The conclusion of this violent over-excitement was, that an extraordinary prostration completely subdued the powers of the convalescent,-a mortal paleness overspread his visage, his limbs failed him, his sword fell from his hand, and he was well-nigh overpowered with faintness, when, by a last effort, he contrived to reach the throne. Tottering, he mounted the steps, and fell almost fainting upon the royal seat. Like Charles the Xth, like Louis Philippe, the last king of France, and the last king of the French, Colonel Wells, the last occupant of the throne of France, was compelled to return to England by the anxiety of his family. He was sent over to his native land in charge of an English physician who resided at Havre.

Napoleon himself is brought forward as among the prophets. The following extraordinary passage, suppressed in both the French and English editions of Count Las Cases' Journal, and which has been furnished us by a literary gentleman of eminence, is an illustration:

"In less than fifteen years from the present time," said the Emperor Napoleon to me one day, as we stood viewing the sea from a rock which overhangs the road, "the whole European system will be changed. Revolution will succeed revolution, until every nation becomes acquainted with its individual rights. Depend upon it, the people of Europe will not long submit to be governed by these bands of petty sovereigns, these aristocratic cabinets. I was wrong in re-establishing the order of nobles in France; but I did it to give splendour to the throne, and refinement to the manners of the people, who were fast sinking into barbarism since the revolution. The remains of the feudal system will vanish before the sun of knowledge. The people have only to know that all power emanates from themselves, in order to assert their rights to a share in their respective governments. This will be the case even with the boors of Russia. Yes, Las Cases, you may live to see the time, but I shall be cold in my grave, when that colossal but ill-cemented empire will be split into as many sovereignties, perhaps republics, as there are hordes or tribes which compose it." After a few more reflections on the future prospects of Europe, his majesty thus continued:-"Never was a web more artfully woven over a nation than that horrible debt which envelopes the people of England. It has been the means of enriching the aristocracy beyond all former example in any coun

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try, whilst it has, at the same time, insured as many fast and powerful friends to the government as there are individuals who receive interest for that money so extravagantly squandered to crush liberty in other countries. Even that must have an end; some accidental spark will ignite the combustible mass, and blow the whole system to the devil. If this mighty debt were due to foreigners, those cunning islanders would not bear the burden an hour, but would, on some pretext or other, break with their creditors, and laugh at their credulity; but they owe the money to individuals among themselves, and are, therefore, likely to enjoy the pleasure of paying the interest for some generations to come. France, too, has a debt. Bourbons think to maintain themselves on my throne, by borrowing largely of the present generation, in order to lay heavy taxes on the next, and all future ones. But I know the French people too well to suppose that such a system can be long tolerated. I know that they have too much natural affection for their offspring to entail upon them a national debt like that of England, however artfully incurred. No! no! my subjects are too sharp-sighted to let the property accumulated for their children be mortgaged to pay the Russians and English for invading them, and for the restoration of the vieille cour des imbéciles,' who now insult them. They will, after a time, make comparisons between them and me; they will recollect that the expenses of my government were defrayed by imposts during the year; that my wars cost France nothing; that I left her not one Napoleon in debt, but that I enriched every corner of her territory. Such comparisons will not be favourable to the Bourbons. The French will cast them and their debt from their shoulders, as my Arabian would any stranger who should dare to mount him. Then, if my son be in existence, he will be seated on the throne amidst the acclamations of the people. If he be not, France will go back to a republic; for no other hand will dare to seize a sceptre which it cannot wield. The Orleans branch, though amiable, are too weak; have too much of the other Bourbons; and will share the same fate if they do not choose to live as simple citizens under whatever change takes place." Here the emperor paused a few moments; then waving his hand, he exclaimed in an animated tone, his dark eye beaming with the enthusiasm of inspiration, France, once more a republic, other countries will follow her example-Germans, Prussians, Poles, Italians, Danes, Swedes, and Russians, will all join in the crusade for liberty. They will arm against

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their sovereigns, who will be glad to make concession of some of their rights in order to preserve a minor authority over them as subjects; they will grant them representative chambers, and style themselves constitutional kings possessing a limited power. Thus the feudal system will receive its death-blow-like the thick mist on that ocean, it will dissipate at the first appearance of the sun of liberty. But things will not end there, the wheel of revolution will not stand still at this point; the impetus will be increased in a ten-fold ratio, and the motion will be accelerated in proportion. When a people recover a part of their rights as men, they become elated with the victory they have achieved; and having tasted the sweets of freedom, they become clamorous for a larger portion. Thus will the states and principalities of Europe be in a continual state of turmoil and ferment, perhaps for some years-like the earth heaving in all directions previous to the occurrence of an earthquake. At length the combustible matter will have vent: a tremendous explosion will take place. The lava of England's bankruptcy will overspread the European world, overwhelming kings and aristocracies; but cementing the democratic interest as it flows. Trust me, Las Cases, that, as from the vines planted in the soil which encrusts the sides of Etna and Vesuvius, the most delicious wine is obtained, so shall the lava of which I speak prove to be the only soil in which the tree of liberty will take firm and permanent root. May it flourish for ages! You, perhaps, consider these sentiments strange and unusual; they are mine, however. I was a republican; but fate and the opposition of Europe made me an emperor. I am now a spectator of the future!"

Mesmerism, likewise, has performed its part, in a manner, if true, not a little remarkable :

The following strange story is abridged from the last letter of the Paris correspondent of the Atlas newspaper :-" Doctor B-, in addition to his skill in the management of children, is one of the first magnetisers in Paris; and the conversation, (at Neuilly, last summer,) as is always the case when he is present, turned upon. magnetism. He told many wonderful tales, of course, concerning the clairvoyance of some of his patients, and the extraordinary power in foretelling the future fate of others; until, being pressed by the king, he looked around to see if any among the company bore outward signs of any great susceptibility to magnetic influence. There is one person present,' said the doctor, 'who possesses, in a most extraordinary degree,

every symptom of this peculiar faculty. Madame la Princess de Joinville would, I am sure, astonish us, would she but submit to the trial.' After some little reluctance, the fair princess consented. In a moment, and, I believe, with no other ceremony than the placing of his thumb against hers, did she realise the doctor's prevision, and fell into as deep a magnetic slumber at it was possible to witness. There was a deep silence; and the doctor turned to demand which member of the family would like to consult her in the name of the rest. Madame Adelaide it was who volunteered; and to her questioning did the patient reply with such truth concerning the past, that she felt emboldened to consult her with regard to the future. 'I give you my honour as a gentleman,' added my informant, that in that séance every event which has happened with such fearful rapidity as to astonish and confound us all, was foretold with most awful precision. The day, the hour of the flight, was named, as well as the despoilment of the Tuileries; the secreting of the diamonds once belonging to the crown of the emperor by a person about the court, (they have not been found;) and a second catastrophe not far distant, and which concerns the Orleans family alone. You named me not,' said Madame Adelaide: with whom am I to fly?' You will remain calmly and peacefully in France,' replied the somnambule; at which observation the king laughed, and said that this last prophecy was sufficient to betray the fallacy of the whole, as his sister would be incapable of deserting them in the hour of peril. I have heard the story from two or three individuals, and from one who declares himself to have been an eye-witness to the scene, and have no reason to doubt its accuracy."

To these we have to add the following, which is not unworthy of those that go before. A foreign journal thus writes:"The Courier des Etats Unis states, that among the papers of one of the marshals (since deceased), at the celebration of the French Revolution in 1840, was found a sealed package, with the following inscription: To be opened on occasion of the coming revolution in France.' As the event has now taken place, the package has been opened, and found to contain the badges worn by the deceased at the procession of 1830, with a detailed description of the ceremony. On the interior of the wrapper was written: 'To serve on occasion of the next revolution in France, which will take place about the year 1847.' It would have

been difficult to have made a more just prediction."

We have collected these things, that we may hand them down to the generation that is to come. These are not all, but they are the chief. Of their truth, upon the whole, there is strong probability. All history attests, that, in connection with the mightier movements of Providence, men sometimes speak with a wisdom more than mortal,-probably in mercy to an infidel world, that it may be to faith in the unseen.

THE BRITISH BANNER.

Ar the outset of this Journal, the Editor asked great things of his friends, but they have vastly exceeded his request. He besought them to place him in the same comparative position in the field of the Weekly as they have in that of the Monthly Press." Not only have they done this, but ten times more! They have not simply placed the British Banner first in the list of the Religious Weekly Press, but achieved for it a circulation greater far than that of the whole of it, of all sects and parties, united. This comparison, of course, is not based on the sale of the first quarter, when the excitement was at its height; but on that of the present, when novelty is gone, passion has subsided into reason, and the circulation become so far fixed and natural. This result has been effected in conjunction with two remarkable facts: not a single agency has been employed in the country; and, in the second quarter, not a single paper was sent where the subscription was not renewed. These are facts to which, in the Weekly Press, there are few parallels. By an extensive employment of agency, the circulation might unquestionably have been doubled; but the trouble of its establishment would have been greater than, under the circumstances, could be conveniently sustained, and the pecuniary hazard, in many cases, at the outset, very considerable. By sending copies without the renewal of the subscription, some friendly and excellent readers might have been retained, who, from neglect, or other circumstances, may, for the present, have been lost. But it was determined to adopt a course alike simple and safe, and, happen what might, without respect of persons, to abide by it,-a resolution which has been kept without a single deviation. If, by this resolution, the progress of the

edifice has been retarded, in the same proportion the foundations have been rendered deep and strong.

But the true character of this achievement cannot be understood without taking into account the extraordinary difficulties at all times to be encountered in attempts to start a Journal, whether Daily or Weekly. Rarely is a circulation, for months, equal to one-fourth of the necessary expenditure; and seldom for years does it clear its way. There are few projects by which a full purse may be more expeditiously emptied. A London Weekly, lately defunct, in a hopeless struggle swallowed up £15,000; the Daily News, in some six months, made short work with £80,000: another London Journal, the L- M-, most respectably conducted, has been carried on from the beginning at a weekly loss of between £30 and £40; and another, "The Universe," at a very heavy weekly loss. The former of these is on the eve of extinction, or amalgamation with some other; and the chief proprietors of "The Universe," Sir C. Eardley, Mr. Henderson, and others, have given notice of a dissolution of the partnership at the end of three months. The expenses of the Patriot, at the outset, soon exceeded the income by £1,500 and upwards.

On this subject a curious illustration has just been supplied by what is called the People's Journal. The following is a statement from Mr. Howitt, contained in a recent number of his Journal:

“

"It is due to ourselves to notice the upshot of this Journal, which was declared, about this time last year, to be 'commercially established and perfectly safe,' and to be circulating from 35,000 to 40,000 copies weekly. To those who were led to believe the charges of Mr. **** against us, it may be as well to consider how his assertions have proved in other respects. This Journal was so commercially established,' that we have now been assured by the creditors, who have inspected the books, that at no time did it ever circulate 17,000 per week; and the printer assures us that, for a long time, they have not printed more than 8,000, and, about the end of the year, 4,500, while it required a circulation of 20,000 copies weekly to pay. It was, in fact, at the time * sinking at the rate of £4,000 a year, and more; in the two years of its continuance, it sunk upwards of £9,000."

*

*

Nine thousand pounds is a tolerable sum to spend in the space of twenty-four

months for an experiment in periodical literature; and the facts, as they have thus come out, yield a salutary warning to the simple to beware how they become parties to projects of this description. But another point here is worthy of notice. The temptation is very strong to exaggerate the amount of circulation, in order to procure advertisements; and parties without principle are but too ready to fall before it; and, hence, it is no uncommon thing to represent a circulation as double, or treble, yea, and even ten times its real amount. Such a case we have actually known.

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To all this must be added the fact, that a large number of New Journals was attempted to be established in the course of 1847, and nearly every one of them failed, with heavy losses to all concerned. To these must be added the further fact, that the period selected for starting the British Banner was the worst that could have been chosen for the last thirty years. In a season of general prosperity, it is bable that, great as its success has been, it would have been vastly increased. The risk, under such circumstances, was tremendous, and failure, how great soever a calamity, would have been no disgrace; but unexampled success becomes a tenfold blessing, and lays the Editor and his coadjutors under corresponding obligations both to Heaven and earth. He would, therefore, cherish a spirit of the most profound gratitude to Him from whom all prosperity proceeds, and, under Him, to the faithful of every rank and class, of every sect and party, to whose generous confidence and unprecedented efforts he so very mainly owes his success.

But leaving the things which are behind, the Editor would press on to those which are before, that he may acquit himself worthily of the favour so largely accorded to him. He turns back to his Original Prospectus, and, pondering its awful facts, trembling takes hold upon him!

While his own private and deliberate expectations of immediate success have been vastly exceeded, his reasonable calculations have fallen as much short. He longs for a reader wherever he finds an uninstructed man; he pants for an introduction to every family in Britain, yet without a liberal, pure, and well-principled Paper. Again, therefore, to all such, he opens his heart, and presses his plea. To each he would say:

Do you want dissertations, discussion, instruction on points relating to the Constitution of the country, illustrative alike

of its excellence and its defects, and demonstrative of the numerous and grievous imperfections of the Reform Bill, and of the absolute necessity of revising, improving, perfecting it in all its parts, and adjusting it to the wants of the times which are passing over us? Would you have reasons for shortening Parliaments to, at the utmost, triennial,-for Electoral Division of the Country,-for Vote by Ballot, and for Household Suffrage, with an arrangement for the inclusion of that very large class of intelligent and valuable men, who are, nevertheless, not householders, and the annihilation, everywhere, of the old corrupt freemen?-Read the British Banner!

Do you, in the spirit of true patriotism and enlightened Christianity, resolve, as an act of the highest social duty, to watch the proceedings of the Executive Government of your country on all subjects, whether relating to Home or Colonial matters, affecting peace, justice, taxation, trade, commerce, liberty, and generally, the public weal? Do you wish from time to time, in aid of your judgment, an ample supply of enlightened, candid, upright, and fearless comment upon all the great measures of Government, explaining and defending the good, exposing and denouncing the evil?- Read the British Banner!

Do you feel it a high duty of Christian citizenship to cherish a spirit of habitual distrust of both Houses of Parliament, especially that of the Commons,-to inspect, from day to day, both their sayings and their doings, that you may compare the promises of the hustings with the performances of St. Stephen's? To these ends, are you anxious to possess and preserve a careful digest of the debates on all general business, and on all great occasions, to have the chief speeches with all desirable and necessary fulness? On these occasions do you wish the merits and demerits of individuals and parties specified, and the foes of the country visited according to their deserts?-Read the British Banner!

Are you deeply alive to the importance of the subject of Colonization, as an enterprise in which hundreds of thousands of millions, yet unborn, are ineffably interested? Are you strongly impressed with the conviction that this is a subject in which England, above all other nations, is responsibly concerned? Do you hold that the designs of Providence regarding it may be fully ascertained from the boundless territory which has been

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assigned her all over the world? Are you anxious to become acquainted with the regions, names, extent, and present condition of the Colonies of Great Britain? Do you feel it a duty of Christian patriotism to keep a steady eye upon ments of the Colonial Legislatures, in all matters connected with civil and religious liberty? Are you wishful to read, from time to time, the reports and views of the best and ablest Colonial residents of what is going on there, in relation to religion and philanthropy?-Read the British Banner!

Are you desirous to obtain and preserve a correct and general acquaintance with the practical operations of the religious and philanthropic movements of the age? Do you wish such intelligence as comprises facts and illustrates principles worthy the attention of pilgrims to eternity-news without nonsenseinstruction rather than amusementrecords of events which concern the wise and the good, and which admit of being digested for the enlargement and invigoration of the soul? Are you willing to submit to a small measure of the profitable pain of a little solemn thinking? Have the mental and moral courage to enter upon an article of moderate length, and stamped with the impress of conscientious labour? Are you ready to become a pupil, that you may be trained into a good and able citizen? You are our man!-READ THE BRITISH BANNER! N.B. Orders to be sent to 5, Boltcourt, Fleet-street, London.

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A CLERGYMAN'S OPINION OF THE

"WITNESS."

To the Rev. Ebenezer Howell, Hawes, Yorkshire.

SIR,-At the Temperance festival held in this city, on the 14th April, I heard you make a remark to a gentleman upon the platform, which, doubtless, was not intended by you to reach the ear of a Congregationalist. The remark was as follows: "That threepenny Magazine belonging to the Congregational body is a vile thing.' Had the circumstances of the evening permitted, I should have called upon you to explain; but as such a course was not practicable, I take the liberty thus publicly to address you on the subject. I presume that this your expressed opinion is the result of your personal examination of the Magazine in question: if otherwise, I will just remind you of what Solomon says: "He that answereth

a matter before he heareth it, it is a folly and a shame unto him." Presuming, however, that you have personally examined this publication, allow me to ask you to point out wherein its vileness consists? Is its theology unsound?—or its morality questionable?-or are its general contents calculated to mislead and

destroy the souls of men? On the contrary, is not its theology in strict accordance with the word of God?-its morality unimpeachable?-and its general contents eminently calculated to enlighten, convince, and convert the souls of sinful men? If this be the case, which I think you will not venture to deny, how can the epithet "vile thing" be consistently applied to it? I suspect, however, that its expositions in the department allotted to "Church Affairs," render it so "vile" in your eyes, as a clergyman of the Church of England. But I ask, is it kind-is it courteous is it Christian to stigmatize as" vile" a periodical which gloriously maintains the cause of truth and religion, merely because it is the exponent of certain principles of church polity which are contrary to those held by you? Suppose that an individual were in your presence to stigmatize as "vile" one of the ablest and most zealous of the publications of the Total Abstinence Society, of which you are a member and advocate,-should you not feel rather indignant at so uncourteous an expression? At the Temperance festival, reference was made by some of the speakers to the Scripture argument adduced to support the use of intoxicating liquors; which argument was set aside by the following, to which you, as a total abstainer, no doubt listened with much complacency :-"Although," it was said, "two or three passages may be adduced which appear to sanction the use of wine, &c., still, as the general tenor of the whole Bible is opposed thereto, we must be guided by the evident meaning of the whole, and not by isolated and disjointed passages.' Did it ever occur to you, Sir, to argue thus respecting the principle of a State Church? The argument for the one practice, and the other institution, are very analogous, so far as it is drawn from Scripture,-being supported in each case, not by the general tenor of Scripture, but by jorced expositions of isolated passages in the Bible. The argument, therefore, that destroys the one, destroys the other also; and, if you do not willingly close your eyes to the light of truth, you must confess that the principle of a State Church has no