr. Barker's hands, to defray household expenses. My friend inquired whether Mr. Barker was acquainted with the proposal, and was told he was. My friend added that he said, "He did not think the Unitarians of Leeds would raise £5 per annum towards supporting Mr. Barker as a missionary;" that thus the interview ended, and he had heard nothing more of the scheme.

Of the mode of remunerating you by buying a thousand pounds' worth of your tracts, my friend told me nothing. Had he been informed of this circuitous and somewhat costly mode of getting over the difficulty, I believe he would not have concealed it from me.

You are now, Sir, in possession of what was really said at Sheffield. You will of course insert my letter without alteration or omission. Whether you will see fit to withdraw the hypothetical terms of abuse in which you indulge on mentioning my name, is of no consequence to any one but yourself. To me, your censure is now as unimportant as your praise would be distasteful. I shall look on your personalities as a retribution for the wrong I unconsciously did to society, by assisting to arm with so powerful a weapon as the press, one who so frequently abuses it in the gratification of his personal animosities. I am, Sir, yours, &c.,

R. BROOK ASPLAND.

Mr. Joseph Barker.

The People, No. 13, was published Aug. 22, but contained neither the letter nor acknowledgment of its receipt, nor any allusion to the subject. No private communication, explaining the non-publication of the letter, has been received. Mr. Aspland has only to add that his friend in Leeds offered, on having his attention called to The People, No. 12, to avow and justify the narrative; but his offer was declined from the consideration of the inexpediency of any man's name unnecessarily appearing in a work like The People.

OBITUARY.

1848. Jan. 25, at Portland, N. America, Rev. JASON WHITMAN. The integrity of his character was impaired neither by deficiencies in his heart nor in his head. He was zealous and enthusiastic in every good cause, wise and of sound judgment in regard to action. To deep feelings and sensibilities he joined so deep and calm a faith, that he was ever cheerful and ever trusting. To a practical good sense, and practical habits of thought, he added a devout spirit; with all his earnestness of action and eagerness to produce outward improvement, he ever felt the worth of the things of the spirit, and was, indeed, as

distinguished for earnestness of spirituality as for earnestness of action.

Thus, and in almost all respects, he shewed the completeness, the wholeness of his character; and it was this, his manhood, that gave his words and his example weight among his fellowmen. Nobly were those words uttered, that example shewn. In good deeds he was always foremost to act, in good words always foremost to speak. A frequent contributor to our periodicals, a frequent lecturer at our lyceums, his writings were so marked with good sense, so aimed at good ends, that they had no inconsiderable effect upon the

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