so often spoken of in the New Testament, and is so remarkably characteristic of the Gospel, is insisted on by modern teachers, or cultivated by modern Christians, as much as it ought to be. We often hear of the grace of the Gospel, and indeed we can scarcely hear of it too frequently. Perhaps also we are zeaJous, though not more than properly zealous, for the general obedience which Christianity demands. The peace however which it inculcates, and which while it inculcates it also communicates and inspires, is a subject, as it seems to me, neglected in some, and misconceived in other quarters.

I shall probably be asked in what this peace consists? My answer is, that though I would understand the term as eminently referring to that peace of conscience which is to be obtained through faith, in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ; yet I would by no means confine the expression to this sense. I would give to it a very large and general interpretation, both because a mind at peace with itself naturally is inclined to be at peace with every thing around it, and because the Scriptures, as I conceive, are extremely favourable to the utmost amplification of the expression.

"This world," said a great writer, and never surely was the observation more true than at the present era, "is full of perturbation." How many thousand inhabitants of the northern parts of Europe, alarmed by the successive agitations of the Continent, may at this moment exclaim, "Without are fightings, and within are fears." While I write, I hear that a French army has taken Hamburgh, and put the English under arrest. The French conqueror is also said to be extending his new dynasty to Poland, perhaps to other regions, both in the East and in the North; and that expression of the Prophet, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn," seems to Le growing more and more applicable to all the established king

doms of Europe. Who can promise himself that Britain herself shall be able to ride out the storm ?

But I by no means wish to fill the minds of your readers with an excess of political apprehension. We have each of us troubles at home, and those perhaps to many of us are more harassing than the battles of Austerlitz and of Jena, or the capture of Hamburgh, or the northern progress of the French. A favourite child is sick. We have had a loss in trade. Some one has spoken ill of us. Our health seriously declines. Or we are perplexed to know which of two important measures we shall take. I apprehend that the expression of our Saviour, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you," was intended to cover all those cases. Doubtless it was meant to indicate, that the believer in the Gospel was not to be agitated like other men; that he was to possess his soul in patience; that even in the midst of provocations he was to command his temper and restrain his tongue; that he was to commit his cause to God in all the confidence of prayer; that he was to resort amidst the trials of the flesh to divine consolations, and to turn his thoughts, from the calamities of this life, to that rest which remaineth for the people of God. The Gospel was to spread its oil over every wave. We often indeed limit its power. "I am agi. tated," says one, "but I am agitated because I am nervous. My distress arises from the state of my bodily frame." I answer, that the Gospel is able to strengthen these disordered nerves: it can operate at least in some measure upon them. "I am of a naturally anxious irritable temper," says another. I answer, then you are in this respect naturally corrupt: and is not the Gospel inter led to cure every corruption? "But my case," says a third," is so unspeakably trying, that I am an exception to all ordinary rules." What then is your case? Are your trou bles temporal or spiritual? If tem

stowed a merited eulogium on the naval administration of Lord BARHAM. It appears to me to be due to that distinguished nobleman, that the public should be made better acquainted with the extent of his services; and I therefore solicit for this author's concise and able view of them, a place in your work. I think myself entitled to claim its insertion on another and more appropriate ground. The Christian Observer is bound, in my opinion, not to omit the rare opportunity of recording an instance of a Minister of State, eminently skilled in the business of his department, unweariedly laborious in the execution of its duties, and successful almost beyond example in his plans; who was no less remarkable for the strength of his religious principles, and for the elevation of his mind above worldly objects; for his piety towards God, and for his active benevolence towards his fellow-creatures.

S.

VIEW OF LORD BARIAM'S ADMI

NISTRATION.

"His Lordship has retired from of fice, unnoticed, but not unrewarded; for he had done much to serve his country, and Providence had crowned his labours with the most satisfactory and splendid success.

"By the unparalleled victory of Trafalgar, by the action of July 22, and by that complete success which rewarded the gallantry of Sir Richard Strachan and his victorious squadron, twenty-five sail of the line, comprising the flower of the hostile fleets, were taken or destroyed, and ten of their ships were added to the navy of England; making an increase in our relative strength, of no less than thirty-five sail of the line.

"But it will not, perhaps, be disputed, that the victory of Admiral Duckworth at Santo Domingo, also fairly belongs to the administration of Lord Barbam; and if so, we must raise the latter estimate to

forty-three line of battle ships, added, by victory under his auspices, to the preponderance of our maritime force.

"That the glory of these victo ries pre-eminently belongs to the gallant officers and seamen by whose skill and bravery they were achiev ed, I most willingly and cordially admit; but, on the other hand, to deny that they reflect a high degree of honour on the minister by whose wise dispositions, and energetic mea sures they were prepared, would be preposterous, as well as ungrate ful. In this case, happily, praise may be divided, without being at all diminished. It is not plucking a single leaf from the laurels of our brave commanders, to say, that the opportunities of which they so gloriously profited, were given to them, not by accident, but by the effects of vigorous preparation, provident arrangement, and intelligent design.

"If any man in the kingdom thinks lightly of the merits of the Admiralty, in those glorious events which distinguished the autumn of 1805, let him remember the alarms and difficulties of the preceding summer;-let him look back to the period of Lord Barham's accession to office, when the Rochfort squa dron was spreading terror through the British West Indies, and when it was known that the combined fleets from Toulon and Cadiz had proceeded to the southward of Madeira. Let him recollect the consternation that then prevailed among our merchants, and the anxious apprehensions that long continued, of disastrous events in various distant quarters; while we knew not with certainty whether the Windward Islands, Jamaica, or our Asiatic possessions, were the destined objects of attack, but trembled for them all; yet should have justly trembled still more, at the thought of such a large diversion of our naval force, as might leave our own shores insufficiently guarded against the fleets of Brest and Boulogne.

"Never surely was the British

Admiralty placed in a situation of more awful responsibility, or of greater difficulty, than at that moment. To steer out of it without some great disaster to the public, would then have been thought no small achievement. Yet with such coolness, vigour, and ability, were the difficulties of this arduous conjuncture encountered, so judiciously were our fleets and squadrons distributed, and so promptly reinforced, that danger and alarm were turned into security and triumph. The necessary blockades were still maintained; our coast was every where protected; yet the enemy, when chased across the Atlantic by one British fleet, found another to intercept him in his flight. Escaping from the latter, with only a partial defeat, and largely reinforced, he was soon again confronted by a force, large enough, first to blockade him in the port which he had entered, and finally to give him the most signal defeat, that ever humbled the pride of France, or enhanced the glory of England.

"The Hero of the Nile, indeed, and Collingwood were there; but the vigilance and activity of the Admiralty, provided most seasonably the means, of which they made so glorious a use.--When weakened by detachments, they were immediately reinforced from the Channel. Yet frugal of a force, which at that interesting epoch was wanted nearer home for the security of our shores, and of our rich homeward bound convoys, the Admiralty sent them not a ship too many. Their force was large enough, when placed in such hands, to make victory certain, though small enough to make it transcendently glorious.

"Thus far the services of Lord Barham are sufficiently known to the public; but it is not, perhaps, so generally known, how greatly his professional skill and industry, in what is called the civil department of the Admiralty, have contributed to the present exalted state of our marine. While copeing with the

immediate difficulties of that arduous crisis at which he entered into office, his Lordship did not for a moment neglect to look forward to the future; but anxiously provided, not only for the lasting preservation of our naval force, but also for its progressive increase.

Without entering at large into this branch of his public services, I will hazard the assertion, that they have not been less meritorious than that active and intelligent management of our existing force, which was crowned with such brilliant effects.

"I cannot refrain, however, from noticing in particular, that by a grand improvement in our Dockyards, of which his Lordship was the promoter, the victories of the last glorious autumn were in some measure prepared.

"A method of restoring with much greater expedition than formerly to actual service, such ships, as being rendered unserviceable by age, or accidents, are "laid up,” as it is called," in ordinary," was adopted by his Lordship's immediate predecessor in office, on the recommendation of Lord Barham, and prosecuted by himself, during the whole time that he presided at the Admiralty, with the happiest effect.

"I will not attempt such a description of it, and such a comparison with the method before in use, as might be intelligible to ordinary readers; but the result of the improvement was, that from May, 1804, to the end of Lord Barham's administration, no less than twenty sail of the line, including seven of the first and second rates, were brought from a state of ordinary into actual service. When it is added that eleven ships of the line, which but for this expeditious mode of renovation would have been still in dock, were engaged in the battles of the last autumn, and when it is recollected how much the arduous services that followed the glorious 21st of October put our ships, as