of a still further separation came upon her soul, when the hollow echo of an approaching foot-fall caught her ear, and with a wild shriek she sprang forward and clasped her infants to her bosom as if she would have hidden them in the very centre of her heart from the grasp of the spoiler! And can woman -free, happy, cherished woman-think unmoved upon these things? She whose compassionate nature is moved for the sufferings of the lowest of the animal creation; whose sympa thy may be won upon even by the passing grief of happy childhood! Surely she will not forget the tears shed openly and in secret by her victim sister under the stinging lash, over the unaccomplished task at hot noon-day, in the silence of the dark midnight, upon the faces of the doomed infants, and amid the silence of the gloomy prison cell, where, though guiltless of crime, she has been made to share the abode and the punishment of the criminal.

CONSUMERS.

"THE enormous crimes and miseries inseparable from the system of slave cultivation have at length been fully exposed; henceforth the guilty responsibility of slave-holding rests with the consumer of slave produce. Let conscience, therefore, do her office, and fix the conviction of blood-guiltiness in our own bosoms."

That if there were no consumers of slave produce, there would be no slaves, is an axiom too self-evident to the meanest capacity, to require us to use a single argument in its demonstration. But that the class of consumers share equally in the guilt of slavery with those who are the more immediate upholders of the system, will not probably, by the multitude, be so readily admitted, Even while they acknowledge themselves to be the main supporters of this scheme of oppression, they would exonerate themselves from any portion of its turpitude; as if it were possible for them to be innocent of a crime of which they are wilfully the cause! Can they employ another in the commission of evil, enjoy the advantage of his villany, and yet suppose that the stain of iniquity clings only to him who was but the agent of their will? Were they disinterested reasoners, we think such would not be their decision.

Their

own hands do not, it is true, wield the blood-extorting lash, or rivet the fetter, but they know that it is done by others, in or der to afford at the cheapest rate the luxuries which they will neither resign, nor make one exertion to obtain from the hands of freemen. They have no hesitation in branding the trafficker in human flesh with the stigma of shame and cruelty; but while they would not for the universe engage personally in the exercise of so much barbarity, they will not relinquish one single iota of the comforts it procures for them. Is this consistency? Is such fastidiousness the result of humanity;-or has it not rather, if fairly examined, its root in mere selfishness? Their education has unfitted them for mingling actively in scenes of cruelty; they would sicken and shudder at the sight of wantonly shed blood, and the agonizing cries of a breaking heart would frighten sleep from their pillows, or were like a haunting spirit to their dreams. Is it so vastly meritorious, then, to consign to other hands what would be revolting to their feelings? Or may such sensibility claim its spring from the nobler principles of beneficence and justice, while they unhesitatingly receive from the hands of another, that which they have not nerve enough to obtain for themselves? Let them remember when they execrate the enormities of the slave system, that it is themselves who hold out the inducements for their perpetration. Guilty as the slave-holder may be, let them not flatter themselves that he alone is guilty. To them the criminality and hideousness of slavery are clearly discernible. But he is mentally benighted. The bribe which they have given him, the unrighteous mammon, "hath perverted his judgment." He is compassed about with the iron bands of prejudice, he fancies that to break the fetters of his slaves would be to insure his own ruin.-But it is the purchasers of his ill-gotten produce, who have woven around him this filmy web of prejudice. Let them but make it his interest to be just, and his moral perceptions will be clear as the day-light. Emancipation will no longer appear to him a visionary scheme, ruinous and impracticable. His opinions will be grounded on wiser and juster reasoning, and he will make haste to render back their liberty to those from whom he has so long withheld it. He who clings with so tenacious a grasp to his gathered stores of human wealth, while we hate his crime, may claim our pity for his self-delusion and his unhappy situation. But what have those

INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE FEMALE CHARACTER. 115

to advance in behalf of their heartless conduct, who, with the full light of conviction around them, obstinately persist to abet him in his error? Nothing, absolutely nothing, beyond the miserable and even criminal plea of self-convenience, or a disinclination to encounter a trivial portion of salutary self-denial ! -And they, who can so lightly weigh their own gratification against the intolerable anguish of their sister's lot,-who count the sacrifice of a few paltry luxuries, too vast a ransom for the redemption of thousands and tens of thousands of their fellowcreatures from a fate of servitude and darkness, are the good, the amiable, and the gentle of the earth. Such a maze of inconsistency is the human heart! We could fling away the pen, and weep in very shame and bitterness for the hard-heartedness of our sex. One would suppose that the bare knowledge of the terrible price at which those cherished comforts have been procured, would cause a woman to turn shuddering and loathingly away as though they were infected with a taint of blood. And the curse of blood is upon them! Though the dark red stain may not be there visibly, yet the blood of all the many thousands of the slain, who have died amid the horrors and loathsomeness of the slave-ship-been hurled by capricious; cruelty to the yawning wave, or sprang to its bosom in the madness of their proud despair-of those who have pined away to death beneath the slow tortures of a broken heart, who have perished beneath the tortures of inventive tyranny, or on the ignominous gibbet-all this lies with a fearful weight upon this most foul and unnatural system, and that insatiable thirst for luxury and wealth in which it first originated, and by which it is still perpetuated.

INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE FEMALE CHARACTER.

THIS is not one of the least important points of view, in which we are all called upon to examine the effects of slavery. On the right formation of the female character depends so much, not only of her own happiness, but of the well-being of all who are nearly connected with her, that whatever circumstances possess the power of moulding her mind and habits, imperatively demand a careful examination. The debasing

effects of slavery on those who are its victims, are too painfully obvious to require a portraiture. On these, therefore, we need not dwell, but may turn at once to their fairer, and more fortunate sisters.

It is on all sides acknowledged, that the domestic circle is the proper sphere of woman. We do not say that her talents and influence should be confined within these boundaries, but however beneficially they may be felt abroad, if homebred usefulness forms no part of her character, be her claims on our respect and admiration what they may, she fails of one half of her perfection. A knowledge of household' good is one of the most essential branches of female education. "I will venture to affirm," says the venerable Hannah More, "that let a woman know what she may, yet if she knows not this, she is ignorant of the most indispensable, the most appropriate branch of female knowledge." It is not in the fair, fluttering thing of fashion, the beautiful wonder and admiration of the hour, lovely though she may be, and possibly even gifted with high attainments of mind and character, that we are to look for the true standard of female excellence. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon," is not a more undeniable allegation, than that woman cannot at once satisfy the demands of fashionable and domestic life. They are wholly incompatible with each other, and whatever is yielded to the importunity of the one, detracts from the power of satisfying the claims of the other. In deciding this destiny of our country-women in unfitting them for the calm pleasures of domestic life, and leading them into the tumultuous vortex of folly and vanity-in giving them an education of showy accomplishments, instead of cultivated minds, and well regulated tempers—in teaching them the wish to shine, rather than the ambition to be useful-the desire of wealth and expensive pleasures, rather than intellectual advancement-in leading them to prefer the uneasy excitement of a crowd, to the quiet enjoyment of books, retirement, and rational conversation-the flattery and admiration of the many, to the sober approbation of the few-in teaching them to consult rather their inclinations than their duty-to follow the dictates of fancy or caprice, instead of reflective judgment—we believe the slave system will be found a powerful agent. Those who have been accustomed from youth to the ready service of dependants, rarely acquire habits of industry and extensive use

fulness. The mind as well as the body sinks into habits of listless indolence, and is suffered to remain inactive and unoccupied, or fritters away its noble energies in the trifling excitements of vanity and fashion.-Wealth becomes of immense importance as the means of supporting her extravagance, and of rivalling or eclipsing her compeers in their love of folly: her responsibility, her high nature as a rational creature are almost forgotten or unheeded; anxious rather to outshine her equals in their petty distinctions of splendour and display, than to raise those who are beneath her to a higher standard of intellectual and moral worth, she learns to trifle away the loan of her existence, and to waste in selfish gratifications, the thousands that have been wrung with the most odious injustice from the hand of unrewarded toil. Thus with a heart undisciplined by self-control, a mind enervated by frivolous pursuits, and a temper accustomed to the indulgence of all its humours, how frail is the bark of her happiness! How imperfectly is she calculated to fill the station and perform the duties assigned her by the hand of Providence. In prosperity, a thing, it may be, of beauty and grace, but of unsubstantial endowments-in adversity without support, and without resource, and in neither performing the duties of a consistent Christian. Nor is the evil we speak of confined to that district to which slavery is limited. The frequent intercourse between the inhabitants of the different states, gives a ready transmission to manners and habits. The ladies of the north imitate those of the south, and a fondness for show, ornament, and extravagance, almost to the exclusion of a desire for the better wealth of substantial acquirements and moral excellence, invades all classes of society.

MENTAL METEMPSYCHOSIS.

COULD we but persuade those with whom we plead, in behalf of the slave, to imagine themselves for a few moments in his very circumstances, to enter into his feelings, comprehend all his wretchedness, transform themselves mentally into his very self, they would not surely long withhold their compassion. Let them feel the heart-brokenness of being separated from all they love-take the long last glance at all that is dear to them,