I asked, in reference to this, how I was to be assured that the Pope was thus rightly and fully informed that he had sought and obtained the required information, and was thus capacitated for proceeding to issue the bull? He replied, as before, that there was not the least difficulty in ascertaining this, and so passed on to the third particular.

III. He said that a further requisite or essential was, that the bull should not be formal, but should be authoritative, and should claim to be authoritative; that it should be issued not merely as the opinion or judgment of the Pope, in his mere personal capacity, but as the decisive and authoritative judgment of one who was the head of that church,

VI. Another characteristic, he said, was of immense importance, indeed more absolutely essential than any he had as yet named, viz., The matter or question upon which the decision was to be made, and which was, therefore, to be the subject-matter of the bull, must be one touching faith or morals; that is, it must concern the purity of faith, or the morality of actions. And this necessity arose from the fact, that faith and morality are the matters upon which infallibility was designed to be exercised, and for the preservation of which this infallibility was given to the head of the church.

I remarked, that this requisite could be easily ascertained, as it must necessarily appear on the face of the bull, the only difficulty being to obtain a true copy of the bull. He then stated the fourth particular.

IV. It was again necessary that the bull should be promulgated universally; that is, that the bull should be addressed to all the bishops of the universal church, in order that through them its decisions might be delivered and made known to all the members or subjects of the whole church. The Pope was the fountain-head of all episcopal jurisdiction, so as that there can be no episcopal jurisdiction but from the Pope; and as episcopacy is the only channel through which every grace flows to the church, so it is necessary that the bull, containing the decision of the Pope, be addressed to all the bishops of the universal church.

I observed, on this point, that the superscription or title of the bull would at once show whether this essential was forthcoming, and I begged the reverend professor to proceed. He then passed on to the fifth requisite.

V. He stated that another essential was, that the bull should be universally received ; that is, should be accepted by all the bishops of the whole church, and accepted by them as an authoritative and infallible decision-that, after promulgation by the Pope, it should be accepted and promulgated by all the bishops as authoritative and infallible, or at least should

point at issue was the mere matter of fact whether the opinions condemned by both parties were really contained in a specified book. I said that a difficulty might arise in prosecuting our inquiries as to whether this essential was there. He seemed a little annoyed at this allusion, so I begged he would be so kind as to proceed to the seventh particular.

VII. This was the last of the series. He said it was essential, in the last place, that the Pope should be free-perfectly free from all exterior influence, so as to be under no exterior compulsion or constraint. He stated that the bull or decision of Pope Liberius possessed the other essentials, but that this one was wanting. That Pope had acted under compulsion-under a fear of his life, and, therefore, as he was not free, his decision could not be regarded as ex cathedrû. That bull thus issued was full of error. The Pope, therefore, must be free from external influence or constraint, in order to his decision being received as infallible.

On this I remarked, quietly, that it would be very difficult for me, or for any one in England, to ascertain, to anything like moral certainty, whether the Pope, at the issuing of any bull, was really under exterior influence, or whether he was perfectly free. I did not see how it was possible to have certainty on such a point. He said, as before, that there was no real difficulty in this or in any of the tests he had specified, and merely added that these several essentials or requisites were the tests by

I said that this was a point very dificult to be ascertained. I knew not of anything more difficult to ascertain with satisfaction, than whether any given bull was received and promulgated, or simply received without promulgation, or only permitted without opposition, in any given country. Some are received in Spain, which are rejected in France; and some are received in France, which are rejected in England and Ireland; and some are rejected in all these, and yet are said to be accepted

ing, then the bull was not ex cathedra, and could not be recognized otherwise than as fallible.

I felt exceedingly interested in all this detail. It was the first time I had ever heard of any means by which to test the existence of infallibility.

Hitherto various bulls and decrees had frequently been cited, and often one was asserted to be infallible and authoritative, and another fallible and rejected. One Pope with his decisions were urged on one side, and another Pope with his bulls were cited on the opposite; and between conflicting bulls illiterate or ignorant men-in fact, with the great mass of mankind. For, he argued, with a tone of great confidence, his whole face lighted up with the expression of conscious triumph, the Holy Scriptures are a volume that requires many preliminary inquiries before it can be received. In the first place, it will be necessary for the man to ascertain

certain whether the Pope had asked for the prayers of the universal church-whether he had sought and obtained the requisite information-whether his bull was really received and promulgated universally, &c.; and I suggested that it was quite possible that other persons in England, simple and unlearned men, unacquainted with such subjects, and wholly unable to obtain information on them, might feel these inquiries not only difficult but absolutely impossible, and in any case altogether uncertain and unsatisfactory. I suggested, also, yet further, that if there was difficulty in ascertaining all these minute particulars, in reference to any bull that might be issued at the present day, the difficulty must be enhanced a thousand-fold, when the inquiry concerned some bull that had been issued some centuries ago. It becomes not only a moral but even an absolute impossibility for ordinary men to carry out the inquiry to any satisfactory result.

He replied, that all that was necessary for any man, in such cases, was to go to his bishop-ask the bishop respecting the bull in question-and the bishop would inform him whether it was ex cathedrû or otherwise. Nothing could be easier.

I said that though certainly nothing could be easier than such a course, yet that I apprehended that nothing could be more unsatisfactory to an English mind. It proposed to leave the whole question of the fallibility or infallibility of any given decision to the word of a bishop, who was himself fallible, and might be mistaken both as to the fact and as to the meaning of the bull. It was not usual in England-it did not suit the character of the English mind, to refer the decision of such historical facts as the Pope's freedom from influence, the reception of his bulls, &c., to the mere opinion of a bishop. Men there would be very apt to think themselves quite as good judges as to the matter of

fact.

He said that the bishop was the legitimate channel for all communications from the Pope as the Head of the Church and Vicar of Christ; and all doubts would at once be removed from the minds of humble and sincere men, if they referred it to the bishop. I replied that it would suggest itself to most minds that such a course was merely placing all their faith and hope of salvation on the word of a bishop, a man like themselves, and admitted to be fallible. And I added, that, from my knowledge of the English mind and habit of thinking, men in England-men of common sense and ordinary judgment-in most things would prefer turning to the Holy Scriptures, and judging for themselves. It would be a most difficult thing to alter their habit in this particular. They would prefer comparing the bull with the Holy Scriptures, and thus learning, not the opinion of the bishop, who was but a man, but the judgment of God in his own word, for so they habitually regarded the Holy Scriptures.

He laughed at me for this, and said that an appeal to the Scriptures was absurd and impossible. It might all be very well comparatively for men like

of the volume. In the next place, it will be necessary for him to prove the divine inspiration of every part of it. In the third place, the book is written in dead languages, and the man must know how to understand them, or have them translated. In the fourth place, it is a volume that has given rise to different meanings or interpretations, and the man should be able to judge upon these. All these, he argued, are preliminary inquiries, which are absolutely necessary to be made; and as the poor and ignorant man, the ordinary man, is incapable of making them and judging on them, so the Holy Scriptures can never be a fitting volume for such a man to appeal to in matters of religion.

At this point of our conversation, where he seemed most confident and apparently conscious of a triumph over me, as if he thought no answer could be returned to his argument, I felt that he had given me a prodigious advantage, of which he was wholly unaware. It was the very position in which I had wished to place him, and I could not have led him into a line of argument more suited to my purpose. I felt in my soul that the Lord had delivered him into my hands, and could not but render my thanksgiving in secret to Him, who gave me the opportunity of dealing effectually with this matter; and I inwardly prayed that I might be cool and collected, and effective in my reply. I hoped most fervently that it might have some effect upon his mind.

I began by stating, that while my own opinion on the point was a matter of unimportance, yet I apprehended his method of argument would be met in England in a very effective way, at least in such a way as I should be unable to answer, unless he informed me further than he had as yet done. I said that the most ordinary and common-place men in England would say, that if they forsook the volume of the Holy Scriptures for the volume of the papal bulls-that if they exchanged the Bible for the Bullarium, they could gain no advantage thereby; for if, as he had said, there was a necessity for a man to ascertain the authenticity of each book in the Holy Scriptures, before he could avail himself of it, then it was no less true that it was equally necessary for a man to ascertain the much questioned authenticity of each bull in the Bullarium; that if, as he had alleged, the man must be carefully informed by study on the inspiration of the sacred volume, before receiving it as his divine teacher, there will exist a similar necessity for his being informed by study on the disputed infallibility of the papal Bullarium, before receiving it as his infallible instructor;-that if, as he had averred, the Holy Scriptures were written in the dead languages, and a man must learn to translate them before using them, the very same may be averred against the papal bulls, which also are all written in a dead language, and a man must learn to translate them before appealing to them; that if, as he had argued, the Holy Scriptures have been variously interpreted by various men, and all this variety must be resolved by every man before he makes the vast variety of persons, and men must be able to decide on all these varying interpretations of bulls, before accepting them as an infallible guide-in short, it would be argued, fairly argued, by men of no pretension to anything but the possession of common sense, that every objection he urged against the volume of the Holy Scripture, was liable to be urged against the volume of the papal bulls. They were written in a dead language. They were the subject of various interpretations. They were the source of endless controversies. Their number and names were doubtful. Their title to infallibility was questioned. All men disputed as to which was fallible and which infallible. Some bulls were directly contradictory of others; some actually and by name were condemnatory of others; some were admitted on all hands to be erroneous and heretical;

and the whole combined constituted a series of vol

the world to seek a subsistence as they can. Their

former haunts are the only places open to them, and their former associates the only human beings who do not turn away from them in terror or contempt. What resource have they? Is it possible for them to change their evil habits, and become

good members of society? It is not possible. Crime is their destiny. Society has punished them for their transgression of its laws; its dignity is vindicated, its outraged virtue appeased; and having deprived them, by the stigma it has attached to their character, of any possible alternative, it dismisses them to their old course of villany. Society has caught a wolf; and having punished its depredations by imprisonment, it gravely un

as before. He receives a heavier punishment, because this is the second time; because he has

depravity which took no warning, but on the contrary, after a wholesome chastisement, gave itself up anew to crime. The poor wretch is awe-struck by the dignity of virtue, and is too much abashed to offer even the poor excuse, "But I was hungry

void of all difficulty; but to do the same with respect to the Holy Scriptures, is a matter encompassed with difficulties. The Bullarium may be taken as a very convenient and simple rule of faith, but the Bible is quite unfit to serve the purpose! Among other arguments adduced in favor of the Church of Rome, was one derived from the success of its missionary labors; and the conversation on this point so completely shows the character of the missionary labors of that corrupt church, and what value is to be attached to their accounts of the success of their missions, that we should have been glad to present it to our readers. But our limits forbid us to do so. It will be found in pp. 190-196. We strongly recommend Mr. Seymour's volume to public attention, as containing one of the best and most authentic accounts of the present teaching of the Church of Rome that is easily to be met with, together with remarks upon some of its leading errors, showing considerable acuteness, and an intimate acquaintance with the subject.

WHAT BECOMES OF DISCHARGED PRISONERS ? No one believes that imprisonment in the usual way produces reform; and the question, therefore,

liberation of a comrade by a day of carousal. They wait at the door of the prison, carry him off in triumph, and thus guard against any extraordinary circumstance, any exception to the general rule, which might occur to save him. But of late years, it seems, an opposition has started; an influence of an opposite kind is lying in wait, and now and then a brand is plucked from the burning. This opposing force, it may be thought, is the respectable class of Manchester, who have thus arrayed themselves against the criminal class. Alas! no. The good angel is a solitary individual-a humble workman in a foundry, who obeys the Divine impulse without knowing why; and, without a theory or a plan, neutralizes alike the destinies of the law, and the allurements of the law-breakers.

This individual is Thomas Wright, an old man of threescore-and-ten, and the father of nineteen children. The following account is given by the paper we have mentioned of the way in which his attention was first attracted to the prison-world :"There was a man of a sailor-like appearance who had got work at the foundry as a laborer; he was a steady and industrious workman, and had obtained the favorable notice of Mr. Wright. One day the employer came and asked if he (Wright)

most offensive to the British visitor. With a true Trollopian sensitiveness, he shrinks from the tobacco-chewing, the hat-wearing, and the feet-uponthe-table-placing, which he has found so prevalent in the United States. Accustomed probably to some easy German church, which jogs on with scarcely any faith at all, he sees little to admire in the religious toleration of America, where people are at least in earnest about their creed, and where fanaticism exists in the multitude, though not in the government; and in this respect he doubtless feels more strongly than an Englishman, who perfectly understands the sentiment, though he may wonder at its exaggeration. The violence of popular outbreaks, the too frequent impotence of laws, the recklessness of speculation, all come in for their share of censure; and he has a due European horror of negro slavery. Here he is greatly solaced by the fact, (stated by a work published at Philadelphia in 1836,) that notwithstanding the German settlers in the United States amount to many millions, some of whom have acquired large fortunes, not one was ever known to speculate in slaves.

To the Americans this book may prove so far useful, that they will see that the observations made by the English on their manners and customs are not solely to be attributed to national animosity. Here is a German, whose nation has had no quar

rel with our relations, who goes to look at the country as a place of settlement for his compatriots, and returns with precisely the same animadversions which have been made by Englishmen over and over again.

Herr Ziegler, the author of the second book,

seems to have visited America with a more immediate design of finding a locality for poor German emigrants, and comes back much better pleased with his tour than Herr Naumann. The new State of Wisconsin, with its city of Milwaukee, the first settlement, especially fixes his attention as a desirable point for emigration. The rapid advance of this State strikes him with amazement.

Still more is he in favor of an immigration of German women to this infant State.

In the newly-settled countries, the want of marriageable women is first discernible, since in them, including Wisconsin, males only settle first, and endeavor to gain a subsistence. Most of the menand there are several of tolerable education in Milwaukee-have a business which supports them, and possess all that they desire, except a wife. Of young, and especially educated women, there is a great want; and I do not doubt that an emigration of female candidates for matrimony, under careful superintendence, would have a successful result, and produce beneficial effects in Wisconsin. I assume that Germany is sufficiently provided with such women; as I do not doubt, though I would add the proviso that they must be young. The census of 1840 gave in the territory of Wisconsin (not then a State) a male population of 18,600, and a female population of 11,900. The German girls, on account of their industry, their modesty, and their domestic character, are highly prized throughout America; and if they can heighten their own intrinsic attractions by some proficiency in the English language, they may easily make the most brilliant conquests. The respect, or rather reverence, of the Americans for the fair sex, is renowned all over the world; and the women will more easily than the men find a paradise on the other side of the Atlantic. The American ladies have beauty and grace to the highest degree; and everywhere receive the greatest attention and gallantry on the

part of the gentlemen; indeed, a lady, protected more by the general respect than by laws and constitution, may travel unimpeded from one end of the Union to the other, without encountering anything unpleasant from the other sex.

Notwithstanding the various habits that appear uncouth to Europeans, we hope this estimate of American gallantry to the fair sex is not exaggerated.

THREE DAYS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.

FROM THE FRENCH OF DELAVIGNE.

En Europe! en Europe! Esperez! Plus d'espoir! -Trois jours, leur dit Colomb, et je vous donne un monde. "BACK to Europe, again, let our sails be unfurled!" -"Three days," said Columbus, " and I give you a world!" And he pointed his finger, and looked through the Vast, As if he beheld the bright region at last.

leads:

He sails till the sun, downward sinking from view,

Hides the sea and the sky with their limitless On, onward he sails, while in vain o'er the lee Down plunges the lead through the fathomless sea!

are fully employed; artisans and daily laborers