[We have not room for the whole of this interesting Tract, but we presume the Tract Society will shortly publish it for general distribution among Seamen. We shall add a few extracts.]

At Stepney a house has been taken, the lower part of which was a large coal-shed, and is now fitted up for sailors' prayer meetings; it is inbabited by the leader of the prayer meetings in the Lower Poole of the Thames, and is called the Bethel Mission-House. This is the rendezvous of pious seamen, and the place where they obtain their simple and frugal repast on the Sabbath-day while they are on the business of the mission.

Here a Mariners' meeting is held every Sunday evening, at half-past seven o'clock; and as there is no prayer meeting on the Thames on Wednesday evenings, that the Floating Chapel may have every advantage, a meeting is held in the mission house, or its vicinity, on that night.

Early on Sabbath mornings several pious seamen come on shore from their ships; they assemble at the Mission-House, receive some religious tracts, and arrange their several routes for the day, each entering on the work of a missionary. Before breakfast they frequently go round to the houses of poor people, inviting them to the evening meetings. After this meal they extend their labours, and pick up what stragglers they meet with. If a sermon is to be preached, professedly to sailors, in any chapel of Shadwell or Stepney, in the mornings, they usually crowd it with the most motley groups of sailors whom they have hunted out of the worst holes and corners of these neighbourhoods. After dinner they prepare at the Mission-House for the lower roads towards the East and West India Docks. A Bethel Seamen Society, embracing all Christian denominations, having been formed at Poplar and Mill-wall, (or the Isle of Dogs, opposite Greenwich,) and Blackwall, it has been agreed that each chapel shall have afternoon service for seamen once a month, alternately, the Bethel Flag being exhibited outside the chapel to give notice of it. The business of the afternoon, therefore, is to gather up sailors for this service. Leaving Stepney early after dinner, they skirt the fields, line the roads, enter the streets, and penetrate the haunts of seamen, laying hold of every sailor they can meet with, and leading to what they call "a Sailor's Meeting," or a meeting for sailors that will do them good: thus they enter the house of God with drunkards, blasphemers, fornicators, and infidels of the very worst description. The effect produced on their minds by their sudden and unexpected transition to a place of worship is exceedingly touching, and often most powerfully effective in the conversion of their souls to God. In the chapel, where they never intended to be, a thousand thoughts rush into their minds, which, however unwelcome, they find it impossible to dismiss. Some pious father, or mother, or wife, or relative, starts up before them. Some dangers of climate, storm, or shipwreck, darts across their disturbed imaginations. Some recent debauch, with a herd of the most infamous characters in one of the worst brothels, now rushes forward with swift condemnation on the guilty conscience, while the pious

* Or some infamous appointment made with vile persons, as that which Colonel Gardiner had arranged with a lady at midnight, when God awakened him to a sense of his depraved state, while he was waiting for the expected meeting.

Something of this kind very recently occurred. A few pious sailors with their leader were stationed at one end of Radcliff Highway, to pick up sailors for a

hymns exchanged for the lustful songs he heard the past night-the holy and tranquil deportment of the people contrasted with the boisterous shouts and disgusting indecencies lately witnessed-the solemn prayer of the devout minister compared with the horrid blasphemies with which his ears had recently been assailed-and the affecting detail of a beloved Saviour's agonies, blood-shedding, and death in Gethsemane; his resurrection, intercession, and love; his calls, invitations, and promises, to Sailors, while it is called to-day-These wondrous themes, connected with the freeness, the fulness, and the abundant encouragements of the Gospel of Christ, so surprise, amaze, and melt the sun-burnt and storm-beaten tar, that he labours in vain to repress his feelings. His eyes, like the arid regions of the south, are melted by the terrible monsoon of his soul. His rock-built heart yields and breaks to the surging tempest of his passions. Tears rush forth in copious streams; and, totally unprepared for such an event, he applies the sleeves and the corners of his jacket, and his coloured neck handkerchief, until they are literally wetted through with the briny flood. Thus is he softened, if not converted; and though no dependence can be placed on emotions so suddenly raised, and perhaps as rapidly quelled, yet he will not easily forget the scenes that occasioned them, or the violence of their impression while they lasted. Like the greatest storm, or the utmost danger to which he was ever exposed, they will leave those deeply engraven traces on his mind, that he will often insensibly recur to them, and not unfrequently brood over them with a melancholy sort of pleasure. In the stillness of the midwatch at sea, when far, far removed from land and noise, while his shipmates are sleeping round him, he will silently stand at the helm, and think of such things as these, until

"Busy meddling memory"

will revive them all afresh in his mind, the starting tear shall hide the compass from his view, and he shall be ready to fall upon his knees before the binnacle, and cry, "O that it were with me as in months past,

prayer meeting in Shadwell Market. Some were appointed as conductors to hand the sailors picked up from one to another, and others were stationed near the door of a dwelling-house as receivers. Each one had a few religious tracts in books or sheets. One of the most abandoned seamen cried out, " Hallo, here's fine work, a parcel of Jack Tars shipped in the service of the Playhouse, and lying in tiers along the street with play bills in their fists." He was quickly accosted and invited to a sailor's meeting. "Whip me," he cried, with most horrid oaths, "if I have got a skurrick to jingle upon a church stone." "O," said the inviter, "I'll frank you;""Well then, come along Bob, here goes, gallery or pit, my boy." In this way forty-two most shocking characters were picked up, who entered the house with unusual profanity. The service instantly commenced, as many as could fell on their knees, and the wicked sailors were confounded to see blue jackets prostrate before God, and with many tears imploring salvation for them. About the middle of the service the above swearer who had talked of "a skurrick," sung out while one was in prayer, "Well, shipmates, good luck to you, I must be off," and endeavoured to press his way through, but the leader was standing on the stairs and stopped him, saying, "Hallo, my lad, where are you going?" Why," said he, "all this is about religion, is'nt it ?" "Yes, but you must not go, for you may never have such another opportunity." He then used every possible argument to prevail on him. "But," said the sailor," did I not promise my shipmates to go with them to the Spread Eagle, and I suppose we shall be all drunk enough to night, it wont do therefore for me to stop here." The good mau however succeeded, and he staid the whole time and was much affected.

thrown off the dominion of foreign government-a government which, if honestly administered, offers occasions for great abuses, and if corruptly, produces the most intolerable evils. In addition to these circumstances, we have now to add, that the President of the United States has recommended to the National Legislature the acknowledgment of the independence of the different provinces, and the measure appears to have received the assent of Congress, and the general approbation of the people of our country.

The situation of South America calls up, in the mind of a rational observer, reflections of the deepest interest and anxiety.

When we recollect the origin of these colonies, settled through avarice and conquered for the sake of mere plunder, their government ever since administered not so much for the benefit of the people of the provinces as for the aggrandizement of the favourites of a corrupt court in the mother country, and to the grievous oppression of the aborigines, and all their institutions for education, civil, moral, or religious, formed on the most bigoted models of popery, their manners corrupted, as well from the tempting facility afforded by their fertility of indulging in idleness and luxury, as from the example of the forerigners who came among them mostly because they had become unfit for the society of the mother country-when we consider these things, we confess we seem to have little reason to hope good consequences from their efforts at self-government. To the happy circumstances of our own country the condition of these provinces bears no analogy. The United States were chiefly settled by religious men, who, through a love of religious liberty, preferred the horrors of an untried wilderness to the ease and comforts of a polished country: when advanced in growth, although they felt the evils of a foreign government, yet that government was the best in the world for promoting the liberty of its subjects, and their advancement in those principles on which rational liberty can alone be based; and when finally emancipated, they had been used to self-government, were thoroughly instructed in the elements of a political and religious education, and provided with men, of great talents, moderation, and firmness, guided by disinterested love of country, and governed by a deep sense of religious obligation. In all these particulars, we fear that our South American brethren have not the same prospects of success, as had the United States at the declaration of their independence,

But we would be far from indulging mournful apprehensions, at the eventual result of the South American struggles for liberty. It is true, they are as yet far from settled in their domestic government, and filled with the workings of the leaven of their old institutions. Yet, we would remark as favourable circumstances, from which we may cherish hope (and we own, for ourselves, we do it sanguinely,) that the yoke of foreign government being thrown off, their affairs will now be managed with a view to the interests of the people of the country, and not to those of an European nation: that as commerce, which will now probably be permitted to pass freely between their provinces and the enlightened nations of Europe and North America, will, as it has almost ever done, carry in its train the blessing of liberty, and advancement of the useful arts of life; and that by the freedom of inquiry which a revolution of the kind which has taken place almost always excites, the superstition, ignorance, and bigotry, which have cast so deadly a shade over these vast regions, will be driven away. Besides, we know that all these great revolutions are the work of an Almighty Ruler, whose wisdom and goodness are alike infinite; and from the instances which have already occurred in the earth, we have reason to believe that these great overturnings, especially in the liberation of nations from foreign bondage, are the attendants of good, and are but steps in the advancement of his great and wise purposes. We also notice as an omen of great good, that among the earliest acts of the Congress of the Columbian republic, an interest is manifested for the establishment of a good system of education. These countries having now become independent, it will be practicable for foreign governments by negotiations, to do away the systematic piracies which have so long been practised under the flag of these countries, to the pollution of their own subjects and the injury of the world at large.

May we not also add, that the free intercourse with foreigners which will now take place with the people of these countries, the emigration perhaps of numbers from the United States and Great Britain, and free access for missionary enterprize, will tend to seed these vast countries with correct religious principles.

Some news of a vague character, and little to be depended on, have been received, that the war between Persia and Turkey had ceased, and that war between Russia and Turkey was still doubtful.

The Seaman's Magazine.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.-They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.-Psalms.

THE PRESS GANG,

OR, WAR PROCLAIMED BY THE PRINCE OF PEACE AGAINST THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS.

By the Rev. G. C. Smith.

It is generally known that from Wapping to Blackwall, the streets, lanes, roads, and courts, are very numerously paraded by sailors. In this neighbourhood the London and the East and West India Docks are situated. The seamen returned to England in the immense number of ships that fills those docks, or preparing to leave their country in vessels outward bound, chiefly reside in those parts. All the alleys and low places are therefore plentifully supplied with depraved females, and other wretched creatures, who fatten upon the spoil of the poor thoughtless sailor. Every Sabbath day the sailors fill the streets and roads by the river side, and are easily allured to the snares of sin that are so numerously spread for them: hence the daily journals are frequently filled with accounts of sailors decoyed and plundered of all their hard earned store. It is not likely that many seamen of this description will seek for religious instruction, or that they will enter places of divine worship, when they are immediately before them. There are happily some few instances of this nature, and if accommodation were more generally provided for them in churches and chapels, and notice given to that effect, such instances would be more general. Some friends to religious exertions have long deplored the sad state of seamen who are crowding backwards and forward from Shadwell to Blackwall, and seeing them wander as sheep having no shepherd, they have determined on adopting some most decisive method of exciting attention and producing concern among the most abandoned seamen for their eternal interests.

With this view, they have entered on the most efficient plans for arresting the course and fixing the mind of the guilty sailor, and they have succeeded to an extent beyond their most sanguine expectations.

A brief view of these plans will enable any person to comprehend the nature of exertions which God has so eminently blessed. A few friends of seamen have thought the command of Christ, to go forth and kindly compel sinners to enter a place of religious worship, is still a duty imperative on his followers. They have also considered, that no persons are more capable of attracting the notice and prevailing on the minds of seamen than seamen themselves; and as there are now a goodly number of pious sailors always in the river ready to every good work, it has been deemed necessary to find out a way in which they can be most usefully employed.

[We have not room for the whole of this interesting Tract, but we presume the Tract Society will shortly publish it for general distribution among Seamen. We shall add a few extracts.]

At Stepney a house has been taken, the lower part of which was a large coal-shed, and is now fitted up for sailors' prayer meetings; it is inhabited by the leader of the prayer meetings in the Lower Poole of the Thames, and is called the Bethel Mission-House. This is the rendezvous of pious seamen, and the place where they obtain their simple and frugal repast on the Sabbath-day while they are on the business of the mission.

Here a Mariners' meeting is held every Sunday evening, at half-past seven o'clock; and as there is no prayer meeting on the Thames on Wednesday evenings, that the Floating Chapel may have every advantage, a meeting is held in the mission house, or its vicinity, on that night.

Early on Sabbath mornings several pious seamen come on shore from their ships; they assemble at the Mission-House, receive some religious tracts, and arrange their several routes for the day, each entering on the work of a missionary. Before breakfast they frequently go round to the houses of poor people, inviting them to the evening meetings. After this meal they extend their labours, and pick up what stragglers they meet with. If a sermon is to be preached, professedly to sailors, in any chapel of Shadwell or Stepney, in the mornings, they usually crowd it with the most motley groups of sailors whom they have hunted out of the worst holes and corners of these neighbourhoods. After dinner they prepare at the Mission-House for the lower roads towards the East and West India Docks. A Bethel Seamen Society, embracing all Christian denominations, having been formed at Poplar and Mill-wall, (or the Isle of Dogs, opposite Greenwich,) and Blackwall, it has been agreed that each chapel shall have afternoon service for seamen once a month, alternately, the Bethel Flag being exhibited outside the chapel to give notice of it. The business of the afternoon, therefore, is to gather up sailors for this service. Leaving Stepney early after dinner, they skirt the fields, line the roads, enter the streets, and penetrate the haunts of seamen, laying hold of every sailor they can meet with, and leading to what they call "a Sailor's Meeting," or a meeting for sailors that will do them good: thus they enter the house of God with drunkards, blasphemers, fornicators, and infidels of the very worst description. The effect produced on their minds by their sudden and unexpected transition to a place of worship is exceedingly touching, and often most powerfully effective in the conversion of their souls to God. In the chapel, where they never intended to be, a thousand thoughts rush into their minds, which, however unwelcome, they find it impossible to dismiss. Some pious father, or mother, or wife, or relative, starts up before them. Some dangers of climate, storm, or shipwreck, darts across their disturbed imaginations. Some recent debauch, with a herd of the most infamous characters in one of the worst brothels, now rushes forward with swift condemnation on the guilty conscience, while the pious

*

* Or some infamous appointment made with vile persons, as that which Colonel Gardiner had arranged with a lady at midnight, when God awakened him to a sense of his depraved state, while he was waiting for the expected meeting.

Something of this kind very recently occurred. A few pious sailors with their leader were stationed at one end of Radcliff Highway, to pick up sailors for a