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store to the public mind that simplicity of conception and feeling on the subject, which then prevailed.

The duty of delivering the country from the guilt and shame of slavery, has been solemnly recognized by the government and legislature; but the means resolved upon were utterly inadequate in their plan; and in their feeble and vacillating application, have proved worse than useless. They have embarrassed and retarded, rather than advanced, the work of real reformation. They have confirmed and strengthened the resistance of its enemies, and weakened and divided its friends. For one dispute on the general principle, a hundred have been substituted on the practical details; and while objects too minute to be worth contending for, or of no real value at all, have given birth to complex and voluminous discussions, distracting the attention, both of the goverument and the public; the worst, the most destructive, and most general, of the oppressions under which the poor slaves are daily groaning and perishing, are left unremedied, unattended to, and almost forgot.

It is to demonstrate the reality, and the enormity of these general and standing oppressions, that I now address myself to the public. It is to prove what I have always maintained, that a merciless excess of forced labour, exacted by means as merciless, and its ordinary concomitants, badness and scantiness of food, are the main evils, the former especially, by which the field negroes on sugar plantations are afflicted, worn down, and destroyed; that these economical oppressions give birth and tenacity to all the rest; and that till these are corrected, all other means for improving the condition of the slaves physically, intellectually, or morally, or for preserving their declining race even from destruction, will be found perfectly vain and useless.

These propositions certainly are not new; and as to the existence of such oppressions, they have been so often admitted, that a man who has read much of the public evidence and controversial pieces, though only the colonial side, cannot possibly entertain a doubt of their frequent occurrence. The question with him can only be as to their degree, and their general prevalence.

But with a large part of the British public, it will be matter of painful novelty to find to what a truly enormous extent, these avaricious excesses have been carried, and still prevail; not in particular cases merely, but in general and ordinary practice; and with what strict demonstration these can be proved to be the sources of almost every other species of oppression that humanity has to lament, in the treatment of plantation slaves.

But how to remedy these baneful evils while slavery exists, is a difficult problem indeed; and I can suggest no practical solution of it, that would not be attended with difficulties as great, and opposed by the planters as pertinaciously, as the dissolution of the state itself. If any such remedy can be discovered by others, my labours may assist their researches; as the first step towards the cure of what is morbid in the natural or civil body, is the ascertainment of the nature and extent of the disease.

But the result, in my mind, of long experience and anxious reflection, aided by a familiar acquaintance with the calamitous case, during great part of a long life, is, that the stern relation of master and slave admits of no effectual modification by law; that to limit its extent or duration, is the only real palliative of its enormous mischiefs, and its abolition their only cure.-Stephen, Vol. II. pp. xxxi-xxxiii.

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.

GREECE.-WOES OF WAR.-The firman of the Porte giving Candia to Egypt has been resisted by the Candiotes. They are determined to stand or fall with the rest of Greece, and thus paint the "tender mercies" of the Turks toward them :—— The streets of Cydonia, Rethymno, and Heraclia, are still red with the blood of our brothers, our fathers, and our children,

massacred by our bloody enemies. The wells are filled with the bones of Christians slaughtered by their brutality. Heraclia still reeks with the blood of the unfortunate General Malhouti, who was made prisoner and cruelly murdered. There, too, are the bodies of six sailors, whom Suliman Pacha caused to be hanged, after an unjust imprisonment of eight

months. The primates of Sphakia, arrested treacherously by Mustapha Pacha, are still confined in the prisons of Canea. The brave Captain Tsakiri, taken in the same manner, as well as others, have been discharged, after undergoing horrible tortures. The markets of the fortresses of Candia and Africa are full of our women and children, whom they sell as they would cattle.

AGRICULTURAL CHANGES. A correspondent of the Newark Mercury makes the following observations on the changes which have taken place within the last forty years in the town where he was born:-" It is a pleasant village, situated about six miles from Nottingham, and principally belongs to a nobleman, who has recently raised the rent of his tenantry. In the year 1790 it contained fourteen farmers, each occupying about 200 acres of land; then was the time of prosperity and happiness in such places, there was then plenty of employment for all classes, and the peasant returned from his toil with heartfelt cheerfulness and content. But what a change has taken place; the same land is now occupied by five farmers only, and as their farms are not more than half cultivated, of course very few labourers are wanted, two or three hired servants, and as many labourers, are sufficient to do each farmer's work. Many have, no doubt, been obliged to seek fresh quarters, trade and manufactures being spurned from the place; such as belong to the parish, and cannot get employment, or are past labour, lie at the mercy of an overseer, who allows them two or three shillings per week, and perhaps threatens them with the House of Industry. Such is the present distress, and the only plan which I can propose for its effectual removal is, for the land-owners to divide their farms, which would make it better for themselves and their tenants, and would again bring prosperity and happiness into the once flourishing country villages, which I am sorry to see fast sinking into poverty."

A NEW IDOL.-Napoleon has had, still has, and will always have, admirers in Europe; but it could never have been imagined

that he would have had adorers in China. However, we have been informed by an English missionary at Java, that in the village of Buitenzorg, near Batavia, where there is a colony of 2000 Chinese, he observed a portrait of Napoleon in a gilt frame, before which some of the Chinese burned incense, offering up prayers and singing hymns, night and morning, in honour of that great man.

OBITUARY.-On the 24th of July, 1830, Mr. Joseph Crosfield of Hartshill, aged seventy-four years. Mr. Crosfield has been for several years actively engaged in promoting the cause of peace. He corresponded with ministers of the Gospel and other influential characters on the subject; the result of this correspondence has more than once appeared in the Herald. In a letter he wrote to a friend, a few months before his death, adverting to the probable near approach of that event, he expressed his hope for pardon through the mediation of Christ, and that when he had done with time, his soul would be admitted into a mansion of rest and everlasting glory.

Mr.

On the 25th of December, 1830, aged seventy-three, Joseph Gurney, Esq. of Lakenham Grove, near Norwich. Gurney was a man beloved and honoured by all who knew him; endowed with a manly fortitude, a strong intellect, and a sound judgment; to which was added a Father was a deep principle in his soul, cheerful spirit. Devotion to his heavenly and conspicuously influenced his life and conversation.

He knew and loved his

Saviour, and in the habitual recollection of his own unworthiness, he rejoiced in believing that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. He abounded in kindness and charity, and was ever willing to exercise his bounty, either in relieving the distresses of his neighbours, or in promoting the welfare and happiness of mankind at large. It is in no strain of exaggeration that we describe his death as a public misfortune, nor can we make a more just record of his worth than to say, that of all who have borne the venerated name of Gurney, there is no one who has ennobled it more by active virtue.

70

THE ANTIDOTE.

A Political Poem.

POETRY.

"Helleborum frustra, cum jam cutis ægra tumebit,

Poscentes videas. Venienti occurrite morbo."
PERSIUS, Sat. 3.
When now the skin distends with racking pain,
For hellebore the patient calls in vain.
Wait not supine the fatal, rank disease;
Soon as it comes the growing evil seize.

[This poem has been placed in our hands; and though it be called a political poem, because it adverts to the political state of Great Britain, the antidote the author proposes for the political or other evils of his country, is entirely based on virtue and religion; and he exhibits a spirit so very congenial with the pacific principle of the gospel, that we could not, consistently with our duty, refuse the poem a place in our Miscellany. We have only omitted a few passages, which might have been considered too political for our work. The date effectually exonerates the author from having any political allusion to the present state of Great Britain.-EDITOR.]

DROOPS then my Albion? She, whose gen'rous soul,

With nature's self, expands from pole to pole? She, whom the hand of time hath kindly rear'd? She, whom the voice of liberty hath cheer'd? Does she, who, nurtur'd thus by Heaven's fond

care,

Securely pass'd through ages of despair;

Whose infant years nor tyrants' lusts subdued; Whose riper youth the people's rage withstood; Does she decline? She, late all Europe's pride, Who, like her rocky shores, all storms defied; Does she decline? Kind Heaven, avert the day When Albion sickens, or her laws decay!

"As rays of genius animate the soul, But judgment's laws her wilder flights control; So liberty your early fathers fired,

Whilst awful virtue led, and truth admired.
When thus with freedom native virtue shone,
Immortal Alfred sat on Albion's throne:
Inspir'd by these, he urg'd the sacred cause;
His aim was happiness, his means his laws.
'Twas thus the hand of virtuous freedom wove
A strict obedience with a nation's love.
No jealous fears the impartial code alarm'd,
There mutual duty, mutual honour warm'd;
Justice unfurl'd the page to reason's eye,
And order rais'd her throne-on liberty.

"Happy the monarch! happy he alone, Who in his subjects' wishes meets his own!

He, who with patriot zeal his realm surveys,
And, as his own, his people's feelings weighs;
He who with care collects the general voice,
Whilst virtue wakes, and judgment guides his
choice;

Who with parental love his aid imparts,
And owns an empire in his people's hearts.
Who with the throne, in bonds like these, unites
The claims of duty, and the people's rights.
Secure and firm beholds his banners stand,
And peace and plenty crown his smiling land.
Albion, attend! 'Tis not a dubious muse,
That, with uncertain hand, would now diffuse
Precepts unhallow'd by the hand of time-
Her truths reach every age and every clime.
'Tis History speaks; 'tis her records proclaim
The path to ruin, and the path to fame.

"Too oft, alas! have stain'd fair Albion's

page

The mortal feuds of kings, and civic rage;
Alternate interests their nalice swell'd,
And Ignorance at Reason's voice rebell'd;
Rapine or Pride provok'd the various war,
Whilst Phrenzy drove, and Murder urg'd the

car.

"Grim War! thou impious fiend, whose savage hand

Deals death and ruin o'er the reeking land;
Thou hateful, rancorous foe to heaven and earth!
Who from the depths of hell deriv'st thy birth.
Avaunt nor let thy wild and dire alarms,
The trumpet's clangors, and the clash of arms,
The widow's tears, the helpless orphan's cries,
The virgin's griefs, the childless parent's sighs,
Renew their scenes of woe! Tyrant! no more
Obtrude thy murders, and the cannon's roar.
Ye hapless shades! ye hosts, whom error led
To shroud your injur'd virtues with the dead;
Hard though your fate, yet not in vain ye tell
The tales of horror when your heroes fell!

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"Britons, attend! when threat'ning ills await, Or disaffection rends the jealous state; Fly not to arms! Awake! and have recourse To nature, reason, virtue-not to force. Wherefore does Heaven bestow the feeling heart? Or reason's light divine to man impart ? Wherefore do pious ardours lift the soul, And meek religion soothe the varied whole? 'Tis to correct the ills of human life, To fix the reign of peace, and banish strife; 'Tis to advance, if aught in nature can, The will of Heaven, and deify the man. Nature revolts to think the public good E'er dar'd to mark her front with human blood.

*

Albion, attend! though crested power suppress

Her subjects' rights, and madly rouse redress,

Still let the interests of peace prevail,

For reason must succeed, where arms must fail. Let but her thund'ring voice the council move, To discord, peace ensues; to vengeance, love.

"Alike to order and to freedom true, Reason and virtue the same end pursue; Virtue asserts for liberty her rights; Reason attends to regulate her flights. Thus well may discord and oppression ceaseOn freedom order stands, on order, peace. From these pure sources of a nation's laws, Albion once gain'd the envious world's applause; 'Tis thus, that like her native oak, she stands At once the pride and bulwark of her lands. In one strong tree, each various branch unites Her king's, her nobles', and her people's rights. Virtue, religion, laws, compose the roots; Freedom the soil; plenty and peace the fruits.

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Bud of our island's virtue! thou art blighted,
Since war's hot breath abroad hath ceased

to blow;

Instead of clashing swords, soft hearts are plighted,

Hands join'd, and household goblets made to flow;

And for the ocean-roar of hostile meeting, Land wafts to land concord's ignoble greeting.

Mourn, nations! mourn! the godlike man's no more,

Who fired your roofs, and quenched your hearths with gore!

The apple-tree is on the rampart growing; On the stern battlement the wall-flower blooms;

The stream that rolled blood-red is faintly glowing

With summer's rose, which its green bank perfumes;

The helm that girt the brow of the undaunted,

By peasant hands with garden shrubs is planted.

Mourn, nations! mourn! the godlike man's no more,

Who fired your roofs, and quenched your hearths with gore!

Men wax obscurely old-the city-sleeper Starts not at horse-tramp, or deep buglehorn;

The grenadier consoles no lovely weeper,

Above her sullen kindred's bodies borne; The people smile, and regal pride's declining,

Since round imperial brows the olive's twining.

Mourn, nations! mourn! the godlike man's no more,

Who fired your roofs, and quenched your hearths with gore!

The Arrow and the Rose, with other Poems, by William Kennedy, pp. 67-70.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We thank our Correspondents for their contributions, in prose and verse, which shall receive due attention; the earliest communications have, of course, the primary claim upon us. We regret that we are obliged to decline the insertion of the article on "The Holy Alliance, the Emperor Alexander, and Madame de Krudener;" but, however interesting it may be as a private memorial of the pacific disposition and views of that prince, the insertion of it in our work would bring us upon disputable ground.

The Title and Index of Vol. VII. will be given in the next Number.

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