eager, as restless, and as dissatisfied as when he was a poor lieutenant in the army of a republic which he despised. These are wholesome lessons; and with a view to them, as well as an historical study of importance, the volume claims attention.

The Present Law of Banns a Railroad to Clandestine Marriages: with Suggestions for a Remedy. By the Rev. S. C. Wilks, Rector of Nursling. Hatchard and Co. 1864.-This little volume is one of the few of which the performance is greater than the promise. It undertakes to explain the present law of Banns, to point out the imperfect manner in which they now perform their office, and to offer some suggestions for a remedy. All this it does; but, in addition, it gives, in a very pleasant style, a sketch of the laws affecting marriage ever since the Canons of 1603, interspersed with many curious and, sad as the subject is, some amusing anecdotes. Nor are Mr. Wilks's own suggestions for the amendment of the law to be passed by without serious consideration. These mainly consist in giving a more stringent form to the questions put to the parties who "put up their banns," before the clergyman shall be legally compelled to accept them. Much might be done in this way; but after all, if the parties are bent on deception, it will be found extremely difficult, if not impossible, to prevent them. If not of the lowest class, they can and do escape detection by a very simple artifice: that of taking a lodging for a few weeks in some neighbouring parish in which they are not known, and then obtaining a licence, or even by sending up their banns and running the slight risk of being found out before they are married. Amongst the lower orders, clandestine marriages are, we are sorry to say, by no means the greatest evil we have to fear. Indeed, the parents are very seldom seriously concerned, if their daughter is taken off their hands, and the lad who weds her has but a decent character. There is, we proclaim it with deep shame and sorrow, a far worse evil in the profound indifference with which marriage itself is too often regarded by, we fear, a large portion of the labouring poor. The woman in general solicits her future husband to the communion rail; and, alas! not without very apparent reasons for her conduct. Is it desirable, upon the whole, to throw impediments in the way? And would not decency, if not morality, be consulted by keeping the door open as wide as possible? We are acquainted with one large agricultural district in which marriage is, or lately was (for they have had a new church built in the heart of the district, and the state of things is, we may hope, improving) so utterly despised, that the general practice was for the man and woman to lease themselves to one another. While the lease lasted, they were faithful to each other; when it was over, say in three or four years, they were at liberty on both sides. In comparison with pollution such as this, clandestine marriage, that is, marriage without consent of parents or guardians, is a trifling evil. When the parties are of age, they can marry as they please, whatever be their station in life, if there be no legal impediment. At present, where the sanctity of marriage is felt at all, the attachment of the people is to the Church of their forefathers, and the proportion of marriages celebrated by her is overwhelming; and though we agree with Mr. Wilks that something may be done, and think his own suggestions admirable, yet we confess we would rather throw the onus,

as at present, on the conscience of those who bring the banns to the parish clerk or clergyman, than that the poor should be annoyed with a multitude of questions which may seem to them inquisitorial. Where all has been dark and heathenish before, a wedding often brings the parties married into a new and better condition of life. There is

a home and some few comforts; the clergyman, or his district visitors, find out the new couple, and bring them to church; they learn something of religion, of which they have heard but little hitherto ; and not seldom are thus brought into the true fold of Christ.

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Mr. Wilks discusses many other subjects, upon which we have not the opportunity to follow him at present, and we are reluctant to delay our notice of his little work. It displays correct and accurate knowledge of his whole subject, and will interest all classes of readers, while to the clergy it is invaluable.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

WE must confess to a feeling of relief that peace is restored to Europe, however unsatisfactory the terms on which it has been purchased. Denmark has been compelled to be a suitor for it, having lost everything-as the warrior of a past generation exclaimed, as he fled from the field, everything but her honour. The struggle for Polish independence has also closed amidst sanguinary conflicts, and executions more cruel, if not more bloody. England has felt but little interest in the cause of Poland, since the Pope and his creatures displayed so much. If Poland were really disposed to sell herself once more to the Jesuits, we began to feel that, of the two, she had better have a Russian master. However, the issue is deplorable; the last hope of Polish independence has now perished. But the elements of the disturbance are still abroad. We cannot regard what has taken place as another pacification of Europe. No great principles have been established; rooted prejudice is not confirmed; restless theories have not been set at rest. All we can say is, that the evil day is postponed; how soon it may again break out, and deluge Europe with blood, none of us can venture to predict, but all men feel that the time may be near at hand. On the contrary, we begin to hope that the furious tempest which has so long convulsed the American States will soon rage itself to rest." In the North there is a strong impression that our English view of the civil war is the right one, and that whatever feats of valour may be displayed on either side, and however profuse the merciless waste of human life may be, neither party can subdue the other. Since we last wrote upon the subject, battles have been fought, which for prodigality of slaughter, and, perhaps, for heroism on both sides, may rival anything of which we read in our own great war with Napoleon I. Yet no results follow; what the Federals gain, or what the Confederates lose, are unimportant questions. The war is hopeless as a war of conquest, and if persevered in a few months

longer, the consequence will be, not the restoration of the Union, but the loss of the Eastern States. But the plain fact is, that the sacrifice to Moloch dies out for want of fresh victims. The imposture is discovered, and the most senseless will not now sacrifice himself beneath this car of Juggernaut. That the Irish have been kidnapped and forced in great numbers into the Federal army, now admits of no doubt. The subject has been brought before the House of Lords, and the fact proved with a superfluous weight of evidence. We ourselves could, we believe, collect legal evidence, in a few days, to the truth of the following horrible story. A boy from Liverpool went out with an elder youth to New York, seeking a mercantile situation. On his arrival there, whether previously drugged or not we are not prepared to say, he was seized on by a crimp, forced into the army, promised a large sum for bounty, of which the greater part was seized by the villain who enlisted him, and, after a single week's drill, sent forward to the front, under a feigned name, so that it will probably never be known to his sorrowing relations whether the poor boy be alive or dead. The conscriptions of Napoleon Bonaparte present us with few atrocities to be compared with this. Ireland, however, has taken the alarm, and the emigration to America has totally ceased. The Federals will not fight their own battles, and the war must soon expire. All at once the tables are turned, and instead of the Southern States finally yielding before the invasion of still fresh armies, she has but to avoid engagements, and draw her enemies as far as possible from their supplies, and it seems as if the elements themselves will do the work of death: the stars in their courses will fight against Sisera. Come how it may, we shall rejoice when this dreadful conflict ends. What change can be for the worse? Virginia, says one of the latest correspondents of the Times, writing from the spot, is a "vast plain of burning lava, traversed by incarnate fiends." The war, after a fourth year's campaign, we still say, can have but one termination; the States must separate; they have already done so, and the step is final, unless some change, such as seldom occurs in human affairs, takes place in the dispositions of both parties. We have no ill feeling to either of them; we wish well to both. If it were only on this account, we should, to the utmost of our power, persuade them to the demolition of that frightful structure of domestic slavery, which otherwise threatens in its fall to be the ruin of both. The Confederates, it appears, are not averse to receive, though scarcely willing to make, overtures for peace. If their independence were conceded, they might be disposed to concede something on the question of slavery. For their own safety, the way to a gradual emancipation might now be prepared by themselves. But perhaps all this is premature. We know not how the campaign may close, or by what new influence either party may be possessed. A humbler duty than that of advising nations becomes the Christian Observer at present, and we are anxious to discharge it. A million of negroes are already free, and their freedom is a pledge for that of the three millions still in bondage. Now these men are in a state of the utmost destitution. They want all that man can want; no kind of assistance can come to them amiss. Committees have been formed in London, of which we gave a list in our number for April, for collecting assistance of what

ever kind, and these have since been extended to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham. It is proposed to freight a ship with implements of husbandry and tools, and the simplest clothing; indeed, whatever is sent will turn to good account, as it may be sold at New York, where a society for the relief of these wretched Africans also exists, at a handsome profit. We hope that not only our readers, who may be disposed to subscribe or to contribute manufactured articles to the fund, but that all who urge forward its claims on the public benevolence, will be careful to make it known, as we do for our own part, that we have no further object in view. Whether the North or South are more guilty, or whether, as we think, both alike share in the sin of slavery, these are not the questions. A million of men are in the most destitute condition; every sentiment of humanity, every argument of sound policy, pleads for their relief. Our own hands are not clean. We have grown rich on the toil and sorrows of the slave.

If we turn to affairs at home, and begin with Ireland, we have a disgraceful outrage to record, more injurious to the Protestant cause than any popish triumph. The Roman Catholics, after he has been dead twenty years, have discovered that O'Connell was a patriot, and resolved that he shall be the national hero. They have had a grand procession, and laid the foundation of his monument in Sackville Street, Dublin. This, if they thought fit, they had a perfect right to do, and nothing was done or said at which Protestants ought to have taken offence. But, a week after, certain Protestants at Belfast thought it necessary to express their resentment. This they did by carrying about O'Connell in effigy and finally committing him to the flames. The next day, this piece of foolery was repeated, only in an aggravated form. O'Connell's bones were supposed to be placed in a coffin, which was carried in mock solemnity to the gates of the Roman Catholic Cemetery, and there left. It is said that this idle and insulting demonstration was made by the mob of the town, and not even one respectable Protestant sanctioned it. If so, the disgrace is transferred to the magistrates, who ought at once to have interfered, and stopped the procession, and punished the ringleaders in a summary manner. This was not done, and the natural consequences followed. The Popish mob were in their turn the aggressors, and for a whole week the city of Belfast was the scene of party fights in which scores were severely injured and several on both sides were killed. We cannot pass lightly over such scenes as these. We invoke the hand of justice, just as we should have done, had the aggressors been Roman Catholics. We shall neither defend nor palliate. Protestantism such as this is of no worth whatever, or rather it is most injurious to the cause of the Reformation, to true religion, and to the only hope that remains to Ireland in her deliverance from the scourge of her priesthood, and all the abominations of Popery.

The reports of the Commission on Public Schools, and on the present state of our penal laws, are published. We intended to have given our views upon at least one of them, but we are compelled to wait for another month.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

MR. Cator Chamberlain wishes the following clause to be added to the last paragraph of his letter in our last number on Clerical Subscription,-"The change in the Oaths in 1858 not having respect to the clergy, they are still bound by the animus of the Legislature of 1688-9. This fact strengthens my protest against the oath of non-supremacy."

With reference to a statement on page 410 in our number for June, where it is stated that "with scarcely more than one great exception, that of the London and North Western line, our railways provide special excursion trains for the Lord's-day," we are requested to say that "the London and South Western Company have discontinued excursion trains on the Lord's-day both last year and this year."

We are also requested to insert the greater part of the Annual Epistle of the Society of Friends. We admire the spirit which it breathes; but, besides that our rule forbids us to reprint documents which have already been laid before the public, we are really unable to find space for it. We have original matter on hand, or in preparation, sufficient for several numbers; and we must take this opportunity of requesting our friends, whose contributions come under the head of Correspondence, to consult brevity as much as possible. For the same reason, namely, that it has seen the light elsewhere, we must decline to print a Remonstrance to Dr. McIlvaine, though we perfectly agree with the sentiments of the writer. We are amongst the number of those who look with grief and surprise upon his conduct in supporting the Federal government in the war, and offering no rebuke or remonstrance to his fellow. citizens, in the madness and passion with which they prosecute it. But it is now too late. The evil cannot be redressed, and the matter rests between the searcher of hearts and the bishop of Ohio. Otherwise, the writer asks, as thousands of English Christians are disposed to ask,-“Now, reverend sir, what have you done to admonish the rulers of your country of the enormity of their guilt, in metamorphosing the once free Republic into a military tyranny; in filling the State prisons with political offenders; in destroying liberty of person, of speech and writing; in permitting the most shocking barbarities to be committed by Butler and other of your soldiers, and, in a word, sanctioning the most atrocious crimes possible against the laws of civilization and humanity? Many of those in Great Britain who were formerly accustomed to look on you as an ardent lover of righteousness, and an uncompromising enemy of all that is base and cruel, have recently looked in vain for such rebuke, in your public' addresses, as the above direful circumstances demand. You seem to have been spell-bound by the hope that negro emancipation may be effected by these crimes, and to have concluded that such an end justifies the means! Reverend sir, if this be so, it is sad indeed to think of. Archbishop Ussher was attached to the party of Charles I.; yet he neither spared nor flattered any of that party, but plainly told them that their conduct would frustrate all hopes of success; for how could they expect that God would bless their taking up arms against their enemies, while they themselves were rebelling against Him.""