the word of God: they meet together to read it and to pray; and intend to erect a place for themselves, where they can meet for worship. They now also call the mselves Christians, and esteem us as their brethren. Several of them are now with us. I wish you could have heard them last sabbath evening, singing a hymn composed by one of their number. The spirit and animation with which they sung, rendered my feelings exquisite. We really hope that some of them are truly converted; and indeed all of them whom I have seen, appear to be seriously inclined. The doctrine of the Trinity is peculiarly abhorred by Mussulmans; and these people held a council, which lasted three days, to consider whether this doctrine could be admitted or not. It ended with a universal acknowledgment of it; yet, leaving it as a mystery, in the same manner as Christians do in general. "They meet with great persecution since calling themselves by the name of Christ. A few who live in a village, the owner of which is a brahman, have been forbidden to assemble with their brethren. Two inflammatory papers have been stuck up by the brahman, and he has ordered all the heathen tenants to look well that no Christian be allowed either to come in or go out of the town; in consequence of this, their lives are often in danger from their enemies. I trust this will end well notwithstanding. They are now come for our advice. I have consulted with our friends at Calcutta, and hope that some steps will be taken which may procure them the liberty of assembling without danger. Oct. 25. "This day four people came from Juggerdundakatty, bringing a letter from the people of that place, enquiring why they have heard no more from us since brother Marshman was there. We have now at our house messengers from three sets of people who reject the systems of the Brahmans and Mahomet. One of them returns to-day to the people at Ponchetalokpool with a letter, in which we promise them assistance in erecting a house for worship and for a school. Nov. 11. "We hear that Mr. Gericke* has been a journey into the Mysore country, and near to Cape Cormerin. Whole villages, it seems, have agreed to throw their idols out of their temples, and fit them up for the worship of the true God. It is said he preaches almost day and night, and has baptised more than eight hundred people. ADDRESS TO THE HINDOOS. "Beloved Hindoos! "Он,what have you been doing for so many years! For so long a time have you been worshipping debtahs, and bathing in gon *A missionary on the coast of Malabar, appointed by The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. ga (the Ganges); but all to no purpose. These debtahs can do nothing for you: they are all sinful like yourselves. Seeb committed adultery, Kreeshnoo lied, and Gonga murdered her seven sons. If they are thus is sinful, how can they save you? It is absolutely impossible. "After worshipping them so many years, what have you obtained? Are your sins removed? If your sins were taken away, your sinful inclinations would also go, and you would have a holy mind. But your mind is not holy your desire is still to commit sin. "At the same time that your guilt is re moved, your sinful desires will be taken away, and you will hate sin: the darkness of sin will vanish, and holy wisdom will enlighten your minds. But your minds are not thus: to this very day you are on the side of sin, and have not the least desire after holiness; therefore your sins are not removed. But unless you obtain the remission of sins, and a holy mind, how can you go to heaven? How can you dwell with God? He is holy. An unholy person cannot stay with him. And where will you get a holy mind? You have for many years worshipped and served Zogonaut, and all the debtahs, bathed in gonga, and regarded the word of the brahmans; but you have not obtained the least boliness. What will you, what can you do more? Your gooroos have blinded your eyes; and you are dying, and falling into hell! us. "Now, what remedy is there? What way of deliverance remains? There is a remedy. The creator, preserver, and judge of the world, (blessed for ever be his name) has compassion upon sinners! We have all sinned; and the weight of sin is so infinitely great, that all the brahmans, gooroos and debtahs, united together, cannot remove the least: therefore, God himself, pitying us, became incarnate to save By his incarnation, he united in himself the human and divine natures; and therefore he is an able Saviour. Fulfilling righteousness, he dwelt on earth three and thirty years. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead to life, and instructed the ignorant in the way to heaven: thus he fulfilled all righteousness for us. After this, he gave up his soul to expiate our sins: he in his own body sustained the punishment our iniquities had deserved; thus doing, he gave up his soul to death, to abolish the sin of all who believe in him. "Being the Lord of death, he rose again the third day. Afterwards he commanded his disciples, saying, Go into all the world, and proclaim this word, that I have given my life to abolish the sin of the world; and whosoever, leaving all sin, shall believe in me, shall obtain forgiveness, a holy mind, and become the child of God.' After this he ascended into heaven. "They obeyed his commandments; and millions of almost every country believed in him, obtained the pardon of sin, and received a holy mind. Now God, being gracious, has sent this good news to you. "Dear Hindoos! Why will you not hear these precious words of Christ, and receive salvation? Why will you throw your souls into hell? If you remain in your pre sent state, there is no remedy. Neither brahmans, gooros, nor debtahs, have power or will to save you. Besides Christ, there is no Saviour: if you believe in him, you will obtain the forgiveness of all trespasses, and eternal life; but if you receive not his salvation, you will fall into hell, and experience unutterable and eternal anguish." THE Society for the Suppression of Vice have published an account of their proecedings during the first year of their establishment, ending in April, 1803; by which it appears that the following convictions have taken place at the suit of the Society, viz. "The foregoing statement includes," it is added, "an account only of offenders brought to punishment, and of offences actually suppressed; but the committee avail themselves of this opportunity to re mind the members of the society, that to restrain vice by prevention rather than by punishment, was a primary and essential object of the society. Of this object the committee have never lost sight, and they have the satisfaction of stating, that their endeavours in this respect have been attended with very considerable success, particularly in preventing violations of the LORD'S-DAY, and irregularities in PUBLIC HOUSES, and in checking the circulation of OBSCENE BOOKS and PRINTS, especially in SEMINARIES of EDUCATION, into which they had been most artfully introduced." VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. The following ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND having been communicated to us by the author, with permission to make any use of it which might suit the plan of our work, we have determined to lay it before our readers: we very earnestly wish that it may have the effect of stimulating our countrymen to exertion at this momentous crisis, when, not only the peculiar blessings which we enjoy as subjects of the British Empire, but our very existence as a nation is at stake; and when our exemption from the degrading yoke of a foreign despot depends, under Providence, on the union, promptitude, and firmness of our efforts. ADDRESS. It has pleased the Almighty Disposer of events, to deprive this country of that repose which it hoped to enjoy, in consequence of the treaty of peace with France; and we are again compelled to a contest, with that implacable spirit, whose ambition and rapacity know no bounds. It CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 19. behoves us then, in the first place, under a deep sense of this awful dispensation, to humble ourselves before the Majesty of an offended God, and suing to him for pardon of our sins, devoutly to implore his aid and protec tion against the dangers with which we are threatened. "In a firm and continued reliance upon his support, and with becoming dispositions, let us then prepare with unanimity, vigour, and promptitude, to repel the aggres sion of an enemy, who, trusting sole ly to "an arm of flesh," vauntingly anticipates the conquest of an empire, whose subjects have already successfully opposed the progress of his vic tories. 44 gressors. It has been the character of the rulers of France, under every form of usurpation, since the destruction of its ancient government, with scarcely an exception, to act up to the spirit, and even to the letter of its denunciations against the peace and liberty of other nations. Let us look to the present state of that country. The press is a mere instrument in the hands of the First Consul, to delude the people into an adoption of his sentiments and approbation of his plans: all public discussion is interdicted, and a writer who should dare to censure his 'measures, or intimate a suspicion of his infallibility, would find, not the Bastile indeed, but a prison still more dreadful, or a banishment to the noxious swamps of Guiana, as a reward for his speculations. Bonaparte is despotic in France: his will is there the only law, and the people must obey his mandates. The apparent folly and madness of the attempt will not induce him to lay it aside. We know him to be capable of the most rash and hazardous enterprizes, and unsusceptible of feeling for the lives of thousands who may be sacrificed in the prosecution of them, or for the miseries of mankind. But, above all, we know him to be actuated by inveterate enmity against this country, which alone has opposed a barrier to his insatiable ambition; which has humanely granted an asylum to the objects of his hatred, jealousy, and persecution; which has displayed the atrocity of his conduct at Jaffa; and which, by affording the contrast of the blessings of a free constitution, with the despotism of his authority, is at once the subject of his envy and detestation. Surrounded with legions, who have already rioted in the spoil of kingdoms, he stimulates their habits of rapacity, by a promise of universal pillage to the invaders; and rouses their avarice and ferocity, by an assurance that no quarter is to be given to the base English, who fight for their perfidious government; that they are to be put to the sword, and their property distributed among the victorious army*. Will the hazard of in *The lines in Italics are transcribed from the Morning Post, in which they are given as a quotation from a Placard in Paris, and other places. No one in France would dare to publish a Placard, without the assent of the First Consul terception by our fleets deter him from making the attempt? No! he has calculated the risk and means to try it. Whatever can be done by the British navy in defence of its native shores, and for augmenting the glory which it has acquired, will be accomplished. Its deeds have already tran scended the utmost limits of probability and eulogium. But it would be folly and improvidence in the extreme, to trust the fate of the empire to the sole chance of intercepting the armament which is destined to attack it, Providence has, perhaps, determined that this country is to feel the scourge of war, and that the invaders shall perish on British ground; and we must be prepared to maintain the contest by land, as well as by sea, under a constant and humble reliance upon the God of victory. We ought then, without hesitation to assume, that the threatened invasion will be attempted. A just apprehension of danger is a solid foundation of that wise precaution, which anticipates security and promises success. The spirit, which_animated the defenders of Acre and the conquerors of the invincible legions in Egypt, still inspires thousands and tens of thousands, who only require to be convinced that danger threatens their country, that they may rush forward and defy it. Supineness is more to be dreaded than all the hosts of France, inured as they are to slaughter and rapine: it might prove fatal, and, at all events, would have the effect of protracting a contest, which energy, activity, and resolution, may decide in a week or a day. The armies of invasion are arrayed, the vessels which are to convey them to the British shores are collecting, and the troops seduced by fallacious hopes of an easy victory and immense booty, are anxiously waiting the signal to embark. Amongst them we may, perhaps, see the miserable remains of bands escaped from the vengeance of the negroes at St. Domingo, on whom they had attempted to replace the fetters of slavery, which the French themselves had broken. Is it necessary to point out an instance of the fatal effects of indecision and supineness at the prospect of danger? Behold it in Switzerland. Ignorant of the real character of the French, unwilling to believe that an aggression would be made where no provocation had been offered, and hesitating between negotiation and resistance, the period of preparation was irrecoverably lost; and a people who had nobly extorted their freedom from the hands of tyranny, who had maintained it inviolate for five centuries, and who almost rivalled the subjects of the British empire in an high idea of national spirit, lost in a few months their independence, and are now wholly under the control of France. During the fatal interval of indecision, intrigue and treachery, the constant precursors and inseparable attendants of French invasion, were actively employed in disseminating suspicion, treasou, and disunion, and in preparing the way for the enemy. The vallies of Switzerland, once the pride and envy of Europe, the seat of innocence, peace, industry, independence, and happiness, were overrun by ferocious invaders, whose progress through them was marked with the blood of the inhabitants. Poverty afforded no security against depredation, and the echoes of the hills reverberated the cries of violated chastity, and the lamentations of a virtuous and laborious peasantry over the ruins of their villages and the ashes of their huts. Every man who had dared to speak, write, or arm, in defence of his country, was proscribed, banished, or destroyed: awful and instructive examples, which, better than a thousand arguments, shews us our danger and our duty. If Switzerland had listened to the warning voice of prudent admonition, if she had adopted the precaution of arming her sons in her defence, the hosts of France would have assailed in vain her liberty and independence, and she would have remained the admiration, instead of being the object of the pity of Euгоре. Death to the defenders of their country! This is the denunciation of France against Britons. The First Consul well knows that no true Briton would wish to survive the liberty of his country; and wanting no subjects, who are not his slaves, he does not call for our submission, but denounces our extermination. Let us thank him for this involuntary compliment to the spirit of a free, a loyal, and a brave nation. He may hereafter, perhaps, in the usual style of French dissimulation, vary his language, thunder his anathemas against the great only, and invite. the poor to participate with him the spoils of the opulent. Such artifices, unfortunately for mankind, have had their effects: thousands have fallen a sacrifice to them, and there are thousands now living, a prey to ceaseless remorse, for having listened to them. If a further instance be required of the conduct of the French towards those with whom they profess to fraternize, Egypt will afford it*. *Take it accurately translated from Denon's Travels into Egypt; it is one infrom the same author, stance out of many which might be quoted This book was published under the patronage of the Chief Consul. "The situation of the inhabitants, for whose happiness and prosperity we were, no doubt, come to Egypt, was no better. If, through terror, they had been obliged to quit their houses on our approach, on their could find nothing but the mud of which the return, after we were withdrawn, they Utensils, ploughs, walls were formed. "If we made any stay in a village, the unfortunate inhabitants, who had fled on our approach, were summoned to return," under penalty of being treated as rebels who had joined the enemy, and of being made to pay double contributions. When they submitted to these threats, and came to pay the miri, it sometimes happened that they were so numerous, as to be mistaken for a body of men in arms, and their clubs considered as muskets; in which case, they were sure of being assailed by several discharges from the riflemen and patroles, before an explanation could take place. Those who were killed were interred; and the survivors remained friends with us, until a proper opportunity presented itself for retaliation." "It is true, that provided they did not quit their dwellings, but paid the miri, and supplied the wants of the army, they not only spared themselves the trouble of a journey, and avoided the unpleasant abode of the desert, but saw their provisions caten with regularity, and might come in for a portion of them, preserving a part of their having few of their wives and daughters`radoors, selling their eggs to the soldiers, and vished." Vol. II. p. 44—46. It would be difficult to find a stronger instance of combined inhumanity, cruelty, and insult. If I were capable of wishing the destruction of my native country, I would endeavour to lull my countrymen into a fatal security, by telling them that the apprehension of an invasion is groundless; I would endeavour to seduce their generous passions, by exclaiming, that desperate as France may be, she will not be so mad as to make an attempt, that must end in disappointment, defeat, and disgrace; I would amuse them with false hopes, and high sounding declamation. Such language may be uttered by indolence, ignorance, or folly, but if ever heard, should be received with distrust; but let suspicion attach to every voice that murmurs at the measures adopted for general security, or arraigns the indispensable impositions for defraying the expences of preparation, and of just and defensive war. Sacrifices of social comforts, domestic convenience, and personal ease, must be made: but for what? To repel an enemy, whose extortion, if unresisted, would leave us nothing; who professes to arm for vengeance, and offers to us the choice of slavery or extermination. Burthens are inevitable and must be borne; but remember that we owe them to France and Bonaparte. Under the pressure of every exigency, let this consideration perpetually remain, and direct our resentment to the proper objects of it: I would say vengeance, but I dare not arrogate a dispensation which the Almighty reserves to himself. I see with joy the spirit of my countrymen rising with alacrity to repel the threatened invasion of a foe, who insults us with the language of intimidation. I hear them with pleasure applaud the prudence of ministers in having anticipated the hostility of France. This spirit proclaims the affections of Britons for their king, their country, its laws, constitution, and religion, and I hail it as a happy omen of victory and security. But let us not forget that to give it force and effect, it must be embodied, and assume the form of actual preparation and array. Administration, with a proper sense of the impending danger, and with a wise confidence, trusts the defence of the nation to the nation at large. The same administration that made the peace and so anxiously laboured to preserve it, disappointed in their hopes by the restless spirit of French hostility and ambition, appeal to the loyalty and principles of the country, to second their measures and arrangements to chastise the foe. Let every man then be prepared to perform his share of duty, that he may repair with alacrity to his post, at the first notice of approaching danger. The robber selects the unguarded hour of repose for his assault. Vigilance with due preparation, will alone prevent or defeat the schemes of the enemy; without these, alarm, confusion, and dismay will en sue, and the period of preparation once neglected, might never be recovered. Let the plunderers of nations then learn that the people whom they affect to despise are ready to oppose them, by day or by night, single handed, and that devoutly imploring the blessing of God upon their arms, they will employ them with unabating resolution to the destruction of the invaders of their country. AN ENGLISHMAN.* * Preparations for the invasion of this country are said to be carrying on in France with great vigour. Their navigable rivers, and their sea port towns, are filled with gun-boats and flat-bottomed rowboats, intended to convey troops to our shores; and several large armies, amounting altogether to 200,000 men, it is said, are moving to those parts of the French coast ticability of a descent, it is impossibic to which are nearest to England. The prac deny; it only remains, therefore, that by the extent and promptitude of our internal exertions, we put ourselves in a situation to make those who may soil our shores repent of their temerity. Bonaparte has already proclaimed, that “in order to make the booty the richer, no quarter shall be given to the base English who fight for their perfidious government; that they are to be put to the sword, and diers of the victorious army." The threat their property distributed among the solof the First Consul, whatever may be its effect on his own followers, cannot fail to unite every heart and hand in this kingdom against him; and we trust that under the favour and guidance of Providence, the effect of that union will be the speedy and complete extinction of the invading army. A decree of the French government has been issued, by which all merchandize of English manufacture, or from the English colonies, brought into a French port, will be confiscated. The First Consul has quitted Paris in order to make the tour of the Netherlands. *The above address is printed in a separate tract, and sold by Hatchard at 3d. cach, or 2s. 6d, a dozen. |