most without exception free. They have imbibed, at an early period, the consciousness of freedom; and with it are mingled a thirst for improvement, and an ardent desire to share in the com forts of the social state, without interruption from those prejudices which too often produce collisions and permanent hostility. In many instances they discover a degree of public spirit, more honourable to their character in proportion to the untowardness of the circumstances in which custom and law have placed them. Their industry and integrity have secured to many of them a competency of wealth, together with that respect from society at large, which elevates them above the sordid views usually connected with a state of servile dependence. In these circumstances they are prepared, in a good degree, for receiving the seed of Divine Truth, and bringing forth the fruits of it.

"They are not, and cannot justly be expected to be, distinguished by their literary acquirements. Various circumstances have hitherto conspired to prevent that mental improvement of which they are naturally no less susceptible than more favoured orders of society; and, if at any time their piety be less under the regulation of sound discretion than is desirable, the charity which 'thinketh no evil,' will find a sufficient apology for them in the well-known and incurable defects of their education.

"Instances of exemplary piety frequently occur among the Youth of Colour: and, when they are converted to God, they sometimes evidence earnest desires to strengthen their brethren, Cannot the embarrassments, under which they lie, be removed, and the evils that flow from an indiscreet zeal, be obviated? Is the ministry of reconciliation' confided solely to the children of Shem and Japhet? Has heaven interdicted sacred employment to the posterity of Ham? It cannot fail to occur to every reflect ing mind, that People of Colour, having the same native sensibilities as other men, will cherish stronger attachments to a religious instructor of their own complexion, and allow to him a greater influence over them, than to another of fairer skin."

"Where sincere piety is connected with a vigorous intellect, and both lie concealed beneath much rubbish, it is highly desirable that they be extricated from their unfavourable situation, and brought forward to occupy some en

larged sphere of usefulness. The best talents are often buried in obscurity, because indigence, or complexion, or some other nuhappy difficulty prevented them from rising into notice: nay, they are often frittered away, and made con. temptible or baneful, because employed irregularly, and without that judgment that can be matured only by serious study and faithful instruction.

"It is to search out and bring for ward this description of youth among People of Colour-to strengthen their powers-cultivate their pious affections -direct their studies-inspire them with ' zeal according to knowledge'-elevate their views, and prepare them for wide fields of labour and usefulness-that this Society is formed."

It is surely unnecessary for us to say, that we most earnestly wish, and to a certain extent, anticipate for the bene volent projectors of these institutions, a success equal to the piety and discretion with which they shall be conducted.

PROPOSED SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDUSTRY, AND REDUCTION OF POORS' RATES.

The encouragement of Industry and the Reduction of Poors' Rates being essential to the comfort and prosperity of the community, has occasioned a union of some gentlemen who having formed themselves into a Provisional Committee, desire to elicit the best information on these important subjects. They have commenced their exertions in the metropolis on account of the facility which it affords for communication.

"That the subject," they observe," is of vital importance to the interests of our country, appears from the Legislature having invited information relative to the state and employment of the Poor. It is evident that their destitute tituation can only be remedied by means of employment being found for the unoccupied, not interfering with any existing occupation. The communications received in consequence of application to Agricultural and Manufacturing Parishes; the information derived from members of the Board of Agriculture, and the cases of practical success published by the nobility and other landowners, have evinced that the Poor are generally industrious, and able to maintain themselves without parochial aid when occupying small portions of land.

"The Committee desire, by a patient

and zealous investigation, to ascertain the most eligible mode of accomplishing these important objects; and its exertions have been sanctioned by numerous enlightened and benevolent characters, who are of opinion, that the employment of the Poor and lessening the burden of Parochial Assessments are principally to be attained by the additional culti vation of land."

The following is a List of Inquiries, to which the Committee request replies from all persons who are competeut to give useful intelligence upon the subject:

"I. If such of the Poor, as have small families, and are out of work, or whose low wages are insufficient to maintain them, were supplied with a small por tion of land, nearly rent-free, with the means of erecting a cottage, if necessary, on the same, would it prove a stimulus to industry, be accepted and cultivated, and eventually reuder parochial relief uunecessary?

"II. For persons with large families, say six children and upwards, in similar circumstances, would it be considered likely if a cow and a sufficient quantity of land, say one and a half or two acres,

at a low rent, were supplied, that such would be enabled to live without pa rochial assistance?

"III. What effects might such assist, ance be expected to produce in a given number of years (say 10 or 15) on the moral condition and happiness of the Poor, especially of the rising race, and the welfare of the community at large?

"IV. If approved (and the money necessary to accomplish it could be raised), your opinion is requested as to the best mode of carrying the same into effect?

"V. Your opinion is requested on the propriety of large and populons places employing land for the occupation of their Poor, under suitable superintend ance, (which has in some instances been practised) with a view to enable them to subsist without parochial aid?

"VI. Any other information on the subject of furnishing employment to our industrious Poor, not prejudicial to existing occupations, will be esteemed."

It is requested that communications be addressed to the Secretaries, King's Head, Poultry, London. The papers are signed "Benjamin Wills and Thomas Livesey, Provisional Secretaries."

CEYLON.

Our readers are of course aware of hostilities having been for some time on foot between the Government of Ceylon and the Natives. We are sorry to report, that intelligence from the island continues to wear an unpleasing aspect. The return of tranquillity is impeded by the peculiar natural features of the country, which enable the disaffected Natives to elude every attempt to bring them to a decisive action.

ST. HELENA.

Recent dispatches from St. Helena are said to contain information respect ing a plot for effecting the escape of Bonaparte. The substance of the ru mour is, that a correspondence had been intercepted by Sir Hudson Lowe, proving the establishment of a communication between the island and certain individuals resident at Rome, Paris, and Munich. It has been added, that certain persons in this country are implicated in the plot. On the other hand,

it is alleged, that the whole pretended plot was nothing more than an attempt to send out a few books, a list of which has been given in a morning paper, to relieve the ennui of the party at Longwood. That the British Government should have prevented such a step was certainly highly proper; as by means of books or papers, it would be easy, in various methods, to convey much secret information. We certainly can see no reason for depriving Bonaparte of free access to books; but these ought to be supplied by the government itself, and not by persons who may abuse the permission.

A more pleasing communication from the same island is a Proclamation, dated August 17, 1818, announcing that "from and after the 25th of December next, being the anniversary of the birth of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," all children born of Slaves on the island, shall be for ever free, subject only to such conditions as shall appear necessary for their maintenance, &c.

CONTINENTAL INTELLIGENCE.

The evacuation of France by the allied armies has proceeded with due rapidity. The troops were finally reviewed by the emperor of Russia, the king of Prussia, the duke of Wellington, &c., and are acknowledged to have evidenced the strictest military propriety and good conduct, during the period of the occupation, They are now marching home in every direction; and as all the august monarchs, assembled either personally or by representative in Congress, have entered, if possible, into still closer engagements than ever of amity and good faith, we trust (shall we say we confidently hope?) it may be very many years before a similar spectacle is again witnessed. Thus has the final act of the great European drama at length closed; peace no longer assumes the unwelcome, but hitherto necessary, appearance of an armed truce; every nation of this important quarter of the globe is now left to its own unfettered energies for regulating its policy both with respect to itself and its neighbours. May the lessons of adversity be long remembered in prosperity! May the horrors of war give new zest to the kind and social amenities of peace! May especially that country which has alternately gained most and lost most by the law of arms, learn at

* While alluding to this subject, we cannot but refer our readers to the Address to Congress, mentioned in our last, and inserted in our present Number. If the statements in that important document required farther confirmation, it might be produced in abundance. The following, for instance, is a paragraph which appeared in the newspapers of last week, copied from Jamaica journals:-"Nearly 1000 slaves arrived at the Havannah in one day, the 19th of June. The celebrated ship, called Fama Habanera, built in New York, for the house of Messrs. Questa Manzanel and Brother, of that place, alone carried 728

a cargo worth 300,000 dollars cash." Thus is the interim filled up during which the trade is partially tolerated! We hope speedily to redeem our pledge of entering into a detail of what has occurred relative to the Slave Trade since the Congress of Vienna.

transmit, without stain or manacle, her newly-acquired freedom!

A declaration of the great powers assembled in Congress has just made its appearance, which reflects the highest credit on its authors, and will be read with satisfaction by every man who values the interests either of peace or piety.

DECLARATION.

"Now that the pacification of Europe is accomplished, by the resolution of withdrawing the foreign troops from the French territory; and now that there is an end of those measures of precaution which deplorable events had rendered necessary, the Ministers and Plenipotentiaries of their Majesties the * Emperor of Austria, the King of France, the King of Great Britain, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of all the Russias, have received orders from their Sovereigns to make known to all the Courts of Europe the results of their meeting at Aix-la-Chapelle, and with that view to publish the following Declaration :

"The Convention of the 9th of October, which definitively regulated the execution of the engagements agreed to in the Treaty of Peace of November 20, 1815, is considered by the Sovereigns concurred therein, as the accomplishment of the work of Peace, and as the completion of the political system destined to insure its solidity.

"The intimate union established among the Monarchs, who are joint parties to this system, by their own principles, no less than by the interests of their people, offers to Europe the most sacred pledge of its future tranquillity.

"The object of this union is as simple as it is great and salutary. It does not tend to any new political combination -to any change in the relations sanctioned by existing treaties. Calm and consistent in its proceedings, it has no other object than the maintenance of peace, and the security of those transactions on which the peace was founded and consolidated.

"The Sovereigns, in forming this august union, have regarded, as its fundamental basis, their invariable resolution never to depart, either among themselves or in their relations with other

The names of the Powers are put alphabetically.

States, from the strictest observation of the principles of the right of nations; principles which, in their application to a state of permanent peace, can alone effectually guarantee the independence of each government, and the stability of the general association.

"Faithful to these principles, the Sovereigns will maintain them equally in those meetings at which they may be personally present, or in those which shall take place among their Ministers: whether it shall be their object to discuss in common their own interests, or whether they take cognizance of questions in which other governments shall for mally claim their interference. The same spirit which will direct their councils, and reign in their diplomatic communications, shall preside also at these meetings; and the repose of the world shall be constantly their motive aud their end.

"It is with such sentiments that the Sovereigns have consummated the work to which they were called. They will

not cease to labour for its confirmation and perfection. They solemnly acknowledge, that their duties towards God and the people whom they govern, make it peremptory on them to give to the world, as far as in their power, an example of justice, of concord, of moderation; happy in the power of consecrating, from henceforth, all their efforts to the protection of the arts of peace, to the increase of the internal prosperity of their States, and to the awakening of those sentiments of religion and morality, whose empire has been but too much enfeebled by the misfortune of the times. (Signed)METTERNICH. HARDENBERG.

RICHELIEU. BERNSTORFF. CASTLEREAGH. NESSELROde. WELLINGTON. CAPO D'ISTRIA. Aix-la-Chapelle, Nov. 15, 1818. This document bears the signature of M. Gentz, the secretary to the Congress.

It is with regret that we perceive at the present juncture a considerable depression in the French Funds; not much greater, perhaps, than would naturally result, independently of strictly political considerations, from the transactions relative to the late loans and the approaching liquidation of sums due from that country to foreign states. Paris, however, does not stand alone in this respect; for the demand for money is stated to be very general in the principal commercial towns upon the Continent. The gigantic financial ar

rangements of the different governments seem, for a moment, to have absorbed the surplus funds of capitalists. Artificial means have been resorted to for supporting public credit at Paris, and, apparently, not without moment. ary effect; but the national funds, probably, will not find their due level till the result is known of an application made to Congress by Messrs. Baring, Hope, &c., under the sanction of the French government, for prolonging the period of paying the sums due from France to other powers. Instead of nine months, seventeen, it is said, are requested: in consideration of which indulgence, it is offered to pay each instalment at the place where it falls due, instead of paying it to the agents of the respective. states at Paris, which will save commission and other charges," and afford security against loss from variations in the exchanges. There is little doubt that Congress will accede to some such measure for the general welfare.

DOMESTIC.

The protracted sufferings of her Ma jesty, the Queen, have at length terminated. Her Majesty expired Nov. 17, at 1 o'clock, without pain, and surrounded by several of her children, among whom were the Prince Regent, the Duke of York, &c. An event so natural and so long anticipated, could not excite surprise; and, if the sympathy evidenced by the nation has not been equally overwhelming with that which accompanied another royal loss, at the corresponding period of last year, it is owing to causes wholly distinct from want of attachment to the late muchrespected queen. The one event was long foreseen; the other was sudden and unexpected: the one was in the ordinary course of nature, the other premature, and accompanied by circumstances the most affecting: the one was the falling of the matured fruit, the other the blasting of the vernal blossom: the one was a single stroke, the other involved a double death, and eclipsed for ever prospects which the nation had contemplated with the most anxions interest. It could not be expected that a second event, however solemn, should again, and especially at so short a distance of time, have awakened an equal ebullition of public feeling. We are convinced, however, that the late queen has died unfeignedly

Tamented by the best and wisest of his Majesty's subjects, and has left meniorials of her virtues during the long period in which she has resided in this kingdom (nearly sixty years), which will not soon be forgotten. Her judgment and principles in the regulation of her court have often and justly been com'mended. Decorum and correctness have been among its leading characteristics; and, when we consider the very long period during which attention to the purity of the female character has been the basis of her Majesty's system in her intercourse with society, it surely is not unreasonable to attribute much of the propriety which has been noticed to the good conduct and virtuous inflexibility of the late queen.

We turn aside from the royal bier to another, which, though only that of a private individual, has excited no ordinary surprise, and attracted no common sympathy. We scarcely know how to express ourselves in conveying to our readers the melancholy fact, that no less a man than Sir Samuel Romilly has perished-and perished by his own land. We have, however, the satisfaction of believing, from the evidence produced before the coroner's jury, what a mere coroner's verdict would by no means have necessarily convinced us of, that this was really a case of temporary delirium, occasioned chiefly by grief for the loss of a beloved wife, and by the fatigue and anxiety which he had sustained during her long illness. It was not always our fortune to agree

with Sir Samuel Romilly in his view of politics; but of his cordial and disinterested attachment to the cause of hnmanity, evidenced especially in bis conduct on the Slave Trade question, the Education of the Poor, the abolition of capital punishments for second-rate offences, and other important questions, there could be no more doubt than of his great native talents, his eloquence, his political integrity, and his extensive research and information. We gladly pay this tribute of respect to a man, whose loss will be severely felt both in and out of parliament, especially at the Chancery - bar, where such sympathy and regret were universally felt at the communication of this painful intelligence, that not a counsellor was to be seen in his place, while the Lord Chaucellor himself, unable to restrain his tears, was obliged to dismiss the court and retire.

Great Britain is already setting the laudable example of a very considerable reduction of her army, in addition to the reductions of the last and preceding year. The leading items of the intended reduction are three whole regiments, with the staff corps of cavalry; thirteen battalions of infantry, with several independent companies; ten men per troop in the cavalry on homes service; as many in each company of foot-guards; fifteen privates per company in all the infantry regiments of the line, those in India only excepted, with other minor items, amounting in the whole to above 30,000 men.