1824. Smith the Missionary. most reluctance to suffer the missionaries to come in contact with their slaves; and it abuses them for it in Grantthe most merciless manner. ing the existence of this reluctance, it finds a triumphant justification in Smith's conduct. We never knew men who sported so openly and scandalously with the property and rights of others, as the men do who compose this party. They seem to fancy, that because the slaves praise them, they are the lawful kings of the slaves; and that the planters are guilty of an unpardonable offence in exercising authority over, and interfering with the conduct of, their black subjects. They send, without permission, a host of missionaries, exclusively of their own selecting, to the estates and slaves of the planters; and if the planters receive the host with a wry face, it is charged upon them as a heinous crime. The planters are to have no choice, and they are to be suffered to make no distinction. Whether the missionary belongs to the Church of England, or to the Independents-whether he be a Wilberforce with regard to slavery, or the contrary--whether he be a religious teacher, or a political zealot whether he be likely to give the slaves proper instruction, or to convert them into rebels, the planters must, at their peril, receive him joyfully, and ask no questions. The planters did not approve of Smith-they thought him a dangerous man to obtain influence over the slaves-they shewed unwillingness to permit the slaves to attend his preaching; and for this they have been, and still are, held up to the world as fiends. The feelings which the slaves have long cherished with regard to their freedom-their overwhelming superiority in point of numbers-and the hostility of the Missionary Societies to slavery, are universally notorious; and still the planters are not to be suffered to scrutinize the principles and conduct of the missionaries, or to prohibit the slaves from following such as Smith. If it be just and right to punish men for taking proper precautions for their own safety, and to force them into destruction, the conduct of the Wilberforce party towards the planters is just and right. If not, this conduct displays the extreme of injustice, wrong, intolerance, and oppression. Severely as we have already spoken of the Saints, as they are called, we and makes a speech boldly levelled against the very existence of Christianity. What then?-Wilberforce rises, not to strike the audacious simpleton dumb, but to say, that he 66 agrees in the general reasoning of his honourable friend,"-Wilberforce and the enemy of Christianity honourable friends!!-but that he still thinks writers should not be suffered to strike at the existence of religion. He, however, picks no quarrel with his "honourable friend" for striking at it. Buxton and the rest of the Saints sit in unbroken silence. Again and again does Hume repeat this conduct, but never more will the Saints say one word against it. He repeated it but a week since; and while Mr M. A. Taylor spoke as became a christian legislator, the Saints were perfectly speechless. Religion has been, time after time in late years, attacked in Parliament as it never was before; and yet Wilberforce has rarely opened his lips to defend it, and Buxton never. While these persons have thus skulked away from the battle when the very life of religion was assailed-while they have thus canted of their friendship for men who hold the Holy Scriptures to be a fable-they now pretend that their zeal for religion leads them to labour at the slave question, although it is as little religious in its nature, as a great state question can well be; and although they follow a course which violates every precept of religion. What are their calumnies against the authorities of Demerara-their eternal railings against the planters-their base misre presentations with regard to the case of Smith-and their false and inflammatory appeals against the whole white population of the West Indies, when they know the dangerous state of the feelings of the slaves?What are the wretched arts by which they have just thrown the nation into uproar? What are the deceptions, the jugglery, the vile falsehoods, the rank impositions, by which they have extracted from the ignorant religious people in the country their petitions against slavery, and in behalf of Smith ? Are all these taught by religion ?— Are they sanctioned by religion ?-Is the gospel silent respecting them?Does not the gospel denounce them as the worst of wickedness?-And shall those who resort to them still be called religious men?-We are commanded by the honour and interest of religion by our Bible-to tear the mask from the faces of these men; and we have other motives for doing it, which are but little less powerful. In late years, religious societies have been established throughout the nation. Every county is at this moment accurately divided into districts, and placed under the operation of Bible Societies, Foreign Missionary Societies, Hoine Missionary Societies, Bethel Societies, Societies for the Conversion of the Jews, and we know not how many others beside. These societies are divided into branch and parent ones; and then again into lady and children ones, as well as those which comprehend the men; and they are thus most admirably fitted for operating upon every place and every portion of the community. Every society has its committee, its treasurer, collectors, &c.; the members are duly enrolled, and are regularly called upon for their weekly, monthly, or other subscriptions; the provincial leaders of one are generally, in different shapes and combinations, the provincial leaders of the whole; and the grand national leaders of all these innumerable societies are the body of which we are speaking-the Wilberforce party. Here, then, are some millions of people kept constantly in a state of the most perfect organization to act as a whole. Here is a stupendous army, divided for its more casy management into an infinity of regiments, profuse ly officered, in the very highest state of discipline and appointment, and at all times ready to take the field at a moment's notice. The generals raise their fingers, and a deafening shout bursts from the prodigious mass--they give the word, and it instantly marches to the battle, whoever may be the enemy. The generals, as we have already said, are the Wilberforce party. Of these societies, so long as they abstain from matters not religious, we have nothing to say but praise. The luscious slang which their leaders utter at their meetings, and which fills their publications, suits not our palate, and we search the scriptures in vain for many of their leading doctrines; but nevertheless we believe that they form a powerful bulwark against infidelity, and that they render the most invaluable service to public morals. They may do some injury-even intentional injury-to the church; but they do infinitely more injury to the temple of deism, and the altar of licentiousness; and when the good thus so largely preponderates over the evil, we have no choice but to be their friends. Looking at them merely as combinations, we can find nothing to censure. In spite of the ignorant and stupid outcry which is raised by members of Pitt, Fox, and Whig Clubs, against the Orange Associations, and in truth against all Associations whatever, we shall ever advocate the associating of good men for good objects. Human nature irresistibly leads men to form themselves into societies; and whatever the good may do, the bad will assuredly ever combine. Our constitution, we think, looks upon laudable associations with an eminently favourable eye-our laws, until lately, have been exceedingly reluctant to intermeddle with associations of any kind; and it is impossible for us not to know that our country owes much of its glory and greatness, of its high moral and religious feeling, of its intelligence and public spirit, and of its magnificent profusion of valuable institutions, to associations. We may perhaps wish that these religious societies were less connected together; that they were under disunited leaders; and that, with regard to other things than religion, they counterpoised rather than combined with each other; but nevertheless, so long as they confine themselves to the objects for which alone they profess to be formed, and abstain from politics, they shall receive from us nothing but friendship. 1994.] Smith the Missionary. But if these societies, forgetting their principles of union and the Scriptures, advance but a single step into the field of politics, they shall then find us their determined enemies. The Wilberforce party have artfully contrived to become their grand leaders, and have fately led them into a path which they can only follow either to their own ruin or to that of the nation. The abolition of slavery, AS IT NOW EXISTS in our colonies, is as little a religious question, as the abolition of seven-year apprenticeships, or yearly servitude, would be; it is as little a religious question as almost any of the measures that occupy Parliament; and it is much less so than a tax would Yet the be for carrying on a war. Wilberforce party affect to call it a religious question; they have deluded the religious societies into a belief that it is so, and they have, by producing this belief, converted these societies, at least for the moment, into a tremendous political faction. Every one knows that this outery respecting Smith is in reality an outcry for the abolition of slavery; and that the party would never have raised a finger for the missionary, if they had not been labouring to accomplish this abolition. If this be tolerated, we shall next have reform converted into a religious question; for all may learn from our history, how easy it is for the most abominable political schemes to be called questions of religion. Against this system of making religion the watch-word of political factionof using its sacred name to hide the inost flagitious conduct-and of raising its banner in the march to power, aggrandizement, innovation, and tyranny, that the really religious people of the land may be duped into the ranks of those who bear it-against this system we protest, as fraught with the extremes of danger, both to religion itself, and to the country. Has not the late conduct of the Wil berforce party and the religious societies covered religion with dishonour and insult? Has it not powerfully strengthened the prejudices of the irreligious against religion? Has it not supplied infidelity with deadly weapons for attacking religion? And has it not largely contributed to resolve the pure, peaceable, and benevolent religion of innumerable pious people, into unchristian political rancour? Our country, we say it with joy and In the Parliamentary discussions respecting Smith, we have seen the men who are called the Saints—the subscribers for Hone-the champions of Carlile, Dolby, &c.-the revilers of Christianity, all blended into an harmonious body, to fight for, as they pretended, religion-evangelical religion. The committees which got up the petitions by the vile arts to which we have alluded, were composed of a choice admixture of all these parties. The very sight of this most monstrous and hideous coalition, might, we think, have convinced any man, that the only thing which it could not combat for-which it could not refrain from attacking-would be religion. We will address a few words to the Missionary Societies. We think highly of their objects of union, we think highly of their past exertions; and we could prove, if we chose, that we have been among their firm supporters. We therefore trust that they will believe we speak as friends, when we earnestly beg of them to withdraw themselves wholly from the guidance of the Wilberforce party, and from the question of slavery. They must be well aware, that it is their interest and duty to gain the esteem and confidence of the planters as far as possible, not only to procure admission for their missionaries into the colonies, but to procure for them the powerful aid of the masters in their labours among the slaves; and they must be well aware, that if they act directly or indirectly as partizans for the abolition of slavery, they must make the planters their impla cable enemies. They must know, that if slavery ought to be abolished, the abolition ought to be prosecuted and effected by others than themselves; and that their principles of union solemnly bind them to a strict and bona fide neutrality on the question. They spotless and the worthy and to place dangerous creeds and parties on a level with meritorious ones-such a man shall never be spared by us, WHATEVER MAY BE HIS NAME OR CONDITION. If our words give auy pain to Mr Wilberforce, he may turn to the Whig and Radical publications, and he will find in them a sufficiency of panegyric. Whatever effect this panegyric may have upon him, we are very very sure that it will amply justify us in the eyes of our country, for having spoken of him as we have done. Y. Y. Y. June 10th, 1824. SPECULATIONS OF A TRAVELLER, CONCERNING THE PEOPLE OF NORTH AMERICA AND GREAT BRITAIN. SUBSTANTIAL information is what the people of this empire, and, in fact, those of all Europe, now want, respecting the institutions, political and moral, of North America. We find, on looking into the journals and books of the day, that the subject is one of growing interest; and we have taken some pains to arrange what information we happen to have gleaned from personal knowledge, or from those who have no interest in deceiving us on such points, as we believe likely to interest the general reader. A thousand mischievous, idle, unhappy, and exasperating prejudices, have existed between the people of America, and those of Great Britain; but they are rapidly disappearing; and, we have no doubt, after a little time, will be remembered only as we now remember the stories of witchcraft, and the prejudices of childhood. The truth is-and the sooner it is generally known the better-that the rational and good men of both countries have always been friendly to a hearty, unreserved, kind, and free intercourse between the two nations, ever since the independence of that was acknowledged by this; and that the very multitude of both countries, in proportion as they have come to know one another truly, and to understand the real opinion that each entertain of the other, have always been, and are, at this moment, absolutely cordial. It should be remembered, that the specimens of English character, which the Americans usually meet with in their country, are very unfavourable. I have heard a sober American say, that he had never seen but one or two English gentlemen in America; and, we know, that our English gentlemen upon the continent are strangely un like our English gentlemen at home. Nor is it common for Englishmen to meet with favourable specimens of the American character. Our men of leisure, education, science, fortune, or fashion, go to the continent-through all Europe, Asia, Africa, anywhere but to America. Men of desperate fortunes, or desperate characters; the factious and discontented; those who have been shipwrecked in some political convulsion, or hazardous commercial enterprize; the ignorant and abused, who dream of America as wiser men do of the Indies; with now and then, but very rarely, a substantial tradesman, husbandman, or mechanic; and, yet more rarely, a man of talent and education, who hurries through a part only of a few States in that confederacy of nations, are those whom the Americans are accustomed to see among them; and those to whom we are chiefly indebted for all our information concerning the country of the Ameri cans. Nor is our situation very different from that of our brethren-the people of the United States-in this particular. Their representation to this country is quite as little to be depended upon, if we would form a fair estimate of their national character. They are of three classes:-1st, Young men of fortune, who visit London, Paris, and Rome, because it is the fashion. 2dly, Young men, who come here to complete their education at our medical schools; and, 3dly, Mere men of business. Besides these, we occasionally meet with an artist, (chiefly in the department of painting, where the Americans have done more than in any other of the fine arts;) a literary man; an invalid; or a political representative of their country. But who would ground his estimate of national character, upon his knowledge of such people?-Young men of fortune are pretty much the same all over the world. Students, for the sake of their own comfort, when they are with a strange people, soon learn to throw off, or conceal, their national peculiarities, and adopt those of the multitude with whom they are continually associated; men of business, however well they may have been educated, are very apt to think lightly of everything that has not an immediate relationship with pecuniary matters; the painter will only be known by the general manifestation of his talent; seldom or never, though he be an American, by anything of especial reference to his own country-her scenery, history, or peculiarities; the literary man would be likely to hazard as little as possible-his opinions would be loose and popular, calculated to do neither harm nor good-aiming chiefly at amusement, and most carefully avoiding, in his whole deportment, whatever might offend the prejudices of them who are to sit in judgment upon him, he would be likely to become, after a little time, anything but a sound specimen of national and peculiar character; and, from the political representative of any country, we cannot reasonably expect any other than a kind of diplomatic deportment, which, like high breeding, is likely to confound all national distinction. Is it wonderful, then, that so many erroneous, mischievous, and, in some cases, very ridiculous notions, continue to be reciprocally entertained by the British and Americans, of each other? Most of these are owing to political writers, newspapers, and books of travels, often hastily written, and too frequently by those who have gone from one country to the other, without a proper degree of inquiry and preparation. There was never, perhaps, a more favourable moment than the present for crushing these prejudices; and if every one would contribute his mite, the business would be speedily and effectually accomplished. Whoever will go to a public meeting in London, it matters little of what kind, or for what purpose it may have been called, will meet with continual and delightful evidence of this. At one time he will see a whole audience, assembled for the very purpose of laughing at the genuine sentiments of brother Jonathan, completely electrified by a timely allusion to their brethren over the Atlantic; and at another, he will hear of a nobleman of high rank and commanding influence, bursting into generous and indignant rebuke of that paltry jealousy, which set two such countries as Great Britain and America in array against each other; countries which are better fitted than any other two upon the earth for perpetual friendship and alliance. But whether this takes place at a theatrical entertainment, abounding in the most absurd and laughable misrepresentation, or at a meeting of the African Society, in furtherance of the most magnificent undertaking that was ever attempted by man; whether it be the expedient of a player or of a politician, a comedian or a statesman; whether the Marquis of Lansdowne or Mr Matthews be sincere or not, (and of their sincerity who can entertain a doubt ?)—the fact is established beyond all dispute, that it is good policy in England for an Englishman to appear friendly to America. And this is what the Americans want to know. They must know it,` and they shall know it. There is a party, to be sure, in the United States, whose hostility to another party in this country has long been misunderstood for the hostility of the whole American people to the whole British people. That party is now in power; they are the majority of the whole population, and are called Republicans or Democrats. But their feeling of bitterness and hatred has been rather one of appear Three or four very able, and several respectable, editors in America, are Irishmen. The writers are almost to a man exceedingly rancorous against this country; and of course against the federal party in America, who are the friends of this country. They have done a great deal of mischief, however honest may have been their intentions, or however much they may deserve to be excused, in consequence of what they consider their sufferings at home, before their escape to America. VOL. XV. 4 C |