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which he finds nothing to authorize the view | terest, as may at once be inferred from the fact of the conversion of the Jewish Sabbath into that it has already reached a sixth edition. the Christian Sunday. Antiquity also is Commencing with a narrative of a private against such a view of the question. "This wrong which he sustained at the hands of the opinion that the Jewish Sabbath has been Romish priesthood, namely, the removal of simply transferred to the Sunday was entirely his wife from his protection, and his being unknown in the first ages of Christianity. denied all intercourse with her -a matter So much so, that it is never even discussed; which our readers will recollect formed the whilst the opposite opinion is always men- subject of a public trial, and in which Mr. tioned, without any appearance of partiality, Connelly obtained no redress the writer as that which universally prevailed." In proceeds to call attention to the various inconfirmation of this he quotes the evidence fringements of the Church of Rome upon the of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Irenæus, Augus- liberties of Englishmen generally, and warns tine, Jerome, Bede, Thomas Aquinas, and them that what he has himself suffered is only others successively, down to the time of the an evidence of a wide-spread and deeplyGerman Reformation, when he shows that rooted conspiracy to crush, not only our reboth the great Luther and the pious Melanc- ligious freedom, but our civil and political thon were entirely opposed to the doctrine of institutions. Mr. Connelly writes with conthe identity of the Jewish Sabbath and the siderable vigor; but he is too much of an Christian Sunday. "The opinion that the alarmist. We do not dread all the fearful Sabbath was transferred to the Sunday was consequences of the Emancipation Act, as set first broached in its perfect form, and with all forth by him, and we believe that England is its consequences, in the controversy which still great enough and wise enough to guard was carried on in England between the Epis- against the machinations of Italian cardinals copalians and Presbyterians. .. The Pres- and Irish priests. With Mr. Connelly's pribyterians maintained that the fourth com- vate griefs we sympathize heartily, and, withmandment was a perpetual one, binding upon out being learned in the law, consider it a all ages, and that the difference between the great hardship that he should not before this Old and New Testament consisted solely in time have obtained redress. this, that at the command of God, given through the Apostles, the first day of the week was substituted for the seventh." The

The Working Man's Way in the World; being the Autobiography of a Journeyman Printer. Reprinted in New York.

Except the "Services" and the police force, perhaps few callings exhibit so much intelligence, spirit, and character among the mass of their followers, as printers. And this autobiog raphy of a journeyman printer displays a good deal of those qualities in himself, or in the per

sons of some natural mark he encountered dur

writer's own opinion may be partly gathered from the following sentences: "On what then is our duty founded, to select Sunday as the day to be observed, since, as we have shown, we cannot dispense with a fixed and regularly returning period, exclusively devoted to the worship of God? We reply, in the first place, on the same feeling which first dictated that selection. This reason must have the same force as ever, since Christing a busy life employed in London, the country, is still the same Saviour, and his resurrection, the climax of his whole work of redemption, must have the same importance for us, as for those who saw him, when risen, with their bodily eyes," &c. In his anxiety to avoid what he calls "one-sidedness, extreme views, and the splitting of hairs," it is difficult to obtain from him, in brief, any decided opinion on the subject. From a perusal of the entire work, however, it may be gathered that he is rather opposed to than favorable towards the introduction into Germany of the English doctrine of Sabbath observance. As a summary of the argument on both sides, Dr. Hengstenberg's treatise is highly valuable, and as such we commend it to the notice of our readers.

and at Paris. For he was engaged as a compositor in a Parisian office, which printed the once celebrated piratical editions of English new books; he witnessed the Revolution of 1830; and on his return he took part as a volunteer "special" in opposing the Bristol riot. When the interest of a work depends upon its facts, the guarantee of a name is desirable; but we see no reason to doubt the authenticity of this autobiography. The incidents are probable, in fact, common; and the persons such as are met with every day, besides bearing a strong look of likeness. When the autobiographer passes beyond the individual and attempts to generalizein his later sketches, such as the "Reader," and especially the " Overseer," he falls into the wordiness and effort of magazine-writing; and in the more particular parts, he sometimes endeavors to make more of a subject than it will bear. The better portions of the narrative posThe Coming Struggle with Rome, not Relig- sess a naturalness and reality akin to the autoious but Political; an American's Word of biography of Franklin. The book was originally Warning to the English People, by Pierce published in Tait's Magazine, and it merited Connelly, M.A., is a pamphlet of stirring in-republication. Spectator.

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as

From Chambers' Journal.

THE LIBERIAN BLACKSMITH.

WAS there ever a person like Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom in actual existence? What we want to know is, whether an individual born in slavery, and bred under the degrading and stupefying influences of that condition, could possibly be so admirable in character, so meek and yet so firm, so amiable, so conscientious, and so intelligently pious as that wonderful hero of romance is represented to have been? Some eminent critics have boldly asserted that the character is an impossible one. Even Mrs. Stowe herself seems to have been sensible of the objection, and willing to admit its truth; for she declares, or, what amounts to the same thing, makes Arthur St. Clair affirm, that a slave like Uncle Tom is a "moral miracle." Such an admission might lead one to believe that the lady's genius is more powerful than her reasoning faculty. It overmasters her; and, like a prophetess of old, she utters higher truths than she can fully comprehend. But the reader shall judge.

:

Suppose, for a moment, that Uncle Tom had been depicted as not only excellent in every moral quality, but also a man of strong intellect and great learning; suppose that he had been represented as acquiring, by his unaided exertions, not only the common elements of education, but a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and even some acquaintance with Hebrew, and as exciting, by his theological disquisitions, the admiration of a large assembly of clergymen here would have been an intellectual prodigy, combined with the "moral miracle." Mrs. Stowe would evidently not have ventured upon such a delineation; and if she had, the critics would unanimously have scouted it as outraging the utmost bounds of the natural and probable. A writer of fiction must keep within these bounds, and the lady has probably gone as far as the limits of art would allow her. But truth is privileged, and acknowledges no such artistical restrictions. It is quite true, if human testimony is to be believed, that such a moral and intellectual prodigy as has just been described did exist, at no great distance from the scene of Uncle Tom's imaginary adventures and sufferings. The particulars of this remarkable case, as they have come to our knowledge, may be briefly told.

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About six years ago a narrative appeared in some American journals which excited a good deal of interest. It was an account of a learned black blacksmith," or, in other words, of a negro slave, who, while working as a mechanic, had managed first to learn to read and write; then to acquire a considerable proficiency in the classical tongues; and, finally, to commence the study of Hebrew. Indeed, as usually happens in such cases, his

attainments were at first exaggerated, and he was represented as having made himself acquainted with no less than seven languages, and as thus being hardly inferior in learning to Elihu Burritt himself. The story in this form attracted the attention of some benevolent persons. Inquiries were made; and the sinple truth, divested of all embellishment, was found to be sufficiently extraordinary to awaken a strong feeling in his favor, and to lead to efforts which resulted in his liberation. In the year 1846, a Presbyterian minister, belonging to the synod of Alabama, sent to a religious newspaper of New Orleans a short biography of this remarkable slave. From this and other sources, we learn that Ellis, or, as he subsequently wrote his name, Harrison W. Ellis, was born in Pittsylvania County, in the state of Virginia. In early life he "was removed" from that place to Tennessee; but whether in this removal he accompanied his old master, or was sold to another, is not stated. At the age of nine years he formed the purpose of learning to read, principally in order that he might be able to peruse the Bible. He had observed that ministers, in preaching, always read from the Bible, and spoke of it as being the Word of God; and the expression, so customary as to pass without notice from ordinary hearers, made a strong impression upon his mind. It would be interesting to learn the exact methods by which he succeeded in accomplishing his purpose; but all his biographer tells us is, that in despite of numerous obstacles, such as would have deterred almost any one else, he succeeded in learning to read, and afterwards to write. When he was twenty-five years old another removal took place. This time he was transferred to the state of Alabama. He was still a slave, laboring at the trade of a blacksmith, of course for his master's benefit. A thirst for knowledge had been awakened in his mind; and after reading a good many books, principally on religious subjects, he was led to undertake the study of the Latin language. He had no regular instruction, but received, it is stated, "some little assistance from one person and another, as a casual opportunity afforded it."

This statement, it may be observed, does not altogether harmonize with the commonly received opinion, that the slaves in America are purposely kept in gross ignorance, and that to teach one to read is treated as a criminal offence. The fact is, that such prohibitory and penal laws really exist, and that a school for the instruction of slaves would not be tolerated; but the efforts of individual slaves to acquire instruction, either from one another or from good-natured whites, are rarely if ever interfered with. The difficulties which opposed Ellis' pursuit of knowledge

what constitutes a call to the ministry- for sound, consistent, scriptural views of the leading doctrines of the Gospel, few candidates for the office have been known to equal him. The effect of his statements was greatly increased by the fact, that he seemed to be presenting rather the results of his own re

do not seem to have been greater than a poor laboring man would have had to encounter in most parts of Europe during the last century. What excites our surprise in the case of Ellis, is not the extent of his acquirements, or the magnitude of the obstacles which he had to overcome, but that a negro, and a slave, should thus devote himself earnestly to intel-flections than what he had learned from the lectual pursuits. The negro race is regarded investigations of others. On many points, by some as naturally deficient in mental ca- there was a striking originality in his mode pacity, and a slave has apparently no motive of exhibiting his sentiments. He also read a for attempting to improve his mind. It does sermon of his own composition, of which not appear that Ellis commenced his studies some of the members thought so highly, that with any expectation that they would procure they proposed that the presbytery should him his freedom, or in any way ameliorate order its publication. It certainly looked and his circumstances. He studied, partly that sounded very strange- it was almost incredhe might better comprehend his Bible, and ible - to see and hear one who had been all partly for the mere love of learning. Having his life a slave, with none but the ordinary acquired some knowledge of Latin, he after- privileges of a slave, reading a production so wards undertook the study of Greek, and sub- correct in language, so forcible in style, so sequently of Hebrew. In the latter, however, logical in argument, and abounding in quotahe made very little progress, owing to the tions from the Bible so intelligently and perwant of books-a difficulty, indeed, which tinently applied." So well satisfied was the had retarded his progress throughout his presbytery of his fitness for the office, that ar.studies. "It cannot be said," observes the rangements were immediately made to ordain clergyman who wrote of him in 1846, "that him as a missionary during the next session he is a finished scholar in either the Latin or of the synod. Greek languages. He has, however, acquired such a knowledge of both, as to be able, without any assistance, to prosecute his studies in them to any length he may wish. His acquaintance with his own tongue is such as to enable him to speak and write it with as much propriety as is common among educated men. While he has read and studied some authors on natural science, moral philosophy, and the like, his reading has been confined for the most part to religious books. Dwight, Dick, and Boston, are the theological writers with whom he is most familiar.'

Ellis was at that time between thirty and forty years of age. He is described as of pure negro parentage, and quite black; his grandfather, indeed, was a native of Africa. His wife was about the same age, and could read. They had two children, a son and daughter. The former, a sprightly lad, seventeen years old, could not only read and write, but had made some progress in the study of arithmetic, geography, and other branches of school learning. The daughter, then eleven years of age, had just commenced learning to read. It must be borne in mind that the In what way the abilities and acquirements only opportunities which the children could of this remarkable slave first became known have had for receiving instruction, were such does not appear. It may be presumed, how-as occurred in the casual intervals of their own ever, that some Presbyterian minister was and their father's labor. induced to take an interest in him, and to It appears that the benevolent intentions bring his case under the notice of the ruling of the two synods were promptly carried into bodies of that church, as it appears that in effect. In looking through a series of the the year already mentioned the synods of publications of the American Colonization Alabama and Mississippi combined to purchase Society, we are enabled to trace the results. his freedom and that of his family, with the In March, 1847, a schooner arrived at Liberia view of sending them to Africa under the from New Orleans with a party of emigrants care of the American Board of Missions. It for the colony. A letter from an American was intended that Ellis should be ordained as physician, then residing in Liberia as the a missionary, and with this view he was in- agent of the United States government, gives troduced at a meeting of the presbytery of an account of the arrival of these emigrants, Tuscaloosa as a candidate for clerical orders. and thus notices the one in whom we are The impression he made is thus recorded by chiefly interested: "I am pleased with the the writer who has been already quoted, and manners and character of Mr. Ellis, the who then apparently saw him for the first learned black blacksmith,' who came out in time: "I believe I utter the sentiments the schooner, and who, with his wife and two of the whole presbytery, and of the large children, was liberated from slavery by the assembly present at his examination, when I Presbyterian synods of Alabama and Mississay, that for precision on the details of relig-sippi, at an expense of 2500 dollars. Alious experience for sober, rational views of though the accounts which have been pub

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lished respecting his proficiency as a scholar, especially as a linguist, may have been exaggerated, yet I think he is an extraordinary man; and I hope his example and influence may be highly beneficial to this country."

In the African Repository for 1848, there appears a brief letter from Mr. Ellis himself, addressed to one of his clerical friends in Alabama. He was then in excellent spirits, well pleased with the colony, and content with his own prospects. A few months after his arrival in Liberia, the pulpit of one of the Presbyterian churches in Monrovia became vacant, and Mr. Ellis was installed pastor of the church. Five members, he writes, have since been added to the church, one of whom was his own son. A year later, we find, by a paragraph in the same publication, that, besides performing the duties of his pastoral charge, Mr. Ellis had commenced his missionary labors among the natives. "He is studying," we are here told, "the language of two wild tribes, in order to be able to preach to them in their own tongue. He says, that the Mandingoes claim him for their countryman, because his grandfather was born in Africa. This tribe are Mohammedans; and some of their priests, he says, are intelligent, being capable of reading Hebrew when written in the Arabic character." Two years later, there appears a somewhat long letter from Mr. Ellis, giving some interesting information concerning Liberia, in answer to a letter of inquiry from a gentleman in Alabama, and at the same time affording us a good insight into the character of the writer, who certainly bears a strong moral resemblance to Uncle Tom. For instance, supposing the latter to have obtained an education, and afterwards to have settled in Liberia, would he have answered an inquiry about "the general capacity of Liberian children," in terms very different from those of the following intelligent and quaintly-expressed reply?" The children of Liberia are exactly like the white children in America; and as this part of our community have the best opportunity to equal the corresponding part in America, their equality can be better seen. And as remark able as this branch of society is [that is, white children in America], old persons [slaves] had not the opportunity of seeing inuch of it where we came from, so that many think our children have more penetrating minds than those of America. This supposition arose out of the above-mentioned circumstance; but it is not well-founded. The fact is, if there be any difference, it is in this perhaps the children in Liberia learn as fast, if not faster, for the first few years; but it may be that the young Americans continue their mental improvement the longest. I think though there may be circumstances

by which we shall be able, after a while, to account better for the facts just alluded to I think it most probable, that the lambs stop eating, because the shepherds get out of corn; the children stop learning, when their teacher cannot teach them any further. But," he adds, alluding to the recens establishment of some good schools in Liberia, "this sad state of things does not exist at present."

There is another passage in the letter which deserves to be quoted, as it strikingly evinces the truth of Mrs. Stowe's representa tion of character. Uncle Tom's meek endurance of all the wrongs of slavery, his refusal to make use of his "pass" for the purpose of escaping, and the excuses which he finds for his master's hard treatment of him, have been censured by critics as indicating a state of feeling altogether unnatural and improbable in a slave. Now, our learned blacksmith had been a slave till he was past thirty years of age; he had apparently been twice sold he had certainly had to give nearly all his earnings to his master, and to subinit entirely to his master's will; yet he "strove," as be himself said, " to make himself agreeable and happy" in this condition, and he counselled all his brethren to submission.

At this time, Mr. Ellis had accepted a new responsibility, probably more in compliance with the wishes of others, than in accordance with his own views. A high school, supported by the Presbyterian Board of Missions in New York, had been established at Monrovia, and Mr. Ellis was appointed the master of it. As might have been expected, the arrangement proved to be an injudicious one. Experience has shown that person entirely self-taught, however great his abilities and his learning, is rarely if ever qualified for the office of a teacher. The art of instruction, like other arts, must be acquired by an ap prenticeship. The self-taught man, with his mind full of scientific truths and classical erudition, finds himself ignorant of numerous important methods and essential details which he could have acquired in any well-conducted village-school. Hence we are not surprised to learn, from a recent report on the state of education in Liberia, that the high school had been less successful than its patrons expected. "The uncommon talents and industry of its principal, the Rev. Mr. Ellis, manifested in acquiring a knowledge of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages while a slave," adds this report, " do not adequately supply the place of that thorough and careful training in the rudiments, which every teacher needs, in order to teach others to the best advantage." Under these circumstances, the proper course was taken; a new principal - -a graduate of an American theological seminary- was appointed to the

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school, and Mr. Ellis was left free to pursue the pastoral and missionary labors for which he was best qualified.

Such is the sum of our information concerning this learned, sensible, and pious negro slave. The story is a suggestive one in various ways, and might give occasion for many reflections on slavery and its effects on African civilization, distinctions of race, and so forth. We choose, however, to leave it simply as a pièce justificative—as a French historian would say of the now worldfamous American romance; merely observing, that Mrs. Stowe's fiction is strange, the plain truth maintains its superiority, as usual, by being stranger still.

A WONDERFUL BONE.

that this monstrous fragment must have belonged to a bird! to one at least as large as an ostrich, but of a totally different species; and consequently, one never before heard of, as an ostrich was by far the biggest bird known From the difference in the strength of the bone, the ostrich being unable to fly, so must have been unable this unknown bird; and so our anatomist came to the conclusion, that this old, shapeless bone indicated the former existence, in New Zealand, of some huge bird, at least as great as an ostrich, but of a far heavier and more sluggish kind. Professor Owen was confident of the validity of his conclusions, but could commuricate that confidence to no one else; and notwithstanding attempts to dissuade him from committing his views to the public, he printed his deductions in the Transactions of the Zoological Society for the year 1839, where fortunately they remain on record as conclusive evidence of the fact of his having then made this guess, so to speak, in the dark. He caused the bone, however, to be engraved; and having sent one hundred copies of the engraving to New Zealand, in the hopes of their being distributed, and for three years—namely, till the year 1843 leading to interesting results, he patiently waited when he received intelligence from Dr. Buckland, at Oxford, that a great box, just arrived from The incident which I am about to mention, New Zealand, consigned to himself, was on its exhibits the result of an immense induction of way, unopened, to Professor Owen; who found particulars in this noble science, and bears no it filled with bones, palpably of a bird, one of faint analogy to the magnificent astronomical which was three feet in length, and much more calculation, or prediction, whichever one may than double the size of any bone in the ostrich ! call it, presently to be laid before you. Let it be And out of the contents of this box the professor premised, that Cuvier, the late illustrious French was positively enabled to articulate almost the physiologist and comparative anatomist, had entire skeleton of a huge wingless bird, between said, that in order to deduce from a single frag-ten and eleven feet in height, its bony structure ment of its structure, the entire animal, it was necessary to have a tooth, or an entire articulated extremity. In his time, the comparison was limited to the external configuration of bone. The study of the internal structure had not proceeled so far.

In a small work on the Intellectual and Moral Development of the Present Age, by Mr. Samuel Warren, Recorder of Hull (Blackwood & Sons), the author touches on the subject of comparative anatomy, and the pitch to which a study of it has been carried in this country We gladly make room for the following pas

Bages:

In the year 1839, Professor Owen was sitting alone in his study when a shabbily-dressed man made his appearance, announcing that he had got a great curiosity which he had brought from New Zealand, and wished to dispose of it to him. Any one in London can now see the article in question, for it is deposited in the Museum of the College of Surgeons in Lincoln's Inn Fields. It has the appearance of an old marrow-bone, about six inches in length, and rather more than two inches in thickness, with both extremities broken off; and Professor Owen considered, that to whatever animal it might have belonged, the fragment must have lain in the earth for centuries. At first, he considered this same marrow-bone to have belonged to an ox at all events, to a quadruped; for the wall or rim of the bone was six times as thick as the bone of any bird, even the ostrich. He compared it with the bones in the skeleton of an ox, a horse, a camel, a tapir- and every quadruped apparently possessing a bone of that size and configuration; but it corresponded with none. On this, he very narrowly examined the surface of the bony rim, and at length became satisfied

in strict conformity with the fragment in question; and that skeleton may be at any time seen at the Museum of the College of Surgeons, towering over, and nearly twice the height of the skeleton of an ostrich; and at its feet is lying the old bone, from which alone consummate anatomical science had deduced such an astounding reality; the existence of an enormous extinct creature of the bird kind, in an island where previously no bird had been known to exist larger than a pheasant or a common fowl!

Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition. 2d series. Bogue.

This volume contains the lectures of Wilson on Agricultural Products, Macadam on Flax, Tennant on Gems, Bazley on Cotton, Blackwell on Iron, Shaw on Glass, Wyatt on Decorative Art, Owen Jones on the Employment of Color, Ansted on the non-metallic Mineral Manufactures, Arnoux on Porcelain and Pottery, and on the General Results of the Exhibition, to which these lectures are an appropriate close. Every visitor should read them, for thus the remembrance of what was there beheld will be revived, and turned to profitable account in the knowledge of the meaning of a great deal that was unintelligible to the uninitiated. We do not know two more instructive volumes than are these collected lectures. — Critic.

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