respectfully urged the justice and expediency of abolishing this vestige of barbarism within the Spanish dominions.

The communication was closed with the avowal of a desire for the happiness of the king and queen, and a belief that with such a country, and so fine a people, nothing was wanting but a series of arrangements, which the king had power to make, to enable Spain to give an example to surrounding nations of what may be done, when the spirit of industry is roused, encouraged, and judiciously applied.

Whether this report was productive of any salutary influence on the measures of government, it does not appear to have given offence; for our friends were soon afterwards invited to visit the king and queen at their palace, where they were kindly and respectfully treated, though nothing remarkable occurred. They also received a written permit to visit the prisons of Valencia and Barcelona.

The road between Madrid and Valencia being much infested by banditti, who frequently plunder the travellers, the authorities at the former place offered to send a company of horsemen with our friends to protect them; but this offer they were not free to accept. At Valencia they were escorted to the various prisons by officers of government, apparently to protect them from the insults, to which the singularity of their appearance and manners might otherwise have exposed them.

Allen remarks: "In our visit to this country we have met with divers valuable individuals, and with much to claim our sympathy; the retrospect of the opportunities which have been afforded for religious communication, with persons of various classes, and under different circumstances, is attended with peace; and we have been fully convinced of the importance of personal association in order to prepare the way for future usefulness. The foundation has been laid for correspondence in the parts that have been visited, and we hope that the opening will be wisely and cautiously improved. It is encouraging to believe, that, though much hidden from outward observation, there is a precious seed scattered through this nation; and we trust that the Lord of the harvest will, in his own time, cause it to spring up yet more conspicuously, and bring forth fruit. We learned that a considerable number of the Roman Catholics in many parts of Spain, maintain the principles of Archbishop Fenelon, and are acquainted with the nature of true spiritual worship; but such is the overwhelming influence of the priests, and there is so much gross ignorance among the people, that great prudence and care are requisite in any attempts to diffuse knowledge, or to promote the cause of truth."

Our friends left the Spanish dominions on the 28th of 3d month, with a thankful persuasion that they had been divinely guided in their journey through this dark and bigoted land, and from subsequent information it appeared that their visit was paid at the only time when it could be done; for there were obstructions which were just removed, and the popular tumults which arose soon after their departure, would unquestionably have closed their way, had they been still in the country.

After leaving the Spanish dominions, our friends occupied about three weeks in travelling through France, visiting schools and religious persons on their way. At Paris they had two interesting interviews with the Duke de Broglie,

brought under discussion; and though nothing very specific appears in the narrative, we may readily believe that the zeal for meliorating the condition of the negro race, for which the Duke is conspicuous, was somewhat quickened by his intercourse with such men as S. Grellet and W. Allen.

In a little less than three months from the time of leaving home, W. Allen was favoured to return in safety to his residence at Stoke Newington.

(To be continued.)

him. In the third audience, a long list of articles, professing to be taken from Huss's works, were read. Some he acknowledged, some he denied, and some he defended. An attempt was made to induce him to confess his errors, to abjure them, and swear never to teach them. He could not confess an error till it was proved to be such, and he could not abjure what he had been falsely charged with maintaining. The emperor, provoked by his obstinacy, declared, that, if he did not recant, he ought to be burned to death. Huss made no reply, and was remanded to prison, whither the faithful John de Chlum attended him. When he arrived there, he was so exhausted with illness and fatigue that he could scarcely stand. Thus ended the three audiences, throughout which all the arts and assaults of his adversaries had not been able to shake his firmness in the smallest point. As a man and a Christian he had no cause to blush for his bearing on those trying days. It was what might have been expected from the patient but determined tone of his letters. In these admirable writings, so full of piety, of affection, and of resignation, we see the genuine goodness of his nature. Never for a moment does he think of a compromise with his persecutors. Constant, but not obstinate, severe but not vindictive, ready to die for the truth, but not ambitious of the parade of martyrdom, he excites our admiration, while he hardly seems to need our pity. If his phrases are sometimes harsh, they do not seem to be the utterance of personal spite, but the plain, unmeasured speech of one who identifies himself with the cause for which he suffers. That they are not more bitter is amazing, when we remember his wrongs and his

woes.

His condemnation, though yet delayed in the hope of pressing him to an abjuration of his errors, was virtually decreed. How far he was a heretic, we will not undertake to say. Nor are we prepared to deny that some of his doctrines were erroneous, and possibly unsafe. But that he was an honest man, and a much better man than many of his judges, we have no doubt; and, as he said of Wycliffe, we are quite willing to say of him," We should be willing to have our souls where he is." Nor is it necessary to pass too severe a sentence on the acts of the council. The horror of heresy in those days was extreme, and perhaps most intense with those who felt themselves nearest its verge. To pursue it with all the terrors of the church was to make their own lapse less possible, and at the same time to vindicate their orthodoxy in the eyes of the world. The brutality, too, of public assemblies is proverbial, and, shameful as it is, must not be regarded as a fair index of private character. Be that as it may, these scandalous condemnations, like the old state trials for treason, leave one agreeable impression on the mind,-a sense of gratitude

that such things have had their day; and the consoling reflection that the blood of political and religious martyrs, in exciting the indignation of mankind against such enormities, has not been without fruit.

The sands of life were now running low, but the trials of the victim were not over. He was beset again and again with exhortations to recant, to which he ever returned the same constant refusal. He asked for a confessor, and chose Paletz, his greatest adversary. Instead of Paletz, a monk was sent, from whom he received absolution. Paletz, however visited him once more, to urge him to abjure his errors. The meeting was a very affecting one. Huss asked pardon of Paletz for some words which he had uttered before the council. Paletz pressed him to recant. Huss calmly refused, and in the most gentle manner reproved his countryman, once his friend, for his cruel treatment of him. Paletz was moved to tears. On the 24th of June it was resolved to condemn his books to the flames, in the hope that he might thus be induced to yield. But this sentence produced no effect. The day of his own condemnation not having been fixed, several of his last letters are written in the expectation of death, which might come upon him at any time. Though now and then his heart sinks within him, as he dwells on his approaching fate, these struggles are soon over, and his spirit returns to its wonted constancy. He takes the most affectionate leave of his friends, dividing among them his books and garments, giving kind advice to such as needed it, remembering with especial interest his Bethlehem flock. He prays God to forgive his enemies, and hopes that more vigorous champions of the truth will be raised up after him. His last letter, in which he takes his farewell of some of his friends, ends with the wish,-“ May Gallus (his successor at the Bethlehem chapel) "preach the word of God to you; and may all of you, my beloved, listen attentively to it and keep it in your hearts!"

On the 6th of July he completed his fortysecond year. On the same day he was condemned and burned at the stake. The fifteenth general session of the council was held in the principal church of the city; a cardinal presided, and the emperor in full state was present. The occasion had drawn an immense concourse of spectators. Huss arrived while mass was celebrating, and was kept without, that the holy service might not be profaned by the presence of a heretic. Having been introduced, he was led to a high stool, that all might see him. Here he prayed for some time, while the preacher of the council was discoursing from the text,"That the body of sin might be destroyed." The reading of articles against him then began, to which he was forbidden to reply till the whole list was finished. They could not, however, entirely silence him. Being charged

their disapprobation of the prevailing practice of exacting oaths, on so many trivial occasions; especially in fiscal matters and the qualification for petty offices. They say, "The committee cannot hesitate to lay down the position, that recourse ought never to be had to the sanction of an oath, where it can safely be dispensed with; that it is not justifiably used where the object for which it is employed is not of sufficient importance to warrant a direct and solemn appeal to the Deity; nor in any case, however important, where those objects can be equally well attained by any other means."

"The committee feel it incumbent upon them to recommend, that for the future no bill should be permitted to pass your Lordships' House, requiring the administration of an oath, except in cases where it shall manifestly appear that the security sought for cannot be attained by means of a Declaration, with penalties attached to falsehood. Let the law continue its own sanctions, but let it spare the solemnity of an oath. And where, for want of something better to depend upon, it is necessary to accept men's own word or own account, let it annex to prevarication, penalties proportioned to the public mischief of the offence."

"The Legislature is undoubtedly bound, not only to forbear for the time to come, from imposing unnecessary and frivolous oaths, but also to take measures for the gradual diminution and ultimate abolition of those which, from a want of due attention to the principles above laid down, have been already imposed to an almost indefinite extent."

The Act of 1 and 2 William 4, has considerably lessened the number of oaths taken in the department of Customs, by substituting a Declaration for an oath, except in certain cases specified in the Act. It has appeared to the committee that in some, if not all, the cases so excepted, a Declaration or satisfactory proof would be sufficient; but the evidence on this point was not so conclusive as to produce an entire unanimity of opinion in those who heard it." An Act soon afterwards passed the British Parliament, by virtue of which a Declaration is to be substituted by the Lords of the Treasury for all oaths, solemn affirmations, or affidavits, hitherto required in the public departments, relating to the collection of revenues, auditing of accounts, &c. &c. A copy of such Declaration as may be agreed upon by the Lords of the Treasury, is to be published in the London Gazette, and to come into operation in twentyone days after publication, and no oath afterwards to be administered.

Declarations are also to be substituted in lieu of oaths, in a number of other cases.

The Act, however, does not affect the taking of the oath of allegiance, nor the administering or taking of any oath in judicial proceedings in courts of justice.

The same penalties which are annexed to the taking of false oaths in certain cases, are annexed to the making of false Declarations; and in all cases under the Act, where Declarations are substituted for oaths, any person making or subscribing a false Declaration, is held to be guilty of a misdemeanor.

This Act, we observe, was passed during the session of 1835; and in the same year a committee of the House of Lords was appointed to pursue the inquiry assigned to the committee of the preceding year. That committee sat frequently in the spring of 1837, and examined at number of witnesses, in order to ascertain the effect produced by the substitution of a Declaration for an oath, as far as the experiment had been tried. The following is an extract from their report printed in 1837.

"It appears by the evidence, that many hundred thousand Declarations have been taken during the last year, where oaths would heretofore have been required; and that no practical inconvenience has been found to arise from the change. The committee are strongly of opinion, that it is expedient to proceed still further, to carry into execution the recommendations of the committee of 1834, and to abolish every unnecessary oath."

As the committee of the House of Lords have come to the conclusion, after minute and extensive inquiries of men well qualified to furnish information, that no inconvenience has arisen in the collection of their complicated revenue, from the substitution of a Declaration, with adequate penalties in case of fraud, for the oath formerly exacted; we may safely conclude, that a similar expedient would as effectually guard the revenues of the United States from depredation or loss. The share of the results of productive industry, which is claimed by the government, is incomparably greater in Great Britain than in the United States, and, of course, stronger guards to prevent evasion or embezzlement in the collection and disbursement of the revenue, must be required with them than with us. But they have experienced neither inconvenience nor loss from the change; they find a Declaration as effectual, in practice, as an oath. Upon what principle of correct ratiocination can we then found a conclusion, that a Declaration in lieu of an oath, would be less effectual here?

As long as the proceedings in the collection of the government duties continue as they are at present, to be entrenched in oaths, we may rationally expect a custom-house oath to be what it long has been, a proverb and a by-word. The imposition of oaths which are not expected to be kept, besides their obvious impiety, must unavoidably contribute to sink the standard of morals, particularly in relation to veracity. If the encouragement of virtue, as well as the restraining of vice, is a legitimate object of governments, we may reasonably question whether it