3. Five hundred copies of an easy first Catechism in Susoo and English. 4. Five hundred copies of a Second Catechism. 5. Five hundred copies of a Third Catechism, being an Historical Catechism. 6. Five hundred copies of Three Dialogues: the first intended to point out the advantage of Letters, the second to expose the absurdities of the religious notions of the Susoos, and the third to draw a comparison between the Religion of Mohammed and that of Christ; to which is added an Appendix, containing information concerning the countries near Sierra Leone, which would be useful to missionaries. 7. One thousand copies of Christian Instructions for the Susoos, being an Abridgment of the Scripture History and Doctrine. The Committee rejoice that a foundation has thus been laid for the civilization and future improvement of Africa in knowledge and religion. Never before has any book been written, much less printed, in the native languages of the western parts of Africa. Yet surely it is much more easy effectually to introduce knowledge amongst the natives through the medium of their own language, which they all understand perfectly, than through a foreign one, which very few can acquire, and those in a very imperfect degree. The facility with which a Missionary may now attain the knowledge of Susoo, is obvious. One of the Committee, without previous warning, read to some of the Susoo boys, educated in the African Academy at Clapham, a sentence in one of the tracts as soon as published. They smiled; and being asked the reason, replied, "because he was speaking Susoo;" and, notwithstanding the defectiveness of pronunciation, it appeared that he was readily understood. Several of these boys have since been instructed to read these books, which they do with much fluency. When the Committee reflect upon the vast extent of country through which Susoo is understood, (Mr. Parke having met with a nation speaking it upwards of a thousand miles from Sierra Leone,) they cannot but hope that a very extensive diffusion of knowledge and truth may one day be the result of their labours. They have only to add on this head, that they have engaged some gentlemen in the Company's service at Sierra Leone to act with them as a corresponding committee, through whose kind exertions proper persons may be employed in teaching natives of the Susoo country to read the tracts, who, in their turn, may become instructers of others. In their last Annual Report, the Committee published an Abstract of the Memoir of the Reverend Mr. Moseley, concerning the pro priety of printing part of the Scriptures in the Chinese language. They announced, though with much diffidence, a design of directing their attention to the important object proposed by him. They accordingly held several conferences with Mr. Moseley on the subject. But they are happy to add, that the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has since expressed a disposition to undertake the same work. They have, therefore, resigned it into their hands, being confident that it may by them be more completely carried into execution. The Committee have turned their attention to another Asiatic language, the Persian, into which the Scriptures may be translated with much more facility than into the Chinese. The court of Delhy, after the establishment of the Mogul authority, having adopted the use of the Persian language in its ordinances, mandates, courts of justice, and correspondence, that language has come into very extensive use, and is now so general, that every servant of the Company considers the knowledge of it as a necessary qualification for the performance of those duties, which he may be eventually called upon to discharge. It is not however intended, by this statement, to insinuate that it supersedes the use of the other languages there known, or that it even can, in all cases, be a substitute for them: it may however be fairly asserted, that the use of it extends to millions, and that by its medium the knowledge of the Word of Life may be most widely diffused through that country. Many books of history and poetry, and many works of entertainment, have been published in Persian. It is a polished and elegant language, and is recommended by the genius of the authors who have written in it, the beauties of their compositions, and the instruction and amusement which their works afford. But on this account it becomes a point of indispensable importance that the version of the Scriptures in Persian should, in order to insure attention, be pure and elegant. The transla tions hitherto made are, in these respects, entirely deficient. On this account the late William Chambers, Esq. of Calcutta, who was esteemed one of the first Persian scholars in that settlement, was induced to undertake a new translation from the original Greek. Every expression admitted in it was weighed with scrupulous accuracy, compared with the usage of the best writers, and examined by learned natives. His zeal, assiduity, piety, and general learning, most eminently qualified him for the task which he had undertaken. But it pleased God to remove him from this life, when he had only finished about twenty chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew. The Committee have it in * It will be a gratification to the Society to learn, that a translation of the New Testament has been lately executed in Bengallee, the vernacular language of the province of Bengal, by the Reverend Mr. Cary, a Missionary, who was appointed Professor of that language in the college lately instituted at Calcutta. contemplation to obtain the completion of the remainder of that Gospel in the most able manner they can, and to print it; and should they find the means of properly executing this design, they may be emboldened to extend the version to other parts of the sacred Writings.* * The Committee having annexed to their last Report, the proposals of the Reverend Mr. Carlyle to print a new edition of the Holy Scriptures in Arabic, think it proper here to state, that Mr. Carlyle has returned from Constantinople, and they understand will now proceed with his work as speedily as possible. VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. FRANCE. THE recent changes in the political constitution of France again call our attention. We stated in the Christian Observer of a former month, the probability of Bonaparte's being made Consul for life by the general suffrages of the people. But this is not all. He has received, though mot from the people, the privilege of naming his successor; but in exercising it he is exposed to difficulties arising from the very nature of the power confided to him, difficulties which may not improbably again involve the French nation in civil commotion, and which remarkably shew the advantage of a monarchy which is hereditary over one which is elective. Bonaparte appears to have gained an accession of power in various other respects. We do not presume exactly to appreciate the probable effect of these changes. Two points are clear, the one, that nineteen-twentieths of that French nation, to every one of whom, according to the rights of man, the power of tleciding all constitutional questions essentially belongs, are incapable of understanding the successive alterations of the present complex system; the other clear point is, that the French Republic, into which some flattered themselves that Bonaparte was about to infuse a greater portion of liberty, is departing more and more, not only from the spirit but also from the forms of a free constitution. It is indeed natural that, at least for a time, this consequence should follow the late wild excesses on the side of democracy, for in proportion as the vibration has been excessive and mischievous on the one side, it is likely also to be violent en the other. Too much liberty leads to licentiousness; licentiousness produces public as well as private calamity; calamity brings liberty into disrepute; and the necessity of applying some remedy to the new evils justifies a system of more than ordinary restraint. Thus arbitrary power establishes itself. After a time, however, the mischiefs of despotism are felt, and its deformity excites abhorrence; and at some period, when the monarch, having presumed too much on the plenitude of his authority, has involved himself in difficulties, either his throne is overturned by a popular convulsion, and the state is at the mercy of a storm; or he yields up to the people a portion of his power in return for services which he solicits from them; and thus some degree of popular weight is again admitted into the constitution. The struggle on each side is ge nerally for power rather than for liberty or public advantage, though the contention may sometimes terminate in general good. It is only when neither party is completely victorious, or when the victors find it necessary to conciliate the good will of the more moderate part of their adversaries (as was the case in our revolution of 1688) that a constitution settles itself in that happy medium in which the true secret of a good form of government consists. For man is too corrupt, and too full of violent and selfish passions, voluntarily to make sacrifices to public duty; and the mass of the people, when they begin to taste of power, are as eager as an aristocracy or any single ruler to claim for themselves an inordinate share of it. In this respect every individual among the Roman populace was a Cæsar, and every repub. lican who formed the mob of Paris was a Grand Consul and a King, The following facts, taken from French history, will illustrate some of the preceding observations. When Lewis XIV. died, his successor, Lewis XV. being a minor, a Council of Regency was appointed under the Duke of Orleans, who however enjoyed no pre-eminence over the other counsellors, except that he had a casting vote. The Duke was dissatisfied with this partition of authority, and he gained from the Parliament of Paris a recognition of the right he claimed to be sole regent, in return for which concession he admitted the right of the then Parliament to exercise a discretion in registering the royal edicts. Thus the ambition of the Regent led to an important limitation of the prerogative. To the rights claimed by the Parliament of Paris (a body nevertheless neither chosen by the people nor responsible to them) may be traced in some degree the late revolution. The opposition which they gave to the acts of Lewis XVI. induced him to make his appeal to the Notables: he found these so intractable and so much disposed to enlarge the pow ers of their own body, that he next resorted to the three Estates of the nation. Each of these three Estates was bent on the establishment of its own separate authority, but the Tiersetat being backed by the people at large, of whom they were the more immediate representatives, resolved to unite in one chamber the three orders of the state, and voted this chamber, in which they saw that they should have an irresistible preponderance, to be a national assembly, from which every power must emanate. The succeeding assembly pushed to a still greater length their monopoly of the public authority, and through the ambition and violence of certain individuals, who had become intoxicated with power, the king was at length dethroned, and no less unjustly than cruelly brought to the scaffold. Factions struggling with each other for preeminence were then formed in the bosom of the assembly itself, where the minority by its superior violence soon overawed the majority, and transported a large portion of its opponents to a distant climate. It now necessarily followed that he who could gain the soldiery became the head of the republicans, and thus by a most natural train of causes and effects a military government was established. Happy had it been for France, if in any part of this calamitous course the voice of wisdom and moderation could have prevailed; but this was little to be expected. Christianity indeed was well qualified, by the mildness of her precepts, and by the humbling nature of her doctrines, to diffuse a right spirit. But true Christianity was little known A religion of forms and ceremonies, and pomp and parade, in which the truth and spirituality of the Gospel had been buried under a mass of absurdities and superstitions, had triumphed for ages. The philosophers despised it, and attacking it with success, drew to their side numbers of the higher orders, who were in general vain and licen tious in the greatest degree, while those of the lowest class were ignorant and superstitious. To the infidelity, immorality, and selfconceit of the higher and middling ranks, and to the debased condition of the lower, may be ascribed in a great measure the evils which they have each of them endured. The common course of Divine Providence which is wont to scourge both nations and individuals, by subjecting them to the natural consequences of their own vices, has been signally exemplified in the recent history of France. We sincerely hope that better days may still be in store for the French nation, and that as she is our rival in arts, in manufactures, and in power, so she may one day rival us in a free and well poised constitution. We have ourselves experienced, though in a comparatively small degree, the different extremes through which France has lately passed and is now passing. The appointment of an impo. tent successor to the able man, who, under the name of Protector, held despotic sway among us, led to the re-establishment of monarchy in Great Britain; and the day may possibly arrive when our continental neighbours, chastised by their own folly and vice, and profiting by a review of the past, may quietly settle under a form of government, which may give them prosperity at home, and the esteem and confidence of their neighbours. In the mean time the duty of submission becomes them. Let the French Jacobins, the party the most ripe for insurrection, remem ber that they do but "eat the fruit of their own ways," and that they are only "filled with their own devices." Their violence can answer no other purpose than that of bringing down ruin on themselves, and augmenting the misery of their country. Political liberty is no doubt a great blessing, but a man may serve God under any form of government. He may be a Christian even though he should himself be one "of Cxsar's household." Great indeed is the duty of thankfulness, and most clear the obligation to obedience in our favoured island, but in all countries a quiet and peaceable spirit will be the characteristic of the true Christian. When the registers of votes on the election of the First Consul for life were examined, it appeared that 3,577,229 citizens had given their suffrages, of whom 8,568,885 voted in favour of the measure. The Senate accordingly decreed that Napoleon Bonaparte shall be First Consul for life. In presenting the decree to Bonaparte, Barthelemi addressed him as President of the Senate, in a speech replete with expressions of admiration and gratitude-"The nation, by this solen act of gratitude, confides to the First Consul the task of consolidating its institutions"—" He is the pacificator of nations, and the restorer of France; his name alone is a tower of strength" -"His powerful genius will support and preserve all. He exists only for the prosperity and happiness of the French people." The Consul returned the following answer. "SENATORS, "The life of a citizen belongs to his country. The French people desire that the whole of mine be entirely devoted to them-1 obey. "In giving me a new pledge, a permanent pledge of their confidence, they impose upon me the duty of establishing their laws on prospective institutions. "By my efforts, by your concurrence, Citizens Senators, by the concurrence of all the authorities, by the confidence and will of this immense people, the liberty, the equality, and prosperity of France, are placed beyond the caprices of fortune and the uncertainty of futurity. The best of nations shall be the most happy, as it is the most worthy to be so, and its happiness shall contribute to that of all Europe. "Satisfied that I am called, by the order of Him from whom every thing flows, to bring back to the earth justice, order, and equality, I shall hear my last hour strike without regret, and without inquietude about the opinion of future generations. "Senators, receive my thanks on this so solemn occasion. The Senate has desired that which the French people has willed, and has thus united itself more closely with every thing that concerns the welfare of the country. It is grateful indeed to me, to hear the certainty of this, in the words of so distinguished a President." On the following day (Aug. 4.) the project of a Senatus Consultum for organizing the con It stitution was presented to the Senate and adopted the same sitting. The professed design of this Senatus Consultum is merely to give a more efficient organization to the existing code, but under this pretence it seems to have completely changed the nature and provisions of the Constitution. It gives to the First Consul the right to name his successor: the Senate have a right twice to refuse his nomination, but the third time it must be accepted. confers upon him also such privileges with respect to the appointment of Senators, as secures to him the absolute control of their decisons. This will appear an exceedingly important object, when the extensive powers committed to the Senate are considered. The Senate is permanent and is empowered to regulate the constitution of the Colonies, and every thing not provided for by the constitution, and which may be necessary to its operation; and to explain those articles of the constitution which admit of different interpretations: it may suspend for five years the func tions of juries; may proclaim certain departments out of the protection of the constitution; may annul the judgments of the civil and criminal tribunals, and dissolve the legislative body and tribunate. The number of Senators is not to exceed 120. Of these the appointment of many lies wholly with the First Consul, and in the choice of all he has so considerable a share, and matters are also so managed by means of complex and intricate regulations, that he may if he pleases, continue to secure to himself the nomination of all future Senators. To give a just idea of every part of the machine of the French Government as it is now constituted, would not be possible without transcribing almost the whole of the Senatus Consultum, and even then, the present measure being conveniently regarded as merely supplemental, the references to the former constitution are so frequent, the regulations so partial and apparently disconnected, that without having recourse to the preceding code, it will be a matter of no small difficulty to understand the purposes which the different articles now agreed upon are framed to answer. We do not deny the expediency, under existing circumstances, of thus involving the constitution in obscurity, as its practical tendency is to throw the whole power into the hands of one man; but it may admit a doubt whether, upon the whole, the moral state of France is adapted to a, much less arbitrary system. But to return. The Government nominates the President of the Cantonal Assemblies, convokes them, fixes the time of their sitting and the object of their meeting; chooses justices of the peace from persons presented by those assemblies, and names the mayors and assistants in towns. The Cantonal Assemblies are composed of all citizens in the canton, who are inscribed on the commune list. The Government also appoints the Presidents of the Electoral Colleges of the departments, the members of which are chosen for life by the Cantonal Assemblies: convokes them, fixes the time of their sitting, and has the right to dissolve them. The First Consul may likewise make arbitrary additions to each college to the number of 30, without being limited to a precise time in making them. The Electoral Colleges present lists from which the First Consul is to name the members of the Legislative Body, part of the Tribunate, and part of the Senate. He is not bound however to select Senators from this list, as he may nominate to that office, without the previous presentation of the Electoral Colleges, citizens distinguished for their services and their talents. The Consuls are members of the Senate and act as Presidents of it. The Senators may be Consuls, Ministers, Members of the Legion of Honour, Inspectors of Instruction, or Ambassadors, so that the whole may be nearly composed of men in office. A Grand Judge is appointed to preside in the higher tribunals when Government judges proper, and to superintend the administration of justice. The Judges are appointed by the Senate from three persons presented by the First Consul. The First Consul is assisted by a Council of State, in which the Ministers have seats, and with their advice makes peace or war. He has also the privi lege of pardoning. Such is the outline of the late changes in the constitution of France. As soon as the Senatus Consultum was adopted, a copy of it was sent to each of the Prefects, requiring them solemnly to publish it on the 15th of August, a day to be consecrated by many grand recollections, being at once the anniversary of the birth of the First Consul, the day of signing the Concordat, and the epoch at which the French people "desirous to secure and perpetuate its felicity, has associated its duration with the glorious career of Bonaparte." "Acts of beneficence," adds the Minister of the Interior, "are a fit means to celebrate this day, and I invite you, Citizen Prefect, to consecrate it wholly to felicity, by uniting in marriage individuals recommended by their virtues." Accordingly on the 15th of August a most magnificent fete was celebrated to commemorate these events. The illuminations were very splendid, and the discharge of 40,000 fusils in the Place de la Greve, is said to have resembled in its effects the bursting of a vol cano. The circumstance however, which we feel ourselves called particularly to notice, and pointedly to reprobate, was the exhibition of a star, forty feet high, from the top of Notre Dame Church, and the application of its appearance to the eastward of the Thuilleries to Bonaparte's arrival from Egypt, "Un Astre nous est venu de l'Orient." The impiety of this allusion we need not point out to our readers; it furnishes another proof of the degraded state of religion in France. Innumerable addresses have been presented to the First Consul on this occasion, full of the grossest flattery, applauding his unexampled condescension in accepting the supreme power for life, and the right of perpetuating it in his family. The mandamus of the Archbishop of Paris compares him to Solomon. He calls on the people to exclaim in the presence of the most Holy of Holies, vivat Solomon. The harvest in France promises to be abundant, and the price of grain falls rapidly. A memorial upon the subject of the commercial arrangements now upon the tapis between England and France, has lately been presented to the Chief Consul, by the engravers and printers employed in the manufactories of printed cottons at Rouen. The memorial is evidently hostile to the principle of a commercial treaty, and many reasons are advanced against it. "Scarcely," say the memorialists, "has maritime peace been proclaimed, when the introduction of merchandize commences, the French warehouses are overstocked, our manufactures languish and forebode general ruin. The French soil has not rejected the foreign commodities; avarice and extortion have favoured their circulation. See what is the result. The productions of industry incumber the warehouses of our man. ufacturers; labour is repressed; workshops are shut up; thousands of workmen are thrown out of employment, without even a prospect of being able to gain wherewith to support their numerous families.-This is not all. Our hands once become idle, a thousand other states participate our misfortunes by a necessary consequence; our inaction stops their labours; every thing is linked together in a state; if you dam up a brook at the source, the fertile plains it watered are struck with barrenness." The French Moniteur has complained of the language held by some of our newspapers on the proceedings of the French government and on the character and conduct of Bonaparte, and in consequence of it we are inform ed that the introduction of the English papers into France has been recently prohibited. We certainly think that the discussion of the internal politics of France, ought to be conducted with some caution, especially in publications likely to circulate there, and to be translated into the language of that country. Gross invective and opprobrious epithets are, on all occasions, improper, and are still more indefensible when employed towards a government with which we have made peace. When the preliminaries of peace were signed, we recollect that Mr. Pitt declared in Parliament his intention of abstaining from that kind of language in respect to France, which he had deemed justifiable in time of war. A mea sure of that caution which becomes a senator in speaking of the government of a nation at peace with us, would also well become our public prints. SWITZERLAND. It appears by the accounts from Switzerland, that in the petty cantons, instead of acquiescence and submission to the new order of things, a formal insurrection is organizing against the central government, and it is very Christ. Observ. No. 8. uncertain whether it will be possible to make them receive the new constitution. GERMANY. A decree has been issued by the Imperial Commission, requiring all the electors, princes, and states of the Holy Roman Empire, to send delegates to the City of Ratisbon, as soon as possible, for the purpose of definitively arranging the work of peace. The indemnities devolving to Prussia, are said already to be occupied in part, as well as those which have fallen to some of the other powers. It is currently reported that an union has been formed between the Lutheran and Calvinist Churches on the Continent; the former receding from the tenet of consubstantiation, while the latter relaxes somewhat the strictness of its opinions on some doctrinal points. HOLLAND. A treaty is said to have been signed at Paris, on the 21st of May, during the stay of the Hereditary Prince of Orange in that capital; by which, in consequence of the indemnity to be granted to the House of Orange, the Hereditary Prince renounces, on behalf of himself and his father, all pretensions upon the Batavian Republic, and the King of Prussia formally renounces, the guarantee entered into in 1788, of the Stadtholdership of the United Provinces, recognises the Batavian Republic, and promises to send an ambassador to the new government of Holland. The Legislative Assembly has decreed a general amnesty for all offences, connected with political opinions. This amnesty extends even to those who have served the enemy against the Republic; but it is not to extend to those who voted for the surrender of the Dutch fleet, when North Holland was invaded by the English-The persons who are to have the benefit of the amnesty cannot claim the employments they occupied before the revolution, nor demand restitution of the expenses of processes against their persons. |