The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-11-24 00:00:00

_
spirits, their motions are much impeded, but vitality is
not immediately destroyed.—Jenyn.

TEMPERANCE IN CANADA
to find at this remote pos
anything stronger than t
little of the for
was to be had.
drink to excess

—I was agreeably surprised
hat only one soldier drank
water; and of course very
, owing to the expense of transport,
soldier that did drink spirits did not

where drunkenness had been proverbial ? The soldiers,
who were of the 82nd regiment, had been selected for the
station as married men. Their young commanding offi-
cer patronised gardening, cricketing, boating; and every
manly amusement„ but permitted no gambling. He
formed a school for the soldiers and their families, and,
in short, he knew how to manage them, and to keep their
minds engaged ; for they worked and played, read and
reasoned; and so whisky, which is as cheap as dirt there,
was not a temptation which they could not resist. In
winter he had sleighing, snow-shoeing, and every exer-
cise compatible with the severe weather and the very deep
snow incident to the station. 1 feel persuaded that, now
government has provided such handsome garrison libra-
ries of choice and well-selected books for the soldiers, if
a ball-alley, or racket-court, and a cricket-ground, were

attached tO'everylarge barrack, there wourd_not only be

less drinking in the army, but that vice would ultimately
be scorned, as it has been within the last twenty years by
the officers. A hard-drinking officer will scarcely be
tolerated in a regiment now, simply because excessive
drinking is a low, mean vice, being the indulgence of self
for unworthy motives, and beneath the character of a gen-
tleman. To be brought to a court-martial for drunken-
ness is now as disgraceful and injurious to the reputation
of an officer, as it was to be tried for cowardice, and,
therefore, seldom occurs in the British army. The vice
of Canada is, however, drink ; and temperance societies
will not mend it. Their good is very equivocal, unless
combined with religion, as there is only one Father Ma-
thew in the world, nor is it probable there will be ano-
ther.—Bonnycaatle's Canada and the Canadians.
SIR WILLIAM FOLLETT ON MASONRY.—TiIe future
Attorney-General had been for many months called to
the Bar when we again met. This was early in 1826.

He then spoke calmly, but feelingly, of the professional
jealousy which existed among those to whom he was now
---- - " Players' rivalry," said he, "is a joke to it.

affiliated

ception of its extent or strength, un-
less you yourself belonged to the profess'on." He then
reverted to past scenes and mutual friends; and in the

You can have no c

on, I Inferred, from a passing remark,
that 1-e had become a Mason. I asked if my conclusion
was correct. "It is," was his reply : " I was initiated
at Cambridge." Light had not then beamed upon
myself; and I expressed in scoffing terms m

course of

astonis

be, with quiet earnestness, " you require something to
reconcile you to your kind. You see so much of bitter-
ness, and rivalry, and jealousy, and hatred, that you are
thankful to call into active agency a system which creates
in all its varieties kindly sympathy, cordial and wide-
spread tienevotence; and-1)i utbc.tricv...-I?—if_
said I, " you don't co the length of asserting that Ma-
sonry does all this ?" " And more ! The true Mason

thinks no evil of his brother, and cherishes no designs
The system itself annihilates parties. And

against him

as to censoriousness

1 calumny, most

irb which Ma!

y and
uly carried
' Well! well! you

out, 'applies to an unbridled tongu

or do as

cannot connect it with religion : you cannot,
you will, affirm of it that Masonry is a religious system."
' By-and-by, you will know better," was his reply.
'Now I will only say this, that the Bible is never closed
in a Mason's lodge; that Masons habitually use prayer in
their lodges; and, in point of fact, never assemble for
any purpose without performing acts of religion :—I gave
you credit,' continued be with a smile, " for being more
thoroughly emancipated from nursery trammels and
slavish prejudice."—Slray Leaves from a Free-mason's
Note-Book.

CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS OF CANADA.—Canada
is, as I have written two former volumes to prove, a mag-
nificent country. I doubt very much if Nature has
created a finer country on the whole earth: The soil is
generally good, as that made by the decay of forests for
thousands of years upon substrata, chiefly formed of allu-
vium or diluvium, the deposit from waters, must be. It
is, moreover, from Quebec to the Falls of St. Mary, al-
flat surface, intersected and interlaced by number-
less streams, and studded with small lakes, whilst its lit-
toral is a river unparallelled in the world, expanding into
enormous fresh-water seas; abounding with fish. If the
tropical luxuries are absent, if its winters are long and ex-
cessively severe, yet it yields all the European fruits abun-
dantly, and even some of the tropical ones, owing to the
richness of the soil and the great heat of the summer.
Maize, or Indian corn, flourishes, and is more wholesome
and better than that produced in the warm south. The
crops of potato, that apple of the earth, as the French so
justly term it, are equal, if not superior, to those of any
other climate ; whilst all the vegetables of the temperate
regions of the old world grow with greater luxuriance than
in their original fields. I have successively and success-

fully cultivated the tomata, the melon, and the capsicum,
in the open air, for several seasons, at Kingston and To-
ronto, which are not the richest or the best parts of Wes-
tern Canada, as far as vegetation is concerned. Tobacco
grows well in the western district ; and where is finer
wheat harvested than in western Canada ? whilst hay, and
that beauty of a landscape, the rich green sod, the velvet
carpet of the earth, are abundant, and luxuriant. If the
majesty of vegetation is called in question, and intertropi-
cal plants brought forward in contrast, even the woods
and trackless forests of Guiana, where the rankest of luxu-
riance prevails, will not do more than compete with the

glory of the primaeval woods of Canada. I know of no-
thing in this world capable of exciting emotions of wonder
and adoration more direct than to travel alone through its

forests

Pines, lifting their hoary heads beyond Man's
vision, unless he inclines his head so far backwards as to
be painful to his organisation, with trunks which require
fathoms of line to span them ; oaks of the most gigantic
form ; the immense and graceful weeping elm ; enormous
poplars, whose magnitude must be seen to be conceived ;
lindens, equally vast • walnut trees, of immense size; the
beautiful birch, and the wild cherry, large enough to make
tab'es and furniture of.—Sir B. H. Bonnycastle's Canada
and the Canadians in 1846.

HANWELL ASYLUM.—The Hanwell Asylum is one of
the noblest instances of wisdom-tempered zeal and hu-
mane skill which our age can boast of. The building and
its appurtenances occupy upwards of fifty-three acres ;
the several patients, sometimes nearly a thousand in num-
ber, are treated according to the intensity of their afflic-
tion ; but in no case is unnecessary restraint practised.
Working upon the proverbial association of idleness and
vice, in all cases where practicable,employment is re-
sorted to as a remedy; and nearly all the operations of
this vast establishment are conducted with the utmost
order by lunatics; shops of lunatic tailors and shoemakers
may be seen here at work, and the bakery, the laundry,
and other domestic offices, are worked by the same " pa-
tient" classes. The out-door arrangements are upon the
same system of non-restraint. The gardens and shrub-
beries are neatly kept by the inmates, and are allowed to
enjoy their health-giving air with the most indirect sur-
veillance, and various pastimes are allowed to minister to
the " mind diseased." Within doors, reading of an in-
teresting and attractive, though not exciting, character, is
provided ; the tables are strewn with cheap periodicals, in
the hope that their good seel may not invariably fall upon
the mind, as it were lying fallow. Here, as in the sane
world, outside of the Hanwell domain, society has its pets
and butts, and men are prone to sport with each other's
weaknesses ; but this is no new phase of humanity. We,
who remember but too distinctly the clanking fetters and
the horrifying gaze of the inmates of the old Bethlehem,
have inspected Hanwell with very different feelings ; and
as we walked, almost unattended, through crowds of " lu-
natics," were indeed gratified to find them so far sane as
to be sensible of their humane treatment. From the wall
of one of their dormitories we copied the following
lines :
" Behold !
No gloomy cells where sullen madness pines
In chains and woe, where no glad sunlight shines;

But here kind sympathy for fallen reason reigns;
Our rule is gentleness, not force or galling chains."

On the south side of the garden lies the burial-ground,
wherein all patients not removed by their friends or pa-
rishes are buried ; and here sleeps the individual who
planned the asylum, and eventually became one of its in-
mates for a long period previous to his death—one of those
extraordinary coincidences which belong to the category
of popular fatalism.—Sharpe* London Magazine.

SIERRA LEONE.

(Further extracts from Mr. Shreeve's work on the above

Cotiny, ready for the press.)
FREETOWN.

LIBERATED APRICANISEPARTMENT.—This depart-
ment is situated on the edge of the harbour, near the
watering tank at King Jemmy. It consists of two large
yards, with a residence for the assistant-superintendent,
and good storehouses for the service of the Africans on
their release from the slave-hold. One yard is for the
males, the other for the females, with every convenience
for cooking and other comforts. On the arrival of a
slave vessel, with a cargo of these unfortunates, the mar-
steal of the Mixed Commission Courts proceeds on board,
and, having made his inspection, forwards his reporc to
the Commissioners. The medical officer examines their
condition, and, if no disease be on board, they are imme-
diately landed from the crammed and pestilential slave-
hold, and placed in the yard of the department. The
emaciated and infirm are sorted out, and sent to the Co-
lonial Hospital, at Kissey ; and in cases of contagious
diseases raging on board—a very common visitation, from
the fact of 300 or 400 being packed within a small com-
pass—the vessel is sent to quarantine. The arrival of a
cargo of slaves is a peculiar and affecting sight. Before
their capture it is the policy of the dealers to impress
them with a terror of the English, persuading them to
believe that they are the most cruel masters, and will
exercise unheard-of tyranny over them should they fall
into their hands ; but how thoroughly is the illusion dis-
pelled, when one of our cruizers carries them into port,
where every appliance for their comfort, crowned by free-
dom, proclaims them to be men and brothers! The sud-
denness of the change is bewildering, and these children
of nature are obliged to refer to superstition for an expla-
nation. Some are literally stupified by the transition,
whilst others abandon themselves to the wildest enjoy-
ments—shouting, dancing, and singing, until the hills
and shores re-echo the gratitude of their hearts for Old
England's benefactions. This celebration of freedom
lasts many days, and is humanely indulged by the officers
of the department.
This department, and the treatment of the newly-
arrived Africans, have lately undergone a material change.
Under the old arrangement, after having been a due time
in the yard, the youths were located in the v"lage schools,
where, receiving a certain amount of education, they were
apprenticed as domestic servants, or to trades. The
adults were sent to the villages, where they received an
allotment for a farm, implements of agriculture, with
provision and clothing for one year, all found by govern-
ment, in which time it was supposed that they would be
able to support themselves under the guidance and ma-
nagement of the managers of their respective districts.
This system, however, after a long trial, with every faci-
lity given to them, was found not to have answered,—
retrogression instead of progression l'eing the result.
The department is now discontinued, managers re-
duced, and only such retained as are necessary to govern
the district, under the new arrangement. This original
experiment has been succeeded by emigration to the West
Indian colonies (an admirable plan of Lord Stanley).
The emancipated are, as heretofore, landed at the depart-
ment, food and clothing supplied to them, and, after a
preparatory period, the uncontrolled choice of emigration
in large and comfortable ships provided by government,
where every attention is provided for them on the pas-
sage, and a provision upon their landing. In case they
do not wish to emigrate, they are at liberty, by associa-
ting with their own countrymen, to remain in the colony
and follow their own desires. Emigration, however, is
gladly accepted by many,—relying so fully upon British
sympathy, that all destinations and propositions are
faithfully trusted. Several, on the other hand, prefer
entering the army, captivated by the allurements of mar-
tial pageantry, and in a very short rime, from good usage,
become perfectly contented, and look upon the freeman
of the town with an amusing sang froid and contempt,
saying, " Me no freeman ; me Queenman !"—a compli-
ment to the Majesty of England, which probably has
never reached St. James's. Many grave objections and
censures have been urged against the emigration of the
newly-emancipated African, and the measures of govern-
ment for carrying it out ; but this opposition emanates
from interested parties in the colony, especially the 'Wes-
leyan missionaries, who spare neither time nor exertion
to defeat the project, in their exclusive register the
Watchman, nominally but not really their own, it having
been established with far more liberal intentions, and for
much more general purposes, than the subscribers are
allowed to enjoy. Other opposition comes from parties
in England, from a want of local knowledge and experi-
ence, so requisite to form a correct judgment of the powers
and condition of the African upon his own soil. As to
the question of the inalienable rights of freedom, there
can be no doubt; nor does emigration control it. The
African at home, from nature, strengthened by habit and
example, is of an indolent disposition ; but by a change
to another country, where industry is the order of society,
he readily devotes his energies to that which he sees adds
to the respectability and comfort of others, and gradu-
ally, and often immediately, becomes a regenerated being,
in which improved condition he is sustained by the encou-
ragement and advice of superior morality, education, and
experience, to any that his most ingenious inquiries can
obtain at home.:

In Africa such advantages are more confined, a mis-
sionary or a teacher here or there, being all that is afford-
ed; and even were they more numerous, the climate is
so inimical to the exertions of the European. Whatever
good may be imparted, it is comparatively moderate, nay
many who have been converted to christianity, have re-
verted to their former habits and belief, and exercised
within the very precincts of the missionary's house, their
motatr,aus ceremonies. There are the Ako and Ei:43,-atad
many other notions of the liberated, who have embraced
the false religion of the prophet, which being more con-
genial to their dispositions, from approximating more
closely to their original superstitious impressions, are
more easily comprehended, and consequently more readily
believed than Christianity; and I am satisfied, whatever
their professions may be, and notwithstanding the self-
flattering reports of our labourers in the vineyard, that a
great number of the liberated lip-christians are heart-
mahomedans—and no stronger argument can be possibly
adduced to prove that emigration must ultimately be bene-
ficial, by transporting the fanatic and superstitious child
of nature far from scenes, connexions, and influences
which it is but reasonable to expect, must have, an almost
insurmountable preponderance, and if there be any chance
of overcoming this, it must be by a more general inter-
course with total strangers of superior minds and better
customs. If Africa if to he regenerated by her own sons,
it is only to be accomplished by themselves, their sons,
and sons' sons, becoming the chief agents in the great
work of salvation, both in soul and body ; one well-in-
formed, and true native christian, would do more towards
reformation amongst his brethren, than all the missionary
Doves, that ever took wing to feather their nests in the
colony, can accomplish.