the great struggle in which he and his friends had been engaged. Thirty years after the publication of that work, he was accused of having devoted too much of its pages to the praise of his own labours at the expense of his great parliamentary leader, Mr. Wilberforce. He lived long enough to publish a defence of his conduct and his writings; it becomes, therefore, the less necessary now to vindicate either. However eminent the reputation of Mr. Wilberforce, and however great beyond those of all other men the services which he rendered to the cause of the suffering negro, there cannot be much doubt, that Clarkson originated the antislavery agitation, and proved himself the most zealous and efficient of those who, outside the walls of Parliament, laboured for its advancement.

The subject of this memoir was, it is understood, originally intended for the church, and even took deacon's orders; but he certainly abandoned all thoughts of entering upon any profession when he devoted himself to the task of creating the anti-slavery movement. In forming the association which gave him the great business of his life, he came much into communication with persons belonging to the Society of Friends, and this intercourse probably led him to produce a work entitled "A Portraiture of Quakerism." His next publication was a life of William Penn. But, notwithstanding his literary engagements, he still had time to spare for the further advancement of African interests. He went to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, and there had an interview with the Emperor of Russia, who promised not only to oppose the slave-trade by the exercise of his own authority, but to use his influence with other sovereigns for the purpose of inducing them to go and do like

wise.

umph, in the enactment of that Bill which awarded £20,000,000 as compensation to the slave owners. For some few years previous to that event, however, his health had become uncertain, and he was in a great degree precluded from taking an active share in working out the emancipation of the negro. Cataract formed in both his eyes, and for a short time he was totally blind. He endured this affliction with Christian resignation; but eventually he underwent an operation, and was restored to the complete use of his sight. In 1836, he published a work, called "Researches; Antediluvian, Patriarchal, and Historical."

It is singular, that the last letter directed to him was one from the Prime Minister, acknowledging his pamphlet respecting the seamen! This seems to realise the common expression, “dying in harness." A long letter accompanied the pamphlet, concocted in much weakness-it was his last letter.

Perhaps we cannot more truly and characteristically indicate the place which Thomas Clarkson will hereafter occupy in the judgment of mankind, than by pronouncing him the noblest type and representative of that spirit of organised moral and religious effort for philanthropic objects, whose extraordinary development within the last half century

mainly in consequence of the impulse first given by Clarkson and his coadjutors-constitutes a social revolution more important than dynastic change itself. The overpowering force and singleness of the moral element of Clarkson's being eminently qualified him, not only to do the work, and reap the honours of that species of moral apostleship to which, from the earliest manhood, he was irresistibly impelled, but kept him, through life, singularly exempt from the errors and extravagances into which this mode of activity is too apt to degenerate. His whole being and doing may be said to be epitomised in the youthful impulse that constituted his first inspiration. That intense and all-consuming moral earnestness which spoiled a hardly-earned gratification of literary ambition, and made college successes and honours the occasion of an unbearable mental anguish, and constrained the triumphant literary aspirant to gird himself to a life-long struggle with the hideous realities which had formed the subject-matter of an honourable intellectual pastime, sustained itself in all its freshness and purity to

the last. The unsleeping vigilance, the unsparing self-sacrifice, the courageous self-exposure to an obloquy that more than once brought him on the very verge of literal bodily martyrdom, and the indefatigably laborious and painstaking industry with which Clarkson began, carried on, and ended his war against a gigantic public wrong, that seemed, when he commenced, as solid and rooted a fact as the British monarchy itself, were but the varied and prolonged expression of that exquisitely sensitive moral truthfulness which rendered the composition of a prize essay on iniquity and cruelty an intolerable mental torture. It strikingly illustrates the unity of a mind and life absorbingly devoted to the task of studying the details of social wrong, with a view to their redress, that the latest hours of the philanthropist's conscious existence were occupied with schemes for the correction of evils in the condition of merchant seamen, with which his earlier labours in the anti-slavery cause had incidentally made him acquainted.

He is gone from among us-but his work, and the spirit in which he worked, live after him. The idea of the solitary and agonised student has grown into fact,

and moved the world, and written itself ineffaceably in the codes of nations; and the faith in whose strength he worked and waited, may assure those who come after him that the eventual universality of the triumph of justice and humanity is already decreed by a Providence which apportions the moral successes of nations, as of individuals, to the simplicity and fidelity of their allegiance to moral principle.

Clarkson adds another to the list of impressive examples of the importance of a man's selecting a particular work, and resolutely giving himself to its diligent cultivation. But let us not so lose ourselves in admiration as to forget to imitate. The harvest of humanity is not yet reaped. Nay, so boundless is the field that all who prize the luxury of doing good, may enjoy it to the uttermost. The wise selection of an object is the result of self-knowledge. Concentration is the source of power. Single vision and ceaseless toil are the condition of success. "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?-prudent, and he shall know them?-for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them."

"The population of slaves in the United States in 1790 was 697,897; in 1800, 898,041; in 1810, 1,191,364; in 1820, 1,538,064; in 1830, 2,009,031; and in 1840, 2,487,355. The rate of increase from 1790 to 1800 was 27 per cent.; from 1800 to 1810, 33 per cent.; from 1810 to 1820, 29 per cent.; from 1820 to 1830, 30 per cent.; and from 1830 to 1840, 23 per cent. Supposing the rate of increase for every ten years to come will be 25 per cent., we shall have in 1850 over 1,000,000; in 1860, over 3,800,000; in 1870, over 4,800,000; and less than forty years from this, in 1880, over 6,000,000!

"The population of free coloured persons in the United States was in 1790, 59,466; in 1800, 108,395; in 1810, 186,446; in 1820, 233,524; in 1830, 319,569; and in 1840, 386,293. From

1790 to 1800 the rate of increase was 82 per cent.; from 1800 to 1810, 72 per cent.; from 1810 to 1820, say 25; from 1820 to 1830, say 36; and from 1830 to 1840, 20 per cent. The negroes do not increase in the free states as fast, naturally, as they do in the slave states; and allowing that the increase will be 20 per cent., we shall have a population of free coloured persons in 1850 of over 460,000; 1860, over 550,000; in 1870, over 660,000; and in 1880, over 800,000; which, added to the slave population, will give us a total in 1880 of 6,800,000!"

Seven

This fact furnishes but a poor prospect for the manufacturers of chains. millions of men will ultimately avenge their own wrongs. But what slaveholder may abide the hour of their vengeance? The grand total at the last census for 1840, was 2,873,648, and now it is considerably over 3,000,000.

"Were the negroes but an inconsiderable handful of people, they might be left to fall in with the mass, and be benefited by the means of grace enjoyed by all. But when they form onesixth of our entire population, and are steadily increasing, and are destined to be an immense multitude amongst us, they surely demand the

attention of all men who love their country, and who seek the improvement and salvation of their species.

"The moral and religious condition of this people is such as to excite our warmest sympathies and most energetic efforts in their behalf.

"The negroes themselves have but little family government, and give their children little or no religious instruction at all. But a mere fraction of owners carry through a regular course of religious instruction on their plantations, while sabbath-schools on plantations and in the churches, designed for their benefit, are but beginning to be established. There are 813,731 slave negro children under ten years of age, and 811,544 over ten and under twenty-four,-making an aggregate of 1,626,275 under twenty-four. There are 109,122 free negro children under ten, and 111,681 over ten and under twenty-four, and the total of free negroes under twenty-four is 220,753; add the two together, and you have 1,846,028 negroes in the United States under twenty-four years of age. What a mass of children and youth growing up in ignorance and sin, and needing the fostering hand of thousands and tens of thousands of sabbath-school teachers! They are more than the entire population of Virginia-more than the united population of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana-and almost equal to the united population of North and South Carolina and Georgia! The proportion of the free negro children and youth enjoying regular sabbath-school instruction we do not know; but from the best information which we possess, among the slave negro children and youth, amounting to 1,625,275, there is not more than one in two hundred in any regular course of sabbath-school instruction!"

This is the language of men who take very moderate views of the matter, but it is language full of hope. It reveals the weak part of the fortress. If religious bodies, without neglecting other matters connected with efforts to emancipate, will resolutely unite in demanding at least the right of immediate access to every soul of the slave population for the purpose of evangelical instruction, they will either succeed or fail. If the former, emancipation will inevitably follow in a limited number of years; if the latter, it may come much earlier. Nothing will so thoroughly tend to rouse all the rightminded of the people of God to action as the fact that the slaveholder stands between lost millions and the cross of Christ! That deed cannot long fail both to awaken the righteous vengeance of earth, and to bring down the all-consuming wrath of Heaven! That this is the sure way of bringing the whole question to an issue will plainly appear from the following statement relative to the impious and inhuman laws affecting slaves:

1. They are not to be taught to read or write. In 1740 South Carolina enacted this law:

"Whereas the having of slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences, be it enacted that all and every person and persons whatsoever who shall hereafter teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever hereafter taught to write, every such person or persons shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds current money," 2 Brevard's Digest, 243; similar in Georgia, by Act of 1770, except the penalty, Prince's Digest, 455. In the revised code of Virginia of 1819 the following statute occurs: "All meetings or assemblages of slaves, or free negroes or mulattoes mixing and associating with such slaves at any meeting-house or houses, or any other place, &c., in the night, or at any school or schools for teaching them reading or writing either in the day or the night, under whatsoever pretext, shall be deemed and considered an unlawful assembly," 1 Rev. Code, 424, 425.

2. They are not allowed to assemble even for worship in any such way as shall make an insurrection possible. In a law enacted by Georgia, 1792, it is enacted, that "no congregation or company of negroes shall, under pretence of divine worship, assemble themselves contrary to the Act regulating patrols," Prince's Digest, 342. Substantially the same thing exists in South Carolina, 2 Brevard's Digest, 254, 255; and in Mississippi, Rev. Code, 390.

3. No meeting whatever of slaves is to be allowed of such a number as could acquaint themselves of their own strength, or make combination possible. "If a slave shall presume to come upon the plantation of any person without leave in writing from his master, employer, &c., not being sent on lawful business, the owner of the plantation may inflict ten lashes for every such offence," 1 Virg. Rev. Code, 422; 3 Mississippi Rev. Code, 371; 2 Litt. and Swi. Dig. 1150; 2 Missouri Laws, 741, sec. 3. "It shall be lawful for any person who shall see more than seven men slaves, without some white person with them, travelling or assembled together, in any high road, to apprehend such slaves, and to inflict a whipping on each of them, not exceeding twenty lashes apiece," 2 Brev. Dig. 243; Prince's Dig. 554.

4. The possession of all arms or weapons of defence is strictly prohibited. "For keeping or carrying a gun, or powder, or shot, or a club, or other weapon whatever, offensive or defensive, a slave incurs for each offence thirty-nine lashes, by order of a justice of the peace," 2 Litt. and Swi. 1150; 1 Virg. Rev. Code, 423; 2 Missouri Laws, 741, sec. 4; Haywood's Manual, 521. See Stroud's "Sketch of the Laws relating to Slavery," pp. 88, 92, 93, 102.

What Christian, what philanthropist, what patriot can read these statements without indignation and horror? Ought not such enactments to excite the disgust, the scorn, the wrath of freemen throughout the whole earth? Were we American citizens we should blush at the sight of such men, and weep day and night over the degradation of our country!

THOUGHTS ON THE CONVENTION.

BEFORE we proceed to the Convention, by way of introduction we must first dispose of the communication of a layman of great respectability, and as devoted a friend as lives to the cause of total abstinence. His letter was intended only for our own private eye; but it possesses, in our judgment, so much practical value, that, while we sink his name, we cannot withhold his opinions. But we insert it, nevertheless, as well on account of what we consider its errors as of its excellences, in order to modify the views of our friend and of the very important class of whom he may be considered a fair representative:

"I have been intimately connected with the movement nearly from its origin. For some time I was not sanguine as to its final results; but I was convinced it was an experiment in a right direction. I honour the men who have laboured so devotedly in this cause, but who, by their errors and extremes, have impeded its progress-not to use a stronger term; but I have long been and still am more surprised and grieved that ministers and other influential Christian philanthropists could stand aloof from such a cause, thus leaving it in the hands of men whose previous circumstances and habits have rendered them unfit to be the directors of so difficult a movement, and then plead the defects of these men as a reason for indifference or hostility. I make not these remarks in harshness, but in sorrow. I will, however, endeavour to come more directly to the object of my addressing you; but you have witnessed the tendency to diffusiveness in all temperance advocates, and therefore I hope you will excuse me.

"I do not, then, consider the late Convention to contain a fair and full representation of the friends of this cause. Many active persons who love it have retired from publicity in consequence of what they consider the violence of a portion of its friends, with whom they could not act-a circumstance which has left the offices to be filled by those holding extreme views; and of course a large proportion of such would appear in London. Yet many of the parties who hold the more moderate views continue to promote the cause efficiently in their own locality. Again; the determination to urge extreme views was so evident in the Convention, that others rather chose to retire from the discussions. I believe the cause will never prosper until it is under the direction and control of men of Christian principle and Christian spirit, disclaiming all grounds of advocacy beyond the simple personal pledge and practice of total abstinence; also discarding all the controversies which have been so injudiciously raised respecting the wines of Scripture; receiving every man who is willing to be a pledged abstainer, but sanctioning only those advocates whose principles and characters can be depended upon. I believe the most effectual way of spreading the cause would be the esta

blishment of societies in connection with Christian congregations. I do not mean as terms of communion, but like Tract Societies, under the sanction of the friends of the church. I believe the effect of public meetings is much over-estimated; the same abstainers, for the most part, are addressed; exciting speeches are made; but of those who sign the pledge at such times not a few break it. I believe temperance missionaries, going from house to house, effect more good; and they prevail on the parties to attend some place of worship, without which there can be no confidence in their stedfastness. But the extreme views which many are taking, popular as they are sure to be with the labouring class, will continue to excite prejudice in the minds of the wealthier classes; and unless these can be incorporated we never can succeed. I should have no objection to the long pledge if it could become general, but the attempt to enforce it is sure to retard the cause; and, I conceive, as there is no principle requiring it, the attempt to enforce the long pledge must be wrong. I know all that

would be said in reply. Many persons of influence who, some time ago, were favourable to the temperance cause, have been so disgusted by the extravagances of its advocates, that they will now scarcely listen to any appeal. We cannot afford to lose this class, who are really repelled from us by indiscretion. Did you read the remarks in the Daily News of August 26? They are too just; we should not give occasion for them. Our cause needs no exaggerations for its defence; it is unanswerable, if we keep to the realities of our case, and are guided by common sense. Do you think an association could be formed having very few rules, which shall disclaim all debateable ground of advocacy, and which should seek to incorporate influential Christians? Do not suppose I am desponding. The cause is so good, and too deeply engraven on the minds of many Christians, to be allowed to pass away; but it is not prospering as it might do, and it is languishing in some localities. I should have many things more to say were you at hand, but my desultory speech has been long enough. I should gladly aid by effort and by money the spreading of a more compacted, and, as I believe, effective association than any which now exists."

We shall take up the chief points of the foregoing extract in order.

I. ADVOCACY.-With respect to the advocacy, at the outset, we conceive there was no choice. It was that employed, or none; and remembering the circumstances under which the movement began, the wonder is that such an instrumentality could be so quickly produced, and that it effected so much solid good. It is now, however, greatly improved, and time will unite with circumstances to carry that improvement forward. Even now the

bulk of the agents are well adapted to a large class of the population, whose rug

ged, honest natures have but little sympathy with delicate propriety and polished elegance, but yield a willing homage to masculine energy and English heart. In addresses to the multitude no qualities whatever can compensate for the lack of power, while power atones for all other deficiencies. The sole source of power is sincerity and zeal, which are not denied to the temperance agents. What is wanted, then, we think, is, not the displacement of the present agency, but the increase of another class of advocates, capable of effectively dealing with the middle and upper ranks of society-a class of whom the type is found in Dr. Grinrod. Combining as he does the knowledge of medicine and the knowledge of man, with a clear logic, a persuasive eloquence, polished manners, and a gainful presence, that admirable man forms our beau ideal of a finished advocate. His success demonstrates his power. Wherever he appears all ranks crowd to hear him. He never fails to command general attention, convincing the bulk of his auditors, and silencing the remainder. No class of men are capable of rendering such assistance in this enterprise as those of the medical profession. The services of such men as Grinrod, Beaumont, and Mudge are invaluable.

II. MINISTERS.-We join with our friend in his grief, but not in his surprise at the absence of ministers from the TemIt consists with our perance ranks. knowledge, however, that a very considerable number of ministers are actually with the movement; they are not only abstainers, but are, in various ways, lending their powerful influence in their several localities to advance the good cause, some more, some less publicly. It requires more courage-not to say rashness

than some of them possess, to come forth at once and identify themselves with the movement, and yet not a few of them have even gone this length, and to this have added bold public advocacy. Nor is this all; a pastor's position is seriously peculiar. A sanguine, private individual may, with a hazard extending only to himself, feel free at once to embark in the various projects of the passing day; but it is otherwise with a judicious pastor. He sustains a solemnly representative character; his example among his flock has much of the force of a precept, and it, therefore, behoves him to weigh well the merits of every movement before he commits himself. Thus situated, a wise man will walk warily. We can well con

ceive of such a man's mind being seriously exercised, concerning this matter, on personal grounds; and how much more when he reflects on his official position!

III. EXTREME VIEWS.-What our correspondent correctly denominates extreme views have, beyond dispute, operated most mischievously, and to a wide extent among intelligent Christian men, and above all among Christian ministers. Much has been spoken on this point, and not a little written, at utter variance with the most distinct declarations of Scripture -much that impeaches at once the inspiration and authority of its decisions, and the morality of the Son of God! On this point we very earnestly commend to our readers "The Principles of Total Abstinence purified from unsound and dangerous opinions, and placed upon a rational and Scriptural foundation, by Wil liam Cooke, minister of the Gospel,"—the work of a very able man, who has made good the promise of his title page. Against these extreme views we enter our emphatic protest, and they will ever find in us most uncompromising adversaries. We espouse those views only which are according to truth and soberness. Let the movement be placed upon this foundation, and, while not a minister in the land will say a word against it, many will cordially join it.

IV. FULL REPRESENTATION.-We concur in the views of our friend upon this point. The vast majority, beyond doubt, held, earnestly and sincerely held, the extreme views; and for the reasons assigned by our correspondent, it is probable that the majority and minority, respectively, did not form a true numerical represen tation of the Teetotal community; but we do think they may be viewed as having represented very fairly the zeal of the respective parties. We suspect it is in the Teetotal as in the Religious worldthe more doctrinal truth the less practical zeal. To our minds it is clearly made out, that the great bulk of the benefits which have accrued to society have arisen from the labours of the men holding extreme views; but we ascribe their success to their truth, not to their error; for we hold that truth, impelled by the same zeal, would have been incalculably more efficacious amongst educated and Christian men, and we see no reason why it should be less so among the multitude.

V. PRESSING OF THE EXTREME VIEWS. -The "determination," at the Convention, doubtless was as our correspondent