ultras and liberales was, as we learn, a common opposition to the ministry, and a wish on the part of the liberales to tempt the ultras by the possession of power to manifest the extent of their principles and plans, hoping by this means to unite the country against them, and thus to secure the ascendency to themselves as the leaders of this opposition. The immediate occasion of the resignation of the ministry, was the voting an address to the king, intimating a dissatisfaction at his indifference to foreign politics, and evincing, as is generally supposed, a wish for his taking some part in favour of the Greeks in the conferences of the European cabinets. We do not, however, think there is any reason to expect that the tranquillity of that country will be immediately disturbed.

The experiment now progressing in France, of giving to a people circumstanced like the French, a representation and voice in the government, is one of great importance and deep interest. Previous to the revolution, the government of France was a despotism, exercised by a system of base intrigue, and limited almost solely by the utter impossibility of further exactions, or of longer endurance: its religion was the Roman Catholic, not disgraced it is true by an Inquisition, but yet manifesting, as in the massacre of St. Bartholomew's in ancient times, and the revocation of the edict of Nantz, and the consequent persecution and banishments of the Protestants, that spirit of persecution and bigotry (we speak as protestants to protestants) of which the history of that sect affords so many examples. At the period of the revolution, the despotism, from its want of resources and weakness, had become as contemptible as it was odious: and the national religion, exposed to the wit, talents and learning of sneering sceptics and malicious infidels, and its ministers filled with a secular ambition, and love of pleasure, had become as feeble as the government. The morals of the country, in the mean time, had become almost wholly obliterated: libertinism of the mort profligate kind had become common, and, by blows at domestic happiness, and the government of the family circle, had eradicated those principles of order so entirely dependent upon them, and so necessary to the support of all good government. The revolution then took place, with its factiqus dissentions, and its civil and foreign wars, gave a loose to every wicked passion, overspread the country with crimes, and covered it with sorrow and terror. From this, the step to a military despotism was short, and the government was placed in the hands of a man whose abilities established tranquillity, but whose ambition and love of war converted every thing to military purposes. The institutions for education, and the forms of religion, which he introduced and restored, the new order of nobility which he founded, and every other establishment under his government, tended to render every feeling and habit of the French warlike only; and no other principles seem to have had influence on the people, than a passion for military glory. How unfit such a preparation was for a government in any degree representative, in any degree depending on the good principles of the people at large, is sufficiently obvious, and was abundantly proved by the disturbances in the earlier period of the government of the restored king. By the aid of foreign troops, however, tranquillity was maintained, and the new government has now acquired some degree of stability. The continuance of peace has tended in some degree to wean the French from their military ardour, and to give them a taste for the arts of peace. The toleration of the protestant religion, the diffusion of general education, and the pacific course which the government of that country will probably pursue, will, we hope, give rise to the operation of better principles; and could we see the tenets of the protestant faith more generally prevalent, and hear of the influence of examples like those of Fenelon and Pascal, on the minds of the community, we should be sanguine in our hope of seeing that country assume a high rank among the nations of Christendom. And from the vivacity and intelligence of the French people, from the sad experience they have had of the ill effects of infidelity and superstition, as well as of anarchy and despotism, we hope that they may learn to place their religious institutions on the basis of a general diffusion of the Bible, as the only source of morality and piety, and to rest their civil establishments on the sure foundation of that religion, whose commands are to "fear God," and "honour the king," as well as to love our neighbour as ourselves, and on the general prevalence of education, and good principles in the people. Then shall France rise to an elevation second to none, become pleasing to the eye of God, and appear more glorious to the view of man, than when exulting in her most splendid victories.

DOMESTIC.

We have no domestic news to communicate to our readers this month.

The Seaman's Magazine.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. - They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.-Psalms.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN SEAMEN'S FRIEND SOCIETY

AND BETHEL UNION.

(Continued from page 604.)

REV. Mr. Marks, Vicar of Great Missenden." My Lord, Ladies, and Gentlemen,-I should gladly have kept in the back-ground, but am urged forward. I am sure the Report which has been read has exceeded all my expectations. I had, indeed, heard a great deal of good intelligence which had been wafted over the hills among my humble cottagers, but the Report has exceeded all that I could have formed an idea of. Your Committee wish me to say a little about old times, and I trust your lordship will excuse the egotism that will appear in so doing. We have heard of great things done by this Society; such things as, when at sea, we could have formed no idea of. I went to sea a poor thoughtless, careless youth, ignorant of my privileges at home, my mercies at sea, and of God my Maker; I went through many dangers and difficulties, and was laid on a bed of sickness in a foreign hospital, when without God, and without Christ, and without hope in the world. I trust I know a little what it is now to have a hope beyond the grave, and have for some years past. When it pleased God to show me my need of a Redeemer, I was a commissioned officer, and in looking round among the crew of 640 men, I saw no form of religion, no attention to the Sabbath, no kind of divine worship, nor had there been for six years. I had much conversation on the subject with my captain, (now an admiral,) and proposed writing for some Bibles and Tracts; these were granted, and the men began to read them. By and by it was proposed, as we had no chaplain, that Marks should turn parson. I consented, and read or explained to them as well as I could. In a short time, a few poor men got together in a part of the ship called the wing; it was a retired part, and we had a screen round us, and in a short time about 30 or 40 men manifested a great change in life and conduct; one of whom had been proverbial for drunkenness and profanity of every description. He had a little superiority over many of his shipmates in point of education, which only served to make him more wicked; he was the diverting magpie or monkey of the ship, and had always something witty and wicked to say, and he was the ringleader in every kind of iniquity. Among various little plans for doing good to the sailors and moralizing the crew, we had collected a little library, and some of the books were carried up to the round-top as landsmen call it, and Richard (I decline mentioning his sirname) being there on a watch, he opened the chest and found a book, which was " Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion." VOL. VIII.

80

Richard gave me the account of it himself. "I began to read, (said he,) and, though glad at first to find a book there, I soon began to dislike it; the more I read, the less I liked it; but I could not put it back. I got very uneasy, and was in hopes that when 12 o'clock came, and I went down, I should get better. Twelve o'clock at length came, and down went Richard: but what he had read in his book still followed him. He made a very scanty dinner, and (what he had never done before) left his grog behind him, and went to the top again to this book; and from that day to the time I left the ship, that young man was an exemplary character. It was soon noised abroad among the crew that Richard was become religious. The greater part would not believe it; some of them had heard of what they called Methodism before, but none of them believed that he was likely to become a Methodist. Some went and talked to him, and he told them the truth of the matter; others laughed at him, but he took no notice of it. Some took him some grog, which they knew would have been a great temptation to him, but he refused it; they swore if he did not drink it, they would throw it in his face: they knew the former spirit of the man, and that he would have knocked the first man down that had attempted it; but now he took it patiently, and made no resistance. There was one circumstance connected with his conversion, which shows what the power of grace can do. There is, in the articles of war, a clause which enacts, That if any officer, seaman, or marine, shall be guilty of using profane oaths, he shall be punished. I had been, I believe, ten years at sea, and I had never seen a person punished for *swearing; but one day this poor unhappy fellow had made use of such a torrent of execrations and dreadful oaths, that the captain, overhearing it, ordered him to be tied up, and he had a dozen lashes; and it was not above a month after this, that "Doddridge's Rise and Progress" did more for this poor fellow than his dozen lashes could do; they had made his back sore, they could do no more; but this led him to Christ for salvation, and changed the lion to a lamb. Could it ever have been thought in that day, that societies, for the express benefit of seamen would have been formed in this city, with noble admirals at their head, the Christians of all denominations supporting them? But you see what great things God hath done for us, and we have encouragement to hope that God will go on, and do yet greater things than these. When I left the navy, it was because I found my constitution broken down, and I felt unable to attend to duty as I wished to do; I therefore thought it my duty to move in a more retired sphere of life: but I left it with great regret, and it is the joy of my heart, and the happiness of my life, to come here to day and do or say any thing for poor Jack. There is a gentleman here, I will not tell you his name, who, when we had our meetings in the wing of his Majesty's ship Conqueror, was then a midshipman, and sometimes he would come and listen to what was going on, or take a peep at us, and then run away lest we should infect him; but since then he has been so infected, some how or another, that he is here to-day, and an active member of your committee. But I will not take up your time further than to propose the resolution."

Rev. J. Irons, after some introductory remarks, observed, "We have heard that one of the flags has been so often used that it is nearly worn out; but I am sure it will not be suffered to continue so, but another will be provided for this purpose; and I hope to hear that this is the case with all the flags in a short time. There is something very powerful in prayer, and particularly in the prayers of seamen; and though I have not been at many of the prayer meetings, yet I think if all here had seen and heard only as much of them as I have, they would go again on the first opportunity; and I would recommend all our friends here to go and hear the fervour with which they pray, and pour out their hearts before God, and you will feel more for poor sailors than from any arguments whatever. Look to this as God's work, and then consider that you have two or three ways of supporting it; 1st, by your personal influence; 2dly, by your property; and 3dly, by your fervent prayers; and it is my earnest desire and prayer that you may all have the honour of taking part of this important work, and feel the pleasure of it echoing back to your own bosoms, and redounding to your own happiness." (Applause.)

Rev. Mr. Brown, of South Ockenden, observed, "There were such signs in the commencement of this business of the Divine presence, as to compel surrounding ministers to say, 'This is the finger of God.' What else could induce a few poor sailors to supplicate on the boards of a vessel, the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ for themselves, and then pray to God that he would extend his work and communicate his grace to other sailors, and make them as happy they were? (Applause.) Yes, it is the finger of God, my Lord; it has been evident, and is still evident that it is so; it has fallen to my lot to go round the coast to a certain extent, and wherever I have been I have discovered the finger of God. I was called lately to visit a part of our kingdom where the men are notorious for their intrepidity, but I am sorry to add also for their depravity. The boatmen of Deal, my Lord, have often launched their boats in the midst of danger to save their fellow creatures; but, when şinking beneath the waves themselves, it has been with oaths and curses on their lips. A minister there said to me, sir, we are delighted at the progress of your society; we should like to see something of it at Deal; but we fear it is in vain to attempt it; we know too much of the boatmen of Deal to suppose that any thing would induce them to enter a place of worship. I said, let us make the experiment, and leave it to the Divine Being, who has promised that the hand of Jesus shall be 'planted in the sea. The attempt, my Lord, was made, and to my great delight, and to the disappointment of the minister, no less than 150 of these poor boatmen, some of whom had never been in a place of worship for 10, 15, cr 20 years, were present on that occasion. Among them there was one who had been particularly notorious: he came to the place, and strolled up the aisle; first he smiled at the idea of a sailor like himself preaching the Gospel; but it pleased God to soften his heart; the tears rolled down his cheeks, and he was seen with the sleeve of his jacket wiping first one eye and then the other. This is the finger of God; the man that had never been melted to sorrow while he saw his fellow creatures sinking in the waves, under the sound of the preaching of the Gospel of the blessed Saviour, was melted to contrition, and he went away, saying it was good to be there. We had a second service in that place, and I was pleased to see, in passing the place of worship, half an hour before the commencement of the service, that a crowd was assembled before it; and as the gates were not opened, they were leaping over the iron pallisades to get a station where they might hear the tidings of redemption. We had 200 of them in the place of worship, and not less than 150 were without, anxious to get in. Such appear-, ances as these, and the labours of persons employed for this society, and the prayers of its friends, and the sailors wrestling with God on its behalf, these are the pledges of its security and its success. Our worthy brother has alluded to the prayers of these men, and if all our friends had heard them, they would have left the place with the same impression as I have often done, of the truth of an observation once made to me, that if we would learn to pray we must hear the sailors pray. The seamen of our country have been much neglected, and, for my part, I can find no excuse for the Christian world for this conduct. One reason may perhaps have been, that it was supposed sailors were too bad to be converted. This was thought at Deal, and we know the same was surmised in another seaport town. It was said, 'the watermen of this place are too bad to be brought to attend in any place of worship; but the experiment was tried, and a prayer meeting held; and one of the most abandoned characters there was found sitting and weeping, and, when he went away and again mixed with his fellow watermen, it was not to the neglect of the house of God. When the watermen saw the change, they said to him, W-, what is the matter with you; you could once drink, sing, and swear with us; what has betaken you, are you mad? 'Mad!" said the good man, Look at me; once I had not a shilling in my pocket; once I was a curse to my family, and saw them pining in want and misery; but now I have money in my pocket, my family are clothed and fed, and whoever neglects the house of God, I'll be found there :' and he has done so ever since. It is evident divine grace can soften the heart of a sailor as well as a landsman. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, and when God arises to work, who is there, on land or water, that can stop his progress, and prevent his blessing? (Applause.) The seamen are not only brought to a knowledge of the truth themselves, but they are anxious to circulate it. I have a letter in my hand from a captain, who is in the habit of sailing round the coast, enclosing £2 for this society, which I will now read. (The letter was read.)

"I have often thought, my Lord in walking through the streets of London, since I left the navy, and knowing the hardihood of these brave men in the time of battle, and seeing them now in distress, and saying, sir, Jack has not a shot left in the locker-not a copper to get a bit of bread; I have often thought, this is indeed a pitiable scene; but we see a more dreadful sight than this-we see their souls at stake, and I am happy to say that Christians are coming forward to put shots in their lockers, not to support their bodies only, but to benefit their souls. I have received £2 and 6d. from Essex, and the neighbourhood of South Ockenden, and Avely. Some time ago a society was formed at Dover, and I had the honour of addressing a multitude in the inner harbour there. We had between 7 and 800 persons in the open air, many of whom had not heard the Gospel for many years, and, on their behalf, I have to present £5 as a shot for the locker of their brother seamen. (Applause.) Who then would not join in moving this resolution, and in exclaiming that the hand of God is in this work; that he is stirring up the minds of Christians, and exciting them to this work? and if I had no other proof of it, the company before me is amply sufficient. What else could