admit the operation of more causes than one.' (Malthus' Polit. Econ.. Introd.) Yet, with all reverence be it spoken, in the One First Cause, in the Almighty Being himself, we find, not an uncompounded Unity, but an Unity in Trinity. And in the economy of His operations, we find numberless instances of remedial provisions, calculated to meet exceptions and correct aberrations.

The proper relative position of the Sovereign and the Church appears aptly and beautifully illustrated in the domestic circle, that elemental type of all human society. There the husband is head of the entire family, and rules with power unchecked and uncontrolled. Yet is not the wife debarred from the gentle and powerful authority of suasion and moral influence, and both together, and not alone, are objects of obedience and reverence to the members of the household. Even so should we not refuse to recognise the co-ordinate powers of the Church and State, nor should we seek, with the Romanists, to merge the State in the Church, nor, with Erastianism, the Church in the State.

We may add a few words of practical applicability on the immediate case which has called forth these remarks.

The quotations in the speech of the Attorney-General, at the late trial in the Queen's Bench, from the preambles of the Acts of Elizabeth and Edward VI., go far to prove that the object of the Statute 25 Henry VIII. c. 20, was to vest the appointment of Bishops in the Crown; while, with a laudable disinclination to remove the ancient landmarks,' and that reluctance to admit any farther innovation than was absolutely necessary which so happily distinguished the English Reformation, the old forms were left unaltered.

It would, we think, be a salutary change that these, if they are not to be permitted to have any vital energy, should now be removed from our statutes, and the appointment vested without so circuitous a process in the Sovereign. A form is but a 'caput mortuum,' if it be not the embodiment of an active principle.

At the same time we would reserve to the Church a liberty of remonstrance, or demanding an investigation in cases of supposed or imputed immorality of life or heterodoxy of opinions.

This would in no degree derogate from the monarchical prerogative, and it is a safeguard which should in all fairness be granted to the Church, when the appointment to her highest offices may become vested in one who is not included in her pale. The Sovereign of this country must still, by the constitution of the realm, be a mem

.ber of the Church. But the doors of parliamentary and political advancement have been opened to all subjects, however inimical to her interests, nor is there aught to bar their attaining the most elevated posts in the Administration. The patronage which is still by courtesy called that of the Crown, to whom it belongs 'de jure, is de facto vested in the Premier of the Government, and may therefore come to be exercised by any 'jew, infidel, or heretic.'

It is highly probable that some measure with a view to conferring uncontrolled power on the Sovereign in the nomination to Bishoprics will be brought forward in the legislative assembly of the Empire, and, strongly attached as we are to the support of the royal prerogative, we would earnestly press on Parliament a regard to the liberty of the subject in this instance.

It is curious, by the way, to observe how extremes meet. It is the Whig party, the fundamental principle of whose politics, through the alternation of classes which have borne the name, has always been resistance to the preponderance of the element of royalty, who now talk so loudly and indignantly of interference with prerogative.

It is satisfactory, after the above remarks were written, to find the principle of them sanctioned by the authority of one of the most distinguished and able prelates of the English Church, the Bishop of Exeter, who, in a speech before the House of Lords, advocated such a course as is in them suggested.

TRINITY COLLEGE.-SCHOLASTIC DISCIPLINE.

THE course pursued by Major Jelf Sharp towards Trinity College is known to most of our readers, but they can hardly be aware of the extreme malignity shown by some, who have made a tool of this gentleman's weakness, in the vain hope of injuring that institution. Neither cost nor principle has been spared to turn from it the tide of popular favour with which its opening was greeted. As a specimen of their proceedings we may mention, that we received through the Post Office a circular headed, Trinity College, Glenalmond, Perthshire its doctrines and doings,'-containing Major Sharp's letter, an ill-natured attack on the Warden, which appeared in a low English paper at the time of his appointment, and a few garbled

extracts from a letter of the Bishop of St Andrews. It contains also other insinuations about Romanism, Tractarianism, &c., which could be put forth only by men in whom the love of truth does not predominate, and who follow the maxim which they are ever imputing to Rome, that the end justifies the means.' This, we have reason to believe, has been widely circulated, but it is too entirely beneath contempt to deserve farther notice.

Major Sharp's objections may be fairly classed under the two heads of Scholastic and Ecclesiastical Discipline, and therefore we propose briefly to discuss them in two consecutive numbers; restricting ourselves for the present to the subject of Scholastic Discipline.

At the outset, however, we must protest against the supposition that we meditate attempting anything so unnecessary as a defence of the Warden. His whole conduct in the transaction with Major Sharp has been characterized with a moderation calculated to win the respect. of every one. Four several times was he unnecessarily dragged into a painful correspondence with that gentleman, the whole of which has been printed for the private use of the Members of the Council, and of which we have been favoured with an inspection; and we feel bound to say, that the perusal of this gave us increased confidence in his character and qualifications.

Had Major Sharp, when he sent his boy to the College, reposed that entire confidence in Mr Wordsworth which was absolutely necessary, and had he resolved to abstain from all subsequent interference, the results, so disastrous to his own peace, and so injurious to the future character of his child, could never have happened. When a case of discipline occurred in which his son was concerned, he was not content to leave the matter in the hands of the Warden, but presumptuously attempted to regulate the discipline of the College. He first obtained information from another quarter, and then proceeded, not to inquire of the Warden, but to 'judge and condemn his administration of discipline.' He knew, or might have known, had he calmly made inquiry, that the Warden, in conjunction with the Sub-warden, had carefully investigated the case, that his son had by them been found guilty of bringing a false charge against one of the prefects; and that, in consequence, he had received a reprimand for this moral delinquency. For the Warden to have yielded to Mr Sharp's absurd request, after having once made this investigation, would have been to acknowledge his own incompetency, to render futile all future efforts to maintain discipline in the Col

lege, and to destroy the confidence of every other parent interested in the success of the institution. No man of sound or sober judgment would ever have thought of making such a request. Let any person only consider what must be the inevitable consequence, were every parent to demand a second investigation, whenever his son received correction for a fault. Surely any parent, in whose mind vanity and self-conceit did not supersede all better judgment, would unhesitatingly prefer that his child should suffer unmerited chastisement (even were it such), and teach him to bear his cross with humility, rather than run the awful risk of laying in his mind a deep foundation of deceit and disobedience. For of the demoralizing effect on the boy of such a line of conduct, few who reflect at all can be insensible. In this case the danger was greatly heightened by Major Sharp removing his boy (when his request for a second inquiry was refused), under circumstances of 'language and behaviour,' by no means creditable to him, in the hearing and in the presence of his child; and he has ever since persisted in declaring his implicit confidence in his son's words in opposition to the judgment of the Warden. On Major Sharp's own mind the correction of his boy has made a great change. Before he sent him to the College, he attended the Chapel solely to satisfy' himself 'that the service was performed in the spirit of deep reverence and devotion;' and subsequently visited him there for the purpose of 'strengthening him to the utmost of his power, to follow up the excellent system laid down by the Warden. But this reverence and devotion, and this excellent system became, after the removal of his son, 'ultra and extreme High Church principles,' 'tractarianism,' the 'slippery path to the vortex of Romanism,' 'an antiquated and almost monastic system.' Whether this wonderful discovery be entirely creditable to Major Sharp's honesty of character, and integrity of purpose, we leave to the judgment of others. With the internal discipline, he, as a matter of course, became equally dissatisfied, objecting especially to the institution of prefects; and this brings us to the point which it is our chief object to consider at present.

In a large public school, it is clearly impossible that the pupils can be under the eye of the masters at all times; and therefore, without some supplementary arrangement of subordination and authority, disorder must occasionally arise among them when left to themselves, and the younger and weaker be subject to the tyranny of the stronger. It seems, therefore, consistent with soundest dis

cretion, to place a sufficient number of the senior boys in a position of authority, and to hold them in some measure responsible for the good conduct of the others. This is the system pursued at all the great English public schools; and although abuses may have there existed, and traditional usages rendered these difficult of correction, it has, especially of late, since the revival of just notions on the subject of education, been found to work well. The statutes and internal discipline of these noble institutions were originally derived from a thorough knowledge of human nature,-of the wants, capacities and infirmities of boyhood; and whatever of evil has become mixed up with them has been the result of subsequent innovations. The rule in all reformation is, to do away the abuse, and retain the right use.' This, in a great measure, has been done in the old established schools of England; and it is hoped, that in a new institution, a system which has been found to work well elsewhere, may be introduced, so free from defects as to render it perfectly unobjectionable.

In Scotland, the fagging system is looked upon with great abhorrence; nor is this wonderful, as it there conveys but one idea-that of making the junior boys slaves to the seniors. But we hope to be able satisfactorily to show, that this forms no part of the design of the institution of prefects in any school; and we can state at once, that the fagging system was utterly unconnected with the office of prefects, or monitors, as they are called in some of the English public schools.

From the statutes of William of Wykeham, the founder of Winchester College, we shall easily ascertain what was the main object of the institution of Prefects.*

Their first duty was to guard against vice in their own persons and in others, and be an ensample to the rest of the school of obedience, industry, and good conduct. In each of the six chambers of that institution, the statutes require that there should be three scholars more advanced in years, in discretion, and in learning than the rest, to superintend their schoolfellows in the same chamber and carefully oversee them; which is afterwards explained to mean a Christian superintendence- a Christian regard on the part

* Our information on this subject is obtained from an address of Mr Wordsworth to the prefects at Winchester, in which he quotes all the statutes relating to their order. It is the last Lecture in the first volume of 'Christian Boyhood at a Public School.'