war. If, out of the five millions of which the population of Ireland is stated to consist, 4,200,000 are Catholics, they may fairly be allowed to call themselves emphatically the People of Ireland, and no doubt have a right to a full share in the government of that country. Even supposing that they amount only to 3,000,000, according to Mr. T.'s statement, the conclusion is the same. We cannot think that this subscription is to be considered in the light of a tax, and that the plan of it is a daring assumption of the prerogative of Parliament:' but it shews, with other things, how much the hearts of the Catholics of Ireland are set on Emancipation; so that, if we are not prepared to accede to their petition, we must look to ourselves. Whether the object of the Catholics be or be not something beyond Emancipation,' their irritated temper and feelings are fully exposed in this address; and the facts and documents which it contains are intitled to the consideration of the intelligent statesman, who will draw from them the suitable inferences. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 33. Reflections on Materialism, Immaterialism, the Sleep of the Soul, an intermediate State, and the Resurrection of the Body: being an Attempt to prove that the Resurrection commences at Death. By John Platts. 8vo. pp. 40. Sherwood and Co. Ingenious, though far from satisfactory: for who can proceed beyond the region of curious hyposhesis in such metaphysical wanderings? We shall content ourselves with the short abstract which Mr. Platts himself gives of his opinions, without attempting either to uphold or to confute them. The sum of what I have said may be reduced to the following propositions. That death is neither the destruction, nor the interruption of human consciousness. That there is neither an intermediate state of happiness, nor of insensibility between death and the resurrection. That there will be no resurrection of the body. That the resurrection means, either a future state, or, the transition to that state, and that it commences immediately at death; when we shall appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ, and receive, according to the things done in the body, whether they are good, or whether they are evil; and that this is the coming of Christ, the end of the world, and the Judgment-day, to every individual.' The scriptural account of a resurrection and a future life should not be understood in too literal a sense it is evidently adapted to the ordinary conceptions of mankind; the doctrine of future punishment is always considered in this light, for who is there now believes that the wicked will be literally punished with fire and brimstone? So the notion of a simultaneous resurrection, or of all mankind being raised at one time and together, does not appear to me to be so easily proved from scripture as most people imagine.' When he proceeds to notice 1 Cor. xv. 52., Mr. P. is not merely satisfied with denying that this passage is at variance with his views, but he asserts that there is not a single word in all the chapter concerning the resurrection of mankind from the grave or of the resurrection of the body.' If this be the case, how little is Scripture understood! We recollect that Mr. Fellowes has thrown out hints much in unison with Mr. Platts's theory: but, if we do not mistake, he proposed them with more diffidence. Art. 34. An Account of the different Charities belonging to the Poor of the County of Norfolk, abridged from the Returns under Gilbert's Act to the House of Commons in 1786; and from the Terriers in the Office of the Lord Bishop of Norwich. By Zachary Clark. 8vo. pp. 296. 7s. Boards. Longman and Co. Though this work has been long overlooked, or rather concealed in our heap, it must not pass wholly unnoticed; because the statement, as far as it goes, is of importance, and because it moreover presents an example which ought to be followed in every county in the kingdom, Mr. Clark, one of the respectable society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, having heard (as his editor the amiable Mr. Clarkson informs us in the preface,) that the Charities left by benevolent individuals for the use of the poor were often mismanaged and misapplied, felt a growing disposition to be more than a mere hearer of such reports; and being informed by a friend that, as far as his own county of Norfolk was concerned, he would find in the Bishop's office the ancient Terriers, in which were all the registers of land or money ever bequeathed to the poor, he made application to this office, and procured copies of two or three Terriers for places in which abuses of the Poor's money were said to have taken place; by which means he effectually detected some of those abuses. The editor thus proceeds: Having found, in one or two instances, that the application of the Poor's money was different from that which the Terriers pointed out to be the true one, he was encouraged to seek for information in other cases. This, however, he did gradually. Thus, in one year, he added the copies of two or three Terriers to those which composed his stock. In another, he added others. In another, he was obliged to have recourse to the Petty Bag Office in London, for copies of decrees relating to cases in question. In another, he obtained copies of ancient Wills for the same purpose. Thus he went on, though but slowly, increasing his knowledge in this department. In process of time, having obtained a number of copies of Wills, Decrees, and Terriers, he began to feel his ground on this subject, or, in other words, he began to feel the strength of the foundation on which he stood; and finding from the knowledge he had acquired, that some town lands belonging to the Poor were, in two several pa rishes, improperly disposed of, he interfered publicly, and succeeded. The result of his interference was, that the Poor in each parish received a considerable augmentation to their income from the lands in question. Cheered by this success, he was still more inclined to persevere; but, in doing this, he was persuaded that it became him for the future to adopt some regular and fixed plan. Living, as I observed before, in Norfolk, he thought no better plan could be devised than that of endeavouring, 16 endeavouring, expensive and laborious as the task would be, to procure copies of all the Terriers which might be in existence for that county. He believed that, if such copies were procured and printed, many advantages would result. First, every person living in the county would have an opportunity of seeing whether any, and what Charities, had been left to the Poor of his own particular parish, and what were the intended uses of these. Secondly, by comparing their intended with their existing uses, he would see how far they were abused. And, thirdly, in the event of such abuse, he would be enabled, by producing such Terriers before his fellow-parishioners, to restore them to the end for which they had been originally designed. He had a hope, in fact, that individuals, seeing these Terriers in print for their respective parishes, would actually step forward in behalf of the Poor, and secure to them their just rights wherever they appeared to have been invaded. He had also another hope, viz. that as he himself had endeavoured to collect in one book the Charities belonging to his own county, others might be induced to make similar collections for those to which they respectively belonged; so that, one following the example of another, the Rights of the Poor might, in time, be ascertained, and put upon record through the whole kingdom. But while he was contemplating this plan, and the means of executing it, he received information from a friend of a rich mine of ma terials, of which he had been wholly ignorant, and which on that account he had wholly overlooked. His friend informed him, that Mr. Gilbert, a worthy Member of Parliament, had brought in a bill, only a few years before, which had been carried through both Houses of Parliament, the object of which was to bring to light every species of donation belonging to the Poor, throughout the realm.' Of the voluminous returns made to Parliament under the Gilbert act, Mr. Clark also obtained copies; hoping to find a well founded and important history of all the charities in the kingdom' but in this he was mistaken. He perceived, says his editor, on comparing some of these with the copies of some of the Terriers which he had before obtained for the same places, that there were Charities in Gilbert's Returns not noticed in the Terriers, and, vicê versâ, Charities in the Terriers not noticed in Gilbert's Returns, for the same parish. He found also that both the Returns and the Terriers frequently threw light, where there was some obscurity, upon the contents of each other. This being the case, he considered that the returns for places under the Act of Gilbert would be often imperfect without accompanying Terriers for the same, and therefore he resolved, whatever expence he might incur, to realize his first resolution, that is, to collect also the Terriers for the whole county.' By favour of Dr. Bathurst, Bishop of the diocese, Mr. Clark was enabled to execute this laborious part of his undertaking; and he found that there are no less than between five and six hundred, out of between seven and eight hundred parishes in this county, which have some charity or charities belonging to them, and of which accounts have been collected from either the one or the other of these sources.' With all the care which Mr. Clark has bestowed on this compilation, it is probably, in some instances, imperfect but it is a valuable record. record. Every county ought to have a similar printed account; and, to forward this object, we have extracted the history of the present undertaking. Art. 35: The Duty of Britons to promote by safe, gradual, and efficacious Means the Progress of Christianity and Civilization in India. Preached at the Meeting House, Carter-Lane, April 4. 1813. By Joseph Barrett. 8vo. IS. Johnson and Co. For benevolent and animated declamation, no subject opens a wider field than the conversion of the Hindoos to faith in Christ: but neither do we recollect any one subject which more imperiously demands the tempering of zeal with prudence. In practical application, Mr. Barrett's epithets would probably be found incongruous. Safe means may imply mildness: but efficacious means indicate a degree of energy which will secure the effect; and Europeans in the situation of Mr. B. have no opportunity for judging of the fitness of measures to be adopted in the delicate situation of our Eastern empire. We perceive, in the instance of Spain, that our exertions in her behalf have not induced her to abandon the Inquisition; and the bigotry of the Hindoos to their superstitions is even more inveterate than that of the Spaniards. We most ardently wish that they could be brought to adopt the principles of the Gospel: but we do not hesitate to repeat that we tremble at the consequences of intemperate and miscalculating zeal. We say miscalculating, because in India the proportion of Europeans (including all departments civil and military) to the native population is about thirty thousand to seventy millions! Mr. B.'s doctrine is that, instead of holding in subjection a mass of unconnected and unwilling tributaries, we should make a way into their hearts: but unwilling tributaries should be cautiously treated, lest, by employing efficacious measures to accomplish an object beyond our present reach, we lose for ever the opportunity of an intercourse with the Hindoos. The India Company are the judges of the state of affairs in the Indian Peninsula: yet Mr. B. complains of it as an evil that the Company should have the power of tolerating, or prohibiting, missionaries or other advocates for Christianity who may proceed to India: but is he not aware that, if they had not this power, our Eastern possessions would be in the most imminent danger? Persons of suspicious character might land in India, and, under the pretext of making converts, spread disaffection and endanger rebellion. Let zealots at home express an amiable wish for the conversion of the East: but let enlightened persons on the spot judge of its practicability, and take care that a great empire be not lost by an experiment. Whether the subject comes before us in the shape of a dissertation, a speech, or a sermon, we shall not hesi tate to reiterate the same advice. Most heartily do we agree with this preacher that the attempt at the projected amelioration would be highly beneficial;' with this proviso, that it be confined to exertions made among ourselves; for whatever tends to unite discordant sects, in plans of general benevolence, will infallibly promote the true spirit of the Gospel. We cannot, however, allow Mr. B. to be competent to give an opinion on the actual result of efficacious means employed employed for christianizing India. His replies to objections are ingenious, but not satisfactory. Our advice would be, in the language of the old proverb, "Make no more haste than good speed." The extraordinary seclusion of the Japanese from the rest of the world, arising from an attempt made to subvert their religion, should be a warning on this subject. Art. 36. Memoirs of the Life and Ministry of the Rev. Hugh Worthington. Being a tribute of Respect to his Memory. By the Rev. B. Carpenter. 8vo. Is. 6d. Sherwood and Co. The substance of this pamphlet having originally been delivered in the form of a sermon, it is allotted to this class. Indiscretion is a prevailing feature in tributes of respect to deceased friends; and survivors fancy that they discharge a duty by holding up the departed as paragons of excellence, and by telling the world that "They ne'er will look upon their like again." a Could such indiscreet admirers, however, hear the remarks which Art. 37. IS. Some of the hearers of this discourse having accused the preacher of " damning with faint praise," instead of pouring forth, in honour of the deceased, that warm tide of studied eulogy which is usual on these affecting occasions, Dr. L. urges self-defence to be his sole |