32

Missionary Attempts in Africa and in India.

about him a tribe of Hottentots, who could sing and pray, repent them of their sins, talk of the Lamb of Atonement, but were really not less sottish or less beastly for all these specious appear ances. No trouble had been taken to give them an industrious occupation, and, except at the hour of prayer, they might be indolent as savages in common like to be. Our intelligent traveller adds, "It is scarcely possible to describe their wretched situation: on a wide plain, without a tree, and almost without water, were scattered forty or fifty huts, so small and low, that a man could rot stand upright or stretch himself out within them: the surrounding tract, naked, trodden down, and without a trace of human industry; indeed, nothing to attract the eye but lean, ragged, and squalid figures, with sleepy and vacant countenances, trusting entirely to the charity of government for their support, and passing their time in worse than savage and stupid ignorance. The old missionary, then nearly sevenly, appeared as indifferent to his own temporal concerns, as to those of his flock: he was dressed, indeed, in a thread-bare and rusty black coat, waistcoat, and breeches, but without a hat or shirt, and as filthy in his person, and gross in his appetites as his brother Hottentots. He had a companion of the name of Read, who had stopped at the Cape on his way on a mission to Bengal; and, as a proof of his lowliness and humility, had married one of Vanderkemp's young christians.". He understood, afterwards, that the patriarch of this society also took unto himself a Hottentot Venus of thirteen, and, like the Santon Barissa, sacrificed a long life of piety and benevolence to a few days of spiritualized concupiscence which he was unable to gratify, and fell a hasty victim to the impotent attempt.

From the last accounts, when the natives had heard of our wishes to convert them vi et armis, symptoms of discontent and disaffection had shewn themselves in many parts of India; and lucky should we consider ourselves, that our imprudence on that head has not led to a general insurrection and massacre of every European in the country! Yet I should hope, that the prudence of the ministers and India directors prevented such excesses; and that future travellers will have only to relate a similar and peaceable result of missionary business in Bengal and other English provinces of India, as I have stated above in the

[Aug. 1,

South Sea Islands and at the Cape. Like the sturdy Bosjesmans of Southern Africa, the serious, temperate, aud cleanly Hindoo or Mussulman of India, who equally venerates and respects his character and cast, will turn a deaf ear to any such instructors, however pious, good, and learned otherwise, as would confound him with the glutton, drunkard, and unclean; and the ideal convert to our faith will only be the outcast, who is too lazy to work, and too sottish to think of ought but satisfying his swinish appetites, and wallowing in filth. In the year 1785-6 I knew a Danish mi.. sionary at Lucnow, where he had resided upwards of twenty years, much respected by all the English and many of the rich natives, who honestly confessed, that during all that time he had not made a single convert of a native from principle, but was burthened with a few lazy out-casts, who lived in idleness on his bounty, and for the eleven years afterwards I lived in the neighbourhood of Malda, that now famed seat of making converts, I know or heard of little else of the pious or other labours of that colony of missionaries than their con. tinual quarrels with the natives in their money advances for cloth and indigo, and in which, in nine out of ten cases, they were proved to be in the wrong.

I have no doubt that the governments in India have been properly instructed to provide against the future mischief of visionaries on the spot : and let Dr.C.Buchanan and others, who were active to the same purpose here, now they are disappointed of proceeding as the bishop and archdeacons to India, and seeking the aid of the secular arm to assist them in converting the Mussulmans and Hindoos, our fellow subjects in India, all at once, to christianity, be zealous in faith and good works nearer home. By offi cial returns laid before parliament, it ap pears that upwards of 6000 out of 10,000 beneficed clergy are non-resident on their livings in England alone. Let them by precept and example recommend residence to all, as a christian endeavour, to reclaim within the pale of the mother church the numerous sects of Methodists and other Dissenters that are daily seceding from it and increasing; some of whom, the Socinians for example, differ more in their disbelief of the proper divinity and atonement of our Lord, than the Mahommedans, or even Hindoos, do from them. Or, if permit ted to absent themselves from their

1814.]

Inquiry respecting the Wandering Jew.

livings, let them repair to Ireland, and, jointly with the methodist and dissenter missionaries, endeavour to convert the Roman Catholics there, consisting of one fourth of the whole population of British Europe, the majority of whom stand on a level, I fear, in ignorance, with our allies, the American savage tribes; and in the idolatrous worship of idols and pictures, they would be placed by the Mussulmans on a level with the lowest casts of Ilindoos; but let not their zeal be so indiscreet, as to drive that often deluded people into another Irish mas

sacre.

Superstition is infectious: after the late solemn pilgrimage to the royal vault at Windsor, the manly mind of even the Prince Regent might, in imitation of his amiable, but on some occasions mistaken, predecessor, Charles the First, be wrought upon by another Archbishop Laud to visit Edinburgh in person, and set aside that republican equality of Kirk and school discipline, which many believe has rendered the Scots so eminently religious, moral, and learned; but which has given too frequent occasion to invidious comparisons between the adequate but humble provision of presbyterianism, and the richly endued and often non-resident high church establishment of England; and thereby endangered another grand rebellion.

Or, if those good, and I believe well intentioned visionaries are ambitious of making proselytes of the Mussulmans without the aid of the secular arm, let them proceed to Gibraltar, and pass over into the Emperor of Morocco's dominions, along the Barbary states into Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and take Constantinople in their way home and see what they can do with the grand signior, or his right reverence the Mufti, who, in the true spirit of priesthood, lately usurped the Popish power of deposing his sovereign.

The Koran tells us, "that mankind are originally all born in orthodoxy, but afterwards brought up by their parents and masters as Jews, Christians, or Mussulmans;" and that if left to themselves, "the people will in time follow the faith of the sovereign. Though every good man wished, few could have believed two years ago, that Buonaparte, then in the plenitude of his power, should have been deposed, and Lewis the XVIIIth restored to the throne of his ancestors; and every body must admit, that the band of Providence has been chiefly in strumental in accomplishing this happy NEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 7.

33

event. Our government has appointed unexceptionable men to the high clerical offices in India, who will in their own pious examples, and by enforcing a like discipline among the clergy under them, show the natives what they may hereafter hope for by being christians; but let them not use force, nor even persuasion: leave that to the silent co-operation of Providence, and we may all yet be orthodox.

Exeter, June 1.

J. R.

ORIGIN of the STORY of the WANDERING

JEW.

To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine.
SIR,

THROUGH the medium of your interesting miscellany I wish to enquire whether any of your correspondents can furnish information which can be cousidered as authentic, respecting the person denominated The Wandering Jew, from the migratory life to which he is supposed to have been condemned, for refusing our Saviour admittance into his house where he wished to rest himself. Did this popular notion originate in an actual occurrence, or is it a fiction invented in the dark ages of monkish superstition? Yours, &c. G. S.

London, July 5.

To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine.
SIR,

A WAR, lately threatening to be coeval with our existence, has at length found a termination. We cannot too highly prize the blessings of peace, as tending to promote the progress of civilization and the arts, and as putting an end to the effusion of human blood; but hitherto our countrymen have not reaped those benefits, in a commercial point of view, which the most sanguine of them appeared to expect. So long a state of warfare has excited, not only in France, but in a great part of the Continent, a disregard for our manufactures which many did not foresee. This seems to arise from two causes: in the first place, their necessity is diminished from the abstinence of such duration; and in the second, they have found it possible to manufacture many goods equal to ours, or, at least, affording so good a substitute, that they are unwilling to pay the prices at which ours can be afforded. To every thinking Englishman this inust apVOL. II.

F

34

On the Means of reviving Commercial Intercourse. [Aug. 1,

pcar a matter of serious importance;
and he will consider the causes that mili-
tate against our manufactures standing
as we could wish at the foreign markets,
and endeavour to devise some means of
relieving them from their present dilem-
ma. Many obstacles stand in the way
of their doing so; but I think the first
that will strike every one, is the enor-
mous weight of taxes they have to bear,
which we know must be paid while
pational faith, as connected with the na-
tional debt, remains. Many plans have
been suggested to exterminate this hydra,
and the sinking fund has certainly been
a powerful weapon; but we still see it
rise more formidable than ever. At this
crisis, it is surely highly desirable that
persons better versed in the subject than
the writer should turn their attention to
it. Through the medium of your useful
publication, I beg, however, to suggest a
few hints, which may perhaps be capable
of extension. To me it appears possi-
ble, that much of the interest paid by
the public to the public creditor, might
be saved, were Government to indem-
nify the stockholder for cancelling his
stock, by giving him in lieu the market-
price of his commodity in Bank paper
(or any other paper,) a quantity of which
might be made for the purpose, and
which, still bearing the stamp of Go-
vernment, should
pass current as Bank
paper now does.
It is true the debt
would still remain; it is only a reduction
in the sum to be raised for interest that
I propose; or were this sum still to be
raised, it might operate on the principal
in the way of the sinking fund. Many
objections may be urged against this
proposal; neither do I think it feasible,
at once, on a large scale. It would pro-
bably cause a diminution in the value of
the circulating medium, especially were
such a plan known to be acted upon;
but much might be done by the agents of
Government in a steady and impercepti-
ble way, which, in process of time,
would perhaps produce very beneficial
effects. I am, &c.

number, which however brought to my recollection some remarkable predictions and observations with respect to that illustrious monarch and his late glorious struggle for the redemption of Europe, contained in that most scandalous of all modern publications the Old Monthly Magazine. It is due to the moral feelings of mankind, and it is especially due to the virtues of Englishmen who too often become the dupes of an easy credulity, to expose the shameless and dangerous arts of every deceiver that endeavours to fatten upon the good nature of his countrymen.

You will, therefore, I trust, see the propriety of devoting a page to some foul, though certainly not the worst passages on public affairs, exhibited in the periodical miscellany already mentioned, during the arduous struggle in which the virtuous Alexander was engaged for the defence of his dominions against an unprincipled tyrant and usurper. I am sensible that the flowers of literature would be more acceptable to you and your readers; but as the knowledge of persons is essentially neces sary to medical men, so those productions which tend to corrupt the judgmen and to inflame the passions ought to be examined, and their wicked principle: thoroughly made public, that the hones and unwary part of the community may take proper warning, and avoid with in dignation the seat of impurity and danger

In the Monthly Magazine for July 1812, the penetrating and liberal reporte of the state of public affairs gives thi view of Russia:→

"Some infatuation appears to pervad the councils of this empire. They wer long instigated by French intrigue to carry on an unnatural war against Sweden; and since then they have been wasting, unde similar influence, the strength and re sources of the Russian empire, in a de structive war with the Turks, coverin with blood and misery the finest pro vinces in the world. One has marvelled at the wickedness of the policy which excited a weak court to such perniciou measures, as much as one has been as tonished that any corruption or suci weakness could continue so to misma nage with impunity the affairs of a grea nation. At present the crafty Napoleo has found a season in which it suits hin to pique the pride of the autocrat of th Russias, to afford a pretext for driving s unworthy and barbarous a court out o Europe."

But the vulgarity and villany of thi passage ought not to surprize any one

Calumnies and Falsehoods of the Monthly Magazine.

when he perceives in the state of British no loss will be suffered by civilization affairs, the manner in which the murder and humanity." of one of the best of men, and his character are treated. Let the Englishman, of whatever party he may be, read the following, and then lay his hand upon his bosom, and ask whether assassination ever had a grosser palliative, to say the least of it, than in this cool-blooded paragraph:

In the same number the editor has the modesty to give this account of Russia: "The European influence of this vast empire, seems likely to be destroyed by the weakness, corruption, and folly of its councils. The French emperor is about to strike it as with a thunder-bolt, and such is the infatuation of its government, that it invites, rather than avoids the blow. The double policy of Russia has brought so much mischief on its neigh bours, that, if the seat of its despotic government is again transferred to Moscow,

30

Tournament on the Marriage of King Richard II.

that Napoleon [good man] made overtures for an accommodation, but without effect; and some accounts say, that his letter to Alexander were returned unopened!" This is the mark of the editor to express his disapprobation of the emperor's uncourteous behaviour. But bad as all this is, it is nothing to a note in the same article where the defenders of their country against a horde of unprincipled banditti with a murderer at their head, are thus spoken of:-"The veritable Russians have sung Te Deum about this skirmish with the French advanced guard. They say the French fled eleven miles, losing 2,000 killed, 1100 prisoners, 38 pieces of cannon, &c. &c. Such exaggerations are perhaps justifiable within an invaded empire, in which it is necessary to stimulate Tartars, Samoiedes, and other barbarous nations, by reports of victories. The venal London papers, however mock the English people, and treat them as mere Siberians, when they serve up such Munchausens, week after week, in a dozen different garbs. These agents of the war-faction would indeed lead us to suppose that the French

[Aug. 1,

armies had been annihilated by these paper victories, if the evidence of MAPS did not shew that the Russian capital, in the very centre of the empire, has been destroyed, and that their frontier towns and finest provinces, are now QUIETLY OCCUPIED AS WINTER QUARTERS BY THE FRENCH ARMIES. Yet the venal papers insult our patriotism, by calling a campaign attended by such results, brilliant and glorious! These misrepresentations more expressly call for reprehension, because they are the means used by the warfaction of deluding the people into acquiescence of their pernicious projects."

Here, Mr. Editor, I close my extracts, because it is happily in the recollection of every person among us, that this false prophet who richly deserves for these and various other offences against morality and good manners, the severest castigation, it is I say within the recollection of every one, that all the lying declarations and coarse invectives of this wholesale dealer in calumny, have been most amply detected and exposed. I am, &c.

THE HISTORIOGRAPHER.

ARGUS.

[Under this head it is intended to give occasionally authentic Documents and Illustrations of the History and Antiquities of the British Dominions.]

TOURNAMENT ce

The relation of a
lebrated at LONDON, in the Year
MCCCLXXXIV, in honour of the
marriage of KING RICHARD the SE-
COND, with ANNE of LUXEMBOURG,
daughter of the EMPEROR and KING
WINCESLAUS.* Taken from an an-
cient record.

THIS noble Prince being advertised, with what magnificence and pompe, the Queene Isabella of France had made her entry into Paris, thought good to appoynt a militarie triumph at London.

At the day appoynted, there issued forth of the Tower, about three o'clock in the afternoone, sixty coursers apparelled for the justs, and upon euery one an esquier of honour, riding a soft pace. After them came forth as many faire ladies of the court, all sumptuously apparelled, and goodlie to behold; mounted

This princess is said to have introduced the mode of riding sideways; the English ladies before her arrival having been used to ride as the men. On the death of the queen in 1394, Richard married Isabella princess of France,

on whyte palfries, and leading euery one a knyght with a gold chayne.

With this troope, his Majestie rode from the Tower of London vnto Smithfield: and passing thorow Chepeside, a proclamation was made, that on Sunday and Munday next following, these knyghts would attende there to challenge all commers.

For him that deserved best in this just, if he were a stranger, the queene and her ladies had prepared a crowne of golde: or if he were any of the sixtie Englysh knyghts he shulde receyue a rich bracelett.

The Englysh knyghts likewyse promysed to giue unto the stranger of best desert, a faire horse with his furniture; or if he were an Englyshman, hee shulde receyue a falcon.

This challenge and these pryzes had bene by a kyng of armes formerly proclaymed in England, Scotland, France, Flaunders, Brabant, Henault, and Germany; which mooved many persons of honour and reputation to come hither. Among whom was William of Henault, Earle of Oye, or, as some did call him,