FOREIGN.

ST. HELENA.A dispatch arrived in London early in the month, announcing the death of Bonaparte on the seventh of last May, after an illness of six weeks. His disease, on opening the body, was ascertained to have been a cancer in the stomach, of which he is stated to have said that his father died, and in the production of which neither the climate of St. Helena, nor the circumstances connected with his detention, could have had any share. Thus has passed into eternity a man whose exploits were but as yesterday_the theme of every tongue, and on whose will depended, in an almost unexampled degree, the fate of many millions of his fellow-creatures; a man, doubtless, of great powers of mind, but whose name will be handed down to posterity with the indelible stigma of inordinate ambition, injustice, cruelty, and treachery. What a lesson does his eventful life, and still more, if possible, his death, afford to the lovers of this world's pomp, and power, and greatness ! Nothing can be imagined more mortifying to the pride of human glory, than the slight sensation which the departure of this extraordinary man has produced in a world which, a very few years ago, he so greatly agitated by his achievements. He has disap peared from the stage of time; and even already his name is scarcely heard! Would that the blood which he spilt could be as easily and effectually blotted out from that catalogue of ، deeds done in the body," for which he is gone to give an account! Would that he had even exhibited some symptoms of remorse; that he had seen the evil of his ways, and died a humble penitent! Would, above all, that he had repaired with heart-felt contrition to that Saviour, who could expiate even crimes like his by his own immaculate sacrifice, and who casts out none who come unto God by him ! On these points, without knowing what passed in the secret recesses of his conscience between his Creator and himself, and without attempting to pierce through that awful veil which shrouds the disembodied spirit from mortal eyes, or to pronounce what may have been the sentence of that infallible tribunal to which he has been summoned, we can only say, that the accounts published of

his sickness and death present us with no hopeful indications," he died, and made no sign." Eternity seems to have been a subject on which he either had not very seriously thought, or respecting which he steeled his heart, either by a bold hardihood or a reckless infidelity. But it is not for us to judge; we would rather impress on our own minds, and those of our readers, the monitions which sound from his tomb :-" What is our life? it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away." "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." And while we are thankful to have been exempted from his temptations, and blessed with superior opportunities of religious light and improvement, let us remem ber that our responsibility is increased by these very circumstances, and that, except we repent, we shall all likewise perish.

FRANCE. The death of Bonaparte has caused apparently very little sensation in France. But, then, the existence of the censorship renders it absolutely impossible to judge of the state of public sentiment in that country from what we read in the French journals. They could not, of course, atteinpt to excite any thing like a strong feeling on the subject; or even if it existed, would they be allowed to give any intimation of its existence. It is only, therefore, from private sources that any correct information upon the point can be derived. As for the intelligence producing little or no effect on the French funds, we do not apprehend that the circumstance furnishesany fair test of public feeling. The price of stocks is regulated by very different considerations from those which move the affections; and it is not very obvious why any difference should be made in the calculations of the monied speculator by the life or death of Bonaparte. The allusions made to the event in the Chambers have been but slight. Their members. have been occupied chiefly with warm

debates on the continuance and limits of the censorship of the periodical press, which has been re-enacted.

TURKEY.-The accounts from Turkey continue to be so vague and contradictory, that we neither know how to reconcile them, nor to choose between them. It seems, however, probable, that Ypsilanti has still a powerful army; though it is stated that Jassy and Bucharest have fallen into the hands of the Turks, and that the insurgent leader was likely to be attacked by the united forces of Hadschi Achmet, and Jussuf the pasha of Ibailow. By sea, the Greeks are reported to have been more successful. In the Morea, and the islands of the Archipelage, it is said that the standard of the Cross has been very generally raised; and that the Turks have suffered great reverses, which have inspired the insurgents with fresh spirits. Epirus is stated to hold out against the Turks; and Macedonia and Illyria to have become almost free. The Turkish government betray great alarm, and are using every effort to strengthen their naval and military resources. To conciliate the Janissaries, three of their number are said to have been admitted, by election, to a share in the public administration, as members of the Divan; -a step tending far more directly to wards a state of military anarchy, than to any beneficial change in that system of cruel despotism which for ages has prevailed in Turkey, and exercised its baneful influence over one of the fairest portions of the globe. The tributary states of the Southern coast of the Mediterranean have been called upon to assist the Sublime Porte; but Great Britain is said to have protested against this measure, and to have insisted on the exact fulfilment of those provisions in existing treaties, which go to prevent the approach of these Corsairs either to the Ionian islands, or to those parts of the Morea and its neighbourhood where the Turks most need assistance. The newspapers mention some marked attentions which our ambassador has received from the Grand Signior, particularly his being allowed to enter the royal presence without the customary ceremony of sitting two or three hours upon "the executioner's bench." On the other hand, the Russian ambassador at Constantinople is stated to be involved in some angry discussions with the government to which he is accredited, respecting the

injuries done to the persons and property of Russian subjects in the late tumultuary occurrences, and also concerning some alleged infractions of the treaties between Russia and the Porte, relative to the commerce and navigation of the neighbouring seas. In the state of alarm and excitement which at present prevails in Turkey, and with the impression generally entertained of the ambitious views of Russia, these disputes have given rise to rumours of an expected declaration of war between the two powers; and this expectation will gather strength, if the recent report, that the Russian ambassador was confined a close prisoner in the Seven Towers, should be confirmed. But whatever may be the event, whether the Turks or the insurgents conquer, whether Russia and the Porte settle their differences amicably or by war, and, in the latter case, whether our own or other governments become parties or not, one thing we fear is unhappily too certain, that many lives are likely to be sacrificed before the present sanguinary struggle ceases.

In the mean time, we confess that we ourselves are somewhat impatient of the apathy which seems to prevail on this subject throughout Christian Europe, and not less in our own country than in others. It certainly does seem to be an occasion calling for the most energetic and concurrent remonstrances on the part of all Christian powers, to stay the progress of what is virtually, in many cases, a religious persecution of the most bloody and remorseless description, and to ensure toleration, at least, to the Christian subjects of the Ottoman empire. It would be an indelible disgrace to the European commonwealth, if they should permit a mean jealousy of Russia to interfere to prevent their fulfilling the obligations of justice and humanity towards those professors of our common faith, who, on account of that very faith, are groaning under the oppressions of a Mohamedan yoke, and who at the present moment seem to be abandoned, even without the shadow of protection, by their own government, to the unrestrained, and almost licensed, rage of an infuriated population, and a no less infuriated soldiery, goaded to the most revolting excesses by a fanaticism whose delight and glory it is to be vindictive and merciless. It is an occasion, unquestionably, when it would seem to be

treason against the claims of our common humanity and our common Christianity, to be deterred, by any dubious apprehensions about remote and contingent political inconveniences, from boldly and fearlessly interposing to rescue these victims from their impending fate. It would seem as if we had wasted the whole resources of our religious sympathy on the Protestants at Nismes, and had now no commiseration to bestow on the many millions of our fellow-Christians, who, in Greece and Palestine, and the adjacent regions, are watering the soil with their blood, and against whom the sentence of extermination may have already gone forth.

DOMESTIC.

The solemn national ceremony of the Coronation took place on the day appointed, July 19th, attended with circumstances of magnificence which have probably never been surpassed on any former solemnity of the same kind. The details will have been before most of our readers from other sources of intelligence, and our time and limits forbid our attempting to repeat them. In addition to the rejoicings in London, the inhabitants of most of the principal towns and villages throughout the country have evinced their loyalty on the occasion by a great variety of appropriate demonstrations. Some fears were entertained that the ceremony might have been tumultuously interrupted in consequence of the Queen's declared intention of presenting herself at Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey on the day of the Coronation, notwithstanding her alleged right to be crowned, independently of the will of the King, had been negatived by the Privy Council after a laborious investigation of her claims.

We are happy, however, to state, that the solemnity has passed over, not only without popular disturbance, but we trust under circumstances which indicate a greatly ameliorated state of the public feeling; and also, we trust, not without a large accession of good-will and popularity towards the chief actor in this great national spectacle. The Queen, indeed, attempted to procure access to the hall and abbey, but without success; and we can only regret that she should have seen fit to adopt a measure which could be productive of no benefit to herself, and which might have proved

CHRIST. OBSERV. No, 235,

a signal for scenes of tumult and bloodshed.

We earnestly pray that the monarch,' thus solemnly anointed over us, may possess the hearts of his people;" that " justice, truth, and holiness, with peace and love, and all those virtues that adorn the Christian profession, may prosper in his days;"that his counsels " may be directed to the glory of God and the welfare of his people" that his subjects may obey him " cheerfully and willingly, for conscience sake;" that God would "give him all those heavenly graces that are requisite for his high trust;" that under his reign "neither heresies nor false doctrines may disturb the peace of the church, nor schisms or causeless divisions weaken it;" that we may all "seriously lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions," both political and religious; and may henceforth be "of one heart and one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity;" and that, as respects our sovereign," his reign may be long and prosperous," and that God may "crown him with immortality in the life to come."

Parliament was prorogued on the 11th of July, after a most laborious, and in many respects highly useful, session. The closing Speech from the Throne presents scarcely any thing that requires comment. One of its most interesting features is the pledge which it holds out of strict economy and retrenchment in the public expenses;-a pledge in exact accordance with the general feeling so clearly exhibited in both houses of Parliament during the late session, and which towards the close of it was embodied in an address to the King, under the sanction of ministers, praying that he would be pleased to cause an examination to be made into the whole of our national expenditure, with a view to every practicable reduction.

We have already adverted, both in our last Number and in a preceding page of the present, to the discussions in Parliament respecting the foreign slave trade on the 25th and 26th of June. On the former day, Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords, and on the latter, Mr. Wilberforce in the House of Commons, moved an address to his Majesty, which was

See the Service for the Accession. 3 Q

unanimously agreed to, and which was to the following effect; namely

"That, in the various documents relative to the slave trade, which by his Majesty's command have been laid before the House, we find a renewed and most gratifying proof of the persevering solicitude with which his Majesty's government have laboured to meet the wishes of this House, and of the nation at large, by their endeavours to effect the entire and universal abolition of that guilty traffic; but that we deeply lament, that the unwearied efforts of his Majesty, to induce various powers to fulfil their solemn and sacred engagements on this subject, have not been more successful.

“ That, notwithstanding the denunciation of this traffic by the Congress of Vienna, as a crime of the deepest dye; and the determination which was there expressed, by all the great powers of Europe, to put an end to so enormous an evil; it is still carried on, to an extent perhaps never surpassed, under the flags and by the subjects of some of the very powers who were parties to that declaration.

"That the slave trade, faithful to its malignant and cruel nature, is still productive of the same calamitous effects as heretofore; and though in the past conduct of it every form of inhumanity might be supposed to have already been exhausted, yet that of late it has appeared to assume a character of barbarity new even in the annals of that nefarious commerce.

That we lament deeply the absence of that cordial co-operation in this great cause, on the part of the Court of the Netherlands, which we had so much reason on every ground to expect; while, at the same time, we cannot but appland the strenuous exertions of his Majesty's government, in contending for the true construction of our treaties with that power, and for the maintenance of principles which are not only founded in reason, justice, and humanity, but which were secured, as we had supposed, by the positive stipula. tions and the plain sense of those

treaties.

even since his Most Catholic Majesty had consented to impose restraints upon it, the local government of the Havannah has shewn an evident indisposition to enforce these restraints, as it was their bounden duty to have done.

"That the time, however, having at length arrived when, according to the treaties entered into by Spain with this country, all Spanish slave trade is to cease absolutely and for ever, we feel a confidence that that high-minded nation will faithfully adhere to her engage. ments, and that she may even be induced cordially to unite with us in promoting the effectual and universal extinction of this traffic.

"That when we consider the conduct pursued by Portugal in reference to the same opprobrious commerce, and her persevering refusal to fix a period for its termination, we are of opinion that both Great Britain and the other powers assembled in Congress at Vienna, and who pledged themselves before the world not to relax their efforts until they had put an end to a trade which had so long proved the desolation of Africa, the degradation of Europe, and the afflicting scourge of humanity,' would be unfaithful to their high obligations, and to the great interests committed to them, if they should any longer limit themselves to entreaties and remonstrances, which experience has shewn to be attended with little or no effect.

"That, reverting to the suggestion which was countenanced by the chief contracting powers at Vienna, of excluding from commercial intercourse with their subjects any state which should pertinaciously refuse to abolish the slave trade after it had been prohibited by all other nations, we entreat his Majesty that he will be pleased to endeavour to induce those powers to carry that suggestion into effect, and at least to exclude from their dominions the produce of any colonies belonging to the Crown of Portugal, so long as she shall place herself in direct opposition to the concurrent wishes of Europe on this subject, and shall continue to tolerate a practice which she herself has stigmatized as cruel, immoral, and unjust, and which serves to perpetuate the miseries of Africa, and the destructive ravages of the middle passage.

، That we contemplate with very dif. ferent feelings, feelings of the liveliest satisfaction, the conduct pursued in reference to this subject by the government of the United States of America. Not only have their cruizers been actively, employed, in co-operation with our own, in suppressing the slave trade on the coast of Africa, but an Act bas been passed by the Congress, which

appropriately stigmatizes that trade as piracy, and subjects all the citizens of the United States, who shall be found engaged in carrying it on, to capital punishment,

"That, while we reflect with exultation on our common origin, and on those common laws and institutions whose liberal spirit has prompted our American brethren to be foremost in stamping on the slave trade its just character and designation, we cannot but express an earnest hope, that not only shall we ourselves speedily follow their honourable example, but that the day is not far dis tant when, by the general concurrence of all the nations of the civilized world, this detestable traffic shall be prononuced to be piracy; that, being thus regarded as hostile to the well-being of all communities, all shall be entitled and bound to suppress and punish it.

"That, from the gratifying contemplation of the zeal manifested by the United States to promote the cause of humanity, we turn with feelings of the most painful disappointment to France, by some of whose subjects the slave trade has for some time past been carried on to an unprecedented extent, not only in the African settlements restored to her by this country, but along the whole range of the African coast; and whose flag not only protects her own subjects in their criminal enterprizes, but serves to protect the sub. jects of other powers who engage in this commerce, but who are prevented by the vigilance of British crnizers from finding any shelter under their own flags.

"That this disappointment is rendered more deeply distressing by the reflection, that, while those settlements were in our possession, the natives in their vicinity enjoyed an entire respite from the depredations which had formerly afflicted them, and were beginning to taste the security and comfort arising from the exercise of a peaceful industry and a legitimate commerce; but that the renewal of the slave trade, which almost immediately followed their cession to France, has unhappily blasted every hope which had thas been raised, and consigned those countries once more to rapine and anarchy, to barrenpess and desolation.

46

That, if the opprobrious facts of the case were fully known in France, it is altogether impossible for us to believe that so great aud gallant a people, blessed by the bounty of Providence with all that can render a nation powerful and prosperous, would tolerate the prostitution of its flag to such base and flagitious purposes, or would stoop to take up and prosecute a traffic which other powers had indiguantly abandon.

ed on account of its incurable wicked, ness and cruelty; more especially now, when the real nature and effects of the slave trade have been indubitably esta blished; and after their legislature has concurred in decreeing its entire prohibitiou; and their sovereign also has, under his own hand, solemnly pledged himself to join with his Majesty in effecting the extinction of a traffic which tends, to use his own emphatic language, 'to the destruction of mankind,'

That, notwithstanding the sacred obligations thus contracted by France, so many and so flagrant have recently been the unpunished violations of the engagements she has entered into, that, but for the confidence we wish ever to repose in the upright intentions of those who administer her affairs, we should have found it difficult to believe that those violations could have taken place without their knowledge and connivance; and we should have been compelled to suspect that some partial interests, or some mistaken views of policy, had interfered to prevent their faithful performance of duties, to the fulfilment of which they are imperatively called, not less by the most binding considerations of religion and morality, than by the pledged faith of their government, and even by the personal honour of their sovereign.

"That we therefore entreat his Majesty to represent to the court of France how deeply the reputation and credit of the French government are involved in these transactions; and that his Majesty will be pleased to renew his most

earnest efforts to induce them to make

good their various solemn engagements on this subject; and in particular to fulfil the specific promise, recently given, of employing new and more etfectual restraints, and of calling into action fresh penal sanctions, in order to prevent the farther continuance, by any of the subjects of France, of this disgraceful and odious traffic."

The address was supported, with their usual eloquence, by Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Wilberforce, and Sir James Mackintosh. It was agreed to in the House of Lords with scarcely any re mark on the part of ministers. In the House of Commons, the Marquis of Londonderry, while he expressed his intention of not opposing it, was anxious to be understood as not agree ing to it in his capacity of minister, but rather as assenting to it as placing on record a strong and warm effusion of public feeling on this interesting subject. He then entered into some explanations, which, however they might have been intended by his Lordship, were unhappily cal