The National Register. — London, England, 1816-12-02 00:00:00

.1 .1 1 !! , r1TY /114'.'t 4 k. r t. aivr.r,43l akrr ' „mow oatio nal( t t tti t, ler igr - 6.441 •;..t ..1%obel• ihnuint *iL - 41%,1 4.4 004),441 M - +f~ .+II 1101.. 1 1sP• didood 110 ion fiew silmlnfa 4 ikat Our Utito, AM; %MO. fa No. 460.—V0t...1X. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. t STATE OF THE COUNTRY. (CONTINVXD FROM OLR 1.•%T.) Ws now conchae our Extracts from 'the Quarterly Routers, convinced that our zeaders will not grudge the space we have allotted to them. The subject is one of all others the most imperiously calling fur attention at the present moment, and the manner iu which it is treated iswell calculated to administer consolation, excite hope, implant good principle, and invigorate industry in our distressed countrymen. Our concluding Extract touches upon that important point in bettering thedondition of the Pow...the necessity of religious education, and we recommend to all those who hold doubts on this subject, an attention to the instances cited in the following re asarkq. " There is always, and there ever will be, a quan tity of religious enthusiasm in every civilised commu nity, which becomes useful or injurious, as it is well or erroneously directed. To prevent it is impossible— even if its prevention were desirable ; it arises out of tee mndition of human nature, and is one of the nia stifestations of our immortality. Where it occurs in youth and opening manhood, it is most Oonnnonly in great measure fictitious, and its duration may be doubted. The vanity of human wishes, and the in stability of human happiness, trite as the topics are, must be experienced before they influence our conduct, It is not in the heyday of health and enjoyment—it is not in the morning sunshine of his vernal day—that man can be expected feelingly to remember his latter end, and to fix his heart upon eternity. In the order of nature, what Hartley calls theopathy, is not, and ought sot, to be looked for, as the predominant feeling of youth; the religious enthusiasm of youth is likely to abate, or sometimes the appearance is retained when the reality has evaporated, and seal as it cools settles into hypocrisy. But in after-life many causes operate to wean us from the World : grief softens the heart, sickness searches it; the blossoms of hope are shed ; 'teeth cuts down the flower of our affections: the dis appointed man turns his thoughts toward a state of ex istanoi where his wiser desires may be fixed with the certainty of faith ; the successfill man feels that the ob jects which he has so ardently pursued fail to satisfy the @ravings of an immortal spirit ; the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he may save his soul alive. Among men. who, to borrow a Catholic expres- sion, are thus undeceived, the Catholic church has, in all times, found its most efficient and useful ministers, from the days of St. Augustine to La liarpe. They require to be actively employed,—iii &bore quies,—the restless spirit finds fool and gratification in action, and could not be supported without it. But the English church has no moan for them in her ranks, and provides no eraployment for them ; they arc therefore gathered into the Methodist fold. " Luring; the first af,, , e of Methodism, Bishop Laying ton published *endows parallel between the enthusiasm of the Methodists and l'apists,—the fernier were not then so well understood as they are at present, and the latter a great deal better. At that time the sect was in its first effervescence, end committed extravagancies and tellies, which, in the natural process of fennenfation, have Rime worked of. If their journals and experiences then afforded abundant resemblances to the legends of the !tarnish church, n parallel would now hold equally 'good with many of their institutions and pracdces.—in their confeseions, their system of itinerancy, and the knowledge of human nature which they have shewn in raising women to a ()agree of importance in their church, which bus in no slight . degree contributed to its rapid j progress. Possibly it may not be long (after the ex ample of the Ihruitila church,—in this instance truly me-Apiary) before they term societies like the Ilevines if Flanders, and the Scents de la Charlie of France,. , whom the French found it necessary to resestablisli.for the preel of humanity, when first they began to restore time forms of reli t ion. The commissioners, whom Louis XVI. sent to inspect the English hospitals said, that 9111 uuly thing wanting thews was,eajigiinte dimity. It . 40. a 69444 I vefvtalp) Mit • • •44) wrgii W liset.ps •MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1816. is indeed to be wished, that a religious character could be given to many of otteiastitutions,—they would then become more respected sod more useful. The overseer, fir instance, has a Christian duty to perform, as well as a civil office, and were it but thus considered in pub lic catimatioa, the duty would be the better discharged. Ili what we can for ameliorating society, there must still be hospitals for the nick, asylums firy the destitute and . prisons fur the criminal ; but the prison might be made a place of moral discipline, the poor house a place of religious retreat ; and if Christian consolation found its way into the hospital, the wounded spirit might be. healed when the bedlly emu was irremediable. elt et " The Report of the sty fur beneating the Poor contains an account of-two religious societies fanned among the aged poor at the suggestion.of the excellent Bishop of Durham. 'l ? lie members meet together on Sunday evening fur religious improvement ; they en gage to promote, as tar as is in their power by influ ence and example; the qleternmee of the Sabbath, and to do every thing that in them lies for promoting good will, good neighbotirhood, and Christianity one among another; and theewillat a tenth part of the little which they can lay by ' to the relief of their more ne cessitous neighbours. A penny per week is paid by each member, and the co4tribtatioas of honorary mem. bers created a fund which enabled their weekly deposit to be returned at the end of the year; twofold to all above sixty years of *; threefold to those who had reached the full ago 'ffl* man, and fourfold to those of fourscore. If that due •instruction be given in child- hood, which it is the interest and duty of a Christina government to provide all its subjects, none will then perish through igno nee,—there will be a rule of conduct for every one in , and a consolation in age and calamity, except they wilfully go wrong. What it is to possess that consolition, and what it is to be without it, may be better ihewn by example,.than by any reasoning. A wemannt Dundee, in humble life, was left a widow in her Youth, with one child : she supported herself and the boy; met paid a trifle for his education: her own had begin entirely neglected. When he was twelve years old, the mother was afflicted with a paralytic stroke, which, confined her to her bed a hopeless cripple. The bay then procured work at an Osnaburgh manufactory; livery morning he cleaned the room, prepared breakfast,apd make her comfortable for the day before he went to his doom ; a neighbour occa sionally called in to assist her daring his absence The child taught her to read; she procured a Bible, and the comfort which she found there was such, that when she had thus been bed-ridden forte. years she called her self one of the happiest of Now for the con trast; a woman in humbk i Tsto, being seduced in her youth, and finding herself. ,pregnant, retired under the strong sense of shame to . s lonely cottage, and there brought forth a daughter who proved an idiot, and for that' reason, being, always he at an infant, was alwayaan objector unabated tenderness and love. More than fifty years ,they lived together, the mother ex cluding as much as pomade all commerce with the world, and supporting handl' and her child by her own labour. In 18 tO the Sot died, and the survivor was seen, a few years atierwaid‘ be one whom huma nity, not less than etwiosito induced to visit her—her grief being spoken of fie atinordinary both for its strength and duration. The village near which she lived is situated in one of. the most exposed, wild, un frequented, anti barren 'pots in Somersetshire, and the hovel was one of the Most Miserable hiding places in which wretchedness boa eve? laid itself down to vie. Not a footstep or pattern:mark was near the door, scarcely any vestige of a path ; the cinched mud wall was not more than four firs in 'height, and the zbof had no other covering than the damp green mom under which the thatch had rotted. The .rnocr sheep (says the friend from whose letter we are now writing 1 lying under the rocks which every where app Awed among the surrounding heath and peat, seemed better housed and sheltered than the inmate of this nook of misery. The inside was, if possible, worse, yet it seemed is if some care had formerly been take* to make it comfortable ; for the bedstead on which the old woman sate, and . whatever farniture damp ii,ndue4;lect had not destroyed, appeared once to havebeen decent ; there were mil dewed prints upon the wells, which in bitter diva had been neatly nailed up with red tape, and in what hail ince been a window there wbre some flower pots, but the plants were dead ; the window was stopt up with weeds. , and covered wish cobwebs, on which the damp had collected in large drops. Sht was sitting erect an the ,bpd with ha, area folded, mad a coanteusuan that cx- ; mit qijari *rim" ti, .iSONNE. PRICK 91 d. hibited the character of sullenness rather than of grief. 1 Her features were strong but r6gular, such as in youth had probably Len beautiful in no ordinary dN :e, and even now had much womanly expression in.'s 1 when she spoke. All her nelishbours had long drew' xl and abused her for Wing a witch ; and the ovappwws" with whom she was compelled to have interit .., had brought ea unusual degree of fealino• or char.';' the ,ih execution of their otlice : no wonder , then; t a stranger should be doubtfidly received. Thd.-simitor began the cmver.ation by begging shelter, and peisent bt made some observations on the state of the 'hatch' She said she had done with cc:lnfest, and did not wish to be better 4. He asted if her neighbours were kind to her ; her answer was, that she never would have neighbours at any time, much lest now; she used to be happy without them, and they could .not make her happy now. He inquired if she could get sufficient ' food; yes, she said, she ate but little, and cared not ' what it was ; her clothing was supplied by the parish. Did she never go out? But 'seldom, she made answer, ' because she did not choose to be asked qucations. The stranger then said that, although she might dislike any humeri company, she might, perhaps find some amuse- . ment in keeping chicken; and he offered to set her up with some, and with food to keep them. She replied that she never more would take care of any living thing; it was a kind offer, but sbe had her reasons fur refusing it. The determined tune of her voice and het manner compelled him to drop the conversation; and he had too much humanity to touch on theimmediste mums of her grief, Her notions of religion were too indis. tinct to uffind her any relief; they had never been cultivated,—and the fruit therefore was not to bail found when it was vaulting. Nor was there any of that pride which enables many to bear up against affliction: it was vehement grief acting upon a strong mind and. strong frame, unmixed, unsophisticated, unallevisted,--- and, for want of the most precious of all the Alstrigfityli gifts to man, unalleviable. .She was at that dine seventy-six, and in such bodily health and strength, that she seemed likely long to continue in this awful state. This ease is the more impressive, because the subject possessed no ordinary strength of heart, and noortlinary capacity of virtue, else shame would not have wrought on her so strongly in Isar youth, nor her affections la" retained such intensity in age. The mere absence a religion caused this excess of misery. Morefrightful instances might be related where this want dreligio n is combined with moral depravity: One of those wretched women who.infert the streets of London, wag carried to a hospital. some menthe ego, dying under the effects.-of poison which she bad accidentally taken; L some of the last words she uttered were, that'this waif Id blasted world,. and.she eared not how,soon she were out of it! • _ " There will be loit members under any . specnt,oi society : but if any be lost for want ofcompetent instruce tion, the fault is valve in the society than in the ileitis. victual,—and to whom shall the guilt be imputed? Wien we have stated upon the authority of Parliament, that there are above 130,000 children in London, whet are at this time without the means of education, ea that there are faun three to four thousand who are Ise out to beggars, and trainekup in dishonesty ;--evols this only represents a part of the evil ;—.if the citildres are without education, the parents are without religion —in the metropolis of this enlightened nation the chord; to which they should belong has provided for them no places of worship ; and two thirds of the lower or. dor of 'ample in London; Sir Morons Bernard says live as utterly ignorant of the doctrine.tand dities.4 Christianity, and are as errant sad unconverted pagans, as if they had existed in the wildest part of Africa.' The case is the nine in Manchester, Sheffield, and in all our large towns; the greatest pert of the manufacturing populace, of the minors and col liers, are in the -same condition, _end if they are not universally so, it is more owing to the seal of the May thodists, than any ether am& Tim Chancellor of dr Bzobsqua• has intimaaad (*hat this paper was Propariaii) that another session will not psis over withemr mauls bang taken for • in some degree..the &middens want at Churches in the • But it is bet in Laotian only that the population has antgrown the esmblishmast. it amiatr! by Mr. nleionan's Tables that lb, population of England aid Waits has ow* Ansbkd be lie bit Ingadrot yearn; and the tat years which isbormiti between die envaarraisa at 11101 and 1811, show .11M7.063, being *boot I_ll wenn. Since the Rees. mum it bee sever been complained Mat Ma clergy wart two name. ' rasethr diode, which they bad to perform ; their numlscrs, honorer. liasu set mascara. white ebc poptertion has thiu tiouhlod upm them; tho bat anode of rendering what they do mote ellecuve. and of CA- Ig ibein to do mom is bi prepra mod g the tieing galtpitian,—!ty uy ea .eater sad ?abeam" utibliaiaaaa 'Of uli • . / .. 1. F.. 1 • 4 • • r Is 7 1 41,01