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"10TH NOVEMBER, 1829.

"All bargains obligating the Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Ohio, of which I am the sole agent, must be subject to the approval of Mrs. S. M. Chase, my wife, in my absence from Gambier. PHILANDER CHASE."

At this period, he little thought of the trials that awaited him, or how soon his confident anticipations of complete success, were to be sadly disappointed. Insinuations of mis-management of the funds were circulated in distant places, and gained some credit; although it was, or might have been known, that he was obliged to account regularly to the Trustees of the Seminary for every dollar that passed through his hands. Dissensions arose in his own Diocese. The Professors of the Seminary were arrayed in opposition against him. Environed with difficulties, and unable to carry on the Institution according to the expressed will of the contributors to its funds, he felt constrained in the year 1831, to resign the Presidency, together with the Episcopate of Ohio. We purposely omit going into a detail of these transactions, as the limits of our article would prevent us from doing justice to the parties concerned. We can only remark, that questionable as might have been the conduct of the Professors and of the Convention, we fear that the Bishop was too hasty in sending in his resignation; and so it seemed at the time to persons residing at a distance, and not involved in the dispute. To many, the news of his resignation brought the first knowledge of the difficulty. We are inclined to think, that forbearance, and firmness, and perseverance on the part of the Bishop, might in time have brought about a reconciliation, and secured the peace of the Diocese, and the prosperity of the Seminary.

That he acted conscientiously in resigning, we do not doubt; for it was done at a great sacrifice of private interest. At the age of fifty-six, and with a heavy heart, as we may well imagine, he left the scene of his labors, and took up his abode in the wilderness, in a log cabin on a farm belonging to his niece, a small portion only of which was cleared. Here, however, he remained but a short time, and we next find him among the pioneer settlers of the southern part of Michigan. He describes the country as extremely beautiful and fertile, and almost without inhabitants. With his usual spirit and energy he carried on the work of improvement, erecting comfortable buildings, subduing the soil, and fitting his new farm for cultivation. But amidst these labors, he was not unmindful of higher duties.

He soon arranged a regular course for his clerical labors, and performed them as systematically and earnestly on Sundays, as if he had not been compelled to work with his hands during the week. We have not room to describe those labors, and must refer the reader to the book itself, of which the account of his residence in Michigan forms an interesting portion. He was not long, however, to remain in seclusion. Three years after he removed to Michigan, he was chosen Bishop of Illinois by the primary Convention of that Diocese. This call to a new field of labor, as it was entirely unsought and unexpected by himself, he could look upon in no other light, than the Providence of GoD directing him to new duties and perhaps to new trials. He did not, therefore, feel at liberty to decline the appointment. So little was he given to delay, when satisfied that he was obeying the call of duty, that in his letter accepting the Episcopate of Illinois, he regrets that he should not be able to leave his home to enter upon his duties in less than one month, and even then should find it advisable to leave his family behind. He received the notice of his election in April, 1835, and early in the month following, started on a tour through the State of Illinois. He found little there to gratify either ambition, or the love of ease. His Diocese extended over an area of 55,000 square miles; but in this whole region then, there had been but one Episcopal Church erected, and the whole number of the Clergy was only six, four Priests, and two Deacons. But it was a field of immense importance for the future. Equal in extent to England and Wales together, and exceeding in fertility any portion of the globe of equal area, he could not but look forward to the time, when it would be filled with millions of immortal souls, whose everlasting weal or woe might depend upon the results of his labors.

In the autumn of 1835, the General Convention met in Philadelphia. At that Convention the Diocese of Illinois was received into union with the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, and the appointment of Bishop Chase to the Episcopate confirmed. And now he was to begin his labors in reality, and what had he to depend upon?

To England, the eye of hope was as naturally and as necessarily raised for Illinois, as it had been in 1823 for Ohio. And though the prospect of success had a shade over it, yet the one motto triumphed-" Jehovah Jireh"-"God will provide." His treasury is never exhausted, and will pour forth its treasures to all who obey his will. (Vol. ii, p. 233.)

As before, he seems to have been received with great kindness in England, and considerable sums were given him to found a College in Illinois, and some for his own private use. Donations for both purposes, in considerable amounts, continued to reach him after his return.

Returning from England in May, 1836, he set out immediately for his home in Michigan, and in a few days was on his way, with his family, to take up his abode in Illinois; but as it would appear, without any definite idea of the place where he would ultimately settle. A location was at length chosen near the middle of the State, in Peoria County, on lands not yet brought into the market by the United States' Goverment. His only resource was to erect a temporary dwelling on these unoccupied lands, and wait till they should be offered for sale.

Having erected a log cabin in the vicinity of the place where he hoped to locate the College, he took up his abode in it with his family; but it was not till December, 1838, that the lands came into market, and he was able to secure the title. The purehase amounted to twenty-eight hundred acres, of great fertility, and having, besides other natural advantages, inexhaustible beds of bituminous coal, and a considerable stream of water, with sites suitable for the erection of mills. If well managed, it can not fail to become in time exceedingly valuable, and may of itself constitute an ample endowment for an institution of learning.

In the spring of 1839, the corner stone of JUBILEE COLLEGE was laid, with appropriate ceremonies, and shortly after, the Bishop made the tour of the Atlantic States, soliciting additional funds for the erection of the buildings, and the endowment of professorships. In this he succeeded beyond the expectations of all; for it was a time of great commercial embarrassments, most unpropitious for such an enterprise.

With the history of Jubilee College, and the labors of Bishop Chase, since 1839, our readers are probably all familiar, and we will only add, that a Charter was obtained for the College, from the Legislature of Illinois, in 1846. Any one who reads that Charter, can not fail to observe how carefully the funds contributed are secured, for the benefit of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and guarded against misapplication and abuse of trust. One thing only strikes us as singular in this Charter. It does not create a Body Corporate, by the Act of the Legislature, but makes it lawful for Bishop Chase to "nominate and appoint, in his last will and testament, or otherwise," the trustees, who, with the President, (who is always to be the Bishop of the Diocese,) are to form a Body Corporate. Until

such nomination shall be made, the Bishop retains the whole management of the College and its property in his own hands. The benefactors of Jubilee College entrusted Bishop Chase with the means to endow the institution, having knowledge of all the circumstances, and in entire reliance on his integrity and ability, and will not object to his retaining the control of it while he lives. If any one fears that he may mis-apply the funds, or neglect to execute that part of the Charter which it belongs to him to do, let him read carefully the Reminiscences, and then ask whether it is probable, that one who has spent a long life so laboriously, and disinterestedly, for the good of others and the Church, would be likely to crown that life with an act of dishonesty.

It must be a source of consolation to Bishop Chase now, in his old age, to see the growing results of his toils and privations. Perhaps no man, now living, has performed an equal amount of labor, or done so much for the promotion of learning and religion, in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. Amidst discouragements, which would have palsied the energies of an ordinary man, he has planted, we may say, an hundred Parishes in the wilderness, and founded two Colleges, which will continue to carry on the work which he has begun, we hope, for generations, after he has gone to his reward.

We do not anticipate an extensive sale for the Reminiscences. The former imperfect edition has satisfied, in some degree, the curiosity of the public, and supplied those who have sympathised with the author in his later labors, with all that they wished to know of his early life. Still, it will be well for those who feel an interest in the extension of the Church among the rapidly increasing population of the Western States, to have these Reminiscences in a permanent form. Had the work been less voluminous, and written more in the form of a continuous narrative, it might have been more entertaining to the cursory reader, and have secured a wider circulation. As it is, however, it has a higher interest for those who are accustomed to look for the motives of human action, and trace the effect of success or disappointment, upon the minds of those who make an impression on the age in which they live.

The correspondence, which makes up a good share of the work, breathes a spirit of faith, and sincerity, and piety, which will command the sympathy of every sober-minded and earnest Christian.

OLIVER CROMWELL.

ART. V.-The Life of Oliver Cromwell. By T. J. HEADLEY. New York: Baker & Scribner, 1848.

The Protector, a Vindication. By J. H. MErle D'Aubigne, D. D. New York: Robert Carter, 1847.

The History of the English Revolution of 1640, commonly called the Great Rebellion. By F. GUIZOT, (late) Prime Minister of France, &c. &c. Translated by WILLIAM HAZLITT. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1846.

History of the Commonwealth of England, from its commencement to the restoration of Charles II. By WILLIAM GODWIN. London: Colburn, 1828.

Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. By THOMAS CARLYLE. 2 vols. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1847.

A DISTINGUISHED historian has remarked of Archbishop Laud, that more good and more evil has been spoken and written of him than of almost any other historical character that can be named. The same observation may with justice be applied to Oliver Cromwell, the most remarkable individual whose lot was cast in the stormy times in which Laud struggled, suffered and died. If we are to depend upon the general verdict of Christendom, long since pronounced upon his character and career, we can not hesitate to place him among the number of those ambitious men, who have attained dominion, by a bold and skillful use of the advantages of a remarkable position, and the arbitrary exercise of power, basely won, but wielded with consummate vigor and ability. When we read the opinions pronounced upon him by his cotemporaries, we are at no loss to discover the data upon which this verdict is based. The charges of his opponents, sustained by facts spread upon the page of history, are scarcely more decisive than the reluctant admissions of his friends and abettors, and the indignant denunciations of many great and good men, who thought and acted with him during part of his career, but refused to proceed with him through the devious ways of intrigue and bloodshed by which he won his way to supreme power in England. Lord Clarendon called him "a brave wicked man;" Cardinal Mazarin, puzzled by the same inconsistency between his professions and his actions which still renders his character a historical problem, described him as a "fortunate madman ;" while Father Orleans sums up the review of his life by pronouncing him a "judicious

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