The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-24 00:00:00

THE GENERAL ASSZ:)IIBLY.

The General Assembly of the .Church of .Ccotland com-
menced its proceedings on Thursday last. The li:arquis of
Bute, her Majesty's new representative, arrived with his suite
at the Royal Palace of Holyroed on Monday; and on Wed-
nesday afternoon, according to usual custom, was waited si,,on
in the Levee-room by the Lord Provost, Rallies Itiehardsiolt
Thomson, Johnston, and Wilkie, Dean of Guild Ramszli
Treasurer Sir William Drysdale, and Convener Scott. A se-
lect company, about forty in number, afterwards dined with
his Grace, amongst whom were the civic part v, Lord tfireenock,
Lords Mackenzie and Murray, Sir George Ramsay, Sir P. M.
Threipland, Sir James Gibson Craig, Sir James Campbell,
Sir George Macpherson Grant, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Sir
Adam Hay, Sir F. W. Drummond, Sir C. D. Ferguson,
Rev. Dr. Gordon, Mr. Sheriff Spiers, the • Dean of Faculty.
Colonel Hutchinson, R.A., Colonel Emmet., Colonel Hill, sz.;ci
Foot, Captain Nunn, North British Staff, &e. &e.
On Thursday the Palace-yard at. Holyrood was thronged
with fashionables and equipages fltr beyond any similar OMR.
son. Long before eleven o'clock, the hour fixed by the Lord
High Commissioner for holding his first levee, the Throne--
raom was filling with visitors, and -by noon no fewer than six
hundred and eighteen gentlemen. lay and clerical, waited on his
Grace—a number which greatly exceeds the attendance at any •
Commissioner's levee within these 25 years.
The Assembly having been convened and constituted with
prayer, the clerk read over the names. of .the members, when,
on the motion of -Dr. Gordon, Dr. Welsh was appointed
Moderator of the Assembly. w
Her Majesty's Letter to the Assembly was then read. It
strongly recommended concord and harmony in their proceed-.
ings ; and ezpressed deep regret at the distress at present pre-
vailing among the working classes in Scotland. and recom-
mended them to inculcate upon their flecks the duty of contri-
buting liberally to the necessities of their poorer brethren.
TUE STRATIIROCIE MEMBERS:.

There was then read the Report of the Committee on Irre-
gular Commissions. Among other eases, the Committee re-
presented that, from the Presbytery of Strathbogie, there were
two separate returns—the one containing the names of the Rev.
Mr. .Dewar of BeHie, Rev. Mr. Leith of Rothiemay, and Major
Stewart (from the minority) ; and the other, the Rev. Mr.
Thomson of Keith, the Rev. Me. Walker of lluntiv, and Mr.
Edmond (from the majority of the Presbytery. )
Mr. DUNLOP said that with regard to all the commissions
noticed in the Report, except one, he begged to move that they
be referred to a Committee to be afterwards appointed for the
disposal of disputed commissions. There was one commission,
however, with respect to which he took leave ta say that the
office-bearers of the House would better have discharged their
duty with reference to the dignity of the Assembly had they
taken no notice of it.—( Hear.) He thought' that, where
members had been deposed.by a solet'hn judgment of the in-.
preme tribunal of the Church of which they were office-bearers,
the Assembly ought not to have been troubled with commis-
sions in favour of persons from whom they had taken away the '
only character in which they could *tow their face in that
Moose.—(Hear; hear.) He begged therefore to move that the
names of the Rev. James Dewar, the Rev. H. Leith, and
Major Stewart, be put upon the roll, as. the representatives of
' the Presbytery of Strathbogie.
Mr. CAR sr ENT, of Rosskeen, said by was inclined to be even
more severe upon the office-bearers than Mr. Dunlop had been.
For his part he thought they might as well have reported a
commission from any seven scavengers or tinkers.—( Laughter. )
In feet, he would have been less offended, and would have
considered the dignity of the House less insulted, by a commis-
sion from seven scavengers than from seven men who had been
deposed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Dr. COOK—I must acknowledge my regret that this question
was not kept in abeyance until it should have been seen whether
there was a possibility of our uniting together and removing
those causes of dissension which are so painful to every friend
of the Church. But since the question has come before us, I
beg to say that the very essence of our proceeding is, that we
do not hold that these men were deposed at all—that we never
held them to be deposed—and supposing the consequences to be
that we are deposed ourselves, from this we never will depart.
--(Hear, hear.) This is the ground we take. I -may be
wrong in this view ; but having this view I must enter my
dissent, and endeavour to carry others along with me, against a
motion which does imply that we are to resist the law of the
land, and that we can trample it under foot—provided we can
say that it has reference to a spiritual privilege. Now I don't,
think so. If I thought 30, I would_ agree with my reverend
friends on the other side ; bat I conceive that it is a matter
connected with a civil right in which I am bound to obey the
law of the land; and le..ving pledged myself to this, let the
consequences be what they may, .I am 'determined to adhere
to Hear, hear. )
Dr. CHALMERS—This is the first time in my life that I ever
heard it asserted that the dissent of a minority superseded the
sentence of a court passed by an overwhelming majority.—
( Hear, hear.) That such a proposition should ever be
thought. of is an instructive fact. It discovers to what '
a fearful extent of anarchy and disorder the enemy
within—whe her by the instigation and encouragement of the
enemy without, 1 cannot sag—are resolved to plunge tht
Church of Scotland; to strip her of the last vestige of that
authority which belongs to every distinct body governed by
distinct office-bearers. Never, I would say. hes the charaeter
or the outrage inflicted upon the Church come out in such bold
relief as at the present moment. It is making a farce of our
present General Assembly. It presents a strange contrast
between the impotence of our doings and the pageantry of our
forms—between the absolute nothingness of the Assembly and
the mielity notes of preparation, the pealing of the clarioncts
with which we were conducted into the House on the present
occasion. I must say, there is not a heart that heats with
more gratification, or feels more elevation than my own at the
countenance given to our venerable Church at the present by
the high and honourable of the land ; but ours will be the fault'
if. untrue to ourselves. if untrue to our privileges, we
shall allow our Church to become as sounding brass and tinkling
cymbal. And to use the lane, uage.of an old proverb, if a man
deposed in the most regelar manner, by a sentence of the Su-
preme Court of the Church, shall be suffered to sit in the Ge-
neral Assembly, we shall become art astonishment and an his-
sing to all passers by.—( Hear. hear. )
After a short speech from Dr. Ileve E against the motion,
The vote was taken, when there appeared— ,
For Mr. Dunlop's motion 215
For Dr. Cook's motion .. .
Majority for Mr. Dunlop's motion

Ay for
Mr. EDMOND (elder from the majority of Strathbogie ) then
presented himself at the table and laid down a document, which
we understood to be a protest.
Mr. CUNNINGHAM starting up—Moderator, eho is this ?
Mr. Enmown said, he was the Commissioner from the ma-
jority of the Presbytery of Strathbogie.
Mr. Bisspr of Bourtie—l demand itireturn, who it is that
asks the question ?
Mr. CUNNINGHAM—I am a Member of the House, and I
presume pretty well known.
Mr. IlisseT—The other gentleman, in the estimation of
all on this side of the House has a title to be a Member of
Assembly equally valid with your own, and he is at least equally
respectable.
Mr. CUNNINGHAM—I trust that the House feels that it has
been grossly insulted by the protest offered by this individual.
As to the individuals deposed by the last General Assembly,
that Court was quite competent to have inflicted a'still more
severe sentence if it had deemed that necessary. —( Laughter
from the right ) Hut I think it is now proper that some notice
should be taken of the conduct of this Mr. Edmond. I there-
forethink it would be fit and proper in this house to find that
he is no longer an elder of this Church—( Cries of " HeVii
hear, from the left, with partial applause from the gallecles,
answered by loud manifestations of surprise from other quarters.
Dr. COOK—What is the dignity of this House ? The dignity
of this Hotise is to act with solemnity and justice as the Supreme
Ecclesiastical Court. I rise merely to say that I wish to enter
my protest against the vote that has just. been come to ; and I
,soppOse there will be no objection to that.
Mr. H. BRUCE was a little surprised that those gentlemen
who now discovered grounds for deposing Mr. Edmond, should
not proceed a step farther and depose the whole minority of the
Assembly, who entirely concurred in the views entertained by
Mr. Edmond, and in the mode by which he had given effect to
the same.---( Hear, hear. )
Principal Da WA R said, that fully agreeing as he did with
Mr. Dunlop as to the impropriety of presenting this commis-
sion, and tendering the subsequent protest, still he thought, on
the whole, the best course would be to throw it over the table
' without any farther notice.
Mr. ROBERTSON of Elton said, if Mr. Edmond was guilty of
an act of contumacy in presenting his protest, he was guilty of
a similar act of contumacy in presenting his commission. As
they had not found fault with the first deed, it was too late, he
thought, for them to turn round and censure him for the second.

Du N I.OP then said, that to save farther discussion, he
would agree to withdraw his motion.

The Assembly then adjourned till Friday, when it met, at
twelve o'clock, and as is usual, devoted a peat part of the se.
derunt.to devotional exercises.

On Monday the Assembly are to take up the overtureranent
Patronage.
Dr. RavcE said that he saw from the list of business for to.
morrow, that it was ►ntended to receive a deputation from Ire-
land. He begged to give notice that before the order of the
day for the recep►ion of the deputation was read, hr should
submit a resolution in regard to certain proceedings of the Ge-
neral Assembly of Ireland, which were no doubt well known
to the House through the public journals, and take the sense of
the House in some shape or other on that subject.—( Laughter
front the left aide of the house. )
Dr. APR:ELI-tn. gave notice that it was intended on the
earliest day convenient to propose a resolution in regard to the
encroachments of the Civil power. If Tuesday was approved'
of by the House, it would be agreeable to the parties who had
charge of the resolution.
Dr. COOK in connection with this intimation, gave notice
that on the same day he intended to move a set of counter re-
solutions, the object of which was to I•estore the harmony and
peace of the Church.

THE RIOT A'l' STOGKYOIt

At a Court of Inquiry (assembled daily
---..
.....-since the 11th inst.,.
Sandays excepted) of which Colonel 'Whinyates, Royal forte
Artillery, is President, and Lieutenant-Colonel Goldie, 66th
Reg., and .Lieutenant-Colonel Cockburn, 60th ?titles, are
members, the cheummances of the late riot at Stocktlort, no.
ticed in the Nara/ and Militart, Gazyttc of 2d and 23c1 April,
not only by the lowest
are undergoing a strict investigation, which it is thought will
terminate in favour of the soldiers, as it appears that the men
li'l'f't.'huelni many occasions
who should have pre-
vented eurteaslcsaon
bt oyntlty
the
insulted,
vented it,—indeed, the latter, by many
.petty annoyances, es-
cited the men to riot, interfering with'torm in town when their
officiousness was uncalled for.
Arising ont of the above oeturrenees, another case is also
namely the arrest. of Captain Philipps;
some ino7st4'a
prisonertiati' (an officer very much beloved) for sornq
intmuyerate language to his senior in command. There is
every likelihood of Captain Philipps being acquitted of the
charge preferred against him.
Another case arising out of the Stockpert affair, and also for
investigation is,--the report of a plicate soldier of the 61sE
against an officer, in which he charges him with suggesting and
countenancing the riot previous to ita taking place, by speaking
publicly to the men in the guard-room and other places at
Stockport, telling
them that they should not allow civilians to
beat and ill-treat any of their comrades with impunity, but keep
together
and giVe them a good thrAthint.-,. The men father
too closely followed his advice; the result of which was—riot,
the eetrio7g of the detachment, tli.'!.arrett'of Captain Pl'l-ilit Ps,
" the present Court of Inquiry.-7-Navai and Miiirar y
Gazette. .