After visiting France and Belgium, Mr. Roberts was offered a passage home by the British government, and in December 1848 he sailed for Liberia. He has been re-elected to the presidency twice.

From an account published in 1848, we learn that then it was estimated that not less than two millions of persons in the interior obtained their supply of European goods from Liberia, and from the kindred colony of Cape Palmas. "Last year," says this account, "eighty-two foreign vessels visited Liberia, and exchanged merchandise for articles of African production, to the amount of six hundred thousand dollars."

The above paragraph needs some explanation. The colony of Cape Palmas, which is included in our statistics, was founded by the Maryland State Colonization Society, and the name of "Maryland in Liberia," was given to it, because it was expected that it would eventually unite with the older settlement. Its chief town, Harper, has a population of about eight hundred. Ten of the native chiefs who occupy the territory for about fifty miles on each side of the settlement have put themselves under its protection.

In 1852, President Roberts again visited this country. Difficulties had sprung up with two or three traders, but they were satisfactorily settled. The government again offered him a passage home.

The Liberian shore is generally low, but at the distance of a few miles from the sea, the land becomes higher, and mounts gradually. The interior is as yet unknown, but there is reason to believe that the country is a fine one. Liberia has no large rivers at present. Its year is divided into the dry and the rainy season, the former commencing in November, the latter in May. The average heat of January-the hottest month-is eighty-five degrees. In June, which is the coldest month, the thermometer is generally at about seventy-five. "The true character of the African climate," said the citizens of Monrovia, in 1827, "is not well understood in other countries. Its inhabitants are as robust, as healthy, as long-lived, to say the least, as those of any other country. Nothing like an epidemic has ever appeared in this colony; nor can we learn from the natives, that the calamity of a sweeping sickness ever yet visited this part of the continent." But still the climate appears to be a deadly one to the white man.]

Every tropical plant is said to thrive. Rice, maize, sweet potatoes, cassava root, beans, peas, pine apples, mangoes, guavas, water-melons, lemons, oranges, bananas, pomegranates, tamarinds,

papaws, plantains, and millet, are all Liberian productions. Cotton, coffee, indigo, and the sugar-cane, grow spontaneously in the forests, and the same may be said of many other vegetable productions. Ginger, pepper, ground-nuts, and arrowroot, are all likely to add to the resources of the country. Palm oil and camwood are the chief exports at present. The annual exports were estimated at 140,0007. in 1839, and the imports at 80,0007. More than 30,0007.'s worth of palm oil was shipped in 1847. A monthly line of packets now runs between England and Western Africa-an arrangement which, we trust, will be of great service to Liberia.

Cows are plentiful, and sheep, which are hairy instead of woolly, are raised without difficulty. "Cattle, swine, fowls, ducks, goats, and sheep thrive without feeding," was the language of the citizens of Monrovia in 1827. According to a recent account, swine do not thrive so much as sheep and goats. The climate has been fatal to horses; and it was stated a few years ago, that much of the camwood that was exported was carried two hundred miles on men's backs.

We will conclude our account of the physical condition of Liberia, with another extract from the address of the Monrovian citizens:-"A more fertile soil, and a more productive country, so far as it is cultivated, there is not, we believe, on the face of the earth. Its hills and plains are covered with a verdure which never fades; the productions of nature keep on in their growth through all the seasons of the year. Even the natives of the country, almost without farming tools, without skill, and with very little labour, make more grain and vegetables than they can consume, and often more than they can sell."

Liberia is divided into three counties, and the colony at Cape Palmas will probably soon make a fourth. Every town has a corporation, and the townships are usually about eight miles in extent. It is the testimony of a recent visitor, that he never saw so orderly a people; he saw but one intoxicated colonist, and never heard a profane word. Sunday was strictly observed, and the churches were crowded with orderly and attentive worshippers. The acclimated colonists enjoyed excellent health. Some eighteen or twenty small sloops and schooners, built in the country, were engaged in the coast-trade. Brick houses were being built in Monrovia, and in the settlements on the St. Paul's river. As drawbacks, we may mention the want of good harbours, of beasts of draught and burden, of suitable materials for fencing, and the

high price of lumber for building purposes. Timber is plentiful, but rail timber cannot be got; but the palm, the lime, the soap tree, and the croton-oil shrub, offer facilities for making live fences.

We cannot but hope that Liberia is destined to be a bright spot in the dark page of West African annals. The free coloured Americans are making ready for emigration in large numbers. Many owners have made their slaves free in order that they might emigrate, and many have signified that they intend to do the same. Thousands are leaving every year for Liberia. Irish and German emigrants are displacing free coloured labourers, and decreasing the value of slave labour. A brighter day appears to be dawning over Western Africa, and we trust that the sun of Christianity will soon enlighten the whole of that mighty continent.

MORTALITY.

THE soul on earth is an immortal guest,
Compelled to starve at an unreal feast;

A spark, that upwards tends by nature's force;
A stream, diverted from its parent source;

A drop, dissevered from the boundless sca;

A moment, parted from eternity;

A pilgrim, panting for a rest to come;
An exile, anxious for his native home.

READING THE NEWSPAPER IN THE OLDEN TIME. DURING the time that Sidney Godolphin occupied the office of Lord High Treasurer of England, between the years 1701 and 1710, he visited more than once his seat in Cornwall. No regular conveyances then proceeded further west than Exeter; but, when certain masses of letters had accumulated, the whole were forwarded together, by what was called "the post." The Lord High Treasurer engaged a weekly messenger from Exeter to bring his letters, despatches, and a newspaper; and on the fixed day of the arrival, all the gentlemen from many miles round assembled at Godolphin House, to hear the newspaper read, in the great hall.

BEFORE we enter upon the subject of this article, we will sketch the prominent outlines of the life of Loyola, the father of Jesuitism. This enthusiastic Spaniard was born A.D. 1491, and his history may be said properly to date from his long confinement, after having been wounded at the siege of Pampeluna. He went into his sick chamber a dissipated soldier, he quitted it an energetic devotee. His knight-errantry was henceforward to be of another character he was to be a military champion for the church of Rome.

He soon gave tokens of his ardour in the course upon which he had entered. A Moor uttered an opinion respecting the Virgin which appeared blasphemous to Loyola, and he meditated whether he should not stab him. He rested the decision upon

the choice made between two roads by the animal upon which he rode, and fortunately the fatal one was not taken. He fasted rigorously, scourged himself, left his hair and nails uncut, begged the bread which was his only food, and prayed seven hours a day; and though we cannot but condemn his excesses, let us not overlook the important truth, that his enthusiasm was consummate wisdom, when compared with the stupid indifference, or the halfhearted lukewarmness of many, who, perhaps, consider themselves very tolerable Christians. It is well to remember, that the learned Andrewes never spent less than five hours daily in devotion; and, indeed, we have read of one eminent Christian who passed considerably beyond this limit.

We shall pass over the wonders which stud the biography of Loyola, because we have no desire to occupy the time of the reader with those pests of Christianity-unauthenticated miracles. It is to be hoped that those who manufacture the spurious marvels of Romanism have no idea how they are labouring to undermine the real miracles of the Christian church.

Loyola visited Jerusalem, reaching the holy city in July 1523, and, after returning to Spain and suffering imprisonment for his extraordinary behaviour, he went to Paris on his release in 1528. Here he nearly received public corporal chastisement for interposing his devotions at what was deemed an unreasonable time. It was at Paris that he became acquainted with some of his most famous followers; and here, too, he came to the determination of founding a new order in the Romish church. In 1540, Jesuitism was made an acknowledged part of the papal system, and in the following year, Loyola was installed as general of the order. But the character of Jesuitism appears to have undergone a complete modification soon after its birth. Loyola wished his followers to be a species of "spiritual crusaders;" but Lainez, his disciple and successor in the generalship, moulded the society into a secular rather than a religious form. It may now be characterised as a huge automaton, to be moved at the pleasure of the Pope, and of the general of the order. But let us proceed at once to its missions, which afford a good illustration of its nature.

Of all the followers of Loyola, perhaps Francis Xavier is the most celebrated. Would that all his successors had more closely resembled him. He became acquainted with Loyola in France, and at first he treated him with contempt. Haughty and ambitious, he ridiculed the idea which his ardent countryman entertained