ilar associations, with similar views will be formed in other parts of the kingdom. We are assured, that in several instances the suggestions of the society have already put an end to practices, which grossly violated the sanctity of the sabbath. A prosecution, commenced at their instance against a vender of obscene books and prints, has terminated in the conviction of the of fender, and has laid open a scene of in

iquity, which may well make every head of a family, and every conscientious keeper of a school, tremble for their charge. We should rejoice if, through the efforts of this society, something could be done to prevent the general dissipation which Hyde Park exhibits on a Sunday afternoon, during the time of divine service, and which is certainly an outrage on public decency, while it reflects no honour on our police.

Ir formed, at one period, a fruitful subject of debate, whether Great Britain or France were the aggressor in the late war; but we supposed that the able work of Mr. Marsh had laid that question to rest, and had forced all, who were not absolutely incorrigible, to acknowledge, that the aggression belonged wholly to France. Some paragraphs however, which have recently appeared in the French journals, particularly in the official paper of the government, being calculated to revive and give currency to a contrary, and we think a very unfounded opinion, we shall be excused, we trust, by our readers, if we examine the subject at some length. It appears to be one of the duties of the Christian Observer, to expose any insinuations which may be unfairly made to the disadvantage of our national character.

It is much to be wished that Bonaparte, and his present friends in France, could be persuaded to form their opinion of the justice of the late war, by asking themselves, What would be their present line of conduct, supposing them now to receive from us exactly the same provocations which we received from the French in the year 1792 and 1793?"Do unto others," in respect to the judgment which you form of their moral and political conduct, "as ye would think it reasonable that others should do unto you," is the Christian maxim which we would here inculcate.

Let us then put the very same case, mutatis mutandis, which occurred in the. commencement of hostilities. Let it be imagined, that the King and parliament of this country, deeming France

to be at this time under an arbitrary government, and conceiving Great Britain to exhibit a pattern of that liberty which belongs, as a matter of right, to all countries, were to publish a proclamation (ordering it also to be translated into all languages) in which they should declare their purpose "of affording fraternity and assistance to all nations which should be willing to recover their liberty; and charging the executive power to give to the British generals and admirals the necessary orders for affording succour to those nations, and protecting those citizens. who either had been, or might be trou bled for the cause of liberty."*

Let us next suppose, in proof of the intention of applying this proclamation distinctly to France, that certain delegates from various French societies, illaffected to Buonaparte, should arrive here, and be allowed to present addresses at the bar of our houses of parliament, in which they should declare, that "Britons are free, and that the French are preparing to be so; and that there is no doubt that the majority of the French nation will shew themselves animated by the same sentiments with the petitioners, if the public opinion in France were consulted, as it ought to be, in a national convention." Let us next

figure to ourselves the Speakers of the house of lords and of the house of commons standing up, and openly replying, in the name of those houses, "The defenders of our liberties will one day become the defenders of yours; and without doubt, the moment is approaching, when the people of Great Britain will come to offer their congratulations to the French national convention."*

For the sake of rendering the parallel more complete, let it also be imagined, that the French Consul, having thought it necessary to arm (in imita tion indeed of the English, who should antecedently have provided a great armament) and also having asked some explanation on these subjects, as well as respecting some British acts of violence against his allies, and other British measures of an equally hostile aspect; the British minister should reply after the following manner: "That Great Britain meant not to espouse the cause of a few seditious persons ;" and therefore, that "the decree was appli. cable only to those, who" might be said to have already conquered their liberty, and who should request British assistance by a solemn and unequivocal expression of the general will;" "that sedition certainly cannot exist, where there is this expression of the general will;" "that it would be doing injury to Great Britain, to ascribe to her the plan of protecting seditions commotions which may arise in any corner of a state and of thus making the cause of a few individuals that of the British nation; that sedition is, and only can be, a commotion of a small number against the majority of a nation; and this commotion would cease to be seditious, if all the members of a society should arise at once, either to correct their government, to change its form entirely, or to accomplish any other object."+

Let it be further supposed, that Bonaparte should reply to this theoretical

This is a quotation from the reply of the President of the French Convention to the Delegates from the disaffected British societies, mutatis mutandis.

†These are quotations from the memorials of M. Chauvelin, presented to Lord Grenville, mutatis mutandis.

memorial of the British minister, (a memorial, moreover, which should give no satisfaction on the other topics of complaint, and which should contain a direct threat of an appeal from Bonaparte to the French people ;) "that he perceived that Great Britain," according to the very terms of her expla nation, reserved to herself "the right of mixing in the internal affairs of France" when she, herself, should judge it to be proper; and that by maintaining her manifesto, she also "declared to the promoters of French sedition, in what cases they might count, before hand, on British assistance." And then let us, in the last place, suppose that Bonaparte, presuming that he ought, under all the circumstances of the case, to continue armed, the British parliament, indignant at the excessive presumption of his conduct, after some talk of exporting a hundred thousand caps of liberty to the French coast, should vote, by acclamation, a declaration of war against France: on which side, we ask, would the blame of the war be most fairly said to rest? There cannot exist a doubt upon the subject.

FRANCE.

Dey of Algiers has been brought to an amicaThe dispute between Bonaparte and the ble termination. A French squadron appeared before that place on the 5th of August, which carried a letter from the Chief Consul to the Dey, complaining that a French officer had been beat by one of his Rajies; that the French but could not obtain it; that two sloops of war agent had demanded satisfaction for the insult, had been taken by his pirates, and carried into Algiers that the French territory had been violated by the capture of a Neapolitan vessel in the Bay of Hieres; and that 150 men

wrecked on the African coast, were still detained there: demanding also prompt reparation of these wrongs; and requiring, that in future the Dey would distrust such of his ministers as were inimical to France, and that he would make the French flag, and that of the Italian Republic, respected. And to enforce these claims, it is added, "a good understanding with me can alone secure you in that rank and prosperity which you now enjoy; for God has determined that all those shall be punished who prove unjust to me." The Dey is said to have received the bearer of the Chief Consul's letter with great respect, and to have manifested a cordial disposition to live in

This is a quotation from Lord Grenville's answer to M. Chauvelin, mutatis mutandis.

peace with France. In his reply, he states, that he had ordered the Rajie complained of to be put to death, and that his life had only been spared at the request of the French Charge d'Affaires; that he had delivered up the crew of the Neapolitan vessel; that he had displaced the officer who had stopped the two French ships of war; that none of the 150 men asked for were in existence; that the French and italian flags should be respected; and that he would protect the French in their coral fishery. He intimates that Bonaparte ought to have given him 200,000 piastres as an indemnifiation for the losses he had sustained; but "whether you give them to me or not we shall always remain good friends."

In the first sitting of the Conservative Senate, after the organic Senatus Consultum gave to the constitution its new form, the first Consul presided. He repaired to the senatorial palace with great magnificence, similar to that which attends the visit of our monarch to the House of Peers. Several plans of the Se. natus Consulta, chiefly relating to matters of form, were presented on the occasion. One of them, which is termed organic, is of some importance; it decrees the union of the Isle of Elba to the French Republic, and that it shall send a representative to the legislative body.

English newspapers continue still to be a prohibited article in France. And here we would take occasion to remark, that while we disapprove of the violent invective and personal abuse employed by some of these papers, in speaking of the First Consul, we rejoice to find, that the general sentiment in this country is unfavourable to the present system of the French government. We conceive that system, as we have already stated, to be the natural result of those extravagant theories of liberty, which so many persons, both French and English, at one time indulged; and we disliked those theories, among other reasons, because we dislike the consequences produced by them. For we consider the late general war in Europe, as well as the intestine troubles of France, of Switzerland, of Ireland, and of so many other countries, and also the present constitution of France, to have all had their origin in the folly and madness of certain popular and atheistical French demagogues, who were connected, no doubt, with evil minded men of somewhat similar character in other nations.

A long arrete has been published, directing the Prefects how to raise the 60,000 conscripts which were ordered to be levied in order to complete the army.

People of all parties and persuasions seem to vie with each other, who shall be most forward and fervent in their expressions of felicity on Bonaparte's assuming the Consulate for Life. We think it may amuse our readers to see a specimen of the style in which he is frequently addressed. In one address we find the following passage.

"Citizen. First Consul, the French People have conferred on you the Consulship for life: they could do nothing more for your glory; they could do nothing more for their own happiness. Their happiness, Citizen First Consul, you alone could undertake; you alone could accomplish: your genius embraces every thing; your activity accelerates every thing; your wisdom consummates every thing; and, as you have been already told, your name alone is power. What imagination can assign the boundaries where the hopes inspired by your supreme magistracy ought to stop, and fix the degree to which the public prosperity may be elevated by it? Ah! Citizen First Consul, there is only one wish to be formed, which is, that you may be immortal, like your glory; and the French people will then be certain of being always the happiest of people, as they are the greatest and the best." In another address it is remarked:

"Like Augustus, you have shut the gate of Janus; Europe owes her repose to you. More happy than Titus, you have not to regret the loss of one day: all of them are signalized by great benefits conferred on mankind!" In this piece of flattery, the comparison between Bonaparte and the founder of the Roman monarchy is significant.

In some of the French papers Bonaparte is represented as having shewn the most flattering marks of attention to Mr. Fox, who is now at Paris; and particularly to have paid him many compliments on the strenuous opposition which he had made in parliament to the war with France. We do not know to what degree of credit these reports are entitled; but allowing them to be strictly accurate, we are of opinion that they afford very equivocal proofs of the Chief Consul's approbation of Mr. Fox's general conduct. Mr. Fox, it is to be remembered, objected not only to the war, but likewise to all the measures taken by the late administration for the suppression of insurrection and rebellion. Does Bonaparte deem him to have been, in this respect also, a true patriot and an enlightened statesman?

Bonaparte is, indeed, too polite a courtier to express his disapprobation of any part of Mr. Fox's conduct on such an occasion; but he is, doubtless, also too cautious a politician to commend those parts of it, which might be justly considered as furnishing a dangerous example to disaffected Frenchmen.

To praise Mr. Fox's opposition to the war, would be agreeable to all the various parties in France, a few emigrants alone, perhaps, excepted. But to have approved of his opposition to the Treason Bill, to the Bills for preventing Seditious Meetings, to the Alien Bill, to the steps taken against the Irish Rebels, &c. would have been to condemn measures against Jacobinism, unspeakably short of those which the Chief Consul has himself adopted, on the ground of their being found necessary to the peace of France and to his own personal security,

The Morning Chronicle, aware of that difference which we have stated to exist between the views of the First Consul and those of Mr. Fox, on the subject of the internal polity of a state, has made light of the French encomiums heaped on this celebrated leader of opposition; and has remarked, that Bonaparte would, no doubt, have equally complimented Mr. Pitt on the score of his zeal against Jacobinism, had the ex-minister been presented to him.

PORTUGAL.

The French Ambassador at the court of Lisbon, General Lasnes, being greatly offended at some steps taken by the officers of the Portuguese government to prevent the practice of smuggling, which, under cover of his privilege, was carrying on to a considerable extent by persons in his suite, abruptly took his leave, and returned to France. Bonaparte is said to have disapproved of the hasty conduct of his representative, and to have required him to return the large presents which he had received from the Portuguese government. The circumstance, therefore, is not likely to give birth to any misunderstanding between the two countries.

ITALY.

The Provisional government of Genoa, now termed the Ligurian Republic, having invited Bonaparte to choose, in the first instance, their Doge, and the other members of their senate, he appointed Citizen Durazzo to be Doge. His installation took place on the 10th of August. The letter which: Bonaparte addressed to the Ligurian Senate on the occasion, strongly recommends it to them to cultivate unity; to cherish respect for their constitution and their religion; and to bring up their children in the love of the great people. He also advises them to substitute good ships of war in place of their present wretched galleys; a measure, the tendency of which is by no means equivocal.

The quiet seizure of the territory of Piedmont, which has lately taken place, and its annexation to the Republic of France, furnishes an additional proof of the overgrown power of that country.

SWITZERLAND.

The Cantons of Underwald and Schwitz, have not only refused submission to the newly formed Helvetic government, but have taken up arms against it. Their first efforts having been attended with success, the cantons of Uri, Appenzal, and Zug, and the country of the Grisons, it is said, have been induced to join them, so that the party of the insurgents increases daily; but after all it is not likely that they should be able to make a protracted resistance to the government of the Republic, supported, as it will probably be, by France. When the last accounts came away, a cessation of arms had been agreed upon between the contending parties, in the hope of being able amicably to accommodate the points in dispute.

GERMANY.

The affairs of this empire have taken an unexpected and very interesting course during the last month, in consequence of a convention entered into between France and Russia, for the purpose of concluding the tedious difficulties of the question of the indemnities, and fixing the new proportions and powers of the Princes interested in that affair. According to the plan of this convention, the secularizations are very general, the only ecclesiastic left in the College of Electors being the Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, a title formerly annexed to the Electorate of Mentz. The electoral dignity will be conferred upon the Duke of Wirtemberg, the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel and' the Margrave of Baden, who being a near relative of the Emperor of Russia, appears to have been greatly favoured in the allotment of territory. The King of Prussia has also a large portion; but the Prince of Orange does not obtain his without the incumbrance of some French claims. The Grand Prior of Malta has some indemnity assigned; and it is proposed that the Bishopric of Osnaburgh shall belong in perpetuity to the Elector of Hanover, provided he abandons his claims upon Hildesheim, Corvey, and Ho

exter.

A declaration founded on this convention, and embracing a variety of minute details, has been presented, by the ministers of Russia and France, to the several members of the Diet of Ratisbon. It commences by assigning the delay of the Germanic body in fulfilling the intentions of the Treaty of Luneville as the ground of interference of these powers, and it contains an intimation that its contents must be discussed en masse by the deputation; and that if in two months, from the 17th of August, the Convention shall not be approved and ratified by the Diet, all the Princes and States of the empire shall be authorized, of full right to take possession of the districts which he allots to them.

The

Two such mighty powers having undertaken to dictate the measures to be adopted, it is not to be expected that any resistance to their wishes will prove effectual, especially as their determination has received the unequivocal sanction of the Court of Berlin. house of Austria, however, shews extreme reluctance at submitting to the terms which France and Russia wish to impose upon her; and the Imperial Minister has complained of their proceedings, and expressed great surprise that a free and independent nation should permit two foreign powers to prescribe to it peremptory terms respecting the regula tions of its own internal concerns. M. Talleyrand has endeavoured to quiet the Emperor's alarm, by assuring him that the declaration is no more than a projet which is submitted to the Diet, not with a tone of authority, but as a counsel respecting the means which are best calculated to satisfy all parties. The Emperor, however, cannot but feel that this is no

more than the language of evasion, as the powerful combination of France and Russia, backed as they are by Prussia, must necessarily give to counsel the tone of command, and regulate the affairs of the continent. The effects of this union are already visible in the conduct of the Elector of Bavaria, who without any previous notification to the Emperor, or the sanction of the Diet proceeded to seize on the Bishopric of Passau, which had been allotted to him by the convention. On this the Emperor sent a body of troops to take possession of the Bishopric, and to protect it from foreign intrusion, until the determination of the Diet respecting it should be known; a circumstance which has caused a considerable sensation in Germany, particularly as the movements of the Bavarian troops would seem to indicate that the Elector was instigated by the greater powers to assert his claims by force; and as the Emperor, who certainly also has right on his side, manifests a disposition to maintain his authority as head of the empire. But however justifiable the pretensions of his Imperial Majesty may be, prudence must suggest to him the necessity of yielding, should the Bavarian interest be espoused by so formidable a confederacy as that of Russia, Prussia, and France; one of whose objects appears to be to humble the House of Austria, and who may, therefore, avail themselves of this dispute to effect their purpose. Much impetuosity has characterized the conduct of both parties in this affair, but it has been hitherto unattended with bloodshed.

Since the above was written, accounts have been received, that the Diet of Ratisbon has adopted the plan of the indemnities proposed by Russia and France, a circumstance which will probably determine the dispute respecting Passau. The terms of the Conclusum appeared to be highly unfavourable to the interests of the House of Austria; but the Emperor will scarcely be induced to resist it, at the risk of having again to measure his sword with that of Bonaparte.

Disputes are said to run high between the Emperor and the Hungarian Diet assembled at Presburg.

TURKEY.

The Treaty of Peace between this Country and France has, at length, been made public. It stipulates, that there shall be peace for ever between the two states; that all former treaties shall be renewed; that the parties shall mutually enjoy all the advantages and privileges granted to other nations; that the French ships shall, in consequence, navigate the Black Sea; that the Treaty of Amiens shall be assented to; and that the parties shall mutually guarantee the integrity of each others possessions.

By an official note delivered by the Reis Effendi to the British Chargé d'Affaires it appears, that the interests of the English in the seas under the immediate influence of the Ottoman Porte will not be affected by the

late treaty between Turkey and Franee. The navigation of the Black Sea is thrown equal ly open to the English and French Nations; and as the advantages to be derived by each of them from this concession will be in proportion to their ability and dexterity in converting it to the purposes of commerce, the superior capital and industry of this country cannot fail to secure to it à decided superiority.

Passwan Oglou, who has for so long a time been spreading terror and alarm through the Turkish dominions, is stated to have effected an amicable adjustment of his difierences with the Porte, on terms highly favourable to himself.

The English troops are said to have entirely evacuated Egypt.

EAST INDIES.

Letters from Bengal state, that a treaty of perpetual and defensive alliance has been concluded between the Honourable East India Company and his Highness the Subahdar of the Decan. The annual revenues of the country ceded by this treaty to the Honourable Company amount to 62 lacks 74,262 rupees--784,158/.

Accounts from India to the 3d of June state, that the rebel, China Madoo, who had rendered himself greatly formidable to the Madras Government in the neighbourhood of Madura, has been routed, and driven for refuge into the Hill Country, by the army under Colonel Agnew, which has taken from him all his stores, and several small brass field-pieces.

A number of very important papers has lately been laid before the public, on the subject of the revolution which has taken place in the Carnatic. It is already known to our readers, that the Governor and Council of India having been convinced, on the ground of certain documents found in the palace of Tippoo Sultan, that the late Nabobs of the Carnatic, Mahomed Ally and Omdut ul Omrah, had maintained a secret intercourse with the tyrant of the Mysore, the object of which was utterly subversive of the British power in India; determined, on the death of Omdut ul Omrah, to require his son Hussein Ally to relinquish, in favour of the Company, such a share of his power and resources as would deprive him of the means of being dangerous to the stability of the British empire. With these terms Hussein Ally refusing to comply was displaced, and Azum ul Dowlah elevated to the Musnud in his stead, he having agreed to the conditions imposed by the Company, by which the whole of the government of the Carnatic may be considered as transferred into their hands. The grounds on which these proceedings have been censured, are the equivocal nature and dubious tendency of the proofs produced in support of the charge of faithlessness and hostility alleged against the deceased Nabobs. We shall forbear at present entering into the merits of the question, which appears to us a very weighty one; not only because we have not sufficient means