quarter per cent.; that is, its annual average clearance in each of these three periods, was in this proportion; for every 1001. annually cleared in the first period, the annual average clearance in the second period, was 1587. 10s., and in the third period, was 345l. 6s. 8d. This is the statement made by Mr. Steele, and a most important one it is; for if we compare what the estate had cleared in the first to what it had cleared in the last of these periods, and have recourse to figures, we shall find that Mr. Steele had more than tripled the income of it, in consequence of his new management, during his residence in Barbadoes. And this is in fact what he says himself in words at full length, in his answer to the 17th question proposed to him by the committee of the Privy-council on the affairs of the slave trade. In a plantation,' says he, of 200 slaves in June 1780, consisting of 90 men, 82 women, 56 boys, and 60 girls, though under the exertions of an able and honest manager, there were only 15 births and no less than 57 deaths, in three years and three months. An alteration was made in the mode of governing the slaves. The whips were taken from all the white servants. All arbitrary punishments were abolished, and all offences were tried and sentence passed by a Negro Court. In four years and three months after this change of government, there were 44 births, and only 41 deaths, of which ten deaths were of superannuated men and women, some above 80 years old! But in the same interval the annual net clearance of the estate was above three times more than it had been for ten years before!!!"

"Dr. Dickson, the editor of Mr. Steele, mentions these profits also, and in the same terms, and connects them with an eulogium on Mr. Steele, which is worthy

* Dr. Dickson, who resided many years in the West Indies, says, "The planters do not take the right way to make human beings put forth their strength. They apply main force where they should apply moral motives, and punishments alone, where rewards should be judiciously intermixed. They first beslave their poor people with their cursed whip, and then stand and wonder at the tremour of their nerves, and the laxity of their muscles. And yet, stange to tell, these very men affirm and affirm truly, that a slave will do more work for himself in one afternoon than he can be made to do for his owner in a whole day, or more."

6

our attention. Mr. Steele,' says he, saw that the Negroes, like all other human beings, were to be stimulated to permanent exertion only by a sense of their own interests in providing for their own wants and those of their offspring. He therefore tried rewards, which immediately roused the most indolent to exertion. His experiment ended in regular wages, which the industry he had excited in his whole gang enabled him to pay. Here was a natural, efficient, and profitable reciprocity of interests. His people became contented; his mind was freed from that perpetual vexation, and that load of anxiety, which are inseparable from the vulgar system, and in little more than four years, the annual net clearance of his property was more than tripled.' Again, in another part of the work, Mr. Steele's plan may no doubt receive some improvements, which his great age obliged him to decline,but it is perfect as far it goes. To advance above 300 field-negroes, who had never before moved without the whip, to a state nearly resembling that of contented, honest and industrious servants, and, after paying for their labour, to triple in a few years the annual net clearance of the estate, these, I say, were great achievements for an aged man in an untried field of improvement, pre-occupied by inveterate vulgar prejudice. He has indeed accomplished all that was really doubtful or dificult in the undertaking, and perhaps all that is at present desirable either for owner or slave; for he has ascertained as a fact, what was before only known to the learned as a theory, and to practical men as a paradox, that the paying of slaves for their labour does actually produce a very great profit to their owners.' ”*.

*See Thoughts on the Necessity of Improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies, by T. Clarkson, Esq.

Received for the poor Widow, from Friend at Devonport, 5s.

"I said to her one day, as we were walking down the green lanes, just when we came opposite that beautiful house with the lawn and carriage-sweep before it: I said to her then, 'I suppose, Miss Emma, nothing less than a coach-and-four will please you," when she smiled; and I do think she expects a very handsome fortune." Page 10.

London:

THE UNHAPPY MARRIAGE.

PART I.

"Where shall we find the man who looks out for one who places her chief happiness in the practice of virtue, and makes her duty her continual pleasure? No: men rather seek for money as the complement of all their desires; and regardless of what kind of wives they take, they think riches will be a minister to all kinds of pleasure, and enable them to keep horses, hounds, to drink, feast and game with their companions, pay their debts contracted by former extravagancies, or some such vile and unworthy end and indulge themselves in pleasures which are a shame and scandal to human nature. Now, as for the women, how few of them are there, who place the happiness of their marriage in the having a wise and a virtuous friend; one who will be faithful and just to all, and constant and loving to them? who, with care and diligence will look after, and improve the estate, and without grudging, allow whatever is prudent and convenient. Rather, how few are there, who do not place their happiness in out-shewing others in pomp and show." Steele.

THE institution of marriage between the sexes is a fine provision made by Divine Providence, to promote human happiness, but for the want of discretion in the parties, it often becomes a source of wretchedness and woe. This union should never be formed, except by those who have a mutual and strong affection for each other; and even then, the utmost degree of prudence should regulate their conduct, in the appointment of the time when it should take place; and the adjustment of the various interests which are so deeply involved in it. When persons marry for the purpose of allying themselves to families of distinction, or of acquiring property or notice in society, it does not require any prophetic knowledge to foretel their consequent misery; because these possessions, when acquired, cannot be admitted as a proper substitute for that reciprocal love, which is the perennial spring of conjugal bliss. And even when this sacred passion glows in the breast-when it moves them towards each other in all the tenderness of its softest and most impassioned expressions when it invests the person, and the mind, and the character, with the charm of unrivalled excellence, and inspires them with the heroic determination, to sacrifice the esteem of friends, and the trash of this world's wealth, rather than

break the solemn vow and separate for life, they should not rush together with the impetuosity of a headlong indiscretion, but pause, till the path-way of providence is cleared of those formidable difficulties, which often prove a stumbling-block to their prosperity and honour, after the ceremony has been performed.

When persons are making arrangements for marriage who have no parents, or judicious friends whom they can consult, and on whose judgment they can place some dependance, they labour under great moral disadvantages, and should feel themselves called upon to exercise more than ordinary discretion, lest they plunge themselves into difficulties from which no one can be expected to rescue them. But when parents are living, not to consult them-not to ask their sanction-and not to pay some degree of deference to their opinion, is an offence against the law of propriety, and is very generally productive of the most fatal evils. Are not parents more deeply interested in the marriage of their children than any other persons, and ought any pledges to be given between the contracting parties till they have been spoken to on the subject? Is it not a mark of respect to which they are justly entitled? And are they not from their age and experience, and affection, qualified to give advice? How far it is binding on a young person to obey his parents, who may disapprove of a proposed marriage, is a question which I shall not presume to decide; but that no young person ought to make, or receive any overtures, till they have been solicited to give their opinion and sanction, is too obvious to the dictates of good sense, and filial attachment, to need any lengthened discussion. But this is very rarely the case. An affection is formed-it is cherished-it grows up into ardent, if not romantic attachment: interviews take place-letters and presents are exchangedand the imagination is captivated and delighted with the visions of futurity-and then the parents are requested to give their permission, not their advice. And if, at this stage of the business, they object, either from caprice, or from a full conviction that the proposed union is improper or unsuitable, what direful consequences often result! Their objections, in some cases, are treated with indecent scorn, and the marriage takes