conclude this instructive lesson with a few words applicable to ourselves.

To wade through all the arguments employed in this four hours' trial is unnecessary. Dr. Cooper rested his defence on a few simple facts; and, though unsatisfactory to us, they were facts against which an American—and, above all, a South Carolina-jury cannot dissent, without signing the death-warrant of all their boasted liberty :

The arguments he dwelt upon were substantially as follows, to wit:-That the charges brought against him, must be proved as laid: that accusation was of itself no proof; that, if convicted, he must be convicted on the testimony produced; that the two facts, of his opinions being offensive to large classes of people, and to the parents of the young men; and that these his opinions had been injurious to the college, were facts, not to be assumed, but to be proved. He appealed to every trustee who had heard the testimony read, whether there was one syllable of evidence, that had the least bearing on either of these two facts; or any attempt to shew that the publications referred to, had been circulated in this State. The only substantial point of inquiry for the trustees, was, had Dr. Cooper's opinions lessened the number of the students? He stated it as a fact officially known to every trustee at the Board, that, during the year 1831, when the presses teemed with pamphlets against him, and the papers throughout the State with weekly invective, a greater number of students had applied for admission into college than had ever been known before, except on one occasion. He called upon every man who had heard that testimony read, to say, whether it was not, in every part of it, and from every student examined without exception, one continued and ample panegyric on his caution, his impartiality, his faithful discharge of duty, and his total abstinence from all interference with the religious opinions of the young men under his care; every one of whom when examined, declared upon oath, that Dr. Cooper was accustomed, on all occasions, to direct the students that it was their duty, while at college, to abide by the religion of their parents; and that he never did interfere in any manner with their religion, nor had they ever heard that he had done so.— Trial, p. 3.

He contended that every opinion complained of, as held by the President of the College, had long been held by large classes of the most respectable citizens of the United States, and were not novelties introduced by himself.-P. 4.

His opinion as to Materialism was held by all the fathers of the christian church, for some centuries after Christ; by all the Priestleyans and Unitarians in England and this country; some of the most eminent of modern divines of the Episcopal Church; by Law, Bishop of Carlisle; by Watson, Bishop of Llandaff; and this doctrine is, at present, a subject of controversy between Mr. Balfour, of Charlestown, (Mass.) and Professor Stuart of Andover. That it is the opinion of those eminent physiologists, Cabanis and Broussais of Paris; Lawrence, of London; and Mc Cartney, of Dublin. That it was the opinion avowed also by Thomas Jefferson. It is known to have been held by Dr. Rush; and must of necessity, in a very few years, become the prevailing opinion of every physiologist, if it be not so at this moment.-P. 4.

Dr. Cooper then proceeded to shew, that all these obnoxious opinions were, in fact, propagated by the Legislature of South Carolina as well as by Dr. Cooper; inasmuch as they are all to be found in the Rev. Dr. Channing's panegyrical view of the theological tenets of the poet and republican John Milton; to be found (as it ought to be) in the Legislative Library.-P. 5.

Dr. Cooper then took occasion to descant on the charge that his opinions were offensive to large classes of the community; and on Judge Huger's assertion in the Legislature, that unpopularity was of itself a sufficient cause of removal from office.-P. 6.

If I am (says Dr. C.) to avoid unpopular and offensive opinions, which change their character and costume almost every year, give me, if you please, under the authority of the Board, an index expergatorius for the year; furnish me with a chart of my annual voyage, so that I may avoid the rocks, and shoals, and breakers of what is called heterodoxy. Orthodoxy means always the opinions of those who hold their own opinions to be true. Orthodoxy, said Bishop Warburton to Lord Sandwich, is my doxy; heterodoxy, is another man's doxy.-P. 9.

Does the contract of Dr. Cooper with the trustees contain any prohibition as to uttering or publishing, or avowing, defending, or professing, any speculative opinion whatever? Would the trustees have had any right, under the Constitution, to have insisted on such a condition, or to have made any discrimination or preference? Most certainly, if any such clause or condition had been proposed, Dr. Cooper would have rejected it at once. He would not, in such case, have been here now. The very proposal, by the Board, or by any member of it, would have been a crime.-P. 9.

We have, in college, sons of Calvinists and Universalists, Trinitarians and Unitarians, Arminians and Antinomians, sons of Jews, and of persons of no particular religion. What is the rule of justice and expedience in such case? Interfere with none of them: leave every opinion to fall or rise by its own value. Dr. Cooper's advice has been constant, reiterated, and uniform to the students, as every witness examined hus testified—“ Follow, while at college, the religion of your parents."-P. 9.

Would it not be a fraud on the students, to teach them one side of a question, and to prohibit or conceal all arguments on the other side? Is this the system of ethics that this Board will venture to avow? Do you require a student who comes here, to commence his studies under this organized plan of authorized deception?-P. 10.

In England, the farce of a Constitution, much talked of, no where to be found, has at length been reduced to one principle, the OMNIPOTENCE Of ParLIAMENT; a principle anxiously enforced, and strenuously urged, by the present abandoned majority in the Congress of the United States.-P. 12.

By amendment 1. "Congress shall make no law, respecting an establishment of religion: or, prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.-P. 13.

Have I libelled religion? Whose? Not my own :-there is no true religion but mine. Every man says so of his religion; I have the same right to say so of mine: that is truth, which is truth to me.-P. 13.

From these premises (we are told), Dr. Cooper deduced the conclusion, that every kind of restraint on the profession, avowal, or discussion of religious tenets, was in manifest hostility, not only to the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the United States, but of the people in general, in every State.P.14.

Again :

You may believe and profess that three units added together make one; but if you should miscalculate and call them three, you are a dangerous man— begone! And this is called making no discrimination, giving no preference ! And your President must conform in submissive silence to this grave mockery of the Constitution, or he is " turned out to grass!"-P. 15.

When the people of this State, by their constitutional representatives, met to form a political community, and to make with each other a mutual compact, on terms of liberal equality, they met, not as Calvinists or Arminians, as Trinitarians or Unitarians, as Christians, whether Papist or Protestant, as Jews or Deists-but as MEN.-P. 15.

Such is the defence on which I, for my own part, choose to rest this case. I take this ground, because I am not now fighting my own battle. Every citizen of the State is as much concerned in this defence as I am.-P. 16.

Sir, this is not a day when the right of free discussion is to be submitted to a licenser. This is not a day when the human intellect may be required to bow down before the presumptuous ignorance of civil authority, as the sufficient judge of all possible controversies. No, Sir; the TRIBUNAL OF THE PUBLIC is the only Court of Appeals in the last resort; and fact and argument, with full freedom of discussion to all the parties before that court, are the means by which truth seeks to obtain its decision in her favour. The tide of public opinion long checked by the ignorance of past ages, is returning with irresistible force toward the vast ocean of unlimited inquiry; and no puny effort of civil despotism or religious fanaticism can turn it from its course, or set bounds to its progress.-P. 17.

Experience has settled the rule, WHERE THERE IS DOUBT, LET THERE BE DISCUSSION.-P. 17.

We have selected these passages from the Defence, because they are invaluable to us as grounds for our decision respecting the "free institutions” of America. We are, first of all, under no mistake as to the charge itself; Dr. Cooper does not deny it, but writes a pamphlet to prove it in detail. We are then told, that his infidelity is "not offensive to large classes of people, or the parents of the young men ;' that "the number of students has not been lessened;" that " every opinion held by him has long been held by large classes of the MOST RESPECTABLE citizens of the United States;" that " these opinions are propagated by the legislature of South Carolina;" that, notwithstanding the seeming honesty of allowing the students to retain in college the religion of their parents, the poison of unbelief is so insinuated there, that they depart infidels, whatever they were when they came thither; that "it would be a fraud”—poor things!—to let them go away as pure as they arrived; that the constitution of England is, thanks to a Reformed Parliament, the laughing-stock of Yankee infidels; that the reduction of an established religion is the main prop of infidelity; that in America, and no doubt in England, any preference of Christianity is a crime against the rights of man; that civil liberty consists in the rejection of a Redeemer; and that the " Tribunal of the People," in other words, the tribunal of blood-thirsty heathens, is the "only court of appeals in the last resort."

Gracious heaven! and is this the result of the grand experiment? that the youth of a free State are, in the nineteenth century, to be educated in a college, over which presides a professing infidel; and that the universal cry in religious discussions,-" Look at America!" settles down into this,-Look at a people who have, as it were by one consent, abjured their Saviour, to worship the majesty of a spitting, slave-driving, tobacco-chewing mob!

We are convinced that, startled as they may be at the above extracts from Dr. Cooper's Speech and Defence, our readers will be taken with ten-fold surprise when they read the following, the most powerful proof that, however we may lament the opinions of the president of South

Carolina College, he has only done his countrymen justice in asserting that they have wallowed with him in the mire of doubt, denial of God, and degradation of their best faculties :

During the course of Dr. Cooper's speech, the plaudits of the multitude who attended as auditors and spectators, threatened to interrupt the business of the evening; but they were checked and silenced by a remonstrance from the President of the Board.

On the evening of Saturday the 8th, the Board of Trustees met in the College Library, and

Resolved, That no charge against Dr. Cooper, shewing that his continuance in office defeats the ends and aims of the Institution, or authorizing his removal, has been substantiated by proof; and that the charges against him, be therefore dismissed.-P. 17.

Dare any defenders of secession from the Church of England, after this voluntary evidence, presume to quote American independence, and American unity, as their authority for quitting the ranks of the Establishment? and can any argument against the use and necessity of an Established Church be found one-millionth part so bold and convincing as this brief history of the College of South Carolina is in favour of those institutions of our forefathers' wisdom, which the Dr. Coopers of the London University, and the legislature of once protestant, once christian England, are, by pursuing the example of American freedom, rapidly involving in the degradation and disgrace which, ere long, if there be truth in experience, or virtue in religion, must inevitably sink into deserved opprobrium and uncompromising hatred all the splendid triumphs of the last half century on the wide field of Trans-Atlantic independence?

Woe worth the day, if ever a Dr. Cooper be arraigned before the trustees of an English college on such charges as these-if ever the youth of the institution increase beneath such tutelage—if ever an acquittal must be granted for the sake of consistency! Oh! ye expediency-mongers, ye bishop-haters, ye church-robbers, look at South Carolina, and tremble! The French revolution was one warning-the American dissolution will be another! Let us take care that we are not involved in the consequences of the latter; for, if there be any confidence in the signs of the times, before America can become what England was, really free, really happy, really prosperous, she will have to wade through an ocean of blood, deeper than that which separates the east from the west, yea, wider than the barrier which we hope will ever stretch between the "glorious freedom" of the States, and the insulted sovereignty of British liberty, which, warned by such examples as the one before us, we implore the presidents of our colleges, and the legislative boards, to shelter beneath the only shield of peace and happiness, the basis of religious truth, as taught and practised in the vindication of the Bible.

LITERARY REPORT.

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