...-_._,_‘.......,_.. ._
-it
I.
l
i.
, bought and sold ;’—if they will speak of this
AL ‘iii
’ -:
.'l‘_0.A BUTTERFLY BESTING "ON A SKULL.
. -Creature of air and light, '
Emblem of that which may not fade or die !*
Wilt tliou not speedits flight .
To chase the south-wind thro’ the sunny sky?
What luresthee thus to stay »
‘With silence and decay,
Fix’d on the wreck ofdull mortality P
The thoughts once _cliainber’d there
Have gailier’d up tlreirtreasures and are gone!
—“fill the dust tell us where lflown?
They that have burst the prison-house have
Rise, uurseliugs ofthe Day,
Iftliou would’st trace their way l
Earth has no voice to make the secret known!
W'ho-seeks the vanisli’d bird,
By theforsrrlien nest and broken shell?
Far thence he sings unheard,
Yet free and joyous midst the woods to dwell!
—-Thou, of the sunshine born,
Take the bright wings of morn l [Cell I
Thyliope calls heavonward from you rniu’d
*ln allusion to the signification of tlro~But-
terfly on antique gems and vases.
e:t— -
FROM THE cH'ais'ri.u~z SPECTATOR.
REVIEW of the Reports of the ./3mer’£can
COLONIZATION SOCIE'l“I.
(Concluded)
But what shall be done? This excitement
must have a defiirite object, ,1 what shall
that object be?—what kind of effort is deman-
ded? We answer, _/irst‘, any effectual effort
for the benefit of the blacks must be such as
will unite the patriotic and benevolent in all
parts of the country. There "is perhaps no
subject which excites so much of what is cal-
led sectional feeling-so much of jealousy at
the south, so much of exultation at theirorih,
and so much of indignant irivective in all
parts of the union, as the subject lrefore us in
any of its relations. But this feeling at the
north and at the south, is equally unreasona-
ble, not to say, equally criminal. The differ-
ence in regard to slavery and ii negro popu-
lation, between New-England and Georgia,
we owe not to ourselves, or to our fatlrers but
to the God who has placed our habitation
where the climate forbade tlreintroducriou
of Africans, and where the hard soil could be
cultivated only by the frauds of freeman.-
Had the rough hills, and the cold winds, and
the long winters of New-Englarid been ex-
changed for the rich plains and the burning
sun and the eriervatiug breezes of C-aroliira,
all the sacred principles of puritarrism would
not have prevented the introduction ofslave-
ry at a time when hardly a man could be
found in either lieniispliere to raise his voice
against the enormity, and when England was
determined to infect all her colonies with the
debilitating and deadly poison. Vv liar occa-
sion then can we have to exult over our fel-
low citizens? it is as if the heir to an estate
should exult in the poverty of his neighbor.
It is as if the man in health should glory
over his brother in sickness. And it is with
indignation that we sometimes see the editors
ofpolitical journals in one part ofthe country,
attempting to kindle and cherish such feel-
ings ;—-for every such attempt excites and in-
creases, aud in some ineasure excuses that
fetclry sensibility in respect to this subject
which the people of the south are always too
ready to manifest. But still we are happy to
believe that notwithstanding all the vaporiirg
ofnewspaper declaiuiers, the great majority
of the northern people regard the iuattcr——-at
least in times of calm reflcction——witlr far
more enlarged, libertrl, national feelings than
is commonly irrragincd by their southern
brethren. And we will even express our he-
lief that there is hardly any enrerprize to
which the-militia of Vermont or Corrirccticiri
would march with more zeal than to crush a
servile rebellion (if such an event should ever
take place with all ifs cruelties and horrors)
in Virginia. The people of Maine belong to
the same great corriurunity with the people of
Gr.-orgia; and hence they desire at once the
right and the duty of interfering to alleviate,
and if possible to remove, an evil which af-
fects the prosperity and safety of the whole
American eirpire. The people of the south
should know this, and if they once see their
fellow citizens engaging calmly and kindly
in real efforts for the alleviation of this evil,
their prejudices will be done away, and they
will acknowledge the uiircasorrrrlilcness of
their jealousies. lftlre people ofNew-Eng;
land will talk less ofilie grrilt of slavery, and
more of the irreans ofcouiiteractirrg its politi-
cal and moral tendencies; or if wlien they
speak of its guilt, they would aclcirowledgie
that New-England is :i partaker; if they will
remember that it was their ships and sailors
that carried the Africans in chains across the
ocean, and that there are now nien among
them who are living on ‘ the price ofblood’—-
men whose wealth was ‘ earned’ by ‘sinews
subject with the modesty, and think of it
with the shame which such remembrances
are calculated to inspire, they may soon find
that there are principles and schemes of en-
terprize in which the benevolent of all the
states can unite : And would not a national
effort for the removal of this national evil, do
away local prejudices, and bind together the
different parts ofthe union with a closer bond
of national feeling ?
An effort for the benefit of the blacks, in
which all parts of the country can unite, of
course must not have the abolition of slavery
for its immediate object. Nor may it aim di-
rectly at the instruction of the great body of
the blacks. In either case, the prejudices
and terrors of the slave-liolding states would
be excited in a inorirent ; and with reason too,
for it is a well established point that the pub-
lic safety forbids either the emancipation or
the general instiuctiori of the slaves. It re-
quires no great skill to see that the moment
you raise this degraricd couiiiiunity to an in-
tellectual existence, their chains will burst a-
sunder like the fetters of Sampson, and they
will stand forth in the might and dignity of
mauliood, and in all the terrors ofa long in-
jured people tlrirsting for vengeance.
But zictrvitlrstaiirling these restrictions, oc--
casioricd by the necessity of the case and the
danger of exciting jealousy, the effort in ques-
tion inust be :1 great effort, great in its cori-
ception and great in its dcrails. VVe mean
that there must be a rnagnificcnce in its im-
mediate object, and an attmctivezress in every
step of its progress, which will not let it be
forgotten or overlooked among the number-
less enterprises ofthe age.
. in the plans proposed by the American Colo-
-‘the‘se.two millions of beings, it i‘n‘ust befound
nization Society. But before proceeding to
examine how far this plarrpossesses the char-
acteristics necessaryto success, it__ is impor-
tant to noticethe objection, sometimes urg-
ed, that the -establishment of a colony in Af-
rica is. impossible. I r ‘ .
If a colony of free blacks cannot be estab-
lished on the coast ofAfrica, it must be, eith-
er lst, because freeblacks cannot be induced
to go, which is false, for they have gone, and
hundreds are waiting to go--or Rdly, because
when they arrive there they cannot be defen-
ded from the natives, which is disproved by
the late coirtest—-or Silly,‘ because the soil
will not yield them support,_which needs no
arrswer to any man who will lookinto a book
of travels-or 4thly, because they must be cut
off by the insalubrity of the climate, which is
contradicted by the experience ofthe settlers,
and by the testimony of travellers. It is con-
tradicted by the expericnce of the settlers;
for since they have occupied their present sta-
tion they liave been visited with no sweeping
pestilence, excepting only the recent mortal-
ity among those sent out in the Oswcgo ; the
number of deaths among them has been no
greater than the average mortality of the
same class of people in America. It is con-
tradicted by the testimony of travellers. If
we had room for extracts, they might easily
be collected from a variely of authors. The
opinion of Lieut. Stockton must sufiice :
“ We have had an interesting cruise on the
coast, from the shoals of the Great River to
Cape Pahrias: it was during the most unheal-
thy season, and under circumstances not the
iirostflalieriug. Being in a small vessel, we
were often exposed to heavy rains, and occa-
sionally encountered great faiigue. Notwith-
standing which, we have returned in good
health, only regretting that our cruise was so
short, and that we accomplished so little Of
that which we promised ourselves. We had
the fever on board, but in every instance it
yielded to the skill of our surgeons.” “ Under
all these circumstances, lam bound to be-
lieve that the horror for that coast, the hue
and cry about the African fever, and the
noise about the tornadoes, are but little else
than a fable, generated by policy, listened to
because uoirderful, and propagated by the in-
terested. —As to the climate, itis true the air
is wariii, and I think a constant exposure to
the sun uiirst be very debilitating. The ther-
inouretrical observations oftlris vessel do not
show that the temperature of the air has ever
been above eighty-fire degrees, but as the
country is seldom refreshed by a cool invigor-
ating breeze, the heat is more uniform, and
of longer duration, and from that cause I
think arises its pestilence, and not from the
irninedi-are power of the sun. The heat is
not beyond bearing for a while, but from its
constancy mlIsI‘T)Vel'c()IDe any human consti-
tution that is urirvarily exposed to it during
any length oftiuie without relief. The fever
I think may be nrore readily avoided, and if
taken is not so dangerous, and may be more
easily destroyed than that which infects nia-
ny places in our own country. The torna-
does, asI saw and felt them, are inconsider-
able and harmless, in comparison with squalls
met with on parts of the American coast at
particular seasons of the year. After exam-
ination and reflection, I honestly believe that
the cliinatc presents all those obstacles which
are the natural productions of a tropical soil
uncleared and uncultivated, but that they will
yield to proper precautions; and that‘nollr-
ing can prevent the corisumniution of your
wishes but limited means, bad counsels, or
feeble cfl'orts.”
It is not pretended that the climate of Af-
rica is as healthy to a native of Corrnecricut
us the country in which he was born. We
say it rnay be compared in this respect with
other tropical countries. ls Moiitserado more
rirrhealtlry than New-Orleans or Havaira ?—
Yet these places have been colonized; and
colonized with the men whose desceirdarits it
is proposed to carry hack to the climate, to
which, the constitution which they have irr-
herited froiu their fatlrt-rs, is adopted. is it
iiiipnssible to colonize Africa? And did rho
God of nature design that that COl‘illnt‘ll'.,Wllll
all the luxuriauce ofits soil, and all the vari-
ety of its productio:~.s,' should for ever reiriairi
a wilderness? The h-.rpp_v irrirabiuiirts of'S':+:r‘--
ra Leone may give Ilic answer.
VVith tlrese facts before us, tlren, we feel
no lresitartioir in saying that this crirerpri.-te is
practicable; and we say too that it possesses
the two ClI2tl"rl(.‘lt’.l'l.‘&il(2S alr'ea.'ly described as.
essential to any permanent and effectual ef-
fort in bclialf of the blacks. It is an enter-
prize in which all parts of the country can u-
nite. The grand objection to every other ef-
fort is, that it excites the jealousies and fears
of the South. But here is an effort in which
the southern people are the first to engage,
and which numbers rrrany of the most distin-
guished men among its advocates and elli-
cient supporters.
This leads us to remark on the second char-
acteristic, namely, that it is a great enter-
prise. Said Samuel J. Mills to his compan-
ion, ‘ Can we engage in a nobler effort? We
go to make freemeir of slaves. Vile go to lay
the foundation of a free and indepentient eni-
pire on the coast ofpoordegraded Africa. It
is confideirtly believed by many of our best
and wisest inen, that ifthe plan proposed suc-
ceeds, it will ultimately be the means ofex-
teriuiiiating slavery in our country. It will
eventually r-cileeirr and emaircipate a million
and a half of wretched men. It will transfer
to Africa the blessings of religion and civili-
zation; and Ethiopia will soon stretch out
her hands uirto God.”
Such is the object. To comprehend in a-
ny degree its magnitude, we nirist look at it
in its relation to the blacks of our own coliti-
try, in its relation to the slave trade, and in
its relation to ‘the civilization ofAfrica. "We
might add the connexion it iuust have with
American coininerce, not only by affordiugri
statioir at which our Indiaureir might take in
water and provision, in some iirrportant res-
pects more conveniently than at the Cape
Verde Islands; but also by opening to our
merchants, at no distant period, a lucrative
trade in all the productions ofthe climate.—.—
Biit we can only take a rapid glance at this
topic, which is presented in the following ex-
tract frorii the third report.
“ Has not the single port of Sierra Leone
exported, in one year, since the abolition of
the slave-trade by England, a greater value
than all \Vestern Africa, a coast of several
thousand miles, yielded, exclusive of its peo-
ple, for a like period anterior to that event ?
utterly exterminated; when the Africari_la-
borer can toil secure froin the treachery of
his neighbor, and the _-violence of the man-
stealer ; ' that co’ntineiit~ivill ‘freight, for legiti-
mate trade, {hose ships which now carry-tliith-
er cliains, letters, and scourges, to return
homewith the bones, the sinews, the blood,
and the, tears of their children. Her gold,
herivory, -her beautiful dyes, her fragrant,
and precious gums, her healing plants and
drugs, the varied produce of her now forsak-
en fields and lonely forests, will be brought
bya joyous and grateful people, to the na-
tions who, once their plunderers and persecu-
tors, will have at length become their protec-
tors, friends and allies.”
Let us look more particularly at the Colo-
nization Society first in its relation to the
blacks of our own country. Leaving slavery
and its- subjects for the monreut entirely out
of view, there arein the U. States 238,000
blacks denominated free, but whose freedom
confers on them, we might say, no privilege
but the privilege of being more vicious and
miserable than slaves can be. Their condi-
tion we have attempted to describe, and the
description may be repeated in two words-
irreiirediable degradation. Now is there not
to the benevolent mind something noble in
the tlzought of ameliorating the condition and
elevating the character ofthese 238,000. The
Colonization Society will do this. It will o-
pen for these men an asylum, whitlier they
can flee from the scoffs and the scorn to which
they are exposed. It will restore them to a
real freedom in the land of their fathers. It
will give them all the privileges of humani-
ty irr the land for which their Creator design-
ed them.
But we have a million and a half of slaves.
The black cloud almost covers our southern
hemisplrere. It is spreading——and extend-
ing—and every hour its darkness is’increas-
ing. Now to dissipate this cloud ; to let in
light, the pure unmiugled light of freedonr,
on our whole land-—tlie prospect is too wide
for our vision, the object too vast for our
comprehension. Let us look then with a
nearer view at a less magnificent object.—-
There are men in the southern states, who
long to do someiliing effectual for the heiiefii
,of their slaves, and would gladly cmancipate
them did not prrideirce and coiirpassioir alike
forbid such a measure, ofwhicli it is difliizull
to say whether it would injure most the corri-
fort and happiness of the slaves, or the wel-
fare of the coririuunily. Now to provide a
way for these nren to obey the proinpiingsor"
humanity while they at the same tiiire confer
an equal blessing on the slaves and on the
conrnruuit_v--is nottliis a great design E’ And
if, inspired by their example another and air-
oilier master slrorild eiriancipaielris slaves;
and ifiii this way the subject should come to
be discussed with new views and feelings ;
and if euiaircipation no longer useless and
dangerous, should be no longer unpopular;
and ifthc voice of public opinion at the south
should thus, by degrees, declare itselflouder
and louder against the practice of slavery;
till at last the system should be utterly abol-
ished ; till not ‘ a slave’ should ‘ contaminate’
our soil ; till Africa, abused degraded Africa
should stretch out her hands and pray for A-
merica ;———if this should be so what a triunrplr
would be achieved— what a glory would be
shed on our country in the view of adrnirirrg
nations. No wonder, then, that faith should
be staggered, and bericvolerice overwhelined
at the prospect of a corisuinmation so mag-
nificeut.
But the supposition of entire success in this
plan, though ii cannot be looked at without
scepticisiii, is not absurd. The Society have
frorn the first anticipated the co-operation of
the national and state governrrrents. The
states of Virginia, Maryland and Terriressee
brave expressed their approbation ofthe de-
sign, and have requested the national govern-
-.i-.er.t to engage in ii. The first ofthesc states,
it is believed, stairds ready, as soon as Con-
gress shall begin the work, to leird the most
t‘fllClCnl aid in colonizing her own coloured
puprilation. Indeed we may say, that in all
the nor'therii putt oftlrat section ofthe coun-
try, the necessity of a grand and geiicral ef-
fort is begirirrirrg to be felt, certainly by all
iriu:-llrgeiit reflecting men. Iftlren, the Gov-
orirriicrrr of the United States should begin
flit: work, and if the governments ofthe slave-
lrolding states should, one after another, fol-
low on, who slrall set bounds to what might
be accomplished. By the calculations in the
second Report, which are certainly moderate,
it appears that 250,000 dollars would transport
the arinuzil iricrcase of the free blacks; and
2,000,000, or a capitation tax of less than
twenty five cents on all the citizens of the U.
States, would transport the whole annual in-
crease of bond and free. “Tire amount of
duties collected on foreign distilled spirits,
during each ofthe first six years of Mr. Jef-
fersou’s administration, would defray the sum
total ofthis expense, and furnish lialfa mil-
lion of dollars, anriirally, to extingusli the
principal, the capital stock, of the heaviest
calamity that oppresses this natioii.”—“ And
were the same duties charged in the U.Statcs,
as in Great Britain, on the corisumpfiou of
this fatal poison of human lirrppiuess, their
uett proceeds would, in less than a century,
purchase aird colonize in Africa, every per-
son ofcolor witliiu the United States.”
Thus these two evils—tlie greatest that our
country has ever known—miglrt be made to
counteract and destroy each other.
But, rrlretlrer such expectations are clrirri-
cricul or not, iliere is an iiiiineirse object to
be gained by the efforts of the Colonization
Society in the entire suppression of the slave
trade. This horrible traffic, notwithstanding
its abolition by every civilized nation in the
world except Portugal and Brazil, and trot-
withstanding the decided measures of the
‘British and American governriients, is still
carried on to alrirost as great an exteirt as ever.
Not less than 60,000 slaves, according to the
most moderate coinputation, are carried from
Africa annually. This trade is carried on by
Americans to the American states. The as-
sertion has been made in Congress by Mr.
Mercer of Virginia, that these «horrible car-
goes are smuggled into our southern states to
a deplorable extent. Five years ago, Mr.
Middleton of South Carolina declared it to
be his belief‘ that 13,000 Africans were air-
nually smuggled into our southern states.”
Mr. Wright ofVirginia estimated the irumber
at 15,000. And the cruelties of this trade
which always surpassed the powers ofthe lio-
man niiud to conceive, are greater now than
they ever were before. VVe might, but we
will not, refer to stories, recent stories,ofwhiclr
the very recital would be torincnt. The only
way in which this trade can -be speedily and
effectually suppressed is the establisliinent of
colonial stations in Africa, which shalllguard
and dry up the fountains ofthesevil. ‘There
is no slave-trade in the vicinity of Sierra Le-
one. Soon there rrill-be none in-thevicinity
of Montserado. And when colonies shall be
esta_blished__at proper iirtervals along the coast,
the slave-trade will exist only in the iueinory
ofjndigiiarrt humanity. And is not this an
object for benevolence to aim at P ' "
But this is not all. The colony is to be a
means of civilizing and clrristianizing Africa.
Hitherto the extension of_civilization,_and,
siirce cliristiariity was established in the R0-
miirr Empire, the extension of christiauity
has been aliirost exclusively by colonies.—
Wlreirce came the civilization of Greece? It
was brought by colonies froui Europe. How
was Italy civilized ? By coloiries from Greece.
How was Europe civilized ? By the Roman
military colonies. Wlience carire the civili-
zation of America? Two centuries hence
the little band, who are norv cultivating their
fields and building their houses at Moiitsera-
do, and spreading over the wilderness aroiiud
them a strange aspect of life and beauty, uiay
be remembered by the thousands of their des-
ceridairts, with the same emotions with which
the little band who landed at Plymouth two
centuries zigo, are now remembered by the
thousands of New-Englarrd. life do not fear
to say, that to the friends ofinissions, the Col-
onization Society presents a loud and imper-
alive claiiir. The advantage of the Moravi-
an missions and ofthe modern ruissioirary es-
lablislriiienis iii savage countries, is that they
are in substance, little colonies. Ifyou could
carry from this country to the Sandwich Isl-
ands, a thousand civilized and educated on-
tives, would you not think you had done uiuclr
for Owliyhee ? This is what can he done, and
must be done for Africa.
And will there not be an interest in the
progress ofthe work ? ‘Will it not be delight-
ful to watch the advances ofthe morning ; to
see the light breaking in on one dark habita-
tion of cruelty, and I:llOlll6l'; to see the shad-
ows of heatlienisni fleeing away, and the de-
lusions which have so long terrified the ignor-
ant pagaus, vziuislririg ; to see one tribe after
another coming to the light of Zion, and to
the brightness of her rising; to see Ethiopia
waking, and rising from the dust, and looking
abroad on the day, and stretching out her
liarrds to God, and the day light still spreading
and kindling and briglriciiiiig, till all the fifty
millions of Africa are brought into the ‘ glo-
rious light and liberty ofthe sons of God l’——
Is there not enough in this to arrest the atten-
tion ofthe public, and to keep it fixed on this
object with an untirirrg interest, till all shall
be accomplished ?
The .Vi'ger’s sullen waves
H ave heard the ti'dings—cmd the orient sun.
Beholds them rolling on to meet his light
In joyful beau!_y.——- Toml,-ut’s S]?l7‘_j towers
./Ire briglit without the b)'l,‘_{'ftf‘nCSS qf the day.
flml H oussa walcingfrem his age-long trance
Of woe, amid the desert, sniiles to hear
The last faint echo of the blissful sound.
A few words more, and we have done. 'We
had intended to notice one or two things in
the management of this Society which might
be amended. One is, they have not kept up
a constant communication with the public.
The monthly reports of their treasury have
not been published ; and we have known ve-
ry little of their proceedings but from their
animal reports. Another deficiency appears
to be—perhaps we judge inc'orrcctly—-a want
oftlrat energy and busiiiess-like regularity of
operation which so characterize some ofour
northern benevolent institutions.‘ Gcnerallv
their colonists have arrived at the most uri-
licaltliy seasons of the year". We the. more
willingly curtail our notice of these defects,
because we think we can see an evident im-
provement. They have issued proposals for
publislriiig a periodical work, which we hope
will be well supported by the priblic. And
they have resolved, and they have called on
the public to assist in executing the resolu-
tion, that ifpossible they will send thrcc ves-
sels with eiriirgants to Liberia this fall. “R-
do earnestly hope that this call will beari-
swered, and that the Board will be enabled
to carry this design iirto execution, and by
sending their settlers to Africa at the h,e:rltlri-
est, instead of the rirost unhealtlry season of
the year, to ascertain whether the climate is
actually so deadly as benevolent slave-traders
arid the other enemies ofthe sclrcirie are fond
ofrepresenting.
The public have expected from this plan,
we will not say too great, but too iiniiiediate
results. For ourselves, we expect to see re-
peated untoward events.-—We do not antici-
pate any lhiiig magnificent for twenty or fifty
years to come. But christian benevolence is
gifted to look into futurity.
Finally, if airy thing is done it ouglit to be
done qiiichly. If there are clrristiaus among
us who iirteiid to favor this object, let tlieiii_
do it without delay. Vile would venture to‘
suggest to iriinisters of all denominations the
propriety of laying before their people, the
claims of an object so important to our coun-
try arrd to the liuirian race, and solicit their
contribritious. Let it be knorvri on earth, let
it be known in heaven, that Auierica is awake
on this subject———llrat her sons of every name
and of every opinion are doing something
for the eriiacipatioir and salvation of injured
Africa.
~-»e®o«-
Qiiali/icalions Qf Vt-tcr.<i.——l\I r. Griscom, a
late British tourist, being at Tauntoii, on his
way to Cornwall, states the following circuiir-
stances:
‘This is a very respectable and ancient bo-
rough, having returiied members to parlia-
uient since 1294. Every iirlrabitant of town
who boils his own pot, has a rightto vote. The
voters, accordingly, receive the curious appe-
latioii ofpolumllopcrs. At the time of a con-
tested election, it is iro uiiomruon thing fcrthc
poorer irrlrabitarrts to have pots given them,
which they take out into the street, where they
boil them in public, as an evidence of their ti-
tle to ri vote. The coirtcnts of the pots are,
no doubt, derived‘from the pockets ofthe can-
didates.’
Another instance of British custonis, as to
election rights, rvortli repeating, is recorded by
the professor.
-‘Tlic town of Aluwicli, (in Scotlaud,) is
pretty well built, and contains about 5,000 iii-
lrabitants. It sends two members to pzirlia.
merit. The freeriien are made or installed "in
their rights by a most singular process. It is
called Leaping the Well. They asseuible
early on St. Mark’s day, at the iiiaikcjr place,
Ifiliere is any hope of extensive good for
When this abominable traffic shall have been
, 7%:
on lior«sebac_k, _éf7,I_:,I‘_vf.,€,ttta’if'liv‘itll his sword by
his side, dressed ’in=‘\vh‘ite, and attendeil by the
four cliaiirberlains of the"borouglr, mouutejd
and armed in the same manner ~';g.TlreyI-pr6-
ceeil thence with nrrisic, to a large dirty pool,
called Frsemarfis Well: here they dismount,
drawn up in a body, and their riish through the
‘mud to the other .S“lde,_1illd present themselves,
in the most-dirty condition, to the spectators,
but, putting on clean clothes, they rernount
‘their horses and ride full gallop round the
confines ofthe town: and returning, sword in
hand, are met by women decorated with rib-
ands, bells, 8r.c.,—.sin‘ging and dancing. . The
houses of these new madefreemen are, on this
day, distinguished by a holly bush, as a signal
for their friends to assemble and make merry.
But what do you think is the origin of this ex-
traordinary custom? ‘It is qiiiteas remarka-
ble as the custom itself. King John having
been mired in this puddle, as a punisliirient to
the electors for not keeping the roads in better
order, made this a part of the clia'rter ofitlre
town.’—-.IV'ul. Gaz.
‘ The course of nut-u re.’——The Richmond
‘ Co'inpiler,’ noticing an article wliicli appea-
red iii this paper about the probable decrease
of the revenue, as derived from imports, and
the remark that ‘ we cannot buy,»if we cannot
must make at home what we cannot buy a-
broad, we must partially exchange our plough
shares for shuttles. Will irot this metamor-
phosis he brought about by the cnurseqf nu-
turg:-—and will it not iirore nearly accouiorlate
itself to our wants, than if it be forced‘ by any
ill-judged iriterfererrce on the part of govern.
ment? W'lry then a new tariff?’
Excellent argument !—-A person bath the
tooth ache, he is writhing with pain—and can-
not eilher eat, drink or sleep; but why applv
a remedy ? the pain will cease ‘by the course iii‘
nature,’ for the tooth will become rotten, or
riot ache any morc————-—fifty ye'.irslience.—-
The British, French and other nations in Eu-
rope, do not understand, nor will they rely on
the ‘course ofiiature’ to heal or remove exis-
ting evils—nor have we, in regard to corri-
merce and the fisheries, 8Lc. for these are aru-
Pll’ P|'0t'ccied; but the growers of grain, the
farmers of the land, and their consumers, the
uicclianics and manufacturers ai'e irot entitled
to the application of airy reineby to relieve
them because their difficulties may be remov-
ed by the ‘course of nature!’ Yes in the grave
for there ‘the wicked cease from troubling and
the weary are at i‘esr.’—.’\«”z'les Rea-.
Verdant Ice .7l1ountaz°n.--Lieut. Kotzebue
has discovered, in the western part ofthe gulf
to the north of Behririg’s Straits, a mountain
covered with verdure (nross and grass,) corri-
posed interiorly of solid ice. On arriving at
a place where the slroi'e rises almost per-
pendicularly froiir the sea to the height of100
feet, and continues afterwards to extend with
a gradual iircliuation, they observed masses of
the purest ice 100 feet high, preserved under
the above vegetable carpet. The portion ex-
posed to tire sun was melting and sending
much water iirto the sea. An undoubted proof
ofthis ice being primativc (i. e. not formed by
any causes now in action,) was afforded by the
great number of bones and teeth ofniamuiotlis
which make their appearance when it is inel-
ted. The soil of these inoutairrs, which, to a
certain height, are covered with an abnnd_;mr
herbage, is only halfa foot thick ; it is compo-
sed ofa mixture ofclay,earth,saiid -and mould,
the ice melts gradually beneath it, the carpet
falls downwards and coiitinucs to thrive; the
latitrrde is 601536 N.—Gilbert’s Armales,
182i, quoted in the Journal of Science and
the Arts, N . 227, page 2230.
Curiosities of Pe7immzshi'.p.-—\Ve have just
exaurined some specimens ofclrirugraplry ex-
ecuted by a female ofiliis town, which for in-
genuity surpass every thing ofthe kind proba-
bly in this country-—tlicy arc iriiiiations ofiy-
pograpliy so exactly reseiiibliiig the impress-
ions ofiypcs about the size of long priiirer, as
to mock the nicest scrutiny. What is more
rcinarkalrle however, and which will scarcely
be believed, some of the specimens consist of
three books, comprising nearly 200 pages duo-
dcciirro, of closely-and accriratclypriiifctl inat-
tcr—all the work ofthe peril Whatever may
be thought of so singular a taste, the produc-
tions are certainly urost astonishing monu-
rueuts of patience, exhibiting the powers of
that wonderful irrsirurrient the pen in a very
extraordinary iiiaririer.—.N'antuclcet Inquirer.
./9 Ciirio.s"i'ly.—A letter from 3] gentlernan
in Ohio, in giving a description of the coun-
try, Sac. says—‘ The natural curiosities are the
iniinense antique mounds or fortifications,
which are to be seen in several parts of this
country; but a curiosity not generally known,
is a tree petrified in a rock near Gallipolis.—
The rock has grown above and around the
tree fifteen feet high and broad.—-Wlrat a sub-
ject for the reflections of a philosopher! I re-
gret that some celebrated naturalist has not
seen and cxauiined this curious object, for it
is truly rare and worthy of scientific investi-
gation. » .
.7‘./'eitles.-—Every body knows that the leaves
of stinging rrettles are thick set with sharp
prickles that penetrate the skin when touch-
ed, and occasions pain, heat and swelling,
which syrntonis were imagined formerly to
eirsiie from the prickles being left in the wound
they made. But the microscope discovers
sornetlring iuiicli more wondcrful_in this com-
mon vegetable, and shows that itslprickles are
formed and act in the same manner as the
stings ofliving animals. Every one of them
_is found to be a rigid_liollow body, terminating
in the most acute point possible with an ope-
ning near its end. At the bottom oftlris cav-
ity, lies-.a minute vessel or bag, containing a
liinpid liquor, which upon the least touching
of the prickle, is squirted through the little.
outlet, and if -it enters the skin, produces the
mischief before uientioiicd, bytbe pungency
of its salts. Hence it court-.s,to pass that when
the leaves of nettles are considerably dried by
the heat of the sun, they sting but very little”;
whereas such as are green and juicy produce
violent pain and iiiflainatioii.—.IV._ Y.‘.Miner2:a.
Dr. Mitcliill, ofNew-York, has devoted the
Diamond Ring, which he received from the
Emperor Jllexaiidcr, to the cause of Grecian
Freedom.
It‘ is stated by gentlemen recently from Eir-
rope, that Mr. Perkins intends coming to this
country next spring in a vessel navigated by
his new machine, and thathe expects to riiuke
the voyage in ten or twelve days.
..._
sell’-«observes, if this shall be the case, ‘ we '
Norwalk Chronicler