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being given to abide the result of the far ther proof which was ordered.

"The supercargo, in particular, who called himself Don Jorge Madre Silva, swore that he was a native Spaniard, and not a subject

of Great Britain.

"It was discovered, however, by means of two of the crew, that all these depositions,

thus solemnly and judicially made, were false, One of the ships was ascertained to have cleared out from England, by the name of the Queen Charlotte, and to be still the property

of British merchants resident in London. The other had cleared out from Kingston, in Jamaiéa, under the name of the Mohawk. Both vessels had undergone a fictitious sale at Carthagena to a Spaniard, and had there changed their original names for the Gallicia and Palafox: and the supercargo, who had sworn to his Spanish birth, proved to be an Englishman who had sailed from the river Thames in the Queen Charlotte, and was then known by the name of George Woodbine, which, when translated into Spanish, formed the appellation by which he was afterwards distinguished, Don Jorge Madre Silva,

in office on the coast, states, that in the course of his endeavours to check the slave trade, he had the storing the lost child to his parenthappiness, in some instances, of re

a

circumstance which not only gave happiness to him, but diffused joy

and satisfaction far and near. The chiefs of the villages had waited on him to express their gratitude for British protection, and had assured him of their disposition to concur in measures for effectually repressing the slave trade.

"The wars," he adds," which formerly were frequent, and always attended by considerable numbers being taken and sold to traders, are now very rare; and when they occur, the parties content themselves with pillaging cattle and a few captives, who are kept by the victors until they are redeemed by the relatives, for whom they give bullocks corn, tobacco, or such commodities as they can procure.

"Even among the Moors, kidnapping is almost extinct; a few instances occurred lately, which was occasioned by some per sons, residing here, pressing them to pay some debts, which they had contracted before the

"When these facts came to the knowledge of the Directors, they applied to his Majesty's government, to prevent the liberation of the vessels, even if unobjectionable bail should be offered, as the whole complexion of the transaction was now most materially English took possession of the settlement: altered. His Majesty's government immediately ordered the vessels to be detained; on which the claimants, aware of the risk they should incur by abiding the result of a trial, abandoned the prosecution of their claim, and the property has since been condemned." pp. 31-33,

The information which the Directors have obtained from Africa, during the last year, has principally related to the unhappy revival of the slave trade, which had taken place on the coast; but which, it was expected, would be again repressed by the efforts of the naval force that had been dispatched thither, aided by the decisions in our prize courts, to which we have already alluded, and the powers conferred by the new act on African governors; but still more by the terms of the new act itself. The pernicious effects on African improvement and happiness, of even this temporary revival of the slave trade, is forcibly depicted in some letters inserted in the Appendix.

In July 1810, a gentleman, high
CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 115.

all the children thus taken have been reco⚫ vered and restored to their parents.

receivers, there would be no thieves; which "To use an old adage, if there were no is perfectly applicable to the case with regard to the slave trade in this part of Africa, The slavery amongst themselves is merely nominal: the master and servant are nearly equal: they work together, eat and drink out of the same bowl, and sleep under the saine roof.

Moravian missionaries would be of infinite "I beg leave to say, that I think a few

service in each of these settlements; in the first instance, to give some instruction to the numerous population, and the visitors from the main land. If they arrive during my residence in this country, you may depend on their having my support and protection." pp. 105, 106.

In letters, however, of a late date, namely, in December 1810, and February 1811, the same gentleman speaks of the state and prospects of Africa in language widely different, He states, that many slave ships were then on the coast, and ex. presses a hope that some measures had been decided on at home to stop 3 N

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The same sentiment is feelingly expressed by the Directors themselves, in the outset of their Report. "The civilization and improvement of Africa," they observe, "are, indeed, the great ends which the Institution proposed to pursue. But what rational expectation can be formed of any material progress in the attainment of these ends, while the slave trade continues to flourish? This traffic stands opposed to all improvement. The passions which. it excites and nourishes, and the acts of fraud, rapine, and blood, to which alone it owes its success, have a direct tendency to brutalize the human character, and to obstruct every peaceful and beneficial pursuit. Any advance in civilization is hopeless, where neither property nor person is secure for a moment.

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But the root of this great evil exists elsewhere. It is to be found in the West Indies. "If there were no receivers, there would be no thieves," applies much more strongly to the West Indies than to the traders on the coast of Africa. In the West Indies (for we feel ourselves insensibly drawn thither again) is the spring which sets the whole machine in motion. And sorry are we to say, and we state it on the most unexceptionable authority, that not only obscure individuals residing in the West Indies; but even some persons of eminence, have not scrupled to participate in the profits, and in the guilt of a smuggling slave trade. Of one petty parliament, that of the Bahamas, we have heard, that in scorn of our legislative acts, and in the confidence that they shall be overlooked in the multiplicity of more important affairs which crowd

the office of our Colonial Secretary of
State, they have passed an act of their
own-
-which act has received the as-
sent of the king's governor-that goes
directly to render inoperative, as they
respect the Bahamas, some of the
clauses of the Abolition Acts of this
country. Their temerity, we trust,
will meet with the cognizance which
it merits; and they will be taught
to know that even the Governor
and Council, and Assembly of the
Bahama Islands, cannot attempt, with
impunity, to overthrow the solemn
decisions of the Imperial Parliament.
All this, however, is only a fresh
ground for the institution of those in
quiries into West Indian mal-admini-
stration, to the necessity of which we
have already adverted; as well as for
the speedy adoption of some effica-
cious remedial regulations.

It appears from this Report, that
the Directors have been very assidu
ous in distributing, among the officers,
of the navy, the information which
was necessary to incite and encou-
rage them to assist in repressing
the slave trade. In this object,
the Board of Admiralty have heart-
ily joined, and a variety of papers,
drawn up and printed by the
Directors, have been circulated
throught the navy, under the sanc-,
tion of their Lordships. About forty
slave ships appear to have been
seized and condemned in conse-
quence of these measures.

The Report states, that at Sierra Leone, there are between two and three hundred children at school. An offer, made by the Directors of the British System of Education, to take under their charge, and to instruct at their expense, in the new methods of tuition, two African youths, has been accepted. Many of the seeds sent by the Directors to Africa had succeeded; and a farther supply of valuable plants and seeds furnished by Dr. Roxburgh, of Calcutta, was about to be sent thither.

The Report concludes with expressing a hope, in which all out readers will doubtless concur, that when the various measures which

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have been adopted during the last year are brought into full operation, a very considerable diminution of the slave trade will be effected; and that the Directors may thus find themselves more at liberty to direct their efforts, and the funds of the Institution, to objects of ulterior improvement.

Sermon preached at the Parish Church of St. Andrew by the Ward robe and St. Ann's, Blackfriars, on the 4th June 1811, before the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, instituted by Members of the Established Church, being their Eleventh Anniversary. By the Rev. MELVILLE HORNE, late Chapdain to the Colony of Sierra Leone; also the Report of the Committee, &c. London: Seeley. 1811.

stands in the midst of the earth likë an angel commissioned to destroy?" To those who question the efficacy of any means which we can employ in evangelizing the heathen nations, and who, satisfying their consciences with the persuasion that nothing is to be done, look with unconcern on a perishing world, Mr. Horne remarks, with bis characteristic force, "What; then, is the arm of the Lord shortened that it cannot save; that he cannot do in us, and by us, whatever he commands? Jesus of Naza

reth did conquer the world by men of like passions with ourselves, and he hath pledged himself that he will conquer it again, conquer it more generally, more permanently, and more gloriously; and it may be by instruments more contemptible than the blessed fishermen of Galilee, and by means less splendid than the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost." "The God whom we serve, the Creator, Upholder, and Governor of all worlds, in whose hands are all hearts, and whose pleasure is served by every varying event-He is allsufficient. His wisdom and power, his faithfulness and truth, will not be neutral witnesses of our patience of hope and labour of love. The unsearchable riches of Christ, and his inexhaustible grace are all-sufficient to supply all our necessities." " If we dare believe the promises of Christ, we shall see the lighting down of his arm in the ends of the world."

THE Report of the Committee, con taining an account of the proceed ings of this society during the preceding year, will come with propriety under the head of Religious Intelligence, either in the present or some future number. We mean to confine the present article to a brief notice of the sermon by which it is preceded, and which is certainly a very eloquent and animated appeal to the clergy and laity of the Church of England in favour of missions. The spirit of missions, Mr. Horne justly conceives, has as yet but half warmed the bosom of the church; nor is that zeal which prompts to personal exertions and sacrifices the characteristic of the day, or of the members of the church of England. He contrasts with the torpor, timidity, and irreso-"the doctrinal purity of our ArțiJution which are manifest in this field of honourable service, the fearless enterprise of British seamen, British soldiers, and British merchants. "Had Arcot been defended, or the field of Plassey fought, in this temper, where now were our Indian empire? And is it," he adds, "in fear and irresolution that Bonaparte

Mr. Horne's reproofs and exhor. tations are chiefly directed to his brethren the clergy; and his great object seems to be to rouze them to exertion in the sacred cause of mis sions. "What avail," he asks them,

cles, the Christian spirit of our Li, turgy and Services, and the apostolic gravity of our Homilies, unless they be embodied in the clergy and endued with life and action?""From the external enemies of our church we have nothing to fear, for who, or what shall harm us, if we be followers of that which is good?'

It is from ourselves that we have every thing to apprehend. A Laodicean temper and secular life, personal neglect of the great salvation, and negligence in the discharge of our ministerial office; these are the mystic fingers of that invisible hand, which writes in legible characters, Ye are weighed in the balance, and found wanting.' In respect of missions, and of every thing else, in which we fail, let us then rouze and redeem our church from ruin,and ourselves from shame." "To you Asia and Africa stretch forth their hands. From you they de mand their portion of the inheritance under the New Testament, of which you are the trustees and administra tors. To you the church looks for the confirmation of her best hopes, and the prophecies for their most glorious accomplishment."" Su perstition has had its day, and a dreadful day it was. The day of Atheism, miscalled the Age of Rea son, has succeeded, and bleeding nations display its trophies. It is time for the day of Religion to take place; and for the wearied creature to rest in the peaceful and pacific kingdom of the Son of God." "If Providence has placed under our domi nion the provinces of the distant East, it is hard to say for what pur pose, worthy of the Judge of all the earth, it is done, unless it be, that we may impart to them the blessed religion of Jesus. They, and the poor slaves in the West Indies, are now our fellow-subjects as well as our fellow-creatures; and if we continue to despise them as brute beasts who have no souls to be saved, they will have a great and terrible Avenger, who will respect no dignities in the church or in the state, and who will call the most serious clergy to the most serious account; for they know their Master's will, and ap prove it, and yet do it not."

Mr. Horne successfully, as we think, combats the opinion, that our meanest ministers are the fittest for missionaries, and that the best

and greatest are superior to the of fice. The opinion itself he deems to be unfounded in truth, and pregnant with evil.

"Surely," h ," he observes," we can better spare one or two great men,than millions of wretched heathens can dispense with their services. An able general is worth half his army; an apostolic bishop half his clergy. On great men, the Almighty suspends, sometimes, the fate of churches and nations; and this is a crisis in our affairs, which seems to call for the services of no common characters. The meanest of our missionaries should be greatly good, to embark in a godlike work, on godtience, fortitude, and perseverance are qualiJike motives. Great activity, industry, pafications ESSENTIAL to the missionary. Without these, he never can succeed. Zeal, disinterestedness, talents, elocution, will not avail without their firm support. How few, even of good men, combine a large proportion of these solid qualities! Blunt must be that tool, which receives not an edge from incessant sharpening; barren the soil, which derives not fertility from patient cultivation: Men, thus diligent in the noblest business, cannot be mean men; nor shall they stand before mean men, but before the princes of God's people. Usefulness, peace, and honour will attend all their steps. They are the men whom we want. They have the qualifications of missionaries, though they should not have one splendid trait in their characters. But to these veteran qualities which maintain the tug of battle, if we can accumulate on our missionary every endow ment of nature and every improvement of education, nothing will be superfluous. We will despise no man: we will flatter no man. It was to no inferior, nor even ruling angel, that God committed the work of our salvation. It was delegated to his own dear Son, 'and it pleased the Father, not to spare, but to bruise him; to subject him to every suffering and indignity, that none might claim exemption, from the peasant to the prince. In his hand the weakest instrument shall be strong, and the noblest derive dignity from his meanest service. The master builders of the sanctuary must be no common artists.” PP. 209, 210.

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Pre-eminent as the episcopal order is now, the Apostles and Evangelists claimed 'the glorious work of missions as their own. It was the post of danger, suffering, and labour; and, therefore, the post of honour. So it is now. Mean is the man, who thinks it mean. The office has sunk in estimation,

because we are too little to assert its dignity; but when that day shall come-and come it will-when God shall again pour out his Spirit from on high, then we shall learn war, and know how to use missionary arms." p.211. "It may be thought that I am soliciting the migration of the clergy. Far from it. One in a hundred might supply our wants, a hundred years hence. Would God we had twenty! would God we had ten, worthy of the fame of the Church of England! whose wisdom might direct, whose courage might animate, and whose influence might serve as a centre of union to the pious youth from our colleges, who would soon resort to our standard, when conducted by such leaders. A college in the East for Religion and the Oriental languages, under their auspices, might one day rival the famed Alexandrian school; and produce even native students to vie with its most renowned worthies." pp.

213, 214.

"To produce those strenuous exertions, necessary to the end which we would obtain, we must be raised and fired, by near views of the glory of the latter day. To faith, as to the God whom she serves, a thousand years are as one day. Nevertheless, let us not indulge illusive hopes of immediate and splendid success. As yet we are only exploring the perils of the Desert, and not entering on the Land of Promise. We may expect a night, long, dark, and perhaps tempestuous; and should be prepared to toil pa

tiently at the oar, in sure and certain hope of a bright morning, when our Master shall come to us walking on the waters, and our weather-beaten bark shall rest in a securé haven." pp. 215, 216.

These glowing passages, with which we close our extracts, will af ford a fair specimen of our author's style. It is fervid and impassioned, far beyond the ordinary tone of the English pulpit. The preacher feels his subject, and he gives free vent to his feelings. May the zeal which through the bishops and pastors of animates him be generally diffused Christ's flock to whose perusal we recommend this discourse. Then might we hope to see the glorious anticipations of this able advocate of missions speedily realized. Then might we hope to see "the dispersed of Israel and Judah restored to the land of their fathers, and converted to the faith of that Messiah whom they have so long rejected:" "the fuland the kingdoms of the world beness of the Gentiles flowing to her, coming the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, until righteousness cover the earth, as the waters cover the great deep."

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE,

&c. &c.

GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for publication:-Several of the Herculaneum MSS. (at the Clarendon Press) by Mr. Hayter; and an Account of the Kingdom of Tunis, by Mr. Thomas -M-Gill.

In the press: Second volume of a New Analysis of Chronology, by the Rev. Dr. Hales, of Kellesandra ;--an Historical Essay on the temporal Power of the Popes, the Abuse of their spiritual Ministry, and the Wars they have declared against Sovereigns; -an abridged edition of Neal's History of the Puritans, by the Rev. Mr. Parsons, Leeds; ---and an Improved Harmony of the four Gospels, by John Chambers, Worksop, Notts, late of Wainsworth, near Doncaster.

OXFORD.

The Chancellor's Prize Compositions have been adjudged as follows:-Latin Essay, "De Styli Ciceroniani in diversà materie varietate." Mr. Charles Bathurst, B. A. of Ch. Ch.-English Essay, "Funeral and Sepulchral Honours." Mr. Attfield of Oriel College.-Latin verse, "Herculaneum.” Mr. Hughes, of Oriel College. Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize: English verse, "The Parthenon:" Mr. Burdon of Oriel College.

CAMBRIDGE.

The ceremony of the Installation of the Duke of Gloucester, as Chancellor of the University, took place on the 29th of June, in the Senate-house. The Vice-Chancellor

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