Ordination of the Rev. Franklin
Baker.

The ordination of the Rev. FRANKLIN BAKER took place in the Bank-Street Chapel, Bolton, on Thursday the 23rd of September. The service commenced at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, with an introductory prayer by the Rev. Charles Wallace, of Altrincham. Afterwards a few questions were proposed to the young minister by the Rev. J. G. Robberds, of Manchester, in which he was requested to state what were the views with which he had undertaken the duties of the pastoral office: to these queries he returned a very modest and sensible reply, declaring his conviction of the truth and importance of the Christian religion, and his determination to make it the rule of his teachings and practice. Another prayer was then offered up by the Rev. Mr. Tate, of Chorley, for the mutual happiness of the pastor and his flock in the connexion then solemnly ratified between them. The Rev. John Kentish, of Birmingham, next delivered an excellent charge, abounding with the most judicious precepts and affectionate advice, which was listened to with the deepest attention by the whole assembly, and must have been felt peculiarly edifying by the numerous young ministers who were present. The charge was followed by a sermon from the Rev. Mr. Bransby, of Dudley, who preached, in a very animated and argumentative strain, from Acts iv. 19 and 20, upon the principles of Protestant Nonconformity, and, in conclusion, made a touching application of his discourse to the peculiar circumstances of the occasion. A short prayer from Mr. Bransby terminated the interesting services of the day. In the afternoon, the congregation, the ministers, and several lay-friends from the neighbourhood dined together. The subject of the Revival of Ordination Services amongst Protestant Dissenters was discussed in several speeches that were delivered after dinner. There seemed to be but one feeling as to the agreeable and salutary impression

Midland Catholic Association.

Sept. 22nd, a public meeting of the Catholics of the midland counties was held at the Royal Hotel, Birmingham, (EDWARD BLOUNT, Esq., in the Chair,) for the purpose of forming a Catholic Association in connexion with that established in the metropolis. One of the resolutions entered into was to the following effect: "That the basis on which this Association is founded is the right which every man possesses of worshiping God according to the dictates of his conscience, with

out being subjected on that account to any civil pains, penalties or disabilities whatsoever. That in accordance with the principle above declared, we solemnly protest against being called upon, as the condition of enjoying our civil rights, to take any oath, or make any declaration, or submit to any arrangements, which may, in the remotest degree, affect the most free exercise of our religion; but as we have already taken, so we shall be at all future times prepared to take, any oath approved by our ecclesiastical superiors, which will perfectly secure most full and complete allegiance, in all civil concerns, to the Government of our country." Mr. Blount was elected Chair man of the new Association; Mr. Hardman, Treasurer; and the Rev. T. M. M'Donnell, Secretary and Chairman of the Committees.

our

LORD BYRON.-A character of this ex

traordinary man in the London Magazine for October, has excited much attention. Some of his friends are disgusted with the freedom of the detail of his Lordship's errors, but the general truth of the picture seems to be admitted, and is indeed supported by strong internal evidence. The following passage relates to his views of religion:-" He left very little behind him. Of late he had been too much occupied by the Greeks to write, and, indeed, had turned his attention very much to action, as has been observed. Don Juan he certainly intended

to continue; and I believe that the real

reason for his holding so many conferences with Dr. Kennedy in Cephalonia was, that he might master the slang of a religious sect, in order to hit off the character with more verisimilitude.

"His religious principles were by no means fixed; habitually, like most of his class, he was an unbeliever; at times, however, he relapsed into Christianity, and, in his interviews with Dr. Kennedy, maintained the part of an Unitarian, Like all men whose imaginations are much stronger than the reasoning power -the guiding and determining facultyhe was in danger of falling into fanaticism, and some of his friends who knew him well, used to predict that he would die a Methodist-a consummation by no means impossible.

"From the same cause-the preponderance of the imagination-there might have been some ground for the fear which beset his latter moments that he should go mad. The immediate cause of this fear was, the deep impression which the fate of Swift had made upon him. He read the life of Swift during the whole of his voyage to Greece, and the

melancholy termination of the Dean's life haunted his imagination.”

Ireland.

Ecclesiastical affairs in this country are evidently coming to a crisis. The Catholic Association has become more vigorous, and unites within its pale nearly the whole Catholic population, including nobility, gentry, professional men, merchants and the people, and the clergy of all ranks, from the prelate to the parish priest. The leaders of this body, knowing that money is the sinew of war, have instituted a voluntary tax upon the Catholics, under the name of the Catholic Rent, which has been gradually increasing, and now brings in £300 per week. To this fund, the nobleman and the peasant contribute their proportions. The object of it is to employ the press in the Catholic cause, and, above all, to support weekly and daily petitions to the Legislature. Dr. Doyle, the titular Bishop of Kildare, says in a letter to the Association just published, that the Government must put down this body or grant emancipation. Mr. O'Connell is the leading speaker of the society. His speech at the opening of their present session is abundant in eloquence, if not in wisdom. He praises the King of France, the Marquis Wellesley, Mr. Cobbett and the King of England; and pours out his censures very freely on the Lord Chancellor, Mr. Goulburn, the Holy Alliance and the English press. Other speakers attack the Bible Society and the various proselyting institutions in Ireland. A motion is announced for an address to the People of England on the subject of these societies. Of late, the Catholics have made a point of attending Bible and other public meetings of the more zealous Protestants, and of pointing out mistakes and contradicting false assertions; the effect of which has been, in some instances to cause the meetings to disperse, and will probably be to check the progress of itinerant eloquence in Ireland, which even in England Cobbett, the political Proteus, is now the has become insipid, if not tiresome. avowed advocate of the Irish Catholics, and they have adopted him, by a formal resolution, as their champion. It is easy to foresee that Ireland will fill a large space in the debates of the next session of Parliament.

The late Dr. Oudney, the African Traveller.

(From the Glasgow Courier.) WE insert an interesting letter from Lieut. Clapperton, regarding the death of his fellow African traveller, Dr. OUDNEY, on the western frontier of Bornou, in the

interior of Northern Africa. His journals and papers, which must be extremely interesting, he has recommended to the care and revision of Mr. Barrow, of the Admiralty. The immediate cause of his death opens to our view a new and asto nishing feature in the geography of interior Africa. Instead of burning sands and a country arid from heat, we learn that the cold was so severe that it froze the water skins to a solid mass. The part where this took place, if former accounts from these travellers be correct, is in about 12 deg. N. lat. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that this degree of cold can only take place in that parallel from a very great elevation, and which very elevated country, while it bars the progress of the Niger to the eastward and to the Nile of Egypt, must give birth to innumerable powerful streams, which will tend to swell, not decrease its stream as it flows eastward and southward. Considering this, we are at no loss to account for the mighty floods which enter the Atlantic, in the Bights of Benin and Biafra. Leo Africanus told us, that the country of Zegzeg, situated about this part of Africa, was exceedingly cold, but his narrative was treated with ridicule. Subsequent travellers gave us similar reports, but they were laughed at, and the low swamps which absorbed the Niger were placed where we find a country so elevated as in 12 deg. N. lat, to be visited by frost in December equal to any we feel in this parallel of latitude. On the summit of the Blue Mountains in Jamaica, in 18 deg. N. lat., and at an elevation of 8000 feet above the level of the sea, frost is altogether unknown. From this, we may judge of the great elevation of that part of Africa where Dr. Oudney died. Before frost could be felt to such a degree, the elevation in 12 deg. N. lat. would probably exceed 14,000 feet above the level of the sea. Captain Laing ascertained that the sources of the Niger do not exceed 1500 feet above the level of the Atlantic. Its passage eastward, therefore, to the Nile, may be set down as physically impossible.

Extract of a Letter from Lieut. Clapperton to Mr. Consul Warrington, dated Kano, Feb. 2, 1824.

"The melancholy task has fallen to me to report to you the ever-to be-lamented death of my friend Dr. Walter Oudney. We left Kuka on the 14th of December, 1823, and by easy journeys arrived at Bedukarfea, the westernmost town in the kingdom of Bornou. During this part of the journey he was recovering strength very fast; but on leaving Bedukarfea, and entering the Beder territory on the night of the 26th and morning of the 27th, we had such an intense cold that the water was frozen in the dishes,

VOL. XIX.

4 M

and the water skins as hard as boards. Here the poor Doctor got a severe cold, and continued to grow weaker every day! At this time he told me, when he left Kuka he expected his disorder would allow him to perform all his country expected from him, but that now his death was near; and he requested me to deliver his papers to Lord Bathurst, and to say he wished Mr. Barrow might have the arrangement of them, if agreeable to the wishes of his Lordship.

"On the 2d of January, 1824, we arrived at the city of Katagum, where we remained till the 10th, partly to see if the Doctor, by staying a few days, would gain a little strength to pursue his journey. On leaving Katagum he rode a camel, as he was too weak to ride his horse. We proceeded on our road for ten miles that day, and then halted; and, on the following day, five miles farther, to a town called Murmur. On the morning of the 12th he ordered the camels to be loaded at day-light, and drank a cup of coffee, and I assisted him to dress. When the camels were loaded, with the assistance of his servant and me, he came out of his tent. I saw then that the hand of death was upon him, and that he had not an hour to live. I begged him to return to his tent and lie down, which he did, and I sat down beside him; he expired in about half an hour after,

"I sent immediately to the Governor of the town to acquaint him with what had happened, and to desire he would point out a spot where I might bury my friend, and also to have people to wash the body and dig the grave, which was speedily complied with.. I had dead clothes made from some turbans that were intended as presents; and as we travelled as Englishmen and servants of his Majesty, I considered it my most indispensable duty to read the Service of the Dead over the grave, according to the rites of the Church of England, which happily was not objected to; but, on the contrary, I was paid a good deal of respect for so doing."

KOSCIUSKO, the venerable Polish Patriot, who resided for some time in America, bequeathed 20,000 dollars, to be appropriated to the amelioration of the condition of the Blacks in the United States. His administrators had neglected to carry the provision into effect; but the affairs being now adjusted, the am has been assigned to the Colonization Society, who have resolved to purchase a farm between Baltimore and Washington, with accommodations for 200 persons, at which Black and Coloured children will be re'ceived to be trained for the Society's colony. Similar establishments are anticipated in other parts of the Union.

The following is a summary of the proceedings of this venerable Body: Wednesday, the 7th, was chiefly occupied in routine business, such as the appointment of Committees, receiving the Reports of the Presbyteries, &c., and various other acts of discipline. A Report was given in by the Committee appointed to superintend the formation of a Fund for the support of the Professorship of Divinity in the Belfast Academical Institution. Such measures were, in consequence, adopted, as are likely to promote that laudable object.

A Code of Discipline for the direction of the Presbyterian clergy and laity in connexion with the Synod of Ulster was now submitted. This document had been in preparation for several years, and had undergone a final revision by a numerous Committee of the Synod, which had met at Moneymore in December last. In this amended state, after due deliberation, it was finally adopted, and orders given that it should be printed, under the direction of a Committee, which was then appointed.

On the morning of Thursday, the Rev. Mr. COCHRAN, of Larue, appealed from the sentence of the Presbytery of Templepatrick, who had suspended him sine die. The Synod dismissed the appeal, and confirmed the sentence of the Presbytery. After a protracted discussion, it was agreed that, in future, clergymen who shall absent themselves from the Annual Meeting of the Synod, shall each pay a fine of 21., except in the case of ministers whose state of health, or advanced time of life, necessitates them to employ assistants. The assistants are also exempt, in consequence of their receiving no share of the Royal Bounty.

After some other business of minor importance, Mr. Cooke, the Moderator, left the Chair, in order to propose an overture to the Synod. After expressing his approbation of the conduct of the management of the Belfast Institution, and the great utility that must result from this Seminary, he concluded by moving an overture to the following effect:That hereafter the Moderator, on being notified of an approaching election, should call together the Synod's fixed Committee, and submit to them the names and qualifications of the candidates; that he should then take their advice as to the

This Committee, which is appointed anuually, consists of two ministers and an elder from each of the fourteen Presbyteries contained in the Synod.

vote he should give, and should be authoopinion of the Committee The Learned rized to express to the other electors the and Reverend Gentleman observed, that iu this way the Moderator would appear and act as was intended by the framers of the Act of Incorporation, not as a private individual, but as the Representative of the Body. This motion, which was seconded by the Rev. Mr. Porter, of Newtownlimavady, passed unanimously, and seemed to give the most general sa. tisfaction.

An Address from the Faculty of the Belfast Academical Institution was then read, giving favourable details of the literary operations and progress of that Establishment during the last year. Ano ther address was presented by the Rev. W. D. H. M'Ewen, Professor Thomson and Thomas Ekenhead, Esq., from the Joint Boards of Managers and Visitors of the Institution, detailing the proceedings of those Boards; and, in particular, referring to an application which was lately made to the British Government, in favour of that Seminary. It also stated, that Parliamentary Commissioners had been appointed to inquire into the utility, administration and resources of the Establishment. On this important subject, Mr. M'Ewen and Professor Thomson gave such farther details as seemed ne cessary for the more perfect information of the Synod.

The Synod then unanimously came to a resolution, which was in substance to the following effect"That they learned with great satisfaction, that Parliamentary Commissioners had been appointed to inquire into the state of the Belfast Academical Institution, as they hoped that such investigation might tend to establish that connexion betwixt Government and the Institution, which would be so instrumental in promoting the inestimable advantages of home education in this part of Ireland-an object which, from the experience of nine years, they have found this Seminary so eminently calculated to effect."

On Friday, a memorial from certain members of the congregation of Turlough, in Connaught, was presented to the Synod, complaining that their rights had been invaded, in the election of a minister, and that the Rev. John Hamil ton had been irregularly ordained among them, by the Presbytery of Clogher. A long statement of the facts was read by the Clerk, and the Presbytery of Clogher heard in defence. It was decided, that the proceedings of the Presbytery have been informal and precipitate, and three members were appointed to visit the con. gregation, and act according to Synodical regulations.