made this subject the principal theme of her active exertions : and it may safely be affirmed, without the least disparagement to others, that no one of her sex, in America, has hitherto contributed as much to the enlightenment of the public mind, relative to this momentous question, as she has done. In short, she ranked as second to none, among the female philanthropists of modern times, who have devoted their attention to it, if we except the justly celebrated Elizabeth Heyrich, of England and had her valuable life been prolonged, there can be no doubt that her well-merited fame would soon, at least, have rivalled that of the distinguished and eminently philanthropic author, just named.

Her correspondence with the editor of the "Genius of Universal Emancipation" commenced in the early part of the year 1826. Though she had previously written the prize poem, on the subject of slavery, as aforesaid, her mind had not then been fully awakened to the nature of the system; neither had it been much occupied in contemplating the proper means to be used for its extinction. The articles which she furnished for the pages of the work, embraced a variety of subjects in the field of general and miscellaneous literature. Among the first of her contributions, expressly designed for it, the pieces entitled, "The Treaty of Penn," and the " Appeal of the Choctaw," exhibit the effusions of a tender and feeling heart, alive to the multiplied wrongs and outrages heaped upon the forest race, as well as an intimate acquaintance with the Indian character. The articles headed, "The Wife's Lament," " Midnight," and "The Depths of the Sea," were also among her earlier communications for the same work, and afford specimens of varied talents and the rich stores of a highly cultivated mind. The following lines are extracted from one of them,* entitled, "A Paraphrase of part of the Nineteenth Chapter of 2d Kings." The delineation is graphic, and the strains sublime.—

"The screaming eagle fled across the sky,

And left the scene of havoc far behind;
The crush of wide spread ruin rose on high-
But He, Jehovah, was not in the wind.

* All the other articles here alluded to, will be found in the succeeding

pages.

The cavern echoes rang a hollow sound,

Or thunder'd back the crash of falling rock;
The valleys rose— -the waves forgot their bound-
But God was not within the earthquake's shock.
Then came a fire-the sheeted flames ascend,
And spread across the sky a lurid glare;
The glowing forests in one ruin blend,

And sink to nothing-but God was not there.

Then came a still small voice-the whisper'd word
Not even silence from her slumber broke,
Yet was distinctly by the prophet heard-

And in that voice, the Lord, Jehovah, spoke."

As she now had an opportunity to acquire more particular information concerning the nature and tendency of slavery, by a perusal of the facts, &c. inserted in the periodical work above mentioned, the horrible evils of that system were gradually unfolded to her view, and her attention was forcibly attracted to the subject. The articles entitled, "The Negro Father's Lament over the body of his Infant Son," "The Recaptured Slave," and "Pharaoh," were some of the first which she furnished upon this subject. Many others might be enumerated, evincive of the deep sympathy that she entertained for the degraded and suffering slave, and the strong desires that she felt for his improvement and emancipation. In a communication inserted on the Fourth of July, 1827, relating to the question of slavery, she presents a most striking contrast between the principles asserted in the "Declaration of Independence," and the acts of the government of the United States, in relation to the perpetuation of slavery. Few writers upon this subject, if any indeed, have exhibited clearer or more comprehensive views, or even expressed their sentiments in more appropriate and forcible terms, than she has done. With what lively emotion, and patriotic ardour, does she pour forth the genuine effusions of exalted philanthropy, in the following beautiful lines !—

"My Country! I behold thee now, as when

Thy wastes were trodden but by savage men;

When through thy blooming bowers of green and shade,
The Indian only, free, and fearless, stray'd-

And o'er thy sleeping waters silence hung,
Save when the screaming wild-fowl upwards sprung,
Or when the light canoe was launch'd, that bore
The soil's untutor'd lords from shore to shore;
When thy bright bowers in rich luxuriance smiled,
A blooming waste-a paradisal wild ;-
But now, when over thee I bend my glance,
And think how like a dream of young romance
Hath been thy history, warm feelings start,
And proud emotions steal around my heart.
Oh! I do fondly love thee! I would twine
Thy weal and woe with every thought of mine,
Rejoice to see thee crown'd with glory's wreath,
Or cling to thee in wretchedness and death.
Did not the brightness of thy starry skies
First shed their splendour on my infant eyes?
Did not thy forest's bloom, thy zephyr's blow,
First wake within my heart its rapturous glow?
And all of beautiful and fair in thee,
First lift my thoughts from earth to Deity!
Thus have I felt-but list!-methought a groan-
Some suffering victim's agonizing moan,
Burst on my ear-or was it fancy's voice?
Is there one heart too wretched to rejoice
On this bright day? the theme of many a tongue!
By many a bard in living numbers sung!
Hath not imagination borne me back

To scenes of war, the charge, the wild attack?
No! 't was indeed the tyrant's lash that rung
That groan of anguish from his victim's tongue!
Oh! I could lay me in the very dust,

And weep in sadness o'er the cankering rust
That sheds its blighting influence o'er thy fame,
And sinks thee down to infamy and shame.
My guilty Country! these loud triumphs hush,
Think on this foul dishonouring blot, and blush!
Poor injured Afric! Freedom frowns on thee,
In this bright land, where all beside are free.
My Country! rouse thee from thy guilty sleep,
And with hot tears thy sullied honour weep,

Nor weep alone-remove the dark disgrace,
That calls the burning blushes o'er thy face;
Yet for the Afric's tears of blood atone,

And make him worthy to be call'd thy son."

She continued to write pretty regularly for the "Genius of Universal Emancipation," as a correspondent, until the Autumn. of the year 1829. At the solicitation of the editor, she then consented to superintend a female department in that work. She did not permit her name to be generally known as an editor; -yet it was not owing to a want of moral courage, nor a doubt concerning the propriety of occupying the station, that she was induced to withhold it from the public, in this case. Her resolution was purely the result of an anxious desire to avoid an ostentatious appearance, and to check, even in her own breast, the slightest dictate of vanity in looking to public notoriety. On commencing the editorial management of her department, as aforesaid, she issued a brief address to the public, in which she says,—

"The subject of African slavery is one, which, from its very nature, should be deeply interesting to every American female, for to which of the numberless sympathies of woman's bosom may not the slave appeal? Man may bring to the conflict moral or political feelings, or he may come forward to oppose the demon, clad in the divine armour of wide-spread philanthropy. But by all the holy charities of life is woman called upon to lend her sympathy and her aid to the victims of a widely extended evil. We know that there are few, we would hope none, who openly advocate the system of slavery-but will Christian sisters, and wives, and mothers, stand coldly inert, while those of their own sex are daily exposed, not only to the threats and revilings-but to the very lash of a stern, unfeeling task-master? They cannot-they will not !—they have tears, they have prayers, and in their eloquence they will plead the cause of the oppressed."

Very shortly afterwards she published an article which she entitled, "An Appeal to the Ladies of the United States." This may indeed be viewed as a most happy effort, in awakening female philanthropy. It is thrilling, persuasive, and convincing. We here insert this excellent production entire. What lady, possessing a just sense of the dignity of her sex, or the genu

ine feelings of maternal affection, can peruse it without experiencing a kindling emotion of sorrow, or the glow of virtuous indignation, at the multiplied wrongs and cruelties to which the slave is subjected. But she does not rest in merely arous ing their sympathies. She points out clearly the mode in which their influence may be exercised, in producing a reformation in the community, and extinguishing the system in which those abuses and mal-practices have their origin and support.

"AN APPEAL

"TO THE LADIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

"It has been frequently asserted, that, to the heart of woman, the voice of humanity has never yet appealed in vain-that her ear is never deaf to the cry of suffering, nor her active sympathies ever unheeded when called upon, in behalf of the oppressed. If this be true, then surely we have no reason to fear, that she will listen with cold, careless inattention to our appeal for those who are among the outcasts of creation-our African slave population.

"It will be unnecessary to enter very deeply into a discussion respecting the merits or demerits of the case before usfor we presume that there are few, especially among our own sex, who will not readily acknowledge the injustice of the slave system. It is admitted by the planters themselves, it must be felt by every thinking mind;-nor is it an outrage merely against the laws of humanity, but it is destructive and ruinous, both in its moral and political effects, alike to the master and to the victim of his oppression. We might bid you look abroad over a large section of our country, and you would behold fields lying waste and uncultivated-here and there a lordly domain rising in proud eminence, surrounded by clusters of miserable tenements, whose still more miserable inhabitants are toiling indolently and unwillingly to feed the luxury of their possessor-and we might bid you listen, for a moment, and you would hear the clank of chains, and the low deep groan of unutterable distress, mingling with the exulting hurras that tell of our country's liberty. We might tell you of more than this-we might tell you of females, ay, females-maidens and mothers, kneeling down before a cruel taskmaster, while the horsewhip was suspended over them, to plead for mercy—