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societies may be said to be the fosterers of treachery and cowardice in a country full of stipendiary spies. They are generally encouraged by very young men, who have no experience of life, and who, seeing every avenue closed to the active energies of their nature, think these secret societies the only outlet by which they can enjoy the rights and prerogatives of men. Were the Grand Duke so happy as to be surrounded by men who would point him, as to an example, to the paternal government of his grandfather, Leopold I., there would be no need for secret societies, and many a rash youth, whose young limbs are now folded in the dark recesses of a state prison, would be actively and usefully employed for his country.

The students of Pisa are perpetually showing their discontent by various outbreaks; and at Florence, on the last day of the Carnival, there was a serious demonstration of disaffection. It is usual, on this privileged day, for people to go about masked, and take all sorts of liberties, saying disagreeable truths to their acquaintance. The Grand Duke generally walks about in the pit of the theatre among the people, and mingles in the crowd; all sorts of persons go into his box to pay him compliments of sugar-plums and flowers; but this year, instead of these flattering proofs of attachment, numbers of printed papers were thrown into his box, complaining bitterly of his state policy, and reproaching him, in no measured terms, for his severity. He was accompanied on this occasion by two persons particularly hateful to the lovers of liberty, Caretto, the Neapolitan Minister, who condemned the Bandiera to death, and the uncle of the Duke of Modena, the most despotic sovereign Monarch in Italy, and on this account so detested, that when he passed through Pisa, the young men sang a charivari under his window, and, when that was put a stop to, they fired a petard at night, which broke a great many windows of his palace. We hear that eighteen or twenty of the sons of the best families at Florence are arrested for the Carnival affair, and sent to the state prison at Vilterra; the head of the Police having received orders to imprison, without trial, for three years, any one convicted of political offences. nothing can silence the public voice; and, notwithstanding all the vigilance of Government, papers are printed and circulated, and even publicly fixed up against the walls.

But

There is a coffee-house on the Arno

at Pisa much frequented by the young men. A paper was affixed to the walls of this coffee-house, the Police tore it down it was replaced by another, and when the gendarmes were again putting forth their hands to destroy it, they were assailed by such a united whistle from a knot of young men, that they were deterred from proceeding further, and it was literally guarded the whole day by different young men, who prevented the Police from approaching. This was punished by dismissing from the University two or three idle young men, not those who had stuck up the paper. I inclose you one of these papers, by which you will see there is nothing seditious in them, and that they are only vehicles of information which can be obtained in no other way; no newspaper being allowed to print anything which gives the least news, or disturbs the sleep of the great Morpheus, as the Grand Duke is satirically called.

I see a paragraph in Galignani which may throw some light on the secret springs of these severe measures. It is

as follows:-"The Augsburg Gazette' announces that the northern powers have just addressed to the various Governments in Italy a collective note, calling on them to exercise a more active surveillance over the press, as for some time past the Italian journals have been putting forth doctrines calculated to undermine social order." It would be difficult to say what journals are alluded to, as there are none permitted to be printed, except it be some in the Pope's dominion, which I have not seen. The Gazetta Italiana, printed at Paris, and for a time circulated in Italy, boldly and fearlessly advocated the scheme of making Italy one united kingdom, relieved from foreign rule, and governed by an Italian Prince.

at

The Contemporaneo, published Rome, is a most clever and moderate paper, on a large and liberal plan: its Editors are men who have long reflected on, and deeply mourned over, the evils of their country. It is written with great dignity, and touches on every subject interesting to man, except articles of religious belief: it is full of the spirit of Christianity, and charity and toleration shine out most conspicuously. It is worthy of the spread of Gospel principles to see printed at Rome such a sentence as the following :-"Toleration every one, that is my motto with regard to opinions. Toleration is a sweet and Christian law." A new law has been lately promulgated at Rome with regard

for

to the press, and a tax was put on this paper. It stopped for one week, and remonstrated, when the Pope yielded, and excused the tax for one year: they representing that, having fixed their price with their subscribers, and received it in advance, the expense would fall on them.

Every genuine report from Rome represents the Pope as really sincere in his anxious wishes for his people's good it remains for time to prove whether he is strong enough to breast the waves of opposition which rush in on him at all points. He has, I fear, but few co-operators in his liberal views; for though there are in Italy many sound-thinking men, they have not been accustomed to act, and are fearful of the consequences of any great change. An Italian patriot said the other day in my hearing, "The spirit of self-sacrifice is what is wanting in Italy. There are,

indeed, some religious minds disposed to make any sacrifice for the good of their country; but they are afraid to identify themselves with the stronger and more numerous party of revolutionists and infidels. Those who desire the real good of Italy hope to see the Church reform itself, and come out purified from its superstitions." This the spread of God's word can alone do; but political commotions and movements are not favourable soils for the growth of this precious seed.

I mentioned in my last, that Mdlle. Calandrini had been forbidden to return to Pisa; but her memory is held precious among the poor, and prayers and blessings are showered upon her name. At a general meeting of the Committee of the infant-schools at Pisa, a unanimous vote of thanks was passed for the benefits the schools had derived from her advice and assistance; and, strange to say, it was allowed to be printed. send you a copy, by which you will see that her very name is the watchword for gratitude; and that the vote of thanks passed by acclamation, or, as we should say, unanimously.

I

A normal school is about to be opened here for educating youth and training masters; and some improvement, no doubt, will be made in the plan of early education.

The King of Sardinia, from political and ambitious motives, acts the liberal. He would like to be King of Italy; but he is a despot in his own family, and incapable of noble or generous sentiments. His people are a fine race of men; and there is more natural life and

movement in his dominions than in Tuscany, where the lower orders are a mean set of people, totally devoid of natural talent, and where the very shadow of death seems cast on every free and noble aspiration. It is painful to see the energies of a whole people cramped for want of that very religious liberty which teaches man his responsibility to God and his fellows. Still some small improvement is in progress; and, as the Contemporaneo says, "To retrograde is impossible."

I have heard that the Archbishop of Florence has caused to be translated into Italian a Catechism published by the Archbishop of Paris, in which the Ten Commandments, as found in the Bible, are printed, followed by the commands of the Church. You know that, for a long period of time, the second Commandment has been wiped out of the Decalogue as authorized by the Church, and will, 1 am sure, rejoice that the command not to bow down to stocks and stones has at length, after so long an interval, resumed its place, and that it is used in the public instruction of children; so that even the Italians are allowed to read the command of their Creator, not to worship aught but Him, the Lord of all.

A report reached me the other day, that in different places societies are forming in a quiet way for the printing and distributing cheap and useful books. We must not "despise the day of small things," for we know that our God does not; and it is rejoicing to remember, that a grain of mustard-seed may become a mighty plant. Much good might be done in Italy at this moment by the circulation and translation of sound moral and religious works, not controversial; and I wish those who travel in this country, and are blessed with large means, would turn their attention to this point of usefulness.

I must apologize for this long communication, and conclude, hoping I have not overstepped the limits allowed to your correspondents.

I am, Sir,

A BRITISH TRAVELLER.

P.S. I see the French and other journals have made quite a serious affair of the trick played by the students here to Prince Ferdinand D'Este: it was a young man's trick, and meant only to show their disapprobation of his conduct in Gallicia. There was no serious riot, no commotion; the inhabitants knew nothing of it. The house in which the Prince lodged was over an arch. Pertly

and boy-like they determined, in the middle of the night, to fire off this petard; but there was only a little

powder; so that, though some windows were broken, he did not hear the noise.

II.-SWEDEN.

EXTRACTS FROM SWEDISH LETTERS.

No. I.

(To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.)

A

IT has long appeared to me, that the communications which I receive from time to time from pious friends in Sweden, relating to the progress of the work of God in that land, more particularly in Stockholm, ought not to be withheld from the many in this country who have felt concerned for the spiritual welfare of the Swedes; and who will doubtless rejoice to know, that, notwithstanding the distressing events which issued in the expulsion of the Missionary from a Protestant kingdom, and the closing up of our noble chapel there, the object aimed at by the Missionary in that chapelnamely, the conversion of souls, and, through their instrumentality, the revival of religion in the Lutheran Church -is not lost sight of; but is still, under the divine blessing, amid all discouraging circumstances, successfully prosecuted. The judgment of an inveterate and well-informed foe may be given as testimony not to be questioned. Member of the Diet having declared in his place, that "the day of Methodism was now gone," and that only Romanism called for their watchfulness; the Editor of a Stockholm newspaper, himself a Clergyman, thus comments on the speech: "It were well if this were indeed the case! But we cannot participate in the joy of the respected Member. We rather believe that his expressions are premature. Methodism left (alas for us!) traces too deep to be soon obliterated. Methodism was undoubtedly concentrated in the person of G. Scott; but even now, since he has marched off, the spirit of Methodism lives on, and shall assuredly long continue to live on, particularly in the capital. Although Methodism fell suddenly from its centre, it moves nevertheless in its periphery. Yes; when the one head of the hydra was cut off, another grew up instantaneously, calling into confederacy with itself the German shoemaker, Böhn's apprentice, and the father of Herrnhutism, the German Count Zinzendorff's journeyman; so that instead of pure Methodism we have a rose-tinted mixture

of artisan-aristocratic-Böhnish-Herrnhutish Methodism, with hundreds of adherents, and a certain Rosenius at their head. All this ought to have been known to the worthy Member, as he may daily see and enjoy himself amidst the fruits of this plantation."

I am not sure that the time has yet come for entering upon a full description, in a permanent form, of the Missionary's troubles in Sweden, and the various circumstances leading to, and consequent upon, the riot of Palm-Sunday, 1842, by which he was violently interrupted in the discharge of his duty as a Minister of Christ. Many have urged me to make these things public, and abundant documentary materials are in my possession; but a fear lest such publicity might have an injurious influence on the gracious work now going on in Stockholm induces me to forbear. Meantime, and before giving translated extracts from cheering letters recently received, allow me to submit for insertion a portion of an important work from the correct and able pen of the present Archbishop of Sweden, Dr. C. F. von Wingård, with whom I have had much pleasing, encouraging, and edifying intercourse. The work is entitled, Oversigt af Christna Kyrkans senare händelser och nuvarande tillstånd af C. Fr. af Wingård; or, "Review of the more recent Events in, and present Condition of, the Christian Church." The venerable Archbishop enters pretty fully, and, all things considered, very fairly, into the history of Methodism in Sweden; and I give you a literal translation, from the original now before me, of his observations on this subject, taking the liberty to append a note where it may appear requisite or desirable.

GEORGE SCOTT.

METHODISM entered Sweden without attracting attention. An English manufacturer, S. Owen, himself a Wesleyan Methodist, had among his many workmen several of his own confession,

and he called in a Methodist Minister, Mr. Stephens, who, after notice given to the Governor, preached for him and them in a chapel granted by a private individual in Stockholm, from the autumn of 1826. Mr. Stephens could not have been thoroughly one with Methodism, which, at least in later times, has, in England, made common cause with the Government and the Church against disturbance, when on his return to his fatherland he could unite himself with the Chartists. He was by the Methodist Conference deposed from the office of the ministry, and excluded from the society. Mr. George Scott, who succeeded him here, deserved and inspired respect. Soon ready with our language, he preached in it with liveliness and energy, and took an active part in our pious institutions, such as Bible, Missionary, and Temperance Societies, for which also he obtained gifts from England and North America. By journeys and correspondence, he had likewise placed himself in a confidential relation to those in the land who are zealous for godliness. When the concourse of his Swedish hearers became greater than they considered could be contained in the chapel hitherto used, Messrs. Owen and Scott, on the 12th of February, 1838, went before the King with a humble memorial, showing, that the English congregation here had found it to be of importance to possess a place of their own for the exercise of public divine service, and that for the obtaining of this advantage necessary means had been provided, chiefly by contributions from the Wesleyan-Methodist societies in England; wherefore gracious permission was requested on behalf of the Conference of Wesleyan Methodists in England to purchase a specified piece of ground, for the purpose of erecting thereon and fitting up a chapel for public worship under the direction of the evangelical Preacher, or Preachers, who might, by the said Conference, in the character of owners of the chapel, be, time after time, with gracious permission, thereto appointed. The Consistory of Stockholm, being required to report upon this memorial on the 17th of April, 1838,

gave expression to these sentiments :"No lack of instruction in the doctrines of the Gospel, or the promulgation of the same in the capital, exists; and if the matter be viewed from this point, the Consistory cannot encourage the establishment of a new church here, and the appointment of an evangelical Preacher, there being no necessity for the same. As regards the principal question, inasmuch as the Consistory cannot consider or acknowledge any others than English subjects, residing here, or possibly Swedes, born in England, as entitled to belong to the church in question, the Consistory, in submission to the royal statute of January 4th, 1781, possesses no power to dissuade from a gracious assent to the present humble memorial, requesting that on the specified ground a chapel may be erected and fitted up for public worship: notwithstanding must the Consistory, in accordance with its duty, humbly submit whether your Majesty may not be pleased to attach to said assent the conditions, that, in consideration of the limited number of which, according to the above-mentioned principle, the English congregation shall consist, only one Preacher at a time may be appointed to the same; that the language of divine service may be restricted to the English, and the service itself, in regard to time, to Sundays and holidays; as also, finally, that the Preacher may be prevented from extending his official service, in any respect, to others than such as justly are members of the chapel in question."

When the newspapers, however various in colours in other respects, united in censuring the supposed intolerance of the Consistory, and the want of consistency between the prohibition of the Swedish language in the Methodist chapel, and the silent permission of the same, which for more than ten years had existed, and which was also allowed in the Roman Catholic chapel, the Consistory issued from the press "A Defence of its before-the-Public-censured humble Report in the Question of extended Liberties for the Adherents of the Wesleyan-Methodist Sect in Sweden."+

His Excellency Count Charles De Geer, a wealthy nobleman, who during fourteen years gave the use, rent free, of a saloon in his garden for both the English and Swedish services.-G. S. †The object of this strange pamphlet went further than a mere defence before the public. It was known that the members of the Privy Council were divided on the question; and the Missionary had reason to be assured, by personal communication with the King, (Bernadotte,) that he was averse to the restrictive recommendations of the Consistory. A mighty effort must therefore be made to strike an efficient blow. A rumour got out that the venerable Consistory was, late and early, Sabbath as well as week-day, in conclave concocting a killing weapon. The pamphlet now noticed was with unwonted expedition got ready, and on Wednesday forenoon, May 23d, 1838, a copy sent to

Underneath the oratorically-brilliant surface, the whole warmth of a controversial pamphlet is detected. Merits and faults are awarded the Methodists, the latter with a fuller hand. They are reckoned among enthusiasts. As a contrast for the rejection of adiaphora by the Methodists, it is declared that "dancing, music, the theatre, are innocent enjoyments for the senses, which God has given us to refresh us amid our toils."

This was too much to be endured by the Methodists, and probably even by others who considered the judgment pronounced either too severe, or too light. Scott appeared, therefore, in defence of himself and his, and inserted the opinions of several respected men as to Methodism and himself.

The King's gracious resolution which granted, with certain conditions, the erection of the Methodist chapel, contained no direction as to the language which ought to be used. By the means obtained through the Conference, with trifling, if any, contributions from Swedes, this chapel was now erected, and consecrated the first Sunday in Advent, 1840; singularly enough, with the assistance of Swedish Clergymen, who have also since preached in the same place. This possession, however, was not long in peace. Those newspapers which, as we have just seen, attacked the Consistory, now turned round and assailed Methodism, while over it anathemas had long been thundered from a pulpit in the capital. This latter reminds us of mediæval times, when the Preachers were the proper newsmongers. As early as December 3d, 1839, a member of the city Consistory, Rector Ekdahl, read a memorial against Scott's operations, as infringing on the rights of our Church, and renewed his presentation in respect of certain questions, on March 3d, 1840. The memorial, with the consent of the

author, was allowed for the present to rest. In the position of affairs at the time, any investigation would have been considered persecution, and inspired sympathy. If the investigation failed to secure proof, which was probable, it would be hazardous to resort to it anew, when the occasions for it became greater. During the Diet a motion against the Methodists in Sweden was introduced, which three of the Committees, in a combined report, classed with certain motions against Romanism. When this report was discussed in the Clerical House in the presence of a great number of hearers, those Clergymen belonging to Stockholm who were members of the House declared, that no evidence had appeared that Methodism had trespassed upon the domain of the Swedish Church; the House considered, therefore, that no step ought for the present to be taken. After which the Speaker exhorted to follow Methodism with attention. An occasion of urging this soon

came on.

During the autumn of the same year,
(1841,) Mr. Scott, while on a journey
in North America to collect subscriptions
towards payment of the debt on the
chapel-building, had expressed himself
unfavourably in several places of the
United States in respect to the godliness
and morals of the Swedish people.
Fama crescit eundo. Letters on this

subject were inserted in the newspapers,
and created beforehand enmity against
him ere he had time to defend himself,
which took place on his return in the
pamphlet, "The religious Condition of
Sweden as it has been apprehended, and
in America represented, by George
Scott." We ought not to question but
that he spoke as here reported.
the exception of the error of considering
as swearing many expressions which are
not oaths, the remainder as a humilia-
tion sermon would have been in its place

With

the King, the Crown Prince, and each of the Councillors; but the strictest orders were given that not another copy, on any account, should go out from the printer's that week. The 24th was Ascensionday, strictly observed there; the Council was summoned for the 25th; and the wily calculation was, that this tissue of misrepresentation would so work upon and inflame the minds of the Councillors, that the decision would be given ere a word of explanation could reach them. But the Missionary, as the result of things impossible to be accounted for on ordinary principles, received information that the "Defence was ready, and even got possession of a copy on the forenoon of the 23d. He hurried to the office of the evening newspaper, requesting the insertion of a short advertisement; but was informed that the paper had gone to press. Urging the point, however, and promising any required amount of remuneration, the printing was delayed, and a short notice, characterizing justly the charges against Methodism, and requesting that all whom it might concern would suspend their judgment till the reply, which would be speedily forthcoming, appeared, was inserted, bearing the Missionary's name. This spoiled the plot; the considerate members of the Council declared for delaying a decision till the promised refutation should be in their hands, and from that hour the consistorial snare was broken.-G. S.

*Such expressions, for example, as "Lord God," "God preserve me," 39.66 My Jesus," "The cross of Christ," "Lord Jesus," &c., common in the lips of all parties on the most trivial occa sions, and surely forbidden by our second and third commandment.-G, S.

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