against the introduction of so many slaves among a small number of freemen; but since these evils and these abuses are already inveterate, we ought to avoid rendering our situation, and that of our slaves, worse, by the employment of violent measures. That which we ask, Sire, is conformable to the wish expressed by one of the most ardent protectors of the rights of humanity, by the most decided enemy of slavery; we wish with him that civil laws should deliver us at once from the ABUSES and DANGERS OF IT."-Humboldt, Statistics of Cuba, vol. i. pp. 329–331. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE OF THE CLASSICS. No. III. EPIC POETS.-HOMER AND VIRGIL. If, then, such works do really impart their own spirit to the mind of an admiring reader, and if this spirit be totally hostile to that of Christianity, and if Christianity ought really, and in good faith, to be the supreme regent of all moral feeling, then it is evident that the Iliad, and all books which combine the same tendency with great poetical excellence, are among the most mischievous things on earth. There is but little satisfaction, certainly, in illustrating the operation of evils without proposing any adequate method of contending with them. But, in the present case, I really do not see what a serious observer of the character of mankind can offer. To wish that the works of Homer, and some other great authors of antiquity, should cease to be read, is just as vain as to wish they had never been written. As to the far greater number of readers, it were equally in vain to wish that pure Christian sentiments might be sufficiently recollected, and loved, to accompany the study, and constantly prevent the injurious impression, of the works of pagan genius. The few maxims of Christianity to which the student may have assented without thought, and for which he has but little veneration, will but feebly oppose the influence; the spirit of Homer will vanquish as irresistibly as his Achilles vanquished. It is also most perfectly true, that as long as pride, ambition, and vindictiveness, hold so mighty a prevalence in the character and in the nature of our species, they would still amply display themselves, though the stimulus of heroic poetry were withdrawn, by the annihilation of all those works which have invested the worst passions, and the worst actions, with a glare of gran deur. With or without the infections of heroic poetry, men and nations will continue to commit offences against one another, and to avenge them to assume an arrogant precedence, and account it, and laud it, as noble spirit-to celebrate their deeds of destruction, and call them glory-to idolize the men who possess, and can infuse, the greatest share of an infernal fire-to set at nought all principles of virtue and religion in favour of some thoughtless, vicious mortal, who consigns himself in the same achievement to fame and perdition-to vaunt in triumphal entries, or funeral pomps, or bombastic odes, or strings of scalps, how far human skill and valour can surpass the powers of famine and pestilence; men and nations will continue thus to act, till a mightier intervention from heaven shall establish the dominion of Christianity. In that better season, perhaps the great works of ancient genius will be read in such a disposition of mind as can receive the intellectual improvement derivable from them, and, at the same time, as little coincide, or be infected with their moral spirit, as in the present age we venerate their mythological vanities. In the meantime, one cannot believe that any man, who seriously reflects how absolutely the religion of Christ claims a conformity of his whole nature, will, without regret, feel himself animated with a class of sentiments, of which the habitual prevalence would be the total preclusion of Christianity. And it seems to show how little this religion is really understood, or even considered, in any of the countries denominated Christian, that so many who profess to adopt it never once thought of guarding their own minds, and those of their children, against the eloquent seductions of so opposite a spirit. Probably they would be more intelligent and vigilant if any other interest than that of their professed religion were endangered. But a thing which injures them only in that concern is sure to meet with all possible indulgence. With respect to religious parents and preceptors, whose children and pupils are to receive that liberal education which must inevitably include the study of these great works, it will be for them to accompany the youthful readers throughout, with an effort to show them, in the most pointed manner, the inconsistency of many of the sentiments, both with moral rectitude in general, and with the special dictates of Christianity. And, in order to give the requisite force to these dictates, it will be an important duty to illustrate to them the amiable tendency, and to prove the awful authority, of this dispensation of religion. This careful effort will often but partially prevent the mischief; but it seems to be all that can be done. ACQUIRED INSTINCTS OF SOME ANIMALS BECOME HEREDITARY. It is, undoubtedly, true that many new habits and qualities have not only been acquired in recent times by certain races of dogs, but have been transmitted to their offspring. But in these cases it will be observed, that the new peculiarities have an intimate relation to the habits of the animal in a wild state, and, therefore, do not attest any tendency to departure to an indefinite extent from the original type of the species. A race of dogs, employed for hunting deer in the platform of Santa Fé, in Mexico, affords a beautiful illustration of a new hereditary instinct. The mode of attack, observes Mr. Roulin, which they employ, consists in seizing the animal by the belly, and overturning it by a sudden effort, taking advantage of the moment when the body of the deer rests only upon the fore legs. The weight of the animal thus thrown over is often six times that of its antagonist. The dog of pure breed inherits a disposition to this kind of chase, and never attacks a deer from before while running. Even should the latter, not perceiving him, come directly upon him, the dog steps aside, and makes his assault on the flank, whereas other hunting-dogs, though of superior strength and general sagacity, which are brought from Europe, are destitute of this instinct. For want of similar precautions, they are often killed by the deer on the spot, the vertebræ of their neck being dislocated by the violence of the shock. A new instinct has also become hereditary in a mongrel race of dogs, employed, by the inhabitants of the banks of the Alagdalona, almost exclusively in hunting the white-lipped pecari. The address of these dogs consists in restraining their ardour, and attaching themselves to no animal in particular, but keeping Virgil's work is a kind of lunar reflection of the whole herd in check. Now, among these the ardent effulgence of Homer, surrounded, dogs some are found which, the very first time if I may extend the figure, with a beautiful they are taken to the woods, are acquainted halo of elegance and tenderness. So much with this mode of attack; whereas, a dog of more refined an order of sentiment might have another breed starts forward at once, is surrendered the heroic character far more attrac-rounded by the pecari, and, whatever may be tive, to a mind that can soften as well as glow, his strength, is destroyed in a moment. if there had actually been a hero in the poem. But none of the personages intended for heroes take hold enough of the reader's feelings to assimilate them in moral temper. No fiction, or history of human characters and actions, will ever powerfully transfuse its spirit, without some one, or some very few individuals of signal peculiarity or greatness, to concentrate and embody the whole energy of the work. There would be no danger, therefore, of any one's becoming an idolater of the god of war through the inspiration of the Eneid, even if a larger proportion of it had resounded with martial enterprise. Perhaps the chief counteraction to Christian sentiments which should apprehend, to an opening susceptible mind, would be a depravation of its ideas concerning the other world, from the picturesque scenery which Virgil has opened to his hero in the regions of the dead, and the imposing images with which he has shaded the avenue to them. Perhaps, also, the affecting sentiments which precede the death of Dido might tend to lessen, especially in a pensive mind, the horror of that impiety which would throw back with violence the possession of life, as if in reproach to its great Author, for having suffered that there should be unhappiness in a world where there is sin. Some of our countrymen, engaged of late in conducting the principal mining associations in Mexico, carried out with them some English greyhounds, of the best breed, to hunt the hares which abound in that country. The great platform, which is the scene of sport, is at an elevation of about nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, and the mercury in the barometer stands habitually at the height of about nineteen inches. It was found that the greyhounds could not support the fatigues of a long chase in this attenuated atmosphere, and before they could come up with their prey they lay down gasping for breath; but these same animals have produced whelps which have grown up, and are not in the least degree incommoded by the want of density in the air, but run down the hares with as much ease as the fleetest of their race in this country. The fixed and deliberate stand of the pointer has, with propriety, been regarded as a mere modification of a habit, which may have been useful to a wild race accustomed to wind game, and steal upon it by surprise, first pausing for an instant in order to spring with unerring aim. The faculty of the retreiver, however, may justly be regarded as more inexplicable, and less easily referrible to the instinctive passions of the species. M. Majendie, says a French writer in a recently published memoir, having learnt that there was a race of dogs in England which stopped and brought back game at their own accord, procured a pair, and, having obtained a whelp from them, kept it constantly under his eyes, until he had an opportunity of assuring himself that, without having received any instruction, and on the very first day that it was carried to the chase, it brought back game with as much steadiness as dogs which had been schooled into the same manœuvre by means of the whip and collar. Such attainments, as well as the habits and dispositions which the shepherd's dog, and many others, inherit, seem to be of a nature and extent which we can hardly explain by supposing them to be modifications of instincts necessary for the preservation of the species in a wild state. When such remarkable habits appear in races of this species, we may reasonably conjecture that they were given with no other view than for the use of man and the preservation of the dog, which thus obtains protection.-C. Lyell. Principles of Geology. PROSPECTS OF THE ABOLITION We are induced to insert the following article from the "Christian Advocate,' A BEAU OF THE FOURTEENTH fifty, or even one hundred, who have ingeni-efficacy of the stimulus depends as much upon knowing as we do the quarter from which be sure, of very little consequence in the house, in 1380, on a warlike expedition against it came, and feeling perfect confidence in the general correctness of its statements. Our readers may rely on our assurance that, before the Easter recess, Government will fix a day for the introduction of their Colonial measures; but it is not probable that the discussion itself will take place before May. Mr. Buxton, it may be expected, will withdraw his notice of motion, which now stands for the 19th inst.; but, of course, not without a distinct promise that the ministerial bill will be brought forward at some definite period, and will be of such a satisfactory character as to justify him in resigning the parliamentary conduct of the cause into the hands of Government. The West India body have not yet arrived at any decision as to the terms which are reported to have been proposed to them. The precise nature of these terms is unknown. It is not improbable that they have reference to some scheme of compensation by loan, as a douceur for their acquiescence in the ministerial plan. If such is the case, we can tell both parties to the negociation that they are "reckoning without their host." Not one penny of compensation will the country give-no, not the tithe of a penny-till the injury sustained becomes matter of experience, not of speculation; and, even in that case, we shrewdly suspect that Ministers must take Cobbett into pay to carry them through. Compensation indeed! No, no. We will neither be mortgagees of cart-whips, nor buy the equity of redemption in thumb-screws and iron collars. But it is needless to argue on speculative premises. We know not, and we care not, what may be the purport of the West India negociation with Downing-street; but this we do know, that, if it is desired to carry immediate abolition by a coup-de-main, Ministers cannot do better than tack to the measure a plan of compensation! The anti-slavery strength in the lower house consists, as we believe, of about two hundred members, who are pledged up to the hilts to immediate unqualified emancipation; of one hundred and fifty more who have trimmed their pledges to suit their avowed liaisons with the party in power; and to these may possibly be added another It is with great satisfaction that we avow to our readers our own confident persuasion that Government will proceed in a way strictly conformable to our wishes; that, let the West India body prove compliant or refractory, it will make no difference; immediate abolition will be proposed and carried; in what form, or by what means, has not hitherto been disclosed, either to the West Indians or to the Abolitionists; but both are aware that this is the present determination of the Cabinet; and, upon that understanding, we are very ready, for our part, to leave all plans and provisoes to their wisdom and responsibility. Such were the feelings with which the deputation that waited on Lord ALTHORP from Aldermanbury quitted Downing-street; and such will, we trust, be the general feeling of the country; but it must not in any degree tend to subdue the public anxiety into a self-complacent inactivity. The House of Commons is a second Laputa; gentlemen there stand in constant need of ear flappers. Their constituents, then, must keep them awake by incessantly jogging their memories about the promises of last autumn. It will be of infinite service to remind our representatives, by frequent letters, signed by as many as possible of their most influential supporters, that they are expected to be at their posts, and strenuously to advocate that measure, whatever it may be, which is most unequivocal and decided in favour of the slave. It would greatly promote the interests of the cause, if such electors as act upon this suggestion would also give themselves the additional trouble of informing the Anti-slavery Committee that they have done so. It should be recollected that, even if signed only by one or two individuals, such ear-flapping letters should still be sent, because a great many electors, members of the same constituency, may happen to write unknown to each other; and the Customs, &c. THE SCOTTISHI THISTLE. THIS ancient emblem of Scottish pugnacity, with its motto, Nemo me impune lacesset, is represented of various species in royal bearings, coins, and coats of armour, so that there is some difficulty in saying which is the genuine original thistle. The original of the national badge itself is thus handed down by tradition:-When the Danes invaded Scotland, it was deemed unwarlike to attack an enemy in the pitch darkness of night, instead of a pitched battle by day; but, on one occasion, the invaders resolved to avail themselves of this stratagem, and, in order to prevent their tramp from being heard, they marched barefooted. They had thus neared the Scottish force unobserved, when a Dane unluckily stepped with his naked foot upon a superbly pricked thistle, and instinctively uttered a cry of pain, which discovered the assault to the Scots, who ran to their arms, and defeated the foe with terrible slaughter. The thistle was immediately adopted as the insignia of Scotland. BUONAPARTE'S LAST WISH. Let my heart have a limitless grave; Were the depths of my fathomless mind; It would burst from a narrower tomb, THE above engraving represents the very beautiful situation of Monghyr, a celebrated town and fortress of the province of Bahar, in British India, about 300 miles north-west of Calcutta. It is situated on the south side of the river Ganges, which is in this part very wide, and in the rainy season forms an immense expanse of fresh water. The town, as distinct from the fortress, consists of sixteen different bazaars or market-places, scattered over a space of about a mile and a half long and a mile wide, and contains a population estimated at about 30,000. This place was visited by the late Bishop Heber in an excursion up the Ganges, from whose journal we extract the following description : "Monghyr, as one approaches it, presents an imposing appearance, having one or two extremely good European houses, each perched on its own little eminence. The ghât afforded a scene of bustle and activity which I by no means expected. As we approached the shore, we were beset by a crowd of beggars and artisans, who brought for sale guns, knives, and other hardware, as also many articles of upholstery and toys. They looked extremely neat, but, as I meant to buy none, I would not raise expectation by examining them. There were also barbers in abundance, conspicuous by their red turbans, one of whom was soon retained by some of my dandees, who sat down one after another on the green bank, to have their hair clipped as close as possible, as became aquatic animals. A juggler, too, made his appearance, leading a tall brown goat, almost MONGHYR, HINDOSTAN. [as high as a Welsh poney, with two little "I arrived early, and was therefore for both sides, beyond one of which the Rajmahal hills are visible, and the other is bounded by the nearer range of Curruck poor. The town is larger than I expected, and in better condition than most native towns. Though all the houses are small, there are many of them with an upper story, and the roofs, instead of the flat terrace or thatch, which are the only alternations in Bengal, are generally sloping, with red tiles of the same shape and appearance as those which we see in Italian pictures. They have also little earthenware ornaments on their gables, such as I have not seen on the other side of Rajmahal. The shops are numerous, and I was surprised at the neatness of the kettles, tea-trays, guns, pistols, toastingforks, cutlery, and other things of the sort which may be procured in this tiny Birmingham. I found afterwards that this place had been, from very early antiquity, celebrated for its smiths, who derived their art from the Hindoo Vulcan, who had been solemnly worshipped, and was supposed to have had a workshop here. The only thing which appears to be wanting to make their steel excellent, is a better manner of smelting, and a more liberal use of charcoal and the hammer. As it is, their guns are very apt to burst, and their knives to break,precisely the faults which, for want of capital, beset the works of inferior artists in England. The extent, however, to which these people carry on their manufactures, and the closeness with which they imitate English patterns, show plainly how popular those patterns are become amongst the natives." MACHINERY. THE chief distinction between man in a rude, and man in a civilized state of society is. that the one wastes his force, whether natural | or acquired, the other economizes, that is, saves it. The man in a rude state has very rude instruments; he therefore wastes his force the man in a civilized state has very perfect ones; he therefore economizes it. Would you not laugh at the gardener who went to hoe his potatoes with a stick, having a short crook at the end? It would be a tool, you would say, fit only for children to use. Yet such a tool was doubtless employed by some very ancient nations; for there is an old medal of Syracuse which represents this very tool. The common hoe of the English gardener is a much more perfect tool, because it saves labour. Could you have any doubt of the madness of the man who would propose that all iron hoes should be abolished, to furnish more extensive employ to labourers who should be provided only with a crooked stick cut out of a hedge? The truth is, if you, the working-men of England, had no better tools than crooked sticks, you would be in a state of actual starvation. One of the chiefs of the people of New Zealand, who, from their intercourse with Englishmen, had learnt the value of tools, told Mr. Marsden, a missionary, that his wooden spades were all broken, and he had not an axe to make any more; his canoes were all broken, and he had not a nail or a gimlet to mend them with; his potatoe grounds were uncultivated, and he had not a hoe to break them up with; and that, for want of cultivation, he and his people would have nothing to eat. This shows you the state of a people without tools. But you would perhaps make a distinction, which we have endeavoured to show you is a worthless one, between tools and machines. There are many who object to machinery, because, having grown up surrounded with the benefits it has conferred upon them, without understanding the source of these benefits, they are something like the child who sees nothing but evil in a rainy day. We have mentioned the people of New Zealand, who live exactly on the other side of the globe, and who, therefore, very rarely come to us; but when they do come, they are acute enough to perceive the advantages which machinery has conferred upon us, and the great distance in point of comfort between their state and ours, principally for the reason that they have no machinery, while we have a great deal. One of these poor men burst into tears when he saw a rope-walk; because he perceived the immense superiority which the process of spinning ropes gave us over his own countrymen. Another of these people, and he was a very shrewd and intelligent person, carried back to his country a small hand-mill for grinding corn, which he prized as the greatest of all earthly possessions. And well might he prize it! He had no machine for converting corn into meal but two stones, such as were used in the remote parts of the highlands of Scotland, some years ago. And t: Leat the grain into meal by these two stones (a machine, remember, however imperfect) would occupy the labour of one-fourth of his family, to procure subsistence for the other three fourths. The ancient Greeks, three thousand years ago, had improved upon the machinery of the hand-stones, for they had hand-mills. But Homer, the old Greek poet, describes the unhappy condition of the slave who was always employed in using this mill. The groans of the slave were unheeded by those who consumed the produce of his labour; and such was the necessity for meal, that the women were compelled to turn these mills when there were not slaves enough taken n war to perform this irksome office. There was plenty of labour then to be performed, even with the machinery of the hand-mill; but the slaves and the women did not consider that labour was a good in itself, and therefore they bitterly groaned under it. By and by, the understanding of men found out that water and wind would do the same work that the slaves and the women had done; and that a large quantity of labour was at liberty to be employed for other purposes. You perhaps think that society was in a worse state in consequence. We will tell you exactly in what respects society gains, and what you gain as part of society, by the abolition of hand-mills, and the use of wind-mills and water-mills for grinding corn. ground by hand, would pay double what he pays now that it is ground at a mill. He pays 10d. for his quartern loaf now; he would pay 20d. then. But if the system of grinding corn by hand were a very recent system in society, and the introduction of so great a benefit as the watermill had all at once displaced the hand-grinders, as the spinning machinery displaced the spinning-wheel, what must become, you say, of the one hundred and fifty men who earned the £15 a-day, of which sum the consumer has now got £14 10s. in his pocket? They must go to other work. And what is to set them to that work. The same £14 10s. ; which, being saved in the price of flour, gives the poor man, as well as the rich man, more animal food and fuel; a greater quantity of clothes, and of a better quality; better furniture, and more of it; domestic utensils; and books. To produce these things there must be more labourers employed than before. The quantity of labour is, therefore, not diminished, while its productiveness is much increased. It is as if every man among us had become suddenly much stronger and more industrious. The machines labour for us, and are yet satisfied without either food or clothing. They increase all our comforts, and they consume none themselves. The hand-mills are not grinding, it is true; but the ships are sailing that bring us foreign produce; the looms are moving that give us more clothes; the potter, and glass-maker, and joiner, are each employed to add to our household goods; we are each of us elevated in the scale of society; and all these things happen because machinery has diminished the cost of production.—Results of Machinery. Labour is worth nothing without results. Its value is only to be measured by what it produces. If in a country where hand-mills could be had, the people were to go on beating grain between two stones, you would pronounce them fools, because they could obtain an equal quantity of meal with a much less expenditure of labour. You have perhaps a general prejudice against that sort of machinery which does its work with very little human assistance; it is not quite so certain, therefore, that you would agree that a people would be equal fools to use the hand-mills when they could employ the wind-mill or the water-mill. But we believe you would think, that if flour could drop from heaven, or be had like water by whoever chose to seek it, it would be the height of folly to have stones, or hand-mills, or watermills, or wind-mills, or any machine whatever DESTRUCTION of the librARY OF for manufacturing flour. Do you ever think of manufacturing water? The cost of water is only the cost of the labour which brings it to the place in which it is consumed. Yet this admission overturns all your objections against machinery. You admit that it is desirable to obtain a thing with no labour at all; can you therefore doubt that it is desirable to obtain it with the least possible labour? The only difference between no labour and a little labour, is the difference of the cost of production. And the only difference between little labour and much labour is precisely the same. In procuring any thing that administers to his necessities, man makes an exchange of his labour for the thing produced, and the less he gives of his labour, the better of course is his bargain. To return to the hand-mill and the watermill. An ordinary water-mill for grinding corn will grind about thirty-six sacks a day. To do the same work with a hand-mill would require 150 men. At two shillings a-day, the wages of these men would amount to £15, which, reckoning six working days, is £90 a week, or £4680 a-year. The rent and taxes of a mill would be about £150 a-year, or ten shillings a working day. The cost of machinery would be certainly more for the hand-mills than the water-mill, therefore we will not take the cost of machinery into the calculation. To produce, therefore, thirty-six sacks of flour by hand we should pay £15; by the water-mill we should pay ten shillings: that is, we should pay thirty times as much by the one process as by the other. The actual saving is something about one-half of the price of the flour in the market; that is, the consumer, if the corn were BUDA. IN 1526 Soliman II. invaded Hungary, and totally defeated the Christian army at Mohacz, led by Lewis II. He is smothered in a ditch as he flies. The Turks take Buda and Pest; and ravage all Hungary, carrying off 150,000 slaves. Fortunately for Christendom, a revolt in the Asiatic provinces, occasioned by a rumour of the sultan's death, calls the victor home, and prevents his completing the conquest of Hungary. Literature sustained an irreparable loss at Buda, by the destruction of the library collected from the reliques of Constantinoplitan science, by Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and placed in a magnificent tower, wherein thirty secretaries were constantly employed in transcribing and collating manuscripts. These unhappy volumes, doomed to a second bondage to Ottoman barbarism, were now torn to pieces for their rich bindings and weighty bosses. Cardinal Bozmanni in vain tempted the captors to relinquish their prize, with the offer of 200,000 pieces of imperial coin. The learned Obsopaeus was more fortunate; he bought of a private soldier a manuscript, what proved to be "The Ethiopics of Heliodorus." From this, in 1584, he printed the first edition of that curious work. Lambecius says that, having been sent by the Emperor Leopold, in 1665, to examine what might remain of the library, he was not permitted to enter the room till after much delay and difficulty; that he found there about four hundred printed books, of no value, scattered over the floor, and covered with filth and dust.—Andrew's History of Great Britain. REVIEW. THE SINFULNESS OF COLONIAL SLAVERY. By tories, or the scanty food of the Irish poor, is able "This decrease was, immediately on its discovery, THE rapid progress which the anti-slavery cause has recently made cannot fail to gratify every humane and Christian mind. The religious part of the community have been effectually aroused by the persecution of their missionaries; and an active, extensive, and systematic co-operation has thus been obtained. The previous supineness of religious men was a matter of deep regret to many friends of Christianity. It gave some appear-system? ance of sanction to the impious appeal which the slave-holder made to revelation, and greatly weakened the hands of those philanthropists who were seeking to burst the bonds of colonial servitude. cause. It has afforded us pleasure to see many of the ministers of religion, both in the Establishment and among Dissenters, exerting their influence for the promotion of this righteous No labour of love can be more appropriate to their office; no work of mercy and justice can more cogently be enforced by the mild principles of their faith. They are thus following the example of their Master, in the promotion of human happiness; and cannot fail, by a patient continuance in such labours, to secure his approval. The publication before us was delivered as a lecture at the Monthly Meeting of Congregational Ministers and Churches in London, on the seventh of February last. It displays an extensive acquaintance with the subjectexposes the futility of the appeal which Colonial writers make to revelation in support of their system-and exhibits, in a luminous and impressive manner, the murderous character of Colonial Slavery. Mr. Halley has evidently acquainted himself with the details of the question which he undertakes to discuss, and the manner in which he has exhibited his information is alike creditable to his head and heart. He has committed a slight mistake in his statement of the case of Haiti. The emancipation of the negroes is represented as having already taken place previously to the civil war between the royalists and republicans. But the reverse of this was the case. The two parties took to arms in 1790; but the proclamation of Polverel, giving freedom to the slaves, was not issued till August, 1793; and the decree of the French Assembly, abolishing slavery throughout, was passed in February, 1794. This fact strengthens our case, by showing that slavery has been abolished with safety, even amid the carnage and brutality of a civil war. The following extract furnishes a fair specimen of the author's style: It is a mur "I must confine myself to one most fearful charge, but that demonstrably true. derous system. Its victims are nigh unto death; they are ready to be slain. In ten years, the slave population of our colonies has been diminished by 50,000. What a tale of intense misery does that single fact unfold! That population should increase, is one of the most constant laws of nature; and when prudential arrangements do not impose a restraint upon early marriage, a consideration totally inap plicable to the state of the negroes, the increase proceeds with surprising rapidity. But we have here the very reverse of nature's laws. Let us hear no more of comparison with the growing population of Britain. Even the starving paupers of Ireland rapidly multiply, and spread over the world. If then the prolonged labour of our fac mate of the registers. But, says Dr. Collins, in "But, to confi e ourselves to the West Indies, it been much more than 7,000,000. I wish I could 271 against slave-life. During this protracted period, on some estates the negroes work all the day and half the night; on others, six days and threes nights in the week; and, on many, thirty-six hours' continuous labour, and ten hours' rest. We have this last statement upon the evidence of Mr. Wildman, a humane and Christian proprietor, who went out to examine the state of his negroes. He saw immediately there was a gain of produce by a loss of life. He reduced the labour of crop to sixteen hours in the twenty-four, and for this act was bitterly persecuted by the neighbouring planters. But observe the consequence :-before aged three for 280 slaves; when he left they the change on that estate, the yearly births aver amounted to ten. children, who, on his arrival, complaining of the excess of labour, said, 'slave woman never holds child in her arms.' There was the mother of three "Besides all this, the slave, not like an Englishman who gains his livelihood by his toil, has to get his livelihood when his master's work is done. When can he cultivate his own provision-ground? He is allowed for this purpose his Sabbath (no, poor man, not his Sabbath, but his Sunday) and part of Saturday. The last Jamaica slave-code> have seen disingenuously represented as so many allows twenty-six Saturdays in the year, which I holidays. But as twenty-six days of labour, even in that climate, are totally insufficient to maintain provision ground on the Sabbath. a family, he must be compelled to cultivate his Missionaries state, they did not expect a plantaThe Methodist tion-slave, even though religiously disposed, to attend worship, if his ground was at any distance, more than one Sabbath in three or four. Is not this the climax of cruelty? British Christians, relieved from the cares of life, enjoy the quietude the negro must toil on that sacred day, when you, prepare for the everlasting repose of heaven. In of devotion, sing the sweet songs of Zion, and bath is the day of terror and dread: the Saturday the Mauritius, at least on some estates, the Sabnight is often spent in restlessness and anxiety: with the holy fight that beams grateful on the Christian world, although there impiously desecrated, the slaves are mustered, the weekly register of punishment is exhibited, and the culprits, stretched upon frames by ropes, are beaten with rattans, which tear the flesh from their bones." SINGULAR PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. leyan Missionaries in South Africa, contains THE journal of Mr. Kay, one of the Wesliverance of a poor sick Hottentot from the the following remarkable account of the dejaws of a lion. The account bears date December 2, 1829. find reason to believe that estimate approached "The system is murderous through an exhausting The last registers give 333,000 male, and 344,000 fe male, slaves. |