Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

message in ordinary writing, and he transfers it to the ribbon in perforated characters by means of the punching apparatus. By practice he is enabled to execute this in less time than it would be requisite for an expert compositor to set it up in common printing type.

"The punching apparatus for inscribing in perforated characters the despatches on ribbons of paper is so arranged, that several agents may simultaneously write in this manner different messages, so that the celerity with which the messages are inscribed on the perforated paper may be rendered commensurate with the rapidity of their transmission, by merely multiplying the inscribing agents.

"Let us now imagine the message thus completely inscribed on the perforated ribbon of paper. This ribbon is again rolled as at first upon a roller, and it is now placed on an axle attached to the machinery of the telegraph.

"The extremity of the perforated ribbon at which the message commences is now carried over a metallic roller which is in connection with the positive pole of the galvanic battery. It is pressed upon this roller by a small metallic spring terminating in points like the teeth of a comb, the breadth of which is less than that of the perforations in the paper. This metallic spring is connected with the conducting wire which passes from the station of departure to the stations of arrival. When the metallic spring falls into the perforations of the ribbon of paper as the latter passes over the roller, the galvanic circuit is completed by the metallic contact of the spring with the roller, but when those parts of the ribbon which are not perforated pass between the spring and the roller, the galvanic circuit is broken and the current is interrupted.

"A motion of rotation, the speed of which can be regulated at discretion, is imparted to the metallic roller by clock-work, so that the ribbon of paper is made to pass rapidly between it and the metallic spring, and as it passes this metallic spring falls successively into the perforations on the paper. By this means the galvanic circuit is alternately completed and broken, and the current passes during intervals corresponding precisely to the perforations in the paper. In this manner the successive intervals of the transmission of the current are made to correspond precisely with the perforated characters expressive of the message, and the same succession of intervals of transmission and suspension will affect the writing apparatus at the stations of arrival in the manner already described.

"Now there is no limit to the speed with which this process can be executed, nor can there be an error, provided only that the characters have been correctly marked on the perforated paper; but this correctness is secured by the ribbon of perforated paper being examined after the perforation is completed, and deliberately compared with the written message. Absolute

accuracy and unlimited celerity are thus attained at the station of departure. To the celerity with which the despatch can be written at the station of arrival, there is no other limit than the time which is necessary for the electric current to produce the decomposition of the chemical solution with which the prepared paper is saturated."

Such are the means by which these extraordinary effects are produced; and we have been the more willing to give them with some detail because the memoir from which they are obtained is still unpublished, and the reader would in vain seek for this information elsewhere.

THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE.

If

In 1620 the Anglo-Saxon race numbered about 6,000,000, and was confined to England, Wales and Scotland; and the combination of which it was the result was not then more than half perfected, for neither Wales nor Scotland was half-Saxonized at the time. Now it numbers 60,000,000 of human beings, planted upon all the islands and continents of the earth, and increasing everywhere by an intense ratio of progression. It is fast absorbing or displacing all the sluggish races or barbarous tribes of men that have occupied the continents of America, Africa, Asia, and the islands of the ocean. no great physical revolution supervene to check its propagation, it will number 800,000,000 of human beings in less than 150 years from the present time.-all speaking the same language, centered to the same literature and religion, and exhibiting all its inherent and inalienable characteristics. Thus the population of the earth is fast becoming Anglo-Saxonized by blood. But the English language is more self-expansive, and aggressive than the blood of that race. When a community begins to speak the English language it is half-Saxonized even if not a drop of Anglo-Saxon blood runs in its veins. Ireland was never colonized from England like North America or Australia, but nearly the whole of its 6,000,000, or 7,000,000 already speak the English language, which is the preparatory state to being entirely absorbed into the Anglo-Saxon race as one of its most vigorous and useful elements. Everywhere the English language is gaining upon the languages of the earth and preparing those who speak it for this absorption. The young generation of the East Indies is learning it; and it is probable that within 50 years 65,000,000 of human beings of Asiatic race will speak the language of that continent. So it is in the United States. About 50,000 emigrants from Germany and other countries of continental Europe are arriving in this country every year. Perhaps they cannot speak a word of English when they first land on our shores; but in the course of a few years they master the language

to some extent. Their children sit upon the same benches in our common schools with those of native Americans, and become as they grow up, and diffuse themselves among the rest of the population, completely Anglo-Saxonized. Thus the race is fast occupying and subduing to its genius, all the continents and islands of the earth. The grandson of many a young man who reads these lines will probably live to see the day when that race will number its 800,000,000 of human beings. Their unity, harmony, and brotherhood must be determined by the relations between Great Britain and the United States. Their union will be the union of the two worlds. If they discharge their duty to each other and to mankind, they must become the united heart of the mighty race they represent, feeding its myriad veins with the blood of moral and political life. Upon the state of their fellowship, then, more than upon the union of any two nations on earth, depend the well-being of humanity and peace and progress of the world.

the

Buffalo paper.

FRIENDS' REVIEW.

PHILADELPHIA, NINTH MONTH 28, 1850.

The circumstance related in the addendum annexed to the article on natural history, affords a striking illustration of the important results sometimes arising from attention to small and apparently trivial matters. So trifling a matter as the convulsion of the limbs of a dead frog, when a spark was taken from the conductor of an electrical machine, would probably have been regarded, by most persons, with a momentary wonder, and then have been dismissed from the memory. But the man of science, who knows that every phenomenon in nature is the effect of those laws which Creative wisdom has established, can often find in apparently trifling circumstances, an intimation which may eventually lead to some important discoveries. When the observation was first made that a certain black stone had the power of attracting iron, it would hardly have been imagined, that this ef. fect was the evidence of a principle in nature, which would eventually enable the mariner to steer his adventurous course across the trackless ocean,

place almost with the rapidity of thought. Yet such results are now becoming familiar to us.

The following illustration is given by J. F. W. Herschell, of the importance resulting from attention to the phenomena of nature in cases of comparatively little importance:

"A soap-manufacturer remarks that the residuum of his ley, when exhausted of the alkali for which he employs it, produces a corrosion of his copper boiler for which he cannot account. He puts it into the hands of a scientific chemist for analysis, and the result is the discovery of one of the most singular and important chemical elements-iodine. The properties of this, being studied, are found to occur most appositely in illustration and support of a variety of new, curious and instructive views then gaining ground in chemistry, and thus exercise a marked influence over the whole body of that science. Curiosity is excited: the origin of the new substance is traced to the sea-plants from whose ashes the principal ingredient of soap is obtained, and ultimately to the sea-water itself. It is thence hunted through nature, discovered in salt mines and springs, and pursued into all bodies which have a marine origin; among the rest, into sponge. A medical practitioner then calls to mind a reputed remedy for the cure of one of the most grievous and unsightly disorders to which the human species is subject-the goître-which infests the inhabitants of mountainous districts to an extent that, in this favoured land, we have happily no experience of, and which was said to have been originally cured by the ashes of burnt sponge. Led by this indication, he tries the effect of iodine on that complaint, and the result establishes the extraordinary fact that this singular substance, taken as a medion goître, dissipating the largest and most invetecine, acts with the utmost promptitude and energy rate in a short time, and acting (of course, like all medicines, even the most approved, with occasional failures) as a specific, or natural antagonist, against to our knowledge of nature is sure, sooner or later, that odious deformity. It is thus that any accession to make itself felt in some practical application, and that a benefit conferred on science by the casual observation or shrewd remark of even an unscientific or illiterate person, infallibly repays itself with have been at first contemplated." interest, though often in a way that could never

THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.-"An act to amend, and supplementary to the act entitled ‹ An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escapFeb. 12, 1793," has passed both Houses of Congress, ing from the service of their masters,' approved and received the sanction of the President.

readers in its consequences, we subjoin a summary As this act may possibly involve some of our of its provisions:

even during the darkest night, with confidence and safety. And when it was perceived that a piece of amber, upon being rubbed with a dry cloth acquired the power of alternately attracting and re-slaves, to which this is a supplement, provides that The part of the act of 1793, relative to fugitive pelling light substances, it would not have occurred to a sober imagination, that this observation was the first in a career of discovery, which would finally enable us to draw the lightning from the clouds; and to transmit intelligence from place to

when a person held to labor in any of the States or territories under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other State or Territory, the owner of such

Dr. Coindet of Geneva.

fugitive, his agent or attorney, shall be authorized, from one State or Territory into another, the owner

to seize and take him before any judge of the circuit or district court of the United States, or before a magistrate of a county or city; and upon proof being made to satisfaction of such judge or magistrate that the person so arrested owes service or labour to the claimant, the officer is required to grant a certificate, which shall be a warrant for the removal of such fugitive to the state or territory from which he fled.

It also provides that any one who shall intentionally obstruct such claimant or his agent in the arrest of such fugitive; or who shall rescue such fugitive when arrested; or who shall harbour or conceal such person after notice that he is a fugitive from labour, shall, for either offence, forfeit the sum of 500 dollars.

The recent supplementary act consists of ten sections. The first four sections confer upon numerous commissioners, appointed, or to be appointed by the circuit courts of the United States, and the superior courts of organized territories, a concurrent authority with the judges of the circuit and district courts, to examine and adjudge the claims of the owners of fugitive slaves, and to grant certificates for their removal to the State from which they fled. The courts being enjoined, from time to time, to "enlarge the number of commissioners, with a view to afford reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labour, and to the prompt discharge of the duties required by the act."

Section 5 requires the marshals and their deputies to execute all orders of these commissioners, under a penalty of one thousand dollars; and in case a fugitive, after arrest, shall escape from the custody of the marshal, or his deputy, such marshal shall be answerable to the owner of the slave for his value in the State from which he escaped. And the Commissioners are authorized, "within their counties respectively, to appoint in writing under their hands, any one or more suitable persons from time to time, to execute all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their respective duties; with authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them, to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or posse commitatus of the proper county, when necessary to ensure a faithful observance of the clause of the constitution referred to, in conformity with the provisions of this act; and all good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required, as aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run, and be executed by said officers anywhere in the State, within which they are issued."

Section 6 provides that when a slave shall escape

of such slave, his agent or attorney duly constituted, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive, either by procuring a warrant from one of the courts, judges, or commissioners, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by taking him forthwith before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof, with certain prescribed formalities, being made, to grant to the claimant a certificate setting forth the facts of the case, with authority to use such reasonable force as may be necessary for the removal of the fugitive to the State from which he fled. And this certificate shall prevent all molestation of such persons by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person.

"That any person

Section 7 is in these words: who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her or them from arresting such fugitive from service or labour, either with or without process as aforesaid; or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labour, from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such persons owing service or labour as aforesaid, directly or indirectly to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labour as aforesaid, shall for either of such offences be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the district court of the United States for the district in which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost, as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt, in any of the district or territorial courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed."

Section 8 provides for the payment of the persons engaged in the arrest and detention of alleged fugitives, including the remarkable provision, that

a commissioner shall be entitled to a fee of ten dol

lars in case of granting a certificate for the re

moval of the alleged fugitive, but of five only in case he shall judge the proof insufficient to establish the claim.

Section 9 provides, "that upon affidavit made by the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will be rescued by force from his or their possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the state in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him to said claimant, his agent or attorney. And to this end the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may require. The said officer and his assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation, and to be allowed the same expenses as are now allowed by law for the transportation of criminals, to be certified by the judge of the district within which the arrest is made, and paid out of the treasury of the United States."

Section 10 relates to the species of proof upon which the identity of a person escaping from service shall be established, and on which the fugi

tive shall be surrendered to the claimant.

DIED, At his residence in Hyde Park, Dutchess Co., N. Y., on the 12th inst., ISAAC HALLOCK, in the 98th year of his age. This beloved friend was a member, and, for many years, an Elder of Creek Monthly Meeting. His sickness was protracted, bore with much patience and resignation to the attended at times with severe suffering, which he Divine Will. He appeared through mercy prepared for death, saying he saw nothing in his way. He retained his mental faculties in a remarkable manner, and we trust is gathered, like a shock of corn, in his season.

At her residence in Columbiana Co., Ohio, on the 31st of Seventh month last, SARAH, wife of Jabez Coulson, aged 67 years, a member of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. She was born in Chester 1812, to Ohio, where they settled in the woods, exCo., Pa., and emigrated with a former husband, in posed to the many privations incident to their lonely situation. She was of a quiet disposition, and beloved by all who knew her.

A Friend is wanted to fill the office of Superintendent of Haverford School. Information in reference to the duties of the station, may be obtained on application to either of the undersigned. THOMAS KIMBER, No. 50 North Fourth street. JOSIAH TATUM,

[ocr errors]

[ocr errors]

ALFRED COPE, Walnut street Wharf. JOHN FARNUM, No. 26 South Front street. Philadelphia, 7th mo. 5th.

WEST TOWN SCHOOL.

tf.

of this institution, will meet there on Sixth-day, the The Committee charged with the superintendence

4th of next month, at 10 o'clock, A. M. The Comamittee on instruction to meet on the preceding evening, at 7 o'clock.

We may, perhaps, at some future time, offer few remarks on the character and constitutionality of this law.

MARRIED,-At Friends' Meeting House, Blue River, Washington Co., la., on the 8th ult., AQUILA TIMBERLAKE, formerly of Highland Co., Ohio, to JANE, daughter of James L. Thompson, of the former place.

The Visiting Committee attend the semi-annual examination of the School, commencing on ThirdFifth-day evening, of the same week,-previously day morning, the first of the month, and closing on to which, the Rules prohibit the removal of any pupils from the institution.

THOMAS KIMBER, Clerk. Philadelphia, 9th mo. 21st., 1850.-2t.

LABOR.

DIED, Near Paoli, Orange Co., Ta., on the 22d of Seventh month last, in the 60th year of his age, BRITISH WEST INDIES-FREE LABOR AND SLAVE JAMES CROW, a member of Lick Creek Monthly Meeting. From the nature of his disease he could converse but little-yet his friends have the consoling trust that their loss is his gain.

At the residence of her son-in-law, M. D. Gove, Salem, Columbiana Co., Ohio, on the 18th of last month, ANN M. STROUD, in the 51st year of her age, a member of Short Creek Monthly Meeting. An unshaken faith and hope in her Saviour, supported her through many severe trials, and enabled her to bear a painful and lingering illness of more than two years, not only with patience and resignation, but with cheerfulness. She was aware of the critical nature of her disease-an affection of the heart and desired to be kept in a state of constant watchfulness and preparation for the final Her mind appeared to be clothed with that peace which passeth all understanding, and we are ready to believe her to be one of that happy number, who have come out of great tribulation, having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

summons.

One of our English friends, G. W. ALEXANDER, who lately spent several months in the West Indies, has furnished us with the following valuable article.-Nat. Era.

We do not think that the great question of slave emancipation should be decided by the number of hogsheads of sugar or bales of cotton that may be produced by a free compared with a slave community, but by the far higher considerations of justice and benevolence and the requirements of Christianity. Nevertheless, at a time when the actual results of emancipation on a large scale, in the British West India colonies, are extensively and confidently misstated, we believe that it will not be unacceptable or useless to our readers to present them with a few statistical facts relative to the subject. They will, at least, show that the consequences of slave aboli

"apprenticeship." By an examination of the tables, it appears that the average export of sugar from the British West Indies and British Guiana, in the last four years of slavery in those colonies, was 3,841,869 cwts.; the average export of the same colonies during "apprenticeship," 3,488,362 cwts. ; and under freedom in the first period of four years, 2,424,019 cwts.; the second similar period 2,493,404 cwts. ; and in the three last years, 2,930,038 cwts.

tion have not been so disastrous to the planters in those regions as has been represented, and still more will they prove that the emancipated peasantry is not of that indolent and semi-barbarous character which ignorant, prejudiced, or interested persons have been wont to affirm. It will be observed, that the table given below contains an account, not only of the sugar received from the British West India colonies, but from other sources for the supply of the market of Great Britain, and that it also embraces the consumption of sugar in that country. Much of this in-statement, that, it is indeed true that sugar cultiformation, which does not immediately relate to vation is not wholly neglected in a state of freethe exports of the emancipated colonies, will be dom in the British colonies, but that there is a found to have an indirect bearing on that subject, large decrease of exports. We admit that this and will be, also, interesting as making the is the case, and we have reason to rejoice in the statement relative to the supply and consump- fact when we consider the manner in which the tion of sugar in Great Britain more complete.-larger amount was formerly wrung from the

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Some persons will perhaps say, on reading this

bondsman and the miscalled apprentice. Slavery and the apprenticeship were terminated because it was found that the labor obtained under those systems was only procured by the exercise of a cruel coercion, and that both were therefore inconsistent with the happiness, whilst they were seriously opposed to the intellectual, moral, and religious improvement of the laborer. Lord Stanley, in introducing the British act for the abolition of slavery, urged, among other reasons for that measure, the very large number of punishments inflicted on the slave population, and the increase of exports in some of the principal colonies, simultaneously with a considerable decrease in their population. It should also be noted that since the introduction of freedom, a considerable number of mothers have withdrawn altogether, or to a greater extent than formerly, from field labor, whilst not a few of the men have changed their employment, and children are extensively sent to school instead of the plantation. In addition to these causes of decreased exports, may be stated the greatly increased consumption of sugar by the peasantry, and the prevalence of unfavorable seasons during many late years in the important Island of Jamaica. We might advert to other causes tending to the same result, which marked the very early period of freedom, especially disagreements with respect to wages, and other circumstances, but which have now to a great extent ceased. We must not, however, omit to mention, as a serious discouragement to the production of sugar in the British colonies. during the last four years, the operation of the sugar act in 1846, which has produced a serious fall in the price of the great staple, and has thereby led to the abandonment of many sugar plantations and greatly reduced the rate of wages given to the laborer on estates that remain in cultivation. It will be seen that amidst all these circumstances there has been a decided tendency to increased production from a very early period after the establishment of freedom, and that the exports of sugar from the British West Indies and British Guiana have during the last three

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »