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913 9781993 of LITERARY INTELLIGENCE,

The Encyclopædia Metropolitana, which has been suspended in consequence of the Failure of its late Publisher, has fallen under the Management of new Proprietors, who will publish the fifth Part of that Work on the 1st of January, 1822; and Arrangements have at length been made, which leave no doubt whatever of its being for the future regularly continued.

The Rev. Joshua Marsden has nearly ready for Publication, Forest Musings, or

Delineations of Christian Experience in Verse, to which are prefixed, Sketches of the early Life of the Author, in one small Volume, with a Portrait.

The Rev. Dr. Lloyd, Professor of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin, will shortly publish a Volume of Discourses, chiefly Doctrinal.

Mr. R. Bloomfield, Author of the Farmer's Boy, has in the Press, The May-Day of the Muses.

POLITICAL RETROSPECT.

LITTLE or no alteration has taken place during the last year in the foreign relations of Great Britain, and the events which have occurred in other lands owe their importance either to the interest which those lands excite, or to the future and distant consequences which they are expected to involve.

Our nearest and most powerful neighbour, France, is going on quietly in the path which her govern. ment has chalked out, and seems to be daily less exposed to the danger of any sudden convulsion. The death of Napoleon Buonaparte has naturally tended to tranquillize the fears of the loyal; and to repress the expectations and hopes of the disaffected. His re-appearance in the country would at any time have exposed it to great risk, and in some particular conjunctures, might have unsettled every thing. Persons who had the greatest confidence in the fidelity and vigilance of his keepers, could not help feeling that there was a possibility of his escape, and that no man could tell what extraordinary actions he might still be permitted to perform. All this is now at an end.

The revolutionary party have been deprived of their sheet anchor, and the King congratulates his subjects upon the increasing tranquillity and welfare of his dominions. It is gratifying likewise to observe, that some leading characters among the French are exerting themselves in the cause of religion, and though we cannot feel quite satisfied with

respect to the soundness of their principles, or the practicability of their plans, any movement is preferable to that total stagnation and inactivity which indicates not merely the weakness but the death of the patient. The Protestants are endeavouring to institute societies for education and religious instruction in imitation of those that exist in Great Britain. But we fear the two cases are widely different. The people of France cannot learn to any purpose worth mentioning without discovering the errors and imposture of the Church of Rome, and how liable must they become in this sceptical age to confound the tainted limb with the sound and healthy body, and to reject the essentials, if not the name of the Christian faith, under the title of a genuine Reformation. The only chance that seems to exist of avoiding this rock, is the conversion of their rulers, under whose superintendance Christianity might be pruned of its incumbrances, without being reduced below the Scripture standard. But such an event is more to be desired than expected.

No other continental nation can boast of the same improvement in security and wealth as the French government. The German sovereigns are impeded by heavy debts and small revenues, from which the spirit of their people does not promise to deliver them. The Spaniards are visited by three sore calamities, a weak monarch, a de

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mocratical club, and an infectious fever. The Portuguese are, if possible, in a worse situation, for among them the revolutionary frenzy has pervaded all ranks, and they are rapidly sinking into a state of political childishness, which can only terminate in dissolution. They talk of putting an end to their commercial treaty with England, imagining no doubt that their rich and populous country affords a market for our ma-, nufactures, which it would ruin us to lose. If the consequence should happen to be that the Portuguese are deprived of our market for their wine, and that we become the manufacturers for their revolted colonies, their ingratitude will but experience the fate which it merits, and on the breaking out of the next war between them and the Spaniards the independence of their country will come to an end.

The contests that are carrying on in Greece and in Spanish South America, are the only events which remind us of that din of arms which once sounded so fearfully in our, ears. The latter, according to every appearance, is hastening to a close. After a long period of desultory warfare, marauding chieftains, and starving armies, two men of genius, and we are assured of virtue, have risen to the highest command, Bolivar in the north, and San Martin in the south. The mother country is obviously incapable of coping with them; and we know not what better part can be taken by the friends of humanity than to wish that she should decline the contest. A country which she has misgoverned and plundered for three centuries, and which it is not now in her power

to improve, cannot be delivered too speedily from her yoke.

The Greek insurrection is in a very different state. It is impossible to think of that classic land overrun and oppressed by barbarous tyrants, the enemies of the Christian faith, and of the civilization of the world, without wishing that it was restored to its ancient freedom. But are its inhabitants capable of acquiring or maintaining it? Can they hope to succeed in the present contest without throwing themselves into the arms of Russia? And what effect would this produce but of a mere change of masters? If the Greeks were a moral and industrious people, jealous of their national dignity, accus. tomed to govern themselves, and not quite unprovided with military skill and experience, we should say, let them by all means try their strength. They may gain an important victory; and the Turkish Government is constantly on the brink of a revolution. Could they maintain a defensive war for a few years against the Sultan, as the Dutch did formerly against King Philip, and the Spaniards recently against Napoleon-assistance might then be given to them, not as subjects, but allies-and a fortunate concurrence of circumstances might secure their independence. Now, however, they appear destitute of all means of resistance. There are no symptoms of Russian interference in their favour-other powers will not from prudence go to war with Constantinople, and the Asiatic forces are assembling in prodigious nambers. We cannot look at these melancholy truths and be sanguine in our hopes of Grecian success.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Cler. Gloc., A Norfolk Rector, largos, R. P., and Catholicus, have been received, and are under consideration.

Truth mistakes the meaning of the sentence to which he alludes.
The Report of the Chardstock case shall appear.

A Kentish Curate shall appear.

J. P. contradicts the Articles of the Church of England,

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