Christian Remembrancer: Or, The Churchman's Biblical, Ecclesiastical ...

say for the year 1811, on the Clerical Character," their premium of fifty pounds, for the best Essay on "the Necessity of a Church Establishment in a Christian country for the preservation of Christianity, among the people of all ranks and denominations; and the means of exciting and maintaining among its members a spirit of devotion, together with zeal, for the honour, stability, and influence of the Established Church."

WORKS IN THE PRESS.

The first Part of a new Edition, on fine medium Paper, of the Family Bible, edited by the Rev. Dr. D'Oyly and Bishop Mant, and published under the sanction of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, will appear in a few days.

The Rev. Thomas Boys, of Trinity College, Cambridge, has a Volume of Sermons in the Press.

The Works of John Home, Esq. Author of Donglas, with an Account of his Life and Writings. By H. Mackenzie, Esq. In 3 vols. 8vo.

Recollections of a Classical Tour made during the years 1818 and 1819, in Turkey, Greece, and Italy. By P. E. Laurent, Esq. In a quarto volume, with Costumes.

Captain Parry's Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with numerous Charts and other Engravings in a quarto volume, will soon appear.

The Doge of Venice. By Lord Byron. Mr. Burckhardt's Travels in Syria and Mount Sinai. In one volume quarto,

with Maps.

A Second Volume of the Rev. T. Mitchell's Translation of the Comedies of Aristophanes; with numerous illustrative Notes.

Church of England Theology, in a Series of Ten Sermons, separately printed in Manuscript Character, on important Subjects. By the Rev. R. Warner.

PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION.

A History of the Town of Shrewsbury. By the Rev. Hugh Owen, and the Rev. J. Blakeway, of that place, in two quarto volumes, with a Profusion of Antiquarian Illustrations.

The Rev. Robert Stevenson, of Castle Heddingham, has in the press, a small work on the Nature and Importance of the Christian Sabbath, with Hints for its better Observance, and Remarks on the awful Consequence of the Profanation of that Sacred Day.

Mr. Faulkner has issued Proposals for publishing by Subscription a Series of Etchings, illustrative of his History and Antiquities of Kensington, from original Drawings by R. Banks. Comprising every object of Antiquity in that ancient and interesting Parish.

Mr. Cooper has issued Proposals for a new Choral Book, for the Use of the Established Church; containing a Selection of the most valuable and useful Compositions for that Service, by the most celebrated German Composers of the last four hundred years; with a number of choice Melodies, by the best English Masters of the last Century. Among the former will be found nearly forty Tunes by the celebrated Martin Luther, not hitherto published in this Country.

A Chart of the Episcopacy of England and Wales, beginning with the Reign of Henry VIII. The Compartments, viewed horizontally, exhibit the Bishops who flourished in the Reigns of the respective Kings of England; taken vertically, they shew the succession of Bishops in the respective Sees. The dates of the Kings are those of Accession; the dates of the Bishops, as near as may be, those of Consecration. The Martyrs for the Protestant Faith are printed in Capitals: the Seven Bishops sent to the Tower by James II. are distinguished by Italics,

POLITICAL RETROSPECT.

THE Session of Parliament which was expected to be fertile in such variety of uncommon and important events, is passing away with a very unusual degree of tranquillity; and the attention of all parties appears to be directed to ordinary measures of inquiry and legislation. It is not a little singular that after all the dissatisfaction which was supposed to exist upon the subject of the Queen, Ministers have had larger majorities in their favour, upon that question, than upon the other topics which have furnished their opponents with matter of complaint. The explanation of the circumstance seems to have been correctly pointed out in our last Number, viz. that of those who disapproved of the Bill of Pains and Penalties, and consequently assisted in causing it to be withdrawn, the larger portion decidedly condemn the conduct of the Queen, and will not sanction any proceeding which would imply their approbation of it. The people, too, appear to share the same sentiments; for no dissatisfaction has been manifested at the large majorities in the House of Commons, and the agitation which was lately visible has entirely subsided.

If we are to believe the assertions of many respectable individuals, it is otherwise with the agricultural and commercial distress. Complaints and petitions are sent up from all parts of the country, and the assertions which they contain are for the most part corroborated by the testimony of the members who present them. But, in spite of this strong prima facie evidence, we cannot believe that the distress is

as severe or

as general, as many persons have been induced to suppose. The Birmingham petition produced a very strong sensation ; and as far as that town and its immediate vicinity are concerned, we have no doubt that the stagnation of trade, and the consequent embarrassments of the merchant, manufacturer, and mechanic are nearly as overwhelming as they appear upon paper. But the petitioners conceal a fact which must have been known to them, though it has escaped the attention of the public at large, viz. that the trade of Birmingham has repeatedly been threatened with annihilation at times when other parts of the country have continued in a flourishing state. It was thus during the war of the American Revolution; and it was thus also during the last war with America, when the sudden opening of the whole continent of Europe did not compensate the Birmingham manufacturers for the loss of the market of the United States. This market is lost to them at present from a different cause than that of war. The Americans can find no purchasers for their surplus corn, and consequently have no money to pay for Birmingham wares. And if to this we add the cessation of the war demand for arms, and for all the innumerable articles of military equipment with which Birmingham recently furnished at least a million of soldiers, it will be quite certain that the decay and suffering of that important town may be accounted for on other principles than the exces sive pressure of taxation; and it will be absurd to argue upon the extreme case of one district, as if it

were an adequate specimen of the general situation of the country. On the contrary, it is agreed on all hands, that the clothing and cotton manufactories are improving and the increased consumption of excisable articles during the last year, ingenious as have been some of the endeavours to explain away the fact, is a stubborn proof of the increasing prosperity of the people. We can only speak (from our own knowledge) of the metropolis and its vicinity; but of them we can assert, after a very diligent inquiry, and pretty ample means of information, that there never was a winter during which the great body of the labouring classes have suffered less than during the present season. The high rate of profit, and of wages which was obtained during the war, cannot reasonably be expected to return; but there is no dearth of employment, and there is the greatest abundance of provisions, and the people, in spite of all the wiles of the demagogue, are happy and

contented.

The agricultural difficulties are of a more formidable nature. The poor-laws are a dead weight round the neck of the landholders, and no one has the ability or the courage to remove it. Capital employed in agriculture cannot be depreciated less than one-fourth, and in numerous instances this proportion might be doubled. The effect of such an event is too obvious to require explanation; and it is equally evident that the mischief admits of no instantaneous cure. Until the new capital has been produced to replace that which has been sunk by the altered value of our currency, rents will be paid with difficulty, labourers be employed as sparingly as possible, and the farmer will feel uncertain from day to day whether he shall be able to proceed in the cultivation of his land. These evils are serious; and their only cure, even their only alleviation is patience.

If agricultural associations choose to amuse themselves with petitioning the Parliament, they ought not to be denied this harmless though trifling occupation; but if their leading members proceed from complaints to threats, and talk, as in some recent instances, of defrauding the public creditor, and breaking the national faith, they will only demonstrate their own ignorance, rashness, and want of principle, and create a new and dangerous division in the bosom of their country.

Some progress has been made in enforcing the law against libels.Mrs. Carlile, and Hunt the publisher of the Examiner, have been recently convicted; Sir F. Burdett by a lenient sentence, has been sent to prison for three months; and prosecutions have been instituted by the Queen against the Courier and Morning Post, and by a private individual against the Sunday Newspaper called John Bull. This looks well-both parties are beginning to discover that the press may be abused-Government has no longer the slightest excuse for inactivity; and we trust that respectable persons of all parties and opinions will join in one grand effort to punish libellers of every description. By so doing they may at once secure the invaluable blessing of an unrestricted press, and cut off the main source of that irritation and uneasiness which has caused so much alarm during the last four years, and which will be excited again and again, as long as the law winks at the shameful misconduct of the Newspaper scribblers, and the people read and believe their lucubrations. No notice has yet been taken in Parliament of Sunday Newspapers-but it is to be hoped that they will not be permitted to pass uncensured. It has been proposed entirely to prohibit the publication of weekly journals; but we doubt whether this be a proper or a practicable scheme. To prohibit however any publication or any sale on

the Sabbath would be most proper; and we cannot believe that it is impracticable. The Senate seems wisely anxious to support and encourage religion and morality; and if these appearances be not mere pretence, the due observation of the Sabbath should be peremptorily enforced. Some murmuring among Newspaper Editors, and some deficiency in the receipts at the Stampoffice may by possibility ensue. But they are both beneath the attention of Christian legislators; and when we think of the great advantages by which they are counterbalanced, we cannot doubt that the experiment ought to be tried.

Foreign affairs appear to stand precisely where they were a month ago. Spain is full of commotion, and Italy and Germany are full of doubt, and England is wisely resolved to leave them all to themselves. There is a good deal of contradiction in the speeches of the Parliamentary leaders upon both sides, respecting our continental relations. The Opposition tells us that we have lost all weight and influence in Europe, and are little better than the laughing stock of our Imperial and Royal Allies; and in the very same breath, they maintain that if we had interfered in favour of Naples, even by a Manifesto, we might have preserved the independence of that nation against all the bayonets of Austria. The Ministers on the other hand contend that the Holy Alliance has done nothing unjustifiable, or contrary to the established rights of nations; but they admit that it has pursued a course which the consti

tution of England will not tolerate, and in which they never will recommend the Sovereign of England to join. Such are the contradictions which party spirit generates, even in the clearest understandings and purest hearts.

We give an abstract of the population returns in the Colony of New South Wales. It has been published in an Appendix to Governor Macquarie's reply to Mr. Bennett ; and is well worthy of the attention of all who take an interest in the reform of our criminal code. The number of pardoned convicts, will be found very much larger than it was generally supposed to be. The Governor's letter contains several interesting particulars respecting the good conduct of this class of persons. And we shall hereafter present the reader with some extracts from the work. But our reason for alluding to the subject here, is that if so large a proportion of the whole inhabitants of the Colony consist of persons who went out as convicts, and are now settled as freemen, and if this class of the population are on the whole very decently behaved under the insufficient regulations and instruction which have hitherto prevailed among them, there is no reason to despair of the ultimate prosperity of the establishment, and to empty our gaols and flash-houses into the capacious bosom of this new world, will be more likely to improve both them and us, than the schemes which pretend to convert hardened villains in six months, and send them out at the end of that time to plunder their fellow-creatures as before.

A General Statement of the Inhabitants of New South Wales: shewing the Description of Persons, and the Station they reside in, as per General Muster taken by his Excellency Governor Macquarie and Deputy Commissary-General Drennan, commencing the 27th September, and finally ending the 12th November, 1819; with an exact Account of the same at Van Dieman's Land.