-expiate the guilt of some crime which poverty constrained me to appeal to the compassion of your Committee. I say similar, though not exactly in all points, for a gracious God has sent me an increase of family. Though Mrs. has been the mother of thirteen, I cordially welcome the last; and as it is a boy, I give him to God in sincere prayer, to make him a truly christian man, and if it be his will, a laborious preacher of righteousness. Without some charitable aid I cannot clear off the arrears of the last year. In my present rather expensive situation, how is it possible that 1301., the amount of my income, can supply so large a family as eleven persons, with the most common comforts of life? Your repeated bounty has enabled me to be useful, and respectable, and comfortable, in situation certainly of some importance." 2." Happy should I be were my pecuniary circumstances such as would render another application on my part unnecessary; but having had for many yearsto labour among a verypoor people, my family having been very large, and my necessities compelling me to pur chase many articles on disadvantageous terms. I have not known for several years what it is to be free from difficulties; and such is my state at present, unless I can obtain some speedy assist he had committed long ago. His attendants literally worshipped him; kissing his feet, calling him God, and invok ing his blessing. A large fire was kindled under the extended branch of an old tree: -to this branch the Fakir fastened two strong ropes, having at the lower end of each of them a stuffed noose, into which he introduced his feet; and thus being suspended with his head downward over › the fire, a third rope (at a distance toward the end of the branch) was fixed, by which he succeeded with one hand to set himself in a swinging motion, backward and forward through the smoke and flaming fire, which was kept blazing by a constant supply of fuel, ministered by many of his followers: with the other hand he counted a string of beads, a fixed number of times; so as to ascertain the termination of the four hours, for which he had doomed himself daily to endure this exercise for twelve years, nine of which are nearly expired. A narrow bandage is over his eyes, and another over his mouth, to guard against the suffocating effects of the smoke. By this means he says he shall atone for the guilt of his sins, and be made holy for ever. The last half hour of the four hours, his people say, he stands upright and swings in a cir. cular motion round the fire. On.com-ance, that my credit must fail, and in ing down, he rolls himself in the hot ashes of the fire. The boys went to see him again in the evening, when he was engaged in his prayers, but to what or whom they could not tell. "I asked my little congregation what they thought of all this. They sat silent, with their eyes castdown and sighingheavily. At length, Anund turned toMatthew Phiroodeen, and passing his arms round his neck,exclaimed, with the most touch ing expression of affection as well as of gratitude to God- Ah, my brother! my brother! such once were we! but now (and he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and elevated his whole person) Jesus! Jesus! my God! my Saviour!'" SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF POOR PIOUS CLERGYMEN The following are a few extracts from the letters received by the Committee in the course of the last year. These afford ample proof of the necessity and utility of the institution, and -are its best recommendation. 1. I still remain in circumstances si. milar to those of the last year, when real that case an end will be put to my ministerial usefulness. In addition to my other burthens, I have latelyexperienced considerable affliction in my family, and having myself at times been so indisposed as to be incapable of discharging my duty; the consequence has been an unavoidable increase of expenditureand although the congregation I serve is so considerable in number, many of them being in low circumstances, and not a few of them total strangers, that degree of assistance is not afforded which might otherwise be expectedMy income is about 1477. 1 have ten children, five of whom are wholly dependent upon me for support. It is computed that the congregation may average a thousand persons; the communicauts a hundred. The sacrament is administered monthly." 3. "I am still curate of, have a wife and ten children, seven of whom are wholly dependent on me; and my curaey is no more than fifty pounds per annum for our support. Five of my chil dren have been afflicted with the typhus fever, and doctors' bills must be very considérable for attending them these three months. I hope that the worthy gentlemen will look upon this my humble petition with tenderness and compas. sion and may the God of mercy reward my kind benefactors!" 4. (From a Clergyman's Widow.)— "In deep distress and heartfelt sorrow, I acquaint you and the worthy Committee of the death of my dear husband, after a painful illness of ten months, which he bore with a steady, composed, and Christian fortitude, truly edifying to his religious friends. -I feel greatly obliged for the last liberal supply, in feeling consideration of his supposed expense--I have three children dependent on me, or rather on Providence. The medical bills, and several other necessary expenses, are yet unpaid. I pray to be enabled to put my whole trust in the Lord. My son, who is come to us, and has succeeded in having his father's curacies, is the only earthly support I have to look to. In laying this before the Committee, you will oblige your afflicted but grate ful servant." 5. "When I review the dealings of God with us. I am constrained to say, that mercy and goodness have abounded towards us-Though the merciful Lord was pleased to cloud his favours with afflictions, yet I trust all was in love to our souls-I have forty-five pounds per annum from the chapel, and have received forty-six pounds, from other sources. We are six in family. From six to seven hundred in the congregation, and "about thirty communicants. We have Sunday-schools attached to the chapel: I superintend them myself." 6. "I beg leave to acknowledge in the most grateful manner, the receipt of your kind letter, with the inclosed bank post-bill. It is impossible for me to describe, within the compass of a letter, the joy which the receipt of this valuable present has created in the bosom of my poor wife and myself. It came just in time to rescue us from the greatest misery, and to afford us wherewith to obtain those necessaries required for the sustenance of man, which I am sorry to say we were almost des titute of.".. 7." I received your kind letter yester day, enclosing —; I have to thank the Committee for the favour conferred upon me. It will prove highly beneficial to me, as it will help to accom plish many of my wishes for the services of my children, and which could not have been done but through this aid. It will prevent many a heart-ache, and cause, I hope, my soul to be lifted up to God in gratitude and thanksgiving." dred pounds........No fees whatever. My income, oue hunMy family consists of nine persons. I buried a child nine months ago, and my eldest son has been put apprentice by some pious christian friends. The congregation from twelve to fifteen hundred, often two thousand. The communicants monthly from one to two hundred." 8. My "My scanty stipend will too well convey a sense of my need, which is pressing; but I wish to conduct myself with resignation. salary is twenty pounds. I have no other income I have a wife and three children. The average of the congregation about one hundred and fifty---sacrament administered four times a year. My own poverty, and that of the people, have hitherto prevented me from doing any good further than by my public and private labours.” 9......... "Though poverty pinches very hard, more particularly in cases where the petitioners may have been brought up in affluent circumstances, and educated as gentlemen nsually are at our universities, yet, when continued illness, with numberless concomitant expenses is taken into consideration, his sufferings become far greater; to this add a further source of grief;—a poor sick wife, near her confinement is wholly unable to provide the many little necessaries requisite. You may hence form a fair opinion of my present state. My income is under sixty-five pounds. I have a wife, and at present three children, all young, and wholly 'dependent on me for support." Society, it appears that the Committee By reference to the accounts of the have been under the necessity, for the last two years, of selling ont part of their funded property; although by the dividends arising from it, the grants ble measure supplied. The Committee made by them have been in a consideratherefore hope, that as the claims on the Society's benevolence are yearly increasing, the friends of religion and the church will exert themselves to increase the list of donations and subscriptions, VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. FOREIGN. FRANCE. The bill proposed by the new ministry for the regulation, we might almost say for the extinction of the liberty, of the press, has passed the chamber of deputies, after a long and vehement struggle, by a majority of 219 to 137. Numerous amendments were moved, and warmly supported by the left side, but were decidedly rejected. The new ministers, have thus proved their strength, at least in the representative body; but there can be no doubt that the general feeling in France is hostile to their views of policy, and should these be persisted in, may issue in some serious convulsion, affecting even the stability of the throne, and involving, perhaps, the peace of the world. The allied powers, however, could, hardly deem themselves justified in interfering in the internal disputes of France, while those differences respected only the fulfilment or non-fulfilment of the pledge given by the king in the charter, when he reascended the throne. Certainly the fiction of a social compact was most completely realized on that occasion; and there can be no doubt that the nation has as indefeasible a claim on the government to fulfil the terms of that compact, as the government has upon the nation for submission to the laws framed in conformity to its spirit and principles. In the mean time, the French funds are gradually rising and we lament to add, the French Slave-trade is acquiring daily a wider and more opprobrious extent. SPAIN. The king of Spain has been obliged, at length, to dismiss his ministers and to choose new ones. Among other measures recommended to the cortes, in a special message sent down to them from the throne, is a proposition for restraining the evils of the press. A law has passed that body to effect this object; and the rational restraints which it imposes gave occasion, while they were under discussion, to some popular tumults. The cortes, however, have remained firm; and, we must do them the justice to say, seem disposed to uphold the existing institutions of the country, against the clamours or the efforts of faction, whether exerted in favour of the old or of the new order of things. It gives us great pleasure to state, that a law has recently passed this assembly for the more effectual repression of the African Slave-trade. All Spanish ships in that trade are made liable to seizure and condemnation. Their owners, fitters-out, captains, officers,and crew, are subjected,on conviction, to the punishment of the galleys, or to hard labour in some other way, for ten years. All foreign vessels attempting to introduce slaves into the Spanish dominions are also to be seized and confiscated, and the persons navigating them to undergo the same punishment as native Spaniards. The slaves carried in contravention of the laws are to be made free, and a part of the proceeds of the ship and cargo is to be applied to their benefit. We hail this law as an indication of a spirit on the part of the Spanish cortes, which promises an administration of uprightness and humanity; and we trust that no time will be lost in concerting with our government the means of carrying so admirable an enactment into complete effect. France may well blush at being thus outstript by Spain in the march of benevolence and justice. Wo TURKEY.-A most remarkable silence has of late prevailed with respect to the affairs of Turkey; and the general inference from this circumstance appears to have been, that the differences between that power and Russia are about to be compromised, and that the troubles in Greece are likely soon to terminate. confess that we can discover nothing in the mere absence of idle rumours to justify such surmises. A note of the Turkish government addressed to the English minister would rather indicate that there was no intention on the part of the Porte to accede to what has been declared to be, and what we believe really is, the ultimatum of Russia. The assurances it contains are of the most vague and unsatisfactory kind, and so perfectly evasive that they are calculated to generate distrust instead of confidence. In the mean time, neither Russia nor the Porte appears to have relaxed their warlike preparations; and their armies, which are daily joined by fresh troops, are at no great distance from each other, ready, apparently, to begin their operations with the return of spring. The Greeks are busily employed in fortifying, and in supplying with the munitions of war all the strong places of whichtheyhave obtained possession, in the Morea and elsewhere; and they evince a determination, whatever may be the result of the negociations between Russia and the Porte, and at whatever cost to themselves, to achieve their deliverance from the Turkish yoke. We most ardently hope that their efforts will be crowned with complete suc cess. DOMESTIC. Parliament opened on the 5th instant, with a speech from the throne, delivered by the king in person, in which his majesty presented, in substance, the following statements: That he continued to receive from foreign powers the strongest assurances of friendship towards this country: that his endeavours had been directed, in common with his allies, to the settlement of the differences between Russia and Turkey; and that there was reason to hope that those differences would be satisfactorily adjusted that he had derived great satisfaction from the loyalty and attachment manifested by his Irish subjects during his visit to their country, but that a spirit of outrage had since arisen which he felt determined by all possible means to subdue,--for which purpose it would be necessary for Parliament to consider whether the existing laws were sufficient to meet the exigency that the revenue had increased, and was still increasing: that he had made a large reduction in the estimates of the annual expenditure, particularly in the naval and military departments: that the commerce and manufactures of the United Kingdom had considerably improved, and were in a flourishing condition; but that the agricultural interest was in a depressed state, and ought to occupy the early attention of parliament, who, however, would always bear in mind, whatever measures they might adopt, that in the maintenance of our public credit all the best interests of the kingdom were deeply involved. In the house of lords, the address in reply to the king's speech, was carried without opposition. In the house of commons, two amendments were moved; one by Sir F. Burdett, the object of which was to defer, for two days, the consideration of the reply to be made to his majesty; and the other by Mr. Hume, which went to pledge the house to a large reduction of our expenditure, and the consequent relief of the country from the pressure · of taxation. Both motions were negatived by considerable majorities ; but they gave rise to some interesting discussions. On the state of our negociations with respect to Turkey, little or no explanation has as yet been given. The few words uttered by ministers seemed intended to produce the impression, that their feelings were on the side of the Greeks; but that considerations of policy, and also of good faith to Turkey, would prevent this country from espousing their cause, or from interfering at all in the question, except by way of mediation; and this mediation, they trusted, would be successful. At The state of Ireland demanded, and has received, prompt attention. the period when the View of Public Affairs in our last Number went to press, the disturbances in the southwest of that island had been for the moment somewhat calmed; but they subsequently broke out with new force, and assumed more of the decided cha racter of rebellion. Skirmishes have occurred between parties of the rioters and the police and military, in which several persons have been killed. The reports of the last fortnight have, how ever, been again more favourable ; though nothing, perhaps, can be more fallacious than to judge of the real state of the insurrection from these partial changes. To check the im mediate evil, ministers have brought before parliament two very strong measures; the suspension of the law of Habeas Corpus, and the revival of the Insurrection Act, the provisions of which are extremely coercive, such as forbidding persons from assembling in groups of above a certain number, inflicting severe penalties upon indi viduals absenting themselves from their homes at night without a lawful excuse, enabling the magistrates to make domiciliary visits at all hours, and to decide, if they think it re quisite, in some cases, on the guiltor innocence of the parties, with out the intervention of a jury. The operation of these laws, however, is confined to districts declared to be actually in a sate of insurrection: The necessity of these measures was conceived to be so urgent, that many of those who lamented most deeply but to labour to gain the affection and |