the proprietors obliged to hire them; which amounts to paying interest on their own capital."

That loss would be sustained by the planters, in the event of abolition, we very well know; but, although not converts to the extreme liberalism of the democratic Mr. Grund, we can never regard rum and sugar as equivaleuts for the demoralizing influences of a system which outrages humanity. Rum and sugar were made for manman was not made in order to become a nere producer of rum and sugar ;-and the vitiating effects of the practice of domestic slavery, where it has been for any time in familiar operation, could scarcely be more strikingly exhibited than by the very fact, that so amiable a man as Mr. Grund obviously is, should so lightly estimate the preroga tives of our common nature.

He even hazards the opinion, that the negroes are incapable of emerging from their present state. His arguments are all such as would apply equally to every country upon the habitable globe, at one period or another of its existence. In our judgment it would be an insult to human nature to enter into any serious refutation of them. The negroes have been a long suffering and an injured race; and, although the bitter draught of slavery has sadly impaired both their moral and intellectual powers, their oppressors have not been able altogether to deface the image in which they were originally made, and instances are numerous which abundantly prove that it is not beyond the reclaiming influence of education, to re-instate them in all the privileges of humanity. That much has not as yet been done in that way, proves nothing but the brutalizing effects of the system of slavery, and that years of liberty are not sufficient to counteract the influence of centuries of degradation. But, that much may and will be done to reclaim and liberalize this prostrate race, when once the proper means are taken, can only be doubted by those upon whom the system under which they have suffered, has exerted such a perverting influence as to render them insensible alike to the dictates of wisdom, and the voice of nature.

Mr. Grund talks of their physical conformation as incapacitating them for intellectual pursuits. By physical conformation he means, no doubt, the shape of the skull. Now, he must maintain either that that shape deter

mines, or is determined by the operations of the intellect. If the former, he is at issue with the soundest physiologists, and his opinion, as opposed to their's, is entitled to no respect. If the latter, he admits the capacity of the negro for improvement, and cannot allege, as an impassable barrier, an obstacle which, by care and by culture, may be removed. Only let the negroes have fair play, and we promise that the endeavour to raise them in the scale of society, will not be unsuccessful.

But the experiment which has been so long protracted unjustly, may, at length be made unwisely; and, in that case, we would not answer for the result. The very evils which length of time has generated may forbid the sudden or complete removal of restrictions which may now be considered a sort of necessary evils, and which years of wisdom will be required to mitigate, even as years of folly, or of wickedness were required to produce. The repeal of slavery laws will not, in itself, efface the brand of servile degradation, and the course of abolition should rather be directed in that cautious and gradual manner, which may raise the character of the negro, than in that ample and bewildering current, by which he may only be surprised and confounded. In his present state, we firmly believe that the most embarrassing gift that could be bestowed upon him, would be a present of himself. It would be to substitute his own low animal propensities, his love of indolence, and his taste for intoxicating liquors, in the place of his master. But, let him be put into a course of discipline, by which he may be gradually elevated in the scale of humanity, and the time will come when we may trust to his prudence and selfcontrol, to protect him against those allurements, which would, at present, exert an irresistible influence, causing the evils of his servitude to be forgotten in the still greater and more debasing evils of his freedom.

We have often regretted that the plan of suffering the slaves to purchase their freedom, was not, at an early period, adopted in our own colonies. There would thus have been gradually raised up, a class, who would operate as an example to others, and who might lead the way in civilization and improvement. The acquisition of property, by a slave, is a tolerable criterion of his fitness to exercise the privi

leges of a freeman; and he who might have free servants himself, should not be compelled to remain in a condition in which he must be looked down upon by his own hirelings. Had our government thus given the initiative to Negro emancipation, the perilous experiment, that is now being tried in our colonies, might have been attempted with a greater prospect of advantage. Our respect for the distinguished individual by whom it was instituted, and our unfeigned distrust of our judgment, when opposed to his, forbid us to give expression to the fears which we entertain on that subject; but we do confess that it will surpass our expectations, as well as delight our hearts, if Lord Stanley's apprenticeship system should prove entirely successful.

own

Of the hospitality of the inhabitants in the Southern States, Mr. Grund gives the following pleasing picture

"The houses of the people in the northern and eastern states are not generally constructed for the reception of strangers (although this is by no means a characteristic of their dwellings), and their kind feelings, therefore, confine themselves usually to invitations to dinners and parties; but the house of every southerner contains a number of apart ments solely fitted up for the reception of guests: and so rigid are they in performing the duties of hospitality, that even on leaving their estates for the east or the north, they provide for strangers, whom chance may happen to bring under their roofs whilst they are absent.

"A traveller will always be offered the use of a good room, an excellent larder, and a well-stocked cellar on the estate of a planter, whether the owner be at home or abroad. No letter of introduction is required for that purpose; it is sufficient that the stranger should have the exterior and manners of a well-bred man: it matters not from what country he comes, or what place he calls his home. A person may travel with his whole family and a numerous retinue, and will still be welcomed by his hospitable enter tainers. This custom has made inns and taverns in southern states almost useless; and their accommodations, therefore, are much inferior to similar establishments of the north. But a southern planter will be sorry if a traveller take lodgings at an inn, while his own plantation is near; and will often wait on him in person, to

invite him to the cheer of his house."

That the question of domestic slavery is a very difficult and delicate one, as between the Northern and the Sou

thern States, Mr. Grund is well aware, and yet he does not incline to the opinion that it is likely to effect the stability of the union. His reliance is. upon the wisdom of an almost unlimited democracy, of which the basis is, universal suffrage! We do not mean to say that he does not mention other causes which have a tendency to prevent an event so much to be deplored; but, unless pure democracy possess the virtues which he ascribes to it, they must all be unavailing. The following observations upon the subject, coming from one who can, on other occasions, write sensibly enough, we cannot characterise by any other epithets, than jejune and contemptible:

"As one of the causes which must the union of the states, many political eventually destroy the government, and writers assign the growing spirit of democracy, and the principle of universal suffrage, introduced in most of the states. I must confess I look upon democracy as it exists in the United States, as .. means of preserving peace and the union; and would sooner trust the safety of the state to the large majority of the Ame rican people, than to any faction ever so much enlightened and skilled in the art of government. The origin, mauners, and habits of Americans are democratic, and nothing short of a pure democracy could have ever contented them. Under any other form of government they would necessarily approach a revolution; but, settled into a democracy, the power is placed at its fountain, and there can be no misconstruction as to its origin or application. As long as the people, for whom government is instituted, continue to rule, no faction will dare show its head: when the people cease to rule, then will commence the intrigues of parties;

not before."

In truth, the great problem of government is not to be solved by the experience of a few generations, in a country, more especially, where the people have never yet been suffered inconveniently to accumulate, and where, vast as has been their numerical increase, the territory which they occupy would seem to have grown beyond them. While forests are to be cleared, and new land to be broken up, physical energies will be called into activity, and personal interests will be brought directly into play, which will cause the most tempting enterprises of sedition to be abandoned; and so long America may be preserved from any violent explosion by which its integrity

E might be endangered. We say may, not must; for already, more than once, has a convulsion threatened, by which, had it taken place, the union would have been destroyed. But, let the condition of long settled countries be attained, and let human beings once press upon the limits of subsistence, and, we ven

ture to say, that, in that case, the principle of universal suffrage would be just such a cement of society, as gunpowder would furnish for the walls of a house, and guarantee the stability of government just as completely as the foundations of a city might be guaranteed by the tremors of an earthquake. That there exists in America, a powerful and enlightened party, who are fully alive to the evils of unmixed democracy, Mr. Grund admits; the following is his invidious description of them :

pre

"To describe the various principles embraced or professed by these parties, would be to repeat a twice-told tale. Those of the democratic party have never seriously altered, from the commencement of the revolution to the sent day; and consisted in making every power of the state immediately dependent on the people. Those of the federalists, national republicans, and modern whigs have occasionally undergone an apparent change. The party were careful to avoid general opposition, abandoned, occasionally, some of their most noxious doctrines -at least for a time, until they should have an opportunity of rising once more into power and sailed, when prudence required it, under false colours. But with all the inclinations and variations of their political compass, the point they were always endeavouring to make, was to confine power to comparatively few, and to deprive the masses of the privilege of voting. They take it as a political axiom that the people can never govern themselves; because the people are never sufficiently enlightened for that purpose; and yet they expect that the people, who now possess the power, will have sufficient good sense voluntarily to surrender it to them; and to appoint them trustees of the wealth, wisdom, and progress of

the nation.

"The federal party deny that all men are born free and equal,'-the very words used in the American declaration of independence, and yet, in their argument, will adduce the example of Greece, Rome, England, and France; and maintain that one nation is exactly like another; because human nature is everywhere the same. They thus admit that their own does not differ from that of the

rest of mankind; but that circumstances have elevated them to a proud eminence over their fellow creatures. They are in fact admirably fit to govern, and this is a sufficient reason for them to claim the government; and to deride those, who from sheer ignorance, are continuing to rule themselves and their antagonists, when they might resign the irksome task to the more intelligent and learned. The federal party have studied the art of government, and reduced it to a science.

They can prove "by a plus b, divided by

z, that the sheep must be red and die with the small-pox," when their ignorant opponents would never know more than that it was a sheep. The sum and substance of their argument is this. The people must be led in order to prevent them from taking a wrong direction, or from remaining too far behind. In order to lead them, it is, of course, necessary, that some citizens (always the enlightened head, with sufficient power to compel the and scientific) should be placed at the rest to follow. All this is evidently for the good of the people, which the people themselves do not know. But the peo

ple unfortunately wish to remain judges of their own good, and never like to have the head too far removed from the body. This is in truth all the difference of opinion which exists between the present parties in the United States, though a great deal of learning has been exhausted by Mr. Hamilton and others, to account scientifically for the political schism."

The federalists, who are thus disparaged by American democrats, are, in truth, the wisest of the people; and those who wish to see the country continue to prosper, had need to be cautious how they decry their influence or resist their counsels. They are called innovators, and the epithet is just, inasmuch as order may be said to be an innovation upon chaos, or law upon a state of nature. But, in a country where every thing may yet be said to be new, no prescription can be pleaded in favour of error; and it is to be hoped that a conservative policy may make reprisals upon anarchy in the new world, even as anarchy has unhappily made reprisals upon a conservative policy in the old.

But we must conclude. Towards the Americans we feel as brethren. We feel proud of them as kindred; we admire them for their enterprise and their spirit of liberty; and if we would fain have them correct any defects in their policy, it is chiefly because we love themselves, and desire to be able to say of their proud republic, "esto perpetua.”