He has many a time strapped me before, till I have been black; he has often struck me over the head with the billy roller, and raised great lumps with it. At one time, when I had thrice 'little flyings,' which I could not help, he took me out of the billy gait, lifted me into the window, tied a rope round my body, and hung me up to a long pole that was sticking out of the wall, and there he left me hanging about five feet from the floor. I cried very much; and so in about ten minutes he took me down." The above true account was last week taken, verbatim, from the lips of a poor child, aged ten years, by Mr. R. Qastler, and has by him been communicated to the Leeds Intelligencer. If this be not INFANT SLAVERY, what is?

We are happy to find that the factory districts are alive to the evils under which infants in factories groan without redress; and that a society has been established to rescue these innocents from the oppressions they endure, of which his Royal, Highness the Duke of Sussex is the patron.

WEST INDIA SLAVERY.-On Thursday, May 24, Mr. Buxton brought forward, in parliament, his motion for the appointment of a committee to consider the best means of effecting the utter extinction of slavery in the British colonies, with as much expedition as was consistent with a due regard to the safety of the colonists. Lord Sandon moved an amendment, that after the word "safety" there should be inserted the words, "of the interests of all parties concerned;" and that at the end of the resolution, the following words should be inserted, "and in conformity with the resolutions of the 15th of May, 1823." Lord Althorp approved of the latter amendment. Mr. Buxton very properly refused to agree to an amendment, which could only be considered as designed to promote delay, especially when taken in connexion with Lord Althorp's declaration, "that he would not pledge himself to any immediate abolition of slavery, because he did not think that the slave population was in a situation to receive that boon beneficially for themselves." We deny the accuracy of a position which would extinguish every other prospect, but that of interminable slavery. We appeal to all that has recently occurred in the West Indies, as corroborating the accuracy of this assertion. Nothing can rescue the colonies from impending ruin but the total excision of the cause-slavery. But more of this in our

next number. Mr. Buxton divided the house upon Lord Althorp's amendment, when, for the amendment there were 163; for the original motion, 90; making a majority of 73 against Mr. Buxton's motion.

ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING RATIONAL HUMANITY TOWARDS THE ANIMAL CREATION. On Wednesday, May 23d, the annual meeting of this association was held in Exeter Hall; the Right Hon. Lord Porchester, M. P. in the chair. The Right Hon. chairman said, "He congratulated his friends around him upon the great change which had taken place in the public mind as to the important object to promote which they were now assembled. Indifference to the brute creation had formerly been prevalent; that indifference was now confined to a few. A desire was now felt to promote rational humanity, and to obtain protection for the brute creation, by temperate, yet efficient legislation. The good, the generous, the humane, now rejoiced to combine for the blessed purpose. Lord Erskine, he believed, was the first who attempted to legislate on this subject; his important motion was lost by a majority of ten, and that circumstance was principally owing to a joke! But, thank God! the day was gone by, when jest could stand in the place of argument on so important a point. Various opinions existed, his lordship said, as to the efficiency of Mr. Martin's Act. He (Lord Porchester) thought that it had been the means of effecting much good: it had taught many to see that wanton cruelty was as repugnant to the British legislature, as it was opposed to every virtuous feeling in the breast of man, and offensive in the sight of the great God. It was evident that the public were now fully prepared to have the provisions of Mr. Martin's Act extended, and that it should operate not only to punish but also to prevent crime. His excellent and highly-respected friend, Mr. Mackinnon, had introduced a Bill into the House of Commons, the several clauses of which demonstrated the legal tact, the assiduous care, the practical knowledge, and the true philosophical humanity of that honourable gentleman. The places in which cattle were slaughtered in this country were dens of infamy. In the knackers' yards, horses were kept for days without, food, and almost starved to death. He had been credibly informed, that, in some of those places, those noble animals had

gnawed asunder the cords which attached them to the walls, and, in very agony, had preyed upon each other! He was aware that there was much delicacy and difficulty in legislating upon this subject. The object must be to enact those regulations which were the most practical, and the most certain of attaining the object. His honourable friend, Mr. Mackinnon had acted wisely, by introducing no chimerical notions upon the subject. His Act was comprehensive, including animals of every description, and would, he was sure, prove of general utility."

Mr. J. W. Green, the secretary, read the report of the committee, in which they say :

"Their first object was to promote the circulation of their quarterly publication, the Voice of Humanity. Your Committee have the satisfaction to state that their periodical has not been circulated in vain. Not only have the true principles of ra tional humanity been better understood and appreciated; but the wise and good, the intelligent and humane, have rejoiced to discover what many of them, with the most ardent wishes to promote the inte rests of true humanity, had long sighed for in vain a public organ through which to communicate their sentiments and im part their feelings. Such an organ has your publication proved. Through it Humanity' has uttered her Voice' in tones clear, convincing, and influential. That Voice' has been lifted up in the provinces-in the metropolis-and in the great senate of the nation. A response has been heard though not sufficiently loud and deep to satisfy the wishes of your Committee yet sufficient to convince them that an impression has been made, and to induce the hope that valuable effects will soon be apparent.

"Your Committee, feeling the vast importance of their object-perceiving that several enlightened and humane indivividuals were anxious to cooperate with them, and remembering that union is strength,' determined to promote the formation of Branch Associations in every possible direction. The first Branch Association was formed at Saffron Walden, in Essex. It is already in a flourishing state, and furnishes an example of what may be done by well directed zeal and perseverance, both as to the raising of funds, the preparation of petitions to parliament, and the formation of similar associations in adjacent places. On the 28th of February last a Meeting took place

in the Town-hall, Cambridge, which is reported in the eighth number, and was attended by fellows of the different Colleges, and a number of respectable inhabitants, when a Branch Association for the town of Cambridge and its vicinity was duly organized. Your Committee have authority to state, that similar branches will shortly be organized at Bristol, at Birmingham, and at Salisbury; in which places the publications of the Association have been circulated, and several subscribers obtained. It is not necessary for your Committee to dwell on the importance of such auxiliaries: they only add their earnest wish that the friends of rational humanity, in all parts of the kingdom, will speedily avail themselves of this means of strengthening their own hands, and of advancing the general cause." **Much as we are gratified with the success that, from the report, appears to have attended the labours of this associationmuch as we rejoice in the good which is likely to result from the bill which Mr. Mackinnon has introduced into parliament, if it should become part of the law of the land, we are persuaded that the humane object of the association will not he fully realized, untile different CATTLE MARKETS and contiguous ABATTOIRS are established in the suburbs of London; and that to carry into effect these essential objects will require all the influence and aid of a benevolent British public.

We

LABOURERS' FRIEND SOCIETY. introduced this Society to our readers, in No. XL. p. 269, of the present volume of our work, since which (Feb. 18, 1832) the first Annual Meeting of this Society was held at Exeter-hall. The Report of the proceedings of this meeting has been but very recently put into our hands. The following extracts from the Report may not be unacceptable to our readers, as stating the object of the Society, and the means it adopts to promote its object.

"The most useful assistance which man can render to his fellow-men, is that which shall enable them to assist themselves, and reap in peace the fruits of their own industry. On this foundation, the Labourers' Friend Society desires to rest its claim to public attention, actuated by the wish of benefiting the country at an anxious and eventful period of its history.

"

"The want of employment, bitterly felt by a large and increasing population, whose bread must be earned by the sweat of their brow, has long occasioned pain to

every reflecting mind; and the inquiry naturally arises, by what means, and from what resources, profitable labour may be supplied, interfering as little as possible with existing callings and occupations. The present state of our manufacturers precludes all hope of employment being afforded by them; they are already overstocked; while, on the other hand, a comparative slight survey of the length and breadth of our land, and of what is still uncultivated on and beneath its surface, shews agriculture to be possessed of hidden treasures, which the heart of the wise, and the hand of the diligent, have only to discover and apply.

"The attainment of that object is the primary design of this Association; and a brief sketch of our union, from its infancy to the present moment, is here, for the first time, submitted to the consideration of a generous and enlightened nation.

"The Labourers' Friend Society was instituted, in the hope of improving the condition of the labourers generally, and of providing those in agricultural districts with small allotments of land for their own use and cultivation, in addition to the fair remuneration of their labour.

"To obtain that degree of publicity and influence which seemed essential to the execution of their plans, the Committee, which was gradually formed during the past year, sought and obtained, through the medium of the bishop of Winchester, the most gracious patronage of their Majesties. To this was added the support of various noble and honourable names; and the Society desires to acknowledge, with thankfulness, the kind and liberal assistance with which it has been favoured. The clergy and landowners have aided its views, with a willingness and activity evincing the most benevolent disposition to relieve their suffering fellow-creatures; and the Society now consists of between four and five hundred members, who manifest a desire to unite in the national work, which, in much humility, they have been encouraged to attempt.

"Twelve numbers of its monthly publication are already circulated; while the accounts and communications they contain serve to demonstrate, that the allotment system is doubly beneficial :

"1st-To the landlord and tenant of the soil; by increasing the value of the land, and diminishing the burthen of the poor

rates.

"2dly. In a still greater degree to the labourer; for a stimulus being thus given

to his industry, his leisure time is profitably employed, his morals and comforts are equally promoted, a prospect of better days is opened to his view, and his children are trained up in habits qualifying them to become valuable members of the community.

"A review of the correspondence in which the association has engaged, affords the most ample testimony to these truths. Examples might be multiplied without end the committee will therefore content themselves with referring to an article in the fourth number of their printed Facts and Illustrations, entitled A Plain Statement,' shewing the weekly cost and expences of the labourer's family; and to another, in the sixth number, headed 'Causes of Distress of the Agricultural Population,' setting forth the contrast between raising and purchasing the necessaries of life, as well deserving the serious consideration of every reader."

OBITUARY.-May 29, 1832, at the house of his son in Brunswick-square, in his 80th year, the Rev. George Burder, Senior Minister of Fetter-lane Chapel, and for many years gratuitous Secretary of the London Missionary Society.

Mr. Burder was born in London, the 5th of June, 1752; and in him was verified the benefit that attends an early inculcation of the principles of piety in the youthful mind. On his birth-day, when only ten years of age, his father, Mr. Henry Burder, urged him very affectionately and seriously to begin in earnest to attend to the great and momentous claims of religion. This affectionate solicitude of parental love was not without its reward the father was favoured to rejoice that he had not laboured in vain. In a retrospect of that evening long afterwards, the sou wrote down the following reflections, "Then, I trust, sincerely and earnestly, and, as far as I can recollect, for the first time, I poured out my soul to God, beseeching him to give me an interest in Christ, and desiring, above all things, to be found in him.”

At an early age, Mr. George Burder had a strong predilection for drawing, and became a student at the Royal Academy at Somerset House. At the age of twentyone he commenced business as an engraver with the most flattering prospects of success; but secular pursuits were not most accordant with his feelings, and he formed a connexion with a society similar in its objects with the Home Missionary

Society. He made his first attempt to preach the Gospel of Christ when he was about twenty-four years of age; and thus, without any academic preparation, he became a preacher of the Gospel. In about a year after, he accepted an invitation to the pastoral oversight of a church at Lancaster, where he continued about six years, faithfully devoted to his pastoral duties, and so assiduously employed in extensive itinerant labours, that in some years he has travelled between two and three thousand miles. From Lancaster he removed to Coventry, where he continued nearly twenty years; and, as at Lancaster, he united to his pastoral duties the wide field of village preaching and itinerant labour in the counties of Warwick, Stafford, and Nottingham.

In all the great movements of the Christian church within the last forty years, he took a prominent and distinguished part. He was one of the excellent men, by whom the London Missionary Society was formed in the year 1795. He was the father of the Religious Tract Society, and contributed more largely than any other individual to its numerous and interesting publications. The deep interest he felt in these extensively useful institutions, probably induced him, on the death of the Rev. John Eyre, in the year 1803, to yield to the solicitations to succeed him as gratuitous Secretary to the Missionary Society, and to accept an unanimous invitation to become pastor of the church in Fetter-lane. In 1822, his age, and consequent infirmities, compelled him to relinquish his office as Foreign Secretary to the Missionary Society. His pastoral labours he continued, with the aid, latterly, of the Rev. Caleb Morris, till the first Lord's day in March last, when he preached his last sermon. As our obituary notices are not intended to eulogise the dead, but to benefit the living, we give the following reflections of Mr. Burder, which were written on his birth-day, June 5th, 1829: the domestic privations which induced them are too concomitant with human nature, for many not to see in them a reflection of their own experience: may they excite in them the same salutary contemplation, on approaching to the confines of that state of being which will decide their eternal destiny, either in the mansions of bliss, where they will partake of the joys of the redeemed, or in those regions of woe and eternal despair which are consigned to the wicked! "Seven years ago, when I concluded my seventieth year, I

called my family together, prayed with them, gave them some advice, and read a paper which I committed to their care. Of the domestic circle which then surrounded me, no less than four are gone to the grave my dear wife, my two dear daughters, and my dear daughter-in-law, the beloved wife of my son Henry,—all gone; and I, who am older than any of them, still spared, and complete this day my seventy-seventh year. A few days ago, visited the spot where the mortal remains of the above are deposited, and in which this frail body must be soon laid up. O that, with them, I may have a joyful resurrection to eternal life!"

To that simplicity of purpose and aim, founded upon that rock which is the Christian's hope, is to be attributed Mr. Burder's public advocacy of the too much neglected pacific principles of the Gospel as they are maintained by the Peace Society; the consideration of which he urged upon his brethren in the ministry. "We should," he says, “inform ourselves fully on this subject. There are, besides well-written books, five or six excellent tracts already published by the Peace Society on this subject. I wish they could obtain a wider circulation; and that ministers of the Gospel would promote their circulation in their respective congregations: I think them irresistibly convincing, and that the reading them would certainly produce good effect. It is desirable that ministers would occasionally preach on this subject. Many persons have never thought seriously upon it, and need information. Too often the pulpit has been prostituted to a contrary purpose; it has been made the drum ecclesiastic,' and ministers have appeared rather as the priests of Moloch than the ambassadors of peace." The sermon from which this extract is taken, is republished in this number of our work; and we refer our readers to it, as containing an excellent defence of the principles of the Peace Society. At the first public anniversary of that society in 1825, Mr. Burder gave it his support on the platform. His declining state of health prevented his attendance at the subsequent anniversaries of the Peace Society. Mr. Burder was the author of several works; that which is in the most repute, is his Village Sermons in eight volumes. The memory of the just is blessed; may the memory of this servant of Christ, his advice, and his example, be embalmed on the hearts of his surviving brethren!

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LINES ON THE BEAUTIFUL AND PEACEFUL SCENERY OF THE RHONE.

BY DR. BOWRING.

Avignon, May 8, 1832. DEAR Sailing down the Rhone, amidst its beautiful and peaceful scenery, which the castles of feudalism seem still to frown upon, the following lines flowed forth spontaneously. You may perhaps like to preserve them in the Herald of Peace. Ever yours,

JOHN BOWRING. ADOWN, adown the rapid Rhone! Amidst its craggy hills sublime, Whose rugged tops were built upon By princes of the feudal time! All peaceful now-all warlike then!

ON

In ancient days each separate hill' Sent forth its brave and battling men The neighbouring mountain-braveto kill.

O happy change!-the vine-trees grow
In smiling luxury-and the noise
Of horrid war ne'er troubles now

The sweet, the silent, rural joys!
And when shall nations tower above

The rival hate of festering years, And dwell in peace, and dwell in love, Like these regenerate villagers ?

ATTENDING A MEETING FOR THE PROMOTION OF UNIVERSAL PEACE. YE Christian advocates of war, Ye heroes, tell me who shall dare Your proudest conquests to compare With this propitious day! Shall martial rage the reason blind, And hell-born vice pervert the mind, And waste and desolate mankind,

Beneath his tyrant sway!

Shall the destroying angel's hand
Still uncontrolled the world command,
And scatter discord through the land,
With unrelenting force?

Shall the fell scourge of war still reign-
That bitter curse-that blackest stain-
That deep-prolific flood of pain-

Blasting throughout its course?

O no! the voice of Mercy cries-
O no! Humanity replies,
God in his justice will arise,
The cause of Peace to plead.

His law the bond of peace enjoins,
Peace through his glorious Gospel shines;
No Christian he who now resigns

This watchword of his creed.
Ye, who this work of peace disclaim,
Seeking a prouder road to fame,

Yet love to bear a Saviour's name,
Dispensing with his yoke,

Say, was no glorious anthem sung,
When first Messiah's advent rung,
And o'er his head, by seraph's tongue,
The mind of God thus spoke:-

66

Glory in heaven! to God on high, On earth good-will, and peace, and joy; He comes the hatred to destroy, Transgressors to redeem. From this glad hour of jubilee, The sons of bondage shall be free, And life, and love, and peace shall be Coeval with the scheme.

"Now breaks the dawn of Gospel-day
Creation shall new life display,
All olden things shall pass away,

All enmity shall cease.
His death shall man's salvation plead,
His beauteous gift of grace shall lead
To scenes of joy, where angels feed

In righteousness and peace."

Then be this germ of peace sustained, The hallowed cause shall be maintained, E'en though no proselyte be gained

To our uncertain sight.

Things foolish shall the wise confound,
Weakness itself in strength abound,
And those who sit in darkness crowned
With Truth's all-saving light.

What though the world our toil deride,
And seek, by sophistry, to hide
The sinful pageantry and pride

Of war's exciting train!

He who could countless legions send,
A peaceful Saviour to defend,
Yet chose in mercy to suspend

The sword's vindictive reign,

Has by the voice of truth revealed,
That who shall dare the sword to wield,
Distrusting Him, their only shield,
They by the sword shall fall.
This voice obeyed shall safely guide
To realms where war nor woe abide,
But purity and peace preside,

And God is all in all!

R. Y.