Star.
London, England, 1830-06-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE JOURNALS.

Tisins.—llfr. Hume's motion on the expediency of withdrawing
from the pestilential settlement of Sierra Leone, was seceded to so
far as the appointment of a committee to inquire. One considers.
tion only, as it seems to us, has hitherto prevailed with Parliament
or Government to maintain an establishment so destructive of
English life, and to that consideration we are willing to allow its
full weight,—namely, the connection of these settlements on the
,:oast of Africa with the great system of policy (whether effec-
tual or not is another question) adopted by Great Britain for
finally extinguishing the slave trade. That the trade still exists,
is beyond dispute; but we are also of opinion, that our
African colonies have tended at least to cripple, though cer.
tainly not to crush, that barbarous and revolting traffic. The
grounds presented in favour of a continuance of Sierra Leone
and Fernando Po, as British colonies, were the following :-
1. The fact, that English functionaries—military and civil—have
been much diminished in numbers of late years, and their places
supplied by men of colour.-2. That the Right Hon. Secretary an.
ticipates the day when the African settlements, now so gratuitously
destructive of human life, will be wholly occupied by a free negro
population,—a monument at once of the beneficent policy so long,
and under such difficulties, pursued by England towards the
Africans, and a substantial check upon those practices on the part
of Christion nations, by which their own religion has been disgraced, '
and the progress of Africa towards knowledge and virtue so eaten-
sively and cruelly impeded.
Citaoretexc.—ln England itself, we arc inclined to believe,
from the information we have received from those who have the
means of knowing the numbers of the Dissenters, that, admitting
all who do not belong to any dissenting congregation to be Church
of England men—a very liberal admission, as there are not a few
who trouble neither church nor chapel with their presence—the Dis.
sewers are the majority. Wherever, throughout the country, there
is a village sufficiently populous to admit of a chapel, having a
chance of being filled, there a Dissenting or a Methodist chapel is to
be seen. In all the towns of above 6,000 inhabitants, the Dis-
senters and Methodists are unquestionably the majority; and any
one who knows what a proportion of the inhabitants of England
live in towns, may form some idea of the number of Dis.
senters. One sect alone, the Independents, have in England above
2,200 congregations. The manufacturing population arc almost
to a man Dissenters or Methodists. In several of the great counties
the late Returns exhibit a majority of Dissenting Chapels; and,
taking one with another, the Chapels are much larger (in point of
net room) than churches. A Dissenting Clergyman cannot exist
without a large audience. We were assured by a gentleman, whose
especial business it had been for years to make himself acquainted
with the state and numbers of the separatists, that adding the pro-
portion of children to those who belonged to the respective congre.
gations, and including the Presbyterians in Scotland, the Separatists
amounted to ten millions. Say, however, that in England
alone they amount only to seven millions, that would be the
half of the population. However, waving the question of num-
bers, as a matter of right, in all the colonies acquired since
the Union between England and Scotland, at the common ex-
pence, and by the common exertions, it would be flagrant in-
instice to establish one of the churches exclusively. Canada is one
of the colonies which has been acquired since the Union, and it is
with respect to Canada that the complaint is made. In the old co-
lonies settled by Englishmen there will be less objection to establish
the church of England. But where the natives of the three king.
dims meet together on new ground, they should be considered as on
a fint•ing of equality in point of religion. To attempt to establish
the Church of England in the woods of Canada, amongst Presby-
terians, Catholics, and Methodists, is to make that church an ob-
ject of general hatred. At the same time there may be truth in
what fell from Sir GEORGE Mußiur, namely, " that the settlers
in the woods of Canada were but too prone, from their situation
and society, to indulge in habits of religion bordering on
what might be called superstition. He thought, therefore,
that the labours of those who disseminated the principles of true is.
ligion, could not be considered as wholly unnecessary to the well.
being of the colony." But admitting that the Clergy of the Church
of England are leas liable to the charge of disseminating gloomy and
superstitious views of religion than the Clergy of most other Pro-
testant persuasions, those who go to the wilds of Canada to labour
in good earnest in instructing the people, would be found, we fear,
little less fanatical than their rivals. We are not alluding to the
jobbers about the seats of Government, but the working Clergy.
The sensible Church of England Clergy take care to keep out
of the woods. They arc wise in their generation. The ground
must be prepared and ready for the sickle before they make their
appyarance.
HELALD.—A Statesman should sometimes act upon that rule
which Lord Bacon recommends to a Judge ; namely, to decide
without giving a reason ter his decision, lest it might happen to be
abed one. The Earl of Aberdeen had not the fear of this maxim
before his eyes, when he announced to the House of Lords the un-
6atisfactory termination of the negociations between the Govern-
ment and Prince Leopold relative to the sovereignty of Greece, and
laid upon the table certain papers connected with that extraordinary
affair. He has reflected too late upon the consequence of pre-
senting those papers, which let out a part of the secrets of
diplomacy only to make it necessary, on the part of his op-
nonents, to call for others. The others he declines to produce ;
but it is quite clear that he ought to have laid before Palle-
lient all the papers which could serve to explain the subject
fn question, or none. By producing some he has established a pre.
cedent against himself, and cannot, consistently, refuse any further
documents requisite for the full and complete elucidation of this
matter. Though the documents already presented to Parliament
are .:xceedingly voluminous, and would make a greater show
in a library than any history of Greece extant, not excepting
lierodotus or Thucydides, yet they serve only to make the af-
tsir more perplexed and confused than if the unassisted imagi.
nation had been left to its own conjectams. Rightly did the
itlarquie of Londonderry state in his place, the other night, that
• such was the contradiction contained in those papers, he would
Jay any man to understand them without further explanation ;
and if there were points inexplicable to him, he had an un-
doubted tight to ask for further explanation." When Lord Aber-
leen laid the papers upon the table, he gave an implied pledge that
:he house should, know every thing tending to clear up the transac-
tions to which they referred. By that pledge he was bound to let the
douse into possession of" the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
:he truth." But as to the papers on the table, it is objected that they
arc so unsatisfactory, as to put noble lords under the necessity of
coming down to the house to ask questions respecting certain por-
tilos of them. It is objected also, that many of the statements con.
tamed in them are garbled—others are ex- parte ;—and, therefore, to
hare a proper and full knowledge of the whole affair, further informa-
tion is essential. Documents produced to parliament for the pur-
7o•e of explaining any transaction, should be so clear and explicit
not to require other documents to explain them, or, if they do,
the other documents ought to be also produced. Lord Aberdeen
prole‘tol himself ready to give all the intelligence which Parliament
could require; and, indeed, if the part he has acted in these negotia-
tions be worthy of a British Statesman, or, in other words, if it be
a manly, intelligent, and judicious part, be is bound, in duty to
himself, and for the vindication of his own character, to lay before
the House every paper which can, in the most remote degree, throw
light upon this subject, and guide the public judgment to a cor-
...et conclusion. We imagine that, if Lord Aberdeen relies for
:vputation as a diplomatist mom the proofs of his competency
manage the foreign relations of a great empire, which
his wordy and minified documents on the Greek ques-
tion supply, he will not make it difficult for the future historian to
ascertain how very little wisdom is requisite to make a great 1111-
-..tstir. We have, when alluding to this subject before, expressed
.tar satisfaction that Prince Leopold had declined the throne which
our Mihisters had erected out of the ruins of a portion of the em.
pire Of our " ancient Ally," as a sort of trap for future wars, in
whi.li England would have had to pay dearly for the gratification of
Atm, uldling with the affairs of others. And it is in this point
at stew that what is called the "settlement of Greece" be.
:oases a question of great importance to the people of this
Santry, as, indeed, every question must, which Is at all con.
accred with the prospect of a future war. The decision of Prince
-eopold makes it less likely that this country shall be involved in
teallatt respecting the independence of Greece than if be bad
.x.pt...1 the crown. It does not appear there is any member of our
notni Family, or English subject, to whom it can now be offered;
rlt.rsire we should think it a subject of rational alarm to a country
incapable of going to war as England is, that Lord Londonderry
a void wale in the House of Lords, without contradiction, that
• Austria and Prussia were inimical to the late transactions relative
• Greece, and that neither of these States approved of what had
WI dune or was now going on.' Thus has Prince Leopold escaped
• dangerous elevation, likely to be productive to himself and this
%ratty, of most calamitous consequences.

Mr. W . Martin, brother of the celebrated Jonathan
ildivered two lectures, last week, at the sign of the White
Jog, in Stonegate, on which he calls natural philosophy. His know.
4dge of tile science on which he professes to lecture he ascribedto re-
+tlation from Heaven ; and a vision, u strange as the one which
tilluenced his brother to burn the Cathedral, enlightened him
it once as to the properties of wood, of which he gave some
•try descriptions. We have said enough, we should
toprtto, to excuse us from entering upon a syllabus of this phi-
:esoplier's farrago, which imparted about as much instruction in
natural philosophy to those who listened to it, as a 'Mutton the art
eight he expected to benclll the Field.ofileen of the British army,
dere they assembled to hear it from the lips of that eminent tacit-
.an IViiistling Billy! Had the lecture ban merely a quis, the
:equcnt interlardinss of the descriptions and cxylanatuns of Philo.
wi.her Martin, with " this is the only true philosop/g." " I am
e only philosopher to whom the knowlege of theme dings has been
-t•en, yen, Etc. would have formed some capital hits at he egotism of
Cobbett.--York Conran/.

_~