The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-03 00:00:00

PIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

_~._ n ~-

ol lie other efforts which have been made,
ana made "successfully, (as we think will appear
befdre:long), to dissuade Parliament from tam-
p'ering.,with the currency of the realm, now in a
state of soundness and security, there has just
been, added a little pamphlet, entitled, Remarks
on the Question of again permitting the issue
of One-pound Notes by the Bank of England,
and also by Country Banks. To our judg-
ment, and with our sentiments on the subject of
a forced paper-currency, the real -difficulty for
a writer on the above question seems to be,
that of saying what, if true, any man of sense in
this country would not, after the experience of
the last thirty thirty years, be apt to consider an
e!ementary instruction for children ; or if on the
wrong side of the question, what such a man
must not at once pronounce to be palpably re-
volting and absurd. The author of the pam•
phlet alluded to has had the former embarrass-
ment to contend with ; and in proving (what he
has proved beyond all controversy) the mischief
of a return to one-pound notes,—either those of
the Bank of England or of the country bankers,
or of both,—has not aimed at bringing forward
much of what is entitled to the name of novelty;
while, at the same time, he has so divided and
arranged his subject as to produce, by dint of
lucid order and perspicuity, an interesting and
attractive essay. After a general introduction,
he proceeds to treat of
Ist. The issue of one-pound notes by the Bank of
England.
2d. Of their issue by country bankers.
3d. Of the effect of them in the event of war.
4th. Of their influence if we remain at peace; and
lie concludes by some additional observation?.
There is one motive which weighs with us very
powerfully to abstain from entering again upon
the currency question, and one of which the
value is common to us with the better portion
of our readers, being our own conviction that no
attempt will be made or countenanced by his
Majesty's Ministers, to revive, in a greater de-
gree than it now exists, a paper circulation
throughout England. Keeping in mind the
noise and pertinacity with which, and the quar-
ters from which, a debasement of the circulating
medium has for months past been dinned into
the ears of the King's Government, as the only
measure capable of saving the empire from ruin,
we feel assured that equal spirit and prudence
have been evinced by his Majesty's servants, in
their unhesitating rejection of a proposal which
might have smoothed the pillow of office for a
short time, but would have sown it ever after-
wards with the thorns of anxiety and remorse.—
Times.

Is the county of Hants, of which the Prime
Minister is himself the Lord Lieutenant, and,
therefore, a doubly influential personage, rather
strenuous efforts are making to prevent the hold-
ing of a Public Meeting on the present state of
general distress. If the Hampshire Squires and
their tenantry have " driven their cattle to a bet-
ter market" than their neighbours, they would
act wisely in hoarding their gold, and holding
their tongues. But this we have pretty good rea-
son for knowing is not the case. Our own
Agricultural Report comes from that part of the
world, and depicts, in colours not more strong
than true, a situation of things which shows
that it is not any exemption from the general
lot which freezes up, " like words congealed in
northern air," the tongues and lips of the people
of this county. It is stated, we see, in a letter
in the last Hampshire Chronicle, " that the
Grand Jury, at the Sessions (understanding that
the Magistrates had declined to act on en-
treaties made to them on the first day of the
Sessions by some considerable landholders,
as to a representation of the distressed state
of the county),. presented a memorial to the
Chairman, praying that he would use his in-
fluence to obtain a meeting of the county, to
petition for a repeal of the malt tax. But even
this humble effort of the Grand Jury met a very
cool reception, and was returned to the Fore-
man with an admonition that it was ill-timed
and ill-judged, with a declaration that, though
he (the Chairman) would feel gratified by a re-
peal of the malt tax, he did not think this a
time and place to set it on foot !" Whether
the Duke of Wellington will be pleased with
this courteous indisposition to embarrass his
Government we know not ; we can only say that
an honest Minister (which we hope and are de-
sirous of believing his Grace to be) must be
anxious to learn the truth, and, instead of being
pleased, must rather be offended with the offi-
cious zeal of those who would make him a party
to a system of deceit and delusion. What the
Chairman, and those of whom he is the organ,
can mean, by stating that a periodical assembly
of the Magistrates and the yeomanry of the
aunty, in the county town, is not the time or
place to set on foot a requisition for a public
meeting, we are at a loss to divine. Had the
object been of a different description, we, some-
what perhaps uncharitably, suspect that none
of these doubts and difficulties would have
arisen ; but that the well-trained worshippers
of the powers that be, in which this county,
according to Mr. Cobbett, who knows them
well, has never been wanting, would have
deemed both the time and place the vary best
possible for renewing their devotions at a shrine
on which, if report is to be believed, their offer-
ings have not been idly thrown away. No per-
son of any sense can doubt but that the Ma-
gistrates, and other influential persons in a
county, are precisely those who are called upon
to take the lead at such a crisis. The very act
of throwing back the middling and lower ranks
of people upon themselves is the surest way to
aggravate their distress, and turn it to despair.
It is also the surest way to open the door to art-
ful demagogues, who will turn that distress and
slespair rather to the account of their own love
of mischief than to the means of cure. Unless,
indeed, the Chairman and• Magistrates of
Hampshire are wiser in their generation than
their neighbours, their very resistance to
the example of surrounding counties—this
act of united arrogancy and subserviency—
will have a very different effect from what
they anticipate. In the two adjoining counties
of Berks and Sussex the very thing has been
promptly and readily done which the Hamp-
shire Magistrates have refused to promote or
join in ; and we are quite sure that those who
know the kind and liberal feelings of his Majesty
will be convinced that the King will not
think the worse of the Nobility, Gentry, and
Magistracy of the county in which he resides,
for taking that lead in expressing the public
opinion upos the state of public affairs which
those who live under the auspices of the
First Lord of the Treasury seem afraid to take.
Be this as it may, no effort to stifle the public
voice can or ought to prevail. General distress,
like the swollen waters of a river, has become too
great to be repressed. Either it must have vent
through one channel, or it will find it through

another ; and it is, therefore, more especially the
duty of those who watch over the public peace
and safety to direct the current into the line
which is least likely to produce mischief or de-
solation.—Morning Herald.
A Morning Paper asserts that there can be
but little interest in the matter of the King's
speech which is to be delivered on Thursday
next. We do not know whether it will, or will
not, be interesting ; but the circumstances of the
country are assuredly such as to attach interest
to it. His Majesty's Ministers, we believe, do
not know very well what they ought to do in the
present crisis, and are, in all probability, more
inclined to wait the expression of the will of the
Legislature than to propose a remedy of their
own ; and if such be the case, the King's speech
will indeed be an uninteresting document. We
are apt to imagine, however, that the Duke of
Wellington has been looking about him during
the recess, and that although nothing has yet
been said on the subject, some measure, having
for its object a remedy for the decaying industry
of the country, will be proposed for the sanction
of Parliament. In the meantime we can dis-
tinctly assert, that the Cabinet has adopted no
resolution adverse to a return to the currency
which existed previous to 1826 ; and we have,
in consequence, no doubt that a return will be
made to it. The Duke of Wellington is not
pledged against it ; and Mr. Huskisson, who
will join the Cabinet in a few months, more than
intimated, during the last Session, that the coun-
try could not go on, in its present reduced cir-
cumstances, without an additional issue of paper.
Morning Advertiser.
A Correspondent, who speaks, we believe, the
sentiments of the greater part of the secondary
class of Landholders and the Yeomanry through-
out England, almost reproaches us for merely
advocating the Commutation of Tithes, instead
of their entire abolition. He calculates the
amount of tithes now levied by the Clergy of
the Establishment, after all deductions, at be-
tween six and seven millions ; and observes, as
the share (now equal to one-third of the rent)
of the Clergy is constantly increasing, the time
will soon arrive when they will receive more
from the soil than the landlords. He contends
that as no further improvement can be made in
religion, it is now time that we should enjoy
the benefit of the labours of the learned and
ingenious men who have been allured by the
rich rewards of the Church to dedicate them-
selves to the Church, and have left nothing for
their successors to accomplish. Ile observes,
that in the parish in which he lives the Vicar,
who resides at a distance of five miles, receives
6001. a year for reading the service and a ser-
mon every Sunday, the only time the flock see
him or wish to see him, and that the same duty
can be efficiently performed every whei e for a
very small Wm ; and he proposes that 500,0001.
a year should be set apart out of the produce of
the tithes, for the performance of religious duties,
the remainder being appropriated to the allevia-
tion of the rational burthens, always allowing
annuities to the present incumbents. The time
for this reduction is not yet come, but we fore-
see that it is not far off We should be alarmed
at the prospect, were we not satisfied that re-
ligion is always more in danger from wealth than
from poverty, and that, happen what will, it is
impossible that any change can take place which
will not make the, English Clergy more accepta-
ble to their flocks, and consequently more useful
than they are at present. Indeed, when a church
becomes poor, the clergy arc but too apt to run
into the extreme of excessive zeal in the dis-
'charge of their pastoral duties. This is one of
the faults found with the French clergy since the
Revolution. Jean Paul Courier, in his petition
to the Chamber of Deputies to allow the vil-
lagers to dance on Sundays, as they had been
accustomed to do, observes, that " the young
priests, in their pacific functions, are much less
prudent and discreet than the old. I have already
mentioned, gentlemen, one good Cure of Veretz,
who seems a fattier in the midst of us ; but the
priest of Azai, who has been succeeded by the
seminarist, had not less moderation, and was in
like manner the father of all his parishioners,
sharing their joys and their sorrows, their diffi-
culties as well as amusements ; seeing with sa-
tisfaction young men and women dancing, and
especially on the Place; for he wished it to be
there rather than any where else, observing, that
evil was seldom done in public. Hence he
thought it was much better that the rendezvous
of young girls and their lovers should be on
this place rather than elsewhere—rather than in
the wood or in the fields, in solitary places, as
will happen when our fetes shall be altogether
suppressed. He was far from demanding that
suppression, or from ranking dancing in the
number of mortal sins, or recurring to power to
disturb innocent pleasures. For, said he, these
young folks ought to see and become acquainted
with each other before marriage, and how can
they meet in a more fit place than when they are
under the eyes of their friends, their relations,
and the public—a sovereign judge in matters of
propriety and respectability ? Thus reasoned
this good Cure, regretted by the whole district
—a worthy man, if ever there was one, irre-
proachable in his morals and his conduct, as are
also, in truth, the young Priests, the successors
of the old ; for nothing can be more exemplary
than their lives. The Clergy do not live now
as they didformerly, but display in every thing
a regularity worthy of the Apostolic times.
Happy effect of poverty ! Happy fruit of the
persecution suffered at that grand epoch when
God visited his Church. It is not one of
the least of the advantages we owe to the
Revolution, that we see not merely the
Curates—an order who in all times were re-
spectable—but the Bishops, leading moral lives."
We are aware that it is not pretended that a
rich establishment is advantageous to religion ;
but that a rich establishment is a powerful en-
gine at the command of Government, and a
means for preventing the decay of the Aristo-
cracy. It is often said that it is the same thing
to the people whether as large a share of the
produce be consumed by clergymen as by lay-
men ; but it is never said that religion does not
lose by the connection with wealth. But the
religious consideration is the last which would
be attended to. Were the State unembarrassed,
it would be idle to expect that the Aristocracy
would consent to the abolition of tithes, or to
any plan for placing the Clergy in a condition
more nearly resembling that of the Apostles.—
But we live in an age when the State is threat-
ened with convulsion, from the inability of the
people to bear their burdens. We live in an age
when the great landowners have even dared to
broach the words robbery and spoliation—to
threaten a war between the Laud and the
Funds—and even the pittance which the fruga-
lity of a parent or a husband has secured in the
Public Stocks for the orphan and die widow.- .
If the distress is such as it has been represented,
;Nile necessities of the State demand instant

retrenchment that we may escape revolution.
we must be guided in our retrenchments by the
public exigencies. Property of all kinds must,
of course, be held sacred. We require soldiers
and sailors for our protection from foreigners,
and magistrates and executioners to protect
us from each other. Without these society
cannot exist. An establrshment for religion
is less necessary because religion is a want which
men may safely be trusted with supplying for
themselves. In this country, two-thirds of the
inhabitants reject the aid of the Church, but we
do not find them less indifferent to religion
than those who belong to the Establishment.
In America there is no establishment whatever,
but abundance of religion. In case then it be
necessary to make sweeping retrenchments and
reductions to preserve the Monarchy and the
Constitution, there can be no question that, be-
fore laying hand on property secured by law,
the tithes ought to be made available to the
public exigencies. We close our observations
with the following quotation from the Dublin
Evening Post, which paints to the life the
dreadful hypocrisy engendered by the present
state of the Establishment:—

" We have been favoured with a copy of the pe-
tirion of certain Protestants in the Diocese of Ferns
and the county of Wexford, praying for a more just
and equitable distribution of Church Property, and
for au alterivion in the Ecclesia,tical Courts. The
petition is signed by two hundred respectable and
independent Protestants, and, in fact, by every one
professing the Creed of the Established Church,
with the exception of those alone professionally
connected with its abuses. It is drawn up on the
principles of Lord Mountcashel's petition, and there
can, we think, be little doubt that it will be very
generally imitated in other parts of Ireland.
" There is great alarm among the Pluralists, and
the Bishops are preparing their charges. The alarm
among the former will continue, but the charges
wiil not produce the effects they did last year. The
Bishops cannot at present affect to bamboozle even
the poor and desperate straggling Bruns ivickers you
meet occasionally rani in gurgite nantes, on danger
to the true religion from Popish equality. The Ca-
tholics are in every thing the equal of the Protestants
at present, but, be it remembered, that the present
cry of Reformation does not come from Catholics.
It is a Protestant call ; so that the Bishops will first
have to convince the Protestants of Ireland that it
is good that the Bishop of Derry should have
25,000/. a year, and a working Curate should have
but 701. Every Protestant in Ireland, of pure
mind and upright spirit, will hail the practical com-
mencement of such a reformation with delight. But
we are told by the Bishop of Ferns, that the Pro-
testant Hierarchy themselves are, and have been
for many years, actually engaged in the good work.
Very well. A glorious opportunity is now af-
forded the Archbishop of Dublin to evidence the
truth of this assertion. The Union of Dungans-
town, held by the late Dr. Daltrea, is now vacant.
There's our old friend, Morty O'Sullivan, who
fought like a Turk for the Second Reformation,
and held the post which we hold in the Third, as
standard-bearer of the Evangelicals. We laughed
at Murry, and amused ourselves occasionally with
wondering at the solemity of his face and phrase in
advocating that splendid humbug. Nut so the
Archbishop of Dublin. He was loud and long in
his panegyrics upon the Reverend Mortimer. We
told the latter often enough, that with all his exer-

dons, either as a Saint ciia Brunswicker, he would
not get a living—he was not of the Elite—and he
had not the good fortune to be united in the bands of
holy wedlock with a Bishop's daughter. We have
not hitherto been erroneous in our prediction 3.—
Here, however, the Archbishop of Dublin will af-
ford the crowning test to our prophetic accuracy.—
With all his zeal in preaching, pamphleteering, para-
graphing, and puffing, Mortimer will remain pre-
cisely where he is, keeping school in the North,and
the light of this great luminary will be suffered to
go out in obscurity, though Doctor Magee might, if
he pleased, place him on one of the delightful emi-
nences in Wicklow, whence his rays might be dif-
fused to the whole benighted region around him.—
Oh ! no. It is one thing to say that you are a very
clever and meritorious fellow, in our best churches,
and another to pass over your sons, or sons-in-laws,
or:nephews, or cousins—or their wives, or any of
your generation."—Morning Chronicle.

LOSSES AT SEA.

LOSS OF THE BRIG NELSON, OF LIVERPOOL.

The Calcutta Papers, received by the Ontario,
contain an account of the loss of this vessel, and of
the subsequent preservation of the crew, from the
pen of Captain Laughton. The following is the
Captain's account of the voyage across the Bay of
Bengal in a frail boat :
" Having not more than 15 gallons of rain-water
left (and fearing the savages would collect from the
of her islands and attack us when sufficiently strong),
we found our situation worse than can be described,
Rot only from dread of the savages, whom we sup-
posed to be cannibals, from the account we had
heard, but the prospect of perishing for want of
water ; and, under this impression, we conceived
our hest plan would be to place ourselves in the
Lands of that gracious Providence, who had hitherto
so kindly supplied our wants, and endeavour, in our
boat, to make the western side of the bay, or the
Pilot's Cruising Station, as the readiest way of
making our misfortunes known, in preference to at•
tempt making any port to the eastward ; and all
hands immediately began working on the boat to
prepare her for our perilous undertaking. The boat
being soon finished as far as our limited resources
would permit, we took our provisions and all the
water we had left, being only 12 gallons, and at six
p. in. all hands embarked and left the island, setting
the sails I had made out of the main top-gallant sail,
and steering W.N.W. during the night. Our num-
ber was 14, including Mrs. Laughton, and the boat
only 20 feet in length, five feet six inches in breadth,
and two feet in depth.
" June 11th, 15th, and 16th, we had fine weather,
making a NW. W. course throughout from our
starting.
" June 17.—1 t commenced blowing hard, in-
creasing to stormy gales, with heavy sea and con-
tinual rain, which obliged us to keep under a close-
reefed mainsail, and made our situation miserable
beyond expression.
" June 18.—At three a. m. shipped a heavy sea,
which nearly filled the boat, and placed us in im-
minent danger of foundering. We immediately
commenced lighting her by throwing overboard all
the clothes we hail saved, indiscriminately, and also
such other articles as we stood least in need of, and
succeeded in baling her out, which, from our
cramped and confined situation, was at all times a
difficult job.
" June 19 and 20.—The same weather as on the
17th and 18th. On the afternoon of the 20th it
moderated, and enabled us to set the foresail close-
reefed with four reefs in it.

" June 23.—At noon obtained a sight of the sun,
being the only observation we had been able to get
since the 15th; found the latitude 19. 35. N. At
30 minutes past noon, saw a ship (supposed to be
the David Clarke) about eight or nine miles to wind-
ward of us; we hoisted our signal, but it was not
observed by them.
" June 24.—At daylight perceived the water had
changed colour, and made a substitute for a lead
with some of the carpenter's tools, with which we
tried for soundings, but got none. At noon, no ob-
servations. The fish having left us, which had been
in great numbers the preceding days, we conclude
we were drawing near the Sand Heads. The wind
not allowing us to lay higher than N.W. by N.,
with a heavy sea, we found that we had not made
more than 40 miles during the last 24 hours.

7r:
" June 25.--Blowing very hard all day from W.
by S., which prevented us carrying more than our

close reefed sails, and not even them at times, the
sea continually washing over us. At noon, no ob-
servation. Again tried for soundings without effect.
Our boat now became very leaky, and our anxiety of
mind increased accordingly. The people, from con-
tinual exertion and our extreme privations and fa-
tigue, were nearly exhausted, and scarcely able to
hoist one of our small sails, which we were obliged
to hoist and lower several times in the course of this
day, in consequence of hard squalls we experienced
at intervals. Feeling convinced we were approach.
ing the Pilot Station, at 5 p.m. I ordered the grap.
nel and rope to be cleared and bent ready for letting
go. Night coming on, all hands were anxiously,
looking out for light. At 11 p.m. we faintly per-
ceived it bearing E.N.E. At midnight we saw it
quite plain, and our feelings at this time may be
better felt than described, after performing a most
perilous passage across the Bay of Bengal, at the
most inclement season of the year, in a small weak
boat, to see what we knew to-be a friendly beacon,
and the idea of succour being so near us exhilarated
our feelings beyond expression. We now lowered
our mainsail and stood towards the light.
" June 26.—At threit a.m. got up to the light
vessel, hailed them, and stated who we were and
our distress; but not being able to fetch up along-
side, we let our grapnel go. The captain of the
brig, seeing our situation, and having no other means
of saving us (from the severity of the weather),
with the greatest presence of mind, promptitude, and
humanity, cut his cable and drifted to leeward of
us, at the same time hailing us to cut from our grap-
nel, set the foresail, and come tinder his lee. We
immediately did so, and at half-past three got along-
side; but from our debilitated state, we were ob-
liged to be hoisted on board, which was done
with the greatest attention to us. She proved
to be the Flora (pilot-vessel), Mr. Fabian
(pilot), commander, from whom we received
every kindness and attention that humanity
could suggest or our unfortunate situation re-
quire; and also from Mr. Williams, of the Ho-
nourable Company's civil service, a passenger on
board of her. The boat (whose dimensions I have
before mentioned) which had been the humble in-
strument in the hands of Divine Providence of pre-
serving so many unfortunate creatures in a miracu-
lous manner, during a passage of 515 miles across
the Bay of Bengal, in the most severe weather that
is experienced at this time of the year, arid to which
we were exposed thirteen days and fourteen nights,
partly bilged alongside the pilot brig, and they were
obliged to cut her adrift in a sinking state."—Li-
verpool Adverliz•er.

WRECK OF THE ECLIPSE, IN DOUGLAS BAY.

The fact of the following wreck was recorded in
our shipping list of last week. This longer account
we have now copied, because the name of a towns-
man is so honourably distinguished in the narra-

tion :

" The wind blew violently on shore all the night
of the 13th of January, and at daybreak on the
morning of Thursday, the 14th, a sloop, which
afterwards proved to be the Eclipse, of Glasgow,
bound from Liverpool to that port, and had an-
chored at the north bay, was discovered to be on
shore upon the rocks near Castle Mona, at low
water. Immediately on her striking, four of the
crew got into a small boat belonging to her, and by
aid of a line from the vessel, were drifted through
the breakers, and happily reached the shore, but
from the increased violence of the surf on the beach
as the tide began to rise, all further communication
by this means, with the land, became utterly im-
practicab!e. The master and two seamen were
thus left on board the vessel, which was full of
water, the sea breaking heavy over her, and having
a signal of distress flying. From the great surf
over the bar at Douglas harbour, and the tide
being low, it had become almost impossible
to get any boat out, at all events much
valuable time must have been lost in the
attempt ; but the new life-boat intended for Ramsey
and towards which the Royal National Institution
had liberally contributed 50/.,wasjust finished, though
the air-tight cares by which the buoyant qualities
of a life-boat are produced unfortunately were not
sufficiently complete to be made use of, and were
not put on board. Sir W. Hillary, however, re-
solved, even in her present state, on making the
attempt in her, to save the people from the wreck,
and by the prompt aid of several gentlemen, and
every other description of persons present, the new
boat was launched for the first time, on the beach
near the baths, when Sir William instantly put off in
her, accompanied by his coxswain, Isaac Vondy, and
a volunteer crew of twelve men, by which means
each oar was doubly manned, in order to pull through
the heavy sea, with which, for fully a mile,
they had to contend. The attempt was suc-
cessful, and the wrecked gained ; when by pas-
sing under her lee bow the people were rescued;
but on their return, when off the north end
of St. Mary's rock, they encountered so tremend-
ous a sea that they were nearly overwhelmed by a
succession of those heavy waves which at intervals
occur in a storm, by which the boat was filled to the
thwarts, and the space left for the air-tight case in
the bow full of water, which added a dead weight of
nearly half a ton, and greatly increased the danger.
As many men as could be spared from the oars were
employed in bailing out the water with their huts;
but for several minutes they were in imminent
danger, and the master of the Eclipse declared, that
on shipping the sea, he twice thought they would
immediately have gone down; but notwithstanding
all these disadvantages, and having 17 persons
on board, the event justified the confidence placed
in the superior construction of the boat, by her
surmounting difficulties under which it was the opi-
nion of all seamen present no common boat could
have escaped destruction. After great efforts she
reached the beach, upon which she was run, nearly
full of water; all on board were landed in safety,
and the persons rescued were placed in comfortable
quarters by the Committee of the Insular Institu-
tion. Great praise is due to the builder of this ex-
cellent boat, who is a native, and well known to
the public—Mr. Robert Oates. We believe that
we are warranted in saying, that there is not another
boat in the island unprotected by air-tight floats, as
sire was on the above occasion, that could have
lived as she did through the breakers, half-full of
water."—Manx Sun.

Some eighteen months ago, a heron's nest
was found by a few boys in the neighbourhood of Brechin,
by.whom it was robbed of its young ones. The flax-
(leasers at the Meikle Mill procured two of them, and ten-
derly reared them till they became in plumage, and fit to
soar in the airy regions, when they disappeared. It will
be recollected that one of them came hack in the month of
March last, and approached his old acquaintances with
the greatest contidence and ate out of their hands ; but
after a fortnight's stay he again left them, and has been
absent until Monday last, when he paid them another
visit. With his former confidence he approaches any of
the flax-dressers, but distrusts every other person.—Mon-
trose Review.

AFRICAN FEMALES.--I take this opportu-
nity (says LANDER its his Records of Clapperton's last
Expedition) of expressing nay high admiration of the
amiable conduct of the African females towards me; in
sickness and in health ; in prosperity and in adversity..__
their kindness and affection were ever the same. They
have danced and lung with me in health, grieved with me
in sorrow, and shed tears of compassion at the recital of
my misfortunes. When quite a boy, and suffering from
fever in the West Indies, women of the same race used to
take me in their arms, or on their knees, sing and weep
over me, and tell me not to die, for that my mother would
break her heart to hear the news ; and pointing to the
ocean they cheered my spirits, by saying that it laved the
shores of England, and would shortly hear me en its bosom
to my distant home. In fine, through whatever region I
have wandered, whether slave or free, I have invariably
found a chord of tenderness and trembling pity to vibrate
in the breast of an African woman ; a spirit ever alive to
soothe my sorrows and compassionate my afflictions ;—and
I never in my life knew one of them to bestow on me a
single unpleasant look or angry word,