not what course of reasoning had led him to this conclusion. Certain it is, that the enemies we should raise up would be among the incorrigible pirates, and with them we do not, certainly, wish to exist in friendship. When they abstain from piracy, England will forsake hostility, but until then, it will be her duty to hold them as the worst enemies of commerce, of civilization, and of Christianity. With regard to the peaceful trading communities, every measure we take towards extirpating the atrocious freebooters of the eastern seas, will endear us still further to them. Out of the enormous number of prahus which annually set sail towards the great trading marts of the Archipelago, there is no calculating the sum of those which fall victims to the ruthless pirate fleets. What a check is thus given to trade! With the wealth which we know it to possess, with the resources which could increase that wealth to an indefinite extent, with hardy and industrious populations on its various islands, with the rudiments of traffic which it now sustains, it is difficult to conceive the height to which the prosperity of the Indian Archipelago may not ascend. To whom should the task be entrusted? Spain has not the power, if it had the will; France has no interests to defend, and no commerce to protect there; Holland is unfortunately too busy with measures of aggression and conquest; and withal, seems not strong enough to effect much. Its disgraceful expedition to Bali has met with signal failure, and the attempt it made in April last, to bring the piratical Sultan of Sulu to terms, was repulsed with so great vigour, that the Dutch vessels were compelled, with dishonour, to seek escape in the open sea, from the hot volleys poured upon them from the pirate batteries. It remains, therefore, for England to perform the good work. The Indian islands are at present steeped in barbarism. Commerce would thrive among them, were it not choked by the rank weeds of piracy; civilization would progress, but its advance is retarded by the constant series of assaults and defences, of pillages, and burning of towns, and laying waste of districts, and the desolation of defenceless coasts. Slavery might be suppressed, but the buccaneering system finds its main strength in the traffic in human flesh. Indeed, there can exist no hope for the regeneration of the Indian Archipelago, so long as piracy constitutes the greatest existing power. All exertions, however energetically directed, but which have not this object in view, must prove abortive. We put it to our readers, therefore, whether or not the extirpation of these freebooting hordes, will reflect credit on the country. We unhesitatingly assert that it will.

The length into which we have been betrayed by the present

subject, will preclude us from touching much further on the interesting scenes and descriptions laid before us in Mr. St. John's views in the eastern Archipelago. One extract, however, we must yet make. Our author is speaking of the future prospects of Borneo, and of the relation it is destined to enter into with England:

'Hereafter, as our influence developes itself in Borneo, the margins of its rivers will have more significance for us, in proportion as the number of families is rapidly multiplied, who have sons and daughters located on them. Already, I learn to look with affection at the jungle, mountains, and streams of that part of the world, as the probable home for years of one of my children. And, what is true in my case, will shortly be so in that of many others. With Mr. Brooke's name, a hundred rivers and headlands, a hundred creeks and bays, are already connected intimately. As we glance along the coast, 'here,' we exclaim, did he direct the destruction of the pirate fleet, where his native followers slew the Illanunpanglima; here the buccaneer, Budrudeen, was made prisoner; and there, in the quiet little village of Santah, he spends, after months of fatigue and toil, a few quiet days in retirement. And in this way will the historical geography of Pulo Kalamantan be formed. Here,' we shall be able to say, 'is a Chinese Kunsi; there, a gold or diamond mine, and further on, a missionary settlement with church, and school for the instruction of the Dyaks.' Slender white spires will ascend through the forests, and a thousand sacred associations be cherished around them, and then will the banks of the river be beautiful in the eyes of civilization, which will have wrought a good work in reclaiming the savage and his country from the civil curse which now rests upon both.'

We cannot linger over the rest of the present volume. If our readers would render themselves familiar with the various scenes represented, they would do well to consult the views which have suggested our observations. From Mr. Brooke's Bungalow, at Sarawak, we are led on to the Borneo River, where the English war-steamer is sustaining the fire of a powerful battery. Thence we accompany the artist to Brune, the Venice, as it has been termed, of the Oriental Archipelago; then into the centre of a Singapore jungle; thence, again, into the midst of a picturesque Dyak village, in an interior province of Borneo. With the facility of Asmodeus, Mr. St. John leads us from Labuan to the summit of Santurbong, from the pirate haunts in the Malludu river, to Borneo; from Singhi to Matang; describing each with truth and vigor, and illustrating his delineations with exceedingly picturesque accompaniments. But we must conclude, and trust that the observations we have made, will not be without their effect upon the minds of those who may have been prejudiced by statements, uttered, without doubt, in an honest and praiseworthy spirit, but based on erroneous information.

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ART. III.-The History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal, from the Earliest Times to their Final Expulsion from those Kingdoms, and their subsequent Dispersions; with complete Translations of all the Laws made respecting them during their long establishment in the Iberian Peninsula. By E. H. Lindo. 8vo. London: Longman and Co. THE history of the Hebrew nation, from the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, is one of the most melancholy of human records. It is written within and without with lamentation and weeping. Their ancient glory was not merely shaded,—it suffered a total eclipse. Their sun set in blood, and they became a byeword and reproach with all people. The miserable remnant which survived the overthrow of their beautiful city were scattered amongst all lands, and found no resting-place for the soles of their feet. Clinging to the faith of their fathers, distinct in their habits from the people with whom they sojourned, without social affinities beyond the pale of their own tribe, at once recoiling from their neighbours and shunned contemptuously by them, they were exposed to an accumulation of sufferings which no other free people have experienced. The history of the world furnishes no parallel to their case, and the intelligent student will vainly seek to resolve its phenomena without assistance from the Divine record. Their debasement has been proportioned to their former elevation. The miracles wrought on their behalf, the illustrious individuals reared in their midst and commissioned for their guidance, the unique character of their government, and the marvellous communications which, from time to time, they received from the Deity, stand out in visible and striking contrast to all the more recent facts of their history. Objects, at once, of popular outrage and of regal oppression, they have tasted, nay, drunk to the very dregs, the cup of human sorrow.

Social wrongs have been endured by other people, and the religious element, corrupted by superstition and infuriated by bigotry, has for a season embittered their lot. But what was accidental and temporary in other cases, has been uniform and permanent in that of the Jews. The religion of Christendom degenerated into a drivelling superstition, denounced them as the vilest malefactors, and commanded its votaries, as an act of piety to heaven, to heap on them all possible human misery. Interpreting the Divine mind by its own bad passions, it arrogated the terrible attributes of omnipotence, and claimed the right of punishing the infidelity which had rejected the claims

of Christ. An ignorant and brutal superstition prepared the European people to be the ready instruments of a wily and intolerant priesthood; while the wealth of the Israelites tempted feudal barons, and needy sovereigns, to the same truculent and base policy. It is fearful to contemplate the crimes and miseries which resulted from a combination of these influences. A worse than Egyptian oppression was practised throughout Europe. We have never known, we never shall know, the miseries inflicted on the Hebrew people. The marvel is that they have survived, and the fact of their having done so, is living proof of the truth of those records to which the common faith of Jews and of Christians turns.

These facts give great interest to the history of the Hebrews, of which the volume before us forms an important link. An impartial account of the Jews of Spain and Portugal has long been a desideratum. They were known to have settled in these countries in large numbers, and during many centuries to have conducted most of their monetary transactions, and to have earned for themselves high reputation in oriental scholarship, and a knowledge of the arts and sciences. Mr. Lindo has derived his information from original authorities, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew; and has elucidated his narrative by references to the general history of the Peninsula. The volume is too documentary to be extensively popular, but its value, as a permanent record, is thereby increased. Some distraction is induced by the numerous kingdoms into which the Iberian Peninsula was formerly broken up, but the want of unity to which this leads is amply compensated by the more exact and multifarious information supplied. On the whole, Mr. Lindo's volume must take its place amongst works of sterling merit, whose permanent value will be attested by the references all future historians of Spain and Portugal must make to its pages.

The first settlement of the Jews in these countries is lost in the obscurity of ages; but while the rest of Europe was sunk in ignorance and semi-barbarism, Jewish rabbins occupied the highest chairs, and by their attainments shed lustre over the celebrated Moorish schools, of Cordova and Toledo. They made known the philosophy of the ancients to the mixed race which resulted from the irruption of barbarous tribes into the Roman empire. Europe,' as Mr. Lindo justly remarks, has scarcely acknowledged, much less repaid, the debt she owes to the illustrious Hebrew schools of Spain.' The services they rendered did not however exempt them from bitter persecution. Sizebut, who was raised to the Gothic throne of Spain in 612, in order to conciliate the Greek emperor, Heraclius, impri

soned several of their most wealthy men, and sanctioned the murder of large numbers who would not embrace Christianity. Many, in consequence, emigrated to that part of Gaul which was occupied by the Franks, and others passed over to Africa. It is asserted by a Spanish historian, that ninety thousand received baptism in order to escape the horrors of this persecution, many of whom, however, returned to Judaism on the death of the monarch. A slight respite was subsequently afforded them, but even those Councils which were most lenient in their measures, throw a melancholy light over the condition of the Hebrews. Thus, the fourth Council of Toledo, in 633, enacted the following amongst various canons, than which it is scarcely possible to conceive of anything more absurdly inconsistent:

In respect to Jews, this holy synod has resolved, that in future no one shall be compelled to receive our faith; for God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth; as such persons are not saved unwillingly, but by consent, that the attribute of justice be preserved entire. For as man perished by his own free will in submitting to the serpent, so when the grace of God calleth, every man is saved by believing, by the conversion of his own mind. Therefore they are not to be constrained, but persuaded into conversion, by the free agency of the will. As to those already forced into Christianity, as was done in the time of the most devout prince Sizebut, since it is evident they have partaken of the holy sacrament, have received the grace of baptism, have been anointed with the chrism, and received the body and blood of our Lord; it is right they should be obliged to retain the faith they have undertaken, although under compulsion and necessity, lest the name of God be blasphemed, and the faith they have assumed be considered worthless and despicable.'—p. 14.

The children of Jews were to be separated from their parents, and to be placed in monasteries, or under so-called Christian men and women, that by their society they may learn the worship of the true faith, that, being thus better instructed, they may improve in morals and belief.' When such unnatural and barbarous decrees were deemed merciful, it is needless to say what must have been the general condition of the people. The rigour of the laws was increased from time to time, yet they failed to effect either the conversion or the extirpation of the Jews. The ignorance of legal and clerical functionaries, who in general could neither read nor write, prevented a strict enforcement of the decrees adopted; while the numerous revolutions that occurred, and the instability of the royal authority, coupled with the great wealth of the Jews, enabled them to weather many of the storms raised for their destruction. On Witiza becoming sole sovereign of