takers of the bountiful mercies which he has lavished over nature, and is also so well fitted to regulate the conduct of the human race in the discharge of their various duties to God, to themselves, and to society, that I cannot but hope the best effects from its promulgation in the present form."

Not long after the publication of this tract there appeared some strictures upon it in "The Friend of India," a periodical work under the direction of the Baptist missionaries, of which Dr. Marshman is the editor. These strictures were written by the Rev. Mr. Schmidt, and were followed by some remarks by Dr. Marshman, in which he terms the compiler of the "Precepts" "an intelligent heathen." This, as might be expected, was the prelude of a controversy. Rammohun Roy published" an Appeal to the Christian Public in defence of the Precepts of Jesus." He seems to have taken great offence at the epithet of heathen, bestowed on him by Dr. Marshman, for we find him thus commenting upon it. It is due to Dr. Marshman to say, that he afterwards disclaimed all intention of using this term in an invidious sense.

"an

"I should hope neither the reviewer nor the editor can be justified in inferring the heathenism of the compiler, from the facts of his extracting and publishing the moral doctrines of the New Testament, under the title of "A Guide to Peace and Happiness"-his styling the Precepts of Jesus, a code of religion and morality—his believing God to be the author and preserver of the universe-or his considering those sayings as adapted to regulate the conduct of the whole human race in the discharge of all the duties required of them.

"Neither, I trust, can his separating the moral sayings of Christ from the mysterious dogmas and historical parts of the New Testament, under the impression, that these are liable to the doubts and disputes of freethinkers and anti-christians, with which this part of the world is unfortunately filled; nor his opinion that this simple code of morality would be more likely to attract the notice and respect of such men, and to guide their minds into the paths of peace and happiness, than if presented to them in conjunction with other matter against which their education has taught them to revolt: justly subject him, in the opinion of the most orthodox Christians, to the epithet applied to him by the editor. If they do, I cannot see how the same condemnation can be spared to numerous publications of extracts from the Old and the New Testaments, made and sent forth by several Christian authors, under various designations, and for different purposes.

"With respect to the latter mode of seeking evidence, however unjustified the editor may be in coming to such a conclusion, he is safe in ascribing the collection of these Precepts to Raminohun Roy; who, although he was born a Brahmun, not only renounced idolatry at a very early period of his life, but published at that time a treatise in Arabic and Persian against that system; and no sooner acquired a tolerable knowledge of English, than he made his desertion of idol worship known to the Christian world by his English publication-a renunciation that, I

am sorry to say, brought severe difficulties upon him, by exciting the displeasure of his parents, and subjecting him to the dislike of his near, as well as distant relations, and to the hatred of nearly all his countrymen for several years. I therefore presume, that among his declared enemies, who are aware of those facts, no one who has the least pretension to truth, would venture to apply the designation of heathen to him; but I am sure, that the respect he entertains for the very name of christianity, which the editor of the Friend of India seems to profess, will restrain him from retorting on that editor, although there may be differences of opinion between them, that might be thought sufficient to justify the use towards the editor of a term no less offensive. The editor, perhaps, may consider himself justified by numerous precedents amongst the several partisans of different Christian sects, in applying the name of heathen to one who takes the Precepts of Jesus as his principal guide in matters of religious and civil duties; as Roman Catholics bestow the appellation of heretics or infidels on all classes of Protestants, and Protestants do not spare the title of idolaters to Roman Catholics; Trinitarians deny the name of Christian to Unitarians, while the latter retort by stigmatizing the worshippers of the Son of man as Pagans, who adore a created and dependent Being. Very different conduct is inculcated in the precept of Jesus to John, when complaining of one who performed cures in the name of Jesus, yet refused to follow the apostles;-he gave a rebuke, saying, "He that is not against us is on our part :" Mark, ch. ix. ver. 40. The Compiler, having obviously in view at least one objeet in common with the Reviewer and Editor, that of procuring respect for the precepts of Christ, might have reasonably expected more charity from professed teachers of his doctrines.-pp. 102-105.

A reply to the "Appeal" appeared not long after in the Friend of India, and this reply produced a "Second Appeal," from the pen of Rammohun Roy. Both the appeals are given in this volume. The controversy, however, has not rested here. There appeared in the Friend of India an answer to the "Second Appeal" and this led to Rammohun Roy's "Final Appeal," printed in 1823. It is grateful to observe the candour and good temper with which this controversy has been carried on on both sides. The Hindoo writer begins his Second Appeal with the following honourable testimony to the manner in which it has been conducted by Dr. Marshman.

6

"The observations contained in No. I. of the Quarterly Series of 'The Friend of India,' on the Introduction to 'The Precepts of Jesus,' as well as on their defence, termed An Appeal to the Christian Public,' are happily expressed in so mild and Christian-like a style, that they have not only afforded ine ample consolation for the disappointment and vexation I felt from the personality conveyed in the preceding Magazines, (Nos. 20 and 23.) but have also encouraged me to pursue my researches after the fundamental principles of Christianity in a manner agreeable to my feelings, and with such respect as I should always wish to manifest for the situation and character of so worthy a person as the Editor of the Friend of India."-p. 145.

After all, the day when one religious reformer could call anVOL. I.

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other" a blasphemer, a malicious barking dog, full of ignorance, bestiality, and impudence, an impostor, a base corrupter of the sacred writings, a mocker of God, a contemner of all religion, an impious, lewd, crooked-minded vagabond, and a beggarly rogue," is past, never we hope to return. These flowers of controversy have now come to be esteemed for what they are worth, as the mere rhetorical garnishing of the composition, common to both sides of the question, and therefore not likely to procure a victory for either. It is now generally admitted, that reasoning and argument are the best polemical weapons, inasmuch as they presuppose some knowledge of the matter in dispute, while noisy and abusive declamations are looked upon with some suspicion, as the easy resort of prejudice and igno

rance.

It is not within our province to enter into an examination of the arguments by which Rammohun Roy supports the view of Christianity he has embraced. They seem to be urged with distinctness and ingenuity, though it is probable that they will not strike those who are familiar with the controversy as new. Two things, however, we apprehend, will somewhat surprise the reader; the writer's familiarity with western learning, and his great command of the English language. It is said, by the editor of the Calcutta Journal, that although some of his earlier works might have been revised by an English pen, yet he did not believe that his later writings, his controversies with the missionaries at Serampore, contained a single word that was not wholly his own. It should seem, indeed, that no revision was necessary of the writings of one "whose fine choice of words in conversation is worthy the imitation even of Englishmen."

It seems to us that the labours of this extraordinary man cannot but have some favourable effect upon the destinies of Hindostan. His example and his instructions will not be lost upon his countrymen. He will not, in the coming age, be mentioned as the least fortunate among those who have devoted themselves to that cause so dear to the hearts of the good and the philanthropic of all countries, the improvement of the religious and political condition of India. It is certain that any system of Christian doctrine, however erroneous and imperfect, is better than the monstrous and horrible superstition to which the inhabitants of that country are enslaved. It is not in a narrow or illiberal spirit that the Baptist missionaries at Serampore speak, when they avow their conviction that the religious opinions which the Indian philosopher is labouring to diffuse among his countrymen, though not unexceptionable, are

useful; trusting, that when they shall have fulfilled their appointed work of assisting to break up and confound the Hindoo idolatry, they will sink into the earth to rise no more.

ART. XXXVII.-Life and Character of the Chevalier John Paul Jones, a Captain in the Navy of the United States during their Revolutionary War. Dedicated to the Officers of the American Navy. By JOHN HENRY SHERBURNE, Register of the Navy of the United States. Wilder & Campbell. New-York,

1825.

It was our intention to have accompanied our notice of this work, with a succinct but sufficiently comprehensive account of the life, character, and naval services of Paul Jones, and thus to have supplied, in some measure, the manifest imperfections of Mr. Sherburne's book, regarded in the light of its biographical pretensions. This we must defer until some future period, and we do so with the less reluctance, as we hope then to have it in our power to have access to some valuable manuscripts, with the existence of which, it would seem, the editor of the work before us is entirely unacquainted. Our business just now is simply to inquire, how far the present volume promises to fulfil the expectations, which its title and the numerous prospectuses and notices by which it was preceded, were calculated to excite.

The documents and letters, of which three fourths at least of this "Life and Character of John Paul Jones" actually consist, and (if we except perhaps a dozen) all that are of prior date to the close of the revolutionary war, were obtained from a citizen of New-York, by whom the greater part of them were accidentally discovered, about a year ago, in the shop of a baker, who had received them as so much waste paper from a person now deceased, in whose family Mr. Taylor, a nephew of Paul Jones, was formerly an inmate. The discovery was duly noticed in the public prints, and by this means many others. were obtained from a variety of sources. There is no doubt whatever, that these, along with the documents which were published in the Port Folio about the year 1804, as well as several others which were afterwards scattered in various directions, made up the whole of the original mass of papers left twenty years ago in the hands of the late Robert Hyslop.

Soon after the MSS. were noticed in the public journals as being in train for publication, the following advertisement appeared in the Washington newspapers. "J. H. Sherburne, of the navy department, is about to publish an authentic journal

of the cruises of John Paul Jones, written under his immediate inspection, by Lieutenant Elijah Hall, his confidential friend, and the only surviving officer that sailed with him during his cruises ; also, the correspondence between them."

The journal referred to is the log book of the Ranger, no part of which is introduced into the volume, and the correspondence is two letters of instruction from Capt. Jones to Lieut. Hall.

These comprised, strange as it may appear, the whole of the materials in the possession of Mr. Sherburne, when he announced his intention of giving to the public "an authentic narrative of the cruises of Paul Jones." Not aware that this was merely a manoeuvre to get possession of the valuable collection of which the discovery had been a short time previously announced, and confidently trusting that Mr. Sherburne was not only in possession of a large mass of interesting papers, to which those found in New-York might serve as an appendage, but that he was fully competent to discharge the task he had assumed, as well from his official station, as from the opportunities which his access to the supposed documents afforded; and finally, believing that the promised work would come with more effect, and with better prospects of extensive circulation, from the Navy Department of the United States, than from any private source of publication; the possessor of the New-York documents did not hesitate, upon an assurance of indemnity for the trouble of collection, examination, and arrangement* to put all the papers he had discovered, to the number of several hundreds, into the hands of Mr. Sherburne, in the full assurance that they were subsidiary to an undertaking which that gentleman was fully in the condition of performing, and in the success of which, the finder of the manuscripts felt all the interest which an American can feel, in seeing redeemed from unjust opprobrium, the name and character of one of the bravest of our revolutionary heroes.

Immediately on the receipt of the manuscripts thus obtained, in January last, Mr. Sherburne issued his prospectus promising "a life of the Chevalier J. P. Jones, with an appendix of let tersand documents illustrating the same;" assuring the pub. lic, "that as the sources from which he draws his facts are rich in anecdote and fruitful in illustrations of revolutionary scenes, the work would possess in some degree the charm of ro

*It has been stated to us, on competent authority, that since the publication of the work, Mr. Sherburne has informed the person from whom he received the MSS. that the agreement between them was rendered void in consequence of his having obtained without consideration, from Mr. Lowdon, a nephew of Com. Jones, authority to collect and appropriate towards the work all the papers he could find that were left in Mr. Hyslop's care, in August, 1797.