18. "And every justice of the peace, upon his own knowledge of such un lawful meeting, or information thereof to him made within ten days after, shall issue his warrant to apprehend the persons so met or assembled, and cause them to be brought before himself or any other justice of his county or corporation, to be dealt with as this act directs, and every justice failing herein shall forfeit and pay eight dollars for every such failure, and every sheriff or other officer who shall fail upon knowledge or information of such meeting to endeavor to suppress the same and bring the offenders before some justice of the peace, to receive due punishment, shall be liable to the like penalty of eight dollars, both which penalties shall be to the informer, and recoverable with costs before any justice of the county or corporation wherein such failure shall be, and every under sheriff, serjeant, or constable, who, upon knowledge or information of such meeting, shall fail to perform his duty in suppressing the same and apprehending the persons so assembled, shall forfeit and pay four dollars for every such failure to the informer, recoverable with costs before any justice of the county or corporation wherein such failure shall be."

For the sake of making a distinct impression, we submit the following remarks.

1. How great must be the dread of mischief from slaves, when it is deemed necessary to punish any white man for permitting any slave except his own to remain more than four hours on his plantation, without a written order from the owner of such slave. It very often happens, that parents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, belong to different masters. Yet if one of these relations visits another, he could not be permitted to spend the night, without exposing the person, on whose plantation he was, to a prosecution. What a troublesome supervision are slave-holders compelled to exercise over the black population. How astonishing that they should wish to entail these evils on the rising communities beyond the Mississippi.

2. If there should happen a promiscuous assemblage of colored people in the evening, for the purposes of religious instruction, and there should happen to be even two slaves present, it would constitute an unlawful assembly; and every person voluntarily present, unless the worship were conducted by a white minister, regularly ordained or licensed, would be subject to a prosecution and disgraceful punishment.

3. If even two little slaves should attend any school by day or night, for the purpose of learning to read, with the avowed and only design of being able to read the Bible, such an attendance would constitute an unlawful assembly.

4. It would be the duty of any justice of the peace to apprehend or disperse these little offenders; and he might cause them to be whipped not exceeding twenty lashes.

5. Any free person, whether white or black, who should be present at any school, where slaves should be taught to read, would be liable to a fine of three dollars, or, in default of immediate payment, might be whipped twenty lashes, at the discretion of any justice, before whose tribunal he might chance to stand:

6. If a benevolent young gentleman, not licensed to preach, should read a chapter of the Bible or one of Burder's Village Sermons, and make a prayer at an evening conference, and even two slaves should be present, he would be liable to a fine of three dollars, and, if he had not the money in his pocket, to a whipping on the naked back.

7. If a young lady should open a Sabbath school, and on God's holy day, with the most pious dispositions, should attempt to teach ignorant children to read the Bible, if even two slaves were present, she would be guilty of holding an unlawful assembly, and might be brought before a justice, fined three dollars, and, in default of immediate payment, be sentenced to receive "on her bare back" twenty lashes "well laid on."

8. If a black minister of the Gospel, born free, well educated and regularly ordained, with the faith of the Ethiopian treasurer, and the talents of Touissaint L'Overture, should hold an evening religious service in Virginia, at which slaves should be present, the preacher and every individual of the assembly, white and black, masters and slaves, would be liable to an ignominious punishment. There is a black clergyman in Philadelphia, who has for many years been a member of the Presbytery, and sustains the character of a faithful minister of the New Testament. In Vermont is a colored man, who for thirty years or more has been a preacher of the Gospel, whom the whole body of congregational clergy in that state receive as their brother, or their father, and who is eminent for pastoral qualifications. Yet if either of these men should travel into Virginia, and should there, in the evening, preach Christ to his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh," now held in bondage, he would be liable to instant apprehension, prosecution, trial, fine, and, if the fine were not immediately paid, to a public whipping.

9. If a regularly ordained white clergyman of Virginia should, on the Sabbath, preach from the text which declares, that the Lord "is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance;" and after public worship should hold a Sabbath school in his own kitchen, for the instruction of immortal beings born in his own house, he would be liable to the penalty of the above-cited law.

10. If a planter, in the recesses of his own plantation, should teach his own slaves to read, he and his little pupils might be apprehended; they to be publicly whipped, and he to be fined, and whipped also, in default of payment.

Many more cases might be stated, which fairly come within this law; but we close these remarks with three suggestions.

First, it is the manifest intention of the legislature of Virginia, and of the majority of slave-holders, utterly to prevent slaves from being taught to read or write.

Secondly, the intention is equally manifest to prevent the preaching of the Gospel by persons of African extraction. These two things, taken in connexion with other parts of the slave-system, will, if suffered to go into full operation, doom the mass of slaves, in all future times, to entire ignorance of the Gospel.

. Thirdly, it is impossible for an enlightened conscience to doubt, that the slave-holders of Virginia, taken as a body, are engaged in "fighting against God." There are, we trust, numerous exceptions to this daring hostility. It cannot be doubted, however, what will be the issue of the contest. The many millions of blacks hereafter to live on our continent will not be debarred from reading the Bible; nor will Africans be always forbidden to preach the Gospel.

RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

For the Panoplist

ON THE CHANGES OF MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CHARACTER.

THERE are some intellectual operations so exceedingly delightful, and giving rise to a train of such agreeable associations, that I am always pleased to indulge them. The feelings which may once have arisen on some occasion of commanding interest, are so soothing to the soul, that any event which recals those feelings or the images connected with them, is, at least for the moment, welcomed with much satisfaction. The most established opinions held by one of mature age have been received from so many sources, and in their progress have been connected with so many others and received a tinge perhaps from them all, that, were it possible for one to retrace all the operations of his own mind to the days of infancy-to discover the beginning of one and another of his present sentiments-to note the circumstances of a passing moment, which contributed to make the impression lasting, and to give it a specific direction, such an unravelling of the intricate web of a single human mind, would furnish one of the most interesting lessons ever received, except those in the Volume of Inspiration.

But though such disclosure of the mysterious workings of the soul is not likely to be made to mortal eyes, and though few would probably be able to sustain a full display of their own moral character, if it were thus set before them-nevertheless, there are scattered here and there in our path some memorials of the origin of our present sentiments, concerning all the subjects which we now esteem worthy a place in our contemplations. These memorials of the past state of our affections on moral subjects, might be brought forward to advantage as an important aid in fixing the standard of our own character. They might show how far we have been influenced by others in the formation of our religious belief, and how much the complexion of our minds, at this moment, is owing to the reflection of various shades of light thrown on them from other minds within whose influence we have been placed.

Were a perfect reminiscence bestowed on a man of various business and advanced years, and should he be able to recount with strict precision all those principal events which have moulded his character into the present shape, and further, could he estimate the specific effect of each circumstance through which he has passed to the feelings and beHef of this moment, how inconceivable strong would be the attractions of a recital of those various stages of his journey, those individual points of time and of action, from which, as a goal, he took his departure in the several stages of a long and eventful career.

Let the reader transport himself backward in imagination to some important moments in his existence, when he received those grand impressions which stamped his character with features which no subsequent process can obliterate, no time efface. I doubt not, that every person, who has a clear recollection of the events of childhood, of

the few years which succeeded it, would be able to fix on some particular circumstances, perhaps of comparative insignificance on all other considerations, which nevertheless so completely changed the current of thought, that in the view of the Omniscient mind they were precisely the very hinge, on which the destinies of life were made

to turn.

Allowing that one retained in memory the principal events not only, of early days, but the particular trains of thought which originated in those events, the connexion of one chain of associations with others, what strong attractions would a narration of his revolutions of taste and feeling have for those, who love to study the human character. If such persons would afford us a faithful delineation of their mental operations, how should we listen with almost breathless silence, and mourned over their unhappy wanderings.

To one, whose infancy had been nursed in the bosom of piety, but whose years had been spent in crimes of darkest dye, it might pertinently be said, you are truly an object of compassion. Though the loveliness of virtue was placed before you, in her most alluring forms, yet you managed to keep almost as clear of her influence as if you had been the tenant of a world where such a principle had no place. Notwithstanding the holy example of parents who watched and prayed around your cradle, your early footsteps would tread none but the paths of the destroyer. In the early budding of your intellect some child of corruption and infidelity whispered into your ear, on a fatal moment, the first lessons of practical violation of the divine law. Your youthful attempts at original expression were exerted in profaning the holy name of that Savior whom all heaven adores. The first narratives to which you listened with delight, detailed the feats of some desperado, who with the malice of a fiend had thrown down the gauntlet to all religion, and forced virtuous men to take arms against him in defence of all that is desirable in civil order, and of all that is venerable in piety. You exulted in his hair-breadth escapes from the hand of justice; you burned with desire to imitate them. His flagrant violations of all that can dignify life or give comfort in death, you secretly applauded, and eventually practised.

As a second closed the sad story of his aberrations from the paths of righteousness, with what emphasis might it be inquired,-How came it, that with your early opportunities for observing the fatal wrecks of ambition, you should choose the same path which has conducted thousands to great misery, and not one to the anticipated happiness? what strong infatuation seized your mind, when you planned those enterprises of madness, which, instead of placing you on the pinnacle of earthly glory, have covered your head with shame, and filled your heart with anguish? Did you not know, that many were sceking the same height with yourself, some of whom had better abilities, more assistance, and fairer opportunities to obtain it? What blindness could close your eyes to the possibility of a defeat, that you should risk every thing in your quiet possession for the scanty probability of gaining an office? Had your prospects of success been much fairer, still, what mysterious charm beguiled your understanding, that you should at once turn your back on justice and truth and honesty,

and sell even your soul for the doubtful chance of dazzling the eyes of a stupid mob by the glitter of such trappings as catch the attention of fools?

Having listened to the recital of a third, with what propriety might he be interrogated respecting the origin of that fatal influence which first alienated his affections from a circle of religious friends, and urged him forward with the wild fury of a maniac, in the paths of high-handed iniquity. In what ill omened hour, it might be asked, did the spirit of determined and avowed hostility to your Maker first infuse its baleful poison through all the powers of your nature, and excite you to proclaim a truce with the great adversary, and incessant war with heaven? What dark suspicions first estranged you from the bosom of those faithful friends, whose counsel would have guarded you from ruin? from friends whose days were consumed with care, and whose nights with grief, at the discovery of your wayward imagination, and whose hearts were ready to burst with anguish when first learning your settled determination to sit down in the seat of the scorner. With what sensations did you first abandon the kind hospitality of a father's roof, for the mirth of the billiard table? how did you for the first time relish the songs of the bacchanalian, after having listened to the melodies of David, or read the sublime strains of Isaiah?

For the Panoplist.

ON THE SACRIFICES MADE TO AMBITION.

SLAVES to sense may be expected, like others of their condition, to obey the commands of their master. Men's natural fondness for show is not to be wondered at, after considering, that most persons, who judge at all, form that judgment from a mere glance at external appearances, and very seldom take the trouble to examine any further, after seizing a conclusion without reason or reflection. As this greediness for things that are seen and temporal, is one of the universal faults of worldly men, and exerts too much control over the minds of Christians, it may be worth while to consider a moment several examples of its operation.

1. In the thirst for power, and the means adopted to attain it.

Probably no man was ever engaged deeply in business of state, who would not allow that it was an uncomfortable and toilsome occupation, The weighty cares attached to responsible offices are excessively distracting to the mind, and exhaust the powers of the constitution with great rapidity. That it exposes the incumbent to constant reproach, is proverbial. Nevertheless, such are the charms of distinction, and so contagious the ambition for whatever confers it, that in all nations, the dignity of a ruler is sought with an avidity that is never satisfied, a perseverance that is never tired; and a boldness that dangers cannot daunt, nor defeat subdue. Yet, after all the imaginary splendors reflected from the robes of office, the temptations to which it exposes, and the positive evils it brings on the possessor, are far more than an equiva lent for all the substantial enjoyment it could ever yield to a good man,