majesty's commands to form a new cabinet, of which it is generally believed Mr. Peel will be the head. As usual, there are many speculations among the quid nuncs, on the subject of the new ministry and the members who will compose it. Some believe that the Duke of Wellington will be premier; but the truth is, nothing certain on this interesting topick was known, and cannot be known by us, till another arrival.

FRANCE. It is now ascertained that a large majority of deputies to the legislative chamber, recently elected, are Liberals or antiministerialists. The rejoicings in Paris, on account of the success of the liberal party in carrying the whole of their electoral ticket, was highly offensive to the court. An armed force was called out to disperse the multitude collected in the streets, and a scene of tumult and bloodshed ensued. A considerable number of citizens were killed, and some of the military. Much popular excitement and indignation ensued. The whole of the late French ministry have gone, out of office, and a new ministry has not yet been settled-M. Villele, it appears, is ennobled, and will take his seat in the house of peers. It is not expected that men who are avowed liberals will be appointed to the high offices of the government; but the particular friends and adherents of the Dauphin, who form a kind of middle party, will, it is believed, come into power. M. Cuvier, the distinguished naturalist, and a protestant, is made minister of religion, so far as the protestants are concerned. It is clear that the late high toned measures in relation to the press, the patronage of the Jesuits, and the arbitrary claims of the court, can no longer be sustained in France. It seems remarkable that the French and British cabinets should be entirely unsettled at the same time.

SPAIN. The following article, which we extract from a newspaper, contains the most recent advices from Spain-"The council of Castile have been warmly discussing the project of an act of amnesty. A majority is said to be in favour of full amnesty to all parties, and all opinions since 1808, but they say nothing about restoration to posts and honours. An extract from a private letter from Barcelona of 2d January says: 'A new expedition of exiles has just left this port. It consists of four transport vessels, escorted by an armed corvette, and has on board 37 secular or regular ecclesiastics, and 256 other persons, all destined for the different galleys that we have in Africa.""

PORTUGAL.-We have not heard of the arrival of Don Miguel in the kingdom of which he is the destined monarch; nor can we add any information of importance, in relation to Portugal, to that which we gave in our last number.

AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA.-It appears that these great powers have given assurances, which are considered satisfactory, that they will not withstand the efforts of Britain, France, and Russia, to settle the quarrel between the Greeks and Turks. If this be so, we can hardly conceive that the Turk will proclaim war.

GREECE.-Military operations are still carried on in Greece, and yet no events of much moment have taken place, since the destruction of the Turkish and Egyptian fleet. Ibrahim Pacha appears to have abandoned Tripolizza, and recalled the most of his troops from Patras and other places, with a view to concentrate the whole in the neighbourhood of Navarino. His supplies of provisions are falling short, and we think it probable that he will ere long know something of the famine by which he has endeavoured to destroy the poor Greeks. A small corps of Turkish troops remains at Patras, besieged by general Church, who has been joined by a reinforcement from Epirus and from the Peloponnesus. Rumours have been spread of the besieging and of the abandonment of Scio by the Greeks; but the state of facts is not ascertained. Lord Cochrane is said to be in the vicinity of Scio, and his naval operations appear to have been partially successful. But what is now of the greatest importance to Greece is, the suppression of piracy. The number of their piratical vessels is such, that it is difficult for merchant vessels in the Mediterranean to escape them; and they plunder all without discrimination-Even a vessel from this country, laden with supplies for their starving population, has been plundered. Nothing we have heard of is so much calculated to injure the Grecian cause as this predatory warfare. But it should be remembered that the pirates are not countenanced, but proscribed, by the Grecian authorities; and that Lord Cochrane, under their direction, is doing all that he can to restrain these freebooters. They ought to be chastised without hesitation by every vessel of force, of whatever nation; for they are the worst enemies of their own country, as well as depredators on the peaceful citizens and subjects of other countries. We have been glad to observe that they have received a severe castigation, in several instances, from the armed vessels of the United States.

TURKEY.-Nothing decisive is yet known in regard to the decision of the Sultan and his divan, on the subject of peace or war. It cannot be denied that the Porte is acting with a discretion and deliberation which it has not often manifested; and this is among the reasons which lead us to believe that open warfare will not take place. In this however we may misjudge. Musselman pride and arrogance have been so sorely wounded by the affair at Navarino, that it may be necessary for the Sultan to make war, even against his own judgment and inclination. Although Mahmoud is a despot, he well knows that he keeps his throne and wears his head, only on condition that he does not go beyond a certain point in contravening the wishes of his slaves. They are pleased with the vigorous preparations he is making for war, and perhaps he hopes that while this is doing, their thirst of vengeance may so abate, that he may make peace with safety-He is at present extremely popular, and this popularity he is careful to cherish and increase. He confers marks of distinguished honour on Turkish chiefs; and has lately adopted the extraordinary measure of calling together the heads of trading companies and corporations, and has engaged them by oath, that in case of war, they will collect together the Musselmans in their different quarters, and march to battle at their head-Seven hundred pieces of iron cannon, it is said, have been sent to the Dardanelles to increase the force of the batteries and forts erected there; and military apparatus of every description is forwarded to the most vulnerable points of the frontiers of European Turkey.

RUSSIA.-It appears that a preliminary treaty of peace has been signed between Russia and Persia. The Russians are to retain in full territorial possession, all the country to the north of the Araxes, and a small portion of that lying to the southward; that all the expenses of the war are to be borne by the Persians, part of which was to be paid down on the signature of the treaty, and the remainder by instalments; and that the Russians were to hold certain fortresses and additional territory, as guarantee for the fulfilment of this part of the treaty. This preliminary treaty had been sent for ratification to the Persian capital.

A London paper of the 10th of January contains the following article: "Letters from Petersburg, of 24th Dec. state that, after the arrival there of the news of the departure of the allied ambassadors from Constantinople, the Russian cabinet expedited couriers to all the courts of France and England, to renew the assurance that Russia still holds herself bound by the treaty of 6th July, and that her army would only act in conformity with the wishes of the allies. A letter of 4th January, from Vienna, confirms these details. There too, intelligence was received that Russia meditated no aggression, and would only act in the affairs of the East in conformity with the wishes of the allies. This news caused a rise in the Austrian funds."

ASIA.

In Arabia the Weechabites, Wahabees, or Wahabites (for they are called by all these names) are again threatening the birth place, and burial place, of Mahomet. They once had possession both of Mecca and Medina, and after an arduous struggle, were expelled by the Pacha of Egypt. They have seized the opportunity, when the Pacha's best troops are in Greece, to make head against him once more, and as it would seem, with the prospect of success; since their army is now much more numerous than that to which it is opposed. Both parties are Mahometans, but they denounce each other as hereticks, and the hatred and hostility between them are of the most envenomed character. The temple and tomb of their false prophet is the great bone of contention; and if the Weechabites should gain it, the omen will be considered as of the most inauspicious kind, not only to the Egyptian Pacha, but to his master, the Sultan of the Turks.

In Central Asia, the latest accounts represent the British authorities at Calcutta, as being exceedingly unpopular with the native population. We rejoice, however, to observe, that the various Christian missions, in almost every part of that populous region, are increasingly successful, and that their prospects are of the most encouraging kind.

AFRICA.

We have nothing of moment to report from this quarter of the world.

AMERICA.

Among our sister republicks, in the southern part of our Continent, the state of publick affairs is much the same as we exhibited it in our last number. The war is

continued between the United Provinces and the emperor of Brazil, and no occurrence of importance, in regard to it, has recently, so far as we know, taken place. Bolivia is represented as being in a very happy and prosperous state-the most so, by far, of any of the new republicks. In Mexico agitations are still felt, but seem to be subsiding-The same may be said of Colombia. But the republick of Central America is torn by intestine feuds, more deplorably than ever. It does not seem easy to prognosticate the issue, except that it must be calamitous.

UNITED STATES.-It is with unfeigned regret that we observe the tardy movements of our Congress, in the despatch of publick business. Concerns of the greatest moment to the community at large are not decided on, while questions of a party character occupy the time and attention of the national legislature. We had hoped it would be otherwise-but we forbear. Our representatives are responsible to their constituents, and by them let them be judged-The winter which has closed has been mild, almost beyond a parallel, and the goodness of God in granting health and general prosperity to our population, demands our notice and our warmest gratitude.

To our Readers.

We think it not improper to state, that although the publication of Lectures on the Shorter Catechism, will be suspended till the close of the Memoir of Mr. Eastburn, there is no design entertained of abandoning the publication. It will be resumed, so soon as the place heretofore occupied by the Lectures, shall no longer be needed for the Memoir. In regard to that Memoir, we also wish to state, that by an agreement between Mr. Eastburn's executors and the Editor of the Christian Advocate, it is first to appear in this miscellany; and then, with probably some addition, to be republished in a separate form; and that the executors have taken out a copy-right to the publication, the whole avails of which are to be applied to aid in the extinguishment of a pretty heavy debt which is yet due on the Mariners' Church. The writer of the Memoir desires to say further-that in making statements, it is his opinion, that a difference ought always to be preserved between probability and fact, even when the probability is such as to leave no doubt of the fact; and that he is sorry to observe, that this was not duly considered in writing the first three sentences of the Memoir, nor till the form containing them had passed the press. He cannot satisfy himself with the purpose of altering these sentences in the republication contemplated; but wishes them to be considered as containing errata, to be corrected so that the sentences may read as follows:

The name and virtues of JOSEPH EASTBURN, have probably been already celebrated in the four quarters of the globe. The last ten years of his life were so disinterestedly, assiduously, and affectionately, devoted to all the best interests of seamen, that a large number of them regarded him with the veneration and attachment which dutiful children bear to a worthy parent; and with their characteristick warmth of feeling, there is little reason to doubt that they have proclaimed his praise, in every region to which their vocation has called them. Not only in many of the sea-ports of our own continent, but on the coasts of Asia and Africa, and in various parts of Europe, we may believe that they have extolled his piety, commended his benevolence, and exhibited him as an example.

We confidently expected to give a handsome engraved likeness of Mr. Eastburn, with the commencement of his memoir, in our present number. But the engraver has still the work in hand.-We hope to be able to place the likeness in our next number.