In addition to parish churches, there are chapels of-ease in large parishes where one church is insuffi cient; thus in St. Cuthbert's, or West Kirk parish, The following table represents the state of the churches connected with the establishment, and also of the dissenting chapels at the end of 1825.
Chapels of ease in the church of Scotland 54 Churches in England in connexion with the church of Scotland, of whom nine clergymen are not licentiates of the church of Scotland 52 Churches in Ireland in connexion with the church of Scotland Churches abroad in connexion with the church of Scotland Though the established religion of Scotland is the reformed, there are still, as is evident from the pre ceding table, considerable remains of that ancient re ligion which has never adopted the sentiments of the reformers. The antiquity of the Catholics claims for them a distinct notice. And here we must separate the casual inhabitants following the Romish church, to bestow our attention on those who are the heredi tary Catholics of Scotland. The former consist chief ly, or rather solely of occasional Irish persons, gene rally labourers and mechanics, and are chiefrjr found in the populous towns of the west. In Glasgow alone they have been estimated at 10,000, and we need not name the conjectures and computations made of their numbers in Dumfries and the other towns which they frequent or inhabit.
As to the hereditary Catholics, their precise num bers are not known, but they are estimated by their own clergy as lying between 50,000 and 60,000. They are divided between several districts, where they have remained from the earliest separation of the churches; undergoing little or no change further than what has arisen from the progress of population and from gration; and, speaking generally, the great mass is found among the Highlanders.
In the Western islands, Barra is so far Catholic, that it contains but very few Protestants; and the same religion is found in South Uist, Benbecula, and North Uist, more scantily further north, so as to comprise a considerable proportion of the population of the Long Island. In the inner islands, Egg and Canna are chiefly Catholic, as is Rum in part; but comparatively few are found in the other islands, and in many there are none at all. It is impossible to be very minute in
these details.
On the western shore, the great centre of the Catho lic population is a district which may be held to in clude Arasaig, Moidart, Morrer, Knoydart, and parts of Kin tail, though the boundaries need not and cannot be accurately defined. Nor would it be easy to limit the exact places of those found in Ross and Inverness shires, though here, Inverness itself, and Strathglas, may be considered as a sort of centre. In Argyleshire, Lismore is similarly the centre of Catholics, who are found in various places on this coast.
In the properly eastern Highlands, the chief mass is found about Tomantoule and Glen Livat, diverging in a scattered manner to the neighbouring country; and this enumeration is sufficiently accurate to give a gene ral notion of the places of the Highland Catholics, though many are also found in certain parts of Perth shire and elsewhere, which it would be tedious to in dicate.
In Aberdeenshire, there is also a centre of Catholic population, which may be considered as including those who appertain to the shires of Banff and Moray, and the Catholic establishment of Auchcort may be considered as its centre. Thus Edinburgh may•also be considered one, on account of its Catholic bishop; and it is quite superfluous to remark that some few are to be found in all the principal towns of the kingdom, Here, however, it is also proper to say, that the Catho lic church of Scotland is chiefly confined to the infe rior orders, though it must not be denied that several old opulent families, and among these two of the peer age, (Traquair and Newburgh) belong to it. It is also but justice to remark that the utmost harmony prevails when the two churches come in contact; that the Catholic people are among the most orderly and industrious of the population; and that no political or other grievances on this subject seem to be felt. The children of Catholics are in general educated at the parish schools; and in those parts of the Highlands where the Catholics are most numerous, few or none but Protestant teachers are employed, the adherents to both religions seeming equally anxious to avail themselves of the means of instruction put in their power.