dage; for, while it is unlawful to enslave any frue believer, the goods, the person, hay, the whole property of the Caffre are considered as rightfully belonging to the children of the prophet. This very circumstance causes a secret abatement in that eager spirit of proselytism which burns so fiercely among the adberents of the Moslem creed. They cannot be insensible that, if the eyes of this host of unbelievers were enlightened, they themselves would forfeit the ground on which they rest their only claim, now in full exercise, of driving them by thousands to the markets of Kano and Tripoli.

Mode of Studying the Koran.-"The koran does not seem to have much embarrassed the Koolfuans. Their only mode of studying it was, to have the characters written with a black substance on a piece of board, then to Wash them off, and drink the water; and when asked by Captain Clapperton what spiritual benefit could be derived from the mere swallowing of dirty water, they indignantly retorted, What! do you call the name of God dirty water ??? This mode of imbibing sacred truth is indeed extensively pursued throughout the interior of the African continent.

The state of the Negro is still worse.

Ashantee Customs." During their stay at Coomassie, the English witnessed dreadful scenes, which seem to sink the Ashantee character even below the ordinary level of sa yage life. The Customs, or human sacrifices, are practised on a scale still more tremendous than at Dahomey. The king had lately sacrificed on the grave of his mother 3000 victims, 2000 of whom were Fantee prisoners; and at the death of the late sovereign the sacrifice was continued weekly for three months, consisting each time of two hundred slaves. The absurd belief here entertained, that the rank of the deceased in the future world is decided by the train which he carries along with him, makes filial piety interested in promoting by this means the exaltation of a departed parent. On these occasions the caboceers and princes, in order to court royal favour, often rush out, seize the first person they meet, and drag him in for sacrifice. While the Customs last, therefore, it is with trembling steps that any one crosses his threshold; and when compelled to do so, be rushes along with the utmost speed, dreading every instant the murderous grasp which would consign him to death."

We are sorry we have not room for other extracts, but the following may amuse the reader as a specimen of the clearness of Roman Catholic missionary views, and of the scope and efficacy of their labours.

Prester John The Portuguese, in their early African discoveries, besides the expected accession to the power and splendour of the monarchy, cherished another object still more fondly. They boped to open an intercourse with a prince, or person, of whom they had heard much under the mysterious appellation

of Prester John. This singular name seems to have been first introduced by travellers from Eastern Asia, where it had been applied to some Nestorian bishop, who held there a species of sovereignty; and as soon as rumours arrived of the Christian King of Abyssinia, he was concluded to be the real Prester John. His dominions being reported to stretch far inland, and as the breadth of the African continent was very imperfectly underderstood, the conclusion was formed, that a mission from the western coast might easily reach bis capital. What were the precise expectations formed from an intercourse with this personage does not fully appear; but it seems to have been thoroughly rooted in the minds of the Portuguese, that they would be raised to a matchless height of glory and felicity, if they could by any means arrive at the court of Prester John. The principal instruction given to all officers in the African service was, that, in every quarter and by every means, they should endeavour to effect this grand discovery. They according never failed to put the question to all the wanderers of the desert, and to every caravan that came from the interior, but in vain - the name of Prester John had never been heard. The Portuguese then besought the natives, at all events, into whatever region their journeys might lead them, studiously to inquire if Prester John was there, or if any one knew where he was to be found; and, on the promise of a splendid reward in case of success, this was readily undertaken.

Catholic Conversions in Congo.-The Portuguese missionaries seem to have been really animated with a very devoted and persevering zeal; but they had, unfortunately, conceived an incorrect idea of what they came to teach, and, instead of inculcating the pure doctrines and precepts of Christianity, merely amused the people with empty and childish pageantry. The presentations of beads, Agni Dei, images of the Madona and saints; the splen did processions; the rich furniture and solemn ceremonies of the church,-dazzled the eyes of the savage natives, and made them view Christianity only as a gay and pompous pageant, in which it would be an amusement to join. The sacrament of baptism, to which the Catholics attach such pre-eminent importance, was chiefly recommended by a part of the ritual that consisted in putting into the mouth a certain quantity of salt, which, in Congo, is an extremely rare and valued commodity; and the missionaries were not a little disconcerted to find that the very form by which the natives expressed baptism was " to eat salt." Thus an immense body of the people were very speedily baptised and called Christians, but without any idea of the duties and obligations which that sacred name imposes. The mis

sionaries were much reproached, it appears, for the rough and violent methods employed to effect their pious purposes; and though they treated the accusation as most unjust, some

of the proceedings, of which they boast with the greatest satisfaction, tend not a little to countenance the charge. When, for example, they could not persuade the people to renounce their idols, they used a large staff, with which they threw them down and beat them in pieces: they even sometimes stole secretly into the temples and set them on fire. A missionary at Maodongo, having met one of the queens, and finding her mind inac cessible to all bis instructions, determined to use sharper remedies, and seizing a whip, began to apply it to her majesty's person. The effect he describes as most auspicious; every successive blow opened her eyes more and more to the truth, and she at length declared herself wholly unable to resist such affecting arguments in favour of the Catholic doctrine. It was found, however, that she had hastened to the king with loud complaints respecting this mode of spiritual illumination, and the missionaries thenceforth lost all favour both with that prince and the ladies of the court, being allowed to remain solely through dread of the Portuguese. In only one other instance were they permitted to employ this mode of conversion. The smith, in consequence of the skill, strange in the eyes of a rude people, with which he manufactured various arms and implements, was viewed by them as possesing a measure of superhuman power; and he had thus been encouraged to advance pretensions to the character of a divinity, which were very gradually admitted. The missionaries appealed to the king respecting this impious assumption; and that prince, conceiving it to interfere with the respect due to himself, agreed to deliver into their hands the unfortunate smith, to be converted into a mortal in any manner they might judge efficacious. After a short and unsuccessful argument, they had recourse to the above potent instrument of conversion; yet Vulcan, deserted in this extremity by all his votaries, made still a firm stand for his celestial dignity, till the blood began to stream from his back and shoulders, when he finally yielded, and renounced all pretensions to a divine origin.

"Farther acquaintance discovered other ir regularities, against which a painful struggle was to be maintained. It was a prevailing practice, that, before marriage, the two parties should live together for some time, and make trial of each other's tempers and inclinations, before they formed the final engage ment. To this system of probation the people were most obstinately attached, and the missionaries in vain denounced it, calling on them at once either to marry or to separate. The young ladies were always the most anxious to have the full benefit of this experimental process; and the mothers, on being referred to, refused to incur responsibility, and expose themselves to the reproaches of their daughters, by urging them to an abridgement of the trial, of which they might afterwards repent. The missionaries seem to have been most dili-, gent in the task, as they call it, of 'reducing

strayed souls to matrimony.' Father Bene. dict succeeded with no less than six hundred; but he found it such laborious work,' that he fell sick and died in consequence."

The Valley of Clusone; a Tale of the Seventeenth Century; as related by Carloman D'Andilli. Dublin: R. M. Tims. 1830.

We have to apologize for so long delaying to notice this interesting little tale, which exhibits a lively and well drawn picture of the domestic peace of a Vaudois family, previous to persecution, and its meekness in meeting it, when it came. The incidents are natural-the characters well and interestingly drawn-and in no instance does the truth of nature seem to be outraged for the sake of producing an effect. The only incident liable to this objection is, perhaps, the closing discovery, which certainly came upon us by surprise. We can safely, for its piety, simplicity, and interest, recommend this little volume.

History of the Covenanters in Scotland. By the Author of the History of the Reformation, &c. Edinburgh Waugh and Innes; and William Curry, jun. and Co. Dublin.

We have been just supplied with a copy of this work, which in two small volumes enters minutely into that portion of Scottish history, which relates to the sufferings and devotedness of the Covenanters during the reigns of Charles the Second and James the Second, and which portion Sir Walter Scott brought before the public, and created an intense interest concerning it by his tale of Old Mortality. This interest, so excited, has called into being many tales and histories, professedly on the same subject: it has caused the reprinting of that scarce, voluminous, faithful, but very dull work of Wodrow's-this still unslacked curiosity has, we presume, given birth to the work before us, which is written in a popular and pleasing manner, but rather too much in the character of a partisan; and it embraces not only that por tion of history above alluded to, but the whole of the covenants entered into by the Scottish people, in asserting the freedom of that mode of worship which they have so faithfully and devotedly loved, against the continued aggression, whether open and avowed, or covert and insidious, of the house of Stuart. The present history, therefore, gives an account of all the covenants entered into, from the national one, first sworn by king James (the first of England) and his household, in the year 1580, and by persons of all ranks in 158090-96, and ratified by several acts of parliament, and so to the solemn league and covenant in 1643.

This work is not only amusing but instructive; it puts forth, in prominent colours indeed, the monstrous mischiefs that may, and indeed must arise, from forcing on any people a civil or religious polity, which is repugnant to their preju

dices and their feelings: it should teach every state, or king, or prelate, that in attempting to enlarge their own system, the weapons of their warfare should not be carnal; and that the sword of perse. cution is not the sword of the Spirit, but that of the devil. The Protestant then, let him be of what church he may, must respect the glorious struggle which the Covenanters made against the bondage that a wicked king, and his still more wicked ministers, would impose on them. He who approves of the resistance of our own seven bishops to James's tyranny, must applaud them and every man who is possessed of the free spirit which the reformation called into being, and which belongs peculiarly to every one who has British blood in his veins, and must allow that the struggle for persobal and public rights, in which the Scottish Covenanters were engaged, is invested with

a character that it holds in common with the noble resistance, on a wider scale, which was afterwards made to the spirit and arbitrary power and tyranny of king James; but that also there can be no doubt that it was one of the chief instruments in preparing the way for the great national and political revolution, to which, not more universally than justly, has been appropriated the name of glorious: the Covenanters' standards on the mountains of Scotland, indicated to the eye of William that the nation was ripening for the great revolutionary change. The author has certainly, from authentic sources which he quotes, given the public a highly entertaining and instructive narrative of the important events of the period which intervened between the rise of the Covenanters and the revolution of 1688.

AMERICA.

United States.-The Presbyterian Church of the United States, has addressed, by its general assembly, a declaration and memoir to the pastors of the established churches of Berne and Vaud, in Switzerland, remonstrating with them on the persecutions which have lately disgraced Protestantism in that country. We are pleased to find Protestant churches keeping up that fraternal intercourse in which true unity consists; and we trust the cry of reprobation against persecution, which echos from both sides of the Atlantic, will effectually open the eyes of the Swiss legislators.

Canada.-One of the students of the missionary establishment of Lausanne has been sent forth to exercise his ministry among the native Indians of Canada. He has em barked at Havre for New York.

United States.-The American Sunday School Society has determined, before two years elapse, by the blessing of God, to establish a Sunday School in every part of the immense valley of the Mississipi and its tributary streams. They do things on a great scale in America, and the very mag

nitude of their attempts becomes an ele

ment in their success,

goes, nothing can be more faithfully evange lical, nothing more decidedly hostile to slavery in the abstract, and slavery in the detail. It appears to be conducted by members of the Established Church, and to be decidedly in favour of Episcopal government; at the same time, it gives all due and friendly support to Dissenters, and advocates the cause of every member of the great Christian family who preaches the truth as it is in Jesus, and who would suppert the necessity of the spiritual and scriptural instruction of poor slaves. The cause also of the Negro population is taken up, where maltreated, and submitted to the oppressor's wrong, under that fearfully absurd system, where the planter is the law-maker, the judge, and the jury, in matters which so materially concern himself.

The first article in this interesting periodical is one on the improved state of society in the Island. It justly rejoices over the wonderful change that has taken place, even in the short space of the writer's experience twelve years

"The chief sign of altered times appears in the awakening to a sense of the vital importance of religion. Not many years ago, one might have travelled from north to south, and from east to west, and not have discovered any token of an acknowledgment

of Christian faith. Very different it is now; in all parts that holy faith is warmly avowed or bitterly opposed. A few years ago seldom was it spoken of-still seldomer manifested in its visibly transforming influences. Now, it is the theme of glad congratulation, or the subject of ribald and blasphemous remark." The writer then goes on to show how a great change has taken place amongst the whites, the slaves, and the free Negroes. Of the whites he says, a more general outward respect is paid to religion; some who formerly

K

considered an application to catechise the slaves an unparalleled presumption, now grant that permission. Contributions to religious institutions are now given liberally. In families where the voice of prayer was wont to be silent, it is now raised in regular and ardent adoration. Of the free coloured class, many are now adorning a Christian conlession, by a holy and consistent walk; but chiefly amongst the slaves has the change taken place. The author remarks, that upon bis late return to the Island, he was most forcibly struck with the alteration; be espe. cially noticed that the observance of the Subbath was most remarkable. Drunkenness, riot, and folly had, in very many places where the influence of a zealous ministry or of laborious missionaries was felt, given place to sobriety, quiet, and the recognition of God. The second article is what may be called an Improvement on a storm that had lately taken place, in which the pious writer endeavours to impress on his Jamaica readers, the false bood and folly of that wicked scepticism, which too generally prevails amongst them in not acknowledging a particular providence in these tremendous visitations, to which their island is exposed; and he appeals to those who can recognize the manifestation of a righteous God-whose way is in the whirlwind and in the storm. The third article is distressingly important. It concerns the abuse of what are called Councils of Protection, which by law, are appointed as courts of inquiry in the first instance, of all matter of oppression of masters on their slaves, and of prosecution for the slave afterwards against their masters. Sundry instances of contravention of the law, and of the iniquitous partiality of these councils, are given, exhibiting how the "esprit de corps" of the planters renders these COUNCILS OF PROTECTION nothing else than mere screens to cast over the oppressor, and shield him from punishment by a nock inquiry, and a pretended acquittal. And, alas! the case of the Rev. Mr. Brydges, is adduced in large and prominent characters, when this Rector of one of the largest parishes in Jamaica, is shown to have exercised most unwarrantable cruelty against a female slave on trivial grounds; and when though he was prosecuted by the Attorney General of the island; and though his worthy Bishop shewed every desire to bring the matter to full investigation, and to have the offender punished, when proved guilty, yet this person, screened by the Council of Protection, exonerated from blame by the grand jury of Middlesex parish, abetted by the Editor of a leading newspaper, and counselled by the secretary of the governor of the island, succeeded in quashing all prosecu tion; and Mr. Brydges got off scot free, and his slave had no redress.

The writer of the article in question, concludes his remarks on this important, and fearful expose of Jamaica justice, by addressing the planters as follows-"We ask those whites, so long as in their private or public

capacity as magistrates or masters, they disobey the positive injunctions of him who requires them to learn to do well-seek judgment-relieve the oppressed'-we beseech them as the professed servants of Christthe inculcators, the example of mercy, to recollect that the actors in the dreadful scenes of cruelty, fraud, and deception, which we have detailed, are called Christians, and that the accused himself is a minister of the Gospel-and not to rest satisfied with the name or profession of Christianity, but to prove they possess it, by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.'" There are some other good articles in this Periodical-some tolerable religious poetry-and some well-selected extracts from sound and spiritual English divines. We regret that this work is so dear as almost to preclude its purchase by individuals; as in Jamaica, independent of the cost of conveyance from thence, its price is £3 per annum, or 6s. 8d. per Number, to non-subscribers, for thirty-six pages. Printing must be indeed dear in Jamaica. We have reason to believe that the Rev. Stewart William Hanna, Curate of St. George's, Jamaica, and a near relative of the Rev. W. B. Mathias, Bethesda Chapel, Dublin, is the conductor of this Periodical. All Anti-Slavery Societies ought to have it transmitted to them.

Extract of a letter from the Rev. Stewart Hanna, Kingston, Jamaica, to a friend in Dublin.

The

"The cause of the Gospel is in this land making silent, but rapid, advances. number of religious men is much increas ing, and they are now making a stand against vice and infidelity such as Jamaica has never before witnessed. It is my earnest prayer and wish to be made, in the smallest way, instrumental in the advancement of this great work, and an unspeakable source of consolation that I have been admitted into the society, and joined myself to the number of those who though persecuted, at least, contemptuously, and, as far as is possible, maliciously treatedare the fearless servants of the Redeemer. I send along with this letter the first number of a new publication which a few of us, members of the Church of England, have set on foot, and which, I trust, will yet prove useful. My chief reason for sending it is, that it may be reviewed in the Christian Examiner, and in any other periodicals you may judge right. Only let the reviewers treat us with leniency, for we are none of us practised hands. You cannot imagine what an instrument of good in this dark land would be the permanent establishment of some such publication as that which I send. It would be the means of exposing abuses, and bringing to light evil prac tices such as you could scarcely believe had any existence in a British colony, and it would materially, with the Divine bless

ing, advance the interests of vital Christianity. You have many such publications at home; we have not had one before the present. And as to religious works, I suppose, except a few which missionaries receive, and half a dozen laymen, there are not ten annually imported into Jamaica. You see, then, the advantage of supporting such a work as the present, in a moral and religious point of view; but where are we to receive our chief support ? Certainly not here. It must be in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Let every one who knows of this, our only religious periodical, and who really wishes well to the land of slaves, subscribe to take it, and the edi. tors will transmit it by the packet. The terms may appear high, but you have no idea of the expenses of this country. All kinds of labour in such a climate must be paid for at an extravagant rate, but especially the labour of white people which printing requires: if this be well-understood it will account for the seeming unrea. sonableness of the demand made for our infant magazine. I trust you will obtain for us in Dublin many subscribers, and induce others to do the same."

AFRICA.

Cape of Good Hope-Dr. Philip.— It is known to the friends of the Missionary Society, that Dr. Philip judged it expedient, in the prosecution of his great object, for which he returned to England, to publish a work entitled, "Researches in South Africa," illustrating the civil, moral, and religious condition of the native tribes. Although this work was received in this country with decided approbation, yet it was of such a description as inevitably to produce a very opposite sentiment in the Cape of Good Hope. So many evils were unmasked by the contents of the book, so many interests were affected by the great measure to which it essentially contributed, and so many parties were necessarily implicated in the statements introduced, that it could not but excite bitter indignation against the author, if it did not even expose him to the hazard of legal prosecution. However, it was considered, (and that under good advice,) that if a legal process were attempted, it must necessarily come to this country, where the author would be protected from local punishment; and as to the ill-will which might be personally shown to Dr. Philip, he was prepared to endure it with patience, and to overcome it by prudence and conciliation.

Dr. Philip however, had not been three days at Cape Town, before he received notice of an action for a libel in the supreme court of the colony. The efforts made to transfer the trial from that court to England were overruled: the Doctor has been tried in the midst of local prejudice, and without the benefit of a jury, and has been

cast in damages of £200, and costs of more than £900.

The statement on which the action was founded, is recorded in vol. 1. page 353, of the Researches." The particulars of this statement, unlike the others in the work, did not fall under Dr. Philip's observation, but they were, as noticed in the heading, communicated to him by a respectable gentleman now in this country. That gentleman is Mr. Pringle, the secretary of the Anti Slavery Society, who has been seen on the subject, and who readily makes himself responsible both for the account, and the terms in which it is expressed.

In seeking to fulfil the last resolution, the directors hope to have the cordial assistance of all the friends of religion and humanity. Although they do not consider themselves at liberty to employ the funds entrusted to their care for missionary purposes, to this object, they are not the less convinced of its importance. The sum, £1100, is a considerable one; and it can only be raised with promptitude by the cooperation of the zealous friends of humanity, freedom, aud religion. Of these there are many in this happy country, and it is hoped that the situation in which Dr. Philip is at present placed, requires only to be made known to them, in order to call forth their liberality, and so materially to lighten one of those many burdens which press on the directors in discharging their duties to the missionary cause.

ASIA

Calcutta. The Bishop of Calcutta, grieved to see the Lord's day so grossly profaned, drew up the following declaration, to be subscribed by all who approved of the sentiments it contained. It was read in all the churches. Of course, it has been keenly and violently opposed. But it bears testimony to the pious views and commendable zeal of the bishop, and we hope, may be productive of much good.

We, the undersigned, being desirous to express our conviction that it is our duty as Christians, and will be for our advantage as members of the community, to promote a more exact observance of the Lord's day among the inhabitants of Calcutta and its neighbourhood, do hereby declare,

1. That we will personally in our fami lies, and to the utmost limit of our influerce, adopt, and encourage others to adopt, such measures as may tend to establish a decent and orderly observance of the Lord's day.

2. That we will, as far as depends upon ourselves, neither employ, nor allow others to employ on our behalf, or in our service, native workmen and artisans in the exer cise of their ordinary calling on the Sabbath day.

3. And further, we will give a preference to those master tradesmen who are willing