DR. WATERLAND.-TALE FROM THE BERMUDAS. His creature, in His future operations. If, on surveying creation, we behold attraction, repulsion, gravitation, and the tenfold entities, perhaps children of this common parent, light, although their generation has not yet become obvious to us, which actively operate on created matter, and note the almost universal use which the Creator made of these in the modifications of the matter of the universe, in order to adapt that matter to the several purposes for which He originally created it, can we wonder at this? Surely not. But there are who, beholding these, pronounce that they alone formed the universe! A greater absurdity would not exist than this, if certain men, beholding the marks of tools on a splendid edifice, were to assert that the tools themselves had finished the fabric, instead of the workmen. All the efformations of the Infinite bear the stamp of the Creator; they are at once perfect and inimitable. Who can create and form an universe? Yea, who can create and form a single sphere ? Nay, who can create an atom? No man, no number of men : no spirit, save Jehovah no, not all the other spirits in existence. Jehovah is Lord alone: He only can create, and alone He can destroy. Elohim denominated the expanse, hea ven. The beauty and loveliness of this azure canopy, decked with astral luminaries, each wandering far and wide, yet ever and anon returning, in its place, with a resplendent sun; lord seeming he to lesser lights around, serenity and order all, yet variety-a changing scene, well portrays the Creator-Lord of all, while seen by manmeet image of His loveliness, Himself unseen, save in these His works. If this, the gazer's soul exclaims, be heaven, what is that heaven of heavens where He delights to dwell, who all created, and who over all sways, Lord-Himself the glory of the glorious scene, imparting to his sons, and in each spirit living, the life, the joy of all ? Well may the soul of man devoutly cry, O glorious Lord, to me disclose thy heaven -the heaven of heavens-thy seat, where thou delightest to dwell! There may my spirit live, and in thy presence taste those joys, for ever thine; nor thine to hoard from man, but, beneficent, to give; felicity creating where they flow, and glory inex. pressible, eternal as thy throne ! WILLIAM COLDWELL. King Square, May, 1831. A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE DANIEL Waterland, a very eminent divine, 259 controversy that ever lived in England, was born at Wasely, in Lincolnshire, in the year 1683. His father was the Rev. Henry Waterland, A.M. rector of that place. He received his school education in Lincoln; and his academical, at Magdalen College, Cambridge, under the tuition of the Rev. Samuel Barker, of that place. He was first scholar, then fellow, and, commencing tutor, he became a great ornament and advantage to the college. In this latter capacity, he drew up a tract, under the title of "Advice to a Young Student, with a Method of Study for the first four Years," which has gone through several editions. In the year 1713, he became master of the college, and obtained the Rectory of Ellingham, in Norfolk, and was soon after appointed chaplain in ordinary to George I. In the year 1720, he preached the first course of lectures, founded by Lady Morgan, for the defence of our Lord's divinity. He was presented in the following year, by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, to the rectory of St. Austin and St. Faith, in London, and soon after, was promoted to the chancellorship of the church of York, by Sir William Dawes, archbishop of that province. In the year 1827, he was collated by his diocesan to the archdeaconry of Middlesex, and His Majesty conferred on him a canonry in the church of Windsor; and that chapter presented him to the vicarage of Twickenham. He now resigned the rectory of St. Austin, not being willing to hold two benefices at once, with the cure of souls. He died in the year 1740, at the age of fifty-seven years, and was buried in the collegiate church of Windsor, leaving behind him a name that will ever be an ornament to the Church of England. A collection of his sermons was published after his death. As a controversialist, he was firm and unyielding, but he was accounted fair and candid, free from bitterness, and actuated by no persecuting spirit. February 14th, 1830. S. BURGESS. continent, in its majestic and boundless forests. Yet, from these insulated isles, we select the following tale, for the readers of the Imperial Magazine : Many of the houses in the Bermudas have a little garden, the avenues to which are fringed with jessamine and roses. The pride of China is often planted near the front, and, with its green and umbrageous branches, forms both an ornament and a cooling shade. The buildings, which have no taste or symmetry, are perfectly white, and, when seen at a distance, rising in the midst of green, have an agreeable and pleasing appearance. Within the enclosure round the mansion are fig-trees, bananas, pomegranates, and, in some cases, orange, shaddock, and limes: but human art has done little; it is the beauty of the climate, that chiefly makes December as pleasant as May. Beneath skies for ever blue, the fig-tree puts forth its lovely blossoms, and the orange and the pomegranate spread their swelling fruit. The balmy air is scented by groves of cedar, and in the fields and woods the aloe plant attains the full measure of its growth. The tamarind tree, and mulberry, expand their dark foliage over the sunny scene; and the tall and slender palmeto shoots up in the valley, with its broad diverging leaf. But what is far nobler than all the tiny beauties of nature on these lovely islets, the fair light of truth bath shined with a serene ray; many a negro's cottage has been made glad with the tale of the Cross, and the sweet little landscapes have been rendered still more lovely by the beauties of holiness. At what time the gospel was first introduced into these green dots on the ocean, I cannot say. Mr. Whitfield visited them in 1744, to recover his health, and at that period preached with his flaming eloquence the doctrines of salvation by faith; and that some blessed fruit budded from the seed then sown, the following little incident will testify. The writer of this narrative was one day riding through the cedar groves, on the road that leads from Hamilton to St. George, with Mr. W., a merchant belonging to the former place, when his friend invited him to visit a lowly and mean cottage in the bosom of the grove, to pray and converse with one of the oldest female inhabitants of the islands, a widow, and a Christian of the New Testament school. They entered the habitation, where all things within bore the impress of extreme poverty; an old woman, nearly seventy, was waiting upon her mother, a remnant of mortality, who was laid upon the only poor bed the cottage contained. The mother was between ninety and one hundred years of age, and stone blind; I approached her bed, and, taking hold of her withered hand, addressed her, and inquired what were her hopes of that solemn futurity, on the brink of which she seemed to totter. is Though dark and bed-ridden, the sound of such a theme seemed quite familiar. "Christ," said the old woman, my only hope; I trust, through his dear merits, to depart in peace, and I am not afraid to die. He hath died for me, and I can trust my soul into his blessed hands." "When," I asked, "did you find the knowledge of this Saviour, of whom you speak with such confidence?" "Sixty odd years ago," said the aged believer, "did that venerable servant of God, Mr. Whitfield, visit these islands; and, as he often stood in the open air, I, among others, went to hear him. He preached on that text. Wilt thou go with this man? and she said, I will go,' Gen. xxiv. 58. All were silent, till a negro called out, 'Will none answer massa?' My desires were drawn with a cord of love; his earnest address, enforced by many tears, melted my poor stony heart, and from that time I became a follower of the Lamb. Sixty years have rolled over my head since that period, but he hath been my comfort by day, and my song in the night season. have long been a widow, but his promises have been my support, and I know he will not forsake me in my old age, and now my strength faileth." After kneeling by the bed-side of the old saint, and leaving a blessing with the daughter, we resumed our ride. I In musing upon the subject of this visit, Here, thought I to myself, is one of God's hidden ones; the seal of a faithful ministry. In the great day of final audit, how many will be found who have received the word in the love of the truth, but of whose conversion to God, the faithful labourer of the cross will never know in time. They shall, however, meet again, and shine as stars in the crown of those holy men, by whom they were gathered into the Christian fold. Here was one, who, having had no communion with the visible church, was nevertheless united to its Head; living by faith in the secret source of light, life, love, grace, and comfort, without the sanctuary, streams to water and fructify the good seed, not planted in the Lord's house, and yet bearing fruit in old age. Here was a jewel unknown to the church, "the world forgetting, by the world forgot." "While pampered lux SLAVE TRADE ABOLISHED IN INDIA. ury is straining the low thought to form unreal wants," ," this precious old saint, having nothing, yet possessed all things. Thus, " many a flower is born to blush unseen" yes, but not "to waste its sweetness on the desert air." In the sight of Jehovah, the gems of the east were not so precious as this aged widow's tears. Neither the roses of Damascus, nor the gardens of Hesperia, diffused half the fragrance of her humble prayers, which in broken accents, interwoven with sighs, found out their way. Her praises were more symphonious in the divine hearing, than either the poetical chiming of the spheres, or the thrilling lyre of old Memnon, breaking the silence of the dawn, and saluting the first rays of the rising sun. Mines of gold and silver bear no value in God's eyes, compared with that believing love, which, like a precious link in the chain of grace, bound her to the cross of Christ, to him her soul loved. How many such are scattered over the wide world, as roses among thorns, or lilies among weeds; but they are known to God in all their solitary affliction; and, though pressed down by poverty and pain, hope in the Lord sheds a cheering radiance over their solitary path, and opens the beautiful vista of future glory, through the cross of Him who has claimed the poor as his family, and identified himself with the humblest of his suffering followers. JOSHUA MARSDEN. THE SLAVE TRADE ABOLISHED IN INDIA. IN consequence of five bills of indictment, for offences against the act of parliament making the traffic in slaves felony, having been recently found by a grand jury at Bombay, against the captain of the East India Company's cruiser, the Clyde, it has become a subject of interest to the public in this country, to know when that act took effect in India, and what proceedings have been adopted, with a view to prevent the traffic in slaves, in that part of the world. On referring to different documents which have been published on the subject, we find, that Sir Alexander Johnston, the late chief justice, and president of his majesty's council, in Ceylon, took various steps on that island, at different times, from 1802 to 1809, for preventing this unnatural commerce-that in 1809, having been officially sent to England, by the government of the island, to propose to his Majesty's ministers several alterations and improvements in many of the departments of that government, he, on his return to Ceylon, in the 261 year 1811, carried out with him a new commission, framed under the act of 1806, for trying pirates; which authorized himself, and certain other persons, to try all such offences as might be committed within the limits of Ceylon against the act making the traffic in slaves a felony; and, that a very remarkable case of the sort having occurred in Ceylon, in 1813, he, and the other commissioners, held a special session under the commission, at which three prisoners were convicted of the offence of traffic in slaves, and were publicly punished for it. As this was the first proceeding which had taken place in India under the above act, it excited much interest, and was considered as the first public promulgation which had been made from any British settlement, to the natives of Asia, Africa, and Arabia, of the principles upon which the British nation was determined to act towards those who were guilty of traffic in slaves in India, and of the humane inten. tions by which the British legislature had been actuated, in passing the act to which we have alluded. An additional degree of interest is attached to these proceedings, as they are in some degree connected with the resolution, passed three years afterwards, by all the proprietors of slaves, on the island of Ceylon, declaring free, all children who should be born of their slaves, after the 12th of August, 1816; and thereby putting an end to the state of domestic slavery, which had prevailed in Ceylon for upwards of three centuries. As the charge which Sir Alexander Johnston delivered to the grand jury, upon the trials to which we have alluded, contain a full account of all the circumstances connected with the commission, under which the session was held, and as it was published in the Ceylon Government Gazette, in the year 1813, we insert a copy of it : "Gentlemen of the grand Jury-As this is the first time that we have acted under the commission which has just been read, and as his Excellency has done me the honour to refer you to me in my official capacity, for such information as may be requisite on the occasion, I shall take the liberty to explain to you, "First, the origin of the act of parliament which has made a felony of the offence with which the prisoners are charged. The number of the proprietors of slaves who passed this resolution, was 67, and the number of slaves to whose children the resolution referied, was about 10,000. "Secondly, the nature of the court before which, according to the provisions of that act, the prisoners are to be tried. 66 Thirdly, the duties which you, as grand jurymen, will have to perform when the indictments which have been prepared against the prisoners are laid before you. "In contemplating the history of the human race from the earliest period of society to its present state of unparalleled civilization, there is no event more worthy of consideration, either in a moral or in a political point of view, than the long duration of the African slave-trade, and the peculiar circumstances under which its final abolition has taken place in Great Britain. "For three centuries, the most civilized nations in the world, professing the mildest and the most humane religion that can be imagined, had been, from motives the most selfish, deliberately engaged in reducing, by means the most unjustifiable, millions of their fellow-creatures from a state of freedom, and comparative happiness, to a state of slavery not less abject than destructive to the human race-when at length Great Britain, herself though deeply interested in this extraordinary trade, herself though likely to be the greatest loser by its immediate abolition, urged by the manly and the persevering eloquence of one of the most benevolent characters of this or any other age,* publicly proclaimed that it was contrary to the principles of justice and humanity, and that therefore it should be unlawful for a British inhabitant to engage in it, in this or in any other part of the world. "It is a subject of congratulation for the friends of humanity in general, that this measure has been adopted by Great Britain at a period when the political events of the age have given her such maritime power and such immense dominions as to insure a ready obedience to her laws, and a decisive influence to her example-it is a subject of consolation for the British nation in particular, that a sovereign, whose great virtues we all admire, and whose present affliction we so sincerely deplore, should have had the fiftieth year of his long and eventful reign rendered memorable in history by the most extensive act of humanity that has ever been recorded in ancient or in modern times. "The slave-trade first became a subject of public interest, and of public discussion, in England, in the year 1788. In consequence of the proceedings of that year, a committee of the Privy Council instituted an inquiry into all the circumstances of the trade; and a great body of information, the * Mr. Wilberforce. result of that inquiry, was laid before the parliament in the year 1791. Various attempts were made between 1791 and 1806, but without success, to induce parliament to abolish the trade. At last the two houses of parliament did, by their resolutions of the 10th and 24th days of June, 1806, severally resolve, that the African slave-trade, being contrary to the principles of justice, humanity, and sound policy, they would, with all practicable expedition, take effectual measures for the abolition of the same, and, in conformity with their resolutions, an act was passed on the 25th of March, 1807, declaring the trade to be unlawful. "It having, however, been found, that several persons did, notwithstanding the provisions and penalties of that act, continue to deal and trade in slaves, on the coast of Africa and elsewhere, the House of Commons did, by its resolution of the 15th June, 1810, resolve to take such measures as might effectually prevent such daring violations of the law; and an act was passed on the 14th May, 1811, (which has been in force on this island since the 1st of January, 1812,) declaring it to be felony for any subject of his Majesty, or for any person residing or being within the United Kingdom, or in any British possession, to trade in slaves in any part of the world, and directing, in substance, that all persons who should offend against its provisions should be tried before such courts as had the power, either in Great Britain, or in its colonies, to try offences committed on the high seas. "Having in the first place, gentlemen, explained to you the origin of the act which makes a felony of the offence with which the prisoners are charged, I shall, in the second place, proceed to explain to you the nature of the court in this colony, before which, according to the provisions of that act, the prisoners are to be tried. "From the earliest period of the British history, to the 28th year of the reign of Henry VIII., all offences committed on the high seas were tried in England, either before the Lord High Admiral, or his deputy, according to the rules of the civil law, without either a grand or a petit jury. As the rules of that law required either the confession of the offenders themselves, or direct and disinterested evidence of their having committed the offence, before any judgment of death could be given against them, many serious offences were committed with impunity; and the attention of the legislature being called to the subject, in the twentyeighth year of the reign of Henry VIII., an act of parliament was in that year passed, reciting the circumstances which I have just SLAVE TRADE ABOLISHED IN INDIA. mentioned, and enacting, that for the future, all offences committed on the high seas should be tried in England before certain commissioners, according to the common course of the English law, with a grand and petit jury. And it is in that manner that all offences committed on the high seas have been tried in England from that reign to the present period. "Great Britain having gradually acquired several possessions in the East and West Indies, and numerous acts of piracy having been committed with impunity, in consequence of no tribunals having been esta blished in those possessions for the trial of such offences, an act was passed in the 11th and 12th of King William, which enabled his Majesty to issue commissions to certain persons in the colonies, authorizing them to try all piracies, felonies, and robberies, committed upon the sea, according to the particular provisions of the act, without a grand or petit jury. Under the above act, a commission was issued in February, 1799, by his present Majesty, to certain persons in this colony, authorizing them to try all piracies, felonies, and robberies, committed upon the sea in the manner prescribed by that act. This commission continued in force till the year 1806, when the Legislature, having taken into consideration, that the commissioners acting under the 11th and 12th of King William had no power to try treasons, murders, and various other felonies and misdemeanours, and having judged it proper, that one uniform course of trial should be had in every part of the British dominions for all offences committed upon the seas, passed an act in that year, which enabled his Majesty to issue commissions to certain persons in the colonies, authorizing them to try all offences committed upon the seas, with a grand and petit jury, in the same manner as such offences are tried in England, under the 28th of Henry VIII. “ In pursuance of this act, his Majesty, in September, 1810, issued the commission by which we are now assembled, revoking the commission issued in February, 1799, and directing us to try all offences committed upon the seas, according to the pro. visions of the 28th of Henry VIII. As the act under which the prisoners are now to be tried, directs that they shall be tried at the same tribunal before which offences committed upon the seas are tried, it follows, that they must be tried before this tribunal, it being the tribunal, int his colony, before which all offences committed upon the seas are tried. "Having, gentlemen, in the first place, explained to you the origin of the act which 263 made a felony of the offence with which the prisoners are charged, and, in the second place, the nature of the tribunal before which, according to the provisions of the act, they must be tried, I shall, in the last place, proceed to explain to you, the duties which you will have to perform as members of the grand jury. They may be considered under two heads under the first, such as relate to the power of making presentments; under the second, such as relate to the power of allowing or rejecting indictments. As to the first, it is unnecessary for me to say any thing to you on the present occasion, it being very improbable, from the limited nature of this jurisdiction, that you will be called upon to exercise your power of presentment; as to the second, considering the description of persons who form the grand jury, it might appear presumptuous in me, were I to say much. "The British law, with a view to the anxiety which every person of respectable character must inevitably suffer, even from being put upon his trial for an offence, although he should be ultimately acquitted of that offence, does not allow a person indicted for an offence, to be put upon his trial, unless twelve at the least of his fellow. subjects have, after a mature consideration of the evidence for the prosecution, first of all unanimously decided that there is sufficient cause for putting him on his trial. Upon this principle, the indictments which have been prepared against the prisoners will be laid before you, and it will be your duty, after a mature consideration of the evidence for the prosecution, to decide, whether or not there be sufficient cause to put the prisoners upon their trial. If twelve of you should be unanimously of opinion, that there is not sufficient cause, you will of course reject the indictments, but if twelve of you should be unanimously of opinion, that there is sufficient cause, you will of course allow the indictments, and the prisoners will, in that event, be put upon their trial for the offences with which they are charged. Although this is the first time that a grand jury has ever been assembled in this island, I need not, I am sure, speaking as I do to Englishmen, remind you of the innumerable advantages which every country must acquire, where this institution can be established; when we consider what a shield it is to the innocent, and what impartiality it secures for the guilty, we cannot be surprised that an Englishman, however far he may be removed from his native country, should look up with reverence and affection to an institution, the very name of which |