missionary Padre Joseph Vaz, of the order of St. Philip Neri, arrived on the island, the Catholics dared not assemble in public for religious purposes. He was obliged to pass from one family to another disguised in the dress of a slave, and to offer up the holy sacrifice of the mass in private chambers. He was a messenger of peace and consolation to all the afflicted Catholics of the island. However cautiously and privately they assembled to receive his instructions, they were exposed to the danger of discovery and consequent punishment.

"Once on the Christmas Eve, when they were assembled in three houses where altars were prepared, upon each of which the holy missionary was expected to celebrate mass, whilst they were singing the Litanies and performing other acts of devotion, instead of Matins before Mass, the Dutch soldiers entered and unexpectedly assaulted them. They beat both men and women, demolished the altars, behaved in the most disrespectful manner to the sacred images, and took upwards of three hundred persons prisoners. On the following day the prisoners were brought before the Dutch judge, Van Rheede; he ordered the women to be released and imposed pecuniary fines on the men, with the exception of eight who were persons of great property and consideration. These he ordered to be cruelly whipped; one of them named Peter, who had been lately converted from Lutheranism by Father Joseph, to be put to death in the most inhuman manner. The remaining seven were condemned to serve during the rest of their lives in irons and hard labour.

"Notwithstanding the vigilance and activity with which the Catholics were pursued by their inexorable persecutors, their numbers began to increase; so that when the English took possession of the island in 1795, there were still many priests who attended their flocks in secret. Though they then changed masters the same laws continued, but enforced with a much milder spirit. The Catholics however still continued an unprotected and degraded class. But the dawn of their deliverance approached the day that was to see them restored to freedom, and to their rights and privileges as British subjects, was at hand. Providence and the wisdom of the English Government, sent Sir Alexander Johnston as chief justice and first member of his majesty's council on that island. From the day of his arrival, his time and his thoughts were occupied to discover the customs, the dispositions, and the wants of its inhabitants. He declared himself ready to receive from all persons acquainted with the laws and habits of the people, suggestions that might tend to improve their condition, to promote peace, and contribute to advance the trade, comfort, and civilization of the island. The consequence was, that upon his strong and personal representations to his majesty's government during his visit to England, he carried back the glorious blessings of trial by jury to all the inhabitants of Ceylon, and a confirmation of the privileges which he obtained for the Catholics in 1806."-p. 13, 14.

In answer to a letter of thanks addressed to him by the a rchbishop of Goa, Sir Alexander states, that he was induced to consider the condition of Catholics in the island, from a peculiar case that came before him, and that he then found that a great many most oppressive regulations made against them by the Dutch, still continued in force, which he endeavoured, and that successfully, to get repealed. He also mentions, that in a circuit he had lately made through the island, he observed that there was not a single Catholic brought for trial, and yet their numbers at that time were very considerable.

The Dutch and Portuguese still form a part of the motley population of Ceylon, but their numbers are not very great, and they are scarcely found except in the towns. There they find occupation in the public offices as clerks and petty officers. Most of the respectable shops are kept by them: the lower sort exercise various trades, while some few have preserved themselves in better rank and circumstances, as merchants and civil servants. For they have intermingled so much together, as well as with the Singhalese on one side and the English on the other, that they are to be found in all ranks and grades of society, from the highest to the very lowest. Many illegitimate children of English fathers by native women, have found their level among them. The most respectable part of them go by the name of Burghers. In character, however, they are not a pleasing set of people. They are very fond of dress and show, and commonly live beyond what they can afford, in order to make an appearance. As the natural accompaniment of this, they are, as might be expected, very vain and conceited, and give themselves great airs, so that they are not very easy people to deal with. As being better educated, they have more just ideas of what is right and good, and pay some attention towards keeping up their respectability, but they do not seem especially remarkable for any good quality, and the lower classes of them, consisting chiefly of Portuguese, are very low and disreputable.

In point of religion they are, as might be expected,, divided. Those who are directly descended from the Dutch, or who are connected, or wish to be thought connected with the English, are protestants. The Dutch have, indeed, the remains of a Presbyterian establishment, supported by the English government; but as it is more fashionable or more exciting to attend some of the numer

ous protestant places of worship, the Dutch congregations are beginning to fall off, and perhaps will not exist much longer. At present they have a few large churches in the most important stations, which are generally used at a different hour for the Anglican service. And there are a few Dutch Proponents, as they are called, who read some prayers to the few who still adhere to their old form of religion. Formerly the Dutch were very zealous in the work of proselytizing. While they destroyed or took possession of the Catholic churches, and proscribed any exercise of their religion, they endeavoured to bring the people round to themselves, by making it an honourable and lucrative thing to be a protestant. No one could hold the meanest office under government, such as that of even being headman in his native village, unless he had been baptized; and as the poor natives had no conscientious scruples against what they looked upon as so harmless a ceremony, which put them in the way of so much preferment with so little trouble, they at length became willing, and even anxious, to be baptized. To such an extent was this system carried on, that the Anglican Clergy have had some difficulty in putting a stop to the Proponents, or Catechists, from baptizing numbers of people who had neither any knowledge of their new religion, nor of their duties as members of it, nor the most distant intention of performing them. Some fifteen years back one had to be suspended or dismissed from his office by the archdeacon of the island, for persisting in baptizing all the children of a native village at three pence a head, though he had been expressly prohibited from doing so. And this notion of its being honourable to be a Christian has taken such hold of the people, that, except in the central parts of the island, which were never held by the Dutch, but few would profess themselves Boodhists. Not an uncommon answer for a man to make when he is asked what religion he is of, is, 'I am a Christian, but I go to the temple,' viz., of Boodhoo.

As for the Portuguese, the great bulk of them have remained firm in adherence to the Catholic faith, though there are some who have been attracted by the hope of better situations, or by the wish to be like the English, to become Protestants; and then they generally attached themselves to some one of the numerous Dissenting Missionary bodies which have established themselves in Ceylon. We have now given some account of the inhabitants of Ceylon, of the character of the place, and a sketch of its more recent history. We have seen what great conflicts the poor Catholics have had to go through in persecutions, from their own rulers as well as from the Dutch Government, and how courageously they have stood through it all; so that after 150 years of unceasing persecution, in which they were left almost without priests to administer the Sacraments to them, and to instruct them, there was yet a very considerable number, some 60,000 or 70,000, left. We come next to consider the present state of religion in the island, and its future prospects, and what are the chief obstacles to its entire conversion. And here it is obvious to take some account of the heathen religion of Boodhism, which still prevails there very extensively, since it must be by the overthrow of this, that the true religion is to gain ground. The Catholic Intelligencer gives the following account of it.

"The system of religion practised in the island before the introduction of Christianity, and still followed unfortunately by great numbers, is that of Boodhoo. They do not believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, self-existent and eternal, the Creator and preserver of the Universe. They believe that a man may become a god or a demon, or that a god may become a man or an animalcule; that ordinary death is merely a change of form, and that these changes are almost infinite. They have all over the island built temples and dedicated them to the worship of this god (Boodhoo) who they say came from the fourth of the innumerable heavens, and lived two hundred years before the Christian era. After his death he ascended to the brightest heaven, and they expect another Boodhoo to come for their salvation. The majority of the natives are of this religion at present."-р. 11.

Considering that nearly one-third of the earth's inhabitants are estimated to be professors of the Boodhist religion, it seems not a little curious that so little is known on the subject. Perhaps, now that Europeans have obtained entrance into the Chinese Empire, which is the great stronghold of this religion, something more may be discovered; but at present such a vast field of enquiry opens itself when entering on the subject, as almost to frighten one from making the attempt. In Ceylon there seems to be no want of MSS., containing very valuable information on this subject. And as the temples and colleges where they have been preserved seem more ready to part with them than

they were, it is hoped that some of them may fall into the hands of those who will make good use of them. The sacred books, however, are not written in Singhalese, as might have been expected, but in Sanscrit or Pali, which the Boodhist priests are more or less acquainted with. Indeed, it is from these languages that the Singhalese is in great measure derived. They seem, however, to be chiefly taken up with the endless mazes of fables and genealogies, relating to the different Boodhoos, with all their doings and adventures. And it must be the work of a long time, and of a most patient investigation, to make out the real meaning and intent of them. Whether there were nine Boodhoos or one, whether Boodhoo was a God or a man, and whether Boodhism recognizes any supreme being, are points about which one hears the most contradictory statements. So that we cannot pretend to do more than make a few remarks on what seems to be the real state of belief on the matter.

It seems then to be quite true that the Boodhist religion does not acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being in the same sense that we do. The common belief of the people, indeed, does not follow their religion. They do believe in the existence of an overruling Deity, but should any one of them become a Boodhist priest, he would be obliged to give up such an heretical doctrine. The Boodhist religion however acknowledges what may be called a negative diivne power, which they denominate Fate, and which is supposed absolutely to predestinate every thing, so that all things which come to pass are decreed irrevocably beforehand. Even the people at large who do believe in a Supreme Being, will yet speak of things as being fated, and therefore unavoidably coming to pass. One might have thought it inconsistent with this that they should attribute any thing like merit to what they do; yet as a matter of fact, no idea seems more deeply rooted in their mind than that of meriting by good deeds. One will hardly pass through a village without seeing a rest-house for travellers, or a large vessel full of water for them to drink from, or some such work of charity, built or set up as a work of merit. And they believe that, according to the amount of merit which they possess, will be their condition after death. It has been thought by some, that they estimated their stock of merit by their good works, without thinking that it is diminished by vice and bad works; but we are inclined to