the religious would be able to turn all the profane out of office; and consequently, the American people would become a Christian nation! Than which nothing could be more horrible to the democracy of the country. And so the cloven foot of Church and State was here again disclosed, by the indiscretion of an individual. To the great annoyance of the Reverend Doctor, and to the scandal of the church to which he belonged, this sermon was a long time made a very conspicuous affair, and a fruitful topic for solemn warning, by the Democratic press.

The same process is now going on to blast the Temperance reformation in America. Not content with the proper field, and legitimate weapons, of a moral reformation, on which ground no inconsiderable trophies had been gained, with much promise for the future, the most prominent public agents of this cause are continually beating up recruits for the polls, and demanding legislative enactments in their favour. Undoubtedly it is a fit subject of legislation, and much might be accomplished in that way, on motion of unsuspected characters. The State of Massachussetts-of good old Puritan stamp-has already passed a law, prohibiting licenses for the sale of ardent spirits in a quantity less than fifteen gallons-not exactly requiring a man to drink fifteen gallons at once, for that would be an act of oppression-but cutting off all the topers from the chance of getting drams at the customary styes of intoxication, and depriving the trade of the profits. It is charged upon the authors of this movement, that the Commonwealth has been taken by surprise; and the great political contest of that State, at this moment, lies between the topers and the tea-totollers, with a tolerable chance, that the topers will be victorious; in which result, and according to the definitions of the Temperance Society, a majority of the people of Massachussetts

will be proved drunkards; a sad and discouraging contradiction to the Society's reports of the progress of the reformation; for it would seem to be an advance backwards, and no small scandal to the community. At the best, the reformation bids fair to come to its death in the violence of a political squabble. Once admitted into that arena, to be well engaged, it will hardly come out in good condition. No public effort for the cause of religion and morals in America has ever survived such a conflict; and if there be any advice in history, it is quite probable no other ever will; not in this age, certainly.

We mean not, that the undertaking to remodel political society is the sole mistake of American Abolitionism, leaving its grand organisation justified. We are opposed to such organisations altogether, for religious and moral reformations. First, because they are an anomaly in society; next, because there is no call for them; and lastly, because they are unsafe engines of power.

First, they are anomalous—an invention of the age, the tendencies of which are constantly developing alarming symptoms. They are uncalled for: It would be a libel on the Christian Church to admit, that its organisation by its Divine Founder, and under the ministry of his commissioned Agents, the Apostles, is inadequate to the objects of Christianity. The Christian Church is a form of religious association, involving an agency, which has long been recognised by the world, and is universally tolerated. Let the religious zeal, that has been subtracted from the Church, and cast into these other and independent corporations, be restored to its proper sphere of action, it would at least have the confidence of the public, and, as we believe, would be more useful in the end.

But these societies are unsafe engines of power, in such a state of society, as exists in America, where there is no

balance of influence, and no means of check to their excesses and usurpations. Powerful, most potent engines, certainly they are. First, they form themselves; and next, they acquire the power of forming the public. The rest may be conceived. Admitting that the outset is good and useful, the temptations to ambition are great; and no class of men are more liable to the abuse of power, than the religious. We say not this to impeach their character, within their appropriate sphere; for we hold it to be sacred, and have no concern that the world will not regard it so. But an absorption in the spiritual offices of religion is a disqualification for temporal concerns; and when the religious attempt to carry on their enterprises in the moral world, by that species of machinery, that is proper to political organisations, they are not only out of place, but divested of their appropriate character; and, as men, they are liable to all the temptations of the new and unaccustomed position.

We say, therefore, that it is not only unfortunate for American Abolitionism, and likely to prove fatal to its efforts for a season, that it has adopted a political machinery at war with the State; but also, that it has adopted any such-like machinery at all. The cause is holy, and must prevail. It is only necessary to keep it before the public in the custotomary forms of speech and of the press, and it will prevail, as soon as such a change in society can be effected with safety, and for the good of all parties—provided always, that no obstacles be thrown in the way, by these rash proceedings.

NOTE M. Page 143.

State of Africa, and some other parts of the world, as regards Slavery.

The condition of Africa, so far as it can be ascertained is truly deporable. Mungo Park estimates the slavery of

U

its population at three-fourths of the whole; Lander at four-fifths; and it is a most cruel bondage. "It is evident," says Park, "that it is a system of no modern date. It probably had its origin in the remote ages of antiquity, before the Mohammedans explored a path across the Desert. How far it is maintained and supported by the slavetraffic, which for two hundred years the nations of Europe have carried on with the natives of the coast, it is neither within my province, nor within my power, to explain. If my sentiments should be desired concerning the effect which a discontinuance of this commerce would produce on the manners of the natives, I should have no hesitation in saying, that in the present unenlightened state of their minds, my opinion is, the effect would neither be so extensive, or beneficial, as many wise and worthy persons fondly expect. .....All these unfortunate beings (slaves in Africa) are considered as strangers and foreigners, who have no right to the protection of the law, and may be treated with severity, or sold to a stranger, according to the pleasure of their owners......It is a known fact, that prisoners of war in Africa are the slaves of the conquerors......Such of their prisoners, as through age or infirmity, are unable to endure fatigue, or are found unfit for sale, are considered useless, and, I have no doubt, are put to death." Thus Mungo Park.

"The use that is sometimes made of this power," says the Rev. Stephen Kay, corresponding member of the South African Institution, &c.—(the power of the African chiefs over their subjects)" is iniquitous in the extreme; "is and, should the subject dare to withhold even his wife, when demanded, he thereby places himself in the most perilous situation.... By predatory excursions alone, Caffraria has often been made a field of blood. Other causes, indeed, there are, from which strife, contention, and bloodshed have

...

arisen; but in nine cases out of ten, at least, the native troops are mustered either to pillage their weaker neighbours, or to retaliate upon some thievish aggressor. Such is the estimate of life in general, the death of a female by violence attracts comparatively little attention......The husband laments the loss of his wife, as the master does that of his slave, whom he has bought and paid for."

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“The infidelity of the Soolima women," says Major Laing, " is a never-failing source of litigation, as in all other countries, where, for want of being treated with due respect, they have no character to uphold. Like all other African females, they are loose in morals, as I could perceive from the numerous palavers which were brought before the king." This," says Mr. Kay, "is precisely the case in every part of Kafferland......Their modes of torture are various, and in some instances indescribably horrid. Beating with a club, until the victims are almost lifeless, is a comparatively mild measure. They are more frequently bound down, and tormented by means of large black ants, with which their bodies are literally covered... ... Roasting and branding constitute a fiery ordeal. Posts are firmly fixed in the ground, at certain distances, and to these the culprit is tied with thongs, and with his arms and legs stretched to the very uttermost. A fire is then kindled on each side of him, at his head, and at his feet. Here he broils; and when he seems likely to expire, the fires are partly removed; but it is only to shift the torture. Hot stones are next applied to the breast, the abdomen, the inner parts of the thighs, or to the soles of the feet, which are thus burnt until the sinews shrink, and parts of the muscular system are completely destroyed."

The following is the scene of a massacre, described by the same hand: "It was indescribably shocking. Old decrepit men, with their bodies pierced, and heads almost