such a vehicle
should never be attempted, unless the clergy once more are the
directors of conscience and of action, and could conscientiously
absolve the taker of the pledge, should he fail. With the diversity
of sects now existing in Protestantism, this would be obviously
impracticable, and the attempt lead to a result one can hardly imagine
without horror. No oath ought to be administered to a Protestant on
such a subject; as, if a believer of that class of Christians should
voluntarily take one and then break it, how much greater would his sin
be than the sin of one who really and truly is convinced that a human
being could pardon him, should he perjure himself!

The effects of drinking spirits in Canada are beyond anything I had
imagined, until the report of the census of the Lower province for
1843, and that of Dr. Rees upon the lunatic asylum at Toronto, in the
Upper, were published. The population of Lower Canada was 693,649, of
which there were--

Males. Females. Total.
Deaf and dumb 447 278 725
Blind 273 250 523
Idiots 478 472 950
Lunatics 156 152 308
---- ---- ----
Total 1354 1152 2506

The proportion of deaf and dumb to the whole population is as 1 to
about 957: a greater proportion than prevails throughout all Europe (1
to 1537), United States (1 in 2000), or the whole world throughout (1
in 1556.)

The census of Upper Canada, taken a year before, gives the total
population as 506,505. Of these there were--

Males. Females. Total.
Deaf and dumb 222 132 354
Blind 114 89 203
Idiots 221 178 393
Lunatics 241 478 719
---- ---- ----
Total 798 877 1669

Thus, of a total population of 1,200,154, in 1833, there were 1027
persons confined in the provincial lunatic asylums, and perhaps a
great many more out of them, as they have only just come into
operation, and are still very inefficient. The idiots, it will appear,
amounted to 1349.

In the whole North American continent, Canada is only exceeded by the
States of New Hampshire and Connecticut, in the lists of insanity;
and, to show that intemperance as well as climate has something to do
with this melancholy result, I shall only state, without entering into
details, that a well-in