structions from London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin, Paris, Hamburg, Amsterdam, or any other commercial place in Europe. Thus British enterprise has been and is leading onwards the majestic stream of civilization; and we may say that, supported as it is by the European public, it is the only successful and permanent conqueror of the world.”

of the Saxon Switzerland; the book was opened, the story found, and the reply sent back. By ten o'clock the answer was at the gates of Vienna, the Croats gave up their spoil, and in less than an hour afterwards the tourist was enjoying a Viennese breakfast at the Herz-Erzhog Karl. In such anecdotes we see how science has tended to lengthen life by superseding the necessity for intervals of waste, and assisted to disarm the despotisms of the world by atoning for accidents and offering a ready means for innocence to vindicate itself, as it does, in other cases, for the circumventing and overtaking of guilt.—Athe

POSTAGE ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.

A paragraph in illustration of the uses of the Electric Telegraph is going the round of our contemporaries which recalls an incident of which we heard not long ago. Each of the anecdotes shows, in its way, how science tends to remove the perils and suspend the romance of travel. | næum. The newspaper paragraph relates, that a Liverpool citizen, touring in Holland, suddenly found himself in want of 1007.; instead of writing from Amsterdam to Liverpool and waiting the return of post, an operation of five or six days, he walks into the telegraph office and sends a few words by lightning to state his need. This was at twelve o'clock. A turn or two on the quays, round the square of the Palace, would bring him to the hour of dinner. Six o'clock found him at his wine. A tap at the door, a stranger is introduced:-"Have I the honor to address M.

?" "Yes." "Our London correspondent desires us to place in your hands a cheque for 1007." Our own anecdote has a different interest. The scene is the Prague railway station in Vienna, the time, six in the morning, on the arrival of the great train from Dresden, Prague, and Brunn. An Englishman, who has lost his passport, is on his way to a guard-house, conducted by a Croat soldier, on suspicion of being a refugee and a conspirator. He has about him letters to various persons in Hungary and in Italy, chiefly patriots,-and, knowing the Austrians, he is altogether conscious that his case is bad. Arrived at the guard-house, he is asked to tell the story of his life, those of the lives of his father, mother, friends, and acquaintances. He is cross-questioned, doubted, threatened. Of course, he lets them know that he is a free-born Briton, and he plainly hints that they had better mind what they are about. His words are disbelieved, and put down as evidence against him. He is without a passport, and every man without a passport is a vagabond. A thought strikes him :--when he entered Austria at Bodenbach, he remembers that he was detained a couple of hours while the police looked into his passport and copied it into their books. That entry must still be there. He appeals to it, and suggests an inquiry by telegraph if his story be not true. The Croats, with their long guns and baker-boy faces, stare in bewilderment: they were probably thinking of the glacis and a short range. But the official could not refuse the appeal, especially as the prisoner offered to pay the expenses of the inquiry. Away flashed the lightning along the plains of Moravia, by the Moldau and the Elbe, through the mountains of Bohemia to the heart

Opinion seems to be awakening in France to the evils of the present high rates of postage between the two countries. An argument to which we helped the Cheap Postage Association in favor of their reform as regards America-and which, we are glad to see, they have used somewhat liberally--applies in a more striking degree to the case of France than even to that of America. The fare of a man from London to Paris and back by the express tidal train, say second class, is 37.: the man may be 200 lb. in weight and his luggage may be 60 lb. more. He travels by the best train, he claims protection of life and limb, he must have a comfortable carriage on the rail and a snug place in the steamer; he may get in and out of the train fifty times, requiring service at every turn, and he has the privilege of using the machinery of the company as it may suit his convenience for thirty days. Now, take the case of the same weight of letters. They are put into a bag and sealed; they are stowed away in a baggage-van on the line, and lowered into the hold of the steamer. They take up less room than the man and his baggage; they ask no service; they have no hunger to detain the convoy, and no sea-sickness to alarm the crew. Yet, for taking 260 lb. weight of letters from London to Paris, and bringing a similar quantity from Paris to London, the charge-taking the letter at its full weight of a quarter of an ounce is no less than 1,3867. 13s. 4d. The "peculiar conditions" cannot be very mysterious in the case of postage between London and Paris. -A penny, as is well known, is enough to cover the inland cost on either side the Channel. As to rapidity and regularity, the argument is against the Post Office: for travellers go by the tidal trains-letters by Dover and Calais, the longer route. Even if there be some expenses attending the transfer of letters that do not attend the transfer of passengers and luggagewhich we are not aware of-the difference be tween 37. and 1,3867. has margin enough and to spare for all omissions. We would ask our French readers to ask themselves, and to ask of their neighbors, why 260 lb. of man and port

Of 858,330 natives, white and colored, over

manteau may travel to and fro between London and Paris for 31., and 260 lb. of paper with writ-twenty years, who cannot read or write, the free ing on it should be charged by the Government 1,86l. 138. 4d. In this way public opinion is created, and once created it will act of itself. Athenæum.

EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

In the National Era for the 1st inst., we find a set of tables deduced from the late Census, showing the absolute and the relative number, over twenty years of age, in the several States, who cannot read or write. These tables, taken in their extent, are too copious for the Review; yet a general summary, and a few of the inferences, are too interesting to be omitted.

States furnish 305,731 and the slave States 552,599, or something less than 3 to 5; while the whole population of the former bears to the free of the latter a ratio of more than 2 to 1. If the natives of the free States had furnished a number of uneducated, bearing the same ratio to the whole as the slave States, their aggregate of that class would have been 1,169,000, or more than three times their actual number.

The following constitute the principal comments of the Editor of the Era:

"A comparison between the free and slave States shows, that while the proportion of persons over twenty who can neither read nor write, is as 1 to 30 of the entire white population in the former, it is as 1 to 13 in the latter. But this story against Slavery; for the proportion of fourdoes not tell the truth fairly, or indeed half the fifths of the foreign population, with its great mass of ignorance, lies in the free States, and is included in the comparison just made. To obtain a clear view of the ruinous influences of the Slave System on the cause of Education, we must compare the native populations of the free and slave States, over twenty, that can neither read nor write, and then we find the proportion in the free States as 1 to 60 of the entire native free population, and in the slave States as 1

It appears that of the white population of all ages in the Union, consisting of 19,557,271, there are 962,898, or 1 in 20.3, over twenty years, who cannot read or write. But to give a fair representation of the relative numbers of the educated and uneducated, the comparison ought to be made between the number of twenty years, who cannot read or write, with the whole white population of the corresponding age. Now, not having the census of 1850 before me, I deduce the number of white persons over twenty, in 1850, from a comparison of the numbers in 1830 and 1840, and hence conclude that the number of whites over twenty years of age, in 1850, may be fairly estimated at 8,732,000. The conclusion would then be, that of the white persons in the United States, over twenty years, 1 in 9.1 cannot read or write. The calculations in the National Era, to which I have alluded, are, how-sively educated in New England is that of Rhode

ever, made on a comparison of the whole population, of each description, with the number over twenty who are quite uneducated.

to 12!

New England is that of Vermont; in the Mid"The most extensively educated population in dle free States, that of New York; in the Western free States, that of Wisconsin; in the slave States, that of Mississippi. The least exten

Island; in the Middle free States, that of New Jersey; in the Western States, that of Indiana; in the slave States, that of North Carolina. And in this connection we may remark, that the InTo estimate the relative state of education in dependent Democratic Party has cast a smaller the free and slave States, we find in the former, and Indiana, than in any other free State. It proportionate vote in Rhode Island, New Jersey, among the whites, computing on the whole pop- will be found, too, that Iowa, Illinois, and Indiulation, 1 in 29.6, and in the latter 1 in 12.1, ana, have had a larger proportionate amount of who cannot read or write; but computing on the immigrants from the slave States, than has been estimated number over twenty years of the case with the other Western free States. age, we find in the former 1 in 13, and in the latter 1 in influences of Slavery on Education, and the tenThus, in every way, we trace the mischievous 5.4, unacquainted with reading or writing.

Comparing the condition of the free colored, in the free and slave States, and computing upon the whole number, we find in the former 1 in 6, and in the latter 1 in 4, who cannot read or write. But confining our estimate to persons of twenty and upwards, we find in the former 1 in 2.7, and

in the latter 1 in 1.3.

dency of Ignorance to check the growth of AntiSlavery Sentiment.

"These tables should be held up constantly in the face of the South, not with a view to its humiliation, but to demonstrate the abominable workings of a system which has covered it with Egyptian darkness. It is not too much to assume, that one in every six of the white adult population of the South can neither read nor

[ety, and member of Ferrisburg Monthly Meeting. Vermont, and possessing a good understanding, He was one of the earliest settlers in that part of with an affectionate disposition, enlarged and refined by religious experience, he gained the respect and attachment of those who knew him, and particularly of those among whom he resided. The opinion is expressed that the controversies sel, he was evidently prepared, when the midBeing green in old age, and having oil in his veswhich have hitherto agitated the nation, are pass-night cry was suddenly pronounced, to enter into

The public debt at the commencement of the present administration, (3rd month 4th, 1853), is stated to have been $69,190,037; on account of which payments have been made amounting to $12,703,329, leaving unpaid, but in a course of liquidation, $56,486,703. The reduction of the tariff, and the increase of the free list is recom-thropic societies of his own town and neighbor

to several of the first societies in the kingdom for the encouragement of science, in the retirement of his private study, a portion of each day was set apart for the reading of the Sacred Volume, and for religious meditation; and although little was said to his family, of these things, yet, whilst commending the same rule to them, it was evident, even had they not been otherwise aware of it, that the advice came from one who had long felt its value. The subject of this memoir was for many years engaged as a lecturer on Chemistry, to a class of medical students, and in his addresses to these young men, he endeavored to mingle with the regular instruction, hints for their social and moral improvement, which in some cases led to the happiest results on individuals, and so far from offending even those lightly disposed towards sacred things, eventually led to increased esteem on their part.

rivers they shall not overflow thee;" and although He may not always see meet to permit those glimpses of the eternal city which lead the soul to exult in the foretaste, ere it has passed the bounds of time, a testimony to the truth was not needed from the dying bed;-life with its endlessly varied pursuits furnished it, and how transcendently precious is that testimony !—Annual Monitor.

For Friends' Review,

A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF A REMARKABLE
INCIDENT.

Being one of those, probably numerous, readers of the Review, who have traced with much interest the detailed account of "the Six Nations," and the labors of some devoted Friends for the good of the poor Indians; and one who has had a particular acquaintance with many dear Friends who devoted much of their time and substance to the cause of the Red man, within the last thirty years, I have thought it might be interesting to many, to relate a remarkable incident which, in connection with some of those labors, occurred in the year 1820.

His professional engagements, more especially those into which he was called, as scientific evidence in legal cases, often led him into great mental exercise. Holding, as he did, the inviolable sacredness of human life,-in those dreadful cases of poisoning, in which his evidence as to the fact might lead to the conviction, and consequent forfeiture of life of the suspected In the autumn of 1819, a certain superintend party, every experiment was tried and retried ent, who had been previously engaged by the under a solemn feeling, that nothing but the then "Acting Committee of Indian Affairs," of plainest proof could justify his testimony being Baltimore and Ohio Yearly Meetings, removed given against the prisoner; and whilst we believe with a part of his family, and took charge of the he never entered the witness-box without a se- mills which had been erected for the benefit cret petition that truth alone might prevail, yet of the Shawanoese tribe of Indians near it was matter of rejoicing to him, when the evi- Wapaghkonetta, in the State of Ohio. Before dence of intention was so far doubtful, that the this time, however, he had, as a member of said prisoner escaped the extreme penalty of the law. committee, visited the place several times, and Whilst from the nature of his engagements he had been sent there by the committee to receive was brought into intercourse with many whose those mills from the contractor's hands; so that habits of life little accorded with that self-denial he had become well known to a number of the which is enjoined to the Christian, he was care-chiefs and other individuals of the Shawanoese ful to avoid the appearance of evil, in walk and conversation, and, as occasion offered, frequently took a private opportunity, kindly to point out what appeared improper and such admonition, offered in humility and seeking for right direction, was, we believe, often favored to be a word in season to those to whom it was addressed.

For some years prior to his last illness, our dear friend suffered much from bronchitis, in addition to some decline of strength, the natural result of a life so arduous as his had been. About ten days before the date of his decease, he was seized with a severe attack of dysentery, which made it too evident, to those who watched by his bedside, that life would not long be spared. Although sensible almost throughout his illness, the exhaustion of strength, during the intervals from severe suffering was too great to allow of his saying much to those around of what passed within his own mind, but the promise is sure to those who seek the Lord, whilst life and strength are their portion-"When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the

Nation, as well as intimately acquainted with his valued friend, John Johnston, the then "Indian Agent for the North West."

On

It was, I believe, in the following spring, that one of those Indians, whom the Friend believed to be a sober, well-inclined man, became very much enfeebled and debilitated with what he believed to be "pulmonary consumption." The Friend often visited him, after he became confined to his house, for the purpose of administering medicine, or taking him nourishment. going to his house on one of those occasions, he found the door shut and fastened, so that he could not enter; but after a time it was opened, and on going in he found the sick man lying on his face, his back being bare and badly cut in several places; he had bled much and was nearly exhausted.

There was with him in the house a noted Indian, whose name I do not now remember, but whom the Friend knew personally. The Indians called him their " Prophet," and he claimed to be twin brother to the celebrated Tecumseh.