monarchies, like that of Naples, but even by the disaffected among ourselves? There is a lesson of great moment, which rulers might already have learnt from the page of history, but which recent events teach perhaps still more impressively-namely, that in a state of society like that which exists in Europe, where information is widely and rapidly diffused, including even those countries where the press is not perfectly free, the prevailing sentiments of the intelligent part of a nation must, in the long run, obtain the ascendancy; for even the military, who are employed to restrain them, will at length come to imbibe the general feeling, and will prove the most efficient instruments of revolution, instead of affording a security against it. But the Note of the Emperor of Russia teaches another most important lesson, to which the governments of Europe would do well to listen, where it tells them, that even "institutions the most satisfactory would cease to be a means of peace and happiness, if, instead of being granted by kindness as voluntary concessions, they should be adopted by weakness as a last resource of salvation."

NAPLES, &c. The delay of a week, which the King of Naples assigned in his first proclamation, for fixing and publishing the fundamental articles of a constitution, appeared too long for the impatience of the army; and deputations were sent to the King, proposing that he should adopt without delay the constitution of the Spanish Cortes of 1812. His majesty thus pressed, issued a Rescript, in which he announced, that, the state of his health not permitting him to undergo the fatigue of the duties of royalty, he had appointed his son Vicar-general of the Two Sicilies, under the title of Alter Ego. The Vicar-general soon published a proclamation promising to comply with the demand; but this not appearing to the insurgents a sufficient pledge, the King himself was constrained to add his promise and signature also. The military conducted themselves quietly, and the people seemed almost indifferent to what was passing between the court and the troops. A provisional junta was formed. One of the last measures of the government for overawing the disaffected, was the publication of a Note

of the Emperor of Russia to the Spanish minister, containing nearly the same sentiments as those in the circular note already alluded to. Austria is said to be preparing to interfere in the affairs of Naples, and to be collecting troops for that purpose.

An attempt has been made to extend the Neapolitan revolution to the island of Sicily; in consequence of which, serious disturbances have taken place, attended with outrages of the worst description, and with the loss of a great number of lives. Many of the Sicilians appear desirous of taking this occasion to assert their independ ence of Naples.

DOMESTIC.

The stage to which the proceedings respecting the Queen have advanced, renders it more than ever necessary to refrain from any observations on her painful case, except such as are of a general kind.

During the whole of the month, addresses have continued to pour in from a variety of places, all of which assume her Majesty's complete innocence as a point admitting of no doubt, and characterize the pending measures for the investigation of her conduct as in the highest degree oppressive and unjust. We deeply regret to state, that to many of these addresses her Majesty has thought proper to give replies of a most inflammatory and mischievous tendency. She has also published a document, bearing the title of a Letter to the King, of a nature so exceptionable, that, if it had come from any other quarter, we should not have hesitated to pronounce it libellous and seditious; insulting to the Sovereign and to Parliament; and most injurious to her own cause, in the eyes of all who are attached to the constitution, and who desire the tranquillity of the country. The effect of these various writings, indeed, has, in many cases, been the very reverse of what was their obvious intention; and many persons, who were at first favourably disposed towards the Queen, have regarded the course she has pursued not only as strongly indicative of a consciousness of guilt, but as aiming to prevent, by clamour, or even by some revolutionary movement, the conviction which she knows must be the consequence of an investigation. How far such surmises are well founded it is not for us to say.

But no one, we are persuaded, not even the Queen herself, notwithstand-, ing her declarations to the contrary, can doubt that the decision of Parliament will be in the strictest accordance with justice.

The investigation of this distressing case came on in the House of Lords on the 17th instant. Counsel were first heard against the principle of the Bill itself, which they alleged to be unnecessary, and therefore unconstitutional; the proper mode of proceeding being by impeachment. Their objections, however, were overruled. We could have greatly wished, indeed, and that without any reference to the guilt or innocence of the Queen, that the investigation should not have taken place at all; and we retain our conviction, that, while any alternative remained (except, indeed, that of investing the Queen with the high authority and influence of her station while charges so serious were unrefuted) it ought to have been adopted, rather than subject the country to the disgrace, the agitation, and the pollution of the present process. Whether, in the first instance, this might have been effected, it is too late to inquire, and indeed we have not the means of ascertaining. The conduct pursued in this respect can only be fairly judged of when the inquiry now pending shall have closed.

With regard to the mode of proceed ing by a Bill of Pains and Penalties, it is necessarily open to many exceptions, as well as to the various inconveniences which may arise in its progress through the House of Commons. The question, however, is, whether (supposing an investigation to have been found unavoidable) any known method presented itself of effecting that object which was less liable to exception. An impeachment before the Lords by the House of Commons, was perhaps the only other which could have been taken, without constituting an entirely new court for the purpose. To an impeachment, however, it is alleged, that in the present case there exist insuperable legal difficulties. But, supposing that mode to have been substituted, we do not see that the Queen would have been at all a gainer by the exchange. On the contrary, she would have been deprived of some advantages which the mode of proceeding by Bill affords her. We can have no doubt that the

Peers, who have to investigate the matter, will act with the same substantial justice in the present instance as they would have done if the Queen had been brought before them by impeachment. They form identically the very same tribunal in both cases. But their sentence, be it ever so decisive, will now have to undergo a revision in the House of Commons, where it may be reversed. We can imagine, it is true, modes of trial against which the same plausible objections could not be urged which are employed to throw suspicion on the fairness and impartiality of the method actually adopted, but we repeat, that we cannot have the slightest doubt that by no other could the ends of substantial justice, as far as the Queen is concerned, be more effectually secured than by the present proceeding. We are the more anxious distinctly to express this opinion, because it has been the aim of the factious press to persuade the nationand to this most unfounded and injurious aspersion the Queen has made herself a party-that nothing but injustice is intended towards her Majesty. We conceive it, at the present moment, to be the urgent duty of all good citizens, and especially of all Christians, to oppose the obvious design, which has been manifested by the Ra dical party in this country, to make the cause of the Queen an instrument of promoting their own factious and revolutionary purposes, while in truth they give themselves little or no con. cern about the intrinsic guilt or innocence of her Majesty.

With regard to the scene which is passing in the House of Lords, we shall say little. The Attorney-General's opening speech contained a long recital of alleged acts of most indecent and licentious conduct on the part of her Majesty, which, if proved, will fully justify, and more than justify, the strong preamble of the Bill. We shall not pollute our pages with those particulars, nor with the evidence which has been as yet given to prove them. Before our next Number, the case may perhaps have proceeded far enough to enable the public to judge, better than they can now do, of the truth or falsehood of the charges. One point, however, is very clear, that nothing can be worse advised, under existing circumstances, than the tone adopted in those strongly worded ad

No. 225.]

acquaintance with medicine, which became afterwards of great service to him among his country parishion

C. N.

THOMAS WILSON was born at Burton, a village in Cheshire, December 20, 1663. His family was ancient and respectable, and his parents were persons, as he himself expresses it," honest, and fearing God." He was peculiarly affectionate in his conduct towards them, and remembered them diligently in his prayers. Of his early life little is known, except that he was placed at the academy of Mr. Harpur, at Chester, where he laid a deep foundation of classical literature. He thence removed to Trinity College, Dublin, which he en fered with an income of only twenty pounds per annum. He had form ed the resolution of studying medicine; but, in consequence of his intercourse with Archdeacon Hewet son, who aided him with his valuable counsel while he animated him by his own Christian example, Mr. Wilson was induced to prepare himself for the sacred office. He still, however, kept up a general CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 225.

His residence at the university was marked by uniform propriety of conduct, and diligent application to study. The duties also of private devotion appear to have occupied a considerable portion of his time; and all his desires and efforts became supremely devoted to the great object which had now engrossed his mind..

Mr. Wilson quitted the university in 1686, and, after a diligent preparation, and under the deepest sense of the awful responsibility of the sacred function, received Deacon's orders from Dr. Moreton, Bishop of Kildare. On this occasion he composed a prayer, which he was ever after in the habit of using at every return of the day of his ordination; a day which he always observed with great solemnity, renewing his sacred vows and obligations, and imploring the assistance of God's Holy Spirit to enable him to perform them. It was his custom to read on that occasion St. Paul's. directions to deacons, and to pray to God, that as he had given him the will, he would also give him power and strength to serve him in the holy ministry." He supplicated, for a wise, a sober, a patient understanding; a devout, a religions, a courageous heart; that he might instruct the ignorant, reclaim the vicious, bear the infirmities of the weak, comfort the afflicted, and confirm the strong; that he might be an example of true piety, constantly speak

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the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and cheerfully suffer for righteousness' sake; that he might keep the example of his Lord and Master continually before his eyes; that his days might be spent in doing good, and that his zeal might ever be concerned in matters of real moment." The record of these secret devotions is found in a memorandum-book, which was presented to him on the day of his ordination by his pious friend Archdeacon Hewetson, and which he kept for such sacred purposes. At the beginning of the book, the Archdeacon had written several hints for the regulation of the conduct of his " dear friend Thomas Wilson;" and, among others, he wisely advises him to "avoid in his sermons all deep and useless speculations, all matters of controversy that do not necessarily offer themselves, and all juvenile affectation of fine language, wit, and learning."

Mr. Wilson did not continue long in Ireland after his ordination; for in December 1686 he was appointed to the curacy of the New Church, in the parish of Winwick, in Lancashire, of which Dr. Sherlock, his maternal uncle, was rector. His annual stipend was but thirty pounds; yet such were his early habits of frugality and self-denial, and such his elevation of Christian principle and his freedom from the love of the world, that he regularly and cheerfully devoted a tithe of his pittance for charitable purposes. But though his pecuniary bounty was necessarily restricted, he had a large heart; and his time, his exertions, and his prayers were diligently devoted to his flock. Thus, while passing through the first gradation of the sacred office, his talents were improving; his knowledge, piety, charity, and ministerial ability were enlarging; and his whole character was becoming eminently fitted for that more conspicuous station in the church of Christ, which he was

ultimately to oocupy. In the mean time, content and happy in his retired sphere, he felt no desire for change, but devoted himself to the duties of his station, and found in the love of his parish and the favour of God an ample recompence for every self-denying exertion.

Mr. Wilson did not receive the order of Priest till October 1689, when he was admitted to that office by his diocesan, the Bishop of Chester; on which occasion he was led to dedicate himself anew to the service of his God and Saviour. A happy combination of the qualities of the scholar, the gentleman, and the Christian, recommended him to the notice of the Earl of Derby, who, in the year 1692, appointed him his domestic chaplain, and tutor to his son, Lord Strange, with a salary of thirty pounds per annum. He was shortly after elected Master of the almshouse at Latham, which added twenty pounds per annum more to his income, while it enlarged his sphere of ministerial usefulness, and summoued into wider exercise his charitable disposition.

The following private memorandum points out the effect which this increase of income had upon his conscientious mind. "It having pleased God," he remarks, "of his mere bounty and goodness to bless me with a temporal income far above my hopes and deserts; and I having hitherto given but one-tenth of my income to the poor; I do therefore purpose, and I thank God for putting it into my heart, that of all the profits which it shall please God to give, and which shall be come due to me after the sixth of August next (before which time I hope to have paid my small debts), I do purpose to separate the fifth part for pious uses, and particularly for the poor." Should any persons be inclined to suppose, that because Mr. Wilson had now doubled his charity he had grown in his own estimation, and was inclined