quish their comfortable- stipends, their pleasant
manses, and present advantages of position.
which had been sanctioned by Her Majesty's
Government and by the Legislature." After reading
of the Queen's High Commissioner and a brilliant
assemblage of spectators, the Assembly met, while
a vast multitude thronged the broad area of George
Street, breathlessly awaiting the result, and '' prepared
to see the miserable show of eight or ten
men voluntarily sacrificing themselves to what was
thought a fantastic principle."
When the time came for making up the roll of
members, Dr. Welsh rose, and said that "he must
seventy-two elders, he left his place, followed first
by Dr. Chalniers and other prominent men, till
the number amounted to four hundred and scveng,
who poured forth along the streets, where general
astonishment, not unmingled with sorrqw, admiration,
and alarm, prevailed.
When Lord Jeffrey was told of it, an hour after,
he exclaimed, " Thank God for Scotland ! there is
not another country on earth where such a deed
