picturesque attitudes; to vehement and impassioned invective; or to quaint and original extravagancies-but they will not give their money! This is the test of eloquence. Here was no sentiment of pride-no desire of ostentatious liberality to be gratified-no greeting in the market-place could follow these anonymous contributions; the appeal reached the pocket through the heart. In our opinion this fact settles the controversy. Singularity will always attract a crowd: a tumbler soon collects his band of admirers, but the interest terminates with the exhibition, and the uplifted cap disperses the mob sooner than a constable.

Among the clergy with whom Lady Huntingdon became acquainted in her early career of christian exertion, Fletcher of Madely ought not to be forgotten. He was, indeed, a lover of the things of God rather than of the things of men. The vacant parish of Dunham, in Cheshire, was offered to him by Mr. Hill: the income amounted to four hundred pounds, and the situation was healthy and agreeable. "Alas, sir (replied Mr. Fletcher) Dunham will not suit me-there is too much money and too little labour !" Mr. Hill then proposed Madely, which Fletcher joyfully accepted, and never sought any other preferment. Of this admirable man it is impossible to speak without glowing into panegyric: in him we seem to behold a second Leighton. The beauty of his piety shone upon his countenance, and under the rays of that Day Spring which enlightened his heart, his face was, as it were, the face of an angel. When preaching in the French church in Dublin, many persons attended who were known to be unacquainted with the French. language. "We want," they said, "to look at him, for heaven seemed to beam from his countenance." The histories of such men are the most eloquent call to the unconverted, and a day in the company of Fletcher was more salutary to the soul than a whole volume of Baxter. His virtues were not such as dazzle and bewilder the eye of the worldling; they were violets, to employ the beautiful image of Leighton, of a dark and unostentatious colour, but full of fragrance, and glistening in the dew of heaven. His latter days were enfeebled by sickness; but Hope, that sweetest bird of the Christian's spring, always sang to him in a voice that carried happiness to his heart—

"I keep in my sentry-box (he said) till Providence remove me: my situation is quite suited to my little strength. I may do as much or as little as I please, according to my weakness; and I have an advantage here which I can have nowhere else in such a degree; my little field of action is just at my door, so that if I happen to overdo myself, I have but to step from my pulpit to my bed, and from my bed to my grave."

VOL. IX.-I

The death of Fletcher resembled the closing scene of a Christian drama: he was seized with sudden and alarming faintings while engaged in his sacred duties, but he struggled through them, and with dying hands administered the bread of life! From the Church he was carried to his bed, never more to cross a threshold in the village of Madely. The inhabitants seemed to have only one heart. A solemn stillness pervaded every family; every cottage was a house of mourning; and one universal cry ascended to heaven in behalf of their revered pastor. But the Angel of Death sat by the pillow of Fletcher; and to complete the affecting beauty of the scene, he was supported up in his bed, and his parishioners passed in tearful silence through his chamber. His eyes had seen the salvation of his Lord, and in the early shadows of his autumnal evening he departed in peace. Fletcher promoted the cause of piety, not only in his life, but by his writings. He was, in truth, a man of genius. Adam Clarke, certainly a competent judge, pronounced him one of the first polemical writers in the world. But it is not in controversy that we love to contemplate the tender features of his character, for the flush of excitement will warm the complexion even of the purest Christian. Toplady, a most virulent opponent of Fletcher, said of his writings that the serious passages were dulness doublecondensed, and the lighter passages impudence double-distilled.

And here we conclude these sketches, too hastily and imperfectly executed, of persons remarkable in their days for piety, learning, or enthusiasm. In the meantime, and while the conduct of the early Methodists is thus brought before our readers, let us earnestly recommend to their diligent meditation two aphorisms of two very eminent men, though differing widely from each other both in genius and in situation-Archbishop Potter and Robert Southey-" If you desire (said that excellent prelate to Wesley) to be extensively useful, do not spend your time and strength in contending for or against such things as are of a disputable nature, but in testifying against open, notorious vice, and in promoting real essential holiness." "It has been in the error (is the observation of Southey) of attributing an undue importance to some particular point, that sects have generally originated; they contemplate a part instead of the whole-they split the rays of truth, and see only one of the prismatic colours, while the members of the National Church live in the light." With these wise admonitions we dismiss the present volumes, which, whether we regard the persons to whom they refer, or the information they convey, are certainly among the most important contributions to the modern history of the gospel that have, for many years, been given to the world.

115

ART. VI.-1. The African Slave Trade and its Remedy. By THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON, Esq. (now Sir T. F. BUXTON, Bart.) London: John Murray. 1840.

2. Travels in the West-Cuba, with notices of Porto Rico and the Slave Trade. By DAVID TURNBULL, Esq., M.A., Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, and of the Royal Patriotic and Economical Society of the Havana. London: Longman and Co. 1840.

3. Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to consider of the Petition of the East India Company for relief, and to report thereon to the House; with the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee, and an Appendix and Index. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 4th of June, 1840.

THE station of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton in society, as the man upon whose shoulders has fallen the mantle of Wilberforce, would alone give weight to his opinions and importance to his assertions: but this importance is greatly enhanced when we find those opinions confirmed and those assertions substantiated by other and independent authority.

We have but to look at the progress of affairs in Europe during the course of the present century, and we shall see reason to acknowledge in how wonderful a manner the blessing of Almighty God has rested upon this country. We behold her laying her mailed grasp upon the shoulders of the mightiest despot the world ever saw, and hurling him from his usurped throne, while she held out at the same time a hand to raise the depressed and despised negro to his legitimate position.

In this magnificent work of liberation, we see, if we can make a difference, more moral glory in the last portion than the first; and, greatly as we admire and highly as we honour the conquests of a Wellington, we are not quite sure whether we do not rate somewhat higher the laurels of a Wilberforce.

To make a trio with that great and good man and with Clarkson, is a distinction of no common character; and we give him a high place among lofty-minded men when we assign it to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton.

To the man who is aware of the power exercised over the human heart by the baleful passion of Avarice, the present flourishing condition of the African Slave Trade will no longer be the subject of astonishment, although it must ever furnish him with matter for deep and abiding horror. The profits derivable from this abominable traffic are still sufficiently large to encourage enterprize and to repay speculation; and so long as this is the case, it would be in vain to hope for its suppression,

unless by the immediate interposition of Omnipotence itself. Monarchs have legislated and statesmen have negociated to no purpose, and societies and philanthropists are beginning to discover that their labours have been to a great extent unavailing, and to recognize the fearful truth that the slave trade, which they fondly hoped was rapidly on the wane, rages with increased vigour and unmitigated cruelty. The condition of the unhappy negro is now, indeed, more dreadful than ever, on account of the greater degree of concealment requisite in transporting him to the scene of his future labours; and the magnitude of his sufferings during the voyage across the Atlantic bears an exact proportion to the vigilance and activity of the cruisers employed on the various slaving stations.

It is plain that a remedy of a different nature from those hitherto practised must in this case be applied to ensure success; and such a remedy the excellent author of the work at the head of this article professes to point out to his readers. The first part of the book is chiefly valuable on account of the vast mass of information which it contains respecting the past and present condition of the African slave trade; and wherever Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton gives us the relation of facts, his statements may be completely relied upon. With the inferences drawn by him from those facts we cannot always exactly agree, although the deservedly high character borne by that gentleman is a sufficient guarantee against any intentional exaggeration of the extent and destructiveness of this horrible traffic. He proceeds, in the second division of his work, to treat of the only remedy which he conceives will be found available for the suppression of the slave trade. Open force has been tried, and tried in vain; and the treaties which have now been in operation for so many years have equally failed in effecting their object. We most heartily, then, concur in the opinion of Sir Thomas, that the christianization, and consequent civilization of Africa, is the only means to which we can now resort with any reasonable expectation of success for the entire abolition of slavery; and the methods which he has suggested for the attainment of this desirable end appear to be at once the most effectual which could be proposed, and to be comparatively easy of execution. This remedy must, however, be very slow in its operation, centuries must probably elapse before its design is fulfilled, and the pressing evils of slavery, and the abominable trade by which it is kept up, require some immediate palliation the means of such palliation we shall by and bye investigate.

On the whole, the work before us is well worthy of the friend and coadjutor of our unrivalled Wilberforce. The author's

style, though occasionally deficient, both in force and fluency, is nevertheless perspicuous, sensible, and manly; and his work possesses one irresistible attraction, which serves likewise to distinguish it from the languid compilations of the mere statistical writer, it is evidently the production of one who deeply sympathizes with the unfortunate and unoffending his only object is the benefit of persecuted Africa. Above all, he relies for the success of his plans, not on the wisdom with which they have been concerted, or on the energy with which they may be carried into effect, but in the overruling providence of the Supreme; for Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton is not only an unwearied philanthropist, but a sincere and humble christian.

Of the book which stands second on our list we can speak only in terms of the highest commendation. Its style is nervous and unaffected, and its reasoning clear and powerful. Those who resort to this work merely for amusement will probably shut it up with weariness and disgust, for Mr. Turnbull is no tea-table traveller. He rarely tells us long stories about his bed and his meals-we do not ever hear of the flavour of his coffee, or the stings of the mosquitoes; but notwithstanding these manifest imperfections, the Travels in the West" will be found invaluable, as well by the statesman as the man of letters. As a body of well digested and well arranged information on the subject of which it treats, this book is only equalled by the celebrated volumes of the lamented Mr. Inglis; it is exceedingly rich in statistical details of the most important nature; and the "Historical Notices," at the conclusion, will not, we think, be accounted inferior to the former part of the work in interest or utility. Mr. Turnbull is an unflinching adversary to "slavery in all its accursed forms;" and it was with feelings of no small gratification that we read his lucid exposition of that inhuman system as it at present exists in the Spanish West Indian colonies. Our author is also (we are sorry to say it) a Whig, and in that capacity he indulges now and then in an ill-natured sneer at the Conservative party in this country-a practice really below a writer of so much ability and general good feeling. "The slave-holders of the South," says he, " are already but too apt to follow the example of our English Conservatives, risking all that is really worth contending for, in order to maintain some indefensible abuse." We really cannot comprehend what are the indefensible abuses so earnestly contended for by the Conservatives of Great Britain and we think that Mr. Turnbull should either refrain from making such charges at all, or be at least a little more specific in his ac

cusations.

We now proceed to the consideration of the positions laid