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Southern seas, and which, having been a discovery of the early Dutch navigators, was previously termed New Holland. The change of name was introduced by Malte Brun. Australia stretches from the 115th to the 153d degree of east longitude, and from the 10th to the 37th of south latitude. It averages 2,700 miles in length, by 1,800 in breadth; and balanced, as it were, upon the tropic of that hemisphere in which it is situated, it receives the fiery heat of the equator at one extremity, while it enjoys the refreshing coolness of the temperate zone at the other. The rivers of Australia have unhappily a bar at their mouth, or where they mingle with the waters of the ocean. Falling rapidly from the mountains in which they originate into a level and depressed country; having weak and inconsiderable sources, and being almost wholly unaided by tributaries of any kind, they naturally fail before they reach the coast, and exhaust themselves in marshes, or lakes. No indigenous fruits of any value have as yet been found, either in the forests or plains of New Holland.

The colony of New South Wales is situated on the eastern coast of Australia; and the districts within which land has been granted to settlers, extends from the 36th parallel of latitude to the 32d, that is to say, from the Moroyo river to the south of Sydney on the one hand, and to the Manning river on the other, including Wellington valley within its limits to the westward. The country has been divided into parishes, townships, and counties. For the last seven years, it has risen very rapidly in importance and wealth. The conduct of its merchants is marked by the boldest speculations, and the most gigantic projects. At Sydney, where, thirty years ago, the people flocked to the beach to hail an arrival, it is now not unusual to see from thirty to forty vessels riding at anchor at one time, collected from every quarter of the globe. In 1831, 150 vessels entered the harbor of Port Jackson, from foreign ports, the amount of their tonnage being 31,259 tons.

The staple of the Australian colonies is fine wool. The great improvements in modern navigation are such, that the expense of sending the fleece to England from New South Wales, is less than from any port of Europe, the charges being less, by about a penny on a pound, than upon German or Spanish wool. The culture of fine wool was commenced in the colony in 1793, by John McArthur. The importation of wool into England from the Australian colonies amounted, in 1832, to 10,633 bales, or 2,500,000 pounds. The average number of sheep, in New South Wales alone, is about 600,000 head. In 1831, the quantity of sperm and black oil, the produce of the fisheries, exported from New South Wales, amounted to 2,307 tons, and was estimated to be worth, with skins and whale bone, £107,917. The gross amount of all other exports during that year, did not exceed £107,997.

The greatest disadvantages under which New South Wales labors, are the want of means for carrying inland produce to the market, or to the coast, the Blue mountains being in this respect a serious bar to the internal prosperity of the colony; and the drought, to which it is periodically subject. Its climate may be said to be too dry. Those seasons in which no rain falls, occur every ten or twelve years. The cause is not known. The thermometer ranges during the summer months, that is from September to March, from 36 to 106 of Fahrenheit; but the mean is about 70°. The mean winter is 66°.

The character of a part of the society is one of the principal objections to emigration. Drunkenness, as in the mother country, is the besetting sin, though it is confined chiefly to the large towns, in consequence of the difficulty of procuring spirits in the country. The convicts frequently become attached to their occupations, their hearts become softened by mildness, and they atone as much as they can for previous crimes.

The object for which Capt. Sturt was commissioned, was to explore the southern interior of Australia, particularly the Macquarie, Morumbidgee, and Murray rivers. Considerable geographical information was the result of these expeditions. Mr. S. seems to be a humane, as well as an intelligent officer. His path, among a large and savage population, was a bloodless one, and his intercourse was such, as to lessen the dangers to future adventurers. The volumes are accompanied with a large map of the country, and with many highly finished drawings of birds, natural scenery, &c.

11.-A Manual of the Chaldee Language; containing a Chaldee grammar, chiefly from the German of professor G. B. Winer; a chrestomathy, consisting of selections from the targums, and including the whole of the biblical Chaldee, with notes; a vocabulary, adapted to the chrestomathy, with an appendix, &c. By Elias Riggs. Boston: Perkins & Marvin. 1832. pp. 180.

MR. RIGGS, the author of this Manual, is now a missionary of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions in Greece, and is associated with Mr. King at Athens. He has here performed a service which will be interesting to all Hebrew scholars.

The Aramean, one of the three grand divisions of the Shemitish or oriental languages, comprises two principal subdivisions. -the Syriac and the Chaldee. The appropriate region of the latter, was Babylonia, between the Euphrates and Tigris, the original inhabitants of which, cultivated this language as a distinct dialect, and communicated it to the Jews, during the

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Babylonian exile. By means of the Jews, the Chaldee was transplanted into Palestine, where it became the vernacular tongue, and was employed by them, as it had been in Babylonia, as the language of books. Though the Chaldee as spoken by the Jews partook somewhat of the Hebrew character, no entire or very important corruption of it took place; and to this circumstance alone the Babylonians are indebted for the partial preservation of their language, which in the mother country, since the spread of Islamism, has been totally extinct. The principal remains of the Chaldee dialect in our possession, are a part of Ezra and Daniel, a few verses in Jeremiah, and the targums, a class of translations and paraphrases of the books of the Old Testament. The same letters and vowel points are employed as in Hebrew. The language also closely resembles the Syriac.

The work of Mr. Riggs comprises all the necessary helps for an adequate acquaintance with Chaldee.

12.-An Appeal in favor of that class of Americans called Africans. By Mrs. Child, author of the Mother's Book, &c. Boston: Allen & Ticknor. 1833. pp. 232.

An Appeal to Christians on the Subject of Slavery. By John Hersey. Baltimore: John W. Woods. 1833. pp. 120.

THE first chapter in Mrs. Child's book gives a brief history of negro slavery, and of its inevitable effects upon all concerned in it. The second chapter is employed in depicting the system, as it has existed in different ages and nations, showing that the greater the liberty enjoyed by the oppressors, the greater the misery of the oppressed. Free and slave labor are then compared, and the possibility of safe emancipation argued. The fourth subject discussed is the political bearings of slavery. The Colonization and Anti-slavery Societies then pass in review. Mrs. Child proceeds to vindicate the intellectual and moral character of the negroes, and closes with some remarks on the prejudice which is cherished in respect to the color of the skin.

The book is full of interesting anecdote, and of important principles, very happily illustrated. The spirit in which it is written is candid, and in all respects becoming. Even in the chapter on the Colonization Society, there is nothing like a spirit of denunciation, or angry invective. We see no reason for the fears and entreaties which Mrs. C. has expressed in her preface. The cause in which she is engaged is not so unpopular as she supposes it to be. Great numbers of people, both friends of colonization and others, think, in respect to most of the topics of inquiry, as Mrs. Child does. Her independence, therefore, or her audacity, as she feared it might be called, was by no means so great as she imagined. We differ from her in respect to one

subject, but we are glad she has written the book. She holds a fearless and a practised pen, and can do great good by employing it in behalf of crushed and outraged humanity. We will join her, with all the little force which we can command, in efforts to extirpate the wicked prejudice which is felt against the color of the skin; in effort to raise up the colored population to a full participation in all the blessings of freedom and education.

At the same time, we must differ from her in respect to the influence and tendency of the Colonization Society. Her first objection is, that the "Colonization Society tends to put public opinion asleep, on a subject where it needs to be wide awake." Now we believe the very reverse of this proposition. The Colonization Society, in our opinion, has created that influence in favor of the colored people, and adverse to slavery, which the opponents of the society now employ in denouncing the society. We have innumerable facts in point. We have been specially interested in this subject for ten years, and have heard many addresses, and read whatever of importance has issued from the press. One of the most ardent friends of the society delivered an address a few years since, in a college. This address was afterwards printed in one of the most widely circulated papers in New England. The publication called forth a number of replies and rejoinders from slave-holders. The pieces were then collected in a pamphlet, and circulated in South Carolina, at the instance of a clergyman of that State. This address holds stronger language in respect to slavery, than can be found in Mrs. Child's book. Another friend of the society wrote a tract mainly on the evils of slavery, which was circulated by thousands over the whole of New England. Other individuals wrote series of essays, which were published in various portions of New England, mainly on the evils of slavery. At the south, the circulation of the African Repository has drawn forth discussions, able, thorough, effective. Witness Mr. Fitzhugh's articles in the Richmond Enquirer, or the excitement that Mr. Maxwell occasioned in Norfolk. But we have no room for further statements. We can prove the incorrectness of Mrs. Child's position, if need be, by an induction of particulars.

"In the next place, many of the colonizationists, (I suppose it does not apply to all,) are averse to giving the blacks a good education; and they are not friendly to the establishment of schools and colleges for that purpose." The proof? Where are the many colonizationists? We venture to say, nowhere. The press, in favor of the Colonization Society, has been nearly unanimous in expression of their disapprobation of the late law passed in Connecticut. No ingenuity can identify Miss Crandall's prosecutors with the colonization cause. The project of founding a college at New Haven, was not opposed by the principal colonizationists of that city, much less by others elsewhere.

The religious paper of that city vigorously supported the cause of the Africans, at that time. Colonization men, to our knowledge, have been for years instructing colored people in Bible classes and Sabbath schools, in several of the largest towns in New England. The principal efforts which have been made in the city of Boston for this purpose, have been made by friends of the Colonization Society. We have no doubt that this is the fact throughout the country. What Mrs. C. says about the natural inferiority of the colored race, the danger of giving them knowledge, &c., we consider wholly out of place. The friends of the Colonization Society have no scruples on this point. We have been urging the same thing for years.

"My third and greatest objection to the Colonization Society is, that its members write and speak, both in public and private, as if the prejudice against skins darker colored than our own, was a fixed and unalterable law of our nature, which cannot possibly be changed."

We think this to be an assertion incapable of proof. One of the staunchest advocates of the society, in a speech delivered in Boston, last winter, made it his special object to meet and confute this prejudice. Besides, the labors of the society tend most directly to elevate and ennoble the African race, those who remain in this country, as well as those who emigrate. It is drawing sympathy to the whole of the colored people. It is expending its philanthropy in their behalf. It is giving a practical proof to the world, that the negroes are men, capable of self-government, of feeling responsibility, and of discharging all the duties of society. The great reason of the prejudice which exists against the color of the skin, is that that color is associated with mental and moral inferiority. Remove that inferiority, and you remove the prejudice; and to remove the inferiority, give examples of negro ability and talent. Moreover, has not the society a right to make use of the existing condition of the colored people, confessedly deplorable, as an argument for their voluntary removal? Where is the hardship or wrongfulness of this course? The friends of the society do not discourage the education and moral elevation of the colored people, who remain in this country. On the contrary, they are among their most ardent friends. Has not England a right to present motives before her surplus population, to induce them to remove to New South Wales, and to use the argument of existing and apparently insuperable difficulties, in the way of their elevation, as a reason why this population should remove? It was a wicked prejudice which induced our fathers to leave England and come to these shores. Still it was perfectly right to make use of this prejudice as a motive for the emigration of the pilgrims.

Where Mrs. Child has quoted a statement from the colonization reports, or from the African Repository, in disparagement

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