their unabated exertions in this labour of love and permit me to say, that we are no less indebted to the members of the Established Church, for their assistance, undeterred by the silly or malevolent aspersions of indifference to the Establishment. "The best refutation of such false and groundless charges, is to contemplate the meliorated state of those towns and villages at home where Bible Societies have been formed; and the Report which you have this day heard by our incomparable President, will prove, that your exertions have not been thrown away in other countries. In every part of the world, we find that many who were merely nominal Christians, have now become true believers; and many have been turned, by your means, from idols to the living God. If such a statement does not animate you to perseverance, nothing I can say will. I shall therefore proceed to make the motion I have in my hand;-a motion which will meet the concurrence of every man who hears me; of every man who knows how to estimate the great services of our excellent Secretaries, and particularly of him whose absence we this day deplore; an individual of whose transcendent merits uo eloquence, short of his own, can convey an idea." The Rev. Edward Burn, in seconding the motion of the venerable prelate, detailed the benefits that had been conferred upon the Society by its valued Secretaries, and expatiated upon the success of the institution, its simplicity of character, the permanent nature of its fundamental principle, and other circumstances connected with its progress. "The Society," said he, " has realized what no scheme of comprehension, no legislative enactment, hitherto brought forward in this country, has been able to accomplish. It has actually established, within the British Empire, an Act of Uniformity! And it is delightful to see the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, the Independent, and the respectable representatives of other denominations, on the bare statement of your plan, without pain or penalty, as well as without hesitation, flocking to your standard, and offering themselves will ingly in aid of your glorious design!" The Rev. Dr. Steinkopff, Foreign Secretary, expressed the pain and solicitude he felt at the absence of his excellent colleague. Adverting to himself he added:-" I esteem it my greatest privilege to labour in this cause; and though sometimes these hands have trembled, and this heart has failed, and many an apprehensive thonght has crossed my mind, that soon this body might perhaps siuk under the accumulation of burdens, yet to spend and be spent in such a service is, in my account, the highest honour that can be bestowed upon mortal man." Thanks to the Presbyteries in Scotland, Glasgow, &c. were moved by the Bishop of Cloyne, Vice-President, in the following manner: "I shall detain you but a very few moments; but I rise to submit a resolution which has been put into my hands. You have been told, that, however we may differ in other respects, we agree on the important point of spreading the Scriptures of God and his Christ over the world. I rise, therefore, as a Bishop of the Established Church, with gratitude, to make this motion. The severe cold under which I labour will prevent my attempting to do justice to it by any remarks which I might feel disposed to offer: nor would it be easy to do justice to it; for, not to mention what is due to the other parties concerned in it, if I were to name a body of persons who have assisted us most, it would be the Reverend Presbytery of Glasgow." The Rev. John Paterson, from St. Petersburg:-"My lord, the lateness of the hour forbids me to enter on a detailed account of the proceedings of the Society in the North of Europe; I would only beg leave to observe, that the progress we have made has tended to convince us, more than ever, of the great want of the Scriptures which exists in Denmark, in Sweden, in Finland, and in Russia; and the very means which we have used to supply that want have led to new discoveries of it, and convinced us that the real extent of the evil is even yet but imperfectly known. On a moderate calculation, not fewer than fifteen millions of copies of the Scriptures will be required, before every family in the North of Europe is furnished with one copy of the Divine volume; and after this statement, can it any longer be doubted whether Bible Societies were necessary, or whether any other plan could have been devised to meet the exigency of the case? "It is gratifying to be able to assert, that the desire to possess the Scriptures in the North of Europe grows exceedingly. Previously to the institution of Bible Societies, this desire was, in a manner, dormant: 2000 copies were sufficient to supply the annual demand for the Scriptures; now 200,000 copies would not suffice. "We began our career at St. Petersburg by giving notice, in the public papers, when we had Bibles to sell; but the effect of those advertisements was, bringing together such a crowd that it was almost impossible to proceed with the business of the depository: we have, therefore,been forced to employ secrecy, as our best and safest policy. But, though this shields us from the pressure of the crowd, it does not save us from the most urgent, and, sometimes, clamorous demands, made alike by the noble and the peasant; and when all other arguments fail, they not unfrequently threaten to complain of us to the Emperor, justly alleging, that it is his gracious will that we should furnish them with copies of the Scriptures, and falsely iniagining, that it is from unwillingness, not inability, that we fail to execute his wishes. It is not less gratifying to wit ness their joy on obtaining the 'pearl of great price,' than it is painful to observe their grief on meeting with a disappointment. If funds are wanted, the people offer willingly. Russian peasants have, of their own accord, come forward, and contributed in full proportion to their circumstances and means. Bible Societies are forming in every part of the empire; and they are literally doing prodigies. The Society at Cronstadt goes on 'from strength to strength;' and this Society, which is chiefly composed of naval men, has engaged two other naval stations to co-operate with it in the execution of its work. Nor is the Russian army less zealous than the navy, in this labour of love. The Society at Moghiley, the head-quarters of the Russian army, and which is patronized by Prince Barclay de Tolly, has, in the course of a few months, sent to the Pa. rent Society no less a sum than 17,000 rubles. The brave Don Cossacks, who are always foremost in the ranks, when allowed to follow the bias of their own minds, are occupied in organizing a society for their district, and have, in the mean time, contributed not less than 10,000 rubles to the common fund. "But, my lord, it is impossible, in alluding to this part of my subject, not to mention the liberality of that most benevolent monarch, the Emperor of Russia, and what he has done for the ad, vancement of the Russian Bible Society, In addition to his annual subscription of 10,000 rubles, he has, during the last year, given the Society 30,000 rubles, besides a magnificent house, and a por tion of land taken from the imperial gardens; and he has declared, that if money or hands are wanting to carry on the great objects of the Society, he will furnish both. The exertions which are making in every country of the North, in order to meet the vast and increasing demands for copies of the Scriptures, are in proportion to the means they pos-sess. Your time will not permit me to expatiate on this interesting part of the subject: allow me, therefore, merely to state, that the Russian Bible Society will, in the next month, have finished editions of the Scriptures in sixteen languages: they are preparing them in two more; and when these are completed, they will have copies of the word of God to distribute in twentynine different tongues. The measures at present taking to carry on this part of the work at St. Petersburg, are such as will enable the Society to print more than 100,000 copies of the sacred volume annually. These copies will be distributed over an immense tract of country, to men of almost every nation, and religious denomination. Christians and Jews, Mahometans and Pagans, friends and foes, are alike the objects of this godlike charity and it is interesting to know, that the Greeks, inhabiting the shores of the Black Sea and the Grecian islands, have received from the Russian Society this heavenly boon. The inha bitants of Mount Ararat have been blessed with the ark of the new covenant, the sacred deposit of the perfect law of liberty, and which teaches them, instead of paying a superstitious veneration to the supposed relics of Noah's ark, to adore Him of whom that ark was only a figure. The word of the Lord, which has gone out from St. Petersburg, has entered Persia: it has reached to Ispahan and Shiraz; and, by means of its exertions, the immortal Martyn, though now dead, yet continues to preach the truths of the Gospel in that interesting country. The light of Divine Revelation is rising on Bucharest; and the New Testament is now read in that city in which the faithful Abdallah suffered martyrdom for his adherence to the truth it contains. Means are also using to effect an introduction of the word of eternal life into the populous empire of China; and it is hoped, that in a few years, a high way will be opens through Siberia into Chinese Tartary; in 1575 and 1577, both printed in Cra and the Scriptures have free course from Irkutsk to Pekin." The Right Honourable the President having left the chair, a resolution of thanks to his lordship was moved by the Right Hon. Admiral Lord Gambier, and seconded by the Rev. Daniel Wilson, late vice principal of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, who wished to be allowed to say, at the close of the meeting, what he was sure all present felt, that it had yielded to no preceding one in the interesting information afforded from so many parts of the world, and in the deep emotions which that information had excited. Except in the affecting circumstance of the illness of the Rev. John Owen, [whose absence, however, the Rev. speaker had most ably supplied,] the day had been one of unmingled delight and triumph. In seconding the vote of thanks to the noble President, he was persuaded he might safely say, that every person in the assembly would consider himself pledged by it to new and redoubled efforts in this great cause; in proportion as the demands for the holy Scriptures from every quarter of the earth were more and more impor tunate, and as the opportunities afforded by the DivineGoodness for meeting them, become more numerous and inviting*. TRANSLATIONS AND EDITIONS OF POLISH SCRIPTURES. Mr. Pinkerton has recently communicated from Warsaw the following authentic intelligence respecting the lamentable dearth of the Scriptures in Poland. The extract is highly interesting and important, both in a literary and religious point of view. «There have appeared, at different times, five translations of the Bible in the Polish language. The first is called the Old Cracow Bible, and was printed in this city in 1561. Many passages of this translation being taken from the Bohemian Protestant Bible, it never received the sanction of the Pope. How ever, it went through two other editions, We deem it necessary to state, that new and extensive fields for the operations of this Society are continually opening in various parts of the world, which will require unremitted exertions, on the part of the auxiliaries and friends of the institution, to provide the necessary funds; the expenditure having, during the last year, exceeded the receipts by several thousand pounds. COW. A copy of this version is now very rarely to be met with, even in the best libraries of the nation. The second version, which appeared in 1563, is called the Radzivil Bible. It has never gone through more than one edition. Prince Radzivil, at whose expense this translation was made and printed, was a Protestant; but he dying soon after its publication, his son, a Catholic, carefully bought up the edition, and burnt it! The third version, by Simeon Budney, is called the Socinian Bible. This transla tion went through two editions; the first in 1570, and the last in 1572; both printed at Nieswiez, in Lithuania. Of this version, it is said that only three copies exist, in distinguished libraries. The fourth translation into Polish is the Danzig Bible. This version was made and printed by the reformed church in Danzig, and has passed through seven editions; viz. Danzig 1632, Amsterdam 1666, Halle 1726, Koenigsberg 1737, Brieg 1768, Koenigsberg 1799, and Berlin 1810. The first edition was, for the most part, burnt by Wonzek, Archbishop of Gnezn; and the Jesuits have always exerted themselves to buy up and destroy such copies of the other five editions as come in their way; so that it is concluded that of the six editions of the Protestant Bible, printed between 1632 and 1779, at least 3000 copies have been thus wilfully destroyed. The whole six editions, probably, did not amount to more than 7000 copies; so that if the copies which have been worn out by length of time were added to those which have been destroyed, it would be found, that (with the exception of the seventh edition, printed in Berlin, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and consisting of 8000 copies,) the existing number of Bibles, among the 250,000 Protestants who speak the Polish language, must be very small. But, alas! how much smaller still is the number of copies which exist among the Catholics of Poland will appear from the following facts. The only authorized version of the holy Scriptures, in Polish, is that which was translated by Jacob Wuiek, approved by Pope Clement VIII., and first published in this city in 1599. The translation is considered, by competent judges, to be among the best European versions made from the Vulgate; and the language, though in some degree antiquated, is yet pure and classical "Such care, however, has been taken. to keep even this authorized version of the holy Scriptures from coming into the hands of the people, that it never was reprinted in Poland, and has undergone only two other editions out of the country-viz. at Breslau,in 1740,and 1771. Now, the whole amount of copies in these three editions of the authorised Polish Bible is supposed not to have exceeded 3000. Thus there have been printed only about 3000 Bibles in the space of 217 years, for upwards of 10,000,000 of Catholics, who speak the Polish language. Hence it is, that a copy is not to be obtained for money and that you may search a hundred thousand families in Galicia and Poland, and scarcely find one Bible." PENITENTIARY AT MILLBANK, This excellent national establishment has been enlarged, and is intended to accommodate four hundred male, and as many female convicts, selected from all parts of England and Wales. It is under the regulation and controul of a committee appointed by the Privy Council; with a governor, chaplain, surgeon, master-manufacturer, and other officers. The prisoners are to be divided into two classes-the first more `strict, the second more moderate. The convicts are, during the former part of their imprisonment, to take their station in the former class; but, by good conduct, will be advanced to the latter. Those of the second may be degraded by bad conduct to the first, or by extraordinary merit may deserve being recommended to the royal mercy Strict attention is to be paid to their religious and moral improvement, and to their acquirement of regular habits of labour, in order that they may leave the Penitentiary reformed and useful members of society. At the expiration of his term the convict is to be furnished with decent clothing, and a sum of money not exceeding 31. for immediate subsistence; and in case of his serving one year with a respectable master after leaving the house, he will be rewarded with such further gratuity, not exceeding the above-mentioned sum, as the Committee may see fit. The chaplain reads prayers, and preaches twice on Sundays and the principal holidays, when all the convicts and resident of ficers attend: he also baptizes, visits, and instructs both publicly and private. ly, as may appear needful. Such an institution, if conducted in a manner suitable to the importance of its object, especially in the article of religious instruction, cannot fail of being a most valuable blessing to the nation. VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. THE most important article of foreign intelligence, and one that demands our unfeigned acknowledgments to God, for his mercy, is the favourable prospect throughout Europe of an early and abun dant harvest. The crops upon the con tinent are unusually healthy and luxu riant; and the same remark applies also to our own highly-favoured country. The late intensely hot weather which followed gentle and long-continued showers, produced an almost unprece. dented effect upon the growing crops. In consequence of this cheering prospect, grain has fallen rapidly both in England and abroad; which circum stance, with the usual demand for harvest labour, cannot fail, under the Di vine blessing, to produce public effects of the most important and beneficial kind.' On Saturday the 12th July, the prince regent closed the session of parliament in the usnal manner. The speaker of the house of commons adverted to the principal subjects which had occupied the house during the session; particin larly noticing the public finances; the poor laws, and best means of employing the poor; the laws affecting the clergy; presentments by grand juries in Ireland; and the measures that have been taken for preserving public tranquillity. The prince regent, in his speech to both houses, expressed his high sense of the plans adopted by parliament for the benefit of the country, and to which he imputed the present auspicious change in our internal situation. His royal highness then proceeded to mention the unfavourable nature of the last season as a cause of the defalcation in the revenue, and to state the measures that had been taken for improving the currency of the realm, concluding his speech as follows: "I continue to receive from foreign powers the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition towards this country, and of their desire to preserve the general tranquillity. The prospect of an abundant harvest throughout a considerable part of the continent is in the highest degree satisfactory. This happy dispensation of Providence cannot fail to mitigate, if not wholly to remove, that pressure under which so many of the nations of Europe have been suffering in the course of the last year; and I trust that we may look forward, in consequence, to an improvement in the commercial relations of this and of all other countries. I cannot allow you to separate without recommending to you, that upon your return to your several counties you should use your utmost endeavours to defeat all attempts to corrupt and mislead the lower classes of the community: and that you should lose no opportunity of inculcating amongst them that spirit of concord and obedience to the laws which is not less essential to their happiness as individuals, than it is indispensable to the general welfare and prosperity of the kingdom." Finance. The supplies for the present year are estimated by the chancellor of the exchequer as follows; to which we also subjoin those for 1816, by which the reductions upon each branch of service will be apparent. 1816. 1817. Army..... ......10,809,737 9,080,000 Supply for 1817 .18,001,300 4,136,508 Total......22,137,808 The means of meeting this expenditure, as stated by the chancellor of the exchequer, are three millions from the land and malt taxes, several sums remaining at the disposal of parliament, a million and a half of arrears of property tax, a quarter of a million from the lottery, and a sum from old stores, making about nine millions and a half. The deficiency is to be supplied by an issue of Irish treasury bills to the amount of 3,600,000l. and of English exchequer bills to 9,000,000l. The charge created by the money thus raised is not more than 400,000l. and this will be in a great measure covered by the reduction of the interest on exchequer bills which has taken place. The Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, limited in its duration to the first of March, 1817, passed both houses of parliament by large majorities, and has received the royal assent. The house-of-commons committee appointed to examine into the present state of the poor laws have refrained from suggesting any partial alteration or amelioration of the system. They express a decided conviction, formed upon the most careful examination of evidence, that nothing short of a total change can effect any real good. They intend, therefore, as soon as practicable, to lay before the house the character, tendency, and effect of the whole system; but in the mean time they express a hope that their present Report will, in some measure, prepare the country for the ultimate discussion of this most important question. We need scarcely say, that upon every system of morality and religion, and national welfare-upon every principle of humanity, as well as policy-of feeling for the poor, as well as justice towards their neighbours-we cordially concur with the suggestions of the honourable committee. The poor's rates, as at present administered and received, partake of no one quality that characterizes true charity. Far from being "twice blessed," they neither bless him that gives, nor him that takes: to the one they are a source of continual vexation, expense, and imposition; to the other too often a bounty upon idleness, indieither virtuous or happy, they must be gence, and vice. If the poor are to be independent; and, in order to render them independent, the first great object is to abolish the present system of indiscriminate relief, and to prepare them by religious, and, in a subordinate de gree, intellectual culture for a better state of things. We are fully aware of the formidable difficulties, both moral and political, that environ this great question; and are far from attempting, on the present occasion, to discuss its merits. We can only sincerely pray that our legislature may be endued with wisdom and firmness to prosecute their design in such a manner as to relieve far more effectually and humanely than is the case at present, every species of real distress, yet without encouraging, either directly or indirectly, the evils which they deplore. Whether the solution of this problem lies within the bounds of human sagacity and experi ence, remains yet to be discovered; but in any case a serious examination into the much ultimate benefit to the nation. question cannot but be productive of Upon the motion of lord Grenville, in the upper house, and Mr. Wilberforce in the lower, addresses from each have been presented to the throne, occasion and nature of which may on the subject of the Slave Trade; the be inferred from the following abstract of Mr. Wilberforce's speech:In rising to bring forward the motion of which he had given notice, be trusted all would be of one mind dered how long the question of the upon the subject. When he consiSlave Trade had been in discussion, how many years had rolled away since it was first introduced, how many illus trious individuals who had given it their support were now no longer in exist ence, he would confess it was not without strong feelings that he could again |