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Professor, from his Catholic Brethren, breathe the same spirit.

A Catholic Priest writes;-"Through your kindness, I am at length favoured with 200 New Testaments, which have arrived in good condition; and it will give you pleasure, in return, to hear, that the copies of the duodecimo edition are introduced into my school, and those of the octavo into many private houses. Before three weeks have elapsed, I calculate that every house in my parish will possess a New Testament. Many hearts have already been gladdened by the possession of that Book of Life so long withheld from them; and the consequences which will result from it cannot fail to be most happy."

Another Catholic Priest writes ;"You have afforded the highest gratification, both to my congregation and to myself, by kindly sending us fifty-five New Testaments in small print, and twenty-six on large types; aud my brother clergymen join with me in grateful acknowledgments, for the ninety copies in small print before delivered to them. I was particularly moved by the entreaties of several poor persons in the neighbourhood; who immediately called upon me, as soon as they heard that this Heavenly Book was to be bad.

"Visiting an old man, of eighty years, in his hut, I gave him a copy of the large print. He immediately opened it; and, happening to turn to the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, he read it throughout with spectacles; and then, falling on his knees, fervently praised God for the inestimable gift. I will not pass a day,' said the old man,' without reading in this Book.'

An active distributor of the Catholic Scriptures reports" The demand for the New Testament is so great, that I can scarcely procure a sufficient number of copies. Blessed be God, who excites, preserves, and augments this hunger, in spite of all obstructions of the enemies of the Divine Word! but, bless ed be likewise his Holy Name, that he always procures open hands ready to communicate, and cheerfully to deposit their gifts on the altar of the Lord, that the thousands of hungry souls in all the quarters of the globe may be satisfied !"

Another correspondent bears a similar testimony" A short time ago, I was in a village inhabited partly by Protestants, and partly by Catholics; and, at the house of a sick person, I became acquainted with a little company of Ca

tholic Christians, who were united by a concern for the salvation of their souls, and met together on certain days for mutual edification. On my inquiring whether they were possessed of a Bible, they told me that they had been collecting money at every meeting, in order to buy one. This reply gave me occasion to acquaint them with the kind ofThis commufer which you made me. nication I doubted not would give them pleasure, but my expectations were far exceeded by the reality. They earnestly besought me to assist them in obtaining the Scriptures, and offered me the sum which had been collected.

"On my departure, more than ten Catholics, besides several Protestants, accompanied me to my travelling-chaise, repeating their request. To-day I received a pressing letter, filled with the most earnest entreaty, to send them the Word of God quickly."

CIRCULAR

FROM ROME ΤΟ THE IRISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRELATES.

We insert the following circular, issued under papal authority, to the Roman Ca. tholic Bishops of Ireland, chiefly to shew the great importance of the measures now pursued in that country for the diffusion of education and true religion, as evidenced in the alarm which they have excited in the college of the Vatican. The recommendation in the circular to establish schools for the poor and illiterate, will, we trust, eventually defeat its own object; for the superstitions of Popery have always declined in proportion as the lower classes of society have enjoyed the benefits of education. The proposed schools will not, we fear, admit the Scriptures within their walls; but the very circumstance of their establishment in the bosom of a church whose motto has long been, that "Ignorauce is the mother of Devotion," is of importance as a remarkable feature of the times, and as indicative of the course of policy which the Romish Church begins to find it necessary to pursue.

"Rome, Court of the sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, Sept. 18, 1819. "My Lord-The prediction of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Parable of the Sower, that sowed good seed in his field; but, while people slept, his enemy came, and sowed tares upon the wheat,' Matt. xvi. 24, is, to the very great injury indeed of the Catholic Faith, seen

verified in these our own days, particularly in Ireland. For information has reached the ears of the sacred Congregation, that Bible Schools, supported by the funds of the Catholics, have been established in almost every part of Ire. land, in which, under the pretence of charity, the inexperienced of both sexes, but particularly peasants and paupers,

will, with unbounded zeal, endeavour to prevent the wheat from being choaked by the tares, I pray the all-good and omnipotent God to guard and preserve you safe many years-Your lordship's most obedient humble servant,

"F. CARDINAL FONTANA, Prefect. C. M. PEDICINI, Secretary."

OF VICE.

are allured by the blandishments, and SOCIETY FOR THE SUPPRESSION even gifts of the masters, and infected with the fatal poison of depraved doctrines. It is further stated, that the directors of these schools are, generally speaking, Methodists, who introduce Bibles, translated into English by the Bible Society,' and abounding in errors; with the sole view of seducing the youth, and entirely eradicating from their minds the truths of the orthodox faith.

"Under these circumstances, your lordship already perceives with what solicitude and attention pastors are bound to watch and carefully protect their flock from the snares of wolves, who come in the clothing of sheep.' If the pastors sleep, the enemy will quick ly creep in by stealth, and sow the tares: soon will the tares be seen growing among the wheat, and choak it.

"Every possible exertion must, therefore, be made to keep the youth away from these destructive schools; to warn parents against suffering their children, on any account whatever, to be led into error. But, for the purpose of escaping the 'snares' of the adversaries, no plan seems more appropriate than that of establishing schools, wherein salutary instructions may be imparted to paupers and illiterate country persons.

"In the name, then, of the bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ, we exhort and beseech your lordship to guard your flock with diligence and all due discre tion from those who are in the habit of thrusting themselves insidiously into the fold of Christ, in order thereby to lead the unwary sheep astray: and mindful of the forewarning of Peter the Apostle, given in these words, namely There shall be also lying masters among you, who shall bring in sects of perdition.' (2 Pet. ii. 1.) do you labour with all your might, to keep the orthodox youth from being corrupted by them-an object which will, I hope, be easily effected by the establishing of Catholic schools throughout your diocese. And, confidently trusting, that in a matter of such vast importance, your lordship

The Committee state, that within the last four years they have been compelled, in order to preserve the public morals from contamination, to institute no less than eighty-five prosecutions against offenders of various descriptions, all of which have led to convic. tion, or to recognisances by the respective parties, that must prevent the repetition of similar crimes. They have checked the sale of toys and snuffboxes, with abominable devices, which were imported in immense quantities from France and other countries. They have caused the whole stock in trade of some of the most shameless and abandoned traffickers in obscene books and prints, amounting to some thousands, to be seized, and have also destroyed no less than fifty expensive copperplates, from which impressions of the latter were from time to time supplièd: and, lastly, they have brought to condign punishment that most audacious offender, Carlile; who, notwithstanding repeated indictments found against him, still persisted in selling works of the foulest sedition, and the most horrible blasphemy, that ever disgraced a free press, or outraged the principles and feelings of the British public.

The necessary expenses attendant on these measures have greatly exhausted the funds of the Society; but the Committee appeal, with confidence of success, to every man for assistance and support, who acknowledges the blessings of our holy religion, and who, as a Christian, a patriot, or a father, wishes to preserve the morals of "the sons and daughters of our envied isle" from that secret corruption, which poisons the purest sources of domestic happiness, and which the laws, in their ordinary administration, cannot reach.

Our readers are already aware that subscriptions and donations are received by the treasurer, Henry Hoare, Esq., 37, Fleet-street; and by the secretary, Mr.George Prichard, 31, Essexstreet, Strand.

SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF POOR PIOUS CLERGYMEN. The following are a few extracts from the letters received by the Society in the course of the last year. They afford ample proof of the necessity and utility of the institution.

1. "I am curate of containing about two thousand persons, and about eight hundred attend Divine service; many of whom seem to be established in grace and sound doctrine....My salary is no more than fifty-two pounds per annum. I have a wife and four children, the eldest of which is nine years old; and they are dependent on me for support and clothing. I likewise beg leave to state, that within the last two years my family have been so reduced as to be forced to seek the aid of the parish....I am in debt to several persons, making in the whole a considerable sum. There is no house to my chapel; and having no furniture, I am under the necessity of living in furnished apartments. I have no private property of any kind whatever; and if the excellent society can do any thing for me, it will be most gratefully received."

...

2." I have a wife and nine children; eight dependent upon me, and a curacy of fifty pounds per annum. I lost, last May, three head of cattle, value 201. and upwards, and I have paid another 201. for corn, to support my family. I cannot but admire the Lord's great care of me at that pinching period; and bowed down with urgeut necessities, I can testify, from grateful experience, that I have been repeatedly extricated out of my difficulties, and my gloomy prospects have been dissipated by the beneficent and charitable aid of your benevolent society."

3. "Having been kindly advised to state my circumstances for the consideration of the Committee of your very important institution, I beg to send you the answers required....My total income is twenty-five pounds per annum. I have no other certain or occasional source. I have a wife and one child; but owing to my contracted circumstances, I have not been able to do any thing for them for the last four months; and, much to my regret, Mrs. - has been obliged to be with her own friends. We have a congregation of from five to six hundred at one church, aud from four to five hundred at the other. The sacrament is administered eight times in the year. It is in contemplation to build a national school, which I have no doubt will be effected. We have a charity school and a Sunday school of about two hundred children.”

4." My whole income from the church is only twenty pounds per annum,with the surplice fees, which do not amount to five pounds per annum.....I have no other

income but the donations I receive from Messrs.

and

-'s benefactions. I have a wife and six children, four of whom are dependent upon me for support....If the worthy Committee should be pleased to grant my petition, and afford their kind assistance, great will be the consolation to me and my poor family; and I hope the help will be applied to the furtherance of the cause of Him, who' though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.'

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5. "I am the curate of for each of which I receive a salary of sixty pounds, and I have no other source. of income. It was my intention to es tablish a school; but I am now precluded from that by a most melancholy circumstance. My dear wife is now in a very distressing state......she is a most pitiable object....My family consists of six besides myself. I have to keep a horse, and pay about fifteen pounds per annum for taxes. Thus I am in great affliction, and I really know not how to go on any longer, without apply ing for the kind assistance of your benevolent society. I have in general large congregations, considering the size of the parishes. Most of the people appear glad to hear the preaching of the Gospel; but I fear there are but few who are seriously affected by it. I have two Sunday schools, which I superin tend, and I hope some good is doing among the children."

6. "I beg leave to apply to the Society, and to state that I am at presentin very distressed circumstances. I have a growing family; and though, together with the discharge of my parish duties, I teach the parish school, in order to procure a subsistence, the whole produce of my earnings does not exceed sixty pounds....I have a wife and four children. The congregation consists of about 400, and the communicants ́are 200."

7. "Having been appointed to the cu-year....I am much distressed as to my racy of -, stipend fifty pounds a temporal circumstances. I have a wife and four children, who are totally dependent on me for their maintenance; and if it is the will of my gracious Father to enablé me, I should be particularly happy giving the two eldest a little country education. I have a twelvemonths' rent unpaid, which is ten pounds, and my landlord insists upon immediate payment; but I am at a loss to know solemnly assure you, I have all my life where to turn my dejected face....I observed the strictest economy; and that should you condescend to vote me a small relief, I shall endeavour to use it to the glory of God, and the comfort of my poor family."

VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

FOREIGN.

THE calamitous occurrences of the last month have come so thickly upon us, as to preclude more than a transient mention.

France is again threatened with some of the troubles from which, we had hoped, she was beginning to emerge. The duke de Berri, the nephew of the king and heir presumptive to the throne, was assassinated on leaving the Opera-house on Sunday (Sunday!) the 13th February. The motives which led to this inhuman deed are not yet very clearly ascertained. The assassin at first persisted in asserting that he had no accomplices in his crime; and that the deed was prompted by his own personal hatred of the Bourbon race, for the injuries they had inflicted on France, and his desire to rid France of their yoke. Subsequent examinations have, however, given reason for apprehending that this assassination may have been the effect of an extensive plot. Nothing certain, however, is known on the subject. In the mean time, the count de Cazes, the prime minister of France, has been assailed with such vehemence by what is called the ultra royalist party, as having, by his line of policy, paved the way for this assassination, that he has been induced to withdraw from office. He had been confined to his house, for some time, by serious indisposition; and this is assigned, in the royal ordonnance, as the cause of his resignation, although there is little doubt that this is only the ostensible motive. The king, how ever, in order to testify his own unabated confidence in this minister, has created him a duke, and has appointed him ambassador to England to bear the condolence of the French king, on the death of George III. in the room of the duke de Richelieu, who had been charged with this mission, but who is now appointed to the post of prime minister, vacated by M. de Cazes. We cannot pretend to disentangle the present maze of French politics, or assign motives either for the ministerial changes which are taking place, or for the sad catastrophe which appears more immediately to have led to them. Time will, doubtless, throw light on both. In the mean time, laws have been proposed for placing the periodical press under more severe restraints, under an idea

that its excessive freedom has brought about the late calamity; and for altering the present mode of electing the chamber of deputies, so as to render it! somewhat more aristocratical in its texture.

Though nearly a month has elapsed since the arrival of the intelligence of an extensive insurrectionary movement in the Spanish army collected at Cadiz, with a view to its embarkation for South America, we are still without any authentic details respecting the state and progress of the insurrection. Every avenue of intelligence appears to have been carefully blocked up by the vigilance of the Spanish government. The insurrection, however, is certainly very formidable, though, as yet, it seems to have been entirely military, and to have embraced a part only, though, without doubt, a very considerable part, of the army. royalist force has been drawn together under General Freyer, and is said to have approached the insurgent army" now stationed-their friends say en trenched, their enemies blockaded-in the Isle de Leon, a short distance from Cadiz. Whatever may be the issue of these movements, as it respects the parties immediately engaged in them, we may confidently predict very beneficial effects to arise from them to the cause of South American Independency.

DOMESTIC.

A

We now turn homewards, not to announce what all our readers full well know, but to lament with them over the tomb of our revered Sovereign, who resigned his earthly crown, we trust, for a crown of righteousness and eternal glory, at thirty-five minutes past eight in the evening of January 29, 1820. The occurrence had been long anticipated, and, under all the circumstances of the case, was, to himself at least, we would trust, a really "happy release." The circumstance of the Duke of Kent lying dead at the time, added greatly to the general sympathy.-Truly death has reaped a fearful harvest within our palaces! No age, no sex has escaped. The Princess Charlotte, in the bloom of youth, two royal infants, the Duke of Kent in the vigour of unexhausted manhood, and our revered King and Queen in the feebleness of old age, have all been swept away within little more than two years; and have left

a lesson which we trust may not speedily be forgotten,of the uncertainty of all human expectations, the impotence of rank, the vanity of riches, the precariousness of youth and health, the feebleness of manhood, and the importance, to all classes and all ages, of preparing to meet their God, and making the salvation of their soul their chief object of anxiety in this fleeting and probationary world.

The close of one reign, and the commencement of another, seem naturally to invite us to consider the Divine claims on our gratitude for the past, and to reflect upon some of the lessons which it becomes us to learn

for the future.

With regard to the former of these points, we are inclined to place in the foremost ground the personal character of our late revered monarch. In every country, the character of the Sovereign moulds, to a considerable extent, that of the people; and it is impossible that the late king could have swayed the sceptre of these realms for nearly sixty years, during which period he saw two successive generations grow up around him, emulous to obtain his favour, and to imitate his example, without having, to a considerable extent, given a tone to the opinions and manners of the age. A variety of anecdotes have been fondly related, to illustrate his virtuous qualities. We shall not think it necessary to transcribe these at present, especially as, by means of the newspapers, they are now very generally known throughout the kingdom. It is pleasing to observe, that most of these traits of personal history have reflected credit on his moral and religious character; and the anxiety with which they have been collected, and the avidity with which they have been perused, at once mark the moral feeling of the country, and prove it to be the true policy, if there were no higher obligation, of a British Sovereign to cultivate habits of Christian piety and virtue. It will long be remembered, to the praise of our deceased Monarch, and for the edification of posterity, that one feature which particularly endeared him to his subjects, and which has called forth so widely their eulogies and their regrets, was his attention to the external duties of religion.

The late King was not one of those characters who will shine emblazoned in the page of history for exploits of arms or projects of ambition. His

was a milder radiance than that of the conqueror. He peculiarly excelled in the virtues which have been considered as characterizing a British gentleman. His affection and virtuous anxiety as a father; his tenderness and fidelity as a husband; his temperance in the gratifications of the table; his abstinence from the giddy dissipations of a court; his punctuality and dispatch in all affairs of business; his exemplary regularity in his hours and his habits; these and other equally valuable, though unostentatious, qualities, have been often and justly eulogized. His amusements were as simple as those of a private individual: he asked for no expensive gratifications, and much less did he copy the evil example which prevailed at some of the courts of Europe at his accession, and which ultimately led the way for the downfal of a neighbouring kingdom. Music, agriculture, and active exercise, were his favourite recreations; and he appears never to have been more happy than when unbending from the cares of state in the domestic repose of his family. That he was not deficient in personal courage was proved on numerous occasions, particularly when attempts were made to take his life. His inflexible conscientiousness of principle, led him more than once to oppose, and with success, the earnest solicitations of his advisers, when he thought that their plans interfered with the welfare of his subjects, or his own oath and duty as king. Yet no man bore his faculties more meekly, and his humility and condescension endeared him to all with whom he had occasion to converse. As he was conscientious himself, he respected the rights of conscience in others; and was remarkable for his laudable anxiety to maintain the civil and religious privileges of his subjects. He adhered faithfully to his pledge that no person in his dominions should suffer persecution for conscience' sake. Though a warm advocate for the Established Church himself, he lived and died beloved by his Dissenting and Roman Catholic subjects not less than by the members of his own church; and, by his example and conduct, he doubtless had a great share in maintaining a degree of comparative pacification among different religious sects; previously, perhaps, unknown in this country. He was a truly patriot king: his love for his country was conspicuous in all his conduct, public

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