Memorial of the American Colonization Society to the several States,

of the Free People of Colour,

of the Society to Congress,

Missionary to Africa,

Missions to Africa,

Naimbanna, the African Chief,

Page.

$4

292

354

222

347

385

223

11

Object, the present

Opinions in Georgia,

Poetry,

Resolution of the Kentucky Legislature,

Resolutions of the Board of Managers,

Review of the Memoirs of the Life of Granville Sharp,

of Denham and Clapperton's Expedition,

Society, Memorial of

Plea for the

Annual Meeting of the

Auxiliary Colonization, of Mangohick, Va.
Colonization

of Greensborough (Auxiliary)

of Ladies for educating Negro children,

for the education of African youth

prospects of the

Societies, formation of

Sierra Leone in 1825,

Slave Trade,

Slavery, thoughts on

The Past and Future,

Virginia petition,

conference,

63, 132, 164, 320

351

292

1, 33, 65, 101, 133

165, 197, 229

272, 293

51

190

325, 357

191

191

260

163

345

30, 62, 291

349

380

186

387

252

382

THAT truth and virtue, and freedom, are gaining influence among the nations, seems to be admitted; and the durable nature of the causes which produce their advancement, constitutes an invincible argument, for the expectation of their future universal triumph. The spirit of the Protestant religion, the circulation of the Bible, that great charter of human rights, and light of faith and duty, in all the languages of men, and the advantages which commerce affords for the cultivation of humane affections, and the interchange of thoughts and opinions, all are combined to improve the national and social condition of our race. Illustrious examples, and noble actions, are not in our day entombed with their authors; the press stamps them with the seal of immortality, and the leaves on which they are recorded are borne to distant nations, as upon the wings of the wind. They shall live in the remembrance, and stimulate the virtues of, remotely advancing generations. The sacred flame which Granville Sharp kindled and guarded with an ever-watchful eye, has been left by him to vigilance, wakeful as his own; it has spread and burns more strongly, and must light the world. The last periods of VOL. II,

time shall be cheered by it, and well will it mingle with the glories of eternity.

"If a good man were a great one," said a friend to the author of this work, "you have an excellent subject for a memoir." That there should have been an apparent hesitation in asserting the title of Granville Sharp to both these distinctions, occasions our surprise. We think his greatness as evident as his goodness. That man who, while employed for a considerable portion of his life with the duties of a public office, could instruct the first scholars of England in the idioms of the Hebrew and Greek, who was familiarly acquainted with other languages, both ancient and modern, who understood the theory of music, and was skilful with the pencil, who investigated, deeply, the principles of natural and English law, and produced a change in the legal opinions of Lord Mansfield;-that man who led in the cause of Africa, who founded the colony of Sierra Leone, who is denominated the father of the Bible Society, and who, though almost incessantly active, in the service of his fellow-men, wrote more than sixty pamphlets, many of them on abstruse subjects of national interest; that man, in fine, whose exertions and works contributed more perhaps than those of any other individual of the age in which he lived, to the cause of philanthrophy in Britain, must have possessed extraordinary powers of mind. are ready to acknowledge, however, that his intellectual faculties were less rare, than the moral energy which directed them.

The work before us, is a beautiful quarto volume, compiled by Mr. Prince Hoare, one of the honorary governors of the African Institution, and published in 1820. The distinguished association just mentioned, soon after the decease of Mr. Sharp, erected a monument to his memory, and expressed their desire and expectation that some competent individual, would, in a memoir of his life, do justice to his character. This duty devolved upon Mr. Hoare, and he has executed it, we think, with great industry and judgment, in a manner worthy of the eminent name which his production commemorates. In the arrangement of his work, Mr. Hoare has considered the events of Mr. Sharp's life under four principal heads; and has attended rather to the chronology of each action separately, than to that of the whole collectively. "I have continued," he observes, "to trace each of his actions through its progress, to its final term; and of course, the begin

ning of every new subject is of an earlier date than the conclusion of the preceding one." The introduction, containing an account of Mr. Sharp's family and early life, is succeeded by a history of his efforts, 1st, for the liberation of African slaves in England; 2d, for the establishment of the colony at Sierra Leone; 3d, for the establishment of Episcopacy in America; and 4th, for the abolition of the slave trade. To these, says his Biographer, might be added his attempt to reconcile the American colonies with England. The concluding chapters give a portrait of his domestic character; an account of his decease; a list of his works, and extracts from his correspondence. His numerous letters, we are informed, will constitute a separate work, and from the specimens exhibited in this, we hope they will soon be given to the world. The limits of our work will allow us to present to our readers only a very concise and incomplete view of these interesting memoirs; yet though we must abridge much, and leave unnoticed more, that is throughout valuable, we will endeavour to give a faithful outline of the original portrait, unfinished indeed, but preserving those bolder traits which deeply impress, and are not soon forgotten:

To present the history of an artless and innocent man, incapable of guile or enmity, who devoted mature life to philanthropical pursuits, and every where went about doing good, is but to hold up to the virtuous part of the present generation, a bright image of its own mind. To shew the example of an equally mild and discriminating philanthropist, an equally complacent and severe censor, unwearied in kindness, yet inflexible in judgment, and although unmoved to resentment, implacable to aggression and dangerous error, is a lesson still in store for our advantage. That example and that lesson, the following narrative is designed to convey. Some apology is to be made for the undertaking.

Whoever considers the integrity, sincerity, candour, zeal, constancy, devout piety, and learning, of the subject of these memoirs, exemplified as they were by the exercise of his faculties and attainments in an unremitted series of acts of beneficence, will perceive that some record of his virtuous course is due to mankind.

Whoever reflects on the variety of his undertakings, in concerns of the most arduous nature, on the extensiveness and depth of his researches, in different languages and sciences, in Biblical literature, in the religious and political rights of our constitution, our country, and our nature-researches diligently pursued through the greater portion of a life uninterrupted by sickness and protracted to nearly four-score years, will feel how inadequate the labour of any individual must be to a full examination, and just display, of all that was useful and instructive in his eminent example."

Mr. Sharp was descended from an ancient and respectable family in Yorkshire. His grandfather was the venerable John Sharp, archbishop of York, a man eminent for integrity, learning, disinterestedness, and holy devotion to the duties of his office. An anecdote of so singular a character is related of this excellent man, that we think we shall gratify our readers by inserting it:

"It was his lordship's custom to have a saddle-horse attend his carriage, that, in case of fatigue from sitting, he might refresh himself with a ride. As he was thus going to his Episcopal residence, and was got a mile or two before his carriage, a decent, well looking young man came up to him, and with a trembling hand and faltering tongue, presenting a pistol to his lordship's breast, demanded his money. The archbishop, with great composure, turned about and looking steadfastly at him, desired he would remove that dangerous weapon, and tell him fairly his condition. Sir! Sir! with great agitation, cried the youth, your money instantly! Hear me, young man, said the archbishop,-you see I am a very old man, and my life is of very little consequence; your's seems far otherwise. I am named Sharp, and am archbishop of York; my carriage and servants are behind; tell me what money you want, and who you are, and I'll not injure you, but prove a friend. Here, take this,—and now ingenuously tell me how much you want to make you independent of so destructive a business as you are engaged in? O, Sir, replied the man, I detest the business as much as you. I am-but at home, there are creditors who will not stay.-Fifty pounds, my lord, indeed would do what no tongue can tell.-Well, Sir, I take your word; and, upon my honour, if you will, in a day or two, call on me at what I have now given shall be made up that sum. The highway-man looked at him, was silent, and went off; and at the time appointed actually waited on the archbishop, and assured his lordship his words had left impressions which nothing could ever destroy.

Nothing more transpired for a year and a half, or more; when one morning a person knocked at his grace's gate, and with peculiar earnestness, desired to see him. He entered the room where his lordship was, but had scarce advanced a few steps before his countenance changed, his knees tottered, and he sank, almost breathless, to the floor. On recovering, he requested an audience in private. The apartment being cleared, my lord, said he, you cannot have forgotten the circumstance at such a time and place; gratitude will never suffer them to be obliterated from my mind. In me, my lord, you now behold that once most wretched of mankind; but now, by your inexpressible humanity, rendered equal, perhaps superior, in happiness, to millions. O, my lord, (tears for a while preventing his utterance) 'tis you, 'tis you that have saved me, body and soul; 'tis you that have saved a dear and much loved wife, and a brood of children whom I tendered dearer than my life. Here are fifty pounds; but never shall I find language to testify what I feel. Your God is your witness; your deed itself is your glory; and may Heaven and all its blessings, be your present and everlasting