contains the following passage, in reference to Skibbereen:-"I have come to this indescribable scene of destitution, desolation and death, that I night get the nearer to your sympathies; that I might bring these terrible realities of human misery more vividly within ́ your comprehension. I have witnessed scenes that no language of mine can pourtray. I have seen how much beings, made in the image of God, can suffer on this side the grave, and that too in a civilized land." His journal exhibits, indeed, an appalling picture of calamity and death. The cases of suffering he brings before us are of the most heart-rending description.

But our feelings of sorrow for the distressed are mingled with surprise-we should say indignation, when we think that up to the period when this journal was written, no effectual means had been adopted, in that unfortunate district, even for the decent interment of the dead. There has been a vast amount of money subscribed for Skibbereen, and yet these donations, in addition to the expenditure of the government, have effected but little to mitigate the frightful misery that prevails. We confess our total inability to understand how the funds are managed. Mr. Burritt speaks of the existence of a "soup-house" and "cheap bread dispensary," and yet in the lanes surrounding these establishments "half naked women and children stood upon the wet ground, which one could almost see smoke beneath their bare feet, burning with fever”—and begged "for the honour of God" for some food to preserve them from death! They were "in the last stage of fever," and yet in that awful state they were forced to leave their wretched beds and inplore those whom they might accidentally meet for something to keep them alive! O hapless victims of disease and hunger, were there no friendly hands to carry to your miserable hovels even a little portion of food from the "cheap bread dispensary," in the adjoining street? "We found an old woman," says Mr. B. stretched upon a pallet of straw, with her head within a foot of a handful of fire upon which something was steaming in a small iron vessel. The doctor removed the cover, and we found it was filled with a kind of slimy sea-weed, which, I believe, is used for manure, in the seaboard. This was all the nourishment the daughter could serve to her sick mother." What! was there not a "cheap bread dispensary" in the adjoining lane? Was not the doctor previously acquainted with such deplorable cases, and how happened it, that neither he, nor the Rev. Mr. F., nor "the several gentlemen of the town," who accompanied Mr. Burritt, in his "walk

through this Potter's Field of destitution and death," had made arrangements to have these sufferers supplied with a little food in their own cabins? Were the "gentlemen of the town” not ashamed that a stranger should see and record such mismanagement or apathy on their own part? It would appear not. They seemed to have a sort of satisfaction in exhibiting certain appalling cases of destitution, which, for any thing we know to the contrary, might have been effectually relieved by a proper management of the immense sums placed at their disposal!

Mr. Burritt's journal is well calculated to excite sympathy-even in the most selfish heart. We have read newspaper accounts of the destitution in Skibbereen; but here is a picture more awfully vivid and startling than any we have looked upon yet. By far the most affecting portions of his journal are those that describe the poor little children sinking quietly and uncomplainingly into their early graves. A dropsical affection is very common to all the sufferers by famine. In one cabin, he "saw an apparition that sickened all the flesh and blood in his nature." The mother lifted from the straw, a boy of about twelve years of age, whose body was swollen to nearly three times its usual size, and had burst the ragged garments that covered him! In another, he saw a child of two years old, "with clear sharp eyes that did not wink, but stared stock still at vacancy, as if a glimpse of another existence had eclipsed its vision. Its cold, naked arms were not much larger than pipe stems, while its body was swollen to the size of a full grown person." In a third cabin, he found "a single child, about three years old, lying on a kind of shelf, with its little face resting on the edge of the board, and looking steadfastly out at the door, as if for its mother. It never moved its eyes as we entered, but kept them fixed towards the entrance. It is doubtful whether the poor thing had a mother or father lett to her; but it is more doubtful still, whether those eyes would have relaxed their vacant gaze, if both of them had entered with any thing that could tempt the palate in their hands. No words can - describe this peculiar appearance of the famished children. Never have I seen such bright, blue, clear eyes looking so steadfastly at nothing. I would almost fancy, that the angels of God had been sent to unseal the vision of these little, patient, perishing creatures, to the beatitudes of another world; and that they were listening to the whispers of unseen spirits bidding them to wait a little longer."

The Persecutor Rebuked; The Persecuted Comforted and Cautioned -A Sermon, preached in the Room of the Christian Brethren at Mottram, on the Afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 14, 1847. By R. BROOK ASPLAND, Pastor of the Unitarian Church at Dukinfield.

THIS is a reasonable and well written tract. It has been called forth by certain disgraceful attempts at persecution in Mottram and its neighbourhood. The Christian Brethren, or in other words, those who believe with Joseph Barker, have established a Society there, and their efforts to diffuse Christian knowledge, have been attended with very gratifying results. As might be expected, they have been harshly and unjustly assailed by their neighbours of the Orthodox churches, who have fairly taken the alarm and are employing means the most unchristian and discreditable, to arrest the progress of truth. The Christian Brethren at Mottram are persons of humble station, being generally work-people, but their exertions in favour of light and freedom have been well-aimed and judicious. Hence, they are regarded with great jealousy by "the priests" of the Established Church, and by certain "rulers." We make the following extract from the postscript to Mr. Aspland's

sermon:

"The principal scene of this persecution is Broadbottom. Here the tenants and workpeople have been visited, and asked if they had any of the tracts circulated by the Christian Brethren. Those that had tracts and produced them were ordered to "BURN THEM" in the presence of their persecutor. Some complied with this disgraceful order, fearing that a refusal would occasion the loss of employment and a home. Others, more courageous, refused to obey. The persecuting visitor proceeded to take down their names. In one or two cases, the persecutor was respectfully asked if the dislike of the tracts arose from having read them and become acquainted with their contents. The answer was, 'No! but enough had been said of them without reading them. The tracts and the society should be banished from the country; the school and the chapel should be broken up ; that this was a settled thing, and should be carried through.'”

An inhabitant of Mottram, in writing to Mr. Aspland, concludes his letter in these words:

"For my part, I feel resigned to God's will. My end and aim shall be to promote his glory, and to bring about a better state of things. I am determined, by God's help, to raise my voice against all slavery and sin, and declare the truth as taught by my Redeemer, as far as I have light. I feel FREE, and I want others to enjoy FREEDom too. I want them to be convinced that it is their privilege to search the Scriptures for themselves, to think and speak and act like free-born sons and daughters of our common Parent; that no man has a right to fix our creed or tyrannize over our conscience."

INTELLIGENCE.

OBITUARY.

DIED, at Crumlin, on the 27th February, Mr. James Campbell, Postmaster, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. The death of this truly upright and estimable man is sincerely regretted by all who knew him. In the domestic scene he was a loving husband, an indulgent and attached father; whilst his hearty, unaffected sincerity of manner, his great kindness of disposition, and his manliness of character made him generally beloved.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

WE respectfully decline the poetical contribution of M. J. to return any manuscripts.