have to learn that the miseries of Africa, instead of having been abated by that merciful declaration, have, since the period of its appearance, been intensely aggravated, and that by some of the very parties who subscribed it with their names. They will have to learn how well the Slave Trade has vindicated its claim to the opprobrious epithets which their indignation then applied to it, by its subsequent ravages, and by its triumphant extinction of all those cheering prospects which had begun to console "afflicted humanity" for centuries of blood and crime. Doubt less they will inquire, and ascertain, by what strange and unaccountable fatality it has happened, that the professions, and promises, and public engagements of France on this subject should have been in direct contrast to the conduct hitherto pursued by her public functionaries; by what unhappy misconception of the views and intentions of their superiors it has happened, that the governors of those settlements on the coast of Africa which had enjoyed, during our occupation of them, a long repose from the horrors of the Slave Trade, and in which industry, and the arts of civilized life, and the social and domestic charities, had begun to diffuse their healing influence, should have looked tamely on whilst every hope to which such a state of things had given birth, and which France had distinctly pledged herself to cherish, has been blasted under her hand, as by the breath of a pestilence. The eloquence of Burke would be required to paint the desolation which in the space of a single year the citizens of that polished land have wrought on the shores of the Senegal and in the vicinity of the Gambia. The facts, however, will speak for themselves; and with these facts, as far as our feeble voice can reach, the public shall soon be made acquainted.

The members of the Congress will likewise have to inquire into the title which Portugal possesses to oppose herself on this subject to the united wishes of Europe, and of that country especially to whose exertions it is owing that she has not been blotted from the catalogue of nations and we trust that means will be taken to make her feel, that, if considerations of justice and humanity have no weight in her councils, her interests will be deeply compromised by obstinately continuing to cling to this nefarious commerce. Is it too

much to hope that the day is arrived when the congregated justice of Europe, acting in the true spirit of the HOLY ALLIANCE, shall formally receive Africa within the pale of humanity, and denounce as criminal and piratical, as a public offence against the law of nature and nations, the act of bearing away her unoffending inhabitants, by every enormity of violence and fraud, into hopeless, grinding, and interminable bondage? We all remember with what acclamations Europe resounded, when England gallantly asserted the claims, and at the expense of much blood and treasure effected the liberation of the ten or eleven hundred White Captives whom the Dey of Algiers retained in slavery. But, surely, either our conduct in that instance did not merit the eulogies it received, and was palpably partial and unjust, or the same principles will now be called into operation, in order to restrain the wholesale depredations which continue to be com mitted on the Negro Race. We have much to say on this subject, but for the present we forbear. The Congress, we trust, will perform its duty, in this as in every other respect; and raise a monument to its fame, in the gratitude of Liberated Nations, more durable than marble or brass. The tears and groans of millions of wretched sufferers have already entered the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. May they reach the hearts of his vicegerents on earth, and incite them to be the dispensers of his mercy to the miserable, by restraining the fury of their oppressors, and causing their violence to cease.

The new constitution for Bavaria, establishing representative assemblies, was published on the 28th ult. The preamble is remarkable for its liberality, granting to the people liberty of conscience, with a scrupulous distinction between what belongs to the state, and what to the church; liberty of opinion, with restrictions by law against abuse ; an equal right to all native subjects to every rank in the public service, and to all the distinctions due to merit; equality of laws, and of citizens before the law; impartiality and promptitude in the administration of justice; equality in the distribution and payment of im posts; and, as a security to the whole, "States-General formed from all classes of domiciled citizens."

EAST INDIES.

The conflict which has taken place in India, between the British and the different Mahratta powers, has been short, but decisive. Our arms have every where maintained their wonted superiority, and the hostile princes have all ac

GREAT

On the 10th inst. the Prince Regent went in state to the House of Peers, and dissolved the Parliament. The Speaker, in addressing his Royal Highness, particularly adverted to the treaties which had been concluded with Spain and Portugal, on the subject of the Slave Trade, as having afforded the House an opportunity, in providing for their fulfil ment, of discharging a duty more interesting in itself, and more in unison with the sincere and unfeigned sentiments of all classes of his Majesty's subjects, than any other. He likewise adverted to the means adopted for supplying the deficiency of places of public worship in the Established Church; and expressed himself well convinced, that "the first and dearest interests of the country, its truest happiness, its soundest prosperity, its surest independence, its most substantial national glory, were all involved and blended intimately and inseparably in the religious and moral habits of its people."

The Speech of the Prince Regent 'contained the ordinary topics of observation, but, in referring to the approaching dissolution, took occasion to advert to the important changes which had occurred in the situation of this country and of Europe, since the Parliament had first assembled in 1812; changes which were owing in a great measure to the unexampled exertions which Parliament had enabled him to make. The Speech closed with a compliment to the attachment and loyalty of all classes of his Majesty's subjects.

It is not, however, on the single ground mentioned in the Speech of the Prince Regent, that we look back with gratitude to the proceedings of the Parliament which has just closed its labours, although, undoubtedly, much, very much, is due to it on that ground. We would also record, with unfeigned thankfuluess, what it has done for the cause of Christianity in India, for the cause of the wretched inhabitants of Africa, and for the im, provement of the lower classes of our own population. We trust, that in these

cepted peace on terms most highly ad. vantageous to this country. The Pindarries, whose depredations on the British territories were the original cause of the war, have been reduced to a state which will deprive them of the power of renewing their aggressions. BRITAIN.

respects the Parliament about to be chosen will tread in its steps, and improve on the example which has been set by its predecessor.

A Bill has passed for instituting a Commission to inquire into the appropriation of the funds bequeathed to promote the education of the poor in all parts of the kingdom; and although the measure, as proposed by Mr. Brougham, and agreed to by the House of Commons, was curtailed of some of its most material provisions in the House of Lords, we have no doubt that it will still serve many highly important purposes. The number and flagrancy of the cases of abuse which have been detected by the committee, of which Mr. Brougham was chairman, exceed all our previous conceptions on the subject. One case, which he stated to the House, related to a certain borough in the county of Huntingdon. "The only bo rough interest," he observed, "that which gave the patron of the borough the whole power of sending two members to that House, was the unjust and wilful abuse of a considerable estate left for charitable purposes. It would come within the compass of the Education Bill, for it had been set apart in the reign of Edward II. for the maintenance of a free school, and in that reign had been estimated at the annual value of 357. The land amounted to 145 acres, the greater portion of which was of great value. The whole rent was now 160l., while the value upon the lowest scale could not be less than within a trifle of 9001. per annum. This land was held by the mayor and corporation-by the mayor and twelve aldermen. Who were the trustees? The mayor and twelve aldermen. Who were the lessees who had this land contiguous and convenient to other property of the Crown? Who were the lessors? The mayor and twelve aldermen-all in one. They were all; and all that interest they had got from the property of the poor, which they had robbed for the purpose. In that borough the burgesses were the people who had the right of voting; and

it was so managed, that once a burgess, always a burgess. The lands were given amongst the burgesses for little or no rent. It was asked whether they had any opposition in the borough, or in what it consisted. The reply was, that there never was such a thing as an opposition; the borough was what they called a maiden borough."

Another subject to which the attention of Parliament was turned during the last session, was the treatment of the Slaves in the West Indies. A great variety of papers was called for by the House of Commons. Of these, the greater part was produced only on the last day of the session. We have, therefore, as yet not had access to them. On this account, we have thought it best to defer entering on the subject; for, although we are already in possession of some parliamentary documents of considerable importance, and, we may add, harrowing interest, their effect, we are convinced, would be weakened by pre senting them in detached fragments. Suffice it for the present to say, and in due time we undertake to prove, that the tales with which the British public have been amused, of the ameliorated condition of our sable fellow-subjects in the West Indies, are little better than "cunningly devised fables;" and that nothing short of parliamentary interference affords a well-grounded hope of that improvement in their state, which it is no less the bounden duty than it is the unfeigned desire of this country to effect.

On the 2d inst., his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge was re-married in this country to the Princess of Hesse Cassel. And on the 29th ult. his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent was married, at Cobourg, to the Dowager Princess of Leiningen, sister of his Serene HighHess Prince Leopold,

The kingdom, from one extremity to the other, is at present engrossed with the business of the elections. Many of them have already terminated without a contest: in which cases, for the most part, either the same members have been returned, or members of similar political principles. Severe contests have taken place in many of the great towns. In the city of London, and the borough of Southwark, those contests have ended in the triumph of the more democratic candidates. Sir William

Curtis and Alderman Atkins in the City, and Mr. C. Barclay in the Borough, have been forced to give place, the former to Mr. Waithman and Alderman Thorpe, and the latter to Sir Robert Wilson, the liberator of Lavalette,

In the city of Westminster, a curious scene has been exhibited. The candidates, in the first instance, amounted to six: Sir Samuel Romilly; Sir Murray Maxwell, who commanded the Alceste, the ship which conveyed Lord Amherst to China, and who signalized himself by his spirited attack on the Chinese batteries; Sir Francis Burdett; the Hon. Douglas Kinnaird; Major Cartwright; and Mr. Hunt. Sir Murray Maxwell is understood to have the support of Government, and has certainly many personal claims to the suffrages of the electors. Besides being a most gallant officer, and a man of extensive general information, he is stated to have been a particularly humaue commander, and to have shewn himself very desirous to promote the moral and religious improvement of his crew. And his conduct on the hustings has certainly not belied these pretensions. He has conducted himself with remarkable dignity and good temper, in the midst of unbounded insult and gross outrage; and has even manifested an address and a promptitude in his appeals to the better feelings of the many-headed monster before him, which were hardly to be expected from a man of his professional habits. The rudeness and vio lence with which he has been assailed by the mob, and the serious personal injuries he has sustained from stones, mud, and other missiles, form an instructive comment on the freedom and purity which may be expected to attend elections, when parliaments become aunual, and suffrage universal.

The return of Sir Samuel Romilly we are disposed to consider as certain. He has not himself appeared on the hustings, his avocations not permitting his attendance; but the known respectability of his character, the weight of his talents, his tried attachment to objects of enlightened benevolence, his labours to mitigate the injurious severity of our criminal code, and his firm and faithful adherence and distinguished services to the cause of Africa and her enslaved race, have gained him the suffrages of good men of all parties; while the support he has given to all measures of economy, and to every practicable

scheme of political reform, has inclined many of the mere reformists of Westminster to give him their votes. He stands at present (June 25) at the head of the poll; but whether he will maintain that distinction is uncertain; as Sir Francis Burdett, who appeared on the first three days of the election to have lost the confidence of the good people of Westminster, and fell far below both Sir S. Romilly and Sir M. Maxwell, has since advanced with rapid strides, and is now considerably above the gallaut captain, and promises even to stand the first in point of numbers.

The three other candidates hardly deserve to be noticed. Mr. Douglas Kinnaird and Major Cartwright, having in three days polled, the former 70, and the latter 20 votes, prudently retired from the contest. Mr. Hunt, whose numbers after a six days' poll amount only to 73, still maintains his post as a candidate, and with his characteristic vulgarity has even sworn to maintain it until the fifteenth day. We are glad to find that the manners of this person are too low and too coarse to suit the taste

even of a Westminster mob, and, with the exception of a few ragged adherents, he appears to have lost all the ephemeral ascendancy over the popu lace, which his bold pretensions and large promises had gained him in the first instance.

We find it difficult to explain the reasons why Sir F. Burdett was so unpopular as he appeared to be during the first three days of the election; or why the tide of popular feeling has since been so suddenly and strangely turned in his favour, that on the fourth day he polled nearly twice as many votes as he had done on the three preceding days. All this, we suppose, will be explained in due time. Meanwhile, the Baronet refuses his personal attendance, and gives the electors distinctly to understand, that his return to Parliament is their affair, not his.

It would appear, on the whole, that Ministry had rather lost than gained by the elections which have taken place. But, after all, the numerical difference in their majorities in the House of Commons will probably be slight.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THE REV. GEORGE EDWARDS was born at Yeovil, in Somersetshire, June 23, 1785. Having completed the usual acquirements of a grammar school, he was placed with a chemist at Bristol; and though at this time not immediately under the influence of true piety, he evinced a most exemplary moral conduct during the whole of his engagement. "A volume might be written," remarks Mr. Cecil, "on the various methods which God has taken in providence to lead men first to think of Him self."

Mr. Edwards had commenced business in Bristol, in connection with a fellow-apprentice, when a circumstance led him to St. James's church, where he soon became a constant attendant. Here it was that the seed of the word was sown in his heart: and the work of Divine grace was progressive. His outward conduct, which before had been very correct, now began to flow from higher principles and motives. His relish for every thing connected with religion increased; and with it, his dislike of frivolous conversation, and his anxiety for the welfare of his own soul, and for the souls of his relations. In short, his whole deportment marked him to be strictly "a new creature in Christ Jesus."

Having at length turned his thoughts to the ministry, this important step occupied his whole attention, and induced him earnestly to implore the direction of his Heavenly Father. A successful line of business had placed independence within his reach, but he determined to relinquish it. He therefore entered at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, where the same zeal and devotion which had hitherto characterized him, was visible during the whole of his residence. His studies were his delight, and he could not be prevailed with to intermit them, in order to take the exercise which his delicate constitution required. Indeed, he carried his assiduity to such an excess, that he conld scarcely be prevailed upon to join in the customary relaxation of a morning or evening walk; and it is to be feared that his premature death is to be attributed to the zeal with which he attended to his College duties, regardless of those salutary intermissions which his health so peculiarly demanded.

On quitting the university, Mr. Ed. wards took Holy Orders, and became curate of the two parishes of Baverstock and Bowerchalk, in Wiltshire. Here he preached his first sermon; and here too, with almost his dying breath, he ratified and confirmed the doctrine which he had taught. For nearly five years he may truly be said to have

laboured in this portion of his Lord's vineyard, daily manifesting, that, for the love with which Christ first loved him, he was determined to spend and be spent in his service. Refusing, though tempted by the offer of superior advantages, to leave his beloved flock, he watched with tender solicitude over their progress, and has now been enabled to say of some of them, with undissembled joy, Here I am, Lord, and the children whom thou hast given me. The distance of six miles to Bowerchalk, over bleak downs, twice a week, and in all weather, with the instruction of the children of both parishes, visiting the sick, and other pastoral duties, soon undermined a naturally weak constitution. On Sunday, the first of March, 1818, he preached at both his churches; and in the evening, at his own house, examined the children, and afterwards expounded to about sixty persons the first of the Thirty-nine Articles of our Church; intending to go through the whole of them on succeeding Sabbaths. But the next Sabbath had scarcely intervened, ere his sorrowing and disconsolate flock followed him to the grave. His last sermon is now before me: it contains in itself nothing particularly worthy of observation. Like the generality of his compositions, it is the plain, orthodox, unstudied address of a faithful minister. The subject, however, presents a coinciIdence with his own immediate call to the reward of his pious labours. His text is from St. Matthew xvi. 27: "He shall reward every man according to his woks." The day after he preached this his last discourse, he had scarcely rode from his own door to attend a Bible Society Meeting at Wilton, when he was seized with the complaint that terminated his life, and immediately returned. On Tuesday and Wednesday, no visible alteration appearing, some hopes were entertained of his recovery, when on the evening of the latter of these days more dangerous symptoms appeared. With extreme reluctance he consented that his mother, now at a distance, should be informed of his distressing situation. On Thursday evening, just before another and the last attack, he

had the great satisfaction of embracing her; and two hours after he died in her arins. The grief in which he saw her and his brothers involved, appeared to concern him most; his last words to them being, "Don't grieve so; I am very, very happy! Christ is with me! I go to glory!" When too weak to converse, his greatest pleasure was to hear the word of God read to him. "I thought," said he, "I was dying last night, and, oh! at that moment how precious were the promises of God to me." Recovering from this second attack, he prayed most fervently for his beloved people; for his little flock the children of his Sunday School; and for his friends, particularly those who exhibited hopeful symptoms of piety. After this, taking a pencil in his hand, he expressed his wish to be buried in his parish church at Baverstock, with this simple though cheering assurance, “In Christ is my hope." Without a sigh, he sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.

The preceding narrative will naturally suggest to the reader several reflections, on which, though very important, it is not necessary at present to enlarge. Firmness and consistency of character were remarkably conspicuons in Mr. Edwards. He pressed forward to his point with a simplicity and ardour which eminently fitted him for obtaining whatever happened to be his object of pursuit. Happily his objects were uniformly such as reason and conscience could approve, and such as even at the present moment his glorified spirit cannot be ashamed to disown. While, however, his example stimulates the slothful to a conscientious application of his time and talents, it ought to warn the zealous and anxious student against sacrificing his future usefulness, and bringing on a premature death, by an undue eagerness even in a good and eminently holy cause. Such a character, though marked by no lines of great originality or peculiarity, is one of those objects to which the Christian may always turn his eye with advantage, and to which the minister of Christ may look as a specimen and pattern of what he ought to imitate and approve.