Free Church Of Scotland, an ecclesiastical body originally formed by a separation from the national establishment in the year 1843. On May 18 the general assembly of the established church of Scotland met as usual in Edinburgh, the Rev. David Welsh, D. D., being the moderator, and the ruarquis of Bute being the representative of the queen. After prayer the moderator read a solemn protest on the part of the church of Scotland against the wrongs inflicted on her by the civil power, which protest was signed by 203 members of the assembly. He then laid the protest on the table, and bowing respectfully to the representative of royalty left the house, followed immediately by Dr. Thomas Chalmers, Dr. Robert Gordon, Dr. Patrick McFarlane, Dr. John McDonald, Dr. Thomas Brown, and rank after rank of the country ministers. The protesters withdrew to a large hall at Canon mills, preceded and followed by sympathizing crowds, and there organized the Free Protesting church of Scotland, under the moderatorship of Dr. Thomas Chalmers. It was then found that 475 ministers had separated from the national church.

The amount of capital surrendered that day by the protesting brethren, in relinquishing their stipends from the establishment, was said to be at least £2,000,000. - The French revolution had considerably affected the standing both in the church and in society of the evangelical party in the church of Scotland. Their doctrines had been looked upon as tainted with fanaticism, but the general horror of infidelity awakened by the events in France caused them to be regarded with greater favor, while their impressive preaching, exemplary lives, and solid learning began to give character to the cause with which they were identified; and though as yet a mere handful in the church, they were every day increasing in numbers and power. Under the leadership successively of Erskine, Sir Henry Moncrieff, Andrew Thomson, and Chalmers, the evangelical party became stronger and stronger, until a fair opportunity for testing the power of parties in the church occurred in 1834. In 1707 the treaty of union between England and Scotland was consummated. It contained a special guarantee for the integrity of the church of Scotland as established in 1G89 under the reign of William and Mary, free from prelacy, from the royal supremacy in things spiritual, and from the law of patronage.

But in 1711, four years after the consummation of the treaty of union, the British parliament violated its pledge, and under the leadership of Bolingbroke lay patronage was reimposed upon the Scottish church. Such was the sense of the wrong inflicted by this act, that the Scottish church for a long period annually renewed her protest against it; and during several years after it was passed no patron was found to appropriate the powers which it conferred upon him. Toward the close of the century, however, forced settlements of ministers upon parishes became frequent, and multitudes of the best people were driven from the church. Against such proceedings it was in vain that the evangelical party earnestly and frequently protested; their protests were those of a small minority, whose principles the majority despised and hated. But that minority grew in numbers and in power, especially from the beginning of the present century, and under such leaders as Thomson and Chalmers one abuse after another was rooted out; and at last an act was passed by the general assembly in 1834 designed to be a corrective of the evils of lay patronage, which gave to the male heads of families in every parish the right of objecting to any presentee whom the patron might wish inducted into the pastorate over them.

This act, commonly called the "veto act," though proposed by Lord Moncrieff, one of the senators of the college of justice, and though believed by the church to be entirely within her power as a church established by law to enact, very soon brought her into conflict with the patrons, and through the patrons with the civil courts. On a vacancy occurring in a certain parish the patron presented his protege, who was vetoed by almost the entire body of inhabitants. The presentee appealed to the civil courts, which at once commanded the presbytery to proceed to his settlement. The presbytery refused. The civil courts of course stood mainly on the interpretation of the law of 1711-'12. The evangelical party, now the majority in the general assembly, believing that law to be both unconstitutional and contrary to the word of God, resolved to abide by the decision to which they had come in 1834, viz.: that the Christian people had a right by law and by warrant of God's word to be heard in regard to the appointment of a minister over them; and that the acts of ordaining to the ministry and of inducting into a pastoral charge were spiritual acts, in regard to which the church alone had jurisdiction.

The supreme civil court of Scotland also interposed its authority against the ordination and induction of a minister. The assembly, when appealed to for advice, by a large majority authorized the presbytery to proceed with the settlement. The presbytery were threatened by the civil court with imprisonment and tine should they dare to set its interdict at defiance. The ordination and induction of the presentee were consummated, and immediately a complaint was laid against the presbytery before the civil court. They were summoned to appear before the bar of the court, June 14, 1839, which they did. The judges heard their reply, and took four days to consider the case, during which it was understood that five of the judges voted for a sentence of imprisonment, and six for a rebuke. The rebuke was accordingly pronounced, and the presbytery were dismissed from the bar with the intimation that a sentence of imprisonment would certainly be pronounced against any presbytery that should afterward be found chargeable with a similar offence. Other cases involving the same principles rapidly arose, and elements of a still more deplorable character were brought into the arena of strife.

The civil court required a presbytery to take a clergyman on trial, admit him to the office of the ministry in a particular charge, and intrude him on the congregation contrary to the will of the people. It also interdicted the establishment of additional ministers to meet the wants of an increasing population. It interdicted the preaching of the gospel and all ministration of ordinances throughout a whole district by any minister of the church under authority of the church courts, as well as execution of the sentence of a church judicatory prohibiting a minister from preaching or administering ordinances within a particular parish, pending the discussion of a cause in the church courts as to the validity of his settlement therein. It also interdicted the general assembly and lower judicatories of the church from inflicting church censures: in one case where the minister was accused of theft and pleaded guilty; in another where a minister was found guilty of fraud and swindling; and in another where a licentiate was accused of drunkenness, obscenity, and profane swearing. It suspended church censures when pronounced by the church courts in the exercise of discipline, and took upon itself to restore the suspended ministers to the power of preaching and the administration of ordinances.

It assumed to judge of the right of individuals elected members of the general assembly to sit therein. As a last resource, the church appealed to the parliament of Great Britain. Her claim of rights," carefully prepared, was presented to the house of commons, March 7, 1843, by the Hon. Fox Maule (now earl of Dalhousie, and a ruling elder and a member of the general as-sembly of the Free church); but it was refused by a majority of 211 against 76. Of 37 Scottish members present at the division, 25 voted for Mr. Maule's motion. The question now was: Will the church retire from her declared principles, or will she, to preserve her liberties, relinquish her connection with the state? Without hesitation the decision was made, and 475 ministers left the establishment, including most of those who had acted openly with the evangelical party. Many of the congregations also left it whose ministers remained in it; and hence, as well as from the continued accession of numbers in every district of the country, the number of churches now exceeds 900. The missionaries belonging to the establishment in 1843 to a man threw in their lot with the Free Protesting church.

Her ministers are supported out of a common fund, to which every member of the church is expected to contribute according to his ability, and the dividend accruing from this fund every congregation is at liberty to supplement at its pleasure. In 1872 the church had 16 synods, 71 presbyteries, 948 congregations, and 957 ministers. The sum of £432,623 was in the same year raised for the various purposes of the church, including missions. Although beginning with nothing in 1843, and undertaking the untried work of supporting the ministry, the Free church has built or purchased all its churches throughout Scotland, with the manses and the parish school houses, the missionary buildings in India, Africa, and elsewhere, the buildings of the two normal schools in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the three colleges at Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, and the new assembly hall in Edinburgh, erected in 1858-'59 at a cost of £6,000. For the education fund she raised in 1843-4 £2,542, and in 1869-'70 £8,394. The average salary of the ministers is £205, besides manse and glebe.