he were to swear that he will commit murder; or that, being a soldier, he will desert to the enemy, or run away instead of standing to his post or his colours. If he have any scruple about breaking such an oath, his priest will give him absolution upon small penance.
It would be more rational for the British Protestant people to receive into their House of Commons representatives of our Mahometan people of Bengal, than to receive the delegates of Popery. Our Mahometan Indians (not Gentoos) have no other prince than our own monarch, and are not the subjects of a sworn combination of priests; whereas the men who by their influence nominate the Popish members of Parliament, are subjects of a foreign power, the prince of Rome, and have combined under him to subdue mankind at whatever cost, under the domination of him and the body of-which he is the head.
All this was well understood by our Scottish forefathers, and had been impressed upon them by severe experience. They had a hard struggle with Popery. By dint of preserving ignorance among the populace, the Popish priesthood had themselves become ignorant. When directed by their superiors to prevent the Bible from being read or heard read, the historian Hume tells us that many of the Popish clergy in Scotland seriously believed that the New Testament was a heretical book, written by Martin Luther. However strange that idea may now seem, it was not utterly absurd, because, if not heretical, why was the perusal of it prohibited? These simple men, not being in the secrets of the combined Roman continental priesthood, could not suspect that the inspired Record of the Christian faith could, under any circumstances, be treated as a bad book, that would lead men to perdition.
Having succeeded in putting down Popery, the Scottish Protestants adopted measures, devised with profound sagacity, to prevent its return. Their measures encountered great interruption. Our native princes, having inherited the English crown, became independent of Scotland. In the time of Charles I., who had married a Papist, the Church of England, under the superintendence of Archbishop Laud, was led to the verge of Popery. In Scotland, as already stated, an attempt was made to lead the Scots back to Popery by the aid of the forms of Episcopacy; and during the reigns of Charles II. and his brother James II. (VII. of Scotland), the one a concealed and the other an avowed Papist, the Scottish Protestants, adhering generally to the Presbyterian ecclesiastical forms as remotest from Popery, were exposed to a grinding tyranny, and most sanguinary and inquisitorial persecution. They were hunted over the mountains and moors of their native land; and wherever found exercising, or suspected of having exercised, their ordinary form of worship with their ancient clergy, they were slaughtered without mercy by the royal troops. But during the intervals of weakness on the part of the government, the Protestant party in Scotland had taken those measures which rendered their extinction impracticable without an absolute depopulation of this ancient kingdom.
Being aware that the strength of the Popish system consists in fastening down a people under a cloud of superstition and ignorance, the Scottish Protestants, with great discernment, made war upon ignorance and superstition, as the fatal enemies of them and of mankind. For that purpose they made effectual provision for the education of the people;—and here, be it observed, that our forefathers never proposed to establish a board of education or a minister of instruction, with national schools supported by the general government. Their Scottish sagacity protected them from reliance on such projects. In the first place, that a people may enjoy freedom, it is necessary that they do much for themselves, and leave as little as possible to be done by government, so as to leave little pretext for the collection of a great revenue to support numerous government officers. Some things must be performed by a general government, such as the management of the Post- Office, the national defence, and the appointment of judges, with the fixing of rules or laws for their direction. But all interference by government that can be avoided, ought to be avoided by a people jealous of their liberties. By intrusting education to a minister of the Crown or a central board, it is exposed to all the effects of political intrigue and re-
