are invested with the chief authority in this realm, that you may be enabled by your counsels, increasingly to promote the glory of God, in the peace, the harmony and the welfare of His rational creation. (Signed by forty-nine members.) London, 1st month 21st, 1848. REMARKS ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Public opinion, both in Europe and in the United States, is becoming more opposed to Capital Punishment-with some, as to its impolicy, with others, as to its agreement with the rights of humanity, and with others again, as to its inconsistency with the spirit of Christianity. It is believed, by a portion of the people, that Christianity does not justify or sanction it and that this consideration is superior to all others. With the sincere Christian, this suggestion should, and will have influence. If the Gospel does not allow one individual to take the life of another, how can a society of men justly do it? As to humanity and mercy, they certainly plead for the guilty, so far, as that they may have an opportunity and the means of reformation, if consistent with the welfare of the virtuous. And as to the policy of the milder system, many believe, that severe punishments rather increase than diminish crime. It has been fully proved, both in Europe and in America, that where the penalty is severe, the effect has been, that few, very few, are convicted or complained of, and that a vast majority of offenders, therefore, escape all punishment. And this evidently serves only to corrupt society, and bring the civil authorities into contempt. It is difficult to find a jury who will bring in a verdict of guilty, against one charged with the commission of acrime which is to be followed by a capital punishment. They will be casuists enough to find some reason for saying not guilty; when, if the punishment were confinement to hard labour in the state prison, they would readily have said guilty. There is no reasoning against this feeling, or this result. So it is. Many men think that human governments cannot rightfully take away the life of man. There are cases which might be named; one within two years in a neighbouring state, particularly, when the spectators thought, and the judges thought, and the jurors no doubt thought, the prisoner at the bar guilty. But death was the penalty of the crime charged, and they said not guilty: and the prisoner was discharged. But had the punishment been confinement to hard labour for life, there is no doubt the verdict would have promptly been "guilty." And the fear of confinement for life, within the massive walls of the state prison, with depraved and miserable culprits, must be a strong check on the indulgence of evil passions, which may entail such a punishment. I do not attach any great weight to public opinion, except where there has been time for correct and full information, and that opinion is given without extra excitement, and wholly without party views. Public sentiment, however, is to be respected when the people are well informed, and have time to form an opinion. And it is always matter of policy to respect and to listen to it because it will have an influence in complaints and verdicts, when crime has been committed. If the people will not convict nor complain, because they are opposed to capital punishments, criminals will escape all punishments. And surely, it would be better for society, and for the innocent and virtuous, that the guilty and injurious be punished by confinement, than not punished in any way. It is admitted that the state prisons now are strong enough to prevent all escape; and it is admitted by most, that the fear of confinement to hard labour for life, will prove as sure and powerful a preventive of crime, as that of the punishment of death. And surely, with every man, something is due, with the benevolent much is due, to the consideration of giving a poor miserable sinner time to reflect, to repent, and become prepared for heaven. As the state prisons are now generally regulated and conducted, I believe they afford an opportunity for reformation, and do often effect that most desirable object. It is true that the principal design and purpose of human government is to punish for the violation of law, for the welfare and protection of its subjects; and heretofore this has been the only design. The spirit of this enlightened age, chastened and guided by the spirit of Christianity, has suggested the penitentiary system; by which the criminal may have an opportunity to reform, at the same time that he is subjected to restraint or punishment inflicted by society for its safety; and many benevolent and pious individuals are seeking for the accomplishment of this object. I see not how the plan can be opposed by any enlightened philanthropist. No objection to it will satisfy the humane and benevolent, which does not go to show, either that confinement in a state prison will not be a sure and effectual restraining of the criminal from farther mischief: or that this punishment will prove a far less preventive of crime, with the bad who are abroad in society, than the gallows; and will therefore not be so great a terror to the wicked, as capital punishment. It is believed, that with the most abandoned and depraved, confinement to hard labour for life will be more dreaded than a sudden death; and that while capital punishment is the penalty of crime, there is great reason to expect most who are guilty will escape all punishment, through the influence of public opinion, and the humane feelings of the jurors. I believe we are far more sure of having the guilty detected, convicted and punished, if capital punish ments should be abolished, and confinement to hard labour for life in the state prison substituted, in all cases where now the statutes require the penalty of death. A. BRADFORD. NOTICE OF ANTHONY STERRY, OF SOUTHWARK, ENGLAND. This dear young friend was, from a child, of a delicate constitution. He had much to contend with in his natural disposition, but it appears that, from early life, he had felt the necessity of its subjugation, and that truthfulness had been a prominent feature in his character. The operation of the Holy Spirit to create anew in Christ Jesus, it is believed, was powerfully experienced by him, during the latter part of the life of his dear mother, to whom he clung with great affection, and whose prayers, on his behalf, appeared to be graciously regarded. About the beginning of the 5th month, 1846, he was attacked by illness; when, being deprived of the precious sense of acceptance in the Beloved, of which he had previously been a partaker, he was for a season involved in deep mental conflict. About this period, he wrote," I do hope and believe that I have been benefitted by this illness, and have at times felt the presence of good; but I do feel that much remains to be overcome, particularly now that I am getting better, and former inclinations return." So closely did he cling to the hope of restoration, that even when told the opinion of his medical attendants, he still thought he should eventually recover; and it was not until the unexpected rupture of a blood vessel on the lungs, on the 2d of 11th month, that he felt his disease was of a nature from which he must not expect to recover. Till near the latter part of his illness, he was very seldom able to give expression to his feelings; to a friend he wrote I have looked upon this illness as a peculiar dispensation for my good; and although at times rather low, under the feeling that I am making no progress, yet I trust that if not now, it may at some future time, be sanctified to me; and my earnset desire is, that the Lord's hand may not spare, till the work is accomplished; and I trust He will give me strength to bear it." Tenth month, 6th. “On looking back to the time when Sir B. Brodie came to see me, (8th month, 20th,) when I was worse than at any time, either before or since; I recollect, with thankfulness, that my mind did then feel easy, as to the event of my getting better. I do not think I could have expressed a wish either way; though I cannot say I have the same feelings now, as I think, with returning health, the desire for life is given to enjoy it. Yet I hope I never shall forget the feelings I had at that time; and if a | return of the disorder should take place, I trust the same power will be with me for good." Eleventh month, 1st. In his private note book, he writes:-"Oh, my dear heavenly Father! do thou, for the sake of thy dear Son, be with me at this time; be near unto me and help me. Oh Lord! my thoughts and hopes are on thee, and thy dear Son. Oh! shew me thy face again; and grant unto me a measure of that love which has kept my thoughts on thee, many times during this illness. If it should please thee again, Oh Lord, to bring me very low, do thou be with me, and draw me nearer and nearer unto thee. Do thou enable me, day by day, to do that which is right in thy sight; and help me, Lord, by thy grace, to strive against my besetting sin." 18th. "Oh Lord, how can I acknowledge all thy loving kindness, and tender mercies, whilst brought very low. In the hour of anguish thou wast with me; thy rod and thy staff helped me. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.' Great are thy mercies, and that my soul knoweth right well. Thine, Oh Lord, have been the leading strings of love;-Oh, how gently hast thou dealt with me!" Twelfth month, 2d. "There are times when my mind is permitted to feel a peaceful calm, and holy joy; when I am lost in wonder and gratitude, in contemplating the love of Him who died for me, and whom I trust I increasingly desire to serve; who has indeed dealt with me as a Father that pitieth his children. When I think how many are called away at a moment's warning, and others with but a short time for preparation, whilst I have had months for contemplating his mercy and goodness towards me, feel sometimes almost overpowered, and know not how to love Him as I ought." I After commenting a little on his ailments, he adds ::-"Should patience and grace be granted me, then I can rest in peace, as to the event of this illness, I have been shewn the emptiness of some of the things of this world; but I still cling to many of them. There is still much to overcome; and patience with others, I want much." He often mentioned his fears that he did not love his Saviour enough, or feel sorrow enough for his sins; though, he added," they have not been what the world calls gross sins." In reply to an inquiry relative to the state of his mind, a few days before his decease, he said," I have a confident hope that all will be well; for I have a sure and firm belief, that He has indeed begun the good work in me; and I feel assured He will in no wise cast out those who, in humble trust, come unto Him. It is all of His grace and mercy, that we are saved." On the morning of the 23d of 1st month, 1847, but a short time before his close, he said, in an impressive manner,"Father! the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!' What is all the world to me now! When I walk through the valley and shadow of death, I will fear no evil; Thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."" On his father remarking the unutterable comfort it afforded him, to hear him express so much, he added:--" I do not know that I am going just now, but I have a very precious feeling, if going through the dark valley and His arm is with me. All will be well;” and after a short pause, "He is with me; it seems wisely to avoid forming such a labyrinth as might confound itself in its daily course, or in its efforts to escape from an enemy, to whose depredations it is exposed even in its retreat. Its time of labour is chiefly at an early hour in the morning; but if every thing be still, it may be seen at work at other seasons. The slightest sound or movement of an approaching foot stops. the work, and no further lifting of the earth will be attempted that day. These runs are mostly made towards the end of autumn; are this crea all is well." After the expression of his love to all, he re-ture's hunting-ground for food; are abandoned joined "It is hard work to die! but I have a sense given me that, through the love and mercy of my Redeemer, a place of rest is prepared for me." He then took an affectionate leave of his sister and brothers. After which, he embraced his dear father, and, in about ten minutes, quietly passed away, we humbly trust, to join the just of all generations, in ascribing glory and honour to the Lord God and the Lamb. He died on 23d of First month, 1847, aged twenty.-Annual Monitor. THE MOLE. The habits of the mole will vary with the soil, and particularly with the structure of the ground, as it is rich and deep, or shallow, level, rocky, uneven, or intersected with raised mounds or hedges of earth, five or six feet high, and of the same thickness, such as divide fields in the west of England. The presence of this animal is known by the heaps of fine earth, or hills, thrown up during its subterraneous operations. In deep ground, little of its labours can be traced, except when thus marked; but in a thin soil, or in hard ground, a ridge is often driven along, which is distinctly raised above the ordinary level of the surface; and the mole-hill is only elevated where the earth is so fine and friable, that the removal of some part of it is necessary to give the creature a clear course in its runs backward and forward. The creep or run is in a zig-zag direction; and when the neighbourhood is very productive of its prey, exceedingly so, as if the animal were unwilling to pass out of so fertile a district. But for the most part it takes a straightforward course; and in the open space of a down, it passes through more than fifty paces of distance without lifting a heap, with a progress amounting to two or three human paces in a day, and the whole run is two hundred feet in length. In the course of this passage, advantage is taken of any obstructions which occur, as if conscious of the probability of pursuit; and the run is made to pass among the roots of dwarf furze, and even under a large stone, while, at irregular distances, openings are made to allow of excursions on the surface, and the free admission of air. There are many lateral branches from the principal passage; but none of them extend to any great distance; for when the soil has been thoroughly searched through and through; and though they are formed with so much toil as to make it desirable not to desert them while there is anything to be done there, yet in a month or two the animal quits them for new ground, perhaps at a great distance, where the hunting promises better success. A favourite spot for its winter quarters, and one it prefers to other seasons, is in enclosed fields, under the shelter of a hedge of high-piled earth, along the middle of whose base the run is carried, and in whose mass of mould it finds security from cold and from its natural enemies. The heaps it throws up are cast on the sides, and at intervals a lateral passage is driven into the field, to which, when the inducement is powerful, it transfers its principal operations; and there encounters its greatest hazards from the traps of the mole-catcher, and the pursuit of the weasel and the rat, with whom it fights furiously, but without success. When undisturbed, the mole often shifts its quarters; and in making a new selection, its choice seems to be much influenced by caprice. It makes these changes especially in the months of July and August; but I have known it to take excursions of removal to such distances, that no mark of its presence could be detected, in the month of January, if an open and moist season. A large part of such a journey must be along the surface; and it is probable that, at all times, this is its mode of emigration to distant places. In summer, much of its time is thus passed in migration from one field to another, because the hardness of the ground renders it difficult to throw up the soil, and follow up the worms, which have sunk deeper down into the soil. It shows the same love of change in moist weather, when the ground is more workable. If not to its mind, the móle repeatedly changes its quarters; and though shut up in darkness, it reluctantly continues on the northern declivity of a hill, where it has little light, and less heat, unless its other advantages are unusually great. Its migration from one district to another exposes it to great danger, as it is slow to escape, and little prepared to defend itself. Where The run is differently formed in spring, in consequence of a difference of object. fields are not large, the hedge is still the selected spot; on which account its nest is not often dis covered. Mr. Bell has given a sketch of the skilful arrangements made for its safety at this time; but in districts where the hedge is chosen for defence, no other departure from its usual form is made than an enlargement of the space, and a more comfortable lining. Fourteen young ones have been discovered in one nest; but though the mole is not a social animal, it is hard to believe that they could have been littered by one mother. The mole may sleep more in winter than in other seasons, but it is not its habit to become torpid at this time. In frost and snow, fine earth is often seen freshly turned up, as evidence of its activity; but as it is a creature of great voracity, and cannot endure long fasting, like many wild animals of that character, it is not easy to say how its wants are at this time supplied. A dead or living bird, numbed with the cold, is always a welcome morsel; but its track has not been seen in the snow in pursuit of it. It perceives the earliest approach of a thaw; and after a long seclusion, a heap may be seen protruding through the thin covering of snow, as evidence of its sensibility to change of temperature-a circumstance more easily understood when we recollect that it is the radiation of heat from the inner parts of the earth which exercises the first influence in the change; and that it is because the air abstracts this heat more rapidly than the earth supplies it, that frost and snow are produced and continued. When, from changes in the atmosphere, this rapid abstraction ceases, the heat below becomes more sensibly felt; and this is first visible at the surface of the soil. A good supply of drink is essential to the mole's existence; and its healthy condition is marked by a softness and moisture about the snout, where its most perfect organ of sensation is placed. The flexibility of that organ, and its command over it, are indeed exquisite; but it is not used in the operations of excavation and lifting. This is the work of the feet, neck, and the hinder part of the shoulder; and in these parts the mole is perhaps the strongest quadruped in existence, in proportion to its size. The heaps it throws up are not made simply by lifting; for the superfluous earth is collected at easy distances, and thrust along, until so much is accumulated, as compels it to convey it out of the way, and then its work in tunnelling goes on again. t The mole has more enemies than it is supposed to have; for though its disappearance from a district is sometimes due to emigration, there must be other causes at work to account for their extirpation in particular localities. They may destroy each other in their burrows, for they are exceedingly quarrelsome; the fox and weasel, too, are formidable foes; but the ceaseless war waged against them by man, the least excusable enemy they have, is the most destructive. Admitting that mole-heaps, and loosening of the soil by the runs made through a field, are inconveniences, and even injurious, and that it is unsightly to see a gentleman's lawn disfigured with these tumuli, such annoyances may be either removed or turned to advantage; and it must not be forgotten that their destruction of more injurious creatures is considerable. If it is desirable to expel them from their haunts, it may be done effectually without destroying them: for their extirpation is sure to be followed by a fresh invasion.-Couch on Instinct. STEAMBOAT TRAVELLING. From the very able report of the St. Louis Committee to the Chicago Convention officers, we make the following table, showing the length of that part of the principal western rivers navigable by steamboats. Mississippi from the Gulf to St. Anthony's Missouri, from its mouth to the foot of the Red River, to head of navigation, Arkansas, to mouth of the Neosho and Osage, Total, DEFENCE OF SWINE. Miles. 2,200 2,000 1,000 1,000 630 485 300 250 200 200 8,365 Some folks accuse pigs of being filthy in their habits, and negligent in their personal appear ance. But whether food is best eaten off the ground, or from China plates, is, it seems to me, merely a matter of taste and convenience, about which pigs and men may honestly differ. They ought then, to be judged charitably. At any rate, pigs are not filthy enough to chew tobacco, nor to poison their breath by drinking whiskey. And as to their personal appearance, you don't catch a pig playing the dandy, nor the females among them picking their way up this muddy village, after a rain, in kid slippers. Notwithstanding their heterodox notions, hogs have some excellent traits of character.-If one chances to wallow a little deeper in some mire hole than his fellows, and so carries off and comes in possession of more of this earth than his brethren, he never assumes an extra importance on that account; neither are his brethren stupid enough to worship him for it.-Their only question seems to be, is he still a hog? If he is, they treat him as such. And when a hog has no merits of his own, he never puts on aristocratic airs, nor claims any particular respect on account of his family connections; and yet some HoGs have descended from very ancient families. They understand, full well, the common sense maxim, every tub must stand upon its own bottom. "-Daily News. TRUTH WELL EXPRESSED. The Governor of Tennessee, in his inaugural address, says: "I firmly believe, and take pleasure in announcing it, that no state can prosper in a long career of true glory in the disregard of the claims of justice and the injunctions of the Christian religion. A flood-tide of apparent prosperity may come, filling for the time the avenues of trade, and satiating the cravings of taste and curiosity, yet sooner or later it has its ebb, and either cloys with its abundance or leaves the void greater than before. History is a silent but eloquent witness of its truth, and from her undying lamp sheds a stream of unceasing light along our pathway. The fabrics of ancient greatness, built by injustice and consecrated to ambition, are now flitting shadows before us, starting up from behind the broken pillars and fallen columns that were reared to perpetuate the genius by which they were wrought." An account of the terms of service of each of the Presidents of the United States, the time of their decease and ages. George Washington, from March, 1789 to 1797, died December 14, 1799, aged 68. John Adams, from 1797 to 1801, died July 4, 1826, aged 91. Thomas Jefferson, from 1801 to 1809, died July 4, 1826, aged 83. James Madison, from 1809 to 1817, died June 28, 1836, aged 85. James Monroe, from 1817 to 1825, died July 4, 1831, aged 73. John Quincy Adams, from 1825 to 1829, died February 23, 1848, aged 81. Andrew Jackson, from 1829 to 1837, died June 8, 1845, aged 78. Martin Van Buren, from 1837 to 1841, who still lives. He Wm. H. Harrison, from March 4, 1841 to April, 4, 1841, when he died, aged 74. lived only 31 days after his inauguration. John Tyler, from April 1841 to March 1845, who still lives. James K. Polk, from 1845, who still occupies the Presidential chair. ON SILENT WORSHIP.-J. J. G. Let deepest silence all around How sweet to wait upon the Lord What though no preacher speak the word, A minister of wondrous skill, He dissipates the coward's fears He knows to bend the heart of steel, How matchless his control! And ah! how precious is his love, From mind to mind, in streams of joy, HYMN. BY JEAN FREDERICK OBERLIN. Oh Lord! thy heavenly grace impart, Whate'er pursuits my time employ, THE CHILD'S EVENING BLESSING. The Treasurer of the Coloured Infant School Association gratefully acknowledges the receipt of twenty-five dollars from a contributor over the signature of N. N. |