"Better by far is he who dies by the sword than he who is stricken by famine. I can bear but too strong testimony to the opinion expressed by Mr. M'Kerrow, that men in want of temporal comforts are but ill fitted to receive the consolations of religion; for I have found how difficult it is, when the poor man is dying, with his starving children around him, to stop the word of blasphemy issuing from his lips with his parting breath!

"Shall I," said he indignantly, "shall I see my brethren, my spiritual children in Christ, starving, and be told that because I am a minister of God I must be silent? No! shame on the thought."

Can an object more pure or more holy be presented to the consideration of a teacher of Christianity than to feed the hungry and clothe the naked? Let ministers in England look at the myriads of their flocks who are now dying from want, or fed by the cold hand of scanty charity. See where pinching hunger has broken down the first barrier of shame, and, moved by the cries of clamouring infancy, the poor man at last plods his weary

way to the terrible workhouse! See where poverty converts the citizen into the thief, the incendiary and the murderer!

Behold the peasant of England, once his country's pride, with wages not half adequate to meet the enormous price of even innutritious food. See where he disturbs the quiet repose of the sleeping village with midnight burglary; begins the trade of sheep or horse stealer; or joins some desperate gang of footpads: fathers and husbands rushing from their wretched homes, to be out of hearing of the moans of famine, and swearing, by the God of the poor, that they will rather rob on the highway than suffer their children to die of starvation.

But all Britain is now stirred with Corn Law excitement. There are two hundred newspapers in England alone, in which not a single week passes without articles in favour of Repeal; in the Sun, papers appear every day; and in the Chronicle, at least three times a week. I am quite certain, that for one article written in the daily, monthly, weekly, or quarterly press on any other subject, there are at least ten on

the Corn-laws. From one end of the kingdom to the other-from Cornwall to Invernessthere is one deep excitement, felt with equal intensity in the largest towns and the most retired villages.

If Lord John Russell's declaration be well founded, that the real grievances of the people are altogether beyond the reach of Parliamentary enactment, let the Peers look to it. Sir Robert Peel will find the office of Premier more onerous than ever it has been within the memory of man. So sure as the sun is in the heavens, the elements of social discord are now widely spread in Britain: as certain as the return of the seasons, is, and will be the recurrence of threats, commotion, and violence.

But the time is at hand when the money so long wrung from the poor shall provide for the wretched a home, where cheerful faces shall beam with honest joy around loaded tables; where the voice of health and salvation shall be heard; and where the rich man shall trouble them no more.

VOL. II.

I feel, sir, that I have done but little justice to this great subject. Accept, sir, assurances of distinguished regard from

Your faithful servant,

Utica, October 7, 1841.

C. EDWARDS LESTER.

CONCLUSION.

WHEN I once more saw the green hills of

my

native country, from the bow of the ill-fated President as she approached for the first time the shores of the New World, a thrill of joy went to my heart which made me forget all the loneliness of my wanderings in other lands. It was a calm, glorious morning. A deep blue sky was bending over us, and all around, old ocean slept without a ripple or murmur. With a gratitude which can be felt only by him who has been borne safely over the "wild and wasteful ocean," where so many barks have gone down for ever, I recalled the touching words of David: "So he bringeth them to their desired haven-Oh! that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men." There is