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THE LOSS OF THE ARMADA.

H closing his history:

OW much was included and decided in that event, Froude recites in "The years which followed the defeat of the Armada were rich in events of profound national importance. They were years of splendour and triumph. The flag of England became supreme on the seas: English commerce penetrated to the farthest corners of the Old World, and English colonies rooted themselves on the shores of the New. The national intellect, strung by the excitement of sixty years, took shape in a literature which is an eternal possession to mankind, while the incipient struggles of the two parties in the Anglican Church prepared the way for the conflicts of the coming century, and the second act of the Reformation. The transition from the Catholic England with which the century opened, the England of a dominant Church and monasteries and pilgrimages, into the England of progressive intelligence; and the question whether the nation was to pass a second time through the farce of a reconciliation with Rome, was answered once and for ever by the cannon of Sir Francis Drake. The action before Gravelines of the 30th of July 1588, decided the largest problems ever submitted in the history of mankind to the arbitrament of force. Beyond and beside the immediate fate of England, it decided that Philip's revolted Provinces should never be re-annexed to the Spanish crown. It broke the back of Spain, sealed the fate of the Duke of Guise, and though it could not prevent the civil war, it assured the ultimate succession of the King of Navarre. In its remoter consequences it determined the fate of the Reformation in Germany; for had Philip been victorious, the League must have been immediately triumphant; the power of France would have been on the side of Spain and the Jesuits, and the Thirty Years' War would either have never been begun, or would have been brought to a swift conclusion. It furnished James of Scotland with conclusive reasons for remaining a Protestant, and for eschewing for ever the forbidden fruit of Popery; and thus it secured his tranquil accession to the throne of England when Elizabeth passed away. Finally, it was the sermon which completed the conversion of the English nation, and transformed the Catholics into Anglicans."

PROTESTANT CLASSES IN EXETER.

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Exeter, to present the prizes to the successful competitors of the Protestant Educational Class, conducted there by Mr James Todd, lecturer and examiner for the Protestant Educational Institute, London. The Rev. Mr Power presided. The meeting was also addressed by the Rev. G. R. Badenoch, secretary of the Institute, Rev. Wm. Hockin, and Mr Todd, who read several of the answers which had been given by the competitors. The prize-takers were as follow:-1st prize, Miss Mary F. Maberly, 7 Baring Place; 2d prize, Miss Janet M. E. Nisbet, 25 Friars' Walk; and 3d prize, Mr William Joseph Wippell, St David's Hill. Arrangements have been made for conducting a similar class by Mr Todd early next spring.

PROTESTANT EDUCATIONAL CLASSES IN TORQUAY.

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AST spring Protestant classes were conducted in Torquay by Mr James Todd, lecturer and examiner for the Protestant Educational Institute, London, and the distribution of the prizes, competed for by a written examination, took place there on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

I. LADIES' CLASS.-The Rev. Richard Fayle presided, and spoke very highly of the instruction imparted by Mr Todd, the importance of the movement, and the pleasure he felt in meeting so many friends on this interesting occasion. The meeting was subsequently addressed by the Rev. G. R. Badenoch, secretary of the Institute, and Mr Todd, who also read specimens of the answers which had been given by the competitors, which gave very high satisfaction.

1st Prize: Miss Christian C. Bernard, Ashbury Gate; 2d, Miss Laufear, Kennett Villa; 3d and 4th, equal, Miss Susan M. Bernard, and Miss Leticia C. Bernard. Honourable mention-Miss Ellen M. M'Clintock, Miss Agnes Hathaway, Miss Emily M. Nuthall, Miss Lilly Humphries, and Miss Frances Swayne.

II. YOUNG MEN'S CLASS-Dr Bernard in the chair.

1st Prize: Mr Thomas Reakes, schoolmaster of Trinity school; 2d, Mr William R. Wetherell, clerk; 3d, Mr Joseph Birchmore, accountant.

III. JUVENILE CLASS.

1st Prize :-Elizabeth Harley; 2d, Maria Fouracre; 3d, Emma Jane Fouracre. Honourable mention-Annie Wood, Maggie Gould, and Emma Ford.

This interesting and successful movement in Torquay has been very much aided by the kindness and liberality of Mr and Mrs Fayle, and is deemed so important that arrangements have been made for conducting similar classes by Mr Todd early next spring, and also examinations of young people attending the school, on Foxe's "Book of Martyrs," cheap edition.

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PROTESTANT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE. RRANGEMENTS have been made, by which the whole library, tracts, and other publications and effects of the Protestant Association (one of the oldest organisations in London), have been transferred to the Protestant Educational Institute. A resolution has also been passed by the committee, and by a general meeting of the subscribers of the Association, recommending that all subscribers shall continue their subscriptions and assistance to the Protestant Educational Institute. We commend the labours of the Institute to the prayerful consideration of Protestants. There are many demands for the establishment of classes, which cannot be responded to because of inadequacy of means. For such a movement large contributions are necessary.

THE FRIENDLY VISITOR FOR 1871.*

THIS is a most interesting and well-conducted journal. It is beautifully illustrated, and is remarkably well suited especially for the young. * London: Seeley, Jackson, & Halliday.

PROTESTANT SELF-DECEPTION.

[The following just remonstrance with credulous and secure Protestants, which we transfer from an American journal, is quite as applicable to many of the Protestants of Great Britain, and we cordially commend it to the attention of our readers.]

WH

HEN you tell any average American of the dangers of Roman craft, he only laughs. His head is in the lap of Delilah. He sleeps softly and is full of ease. He says, "Let them bind me with withes and the new cords if they will. I can break them readily." The lazy giant, slow-witted like all giants, refuses to listen. "I rely," he says, "on the intelligence of the great American nation. We are a free people. It is worse than foolishness to wake me up." My amiable giant, permit me to freshen your memory about what you said and did, and what happened in your own household. When your daughter Columbia had to go to school, you said, There, now, I want the girl to have the best education money will give her. She must have the highest musical skill to instruct her. Such a voice as she has, and such graceful hands! I want to be proud of my daughter, and so I guess I'll send her to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She's a first-rate Protestant. You can't make anything else out of her. She's her father's own daughter."

But don't you remember how that ill-omened priest was in your house when you came home one day after Columbia graduated? "Showed him the door in a hurry!" Is that what you say? Well, that was the very worst thing you could have done. It was an ungentlemanly action -and I beg of you not to be angry with me-and it was the best capital on which he could trade with Columbia ever after. That did'nt end the business, you know. It didn't prevent Columbia from a good deal of private devotion and from a feeling of persecution. It did'nt prevent all your household secrets from going into the confessor's ears. And when Columbia got married-to that good fellow you liked so well -don't you remember how she contrived to bring her whole family under the bondage of the Pope? It was of no use for you to growl then, and therefore you said, "Oh, well, let her have her religion if she wants it," and turned to your business and your comfort once more.

And you did this, and do it, even while the scientific desires of your bright boy, young Jonathan, are being played upon. He wants to go where he can get a foreign education without leaving home. If you don't desire to see him a Romanist, be sure to wake up long enough to deny him what he asks.

Dear genial giant, absorbed as you are with other things, I beg you to hear me a little longer. Rome's policy in this land of ours has been to flatter us into entire complacency. She has beguiled us in the most cunning way, by letting us beguile ourselves. Don't you remember how angry all your boys were when Dickens wrote his "American Notes ?" It was because he told us rough truths, and put them in so glaring and ludicrous a light, that in that book and in "Martin Chuzzlewit" we felt the staff of the satirist on our backs. Our pride of nationality was by that and by similar castigations much repressed. We could not, however, forego it altogether. And on this desire to exalt ourselves Rome has built and is building to-day. She knows that we are a weak, ungrounded

VOL. XXI. NO. CCXLVIII.-FEBRUARY 1872.

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people. And therefore she takes hold of us, and gently and by degrees she is playing Delilah with the locks of our political strength-shearing away bit by bit as she can without our knowledge. She controls gradually more and more of the public prints and the public offices.

Most estimable giant! do you notice that the muzzle is put upon many mouths? that the sweet wine of Popery-the dazzle and glitter and music and pomp of its religious show-is thickening the tongue of many of our truth-tellers? How piteously we heard it said long ago, "Is this your Christian charity? Would you trample on another religion because it is not your own, when your ancestors fled across the ocean for freedom of conscience?" And so we held our hands off. But has Rome held her hands off us? When did the Romanist, except for some selfish purpose, ever give money to us ?-but how often do we give money to him? Let the great merchants and manufacturers reply, and state the tax levied on them by their employées. Let the statute-books of the States, and the yet unexhibited accounts of the city of New York, show how much has gone into the coffers of Rome. Let the fathers and mothers who support Roman Catholic institutions count up the full cost which they have entailed upon themselves.

If I were a Romanist I should welcome with equal satisfaction unkind persecution, stupid indifference, selfish benevolence, and open adherence. "All roads lead to Rome." It is none the less true now that Pius IX. has lost his temporal power and gained his infallibility than it was before.

And now, O long-suffering giant! is it not worth while for you to bestir yourself? When Gulliver went to sleep among the Lilliputians, they pegged down his hair, they anchored his boots with tremendous pack-thread cables, they wove meshes about his dangerous fingers, and by dint of incredible diligence they had him bound fast when he awoke. Small as any one of the bonds was by itself, it added to the universal strength of the bondage. And you, most unsuspicious giant! may be like him—and if ever you are, do not be surprised if the pigmies batter your head with their war-clubs and shoot their poisoned arrows into your eyes.

PROGRESS OF ROMANISM.

THE progress of Romanism in Great Britain during 1871 is strikingly

TH illustrated by the Romish Directories for England and Scotland for

1872. If Protestants are comparatively inactive, the combined forces of Rome are inspired with increasing energy and confidence. The following is from the Times:

ROMAN CATHOLIC STATISTICS.

From the new edition of the Catholic Directory just published, permissu superiorum, for 1872, we learn some interesting particulars respecting the Roman Catholic body in Great Britain, and also on the Continent of Europe, and, to some extent, in other parts of the world. The secular lists prefixed to the more strictly ecclesiastical portion of the work show that in the ranks of the Peerage of the three kingdoms, the Roman Catholics can reckon 1 Duke (Norfolk), 1 Marquis (Bute), 8 Earls, 4 Viscounts, and 20 Barons, the list ending with Lord O'Hagan, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Besides these there are 49 Catholics in the baronetage, 6 Catholics in Her Majesty's Privy Council, and 38 in the House of Commons, all of whom, with the exception of Lord Robert Montague, sit for Irish constituencies.

In England there is one Archbishopric, that of Westminster; and Dr Manning has under him 12 "Suffragan" Bishops, each exercising spiritual jurisdiction over a local diocese, and aided by a Provost (answering to an Anglican Dean) and Chapter. Scotland is still divided into three "districts," the western, the eastern, and the northern, with a "Vicar Apostolic" over each. In Ireland there are 4 Archbishops-Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, presiding over the provinces of Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Connaught respectively, and having under them 24 Suffragan Bishops, whose titles correspond almost exactly with those of the Sees occupied by the Prelates of the Established Church before the reduction of their number by Mr Stanley (the late Lord Derby) just forty years ago. No less than 71 priests-45 seculars and 26 regulars-have been ordained in England alone during the past twelvemonth, raising the total of the priesthood in Great Britain to about 1840, serving about 1200 “missions" and "stations." To these details are added lists of the Archbishops and Bishops of the United States, of the "Sees and Vicariates Apostolic" in our Colonies and dependencies, and also of the Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, and Vicars Apostolic in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Oceania, including Australia, New Zealand, &c. We are informed that there are 9 "Patriarchates," of which the chief are Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem; and 12 Patriarchs, 7 of the Latin" Rite" and 5 of the Oriental "Rite." In conclusion, it appears that, besides His Holiness Pope Pius IX., the Sacred College at the present time consists of 5 Cardinal Bishops, 36 Cardinal Priests, and 7 Cardinal Deacons. The oldest member of the Sacred College in point of years is the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, who was born in the year 1781. There are at present no less than 20 vacancies in the list of Cardinals. 94 Cardinals have died during the present Pontificate, 41 of whom were presented with their hats by Pius IX.

In regard to the same subject the Glasgow Herald remarks as follows:

ROMAN CATHOLICISM IN SCOTLAND.

According to "The Catholic Directory, and Statistical Register and Almanac" for 1872, Scotland has been divided into three ecclesiastical districts the eastern, the western, and the northern-each of which is subject to the jurisdiction of a Vicar-Apostolic. Thus the eastern district, comprising the 16 eastern counties of Scotland, from the south side of the river Dee to the stewartry of Kirkcudbright inclusively, is presided over by the Right Rev. John Strain, Bishop of Abila, Vicar-Apostolic, who has under his jurisdiction 67 priests, 79 public churches, chapels, and stations, 3 communities of religious men, 7 communities of religious women, and 1 collegeviz., St Mary's, Blairs, Aberdeen. The western district includes the shires of Argyll, Ayr, Bute, Dumbarton, Lanark, Renfrew, Wigtown, the Hebrides or Western Islands, and the southern part of Inverness-shire. It is subject to the Episcopal supervision of the Most Reverend Charles Eyre, Archbishop of Anazarba, Apostolic-Delegate for Scotland, and Administrator-Apostolic, who has under his jurisdiction 119 priests, 103 public churches, chapels, and stations, 5 communities of religious men, and 7 of religious women. The northern district, comprising the shires of Aberdeen, Banff, Cromarty, the northern part of Inverness-shire, the shires of Moray, Nairn, Ross, and Sutherland, is ruled by the Right Rev. John Macdonald, Bishop of Nicapolis, as Vicar-Apostolic; and under his jurisdiction there are 35 priests, 40 public churches, chapels, and stations, and 6 communities of religious It appears that, during the past year, the number of the Roman Catholic clergy in Scotland has increased from 207 to 225; the number of public churches, chapels, and stations remains the same-222; the number of communities of religious men has exactly doubled, being now 8 as compared with 4 last year; while the number of communities of religious women has increased from 18 to 20. These figures refer to Scotland ex

women.

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