Ten Weeks in Japan. By George Smith, D.D., Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong. London: Longman. 1861.-The bishop of Victoria has given us his first impressions of an almost unknown land. His volume is lively, yet instructive. The instruction centres in this— that, after all, St. Paul was right: heathenism is everywhere only another name for whatever is most horrible, most degrading, most polluting to human nature. Travellers told us that Japan was an exception; travellers told our forefathers that the South Sea islanders were an exception. Even missionaries told us how kind and gentle were the Patagonian savages. In each instance, experience dreadful experience, in some instances-has shown us the ignorance, and indeed the folly, of these credulous romancers. The heathen are everywhere such as they are described in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans-they are steeped in licentiousness. The gentle Japanese are not a whit better than the worst of them; and we have to thank the good bishop for making us acquainted with this fact, in a volume which, notwithstanding, is fit for general perusal.

us.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

WINTER draws on, and the year seems likely to close upon the world in mist and storm. We have again to report peace and comfort, and comparative prosperity, at home; but beyond our own shores the prospect on all sides is even darker than ever. We are so used to hear of continental broils, that they make but little impression upon That martial law is proclaimed at Warsaw-that the university at Petersburgh is closed on account of the real or apprehended disaffection of a few hundred students-that Hungary offers the obstinate barrier of passive resistance to her stern master-such things are heard without emotion, and soon forgotten; perhaps too soon. Our insular position has a tendency to promote selfishness. An Englishman need not be a worse patriot, and would probably be a better Christian, if he took more interest in the well-being of those other nations, which he is too much accustomed to look upon merely as pleasant fields of travel-recreation grounds, where he can spend his holidays. We are disposed to regard as the most important event of the month, one which has scarcely received the slightest attention from those who profess to enlighten the public on political affairs. The island and adjacent territory of Lagos, on the West African coast, has been ceded to Great Britain by the native king, in a friendly spirit, and upon terms of fair remuneration. If our acquisition be wisely made use of, it seems impossible to overstate the beneficial results which may be expected to follow. It secures a free communication with Abbeokuta, its thriving missions, its incipient civilization, its capacity of yielding immense and almost inexhaustible supplies of native produce, when brought into cultivation under European skill and science. It will enable us to overawe the king of Dahomey, and in time

to put an end to his hideous immolations, and his abominable traffic in slaves. It will afford a more economical, and at the same time a far more effective, means of watching slavers, and so preventing the slave trade, than our expensive African squadron, with all its vigilance. Should Africa become a great cotton-growing and exporting country, Lagos in a few years will probably be its Liverpool, the emporium of its commerce.

A feeling of great uneasiness prevails in Manchester, and the manufacturing districts of the North, as to the supply of cotton. Mills are already working half-time for want of the raw material, and it is feared before the winter closes great distress will be felt. Those who are the best informed do not agree upon the question, whether, even excluding America, the supplies will totally fail. But should the distress be such as those who take the most unfavourable view of the case anticipate, a national grant or loan ought, beyond all doubt, to be cheerfully conceded. This may seem extravagant to some, and will be complained of by others as an interference with those great principles by which trade, in all its relations, ought to be controlled. But to be humane, and considerate of the happiness of others, is always politic, especially when they are our own countrymen, suffering from no fault of theirs, but from the inexpressible folly and wickedness of others. An armed resistance to the blockade of the American ports is suggested by some few; but the voice of England condemns it. Let it be considered not on moral grounds, but only as a question of finance and policy. It would unquestionably lead us into a war; and then the ten or twenty millions which, under the worst of all possible circumstances, it might cost us to feed the manufacturing population for a whole winter, would not be sufficient to bear the cost of war, with its preparations and outfit, for a single month. But we do not anticipate the necessity for such a measure, which nothing indeed but the utmost extremity would justify. We rather believe that the stock of cotton will enable the manufacturer to tide through the winter, and that with the spring large supplies will be poured in. Meanwhile the good conduct of the working classes deserves the highest praise, and must commend them warmly to the sympathies of every patriot and every Christian.

The tidings from America are melancholy; each side becomes more embittered. In the Northern States, the war upon the whole is not only popular, it has become a passion, a national frenzy; and the South, if less noisy in its demonstrations, seems no less stern and resolute. Each side has called into existence armies in strength scarcely inferior to those which Napoleon wielded in his Russian invasion. The border states see them encamped in sight of each other, and will probably soon be the theatre of events which we can anticipate only with the deepest sorrow. A great battle is again expected, but no one now believes that the most profuse bloodshed will ever cement the breach. Such an interference would no doubt be resented as an insult, but we could wish that England observed a day of humiliation on behalf of these our infuriate kinsmen across the Atlantic. But what the state cannot do every christian household may undertake in its daily ministrations before the throne of grace.

How appropriate just now is the petition of our Liturgy: "That it may please thee to give to all nations unity, peace, and concord!”

Many of our politicians are spending the autumn in speech-making to their constituents; a harmless recreation, if nothing more; and occasionally weighty thoughts find expression, and important suggestions are thrown out. On the whole, the tone is good; it bespeaks in favour of a greatly improved state of feeling in our higher classes. They talk as men who take a real interest in the well-being, and not unfrequently in the spiritual welfare, of their neighbours and constituents. Education, too, is much discussed, and the new Minute comes in for its full share both of praise and blame. Mr. Adderley, who was lately at the head of the Educational department in Lord Derby's administration, commends it as at least sound in principle; but, in general, it meets with but little approbation. However, it is postponed till March, and in the meantime all parties will be able to give it full consideration. It still appears to us well meant, though ill considered; and if it had been enforced at once, its effects would have been oppressive, if not unjust.

The National Society is celebrating its Jubilee. Ten years ago, it drove away evangelical churchmen by a display of arrogant highchurchmanship and exclusivement which we are persuaded its present leaders heartily deplore. Our own pages bear witness to the violence and turbulence of its annual meetings at that time; and the descriptions came from the gentle pen of one whose faults, if he had any, were certainly not on the side of too much severity. An opportunity now occurs to heal the breach, and evangelical churchmen are quite ready both to forgive and to forget the past. Only let it be clearly understood that their return involves no compromise of principle. If the popish practices which then prevailed at St. Mark's training school at Chelsea were now, as then, sanctioned by the Board of the National Society, no reconciliation could possibly be effected. The Society is much wanted; and if government should change their system, and to any considerable extent withdraw their aid, it will again occupy an important position, and require the assistance of all church

men.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

THE request of the writer of "the So-called Catholic and Apostolic Church" will be complied with.

THE INCREASE OF CRIME, AND ITS LESSONS.

REMOTE ages have been lauded by the poets as times of innocence. We listen to their song, but we more than suspect its truth. We are too well assured that there never was an age free from secret vice, and open crime; since man began to multiply, and replenish the earth, deceit and violence have not been wanting. Still it will hardly be questioned that there are times when wickedness seems to glide or burst from its ordinary restraints, and to rush with more than usual audacity into frightful excesses. With every disposition to think favourably of our own times, we find it difficult to believe that this is not the state of things at present. How many have been the cases of fraud, outrage, and murder, within the last twelve months! With such rapidity has one instance of frightful crime succeeded to another, that we almost tremble to take up the next newspaper. Neighbourhoods have been startled by the most shocking murders; and a feeling of insecurity has, in some instances, pervaded a whole community. Not to speak of common misdemeanours, there have been violent outrages upon women, and revolting murders by husbands and paramours, in outbursts of rage or jealousy. Females have been brutally assaulted, not seldom by those who stood to them in the position of husbands, or natural protectors. What appalling instances of uncontrolled anger, of hatred and revenge, have occurred within the last few weeks! A tax collector is assassinated in broad day, and in the open street, by one whose goods have been distrained for a few shillings. Two military officers of high standing, in the midst of conversation, fall by the bullet of a soldier who had been sentenced to a fortnight's punishment for neglect of duty. Just before this, we had heard of a son who watched for and seized the opportunity of killing his own mother, because she withheld that which he wished to

squander, and the wretch then hanged himself. Still more startling came the news, that a father, in a high position of society, had attempted the life of his only son, while riding on horseback at his side. The feeling of sorrow has hardly yet subsided with which we read the story of that frightful conflict in Northumberland street between two married men over the object of their unlawful passion. The very mention of the Road mystery, and the cause of the death of the murdered child, is sufficient to awaken the deepest anxiety. About the same time, another event occurred, upon which, however, retribution quickly followed. And if the crime of the monster who, having murdered and plundered a lone woman, actually claimed the reward offered for his own apprehension, by artfully endeavouring to bring to the gallows an innocent victim, has faded from memory, it is only because so many other crimes of magnitude have thrown it into the shade. Last of all, a soldier at Chichester coolly seats himself upon a stile, and shoots an unoffending student, as he would in mere wantonness have shot a dog. Need we enumerate the infanticides that have taken place, some of them most deliberate and brutal; or harrow the feelings by an allusion to the merciless cruelty even of little children to each other? And what are we to say of the disclosure so recently made, when a poor infant two years old, the child of parents moving in the upper walks of life, was found at last among beggars, loathsome with filth and vermin, and injured for life in constitution; sent there, not by accident or misfortune, but because it was the heir to some thousands a year? Who can have forgotten those desperate attempts to throw off the fetters which previous crimes had imposed, made not long ago by the convicts in our jails, and the difficulty with which their violence was suppressed; or the murderous ferocity of the Eastbourne schoolmaster? And if these recent acts of open, audacious wickedness have excluded from view instances of gigantic fraud, and secret poisonings under the cover of medical treatment and affectionate solicitude, we have only to tax our memory a little, to perceive how many cases of the kind have occurred during the last two or three years.

Nor must another painful feature of the times be overlooked. Who can have failed to notice the numerous cases of suicide, concurrent with this increase of crime? cases arising, not from insanity, but from the indulgence of intemperance and lasciviousness leading to remorse and despair; or from a reckless impatience of control, or from disappointment and vexation, or from despondency under the trials and burdens of life, or, in many instances, from the dread of facing the consequences of unprincipled extravagance, or of a long course of gigantic fraud?

We are not disposed to think worse of our own times than of those now passed by. We are rather inclined to take a