the crew of the other vessel on board, and in all, probability assists, should occasion require, to decoy the cruizers from the vessel taking the slaves." The plans of the slave-traders are so skilfully arranged with respect to the adventures, they state, that "the capture of four vessels would not subject them to loss, provided that the fifth was successful in landing the slaves in Brazil."

in a crusade against the traffic on the coast of Africa.

So thoroughly convinced have the Committee been, by the facts which have come under their notice, that the slave-trade cannot be suppressed by the cruising system, that they have felt it to be their duty to recommend to the government the necessity of substituting for it other, and, as they believe, more practical modes for attaining that great end.

FRIENDS' REVIEW.

Under these circumstances, with a brisk demand for slaves, and consequently high prices, the profits of this inhuman traffic must be immense. One large trafficker in human flesh, Manoel Pinto de Fonseca, publicly declared in Rio, that his profits in the African trade alone, PHILADELPHIA, ELEVENTH MONTH 27, 1847. for the year 1844, amounted to £150,000.

The Paqueta de Rio, a brigantine, under Brazilian colours, of seventy-five tons only, was captured on the 26th of October, 1846, with 556 slaves on board, off the river Sherbro. The

captain of this vessel, as we learn from private sources, was to have had sixty dollars per head freight. Presuming the deaths to have been one-third of the whole on the voyage, there would have remained 371; these, at sixty dollars each, would have given £4,637 10s. 6d. for freight. Allowing £637 10s. 6d. for water, rice, firewood, &c., there would have remained a clear profit to the captain of £4,000.

The profit on the cargo would have been nearly as follows:-The price paid for a slave on the coast is about £4; say, for 556 slaves, £2,224. The price for a prime slave in Brazil is from 400 to 500 dollars-the average price may be taken at 240 dollars, or £50 each. This will give for 371 slaves £18,550; deduct cost and freight, £6,861, and the balance will show a clear profit of £11,689, or nearly 200 per cent. on the adventure!

So long as such enormous gains are made, at comparatively small risks, it is impossible, the Committee believe, to put down the traffic by a marine police.

The accounts from the coast up to last November, show that nearly forty slavers had been captured during a few months, and sent to St. Helena, for trial in the Vice-Admiralty Court. And this, notwithstanding the annual expenditure of £600,000.

Our readers will find in the present number a brief notice of a religious visit recently paid by two Friends to the Shetland Islands. From this account we may discover the feelings with which the simple and neglected inhabitants of those islands receive the visits, few and far between, of the ministers of the gospel.

These islands, about forty in number, lie nearly 100 miles N. N. E. from the Scottish coast. Being near the parallel of 60° north, and surrounded by the ocean, their summers are moist and cold; and during three weeks in midsummer the sun is al

most continually above the horizon; yet, in return, there is an equal period in winter in which that luminary is nearly always out of view. The islands are mountainous, affording retreats for numerous tribes of the feathered race. The inlets on the coast furnish many harbours for fisheries, the products of which constitute the principal article of their trade. The English language, with some mixture of Norwegian, is generally spoken. The people are represented as orderly, frugal and hospitable, yet considerably tainted with superstition.

From private letters and verbal information, we learn that the late Yearly Meeting of North Carolina was harmoniously and satisfactorily conducted. The epistles from other Yearly Meetings

were all read and answered as usual. The minutes

were committed to the press, but no copy has yet come to hand; we therefore cannot give the particulars.

It is the matured judgment of the Committee, that nothing short of the universal abolition of slavery will ever uproot and destroy the slavetrade; and that, were her Majesty's government to direct their attention to practical measures, At a political meeting held 13th inst. at Lexing such as the liberation of all slaves illicitly intro- ton, Kentucky, Henry Clay produced a number of duced into Brazil and the Spanish colonies, contrary to the solemn obligations of treaties, and, resolutions, relating chiefly to the Mexican War, above all, to the development of the resources of and supported them by a speech of two hours and British India, by removing those obstacles which a half. A copy of these resolutions, with an abnow prevent the extensive cultivation of the soil, stract of the speech, was conveyed by express to they would do more to accomplish this great ob- Cincinnati, a distance of at least eighty miles, in ject of national justice and Christian philanthro- about five hours. From the latter place the compy, than by employing the whole British navy|munication was telegraphed through Pittsburg, &c.,

For Friends' Review. SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN ENGLAND.

ness were required to sift out the truth from a mass of traditional and legendary error. Of his success in this great achievement the English Reviewers speak in the highest terms; of his difficulties, we would let him give his own manly yet modest statement.

"Before closing these remarks, I may be permitted to add a few of a personal nature. In several foreign notices of my writings, the author has been said to be blind, and more than once I have had the credit of having lost my sight in the composition of my first history. When I have met with such erroneous accounts, I have hastened to correct them. But the present occasion affords me the best means of doing so; and I am the more desirous of this, as I fear some of my own remarks, in the Prefaces to my former histories, have led to the mistake.

In the year 1822 an account of the meetings in Great Britain was published by direction of the Yearly Meeting of London. That meeting then consisted of twenty-six quarterly meetings, the half-year's meeting of Wales, and the general meeting of Scotland. These included one hundred and one monthly meetings, and four hundred and four meetings for Divine worship, exclusive of Ireland and the meetings on the continent of Europe. By recent information, it appears that the Meeting for Sufferings in London is preparing a revised account of the meetings at present existing in Great Britain, with the times at which they are held. This statement, when completed, will probably be published, and furnish the means of ascertaining whether the numbers of "While at the University, I received an injury the society there have increased or diminished in one of my eyes, which deprived me of the sight within the last twenty-five years. It may, how-of it. The other, soon after, was attacked by inever, be observed, that the emigrations of young flammation so severely, that, for some time, I lost and middle aged Friends from that country to the sight of that also; and though it was subsethis, within that period, must have a sensible in- quently restored, the organ was so much disorderfluence on the apparent augmentation or decline ed as to remain permanently debilitated, while of their numbers The account above noticed, twice in my life, since, I have been deprived of when received, will probably appear in the Re- the use of it for all purposes of reading and writing, for several years together. It was during one of these periods that I received from Madrid the materials for the History of Ferdinand and Isabella;' and in my disabled condition, with my Transatlantic treasures lying around me, I was like one pining from hunger in the midst of abundance. In this state, I resolved to make the ear, if possible, do the work of the eye. I procured the services of a secretary, who read to me the various authorities; and in time I became so far familiar with the sounds of the different foreign languages, to some of which, indeed, I had been previously accustomed by a residence abroad, that I could comprehend his reading without much difficulty. As the reader proceeded, I dictated copious notes; and, when these had swelled to a considerable amount, they were read to me repeatedly, till I had mastered their contents sufficiently for the purpose of composition. The same notes furnished an easy means of reference to sustain the text.

view.

R.

For Friends' Review.

EXTENT OF INDIANA YEARLY MEETING.

It seems that we have a very inadequate conception of the numbers assembled at the time of this meeting. A letter from a friend who was present, expresses the belief, that at the meeting on first-day morning, at the time of the last annual assembly, there was the greatest collection of people, horses and vehicles, that was ever brought together at a meeting of Friends since the rise of the society. The house is estimated to hold 3000 persons; and a large part of the assembly could not obtain admittance. The horses and vehicles covered several acres of ground.

T.

For Friends' Review.

WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.

"Still another difficulty occurred in the mechaThe following unassuming description of the nical labor of writing, which I found a severe trial difficulties under which Prescott laboured in the to the eye. This was remedied by means of a preparation of his "History of Peru," is ex-writing-case, such as is used by the blind, which tracted from his preface to that work. Perhaps enabled me to commit my thoughts to paper withthere is not on record an instance of such indom- out the aid of sight, serving me equally well in the itable perseverance and acute research under dis- dark as in the light. The characters thus formed couragements so appalling. The case of Milton made a near approach to hieroglyphics; but my is no parallel to it. The materials for his great secretary became expert in the art of deciphering, work were within him; and his disconnection and a fair copy-with a liberal allowance for unwith the external world served only to throw avoidable blunders-was transcribed for the use him more entirely on the world within. The of the printer. I have described the process with materials for Prescott's History, which were more minuteness, as some curiosity has been revery voluminous, were written in foreign lan- peatedly expressed in reference to my modus opeguages, and the utmost patience and acute-randi under my privations, and the knowledge of

it may be of some assistance to others in similar | "INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY UPON THE PROScircumstances.

PERITY OF A STATE.

"DOMESTICS FOR HOME CONSUMPTION.-One of our merchants advertises in our paper that he has just received a large consignment of Boston laths, and it strikes us, and must strike others, as not a little remarkable, that a population living in the very heart of one of the best lumber regions of the United States, with thousands of fallen pine trees covering the forests in their immediate neighbourhood, should be indebted to Northern enterprise for the very laths with which their

"Another instance arrested our attention a short

"Though I was encouraged by the sensible progress of my work it was necessarily slow. But in time the tendency to inflammation diminished, and the strength of the eye was confirmed more and more. It was at length so far restored, that I could read for several hours of the day, though my labors in this way necessarily terminated with the daylight. Nor could I ever dispense with the services of the secretary, or with the writing-case; for, contrary to the usual experience, I have found writing a severer trial to the eye than reading-houses are constructed. a remark, however, which does not apply to the reading of manuscript; and to enable myself, therefore, to revise my composition more carefully, I caused a copy of the History of Ferdinand and Isabella' to be printed for my own inspection, before it was sent to the press for publication. Such as I have described was the improved state of my health during the preparation of the Conquest of Mexico; and satisfied with being raised so nearly to a level with the rest of my species, I scarcely envied the superior good fortune of those who could prolong their studies into the evening, and the later hours of the night.

"But a change has again taken place, during the last two years. The sight of my eye has become gradually dimmed, while the sensibility of the

nerve has been so far increased that for several

weeks of the last year I have not opened a volume, and through the whole time I have not had the use of it, on an average, for more than an hour a day. Nor can I cheer myself with the delusive expectation, that impaired as the organ has become, from having been tasked, probably, beyond its strength, it can ever renew its youth, or be of much service to me hereafter in my literary researches. Whether I shall have the heart to enter, as I had proposed, on a new and more extensive field of historical labour, with these impediments, I cannot say. Perhaps long habit, and a natural desire to follow up the career which have so long pursued, may make this, in a manner, necessary, as my past experience has already proved that it is practicable.'

T. S.

From the [Kentucky] Examiner.

I

The Savannah Republican does not hesitate, in pointing to slaves, that fearfully large class of unproductive consumers,' as the cause of the decay of Southern cities, and the downward tendency of things in the Southern States. One of the ablest men of Georgia, indeed, goes so far as to say, that, Georgia cannot be the State she ought to be, until labour is esteemed honorable by all classes, and made the characteristic of every freeman. The following article from the Savannah Republican shows the tendency of things in the far South, and the necessity there exists for looking into and discussing fully, all the influences of slavery:

time ago. In visiting a rice plantation of a friend on the Savannah river, we observed, stamped on the side of the row-boat which carried us, the name of the maker in New York; while one of our Carolina friends, a great lecturer on agriculture, and president of agricultural societies, gets even his pig yokes' from the North instead of making them on his own plantation.

"While such supine indolence and such a short-sighted policy prevail among us, the South must and will remain tributary to the superior industry and energy of the North, which profits by her neglect of her own true interests.

"The resources of the South need only be developed to give her children wealth and comforts. Nature has done far more for us than for our Northern brethren, but they have husbanded their resources, while we have squandered and neglected ours.

"Take for example the State of Georgia. Vast quantities of her timber are now rotting in her forests while Northern lumber comes into our port. The finest water-power in the world which might be converted into a thousand useful purposes is allowed to waste itself over rocks in its channel. The shad fishery on the Savannah river is yearly made a source of large profit to a company from Maine. Our canal furnishes our city only with eels and water lillies! instead of being completed to bring us down the lumber and the products of the Ogechee; and in one word we continue poor, because we will not make the effort to become rich by developing the actual resources in our power.

66

Agriculture and commerce absorb most of the energies of the portion of our people who will work, while the class of 'unproductive consumers' at the South is fearfully large. The professions have much to answer for in this respect. Many sturdy young fellows who would enjoy both health and competence if following the plough, are wasting their energies and their lives in a fruitless chase after 'cases,' either legal, medical, or clerical, to the great loss of the community and their own.

"Georgia, we are happy to see, is waking up; the former stupid idea that a gentleman was one who wore white kids, and never worked, is fast

giving place to the sounder doctrine, that the |
working men, either with hand or brain, are
the true nobility of a country, and stamp its
character at home and abroad. Upon the pres-
ent generation rests the duty of developing the in-
ternal resources of the State-of employing her
water power in turning the busy wheels of fac-
tories; in increasing her exports of lumber
and developing all her countless resources."
This is right! look into the matter, friends, and
you will be prepared by and bye to solve the
difficulty. When duty and interest combine,
as combine they do, it will not be long before
you will act. Let Kentucky show the way,
(and what a glorious lead it would be! so wor-
thy of the noblest character! so inspiring to
all the hopes of man,) let the old Dominion fol-
low, and Georgia will overlap South Carolina,
ultra as she now is, and sweep her on, as she
speaks, with Tennessee and North Carolina, for
universal freedom.

Professor Henry said he could find no evidence that he had written this in view of the establishment of an institution.

"Smithson died at Genoa in the year 1829, leaving his property to his nephew, the son of his brother, with a clause in his will leaving it in trust of the United States, for founding an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men, in case the nephew died without issue. He did so die, and the money, about $500,000, came into possession of our Government."

Professor Henry then explained his own connexion with the Smithsonian Institution, which was entirely unsolicited on his part. He mentioned the several plans which had been suggested for the organization of the Institution, as well as that which has been finally adopted as a compromise. According to this

To Increase Knowledge.-It is proposed, first, to stimulate men of talent, in every part of the country and of the world, to make original researches by offering suitable rewards; and, second, to appropriate annually a portion of the income for particular researches, under the di

This is the talisman which developes the resources of States, and builds up cities. This is the means by which individual prosperity, and the greatness of Commonwealths, are made enduring, which will convert forests into fields, wa-rection of suitable persons. ter power into wealth, and make the South what the South should be, as glowing and gloririous a land as man ever trod.

THE FOUNDER OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTI-
TUTE.

At the recent meeting of the Association of Geologists in Boston, Professor HENRY gave the following account of JAMES SMITHSON, to whose liberality we are indebted for the institution that bears his name:

To Diffuse Knowledge.-It is proposed, first, to publish a series of periodical reports on the progress of all branches of knowledge; and, second, to publish occasionally separate treatises on subjects of general interest.

No memoir on subjects of physical science to be accepted for publication which does not form a positive addition to human knowledge, and all unverified speculations to be rejected.

Each memoir presented to the Institution, to be submitted for examination to a commission of persons of reputation for learning in the branch to which the article pertains, and to be accepted for publication only in case the report of this commission is favourable.

The reports on the progress of knowledge, to be furnished by collaborators, consisting of men eminent in the different branches of knowledge. These reports to consist of three classes-physical, moral, and political, literature and the fine arts.

"SMITHSON was born in England in the year 1768. He was educated at the University of Oxford; was a man of amiable disposition, and devoted to science. He was the best chemist in Oxford, and after his graduation became the rival of Wollaston in minute analysis, and possessed most extraordinary skill in manipulation. The following anecdote to the point was related on the authority of the late President of the Royal Society: On one occasion he observed One-half of the income of the Institution is to a tear trickling down the face of a lady; he be devoted to carrying out this plan; the other caught it on a piece of glass, lost one-half, ana-half to the increase and diffusion of knowledge lyzed the other half, and discovered a microsco- by means of collections of books and objects of pic salt. nature and art.

"He resided most of the time abroad, and was the author of upwards of twenty original memoirs on various subjects of science. He appears to have been proud of his scientific attainments, and on one occasion wrote thus: The best blood of England flows in my veins. On my father's side I am a Northumberland; on my mother's I am related to kings. But this is of no consequence. My name shall live in the memory of mankind when the titles of the Northumberlands and Percys are forgotten.'

The building, which is slowly in progress, is to be erected, in considerable part, out of the interest which will accrue upon the interest which has accumulated upon the original sum since it has been in the keeping of the United States.-Nat. Intel.

They who defend war, says Erasmus, must defend the dispositions which lead to war; and these dispositions are absolutely forbidden by the gospel.