tures. He has inscribed his history in the numerous charitable and religious foundations which owe their existence or their prosperity to his influence. Our gaols, our hospitals, our schools, our churches, are replete with monuments of his worth, and with the effects of his energetic benevolence.

"Endowed with a capacity for high attainments in science, and distinguished by the honours assigned to superior merit, he generously declined the pursuit of literary eminence, for the purpose of doing good. It is but few who are capable of adequately appreciating the magnitude of such a sacrifice. Dr. Paley was unquestionably one of those few; and I had it from the lips of our venerable friend, that in addicting himself to the duties of a parish priest, he had, in the opinion of that great man, chosen the better part; a choice which it is evident Heaven singularly sanctioned and approved. In affixing his system of life, he had unquestionably a view of a future account, and formed his determination on the assured persuasion of his appearing before the judgment-seat of Christ, where the salvation of one soul will cause a more glorious distinction than the greatest literary attainments; where all greatness of a merely intellectual nature will disappear, and nothing will endure the scrutiny but active and disinterested virtue.

"In the mean time, how narrow the bounds of his influence, how confined the ascendency of his character, had he been only the solitary student, instead of being the zealous and exemplary pastor, and the active citizen! On the former supposition, he had inscribed his memorial in books; on the present, he inscribed it on hearts; and instead of his being an object of admiration of the few, he was the man of the people.

"In separate parts of his character, it were not impossible to find some who equalled, and others who excelled him; but in that rare combination of qualities which fitted him for such extensive usefulness, he stands unrivalled. As a pastor and public instructor, it may be possible to meet with some who have attained an equal degree of eminence; as a public man, he may have been equalled; but where shall we look, in modern times, for an example of the union of the highest endowments, as a pastor and preacher, and of the qualifications adapted to the functions of civil life? It is this rare union which appears to me to give the character of our venerable friend its decided pre-eminence. It is not necessary to recall to your recollection the talents of Mr. Robin

son as a public instructor; you have most, if not all of you, witnessed his pulpit performances, on that spot where he was accustomed to retain a listening throng hanging upon his lips, awed, penetrated, delighted, and instructed by his manly unaffected eloquence. Whoever heard him without feeling a persuasion that it was the man of God who addressed him, or without being struck with the perspicuity of his statement, the solidity of his thoughts, and the rich unction of his spirit? It was the harp of David, which, struck with his powerful hands, sent forth more than mortal sounds; and produced an impression far more deep and permanent than the thunder of Demosthenes, or the splendid declamation of Cicero.

"The hearers of Mr. Robinson were too much occupied by the subjects he presented to their attention, to waste a thought on the speaker; this occupied a second place in the order of their reflections; but when it did occur, it assumed the character, not of superficial acknowledgments, but of profound veneration and attachment. Their feelings towards him were not those of persons gratified, but benefited; and they listened to his instructions, not as a source of amusement, but as a spring of living water. There never was a settled pastor, probably, who had formed a juster conception of the true end of preaching, who pursued it more steadily, or attained it to a greater extent. He preached immortal truth with a most extraordinary simplicity, perspicuity, and energy, in a style adapted to all capacities, equally removed from vulgarity and affected refinement; and the tribute paid to his exertions consisted not in loud applauses; it was of a more appropriate nature, and higher order; it consisted of penitential sighs, holy resolutions, of a determination of the whole soul for God, and such impressions on the spirits of men as will form the line of separation betwixt the happy and the miserable to all eternity.

"In a word, by the manifestation of the truth he commended himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God; and the success which followed was such as might be expected from such efforts:-very numerous were the seals to his ministry. Through the protracted period of his labour, many thousands, there is reason to believe, obtained from his ministry the principle of a new life, who have now finished their course with joy.

"His residence in Leicester forms a most important epoch in the religious history of this county. From that time must be dated, and to his agency, under Providence, must be ascribed, a decided improvement in the

moral and religious state of this town and its vicinity, an increase of religious light, together with the diffusion of a taste and relish for the pure word of God. It is only now and then, in an age, that an individual is permitted to confer such benefits on a town, as this ancient and respectable borough has derived from the labours of Mr. Robinson; and the revolution which Baxter accomplished at Kidderminster, our deceased friend effected at Leicester. It was the boast of Augustus that he found the city of Rome built with brick, and that he left it built with marble. Mr. Robinson might say without arrogance, that he had been the instrument of effecting a far more beneficial and momentous change. He came to this place while it was sunk in vice and irreligion; he left it eminently distinguished by sobriety of manners and the practice of warm, serious, and enlightened piety. He did not add aqueducts and palaces, nor increase the splendour of its public edifices; but he embellished it with undecaying ornaments; he renovated the minds of its inhabitants, and turned a large portion of them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. He embellished it with living stones, and replenished it with numerous temples of the Holy Ghost. He enlarged its intercourse with heaven, and trained a great portion of its inhabitants for the enjoyment of celestial bliss. Of the number of the inhabitants who will devoutly acknowledge him as their spiritual father at the day of final audit, that day only can determine.

"Nor was his usefulness confined to the permanent inhabitants of this place; it was extended to the asylum of the sick, and to the cell of the criminal. The former found in him a physician of the soul; and returned to their homes, not only with recruited health, but with renovated minds; and the latter were, in many instances, by penitence and prayer, resigned to their awful destiny. Of him it may be said, unto an extent seldom equalled by a mere mortal, he went about doing good. When the eye saw him, it gave witness of him; when the ear heard him, it blessed him; for he helped the poor and the fatherless, and delivered them that were ready to perish.' In addition to these numerous avocations, he under. took the weekly instruction of an excellent and extensive school, which was formed in his own parish, under his auspices, to which he imparted the elements of religious knowledge with a parental tenderness and assiduity which will never be forgotten.

"There was scarcely a charitable institution set on foot, or a scheme of benevolence

devised, of which he did not form the principal spring. He was truly the centre about which every thing of public utility revolved; while his wisdom guided, his spirited and animated character impressed itself on useful public undertakings.

"Though he came to this place a stranger, without any of the means of acquiring adventitious distinction, it is not to be wondered at, that a man endued with such moral and intellectual qualities should gradually acquire distinguished ascendency. Obstructions and difficulties, indeed, he encountered at the outset of his career; but they gradually gave way to the energy of his character, and at length formed a vantage-ground, on which he stood more preeminent. By slow degrees, by a continual series of virtuous exertions, and by a patient and unremitted perseverance in well-doing, he acquired a degree of influence over all classes of society, which has been the lot of few individuals. Whatever was the subject of dispute, the eminence of Mr. Robinson's services was never called in question; and however discordant the sentiments and feelings of the public, they are entirely coalesced in the homage due to his worth. To the veneration in which he was so generally held, may be ascribed the principal part of that freedom from party animosities, and of that concord and harmony, which has for a long period so happily distinguished this town. The deference due to his opinion on all occasions of difficulty, the unbought, unbribed tribute of esteem and affection claimed by his worth, we delighted to pay. We felt gratified at finding such a rock on whom we could repose our confidence, such a great example of what is most dignified in human nature, on which we could fix our eyes. By a reflex act, the virtuous part of the community felt better pleased with themselves, in proportion as they felt themselves susceptible of love and admiration towards an object so fitted, on every principle of reason and religion, to command them.

"Though I have had the honour of a personal acquaintance with Mr. Robinson for upwards of thirty years, it is comparatively but of late, that I had an opportunity of contemplating him more nearly. While I was placed at a distance from him, I admired him as one of the remote luminaries which adorn the hemisphere; I certainly perceived him to be a star of the first magnitude; but no sooner did I arrive upon the spot, than I became sensible of the lustre of his beams, felt the force of his attraction, and recognized him to be the sun and centre of the system. His merit was not of

hat kind which attracts most admiration at a distance. It was so genuine and solid, that it grew in estimation the more closely it was inspected. It is possible some men have extended their influence to a wider circle, and moved in a more extended sphere. But where influence is diffused beyond a certain limit, it becomes attenuated in proportion to its diffusion; it operates with an energy less intense. Mr. Robinson completely filled as large a sphere of personal agency as it is perhaps possible for an individual to fill. He left no part of it unoccu pied, no interstices unfilled, and spread himself over it with an energy in which there was nothing irregular, nothing defective, nothing redundant.

"Our deceased friend was eminently distinguished by a steady uniformity of conduct. While he appeared to multiply himself by the extent and variety of his exertions, the principles upon which they were conducted, the objects they were destined to promote, were invariably the same. He was not active at intervals, and at other times torpid and inert; he did not appear the public man at one time, and at another absorbed in selfish pursuits: his efforts to do good in season and out of season were constant and uninterrupted, and his course knew no other variety than that of the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' His goodness, founded on principle, and corroborated by habit, operated with the steadiness of a law of nature, the beneficial results of which can never be sufficiently appreciated till they are suspended. They who contemplated Mr. Robinson at the distance of forty years, viewed him with the same emotions which he excited at a more advanced age, moderated, however, and chastened, by the apprehension, that it was possible some unexpected temptation might occur, to divert him from his career: we have seen it completed, we have witnessed his perseverance and his conquest, and have seen his virtues and his fame placed under the safeguard and seal of death and immortality.

"Though he had reached that period of life which constitutes old age, it was a cruda viridisque senectus. His age had impaired little or nothing of his vigour: its chief effect was that of imparting additional dignity to his countenance, and weight to his character. He fell like a noble tree, after two or three strokes, with all his sap and verdure, with extended boughs and rich foliage, while thousands were reposing under his shadow and partaking of his fruits. Seldom has death gained a richer spoil than

2D. SERIES.-NO. 8. VOL. 1.

in the extinction of the earthly existence of this admirable man.

"Having expatiated so largely on the eminent benefits accruing to mankind from the services of our departed friend, let me request your attention for a few moments longer, while I endeavour to portray more distinctly a few of the leading features of his character. The predominant property of his mind, intellectually considered, appeared to me to be, a strong and masculine understanding, copious in its resources, versatile in its operations, and eminently prompt in its decisions. He saw with a rapid glance the different bearings of a subject, and the proper measures to be adopted in the most intricate concerns. He possessed good sense in an exquisite degree, rarely or never misled by illusions of imagination, either in himself or others. To this was united a warmth and vivacity of temperament, which made business his delight, action his element, accompanied with a resolution in the pursuit not to be relaxed by fatigue, nor damped by disarrangements, nor retarded by difficulties. To resolve and to execute, or at least vigorously to attempt execution, were with him the same thing.

"He joined, in an eminent degree, the fortiter in re with the suaviter in modo; none more inflexible in his purposes, none more conciliating in his manners. Without losing a particle of his dignity, without meanness, artifice, or flattery, he knew how to adapt himself to all sorts of society; and was equally acceptable in the character of the saint, the sage, and the cheerful engaging companion. By his amenity of manners, and benignity of mind, he smoothed the asperities of contradiction, and left to the machine of public business the least possible friction.

"It is almost unnecessary to state, that he laid the foundation of public confidence in his integrity, which was such, that it was not only never sacrificed, but, as far as my information extends, never suspected. They who might differ from him the most on some subjects of a religious or political nature, never called in question the honesty of his intentions. To this he joined, as a necessary incitement of success in active life, an uncommon share of prudence; by which I mean, not that timid policy which creeps along the shore, without venturing to commit itself to the ocean; which shuns danger, without aspiring to conquest; his prudence was of a more generous and enlarged sort; the result was not so much of calculation at the moment, as of well-regulated passions and established principles. He loved mankind too well to betray, or to speak evil of any. Vanity never made him

loquacious, nor pride capricious. Having purified his mind, under the influence of religion, from vanity, pride, and resentment, the chief temptations to imprudence were precluded. His ardent mind left him no leisure for trifling; and the great object he so steadily pursued, precluded the least disposition to mingle with the details of scandal, or the privacies of domestic life."

WEST INDIAN SLAVERY.
Mr. EDITOR.

SIR,-Permit me, in your pages, to answer the following letter:

66

66

"To Mr. Wm. Coldwell.-Sir: On look"ing over your article, headed, Europe in "the Winter of 1830-1,' inserted in the Imperial Magazine for February last, I read, page 83, Gladly would the mind dwell upon the future, in glorious anticipations. "It would paint France, aroused from the "apathy of ages, following, yea, united with, "the efforts of Great Britain and her free"born transatlantic sons, in the great work "of civilizing and christianizing the whole "world.'-Being at a loss to make out the "meaning of the association you here contemplate, and also of the peculiar expres"sion, free-born,' I should feel gratified if you would favour me with the idea which "induced you at the time to use that com"pound term; and remain, Sir, respectfully yours, "W. R."

66

66

To a civil inquiry, a civil answer is due; and although I do not see any difficulty in the passage quoted above, or in any portion of its phraseology, yet, as an explanation is required, it shall be given.

Great Britain and her free-born transatlantic sons are held up as proper leaders, or associates, for the sons of France, in the civilization and christianization of the world. The assertion implies, that Great Britain has within her European dominions, and also in her domains on the western shores of the Atlantic ocean, sons who are free-born, civilized christians. Because a slave, a savage, a pagan, or an infidel, cannot, in the nature of things, be a fit associate for a free, civilized christian, in an attempt to civilize and christianize the world, much less to become the leader of such an enterprise.

That Britain possesses free-born men, civilized men and christians, who can doubt? That she has free-born transatlantic sons, who can dispute? In North America, as well as in South America, and in the islands which lie between these continents, the colonies of Britain contain thousands; to say nothing of the United States, where millions of her freeborn sons have formed a republic, fraught

with men whose zeal and activity qualify them for able leaders, as well as associates, in this great work.

But why call these free-born? for that is the peculiarity in question. It is a peculi. arity, I confess; and gladly enough would I stand convicted of absurdity in using it, were it a distinction without a difference. Yet, is there not a cause? Are all Great Britain's transatlantic sons free-born? Would to God they were! But in noting leaders and associates meet for the sons of France, are all the transatlantic sons of Britain fit subjects for these dignified stations? Answer, O ye merchants of the seas; speak, O ye kings; ye who sway the oceans and the isles, give ye answer; for with you does the secret lie. Ye answer not; yet it comes! it comes! loud and deep are its groans! They have traversed the Atlantic, wide and wild as are its waves; like a hurricane have they dashed upon the land; and their echo from the cliffs of Albion is, Slave! Slave! reechoes the ocean, and tosses back the sound amidst the caverns, while these rebellow, Slave!

A slave! a slave! Live there then to Britain, sons other than free-born? Yes; the secret will out, rank with blood; it raises up the ghosts of deeds long done; haunting the perpetrators and blabbing forth to all, Great Britain, free and lordly as is her ports, has transatlantic sons, from generation to generation, slave-born.

A free-born son, a slave-born son, sons of the same nation; of the same nation, did I say? Yes, of the same man, and this man a free-born Britain. He has a wife, and his children by her are free-born, and continue freemen; he has also a slave, and he debauches this slave, and his children by her are slave-born, and continue slaves. Horrible to think upon-slaves to their own father! who can, and often does, like any of his chattels, or a head of his cattle, sell them to whomsoever he pleases, whenever he wills it. A detestable wretch, who calls himself a Britain, sells his own progeny!

Where is the boasted freedom of Britain? Slumber they who execute her laws? Issuing from the womb, having done no act, having spoken no word, having thought no thought of good or evil, are the sons of the same parent free-born and slave-born, the one inheriting all the rights of the father, and the other reduced to a mere chattel? Are the birthright privileges which flesh is heir to, and which are its inherent and indubitable rights, dissevered by the gripe of avarice from the babe new-born, yea, from the firstborn son, ere he beholds the light? Where is the boasted freedom of Britain? I repeat

it-where? "The moment a slave rests his feet upon the shores of Britain, he is free!" The boasted freedom then of Britain is in Britain, and on few places else in her dominions. Upon other shores, men may be trepanned or dragged into slavery; and the horrible deed, once perpetrated, these continue slaves; and all who proceed from these, male and female, weakly or robust, are born slaves, and continue slaves from generation to generation.

Hark! it is the voice of multitudes, that dwells upon the ear; they rush towards the ocean, and the clank of their chains is horrible; upon its utmost beach, their longing eyes, stretched athwart the billows, strain to catch the view, and the groans of their supplications, louder than the thundering surfs beneath them, dolorous cry, "Where are the shores of Britain? O waft us there, ye winds, bear us, ye foaming billows, place on these shores our feet-there, there we shall be free!" The sun sinks beneath the horizon; darkness, like a curtain, falls upon the ocean; the view is broken; it is no more; and despair, horrible in its groanings, seizes upon the multitudes anew; they clank their chains, clasp their hands in anguish, and their moanings pierce the skies. Is this unreal? Was there not recently such a movement? Let the sceptic land upon these islands of slavery and chains, and his scepticism will sink into a shadow, before the reality of a bondage undescribed by the ancients, and, until our day, unknown to man.

In writing the term "free-born," my ideas certainly attached thereto importance. It was a frenzied thought—a momentary madness of the brain which possessed me, while I thought of slavery-of men stolen by men, of men the slaves of men, of men held by force from freedom; and then I thought of the softer sex, of women stolen by men, of women the slaves of men, of women held by force from freedom; and the cracking of the horrid whip, and the slashing of the frightful lash, and the spurting forth of blood, and the quivering of the dissevered muscle, and the sobs of the lacerated female, harrowed up my soul. And then, and then my mind ran through the birthright of generations yet unborn; and I thought of infants, new-born infants, infants of a day, and behold these were slaves; and I heard the lash upon the youth, upon manhood, upon age; and said, surely here end thy torments, O oppressor! But, no; the idea returned in violence, and whelmed upon my soul the anguish of generations yet unborn-for I beheld the offspring of all these, and they were slaves! No breath of right came with the infant breath; no, futurity rushed before

me with its hosts of darkness, and its miseries were interminable. Forgive me. If I am beside myself, it is to God, it is for the cause of freedom.

Born of pagan parents, the first ideas inculcated within these infant minds are heathen; as they increase in stature, and become observers, pagan rites are impressed upon them; and, ere they attain to manhood, they become partakers of the horrid mysteries of darkness, and actors in the filthy orgies of idolatry. Thus shut up in pagan darkness, they clank their chains amidst horrid dungeons, on all sides bound with deaths, while gospel light blazes around their prisons, and the messengers thereof strive, but strive in in vain, to throw these rays upon their gloomy souls. Here we have the acme of refinement in destruction. The sordid slaveholder, amidst his delusions, calculates upon rebellion if the slave is instructed, and therefore holds him in chains of darkness, and guards, with tyrannic vigilance, every avenue by which light could approach him. The muscles, yea, the very sinews of these most wretched of the wretched, are wasted by excess of labour, beneath the horrid lash, applied unsparingly to enforce undue exertion. In the very bloom of life, the scars of the white tyrant bloat out upon the skin, disfigure the countenance, and maim the trunk; in mature age, when the robust and hardy would, in a state of freedom, be the charaeteristics of male and female, decrepitude and premature old age stare forth on the observer, and, ere half his days are accomplished, he sinks into non-existence. Into non-existence, did I say? Happy would it be for the slave, were this the case; but the refinement of ruin, on the part of his oppressor, while it destroys the body, does all that mortal man can achieve to ruin the immortal soul. This it shuts up in heathen darkness, and bars every avenue to the entrance of christian light and life, forcing the soul, as far as human prowess can force, to live and die without God, without hope, without the grace of life, and to plunge into endless ruin. Who can weigh in the scale of equity this mass of wrong doing-the mischief done, and the mischief predicated thereby?

Over the tongue of the European, the sweet morsel is incessantly rolled; his coffee, his tea, his preparations of fruit, his delicious sauces, his conserves, his confectionaries, &c. fraught with sugar duly refined, deal to him delights daily. But this is the blood of the oppressed, wrung from his veins by the scourging of the oppressor; and blood cries for blood-its voice ascends to heaven; God hath heard it, and will avenge the cause of the oppressed. Judgment, although hitherto