ries of the Georgian era are surpassed by | endured -we wish we could say passed those of the Victorian, in which the de- through the ordeal with a dignified, and velopment and practical application of very often, if truth were known, couragescience to our arts and industries, the ous and pathetic, silence. And because extension of popular liberties, and the they have been silent, it is naturally asspread of education, have revolutionized sumed in an agitating and agitated world the nation's commerce, and wrought a vast that things were not very bad with them improvement in the social condition of after all. Indeed, it would not take long her Majesty's subjects. There can there- to find politicians who would tell one that fore be no doubt that the people over the clergy were the fattest of middlemen whom Queen Victoria has reigned so glo- and the worst of landlords. But it is time riously will celebrate her jubilee in a man- that the state of the clergy whose income ner worthy of the occasion, and will be depends upon agriculture should be thorequally as ready to show their loyalty to oughly considered by the country, and the sovereign under whose sway England especially by those who, from whatever has attained a pre-eminent position among point of view, are desirous of maintaining the nations of the world, as were the sub- an Established Church. jects of George III., "the father of his people."

the English farmer that, though he hands | judicious expenditure of capital during the money to the parson, he does not in the period of depression. But an incumreality pay the tithe. The question of bent cannot benefit his family, and rarely tithe is really a question between the land- benefits himself, by expending capital on owner and the tithe-owner, not between the land. Only one instance has Mr. Prothe tithe-owner and the farmer. If tithe thero found of a clergyman who has sucwere abolished to-morrow, within ten years cessfully farmed his own land so as to it would all go into the landlord's pocket make it pay for the time being, and even in the shape of increased rent; and hard in this case he can never get back the as it is to convince the English farmer of capital he has expended. It will surprise, this, it lies at the basis of the whole ques- and we think it should command the retion. We heartily concur with Mr. Pro- spect of the public to learn, that in spite thero in thinking that the alliance between of this, in the diocese of Peterborough landowners and tenants in the agitation alone, £75,000 was spent between 1870-80 against tithe would be "short-sighted, if on the improvement of farms and buildnot actually dishonest." It would be fool-ings, of which £37,000 was private capiish, because the same sort of agitation is equally capable of being used against the landlords themselves. It would be dishonest, because, whatever may be the ignorance of the tenant farmers, the landowners know perfectly well that they "bought their land at a less price because it was subject to tithe; they never purchased or acquired the rent-charge; it can be no grievance for them to pay what never belonged to them; it is no hardship not to receive interest on capital which they have not invested. Their successors inherit what their predecessors bought, neither more nor less; they are in exactly the same position with respect to the charge, neither better nor worse." As to the present position of clerical tithe-owners, it is "painful to the extreme. They are dependent upon bankrupts for their bread. Their position as spiritual advisers is seriously compromised when they at the same time appear as creditors pressing struggling tenants for the payment of tithe."

tal sunk in the land without any prospect of seeing the capital again, and, as things have turned out, without even getting the interest. The private capital sunk for the same purpose since 1870 in the Peterborough diocese alone now amounts to £50,000, and it is probable that as much as £150,000 has been expended in the whole country. This large expenditure, though at the most it has been of only temporary benefit to the clergy, and a loss fearful to contemplate to their families, has im mensely benefited the property of the Church, and the clergy deserve to get the credit of it. To understand the position the clergy are actually in, take the following, which we know, from other sources than Mr. Prothero, accurately to describe the state of things in many cases:

All the temporal advantages of the clerical

profession are, at least in the midland counpinch of poverty, not, perhaps, in its acutest ties, entirely removed. The clergy feel the form of actual hunger, but in the loss of all those so-called luxuries which in their position The glebe-owner is still worse off than and surroundings are really necessaries. First the tithe-owner. He suffers "more than came inconvenience from delay and uncerthe corresponding losses of landowners." tainty in the receipt of income; then the huHe is accused of being a bad landlord; miliating necessity of asking for credit; then but the reason is not so much in himself the certainty that rents would not be paid; as in the law, which practically forbids then the pressure of creditors and the refusal him to give his tenant any security of to give further credit; then the expenditure of occupation, which weights him with dilap- private capital and the mortgage of life insuridations, but does not compel him to work house and its surroundings are ill-adapted to ances; then the application to friends. The the land in a husbandlike manner, and a constantly narrowing income. The outdoor which finally renders it absolutely impos- establishment is reduced, the garden cannot sible that at death or resignation, either be maintained, the horse and carriage are sold. he or his representatives should be able to get back a penny of any capital he may have spent on the land. Thus, the practical summary of the glebe-owner's position is that he gets the worst tenants, and that his interest is to spend as little as he can on the land. In recent years, many landholders have saved their estates to themselves and their children by bold but

The same process is followed indoors. Servant after servant is discharged till not one is left; then follows the careful husbanding of fuel, the severest practice of domestic economy, even the disposal of books, furniture, and apparel.. . The Church services must be maintained, and the curate's salary is paid by an incumbent who envies his subordinate his salary. No one will give more than the parson, and the clergy are still obliged to

head subscriptions. . . . The parson is often the only man of education in the parish; he cannot seek the society of his friends, for he has no means of locomotion; he cannot solace himself with books, for he can no longer afford to buy them, or even to subscribe to a library; he cannot, like the squire, shut up his house and leave the neighborhood. He has no fellow-sufferer with whom he can compare notes; the farmers may understand his loss, but their well-meant sympathy is often expressed with excruciating frankness; the laborers grumble that he cannot employ them as he used, and is

less able to minister to their wants.

This is a sad picture enough, and is far away removed from the ideal picture of the country parsonage. Mr. Prothero proposes remedies which we are not going to discuss at present. The redemption of the tithe rent-charge seems feasible. The alteration of the law in order to put the clergy in a better position with regard to the tenant might easily be effected, and we believe that a bill is about to be introduced in the House of Commons for that purpose, backed by Mr. Childers and Mr. J. G. Talbot. The sale of glebe lands is a more difficult and complex question, and we are by no means favorably impressed with Lord Cross's bill on the subject. The

redemption of the mortgages of the land improvement companies by public subscription in order to prevent the disendowment by foreclosure, a fate which has already overtaken one living, and " hangs by a thread" over others, would be an excellent object, if the public were not already sick of jubilee subscriptions. What we wish to point out is the great necessity and the great suffering which have come upon the clergy. What we wish to impress upon the public is that "the turn is still out of sight," that "there is every reason to believe that the year 1886 will prove the most disastrous of a series of ruinous seasons." In fine, that the clergy have not only clung to their posts, but borne their heavy trust with an uncomplaining dignity which is worthy of their noble calling. Every temporal advantage of their position is disappearing; little remains to encourage the parson in a life which has always had more than its usual share of disappointment, except his faith and his sense of sacred that the result will be to purify and elevate duties conscientiously performed. It may be the character of the country clergy. If so, the refining process will ultimately raise their position and extend their influence; but, meanwhile, the furnace is exceeding hot.

windward half of it—it was impossible to pass through the vapors on the lee side — which was accomplished in six minutes, at the rate of about three miles an hour. On the very interesting question of the depth of the crater

A JAPANESE VOLCANO. -The active vol- | cano, Asamayama, appears to be attracting particular attention just now in Japan, probably because it is the loftiest mountain in the country which is in a constant state of activity, and also because it is the nearest to the capi-- that is, the depth from the mouth to the tal, and is situated in a district long famous for its health resorts. A few weeks since we referred to an anonymous account of the crater, published in the Japan Weekly Mail, but a much more careful sketch of it is given by the Japan correspondent of the Times in a letter published recently in that journal. The roar of the volcano, on approaching the edge of the crater, he describes as not unlike the noise produced by the passage of a train across a bridge under which one is standing. There was no shaking, however, but loud hissing and bubbling constantly proceeded from numberless vapor-jets in the inner face of the craterwall, from its rim downwards. The crater is a rough oval in shape, but the estimates of its size are most conflicting. The Japanese give the circumference as four miles, but this is simply a wild guess. A German explorer set down the diameter at eleven hundred yards, and an English mathematical professor put it at only two hundred yards, "divergencies that will illustrate the mental confusion to which some men are liable when in the presence of dread natural phenomena." The writer himself estimated the circumference at one thousand and fifty-six yards, by walking round the

surface of the molten matter-opinions vary almost as hopelessly as on the size. No doubt the "vast clouds of the most pungent sulphurous steam," which are described as rising swiftly out of the caldron, render exact observation difficult. The Times correspondent speaks of catching glimpses of the crater-wall at depths which a very moderate estimate would place at three hundred feet. But the gradual convergence of the cavity apparent at this depth forbids the acceptance of the enor mous profundity for which some visitors have contended, and suggests that the depth can hardly much exceed five hundred feet. After a weird description of the appearance presented to the spectator by the volcano at work, the writer concludes by remarking that the present crater is apparently the youngest and innermost of three. Further down on the south-west side are to be seen, along with numerous fissures of unfathomable depth, remains which point to the existence of two former craters, concentric and of large dimen sions, and separated from one another by a considerable interval. Possibly the existing cone was formed by the great eruption of 1783.

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