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Unhappily there are classes and districts of the kingdom which have not so fully partaken of the general prosperity, but this is a drawback we reserve for special notice, and shall at present direct attention to the auxiÎiary aid afforded by increasing riches in the further reduction of the charge of the public debt.

As national wealth increased, the interest of money declined, and this declension has formed the sole fulcrum by which the dividends of the public creditor have been brought down. Capital increasing in amount, the profit to be realized from its em. ployment in agriculture and commerce became less. Other objects were sought; the state of the funds

was inquired into, and these appear ing the most eligible investment, competition increased in that direction. Buyers of stock became more numerous than sellers, so that the stocks of the higher denomination rose above par. Of this favourable aspect in the state of the money-market, successive Chancellors of the Exchequer have availed thsmselves; and, by offering to the holders of the Navy Fives, and other high-priced securities, the alternative either of an abatement of interest, or the acceptance of the principal, have effected all the reductions that have been made in the charge of the debt. In this way have been accomplished the subjoined abatements:

In 1822 the Navy Five per Cents. were reduced to four per cent., effecting a saving of

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In 1826, Four per Cents. reduced to 31. 10s.; saving
In 1830, Four per Cents. ditto; saving
In 1834, Four per Cents. ditto; ditto
In 1844, Three-and-a-Half per Cents. reduced to 31. 5s. ; saving

So that an annual saving of nearly three millions has been made in the charge of the debt, and to such reductions there is no assignable limit. If peace continue, and, as the natural consequence, referring from the past, the wealth of the country continue to augment, it is impossible to foresee the minimum rate to which the interest of money may be reduced. It may fall to three, two, one, or even a half or a quarter per cent. would not the present or future Chancellors of the Exchequer take advantage of these favourable junctures? Assuredly they would. That great mass of stock, the Three per Cent. Consolidated annuities amounting to £337,166,317, would rise above par, and might be reduced to two

But

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£1,197,022 350,597 755,110

53,116 630,000

£2,985,845

and-a-half per cent. As the times continued to improve, and riches to flow in, the operation might be repeated, till by successive abatements, the general interest of the debt was reduced to one, or a quarter per cent., or virtually extinguished.

In this way, by the mere prolongation of peace, with its attendant adjuncts, might this great national incumbrance be paid off; or, what to the community would be equivalent relief, the dividends brought down almost to zero, leaving, undoubtedly, the public creditors ostensibly not in so favourable a pecuniary position, but richly compensated by the general joy around them, occasioned by universal abundance, contentment, and low prices.

NATIONAL PROSPERITY.
From the St. James's Chronicle.

Thanks to the Giver of all Good, the whole of our political horizon scarcely presents a cloud, save one or two slight specks that are rapidly diminishing in distance, and upon the very verge of sinking altogether

from our view. Peace abroad, established upon principles of reciprocal good-will that afforded the best pledge for its permanent continuance-peace at home, resting upon a basis no less firm the real substan

tial union, and concurrence in the same honourable pursuits of industry of all classes of the people.

Diminished crime, to be for the first time noticed in the records of a nation advancing in population, and material wealth, and in refinement. Improved education.

Commercial prosperity unexampled.

Financial prosperity never exceeded.

The disturbing influences that threatened disorder or evil the Re. peal Association, the Anti-Corn-Law League, the Tractarian Heresy-all, if not extinct, staggering under the death-blow.

The

Under such happy auspices opens the year which commenced yesterday. Have we not, as a nation and as individuals, a solemn duty to pour out our hearts in thankfulness to Him to whom all this is due? Have we not new cause to cherish the religious duty of hope-additional reason to abhor the sins of "fearfulness and unbelief?" The history of the last few years tells as plainly as if the truth were written in characters of light, that our confidence in the mercy of our Creator, and in the practicability of improving the moral and material condition of our fellow-creatures, ought to be unbounded. numerical diminution of detected crimes in the last year-a diminution absolutely considerable, but much more considerable when we take it into account that every day adds to the amount and efficiency of the means by which crimes are detected -this single testimony to the change in our social state, proves all that we claim to have conceded; proves, that if only the legislature, the executive, and the more affluent classes of the nation do their duty, the people may be indefinitely elevated in the moral scale. The legislature, the executive, and the affluent classes have begun the work, and they are already witnesses to its great success; the current of crime, which from the beginning up to the present time had been increasing, has been effectually checked, has been even made to retrograde. Is not this the highest of encouragements to persevere? The

legislature, the executive, and the affluent, thus encouraged, are persevering, and, under the providence of Him who has prompted them so far, they will persevere. They have made the discovery— -a discovery, alas! too long concealed or neglected, that the character of the humble class of Englishmen comprises all the elements of goodness that can be found in human nature, and comprises them probably in richer abundance than they can be found in any other order of mankind. Our people are naturally patient, laborious, enterprising, firm lovers of truth, just, grateful, affectionate, merciful, and with the strongest tendency to religious feeling. These are the materials upon which those who wield the power of the community, whether they are in public or in private stations (and immeasurably the greater portion of that power is in private hands) have to deal; and, for the result, they who have the power owe a heavy responsibility here and hereafter.

It is, indeed, the most gratifying of all the signs of the times, that men are coming to acknowledge that responsibility, and to act upon it, and that in defiance of the rebuke of the enemies of the poor-such diabolical anomalies exist in men who would keep down the wages of labour upon principle. In defiance, too, of the sneers of the professional fault-finders -the " many who have pleasure in vanity, and seek after leasing, and say, Who will show us any good?" -in defiance of all these, we see men rising on every side, and devoting their time and talents, "giving of their substance," to promote the moral and physical improvement of the condition of our humbler countrymen, while we rejoice to see the bright example of the Sovereign, and the anxious care of her ministers, freely given to assist in the sacred work. Much has been already done for the education of the young in schools, and of the adult in churches, and much more will be done; but as one useful discovery always leads to another as one work of mercy is sure to open the way to a second, it has been found that a formidable obstacle to education, whether infant

or adult, presents itself in what is otherwise a source of cruel suffering to the poor, and a frightful source of danger to all the want of domestic accommodation suited to human beings, suited to any creatures above the beasts that perish-indeed, a man "merciful to his beast" would not lodge the animal, as some of our countrymen and country women are lodged, in styes, and garrets, and cellars. This is one great, and, indeed, the only remaining obstacle to that progress of education, the end of which presents a prospect so glorious. But the domestic condition is the root of the man, and if you fix a man in a pig-sty shed, or in the worse styes of St. Giles, because saturated with moral as well as physical filth, you will in vain hope to educate him or his children. As well hope to gather fruit from a tree planted in the cinder-heap, because you water and prune it, as for moral improve. ment from the utmost efforts of education employed upon the occupants of pig-stye sheds, or foul cellars and garrets.

It is an occasion of no small pride to us that the St. James's Chronicle was the first publicly to proclaim this last great discovery in the political statistics of humanity-others of more influence, we rejoice to say, have not

disdained to follow up the discovery, by the commencement of a practical remedy, and have ascertained that the mighty social revolution which is to ameliorate the condition of millions, which is to demand no sacrifice from any one, will, after the expense of the first experiment, cost less than nothing. The phrase is a strange one, but it conveys the truth, for that which must yield a large profit, as the proposed plan of comprehensive building for the poor must yield one-truly costs less than nothing.

In congratulating our readers upon the glorious auspices under which the year opens, we have been unconsciously led, by our hasty glance at the causes of the prosperity in which we all rejoice, to the principal, if not the only remaining work to be accomplished, by that noble spirit of benevolence to which we owe so much, and to which the richest duke in the empire is not less indebted for his share in the general happiness, than the poorest labourer or artisan who has been rescued from mendicancy.

To those who take the enlarged view of society, it must be manifest that the prevailing spirit of benevolence is even more profitable in its general effect to the rich than to the poor.

PROTESTANT MINSTRELSY,

(For the Christian Guardian.)

No. I.

THE FAITH OF ENGLAND.

Who hath said, that the faith we have held until now,
Is as cold as the snow on a bleak mountain brow?
Who hath spurned it as sapless, and fruitless, and dead,
Like the branch that the axe of the woodman hath shred?

Who hath said, it is dim as the wild fires that glide
Througn the shadows of night, by a dark river side?
Who hath deemed it as false, as the fables of old,
In the ears of the nations, so cunningly told?

Was it false, when it girded the fearful and weak
'Neath the billows, a pearl that is priceless to seek?
Was it dim, when it streamed through the thick convent wall,
And the soul of the captive brake loose from the thrall?

Was it lifeless, when thousands were stirred by its breath,
To be strong in the battle, and steadfast in death?
Was it cold, when it quickened on England's wide hearth
Living embers that burn in far isles of the earth?

When the daughter of nobles went forth from her door,
In the chill stormy night like a child of the poor?
When the voices of children grew earnest and loud,
As they uttered the truth in the ears of the proud?

When their limbs like the boughs of the forest were hewn,
And their ashes like dust on the whirlwind were strewn ?
When the sword was unsheathed, and the furnace was hot,
Yet they struggled with evil, and suffered it not?

No, our faith was alive in the ages gone by,

When the feeble grew mighty to strive and to die.

Do they dream it would fail us again at our need,

Though the victims were bound, though the victims should bleed?

There is calm in the valley, and calm on the hill, (Ere a tempest is loosened, the forests grow still.) But the faith is not dead, if it sleepeth awhile,

That hath kindled the hearts of our bleak northern isle.

We will gather in thousands, and stand as men stood
When the streets of our fathers were reddened with blood;
And the thoughts that are quenchless, the words that are flame,
Shall be known in all lands that have uttered our name.

For our God will be with us, His Spirit will guide,
He who died for His people will stand at our side:
Men may crush the frail bodies He fashioned of dust,
But His truth shall prevail, and His truth is our trust.
And the banner of Christ that hath never been rent
By the storms that for ages their malice have spent,
Shall be spread on the winds without blemish or stain,
That the earth may be holy and happy again.

Yes, the truth we have cherished, shall kingdoms rejoice,
When the angel of wrath hath uplifted his voice,
As a gem in the hands of all nations shall be,

When the mill-stone hath sunk in the depths of the sea.

*

THE PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL.

(For the Christian Guardian.)

We ask thee, Prayer, Whence comest thou,
And whither dost thou go;

What beams of glory trace thy brow,
From thy blest course below?

* Rev. xviii. 21.

Έλενη.

From every land a fragment gleaned
Is gathered in thy train;

From every land a gem redeemed
Doth link thy golden chain.

The swarthy Negro, 'neath his palm,
Unheard by all, save One,

Lisps, stammeringly, his Saviour's name,
And claims him for his own.

Hard by the Ganges' rolling tide,
The Hindu kneels him there-
No other form its plain beside-
And lifts his evening prayer.

The base of Roa's flowery steep
Lists to the wild bee's air,
Come mingling with the accents deep
Of one low murmured prayer.

Far, where the North's blue icebergs crowd,
The savage bends his knee,
Shiv'ring within his wigwam rude,

And asks for grace from thee.

The red-skinned Indian lights his fire
Beside the prairie-wood;

Prays for Christ's peace, where erst his sire
Lived, fought, and died for blood.

Singly they speed-the wants of one,
Th' effusions of one soul,
Not singly heard, nor singly known,
They reach their heavenly goal.

All indivisible, united, one,

Though spake by differing tongues
And differing tribes, remote, alone,
Each now to each belongs.

Faith binds them in communion sweet,
One vast assemblage there;

The golden censer's smoke they meet,
The angel's offered prayer.

Oh! may we have that prayer of faith,
Telling our wants to Thee;
Though uttered lonely, on the earth,
In lowly secresy.

United will they rise above,

And wend their way to God;

Made worthy through a Saviour's love,
And hallowed by his blood.

N. J. M.

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