POLAND.

A ukase of the Emperor Nicholas, dated Moscow, Nov. 2, on the subject of Poland, has been issued. After a sufficient preliminary appeal to Divine Providence, to prepare one for a more than ordinary exercise of his own peculiar kindliness of feeling for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the unfortunate Poles, he thus proclaims their fate: "I. A complete and unconditional amnesty is granted to all those of our subjects in the kingdom of Poland who have returned to their obedience. None of those included in

this amnesty shall now, or at any future time, be condemned or prosecuted for his actions or political opinions done or expressed during the whole time of the insurrection.-II. The following are excepted: 1. The authors of the bloody insurrection of the 29th of November 1830; those who on that evening repaired to the Belvedere Palace, with a view to take away the life of our beloved brother, the deceased Cesarewitsch; the murderers of the Generals, and of the Russian and Polish officers.-2. The authors of the horrors which occurred in Warsaw on the 15th of August last.-3. Those who, since the 25th of January inst. have at different times been considered as Chiefs or Members of the Government lately established in the kingdom of Poland, and who had not sent in their submission previously to the 13th of September, as well as those who, after the subjection of Warsaw, formed an illegal Government at Zackroczym, and thereby forfeited all claims to our mercy. 4. The Members of the Diet who proposed or supported the Act of Deposition of the 25th of January.-5. The officers belonging to the corps of Romarino, Rozycki, Kaminski, and Rybinski.-6. The subjects of the Western Governments who may have participated in the Polish insurrection."

TURKEY.

In Turkey a substantial revolution in manners seems to be steadily, though silently, pursued. The Sultan, who really belongs to other latitudes than that of a Grand Seignior, spares no pains to introduce European modes of acting and thinking amongst his subjects. We have occasion to notice the establishment of a newspaper, in the French language, at Constantinople, and every arrival affords additional evidence of the Sultan's exertions in the cause of Turkish reform. In these attempts he has, as may be expected, to struggle against the fixed and obstinate prejudices of his subjects; and it is impossible to regard the ex

traordinary efforts he is making without being concerned for his own safety.

HOLLAND.

The Dutch ultimatum in regard to the treaty with Belgium has been received. The King of Holland's chief objections relate to the right of internal communication, by the roads and canals of Holland, which which, it is contended, was not called for is given to Belgium by the treaty; and by the circumstances, nor could the imposition of it be justified by any principle of the law of nations. urged to other parts of the treaty, such as Objections are also the division of territory, but more particuthe two countries; but they are of a minor larly to the distribution of the debt between description, compared with the question of

the internal communication.

PORTUGAL.

Don Pedro's preparations for a descent on Portugal appear to have been carried on with alacrity and spirit. A morning newspaper states that "The land forces already in Terceira and the other islands amount to 6000 disciplined troops, and 2000 recruits, which force, it is expected, will be augmented by about 2000 foreign soldiers. The naval force now at the islands consists of one schooner, of twelve guns; one ditto, with swivel; one corvette, of twenty-six guns, from Rio; and one brig, of eighteen guns, also from Rio. The naval force about to proceed to Terceira consists of one frigate, of one thousand two hundred tons, carrying fifty-four guns; one ditto, of nine hundred tons, and forty-four guns; one ditto, of eight hundred tons, and thirty-six guns; one corvette, of six hundred tons, and eighteen guns; one schooner, of two hundred tons, and six guns, and three steamboats, of four hundred tons each. For this naval force, provisions and pay for four months, from the 1st of January, have been provided.'

SPAIN.

An extraordinary "Gazette," of the 8th instant, states that Count Torrijos, with from fifty to sixty men, who had been forced to quit Gibraltar in consequence of the persecution which the revolutionary party was exposed to in that place, put to sea on the night of the 30th of November, but being closely pursued by the coast-guard vessels, they were under the necessity of landing, and surrendered to the troops sent in their pursuit on the 8th of December. They were shot almost immediately afterwards.

A Visit to the South Seas, in the United States' ship Vincennes, during the years 1829 and 1830, including Scenes in Brazil, Peru, Manilla, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena. By C. S. Stewart, A.M. Chaplain in the United States' Navy. 2 vols.

Judicious and enlightened missionaries possess numerous and peculiar opportunities for enlarging the boundaries of general knowledge; while in the integrity and uprightness of their character we have the best guarantee of the truth and fidelity of whatever they communicate. Their sketches of men and manners have, likewise, this advantage, that they are usually formed under a careful and continued observation. They are not like hasty voyagers, touching at various places, which they have not time to examine; nor are they biassed by the prejudiced and partial representations of interested or mendacious reporters. If their first impressions mislead their judgment for a moment, they have the means of correcting them by diligent inquiry and a closer inspection. It is a singular fact, that to gentlemen of this class we are mainly indebted for all the accurate information we possess of the islands of the Pacific and their inhabitants. From others we have had romances and fictions in abundance; but it was reserved for such writers as Mr. Stewart to bring us acquainted with men as they are in these distant and hitherto unexplored regions, and with the most important facts that illustrate their characters and customs. If the volumes of Tyreman and Bennet, of Ellis and Stewart, were annihilated, what should we really know of the present condition of Polynesia? Captain Beechey was never in a situation to state any thing but on hearsay, and that derived from the most incompetent sources. The book of Captain Von Kotzebue contains errors of the grossest kind, which even the slightest personal observation might have enabled him to avoid. The volumes of Mr. Stewart are valuable, not only as they corroborate, in all essential particulars, the narratives of Messrs. Ellis, Tyreman, and Bennet, but as they convey a great deal of additional information respecting places which they never visited, as well as those which they have so minutely described. Mr. Stewart informs us, that domestic circumstances compelled him to relinquish a missionary life, and that, in selecting a sphere for the exercise of his professional duties, he was induced to direct his attention to the United States' Naval Service; that in the year 1828 he was appointed Chaplain to the Guerriere, which, with the St. Louis, was ordered to relieve the squadron in the Pacific Ocean, one vessel from which, the corvette Vincennes, would visit the Sandwich Islands, and return to America by the Cape of Good Hope. As he had a strong desire to visit the islands which, for several years, had been the field of his missionary labours, the Government kindly allowed him to be transferred from the Guerriere to the Vincennes, which took place off Callao, in Peru, July 4th, 1829. He left Washington in the Guerriere on the 10th of the preceding February. From the latter period his narrative commences, which is written in an epistolary form to his wife. We shall not attempt

any connected account of his progress, but content ourselves with extracts, which not only pos. sess an intrinsic value, but are important as they are calculated to set at rest the question now so warmly agitated respecting the character of the missionaries, and the nature of the changes they have introduced in the Sandwich and Tahitean Islands, where they have succeeded in establishing the profession of Christianity. In both these views the volumes of Mr. Stewart will be read with deep interest by a very large portion of the Christian public in Great Britain and America ; and we congratulate the publishers on the wide circulation which these circumstances alone will secure to the work, which, indeed, on many accounts, is entitled to the patronage it cannot fail to obtain.

The Washington Islands, the beautiful and picturesque abodes of a race of savages, differing from all others that have been visited by Europeans, are a groupe in the vicinity of the Marques de Mendoça's, and frequently included with them under the general appellation of the Marquesas. They are three in number, and were discovered so lately as 1791, by Captain Ingraham, of Boston, and in the succeeding year visited by Captain Roberts, of the same place, who gave them the name by which they are now generally designated, and to which, by established usage in such cases, they are justly entitled. They are indi. vidually distinguished by their respective names, Huahuka, Nukubiva or Nanhiva, and Uapou, forming a triangle by their relative position to each other, the points of which are included within the parallel of 8. 38. and 90. 32. south latitude, and 139. 20. and 140. 10. west longitude from Greenwich. Huabuka is the most eastern of the three. Nukuhiva lies about twenty miles directly west of it, and Uapou thirty miles south of the central parts of Nukuhiva. Nukuhiva, twenty miles in length, and of nearly the same breadth, and having three or four good harbours on its coast, is much the largest and most important of the three, and that alone which ships have frequented. Mr. Stewart describes the natural scenery of this island, and it is indeed of surpassing beauty. His rambles on shore are among the most interesting portions of his narrative. One of these excursions was to witness a dance in the interior, of which Mr. Stewart gives a highly graphic account. The letter which succeeds the one we have referred to, is entitled "Form of Government and Civil and Religious Distinctions:" it affords much curious information, and though it presents idolatry under its degrading influence, its aspect is less hideous than it was found to be in some of the other islands of Polynesia. Infanticide is unknown; but human sacrifices prevail. The inhabitants appear to be less treacherous than their fellow savages in other parts of the world. Polygamy exists, but is a polygamy which gives a plurality of husbands, and not of wives. Mr. Stewart's visit to Tahiti, Raiatea, and the Sandwich Islands, which he had left only a few years before, shows the astonishing progress which they are all making in civilization; and the facts he states, and the calumnies he refutes, will irresistibly establish the conviction in every candid mind, that the greatest benefac

tors of thesei ands are the missionaries who have taken up their residence among them, and the greatest blessing that has ever been conferred upon them, the religion which the Saviour of mankind has commanded to be propagated in his name among all nations.

It is surprising with what a spirit of malignity the successful and most beneficial labours of these self-denying men have been reprobated in some of the current literature of the day. Even "The Family Library," as if determined to rob Chris tianity of its exclusive honours as a divine religion, in order to gratify the most vulgar intolerance against those who do not belong to the dominant Church-" The Family Library" has set itself in battle-array against the missionaries, and has found a compiler foolish enough to weave into his account of the mutiny of the Bounty the following shameless statement. Speaking of the Tahitians this writer observes:-" All their usual and innocent amusements have been denounced by the missionaries, and in lieu of them these poor people have been driven to seek resources in habits of indolence and apathy: that simplicity of character which atoned for many of their faults has been converted into cunning and hypocrisy; and drunkenness, poverty, and disease have thinned the island of its former population to a frightful degree: there is too much reason to ascribe this diminution to praying, psalm-singing, and dram drinking." The missionaries are farther accused of " taking from them what little trade they used to carry on, to possess themselves of it; that they have their warehouses, act as agents, and monopolise all the cattle on the island; but in return, they have given them a new religion and a Parliament, (risum teneatis?) and reduced them to a state of complete pauperism; and all, as they say, and probably have so persuaded themselves, for the honour of God and the salvation of their souls." In all this statement there is not an iota of truth. The innocent amusements which were intimately associated with the grossest licentiousness, the most ferocious cruelty, and the most loathsome superstition, necessarily gave place to the pure dictates of the Gospel, which bids every man respect himself, love his brother, and honour God with the reverence of one who aspires to the enjoyment of his favour and the possession of immortal life beyond the grave. When did the writer of this calumny ever dis cover simplicity of character in savages? Is not cunning the vice of their barbarism? Were there greater hypocrites upon earth than the uncivilised Tahitians while they were idolaters? Dram drinking was likewise the all-destroying habit of their lives long before they were visited by the missionaries. At that time it was the general character of the people; now, it is the exception, and is regarded as in the highest degree disreputable. Disease, the consequence of depravity, has almost been banished from the island by the introduction of the Gospel; and never did greater improvements mark the progress of a people from barbarism to civilization, than have gladdened the heart of the Christian philanthropist in contemplating the changes which have taken place at Tahiti and the Sandwich Islands. It is not true that the population has decreased; it is not true that pauperism prevails; it is not true that the missionaries sustain any other character than that of the teachers of a pure faith,

and the friendly advisers both of chiefs and people in any case of emergency in which it is deemed expedient to consult them. The missionaries have usurped no property; their families are unprovided for, and must depend upon their personal exertions for their maintenance. All the cattle on the island the property of the missionaries! What can we think of the moral feelings of a man who could, in the teeth of the strongest evidence to the contrary, venture upon such an assertion as this! We refer to Mr. Ellis's "Polynesian Researches" for the code of laws, which the assembled rulers and their people unanimously adopted for the regulation of their social state. It would be well for civilised Europe if its various nations possessed laws as equitable, and institutions as conducive to public good, as those which distinguish the government and jurisprudence of these islanders of the south.

Mr. Stewart's volumes are in perfect corroboration of what we have thus ventured to offer in justice to those who have been so wantonly abused. We were struck with the following sensible and just observation which a woman of rauk in Tahiti made to Mr. Stewart on these very topics. "Speaking of the wealth and power of Eugland and America, in comparison with the islands, she remarked, that they were a poor people, but in the arts of reading and writing, and in a knowledge of the word of God, they still had the highest blessings; adding, that all the people, however, did not love these, and that she supposed it was in America and in England as it was with them-some were good and some were bad-some regarding and some disobeying the laws of God."

The letter of Queen Pomare I. to the President of the United States is highly characteristic, and the remarks on the contrast between the former and the present state of the islanders are worthy of the enlightened mind of the Author. He observes:

"If the aspect of the people in general, and the animated declaration and lively sensibility, even to tears seemingly of deep feeling, of those who have a full remembrance, and who largely shared in their own experience of the evils of heathenism, are to be accredited, the islanders themselves are far from being insensible to the benefit and blessing of the change they have experienced; and would not for worlds be deprived of the light and mercy they bave received, or again be subjected to the mental and moral darkness, and various degradation from which they have escaped.

"Yet there are those who have visited the South Seas-men bearing the Christian name, with a reputation for science, and holding stations of honour, who have affected to discover a greater degree of depravity, and more wretchedness, at Tahiti and Raiatea, than was known in the reign and terror of idolatry; and have ventured to proclaim to the world, that Christianity has here, for the first time in eighteen hundred years, had the effect of rendering the inhabitants vindictive and hateful, indolent and corrupt, superstitions and unhappy, and more pitiable in all their circumstances, than when fully in a pagan state! And that the wars introduced and encouraged by the MESSENGERS OF PEACE, have nearly exterminated the race!