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THE Llama, as well as the camel, is | and the motions more spirited and lively, distinguished from all other ruminant in the Llama than the camel. They exanimals by the absence of horns, by the hibit no protuberances like the camel's, structure of their feet, and by the two or the dromedary's hump, though they incisive teeth in the upper jaw. In all have traces of an excess of nutritive matthese respects these two closely-allied ter under the skin, which, on occasions, groups very nearly correspond. The pro- is absorbed as a compensation for want portions of the form, however, are lighter, of food. Their stomachs are, in some

degree, similarly constructed; a part in the Llama resembles the reservoirs for water in the camel, but they have no muscular apparatus to close their mouths, and allow the solid food to pass into the digesting stomach without going into the cells.

These similarities warrant naturalists

in classing the camel and the Llama in the same genus, though they differ in size and form. They are both fitted by nature for the endurance of fatigue, hardships, and privations--the one amid sandy deserts, under a burning sun, and the other on the wastes of lofty mountains, with a region of perpetual snow above them. There are variations in the foot, but these are modifications of nature, which fit them for their respective localities. Both are without any real hoof; but the short, thick, and crooked toes of the Llama, without the horny process which unites them in the camel, would not suit them for the burning plains; and a habitation amid the rocks would be unfitted for the feet of the camel. Yet each is adapted to exist in a very arid and sterile region.

There is but little doubt that the domestication of the Llama has produced all the differences of colour and form for which the species are remarkable, and that the varieties known under the names of pacos, vicunnas, and guanacos, constitute but one original class. Captain George Sheloocke, an Englishman, who sailed round the world in 1719-22, thus describes the Llamas, &c., which he saw at Arica in Peru :—

"At Arica they generally use that sort of little camels which the Indians of Peru call Llamas; the Chilese, chilineque ; and the Spaniards, carneros de la tierra, or native sheep. The heads of these animals are small in proportion to their bodies, and are somewhat in shape between the head of a horse and that of a sheep, the upper lip being cleft, like that of a hare, through which they can spit to the distance of ten paces, against any one who offends them. Their necks are long, and concavely bent downwards, like that of a camel. Their ordinary height is from four feet to four and a half, and their ordinary burden does not exceed an hundred-weight. They walk, holding up their heads, with wonderful gravity, and at so regular a pace that no beating can quicken it. At night it is impossible to make them move with their loads, for they lie down till these are taken off, and then go to graze. Their ordinary food is a sort of grass, called yeho, somewhat like a small rush, but finer, and has a sharp point, with which all the mountains are covered exclusively. They eat little, and never drink, so that they are easily maintained. They are used at the mines to carry ore to the mills; and, so soon as loaded, they set off without any guide to the place where they are usually unloaded.

"Their hair, or wool rather, is long, white, grey, and russet, in spots, and fine, but much inferior to that of the vicunna (vigonia), and has a strong and disagreeable scent.

: "The vicunna is shaped much like the Llama, but much smaller and lighter,

their wool being extraordinarily fine, and much valued. These animals are often hunted after the following manner :Many Indians gather together, and drive them into some narrow pass, across which they have previously extended cords about four feet from the ground, having bits of wool or cloth hanging to them at small distances. This so frightens them that they dare not pass, and they gather together in a string, when the Indians kill them with stones tied to the ends of leather thongs. Should any guanacos happen to be among the flock, these leap over the cords, and are followed by all the vicunnas. These guanacos are larger and more corpulent, and are also called viscaches.

"There is yet another animal of this kind called alpagnes (alpacas), having wool of extraordinary fineness; but their legs are shorter, and their snouts contracted in such a manner as to give them some resemblance to the human counte

nance.

"The Indians make several uses of these creatures, some of which carry burdens of about an hundred-weight. Their wool serves to make stuffs, cords, and sacks; their bones are used for the construction of weaver's utensils; and their dung is employed as fuel for dressing meat and warming their huts."

wild part of America, we appear to be carried back to the first ages, when the earth was peopled step by step-we seem to assist at the birth of human societies. In the old world, we behold the pastoral life prepare a people of huntsmen for the agricultural life. In the new world, we look in vain for these progressive developments of civilization, these moments of repose, these resting-places in the life of a people. The luxury of vegetation embarrasses the Indian in the chase. the rivers are like arms of the sea, the depth of the water for many months prevents their fishing. Those species of ruminating animals which constitute the riches of the people of the old world are wanting in the new. The bison, and the musk-ox, have not yet been reduced to the domestic state; the enormous multiplication of the Llama and the guanaco have not produced in the natives the habits of the pastoral life."

ANECDOTE OF WYCLIFFE.

As

Ar one period of his life, Wycliffe's health producing his numerous compositions, and the was considerably impaired by the labour of excitements inseparable from the restless hostilities of his enemies. Being supposed to be in dangerous circumstances, his old antagonists, the mendicants, conceived it next to impossible that so notorious an heresiarch should The Llamas congregate together in most serious apprehensions of approaching find himself near a future world without the considerable herds, on the side of the vengeance. But while thus conscious of their Andes, and generally in the colder and own rectitude, and certain that the dogmas of more elevated regions. When the Spa- the reformer had arisen from the suggestions niards first arrived in Peru, they were of the great enemy, some advantages to their the only beasts of burden employed by prit be induced to make any recantation of his cause were anticipated could the dying culthe natives; and even at the present day, published opinions. Wycliffe was in Oxford when horses have become so excessively when this sickness arrested his activity, and common, they are usually preferred for confined him to his chamber. From the four passing the mountains, on which their orders of friars, four doctors, who were also sureness of foot, exceeding that of the called regents, were gravely deputed to wait mule, gives them a manifest superiority. on their expiring enemy; and to these the Generally speaking they are quiet, docile, of the city, and aldermen of the wards, were same number of civil officers, called senators and timid; but they occasionally exhibit added. When this embassy entered the apartmuch spitefulness, especially when teased ment of the Rector of Lutterworth, he was or ill treated. Their mode of evincing seen stretched on his bed. Some kind wishes this has been already mentioned, as con- were first expressed as to his better health, and sisting in squirting their saliva through the blessing of a speedy recovery. It was pretheir cleft lip with considerable force. sently suggested, that he must be aware of the Like all the other ruminants, they sub-brotherhood had sustained from his attacks, many wrongs which the whole mendicant sist entirely on vegetables. In the menageries they have a particular fondness for carrots; and if one of these is abstracted while they are eating, their anger is immediately roused, and they spit with the greatest vehemence, covering with their saliva a surface of three or four yards in extent.

Humboldt, beautifully describing the primitive rudeness in which most of the tribes of South America remain, partly from geographical position, and partly from the spontaneous bounty of their climate, notices, in his description, the effect produced by the existence of the Llama and guanaco flocks.

"When we attentively examine this

writings; and, as death was now apparently especially in his sermons, and in certain of his about to remove him, it was sincerely hoped that he would not conceal his penitence, but distinctly revoke whatever he had preferred against them to their injury. The sick man dress was concluded. He then beckoned his servants to raise him in his bed; and, fixing his eyes on the persons assembled, summoned all his remaining strength, as he exclaimed aloud, "I shall not die but live, and shall again declare the evil deeds of the friars." The doctors and their attendants now hurried from his prediction; nor will it be easy to imagine his presence, and they lived to feel the truth of another scene more characteristic of the parties composing it, or of the times with which it is connected.-Vaughan's Life of Wycliffe.

remained silent and motionless until this ad

the

A SHARK-HUNT.

THE lunarian, busy taking distances, crams his sextant hastily into the case; its computer, working out his longitude, shoves his books on one side; the marine officer abandons his external flute; the doctor starts from his nap; the purser resigns the complete book; and every man and boy, however engaged, rushes on deck to see the villain die. Even the monkey, if there be one on board, takes a vehement interest in the whole progress of this wild scene. I remember once observing Jacko running backwards and forwards along the after-part of poop hammock-netting, grinning, screaming, and chattering at such a rate, that, as it was nearly calm, he was heard all over the decks. "What's the matter with you, Master Mona?" said the quarter-master, for the animal came from Teneriffe, and preserved his Spanish cognomen. Jacko replied not, but merely stretching his head over the railing, stared with his eyes almost bursting from his head, and, by the intensity of his grin, bared his teeth and gums nearly from ear to ear. "Messenger! run to the cook for a piece of pork," cries the captain, taking command with as much glee as if it had been an enemy's cruiser he was about to engage. "Where's your hook, quarter-master?" "Here, Sir, here!" cries the fellow, feeling the point, and declaring it as sharp as any lady's needle, and in the next instant piercing with it a huge junk of rusty pork, weighing four or five pounds; for nothing, scarcely, is too large or too high in flavour for the stomach of a shark. The hook, which is as thick as one's little finger, has a curvature about as large as that of a man's hand when half closed, and is from six to eight inches in length, with a formidable barb. This fierce-looking grappling iron is furnished with three or four feet of chain, a precaution which is absolutely necessary; for a voracious shark will sometimes gobble the bait so deep into his stomach that, but for the chain, he would snap through the rope by which the hook is held as easily as if he were nipping the head off an asparagus.

A shark, like a midshipman, is generally very hungry; but in the rare cases, when he is not in good appetite, he sails slowly up to the bait, smells it, and gives it a poke with his shovel-nose, turning it over and over. He then edges off to the right or left, as if he apprehended mischief, but soon returns again, to enjoy the delicious haut gout, as the sailors term the flavour of the damaged pork, of which a piece is always selected, if it can be found. While this coquetry, or shyness, is exhibited by John Shark, the whole afterpart of the ship is so clustered with heads that not an inch of spare room is to be had for love or money. The rigging, the mizen-top, and even the gaff, out to the very peak-the hammocknettings and the quarters, almost down to the counter, are stuck over with breathless spectators, speaking in whispers, if they venture to speak at all, or can find leisure for any thing but fixing their gaze on the monster, who as yet is free to roam the ocean, but who, they trust, will soon be in their power. I have seen this go on an hour together; after which the shark has made up his mind to have nothing to say to us, and either swerved away to wind ward, if there be any breeze at all, or dived so deep that his place could be detected only by a faint touch or flash of white many fathoms down. The loss of a Spanish galleon, in chase, I am persuaded, could hardly cause more bitter regret, or call forth more intempe

When a bait is towed astern of a ship that has any motion through the water at all, it is necessarily brought to the surface, or nearly so. This, of course, obliges the shark to bite at it from below; and as his mouth is placed under his chin, not over it, like that of a Christian, he must turn nearly on his back before he can seize the floating piece of meat in which the hook is concealed. Even if he does not turn completely round, he is forced to slue himself, as it is called, so far as to show some portion of his white belly. The instant the white skin flashes on the sight of the expectant crew, a sudden cry or murmur of satisfaction is heard amongst the crowd; but no one speaks, for fear of alarming the shark.

rate expressions of anger and impatience. Onscious of the abuse which is flung down upon
the other hand, I suppose the first symptom of him; for, as he turns, and twists, and flings
an enemy's flag coming down in the fight was himself about, his eye glares upwards with a
never hailed with greater joy than is felt by a ferocity of purpose which makes the blood
ship's crew on the shark turning round to tingle in a swimmer's veins, as he thinks of
seize the bait. A greedy whisper of delight the hour when it may be his turn to writhe
passes from mouth to mouth; every eye is under the tender mercies of his sworn foe!
lighted up, and, such as have not bronzed No sailor, therefore, ought ever to think of
their cheeks by too long exposure to sun and hauling a shark on board merely by the rope
wind, may be seen to alter their hue from fastened to the hook; for, however impotent
pale to red, and back to pale again, like the his struggles may generally be in the water,
tints of the dying dolphin.
they are rarely unattended with risk when the
rogue is drawn half way up. To prevent the
line breaking, or the hook snapping, or the
jaw being torn away, the device of a running
bow-line knot is always adopted. This noose,
being slipped down the rope, and passed over
the monster's head, is made to jam at the
point of junction of the tail with the body.
When this is once fixed, the first act of the
piece is held to be complete, and the van-
quished enemy is afterwards easily drawn over
the taffrail and flung on the deck, to the un-
speakable delight of all hands. But although
the shark is out of his element, he has by no
means lost his power of doing mischief; and
I would advise no one to come within range
of his tail, or trust his toes too near the ani-
mal's mouth. The blow of a tolerably large-
sized shark's tail might break a man's leg;
and I have seen a three inch hide tiller-rope
bitten more than half through, full ten mi-
nutes after the wretch had been dragged about
the quarter-deck, and had made all his victors
keep at the most respectful distance. I re-
member hearing the late Dr. Wollaston, with
his wonted ingenuity, suggest a method for
measuring the strength of a shark's bite. If
a smooth plate of lead, he thought, were thrust
into the fish's mouth, the depth which his
teeth should pierce the lead would furnish a
sort of scale of the force exerted.

Sometimes, at the very instant the bait is cast over the stern, the shark flies at it with such eagerness that he actually springs partially out of the water. This, however, is rare. On these occasions he gorges the bait, the hook, and a foot or two of the chain, without any mastication or delay, and darts off with his treacherous prize with such prodigious velocity and force that it makes the rope crack again as soon as the whole coil is drawn out. In general, however, he goes more leisurely to work, and seems rather to suck in the bait than to bite at it. Much dexterity is required in the hand which holds the line at this moment, for a bungler is apt to be too precipitate, and to jerk away the hook before it has got far enough down the shark's maw. Our greedy friend, indeed, is never disposed to relinquish what may once have passed his formidable batteries of teeth; but the hook, by a premature tug of the line, may fix itself in a part of the jaw so weak that it gives way in the violent struggle which always follows. The secret of the sport is to let the voracious monster gulp down the huge mass of pork, and then to give the rope a violent pull, by which the barbed point, quitting the edge of the bait, buries itself in the coats of the victim's throat or stomach. As the shark is not a personage to submit patiently to such treatment, it will not be well for any one whose foot happens to be accidentally on the coil of the rope, for, when the hook is first fixed, it spins out like the log line of a ship going twelve knots.

The suddenness of the jerk with which the poor wretch is brought up, when he has reached the length of his tether, often turns him quite over on the surface of the water. Then commence the loud cheers, taunts, and other sounds of rage and triumph, so long suppressed. A steady pull is insufficient to carry away the line, but it sometimes happens that the violent struggle of the shark, when too speedily drawn up, snaps either the rope or the hook, and so he gets off, to digest the remainder as he best can. It is, accordingly, held the best practice to play him a little, with his mouth at the surface, till he becomes somewhat exhausted. During this operation one could almost fancy the enraged animal is con

I need scarcely mention, that when a shark is floundering about, the quarter-deck becomes a scene of pretty considerable confusion; and if there be blood on the occasion, as there generally is, from all this rough usage, the stains are not to be got rid of without a week's scrubbing, and many a growl from the captain of the afterguard. For the time, however, all such considerations are superseded-that is to say, if the commander himself takes an interest in the sport, and he must be rather a spoony skipper that does not. If he be indifferent about the fate of the shark, it is speedily dragged forward to the forecastle, amidst the kicks, thumps, and execrations of the conquerors, who very soon terminate his miserable career, by stabbing him with their knives, boarding-pikes, and tomahawks, like so many wild Indians.

The first operation is always to deprive him of his tail, which is seldom an easy matter, it not being at all safe to come too near; but some dexterous hand, familiar with the use of the broad axe, watches for a quiet moment, and at a single blow severs it from the body. He is then closed with by another, who leaps across the prostrate foe, and with an adroit cut rips him open from snout to tail, and the tragedy is over, so far as the struggles and sufferings of the principal actor are concerned. There always follows, however, the most lively curiosity in his inside; but they are often disappointed, for the stomach is generally empty. I remember one famous exception, indeed, when a very large fellow was caught on board the Alceste, in Anjeer Roads at Java, when we were proceeding to China with the embassy under Lord Amherst. A number of

ducks and hens, which had died in the way, were, as usual, thrown overboard in the morning, besides several baskets, and many other minor things, such as bundles of shavings and bits of cordage, all which things were found in this huge sea-monster's inside. But what excited most surprise and admiration was the hide of a buffalo, killed on board that day for the ship's company's dinner. The old sailor who had cut open the shark stood with a foot on each side, and drew out the articles one by one from the huge cavern into which they had been indiscriminately drawn. When the operator came at last to the buffalo's skin, he held up before him like a curtain, and exclaimed, "There, my lads; d'ye see that! He has swallowed a buffalo, but he could not digest the hide!"-Captain Hall's Autobiography.

it

It requires but a very slight acquaintance with the laws of Christ to convince us that nothing is more repugnant than slavery to the spirit and precepts of his holy religion: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," was the command of our blessed Saviour; and again, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," under which term, we believe, are comprehended our fellow-creatures of every nation, tongue, and colour. These divine laws are of perpetual obligation. Our Lord further declares: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments;" "If ye love me, keep my commandments." If, then, we wilfully violate his commandments, are we not in danger of losing an inheritance in eternal life?are we not giving practical proof that we do not love Jesus Christ?-can there be a greater violation of his righteous law than to buy and sell our fellow-men?-to claim a right of property in them and their offspring?-to hold in perpetual bondage those for whom, as well as for us, Christ died? Is not this practically Respectfully submitted on behalf of the religi- denying the Lord who bought us?—and ought ous Society of Friends, to the Christian pub-not these considerations to bring with them solemn reflections on looking forward to that day when we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ?

SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY,

lic in the British dominions.

THE Society of Friends, having long believed it to be their duty to advocate the inalienable right of the injured sons of Africa and their descendants to the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, feel themselves constrained, in Christian love, at this important period, not only to maintain the cause of the oppressed, but to plead with those who are upholding the system of British colonial slavery.

One quarter of a century has now elapsed since the British government abolished the slave-trade on the coast of Africa; but to this very hour, within our colonial territories, the subjects of this empire are legally sanctioned in buying and selling their fellow-men as the beasts that perish. Year after year has passed on; the cry of justice and mercy has been raised; the cause of these oppressed and degraded children of our Heavenly Father has been advocated; the practice of slavery has been clearly proved to be utterly unchristian, so that though sophistry has been employed in attempts at refutation, it has been employed in vain; and reason and religion have gained greater triumphs by the contest: it nevertheless is still suffered to disgrace our country.

The character of slavery has been faithfully depicted within the last ten years, by means of official documents laid before parliament, as well as by the testimony of men of unquestioned veracity, eye-witnesses of the enormities of the system. It has been proved to be the invariable tendency of this condition of society to weaken moral principle, and to benumb and destroy the best sympathies of the human heart. Its atrocities and its horrors, as now exposed to public view, are not beheld as its occasional fruits, but as its natural and uniform results. What, indeed, but the unrestrained and licentious indulgence of the basest passions can be expected from the prevalence of the most abject servility on the part of one portion of the human family, and uncontrolled power on the part of another? Whoever allows himself to examine more in detail the barbarity often exercised upon the victims of slavery, and the degradation into which they are plunged a degradation marked by the prostration of every feeling that ennobles man-must regard, as truly awful, the situation of those who, from mistaken policy, are concerned in directly upholding this system.

We earnestly beseech our fellow-countrymen, our Christian brethren of every denomination, to lay these things to heart. As subjects of the same government, as fellow-believers in the truths of the pure and holy religion of our blessed Redeemer, we are called upon to cherish feelings of kindness and love one towards another. We, therefore, affectionately desire that we may all be wholly clear of any longer supporting this unrighteous system, and contributing to frustrate the gracious and beneficent designs of our Almighty Parent respecting his rational creation. We believe that amongst the proprietors of slaves there are those who are amiable in the various relations of private life, and who are seeking to live as becometh the gospel. To these we would especially appeal. Permit us, in sincere good will, to ask you-Can you, as believers in Christ, and desirous to be numbered with his disciples both here and hereafter, continue to be connected with a system so entirely opposed as slavery is to the scope and design of his gospel? When you contemplate the moral state of the countries where it prevails, when you consider their blighted prospects, notwithstanding all the unhallowed gains which it has yielded, can you doubt but that this system is signally marked by the righteous displeasure of the Supreme Governor of the world?

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truth, that the retributive justice of the Most High does fall on individuals and on nations, when they wilfully continue in their guilt, and take not heed to the solemn warnings conveyed in the exercise of his overruling providence.

Now is our time; protraction accumulates the guilt. It is fearful to look at the present state of society in the colonies; it is still more fearful to look forward. As we believe that the continuance of slavery is an offence in the sight of God, so we also believe, that, if from a conviction of its sinfulness, in repentance towards God, we put away this evil from before him, he will graciously turn unto us and bless us that if laws for its immediate and entire extinction, accompanied by judicious and equitable provisions, are forthwith made, our Heavenly Father will prosper this work of mercy. And we further believe that, by the substitution of the paternal care of the government, in the place of the arbitrary power and authority of the master, the peace of society will be secured, and the comfort, the happiness, and the prosperity of all, be greatly promoted.

We offer these reflections with no feelings of hostility to any class; we sincerely pity those who are involved in a system from which the conduct of our predecessors in religious profession has warned and guarded us. We cannot doubt but that many of the colonial proprietors would gladly disencumber themselves from the burthen of any longer upholding slavery, and that they would unite in such measures for its abolition as they might deem safe and equitable. We feel for them as possessors of estates which may have descended to them by inheritance, with the clog of slavery attached to them. At the same time, being fully persuaded that men are most likely to prosper in the world, when, in the conducting of their temporal affairs, they act according to the eternal principles of justice, we are strongly impressed with the belief that the immediate provision for the termination of slavery at the earliest possible period, will, in this respect, greatly benefit the colonial proprietor.

May our legislators, and all in authority both at home and abroad-may every one in his individual allotment, who can sympathize with the sufferings of the oppressed, and to whom it is given to feel for the present and future well-being of his fellow-men-be so influenced by the power of Christian love and of Christian truth as that we may all cordially co-operate in endeavouring to effect this righte ous object, and not relax in our efforts until its final accomplishment!

Signed, in and on behalf of a meeting representing the religious Society of Friends in the intervals of its yearly meeting, by

GEORGE STACEY, Clerk. London, the 4th of the 1st Month, 1833.

In conclusion, it is our earnest prayer that The present circumstances of the slaves and it may please Almighty God to continue to of the free people of colour in the British co- regard this kingdom for good, and to direct its lonies, the troubles in the Mauritius, the in-councils in this, and other acts of justice and surrections in Jamaica, and the religious per- mercy, so as to promote his glory in the harsecutions which have followed, are momentous mony of his rational creation. signs of the times as regards the continuance of slavery. Contemplating these events, and the increased interest for the oppressed, which so manifestly pervades every class of society in this land, the time is surely arrived when all should co-operate in Christian endeavours wholly and speedily to remove this national sin. When a people have become enlightened on the enormity of a crime, the guilt of continuing that crime is aggravated. Ignorance of the real character and tendency of slavery can no longer be pleaded. Warning has, of later times, succeeded warning with portentous rapidity. Divine revelation teaches us, and the history of mankind exemplifies the

COMPOSURE IN DEATH.-When Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, took possession of Newfoundland in her Majesty's name, and who was finally drowned, was once overtaken with a storm at sea, he was observed sitting unmoved with a Bible in his hand, and was observed to say, "Courage, my lads! we are as near heaven at sea as at land."-Hinton's America.

LOW-CREATURES.

CHRISTIAN BRETHREN,-You are almost the only class of persons in the nation, known to be the holders of your fellow-men in cruel bondage in our colonies, who have not been publicly expostulated with on the palpable injustice and unparalleled inconsistency of your

APPEAL TO THOSE PERSONS, PRO- ther you ought not, as professed disciples of when it is evident the city will be destroyed? FESSORS OF RELIGION, WHO YET Christ, immediately to imitate this praisewor- Ought you not be examples of doing justice, HAVE PROPERTY IN THEIR FEL-thy example, and instantly to set your slaves at and loving mercy, and walking humbly with liberty. Surely you will not attempt to recon- God, and thus to adorn the doctrine of God cile your conduct, in regard to having property our Saviour? Ought you not to hate the garin your fellow-men, with your allegiance to ment spotted by the flesh? Ought you not to Christ, who has enjoined it upon all his dis- abstain from even the appearance of evil? But ciples, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as does your holding men in cruel bondage comthyself." You must be aware that a great port with either justice or mercy? Does this crisis, in regard to our 800,000 fellow-subjects practice adorn the religion you profess?-or who are held in bondage in our colonies, is does it not rather give the enemy reason to fast approaching. There are many reasons blaspheme? Can any blot be more foul upon for concluding their liberation cannot be long your Christian character? Is it not rather indeferred; we hope this will be effected by the dulging real evil, and encouraging it, than abBritish legislature, and not by their own staining from its appearance? Is it possible means; at any rate, we wish you to "come you can enjoy a conscience void of offence, out" from among the slave-holders before the either towards God or towards men, while you just indignation of heaven avenge the wrongs hold such prohibited property? We seek your of these, our oppressed and insulted fellow-consistency, your honour, your happiness' when subjects, many thousands of whom are also we urge it upon you," let the oppressed go free, our fellow Christians. Why should you linger and that ye break every yoke,"

conduct.

As members of the Anti-Slavery Society, we have repeatedly, in our official publications, avowed it as our deliberate opinion, that "slavery is incompatible with Christianity"-in direct violation both of its spirit and maxims. Need we remind you that our Divine Lord has enjoined, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye also unto them" It would be insulting you to suppose that you are willing to receive such treatment from your slaves as you are inflicting upon them.

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An apostle, too, enumerating the most flagitious characters, whose conduct was condemned by the sound doctrine of the gospel, has placed upon the lists "men-stealers"+-that is, those who had violated the law of Moses on that subject: "He that stealeth a man, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." Admitting that your holding "men in bondage as your property is of equal enormity with actually stealing them, so that, though you have not "stolen" them, they are yet found in your hand, it follows that your conduct is condemned, as being totally inconsistent with your professed characters, both by the law of Moses and the gospel of Christ.

It is a most affecting and deeply humiliating fact, that every denomination of Christians among us (excepting only the "Friends,") are more or less implicated in this accursed thing; some by being actual proprietors of slaves, as the bench of bishops, in regard to the Codrington estates in Barbadoes; and the Moravian Missionary Society, with some distinguished members of that body, who have either slaves or slave-estates in the English, Dutch, and Danish West India colonies: as, CHURCH OF ST. JOHN, SOUTHOVER. also, some individuals belonging to the Independents. Nor can we acquit the Wesleyan, BOTH historical documents and the in- | the Church, and the Baptist Societies, of teresting remains of antiquity to be found tacitly sanctioning and encouraging the prac-in and near Lewes, prove it to be one of tice of slavery, by having admitted, as mem- the most ancient of our towns. To some bers of their churches, slave-holders, who, as of these remains, however, antiquaries we have shown, are, in the character of Christians, proscribed by the spirit and letter of the seem somewhat at a loss to affix a precise gospel of Christ. date, and this applies to the church represented above. It is situated in the parish of Southover, which may be considered as forming a part of the town of Lewes.

One object in addressing you is because we would discharge a solemn duty. An apostle has said, "If a brother be overtaken with a fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness." From our principles in respect to the incongruity of slavery to Christianity, we certainly consider you as having, by your conduct, encouraging and abetting the horrible practice of holding property in your fellow-men, been "overtaken" with a most grievous "fault"-a fault no arguments can justify, and which no circumstances can palliate.

We are totally ignorant, says one of its historians, of the time when the church of St. John the Baptist, in Southover, was reared. A will, which bears date 1512, mentioned it as existing at that time; and, from the terms in which it is referred to, we may conclude that it was not by any means new at that time. The Another reason we have is to acquaint you building was not large, but sufficiently with the conduct of our brethren, the Friends, capacious to accommodate the parishionin regard to giving up the practice of holding ers, whilst the gates of St. Pancras slaves in 1769, and thus having "cleared church (attached to an ancient monastic themselves" from any participation in the institution there) were thrown open to evils of colonial slavery since that period. We those who preferred to worship with the respectfully urge it upon your attention, whe-prior. But after Henry's reforming zeal

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had levelled the proud structure, and the
parishioners again flocked to the church of

Southover, the building was found too small to contain the increased congregation, and an enlargement became necessary.

The whole of the present south side of the church is built of alternate squares of flint and stone, and corresponds with the style of building at the close of the sixteenth or the beginning of the following century, at which time it is most probable that the alteration took place. The stone window-frames, which were introduced at the time of this repair, are Gothic, and were probably taken from the ruins of the dissolved priory. That they were not originally formed for the situation they now occupy is evident, from many parts of them being composed of different materials from the rest, owing, probably, to some of the stones being broken or lost in taking them from the walls in which they were originally fixed. This church has recently undergone considerable alterations. It consists of a nave and two aisles. A painting of John baptizing our Lord fronts the west. The altar-piece represents the last supper, and possesses considerable merit.

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