more and more the mind of man,” &c.  Another orator then proposes a resolution, to the effect that the spirit and genius of Bible religion is not a system of salvation from sin and its effects, but a system of damnation into sin and its effects; that it is the friend of moral and spiritual slavery, and therefore “the foe of human mental and spiritual liberty.”  Subsequently a strong-minded woman, called Mrs. Rose, appeared on the platform amid considerable uproar, followed by extinguishing the gas and singing songs.  After a severe struggle, the lady managed to express her sentiments in these mild and Christian terms:—­“The Church is upon your neck.  Do you want to be free?  Then trample the Church, the priest, and the Bible under your feet.”—­The last day’s proceeding closed by a row in the gallery, owing to a fight, in which a dirk had been drawn; and then the Convention adjourned till the following year.

The reader must not imagine that I state this as an indication of the tone of religious feeling in the New England States,—­far from it; but it appears to me a fact worth noticing, that a Convention of such a nature and magnitude, and considered of sufficient importance to employ the special reporter of a leading journal of New York, should by any possibility assemble for days and days together, and give vent to such blasphemous sentiments among a people so liberally educated and so amply supplied with means of religious instruction.  I only hope that the infidelity of the whole Republic was gathered into that one assembly, and that having met in so uncongenial an atmosphere, they all returned to their homes impregnated with some of the purer atmosphere of the great majority of the people.

The subject of Education naturally follows the Church; but, on this point, any attempt at accuracy is hopeless.  Whether it be from the variety of school systems in the different States, or from some innate defect in the measures taken to obtain information, I cannot pretend to say; but the discrepancies between the statements made are so great, that I can only pretend to give a moderate approximation to the truth, which is the more to be regretted, as the means provided for education throughout the length and breadth of the Republic constitute one of its noblest features.  In rough numbers, they may be thus stated:—­

  Schools.  Number.  Instructors.  Pupils.

Public                 81,000       92,000          4,000,000
Colleges                  220         1500             20,000
Academies, & others     6,000       12,000            261,000

Of the above colleges, theology claims 44, medicine 37, law 16.