in his anxiety to have the school established at the station, wrote a respectful note to the priest, stating the only hindrance which stood in the way of his obtaining possession of the house, and requesting him to grant the desired permission. This request was met by a stern refusal!

The national schoolmaster is not less zealous than his patron, the parish priest, in enforcing your anti-social doctrines. The day after your departure from the island, seeing one of the peasantry walking and conversing with a man who had left the church of Rome and joined our congregation, he openly reproved him for holding any intercourse with such a heretic, asking him did he not know "THAT HE WAS CURSED BY THE PRIEST FOR DOING SO?" The National Board of Education was framed for the specious design of uniting the Roman catholics and protestants in kindly feeling to each other. The public may judge with what wisdom the board pursues its design, when they are informed that, with full knowledge of the fact to which I have alluded, this teacher is still retained in their service.

I speak without exaggeration-I testify what I have seen and heard :—As I walked in company with a few of my brethren through a neighbouring village a few days after you had bestowed your parting benediction on Achill, even little children of so tender an age that their articulation was imperfect cursed us as we passed. In this very village, but a short time since, the little kindnesses which we occasionally conferred upon the poor people used to meet a rich return of grateful blessings. To what is the change in the spirit of the villagers to be attributed? You well know they have been accustomed to hear the most frightful imprecations uttered against us from the altar by men whom they regarded as heaven's messengers; you well know that they heard the bitterest of these effusions applauded by yourself.

I can testify that the people of this island are kind and peaceable, and very grateful for any kindness conferred upon them. I have always been able to trace any manifestation of contrary dispositions to the altar of the parish chapel, and to him who stands there as their religious teacher. "Tis now but a few days since an intelligent girl who came to our school, and who had received the rudiments of her education at one of the national schools which are established in this island, exhibited much surprise at hearing that command of our blessed Saviour which relates to the duty of loving our enemies, and which has been quoted in another part of this letter. She doubted if a command so much at variance from what the priest had taught her could have come from Christ whose minister she believed the priest to be. "Ye," said she, with a natural frankness which Romish discipline had not yet taught her to repress, "ye hate us and we hate ye, FOR THE PRIEST TEACHES US TO HATE

YE AND TO CURSE YE.

;

The week after you left Achill, a naval officer, distinguished in the scientific world as one of the explorers of the polar regions, visited the island, and during the few days of his sojourn among us he gathered some of the fruits of intolerance which you had sown. In the immediate neighbourhood of the chapel which a few days before had resounded with your anti-social harangues, he inquired of a peasant the nearest track to a point which he wished to reach but as this gentleman came from the protestant settlement, this faithful son of the church, in obedience to your injunction, refused to give the desired information. The courtesy which he had often received from the savage Esquimaux was withheld by an Irish peasant, evidencing that human nature, in its wildest state, may produce some social virtues which it cannot yield under the full cultivation of Popery.

So far I have only noticed those parts of your letter to the Bishop of London which relate to the Achill mission. I cannot, however, conclude without briefly animadverting upon a few of the other particulars contained in that composition. Your vulgar and indecent allusion to the personal infirmities of one whom you assailed as an intellectual antagonist deserves little notice; it can only be attriVOL. IX.-Jun. 1836.

L

buted to the influence of notions imbibed, and habits framed in early childhood, which continually prompt you to violate the conventional proprieties of cultivated society. Your heartless exultation over the sufferings of the protestant clergy is still more discreditable to you. If you had no pity for the men, the sufferings and privations of virtuous women and innocent children, involved with them in a common calamity, should have softened your tone of insulting exultation into that of generous sympathy.

In reference to the Bishop of London's statement concerning the increase of protestantism in Ireland, I must testify, even at the hazard of again exciting your indignation, that it quite accords with my own experience. I have travelled much through this province, and in every parish I have found among the most exemplary of the protestants a greater or a less number of persons who had been educated in the church of Rome, and lately abandoned its communion. Of ten individuals who have from time to time assisted me in the spiritual work of this mission, as readers or schoolmasters, eight were persons of this description-all (and some of them with large families) had come out from popery. EDWARD NANGLE.

Dugort, Island of Achill, Sept. 28, 1835.

SELF-SUPPORTING DISPENSARIES.

[THESE dispensaries are for the purpose of providing medical relief for the poor, much on the plan of friendly societies. They are established at fifteen or sixteen places, and are stated to succeed. Mr. Smith, a surgeon, of Southam, who was the projector of them, states that the Poor Law Amendment Act allows no medical assistance to persons receiving other relief. The plan seems to deserve attention, but the Editor knows nothing personally of it. And, in this Coventry branch, he does not see one or two honoured names, ever first in the cause of Christian charity, among the subscribers!]

Extracts from the Rules of the Coventry Benevolent or Self-Supporting Dispensary.

GENERAL RULES.

1. The object of this institution is to enable the labouring classes to ensure to themselves and their families efficient medical advice and medicine during illness, by their own small periodical payments during health; and by the contributions of the more opulent, to assist them in attaining this object, and to afford them other comforts in sickness, which their own wages are insufficient to procure.

2. The funds of the institution are derived from the payments of the working classes, who are termed free members; and from the subscriptions of the honorary members, who, on becoming donors of ten guineas at one time, or annual subscribers of one guinea, shall be governors. The subscriptions of the governors commence on the 25th of March, and shall be paid in advance.

3. The funds shall be kept in two distinct accounts, to be called "The Free Members' Fund," and "The Honorary Fund." The Free Members' Fund, consisting of the payments of the free members, (who are of the working classes,) shall defray the cost of drugs, and the remainder be divided among the surgeons, in such proportions as the committee may decide, at the end of every half-year. The Honorary Fund, which is derived from the donations and subscriptions of the governors, shall be expended in the support of the establishment, and in the supply of such comforts, in broth, cordials, linen, &c., as the patients may need.

10. A committee of ladies, appointed at the annual meeting of the governors, shall be requested to promote the general objects of the institution, by visiting the sick free members, and superintending the distribution of loans of linen, and of such other comforts, in wine, broth, &c., as the medical officers may deem necessary. The surgeons shall leave with the matron a list of those patients whom it may be proper for the ladies to visit.

14. The medical officers shall be elected at a general meeting of the governors. No person shall be eligible to the office of surgeon who has not obtained a diploma from the College of Surgeons of London, Dublin, Edinburgh, or Glasgow.

15. The surgeons shall prescribe daily at the dispensary, at an appointed time, for those patients who are able to attend there; but when any patient too ill to go to the dispensary, the surgeon he prefers shall visit him at his own residence.

16. The surgeons shall keep a register of the name, age, residence, date of admission, and discharge, of each patient; with the result of the case, and any observations they may deem important. No operation of importance to be performed without a previous consultation of all the medical officers of the institution.

17. The surgeons, in cases of difficulty, or where the patient may wish it, and it may seem desirable, shall call in the aid of the consulting physician.

18. The dispenser shall be appointed by the surgeons, subject to the approval of the committee. He shall take charge of the drugs and stores of the establishment, and give an account of all articles received by him. He shall not absent himself from the dispensary without the permission of the surgeons, and shall dispense the prescriptions of the medical officers at the appointed hours, and in the intermediate time, if they require him to do so.

RULES FOR THE FREE MEMBERS.

1. The Free Members consist of working persons and servants, their wives and children not receiving parish relief, and who are unable to pay for medical advice in the usual

manner.

2. Any such person wishing to become a free member, must leave his or her name, age, residence, and occupation, at the dispensary, and deposit one month's subscription.

3. Every free member above twelve years of age shall pay one penny, and under that age, one halfpenny a-week; except in a family consisting of more than two children, when one penny a-week shall be considered sufficient for all under twelve years of age. Servants shall pay five shillings a-year, and in not less than half-yearly payments.

4. The payments of the free members shall be made in advance. No one will be entitled to the benefits of the institution, if in arrear, and each family shall pay a fine of one penny for the arrear of every week. If any member shall be more than four weeks in arrear, his or her name shall be erased from the books.

5. Benefit societies will be received as subscribers to the dispensary, and their members entitled to all the benefits of the institution. The rate of subscription shall be three shillings a-year for each member. The payments to be made by the stewards quarterly, and in advance. 6. No one actually labouring under sickness can be admitted a free member unless two healthy persons above twelve years old enter at the same time, and each pay the whole year's subscription in advance. Any such person, unable to procure two others to enter with him, shall, by paying ten shillings, be entitled to the privileges of a free member for three months; and may afterwards continue a member by paying the usual rate of subscription.

7. If any free member shall be discovered by the committee to be ineligible to the benefits of the institution, his or her name shall be erased from the books.

& Every free member shall have the choice of whichever surgeon he may prefer; but it will be expected that he do not change his medical attendant during his illness. He may have a consultation of the medical officers, if it be thought advisable.

9. Those patients who are able to do so, must attend at the dispensary between ten and eleven in the morning, bringing their admission ticket at the first visit, and afterwards their prescription paper. Those who are too ill to attend at the dispensary, must send their tickets, before nine o'clock in the morning, to the surgeon whom they wish to call upon them, and he will visit them at their own homes. In cases of accident or sudden illness, they can have the attendance of either of the surgeons, on sending their ticket to his residence.

10. No free member will be visited at his own home, if he reside beyond one mile from the institution.

11. Any married free member, being pregnant, may have the attendance of whichever surgeon she may prefer, on depositing, at the dispensary, ten shillings and sixpence, one month before her expected confinement.

12. When considered necessary by the medical gentlemen, linen will be lent, and cordials, broth, and other comforts, given to the free members by the ladies' committee.

13. Patients must find their own bottles, bandages, &c.

14. The children of free members, and of all poor persons, may be vaccinated, gratis, on any Wednesday or Thursday morning at eleven o'clock.

15. The surgeons will attend at the dispensary at ten o'clock every morning, except Sunday, in the following order :

Mr. Nankivell, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Mr. Bicknell, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Wellesbourne Self-Supporting Dispensary.

Self-Supporting

At a general meeting (held the 23d of June, 1831,) of the Wellesbourne

Dispensary, the accounts of the half year were audited, and a balance of 31. 10s. 10d. carried to the next half year's account.

Wellesbourne is a village with a population of 800 or 900.

The former report (to Christmas, 1830,) was laid before the meeting, by which it appeared, that from the time of the commencement of the club, at Midsummer, 1828, the number of subscribing free members had gradually increased from 140 to 225, and that the sum of 951. 5s. 10d. from the Honorary Members' Charity Fund had been expended in providing broth, meat, wine, linen, nurses, &c. for the sick.

It appeared that the sum of 691. 168. 6d. had been expended in a supply of medicines and drugs during the same period, and that the number of persons relieved at the dispensary had amounted in all to 1233, including all casual applicants of every class.

It appeared also that only two or three persons had applied to the honorary members for charity tickets, a circumstance highly gratifying to the committee, and shewing that there was no disposition on the part of the labourer to solicit gratuitous relief, while, by a small contribution from the honest earnings of his own industry, he was allowed to provide against the time of illness and necessity.

By the sixth half year's report, from Christmas, 1830, to Midsummer, 1831,-it appeared, 1. That the number of industrious contributing free members was still on the increase, and that several new candidates were on the list for approval and admission.

2. That the dispensary this last half year paid its own expenses as far as medical attendance and medicines, so that the amount given by the honorary members had been expended in providing broth, meat, wine, nurses, linen, and other requisites for the free members of the blue class.

3. That 194 persons had received relief from the dispensary during the last half year, including all casual applicants of every class, and four patients with charity tickets.

4. That one member only had left the club, and that the arrears from the blue members amounted only to five shillings.

It is stated that at Coventry there have been patients admitted, from the commencement of the institution, July 18, 1831, to March 25, 1832,

Cured
Relieved
Dead

Under treatment

Midwifery Cases

1505

1189

at an expense of 1267. 78. 11d. ; viz., 45l. 10s. 3d. the cost of medicine, and 80l. 17s. 8d. paid to the surgeons.

The importance of these facts will be apparent, by comparing them with the expenses of honorary dispensaries, where the average cost in drugs has been fourfold, and whereby the character of man, as a provident being, is undermined, and he is daily taught not to "provide for his own household;" the amiable, but mistaken, distributors of eleemosynary charity

having come in aid of the worst part of our Poor Laws, till they have destroyed in millions the "prospective feeling" altogether, and have denationalized the English artizans and labourers, who come at length, in their hunger and despair, with a knife in one hand and a brand in the other, demanding that property and bread, from the comparatively industrious, they have been taught to waste and destroy for themselves, by the misplaced charity of those who thus make "beggary a better trade than the spade and the workshop." The blame rests on those who are too idle, too ignorant, or too rich, to discriminate.

Birmingham Self-Supporting Dispensary.

The report read at the second annual meeting states, that there has been "not only a great increase in the total number of patients, but a more than proportionate increase in the independent class. By the report of the surgeons it appears, that 1406 cases have been attended during the past year;-of this number 34 were midwifery and 1372 sick,-and of the latter, 1195, more than six-sevenths, are independent patients, who have paid their own expenses."

THE lay fund for assisting the Irish clergy to proceed at law for the recovery of their just debts appears to have already had very good effects. Mr. Grattan and other persons have, according to the newspapers, at last come forward to pay their arrears. These gentlemen, one may say, have at last been brought to a sense of justice-justice objective, not subjective. All honour is due to both kinds of justice; and all respect to those who act on the latter. To Mr. Grattan and the gentlemen of objective justice, none. It is simply a good thing that men pay their just debts, whether they do so because they ought, or, as in Mr. Grattan's case, because they find that they must. It would seem, too, that in the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute it has occurred to the Irish government that, whatever becomes of the Irish clergy, it would be an awkwardness that his Majesty's Court of Exchequer should be put down by the priests, as it may be wanted for other purposes, and consequently they have been pleased to allow that where an exchequer process is to be served, and oath is made that a riot is expected, aid may be given by the police and military. This small shew of the exertion of common law on behalf of the ruined and persecuted clergy they owe to the lay fund, which enables them to apply to their last resource. But what is to be said to this fact, that an actual member of the English government, and a lord of the Treasury, Mr. More O'Ferral, is, according to statements made publicly, one of the persons who resist the law, who will not pay tithes, and is, if the newspapers be correct, exchequered at this very moment for his unlawful proceedings? As to Mr. More O'Ferral, he is himself neither better nor worse than any other of Mr. O'Connell's friends, nor is any personal attack upon him meant. But would any government before have allowed one of its members openly to resist the law; and not only to resist it on some individual ground, but to join one of the most fearful combinations to resist the law which has ever been known-a conspiracy organized by the priests, and executed by those who are subject to them with a degree of violence and cruelty which would disgrace New Holland? Such, however, is the fact.