then asked the Gentlemen of the Jury, if the outrages and atrocities depicted in this Act, and committed at the distant period of 1766, were not similar to those recited in the newspapers of the present day?It was clear that the evil lay, not in any temporary oppression of the present times, nor in the exactions of the landlords, the clergy, or tithe or tax gatherer, for these crimes had existed half a century since.

It had been stated, that to an overgrown population was to be attributed our unhappy and disturbed state; but let it be considered that these crimes had existed at a remote period, when the population was not one third the number it is at present; neither these malpractices, therefore, nor the root of the evil, lay in an overgrown population.

The Learned Serjeant having suggested to the best of his power, that the cause for the commission of the present atrocities lay not in any temporary oppression; it might therefore be asked, What was the cause and source of the present disturbances? To such an interrogatory his Lordship said they would receive from the law an answer, in the very first bill of indictment which would come before the Grand Jury on oath--" the not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and instigated by the enemy of God and man." This was the foundation and cause--the not having the fear of God; for when that salutary fear is cast away, the fear of man is not to be found.

The next inquiry is, What cure can be applied successfully to the alarming evil? What remedy is fit to be administered to the disorder? The Gentlemen of the Jury would not find either the remedy or the cure in the law. No, for the law has existed half a century, during which time it has been exercised with justice and rigour; and he would appeal to their own judgment and good sense, whether or not the cure lay in the law. Certain it is, that the law may and does restrain the progress of crime, but it cannot reach the root of the evil, nor the origin of crime. The law cannot change the nature or the habits of men; and the experience of the operation of the law during half a century, since the year 1766, is demonstrative of the fact. It is no impeachment of the law that the evil has not been eradicated, nor a reason why the law should be yielded up. So long as men continue to commit acts which should only characterize the brute, the law must reign; for, as long as the law exists, such practices must be put down; and he felt confident he would be at his post to do so.

But whilst their judgment felt indignant at the crimes and atrocities which now exist, their humanity and feeling as men

ought to be exercised to find out, if possible, the source of the evil: it lay in the loss of the fear of God, and of the influence of our holy religion. But how are the misguided to be recovered, or the further progress of the evil stopped? The answer lay not with the Court; it lay with the divine truth, which should be impressed upon the minds of all-"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

But to the experience of the Gentlemen before him-to the consciousness of their own hearts, he would put the questionWhat sort of training do the lower orders get? He would be bold to say, that if his own children, or the children of any of the Gentlemen whom he had the honour to address, were so trained, they would become the same abandoned and profligate pests of society. He did not speak of these truths theoretically, as he had made the disturbances of this country the frequent subject of his consideration during the last fifteen years; and in his opinion, until a well-ordered system of education was introduced not the mere mechanical art of reading and writing-to impress upon the young mind, as far as was in the power of man, to write upon the young heart, the great truths of Christianitytruths which all sects and parties concur in acknowledging; unless such was done, it was impossible that there should exist peace, loyalty, or tranquillity. Society, as it is at present, will go from bad to worse; and to reside among them, will shortly become a hell upon earth.

His Lordship trusted, that the gentlemen whom he addressed would take the matter seriously to heart, in pity to the rising generation, however they might despair of a reform of the present, as being only fit objects for the rigour of the law. The Learned Serjeant did not mean to legislate to the gentlemen; it would not become him to do this from the place whence he addressed the Grand Jury; he directed his observations to them as country gentlemen; and he would sincerely recommend to those who had schools on their estates, to improve the system of educating the children of their peasantry, and not allow them to drink of the poison imbibed at the hedge schools-to be careful that they were instructed in the fundamental truths of Christianity. The Learned Serjeant

saw no other means by which the fear of God, and religion, could be introduced into the rising generation. He stated that he was struck with awe, and his mind impressed with Christian feeling, when addressed by the Magistrates on the crimes which disgraced the country-" that they put their hope in God, that he would finally stop the wickedness which prevailed among

the people;" and whilst they continued to make such an appeal to the Deity, he sincerely hoped they need not despond, but that Providence would aid their efforts.

The Almighty made it obligatory, that "a child should be trained up in virtuous habits." Justice also demanded it; and whilst the rigour of the law, and the task, of exercising it upon the guilty, was aided by the Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, they ought to take care that they discharged other important duties at home, that they discharged all the offices of humanity to their fellow men, by striking at the root of the evils which afflicted their unhappy country. The Christian religion formed a fundamental part of the law of the land; and he should neglect his duty as a judge, and as a man, if he did not particularly notice this important point.

The first proceeding in a court of justice is the administration of an oath. Even the Gentlemen of the Grand Jury could not advance one step in the exercise of their

important functions without having first taken an oath. Unless a sense of the obligation which it imposed, was felt by those who took the oath, there must be an absence of the influence of the Christian religion and how could the low and humble class have a due sense of the obligation it imposed, when they were educated, in a great measure, ignorant of the great truths of revealed religion?

His Lordship apologized for the length of time he had occupied the Jury. His observations were not intended to supersede the important discharge of their duty as Grand Jurors. They principally applied to the discharge of their private duties as men and as Christians, and would, in his opinion, tend to tranquillize the country more than the law could do. The efficient discharge of their private duties would eradicate the horrible source of those abominations which disgrace and disfigure the character of their country.

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. THE General Theological Seminary of this Church, it was stated in our number for March, p. 116, was to be removed from New Haven to New York, in consequence of the unanimous resolution of the Special General Convention. That removal has taken place; and an excellent address, on occasion of opening the Seminary, was delivered by the Right Rev. John Henry Hobart, D.D. (Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church in the State of New York), in Trinity Church, in the city of New York, on the 11th of March last. This address treats on the objects of the Institution (the raising of a learned, orthodox, pious, and practical ministry), the principles by which it is to be regulated, the beneficial results which, with the divine blessing, may be anticipated from it-and the means by which these objects are to be accomplished, and these results are to be attained. The discourse closes with an admirable address to the students, enforcing upon them the necessity of diligence and piety; for the whole of which we regret that we have not room. We cannot, however, withhold the following passages from our readers, who will doubtless offer their fervent prayers that the great Head of the Church may prosper the establishment, and make it indeed a seminary, where pious and exemplary ministers may continue to be trained for the spiritual edification of the church in the western world.

"O! who among us can realize this office and this charge, and not be almost overwhelmed with the awful responsibility which they involve? There is One, who

can make us sufficient for these things; or, who would not shrink from the work? Realize, young gentlemen, daily and constantly, its nature and its responsibility; that you may daily and constantly, looking to the Source of your strength and consolation, labour to prepare yourselves for the discharge of its momentous duties.

"But, my young friends, unhallowed will be the ambition, which devotion to the glory of God does not guide and sanctify. It will not, like the holy inspiration from Heaven, warm, and brighten, and purify; but, kindled at the impure altars of the world, it will consume and destroy. Be on your guard, then, against worldly ambition-be on your guard even against literary and theological fame: love it indeed and cherish it-it leads to generous and ardent exertions;-but love and cherish more-love and cherish supremely, the approbation of your Master, the promotion of his glory, and the salvation of the souls of your fellow men. With that Master hold constant intercourse, not only in the worship and ordinances, which it is not to be supposed that you would neglect, but in stated private devotion and in secret prayer; and in short ejaculations, taken from the devotional language of Scripture, or from the inimitable forms of our Church, lift up your hearts, even in the midst of your studies and your duties, to heaven-to your Saviour and your God. Of prayer it may be said with more than poetic truth, -ardent, it opens heaven, lets down

a stream

Of glory on the consecrated hour
Of man in audience with the Deity.'

"Amidst the investigations and high pleasures of literary and theological science, never forget that, with the humblest individual, to the salvation of whose soul your labours will be hereafter directed, you must, as sinners, rely for pardon on the atonement, and for sanctification on the grace of the divine Mediator. Fading are those wreaths of glory that crown the successful competitors in the race, the worthiest that SLAVE

SIR,

"His Majesty's Ship Tartar, off Bonny. "Herewith I beg leave to forward you a Declaration made by me, agreeably to the orders of the Right Hon. the Lords of the Admiralty, and the treaties for abolishing slave trading; also a list of papers belonging to the Spanish schooner, Anna Maria, therein described.

Ir is a subject of the deepest regret, that the traffic in human beings appears to be carried on at present to nearly as great an extent as at any former period, and to be accompanied with the most unparalleled and unheard-of cruelties-cruelties aggravated, and in some measure occasioned, by the decided determination with which this country has set its face against this ungodly and detestable traffic. During the later periods when the slave trade existed among ourselves, the slave merchants and traders were induced to adopt and comply with certain regulations, which might diminish as much as possible the horrors of the middle passage; that is, the voyage from Africa to the West Indies. But now that the whole trade is proscribed, and our own countrymen take no part in it, and many other nations have joined in reprobating the system, and in determining, if possible, to crush it; the traffic in human flesh has fallen into the hands of needy and unprincipled adventurers, who care not through what oceans of crime and bloodshed they wade, if only they can secure a little paltry and present advantage. The consequence is, that the slave trade is now carried on with a waste of human life beyond all conception, arising from the vessels being small, ill-contrived, and badly found and provisioned, and from the hasty measures and various precautions the captains are compelled to adopt to escape detection. All their efforts, however, are often in vain :-through the divine blessing on the vigilance of our commander on the station, Sir R. Mends, 1800 have recently been rescued from slavery. And though one vessel with 500 slaves on board, and a party of our gallant seamen, was overwhelmed by a sudden hurricane, and sunk in the mighty deep-and though many others of the recaptured negroes perish through fatigue and hardships, yet we trust a considerable number of the survivors will, through the divine blessing on our missionary exertions, be made partakers of that liberty with which Christ makes his people free. Meanwhile, as a specimen of some of the horrors to which our fellow men are exposed, and as a stimulus to greater earnestness in prayer on their behalf, we print the following letter of Admiral Sir G. Collier, which has lately fallen in our way.

"In doing this particular act of duty, I feel I should ill fulfil the duties falling upon me, from my rank and station on this coast, if I did not describe the horrible state which this vessel was in when visited by British officers.

"The tonnage of the Anna Maria is under 200; yet had she on board nearly 500 living souls!

"The intense heat and filthy state of the slave rooms (only two feet eleven inches high) must have made the condition of the poor miserable beings there confined, approach nearer to suffocation than any other: clinging to the gratings to inhale a mouthful of fresh or pure air, and fighting with each other for a taste of water, showing their parched tongues, and pointing to their reduced stomachs, as if overcome by famine; for although the living cargo had only been completed the day before, yet many who had been longer on board were reduced to such a state as skeletons, that I was obliged to order twelve immediately to this ship, to be placed under the care of the surgeon, and the day following 100 more, to afford the rest a chance of surviving the passage to Sierra Leone!

"In short, the crowded state of the vessel, the dirt and filth inseparable from such a state, the sickening and desponding appearance of most of the wretched victims, confined more loathsomely and more closely than hogs brought to a morning market for sale, was so appalling and distressing to our feelings, as to cause our wonder and astonishment to cease at the maddening act of self-destruction which had occurred to some by throwing themse'ves overboard, a prey to the sharks in attendance, rather than endure a continuance of that misery which they had only tasted of, or perhaps rather than quit the land dear to them by many unknown ties.

"I have the honour to be, Sir,
"Your most obedient humble servant,

"G. R. COLLIER, Commodore."