thither, and in their presence I singled out the two delinquents, and commanded them to put on a cap which had in its front the following inscription, "Idleness shall cover a man with rags.' I then ordered them to walk about among the weeds for one hour in the view of the whole school; this punishment produced the desired effect:-The boys were reclaimed, and are now among the most diligent of my pupils, reaping the reward of their subsequent assiduity; and have never since had occasion to recur to a similar procedure. The place is named "Sluggard's corner." I have preserved it for the sole benefit of the rising generation; and all that I require will be a certificate from the parent or tutor of any youth, stating the bearer to be an idle boy, which will secure him a place in the Sluggard's corner," until he is reclaimed ; and I will venture to express a hope, that even in the most obstinate cases, this will be effected in the space of two or three days. CRITO From a late London Paper. On reading the works of the Rev. R. Cecil, late minister of St. John's Chapel, Bedford-Row, we met with an interesting piece of poetry, combining strong Christian feeling with powerful imagination; and as the volumes are likely only to fall into particular hands, we cannot forbear the pleasure of extracting most of the verses. Mr. Cecil wrote the verses and gave them to his wife, with a view to divert her sorrow and soothe her mind, on a child, only one month old, being removed at day-break, and whose countenance in death was most heavenly. The following are the verses: "Let me go; for the day breaketh." Cease here longer to detain me, Lately launch'd, a trembling stranger, Now my cries will cease to grieve thee, CHRISTIAN HERALD. VOL. II.] Saturday, February 22, 1817. [No. 22. COLONIZATION OF THE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOUR. AMONG the several schemes for meliorating the social and moral condition of mankind which Christian philanthropy has for sometime past been engaged in promoting, with a benevolence and zeal characteristic of the times, the plan for colonizing the free people of colour of the United States appears to deserve a distinguished rank. The considerations addressed to the government of this country in the following MEMORIAL, with a view to engage their patronage in favour of this benevolent undertaking, are certainly weighty, and, in our humble estimation, deserving of the serious attention, not only of those who manage the public concerns of the nation, but likewise of all who feel interested in the welfare of their fellow men and the advancement of the cause of christianity. Man, degraded in his social condition, and totally excluded from the enjoyment of those civil rights and privileges which are calculated to give elevation to the human character, and which stimulate to intellectual and moral improvement by holding out powerful incentives to the attainment of excellence, must enevitably remain far below that point of eminence to which his natural faculties, under circumstances of more favourable culture, are capable of raising him. It cannot, therefore, be uninteresting to humanity, to have an opportunity afforded of restoring, in an unexceptionable manner, a large portion of our fellow men now dwelling among us, to those social and civil privileges which their Maker has given them the natural capacity of enjoying, and which they may possess in a different state of society, free from the collisions necessarily attending their exercise in the situation in which they are now placed. That this is not a Utopian project, originating in the brains of visionary theorists, the flourishing state which an establishment on the coast of Africa, similar to the one in contemplation, has attained within the few years of experiment to which it has been subjected, furnishes ample and satisfactory evidence. In order to make this position obvious, we subjoin to the memorial above mentioned, a sketch of the state of the colony at Sierra Leone, 23 years after its formation. We there behold a large community composed of this description of people collected from various quarters, who, in their former situation, though they may have possessed the name of freemen, sustained a rank in society very little above the real slave,-now enjoying complete equality of social as well as civil rights and immunities with every member of the same society; governed by magistrates of their own cast, chosen from their own body, and to every individual of whom the highest offices of trust, honour, and emolument are open, provided he possess the requisite qualifications, notwithstanding the colour of his skin. We view this community successfully cultivating all the arts which promote the comforts and conveniences of life; instructing their children in all the branches of useful learning; forming charitable institutions to relieve the wants of suffering humanity; and projecting enterprizes designed to extend the blessings of civilization and christianity among the numerous and barbarous hordes of their own'colour who inhabit the extensive regions of that long neglected quarter of the globe. We hope our fellow-citizens will be soon publicly called upon to deliberate on this interesting subject, and we trust they will imitate the laudable example set them in some sister states, by a co-operation of efforts to further the object in contemplation. The nature of our publication, if we had the ability, does not permit uș to indulge in that full discussion which this question ought to receive. We present these few remarks, in the hope that the subject will engage the attention, and employ the pen, of persons better qualified to do it justice. MEMORIAL. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Slates of America, in Congress assembled The Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the "American Society for colonizing the free people of colour of the U.S." RESPECTFULLY SHOWS, That your memorialists are delegated by a numerous and highly respectable association of their fellow-citizens, recently organized at the seat of government, to solicit Congress to aid, with the power, the patronage, and the resources of the country, the great and beneficial object of their institution; an object deemed worthy of the earnest attention, and of the strenuous and persevering exertions as well of every patriot, in whatever condition of life, as of every enlightened, philanthropic, and practical statesman. It is now reduced to be a maxim, equally approved in philosophy and practice, that the existence of distinct and separate casts or classes, forming exceptions to the general system of polity adapted to the community, is an inherent vice in the composition of society, pregnant with baneful consequences, both moral and political, and demanding the utmost exertion of human energy and foresight to remedy or remove it. If this maxim be true in the general, it applies with peculiar force to the relative condition of the free people of colour in the United States; between whom and the rest of the community, a combination of causes, political, physical, and moral, has created distinctions, unavoidable in their origin, and most unfortunate in their consequences. The actual and prospective condition of that class of people; their anomalous and indefinite relations to the political institutions and social ties of the community; their deprivation of most of those independent, political, and social rights, so indispensable to the progressive mefioration of our nature; rendered, by systematic exclusion from all the higher rewards of excellence, dead to all the elevating hopes that might prompt a generous ambition to excel all these considerations demonstrate, that it equally imports the public good, as the individual and social happiness of the persons more immediately concerned; that it is equally a debt of patriotism and of hu manity to provide some adequate and effectual remedy. The evil has become so apparent, and the necessity for a remedy so palpable, that some of the most considerable of the slave-holding States have been induced to impose restraints upon the practice of emancipation, by annexing conditions, which have no effect but to transfer the evil from one State to another; or, by inducing other States to adopt countervailing regulations, and in the total abrogation of a right which benevolent or conscientious proprietors had long enjoyed under all the sanctions of positive law and of ancient usage. Your memorialists beg leave, with all deference, to suggest that the fairest and most inviting opportunities are now presented to the general government for repairing a great evil in our social and political institutions, and at the same time for elevating, from a low and hopeless condition, a numerous and rapidly increasing race of men, who want nothing but a proper theatre to enter upon the pursuit of happiness and independence, in the ordinary paths which a benign Providence has left open to the human race. Those great ends, it is conceived, may be accomplished by making adequate provision for planting, in some salubrious and fertile region, a colony, to be composed of such of the above description of persons as may choose to emigrate; and for extending to it the authority and protection of the United States, until it shall have attained sufficient strength and consistency to be left in a state of independence. Independently of the motives derived from political foresight and civil prudence on the one hand, and from moral justice and philanthropy on the other, there are additional considerations and more expanded views to engage the sympathies and excite the ardour of a liberal and enlightened people. It may be reserved for our government, (the first to denounce an inhuman and abominable traffic, in the guilt and disgrace of which most of the civilized nations of the world were partakers,) to become the honourable instrument, under Divine Providence, of conferring a still higher blessing upon the large and interesting portion of mankind benefited by that deed of justice; by demonstrating that a race of men, composing numerous tribes, spread over a continent of vast and unexplored extent, fertility, and riches; known to the enlightened nations of antiquity; and who had yet made no progress in the refinements of civilization; for whom history has preserved no monuments of arts or arms that even this hitherto ill-fated race may cherish the hope of beholding at last the orient star revealing the best and highest aims and attributes of man. Out of such materials, to rear the glorious edifice of well ordered and polished society, upon the deep and sure foundations of equal laws and diffusive education, would give a sufficient title to be enrolled among the illustrious benefactors of mankind; whilst it afforded a precious and consolatory evidence of the all-prevailing power of liberty, enlightened by knowledge and corrected by religion. If the experiment in its remote consequences should ultimately tend to the diffusion of similar blessings through those vast regions and unnumbered tribes, yet obscured in primeval darkness; reclaim the rude wanderer from a life of wretchedness to civilization and humanity; and convert the blind idolater from gross and abject superstitions to the holy charities, the sublime morality, and humanizing discipline of the Gospel the nation or the individual that shall have taken the most conspicuous lead in achieving the benignant enterprise, will have raised a monument of that true and imperishable glory, founded in the moral approbation and gratitude of the human race; unapproachable to all but the elected instruments of divine beneficence a glory, with which the most splendid achievements of human force or power must sink in the competition, and appear insignificant and vulgar in the comparison. And above all, should it be considered that the nation or the individual whose energies have been faithfully given to this august work, will have secured, by this exalted beneficence, the favour of that Being, "whose compassion is over all his works," and whose unspeakable rewards will never fail to bless the humblest effort to do good to his crea tures. Your memorialists do not presume to determine that the views of Congress will be necessarily directed to the country to which they have just alluded. They hope to be excused for intimating some of the reasons which would bring that portion of the world before us, when engaged in discovering a place the most proper to be selected, leaving it, with perfect confidence, to the better information and better judgment of your honourable body to make the choice. Your memorialists, without presuming to mark out, in detail, |