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BISHOP'S COLLEGE, CALCUTTA. At a late meeting of the members of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, after a series of resolutions expressive of the highest veneration and affection for the character and memory of the late much lamented Bishop of Calcutta, it was resolved,

"That this Board feel a melancholy satisfaction in adopting a suggestion made by the late lord Bishop of Calcutta, in his last letter to the Society, relative to the foundation of five scholarships in the Mission College at Calcutta; and accordingly agree to place the sum of 60001. at the disposal of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for the purpose of endowing five scholarships, besides affording a salary for a Tamul teacher in the said college, with such reference to the sons of the Society's missionaries as the statutes of the college may allow; and that this Board, anxious that the piety and zeal of the late lord Bishop of Calcutta should be honoured with an appropriate memorial in the country where they were most conspicuously and beneficially displayed, do recommend that the said scholarships be founded, and henceforth called by the name of Bishop Middleton's Scholarships."

The Board further resolved, That a monument shall be erected to the memory of the Bishop in St. Paul's cathedral, by individual contributions from members of the Society, each member's donation being limited to the amount of his annual subscription. The members of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel were afterwards included, at the special request of that Society. Contributions are received at Bartlett's Buildings, London, and by the secretaries of diocesan and district committees.

PARIS MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Amidst the moral and religious gloom which has so long hung over France, it is with peculiar satisfaction that we have witnessed, especially of late, some faint rays which indicate, we trust, the approach of a far brighter day. Our readers are already apprised of various instruments of utility, now directly or indirectly at work for the spiritual benefit of that most important country; especially the progress of education among the poor, the increasing distribution of the Scriptures, and the revival which is beginning to take place in the Protestant churches which have remained for some years in a state of great ignorance and religious apathy. It is with singular gratification that we have now to announce that so much Christian zeal has been awakened among them, that not confining their efforts to domestic objects, a Missionary Society has been just established in Paris for the conversion of the heathen-a measure which, as has uniformly been the case in this country, will,

we doubt not, by the blessing of God, be found to have a most powerful and beneficial effect at home, in stirring up the minds of men to greater anxiety respecting their own spiritual welfare, while they are ministering to that of the heathen.

The Society is under the presidency of M. le Comte Ver-Huell, a French Protestant Peer; and among the officers we find, in addition to a number of respectable ministers and private gentlemen, the names of M. Kieffer, Turkish Professor in the Royal College; the Baron de Stael, &c. &c. The Society has commenced its operations by instantly sending out a missionary, the Rev. J. King, to Palestine; a field of great hope and interest, and where he will endeavour to spread the knowledge of that Saviour who "suffered without the gate" of its long celebrated but now degraded capital, in order " to sanctify the people with his own blood."

A principal object of the Society will be to form in Paris an establishment, in which missionary students may enjoy those great advantages which that city presents for the study of Foreign languages, and especially the languages of the East. The establishment will be open to missionary students of all nations. The conductors earnestly request the prayers and pecuniary liberality of their fellow-Christians. We do not observe in the account published by the Society, the name of any collector in this country.

SCHOOL INSTITUTION AT GLAY.

An institution has been recently formed at Glay, near Montbeliard, the object of which is to educate schoolmasters for village schools for the Protestant parts of France and French Switzerland. In many places the thinness of the population and the poverty of the inhabitants render it difficult to support village schools. To remedy this inconvenience the institution at Glay will receive boys and young men to be instructed in whatever is necessary for undertaking the office of a village schoolmaster, and at the same time to be taught some useful trade, by which they can make up a sufficient income for their maintenance. Orphans and the children of poor persons will be admitted and brought up with views adapted to their intended pursuits. The school is proposed to resemble a large Christian family, and to nourish all the vir tues and graces of religious and social life, as well as merely to afford facilities for the attainment of the necessary literary qualifications. The system of mutual instruction will be adopted as far as practicable. The course of study will comprise three years, and will embrace reading, writing, arithmetic, singing, grammar, geography, the first elements of history, and above all the principles of Christianity. Various trades and useful occupations will employ the hours not devoted to study. The plan, both as respects the children and

young men, will be entirely gratuitous; but if any benefactor should wish to bring up a youth likely to become a good instructor, he may send him to the establishment on paying annually 200 francs for an adult, or half that sum for a boy of from 7 to 15 years of age. A list of respectable pastors French, Swiss, German, Piedmontese, &c. who patronize the institution, has been sent

us; at the head of whom we observe the name of the pious and indefatigable M. Oberlin of Ban de la Roche. On the continent subscriptions may be sent to the agents of the Society in Paris, Lyons, Strasburgh, Montbeliard and Basle; or to Henry Drummond, Esq. Portman Square, London.

For a large and interesting mass of Religious Intelligence, we refer our readers to the Appendix for 1822, published with the present Number.

VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

FOREIGN.

CONGRESS OF VERONA.-The views of our allies assembled at the Congress of Verona are at length partially, though, as far as the disclosures extend, very explicitly, exhibited in a series of diplomatic documents of an extraordinary character. We have, first in the order of time in which the papers reached this country, a dispatch from the French government to its ambassador at Madrid, dated Dec. 27, 1822, stating in substance the uneasiness felt by the French government, in common with the cabinets of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, at the Spanish Revolution, and their determination to oppose all such " movements and principles." The ambassador was further instructed, that France was most sincerely anxious for the prosperity of Spain; but that as long as that country continued to be torn by factions, it would be necessary not to relax in its plans of self-preservation, and that his most Christian majesty would not even hesitate to withdraw his ambassador, and to resort to "more efficacious measures," if the hoped-for "amelioration" in Spain did not take place. This document, as well as the others which we are about to mention, was to be shewn to the Spanish government, and copies given if required.-The second paper is a circular from the sovereigns of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, to their ministers at the various courts of Europe, dated Verona, Dec. 14. This circular begins with stating, that the evacuation of Piedmont, and the reduction of the Austrian army of occupation in Naples had been agreed upon; a triumphant proof, it is alleged, of the good faith and moderation of the allies. The affairs of Turkey are next adverted to, and the Greek cause described as 66 a fire-brand of rebellion thrown into the Ottoman CHRIST, OBSERV. No. 253.

empire," upon the intelligence of which the three courts" immediately pronounced their unanimous sentence of disapprobation." The affairs of Spain are next treated at great length, and with the strongest possible reprobation. It is added, that the ambassadors of the three powers had been ordered to quit the peninsula, and that the monarchs "would know how to maintain the measures on which they had decided."-Next follow three very long notes from the courts of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, to their respective ambassadors at Madrid, to the same effect as the French note and the Verona circular, but couched in terms, if possible, still more imperious, declamatory, and irritating. It is with extreme pain and reluctance that we thus speak of any documents proceeding from constituted authorities; but we are constrained to believe that every Christian, and every member of this free and happy land, should think rightly and feel strongly on the principles and statements contained in these documents. That of France is the least violent; but even that, in common with all the rest, assumes as its basis the full right of the interference of foreign states in affairs purely of a domestic nature. All unite in asserting the prerogative of trampling on the rights of foreign nations; and some of the statements are in direct hostility to every principle of freedom both national and individual. If these papers contain the modern recognized law of Europe, we see not why an army of Cossacks might not be sent to Great Britain to overturn the Revolution of 1688, or, much more, across the Atlantic to dissever the American Union. War might almost be declared, because our return to cash payments was alleged to have affected the price of bullion in Peru, or on any other pretence, how

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To

be

ever frivolous or vexatious. We are
not indeed blind to the many excep-
tionable points in the Spanish Consti-
tution; but, be that constitution what
it may, its regulation is not our affair,
or that of any foreign power. We
most earnestly wish, both for the sake
of Spain and of her neighbours, that
it were more duly balanced, like our
own constitution, for example; and
that there were a more adequate de-
gree of weight given to the monarchi-
cal and aristocratical part of its ma-
chinery; but, democratical as it is,
Greece, and Rome, and the United
States of America, and many other
countries, have flourished and main-
tained good neighbourhood even under
still more popular forms. And though
it may be perfectly true, as the Prus-
sian note expresses it, that "the con-
stitution of the Cortes of 1812 con-
founds all elements and all power, and
destroys the tutelary authority which
constitutes the essence of the monar-
chical system," it is not quite decent
in this power, and more especially in
Russia, to attack so vehemently a plan
of government originally founded in
1812, under the very sanction which
now reprobates it; and to which the
Revolution of 1820, however unjusti-
fiably it might be effected, was only a
return; a return, that is to say, to the
very constitution which these poten-
tates had acknowledged, and which
Ferdinand had violated in order to
bring back instead of it the reign of
the former despotism.

has been appointed in his room.
this change, combined with the power-
ful influence of M. de Villele, we may
perhaps ascribe the milder tone of the
French note, and may possibly indulge
a hope that even yet efforts may
Should war actu
made to avert war.
ally ensue, the French ministry seem
to be aware what would be the pro-
bable consequences as respects their
own country, in which the govern-
ment is far from firm on its basis, and
where the spirit of Liberalism seems
only to be waiting for a casual spark,
to cause an explosion which may again
fatally spread throughout Europe and
its borders, and give the hint even to
Tartars, and Muscovites, and Siberi-
ans to demand liberty and a repre-
sentative constitution.

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But we have no wish to entangle ourselves or our readers in these discussions. We indeed question both the equity and the decency of the proceedings of our allies in the whole of this matter; but it is chiefly to the impolicy of their measures that we shall at present confine our remarks.

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SPAIN. The impolicy of the im perial and royal manifestoes has been further exhibited in the new vigour, union, and concentration which they have caused among those whom it was intended to crush by their weight. Errors and defects, which might have perhaps been hopefully corrected by amicable remonstrance, are now likely to be obstinately retained out of pure patriotism. The Spanish Ministry have disdained to reply to the notes of Austria, Russia, and Prussia; which they designate as just, distorted, vague, and defama tory; and even to that of France their answer is not a little decisive and rebutting. They "appreciate the offer of his most Christian majesty to contribute towards the happiness of Spain;" but add, that the only aid he can give is negative, by withdrawing his armies from her frontier, and ceasing to encourage the faction raised against her constitutional government. The Cortes, merging their minor dif ferences, have unanimously, and by acclamation, voted their approbation of the conduct of the ministry; aud are now straining every nerve to rouse their countrymen to repel invasion. The Russian, Prussian, and Austrian ambassadors have already, it is stated, demanded and received their passports.

FRANCE. We turn in the first place to France. What has been the effect of the agitation of this unhappy question there? We have mentioned in former Numbers some of the evils which have already befallen, and others which probably impend over France, should a Spanish war be declared, We have now to add to the catalogue serious divisions in the cabinet itself, the concentrated energies and union of which are but too much needed for the domestic affairs of the kingdom, The duc de Montmorency, the minister for foreign affairs, and a most strenuous advocate for war, has, in consequence of these divisions, resigned, and the viscount Chateaubriand

UNITED STATES.-The President's Speech states, that the commercial dif ferences with France and Great Britain, had been placed in a train for amicable adjustment. In allusion to South America and Turkey, it remarks ;—“A strong hope was entertained that peace would, ere this, have been concluded between Spain and the Independent Governments south of the United States in this hemisphere.

"Europe," it adds, "is still unsettled; and although the war long menaced between Russia and Turkey has not broken out, there is no certainty that the differences between those powers will be amicably adjusted. It is impossible to look to the oppressions of the country respecting which those differences arose, without being deeply affected. The mention of Greece fills the mind with the most exalted sentiments, and arouses in our bosoms the best feel ings of which our nature is susceptible. Superior skill and refinement in the arts, heroic gallantry in action, disinterested patriotism, enthusiastic real and devotion in favour of public and personal liberty, are associated with our recollections of ancient Greece. That such a country should have been overwhelmed, and so long hidden, as it were, from the world, under a gloomy despotism, has been a cause of unceasing and deep regret to generous minds for ages past. It was natural, therefore, that the re-appearance of those people in their original character, contending in favour of their liberties, should produce that great excitement and sympathy in their favour which have been so sig. nally displayed throughout the United States. A strong hope is entertained that this people will recover their independence, and resume their equal station among the nations of the earth."

DOMESTIC.

In turning homewards, it is with much pleasure we state, that the name of Great Britain is no where expressly mentioned, and is only once incidentally included, in the above mentioned documents from Verona, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Petersburgh. The conduct of this country as concerns Spain has been equitable and manly; and has been duly appreciated by that Government, as appears from the arrangements in progress for complying with our just, but not very welcome, demands respecting the suppression of piracy in the American and West Indian seas under the shelter of the Spanish blockade, and the indemnifi. cation of British subjects who have been plundered by means of its operation. Having used its utmost remonstrances, this nation is clear of the blood that may be shed should hostilities ensue; and we most earnestly trust that no circumstances may be suffered to arise to embark us in any way as parties in

the contest. It appears indeed from the statements of the Portuguese Government, that this country has pledged itself not to look on with indifference in case of any hostile movement against Portugal; and from the offensive and defensive alliance between Spain and Portugal, it has hence been anticipated that Great Britain may be dragged into the contest should a contest ensue. We do most earnestly hope that such a result may be avoided.

The passage above alluded to in which Great Britain is introduced, is in the circular from Verona; in which, in reference to the affairs of Greece and Turkey, it is stated, that "the confidential communications between the five courts have led to a perfectly satisfactory understanding." The nature of this understanding is not stated; possibly it means a determination to adhere to a strict neutrality by all the parties. We should blush for our country, if, after the bigoted expositions in the above papers, we could think for a moment that there was a real intercommunity of feeling between this government and the writers of the Verona circular on points involving the rights and liberties of nations. The circular, it is true, in allusion to its doctrines already mentioned, especially in respect to Spain, alleges, that "the monarchs have the confidence that they shall find true allies in those who are invested with the supreme authority, under whatever forms it may exist;" but we are sure that under one form at least, that of our own constitutional monarchy, this confidence will be disappointed. Plausible political calculations may for a time obscure the question as respects the affairs of Greece and Turkey; but the general principles of British feeling, and, we may add, of duty and of our political constitution, dictate to our minds as clear and as consistent a line of action in the case of the Eastern as of the Western peninsula. We forbear, however, to enter at present on the subject, especially as the King's Speech at the opening of Parliament, which is fixed for the 5th of February, and the ensuing discussions, will probably throw much light upon the whole question. We are happy to see that the cause of the Greeks gains new well-wishers every day. The "Society of Friends," though opposed to war in all its shapes, have just opened in London a fund for the humane assistance of the afflicted refugees from Scio

and the other scenes of Turkish brutality. We strongly recommend this truly Christian charity to those who have it in their power to contribute to the relief of these victims of oppression. The fund is open for the contributions of persons of all persuasions, who have a heart to pity, and a hand to relieve their afflicted fellowcreatures and fellow-Christians, under the pressure of war, slavery, and famine; of whose sufferings our readers may form a lively idea from a letter inserted in our present Number, from Mr. Leeves, the Bible Society's agent in the Levant, after a visit to the once flourishing, but now rased and depopulated isle of Scio. The channel through which the subscriptions flow will guarantee to the public that their bounty will not be appropriated for warlike or political purposes, but solely for procuring food, clothing, and other necessaries of life for the objects of their benevolent solicitude.

We take this opportunity also of

reminding our readers of the claims of the poor in their own immediate neighbourhoods, in this inclement season: and if beyond this they can embrace a third object, they will be glad to be informed, much to the honour of our country, that a fund is also raising in London for the relief of the sufferers by the earthquake in Syria; some affecting particulars of which will also be found in our present Number, in a letter from Mr. Barker, the British Consul at Aleppo, to the British and Foreign Bible Society.

Mr. Vansittart has relinquished the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, in which office he is succeeded by the Hon. F. Robinson. Mr. Vansittart accepts the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, from which Mr. Bathurst is to retire, and it is said is to have a peerage.

The Rev. Reginald Heber, we have great pleasure in announcing, is to be the new Bishop of Calcutta.

ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS.

Rev. T. St. Lawrence, Ross Archdeaconry.

The Hon. and Rev.- -Howard, Succentor Canonicorum and Prebendary of Holme, in York Cathedral.

Rev. G. Turuor, (Vicar of Wragby) to a Prebendal Stall in Lincoln Cathe dral.

Rev. R. G. Andrews, M. A. Houghon-the-Hill V. Lincolnshire, rice Hon. and Rev. R. Cust, resigned.

Rev. T. Atkinson, St. Edmund the Martyr, R. Exeter.

Rev. D. Cresswell, D. D. Enfield, V. Middlesex.

Rev. R. R. Smith, Adderbury V. Oxon.

Rev. R. Davis, Dixton V. Monmouthshire.

Rev. T. Davies, jun. Landough, Cogan, and Leckwith, consolidated livings, near Cardiff.

Rev. R. Eastcott, Ringmore R. Devon. Rev. G. A. Greenall, Orford Perp. Curacy, Keut.

Rev. H. Palmer, Broadway Perp. and
End. Curacy, Somerset.

Rev. H. R. Pechell, M. A. Fellow of
All Souls College, Bix R. co. Oxon.
Rev. W. B. Yeomans, Bucknell R.
Oxon.

Rev. G. M. Musgrave, Chaplain to the
Earl of Besborough.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

S. B.; MYRA; I. M. W.; E. G.; F. L.; and A CONSTANT READER; are under consideration.

We are sorry we cannot undertake to find the verses of R. N. O., especially after so long an interval. We have frequently requested correspondents to keep copies of their papers, particularly when short.

In reply to A SCRIPTURAL NON-CONFORMIST, who wishes to know on what grounds Churchmen, (and we presume also a large number of Dissenters,) return thanks after meat as well as ask a blessing before it, contrary, as he conceives, to our Lord's own practice, it may be sufficient to say, that we are commanded generally, "In every thing give thanks," and that there are even what we may consider specific injunctions on this very point, such as (Dent. viii. 10.) "When thou hast eaten and art full, then shalt thou bless the Lord for the good land which he hath given thee." But in any case,it is so pious and respectful a custom, that we are surprised that any person can think it worth his while to reprobate it.

ERRATA.-Page 3, col. 1, line 36, for cleaned read cleansed.
4, for travel read are weary.

16,

2,

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