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But religion in its purer forms, even here, is making decided advances, and education, with the distribution of the Holy Scriptures, is effecting much good. Altogether the deportment of the people seems to me to be less lightsome and wanton than when I was last here about twenty-four years ago.

The troops

One hundred and sixty thousand men are now at work on the absurd object of fortifying Paris; absurd in a national point of view, though it is likely enough materially to increase the power of the Crown; for, politically speaking, Paris is France, and the lord of the armies will henceforth, we may conclude, be the undisputed lord of Paris. quartered in the city alone amount to 40,000,-the standing army of the United States multiplied by six or seven. The rage for military glory is the peril and curse of the French nation, and one is afraid to think what may be one day the effect of the bursting forth of the volcano. In the mean time the Roman Catholic priesthood is playing its part with its usual consummate policy, and is evidently both cementing and extending its power. The church plays into the hands of the armed power, and the armed power into those of the church.

Who shall say what will be the end of these things, and what the process before the end Yet may we not "stone cut out without

entertain the sure hope that the

comes?

hands," even the spiritual dominion of Christ, will, in due season, triumph over all, and expel both superstition and violence from the earth, which it is destined to fill?

FROM THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Bishop's Palace, Calcutta, July 3rd, 1841.

I perceive that you have now returned from your long and useful tour in America and the West Indies; and I cannot but express to you the very high satisfaction with which I have just read your Winter in the West Indies, sent to me by Sir Fowell Buxton,-(never were civic honours better conferred,)-whose efforts, now that Wilberforce is no more, seem to rival those even of that distinguished person, though in a different way. The gentle, the persuasive, the

eloquent, the fascinating public statesman, the friend of Pitt, was required to propose the great question. Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox were put into office, I verily believe, to carry it. Then Fowell's energy, boldness, practical habits, perseverance, have been raised up, to crown the efforts of his predecessors. *** You may judge, therefore, my dear friend, with what delight I read the first proofs of the success of the Emancipation in the West Indies, as respects every point, moral, religious, political, commercial. The rise in the value of estates is alone conclusive. Your account of your interview with Sir C. T. Metcalfe was doubly interesting from my intimacy with him for seven years in India. * * *

I am still in tolerable health for one in his 64th year, and am chiefly labouring against those Semi-Papists, the Oxford Tractarians; who really seem a judicial infliction, a branch of the Apostacy, partaking of that strong delusion of which the apostle speaks. Things are moving on here, though slowly, especially at Krishnaghur, sixty miles from Calcutta. What we want is "Showers of the Holy Ghost." Ezek. xxxiv, 26.

Soon after his return from Paris, Joseph John Gurney believed himself called to engage in a much more extensive service upon the continent of Europe.

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Having had an opportunity," he remarks, "of endeavouring to impress on the slaveholding government of France, the practical advantages of emancipation, as proved by experience in the British West Indian Colonies, I was anxious to lay the same evidence before two other Governments similarly circumstanced, though not to so great an extent; Holland, holding about 60,000 slaves as I understand, chiefly in Dutch Guiana; and Denmark, holding about 40,000 in her West Indian islands. But this was far from being the exclusive, or even the principal object which I had in view. I had long entertained the belief that some directly religious service on the continent of Europe awaited me, and I was comforted to

find that my beloved sister Elizabeth Fry was under a similar exercise of mind, and had very much the same places in prospect as myself, in Holland, Denmark, Hanover, and Prussia.

A few days before leaving home he writes in his Journal:

7th mo., 18th. I do not wish to forget that life is short and uncertain. It is an inexpressible mercy to be permitted, notwithstanding all discouragements, to repose, with some degree of tranquil confidence, on the bosom of the Saviour. There may I ever find an availing rest!

CHAPTER XXXVII.

1841. ÆT. 53-54.

DEPARTURE FOR THE CONTINENT; ROTTERDAM; GOUDA; THE HAGUE; VISIT ΤΟ THE KING AND QUEEN OF HOLLAND; AMSTERDAM; BREMEN; HAMBURGH.

HAVING received full certificates of the unity and concurrence of their friends, Joseph John Gurney, with his sister Elizabeth Fry, left London for Rotterdam, on the 31st of the 7th mo., 1841, accompanied by his daughter, and their niece, Elizabeth S. Gurney.

The following are extracts from his letters written during this journey

Rotterdam, first day, 8th mo., 1st.

We arrived at the beautiful quay of this city, amidst abundance of noble shipping, at six o'clock this morning. I had been told that Rotterdam was a disagreeable place, the hotels bad, and the people uncivil; but we find the contrary of these things to be true. We have excellent apartments at the Hotel Pays Bas, are kindly treated, and have enjoyed a quiet walk about this handsomely built and orderly town. The lofty, well painted houses; the canals every now and then serving for streets; the rows of trees beside the river; and the crowded ships, boats, &c., wherever the river or canal runs, all strike the eye agreeably. As we passed along, we were glad to observe no infraction of the Sabbath, the shops being universally shut. I find from our agreeable elderly friend, John S. Mollet, of Amsterdam, who is kindly come hither to

meet us, that the various places for worship here, and in other Dutch towns, are well attended; and he speaks of many serious people" who dwell here. There is no political distinction among the sects; all are tolerated, and all, as in America, are on a level; but the Government pays the ministers of the several denominations. The usual salary is

upwards of £200 per annum, which is increased by the voluntary contributions of the flock. The Dutch, however, have no taste for spending their money; they are rich and parsimonious, the more sparing, perhaps, in consequence of being more severely taxed than any nation in the world. Although only two millions and a half in population, they raise a revenue, chiefly by direct taxation on property and income, to the amount of six millions sterling. High qualifications are required for electors. Republicans as they have been for centuries, they have no notion of a low and generalized democracy; yet they do not greatly admire having a king bestowed upon them-inflicted on them, they would

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In our walk about the city, this morning, we observed, on one of the bridges, a statue of Erasmus, somewhat larger than life. He is standing, in bronze, on his pedestal, clothed in a long gown, and turning over the leaves of some ancient folio. His countenance equals that of Sir Isaac Newton, under the hands of Roubilliac. However wanting he was in moral courage, Erasmus was far from being destitute of enlargement of heart, as well as intellect, or of nobility of character. On the bridge at Rotterdam, he looks like his nobler self, when the veteran refused some high honour offered to him by Ferdinand of Austria; declaring, that honours conferred on him would be but like a burden imposed on a falling horse-sarcina equo collabenti imposita. To complete my journal, I might tell thee of the neat appearance of the people, the starched caps of the bonnetless women, the broad brims and long coats of the little boys, and the unwieldly clattering wooden shoes, which abound on every side, but on these points I need not expatiate.

It is a high privilege to be the companion of my beloved

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