The private advantage, and the public benefit, though they generally go hand in hand, are, properly speaking, two diftinct objects; but if the quantum of the latter were to be decided by the proportion of the former, the decifion would, most unqueftionably, be adverse to the author's conclufions; for it is notorious that nearly all the canals in the kingdom pay the proprietors an intereft of from 10 to 30 per cent. for their money; and fhares, in the most extenfive and the most expenfive canal in the kingdom, which is not yet finifhed, and which, of course, pays no intereft, now fell, notwithstanding the preffure of the times, at a premium of more than cent. per cent!

The charge of entertaining Latitudinarian principles in religion, is of a more ferious nature; and therefore requires more ferious notice. The author enumerates the various claffes of Diffenters in Wales, the encreafing numbers of whom he imputes, falfely we hope and believe, to" the Clergy themselves;" fome of whom, he says, "are not content with a dereliction of the great duties of their ftation, but, by oppofing those doctrines which, as Minifters of the Gospel, they ought to preach, render the grand engine of reformation, the pulpit, unedifying; drive the inquiring mind to feek religious information ellewhere; and thus difperfe and ftarve the flock they have sworn to collect and feed."-Purfuing this ftrain, he obferves"The diffolute lives of many (of the Clergy), the carelessness and irreverence of others, have proved a ftumbling-block to the weak, and a juft plea to the fchifmatic; while effential errors in the preaching of others has (have) drawn the enlightened and confcientious part of the people, however reluctantly, from their parochial churches, and the bofom of the church; forced thofe feriously difpofed, to look for more faithful teachers amongst lefs polished people; and to affemble in barns and under hedges, for rational and devout worship; thus made Diffenters by imperious neceffity!" He farther remarks, that" it cannot be matter of wonder to an attentive obferver, who marks how religion is made a stalking-horse for intereft and ambition, if the Eftablifhed Church fhould be neglected and despised."

Mr. Evans not having condefcended to specify the errors which he fo loudly condemns, nor yet to ftate in what manner thefe degenerate Minifters of the Established Church oppose the doctrines which it is their duty to teach, it is impoffible for us to appreciate the juftice of his accufations. But it is not the bare unfupported affertion of any individual which can lead us to give credit to an accufation fo weighty against a body of men fo generally refpectable; and which involves a charge of inexcufable neglect against fome of our Bishops, a charge not very confiftent with the eulogy pronounced by the

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author

author on the late Bishop of Bangor. We are much more dif pofed to confider this accufation as the invention of a man eager to find some excuse for his own wavering and unfettled notions. But how any one, who prefixes the epithet Reverend to his name, can talk of a just plea for the commiffion of a fin (for Mr. Evans, we prefume, will not pretend to deny that fchifm is a fin) we are wholly at a lofs to conceive. As to the imperious neceffity, which he has fo ingenioufly forged for his rational Chriftians, to leave their legitimate paftors for more faithful, or, as an Apostle, we fufpect, would term them, false, teachers; and to quit the Church, for their barns and their hedges; it cannot be expected that we should oppose serious argument to fuch empty declamation.

Our readers will not be furprized to find, after this fpecimen of the author's laxity of principle, that he should justify and even praife the enthusiastic extravagances of the jumpers, noticed in our Review of Mr. Bingley's Tour; and that he should be of opinion that no steps should be taken to check the “irregular proceedings" of the Diffenters. "Perhaps, he fays, it will be the wifeft plan to let the evil and the good remain together; the tares and the wheat, till the divine harvet fhall arrive, when unerring judgment will feparate the chaff from the wheat, and make a juft diftinction." In the fame page he fpeaks more plainly.

"It is a right that every one is born heir to, to worship God in that way moft congenial to the dictates of his own mind, within the bounds of decency. The State as it receives fupport from religion, is bound to fupport and protect it; but cannot, upon any pretence, dare to enforce or fupprefs it: and every act of perfecution on the fcore of religion, and every coercive reftraint upon the exercise of rational devotion, is nothing less than an infringement upon the divine prerogative; calling in queftion the wifdom of God; and a vio lent ftride upon His moral government of the world."

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Against fuch doctrine, even at the risk of being called high-fpirited bigots," we muft enter our folemn proteft; it is a doctrine calculated to encourage the growth of fchifm, which we have been taught to deprecate as a fin; it is a doctrine morcover at direct variance with the precepts of our Saviour and his Apostles, who have exprefsly informed us that God will be worshipped in his own way, which they have rendered fufficiently manifeft to their followers, and not in any way which the arrogance or caprice of his weak and finful creatures may fuggeft. Were Mr. Evans to propagate, from the pulpit, fuch vague heterodox notions he might justly be accufed of promulgating "effential errors," and though he certainly

certainly could not afford "a juft plea," he would fupply a notable example "for the schifmatic." In fhort, this imaginary right which, he afferts to be the univerfal inheritance of man, is the offspring of that falfe philofophy which he fo juftly and fo ably expofes in another part of his book. Let him contemplate the effects of that right in the only country in which it has been exercifed, America; and he will there find its genuine fruits to be, a fhameless disregard of all moral and religious ties, evinced in a profligacy of manners, a corruption of heart, and a depravity of mind.

These crude notions then have not only.a direct tendency to produce anarchy in the Church, but abfolutely to destroy all religious principles; and it is a matter of aftonishment to us, that a man of the abilities which Mr. E. undoubtedly poffeffes, fhould not perceive that enthufiafm is calculated to generate infidelity, from the known difpofition of extremes to approximate. To talk of liberal principles of religion, is to talk nonfenfe, or fomething worfe; religious principles are either true or falfe; they are to be tried by the fole ftandard of God's will, expreffed or revealed, and not to be fubjected to the ever-varying decifions, and wayward caprices, of man.

Having thus juftified those cenfures which our duty compelled us to inflict, we now turn to the more pleafing task of juftifying our commendations. The author dwells with a degree of delight, which is highly honourable to his feelings, on every circumftance that can tend to exalt his countrymen in the eyes of his readers. Their paft prowefs in defence of their Liberties, and their prefent loyalty, are frequent and fair subjects of his panegyrics. He was in Wales at the time when that country was invaded by the French, and he thus fpeaks of the fpirit difplayed by the inhabitants.

"It is but just here to remark, from the most attentive obferva❤ tion, that a general and almost unanimous fpirit of loyalty pervades this people. However, in the hour of hiftoric enthufiafm, they may mourn over the fallen greatness of their ancient princes, and lament in bardic trains the loft independance of their country; yet, enjoying the biefings of English jurifprudence, they yield the molt prompt obedience to its injunctions; and feeling the benents of an equal execution of the laws, under the aufpices of our beloved Sovereign," whole milder virtues form an amiable contraft to thofe of his ancestors in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, they evince a due allegiance to the King, and the strongest attachment to the Constitution of the country. And fhould the question ever be put to the teft, (which may the great Author of peace avert!) there is every reafon to be. lieve that the throne of England would not find more faithful friends, nor more ftrenuous adherents, than those refiding amidit the mountains of Cambria,"

Perish

Perifh those, fay we, who, by their abominable arts, feek to poison the minds and to debauch the principles of thefe honeft Cambrians. We allude to the emiffaries of Jacobinifm, who have lately been employed in this honourable vocation, and who used, as a fit inftrument for their purpose, a Welch Tranflation of Paine's Rights of Man.

Adverting to the mockery of a punishment inflicted by the old Welch laws on the cowardly ravifher of an unprotected female, the author takes occafion to vent his juft indignation at the impunity with which the crime of feduction is fuffered to pass in the present, more enlightened, times.

"Don't you, dear Sir, feel your indignation rife at the folly and cruelty of your ancestors, who could thus add infult to injury; and hold up to ridicule the misfortunes of the unprotected fair? I know you do. Yet how much more ftrongly does, what is ridiculous, unjust, or cruel in the Laws of other nations, or other times, ftrike us, than in thofe of our own? We confider ourselves as living in an age of great refinement; and then conclude it must be an age of juftice. Where is the mind of fenfibility that would not fhrink with horror at the base idea of his fair country-women being left unprotected by the laws of a conftitution, the envy of the world? Yet can female

virtue be confidered as under the protection of the laws, when feduction and dereliction are deemed of fo trifling a nature, and fo unimportant to the welfare of the ftate, as not to be included in the lift of crimes: and a small douceur to fociety even procures a privilege to commit the crime, while the injured party receives no compenfation, fave want and ignominy?* O! ye British Senators! read the history of your country, read the hiftory of man; confult the code of reafon, tudy the code of Divine Wisdom; and with prompt and animated hands tear, indignantly tear, these unjuft and impious acts from the ftatute book of your country: no longer fuffer fuch a foul and difgraceful blot to deface the fyftem of English Jurifprudence! Let equity be the ftandard of your legislative measures; and if any pårtiality must exift, let it exist in behalf of the weaker, and more amiable part of creation."

"The unfortunate female is liable to be imprisoned twelve months for incontinency; while the vile feducer is only bound to in. demnify the parish for the maintenance of the child: which is generally commuted for the paltry fum of ten or fifteen pounds. In Switzerland the feducer is obliged to make reparation by marrying the party; but with us women feem of lefs value than the beafts of the field. If a man goes to his neighbour's fields and wilfully maims or wounds his cattle, it is felony without benefit of clergy; but he may feduce and debauch his daughter without any fear of legal punishment!!!"

Of

Of the tenets of modern philofophy the author entertains very juft conceptions.

"The philofophic religion that has nearly had its fhort-lived reign is, like the logic of the Pyrrhonian School, that pulls down every thing and erects nothing. Man must have fome decifive principle on which to act, and fome powerful motives to induce him to action. He must be perfuaded that vice has the dread of punishment, and virtue the fanction of reward, before he will uniformly perform the relative duties of life.

"Religion is the grand cement of fociety, the only fufficient guarantee of order and fafety. If the people are fo grofs and blind as not to be able, without affiftance, to look through Nature up to Nature's GOD; if their minds are not fufficiently fpiritual to form juft and adequate ideas of their real nature and indifpenfable obligations; fhall we refuse them the neceffary helps, because they are not compatible with philofophic perfection? If they cannot yet act from higher and juster motives, fhall we therefore deprive them of all? Blot out every trace of hope and fear, and break even the flendereft tie that connects them' with the Spiritual world?

"Recollecting the answer of the learned author of The Evidences of Christianity, (Addifon,) to the unbeliever, "That, if Chriftianity be true, then Chriftians will have infinitely the advantage; and if it fhould not, they will then be equal with the Infidel: I cannot help concluding it fafer to believe too much than too little; and that truth blended with error is far more eligible than error alone. Every lover of his country and his neighbour muft feel his indignation excited when he fees a fet of men under the ufurped title of Philofophers, endeavouring to undermine religion, loofen the bands of fociety, and. defttoy all adequate motives for moral actions, under the plaufiblę pretence of delivering mankind from the yoke of fuperftition."

O! fi fic omnia! It is painful to fee a writer who thinks fo juftly on fome fubjects of importance reafon fo falfely on others; but we have performed our duty in laying before our readers the grounds of our objections and of our praises; and it only remains for us to add, that the ftyle of this work, though occafionally affected and inflated, is generally claffical and correct; and that the author is evidently a man of reading, of talents, and of feeling.

ART. VIII. A Review of the Origin, Progress, and Refult of the decifive War, with the late Tippon Sultaun, in Myfore: with Notes. By James Salmond, Efq. of the Bengal Military Eftablishment. To which are added, fome Account of Zemaun Shab-The Proceedings of a Jacobin Club, formed at Seringapatam-Official Advices to India, on the Subject of the WarAn abftrat of the Forces employed-Letters from Generals

NO. XXX, VOL, VII.

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Stewart