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beds, and who goes round amongst them in courses of religious visitation. There was nothing of all this in the experiment; nor were the Christian philanthropists who did go forth upon the population, so firmly embodied under one head, or so strictly and officially attached to one locality, as fairly to represent the operation of a stated minister, and, where possible, a residing eldership. Above all, in so wide and dispersed a locality in question, it was not by the marvellous doings of one year, that a great or visible change in the habits of the people ought to have been expected. The descent of more than half a century will not be so easily or so speedily recovered. Such an achievement as this can never be done without labour, and without the perseverance of men, willing to plod and to pioneer their way through the difficulties of a whole generation.

in the name of one individual, instead of their being let by threes and fours in the name of the head or representative of a family; for, in this latter case, they may pass from one member of it to another, and, perhaps, descend to its next and its succeeding generations. The object of this last regulation is, to secure a more rapid and abundant falling in of extra-parochial vacancies, which should be rigidly and unviolably offered to parishioners from one year to another, as they occur. Under such a constitution, there may, at the outset of every new church, be but a small proportion of parishioners attending it; but, with the removal or the dying off of extra-parochial hearers, there will be a certain number of vacancies to dispose among them annually. Meanwhile, the interest of the minister, in his new parish, will be gradually extending, and, with very ordinary attention on his part, may so keep pace with the disappearance and decay of the exotics among his congregation, as will enable him to replace them by parish applicants; and thus in the process of time, will a home be substituted in the place of a mixed congregation. It were laying an impossibility upon a clergyman, at once to call in from a yet unbroken field, fifteen hundred ready and willing attendants upon his ministrations. But this, without any colossal energy at all, he might do at the rate of fifty in the year. So that though he begins himself with a mixed auditory made out of hearers from all the parishes of the city, there may be such a silent process of substitution going forward during the course of his incumbency, as shall enable him to transmit to his successor an almost entirely parochial congregation.

This inay serve to guide our anticipations respecting the probable effect of new churches, built in places of the most crowded and unprovided population. A given territory ought, by all means, to be assigned to each of them; and, in letting the seats, a preference should be held out to the residents upon that territory. But we should not be sanguine in our hopes, of the preference being, to any great extent, actually taken by them in the first instance; and this, if the cause be not adverted to or counted on, may, for a time, damp and discourage the whole speculation. On our first entrance upon new ground, we must consider that there is a minority already in possession of sittings elsewhere, and that, nearly up to the existing taste for church-going; and that there is a majority in whom that taste must be formed and inspired, ere the church can be recruited out This is the way, in fact, in which of their numbers. A congregation, all our existing congregations might out of these, may be looked for in be at length parochialised. It should time, as the fruit and the reward of be done by an enactment of gradual perseverance; but it cannot be looked operation. Were they now broken for immediately. The best rule of seat-letting, in these circumstances, is, to hold out a preference, in the first instance, to the inhabitants of the new parish, and then, in as far as that preference is not taken, to expose the remaining seats to the applications of the general public. It is of importance, however, that each of the extra-parochial sittings should be let

up, for the purpose of being new-modelled, and that instantly on the local principle, there would be violence done to the feelings of many an individual. But, what is more, it would also be found, that, after the dispersion of our mixed congregations, there would be a very inadequate number of applicants in the poorer parishes ready to take the places which had

thus been dispossessed. It is much better if the existing arrangement can be righted without the soreness of any forced or unnatural separations, and in such a way as that no actual sitter can, on his own account, personally complain of it. Though he retain his right of occupation till death, the substitution of a home for a foreign congregation will yet go on, and as rapidly, perhaps, as the parochial demand for seats can be stimulated. So that the sure result will at length be arrived at, of the parish and congregation being brought within the limits of one influence, and reduced to the simplicity of one management.

There is a philanthropy more sanguine than it is solid, which, impatient of delay, would think an operation so tardy as this unworthy of being suggested, and refuse to wait for it. But it is the property of sound legislation to look to distant results as well as to near ones-to be satisfied with impressing a sure movement, though it should be a slow one-nor does the wisdom of man ever make a higher exhibition, than when apart from the impulse of a result that is either speedy or splendid, she calmly institutes an arrangement, the coming benefit of which will not be fully realized till after the lapse of our existing generation.

But it is not enough that the demand of each parish for seats should be stimulated up to the extent of its present accommodation. The truth is, that all our large towns have so far outgrown the church establishment, that, though each church were crowded, and with local congregations too, and each meeting-house already in existence were also filled to an overflow, there would still be a fearful body of the people in the condition of outcasts from the ordinances of Christianity. The mere erection of additional fabrics will do nothing to remedy this, without an operation on the people who should fill them. It must be admitted, that the Calton experiment looks rather discouraging. But still we think that certain adverse ingredients may be removed from it, and certain favourable ingredients be substituted in its place. It was really not to be expected that much could be done by an indefinite number of ministers, who each had the transient intercourse of a rare and

occasional Sabbath evening with the people, without any week-day movement amongst them all. But is there not a greater likelihood of success, when the same attempt is made by one minister in his own parish, in conjunction, perhaps, with an assistant equally bound to its locality with himself? And what the influence of a few private philanthropists, going forth on so wide and populous a district as the one we are alluding to, could not accomplish by a transient effort, may at length be accomplished by persevering and reiterated efforts on the part of an official body, raised, perhaps, into existence for the very object of calling out a parochial congregation, and animated with a sense of the importance of achieving it. Even with all these advantages, the strenuousness of an encounter with previous and established habits will be felt, an encounter which will require to be as assiduously met by moral suasion through the week as by preaching on the Sabbath. At the same time, it is a very great mistake to think that any other peculiar power is necessary for such an operation, than peculiar pains-taking. It is not with rare and extraordinary talent conferred upon a few, but with habits and principles which may be cultivated by all, that are linked our best securities for the reformation of the world. This is a work which will mainly be done with every-day instruments operating upon every-day materials; and more, too, by the multiplication of labourers, than by the gigantic labour of a small number of individuals. The arrangement now suggested may exemplify this. Let a Sabbath evening sermon be preached in the church of a city parish to a parochial congregation, distinct from the day-hearers altogether. moderate seat-rent be exacted, and a preference for these seats be held out to those in the locality, who have sittings no where else. Some care and some perseverence will be necessary to ensure the success of such an enterprise. But there is nothing impracticable about it, and no such impediments in the way of its execu tion, as to stamp upon it the least degree of a visionary character. There need be no additional labour to the minister, who may, in fact, take full relief to himself from an assistant.

Let a

There may, at length, be no additional expence to the city, seeing that out of the produce of the seat-rents all the charges of the evening arrangement will in time be defrayed. There will even be no additional fabrics to build, in the first instance, which the people are not yet in readiness to fill, were they erected in any sensible proportion to the existing deficiency. Thus, by a very cheap and simple arrangement, may the number of ecclesiastical labourers be doubled in every city of our land; and, with the distinctness of the day and evening congregations, the number of sitters belonging to the establishment at length be doubled also. We are not aware of a speedier method for reclaiming the outcasts and wanderers of a city population to congregational habits; nor can we think how an approximation equally rapid, and, at the same time, equally practicable, can be made in towns to the parochial system. It would instantly improve the condition of the minister as to his relationship with the parish, who will gain more by it, in point of recognition, within his own locality, in a single month, than he could do by preaching to a mixed congregation for a whole lifetime. And it would gradually extend a taste and a demand for the services of Christianity, a mong a people who had no taste and no demand for them before. It is altogether a chimerical apprehension, that it may only change day-sitters into evening-sitters, and cause those who have now a full participation of ordinances to be satisfied with less. It would change total non-attendants into attendants upon an evening service, who, at length, not satisfied with their deficiency from others, would have a demand for more. Instead of diminishing the taste which now is, it would create the taste which must still be called into existence. Instead of superseding the use of new churches for the people, it would prepare a people for the new churches, and turn out to be the most effectual nursery of their future congregations.

And here let it be remarked, how effectually it is that Sabbath-evening schools subserve the prospective arrangement which we are now contemplating. It requires a much harder struggle than most are aware of to prevail on grown-up people, who ne

VOL. VII.

ver have attended church, to become the members either of a day or an evening congregation. But the compliance which cannot be won in manhood, for attendance on a church, we win in boyhood, for attendance on a school; and, when the boy becomes a man, a second effort is not necessary. It were, in fact, a far more congenial transition for him to pass from the evening school to the evening church, than if he never had attended school at all; and far more congenial for the member of an evening to become the member of a day congregation, than if, brought up in the utter want of congregational habits, he never had attended either the one or the other. Thus it is that the Sabbath-school system, which many regret as a deviation from the regularities of an establishment, is the very best expedient for feeding an establishment, and making it at length commensurate with the moral and spiritual necessities of our population. It connects the susceptibility of youth with a result, which, but for the possession of an element so manageable, might never be arrived at. It appears like the first and the firmest step to a great moral renovation in our land. And a parochial system, which might never have been reared in towns, out of such stubborn materials as the depraved and inveterate habits of our older, is thus likely to be formed and extended out of the softer materials of our younger generation. pp. 114-124,

EXTENSION OF THE SLAVE TRADE
IN AMERICA.

MR EDITOR,

As I can have no doubt that the readers of the Edinburgh Magazine have sincerely deplored the permission allowed by the American Congress to import slaves into the new state of Missouri, it will, I think, give them some consolation to hear that the measure is equally deprecated by all our Transatlantic brethren in the northern states. In proof of this I will transcribe for insertion in your respectable publication, some particulars respecting that lamentable transaction communicated to me in a letter, dated April 20, and which are unquestionably authentic. The gentleman from whom I received them, and who

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does me the favour to correspond with ine occasionally, is a minister of high character at Dorchester in Massachusetts, and in their University of Cambridge. Adverting to the execrable traffic in slaves, my friend thus expresses himself: "The whole subject has lately passed in review before our Congress, and a long session has been occupied in its discussion. This has been occasioned by an application for the admission of the Missouri territory as one of the United States, with the permission to hold slaves. It was generally believed that Congress could not grant such an indulgence; that it would be a violation of the bill of rights on which our constitution was founded, as well as of the principles of justice and humanity, and repugnant to the very spirit of liberty which is the pride and boast of a professed nation of freemen. Both in the senate and congress the question was agitated in warm debate, and in some most impressive speeches. All that learning, humanity, a regard to sound policy, and a respect to our free government could adduce in favour of restricting slavery in the State, exhibited with the most powerful and impressive eloquence, failed, alas! of effecting their benevolent purpose. Their pleadings fell upon deafened ears, and moved not hearts indurated by selfishness. The bill for the admission of the Missouri into the Union passed the House of Representatives without the restrictive clause prohibiting slavery, though only by a majority of four votes. Against the restriction 90-for it 86-so that Missouri is permitted to become a slave-holding state!!" My friend goes on to say, It is impossible to describe the feelings of surprise and regret which this decision has occasioned in all the New England States. The friends of humanity and freedom are palsied with the shock. Not only will this be the means of continuing and extending the most disgraceful practice of keeping slaves, but of opening a new mart for the sale, and thus furnish slave-traders and kidnappers with inducements to procure, per fas aut nefas,' new supplies by importation." He then mentions the following fact, almost surpassing belief: "In connection with this lamentable result is another most painful occurrence. You have doubt

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less heard of the most distressing fire ever known in this country, which extended its ravages in Savannah, the capital of Georgia. A tender feeling of compassion for the sufferers called out very liberal contributions for their relief, particularly in the northern states. In the city of New York, the sum of twelve thousand dollars was immediately subscribed and forwarded, with a request that such people of colour as were sufferers might participate in the distribution. This gave umbrage to the city-council of Savannah, who sent back the money to the donation-committee of New York, because they considered it as encumbered with a condition with which they were unwilling to comply. How strange, how passing strange, that the pride of domination over a humbled race of dependents should so operate and prevail, as to produce the rejection of a charity in which benevolence, to say nothing of justice and humanity, had hoped that they might share! How apparent is it, that the possession of slaves produces a hardened, nay cruel, disposi tion in the master, and renders the heart insensible to the obligations of humanity, and even to the claims of compassion and mercy!"

Surely, Mr Editor, it is not too much to hope, that these real patriots and more enlightened disciples of Him whose object it was to introduce universal righteousness, "peace on earth, and good will towards men," although hitherto unsuccessful, will at length. be enabled effectually to counteract and suppress the narrow sordid spirit of their more southern neighbours, and to convince them that their own happiness would eventually be not less essentially promoted by the suppression of slavery, than that of those suffering wretched people who are at present its more immediate victims.

As I am not at liberty to give the name of my informant, without his permission, I am constrained, although probably quite unknown to the generality of your readers, to sign my own.

CATHARINE CAPPE.
York, June 27, 1820.

This lady is distinguished, both for the intellectual energies and warm benevolence of her own character, and as being the widow of a pious and eminent dissent

THE BYSTANDER.

No. V.

this would disappoint my cousin John, -at least it would burden him with a widow's jointure, (though, to be ONE evening lately, feeling myself it would break the heart of Mrs sure, my life is as good as her's ;) and a little out of humour, I took my hat and stick, and sallied forth to drink Macnaughton, my spherical housetea with my old friend Miss F-Miss F is a year older than keeper; and-truth must out at last Some may imagine that I chose not the fittest time for visiting; but I did not go for the purpose of indulging my splenetic inclinations against every one whom chance should throw in my way,-(as some of my married acquaintance, who shall be nameless, never fail to do,)-but I went with the honest intention of shaking off, as speedily as possible, my troublesome and unwelcome visitors, the blue devils.

My acquaintance with Miss F commenced in those happy days when we figured away as votaries of Terpsichore,-I, arrayed in a scarlet coat, with my hair powdered, and tied in a bag; she, decked out with a yellow damask, embroidered with blue and green tulips. We used to be partners in a sort of dance, where the different couples, after having marched for a short while side by side, separated, and filed off in opposite directions, and, after having promenaded the length of the room in solitary sadness, were, at last, upon reaching the farther end of it, again united. Somewhat like this has been the progress through the world of Miss F— and myself. We parted in the morning of life, and towards evening we have again met, both in nearly the same circumstances in which we were at our separation. We have each experienced the vicissitudes of fortune, we have had our allotted portion of joy and grief; but the storms of passion, and the gales of hope, are subsided; the heavy clouds, and the cheerful sunshine, have both passed away, and now, in the calm twilight, we each feel ourselves alone. A friend to whom I lately made this remark suggested, that, to remedy this solitariness, and complete the analogy of the dance, and I ought to take each other, for better and worse. But

Miss F

ing clergyman, several of whose posthumous works she has published, and has lately added a very valuable memoir of him, from which we propose, hereafter, to present our readers with some instructive extracts.-Edit.

ish thing as to marry-but enough myself; and, if ever I do such a foolthan necessary. I have not yet menof this; I must not be more egotic tioned that there reside with my friend

Miss F

lively chat I sometimes think contritwo fair nieces, whose butes as much to dissipate my ill-humours as the old stories of their aunt. I was rather disappointed, on this occasion, to find that the young ladies were dining from home, and their places supplied by an old widow' lady the least, un peu passée. My entrance and her daughter, who was, to say seemed to produce a more agreeable sensation here than it did at Mrs

G-, and Mrs G

-'s. Miss F-looked at Mrs at her daugh

ter, as much as to say, "How apropos !" I did not participate in their à-tête well enough now and then, I pleasure; for, although I like a têtenever like to play cavalier seul in a party of ladies, particularly when they are-not very young. Joy is not alceeded slowly for a few minutes after ways talkative; the conversation promy entrance; Miss F- arranged the folds of her gown; and Miss the tea-cups; Mrs G- arranged Garranged the luxuriant curls of a fine new head of hair. At length about whether it would rain or not we thought of starting a discussion rain. After a tolerably long debate, tive, (Mrs Ghaving hinted somewe were about to decide in the negathing about a walk to St Bernard's Well after tea,) when a heavy shower coming on, put an end to all argument on the subject. When tea was finished, Miss Ffirst informing Miss G that I was very fond of music, begged her to favour us with

a tune. A tune! I shuddered at the name. I was in no humour for

66

Dainty Davie," or "Duncan Davidson." "Oh!" said Mrs G-, "what a pity your nieces are not at home, they play so much better ! However, I am sure Betsy will not refuse to oblige Mr M as well as he can.

She always plays when she

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