mifed by the two apoftles of the New. Such a number of coincidencies, all fo ftrange and unufual in their kinds, to be found in the compofitions of three perfons, living in different and one in a very remote period, cannot fairly be ascribed to any other caufe, than to the impulfe of the self-fame Spirit, who taught them all things, which it was neceffary fhould be commu nicated for the admonition of the church of Chrift, upon whom the ends of the world should come.

But allowing the predictions thus uniformly to agree, a question naturally arifes, what proofs are we able to bring, that all, or any of them, have, in fome reasonable fenfe, been fulfilled? This question hath been anfwered imperfectly already, whilst we were furveying the contents of each prediction by itself; it will now be expedient to difcufs the matter at large, and to point out to you the facts, from whence we are led to conclude, that all the prophecies under confideration, as to the greater part, have, at this very time, received their completion.

Now of the characters, recorded in Scripture as the undoubted marks of antichrift, many at least have been fhewn to belong, exclufively, to the tyranny now exifting in papal Rome. For, firft of all, this power is certainly a Roman one; fecondly, it is confined to the limits of the Latin or Western empire; thirdly, it arofe among the ten kingdoms, into which that em pire was parted by the northern barbarians; fourthly, its throne or feat is in the city of Rome; fifthly, it is a Chriftian power: and, fixthly, it is difcriminated from all others, by being of the fpiritual or ecclefiaftic kind. Thefe are circumftances fo plainly realized in that part of Chriftendom which is fubject to the Roman pontiff, that it is not poffible, by any art or fubtlety of our adverfaries, they can be evaded or denied.'

But the grand and decifive argument to demonftrate, that the apoftacy of papal Rome is indeed foretold in the facred oracles, is derived from the correspondence between the several acts of power, afcribed to antichrift in the prophecies, and thofe claimed and exercised by the ruling head of the Roman communion. These therefore our author draws out at length, and fpecifies the corruptions, in doétrine and worship, avowedly introduced by popery into the fyftem of Chriftianity.

The laft difcourfe is a vindication of the Reformation from the objections of the Romanifts.

In the courfe of thefe lectures the author has not confined himself to the minute examination of any fingle prophet or prophecy, but has laid before his readers the reafons, from which it may be concluded, in general, that there are predictions both of the Old and New Teftament, which have been rightly fuppofed to refer to the defection of Chriftian Rome. An enquiry of this fort very properly precedes the

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accurate and critical investigation of each particular prophecy, which will more properly come within the province of future lecturers.

This learned writer has purfued this intricate fubject with accuracy and circumfpection; and if his interpretations do not always produce conviction, it must be allowed, that they are perfpicuous and rational.

A fhort Hiftory of English Transactions in the East-Indies. Small 8v0. 35. Almon.

THE

'HE diforderly ftate in which the affairs of the Eaft India Company were lately involved, is juftly entitled to the moft ferious attention of the public; and an attempt to inveftigate the real caufes of that misfortune must afford the most certain means of restoring them to their former profperity. It is obvious that fuch an enquiry can never be conducted with so much success as by laying open the whole series of administration in the East Indies during the course of some years preceding the commencement of those difafters. This is the plan purfued in the production now before us; in the introduction to which the author gives a fhort view of the... British affairs in the Eaft Indies, from the beginning of the late war in 1756, to the peace of Paris in 1763.

The history with which we are next presented contains a fummary detail of the tranfactions of the East India Company from the latter of the periods abovementioned, to the year 1771. The following appears to be the most effential part of the narrative.

The Company and their fervants could now obtain the money of the inhabitants of India, by the various means of rents, revenues, and trade: and the ufe they made of these, and their talents as ftatefmen and foldiers, will beft appear by the

Account of Jums proved and acknowledged to have been received for the ufe of the Company from May 1761 to April 1771.

• From the net revenues arifing from customs in

-

From the territorial revenues, clear of all

Bengal

• Reftitution, or money paid the Company for damages and expences incurred in their wars,

£. 235,882

< By Meer Jaffier in 1757. By Coffim in 1760,

By Meer Jaffier on reftoring him to the govern

ment in 1763.

By Shujah Dowla on making peace with him in 1765, fifty lacks, or

£1,200,000 62,500

375,000

583.333 £2,220,833

To these fums received for the ufe of the Company, are to be added the fums distributed by the princes and other natives of Bengal to the Company's fervants, from the year 1757 to the year 1766, both inclufive.

On depofing Serajah Dowla, and advancing Meer Jaffier to the government in 1757,

'On depofing Meer Jaffier in favour of Coffim

in 1760,

On reftoring Meer Jaffier in 1763,

• Prefents received by two commanders of the

1,238,575

200,269

437,499.

62,666

139,857

Received of the king, queen mother, and one

Jaffier's fon, in 1765,

To thefe fums are to be added three hundred thoufand pounds for lord Clive's jagheer for ten years. And what was made by private trade does not come within the proofs or acknowledgments of the fums before ftated. Lord Clive calculated the duty on falt, beetle-nut, and tobacco, would yield, an hundred thousand pounds a year to the Company; this he fuppofed equal to half the profits of the trade itself; and if lord Clive was as near in this, as he was in his calculation of the dewannee, the fum then received from the inland trade in ten years, would be two millions, which added to the fums proved or acknowledged to be received, makes the whole fum twenty four millions fix hundred and forty thousand fix hundred and twenty-one pounds fterling."

Enormous as is the fum of money received by the Company and their fervants, from the princes and natives in India, this public peculation appears infinitely less injurious to the honour and justice of the nation, than the horrible exceffes faid to have been committed, through the rapacity of fome individuals; exceffes which we wish could be obliterated from the annals of a nation, that has hitherto been diftinguished for its warm attachment to the rights of humanity. It is with equal regret and indignation that we present our readers with an extract on this deplorable fubject. Early

• Early in the year 1766, the agents and factors appointed by the Company's fervants for carrying on their inland trade, took their places at their different marts and stations; and being the deputies of merchants, who yesterday were foldiers and conquerors, they of courfe carried with them powers, which foon enabled them to get into their poffeffion thofe neceffaries of life, which they had taken to themselves the right of fupplying the inhabitants of the country with, and when they were once under their command, they were then only to be had on terms in which the confumers had no choice. They were neceffaries of conftant ufe, and the inhabitants of the cities, towns, and villages could not do without them for a day. The people were without remedy-without appeal; the fame fet of men who formed this plan and carried it into execution, were the mafters of their country.-Their authority, and the use they made of it, addressed itself as forcibly to the fears as to the feelings of the natives.

• The English ftores began now to deal out their salt, beetlenut, and tobacco, to the people for money; when that failed, for their goods; when thefe grew fcarce, then the struggle lay between keeping what they had, and getting what they wanted. -Barter, under circumftances of fuch inequality in the dealers, produced, as it neceffarily would produce, on one fide extreme penury and want. Those who now made the things the English moft wanted, were pressed on all fides-by their own neceffities, their neighbours, and the agents employed to procure the company's investments, as the goods fent to Europe are called. These importunities were united, and urged fo much, fo often, and in fuch ways as to produce, among the people in the filk bufinefs, inftances of their cutting off their thumbs, that the want of them might excufe them from following their trade, and the inconveniences to which they were expofed beyond the common lot of their neighbours.

While thefe demands for money and goods were spreading as univerfally as the ufe of falt, the officers of the government preffed for the taxes with more than ufual eagerness-they had now to furnish a tribute to the king, an allowance to the nabob, and keep the revenue of the company at what it had been fixed, before the agents of inland trade began to collect. the people's money by warrants of neceffity. The tax-gatherers were let loofe upon the fubjects, with as little restraint as the collectors of taxes could be in any country. The nabob could not call them to account, had he been ever fo wife and willing to relieve the people.. Neither were oppreffions restrained by the English, who alone had the power; the projectors of the prefent mode of government, confoled themfelves with feeing the corruption of the officers was not among themselves; they waited to punifh great offenders, by receiving back from them in fines what they had collected from the people more than their due. The Company's principal fervants had fet out upon

the

the plan of raifing their fortunes from the people only by proxy; but when oppreffion has nothing to fear from juftice, it is no wonder that avarice fhould lay afide caution, and become principal in violence, and by this means undefignedly furnish, as it has done, evidence in the English courts of justice of the conduct of fome of the Company's fervants in India.

Many of the natives had been influenced to make lefs oppofition to the growing power of the fubjects of England in their country. by what they were made to understand of the English laws-That they allowed every man to call his property his own; and if any thing was taken from him illegally, neither the prince or his nobles were fuperior to the law; and men in all cafes were judged by their equals; and inftead of the rank of the aggreffor being allowed any exemption, it was often made the measure of the punishment. As many of the natives as understood thus much, and they were made to understand it, wifhed-and who could help wifhing?-to change a government like theirs, where all they had was at the difpofal of others, to whom they bore no other relation, than that virtual idea, handed down from those ancient times, when kings endeavoured to divide their benevolence equally among all their fubjects, and confidered themselves as their common fathers, in refemblance of the power by whom kings reign. With hopes of changing for the better, many perfons in India rejoiced at the profperity of the English, even when they faw them aiming at their government; they thought the introduction of their laws and cuftoms would follow their power, and the air of freedom and equality they faw amongst them confirmed their expectation.

But their hopes vanifhed on hearing, immediately after the English had got poffeffion of the government, that they had iffued orders-That leafes and civil contracts were to be made void on a day-That a few perfons only known to them as generals in the army, had laid duties on neceffaries, of more than a third of their value, instead of the fortieth penny with which they used to be charged-And that their new governors had taken things of daily ufe into their own hands to fell as they pleafed. But the difappointment of the natives flood but a fhort time on the teftimony of report. They faw the English agents and factors fpreading themfelves over all their country they faw them endeavouring to get their money, their jewels, and the moft valuable of their goods from them, by means they had never heard of before.

Happy would it have been for them had they seen no other effects of the English government than thefe !-But the defires of ambition are not lefs boundless for power, than those of avarice for riches-The natives were equally the fubjects of both. And the property of the people not flowing into the hands of their mafters fo rapidly as fome of them defired to complete their fortunes, and return to England-And feeing the

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