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In our Number for July last, there was an article, headed, "Modern Reformation in Ireland," in which the author opposes the formation of the "Reformation Society," and at the conclusion expresses his regret that his opinions and views "are at variance with those of the great and good men, the prelates and the other eminent individuals of the Church of England, who patronize the Reformation Society.' It is impossible to hear the names of the Archbishops of York and Dublin, and the Bishop of Salisbury, without feelings of the deepest respect and admiration. been so strong, as all but to overpower the conviction under which we labour, and In us they have which we have endeavoured to express, that the confederacy to which they are pledged, is not well calculated for effecting the moral regeneration of Ireland."

We have lately learned, from unquestionable authority, that so far from his Grace the Archbishop of York having approved and lent his countenance to the "Reformation Society," he has always entertained, and still entertains, the strongest and most conscientious doubts as to its utility; and that while he feels the most earnest anxiety for the promotion and spread of the Protestant faith, he neither considered it proper or expedient to encourage the establishment of a branch of that Society in his own diocese; and, consequently, discountenanced any attempt to introduce it within the limits of his jurisdiction. been employed in this matter, by our excellent correspondent, may have arisen from The way in which his Grace's name has the circumstance, that his son, Captain Frederick Vernon, R. N., had attended several meetings of the "Reformation Society" in Ireland; and thus the error may probably have sprung up, that those meetings had the sanction of his father the Archbishop.

A correspondent of ours, in an article entitled "British Settlements in Western Africa," (in No. CLVI. for September last,) made use of expressions towards Captain Fraser of the Royal African Corps, which we find were quite unwarranted. In justice to Captain Fraser, we have great pleasure in stating, that we have just seen very flattering testimonials in his favour from several gentlemen of high rank in the army, under whom he has served, who all speak of him in the highest terms as an able, zealous, and active officer.

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THE violent political partisans of education might be offended even with the word objection; as if to offer an objection were to set yourself against education, and to shew your self to be an enemy of knowledge. If they were philosophers, they would see that such sensitiveness shews a misunderstanding of the magnitude of the subject, and of the constitution of the world. For education is a great, a boundless power; and no such power can be set in motion among men, whose faculties are disordered, and whose will is mixed, without producing, greatly and conspicuously, both good and evil.

The objections to education, urged by many enlightened men, are, that it tends to produce danger to religion, and danger to the state. Observe, that the education spoken of by them is essentially and pre-eminently-intellectual. True, that the education of Scotland has been something more-religious-not a gift of the state, however that might assist, but emanating from, and dependant on, its Church, laid on it by deep persecutions. But without peculiar circumstances which may give it this character, or considering it without this character, which is the proper way of learning its own nature, Education is intellectual. It is a cultivation of man's intellectual faculties, of his understanding, and his powers of reasoning. It has, therefore, a tendency to raise in him a very high opinion of those faculties, and to induce

VOL. XXVII. NO. CLXI.

him to form an undue estimate of their power and province.

What is the effect of this? Generally-self-confidence, a feeling either good or evil-purified, it is good, and a necessary part of goodunpurified, it is immoral. But secondly and specifically, the effect is confidence in those particular powers, -an effect not necessarily ill either, -but more easily ill, and more difficult to guard. For moral self-confidence is purified by morality, which is in the power of every one, but intellectual self-confidence is purified only by the very highest instruction, which is necessarily reserved for very few.

Intellectual self-confidence thus produced by intellectual cultivation, is, in the first place, confidence in the powers of the human mind generally; then, in those of the human being himself. It has been seen in the last age of the history of the human mind, what confidence in the sufficiency of the human faculties generally may be in result. We have seen that the evil caused thereby has been tremendous. To extend the same confidence to orders hitherto uninstructed, is, unless guarded against, to extend to them the possibility, perhaps the probability, of the same result,-to make them partakers in the proud error of self-misled philosophy,-to carry down into their privacy of life, their humble security and their obscure peace, the dazzling illusions and ambitious falsehoods, which hu

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