the daily formation of small mountain settlements, and the consequent
dispersion of large numbers in districts remote from the established
places of worship, adds greatly to the difficulty of extending to all
these humanising and civilising influences. The Church can keep its
footing here only by the exhibition of missionary zeal and devotion,
tempered by a spirit of Christian benevolence and conciliation. I
regret to say that some of the unhappy controversies which are vexing
the Church in England have broken out here of late. Discussions of
this nature are singularly unprofitable where the people need to be
instructed in the very rudiments of Christian knowledge, and where it
is so desirable to keep well with all who profess to have a similar
object in view.

A single bishop in a colony, where large funds are provided by the
State for Church purposes, and where he is beyond the reach of the
public opinion of England, exercises a very great and irresponsible
authority. If a zealous man, of extreme views on points of doctrine,
the clergy of the diocese, looking to him alone for advancement in
their profession, are apt to echo his sentiments; and the wide folding
doors of our mother Church, which she flings open for the reception of
so many, to use Milton's words, 'brotherly dissimilitudes that are not
vastly disproportioned,' are contracted, to the exclusion, perchance,
of some whom it were desirable to retain in our communion. If, on the
other hand, he be a man of but moderate piety, ability, and firmness,
the importunity of friends at a distance, who may wish to provide for
dependents or connections, and other considerations which need not be
enumerated, may tempt him to lower the standard of ministerial
qualification, of which he is, of course, the sole judge. It requires
a person of much Christian principle, and singular moderation,
discretion, and tact, to administer powers of this nature well. I have