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Against France united with England in resisting so atrocious an attempt, what could these powers have hoped to gain? Only disaster and ruin.

Actual hostilities, we are happy to find, have not yet taken place. The strong and unanimous expression of opinion in this country, to which we shall have occasion to refer, seems to have had some effect in restraining the headlong course of the French executive government. With the government, parliament, and people of Great Britain, almost to a man,against them; with every lover of justice and public liberty throughout Europe united on the same side; with the Spanish people roused to unwonted exertion, and almost maddened at the thoughts of another French invasion, not a whit less unjust than the last; with an equally dangerous enemy in the discontent and disaffection of a large class of the French themselves; with a press that awaits only the first signal to explode all its long-hidden thunders; with a powerless navy; with weak and endangered colonies; and with an army more likely at the first sound of the vivus of liberty to make common cause with their enemy, than to attack and subdue them; it must evince more than an ordinary degree of political madness if the French government do not pause yet a little longer, and seize the first favourable moment for" backing out" of their rash and unjustifiable enterprise. Let us not, however, forget, amidst the affliction which every British Christ jan must feel at these proceedings, that we owe to all men, and certainly not least to our near neighbours and allies, and for "all who are in authority" among them, the duty of forbearance, conciliation, and, above all, of prayer, that He who has the hearts of kings and legislators in his power would graciously dispose them to those measures which may best promote his glory, and the peace and welfare of mankind. We even venture to suggest, as Christian Observers, whether it might not be proper, during the present season of Lent, for a day of public prayer and fasting to be set apart to implore the Great Author of Peace to avert the commencement of war and all its horrors. Even on political grounds, we can conceive that such a measure might produce a very beneficial and solemnizing effect, not only at home, but throughout Europe and the world.

SPAIN.-The intelligence from

Spain manifests the most determined purposes of resistance to the unjust aggressions of France. The king's reply to the address of the Cortes was highly patriotic; and the resolutions adopted by the Cortes sound loudly the note of warlike preparation. The Spanish youth are said to present themselves in crowds for the common defence. Hopes are expressed of an accommodation between the moderate and more democratic constitutionalists, and the British influence is stated to be powerfully used to produce this desirable result. The proceedings in our parliament were likely to be exten sively circulated and warmly hailed throughout Spain.

TURKEY. Almost the only communication from this quarter is the confirmation of the surrender of the important fortress of Napoli di Romania to the Greeks, in whose favour the general balance of events seems still to incline. We are persuaded that the more the nature of Turkish despotism is known and considered, the stronger will be the sympathies of Europe in favour of the Christian subjects, or rather slaves, of that proud, cruel, and unjust governs ment. "Think," says a recent tra veller, the Rev. Mr. Fisk, one of the American missionaries in Jerusalem, "Think of a government, in which every office is sold to the highest bidder, and in which a criminal may almost uniformly obtain his freedom by the payment of money;-think of schools, in most of which the only thing taught is to pronounce the words of a language which neither pupils nor teacher understand;-think of places of public worship, in which nearly all the exercises are performed in an unknown tongue;-think of one half the females in the country prohibited from going out without concealing their faces, while both the laws and the religion of the country allow polygamy and concubinage;-think of a country in which scarce one woman in one hundred can read, and where perhaps not half the men are more fortunate;-think of a country in which the governor has liberty to behead seven mien a day, without assigning any reason what ever for so doing, where a criminal is condemned without jury, and I had almost said without trial or witnesses; and, after being condemned, is immediately beheaded, strangled, or hung at the first convenient place in the street, and left hanging two or three

days; think of a country in which, in case of public disturbance, one half of the community can murder whom soever they please of the other half with impunity;-think of a country, in which an armed man will meet a respectable inoffensive citizen in the street of a populous city at mid-day, and shoot him dead on the spot, and then sit down quietly and smoke his pipe in sight of the corpse, while even the guards of the city are passing by; think of a country, in which the name of Christianity exists, but only as a name for that superstition and idolatry which belong to paganism, and in which the delusions of the false prophet exist with all their impurities and all their abominations;-such a country, or rather much worse than even this description, is Turkey."

Let Christians and Britons remember these things, not however to exasperate their minds against their fellow-men, of whatever name or nation; but to lead them to renewed gratitude to God for their own unmerited mercies, and to awaken new sympathies in their bosom in the cause of the afflicted and oppressed. And let not even the oppressor be forgotten in the petitions of that holy charity which implores repentance, and mercy, and pardon for all; especially on that approaching solemnity in which our church, catching something of the universal love of Him who, as on that day, died for all mankind, teaches us to include "Turks" as well "as Jews, infidels, and heretics," in the universal range of her intercessory suppli

cations.

DOMESTIC.

The satisfaction of mind, and gratitude to God, with which in our last Number we expressed ourselves as turning homewards from the turmoil of continental oppressions, are greatly heightened by the occurrences of another month. Parliament has met. The speech with which it was opened, and which was delivered by commission, his majesty, we regret to say, being too unwell to go through the fatigue, has excited very general approbation among persons of all parties throughout the country. No amendment was offered in either house, except a slight attempt by Lord Stanhope, supported by only two other members, to pledge the Lords to an early inquiry into the distresses of the agriculturalists, with a view to he mischievous measure of again al

tering the currency. With this exception, even the Opposition loudly applauded the speech, which was as follows.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"We are commanded by his Majesty to inform you, that since he last met you in Parliament, his Majesty's efforts have been unremittingly exerted to preserve the peace of Europe.

"Faithful to the principles which his

Majesty has promulgated to the world,

as constitnting the rule of his conduct, his Majesty declined being a party to any proceedings at Verona, which could be deemed an interference in the internal concerns of Spain on the part of foreign powers. And his Majesty has since used, and continues to use, his most anxious endeavours and good of fices to allay the irritation unhappily subsisting between the French and Spanish Governments; and to avert, if possible, the calamity of war between

France and Spain.

"In the East of Europe his Majesty flatters himself that peace will be preserved; and his Majesty continues to receive from his allies, and generally from other powers, assurances of their unaltered disposition to cultivate with his Majesty those friendly relations which it is equally his Majesty's object on his part to maintain.

"We are further commanded to apprize you, that discussions having long been pending with the Court of Madrid, respecting depredations committed on the commerce of his Majesty's subjects in the West Indian Seas, and other grievances of which, his Majesty had been under the necessity of complaining, those discussions have terminated in an admission by the Spanish Gyvernment of the justice of his Majesty's complaints, and in an engagement for satisfactory reparation.

We are commanded to assure you that his Majesty has not been unmindful of the Addresses presented to him by the two Houses of Parliament with respect to the Foreign Slave Trade. Propositions for the more effectual suppression of that evil were brought forward by his Majesty's Plenipotentiary in the conferences at Verona, and there have been added to the treaties upon this subject already concluded between his Majesty and the Governments of Spain and the Netherlands, articles which will extend the operation of those treaties, and greatly facilitate their ex

ecution.

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total expenditure will be found to be materially below that of last year.

"This diminution of charge, combined with the progressive improvement of the revenue, has produced a surplus exceeding his Majesty's expectation. His Majesty trusts, therefore, that you will be able, after providing for the services of the year, and without affecting public credit, to make a further considerable reduction in the burdens of his people.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

" His Majesty has commanded us to state to you, that the manifestations of loyalty and attachment to his person and

government, which his Majesty received
in his late visit to Scotland, have made
the deepest impression upon his heart.
"The provision which you made in

the last session of Parliament, for the

relief of the distresses in considerable districts in Ireland, has been productive of the happiest effects, and his Majesty recommends to your consideration such measures of internal regulation as may be calculated to promote and secure the tranquillity of that country, and to improve the habits and condition of the people.

"Deeply as his Majesty regrets the continued depression of the agricultural interest, the satisfaction with which his Majesty contemplates the increasing activity which pervades the manufacturing districts, and the flourishing condition of our commerce in most of its principal branches, is greatly enhanced by the confident persuasion that the progressive prosperity of so many of the interests of the country cannot fail to Contribute to the gradual improvement of that great interest, which is the most important of them all.”

The extent to which we have already carried our remarks prevents us from dwelling upon the many important topics of this speech. On the affairs of Spain, ministers have expressed themselves as became the members and ministers of a free government. Among the Opposition, and particularly on the part of Sir James Mackintosh and Mr. Brougham, the speech of which last produced a very strong impression, the expressions of indig

nation at the conduct of the allied sovereigns were of course much more vivid: but one general feeling appears to prevail, throughout parliament and the country, on the great principles of the question; and this unanimity, as we have already stated, must have some influence upon the continental powers.

The new chancellor of the exchequer, Mr. Robinson, has already

The ex

opened his budget, and, in one of the ablest and most luminous speeches which has probably ever been made on a financial subject, has given, upon the whole, a very cheering view of our condition. In spite of our heavy burdens, and in the midst also of loud complaints of agricultural distress, the prosperity of the country seems to be unquestionably progressive. penditure of last year (including the interest of our debt, funded and unfunded, amounting to nearly thirty millions) was 49,449,311. The revenue was 54,414,650/., leaving a surplus of nearly five millions, subject, however, to a deduction of upwards of two millions, to the commissioners of half-pay. The surplus of the present year, subject to a like deduction, he estimated at 7,244,2021; of this surplus he proposed that a part should go to a remission of taxes, chiefly of the assessed taxes, to the amount of 2,233,0001.The assessed taxes of Ireland he proposed to do away with entirely, and at the same time to adopt some other beneficial financial regulations with respect to that country, calculated at once to improve both its poli

tical and moral condition. The view

also which Mr. Robinson gave of the improvement of our general trade, in consequence of the gradual substitution of juster and more liberal principles of commercial policy, in the place of the narrow, selfish, exclusive system which had hitherto obstructed the reciprocal benefit of nations in their intercourse with each other, was gratifying in a very high degree. It proves how essentially the law of kindness, and consideration, and liberality towards others, in national no less than in individual transactions, is linked with the well-being of those who exercise it: and it affords reason to hope that those vicious restrictions which, to the detriment of the national interests, are still maintained among us, will speedily be done away. We allude here more particularly to those protecting duties by which the slavelabour of the West Indies is favoured, in preference to the free labour of the East-a preference which, while it costs the British public an immense annual sum drawu directly from their pockets, is that alone which seems to maintain in all its rigour and de formity the cruel system of bondage which, to the disgrace of this Christian country, is still maintained in our colonial possessions. But the whole of this momentous subject, we rejoice to

believe, will undergo a thorough revision in the present session of Parliament.

Many other important topics have been brought before Parliament, but we must pass them over for the present. The Catholic question is postponed till the 17th of April, in consequence of the present excited state of party

feeling in Ireland. A fresh Marriage Bill has been introduced; and we would hope than an effort will be made to effect the desirable object, which we pointed out in our review of last year's Act, of consolidating all our marriage laws in one statute. A committee of the lords has been ap pointed for that purpose.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

M. Q.; L.; Z.; SENEX; M.; S.; S. P.; R.M.; D. A. B.; A CLERGYMAN; have been received, and will be duly weighed.

we

In reply to the inquiry of OXONIENSIS, as to whether we intend to review Mr. Norris's last attack upon the Bible Society, we venture to extract a passage from the letter of a highly respected friend, to whom committed that work, with another of kindred spirit. His reply speaks, we think, a very prevailing and increasing feeling among pious, moderate, and well-informed persons. "As to controversy in general," says our friend, "and especially this most wretched of all wretched controversies, 1 have contracted such a thorough dislike to it, that I cannot bring myself, excep where duty calls me, even to read it. It seems to me that party spirit will say any thing, and that some modern writers, provided they can gratify their party, care not what mistatements they publish. It is far worse than wasting time, to spend it on such productions." We quite agree with our friend. Does Oxoniensis imagine that mere arguments could be of any avail on the subject of the Bible or Church Missionary Society, with such writers, for example, as the conductors of the Christian Remembrancer, who, in their last Number, in allusion to "country auxiliaries," condescend to speak of "the humbug and quackery of evangelical sponting clubs?" The word "humbug" is not in our dictionary; we therefore say nothing of it, as we might misrepresent its meaning: but what "clubs" and "quackery" are, is very clear; and we would candidly ask Oxoniensis, after perusing the names of the many noblemen,statesmen, prelates, clergymen, and respectable laymen, who are curolled in the lists of the Bible and Church Missionary Societies, not forgetting the respected nobleman at the head of his Majesty's government, whose share in this "humbug" and whose "quack" speech, at one of these "spouting clubs," have called forth Mr. Norris's displeasure,-whether he thiuks any answer due to persons who so far forget the amenities of literature,the charities of religion,and even the ordinary courtesies of society, as to write in the manner we have described. Those readers, however, who may wish for another answer to such attacks, after the many unanswerable ones already before the world, may consult Mr. Sholefield's able reply to Mr. Norris, which effectually refutes all that wears the semblance of argument, and much that has no such semblance, in that gentleman's publication. Our readers will see from the next Notice, that the Bible Society. with all its alleged faults, has succeeded in calling forth something better and more substantial than "loquacity," and "ostentation," and that the desire of making speeches and figuring on a list of charitable contributions are not the only sources of its well dispensed iucome.

We are requested to state that the half of a bank note, No. 9742, for 100l., sent anonymously, has been received by the British aud Foreign Bible Society: The sentence omitted in transcribing Bishop Dehon's discourse on Luke xviii. 37, as a family sermon, occurs in speaking of the change which takes place in conversion; and follows the sentence beginning "Faith, and hope, and charity, and all the objects of the moral world," &c. It stands as follows: "The sources of the good feelings, which, while they were blind, occasionally warmed their souls, and the fair complexions of the graces with whose benevolent deeds they were occasionally refreshed, will be seen." Our reason for omitting it was, that it did not appear to us to be expressed with sufficient clearness and accuracy for a family sermon, and might leave an impression on the mind of the hearer, contrary to the doctrine of the Thirteenth Article.

In reply to an inquiry, respecting the authenticity of the Memoir of Thomas Hogg, we are permitted to give the name of the relator, the Rev. W. Read. The circumstances occurred at Midsummer-Norton, Somersetshire, of which Mr. Read was, at that time, the resident clergyman.

The publication mentioned by " A sincere Friend,” we assure him, has not escaped our notice.

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(Continued from p. 74.)

the first to urge the publication of a work from which he considered himself to have derived so

THE several stages in the life of much spiritual benefit. It was much

an author of such persevering industry as Bossuet, are perhaps best marked by the dates of his successive publications. We are now arrived at the period which gave birth to his Exposition de la Foi Catholique-a work small indeed in its dimensions, but attended with so much éclat, and productive of such remarkable effects, that it seems to demand particular attention.

This treatise Bossuet had composed as early as the commencement of the year 1668, for the religious benefit of M. l'abbé de Dangeau; though it does not appear to have been published before the year 1671 or 1672. The conversion of this eminent person, who was afterwards abbot of Clermont, proved the first fruits of the author's labour. It has not perhaps often happened that the intention of a writer has been so exactly accomplished, as it was in the present instance. But still greater triumphs followed the appearance of this wonder-working treatise. The celebrated Marshal Turenne soon after owned its power, by embracing the Roman Catholic* religion; and was

"The members of the Romish communion," remarks the present Archbishop of Dublin, in his primary Charge, "deny to Protestants any participation in the catholic church. They exclude them altogether from its pale; and describe them formally as heretics. Nor is it only in set theological expositions of doctrine that they express this demarcation, but in the daily use of the term Catholics, as applied exclusiveCHRIST. CBSERV. No. 255.

ly to themselves." "This use of the term by Protestants seems to imply an acquiescence in the unjustifiable assumption of the Church of Rome; and is, in truth, employed as an argument in its support (and not an ineffective one) with the lower and

more uninformed classes of that communion."

"If it be said, that the appropriation of the term here objected to is to be exeused on the ground of civility, inasmuch as the denomination by which the members of the Church of Rome were formerly described, as in reference to the head of that church, is now become offensive to that body, it is to be answered, first, that no civility can vital point of religion; and, in the next justify a falsehood, and that too upon a place, that there is a designation, which is not of an offensive character, and which is reconcileable with truth; the term Roman Catholic, which implies a member of the Roman branch of the catholic church. This presents a just view of the case, inasmuch as our church, notwithstanding the corruptions of the Church of Rome, does not the catholic pale which they refuse to us. deny to its members that participation in The peculiar tenets of that church indeed we must reject, as not catholic; not having been universally received in the first ages of Christianity; but still there are preserved in it, though mixed with rubbish and much tarnished, some of the sterling treasures of the church."

"Bishop Burnet, in speaking of the words of Cromwell, I die in the catholic faith,' observes, that the term catholic was then used in England in its true sense, in opposition to the novelties of the see of Rome.' And Archbishop Cranmer uses these memorable words; I agree, that that doctrine is catholic which was taught fifteen hundred years ago.""

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