and face of David Thom-the same thin silvery hair, the same high, pyramidic brow, the same restless, searching, uneasy eye, and in fact the same formation from the shoulders upward. But the preacher now advances to his main points. Let us not fail to follow him even unto the very end. All his prior reasonings are now concentrated into one narrow focus. He repeats each separate heading; he tells you again how he has established his former positions; be deduces what follows from this; he opens up Christianity from its very beginning as a scheme of development; he pours upon it the light of ancient prophesy; he shows how ancient things have passed away; how the Adamic, patriarchal, and Mosaic ages were successive phases of development; how they were shadows of better things to come; how those better things have now arrived; and consequently how the adumbrations of type and metaphor have become swallowed up and absorbed in antetype and reality. Then he speaks of man's carnal nature, as opposed and diametrically antagonistic to God's spiritual nature. And now he broaches his grand theme of divine inversion, showing that while in the mind of man there is an appearance of conformity and resemblance to the mind of God, yet that the appearance is but a shadowy and unsubstantial one, and that in effect the poles are not more distant from each other than is creature from creative will, than is the merely soulical from the illuminated and the spiritual. He concludes with an expatiation upon the love of God. It is boundless, the love of man is bounded: here is inversion. It is disinterested and selfless, that of man is interested and selfish: here is inversion again. It repays evil with good, men's love is but capable of repaying good with good: here is inversion again. And so on, and on, and on he goes, heaping example upon example to instance in divine love his theory of divine inversion. And now he speaks of divine love in itself, in its one and undivided essence, in its infinity, in its immensity, in its richness, in its freedom, its perfection, and finally in each and all of its manifestations and developments. Thom is now in all his glory-that restless eye of his kindles and sparkles like the flashings from diamonds. He forgets himself-he forgets even his hearers, and for the period he thinks of nothing but his God and his God's benevolence. He is out of the body, and by a kind of magnetism that you cannot withstand, he carries you out of it too, and you with him live for the time entirely in the world of spirit. Now for his great climax. See! he is working himself up for it-simile upon simile, illustration upon illustration, image upon image, intensity, as it were, upon intensity, till he comes to the crowning whole. There! he has reached the utmost bound to which spirit can travel. A sudden cessation and the voice is hushed, and the speaker speaks no more; and (with perhaps a violent headache from the immense strain on your mental powers) you suddenly fall back upon yourself, regain your own identity again, and remembering where you are, remember also that you must now leave. Enwrapt in incommunicable thought, in thoughts too big for utterance,' you at last find yourself in the crowded streets, but still you feel alone, and you desire to be alone, under the mighty spell of Thom's gigantic intellect. THE BRITISH EMPIRE. IN speaking of the British Isles, it is not unusual to adopt a derogatory strain, as if the British power were only great in its foreign acquisitions. But much of this is gratuitous. It is true, that in respect of mere acreage we have in Europe six superiors, France, Spain, Turkey, Austria, and Russia, with the united kingdom of Sweden and Norway. A dominion, however, is not to be measured by the number of mountains it encloses, but by the number of men it commands. He that reigns over waste lands, rules nothing; he only reigns who governs men; to control mind is do Abridged from a Lecture delivered by the Rev. WILLIAM ARTHUR, before the Young Men's Christian Association of Lon don, and since published by Mr Green, Paternoster Row. Second edition. 1848. minion; population is empire. Now, in this light, taking but our home empire, only three states in Europe excel our own. The population of the British Isles is greater than that of Spain and Turkey put together; but less than that of France by seven millions, than that of Austria by ten, and numbers only half that of European Russia. Thus, were our empire confined to these islands, it would even then rank as one of the five great powers of Europe; for her majesty rules, in the united kingdom, a population about twice as numerous as that governed by the king of Prussia. Besides her home empire, several patches of European territory are held by England. The beautiful little CHANNEL ISLANDS (Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, &c. with a population of about 70,000), though lying close upon the shores of Normandy, are English in political position, and thoroughly English in feeling. At the extreme south of the Spanish coast stands GIBRALTAR, which, notwithstanding its commanding position and classic fame, as one of the pillars of Hercules, does not seem to have been fortified earlier than the eighth cen tury, when it was occupied by the armies of the Caliph | Alwalid Eben Abdalmalic. The Moors held it for above seven centuries, with but one short interval. The reign of Queen Anne was rendered illustrious by continental victories; but of all the triumphs of Marlborough nothing remains to England, except their pride. In that same reign an admiral, lacking employment for his fleet, captured the fortress of Gibraltar, with a handful of troops under a German prince, and a few sailors. The Parlia ment of the day would not give its thanks for the conquest; but the importance of that conquest to our shipping, its command of the Mediterranean, its impregnable fortifications, and, perhaps more than all, the determined assaults against which it has been retained, now confirm it as a national possession of the highest value. To have cost years of battle, and almost seas of blood, it is a small territory, measuring in length only two miles and three quarters, while three quarters of a mile is its greatest breadth. Its ! population is about 15,000. Proceeding up the Mediterranean, we next find the English flag waving over the islands of MALTA and Gozo, which, from their close proximity, are usually designated only by the name of the former.' Malta is sacred as the scene of St Paul's shipwreck, and has an almost unequalled fame for historical vicissitudes. It was first held by the Phoenicians, who yielded to the Greeks; these were overcome by the Carthaginians, who were in turn subdued by the Romans; they were swept from the island by the Vandals, and they, again, by the Goths; Justinian recovered it to the empire; but it was soon overrun by the Arabs, and these were conquered by the Normans. At length fell to the kingdom of Sicily, with which it remained till the days of Charles V., who placed it under the knights of St John of Jerusalem. They held it till 1798, when it was seized by the French during Napoleon's expedition to Egypt; but the people rising against them, were joined by an English force; and in 1800 this place, so often lost and won, was numbered among our possessions. The two islands are about twenty-seven miles in length, with a population of 120,000 souls. The climate is warm, but salubrious; and Valetta, the capital, is at once a beautiful city and one of the strongest military posts in the world. Pursuing our way in that classical sea, we find, strewed along the west and south-west coast of Greece, the seven IONIAN ISLES, known as the SEPTINSULAR UNION; namely, Corfu, Paxo, Santa Maura, Ithaca, Cephalonia, Zante, and Kerigo. They formerly belonged to Venice: during the wars of the French Revolution their possession alternated between Russia and France; but in the great territorial settlement of 1815, they were placed under the protection of Great Britain. They may be considered as a half-independent republic; being governed by a court of representatives, under a lord high commissioner appointed by our queen. Their climate and productions are semitropical. The population is about 200,000. length a single British mile, would never have attracted We might have thought that a tiny islet, measuring in full the broad eye of England; but during the last war, when the continental powers combined to exclude our commerce from their shores, HELIGOLAND, lying close to the south of Denmark, and commanding the mouths of the Eyder, the Weser, and the Elbe, was seen to offer such advantages to our shipping, that it was seized, and is still retained by Britain. The population is about 2000. Looking at the British empire as existing in Europe alone, it comprises a population considerably exceeding twenty-seven millions. This gives us a proportion, in the population of all Europe, of about one in eight and a half; so that in that division of the world which is the centre of knowledge, enterprise, and power, out of every seventeen men, two at least hail Queen Victoria as their sovereign. this last boundary, it makes the extent about equal to that of the whole Prussian territory; but with either of the others it is prodigious. This province is, on the whole, a finer country than the other, having a richer soil, and more genial climate. The population is mainly English. The progress of cultivation is rapid; and cities spring up as if; by magic. Toronto, which some men living remember to have seen with only two log-houses and a tavern, is now a splendid city, with a population of 20,000; and every thing making it worthy to be, as before the union of the provinces it was, the capital of a new country. Montreal is the seat of government. The population of Canada is supposed to amount to a million and a half. We now come to a territory which, both as to its width and its climate, may be called the Russia of America; and yet, vast as it is, some books, laying claim to popularity, omit it altogether from the catalogue of our possessions. Charles II. granted to a company a charter, vesting in them the exclusive privilege to trade in furs, in the regions lying adjacent to Hudson's Bay. This company retains its charter, and now holds the unmeasured tracts desig nated as the HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORY. The precise extent of this region is not ascertained; but it stretches from the northern frontier of Canada to the pole, and from the shores of the Atlantic to the boundary of Russian America. This latter is a breadth twice as great as that of the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland to Labrador. Were a right line drawn from London to the western limits of our possessions, it would cross no land but what is ours; and would travel in its course over 140 degrees. of longitude, or within some eighteen hundred miles of half the earth's circumference. Our American territory, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the latitude of New York to the north pole, covers an area larger than the United States. But though, even on their own continent, we have more acres than they, their superiority in soil and climate is conspicuous; and in population, the essential strength of empire, they outnumber British America sevenfold. Turning to our FOREIGN EMPIRE, we shall first of all direct our attention to the west; and here the possession we meet with as our nearest and oldest is NEWFOUNDLAND. This island is only sixteen hundred miles west of Ireland, so that with steamers travelling twelve miles per hour, the distance from Limerick to St John's might be accomplished in six days. The two kingdoms of Denmark and Hanover carcely equal the extent of Newfoundland. Its winters are rigorous; but the climate is neither so unbearable, nor the soil so utterly barren, as is generally supposed. The population, amounting to 75,000, is mainly engaged in the 5-bery; but the few who cultivate the ground find remunerative crops. The possession of the island was long disputed between England and France, the fishery making it valuable to both. The latter held it for a considerable time, but at length the fortunes of England prevailed. On the American continent our oldest possession is NOVA SCOTIA, a province remarkable for its superb bays and barbours, enjoying a salubrious climate, and rich in instances of hale longevity. Though occupying a comparatively small space in the public view, it is equal to a country in Europe, which, with its Alps, its glaciers, and its hardy conflicts, has ever held a high place in the attention of the world. Nova Scotia, with a population of only 150,000, is in extent equal to Switzerland. This statement includes In turning from North America, the eye naturally falls the Island of Cape Breton, which was formerly held as a on the WEST INDIES. Here our first possessions were St separate colony. Christopher's and Barbadoes; after which Cromwell conAdjoining to this, NEW BRUNSWICK spreads over a terri-quered Jamaica from the Spaniards. We now hold about tory equal to both Holland and Belgium; but its popula- fifteen islands, independently of the groups of the Ber. tion, being only 120,000; is so inadequate to its extent, mudas, Bahamas, and Virgin Isles. The names and exthat vast tracts continue to be occupied by forest and tent of the various islands are as follows:-Jamaica, 6400 prairie. square miles; Trinidad, 2400; Tobago, 187; Grenada, In the Gulf of St Lawrence, lies a rich and beautiful 125; St Vincent, 130; Barbadoes, 166; St Lucia, 58; Doisland, of which we scarcely ever hear but as of some in-minica, 272; St Kitts, 68; Montserrat, 47; Antigua, 108; considerable appendage to New Brunswick. Yet this, PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND, is as large as that famous Italian tate, the grand duchy of Parma, which, since the downfall of her meteor lord, has formed the dominion of Maria Louisa. Barbuda, 10; Nevis, 20. Of these nearly all, except Bar- A century has not passed since the martial spirit of Turning, again, to the continent, we find in Central America the British province of HONDURAS, a possession little thought of by us; and when thought of at all, generally as some place in a bay where people go to get mahogany. Yet this unthought of province is as large as Ireland and Scotland put together, and enjoys a good climate, with a productive soil. Its population is only about 9000. This country is also called, after the capital, BELIZE, SO uamed from a Spanish corruption of Wallace, the name of an English bucanier. Considerably to the south of Honduras lie some hundred of miles of coast, called the Mus Some parts of Upper Canada lie as far south as New York. + Perhaps the annexation of Texas casts the balance on the other side, The fleet was commanded by Sir William Penn, father to the which exist merely to facilitate the important trade in gold dust, ivory, palm-oil, and other produce. The country thus occupied is inhabited by the Fantees, a negro race, who, by bloody superstitions, by the slave-trade, and by the unsparing victories of their neighbours the Ashantees, have been reduced to the last state of timid misery. quito coast, which our map-makers, always ready to appropriate territory, mark over to us; but I believe we have no claim upon it, further than what is given by some alliance with the Indian tribes by whom it is inhabited. South of the Isthmus of Panama lies our only other continental possession in the west. Guiana, a rich alluvial country, situated in the Delta of the great rivers, the Leaving the continent, we find, in the Bight of Benin, Amazon and Oronocko, is distributed between the French, the island of FERNANDO Po, which we have only occupied Dutch, and English. BRITISH GUIANA is a country nearly within the last ten years, and which is now in possession equal in extent to the United Kingdom; and perhaps not of the Spanish government. Then in the ocean we have a single province in our empire is so highly fertile. To the lonely volcanic rock of ASCENSION, distinguished for this fertility, the three great rivers, Demerara, Berbice, nothing but its plentiful supply of turtles; and also Sr and Essequibo, greatly contribute. At present, this is HELENA, chiefly known as the cage in which died that proud one of the most sickly of our colonies; for, like Holland, | eagle, whose talons held Europe in throes for years, whilst it is a flat country, abounding in canals; this added to his outspread wings cast awe upon the world. the prolific vegetation of tropical heats, causes a rapid generation of malaria, whence arise deadly fevers. Were the population adequate to the country, these evils would be much alleviated; but, instead of some thirty millions, which it is capable of maintaining, this rich territory has only 75,000 souls. Passing down to the extremity of South America, you find, just where the straits of Magellan separate it from Terra del Fuego, a group of ninety islands, enjoying a moderate climate. The FALKLAND ISLANDS, of which two measure 100 miles in length, abound in game, and yield profusely all the productions of the temperate zone. On these secluded islands are found twenty-five Englishmen, standing, in their isolation from all human society, a monument of the spirit of British enterprise. This concludes the summary of our American possessions, which, taken all together, are equal in extent to the whole continent of Europe. As we turn from the west, AFRICA next claims our attention. Taking our possessions here in geographical order, we find the first in a low, flat island at the mouth of the magnificent river Gambia. ST MARY'S, of which the capital is Bathurst, and M'CARTHY'S ISLAND, about 300 miles up the river, are the principal settlements; but several minor ones exist on different points of the river. The insalubrity of the climate utterly precludes extensive colonisation; and these points are chiefly important as opening up with the interior the trade in ivory and other valuable commodities. We next come to SIERRA-LEONE. God in his goodness has suffered much beauty to linger on our world; but among all its lovely spots few so happily combine the grand with the beautiful as Free-Town. Mountains of a majestic altitude rise from the margin of a placid sea, and are clothed to their very summit with a luxuriant tropical verdure. Up the side of one of these the town climbs in picturesque progress, and the spacious estuary of the SierraLeone glistens at the base. I have seen the black eye of a native dance for joy as he dwelt on the charms of that rare scene. The community peopling it is singularly romantic; perhaps not another on earth is so rich in personal histories. Every man has his own tale. Here are liberated the negroes found in the slavers captured on their passage to the west. Thus each individual has his own exciting story of his quiet African home; of the alarm, the kidnapping, the capture, the long march across the desert, his strange thoughts at first sight of the sea, his fears on embarking, the horrors of the slave-ship, his dread when the British cannon thundered the summons for the slaver to surrender, and his wild, wild joy when he once more felt himself safe and free. There is, in Free-Town and the adjacent villages, a community of 50,000 individuals, who look thankfully to England as their great benefactress. Our next possession is at CAPE COAST CASTLE, celebrated from its melancholy connection with the name of 'L. E. L.,' but destined to be far more celebrated by a happy connexion with yet more illustrious names. In the same neighbourhood we have settlements at Accrah, Dix-Cove, and Annamaboe. No territory is connected with these posts, *After which the colony is usually called Demerara, and taken by many for one of the West India Islands. Passing to the extreme south of the African Continent, you find an English colony, which, measuring from the Great Orange River on the west, to the Keskama on the east, is not less extensive than the kingdom of France. The same expedition which carried to India Henry Martynthat rare combination of the saint and the genius-left England with orders to recapture the CAPE of GOOD HOPE, which, though in our possession once before, had been restored by treaty to its former owners, the Dutch. The attack was successful; and we have retained the conquest. Cape-Town, the capital, is remarkable for a diversity of tongues. Occupying a kind of central point between the ports of Europe, Africa, America, Asia, and Australia, it is a half-way house for all nations. Thus you find the guttural Dutch and sibilant English struggling for the mastery with each other, and with some dozen African dialects; while the Malay and the Frenchman, the Arab and the Bengalee, with various other nations of the East and of the West, all contribute their share to the confusion of speech. The climate, agreeably balanced between the temperate and the torrid, is one of the finest in the world. The soil yields almost every production you have either learned to prize at home or to covet from the tropics. There is not a finer country: with the extent of France it unites the climate of Spain; and, when viewed with reference to its internal capabilities, the field it offers to emigration, the influence it must exert on the future history of Africa, and the position it occupies toward our most distant pos sessions, its importance to our colonial politics is incalculable. The eastern districts of the country are mainly settled by Englishmen, who, at their new capital of Graham'sTown and its adjacent places, are fast outrunning their Dutch neighbours in the career of enterprise and improvement. The total population of this colony is about 150,000, of whom one-third are whites, and two-thirds coloured. Eastward of Africa, in the Indian Ocean, we have the island of MAURITIUS, which the Dutch, its first occupants, so named after their Prince Maurice. From the Dutch it fell into the possession of the French; and, by harbouring their privateers during the last war, became such a pest to our eastern trade, that its conquest was deemed neces sary, and effected. It is a volcanic island, remarkable for charms of scenery, and a most prolific soil. It is capable of producing anything; but the greater profit derived from the sugar-cane gives to it an exclusive cultivation. Its finer sugars are sent to England, and the inferior ones to the Australian ports, with which, particularly Swan River, an important commerce is growing up. The population, amounting to about 140,000, is collected from France, England, Africa, and Hindustan. In the Indian Ocean, we claim also the unimportant groups of the SEYCHELLES, AMIRANTES, CHAGOS, and the island of Rodriguez. Off the southern extremity of the great Asiatic peninsula, lies the island of CEYLON, the celebrated Taprobane of other ages. It is about equal to Scotland in superficies; and, though so close upon the equator, derives from its insular position, and the high elevation of large tracts of tableland, such a modification of the heat as renders its climate at once voluptuous and healthful. Its pearl fishery, its spices, and its precious stones, have in all ages associated its name with ideas of luxury and wealth. The population does not exceed one million. there are not, on all that region, above thirty thousand bearing arms? The garrison of Paris is often more numerous than the entire force of European soldiers in India! Crossing the Bay of Bengal, we find, near the extremity of the Malay peninsula, a British colony of which we seldom hear-MALACCA; and yet it is as large as the German state, Saxe Coburg Gotha. Its climate is good, and its population, numbering above 30,000, a mixture of Malays and Chinese. Close on the western shore of this peninsula we have PENANG, an island of considerable population, and highly important commerce. SINGAPORE, another island, twentyseven miles long, stands just at the southern point of the peninsula. The summary of our Asiatic possessions is completed by HONG-KONG, so lately obtained from his Celestial Majesty; it is an island of some seventeen miles long, by eight broad, with a barren soil, but having one of the finest harbours in the world, and admirably situated for commercial purposes. Turning now to AUSTRALIA, the whole of that insular continent is ours. It is about three thousand miles long by two thousand wide, and has a superficies of three million square miles. It is not correct to aver, as is usually done, that it is as large as all Europe: it would be about equal to it were the Spanish and Italian peninsulas taken away, but is perhaps more than equal in the capability of maintaining population, having no part, as is the case with Europe, lost in snow. The principal settlements are NEW SOUTH WALES, with its fast-growing and important capital, Sydney; WESTERN AUSTRALIA, or SWAN-RIVER, with Perth for its capital, and some of its settlers located at King George's Sound; SOUTH AUSTRALIA, of which the chieť town, Adelaide, is large, populous, and beautiful; and PORT PHILIP (called also Australia Felix), of which the principal place is Melbourne, perhaps on the whole the most promising of these colonies. The native population is so scattered, and so little known, that it is difficult to form an estimate of its amount; it has been stated by Montgomery Martin at 150,000, but probably that is far below the reality. We now come to India, the first marvel in the history of nations, and which at this day is more extensive than China Proper, and equally populous with the Continent of Europe. INDIA is not to be conceived of as a nation or state, but as a numerous family of nations, of various languages, manners, and government, though now united under one great power. Many of its states have kings of their own; but these kings cannot declare war, form an alliance, or take any other important political step, except by the permission of our authorities; and at the same time they are under obligations, either of tribute or subsidies, which place them in complete subordination; so that to describe them as independent sovereigns is mere affectation, except, indeed, in the formality of official documents. Taking these subordinate kingdoms, with the others, of which we hold the nominal as well as the real sovereignty, the population cannot be estimated under the enormous aggregate of two hundred millions; that is, fully one-sixth, at least, of the existing human family-a number greater than all the empires and states of the European continent. It is a vulgar error among writers on India, to suppose that in all ages it has been the ready prey of every conqueror the Persians, Alexander, and the Mahomedans being constantly cited in proof. It would be quite as correct to describe England as having been in all ages the ready prey of every conqueror. The Persian monarchy never held more than a province in that part of India most contiguous to its other territory. This province probably embraced the Punjaub, with perhaps some portion of the adjacent countries of Delhi; but this was far from a conquest of India. Alexander, again, as much conquered India as Xerxes conquered Europe. He crossed the Indus, and, entering the Punjaub, instead of finding a ready prey, encountered on the banks of the Hydaspes (the modern Jelum) a powerful army, led by Porus; and so formidable was the opposition, that he was forced to alter his line of march. By the time he had gained the Hyphasis (the modern Beas), another river of the Punjaub, his army was so worn and so discouraged, that they compelled the ardent hero to begin a reluctant retreat from hopes of conquests far surpassing any of the glories which his unequalled success had brought him. Thus he never traversed even the whole of the Punjaub, nor once set foot upon that Hindustan which we govern. Then, as to the Mahomedans, they had overrun the Eastern Empire, Persia, Africa, and Spain, before they so much as attempted Hindustan. It was not till the first year of the cleventh century that Mahmood the Great, after a series of conquests, 'turned his face towards India; and it took eight different campaigns before he effected any permanent conquest; while, even at his death, though he had fought no less than twelve campaigns, he held only an unstable supremacy over the provinces of the north-west, leaving eastern, central, and peninsular India We pass, lastly, to NEW ZEALAND, which consists of two untouched. The conquest thus lately begun proceeded so islands, measuring a thousand miles in length, and in tardily, that, when the Europeans arrived on the south- breadth from one to two hundred. The country is mounwestern shores of India, the whole of the south was enjoy-tainous, fertile, and extremely beautiful, with a climate ing independence of the Mussulman yoke. Our own success has been so rapid that we are in danger of forgetting that it was unique; and of assigning to the incompetency of the native armies, or the want of patriotism in the people generally, events which pass clean beyond the range of natural results, and force the judgment to find repose in ascribing them to the hand of Providence. A series of un- Such is the list of British possessions, embracing an accountable successes, a chain of political miracles, has enormous sweep of territory, and an almost incomprehenraised us within the memory of man from the timid possible multitude of men. Besides our own tongue, which ture of stranger merchants to the high bearing of universal is rapidly spreading in every quarter of the earth, our lords. The empire that dazzled us once, as surrounding fellow-subjects are using the French in the Channel Islands, the Great Mogul, more astounds us now, as meekly bow- Canadas, and the Mauritius; Dutch in British Guiana, and ing under our own hand: an empire, of which the revenue the Cape of Good Hope; Spanish at Gibraltar and Honduexceeds by one-half that of all the Russias,' and of which ras; Italian at Malta, German at Heligoland; Portuguese the Governor-General has at his call an army (subsidiaries in Ceylon; Danish at Serampore; Greek in the Ionian included) counting more than three hundred thousand Isles; Chinese in Malacca, Singapore, and Hong Kong; men! Has there ever been in God's rule of nations one Arabic at Aden; and Sanscrit, with twenty other Asiatic mystery so deep, as that this assemblage of kingdoms, with a population so multitudinous, and military resources so inexhaustible, should be held in still submission by a country lying half the globe away, a country of whose natives The adjacent island of VAN DIEMEN'S LAND is salubrious and productive. Its principal places are Hobart-Town, on the Derwent, and Launceston, on the Tamar, both rapidly growing. This colony is stained with one horrible wrong: the country was thickly peopled: the natives loved their own soil; they soon became embroiled with the settlers, who pressed them with relentless vengeance, till they were reduced to a scanty remnant; then, by a wholesale transportation, every individual of them was removed from their native place, and shut up in Flinder's Island, a miserable spot in Bass's Straits. This is one of the many ensanguined records in colonial history. milder than our own; it not being correct, as generally stated, that it is the exact antipodes of the British Isles, for the latitude corresponds with that of Spain and the southern half of France. The inhabitants, who are supposed not to exceed 100,000, are a strong, well-formed, and intelligent race. *There are, in reality, three islands, called by the natives South, Middle, and North Islands, and by the English, New Leinster, New Munster, New Ulster; but the South Island is very inconsiderable. tongues, in India. It is a wondrous empire, broad, populous, and mighty. It is twice as large as the Continent of Europe; and includes one out of every six acres of dry land on the face of the globe, with one out of every five men that live. Its spreads under every sky, and embraces the freest, wealthiest, and most enterprising people of Europe; the largest territory in America; the happiest and most improving population in Africa; the most civilised and renowned nations of Asia; and nearly the entire of European dominion in the South Seas. Our empire includes a sixth of the world, with a fifth of its people—AND THERE IS NOT A SLAVE IN IT ALL! The number of square miles of the British empire is about eight millions, the population being under 240,000,000. In territory it is the first empire in the world, that of Russia being less by at least a million square miles, and even more of it than of ours lost in snow; in population it is the second, China exceeding it by more than 100,000,000; | and in revenue, commerce, and enterprise, it is without a rival. It should always be remembered, that no revenue is derived by the parent State from any of the colonies, the only advantages being those accruing from commerce, and a field for emigration. A review of the religious state of our widely extend ed empire is as well calculated to humble us, as that of its political power is to elate. If the sceptre of our queen stretches over every clime, awes every people, and announces its mandates, or receives its homage, in almost every tongue, it also shadows every folly that degrades man, or affronts the Eternal. No superstition is so dark, no cruelty so unnatural, no altar so gory, but it finds a votary among our fellow-subjects. Freedom of person, and the protection of law, are extended to every individual in our matchless dominions; but freedom of thought, the light of Scripture, and the hopes of the children of God, to comparatively few. If we ask, 'What is the religion of the British empire?' judging by numbers, the unhesitating reply must be, Paganism. It contains more Mahomedans than Christians of both names; and more Pagans than Mahomedans and Christians together. The numerical order of the four great religious distinctions prevailing in the empire is, first, Paganism; second, Mahomedanism; third, Protestantism; fourth Romanism. It is impossible to revolve the preceding facts, without receiving a deep impression, that the moral state of England is of immeasurable importance to the whole human race. God has placed her in a position to advance or retard the highest interests of our species, such as nation never occupied before-such as involves a high and unappreciable trust. It depends on England whether the unineasured realms of America and Australia shall be filled up by a rapacious and irreligious population, or by one that will carry with it the feelings, the habits, and the institutions which spring up with true religion. It depends on England, whether the sublime mountains and luxuriant plains,' as they have been styled, of New Zealand, shall see their noble aborigines expire, as did the Carribs, the Mexicans, and the Peruvians, on the altar of European vengeance; or whether Englishman and native shall dwell together in peace, kneeling in the same temple, and tilling, with neighbourly emulation, the same soil. It depends on England, whether Africa shall continue to writhe under the multiplied afflictions that scourge her now, or whether her people shall be raised to a state of Christian civilisation, in which, amidst the nurture of domestic affections, agriculture shall yield her sustenance, commerce bring her refinements, genius emit her flashes, and piety suffuse over all her pure unfading light. It depends on England, whether the world of souls in India shall continue the grand Bastile of the destroyer, or whether, every bolt undone, and every fetter struck off, the whole people shall walk forth in the glorious liberty of the children of God.' England! thou dost stand in the midst of the nations, and voices from afar urge thee to be holy! Hope has her eye on thee! The soul of the red man, held in misty doubt between the voice of the great Spirit and that of dark goblins, is looking for light to thee! The soul of the negro, affect gloomed with a thousand errors, terrified with gory rites, trembling at the suspicion of his immortality, bleeding before his Fetish, is looking for balm to thee! The soul of the Hindu, reduced to craven equality with irrational things, expecting endless wanderings or sudden extinction, calling each reptile brother,' each monster god.' is looking for truth to thee! Mercy longing for the millennium, heaven waiting for a fuller population, immortality crav ing for countless heirs, all fix their gaze on thee! Thy responsibility rises far above the high, to the very terrible! The morality of Holland affects Holland, the morality of Belgium affects Belgium, the morality of France may Europe; but the morality of England affects the world. Think then of the relation which any one English youth bears to the character of the world. He is a mysterious being. His lot is wrapped up with innumerable probabilities. Here he is now; but who can tell where he shall be found in after-days? Will he drink the waters of the Thames, or the St Lawrence; of the Columbia, or the Keskama; of the Essequibo, or the Ganges; of the Derwent of England, or the Derwent of the southern world? What sun will light his avocations, what language will express his wants, what soil will afford his grave? That youth may form the man in whose character some Indian chief will study the problem whether Christianity and civilisation are better than the chase, the scalping-knife, and idolatry. Or he may be the example by whose principles and conduct some African king will decide the question whether he and his people would gain or lose by introducing-instead of barbarism, the Fetish and the slave-trade-English education, English freedom, and the Christian faith. Or he may be | the index from which some Brahmin will endeavour to gather whether the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, with its spiritual worship and universal brotherhood, is better than the service of idols and the fetters of caste. These things are frequently occurring; and there is not a youth in the land of whom we can pronounce it impossible that they should occur to him. But even should none of these take place, his probable importance is no way lessened. Should he die in the village where he was born, should the stone that covered his fathers cover him; yet, even then, ten thousand miles from that grave, his principles may be moulding a hundred characters, and his thoughts be reproduced under brows of various complexion. A son, whose habits he formed, may be giving the tone to a new colony, or leading some ancient tribe in the first stage of civilisation. A good Englishman is a blessing far and near; an immoral Englishman is a curse on the creation of God. As you are human beings; as you love your kind; as you wish that there should be pure hearts and joyful homes under the sun; to your knees,-to your Saviour; seek, make your own, foster, and exemplify that regenerating grace which comes alone through the Lord Jesus Christ! Be patriots; but let your patriotism be Christian. Have more ambition that England should be good, than that England should be strong; that her virtue should be unimpeachable, than her sword resistless; that she should win conquests over men's judgments by her principles, than over their will by force of arms; that she should have victories by her Bible, than by her articles of war. Let it be the cherished hope of your heart that, in ages to come, the people of other lands will refer to the English, not as the invaders who crushed their ancient dynasty to introduce a foreign yoke, but as the benefactors who, bringing the light of truth, shed a radiance on the path of their benighted fathers, by which they discovered first of all the way to God, and then to the arts, laws, and institutions of civilisation-to the interchanges of friendship, and the endearments of home. God grant that never again may any land do homage to ours, kneeling in the blood of her children; but may many celebrate her beneficent progress with the joyful voices of a humanised and regenerated population! This object is one fit to cherish-one on which reason can look, conscience can smile, and which philanthropy will warm in her bosom. By it patriotism, transformed from a meagre spectre, with jealous eye, wrathful step, and bloody hand, becomes an angel of light, happy, |