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but the declaration of the purchaser suffices to subject the bookseller to all penalties specified.

Every bookseller must have in his store a catalogue of the books censured by the inquisition, under penalty of forty ducats. It is even necessary that the catalogue should be his own; for if it be borrowed he is equally liable to the fine as if he have none.

No bookseller may proceed to the inventory, estimate, purchase, or sale of private libraries, without furnishing to the commissary of the inquisition, a statement, containing the names and surnames of the authors, the titles of the books, the subject matter, and the place and year of the impression, under penalty of fifty ducats.

Every person who enters the country with books, must make a declaration detailed and sworn to, which is sent to the tribunal of the inqui sition or its commissaries, who have the power to permit their introduce tion or to seize them. The omission, or imperfect execution of this declaration, occasions a confiscation of the books, and a cost of 200 ducats for the expenses of the holy office.

When books, as most frequently happens, are deposited at the customhouse, with other effects, or merchandise, the officers of the customs cannot release the books, but by express permission of the commissary of the inquisition: which he does not grant till he has previously examined them.

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Catalogues which Spaniards may receive from abroad for the selection of books, must, before any use is made of them, be sent to the holy-office, which may retain or restore them.

Whoever may have the temerity to elude the vigilance of the inquisition, is not therefore in peaceable possession of the proscribed books he has received. He remains exposed to those domiciliary visits which the commissioners of the inquisition have a right to make at any hour either of day or night.

The tribunal of the holy inquisition, can grant particular permissions to read prohibited books. This is frequently done to persons whose manners are unequivocally national, and whose principles are steadfast and unalterable. The priests and monks most readily obtain these permissions; but they do not extend to all the books prohibited. Some are so strictly forbidden, that neither the inquisition nor the pope permit them to be read, except in cases extremely rare.

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Formerly it sufficed for a book to contain a single proposition of questionable orthodoxy, a single equivocal maxim, to provoke its entire prohibition. At present it is thought sufficient to suppress the vicious or suspected part. This operation is called expurgar, (purifier.) In this case, they obliterate the offensive passages of the book, and with those exceptions, permit it to be reprinted or read.

But when the basis of its principle appears impious, scandalous, or obscene, the whole work is condemned; and according to the importance of its injurious tendencies, it remains interdicted, even to those who have the privilege of reading prohibited books. Thus the books on which the holy inquisition has exercised its authority, may be divided into three classes, viz. corrected books, which become national; forbidden books, which may be read on permission; and proscribed books, which cannot be read without a special permission.' pp. 319-322.

Contrary to the usual policy of the Romish court, the right of patronage or presentation to new or vacant benefices, instead of being reserved for the supreme head of the church, was by several bulis, particularly that of Julius I in 1508, vested in the king of Spain. Accordingly he exercises this power in filling up the vacant Archbishoprics, Bishoprics, and Abbies; and, if we may believe our author, the choice always falls on those, who are distinguished by superior talents and exemplary manners. But it is to the lower orders of the clergy that the care of instruction is chiefly intrusted; the rectoral curates, the doctrinal curates, and the missionaries. The first officiate in those parishes where the Spanish population predominates; the second in Indian villages; and the third are appointed to catechize the Indians and instruct them in the duties of social life. But numerous as are these religi ous instructors, neither the cause of religion, nor that of hu. manity, seems much indebted to their labours. What, indeed, can be expected from men, who, actuated by a thirst for gain, menace the poor Indians with the wrath of God, till they have purchased their rosaries, their scapularies, and their images of the virgin and the saints.

Nearly a century elapsed from the first discovery of Terra Firma, before the Spanish settlers turned their attention to the labours of agriculture and commerce. At length experience convinced them that, in cultivating the indigenous productions of America, they have the only certain prospect of acquiring wealth. The chief of these productions are cacao, indigo, coffee, sugar, and tobacco; the last of which is cultivated solely for the king, and produces a clear revenue of nearly 160,000 pounds sterling. If our readers wish to become ac quainted with the processes of cultivation and manufacture necessary to prepare them for the merchant and the consumer, we refer them with pleasure to the work before us, which descends to the most minute and circumstantial detail. To this work we must also refer for a view of the commer❤ cial system adopted by the Spanish government, and a comprehensive abstract of its fiscal laws. The eighth and ninth chapters deserve not only to be read, but to be studied with care and attention, as they contain a variety of important information relative to commerce and finance.

In his topographical descriptions, M. Depons has displayed his usual talent of minute accuracy. Every ity, lake. river, and port is not only enumerated, but described; and nothing of importance seems to have escaped his observation. But in his delineations of character, he has not discovered equal perspicuity and judgement. His censures and his praises are not sufficiently discriminative and individual, to be admitted

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as just. Such is the following panegyric. "We find' no Spanish Bishop, who is not a good theologist, who does not lead an exemplary life, who does not reside constantly in his bishopric, who does not share his revenue with the poor of his diocese, in a word, who is not a true patriarch in the bosom of his numerous family!".

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Of the author's sentiments we cannot speak with unqualified approbation. Of the true nature of Christianity, on which he sometimes expatiates, he appears to be deplorably ignorant, and of the propriety of many political expedients which he recommends we entertain very strong doubts. The style is too sententious and disjointed to claim the praise of classic elegance; but of this it may be improper to judge through the medium of a translation. The translator deserves considerable praise for the attention he generally takes to avoid the use of Gallic idioms, or the improper application of English words and phrases; but from faults of this kind he is not entirely free. We were rather surprized at meeting with such expressions as these; an opportunity is afforded, of contracting friendships and acquaintance," "if the criminal object of this conspiracy did not strike us with horror, we would feel disposed, &c. so that the aspect of misery, which gives a melancholy air to all other Indian villages, is replaced in that of Bon Pasteur, &c. ;"" the first believes every thing (should be) permitted in the name of humanity:" "to profit of the season; and many others of a like kind. We can hardly doubt that a second edition will be demanded by the public of so able a work on so interesting a subject; we hope the translator will then carefully revise his performance, and be more solicitous to express the precise meaning of his author, than to exhibit a close and literal translation of his words.

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Art. IX. A Letter to the Chairman of the East India Company, on the Danger of interfering in the Religious Opinions of the Natives of India; and on the Views of the British and Foreign Bible Society, as directed to India. By Thomas Twining, late Senior Merchant on the Company's Bengal Establishment. The Second Edition, 8vo. pp. 31. Ridgeway. 1807.

THERE is, in the bare attempt to discredit the authority,

or to oppose the diffusion of the Scriptures, something that fills the virtuous breast with a degree of horror, which even a consciousness of the impotency of the endeavour cannot entirely suppress. It resembles the involuntary agitations excited by a terrific dream, after the departure of sleep has convinced us of the illusion. If we are recalling to the minds of our readers sensations which they will shiver while they recollect,

we are only describing the impressions with which the perusal of this pamphlet has afflicted us. Let them not imagine that it discloses the stores of Infidelity accumulated from the days of Lucian to the "Age of Reason." No: the writer has not talents to render scepticism either attractive or formidable; but he proceeds in a more imperial way; for in a few lines he proposes a plan, which the cruel hosts of Moloch would gladly toil a thousand years to accomplish. He wishes and labours for nothing short of the total exclusion of the WORD OF GOD from the native languages of "fifty miltiɔns” of the subjects of the British empire in the East Indian territories. The feelings of the English nation must be left to apprehend the true nature of an attempt, to which our pen is too feeble to give a name !

The formation of the "BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY" was an epoch which gladdened the heart of every Christian. No design at any time conceived by the most ardent lover of God and man, could be more congenial with his obligations, than that which is contained in the fundamental law of the Society,-its "sole object shall be to encourage a wider circulation of the holy Scriptures." So unhappy, however, is the bias of this author's understanding, that he sees in it nothing but plots, massacres, and treasons; and, by a force of imagination which in certain conditions of mind associates the most discordant ideas, he connects with it "the recent catastrophes of Buenos Ayres, Rosetta, and Vellore!" On these grounds he addresses the highly-respectable Chairman of the East India Company in the following

manner:

Sir, with infinite concern and alarm, I have lately heard of proceedings, which convey to my humble apprehension, evidence of a strong disposition, in a quarter too, where, above all others, its existence is most to be dreaded, to interfere in the Religious Opinions of the native inhabitants of India. It is, Sir, upon this important subject that I address you. I shall be sorry, in the course of my remarks, to make any observation likely to give pain or offence to any gentleman whatever: particu larly to gentlemen for whose private virtues, and eminent talents, and exalted stations in the public service, I feel a great degree of respect: but, Sir, my duty compels me to notice certain transactions, most immediately, most intimately, and, I fear, most dangerously, connected with the safety of our possessions in India.

I must then, Sir, observe, that my fears of attempts to disturb the religious systems of India, have been especially excited, by my hearing that a Society exists in this country, the "chief" object of which is the "universal" dissemination_of the Christian Faith; particularly amongst those nations of the East to whom we possess a safe facility of access, and whose minds and doctrines are known to be most obscured by the darkness of infidelity. Upon this topic so delicate and solemn,

I shall, for the present, make but one observation. I shall only observe that if a society having such objects in view, does exist, and if the leading members of that Society are also leading members of the East India Company, and not only of the East India Company, but of the Court of Directors; nay, Sir, not onl of the Court of Directors, but of the Board of Control; if, I say, these alarming hypotheses are true, then, Sir, are our Possessions in the East already in a situation of most imminent and unprecedented peril; and no less a danger than the threatened extermination of our eastern sovereignty, commands us to step forth, and arrest the progress of such rash and unwarrantable proceedings.” pp. 3—5.

In such open terms does the author arow his opposition to the "universal dissemination of the Christian faith," and, with an ostrich-like stupidity, seek to cover his guilt with a few grains of patriotism.

The grounds of " this suspicion and anxiety," he finds in the Reports of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and in the Memoir of the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, the extracts from which form so large a part of his "Letter," as happily to carry with them more than a sufficient antidote to the miserable effusions of his own brain. Poor man! how painful musc have been his suspicion, in its dull progress toward explo sion. The first of these reports has been before the public two years. In the list of the supporters of the Society are found persons, who, without derogation from Mr. T.'s individual or family consequence, are at least as deeply interested, by their rank, fortune, and character, as he can pretend to be, in the welfare and happiness of every part of his Majesty's dominions; to each of them, and many more, has this Report been sent; and yet he is the only man who has at length discovered the dire contents of this Trojan Horse, or dared to denounce them. We are truly at a loss to conceive how the nation will contrive to commemorate the name of MR. THOMAS TWINING, who has thus delivered it from a plot in which Noblemen, Privy Councillors, Bishops, Members of Parliament, Universities domestic and foreign, Directors of the East India Company, &c. &c. &c. have` all been participators. WE, at least, will do our duty, by giving it all that "eternity of fame" which our pages can confer; and will award to him, for the becoming manner in which he has divulged it, the right of wearing as a motto, upon his armis, or his forehead, or any where,

Monumentum ÆRE perennius."

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That we may do justice to his fears, we will give our readers a brief account of those Reports, which seem to have terrified him as much as the howlings of a Bengal tyger. The First extract states the alarming patronage" of the Society, by which it threatens to extend its influence over" other countries, whether Christian, Mahometan, or Pagan." The Second relates to the progress made in translating the Scriptures "inte

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