The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-21 00:00:00

BOGOTA.

EXTRACT.OF A LETTER, DATED MAY 9, 1025.
Sze—l have the honour of acquainting you, for the informa-
tion t)4.' Merchants engaged in the trade of Colombia, .that the
Congress, fOr the prese4it year, which has just concluded its
sittings,_ has not effected any changes in' the commercial regu-
lations of the country, excepting those stated below.
I am, with great truth, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
JAMES HENDERSON,
His, Britannic Majesty's Consul-General.
J. Bennett, jun., Esq.

MARCH 28, 1825.—The law of June 28, 1821, which al-
l Owed on the importation of muskets and lead a reduction of 5
per cent. from the duties, upon an equal amount of mer-
chandise imported in the same vessel.
The new regulation will take effect after the expiration of
six months, in respect to vessels from Europe ; of four months
front the United states'; and of three months from the West
Indies.
Lead, at the expiration of these periods, must pay an import
duty of 12 per cent., if introduced by national vessels front the
colonies, and 5 per cent. if front Europe or the United States.
If introduced in foreign vessels. from .Eur Ope or the United
States, 12 per cent. t • if from the colonies, 17 per cent.
Muskets cannot be imported into the Republic, as merchan-
dise, after the expiration of the,above periods.
APIIIL 16, 1825.—1 t was decreed that the Customs duties
must be positively paid at the expiration of the terms of three
and six months, allowed for their liquidation.
The expense of any process for their recovery after those
periods to be paid by the merchant, as well as the one per cent.
per month, decreed by the law of :august 2, 1824, to be pay-
able after the termination of the said periods.

EPISCOT'AL FLOATING CHAPEL SOCIETY.

A Neetin:4 was held yesterday at the City o
London Tavern, for the Purpose of forming a Society under
the above name, the chief object of which is to give religious
instruction, according to the doctrine and discipline of the Esta-
blished Church, to seamen, in floating chapels to be esta-
blished in the
,principal ports of the kingdom. The.meeting
was announced for two o'clock, tint at that hour there were so
few persons in attendance, that it was delayed for some time
after, and even then the number present was very small. It was,
however, as nuinerouslended as could have been expected
in such weather as this, an3aot. such an hour of the day.
At half-past two o'clockobli'i Lord Mayor, accompanied by
Lords Clarendon, Calthorpe, .and Bexley; Admiral Sir R.
G. Keats, K.C,11. ; tie Hon. Captain Waldegrave, R.N. ; Mr.
W. Williams, M.P. ; Mn; W. T. Money, AI.P. ; Mr. J. But-
terworth, MA'.; Mr. Sheriff Browne, Mr. Z. Macaulay, and
some other Gentlemen, came on the platform.
The Loan Mayon having taken the Chair, briefly stated
the nature and object a the Society, and pointed' out many of
the advantages which must follow from a religious instruction
of seamen. t, .
Fora more particular 'account of this Society, we insert the
following prospectus, which enters more into detail on the sub-
ject than the speeches of any of the Gentlemen who addressed
the meeting :
" It has long been a subject of regret that the variety of be-
nevolent efforts to improve the moral condition of the lower
classes in society should have effected so little in behalf of sea-
men ; and this indifference to the discharge of an important
national and Christian duty has of late years been particularly
felt by such as were anxious to promote their religious instruc-
tion in connexion with the Established Church.
" A very superficial acquaintance with the moral character
of seamen will be sufficient to discover that the credit of such
qualities as generosity and heroism is not necessarily associ-
ated with the possession of Christian virtues. It is the misfor-
tune of these men that they are doomed to early, and in too
many instances to habitual separation front those opportunities
of religious improvement which are common to society at large ;
and the effect of such privation, combined with the force of
depraved example, is too frequently a habit of indifference and
moral insensibility, which is not to'he corrected by an influ-
ence so distant and unconnected with their situation as that
which is exerted by the regular parochial churches. But if any
thing, in addition to extreme ignorance, were wanting to re-
press an occasional inclination among seamen to frequent the
ordinances of public worship in the Establishment, it would be
conviction that they do not come within the scope of church
provisions. A sailor is impressed by the belief that he Tins:.
sesses no claim to accommodation in a church, and lie is too
frequently the victim of professional vanity to think of in-
truding himself in any situation where he cannot establish the
title of undisputed right. Such feelings in the bosoms of sea-
faring men are powerfully aided by. a reluctance to expose
themselves to the observation and fancied contempt of a genteel
congregation, and the concurrent influence of these and similar
causes will be sufficient to account for the fact, that an average
of probably not fewer than 10,000 seamen in the Thames alone
will not, in ordinary cases, present two hundred in attendance
upon the national forms of worship.
' Such apathy and misconception as have been described,
can only be overcome by the influence of an arrangement
which shall carry the principles and the ritual of the Church
of England to the contact and to the observation of seamen in
a shape that is calculated to awaken ;Mention and accofumo-
date the ordinances of public worship to didr professional
condition, their habits, and even their most unreasonable pre-
judices.
" This has been attempted in the case of other denomina-
tions, and a number of zealous individuals, acting under the
influence of a religious concern for the spiritual improve-
ment of seamen, have succeeded with the establishment of
Floating Chapels in several of the principal ports. The result
of the experiment has in most- instances surpassed reasonable
expectation, affording satisfactory evidence that there is nothing
repellant to the seaman in the sanctity of congregational de-
votion, and that these interesting but neglected objects may
be collected in attendance upon religious worship with proba-
bly greater facility than any other class of the community.
" Having ascertained the peculiar adaptation of such institn-
lions to the end in view, it is proposed to constitute an 0 Epis-
copal Floating Chapel Society," for the object of promoting
their establishment in connexion with the Church of England.
The Provisional Committee,
appointed to conduct the prelimi-
nary arrangements, have peculiar satisfaction in being able to
report that Lord Alelvilie, upon the part of His Majesty's Go-
vernment, has most liberally proinised the grant of as many
vessels es may be required for the principal ports of the empiVe,,
including the expence of alteration and outfit necessary to is-.
commodate them to purposes of congregational worship. or
will the bounty of Government be restricted to the donation and
equipment of the necessary vessels : it is intended to compre-
hend the salary of clergymen regularly approved by the Bishops,
in those:particular cases where the want of means, or other cir-
cumstances of a local nature, may render it desirable that the
Admiralty should undertake the appointment.
" The design has also met with the approbation and concur-
rencevedits oafpspnevceatiralvdnisttoi nt r
ft
heir
lrieedspPercetre dioceses, and the contqat-
tes, who havealready favour.