Quarterly Report of Farts and Progress.

THE SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS.

THE Conclusion of the war has been marked by "facts and progress "connected with the interesting inquiry into the origin and meaning of the rock inscriptions of Sinai. The journals of the late Captain Thomas Henry Butler, of the 55th regiment, who was killed at Inkermann, have reached England, and are found to contain the results of his observations respecting the elevation and position of these remains of antiquity. Captain Butler, and his brother, the Rev. Pierce Butler, verified the copyings of the Rev. G. F. Gray, made in 1820, and also added a few new tracings and cuts, which have reached their relative, the Rev. Charles Forster, who has lately published their important testimony to the accuracy of Mr. Gray's engravings. We allude to their antiquarian researches for the following reasons.

The origin of the many thousand gravings on the landstone and the granite rocks of the peninsula of Sinai has been the subject of an important controversy. Professors Tuck and Beer suppose them to be of either Pagan or Christian origin; but Mr. Forster, in his "Voice of Israel from the Rocks of Sinai," has contended, with the greatest probability of success, for their Israelitish workmanship. He reads them by means of the old Arabic language, after applying an alphabet of known forms and powers, and using successfully the Arabic lexicons. He finds them to refer to the events recorded in the books of Exodus and Numbers; and although not in the exact language of Scripture, yet containing allusions to the facts and miracles of the Sacred Records. Their number, their inaccessible positions, and their occurrence in the most desolate parts of the peninsula, as well as on the granite surface of Mount Serbâl,—the true Mount Sinai-point to the Israelites as the only people who tarried long enough in these inhospitable valleys to make their inscription possible. They must have required much leisure, length of time, and many hands; and neither Arab pilgrims nor Christian travellers could find the time, nor the sustenance, nor the resources necessary for their production. Their decipherment, too, had been so ably accomplished by Mr. Forster, and had been received with satisfaction by the majority of sound Oriental scholars, that scarcely a reasonable

doubt could remain as to their authorship. Notwithstanding, however, the accumulated evidence of various travellers-as Lord Lindsay and Mr. Bartlett-a late traveller has thrown doubt upon their Hebrew origin. The Rev. Arthur P. Stanley, who has lately published his " Sinai and Palestine,” refers them to Christian pilgrims of the fourth or fifth centuries of our era, and does not consider them either so numerous or so inaccessible as former travellers had represented. His statements have called forth from Mr. Forster a " Letter to Lord Lyndhurst," in which he publishes the accurate measurement of their height, and difficulty of access, made by the two brothers already mentioned; and the facts which he records being the latest news from Sinai, will prove exceedingly interesting to all who desire information on this scriptural subject. They enable us, for instance, to trace the course of the Israelites throughout the whole peninsula. They stretch from the vicinity of Suez, through various well known valleys, viz., Wardan, Sidri, Maghara, Mokatteb, Feiran and Aleyat to the giant granite rock, Mount Serbâl, whose lower part is literally clothed with them. They continue through various valleys towards and around Petra and Mount Hor, quite across the peninsula of Sinai; "but their central site is around Mount Serbâl, the leading avenues to which they throng in innumerable multitudes." This statement alone is a commanding argument; it points to one assignable cause and one particular people.

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Mr. Stanley, although he rejects this supposition, fortunately confirms Mr. Forster's decipherment of a particular inscription in a very remarkable manner. Great difficulty has long been felt respecting the kind of birds denominated quails" in Numbers xi. 31. Various writers have objected to this species of feathered fowl, but have been unable to suggest a correct solution of the difficulty of the passage. Mr. Forster had deciphered three short inscriptions of Professor Beer's, viz., Nos. 46, 47, and 48, and in each of these he had discovered two words which signify "red-legged cranes from the sea." Such birds had been seen in Egypt, but had not been noticed in the desert. Mr. Stanley, however, witnessed a flock of these red-legged, geese-like cranes flying from the sea, inland; and that, too, at the precise spot where the feathered fowls were supplied as food for the Israelites. "The sky," he states, was literally darkened by them." Connecting the Mosaic narrative-the existing inscriptions on the spot-and the observations of Mr. Stanley, we have a singularly beautiful confirmation and explanation of

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an important scriptural miracle, and a lasting testimony of contemporary authority to the truth of the Sacred Records. We deem this kind of testimony peculiarly important in these days, when German Neology is so prevalent among some of the authorised professors at our seats of learning. There is, for instance, a sceptical tone in Mr. Stanley's volume which is exceedingly injurious to sound and sober belief in the narrative of Moses, and we hail the appearance of any confirmation (such as those afforded by Captain Butler and his brother) of the truthful simplicity of the oracles of God. Mr. Forster's "Letter to Lord Lyndhurst" on this subject, is a fresh contribution to sacred literature worthy of attentive perusal; and we feel sure that all who will qualify themselves to pass an opinion on the subject, will derive pleasure and profit from its instructive pages.

THE REFORMATORY MOVEMENT.

THE attention of the public is still directed with renewed zeal towards the reformation of juvenile criminals and the prevention of increasing criminality. The "Reformatory and Refuge Union" have held a meeting in the City of London, and raised funds to the amount of £2000 for the assistance of reformatories and refuges in the metropolis. The leading bankers of the city have sanctioned the movement by subscribing either £100 or £50 each. Another " Union," which devotes itself more especially to the necessary legislation, has held an important meeting at the Law Amendment Society's chambers. M. De Metz has also attended the meetings. Roman Catholics have opened a reformatory at Blyth House, Brook Green, Hammersmith, under the superintendence of the late Archdeacon Manning. Various counties have opened their institutions. The two latest which have received certificates from the Home Secretary of State are, one on the estate of Lord Ward, near Witby Court, Worcestershire, of which the Rev. D. Melville is the general superintendent; another is that at Castle Howard, Yorkshire. We have already noticed the preliminary proceedings: it was opened on the 26th of May with four inmates, under the management of the resident master and chaplain, the Rev. Samuel Fish. As a farm of about thirty-seven acres is attached to this Institution, it will afford every facility for training labour-masters for other and newer establishments. Its affairs are conducted by a Committee, of which the Rev. Canon Harcourt is the Chairman, and the Rev. Thomas

Myers, Vicar of Sheriff Hutton, near Castle Howard, is one of the Honorary Secretaries, and the corresponding member of the Reformatory Unions.

OUR PROSPECTS.

WE can hardly realise as yet the quick transition which we have made from peace to war, and from war to peace; we had barely arrived at the consciousness of war when we found that it had ceased, and we are just as slow in realising the thought of peace, now that, by God's grace, it is restored to us. This, we think, is the true solution of what has appeared to many an enigma-the comparative apathy with which the tidings of peace were received among us. Peace was looked upon as a thing of course, as the normal state of English society, and the necessary consequence of English bravery. There was therefore no very extravagant ebullitions of joy, and no very enthusiastic gratitude to those who had brought it about. The illuminations throughout the country were far from general, and were obviously in most instances mere exhibitions of public spirit. The Government rocket-shows drew together, it is true, vast multitudes, but we cannot suppose that these cared for, or thought of, anything more than the beauty of the fireworks and the ingenuity of their designers. We heard a great deal said about the extravagant sum which was being spent on an hour's amusement, and the recklessness with which lives and limbs were thrown away in producing it; but we heard nothing which could lead us to regard the display as a national thanksgiving for peace, or even, in any sense, as a commemoration of its conclusion.

Another cause tends to somewhat of the same result; the English people were, perhaps, rather willing than otherwise, that the war should have continued for another year or two. They knew the power of the tremendous armament which had been prepared but not employed; they felt confident of the issue of another campaign in the East, when the reign of mismanagement was over, and the strength of our army known; and, above all, there was a natural anxiety to avenge the wrongs of Kars, and to clear the British name from the sneers which continental critics had cast upon it. So that although peace was earnestly hoped for at last, it was not so at the moment when it was signed. The case was different in France; peace was there a political necessity; and, indeed, if it had not been we should have had to wait for it much

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longer. The real peacemaker was the Emperor Napoleon, who could not afford, by throwing away the chance which the Russians held out, to incur the risk of an indefinitely protracted war. And if our Government had to give up several advantages which it might otherwise have obtained, to gratify the political necessities of their ally, we may be assured that the concession will be returned tenfold in the strengthening of the bonds of alliance, and the unfettering of

our commerce.

The peace will, before long, be better appreciated; it was a very honourable one for all who were concerned in it, not less to those who granted, than to those who accepted, it. Both parties had to forbear, otherwise it would not have been lasting; its moderation is our security for its permanence ; and we must congratulate ourselves, that it has performed the true function of a peace so well, by its regard, not so much of what would terminate one war, as of what would prevent another. The fact of the occurrence of the last war must completely have dissipated the wild notions which some men entertained about the possibility of European nations ever again resorting to such a mode of settling their differences. More wars than one are exceedingly probable: the treaty of Paris guaranteed the friendly relations of the contracting powers, but it did not negociate for the rest of the world. We cannot again expect a Russo-Turkish war, or, indeed, that Russia will, if she can help it, ever break with Western Europe while the French Empire exists. But we think that a conflict is inevitable, and that Italy will be the battleground: we do not see how Austria can uphold her present footing there, and at the same time avoid a collision with Sardinia. And there seems to be but little doubt as to the part which England would take in the event of an open rupture, for the Government has long ago given plain intimations of its intentions. It is also rumoured that not improbably we should have Russia for an ally, and that her present dislike of Austria would produce some very decided measures on the side of Poland as well as of Lombardy. At any rate we feel sure that Sardinia will be enabled to extend her empire to Rome; king Victor Emanuel is the only man who has shown himself worthy of ruling the Italian people, and we believe, as we hope, that he will not be long in acquiring the empire at which he aims.

În another direction our prospects are more perplexing: we seem to be in some little danger even yet of a war with the United States, and we cannot look forward to it without some feelings