in my name to the Inquisitor. As I walked up the Hall, I saw a poor woman sitting by herself, on a bench by the wall apparently in a disconsolate state of mind. She clasped her hands as I passed, and gave me a look expressive of her distress. This sight chilled my spirits. The familiars told me she was waiting there to be called up before the tribunal of the Inquisition. While I was asking questions concerning her crime, the second Inquisitor came out in evident trepidation, and was about to complain of the intrusion; when I informed him I had come back for the letter from the chief Inquisitor. He said it should be sent after me to Goa; and he conducted me with a quick step towards the door. As we passed the poor woman I pointed to her, and said to him with some emphasis, Behold, Father, another victim of the holy Inquisition!" He answered nothing. When we arrived at the head of the great stair, he bowed, and I took my last leave of Joseph a Doloribus, without uttering a word.'

6

It will be well understood for what purpose the foregoing particulars, concerning the Inquisition at Goa, are rehearsed in the cars of the British nation. "The Romans," says Montesquieu, "deserved well of human na"ture, for making it an article in their treaty "with the Carthaginians, that they should ab"stain from SACRIFICING their CHILDREN to their "Gods." It has been observed by respectable writers, that the English nation ought to imitate this example, and endeavour to induce her allies to abolish the human sacrifices of the Inquisition ;" and a censure has been

passed on our Government for its indifference The indifference to the In

to this subject. quisition is attributable, we believe, to the same cause which has produced an indifference to the religious principles which first organized the Inquisition. The mighty despot, who suppressed the Inquisition in Spain, was not swayed probably by very powerful motives of humanity; but viewed with jealousy a tribunal, which usurped an independent dominion; and he put it down, on the same principle that he put down the Popedom, that he might remain Pontiff and Grand Inquisitor himself. And so he will remain for a time, till the purposes of Providence shall have been accomplished by him. But are we to look on in silence, and to expect that further meliorations in human society are to be effected by despotism, or by great revolutions? « If," say the same Authors, "while the Inquisition is de"stroyed in Europe by the power of despotism, "we could entertain the hope, and it is not too much to entertain such a hope, that the power of liberty is about to destroy it in America; we might even, amid the gloom "that surrounds us, congratulate our fellow"creatures on one of the most remarkable pe"riods in the history of the progress of human

Edin. Rev. No. XXXII. p. 449.

46

society, the FINAL ERASURE of the Inquisition "from the face of the earth."* It will indeed be an important and happy day to the earth, when this final erasure shall take place; but the period of such an event is nearer, we apprehend, in Europe and America, than it is in Asia; and its termination in Asia depends as much on Great Britain as on Portugal. And shall not Great Britain do her part to hasten this desirable time? Do we wait, as if to see whether the power of Infidelity will abolish the other Inquisitions of the earth? Shall not we, in the mean while, attempt to do something, on Christian principles, for the honour of God and of humanity? Do we dread even to express a sentiment on the subject in our legislative assemblies, or to notice it in our Treaties? It is surely our duty to declare our wishes, at least, for the abolition of these inhuman tribunals, (since we take an active part in promoting the welfare of other nations,) and to deliver our testimony against them in the presence of Europe.

This case is not unlike that of the Immolation of Females in Bengal; with this aggravation in regard to that atrocity, that the rite. is perpetrated in our own territories. Our humanity in England revolts at the occasional

Edin. Rev. No. XXXII. p. 429.

description of the enormity; but the matter comes not to our own business and bosoms, and we fail even to insinuate our disapprobation of the deed. It may be concluded then, that while we remain silent and unmoved spectators of the flames of the Widow's Pile, there is no hope that we shall be justly affected by the reported horrors of the Inquisition.

TRANSLATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES FOR THE ROMISH CHRISTIANS.

THE principal languages spoken by the Romish Christians in India are these four: the Tamul, the Malabar, the Ceylonese, and the Portuguese. We have already had occasion to notice the three first. The Tamul version has been long since completed by the Protestant Missionaries; and the Malabar and the Ceylonese are in course of publication.-It is now proper to explain that excellent effects may be expected from the diffusion of the Portu guese Scriptures in India. The Portuguese Language prevails wherever there are, or have been, settlements of that nation. Their descendants people the coasts from the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope to the Sea of China;

beginning from Sofala, Mocaranga, Mosambique, (where there is a Bishop,) Zinzebar, and Melinda, (where there are many churches,) on the east of Africa; and extending round by Babelmandel, Diu, Surat, Daman, Bombay, Goa, Calicut, Cochin, Angengo, Tutecorin, Negapatam, Jaffnapatam, Columbo, Point de Galle, Tranquebar, Tanjore, Tritchinopoly, Porto-Novo, Pondicherry, Sadras, Madras, Masulipatam, Calcutta, Chinsurah, Bandel, Chittagong, Macao and Canton; and almost all the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, which were first conquered by the Portuguese. The greater part of the Portuguese in India are now subjects of the British Empire. The Author visited most of the places above enumerated; and in many of them he could not hear of a single copy of the Portuguese Scriptures. There is a Portuguese Press at Tranquebar, and another at Vepery near Madras ; and pecuniary aid only is wanted from Europe to multiply copies, and to circulate them round the coasts of Asia. The Portuguese Language is certainly a most favourable medium for dif fusing the true religion in the maritime provinces of the East.