the old disgusting farce over again. "Because of swearing, the land mourneth," said the prophet; but the Parisians find, that because of swearing, the land rejoiceth. Formerly they all swore on the Champ de Mars, and now they have all sworn on the Champ de Mai; and according to their own fulsome phraseology," they that day presented a scene truly touching-they formed a grand and imposing spectacle for the stranger and for all Europe." Yes, on the Champs de Mai, at a fête at the Champs Elysées, in the midst of princes and monarchs, and belles, and beaux, and eagles, and flowers, and amphitheatres, and booths, and fountains flowing with wine, and orchestras for music, and stages for singers, and stages for dancers, and stages for amusing philosophy, and feats of horsemanship, and rockets, and balloons, and combustibles, and confectionary, and pâtés, and pullets, and sausages, and geese, and turkeys, and soaped ropes, and merry andrews-the united people interrupted their emperor's speech with cries of "We swear!" Cries of "We swear!" a thousand times repeated, cries universally prolonged of "We swear!" resounded throughout the assembly; and the great nation have sworn by all that is absurd-by all that is sacred-by that honour which is dearer to Frenchmen than their lives-by that liberty which they never knew how to use-by that English constitution which none of them ever understood-by that God in whom few of them believe. All this would we ridiculous, if it were not abominable. It is truly abominable to see a nation, even of our enemies, so degraded. There is no word but a word of their own invention, that can describe their condition: demoralized, thank Heaven! is a word scarcely understood in England. It describes a situation hardly to be comprehended by Englishmen. To the people of France, an oath has lost its sanctity, and with its sanctity its power and its utility. It is no longer awful as an appeal to Heaven; it is no longer binding as a contract between men; it is no longer useful as the bond of society; that great bond is broken and gone.

The good and the wise in France-(that there are both we believe we do not, with vulgar prejudice, involve the whole in the folly and guilt of a part of a nation)-the good and wise in France feel, as strongly as we can do, the disgrace and peril of the situation to which their country is reduced: peril greater than the perils of war-disgrace to which no foreign enemy, no defeat in arts or arms could

have reduced any country-from which no victory, no triumph, can in our days redeem their people as to the past, or secure them as to the future. The want of national morality and national religion-the want of the grand social security of an oath-cannot be repaired by armies, nor by battles, nor by edicts, nor by constitutions, nor by the wish or will of any man or set of men upon earth. The belief of the truth of asseveration no human power can impose on the mind. The violation of the sanctity of oaths cannot be forgotten at pleasure: nor can the last solemnity of an oath be suddenly restored by any ceremonies or by any form of words.

When once the people have been taught, as the French people have been taught, by notorious precedents and frequent example, to think lightly of perjury, what can afterwards touch their conscience?-what shall restrain their conduct?-what can ensure respect to any laws, or fidelity to any government? This generation must pass away,a new generation, better educated, with principles of virtue and religion, must be formed-before there can be hope or security for public faith or social order and happiness in France. And years must pass away, and examples of stability of principles of regard to their political engagements must be given to the neighbouring nations before France can with them re-establish her national character.

At this moment we ask and we ask the question not in the spirit of reproach or reviling-Is there any country in the civilized world, who would willingly exchange national character with France? Would England? Would Ireland? Would any Englishman-would any Irishman, accept for his country all the treasures which France has been permitted to accumulate in her days of conquest ?-the far-famed Venetian Horses, the Apollo, the Venus, or all the statues and all the pictures which her rapine could wrest from all the despoiled countries of Europe-would he accept of them all, upon condition that England should take with them the disgrace which France has brought upon her national character, or stand the hazard of that peril, political and social, moral and religious, which she has incurred? Every Briton would, we believe, scorn the offer, and ask --or feel, "What are all these? Baubles, compared with our reputation for good faith, our integrity, our moral and religious character, the real strength and security of a nation." Long may such be the warm feeling, and, better far, the

steady principle of our countrymen! And that it may be, let us strengthen our respect, our reverence for oaths, by all the combined powers of education, law, opinion, and, above all, religious observance. To contribute somewhat to this great effect, is in the power of every individual in this country, whatever his fortune or his poverty, his rank or his humble situation may be: for the poorest man in the land may shew his respect for an oath, and support that respect by his example, as well as the richest: he has temptations which the rich have not; he has opportunities which the rich have seldom; his evidence for or against his neighbour, is, in this country and these times, frequently called for. Much rests upon a poor man's oath.

The violation, the invasion of an oath, is, if possible, more criminal, more disgraceful, the better the education; the higher the means of information, the greater, the safer the opportunities of fraud enjoyed by the individual. Let this consciousness press, in public and private, strongly upon those, in whatever rank of life, who are called upon to take what are called oaths of office-custom-house oaths -oaths of form even. Let all consider, that mental reservation in taking an oath, is fraud to man and falsehood to God;--that it is in vain that they try to excuse themselves in this sacrifice of principle to interest: their conscience will upbraid them-the small, still voice will be heard. In vain they screen themselves from the temporal obloquy, by a quibble, or the construction of words-by pleading custom, or looking to numbers who share and countenance the guilt. There must be no paltering with an oath. The example of the strictness of integrity, in taking and abiding by oaths of office, would in every country-in this country of Ireland--be of more efficacy, more real advantage to the good order and prosperity of the kingdom, than any who are accustomed to merely fiscal calculations, than all who are not habituated to large moral and political views, can possibly believe or comprehend.

But it is not only those who take oaths-rich or poor, high or low-whom we should most anxiously adjure upon this important subject: when we spoke of guarding our reverence for oaths by law and institution, we looked to those who formed the institutions and who frame the laws of our country. Let them consider well the importance of their task, the responsibility of their situation. Instead of multiplying restriction upon restriction-penalty upon

I BELIEVE in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, the Son of Man and Son of God; who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried: the third day God raised him from the dead; he afterwards ascended into heaven, and now sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father of glory. I believe in the sleep of death, in the resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust, in a day of judgment, and in a future state of retribution according to the deeds done in the body. R. W. W

Hay, Brecknockshire, October 16, 1826.

The

prayer

of David, 1 Chron. xvii. 16.
of Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 22.

of Hezekiah, 2 Kings xix. 15.
of Ezra, ch. ix. 5.

of Nehemiah, ch. i. 4.
of Jeremiah, ch. xxxii. 16.

of Daniel, ch. ix. 16.
of Jesus Christ, John xvii:

of the Apostles, Acts iv. 23.

Christ's sermon on the Mount, Matt. v. vi. vii.
Peter's sermon to the Jews, Acts ii. 22.

Peter's sermon to Cornelius, x. 34.

Paul's sermon at Ephesus, xiii. 16.

Paul's sermon at Athens, xvii. 22.

I have carefully read over these prayers, and find that one of them is addressed to the Holy Trinity, or to God. Son, or to God the Holy Ghost, but all of them to Jehov. the God of heaven. In.regard to the sermons, they are upon practical religion, and do not contain any of the doctrines which are called peculiar doctrines of the gospel, az but which, as being founded on the Thirty-nine Articles, ought to be called by their proper name, viz., the peculiar doctrines of the Convocation. R. WW.

The Character of Alla Bhye.

(Taken from Sir John Malcolm's account of Central India, by gentleman, one of the Society of Friends, residing at Bristol.) AMONG the portraits with which he (Sir John Malcolm has presented us, one of the most pleasing as well as most remarkable, is that of Alla Bhye, who married into the Holker family, and on the death of her husband, ascended. the throne, in 1766, and reigned for the long period of 30 years.

Sir John Malcolm dwells on the character of this illustrious lady, as a model of all that is just, magnanimous, and wise, and her conduct, as he represents it, seems fully to justify his eulogium. Her reign was the commencement of a new and brilliant era, of prosperity and peace, it was a gleam of happiness, such as had seldom shone on that ill-fated country, over which her good genius was now to preside, with such felicity and glory.

The spirit of moderation and justice, which ever ruled in her councils, quelled all opposition. She was regular in the dispatch of business, sat daily in the open court for the administration of justice, was naturally inclined to gentleness and clemency, and was only severe when just occasions required it. Order and economy reigned through every branch of the revenue department, and a great part of her income was expended in works of charity and religion. Her whole reign, indeed, presents one continued and striking illustration of the ascendancy of worth and wisdom among mankind. These were the main pillars of her throne, the true foundation of her power. It was not by her armies, but by the force of her character, that she ruled and preserved her dominions in peace, in a time of “ general confusion and trouble.

Sir John Malcolm, conversing with an intelligent Brahmin respecting the character of this Princess, ventured