the Primary Council was to examine and complete the double lists, which are no longer required.

The reviewer expresses his surprise that so many important privileges should have been granted at the same time; but we tell him that conceding by instalments is bad policy and seldom succeeds, when the proposed modifications of a Constitution are determined on, and can be with justice claimed, and are expected and desired by the intelligent and loyal; the Government, by at once anticipating their wishes, establishes confidence and respect. A different course is to be avoided. Sir Henry Ward has been, we think, unjustly and inconsiderately censured, and even harassed for his decision in dissolving a Legislative Assembly unworthy to represent the Islands; and in proroguing another, under the circumstances in which he was placed. The Colonial Department has always supported his views, and rightly. The conduct of these assemblies was injurious to the intcrests of the people at large, and embarrassed inferior departmental officers more than the Government. The salaries of the chief functionaries being provided for by permanent bills, and the Civil List not having been discontinued, the business of the Islands was carried on with the aid of the Senate, composed, it is said, of more able members than at any time since the Islands have been under British protection. In the last Session the influential and well-informed majority of the Legislative Assembly gave their support to the Government, except on the occasion when conditional measures were proposed to amend the Act passed to prevent libels and a seditious press, and to introduce some other regulations. The proposed measures were rejected, probably by the votes of the adherents of the régime of 1817, and by those of the Annexionists of course. The high police power might be more distinctly defined, but the exercise of an extensive discretionary control, with the advice of the Senate, is indispensable in islands so accessible as they are from the adjoining coasts. The Parliament has been prorogued, after a Session prolonged beyond the usual term fixed by the Constitution, and probably will not meet again till 1854. The Senate having still the power of sanctioning regulations with the force of laws during the recess the Lord High Commissioner remains for two years in repose, undisturbed by popular legislation, the details of the Government are administered by an excellent Senate with clockwork precision. No traces of the confusion imagined by Count Salamos, in his petulant memorandum, can be anywhere discovered. In fine, we are confident that the majority of the Legislative Assembly will give their steady support to the pro

tecting Government; and that the intelligent and respectable majority will increase in numbers, although it may fluctuate, like all assemblies freely elected.

The revision of the Constitution has already brought into the service of Government men of talent, influence, and property, who had been for years excluded from employment, and suspected of hostility to the protecting Government. Among these we may name the family of the Romas, the Advocate Braila, at present contributing their active exertions in support of the revised system. We disagree entirely with the opinions set forth in the statement we have had under consideration, and think its predictions as unwarranted and unsound as the rest of the publication. Looking to the future prospects of the Ionian Islands, we cannot conceive a more satisfactory government for our lieutenants to administer, whether in regard to position, local advantages, or to the working of the institutions now established. A fine and compliant peasantry; free institutions; ports occupied by vessels preparing to take in their annual cargoes of oil and currants, or engaged in commerce with Odessa and the Black Sea; a delightful climate; soil fruitful in productions; magnificent scenery; sheltered roadsteads and bays; the classic land of Hellas accessible by steam in a few hours; and splendid garrisons, highly disciplined, to promote and ensure law and order; and the Patris defunct, without a decree having been brought forth for the erection of statues to the memory of Harmodius and Aristogeiton.

Notwithstanding the writer of the pamphlet before us observes, with Cretan animosity, that Englishmen are locked on in Corcyra as the Austrians are in Milan, we do not hesitate to declare that, though the Ionians have reason to remember overbearing usage in a few instances, our country is loved and our compatriots respected; and that, with the attention that ought to be bestowed on the Seven Islands, they will be prosperous, and an honour to the British name, and an attractive, agreeable, residence for Englishmen. The policy and justice of providing occasionally for the intelligent and welleducated young men of the Ionian Islands, locked up on their native soil, who are not permitted to enter our naval or military service, by nominating them for employments in the East Indies, was suggested by Sir II. Douglas, and other Lord High Commissioners; and this subject is worthy of the consideration of the protecting Government. It remains to be proved whether the Ionian Constitution of 1817, based on that of 1803, democratic in terms and form, can be worked under the present system of elective franchise, with the Synclitæ ex

tended to 4000, or according to a calculation, though incorrect, of 6000. The local mistakes of those who proposed the revision of the charter, and the merits of those who corrected them, did not affect the Bill of 1850, which has no reference to this subject. The extent of control of which the Lord High Commissioner has been deprived may be summed up by stating that he no longer elects the Legislative Assembly; and a great loss of power it is. We are not to be discouraged by the first returns from Cephalonia, or by the imbecile who was sent from Cerigo as a legislator. The Lord High Commissioner, indeed, has gained much by being enabled to nominate and appoint a more efficient and influential Senate than ever succeeded to office under the old régime, and by all the elections being conducted with great regularity.

The financial matters of the Ionian States having been already referred to, little more need be said to show that the annual military contributions had been fixed at a rate disproportionate to the revenue. The payments due on this account had fallen in arrear for many years. A new agreement was assented to at the suggestion of Lord Seaton, regulating their payments in proportion to the net receipts of the Ionian treasury. One fifth of the income was the amount sanctioned, which brought down the contributions from 35,000 to an average of 24,000. The resources of the Islands could not be developed without a constant outlay; nor could the debt be reduced, or a deficit prevented, without a reduction in the establishment, or of the salaries of functionaries. These reductions unfortunately lowered the incomes of departmental officers below what was due to their services and their responsibility. Whatever profit the Islands may have received from the expenditure of British troops, and it must have been large, this could not increase or affect a revenue depending on export duties on staple produce, or alleviate the distress occasioned by a total failure in the olive crop for a series of years.

We take leave of the subject, convinced that in governing the people of the Ionian Islands common sense and sincerity are the essential requisites, and that the defensive remarks in our paper are fully justified by the ample Ionian documents and correspondence to which we have had access, from the times of Spiridione Forresti, our consul, and the contemplated occupation of Corfu, in 1801, by British troops, to the present period.

ART. III.1. The Life and Epistles of St. Paul: comprising a complete Biography of the Apostle, and a Translation of his Letters, inserted in Chronological Order. By the Rev. W. J. CONYBEARE, M. A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Rev. J. S. Howson, M. A., Principal of the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool. With Illustrations by W. H. BARTLETT. 2 vols. 4to. London: 1850-1852.

2. The Life and Epistles of St. Paul. By THOMAS LEWIN, M. A., of Trinity College, Oxford. 2 vols. post 8vo.

London: 1851.

3. Der Apostel Paulus. Von KARL SCHRADER. 6 vols. 8vo. Leipzig: 1830-1836.

4. Pflanzung u. Leitung der Christlichen Kirche durch die Apostel. Dritter Abschnitt: die Ausbreitung des Christenthums und Grundung der Christlichen Kirche durch die Wirksamkeit des Apostels Paulus. [Planting and Training of the Christian Church by the Apostles. Third Part: The Propagation of Christianity and Foundation of the Christian Church by the Agency of the Apostle Paul.] Von DR. AUGUST NEANDER. 4th edition. Pp. 134-152. Hamburg: 1847.

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5. The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, &c. By JAMES SMITH, Esq., of Jordan Hill, F. R. S., &c. London: 1848. WE see every reason to hail the kind of attention which is now being bestowed on the study and illustration of the New Testament Scriptures. Those fruits of collateral inquiry which the last age erroneously denominated the evidences of Christianity, while they are now gathered in tenfold abundance, are called by their right names, and ranged in their proper places. The more accurate philological study of the Greek language, the light which the researches of Niebuhr and others have let in upon the contemporary and earlier history, the multiplied facilities for travel, and the advanced intelligence of travellers, have contributed to increase our means of confirming and illustrating the evangelic record. On the other hand, we cannot but think that a deeper insight into the character of Christianity itself has led us to give all such accessories their true importance, and no more. The stranger may gaze

with wonder at the far-stretching outworks and bastions of the fortress; but he who dwells within, knows that its strength is not only, nor chiefly, in these.

The reader who feels the force of our last remark, will have no difficulty in joining us in the assumption, with which we shall proceed to the consideration of the works mentioned at the head of this Article.

We assume, that it was the Divine intention to reveal a religion, which should suffice for the moral and intellectual elevation of ALL MANKIND; which, laying its foundations in individual convictions, should clear and exalt the conscience, purify the affections, ennoble the intellect; while, at the same time, it disclosed a hope common to all men, and capable of sustaining under every possible trial of humanity. We assume further, that this religion was Christianity. And we are thus led to the contemplation of definite historical facts. Christianity was introduced into the world at a certain time, and under certain circumstances. Can we, by examination of the state of mankind at the time, perceive any remarkable preparations for the assumed work which Christianity had to accomplish? Periods of this world's history may be conceived, singularly unfitted for the promulgation of a religion which was to take general hold on mankind. Does the period of the promulgation of Christianity present any remarkable contrast to these?

Again if it was the intention of the Allwise to bring the whole of mankind under one bond of union, we might imagine that there would be visible in history some traces of previous preparation; that amidst the wars of states, and the conflict of opinions, we should find some advance made towards the possibility, and efficacy, of such a blending of both, as was destined hereafter to take place. Nay, we may go further than this. Excluding mere chance from any part in the arrangement of man's world, we may fairly say à priori, that we might expect to find some adaptations in local circumstances themselves, to the end which was to be answered. Situations might be conceived, which should be most adverse to the accomplishment of the end assumed. Was Christianity introduced in those situations, or in others of a very different character?

Again, if Christianity is to be founded in individual convictions, the weapon of its warfare, above all others, must be persuasion; and in order to persuasion, there must be one able to persuade. Do we find any provision made for such a persuader? The work will be no ordinary nor easy one. The conflicting elements of the ancient social system could never be amalga