raised against its introduction; and cardinal Gonsalvi, on the part of the pope, desired that the Society's books should be forwarded for perusal. In

THE Occurrences of the last month, both foreign and domestic, have excited more than usual interest.

The whole of the South-American Continent appears to be on the verge of the most important changes. Both in the Portuguese and Spanish dominions the successes of the popular party against the royalists have of late been very considerable. Pernambuco especially has made the most strenuous efforts to throw off the yoke, and has been joined by several of the neighbouring provinces; so that, upon the whole, there is every probability for supposing that the period is not far distant, in which South America will achieve its independence, and open new prospects of the most important kind to the hopes and energies of the European world.

The difficulties with which the royal house of Portugal have had to contend in the Brazils, have been accompanied with serious revolutionary movements in the parent state. A conspiracy for subverting the regency, and organizing a new system of government, has

GREAT

been detected, and for the time apparently suppressed; but it is still evident that a large number of persons in Portugal feel unwilling to submit much longer with cordiality to a trans-atlantic government; and that the royal family will be ultimately obliged to make a decisive choice between the evils which on every side are gathering around them.

It gives us much pleasure to find, that the Congress of the United States have authorised their President to negociate with all governments in which they have accredited agents respecting the best means of effecting an entire and immediate abolition of the Slave Trade. They also wish Great Britain to receive into the colony of Sierra Leone, free People of Colour from the United States; or, in case of this being refused, that we and other maritime powers should guarantee the permanent neutrality of a similar colony, to be established at the expense of the United States, on some other part of the African

coast.

BRITAIN.

the expenditure by two or three millions per annum, even independently of the probable improvement which may be expected in the general circumstances of the country. The net revenue for the year, ending April 5, 1817, was 52,850,3231.

The trials of the state prisoners have occupied a considerable portion of public attention and anxiety during the last month: the particulars are doubtless known to all our readers, and need not therefore be here repeated. After a minute investigation, which lasted a whole week, and excited the most intense interest, Watson, who was first put to the bar, being found Not Guilty, the other prisoners were liberated without any witnesses being called. This result has, of course, produced on the minds of the public very different impressions; but it seems on all hands to be admitted,

that seditious, and indeed treasonable conspiracies, of a very decided and atrocious character, have been proved to have existed; and that however ignoble the conspirators, or ridiculous some of their projects when contrasted with the inadequacy of their powers, yet that an extensive and organized plan was actually formed for subverting the present government, and for éstablishing a system of the most wild and revolutionary nature. It was not the fault of the conspirators that it did not succeed: nor ought the miserable imbecility of their plot to be admitted as an extenuation of the guilt of its projectors. The principal witness for the prosecution was a man of the name of Castles, whose disreputable character, as well as his inflammatory mode of procedure in the character of a spy and secret informer, appear to have ope rated very much in favour of the prisoners. At all times, the evidence of persons who are themselves implicated in criminal transactious, is to be received with caution; and it certainly does appear, and is indeed expressly stated in the late Report of the Secret Committee of the House of Lords, that instances have of late occurred of persons fomenting those conspiracies which they were authorized only to detect. Yet allowing the utmost for these palliating circumstances, the general leading fact of the existence of a bold and regular design to subvert the present system of things has been unequivocally established; and, in the opinion of Parliament, (as far as that opinion has been hitherto expressed), the necessity for the continued suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act still remains. Indeed, under present circumstances, it certainly appears, however painful the sacrifice, to be necessary not only for the peace of the community at large, but also for the benefit of the deluded individuals of whose sufferings the leaders of revolt are glad to avail themselves, to allow Government the power of detaining notoriously factious characters. We deeply lament the necessity, but would not, therefore,

wish to see the public safety risked by denying for a short time, till the next meeting of Parliament, this important power. — The recent disturbances in the North, where tumults of a serious kind have arisen, affecting particularly the counties of Nottingham and Derby, and part of Yorkshire, are a strong argument for the further suspension. These tumults were promptly suppressed, (the more promptly on account of this very suspension), and a large number of persous taken into custody. We rejoice, however, to find that neither these nor preceding riots have been encouraged by any persons of consideration, or even by the neighbouring farmers and tradesmen; so that we may reasonably hope, that in proportion as the fatuity of such plots and the character of the ringleaders are discovered, the misguided part of the populace, in every part of the kingdom, will return to their ancient loyalty and submission to constituted authorities. Should Providence bless us, as there appears every reason to expect, with an abundant harvest, and its consequent benefits, the discontented will lose one of their most powerful instruments of popular delusion: for great as have been the wants and privations of the poor, they have been rather the instrument and pretext employed by a few seditious individuals to stir men up against the government, than the motive cause in which such proceedings originated.

A measure proposed by the chancellor of the exchequer is now before the House of Commons, for facilitating the erection of places of worship in connection with the Established Church, in those parishes where the existing churches and episcopal chapels are insufficient for the public accommodation. The details of the measure are not yet completed; but our readers will rejoice with us that something, at least, is to be at length done on a subject of such vital importance both to the interests of the Established Church, and of Christianity at large.

No. 187.]

[No. 7. Vol. XVI.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. N Thursday, May 1, died at Rodney House, Clifton, the Right Honourable Lady EDWARD O'BRYEN, aged twenty-nine.

To attempt some slight sketch of her religious character is considered-rather fondly perhaps-a debt due to the worth of the departed, no less than to the general interests of the church of God; to the glory of whose grace, it is trusted, she hath been made “accepted in the beloved."

Placed by the providence of God in one of the higher walks of life, and elevated to a still more advanced station by her marriage with the Right Honourable Lord Edward O'Bryen, in April, 1815, she accounted it still her highest honour to sit at the feet of her Redeemer. To this wise choice she had been gradually led by Divine grace for several years before; having first of all made a persevering, but a fruitless, search after happiness in the pursuits and amusements of fashionable life. Scarcely had she been convinced, upon experience, of the vanity of these expectations, when it pleased God to visit with illness, and in the course of twelve months to remove by death, an elder and beloved sister. This painful, but seasonable disruption of one of the tenderest of human ties, proved the happy means of binding the affections of the attached survivor more closely to her Saviour. The world now appeared to her, indeed, "a broken cistern, that can hold no water:" and she in consequence determined never to wander more from "the fountain of living waters." CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 187.

As the youthful subject of this short memorial had often before expressed her surprise at the conduct of those whom higher thoughts and views had detached from the objects of this lower scene; so, on the other hand, was her astonishment now excited in an equal degree, by the too common devotion of mankind to the pomps and vanities of the world. This change, which most clearly appeared to all who'knew her, made it no doubtful fact that the eyes of her understanding had been enlightened to behold the true glories of the Cross; -in Scripture language, "to know the breadth, and length, and depth, and heighth of the love of Christ;"

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and from this discovery she had derived the full conviction of it being her duty, "no longer to live unto herself but unto Him that died for her and rose again." In her situation, it will easily be credited, that this duty was not merely a sacrifice of that which would cost her nothing." She had fully counted the cost of a religious profession, before she began to make it. She had learned already, as well from her own observation of the world, as from the concurrent testimony of sacred history in every age, that love to the Redeemer was not to be faithfully maintained without the censure of the world. The "better part" was modestly, but deliberately, chosen by her. Her conduct, indeed, towards others, proved her just value for Christian prudence, combined with Christian charity, in order to remove all reasonable occasion of offence: but it proved likewise that her first object was a prize alike beyond this 3 H

world's frown or smile; her sole guide, the will and example of her Redeemer; her highest joy, the glory of her God, and the best happiness of her fellow-creatures.

- Individual instances of her cha racteristic and truly Christian benevolence, though delightful to the recollection of immediate friends, would not distinguish her sufficiently from other labourers in the same blessed service, to demand particular notice. It may be sufficient to say, that the poor inhabitants of the large parish of Corsham, in Wiltshire, can bear an ample and affectionate testimony, accompanied with the liveliest regret, to the active exertions of their departed young friend, both in behalf of their temporal and spiritual interests. That equivocal zeal which regards the bodies of the poor, but neglects their souls, gave place in her practice to plans more enlarged and more consistent with a truly Christian spirit. And if religion entered into all her views of charity, no less did humility of the purest kind add a lustre to both. She deemed herself still a debtor to Divine grace: she felt herself unworthy even of the task which she instrumentally fulfilled; and losing sight of her own best works, she made mention only of the righteousness of Christ. No wish is felt by the writer of this memorial to pourtray a character of visionary excellence; and those who are best acquainted with the sad details of the corrupt heart of man, will know that dark shades are necessary to give reality and life even to the portrait of "the regenerate." As an encouragement then to conscious weakness when breathing after increased watchfulness and renewed strength, it is here related of Lady Edward O'Bryen, that the advice to the church of Ephesus was once applicable to her; and that soon after she had known the way of righteousness, and escaped, as it was hoped, the pollutions of the world, it became necessary to remind her

"from whence she had fallen," and to exhort her "to repent and do her first works." This circumstance throws a fresh and lively interest over her memory to those who were privy to the superior degree of care, as well as the deeper humility, which arose out of the consciousness of her early partial declension. And clothed in this humility, who will not say that she was seasonably, we do not know how seasonably, and perhaps how mercifully, called by the great Lord of his church to meet her last enemy?

In the beginning of the month of April last, the signal for this awful call was given in the irresistible progress of a fatal fever, which seized her soon after the birth of her second female infant. But to Lady Edward O'Bryen death appeared to assume its most mitigated form, and seemed only to brighten her religion and confirm her happiness. From the first knowledge of her danger, she demonstrated that her spirit rested solely on the Rock of her salvation. The holy calmness, which by rapid degrees now began to pervade her entire frame, and cheered alike her countenance and her speech, was as edifying as it was striking. The sting of death which is sin, seemed for ever removed by faith in her Redeemer's blood. Fear, sorrow, regret, once so familiar to her mind, in reflecting upon that which is the sting of death, found no place in her, when contemplating the enemy himself. Though quick in natural feeling, and fervent in affection for her husband and two infant children, she nevertheless may be truly said to have rejoiced in the hope of departing into the presence of One whom she loved still better. "I love my husband," said she on one occasion, " I love my children, but I love my Saviour better. I had rather depart and be with Him." At another time she said, "The coffin and the shroud are fearful things to human nature, but not to a sinner who

has been washed in the precious blood of Christ." Again, in the recollection of those fears before alluded to, which she often felt, when in the habit of connecting her own unworthiness with the last awful event of life, she was heard to exclaim, "I feared the valley of death would have been dark; but my Saviour has made it now all light to me. There is no dark part in it." She even expressed herself as though she dreaded the passage through the valley which was made so delightful to her, would be too short. The anticipa tion seemed now as joyful as before it had been painful: and her last pulse, almost her last breath, was accompanied with an assurance intelligible to those around her, "I am very happy ;"-"I am going to Christ." And in such breathings at length her spirit fle 1, and mortality was swallowed up of life.

Happy were it for those "lovers of pleasure," to whose use this little detail is more particularly dedicated, could they have learned the secret of happiness in this truly Christian school. No one could have beheld the dying wife, the dying mother, without at least acknowledging that her religion was a cheerful one: cheerful, notwithstanding she had abandoned those worldly amusements which are too commonly considered to be the very soul of happiness. Where can a person warmly attached to the pleasures of the world be found, who would leave a beloved husband and two infant children, as serenely, as joyfully, yet as tenderly as the deceased. Instances of apathy, perhaps of resignation, might indeed be produced; but it is plainly impossible that any one, whose affections are wedded to the world, should acquiesce in that which on such principles is loss of all, and much less, under the circumstances of Lady Edward O'Bryen, rejoice when summoned to depart, Let all, but especially the young, con

sider well the consolations which irradiated the death-bed of this departed Christian, and then let them determine for themselves, whether, in the ways of the world or under the banners of theCross, the greater happiness is to be expected.

AMICUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. NEXT to the invaluable possession of the holy Scriptures, the institution of the Sabbath is unquestionably one of the greatest blessings which we enjoy, and one for which we can never be sufficiently grateful to God; and yet this high privilege,

so suited to our numerous wants and infirmities, is often, I fear, not only slighted and overlooked, but even grossly perverted, by persons who cannot, in other respects, be properly classed with either the vicious or profane. Even among those who evidently wish to abstain from shewing any outward marks of contempt for a day thus set apart for the service of God, such strange inconsistencies of conduct are frequently visible, that the Creator is dishonoured, instead of being glorified, by a performance devoid of that fervent love, gratitude, and devotion, which alone render it in any degree either a reasonable or an acceptable service. By many persons, a regular attendance on public worship is considered the only thing needful, and as of sufficient intrinsic merit to atone for an indulgence in listless inactivity, or perhaps positive dissipation, during the remaining hours of the day; as if the interests of this world and those of the next might thus be pleasantly, at least, if not profitably reconciled.

Your learned correspondent T. S. having ably proved the obligation which lies on us to keep one day in seven holy, I shall not attempt to shew the impiety of violating this important duty; but shall only advert to the effect which a conscientious regard to the Sabbath