Freedom are not open to any charge of aggres- | it, so that it shall be said hereafter, so long as sion. They are now standing on the defensive, the dismal history of Slavery is read, that, in the guarding the early intrenchments thrown up by year of Christ, 1854, a new and deliberate act our fathers. No proposition to abolish Slavery was passed, by which a vast territory was opened anywhere is now before you; but, on the contra- to its inroads. ry, a proposition to abolish Freedom. The term Abolitionist, which is so often applied in reproach, justly belongs, on this occasion, to mark him who would overthrow this well established landmark. He is, indeed, no abolitionist of Slavery; let him be called, an abolitionist of Freedom. For myself, with many or few, my place is taken. Eyen if alone, my feeble arm shall not be wanting as a bar against this outrage. Alone in the company of nations does our country assume this hateful championship. In despotic Russia, the serfdom which constitutes the "peculiar institution" of that great empire, is never allowed to travel with the imperial flag, according to the American pretension, into provinces newly acquired by the common blood and treasure, but is carefully restricted by positive prohibition, in harmony with the general conAnd here, before I approach the argument, science, within its ancient confines, and this proindulge me with a few preliminary words on the hibition-the Wilmot Proviso of Russia—is rigcharacter of this proposition. Slavery is the for- orously enforced on every side, in all the provin cible subjection of one human being in person, ces, as in Bessarabia on the south, and Poland on labor or property to the will of another. In this the west, so that, in fact, no Russian nobleman simple statement is involved its whole injustice. has been able to move into these important terThere is no offense against religion, against mo- ritories with his slaves. Thus Russia speaks for rals, against humanity, which may not stalk, in Freedom, and disowns the slaveholding dogma of the license of this institution, "unwhipt of jus- our country. Far away in the East, at "the tice." For the husband and wife there is no gateways of the city," in effeminate India, Slavemarriage; for the mother there is no assurance ry has been condemned; in Constantinople, the that her infant child will not be ravished from queenly seat of the most powerful Mahommedan her breast; for all who bear the name of slave empire, where barbarism still mingles with civithere is nothing they can call their own. With-lization, the Ottoman Sultan has fastened upon out a father, without a mother, almost without it the stigma of disapprobation; the Barbary a God, he has nothing but a master. It would be contrary to that rule of right which is ordained by God, if such a system, though mitigated of ten by a patriarchal kindness, and by a plausible physical comfort, could be otherwise than pernicious in its influences. It is confessed that the master suffers not less than the slave. And this is not all. The whole social fabric is disorganized; Labor loses its dignity; Industry sickens; Education finds no schools, and all the land of Slavery is impoverished. And now, when the conscience of mankind is at last aroused to these things, when, throughout the civilized world, a slave dealer is a by word and a reproach, we, as a nation, are about to open a new market to the traffickers in flesh who haunt the shambles of the South. Such an act at this time is removed from all reach of that palliation often vouchsafed to Slavery. This wrong, we are speciously told, by those who seek to defend it, is not our original sin. It was entailed upon us, so we are instructed by our ancestors; and the responsibility is often with exultation thrown upon the mother country. Now, without stopping to inquire into the value of this apology, which is never adduced in behalf of other abuses, it is sufficient, for the present purpose, that it is now proposed to make Slavery our own original act. Here is a new case of actual transgression, which we cannot cast upon the shoulders of any progenitors, nor upon any mother country, distant in time or place. The Congress of the United States, the people of the United States, at this day, in this vaunted period of light, will be responsible for Al States of Africa, occupying the same parallels of It is suggested that slaves will not be carried into Nebraska in large numbers, and that, therefore, the question is of small practical moment. The census shows that it was of vital consequence. There is Missouri at this moment, with Illinois on the east and Nebraska on the west, all covering nearly the same space of latitude, and resembling each other in soil, climate and productions. Mark, now, the contrast! By the potent efficacy of the Ordinance of the Northwestern Territory, Illinois is now a free State, while Missouri has 87,422 slaves, and the simple question which challenges an answer is, whether Nebraska shall be preserved in the condition of Illinois, or surrendered to that of Missouri? Surely this cannot be treated lightly. But for myself I am unwilling to measure the exigency of the prohibition by the number of persons, whether many or few, whom it may protect. Human rights whether in a private individual or a vast multitude, are entitled to an equal and unhesitating support. In this spirit the flag of our country only recently became the impenetrable panoply of an unknown wanderer, who claimed its protection in a distant sea; and in this spirit, I am constrained to declare that there is no place accessible to human avarice, or human force, whether in the lowest valley or on the loftiest mountain top, whether on the broad flower spangled prairies or the snowy crests of the Rocky Mountains, where the prohibition of Slavery, like the the commandments of the Decalogue, should not go. But leaving these things behind, I press at once to the argument. 1. And now, in the name of that public faith, which is the very ligament of civil society, and which the great Roman orator tells us it is detestable to break even with an enemy, I arraign this scheme, and appeal to the calm judgment of all who hear me. I begin, by assuming that honorable Senators will not substitute might for right-that they will not wantonly and flagitiously discard any obligations, pledge, or covenant, because they chance to possess the power; but, that, as honest men, desirous to do right, they will confront this ques tion. Sir, the proposition before you involves not merely the repeal of an existing law, but the infraction of solemn obligations originally proposed and assumed by the South, after a protracted and embittered contest, as a covenant of peace, with regard to certain specified territory therein described, namely: "All that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana;" according to which, in consideration of the admission into the Union of Missouri as a slave State, Slavery was forever prohibited in all the remaining part of this Territory which lies north of 36 deg. 30 min. This arrangement, between different sections of the Union-the slave States of the first part and the free States of the second part-though usually known as the Missouri Compromise, was at the time styled a COMPACT. In its stipulation for Slavery it was justly repugnant to the conscience of the North, and ought never to have been made; but it has on that side been performed. And now the unperformed outstanding obligations to freedom, originally proposed and assumed by the South, are resisted. On these I now plant myself. Years have passed since this compact was embodied in the legislature of Congress, and accep ted by the country. Meanwhile, the statesmen by whom it was framed and vindicated have, one by one, dropped from this earthly sphere. Their living voices cannot now be heard to plead for the preservation of that public faith to which they were pledged. But this extraordinary lapse of time, with the complete fruition by one party of all the benefits belonging to it, under the compact, gives to the transaction an added and most sacred strength. Prescription steps in with new bonds, to confirm the original work; to the end that while men are mortal, controversies shall not be immortal. Death, with inexorable scythe, has mowed down the authors of this compact; but, with conservative hour-glass, it has counted out a succession of years, which now defile before us, like so many sentinels, to guard the sa cred landmark of Freedom. (To be continued.) SLATES. Those who now run through Wales on the way to Ireland should, unless their time be very limited indeed, turn aside from the iron pathway, and glance at the wonderful slate quarries up Nant Francon. They will be repaid for their trouble. And if a circuitous coach route be adopted instead of the rail, there are Mr. Asherton Smith's quarries, in the very bosom of Snowdonia, and Mrs. Oakley's quarries, near the beautiful Ffestiniog. Plenty of slate in North Wales, if we will turn a little out of the highway to look for it; but of all the quarries in the Principality-of all in the world, perhaps -the place of honor must be given to those which have Bangor for their shipping port, and which have poured such wealth into the coffers of the Penrhyns and the Pennants. Penrhyn castle, one of the best of all modern castles, built at a cost of a hundred thousand pounds, may be regarded as a slate trophy; its cost was defrayed by the fortunes of the Quarry owners, and it very properly contains rooms and furniture, and ornaments of slate. It is alone worth a journey into North Wales, and a walk of seven miles from Bangor, and a day's heat or cold, or rain or snow, to see the pigmies at work high up Y Bron, "the pap," a name frequently given in Wales to rounded summits. The excavation commences at a low level in the mountain; but as the workings have been carried on for ninety years or more, they now extend more than half a mile into its heart, and form a vast amphitheatre. It is an amphi theatre of terraces one above another, like the seats of the ancient Coliseum, but so vastly large as to eclipse them in every sense; while the workmen appear but mere specks, so high and so wide-spreading are the workings. The adop tion of this terrace-like mode of working is due to the peculiar structure of slate. The slate is not merely separable into beds or layers, nearly But the quarries themselves are only one part of this great Penrhyn property-one end of a commercial chain. We have said that the valley on the side of which this slate mountain is situated is called Nant Francon. The quarries are called by the Welsh name, of Dolawen, or the still more Welsh name, of Braich-y-Cavn; or Penrhyn, after the name of the first worker; or Bangor, after the name of the shipping-port: but it matters little what we call them, provided we bear in mind that the mountain which yields the slate is Y Bron. horizontal, but it has innumerable lines of cleav- | tions are carried on. The very hard blocks are age nearly vertical; and these lines facilitate cut with saws into slabs; while the looser kind the separation of the blocks from the vertical are split into roofing-slates by means of long face of the mountain. A trench is first worked wedge-shaped pieces of iron. into the side of the slate mountain; and when this has extended to such a distance that the rise of the mountain causes the height of the trench to be about forty-feet, another trench is commenced at the top of the former, and then another and another, like a huge flight of steps up the side of the mountain. Meanwhile, the gradual widening of the lowermost trenches will be effected by detaching blocks of slate. The upper part of the mountain being of course narrower than the base, it necessarily follows that the lowest trenches can be expanded farther and wider than the upper. In fact, the lowest trenches have ceased altogether to be the trenches of Y Bron, and have become vast semicircular cuttings. No less than sixteen heights or terraces, each about forty feet above the one next below it, now exist; and all sixteen are advancing simultaneously further and further into the heart of the mountain. As the quarrymen proceed, they will probably have to make other terraces, still nearer the summit of the mountain. Two thousand men are digging, and blasting, and levelling, some of them at a height from the ground equal to double the height of St. Paul's cathedral, and all working open to the light of day, instead of burrowing underground like miners. The blasting is extraordinary work, requiring no little firmness of nerve. The men are suspended by ropes from the edge of an upright crag of rock; they drill holes into the vertical face of the slate; they put the blasting charges into these holes; they are hauled up again, and, when precautions have been made for obviating danger, the charges are fired, the blast takes place, and huge masses of slate become loosened. At the upper part of the quarry the slates are loose enough to be detached by crow-bars; but, at greater depths the slate is more compact, and requires the aid of gunpowder for its disruption. So many are the perils at Y Bron, that accidental deaths are painfully numerous among the quarrymen. There are parts at which the slate is interrupted by veins of intensely hard basalt or greenstone, the presence of which is a sore trouble to the proprietor and the workmen. The mountain is on the west side of the little river Ogwen; and the quarrymen's cottages and villages are scattered about near it; but the most remarkable place in the vicinity, for its human and social interest, is Bethesda-a town whose very name shows that it owed its origin to a body of persons among whom religious feeling is strong. Bethesda is a quarrymen's town, a slate community. Dissenters are in full force all over the Principality, and nowhere more so than at the quarries. We happened to be at Bangor on the day when the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists held their annual field-meeting in that town, and shall not soon forget the sight; so neat, so clean, so earnest, so simple-minded, so honesthearted did they all appear. They came from the quarries, from Conway, from Carnarvon, from Beaumaris, from every place within many miles around Bangor; they sang their unpronounceable Welsh with good hearty lungs; and sat on chairs or carts, or waggons, or reclined on the grass under a bright blue sky and a cheerful sun, to listen to discourses. Such was a great day for the quarrymen; but for all ordinary occasions they have their own chapels in their own Bethesda. And they have their retail shops, too, where David ap Jones ap Price ap Davies ap Morgan ap Shenkin, and his brother tradesmen, sell bread, cloth, pins, herrings, lucifers, candles, penny pictures, saucepans, leeks, lollipops, and all the other necessaries and luxuries for a working population. While passing through Bethesda, on our way from the quarries to Bangor, we for a time catch a glimpse of the railway or tram along The men, the slates, the tools, and the work- which the slates are conveyed to the shipping ing tackle, are raised and lowered from one ter- quay. This tramway was perhaps the making race to another by means of inclined planes. A of the quarries, as a commercial speculation. drum and a brake-wheel are placed at the top Lord Penrhyn is said to have spent nearly two of each inclined plane; and, by dexterous man- hundred thousand pounds on the means of agement, trucks are raised and lowered with transport to the ships; and a most wise exgreat facility. The men not only blast the com- penditure of capital it was. The railway glides pact recesses, and split the loose blocks and between Bangor town and Penrhyn Park, carrywedges, but also separate these blocks again into ing its long train of little trucks down to the slabs, thin slates. They then square and trim docks and quays at the northern end of the On most of the terraces there are sheds Menai Straits. These quays are excellently or workshops, in which these subsidiary opera-arranged; nothing can better aid the slates in them. ASIA-Disturbances are reported in Asia Minor, and severe conflicts are said to have taken place at Kutaiah, Augura and other places. PERSIA.-The Shah of Persia has officially an nounced his determination to remain neutral during the threatened war. the House of Commons, that Smith O'Brien is to be ENGLAND.-Lord Palmerston has announced in pardoned. setting off on their travels all over the world. | of last month. The Turks attacked and defeated The ships draw up close to the quays; the the insurgents. railway runs along the quays; and the transfer from the trucks to the ships is made easily and rapidly. The quays running a thousand feet out into the sea, are laden with slates in countless number; slates in blocks, and slates in slabs, and slates in slices; slates little and slates big; slates for builders and slates for schoolboys; slates for home and slates for abroad. As to the extent and value of these quarries and shipments, we are afraid to say how great are the estimates sometimes made. We have been told of three thousand men and boys employed at the works of eleven thousand persons supported by the wages thus received-of eighty thousand pounds a year expended in working the quarries, and yearly profits much larger than this; but unless we could tell more accurately, it will be better to keep clear of such big, high-sounding numbers as these. To be Continued SUMMARY OF NEWS. The Cunard steamer Alps with European mails to the 18th ult., arrived at Boston, on the morning of the 7th, and on the evening of the same day the approach of the Atlantic was notified by her signal gun. But this vessel was, unfortunately, twice run aground before she reached her port at New York. The Atlantic left Liverpool on the 22nd ult. On the evening of the 8th the mail steamer Asia, which left Liverpool early in the morning of 25th ult., arrived at Halifax. FRANCE.It is reported that the Rothschilds and the Bank of France, have advanced two hundred millions of francs ($37,500,000) to the French gov ernment. DOMESTIC-Considerable excitement has been produced by the seizure at Havana, of the steamship Black Warrior which touched there on her passage from Mobile to New York. It appears that this vessel had on board 900 bales of cotton Commander, Captain Bullock, in conformity with for New York, but nothing for Havana, and the the usage of the place, reported the steamer to be in ballast, when boarded by the revenue officer. But that official visiting the ship several times, the Captain at length informed him what loading he actually had, and being told that his ship would be seized for an infraction of the revenue laws, he has tened to rectify his manifest, the time allowed by law for making corrections not having expired. But the Cuban authorities refused to receive the corrected specification, and proceeded to take possession of the vessel and cargo. Captain Bullock and his of ficers and men, came home in the steamer Courier. This subject has been taken up in the House of Representatives at Washington. CONGRESS.-The homestead bill granting 160 acres of unimproved land to any free white citizen of the United States, of 21 years of age, who may apply for them, but upon condition that the land shall be occupied five years before a patent can be obtained, passed the House of Representatives on the 6th inst. A letter from the Emperor of France to the Czar, proposing terms of accommodation, had been answered by the latter, refusing to accept the offered conditions. The Moniteur considers this reply as leaving no hope of a pacific conclusion. Omar Pacha was strengthening his position at Kalafat; and the fortifications at Constantinople were going on. A number of remonstrances against the Nebraska England and France were making preparations bill, have been presented to Congress, and late acfor the contest. The former has given notice to counts encourage a hope that this bill will not pass Russia of an intention to send a fleet into the Bal- the House of Representatives. The amendments tic, the command of which is to be entrusted to of the Senate, and particularly that which declared Sir Charles Napier. English ships were making that the French laws in support of slavery in Lou surveys off the entrance in the Baltic. The Prus-isiana shall not be revived by this enactment, have sian fleet in the Baltic is said to be under orders for service. Hence a conflict in that sea is evidently impending. Austria continues to send troops to the southeastern frontier, but under the profession of intending only to prevent disturbances in Servia, Montenegro and Bosnia. TURKEY.--The Greek insurrection in Turkey had become quite formidable. In Epirus the insurgents have taken the town of Arta, and besieged the Turks in the citadel, and three thousand insurgents are reported to be within ten miles of Ionia. An Albanian detachment of Greek regular troops had gone over to the insurgents. Armed bands of Albanians were going from village to village, arousing the people and distributing arms. Inflammatory placards were also in circulation. In Greece itself great excitement prevails, and in the Ionian islands disturbances have taken place. At Salouica, the insurrection broke out on the 9th rendered it unpalatable to many of its advocates. On the 14th inst., the remonstrance of three thousand ministers against the Nebraska bill was presented in the Senate, and a petition two hundred and fifty feet long in the House. In the evening of that day a very large meeting in opposition to the Nebraska bill was held in New York, and another in the Chinese Museum, Philadelphia. Twenty four persons, on their way from California to the Atlantic States, were drowned by the upsetting of a boat, which was greatly over-crowded, while the passengers were leaving the shore for the Steamer, in Virgin Bay, on the 2nd inst. More than 80 persons were on board the boat. Many were saved through the active efforts of native men and women, and one native man lost his own life in endeavoring to save others. A bill has been reported in the Senate, and made the special order for the 27th inst., for the construction of the Pacific rail-road. FRIENDS' REVIEW. VOL. VII. A RELIGIOUS, LITERARY AND MISCELLANEOUS JOURNAL. PHILADELPHIA, THIRD MONTH 25, 1854. EDITED BY ENOCH LEWIS. PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY SAMUEL RHOADS, No. 50 North Fourth Street, PHILADELPHIA. Price two dollars per annum, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE, or six copies for ten dollars. Postage on this paper, when paid quarterly or yearly in advance, 13 cents per annum in Pennsylvania and 26 cents per annum in other States. NATHAN HUNT. (Concluded from page 418). As his memoranda extend no farther, a few extracts from letters to his friends, of later date, may help to supply the deficiency. "Springfield, 2d mo. 3d, 1835. "To J. and H. C. Backhouse,-Deep feelings of sympathy are awakened in my mind at every turn of thought on your long protracted and arduous engagement, in the most exalted and noble of all causes which human creatures can be engaged in, even that of winning souls unto God-in comparison of which, all other things sink into insignificance; and from the near unity I have felt with your movements, I believe there is no cause for discouragement. It is a blessed thing to be in a humble state of resignation to the mind and will of our gracious Master, and to keep the word of his patience, under the influence of that faith which has been the support of the Lord's servants in every age of the world. As to the southern prospect, I incline to believe it will be best for you to attend to it. Do one thing at a time, and when that is done, set up the staff and see which way it leans, and carefully follow it, whether it inclines to the east, the west, the north, or the south. It seems to me, if you remain a little longer, though it may be in weeping, you will sow much precious seed-your labors will be blest to many, bound up among the sheaves which you have gathered in this landand you, my beloved friends, will return in peace to your dear connexions, saying, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.' ToEleventh month, 1835. "I expected dear H. C. B. would be released from farther labor on our shores, when Ohio Yearly No. 28. Meeting was over, and I feel my spirit rejoice, as I write, that she has been mercifully and wonderfully preserved through such a long and perilous journey, and leaves us with that peace which passeth all understanding. I believe she has done much toward removing the prejudices of the people respecting the principles of our Society, and in encouraging Friends in their religious duties-perhaps none more so; for thou very well knowest her devotion to, and zeal for, the cause of truth, that no difficulty which presented, however formidable, could prevent her from attending to apprehended duty-her life, her all seemed to be given up to spend and to be spent for the sake of precious souls. Thou inquirest about our little H. B. Hunt,-she is a very interesting little girl, with an expressive countenance. I often pray that the Lord may bless the child, and that a double portion of the spirit of the dear friend for whom she was named, may rest upon her." ToTenth month, 7th, 1836.-"My mind has been frequently led into deep sympathy with the travailing seed everywhere; it sometimes seems to be drawn into all parts of the habitable earth, where the sons and daughters of men dwell; and here and there I find a little seed struggling for relief, and my soul is nearly united to it in the bond and covenant of everlasting love. I feel almost daily more alive to the sufferings of humanity and the groans of the oppressed, accompanied with the persuasion that a great work is on the wheel, and that changes will be brought about altogether out of the reach of human control, both in church and state. Words come far short of expressing the concern I feel for our Society, that Friends may be preserved in the meekness of wisdom, under the direction of Jesus of Nazareth, the ancient rock and foundation of this people." To are com Fourth Month. 12th, 1838."Thy last, my very dear -, is grateful to my best feelings. The accounts I have received of my dear and well-beloved forting to my heart. Though the conflict may be. long and sore, it cannot be doubtful to the welldisciplined and courageous soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the encouraging promise is, the Lamb and his followers shall have the victory. I have never known a brother or fellow-laborer in the glorious gospel of Christ, with |