able opportunities for putting these different publications into extensive circulation, through the medium of judicious friends and correspondents abroad. The number of the copies of the New Testament thus sent into various parts of the globe has been about 5000; of the Hebrew Prophets above 2000; and of tracts and other smailer publications a much larger proportion. The Committee have continued to receive encouraging testimonies to the seasonableness and utility of their labours. Professor Van Ess thus writes: "Be pleased to express to the respectable' Society for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, my heartfelt gratitude for the hundred copies of the Hebrew Testament, which I lately received from the British and Foreign Bible Society. These Testaments are eagerly read by those Jews who understand Hebrew, and many of them are in the habit of attending my sermons. Whenever the New Testament in Hebrew German characters shall appear, I wish to receive a considerable number of copies, for they will be still more eagerly read than the former, and will operate more effectually upon the Jews at large. Be kind enough to send me the continuation of the Reports of your Society. How gloriously does all unite together in this remarkable day towards the appearance and the kingdom of our Lord, when there will be one fold and one Shepherd!" With regard to the readiness of the Polish Jews to receive Christian instruction, satisfactory evidence was adduced in the last Report, from the correspond. ence of Mr. Way, Dr. Pinkerton, and Mr. Solomon. Their testimony has since been corroborated by that of Mr. Moritz, a converted Jew, who has for some time past been employed by the Emperor of Russia to travel through his dominions for the purpose of circulating Hebrew New Testaments and tracts amongst the Jewish people. The Jews frequently came to him in a body, or solicited his attendance at their synagogues and places of learned resort, inviting discussion on the principal questions at issue between Christians and themselves. "Great numbers," says Mr. Moritz, came to my lodging, and this gave me an opportunity to sow the seed of truth, as also to distribute some Testaments and Tracts; many of their Rabbins visited me."-" One morning, several learned Jews came to me, who asked me many serious questions about the truth of Christianity. They made no objection to my remarks, desiring me to give them a few New Testaments and some tracts, which they would diligently peruse, to see if these things be so." This occurred at Sklov, where there are nearly 10.000 Jews, and which is regarded by them as their Jerusalem in their captivity. At Minsk, where there are at least 12,000 Jews, Mr. Moritz was visited by nearly all the Jewish school-masters, and by several thousands of Jews. At their request, he preached to about 400 of them, among whom were the elders of the 86 synagogue. I was much pleased," Mr. Moritz adds, "with the serious attention they paid to the word, and the perfect silence they observed during my speech, which lasted nearly two hours. Many came afterwards to me, to converse with me on what they had heard" "In the town of Nieswitch, where about 3,000 Jews live, they flocked in crowds to my lodging, when I distri buted a good number of tracts, and a few New Testaments among them. With some of them I had very serious conversation, and have the best hope, that three young men who have three evenings together visited me, have been pierced to the heart. They promised to pray to God for light and direction, and if they could feel convinced, they would profess the truth. An old Rabbin came twenty-eight versts, on purpose, as he said, to have some conversation with me, and staid three hours with me; and, at parting, he requested me to give him a New Testament and some tracts, which I gladly did; after which he took an affectionate farewel of me. In Grodno live about 12,000 Jews, of whom great numbers came to my lodging; and besides them, I was also visited by Jews from nearly thirty different towns in Poland, who all wished to have books my thirty Testaments and six hundred tracts were gone in a few days. These Jews in the provinces promised not only to read the books themselves, but to circulate the reading of them as far as possible.", At Wilna, which contains 45,000 Jews, Mr. Moritz adds: "Many respectable and clever young Jews confessed to me in this town, that I was in the right in many points; and therefore they shall consider what I have said more earnestly, and begin to search the Scripture more closely; and if they can become convinced of the truth, as I have stated it to them, they will not hesitate to embrace it. Many young men came and stated to me that they are convinced, from the reading of the New Testament, that Christ is the true Messiah, and that they are inclined to embrace Christianity." Other incidents illustrative of the growing attention of the Jews to Christianity, might be atlduced from Mr. Moritz's journal; and to his testimony respecting the Polish Jews, may be added that of Mr. Elsner, Secretary of the Prussian Bible Society at Berlin, concerning those of some other countries Having detailed their own views of the inducements to exertion afforded by the present state of the Jews in various places, the Committee state, that similar views are beginning to actuate other Christian communities. The Edinburgh Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews has lately published an Address to the Public, in which it an. nounces, "That it is about to establish a Mission on the continent of Europe, and has already engaged two young men, well recommended for piety, who are to go forth among the Jews." Mrs. Hannah Adams, corresponding Secretary to the Boston Society, informs the Committee, "That the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions have lately ordained Messrs. Parsons and Fisk, young men of piety and talents, in order to send them to preach the Gospel to the Jews in Palestine." We shall only add, what we have often repeated, that we earnestly pray for the blessing of God on the efforts of this institution. CONSISTORIAL COURT AT CALCUTTA. This court was announced by public advertisement, dated Sept. 8, 1819, under the title of "The Consistory Court within and for the Archdeaconry of Calcutta, in the Diocese of Calcutta." The Bishop's address, on opening the court, contains so much information on a subject not very generally understood, that we shall extract the principal passages. "It may be expected," said his lordship," that something should be said as to the nature and extent of its jurisdiction, and in reference to the objects to which its attention will be especially directed and it is the more important that the court should declare itself generally on these points, as they can hardly be presumed, in the circum CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 223. stances of this country, to be well understood. "Much controversy has arisen since the days of the Reformation, as to the origin and limits of ecclesiastical jurisdiction: and even before that period, as is evident from various passages of our national history, the question was sometimes brought into discussion, in consequence of the inordinate claims of the Romish pontiffs. With any thing which occurred previously to the legal establishment of the Protestant Church of England we are not now concerned. Its bishops hold their jurisdiction upon principles recognised by a Protestant legislature, and upon no other. The office of the consecration of bishops has been confirmed, with the Book of Common Prayer, in four several Acts of Parliament; and in that formulary, every bishop is required to promise, that by the help of God, he will maintain and set forward, as much as shall lie in him, quietness, love, and peace, among all men; and such as be unquiet, disobedient, and criminous, within his diocese, he will correct and punish, according to such authority as he hath by God's word, and as to him shall be committed by the ordinance of the realm.' This language strongly marks the moderation and the abhorrence of extremes, which characterize our national church. It claims not with the Romanists a divine right for all the authority with which its governors are invested; nor does it admit with those abettors of Independency, that spiritnal authority, as exercised in our church, has no sauction whatever from the word of God. We do, however, acknowledge, and it is our duty to maintain, that the king is on earth the supreme head of the church; nor has spiritual authority, considered in itself, any efficacy in the restraint of disorder, except where it is acknowledged to bind the conscience: it has nothing external and coercive; it has no temporal and legal effect: it cannot proceed in form of law, but with the consent and sanction of the sovereign; and in this sense ecclesiastical courts are the king's courts, though not of the number of those which are so denominated. "It is under this authority, and by an ordinance of the realm, that the court which has been now established, assembles to exercise jurisdiction, and claims obedience to its decrees. It is bound to administer the ecclesiastical law of the 3 R realm of England as applicable to these objects, whether that law be found in the ecclesiastical customs and immemorial usages, which have been denominated the common law of the church; in the canons, which are ecclesiastical enactments, made obligatory by royal authority; or in the statute-book, in which much is contained, having a direct reference to causes which are of such a character as fully to come before this court. "It will now be proper to state, of what nature these canses will principally be. From a great part of the business incident to the consistory courts in England, this court is altogether relieved by the extensive jurisdiction granted by his Majesty's charter of justice to the supreme court of judicature at Calcutta. The causes here proceeded in will be causes of correction: and the most important of these, it is appre hended, will relate to the clergy. In this view of the subject, it is exceeding ly to be desired, that the jurisdiction of the court may seldom be called into actual exercise: it were too much, indeed, to expect that its interference should never be requisite in this depart ment of its functions; but to further an object, of which the accomplishment is so earnestly to be wished, it may be useful to point out some of those more prominent and probable occasions, on which the court may be required to interpose its authority." His lordship first mentions negligence in registering baptisms. "But independently," he adds, "of this negligence, there has been in some instances a misconception of what is requisite to give to the register the validity of an original document; I mean, the actual signature of the clergyman by whom the ministra tion was performed. It seems to have been supposed, that a memorandum might be copied into the station-register by some other than the officiating minister, and signed by the transcriber. The canon and the statute are both express upon this head. The half-yearly returns must also be punctually made to the registrar for the purpose of being recorded in the registry of the arch deaconry, and transmitted through the government to England. "Another point on which it may be proper to remark, is the obligation which binds every clergyman not merely to use the liturgy of the church, but to use it entirely. As he is forbidden to make substitutions, or to add to it, so he is liable to censure if he presume to omit any portion of what the rubrics have directed to be used. It seems not always to be considered, that the rubrics have the validity of an Act of Parliament, having been repeatedly so recognized; and even if it were otherwise, it would be difficult to understand how any clergyman could fulfil his solemn declarations made before the ordinary, and repeated in the presence of his flock, that he will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England, as it is now by law established,' if he omit any portion of it when the same sanction has been given to the whole. "The court will not occupy further time by adverting at length to other matters of this nature, which may here. after require its interposition; such as irregularity in the dress of the clergy, or absence from their stations without permission; to say nothing of complaints, which ought never to be contemplated, of a conduct which may subject any individual to general reproach. But one point merits the attention of the laity, as being highly important to the discipline of the church, and apparently but little considered; I mean, the manner in which this court can take cognizance of any disorder or neglect of duty. It appears to be supposed, that the best mode of obtaining remedy for such complaints, is to give them a wide circulation in the way of rumour, or even to state them publicly in some of the journals; and not much better is the supposition, espe cially in a diocese of such vast extent, that the ecclesiastical authorities are bound to know of every irregularity, which may perhaps be abundantly notorious to the persons residing where it prevails. The consequence will be an imputation of negligence in the exercise of the authority by which all such grounds of complaint should be removed; and yet such imputation would in all cases be unreasonable, but more especially in a diocese where the actual inspection of the state of things is, for the present at least, impracticable, and never can be very frequent. The laity, however, it should be understood, have their parts to perform in the restraint of irregularities, by bringing them to the notice of the ecclesiastical authority in the proper course. "In England there are three ways in which the consistory courts are authorized to proceed; either by inquisition, as when there is a public and prevailing rumour of some disorder, or persons worthy of credit bring it to the knowledge of the bishop or archdeacon, who then proceeds of his mere office; secondly, by accusation, as when a complainant comes forward, not as a witness, but as a promovant or prosecutor; and, thirdly, by denunciation or presentment; which last mode, however, is not applicable to this diocese, where churchwardens are unknown to the law. Still it should seem, that nothing is easier, even in this diocese, than to obviate any abuse or neglect, by either of the former methods, provided only there be a desire in the laity to see the evil removed; and this, though not specifically the duty of any, where there are not persous sworn to make presentment of all defaults, vices, and irregularitles, committed within a parish, and known by them to be presentable by the eccle siastical laws of the realm, does yet become indirectly incumbent upon persons especially in station and authority, who have the glory of God and the well being of Christian society at heart. And yet, even in such instances, admonition, it is hoped, where the case admits it, will be found effectual, and will spare this court the pain of a formal and public censure. The court, however, will not entertain or encourage complaints which are evidently frivolous, or which, at most, demand the application only of private and paternal counsel. "Commencing, then, under such auspices, and actuated by these views, this court presumes to implore on its endea vours the blessing of Almighty God, and trusts, that as its proceedings are directed solely to his honour and the good of his church, it will be found in due time to have been eminently subsidiary to true religion and virtue." VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. SPAIN. THE Cortes have met, and were opened by the King in person, who has solemnlyratified his acceptance of the new Constitution, and enters with apparent zeal into its spirit. The speech of the President was long, and somewhat tumid: it detailed the history of the changes which have taken place, and eulogized the King for his acquiescence in the new system. His Majesty's reply is in equally flattering terms.The proceedings of this assembly will probably afford us, in the course of the session, much information as to the actual condition and policy of Spain. Great reserve was maintained on both sides with respect to the ultra-marine provinces. NAPLES. A Revolution,the particulars of which are not yet fully known, has taken place in Naples; wholly, as in Spain, by means of the army. The rising was sudden, and apparently unexpected: it came upon the government like a clap of thunder. The leaders in this Revolution are said to consist almost entirely of the adherents of the late King, Murat. A deputation from the Insurgents informed the King, that they wished to obtain a free constitution, similar to that of Spain: this the King promised, and eight days were allowed for arranging its detailsa short time for so delicate a workbut we presume that some one of the agitators has a ready-made constitution to offer to the acceptance of the nation. We have stated this Revolution to have been the sole work of the soldiery; and so universally prevalent appears to have been the spirit of disaffection among them, that the government found that they durst not rely even on the troops who remained on duty at Naples, and who, it was evident, only waited a fair opportunity, if led out against them, of joining their comrades. No acts of tumult or disorder appear to have occurred, and there was reason to expect that the Revolution would be accomplished without blood, provided Austria did not interfere. We sincerely hope that this will not be the case; for although we view, with the utmost distrust and alarm, the interference in any shape of the soldiery in affairs of state, and regard any successful attempt on their part to controul their government, as most mischievous in its principle, and most pernicious in its example-yet who would wish to see the despotism of Ferdinand of Spain, or of Ferdinand of Naples, re-established, or the means of misgovernment, and of vengeance The enterprising Pacha of Albania is stated to have formally thrown off his allegiance to the Porte, and to be preparing for his defence against the troops of his master. That such was his ultimate intention, has long since been conjectured: and should he succeed in repelling the attack which is about to be made upon him, he is likely, from his talents and enterprising character, by no means to limit himself to defensive measures, but to aim at extending his dominion over the neighbouring countries. He has long been employed in introducing European discipline among his troops, and has exerted himself both to obtain and diffuse information; for which purpose he has invited foreigners to his capital, and has dispatched agents to several courts and universities of Europe to acquire whatever might appear worthy of being known with a view to his projects. With all his talents, however, we fear that he is a sanguinary tyrant, whose object is the gratification of his own personal ambition, and not the happiness of his subjects, whom he values only as they can be made instrumental to his own aggrandizement. In the pursuit of this object, he appears hitherto to have been restrained by no considerations of humanity or justice. DOMESTIC. In our last Number we detailed the principal circumstances connected with the return of the QUEEN to England: we shall now proceed to relate the occurrences which have since taken place. On the 4th of July, the committee of the house of lords appointed to examine into the documents laid before parliament relative to her Majesty's conduct while abroad, presented their report, in which they state, that "They find that these documents contain allegations supported by the concurring testimony of a great number of persons in various situations of life, and residing in different parts of Europe, which deeply affect the honour of the Queen, charging her Majesty with an adulterous connexion with a foreigner, originally in her service in a menial capacity; and attributing to her Majesty a continued series of conduct highly unbecoming her Majesty's rank and station, and of the most licentious character." "These charges," the committee add, 66 appear to be calculated so deeply to affect not only the honour of the Queen, but also the dignity of the crown, and the moral feeling and honour of the country, that, in their opinion, it is indispensable that they should become the subject of a solemn inquiry, which it appears to the committee may be best effected in the course of a legislative proceeding, the necessity of which they cannot but most deeply deplore." In framing this very strong and decided report, the most perfect unanimity prevailed in the committee. In compliance with the suggestion of the report, a bill was the next day brought into the house of lords; the preamble of which was, in substance, that her Majesty, then Princess of Wales, being at Milan in 1814, "engaged in her service a foreigner of low station, named Bergami, who had before served in a similar capacity;" that "a most unbecoming and disgusting intimacy" commenced between her Royal Highness and this person; that she "not only promoted him to a high station in her household, and in confidential situations about her person, but obtained for him orders of knighthood and titles of honour, and conferred upon him a pretended order of knighthood, which her Royal Highness took upon herself to institute without lawful authority;" and that" further unmindful of her exalted rank and station, and of her duty to his majesty, and wholly regardless of her own honour and character, her Royal Highness conducted herself towards the said Bergami, and in other respects, both in public and private, in the various places and countries which her Royal Highness visited, with indecent and offensive familiarity and freedom, and carried on a licentious, disgraceful, and adulterous intercourse with the said Bergami, which continued for a long period of time, during her Royal Highness's residence abroad." The bill proceeds to enact, that, in |