consider, that they are totally unscriptural, will draw a comparison between a doctrine that is founded merely on the traditions of men, and that which has God for its author, and our Saviour as the grand promulgator of it to heathen nations, and who made it binding on all who are called by his name. The mockery of amnesty that was introduced into the French legislature, has given way to milder measures, which have been introduced by the cabinet. How they may be modi fied in their passage through the houses, time will shew: but it is strange, that men who have so long been under adversity, should have so little feeling either for themselves or their enemies. They do not seem to consider, that the edge of the laws, which they now make, may be turned against themselves. But the French character remains the same, though the actors are changed. Already a club is formed much upon the same principle as the Jacobin club; and though the avowed object is the support of the throne, yet an ascendancy may be gained as fatal to the interests of the crown and people, as that which occasioned such bloody scenes in the republic. The royalists, as they are called, have much to learn. It is in vain that they attempt to bring things back to the ancient regime. They cannot destroy the people born during the years of revolution, and who have lived under the Napoleon code. The peers of France have exercised their judicial authority in the trial of a peer, who was also marshal of France. To those who are accustomed to the solemnity of a trial by our House of Lords, the whole of the proceedings will appear to want that dignity which the occasion required. After the arraignment for high treason, examination of witnesses, and the council of the crown had advanced what they thought necessary in support of their cause, the counsel for the defendant endeavoured to repel their arguments, but were stopped when they introduced the convention at Paris signed by Wellington and Blucher. The accused, finding that he was thus debarred from defending himself upon this ground, prohibited his counsel from proceeding farther, and the court then retired to pass its judgment on the case. The peers were not, however, unanimous. A very great majority voted for death, and the sentence was executed with very little ceremony early next morning, by shooting the criminal in the presence of a few spectators, who were accidentally in the place chosen for the purpose. How far the court was justified in refusing to admit the convention is a question on which the public at Paris is much divided, and it has given occasion for much discussion. Be this as it may, the French have still to learn the respect that is due to man, Whatever may be the degree of criminality, life ought not to be taken away, but with that degree of solemnity which tends to shew, that it is not vengeance but justice which requires the execution of the fatal sentence. The most atrocious murderer in this country is allowed two nights, and, by the intervention of Sunday, they are generally made three, to prepare for his awful change: but in France, they have been so long accustomed to slaughter, that human life is held there in as little estimation as that of a dog. Let us hope, however, that a better spirit will gradually be infused into that unhappy country. Other nations are likely to derive some lessons of wisdom from the scenes that have taken place in it, and Germany will be among the first to improve its institutions. The dispute between the king of Wirtemburg and his subjects is carried on much to the advantage of the latter, and a constitution is likely to be settled in which the people will have some share as well as the sovereign. In this petty state, changes may be made without much difficulty. To reform Prussia is a more arduous task. Nothing scarcely could be worse than its government, if a government carried on by the military is deserving of that name. A change is taking place in Prussia, which promises much for its future welfare. It is proposed to exchange despotism for a limited monarchy, and this with the consent of the sovereign himself. A representative government is to be established, suited to the different classes of the inhabitants of his former and newly-acquired states, The liberty of the press, the trial by jury, and the freedom of the subject on a plan similar to that of our Habeas Corpus Act: these, with religious liberty, are to form the bases of the new constitution, and it has been ably argued, that the sovereign will be a gainer and not a loser by these regulations. This is a hard lesson for kings to learn: yet, if they would consult history, they would find that the despot is far from being in an enviable situation. He enslaves the press, and is made the dupe of his courtiers; he throws subjects at will into prison, and is ill-served; suspicion is the constant attendant on his person, which falls a sacrifice to secret conspiracy or open rebellion. Prussia owes its deliverance from the yoke of Buonaparte entirely to the people, and this may teach its rulers to think less of the army and more of its subjects. Indeed, the conduct of the French army cannot fail to have a good effect upon all governments: for the love of the people is the best prop of every throne, and miserable is the monarch whose dependence is on the support of an army. The slave trade is not likely to recover from the decisive blow struck at it by Buonaparte. The flight of the Bourbon to Ghent was attended with this advantage, that efficacious remonstrances were made on this subject during his stay there, and our minister lost no time on his return to Paris to give stability to what had been done by the preceding govern ment. He very properly observed, that the trade could not be revived but by an actual law upon this subject, since it was evidently abolished de facto if not de jure. The French denied the validity of the preceding law, but the determination of the sovereign was announced, that the trade should not he revived. The correspondence on this occasion has been published, and thus humanity has gained one point at least by the late commotion. Spain complains much of the inte rest taken in our country in the fate of the patriots who so gallantly defended their own, and restored, to their own disadvantage, the return of the present sovereigu to his throne. But how can that unhappy country expect, that a nation which cherishes sound principles of liberty, should look with either satisfaction or indif ference on the measures which have blasted all their hopes of seeing liberty and religion revive under their auspices? A cloud seems to be hanging over part of the dominions formerly subject to Spain in America. A great armament has crossed the main, and it is doubtful at present, whether Carthagena has not fallen before it. In that case, torrents of blood will be poured forth, and the war will be lengthened out: but still the cause of independence is far from being hopeless; and what man of humanity can wish success to a nation, so far removed from all just ideas of religion and liberty? CORRESPONDENCE. Communications from Mrs. Cappe, Dr. Morell and others, are designed for the next number, the first of Vol. XI. With the same number, to face the Volume, will be given a handsome engraved Portrait of our late venerable friend and correspondent, DR. TOULMIN, in which we trust our readers will recognize the mild intelligence, simplicity and amiableness which marked his countenance. We have received several letters in vindication of Mr. Worthington's heresy, which we were not able to bring into the present volume, and the letters of Mr. Joyce and Mr. Evans may perhaps set the matter at rest. We are disposed to say to our correspondents on this subject, "No farther seek his merits to disclose," though, in our respect for the memory of the gentleman alluded to, we do not continue the quotation, lest we should be thought to convey an insinuation which we do not mean. In answer to the complaints of the printed circulars being sent from Greenock, the postage unpaid, we are instructed by the Unitarian Committee of that place, to apologize for this inadvertence. The practice in question is more customary in Scotland than in England. As soon as the Committee received a remonstrance on the subject from the editor of this work, they discontinued the issue of unpaid letters. We purpose in our next number to review Wilson's History of Dissenting Churches, Mr. Cappe's last volume of Sermons, &c. and to introduce the review of Grundy's Lectures, which has been some time waiting at the Printers, for want of room. We must defer to our next the corrections of, and additions to, the Unitarian Fund List of Subscribers. Communications on this subject may be addressed to the Treasurer or Secretary. The next Volume will record all the proceedings in this country with regard to the persecuted Protestants in France, together with such authentic accounts of their sufferings and condition, as may from time to time reach us. In a letter to the Editor, dated Paris, the 11th inst., Mons. Marron, President of the Protestant Consistory, states, that the measures taking by the Dissenting Ministers of London produce a strong sensation in France, that our Protestant brethren are consoled and gratified by them, and that the result is likely to be very beneficial. We trust that we shall have to register numerous and liberal collections on behalf of these persecuted Christians. These public collections are a practical protest against despotism and persecution. Having a blank space, we here insert the following Notice, which could not be brought into its proper place. NOTICE. Mr. WORSLEY, of Plymouth, has in the press a Sermon, preached on the occasion of the death of Dr. Toulmin, in which the Doctor's character is considered rather in a political than a religious point of view, and the persecu tions are stated which he, with many others, encountered at the period of the Birmingham riots. It will be accompanied with copious notes and addenda, the objects of which are two-fold, to give a narrative of the progress of our Presbyterian societies from their abandonment of the Calvinistic and Trinitarian schemes, to the present time, when they avow their belief of One God the Father, and of one Lord, the man Jesus-and to shew, from a review of the principal manufactories of Great Britain, which were first established by the Presbyterian Dissenters, and have been improved and chiefly maintained by them, that it is to this class of its society may justly be attributed the prosperous state of England for the last half century, the great wealth of its inhabitants, and the high tone it has been able to assume amongst the cabinets of Europe and in its relations with all the world. A GENERAL INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND SIGNATURES. The Names and Signatures of Correspondents are distinguished by Small Capi- Advantages of an Education at the 346 622-629 Africans, their minds on a level with 208 676 Al Gazel, extract from his Logica et on Milton's, 99. On scriptural, 154, 740 Allen, Mrs., obituary of 656 Altringham, Unitarianism at 25 Amelia, Princess, lines by 574 America, public affairs of, 62, 127, 321, 400, 531, 592, 599, 644. Uni- tarianism in, 657, 703 764 AMICUS on Rowland Hill's tale con- 249 Aquinas, Thomas, the angelical doc- Argument, curious specimens of, 499, 513 Mr. Yates on, 476. Mr. Joyce on, 745 Arm, the human, described, 564. Armageddon, review of the poem, 649. Arminianism, a direct breach of all Agrayua, illustrations of the mean- Art of preaching, by R. Dodsley 209 706 702 151 ib. 358 377 410 tor Aspland's Plea for Unitarian Dissent- ASTLEY, Rev. R., his account of the Atheism, Cheynell on Atonement, Mr. Frend on, 32. Mr. Austria, public affairs of Avicenna's anatomy of the soul, 133 Barnard, Hannah, extracts from a let- ib. 316 310 743 480 388 391 508 499 238 737 328 of 614 563 457 503 Bible Society, the, N.'s remarks on, BIBLICAL CRITICISM, 42, 239, Biblicus, Mr. Wellbeloved's answer Bibliotheca Peirsoniana Bicheno, Mr., extract from a work of 724 749 141 95 532 Bigotry, Mr. Phillips's description of 351 to 236 Birkbeck's Notes on France, extracts 652 Bastile, Mr. Fox on its destruction, from 72 678 Baxter's Everlasting Rest of the Saints, of 630. extracts from 227 Black-Brethren, their projected pil- Bayly, Dr. John, obituary of 762 grimage to the Holy Land 121 Beattie, Rev. John, settlement of, at Blackford, Unitarianism at 255 594 Blackitt's library at Newcastle 618 Belfast Academical Institution, its ad- Blackwall's account of Enjedin 430 558 Blasphemy, proceedings against Hous- Belfast Monthly Magazine, extract ton for 123 from 67 Blasphemy laws in America 765 Bell, Dr., M. Marron's Latin verses Blucher's Oxford degree accounted for by Brevis 358 752 Body, on the human, 36, Descrip- tion of its mechanical arrangement, |