from this pamphlet. Among the most important means which have been devised for civilizing and saving the Indians, is the invention of a written language. Mr. M'Coy gives the following account of the method adopted by the Baptist missionaries:

"To each Indian language, and to each dialect of language, belong peculiar sounds, which cannot be obtained by the use of the English alphabet. To designate syllables which could not be spelt, or sounds which could not be obtained by the ordinary use of letters, writers, who would write intelligibly, have been compelled to introduce arbitrary characters, each according to his fancy. It can easily be perceived, that serious inconveniences attend this course of things.

"Mr. Guess, a Cherokee, had discovered, that the language of his tribe could be written with about eighty syllabic characters. Guess' plan was tried in relation to some other languages, and found to be inapplicable, because characters would be multiplied beyond the bounds of convenience.

"To remedy the evils which attended the ordinary methods of writing Indian, and to avoid the complexity attending the universal application of Guess' system, the idea suggested itself to Mr. Jotham Meeker, then a missionary at the Sault de St. Marie, of using characters to designate, not syllables, but certain positions of the organs of speech. By the addition of the third principle, to so much of the two former as were apparently necessary, he discovered that much would be gained.

"Subsequently, Mr. Meeker became located at the Shawanoe mission house, where, by himself and fellow-missionaries, the scheme, which was first thought of for the purpose of supplying defects in other modes of writing, was carried out and successfully applied.

"In the new system, spelling is rendered entirely unnecessary; and the tedious process is avoided of familiarizing the memory with certain names of characters [letters], and then recollecting, that after combining these names, an arbitrary sound [syllable] must be uttered. The sound, unmeaning in itself, must be borne in mind, until by a similar process a second, third, or fourth be obtained; and then these arbitrary sounds must be combined to make a word. With an unlettered Indian, whose thoughts have never been disciplined upon any matter, the study of orthography is exceedingly irksome, especially in a language which he does not understand. Nothing can be further from his habits, than to strain his thoughts to acquire a knowiedge of something like the art of causing a paper to talk, when he is unprepared to appreciate the result.

"On the new system, every sound is indicated by a character [letter], which in Indian languages, are usually about eight or ten, the greater part of which, but not all, are vowel sounds. The other characters [letters] merely indicate the position of the organs of speech, preceding or following these sounds, by which the beginning or ending of sounds is modified. This modification, as we easily perceive, except in simple vowel sounds, is necessary to the articulation of a syllable.

"Not more than twenty-three characters have yet been found nec

essary in writing any Indian language. A knowledge of the use of these can be acquired by the learner in as short a time as he can learn the names of the letters of the English alphabet. As soon as he has learned the use of the characters, he is capable of reading; because, by placing the organs of speech, as indicated by the characters severally as they occur, and uttering a sound, as is in like manner denoted by a character, he necessarily expresses a word. Speech consists alone of this simple process. It is the excellence of the new system, that it is the natural painting of speech on paper, by characters which never vary their uses, unencumbered by every thing complex in the art of reading.

"The common English types are used, to save the expense of founding others; and chiefly, because one who knows the use of those letters can learn to read with them on the new system, with the greater facility.

"A person capable of reading any language, written upon the principles of orthography, can, in the course of an hour, learn to read a book in any Indian language, so as to be well understood by one acquainted with that language: therefore, writings on the new system can be used by all who are capable of reading any book. An Indian who never knew the use of a letter, can learn to read his own language in the course of a few days; that is, he can learn to read in the same time that it would require him to learn the names of from sixteen to twenty-three letters of the English alphabet. Many instances have occurred, in which adult Indians, ignorant of letters, have learned to read their own language upon this system, by merely occasionally falling in company with some of their people who had learned to read, and receiving a little instruction from them.”— p. 16-18.

Mr. M'Coy makes the following affecting appeal at the close of his pamphlet:

"Should the experiment now about being made fail, the fate of this unfortunate race, so far as human sight can reach, will be sealed. Should it succeed, similar measures will be extended to the millions of their kindred adjoining them.

"The people of this territory are but remnants of once powerful tribes. When Europeans approached the new world, its islands and its shores were populated by millions of red men. Now where are they! Many tribes have become extinct; and there is reason to believe, that even the name of not a few has been forgotten. As the whites extended their settlements from the east, they retreated west, leaving, at every step, increasing evidence of accumulating woes, and appearing fewer and fewer in number, every time they rose in view. At length, sixty-six thousand have reached the borders of the vast uninhabitable prairie. They can go no further. Their number is rapidly augmenting, by the influx of refugees, who follow from the east. Here, while the crowd thickens, they turn despairing eyes towards a Christian people, and for the last time, implore them, by ten thousand miseries, to let them live.

"Is not the world large enough for its inhabitants? and if it is, why crowd these wretched remnants beyond the bounds of habitable couu

try? This is not a fancied sketch. We speak of facts, which acquire solemnity by novel sufferings at the present time, and by all that can be lamentable in the past, or dreadful in the future. Were we barbarians, groping in pagan night, scarcely could a slight apology be found for trampling to death our helpless fellow-beings. What, then, must we say, when these things occur in gospel day, and with the most favored nation in the world? Should we not now forbear, but with cold indifference continue to push on our ambitious schemes of avarice, until the last remnant of the aboriginal race perish beneath our growing greatness, the heavens themselves might blush to cover such unkindness, and the earth weep for the faults of its inhabitants. "We have perceived, that one missionary was needed for the Puncahs, one for the Omahas, one for the Otoes, two for the Pawnees, one for the Putawatomies, one for the Delawares, two for the Kauzaus, one for the Shawanoes, four for the Osages, one for the Quapaws, one for the Senecas, two for the Creeks, two for the Cherokees, and one for the Choctaws.-In all twenty-one.

"This is not an imaginary calculation of a number which might be usefully employed; it is an estimate based upon the facts of the case, in relation to those several tribes,-facts which call loudly for this amount of help, immediately.

"Here, take notice, we ask for help for only the tribes within the Territory, amounting to only about sixty-six thousand souls; leaving out of this notice more than four millions three hundred thousand, who are scattered over the regions of barbarism adjoining us."—p. 50.

We must here record an expression of deep grief and shame, that a party of Indians have been brought from the west, to be employed in Florida, in the war against the Seminoles. This appears to us to be humiliating and exceedingly impolitic,humiliating, because it implies, that this great nation cannot subdue a few hundreds of wretched savages, without the aid of other savages equally or more degraded-impolitic, because it tends to foster warlike habits among the Indians, whom it is alike our interest and our duty to teach the arts of peace; and moreover, it keeps alive the spirit of mutual hostility among the Indians themselves, whom we are endeavoring to bring together, and mould into one peaceful, civilized community. If we thus sow the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind. If we set the poor savages upon each other, like bloodhounds, how long will it be, before a general Indian war will be kindled in and near the Indian Territory, which will spread, like the fires of the prairies, over the frontiers of Arkansas and Missouri?

14. A Letter to the Hon. Henry Clay, on the annexation of Texas to the United States. By WILLIAM E. CHANNING. Boston. 1837. pp. 72.

This Letter is an able and eloquent argument against the annexation of Texas to the United States. It is not our de

sign, in this journal, to engage in political discussions; but it may not be improper, occasionally, to take some notice of subjects, which vitally affect the welfare of our common country. The present is one of those subjects. The union of the States is thought, by sagacious men, to depend on the manner in which this question shall be settled. Dr. Channing, while he declares his warm attachment to the Union, affirms, nevertheless, his conviction, that the annexation of Texas would be a virtual dissolution of the bond which unites these States. The same declaration has been made on the floor of Congress, by an eminent statesman from New-England. This awful result is also predicted in another pamphlet, now before us, entitled "Review of Dr. Channing's Letter to Henry Clay. By a Citizen of Massachusetts.' This writer avows his opinion, that the non-slaveholding States ought immediately to withdraw from the confederacy, in case Texas shall be admitted, and he enters into an argument to show, that these States would be, on the whole, great gainers by the separation. We shudder at the prospect of disunion. We are sorry to see men coolly speculating about its advantages and disadvantages. Believing that a separation would be the signal for civil war, and a train of other tremendous evils, we cannot admit the idea, that such a catastrophe is in reserve for our happy nation. We will trust in the God of our fathers, that He will not give us up to the madness of political suicide. We cannot yet believe, that the people of the United States are ready to sacrifice all the fruits of their past sufferings and toils; to renounce all their brilliant prospects, and disappoint the hopes of the friends of liberty in all lands, merely for the sake of adding more territory to a country already too widely extended.

But we will briefly present the main arguments of Dr. Channing:

1. He says, that the revolt of the Texans against Mexico was criminal. Mexico permitted some of our citizens to settle in Texas on certain conditions, such as the prohibition of slavery, the supremacy of the Catholic religion, and a denial of the right of trial by jury. With a full knowledge of these conditions, many persons migrated to Texas, from the United States, to the number of about twenty thousand persons. Dr. Channing contends, that these emigrants had no right to raise the standard of revolt, on the pretext of alleged grievances, to which they voluntarily subjected themselves by entering the country.

The real causes of the revolt, according to Dr. Channing,

were chiefly two: 1. Fraudulent sales of land in Texas have been made in the United States, to the amount of several millions of dollars. The purchasers of these lands could not obtain them without procuring the independence of Texas, and hence a great zeal for liberty has been pretended, and large numbers of our citizens have rushed to Texas, in violation of the laws of our own government, to fight against Mexico. 2. Another powerful cause is, the "resolution to throw Texas open to slaveholders and slaves." Mexico, when she threw off the Spanish yoke, abolished slavery; but the emigrants to Texas have introduced many slaves, and there is a widely prevalent desire to open that immense country as a market for slaves.

Dr. C. admits, that the Texans may have had some real grievances, but he believes, that on the whole, their revolt was unjustifiable, and that it would be wrong for this nation to appear to sanction that revolt, by admitting Texas into the Union.

2. A second argument is, that our country would, by annexing Texas, "enter on a career of encroachment, war and crime." The thirst for new accessions to our territory would be inflamed. War with Mexico would inevitably ensue. Dr. C. says:

"A deadly hatred burns in Mexico towards this country. No stronger national sentiment now binds her scattered provinces together, than dread and detestation of republican America. She is ready to attach herself to Europe for defence from the United States. All the moral power, which we might have gained over Mexico, we have thrown away; and suspicion, dread and abhorrence, have supplanted respect and trust."-p. 27.

He argues, that England will not consent to have the range of slavery increased, and its influence brought so near to her West India colonies, where she has abolished slavery. He thinks, too, that other European nations will be alarmed, and that very probably a war with England and with some other powers, would ensue.

3. His third argument is, that this measure would "extend and perpetuate slavery," and give a new impulse to the slave trade, foreign and domestic. On this point, he dwells at great length. That the annexation of Texas would increase slavery, no one can doubt. Multitudes of slaves would be carried thither from the United States, thus augmenting their value and creating a greater demand for them. Slaves are already introduced from Africa into Texas. It is well known, that new activity has been given to the slave trade, by the