CONVERSION OF MONSIEUR DE wave over that lovely country, and the sound| THE SOME of our readers may recollect, in our last number, a curious manuscript, found among the posthumous papers of preliminary discourse of a translation of the Psalter, the first work in which the author announced his conversion. This conversion was attended by all the The manumarks of a sincere conviction. script notes of M. De la Harpe afforded an "I was in prison," additional proof of it. ment, at the steps of his house; coolly reading De la Harpe, containing, among other says he, "and all alone, in a state of profound an island newspaper, while his victim would The flogging and striking is not always confined to the fleshy parts of the back, although that is generally the part; and, indeed, is so always when the full quantum of punishment is given. I have seen the drivers striking with bamboos on the nose and neck, or even on the breasts of female slaves. I should not have dwelt on this last, but I have occasionally seen girls so used. The fleshy parts of the back are generally quite ploughed in furrows by the whip; it produces almost the same effect as if one was to take a knife and cut the part in scores-so well is the whip used. It is a tremendous length, and the driver makes it ring round his head; every crack went like steel to my heart. I was actually astonished and alarmed when I first saw its infliction, how a single white could actually use such power in the teeth of hundreds of slaves. After the flesh is so cut and torn, rum and salt pickle are rubbed upon the wounds; and then what pain does he suffer! Some may not believe this; I am ready to swear to the truth of it in the face of any assemblage in the country. I once heard a "learned disquisition" amongst the book-keepers, whether rum or salt pickle was the best adapted to agonize the slave, and, I think, they came to a conclusion that both might be best. I may add, that these severe and unremitted punishments are frequently inflicted, and that for what any reasonable, humane person would deem very trifling faults-for being behind the rest of the gang a few minutes-for having allowed any of the cattle to escape into the bush, which in many parts of the thickly-wooded country cannot possibly be avoided for returning words to the driver-and, in short, for many offences far more trivial. Not unfrequently the white despot may have been crossed in his amours, and his black rival undergoes the punishment which ought to have been inflicted on himself. Slavery demoralizes and blunts the feelings of all who come in contact with it, or are actually participators of its illegal gains. On my arrival in the island I lodged in the house of a free black woman, in Falmouth, who actually had her own brother and two sisters for slaves. She frequently applied the bamboos herself, or else superintended the operation. I have heard her say, "Now, mind what you be about; you will catch something you don't like, else." And this lady seemed to think that there was nothing wrong in the matter. She undoubtedly was of opinion that the system "worked well." (To be Continued.) · Every person who has paid the least atten were members of this society. But none was De la Harpe, treading in the footsteps of In this comfortless situation, M. De la Harpe had the happiness to find a fellow-prisoner whose piety afforded him the means of consolation, and by whom it was recommended to employ himself in studying the Psalms of David, which M. De la Harpe had never looked into but as containing some poetical beauties, and even of these he did not retain the least remembrance. His new friend, however, fearing lest he might alarm the philosopher by such a proposition, urged this employment rather as a means of amusing his anxious mind, and therefore requested him to write a mere literary commentary on these sublime productions. M. De la Harpe, charmed with an occupation which was so congenial to his taste and inclination, entered at once upon this work. At the very commencement he was convinced that the Psalms contained poetical beauties of a very superior character; and, as he proceeded, this opinion was proportionally heightened. The perusal of other pious works strengthened the growing inclination, and he at length discovered the real source of this consolation, and that help to which the wretched never apply in vain. This commentary, which was at first undertaken with the warmth of gratitude, and continued with the zeal of piety, became the sorrow; but many days did not pass before I found that the study of the Psalms and the gospels had produced a strong though gradual effect upon my mind. I was already numbered among the faithful. I beheld a new light; but it alarmed and terrified me, by discovering the abyss, an abyss of forty years of error. I beheld the evil, but could not discern the remedy. There was no one to afford me aid. On one hand, my life appeared before me, represented to me by the light which beamed from the torch of celestial truth. On the other, I looked on death, that death which I daily expected, and as it was then inflicted. The priest no longer appeared on the scaffold to console the dying victim: he ascended it rather to die himself there. Oppressed by those desolating ideas, my heart sunk within me; and, addressing myself with a smothered voice to the God whom I had scarcely known, What ought I to do? and I, what will be my lot?' Upon the table lay Thomas à'Kempis. I had already been assured of the excellence of his work, of the comfort I should derive from it, and of the power it possessed to soothe my desponding thoughts. I, therefore, opened the book as accident directed, and my eyes fell upon these words: Behold, I am here, my son; I come to you because you have called me.' I read no more; the instantaneous effect which I experienced is beyond all expression, and I am as unable to describe as to forget it. I fell with my face on the earth, and bathed in tears, while my words and cries were half uttered, from the violence of my sobbings. At the same time, I found my heart expanding and relieved; but, at the very same moment, as if it were ready to split. Indeed, I remember very little of this situation, but that I wept long; and, beyond all comparison, my heart never experienced such violent and delicious emotions, and these words, Behold, I am here, my son! did not cease to resound, as it were, through my soul, and to arouse all the faculties of it." M. De la Harpe considered it as a duty to proclaim in public those truths which he had formerly been so unfortunate as to oppose, and it was with this view that he resumed the chair of the Lyceum. The effect produced by him at the first sitting will never be forgotten. The. orator, in a speech full of energy and pathos, gave a picture of the national manners, pointed out their causes, and inspired the crowded audience with those sentiments of indignation which he himself felt. The uoble and pathetic delivery of M. De la Harpe gave great weight to the principles he maintained; and it was remarked, with truth, that his eloquence became more perfect when it was altogether consecrated to the support of such a cause. It was to be expected that his zeal would attract, as it afterwards did, the spirit of persecution, and he was twice proscribed. An order was issued to get possession of him, alive or dead; but he continued to pursue his labours with an undisturbed tranquillity. His defence of religion then occupied his mind. Without consulting the authors who had written on the same subject, he confined himself to the meditation of the sacred writings, and drew from that only source the arguments which he opposed to the philosophers. He possessed an advantage unknown to his predecessors. Connected as he had long been with the infidel writers, he was well acquainted with the strong and the weak parts of their doctrines, and, to use his own words, he had passed almost the whole of his life in the enemy's camp. All the activity of his mind was exerted in the sacred cause to which he had devoted himself; nor did the continual danger to which he was exposed interrupt the tranquillity of his mind. He has often said that this period of persecution was the happiest of his life. His intimate friends had frequently seen him, when he thought himself unobserved by them, prostrate on the earth, as it were, before God, and displaying a sense of the most lively and sincere repentance. His health was, however, materially affected by his confinement; and, after his return to public notice, he gradually sunk under a complication of disorders. He preserved his presence of mind to the last; and, when his enfeebled eyes could not bear the light from amidst the curtains which were drawn around him, from the gloom of this anticipated tomb he continued to converse with his friends on the comforts he experienced from religion, on the errors of his life, and on the mercy of his God. He died February 11th, 1803, aged 64. GRATITUDE IN A SLAVE. A LADY residing at the Mauritius, many years ago, emancipated a slave, whose good conduct and fidelity she wished to reward: being in affluent circumstances, she gave him, with his freedom, a sum of money which enabled him to establish himself in business; and, being very industrious and thrifty, he soon became rich enough to purchase a small estate in the country, whither he retired with his family. Years passed away, and, whilst he was rapidly accumulating money, his former mistress was sinking into poverty: misfortune had overtaken her, and she found herself, in old age, poor, solitary, neglected, and in want of the common necessaries of life. This man heard of her unhappy condition, and immediately came to the town and sought her out in her humble abode. With the utmost respect he expressed his concern at finding his honoured lady in so reduced a state, and implored her to come to his estate, and allow him the gratification of providing for her future comforts. The lady was much affected at the feeling evinced by her old servant, but declined his offer. He could not, however, be prevailed on to relinquish his design: "My good mistress," said he, "oblige me by accepting my services; when you were rich you were kind to me; you gave me freedom and money, with which, through God's blessing, I have been enabled to make myself comfortable in life; and now I only do my duty in asking you to share my prosperity when you are in need." His urgent entreaties at length prevailed, and the lady was conveyed, in his palanquin, to the comfortable and well-furnished apartments assigned to her by his grateful care. His wife and daughters received her with the utmost respect, and always showed, by their conduct, that they considered themselves her servants. Deserted by those who had been her equals in station, and who had professed themselves her friends whilst she was in affluence, this good lady passed the remainder of her days in comfort and ease, amid those who had once been her dependants.-Recollections of the Mauritius, by a Lady. APHORISMS. If a tyrant is brought to this pass, as to feel the reflection of his tyranny over others, in that which his own thoughts plot and conspire against him; his own jealousy exercises upon himself; and if his very diadem is but a splendid mockery, his throne a rack, and all his royalty nothing else but a great and magnificent misery.-DR. SOUTH. THE best part of beauty is that which a picture cannot express.-LORD BACON. The garlands gained by the heroes of literature must be gathered from summits equally difficult to climb with those that bear the civic or triumphal wreaths; they must be worn with equal envy, and guarded with equal care from those hands that are always employed in efforts to tear them away: the only remaining hope is, that their verdure is more lasting, and that they are less likely to fade by time, or less obnoxious to the blasts of accident. DR. JOHNSON. That which is not for the interest of the whole hive, cannot be so for any single bee.-MARCUS AURELIUS. Children lament their parents, sincerely indeed, but with that moderate and tranquil sorrow which it is natural for those to feel who are conscious of retaining many tender ties, many animating prosParents mourn for their children with the pects. bitterness of despair: the aged parent, the widowed mother, loses, when she is deprived of her children, every thing but the capacity of suffering; her heart, withered and desolate, admits no other object, cherishes no other hope.-ROBERT HALL. CHRISTMAS GIFT. To welcome home the friends she lov'd most dear- Who, for this happiness quite elate, One trial given-Beauty shall succeed, PAT every direction; but that in fact no other establishment in Drury-lane has ever been supplied by the patentee. Price, as at the distillery, 18s. per imperial gallon, retailed at 2s. 3d. per pint, and in sealed bottles, 3s. 6d. each. Sample hampers of half a dozen of wine, 17s.; of half a dozen of spirits, 17s. 6d., package included. Conditions: Cash on delivery of goods in London or the suburbs. Ex changed if disapproved of; forfeited if inferior to sample. Country postage payable by purchasers. HENRY BRETT, 109, Drury-lane. N.B. 109. Nov. 30, 1832. FOR the CURE of COUGHS, COLDS, ASTHMAS, SHORTNESS of BREATH, &c. &c.— WALTER'S ANISEED PILLS.-The numerous and respectable Testimonials daily received of the extraordi nary efficacy of the above Pills, in curing the most distressing and long-established diseases of the pulmonary and them to the notice of those afflicted with the above comthe test of experience for several years cannot be too generally known. They are composed entirely of balsamic and vegetable ingredients, and are so speedy in their beneficial effects, that in ordinary cases a few doses have been respiratory organs, induce the Proprietor to recommend plaints, conceiving that a Medicine which has now stood ATENT BRANDY.-Declaration.-I, HENRY BRETT, of 109, Drury Lane, Wine and Spirit Merchant, do solemnly affirm and declare, that I do NOTHING MADE IN VAIN. not, and will not, in any case, practise deleterious adulteration; that I invariably vend the genuine PATENT THE Creator has made nothing that is unFRENCH DISTILLED BRANDY, so highly recommended by the faculty, and pronounced the "only known useful-nothing so insulated as to have no pure spirit in the world," precisely as I receive it from the relations with any thing else-nothing which distillery; that my consumption of that article, in the oris not serviceable or instrumental to other pur-derably exceeded 3,000 gallons; that counterfeits abound in dinary course of trade, during the last four months, consiposes besides its own existence-nothing that is not to be applicable or convertible to the benefit of His sentient creatures, in some respect or other. The mineral has a connexion of this sort with both the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and these with each other. The same principle has been pursued throughout the animated classes of nature. No one species of living being has been formed only for itself, or can subsist in absolute uselessness to others. This is one grand purpose for causing so many races of animal beings to subsist on each other. By this system, each enjoys the gift of life, and each is made to contribute, by the termination of that gift, to the well-being of others. Fishes are thus useful to each other, to many birds, to some animals, and to man. Birds have their period of happiness for themselves, and are serviceable to others of their kind, and to man, and to some quadrupeds, in their mode of death, instead of mouldering through corruption into their material dissolution. Quadrupeds have the same double use in their existence their own enjoyment, and the benefit, at their death, to those of their own order, and to the birds and reptiles, worms and insects, that have been appointed to derive nutrition from their substance. All the kingdoms of nature have been likewise so constructed as to be beneficial to the human race, not as nutriment only, but in the thousand conveniences to which they are convertible. The amphibious order of nature is no exception to these general results. Its various genera contribute their proportion to the common stock of mutual utilities. They have their own gratification from their personal existence; they contribute by their substance to the maintenance of others of their fellow-creatures; and some of their genera serve to multiply the conveniences and pleasures of man. He derives advantages from all that exists, found sufficient; and, unlike most Cough Medicines, they neither affect the head, confine the bowels, nor produce of. The following cases are submitted to the Public from any of the unpleasant sensations so frequently complained many in the Proprietor's possession:-K. Boke, of Globe lane, Mile-end, was perfectly cured of a violent cough, attended with hoarseness, which rendered his speech inandible, by taking three or four doses. E. Booley, of Queenstreet, Spitalfields, after taking a few doses, was entirely cured of a most inveterate cough, which he had had for many months, and tried almost every thing without success. Prepared by W. Walter, and sold by I. A. Sharwood, No. 55, Bishopsgate Without, in boxes, af Is. 14d. and three in one for 2s. 9d.; and by appointment, by HanDay and Co., No. 63, Oxford-street; Green, No. 42, Whitechapel-road; Pront, No. 226, Strand; Sharp, Cross-street, Islington; Pink, No. 65, High-street, Borough; Allison, No. 130, Brick-lane, Bethnal-green; Farrar, Upton-place, Commercial-road; Hendebourck, 326, Holborn; and by all the wholesale and retail Medicine Venders in the United Kingdom.-N.B. In consequence of the increased demand for this excellent Medicine, the Public are cautioned against Counterfeits-none can be genuine unless signed by I.A. Sharwood on the Government Stamp, and W. Walter on the outside wrapper.-Be sure to ask for "Walter's Aniseed Pills." Printed by J. HADDON and Co.; and Published by J. CRISP, at No. 27, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, where all Advertisements and Communications for the Editor are to be addressed. 66 IT has been observed of our architec- | Wren carried modern ecclesiastical archi- | to a church, we see in the magnificent ture, that we were admirable Goths, tecture to its very highest perfection in and we have never become good Gre- this country; and since his time, with but cians." This remark is especially correct few exceptions, it has been gradually deif we apply it to the greater number of clining, as too many of the incongruous our modern churches, in the building of superstructures of the present day will which a pedantic imitation of the temples testify. Since custom requires the apof Greece and Rome has been attempted, pendage of a steeple to all parish churches, without much regard to situation or pro- our architecture should be accommodated priety, heathen symbols adorning Chris- to our wants. A spire being of Gothic tian temples, with towers and spires origin, it requires much talent to make it sitting astride upon Grecian pediments, harmonize with a Greek portico; it is, or rising from a root which appears perhaps, therefore, the most difficult thing scarcely able to bear the superincumbent to design in modern architecture; yet weight. Our immortal Sir Christopher that it can be made a beautiful addition steeples of St. Bride's and Bow, but they are not fixed in the roof, but rise in all their majesty from a sufficient tower and base from the ground. One of the largest and most expensive of the new churches is that of St. Pancras, built at the cost of seventy thousand pounds; yet, although it is imitated from some of the purest remains of Athenian architecture, from want of originality of design, it must be considered as a splendid failure. It is imitated from the temple of Erectheus, from the Pandrosium, and from the Temple of the Winds. Perhaps the finest specimen of the adaptation of Grecian architecture to a modern church is that of St. Sulpice, at Paris, which has been erected at various times and by various hands. It was commenced, in 1646, from the designs of Louis Levau, Anne of Austria, regent of the kingdom, laying the first stone on the 20th of February; in 1678 the erection was suspended, for want of money, until 1718, when it was continued under the direction of Gille Marie Oppenord, an architect who had obtained great reputation, although little deserving of it, his designs being in the worst style of the time of Louis XV. It was reserved for the Chevalier Servandorie to raise the majestic façade, of which a representation is given above. It is at once airy and grand, consisting of two tiers of columns : the lower of the Doric order, which are forty-three feet high, and five feet and a half in diameter; the upper of the Ionic order, with two lofty towers, rising from each end to the height of 222 feet from the basement. The whole length of this splendid front is about 416 feet, in one unbroken line, strongly exhibiting the bold conception of the architect, it being then regarded as the height of talent to overload with ornament, and fritter away the simplicity of horizontal lines by all kinds of unmeaning and fanciful projections. A FEW DISJOINTED FACTS CONNECTED WITH SLAVERY IN JAMAICA, (Continued from page 142.) Often have I, on returning from the field in the evening, the most enchanting scenery opening on all sides to my view, and the horizon bespangled with all the gorgeous display of a Jamaica sun-set, when my wayward left, would be interrupted by the heart-rendmusings, perhaps of the happy home I had ing screams of agony from a distant estate borne on the breeze. Oh! would any feeling person live in such a country, where, instead of the faithful barking of the watch-dog, their ears are shocked by the cries of the oppressed, the deeply-injured slave! Hours of Labour (crop time). From June to August I conceive the general labouring hours to be from five in the morning till sunset, with only half an hour to breakfast, and an hour to dinner, with no other rest whatever during the day. They are goaded specific-the whip. They are only allowed on by the sovereign remedy-the universal water during work; or, if digging cane-holes (out of crop), sugar and water is allowed, but no rum, or any thing else whatever. During crop-time, the negroes have to take their turn in the boiling-house every other night, with slave is engaged all day in cutting canes, and perhaps a few days' delay at a time. Thus a has then, at sunset, to trudge away to the boiling-house, and stand behind the coppers The towers are the united productions all the weary night. Another part of the gang of Maclaurin and Chalgrin, who deviated keep up the fires without; others, again, are from the original design of Servandorie, carrying canes to the mill; and the women which, it appears, had but little to comare either doing this last work, or carrying mend it. The south tower still remains where they are spread out and dried in the sun. away the trash (bruised canes) to the yard, in an unaccountably and disgracefully They are allowed no rum to support them unfinished state. The interior of this while standing at the coppers. Those in the church is scarcely less imposing than its boiling-house may, indeed, sip a little of the exterior. It was completed in 1745, and liquid sugar with impunity; but even this was then dedicated. It is the largest shabby pittance is refused to those engaged in the yard-they are not allowed a pan-full in parish church in Paris, its length being the morning when they leave off work. Those about 360 feet, and its height 107 feet. who have never kept a "night-spell," as it is The high altar is extremely beautiful. termed, can have but a faint idea of the real It is situated between the nave and the slavery of those negroes employed at the copchoir, is finely ornamented, and has much pers, compelled to stand at their post, exposed grandeur of effect. Behind the choir, in to the volumes of suffocating vapours continuwhich are some good pictures by Vanloo, ally ascending, and which completely enveis the Chapel of the Virgin, profusely the inroads of somnolency which continually is the Chapel of the Virgin, profusely lope their sable bodies, struggling to oppose decorated with gilding and painting. It threaten them-so much, that I have frequently is illuminated by a concealed window, seen them tumble over with the ladle in their producing a most pleasing effect. In a hand. In the midst of all their hardships, recess above the altar is a fine piece of and this is a glaring one, these poor creatures sculpture of the Virgin and infant Christ yet find time for a harmless joke-the real in white marble; they are represented goodness of their nature shining forth in the with a large globe at their feet, upon midst of every misery. which lies, slightly coiled, the "bruised" or dead serpent. In the transepts is traced a meridian, at the extremity of which is an astronomical pillar. The two fonts within the entrance of the church are rather curious, being formed of the shells of one of the largest Tridachna gigas (giant chama) known. It was presented by the Venetian republic to Francis I. Ꭲ. Labour in the Field. On arriving at the field in the morning, the list of the gang is called by the book-keeper, or rather read in hearing of the black driver. As each name is read, it is loudly called by the driver; and, if no answer, he is set down as absent, and may be punished by the driver, when he does arrive, on the spot, or by order of the overseer when he comes to the field. have frequently seen some of the negroes answer for perhaps a friend or brother, that he might be saved from punishment. This is sometimes done effectually, without detection, when the gang is engaged trashing a large cane piece, so that the absentee may arrive just in time, before he is actually missed. In trashing a cane piece-that is, stripping off the withered leaves of the cane, prior to its being cut down for the mill-the gang are kept at their work by the book-keeper and drivers continually moving along the line. This labour might appear, at first sight, or to a casual observer, as very light, and easily gone through; but such is not at all the case. Through a large cane-piece the cooling breeze cannot penetrate, from the impervious nature of the canes themselves, inclining in all directions, covered with leaves; and this, along with the continued stooping of the body required in the operation, is very galling, and generally sickening to both blacks and whites. In digging cane-holes, the labour is uncummonly severe, and, as must always happen, the stronger negroes soon outstrip their weaker fellows, who are lashed on against the strength of their bodies. In all operations connected with the agriculture of Jamaica, wretched as same. to detail it is, the whole management is the The drivers flog, and swear, and threaten; and the book-keeper performs rigidly his part of the drama, which is that of a spy on the drivers and slaves. Having myself had the misfortune to fill such a situation, I can compare it to nothing else. The driver has all immediate power in the field; the book-keeper has none. This of course is worse for the slaves; for the driver, well knowing what awaits his remissness, flogs in great style, shouting as he proceeds, "Buckra work buckra work!" which has a wonderful effect in stimulating the muscles of the slaves. Slaves engaged within doors. On the estate where I was placed, and, indeed, I believe on all sugar estates, besides the field negroes, there was a gang of carpenblacksmiths. The carpenters were no mean ters, of coopers, and of masons, with two workmen, and some of their light fancy articles would do no discredit to a cabinet-maker in this country. It was astonishing to witness their skill in the mechanism of their different operations, and their exceeding neatness of handicraft. Both carpenters and coopers, and and, even in this respect, they were greatly of course the smith also, worked under shade; better off than their less fortunate fellows, who had to toil beneath a burning sun; and beheads (although liable to its infliction as well sides, they had no whip suspended over their their operations. They seemed to consider as others), but merely a head man to direct themselves as superior to the other slaves; and, when their workshops were closed after crop-time, they shouldered their hoes with the greatest reluctance as they hied away to the field. The masons were chiefly employed in keeping the fences in repair, or in building what in Scotland would be termed "dry-stane dykes." When superintended by a white person, they build very substantial houses, as the different public and private erections throughout the colony (built of course by various gangs) sufficiently testify. The courthouses at Falmouth and Puerto Maria would stand comparison with many in Scotland; and the "great houses" of the proprietors and This can be well ascertained by sun-rise and attorneys are no less distinguished for the sun-set at this period of the year. beauty and elegance of their structure. None I of these mechanics receive pay; they are merely given something additional over the field negro's allowance, but on most estates there is, I believe, no distinction whatever. Sabbath Work. BIRD-MIND. I have little fears that the slaves would be guilty of any great excesses, were they to be To delineate the instincts, the feelings, and instantly liberated; but, firmly am I of opi- habits of the feathered kingdom, is no part of nion, that as soon as their first ebullitions of joy my present intention. There is as much of and gladness were over, that they would comwhat resembles intellectual sensibilities and mence a new era in their existence-that of reasoning, will and judgment, in them, as in WILLING free labourers. any genus of fish or quadrupeds. This anaWhat reason has any one to suppose other-logy may be even extended to ourselves; at wise? They have more reason to commit ex- least, I cannot but admit the application of it to such qualities in myself. I have frequently surveyed the various poultry and the birds that frequent the fields and gardens around me, cesses now than they will have then. It would be an easy matter, nothing could be easier, to murder the whites in bed, were they so inclined. But do they do so? The negroes are uniformly engaged in the forenoon of Sunday potting sugar-I never saw any exception-during crop, which is the only time they are so employed. The mill, too, is generally put about at sun-set on the Sabbath for the slave it is no holiday. I have heard the overseer say, with an oath, that The free blacks he did not see why the book-keepers should and browns are peaceable, because they are grudge being in the boiling-house in the Sab-free; and no one has any cause for supposing bath forenoons, when they were paid for it. that the present slaves would not be equally peaceable and industrious, were they permitted to enjoy equality of privileges, and to act their part in the great family of man. Clothing allowed by the Proprietor. They are allowed ten yards of Osnaburgh, seven yards of camblet cloth, a hat, a knife, and some needles and thread: this is a man's allowance; the females have in addition five yards of striped stuff, I think, which constitutes their whole allowance for the year; this, with seven herrings weekly, salt fish, rice, and some other trifles, along with the provisionground allowed them, is all they have for their year's toil an everlasting disgrace to slavedealers. Are the Slaves happy ? I should be considered a madman were I to pronounce the slaves happy, after having entered thus far into the details of their condition. Those who are interested in the upholding of the disgraceful system, rail at the idea of knowledge being extended to the slaves; alleging that they were quite incapable of being instructed. Such, however, happens not to be the case. No candid person who has had any opportunity of studying the subject would say so. If free blacks and browns not only have the capacity to acquire knowledge, but are known to do so with an avidity truly laudable, I cannot see why enslaved blacks should not do so with equal enthusiasm, and that with infinitely more advantage and lasting benefit to themselves, than eagerly imitating the worst vices of the whites. They are, in fact, most anxious to be instructed-they frequently express that wish. They are not happy-generally and I must now conclude, trusting that the Frequently has it occurred to me, when being an unwilling witness of their punishments, that the poor creatures, placed, as they are, in a state of abject degradation, looked on their oppressors with a smile of ineffable contempt, as much as to say, "God help you: if we were inclined, we could soon sacrifice you to our just resentment; but, only as we fear sinning much more than you do, we will leave you alone at present-there is a good time coming." It is my own fixed opinion, founded on some experience, that the planters, and other whites in Jamaica, owe their safety solely to the efforts of philanthropic individuals in this country in their cause. These efforts, being well known to the slaves, stay their uplifted arm and retard the day of vengeance. Would they work for wages? I certainly think they would. They seem very fond of collecting a little money; and, in my opinion, the negroes would give a better account of their labours by the substituting of rewards instead of punishments. It would be an easy matter to enlarge on the subject, but time presses. It would be a strange inconsistency were the planters to prefer their present unsettled and continually excited life, exposed on all hands to assassination and treachery, to one that should bring comparative happiness, I have little doubt, in its train, were they to substitute free for forced labour, the schoolmaster in lieu of the driver-that slavery-made fiend! CHARLES JOHNSTON, Late Book-keeper, St. Ann's, Jamaica. December 4, 1832. Although not a full year in Jamaica, I yet had ample opportunities of observing the every day details of slavery; and, happy should I be, should my humble, but sincere, efforts in the cause of negro liberty, break but one link of the negro's chain. They may rely on my voice being ever raised in their defence, and no less my humble, but willing, pen, in spite of obloquy and scorn--so help me, God! CHARLES JOHNSTON. The whole of the above facts were wrote in great haste, Mr. Knibb having been suddenly called to London, but they can, at any time, be extended and more particularly entered upon. C. J. POPE JULIUS II. AND MICHAEL ANGELO. DURING this Pope's visit to Bologna, Michael Angelo modelled a statue of him. The air and attitude of the statue is said to have been grand, austere, and majestic; in one of the visits he received from his Holiness, the Pope, making his observations and remarks with his accustomed familiarity, asked if the extended right arm was bestowing a blessing or a curse on the people? "La benedizione o la maledizione ?" To which Michael Angelo replied, the action is only meant to be hostile to disobedience; and then asked his Holiness, whether he would not have a book put into the other hand? To which the Pope facetiously replied, "No, a sword would be more adapted to my character; I am no book-man.” -Duppa's Life of Michael Angelo. with these considerations. If I could transfer knowledge it has acquired, but with its natural my own mind, divested of all the human faculties unimpaired, into the body of any fowl about, and give to it the ideas and memory which their organs and habits have acquired, should I, in the exercise of my judgment on such sensations as theirs, act otherwise than as they do under the circumstances in which they are placed and live? When I have put the question to myself, I have not been able to discern that I should, in their bodies and condition, conduct myself very differently from them. They seem to do all the things they ought; and to act with what may be called a steady common sense in their respective situations. I have never seen a bird do a foolish thing for a creature of their powers, frame, and organs, and in their state. Each acts with a uniform propriety; nothing fantastic, absurd, inconsistent, maniacal, or contradictory, appears in their simple habits or daily conduct. They seem to have mental faculties and feelings like mine, up to a certain extent; but to that they are limited. They have not the universality-the diversifying capacity-nor the improvability of the human intellect. The bird-mind is the same bird-mind from generation to generation. The nightingale is now what the nightingale was four and six thousand years ago-nothing less-nothing more. The eagle is as incapable of advancement as the sparrow. The common fowl, which is found in all regions and climates of the globe, is in each one exactly alike in its functions, faculties, and habits. The song-birds warble now just as they have done ever since human history has noticed them. It is this confining identity which separates birds and all animals so widely from man. They never improve; while his capability of progression is as yet illimitable, and may perhaps ever be so.-Sharon Turner's Sacred History of the World. |