favour, a call is subscribed and put into his hands; he undergoes a course of second trial preparatory to his ordination, if a Probationer, when, if he accepts the call, and the people abide by it, he is ordained (if before ordained he is installed) in the pastoral charge of that congregation. Formerly, a mere majority of votes decided the choice of a Minister, as in civil elections. But experience showed that great inconvenience flowed from the ascendency which this mode gave to the populace, and the Synod have many years ago settled that no Minister shall be presented with a call unless he has two-thirds of votes and two-thirds of stipend in his favour, which is called the Synodical Majority. When this regulation was enacted, it was cheerfully acquiesced in, and its good effects have been acknowledged. It has corrected the democratic tendency of the old system, under which the mere numerical majority often appointed the Minister, in opposition to the wealth and respectability of the congregation. In discipline, the Presbytery of Antrim observes nearly the same forms with the Synod, and the candidates for the ministry in both are educated, with few exceptions, in the University of Glasgow. GENERAL SYNOD OF ULSTER. The Rev. Dr. Robert Black to Lord Castlereagh. Londonderry, April 27, 1799. My Lord-I have the honour to enclose a list of the Congregations under the care of the Synod of Ulster, in pursuance of the wish which your Lordship expressed to me some time ago. Various causes prevented me from being able sooner to comply with your Lordship's desire; the principal of them was the tardiness with which correspondence can be had with ministers in remote parts of the country little connected with post towns. I had many prejudices to encounter, and much misrepresentation to do away, as uncommon pains had been taken to excite distrust and alarm on this occasion. Ministers were industriously told that they were to be bribed into a surrender of the independence and constitution of their country. I am happy to find that reason and good sense have predominated, and that the enclosed list is given with the approbation, so far as I know, of every Clergyman named in it, except four; of these, two, to my knowledge, are very worthy men-Dr. Bruce, of Belfast, who complained "that the reasons why ministers were called on to disclose their stipend were not explained," and Mr. Denham, of Enniskillen, who merely declined making any return. Of the other two gentlemen, Dr. M'Dowel and Mr. Horner, of Dublin, I shall say nothing, as I have not been in the habit of approving their public conduct for some time. The Doctor, indeed, wrote me a very abusive letter for my "presuming to interfere in such matters," &c. I have supplied the deficiency arising from these gentlemen's backwardness from the best information I could procure, and believe that I am tolerably correct. I find that Mr. Foster's speech has made little impression here; some think it extremely revolutionary, and that he has put arguments into the mouths of Separatists. I acknowledge this is my opinion. I think it will add to the many melancholy instances, when thousands have been duped by the ambition and intemperance of Parliamentary leaders-hence, Irish wretchedness for the last eleven months; for, however blameable the middle and lower orders have been, I am confident they never would have thought of arraying themselves against the Government, had they not been provoked, encouraged, and headed in their career by the inflammatory harangues made in the two Houses of Parliament on both sides of the water, and that, since the days of Homer, the adage was never more applicable"delirant Reges, plectuntur Achivi." I have the honour to be, &c., |