alone, Manchester New College' differs not at all in its constitution from University College, London.

"These, we again say, are great improvements. A College exclusively Unitarian, must of course, according to our views of Christian doctrine, be a great evil, and we must rejoice therefore at any changes by which it ceases to be such. We shall still lament that Unitarianism is taught in any way or to any extent, and with our opinions we cannot do otherwise. But we must

say again, that the improvements we have detailed, are not only unquestionably great, but seem to have been dictated by a commendable spirit of liberality. Nor is there any reason (now that the exclusive character of the institution has been so completely abandoned) why the religious public, if it so pleases, may not make it a very important instrument of general education. It may be, that the bulk of its supporters are, at present, Unitarians; but that is no reason why they should continue to be so,-for any one may subscribe that will, and not one shilling need go, directly or indirectly, to the maintenance or propagation of Unitarian Sentiments. In the same manner, though a majority of the present Committee may be, for aught we know, Unitarians, the public can impress on that Committee whatsoever character it will, it being no self-elected body, but created by the votes of the whole body of subscribers. It is for the public therefore to decide, whether the majority of the committee shall be orthodox or Unitarian, for this must inevitably be determined by the general character of the constituents. Of the right of the Unitarians to maintain and propagate their peculiar opinions, there can be no doubt; other parties have an equal right to propagate theirs, and we trust that the rights of all, in this respect, will be ever considered inviolable. But so long as each of these various parties supports its own system of theological education at its own proper cost, and interferes not with the arrangements of the general school, that general school must be considered the property, not of a sect, but of the public, and may be supported by the public generally, like any other useful institution with which peculiarities of religious sentiments have nothing to do, and with the management of which such peculiarities are never allowed to interfere. In order, however, to insure such an institution a sufficiently broad basis of support, to give the public sufficient confidence in it, and to secure it against the predominant influence of any one party, it is necessary that its officers, committee and subscribers should not be confined to any one Sect. Indeed, unless it be clearly seen that it is not under the influence of the Unitarian party, the public confidence

will not be given to it, and by consequence, that extensive support will not be granted to it, which its change of constitution is designed to conciliate, and without which, indeed, the change will have been made in vain. That there seems at present no disposition to recede from the liberal declarations implied in the recent changes themselves, we may infer from the fact, that three out of the five professors in the general department are orthodox. But it will be no more than fair to suffer the Committee to make their own statement of the plan on which it is designed that the College shall be conducted."

"The theological department of the College is entirely separated from the literary and scientific. It was the condition of its establishment that no test of religious belief should be exacted from the students, and this condition has been observed, not only in the letter but in spirit, in all its regulations. As the students do not live within the collegebuildings, the religious exercises and instructions of those who are not preparing for the ministry will rest entirely with their own friends, or those to whom they delegate the office. The theological professors will open their classes to any who may desire instruction in Biblical criticism, in the evidences of natural and revealed religions, in oriental languages, or in ecclesiastical history; but such attendance will be entirely voluntary. Should the case hereafter occur, that any parties who support the College, are desirous of the appointment of another theological teacher, who shall expound their own views to students of their denomination, there is nothing in its constitution to hinder the Committee from acquiescing in such appointments, provided that adequate funds are furnished, and that attendance on the lectures is not made compulsory. It is also one of the regulations of the College that no part of the remuneration of the theological professors shall be drawn from the fees paid by students who do not attend their lectures. In the case of students who may come from a distance to reside in Manchester, while prosecuting their studies at the College, the Committee offer their services in pointing out suitable places for lodging and boarding. A plan has been adopted, by many of which their habits, in regard to the disposal of their time, may become known to the professors, and reports will be made at stated intervals to the friends of those who are under the discipline of the College, including, besides this point, their regularity of attendance on lectures, and proficiency in their studies. Having thus made known their course of study, and plan of discipline, the Committee of Manchester New College earnestly call on the public for their support. They appeal, not exclusively to any one denomination or party, but to all the friends of academical education, conducted upon the comprehensive principles which they have assumed as their basis. The removal to Manchester and the increase of the number of professors, has rendered necessary a great additional expenditure, and the enlargement of the plan of study makes it expedient to provide a philosophical and chemical apparatus, far exceeding in extent and costliness what the

college previously possessed. The increase of the library, especially in the scientific department, although not equally urgent, is highly desirable. The experiment which the committee are making cannot therefore be fully and fairly made, or continued for such a length of time as will afford an accurate test of its prospect of success, without liberal support, in the form of new subscriptions and benefactions. These will be appropriated exclusively to the literary and scientific department in all cases in which the donors and subscribers express such a wish."

ART. IV. THE SMALL-LOAN SYSTEM.

MANY analogies subsist between the animal and the social system. Among them, we may notice the tendency which certain states have to generate disease; and the tendency of disease itself to develop the knowledge of its causes, and, more or less, the means of prevention and cure. Social evils are the diseases of society. Take, for a type of these, the tendency of an over-teeming population to multiply the numbers of those who have no capital at their disposal. There are multitudes, in every large community, who are in the affecting condition of having been born into a world in which they have nothing, and of being members of a society in whose blessings and advantages they have the smallest possible share. Among these will of course be found great numbers who have, at least, the average share of industry and application, and perhaps more than the average share of native intelligence, with a strong desire of raising themselves above the pressing and bruising necessities of their daily lot. They look around them, but it is upon a friendless world. They feel that, with a little assistance, they could do something to serve or even to raise themselves; but they know not where to turn for the means of making a beginning. Their own daily earnings are consumed in the purchase of daily necessaries; and, if they have laid up any thing, it is frequently in some Sick or Burial Club, which only provide for the contingencies of Sickness and Death.

Individual benevolence cannot meet these wants; that is, it cannot meet them in a purely eleemosynary form. And though the venial enthusiasm of benevolence might suggest the wish, that means for thus relieving the wants of the poor were at command, yet experience, leaving the feeling as warm and vigorous as before, would expose and correct the erroneousness of the views thus connected with it. A great truth is gradually making its way into light and influence. It is, that to do good, it is not enough to give money, or to give it liberally and kindly. It may be a more difficult, as well as a more humane and benignant act, to withhold money than to bestow it. He who cannot spare a shilling, may do more good than he who is prodigal of thousands. The only good deserving the name is that by which we enable and assist our fellow-creatures to benefit themselves and each other. How best to effect this is the proper study of the philanthropist. All the discourses of philanthropy take this problem for their text. A great principle

is given us; but it is given us in a theoretical form; and we have to follow it out for ourselves into its practical applications. The whole proposition stands thus:-Given, the poor of a great and mixed community; and the principle that, to do them good, they must be taught and aided to do good to themselves; how is this most effectually to be done?

The solution of this proposition is far from being simple. It divides itself into many branches. There is no compendium, no short cut, no royal road to the common and splendid end. There is no single and sweeping cure for the complex evils of a state like the present-of imperfect civilization, legislation, and religion. To prescribe any approximation to such a cure, must belong either to a more advanced philosophy, or to a more daring empiricism. We are too early for the one, and too earnest for the other. All we can do is to indicate what appear to us some of the best existing means of remedial, preventive, and prospective beneficence. On one of these we now wish to make a few observations. We refer to the Small-Loan System. We have already sketched the case of a labouring man, industrious and intelligent, but without funds or friends, who wants to obtain a little assistance to trade upon, either by taking it into his own business, or by having it managed, during his absence from home, by some trusted and competent member of his family. Of such cases there are many hundreds in every considerable town. But as far as respects all ordinary institutions, these deep and fine wants would have been felt in vain. Here and there, a poor man, placed in fortunate circumstances, might have found some friend, who was able and willing to advance him a sum for such a purpose; but, in the great majority of cases, it is evident that there could have been no hope or chance of obtaining it; and that many an honest and hard-working family must have suffered much from the want of that little capital which, could it have been obtained, would have been both well used and thankfully repaid.

To meet this want, the Small-Loan Fund has been instituted. A Society is formed, by the members of which a certain capital is given or lent (the latter the better), which is lent out in various sums, usually from £1 to £15, to the labourers, artisans, and others, who apply for them, and who can satisfy the Society (which works by an Agent and a Committee), that their claims are proper, that their means of repaying the weekly instalments are promising, and that the friends whom they are required to bring forward as sureties for the fulfilment of their engagements, are such as to secure the institution from final