or in one of the public school-houses, which is in general well attended. The work of teaching goes on pleasingly, though nor so rapidly as we could wish. The king's mother and her husband are chiefs of considerable influence, and are very friendly. We receive almost daily applications for books. The climate is, I think, more congenial to our constitutions than that of the Society Islands. The village in the vicinity of which we live is verypopulous,containing probably between five and six thousand inhabitants, besides foreigners, of which at times there are considerable numbers. There are about sixteen merchants, including the American consul, who resides here constantly, to transact business with the natives and with the shipping that are continually arriving. A considerable reinforcement of missionaries is almost daily expected from America, among whom there will be perhaps five preachers. The population is stated at 150,000 in all the islands, probably it exceeds a hundred thousand, to all of whom a preacher has now free access. May God in mercy stir up the churches both of England and America, to united, fervent, special prayer, not only for this nation, but for every groupe and every solitary island upon the bosom of the vast Pacific, till they shall all become evangelized I have, since our arrival here, had several interviews with a native of the Marquesas, with whom I could converse intelligibly. He informed me several Tahitians had occasionally visited them; that the chiefs and people were desirous missionaries should be sent to them, and that they would not molest them. It has long been a matter of deep regret to us all, that they should remain so long in the neigh bourhood of the Society Islands, unvisited, degraded by idolatry and wretchedness, without a friendly guide to conduct them to the temporal and spiritual enjoyment of all those inestimable blessings which Christianity is calculated to impart.”

COCHIN JEWS.

The following information has been recently obtained respecting the Cochin Jews. They consist of the White and those usually termed Black Jews, and their freed and household servants respectively. It seems that the merchandize in Hebrews among them is done away. The rules therefore laid down by Moses, which restricted them in this respect, do not now apply. (See Exod. xxi. 2-4; Levit xxv. 39-41, &c.) Indeed, neither the sabbatical year nor the year of jubilee has been

kept since the dispersion, having reference only to the holy land. The household servants now in their possession were originally purchased, as were those they have freed, from amongst the five lowest casts of the natives; namely, carpenters, workers in brass, gold and silver smiths, iron smiths, and palayen or pullee-casts; and to make proselytes from these was one of the privileges granted by Chesam Permaul, the Malabaric king, and recorded on the brass plate they now possess. Part of the ordinances of Moses, respecting the purchase of bond-servants, will be found in Levit. xxv. 44-46. This passage has likewise reference to the strangers that sojourned in the Holy Land, and the heathen, which then surrounded it. Since these Jews have been under the British government, they have not purchased bond-men or bond-women; they have, however, established various customs amongst themselves, in regard to the emancipation of their household sevants. The rite of circumcision (common to all Jews) was performed on the bond-servant by the master of the family, or one of the elders properly qualified, and thus they imitated the patriarchal institution as enjoined by the Almighty upon Abraham. (Gen. xvii. 12.) It does not appear that they employ circumcised people in their service. After circumcision, the servant was taken to a place where there was much water, wherein he was dipped or baptised, they using the following prayer: "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, and king of the universe, (or everlasting king,) who hast sanctified us by thy commandments, and hast enjoined us concerning the dipping of servants." After this, the Jews say, the servant becomes, in every respect, as Eliezer. (Gen. xv. 2.) "The steward of Abraham's house." Ver. 3,

one born in his house;" and ver. 34, "his servant." A female servant was dipped or baptized, they using the same prayer as above. With proselytes being natives, like ceremonies are observed as with the servant purchased for money; the only difference as concerns the baptism is a change in the prayer, to "the dipping of proselytes," instead of "the dipping of servants." There are three men of this description now at Cochin, who were originally heathens. They are termed Geerim, "strangers." Deut. x. 18: "God loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. "Ver. 19: "Love ye, therefore, the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." They are, however, looked upon by the Cochin Jews in no

to look out for suitable school-mistresses: and the appeal is now made to the benevolent and the patriotic of the United Kingdom to carry this great design into effect; to rescue the female children of the poor in Ireland from their present degradation, and to carry useful knowledge, virtuous principles, and domestic order into every cottage."

Her Grace the Duchess of Beaufort is president of the Society; the vice-presidents, committee, and other officers, consist of a number of ladies of the highest respectability, comprising many of ele

vated rank. The subscriptions already received afford great encouragement to hope that the Society will meet, as it well deserves, a large share of public encouragement. Subscriptions will be received by the Treasurer, Mrs. W. T. Money, No. 10, York Place, Portman Square; by the Secretaries, or any Member of the Committee: also by Messrs. Coutts, Bankers, Strand; Mr. C. Rivington, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall; Messrs. Hatchard, 187, Piccadilly; Messrs. Seeley, Fleet Street; and Mr. Nisbet, Berners Street, London.

FOREIGN.

SPAIN. The lapse of another month has thrown scarcely any additional light on the condition and prospects of this unhappy country. The government continues to vacillate between contending parties, and seems unable to fix upon any determinate line of policy. The king adheres to his old bigotted and despotic sentiments on all the affairs of church and state; the Catholic priesthood, in accordance both with their deeply rooted prejudices, and their secular interests, uphold him in his opinions; the friends of the repudiated Constitution, and the numerous body of persons who are likely to suffer by the counter-revolution, particularly the constitutional functionaries and the holders of church lands, secretly oppose the restored order of affairs; while the French conquerors, afraid lest despotism should prejudice its own interests by impolitic violence, are contending with their ultra royalist friends for some relaxation of their rigid principles of government. The most opposite expedients have been mentioned as among the projects of this distracted cabinet. It was at first reported that the king intended to pardon only those who had involuntarily fallen into political errors: a few days after it was asserted, that a general amnesty was to be published; the queen's birth-day being fixed as the date of the intended proclamation. That day, however, has passed some weeks since, but no such decree has been made public. The Constitutionalists, therefore, still remain in complete uncertainty as to their fate; and the more conspicuous among them, all who had reason to fear from the vengeance of the new government, have

taken the timely precaution of emigrating to foreign countries, and particularly to England. The new ministry are considered somewhat more favourable to lenient measures than their predecessors. The government is in a state little short of bankruptcy; unable to pay its debts, unable to collect a revenue by taxes, and unable to negociate a loan. The capitalists of Europe resolutely hold out against taking its bonds, except under conditions, and with guarantees, which, whatever they are, have not been, or cannot be, complied with. It is rumoured that the inquisition is not to be formally re-established, but that every bishop is to protect the faith in his own diocese. The French army is to garrison the country in the first instance for six months, subject to a deliberation, at the termination of that period, as to the expediency of extending the term of occupation.

SOUTH AMERICA.-It is with great pleasure we state, that the advices from every part of South America represent the affairs of the various newly formed governments as generally hopeful and prosperous. The determination not to yield again to the yoke of the mother countries daily increases in strength; and, happily for the liberties of the New World, neither Spain nor Portugal is at present in a condition to offer any formidable opposition to this resolve. The Government of the Brazils has, with much spirit, refused to receive the commissioner of the king of Portugal, or even to allow him to land, unless he would state that he came prepared to acknowledge their independence. The British ministry have established regular pac kets to Buenos Ayres, whence letters will be forwarded to Chili and Peru.

DOMESTIC. The month has been still more barren of domestic than of foreign news: indeed we have not a single article of public intelligence that particularly requires to be noticed. We are happy to be able thus peaceably to close the last sheets of our work for another year; and to add our conviction, that the country is every year increasing in wealth and prosperity, and is rapidly recovering the exhausting effects of the late long-protracted war. May it be long, very long, before we are again numbered among belligerent nations! By wisely avoiding offensive operations, we are increasing our means of defence, and are preparing to repel any encroachment that may hereafter be made upon our just rights, especially our commercial interests, which every class of persons among us, agricultural, manufacturing, or trading, is deeply interested in preserving inviolate, and extending wherever channels of intercourse can be found. We are glad to observe every successive year an increasing liberality of feeling on this subject, and a wider conviction of the practical truth of the Scripture apophthegm, that " he that deviseth liberal things by liberal things shall stand." Some of our continental neighbours have the intelligence to perceive that every approach in our public policy to measures of universal reciprocity and good-will, is in fact the most refined species of selfinterest. The Germans are complaining loudly, that the recent relaxations in our navigation laws are wafting their customers to Great Britain; and that, if their own governments will not imitate our example, by allowing the entrance of foreign productions into their ports on a liberal basis, this country will soon become the universal mart of Europe and the world. Our recently-formed East - Indian settlement of Sincapore, upon the principles of free trade, and which, in the course of the last three or four years, under the enlightened administration of Governor Raffles, who has just relinquished his honourable post with deserved eclat, has risen to a sudden degree of prosperity perhaps unprecedented in the early annals of colonies and empires, evinces the sound policy of adopting liberal principles of international intercourse. In the United States of America, a judicious petition has been lately drawn up in New York, against the prohibitory enactments levelled at English manufac

tured goods. The subscribers justly consider, that to force manufactures in a young and agricultural country, where land is abundant and unexhausted, and labour scarce and dear, must necessarily be an injudicious system; as much so, we will add, as if England, where the land is limited and population overflowing, should sacrifice her manufactures and commerce in hopes of becoming rich merely by her agriculture. Thus we trust all nations and all interests will before long learn, that reciprocal liberality is in truth far better policy than a niggardly selfishness. Many of our manufacturers, who remonstrated against the late relaxation of our navigation laws, begin to perceive that the increased intercourse with our ports, which that relaxation has ensured, instead of cutting off their market by means of foreign competition, will open new outlets for their industry. We are most happy to observe this increasing liberality of sentiment; and we earnestlytrust, that in the course of the next session of Parliament, we shall witness its application in new quarters, and to a yet larger extent.

A considerable number of Spanish emigrants, as above intimated, have found shelter in this country; and among the rest General Mina, who has been welcomed with a most flattering reception. A subscription has been set on foot for these unfortunate refugees, to which we recommend the attention of those of our readers who have it in their power to assist in supplying the pressing wants of their fellow-men. We beg leave, also, again to remind them of the fund for assisting the Greeks. Most happy are we to add, that a spirit of zealous cooperation in the cause of this long oppressed people, has shewn itself in the university of Cambridge; and that a society has been formed, headed by the Duke of Gloucester, the chancellor, for relieving their wants and assisting their most righteous efforts.

True bills have been found, at the Hertford Winter Assizes, against Thurtell and Hunt, for the murder of Mr. Weare; the former as principal, the latter as accessary before the fact. Probert is admitted as king's evidence. The trial has been very properly postponed till the 6th of January, partly on account of the prejudiced state of the public mind, caused by the ex-parte statements in the periodical prints, but chiefly, it would appear, in consequence of some obstructions thrown in

the way of the free intercourse of the prisoners with their legal advisers, and which might have impeded the preparation of their defence. It is truly gratifying to witness the strict justice tempered with patience and mercy which so honourably distinguishes British courts of judicature. In a subsequent trial of a man of the name of Pallett, for the murder of a Mr. Mumford, the prisoner's petition for the postponement of the trial was refused, there being no substantial grounds for the application. In this case, the evidence left not a shadow of doubt of the guilt of the prisoner, who, before his execution, fully confessed it; but on reading the reply of the learned judge to the motion for the postponement of the trial, we felt appalled with the statement that hundreds of prisoners are often tried even within a few hours of their commitment. We venture to suggest, whether some specific regulation is not desirable and necessary as regards this point. This very month two innocent inen, charged with highway robbery, under circumstances the most improbable, have, through the exertions of one of the sheriffs of London, most providentially escaped being executed. The man who professed to have been robbed, swore most unblenchingly to the crime and to their identity; and there being only one day between their commitment and trial for the preparation of their defence, it was impracticable to bring before the jury the mass of countervailing testimony which has since been collected, and has ended in their receiving his Majesty's full pardon. A fair, adequate, and specified space of time ought to be laimable as a matter of right by a pri

soner between his commitment and his trial. It may happen that he is ignorant, and knows not how at first to proceed; or that he is poor, and cannot instantly raise money for his defence; or that his friends and witnesses are at a distance; or that prima facie probabilities are so strong against him, that there requires considerable time and research to elicit the evidence that tends to his acquittal; or that his legal advisers themselves, in the hurry of business, do not instantly perceive the strong points of his defence. In all such cases, there is danger of hastily condemning an innocent man, as has actually happened in the instances just alluded to; and who knows but other such instances may have occurred in the course of years? If the assizes arrive before the time allowed has expired, it should be optional with the prisoner whether to take his trial at once, or to wait till the next jail delivery. It is a more doubtful point, whether it would be adviseable that counsel should be allowed to plead in all cases. Their strong appeals to the feelings of a jury might sometimes interfere with the strict execution of justice, and, in case of a verdict of guilty, leave painful sensations in the minds of the jurors, which the strongest feelings of integrity could not always heal. But, doubtless, they ought to be allowed a suitable time for preparing the defence; and where this is granted, the cross-examination of the witnesses against the prisoner, the depositions of those in his favour, his own deliberate statement, the comments of an impartial judge, and the calm judgment of twelve honest men, will leave scarcely a possibility of an unjust decision.