William and his Indian Commissioner, to the very lowest state of degradation among civilized nations, by such acts as these, without the plea of necessity or distress being either made use of, or existing. A man may pay off his bond, or offer his creditor a new one, bearing a less rate of interest; but to justify the latter, he must be in a condition to perform the former act. Who ever heard of a man, in the midst of his embarrassments, coolly telling his creditor that, instead of paying him five per cent., he would only pay him three for the future? The latter, like Shylock, might justly here stand upon his bond, unless where the debtor, having the strong hand of power on his side, may, for a while, do as he thinks fit; as in the case of his Majesty of the Netherlands, a most legitimate prince.

We might instance numerous acts of oppression and injustice committed by the new Commissioner in the name of his Majesty, which seems used in these instances, like a certain virtue for which his nation has never been remarkable, to cover a multitude of iniquities! The calling out and drilling, in a vile climate, respectable European merchants to serve as militia, and mount guard as common sentinels, in order, we suppose, to save his Majesty the expense of maintaining a proper military force for such purposes; the refusal to receive, in payment for produce sold by the Government, the orders of its own Finance Department on an empty Treasury, many months unpaid; and a host of proceedings equally arbitrary and unjust, must have rendered the profession of the merchant as hazardous and disagreeable, as it has long been unprofitable and vexatious in the Dutch colonies, and will eventually draw all the active, industrious, and enterprising to abandon a country which they might, under a different system, have benefited and enriched.

A few years, perhaps months, will teach his Majesty that in setting at nought common honesty and his own credit, he has been pursuing a mistaken policy. When every year shall but add another million sterling to the debt of this colony, already amounting to nearly four millions sterling, a King, who understands book-keeping so well, may soon discover his profit and loss to be all on one side, and find that even his colonial subjects will no longer accept his promissory notes or Syndicaat bonds, when the credit of both is entirely gone. Let him take warning in time; and before his affairs get worse, as they certainly must do, if the present system be persevered in, let him endeavour to dispose of his Eastern colonies to the best purchaser that can be found. To England the possession of Java would prove of the greatest value; but England has more colonies than she can govern well already. Russia or Austria may perhaps be induced to venture on such a speculation, and thus relieve his Majesty from a burthen which he has neither the inclination to support, nor the ability to maintain and render productive.

M.

UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS OF A TRAVELLER IN THE EAST.

No. XIV.

Armenian History and Religion-Greek Architecture and Sculpture-Excursion in a British Frigate to Vourla and Clazomene.

DURING one of my investigating excursions through the interior of the city, in company with an Asiatic Christian, I was taken into one of the Armenian churches at Smyrna, where service was performing, and which we found very nearly resembling the Greek.

From the period at which Christianity was established in Armenia, by Gregory, surnamed the Enlightener, that nation has undergone various and turbulent revolutions. It was successively invaded and subdued by the Saracens, the Seljukian Turks, and the Tartars, who each committed their share of ravages. In 1472 it became a province of the Empire of Persia, in consequence of the promotion of one of its kings to the Persian throne. At length it was again conquered by the Turks under Selim the Second, in the sixteenth century, since which time the greater part of it has remained in subjection to the Ottoman Empire.

That amidst so many vicissitudes the Armenians should still persevere in the Christian faith, appears more remarkable than that they should deviate in some particulars from their original doctrines.

At the commencement of the seventeenth century a large colony of Armenians were settled in Persia by Shah Abbas, the Great. During his reign they experienced the most liberal treatment, and enjoyed the unrestrained profession of their religion. But his successors were not equally generous; persecution ensued, and the Armenian church declined daily in credit; yet the merchants of that country endeavoured to stem the torrent, and succeeded in the preservation of some degree of religious knowledge. The only books they have are on such subjects, principally bibles, liturgies, and the beatific visions of their saints, which are printed at Venice and Constantinople.

The Armenian was considered as a branch of the Greek church, professing the same faith, and acknowledging the same subjection to the See of Constantinople, until the middle of the sixth century. At that time, the heresy of the Monophysites (or disbelievers of the union of manhood and godhead

Armenian History and Religion.

in Christ) spread far and wide through the regions of Af and Asia, comprehending the Armenians also among its taries. It seems, however, to be allowed, that they diff from other communions of the Monophysite sect in m points of doctrine and worship. By Gibbon they are ca "the pure disciples of Eutyches;" he affirms that they bel the manhood of Christ to have been of a pure and in ruptible nature, and he imputes their conversion to Jul Bishop of Halicarnassus, whose doctrines spread rap among the Oriental Christians.

They allow and accept the articles of faith, according to councils of Nice, and are also acquainted with the Apos creed, which they have in use. As to the Trinity, they ac with the Greeks, acknowledging three persons in one Di Nature, and that the Holy Ghost proceeds only from Father.

In their rites and ceremonies of worship, the Armenian most exactly resemble the Greeks, having pictures, tapers Their liturgies also are essentially the same, and written by some authors.

The fasts observed annually in the Armenian church ar only more numerous, but kept with greater rigour and mo cation than is usual in any Christian community. In add to these, they fast on Wednesday and Friday throughout year. Their seasons of festivity correspond in general those of other churches, except that they commemorate nativity of Christ on the 6th of January, instead of the 25 December, celebrating in one festival his birth, epiphany, baptism.

The favourite saints of the Armenians are Surp Savoric St. Gregory, Surp Chevorich, or St. Demetrius, Surp Ni and Surp Serechis, or St. George, who is the patron sai the Greeks.

When the Armenians receded from holding communion the Greeks, they made no change in their episcopal for church government. They only claimed the privilege of c ing their own spiritual rulers. Their chief Patriarch re at the monastery of Ekmiazin near Erivan in Persia. revenues are immense, but his opulence is considered only fund for his numerous charities, for though elevated to highest rank of ecclesiastical preferment, he rejects al splendid insignia of authority, and, in his ordinary dress mode of living, he is perfectly on a level with the poorest

The superstitious veneration with which the Armenian gard the monastery of Ekmiazin is supported by legen

miracles. The more devout make a pilgrimage there once in their lives, as a point of conscience, like the Greeks to Jerusalem, and the Mohammedans to Mecca, and receive a salutary benediction in exchange for offerings, which supply the splendour of the altar, and the maintenance of its numerous ministers and dependents.

In the Armenian church, as in the Greek, a monastery is considered as the only proper seminary for dignified ecclesiastics; for they are required to practise abstemiousness in proportion as they are advanced. Hence, though their priests are permitted to marry once only, and usually provide themselves with wives whose youth and health promise long life, their patriarchs and bishops must remain in a state of strict celibacy. It is likewise necessary that they should have assumed the sanctimonious exterior of an ascetic.

The monastic discipline of the Armenians is extremely severe; they neither eat flesh nor drink wine; and frequently continue in prayer from midnight to three o'clock in the afternoon, during which time they are required to read the Psalter through, beside many other spiritual exercises. But the abstinence and mortification of conventual ecclesiastics is surpassed by the Gickniahore, or Hermits, who devote their lives entirely to contemplation, living on the summits of rocks!

At the beginning of the last century, the preaching of the Jesuit Missionaries at Pera was so successful in the conversion of the Armenian citizens of consequence, that their bishops applied to the Porte to procure their suppression, or at least to restrain them. When Ephraim, the Armenian was telling the vizier of these encroachments of the Catholics, " And what," said he, "are Catholics but Infidels? if the hog be white, black, or red, it is nevertheless a hog! we will not interfere."

Of the Armenian clergy the situation is in general truly deplorable, as the chief part of their income arises from what we call surplice fees, in the exaction of which they are encroaching and importunate beyond measure. Their extreme ignorance, even of their own doctrines, is palliated, if possible, by their wretched and abject state.

A principal function amongst them is the reading prayers over the graves of the deceased, continued even for years, and many of those poor priests are seen daily so occupied in the Armenian cemetries.

These mortuary compliments are singularly conducted. A widow, once a year, during her continuance in that state, visits grave of her husband, attended by many relatives. After many querulous interrogatories and greetings of the deceased,

the

her grief becomes extravagant, her wailings are heard on all sides, and at length her compassionate friends propose comfort to her, when they finish this farce by a very solid repast, and plenty of excellent wine.

The Armenians exist no longer collectively as a nation, once famous for the luxury and wealth of its monarchs; but successively conquered, and alternately subject to the Turks and Persians, they have scarcely the remembrance of their ancient kingdom. Dispersed over all Asia, they exert their natural genius for trade, principally in speculations as money-changers; and individuals who acquire a handsome fortune prefer living peaceably in Turkey to returning into their own country. They are naturally formed for commerce-cunning among those they know, reserved with strangers, temperate from economy or avarice, and humble and accommodating for the sake of in

terest.

Their domestic manners are severe, and their persons, almost without exception, heavy and saturnine. The women, when young, are scarcely inferior to the Circassians or Greeks in beauty. The precaution that secludes them from that social intercourse with men, so contributory to the happiness of other nations, prevents their being professedly libertine; yet instances of private infidelity are not wanting, although they are cooped up nearly like the Turkish women, and wear the mahriamah, or close veil. The proselytes to the Roman Catholic faith, however, of which there are many, partake more of the free manners of the Greeks. These are despised by the rigid Armenians, while the excommunication of the Pope is returned by the Catholics with the greatest cordiality.

Armenia no longer retains any vestige of its former splendour, and the inhabitants, miserable at home, or exiles from their country, can no longer retrace, even by its shadow, their ancient magnificence. Like the Jews, they suffer under a foreign dominion, and are forced to fly far from their homes and the tombs of their ancestors to escape a tyranny by which they have been oppressed for more than three centuries, and from which, alas! there is but little hope of emancipation !

One of the greatest sources of gratification open to the man of letters here, independent of his library, is the casual intercourse with travellers of taste and learning who may happen to make a temporary visit to Smyrna. The number of these is generally considerable, as it is now a sort of head-quarters for travellers in the East. Among the most talented of those who have recently been here, were two sons of eminent architects, whose original intention, in visiting this country, was to improve themselves in their profession by a study of the ancient models on the spot; but their unexampled success in the discovery of