Such pleasing pangs, such horrid ecstasies, Such doubt, and bliss, and terror in their change, And the betossed soul Would cling and rest on rugged certainty, IV. But still that shape would haunt me in my slumbers, Through feverish trances, and intensely yearn Through the lone aisles should haply touch mine ear, Then would my senses sudden tumult find, V. Methought we sojourn'd on a sunny Isle- -Lo! in one whirling moment it was fled! A flood of fire, and not a sapphire sea, Now roll'd its red waves to our shrinking feet, And all the laughing blooms, whose tendrils sweet, Intrusive, hung enamour'd o'er our bed, Grew snake-like, and writhed round us in their slimeAll the foul produce of some damned clime Crawl'd suddenly into portentous life; Blotch'd toads, lithe scolopendiæ many-limb'd, Scorpions, dry newts, and blind amphibious eels; And round and round thy quivering frame they climb'd And swarm'd and batten'd on thy bosom's snow The sight did make me stone-nor could I turn From sights that human hearts may not abide, VI. Then came the numbness of young Hope enchain'd And those mis-shapen thoughts that Misery breeds. Where the film'd blind is set to prove the True. O! moment, blessed twice, now and for ever- To know that what I dared not call ideal That bliss was possible-though bliss might never be. Then, when the night had drawn her curtain over, And worship Truth alone, since Truth hath found thee; In many an umber'd fold would fain affright, Yet now remember, since that thou hast light, That there must still be Hope, although there may be storm!" IX. Even so. The voice was heard. Have I not won My way through curses, bans, and racks, and fires; Have I not made thy dark enchantments cower, -Thou proud o'er-pamper'd nurse of swarms obscene, And I have seen them shrink when they did pass, Were changed before that penetrant searching, keen; 3 K Reflect their hues before the struggling ray, Leaving the scene unfill'd, fades troublously away. X. -They said the blessed blood should change to fire; Flame I should drink, and flame again expire; They drove me, like a felon, from the porch; It was in vain. A spirit and a power were on me then, A spell beyond their spells, which they might not control. XI. I have sought Truth, because my spirit spake Her like to thee; and as I have loved her, Thou mightst love me, though but for her dear sake. Oh! more than ecstasy, To know mine inmost longing did not err; That Truth and Love are wedded in one mind; I could have borne frowns, curses, racks, and fires, to see That thou dost smile-and that Truth smiles in thee. XII. Oh! take this circlet, before which shall fade The spell of those unnatural mysteries, Take it 'tis freedom's the clear voice that calls; Death-like, as flowers beneath the churchyard yew; For thou art his, and he doth make thee mine. .T. D. SIR, BANDANA ON EMIGRATION. Letter First. ONE of the most important questions in the science of political economy has never yet been properly discussed, I mean EMIGRATION. Lord Selkirk's work, as far as it goes, is very well; but his views were local, and directed rather to the operation of certain political changes on the habits and manners of a particular people, than to the general question, as it affects the disposal of the surplus population of a country. Without entering into the subject, in all its theoretical bearings, give me leave to offer you a few practical thoughts applicable to the present state of Great Britain and her colonies. Whilst so much of the earth is still wood and wilderness, I conceive it to be worse than useless to give any serious attention to the hypothetical doctrines of Malthus. That the increase and the diminution of population is regulated by the means of subsistence, 10 man in his senses ever thought of disputing; but to say that the eternal physical instincts of human nature may be regulated by any moral or political consideration-suppressed or encouraged, with reference to the artificial institutions of any existing state of society-is, in one word, nonsense. The fact is, that the means of subsistence and population, according to the practice of the world, reciprocally promote the increase of each other. It is this co-operation that produces the growth of states, the rise of cities; that awakens the principles of fertility in the soil, and spreads luxuriance and life over the face of the land. But, sir, although the means of subsistence and population go hand in hand in the progression of human affairs, there is yet an operative principle in society ever pressing against population, and marring the constancy of its connection with the means of subsistence. No one can look at the different ranks and vocations, which have necessarily grown out of the social state of mankind, without being sensible that many of them involve circumstances prejudicial to the progress of population, merely by restraining the natural circulation of the means of subsistence. I do not regard this as an evil, but, on the contrary, as the just price which the world pays for the pleasures and enjoyments of civiligation; nevertheless, it is the cause of that latent sentiment in which political discontents, from time to time, originate the fountain-head of revolutions and the source of political commotions. These things, which have grown out of the social communion of mankind, may be described comprehensively as ART, and the feeling of which I am speaking as NATURE. Nature is the everlasting adversary of art, and it has ever been the object of all wisdom, in government and legislation, to prevent the currents of population, so to speak, from doing mischief to what may be called the embankments of society, by providing for the tides, and distributing the overflow. So long as this can be done at home, the rise and progress of a community will continue-the moment that it cannot be done, and that easily, means must be found to direct the overflow abroad, or the safety of the order and peace of the community will be put to hazard. Unless measures be adopted to regulate the increasing population of a country, the necessities of the people will sooner or later instigate them to break down those fences, both of property and of privilege, which contribute so much to the ornament of life, and the elevation of the human character. There are but two ways-EMPLOYMENT and EMIGRATION-by which the increasing population of any country can be regulated. EMPLOYMENT, as a method of engaging the heads and hands of an increased population, can be carried no farther than the trade and manufactures of the country require labourers, while it has the effect of encouraging a still greater increase; and, therefore, strictly speaking, there is no right way of averting the evils of an overflow of population, but emigration. Having said so much with respect to the truths and principles of the question, let us now attend, sir, to the object immediately in view. point. FIRST, then, I believe, it will not ciety-EMIGRATION; and now to the be questioned, that population, both in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, exceeds the means of employ ment. SECONDLY, That the existing population of these countries has so far exhausted the means of subsistence, that it cannot be materially augmented without some change in the state and distribution of property, which change there exists but little disposition in the world to make, nor is it verv obvious that, as things are, any such change would do much good; and, therefore, THIRDLY, as neither the means of employment nor the means of subsistence can be so quickly multiplied, in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, as to meet the demands of the population, it is obvious ly the duty of government to provide, by emigration, for the surplus of po pulation beyond what the trade and manufactures of those countries require. * This obligation has been felt to its fullest extent by government, and various desultory schemes have been, from time to time, tried, but as yet no proper" safety-valve" has been introduced into the regular system of the state, notwithstanding that the improvements of society and in mechanical inventions have occasioned a more rapid increase of unemployed population throughout the British islands than ever took place in this country before, and notwithstanding that the same causes have also generated even a greater proportional increase of capital. In the application of that increased capital, the surplus of which, beyond what is requisite for the business of the country, is even greater than the surplus of population, which is ready to swarm off in the application, I would say, of that capital, lie the means and materials for constructing the safety-valve of civilized so I think, sir, it must be obvious, that if the waste lands of the colo nies can be brought into profitable cultivation by poor emigrants, transported thither, as it were, in charity, the same thing might be done with far richer results, by capitalists being induced to embark in the same business. Leaving out of view the above ques➡ tion, may it not be said, that the West Indies have been settled and cultivated by emigrants from Africa? Is there anything in the principle of West Indian cultivation different from the cultivation of any other region, to render it at all doubtful that capitalists carrying emigrants to other waste countries, might not hope to receive large returns? Is there any inferiority in the physical power and intellect of the Scottish and Irish peasantry, to those of the African negroes, to make it questionable, that, with the aid of capital such as we have seen invested in West India cultivation, they should not in congenial climates as amply repay their employers? But hitherto, sir, emigration has been conducted on erroneous principles. Poor families have been transplanted, with their poverty, into wild regions, and left in a manner there to shift for themselves. What would now have been the state, I shall say, for example, of Upper Canada, if the different swarms of emigrants conducted thither, had been under the auspices of some opulent commercial company, habitations and subsistence provided for them,-their labour judiciously directed, and aided by the help of machinery? Does not the simple fact, of the cultivation of that fine country being hampered for want of capital, while the capital of the mother country is overflowing to prodigality towards other regions scarcely In your last Number there was an excellent paper, in many respects, regarding Ireland, one of the very best, indeed, that I have seen on the subject. The author states, what is a notorious fact, "that the peasantry of Ireland are in a state of deplorable penury,-are scarcely half employed,-are barbarous, depraved, disaffected, and rebellious." Farther on he also states, "If things be left as they are, population must still increase, the land must be still farther subdivided, the jobbers, from increased competition, will push up into still higher,-employment must become still more scarce, and the peasantry must sink to the lowest point of penury, ignorance, idleness, and depravity, if they have not already reached it.” |