Our roof-all Heaven! My beautiful, my own! Never did sail more gladly glide to port Then I to thee! my anchor is thy faith, And in thine eyes my haven.-Bulwer. INFIDELITY. It is amidst trials and sorrows that infidelity appears in its justest and most frightful aspect. When subjected to the multifarioùs ills which flesh is heir to, what is there to up. hold our spirit but the discoveries and the prospects that are unfolded to us by revelation? What, for this purpose, can be compared with the belief that every thing here below is under the management of infinite wisdom and goodness, and that there is an immor. tality of bliss awaiting us in another word? If this conviction be taken a way, what is it that we can have recourse to, on which the mind may pa tiently and safely repose in the sea. son of adversity? where is the balm which may apply with effect to my wounded heart, after I have rejected the aid of the Almighty Physician? Impose upon me whatever hardships you please; give me nothing but the bread of sorrow to eat; my confidence; lay me in the cold hut of poverty, and on the thorny bed of disease; setdeath before me in all its terrors do; all this-only let me trust in my Sa viour, and "pillow my head on the bosom of Omnipotence," and I will "fear no evil,"-I will rise superior to affliction,I will rejoice in my tribulation." But let infidelity interpose btween God and my soul, and draw its impenetrable veil over a fu ture state of existence, and limit all my trust to the creatures of a day, and all my expectations to a few years uncertain as they are short; and how shall I bear up, with fortitude or with cheerfulness, under the burden of distress. Or where shall I find one drop of consolation to put into the bitter draught which has been given me to drink? I look over the whole range of this wilderness in which I dwell, but I see not one covert from the storm nor one leaf for the healing of my soul, nor one cup of cold water to refresh me in the weariness and the faintings of my pilgrimage.→ Andrew Thomson. Extracts from Periodicals. PROGRESS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA! "Four years ago, the wild silence of the shores of South Australia was only broken by the occasional scream of the gaudy-plumaged parrots in the woods, the flocks of wild fowl in the creeks, or the gentle ripple in the brook. The very few patives, who had picked up a scanty and miserable subsistence on the gleanings of that beautiful coun try,-whose simple minds were scarcely more intelligent than the kangaroos which their forefathers had taught them to chase, or the half-savage dogs with which they hunted,-exulting and luxuriating in the enjoyment of mere animal existence,-had scarcely seen the face of a white man, or deemed that such existed, much less that white men could ever be expected to come amongst them. At the moment at which we write, at least 15,000 white people have taken possession of their country. The banks of the Torrens have been transformed from a valueless wilderness into a bustling and thriving town of seven hundred houses, the site of which is worth from £100 to £1,500 per acre, and are joined by a bridge lit with lamps. Scarcely a ship had been then seen to cleave the waters of the South Australian guif. Ninety-seven ships of 21,232 tons burden entered the colony in 1838; and even a greater number, ninety-nine ships of 21,109 tonnage, were counte i at Port Adelaide within the firist six months of 1839. The powerful agencies that British enterprise is capable of put ting in operation, are visible in the 68,000 sheep which are now extracting wealth from the pastures; the 6,250 cows and oxen, and 520 horses which are now supplying food and labour to the enterprising settlers, who are exploring every crevice and cranny of the country. Nearly all the circumstances before quoted from the chro nology of New South Wales have long since taken place in South Australia. A church, a Wesleyan and other chapels, three newspapers (two, at least, con. ducted with considerable talent), a wellorganized police force, a mechanics' institution and reading room, courts of quarter sessions, petty sessions of the magistracy, courts for the recovery of debts under £20, a supreme court for civil and criminal trials by grand and petit juries, a coroner, a parket, races, public balls, and public meetings, are advantages which the South Australians have been fortunate enough to enjoy already; and it speaks much for their liberality and intelligence, that within four days no less a sun than £4.000 was raised by subscription for the foundation of a college which should provide first-rate education, and thus supersede the necessity of sending the children from India to Great Britain for that purpose." For: Quarterly Review. TO OBTAIN ANY NUMBER OF COPIES FROM AN ALREADY ENGRAVED COPPERPLATE. A copper-plate may be taken engraved in the common manner, the lines being in intaglio. Procure an equal-sized piece of sheet lead, lay it on the engraved side of the plate, and put both under a very powerful press; when taken out, the lead will have every line, in relief, that had heen sunk in the copper. A wood engraving may be operated like manner, as lead, being pressed into it, will not injure it. on in A wire may now be soldered to the lead, then bed it in a box, and put it into the voltaic apparatus, when a copper-plate, being an exact fac-smile of the original will be formed. In this process, care must be taken that the lead is clean and bright, as it comes from the roller in the mill. ing process, and consequently free from any oxidation, which it soon acquires, if exposed to the atmosphere. It should, be put in action as soon as possible after being taken out of the press-Me. chanic's Magazine. The tendency of mankind to desire a free government, like any other phenomenon, is not self-begotten. It has not started spontaneously into being, but has been gradually developed during many centuries, by a series of causes, of which that feeling is not a solitary consequence. The changes which have been effected in society by such causes, are indeed infinite; and it cannot be doubted that these havB exerted, and still exert, à collateral influence over the democratic impulse itself; sometimes directly assisting in its extention and increase, and sometimes modifying and even moderating its activity. There is nothing connected with this sentiment more remarkable than its total absence among the nations spread over large regions of the earth, and this too during long series of ages. As far as history records, the idea of selfgovernment seems scarcely to have been conceived, till it arose in the bosoms of the Greeks: and our author has justly stated, that the very term de. mocracy, as applied to the republics of Greece and of Rome, was a misnomer; the pervading spirit being exclusive and aristocratic, and the majority of the people, so far from possessing political rights, being slaves in the widest sense of the word,-vassals of the minority, It is clear, therefore, that the power to conceive the notion of equal govern. ment, and of combining the means of effecting it, is dependent on certain specifie externals for its activity. Taking the matter up after the downfall of the Roman empire, and the reconstitution of the European population, we cannot but perceive that the graphical face of the countries in which the wanderers fixed their habita tion, was influential on their social destinies. This circumstance, combining with the rude impatience of the northern races under the closer restraints of law, was favourable to the establishment of small independent governments, to the multiplication of centres of civi lization, and to a great division of political forces. Not remotely connected with this state of things, were the birth and growth of maritime commerce, and a consequent creation and dissemination of a new species of wealth, distinct from that resulting from landed property, and subjected to their laws. Concurrently with these causes, we discover the great Christian principle of the equality of all men before God, awkening new thoughts; while by establishing in society a corporate body, from which no temporal rank, however humble, was excluded, and which ruled by a superiority of knowledge, it promoted the domination of moral ideas, fostered a love of justice, and popularized those general conceptions, which are at once the inspiration and the guarantees of free government. Subsequently, in the order of time, came the discovery of the New World, the invention of printing, and, its first-born offspring, the Reformation in Religion; to which, as to its most proximate cause, must be assigued the developement of that more sublimated democratic spirit, which distinguishes the modern from the ancient world, and which is the immediate theme of M. de Tocqueville's lucubrations. The philosophy of history in tracing the series of these complicated events, discovers the closest connexion between the progress of the abovementioned causes, and the progress ot liberty. The history of liberty, and the history of civilization, are indeed one; and the imputed democratic spirit of the age is but the summing up, into one point, of the particular desires and instincts awakened under the several conditions by which civilization exists. Atheneum THE TRADE OF CEYLON. Goods imported into the Port of Colombo during the quarter ending 10th October, 1840. • Arms, Apparel, Books, Cutlery, Gunnies, Provisions, Perfumery, Saddlery, Spirits, Sugar, &c. &c. Goods exported from the Port of Colombo during the quarter ending 10th October 1840. Coir Rope, Cocoanuts, Gunnies, Horns, Rice, Precious Stones, &c. &c. STATE OF THERMOMETER AND WEATHER AT OODEWELLE, NOVEMBER- -DECEMBER 1840. ELEVATION 2,900 FEET ABOVE THE SEA. ·000 Date. 6 A. M. NOON. 6 P. M. Nov. 7 8 Heavy rain all day. Showery, mild with occasional breaks of sun. Cloudy morning, very heavy rain all day. Bright calm morning, bright sun & calm all day. 74 73 Do. 68 75 73 Do. 69 76 74 69 76 73 74 73 A slight fog at Sunrise, after bright sun all day. 74 71 Dark rainy morning, sun shine with occasional showers do. do. Bright clear morning bright day, light breeze do. Do. light breeze, sun, occasionally overcast do. METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT ON THE HUNASGIRIA 69 70 68 T. 3 64 69 67 W. 2 64 77 Do. Weather light breeze. -,100 Do. N.E.byN. Light showers with haze & strong breeze. Do. Do. 8. 5 64 71 8. 6 65 71 68 --- Fine clear day and night Do. Weather, strong breeze. Do. Do. N.E.by E. Cloudy with haze and strong breeze. 1,— Do. N.E. Heavy showers day and night. 1,100 Do. -,500 Do. (N.E.byN. -,250 Do. Fine day, rainy night. Do. Weather light wind. -T. 10 64 |