£.310; and the parliamentary grant for that year amounts only to £.675; sums which, it must be allowed, are exceedingly inadequate to the moral and religious wants of our sister kingdom.

The objects of this association are unquestionably of the highest national importance, and we earnestly hope that the liberality of government will considerable enlarge the means of their more complete attainment: such liberality, we are well persuaded, would prove the truest economy. We trust also, that when the nature and objects of the institution are sufficiently known in this country, numbers of pious and public spirited individuals will be forward in affording the requisite pecuniary aid. We would strongly recommend to the association the establishment of a corresponding board in London, who should exert themselves to obtain the contributions of those in this kingdom, who are solicitous to promote the moral and religious improvement of the Irish. Even many who feel no concern for the spiritual and eternal interests of their fellow-subjects, will yet be induced to contribute to the objects of the institution, from a view of the various political advantages likely to result from their attainment.

The events which have lately taken place in Ireland, and the spirit of disaffection which appears still to pervade its inhabitants, and which affords the most plausible hope of suc cess to the inveterate enemies of our country, may, we are convinced, be traced to ignorance as their source. This is an evil, however, in the guilt of which we, of this country, must be considered as having largely participated: for what have we done to enlighten the thick darkness which covers that land compared with the obligations which our relative situation imposes upon us. It now, therefore, becomes a very urgent duty in every individual who entertains a similar view of the subject, cordially to unite, as far as he can, in remedying the evil which his supineness has contributed to perpetuate.

Should this hint meet the eye, and engage the attention, of any of the leading members of the association, we beg leave to assure them, that they may depend on our zealous cooperation both in our public and private capacities, in seconding any measures they may adopt for obtaining the countenance and pecuniary support of well-disposed persons in this kingdom.

FRANCE,

THE foreign journals continue to be filled with accounts of the vast preparations which are carrying on in France, Holland, and the Netherlands, with a view to the invasion of England. The enemy's gunboats and other craft are stated to be in great forwardness, and the army drawn to the vicinity of the coast, and which is now thought to amount to 300,000 men, is said to be in high spirits, and confident of success in the meditated expedition. The bombardment of Calais, which took place about the beginning of the month, does not seem to have been attended with any very important consequences. The day after, notwithstanding the vigilance of our cruisers, a considerable number of gunboats effected their escape from that place to Boulogne. They kept so close to the shore, that the shot from our vessels, which drew more water than those of the French, did not materially injure them.

The picture exhibited by the report of

the Prefect of the Police at Paris to the Grand Judge, for the last Republican year, ending September 23d, is of a nature calculated to afford a useful lesson to the public, and to convince even the most incredulous how far superior the happy constitution which we at present enjoy is to that of France, and how much better it is fitted to produce the great end of government, the happiness of the people. In the course of the year, according to this report, four hundred and ninety men and one hundred and sixty-seven women have committed suicide at Paris; eighty-one men and sixty-nine women have been murdered, of whom fifty-five men and fifty-two women were foreigners, strangers, or have not been owned; six hundred and forty-four divorces have taken place; one hundred and fifty-five murderers have been executed; twelve hundred and ten persons have been condemned to the gallies, to the pillory, or to chains; sixteen hundred and twenty-six to hard labour, to longer or shorter imprisonment; sixty-four

THE apprehensions of invasion have considerably increased during the last month, and the zeal of the people in making preparations to repel it has been proportionate. Never, as we believe, did Great Britain shew a more unanimous determination to resist foreign aggression, and never, unquestionably, had a free people more powerful motives to rise up as one inan in their own defence.

Complaints have been made of the want of equal energy in the administration, and, in particular, of the too slow and scanty delivery of arms to that limited number of volunteers, whose offers of service have been accepted. It would, perhaps, be impossible for any government to keep pace with the expectations, still less with the ardour, of the people on such an occasion as the present. To the parliament, which is to meet on the 22nd of November, the controul over the executive power is, by our happy constitution, most properly delegated; and we have no doubt that every question which is, at this time, either important to the welfare, or interesting to the feelings, of the people, will receive ample discussion in that free and enlightened assembly. The state of the country, as we trust, will be considered as too awful for party principles to have their usual share of operation. We have all one interest, and that is to save the country.

to us.

divine favour, we trust that "the Lord of Hosts is with us, and the God of Jacob is our refuge."

We cannot close these observations without expressing our regret, that Sunday drilling has taken place in so many parts of the kingdom; at the same time we have no hesitation in declaring, that if, in any place, the danger is so pressing and immediate that the drilling on other days would be insufficient, an unwillingness to exercise on the sabbath would stand on a superstitious and not a religious principle. We have heard that, in some places, the custom of Sunday drilling has led to general inspections on the Sunday. These inspections are much the same as reviews, and every one knows that a considerable review is as much a species of public entertainment to thousands of spectators, as a horse race or any other exhibition. Is it not also likely to introduce a scene of evening festivity?

The minister of religion is put to disadvantage, when he has to preach and to pray almost amidst the sound of fife and drum, and when the pleasures of the immediately approaching review are occupying the thoughts of his audience. Those general sentiments of veneration for the Christian sabbath, which have been one characteristic of this protestant country, are also weakened by every needless Sunday occupation and public exhibition. Let not these remarks be thought too puritanical and precise. The maintenance of the sabbath, in the same manner as of our civil liberties, is only to be secured by being jealous of every little encroachment.

We are happy to find that, in many populous places, the Sunday has not been chosen for a day of exercise. By the Army en Masse Bill an option is given even to those who are called out under the compulsory clauses of the act to exercise on any other day, provided no pay is claimed for the day substituted in the place of Sunday. in volunteer corps, therefore, the same option ought in fairness to be universally afforded. It is impor tant even on political grounds not to wound the feelings, or discourage the co-operation, of any individuals, and particularly of the more religious part of the community.

AFTER a minute and careful enquiry into the particulars contained in the following communication, we venture to vouch for its fidelity.

For the Christian Observer. WILLIAM Small was the son of a free black, by a woman of colour, who, in the year 1792, was brought from Nova Scotia to settle in the colony of Sierra Leone. In the summer of 1799 he, with twenty others, almost all of whom were native Africans, was brought to England for the purpose of education, being then about fourteen or fifteen years of age, and having enjoyed some advantages of previous instruction at Sierra Leone. He soon discovered such a taste for knowledge, and such a capacity to receive it, as are not usual even in European youths of the same age. He applied with diligence and success to every pursuit to which his attention was directed; but took most pains in the study of arithmetic, as appeared from the great facility with which he performed its operations in several of the most difficult rules. After this he became familiarly acquainted with practical geometry and mensuration, giving abundant proof with what success he might have pursued other branches of study, had his life been spared. His leisure hours were seldom spent in triffing amusements, but were most willingly employed in collecting general information from books, or in writing down his own observations. His reading, though extensive considering his opportunities, was far from being superficial, as he would not willingly pass over a difficulty without inquiring the author's meaning, if his own attempts to discover it had proved ineffec. tual. Drawing was also a favourite amusement, though it did not occupy any very considerable portion of his leisure time: Perhaps the greatest part of it was voluntarily employed in a careful perusal of the sacred scriptures; and that his application was not fruitless many can bear witness, who have heard with what propriety he could answer such questions, of a religious nature, as were proposed to him, and with what readiness he could produce apposite texts of scripture in support of his opinions.

One method which he took, with a view to improve his religious knowledge, was to write down in Church as many of the leading ideas of the sermons as he could, and afterwards to fill up the outline from me, mory. Another method he frequently practised was, to frame a number of questions, and then to search diligently in a

Bible with marginal references, till be could satisfy himself with proper answers. His friends had also the satisfaction to believe, that his advancement in religious knowledge was not without some correspondent effect on his principles and con-duct. He made it his constant practice to retire for the purpose of private prayer, morning and evening; sometimes also on other extraordinary occasions: and he would frequently urge this duty upon such of his companions as he observed to be either inattentive to it, or negligent in the performance of it. After he had been in England about a year and a half, a visible amelioration was observed in his tempers and dispositions, by some who had known him several years before, and who had been struck with the unusual degree of petulancy, wilfulness, and obstinacy, which then marked his character. This pleasing change, however, was most particularly observable during his last illness. He was seized with the measles in the month of March 1801, but in so mild a form as to give his friends no reason to apprehend any danger. That disorder, however, was succeeded by inflammatory symptoms, which, notwithstanding every effort to remove them, terminated in a ra pid consumption. During the whole of his iliness, which lasted about three months, he was very patient and submissive, and always seemed to apprehend what proved to be the issue of his complaints. On one occasion, indeed, he wept tenderly at the thought of the distress his mother and sister (the only near relations he had) would feel on hearing of his death in so distant a country. A few consolatory thoughts were suggested, which seemed to have the desired effect, and his mind became more composed.

No one could possess a more tender regard to relations than he manifested on all occasions, yet he expressed a willingness to commit them, as well as himself, into the hands of his heavenly father. When unable to write himself, he dictated to one of his companions, who wrote for him the following letter to his friends, in which one cannot but remark the pions regard he felt for their best interests, and at the same time the composure with which he contemplated both his present condition, and his future prospects.

"DEAR MOTHER AND SISTER,

"I am very sorry that I cannot write to you in the strain I have generally done, during the two years I have been separated from you. Though it may cause you some trouble, I think myself bound to let