which the human heart is capable, are heard of only there." Miss Martineau adds, that there is no dispute as to the existence of such deeds, though their frequency is matter of dispute; but within thirteen months of her residence in the United States, she knew of the death of four men by summary burning alive.

In the state of Alabama, the law forbids the teaching of any negro to spell, read, or write, under a penalty of from two hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars; while only two hundred dollars is the penalty for treating a slave with excessive cruelty!

In the New Orleans Picuyane newspaper, of August 12, 1841, the following case was reported.—

"CHAUNCEY B. BLACK.-The charge made on Monday last against this individual, by William H. Avery, was yesterday investigated before Recorder BALDWIN. The accused, it will be recollected, was charged with tampering with the slaves of the complainant, a course of conduct which was calculated to lead to insubordination among them."

Such was the charge, and it was grounded on the fact, that Black, as the agent of a Bible Society, had asked some of Avery's slaves whether they would accept a Bible. That a slave holder should take means for preventing the sacred volume from being distributed among his bondsmen, we can imagine,—bad as such conduct is--but that those who were engaged in such a work should actually make it a principle and rule of their association, to pass by all slaves, as if they had no part or lot in His religion who preached liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, almost surpasses belief.

"Mr. Maybin, Mr. Lowndes, Mr. Stevens, Mr. Gooderich, the Rev. Mr. Wheaton, and several other prominent members of the society in question, were called. From their testimony it appeared, that they

and many other respectable citizens, of different Protestant denominations, met in February last, and formed a society for the distribution of the Bible among the more destitute members of this community. They raised a fund of about a thousand dollars, and sent an order to New York for a lot of Bibles equal in value to that amount, directing that some of them be printed in English, some in French, some in Spanish, and some in the German language. They received them in June, and appointed agents from among their members to have them placed in proper hands; but it never for a moment entered into the minds of the society to present a single Bible to a slave.

"Mr. Lowndes impressed it strongly on the minds of the court, that before any Bibles were distributed to the parties whose names might be taken by the accused, the list was to be first submitted to him, and as it was opposed to his own feeling, and contrary to the intention of the society, he would certainly furnish no slaves with a Bible!

"The strongest and most satisfactory proof was given, that the accused bore an excellent character, and that, in speaking to the slaves at all, he acted from a misconception of Mr. Lowndes' instructions, and an ignorance of his duty as a sub-agent of the Bible Society.

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After the testimony was heard, the counsel for the accused, Mr. Micon, said, he trusted the Recorder, having heard the evidence, would see the propriety of at once discharging his client, and would not send him before the criminal court. He then argued that the fact of asking a slave, Can you read or write? will you take a Bible?' of which his client was unwittingly guilty, does not come within the purview of the statute, which makes it punishable to do any act which would lead to insubordination among the slaves.

"The Recorder addressed the prisoner, and told him

that he highly approved the laudable work, distributing the Bible, in which he was engaged; but while executing the duty, he must be cautious that he does not infringe on other rights which are as dear to this community as religion itself. Believing that in speaking to the slaves he was actuated by no evil intention, he would discharge him, bidding him God speed in his religious career, and cautioning him against bringing himself in contact with our institutions.

No narrative that I ever read of auctions, or bonds, or stripes, or imprisonment, so deeply impressed me with the conviction that slavery is an utterly accursed thing, as this trial, considering the nature of the charge, the evidence of the exculpatory witnesses, the defence of the accused by his counsel, and the opinion of the judge. What contamination, produced by a vicious principle! How unlike the Divine Author of our religion, to turn away from the poor bondsman, to keep back the charter of salvation, from those for whom the Saviour purchased spiritual freedom.

He is the freeman, whom the truth makes free,
And all are slaves beside.

The oppressor holds

His body bound, but knows not what a range
His spirit takes, unconscious of a chain.

But the judge who exhorts these Americans to persevere in their laudable endeavours to promote the religious improvement of white men, conspires with them to keep the African enslaved both in body and soul. What institutions must those be which need such protection? The occasion would justify the severest, the most indignant invective. But rather let us forbear, and pity the master as well as his slave.

Our American brethren have still a canker in their institutions, which strikes upwards and downwards its

virulence. It is more blessed to give than to receive. It is more accursed to oppress than to be oppressed.

To us it is a cause for lively gratitude, that we are thus tempted to do unjustly no longer, since throughout the British dominions slavery is no more; that we enjoy freedom of opinion and the rights of conscience without respect of persons; that our just laws, which punish none but criminals, guard alike, from the fraud and violence of the wicked, the property, the persons, the liberty, of masters and servants, of the rich and the poor.

The savage Indians seem to have been the appointed tenants of the North American wilderness, till the arrival of a more highly favoured race, who were to change both the material and the moral aspect of that great continent. Multitudes of their wandering tribes have perished by a mysterious doom; and in the course of two centuries, a mighty nation, sprung from British ancestors, have peopled those immense solitudes, and are still rapidly changing the desert into fruitfulness by the onward resistless march of civilization. Can Englishmen consider their past history, their present condition, and their future destiny, without the deepest interest?

That our forefathers used the American colonists wrongfully, that they have heretofore requited those wrongs with a brother's resentment, more bitter than that of a stranger, was a melancholy proof of our common frailty. But a brighter and happier day has arisen now; and when we look above and beyond the jealousies of rival nations, to the grand and allwise designs of the almighty Ruler,-when we see that kindred race multiplying as the stars of heaven and the dust of the earth, overspreading the new world with our lineage, our laws, and our religion, we cherish the hope that strife and enmity shall expire on the altars of peace

that Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim-that in ages to come, the descendants of the Indian warrior, the enslaved African, and the freeborn Briton, shall mingle together united and free, because God hath made them so, and the once silent wilderness be vocal with His praise.

END OF LECTURES.