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H. Bryer, Printer, Bridge street, Blackfriars, London.

PAGE.

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Christian Guardian, Oct. 1825. Art. Gorham on the Apocryphal Controversy,
in Reply to the Eclectic Review

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Gilbert's Memoir of the Life and Writings of the late Rev. Edward Williams,
D.D.

Good's Study of Medicine

Gorham's Statement, &c. on the Impropriety of circulating the Apocry-
phal Books indiscriminately intermingled with the Inspired Writings

Graphic Illustrations of Warwickshire

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75

Milner's Practical Sermons, Vol. III.

Mollien's Travels in the Republic of Columbia
Mouravier's, M., Voyage en Turcomanie

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THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

FOR JULY, 1825.

Art. I. 1. Proceedings of a General Court Martial assembled at Malta, March 1, 1824, together with subsequent Proceedings respecting the Trial of Lieut. George Francis Dawson of the Royal Artillery, for hesitating to comply with an Order by which he was required to assist and participate in the Ceremonies of the Romish Church. Svo. pp. 108. Price 2s. 6d. London. 1825.

2 Appendix to the Report of the Trial of Lieutenant Dawson, &c. being an Appeal to the Lords Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and to the Lord Bishop of London, relative to the Continuance of similar Usages and Orders to those in which that Trial originated. 8vo.

WE deem it an imperious duty which we owe to ourselves, our country, and the cause of religion, to draw the attention of our readers to the case of those gallant and meritorious officers who have been dismissed from the army, and thus turned adrift upon the world, to seek for the means even of subsistence, for no other than the alleged crime of having refused to participate in one of the idolatrous ceremonies of the Church of Rome. A solitary instance of undeserved hardship or oppression, although not of an order calculated to prove important in its results, would, under any circumstances, awake the sympathy and indignation of every liberal mind. But the present case is one which calls for the most serious attention, not so much for the sake of the individuals who have suffered, as for the sake of the principles which, in their persons, have been so signally violated: it is not the cause of an individual or of a party, but the common cause of every Briton and every Protestant, whether churchman or dissenter, by whom the privileges of Englishmen or the rights of conscience are held in veneration. It might appear scarcely credible, that British officers could have been placed in such a situation as to be exposed to the temptation of violating the dictates of conscience in complying with the superstitious observances of the Romish Church. But, among the many VOL. XXIV. N.S.

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lasting obligations under which we are placed to the two officers in question, for the noble stand they have made for the cause of Truth, this is not the least; that they have drawn the attention of the British public to the extraordinary fact, that, not at Malta only, but in various parts of the world, are Protestant officers compelled to degrade themselves, their country, and their religion, in the eyes of Roman Catholics, by a direct participation in the mummeries and idolatry of Papal perstition.

But, before proceeding further, it is necessary to remark, that the facts of the case under review, have been very widely and essentially mistaken. Most of our readers were, in common with ourselves, some time ago informed by the Gazette, that two British officers, Captain Atchison and Lieutenant Dawson, had been cashiered for disobedience of orders, in refusing to fire a salute upon a saint's day at Malta. Now we confess, that, from the ex parte statements contained in the public newspapers, we were at first disposed to draw a conclusion unfavourable to the judgement and prudence of the officers concerned. True, we were compelled to do homage to that manly independence and religious sense of duty which had led them to brave the frown of power and the derision of the ungodly,-to forego their professional prospects, and submit to "the loss of all things," rather than violate the demands of conscience. But we were inclined to imagine that they had been misled by a mistaken sense of duty; and we conceived that, if their conscience had in this instance been as enlightened as it was undoubtedly upright and pure, they would have seen the propriety of complying with the obnoxious order, leaving the responsibility that might attach to it, to those with whom it originated. In taking this view, we believed that a simple order had been issued to fire a salute, and that Captain Atchison and Lieutenant Dawson had assumed the privilege of inquiring into the reason of the order, and, finding that it was in honour of St. Lorenzo, had thought themselves bound as Christians and as Protestants to adopt the line of conduct for which they were cashiered. Now, although we were well aware that this view of the matter did not in the smallest degree remove the load of responsibility which lay upon those higher authorities who lent their sanction to the miserable delusions of Papacy, yet, we felt, that if the principle were to be admitted, that it is competent for soldiers to scrutinize the grounds upon which a simple order, not in itself unlawful, has been issued, there would be an end of all military discipline and subordination.

But, upon inquiry, we found-what indeed might well have

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