We believe that a powerful influence would be exerted collaterally upon this class,-the free blacks,-by the sanction of law being given to the marriage relation among the slaves. They are portions of the same community. They mix freely together; they are connected with each other in all the relations of life. Whatever then would give more of virtuous pride to the female slave, would indirectly affect in the same manner the free woman of color; and the masters of the South, in securing by law the domestic rights of their servants, might find a blessing in return, in the improved character of that class which now presents the means of criminal indulgence to their

sons.

We have thus given our views of the true character and evils of slavery, not denouncing any, but prepared, should such be our lot, to be denounced by both the great parties between which we occupy the middle position. How are these evils to be remedied?

Not by immediate emancipation. That would at least double every ill under which the slave suffers. As to his physical treatment, the discipline exercised over him is in general mild, because the name of slave, the habit of submission in that character, the long admitted exercise of power by the master, retain him in the fulfilment of his duty. If these be removed suddenly, how shall the ignorant crowd of freed-men be governed? By the whipping-post, the bayonet, and the gallows! No system of police, which could be now devised and put in immediate operation, would be equally energetic, yet equally lenient with that exercise at present. No. When emancipation takes place, let the name of slave, and the magistracy of the proprietor, be the last vestiges of the system to be abolished. And as to the moral interests of the colored people, is it thought these will be advanced by depriving them of the moral restraint to which they are now subject, before they are fitted to appreciate any other?

The evils of slavery cannot be cured by Colonization, unless means can be found to transport to Africa tens of thousands every year, and sustain them there, to reimburse the southern planters for their loss, and transport them also to other sections of the country, since the Southern States would of course be ruined by the entire and sudden removal of their laboring population. The thing is impossible. Great injustice has been done to the Colonization Society, by the ideas of some

among its most sanguine members having been mistaken for the objects which the society as a body has always consistently proposed to itself. Those objects are noble, and nobly have they been pursued. To afford a home for such of our free colored people as desire to be free in deed as well as in name, to interpose a barrier to the slave trade, -to prepare a place to which, in the event of a general emancipation, thousands of the more restless and energetic, whose presence might be dangerous here, will voluntarily emigrate, to commence the civilization of Africa, and to show the world what the color ed race can do under favorable circumstances, - these are objects, sufficient to occupy all the exertions of the society, and worthy of more liberal patronage than they have received.

The evils of slavery must then be remedied, if at all, gradually; by the amelioration of the system,- by voluntary emancipation, and, above all, by the influence of the Gospel on the hearts both of masters and slaves.

Amelioration. One subject especially has been pointed out, with regard to which this is practicable, and in which a change is demanded at the hands of the southern people by the laws of nature and of God, by humanity, justice, their own best interests and those of their children. We mean the conferring a legal recognition and an efficient penal sanction upon the marriages of the slaves. Let it be no longer possible for any one to separate those whom God has joined together, and pass unpunished for the offence. Had not the mistaken zeal of the abolitionists aroused all the pride and all the passions of the southern people, this subject would scarce need to be more than named, in order to lead to vigorous action on their part. And even now, humble as is the voice which addresses them, and though he who utters it, who has experienced their warm hospitality, and loves and honors them, may be supposed to have "become their enemy, because he tells them the truth," he cannot but hope that it may find an answer in some native southern hearts, and lead this important subject to be advocated with native southern energy.

Other improvements in the slave system might perhaps be pointed out, but we will not enlarge upon them, convinced that if this one grand evil engage seriously the attention of the southern community for its removal, all else that can be done in the same cause, will in due time and order be accomplished. Gradual and voluntary emancipation, It is the opinion of

many among the most profound in judging of the progress of events, that the slave system, right or wrong, justifiable or unjustifiable, cannot last, that it is wearing away, and must soon in some way cease to be. They reason, that the feelings of nearly the whole civilized world are against it; that its spirit is in direct opposition to that which animates our republican institutions; that the free laborer can in general effect more than the slave; and that as the country becomes filled and the price of labor diminishes, this difference will become more and more perceptible. We believe it was the late John Randolph who foretold the time, when, instead of masters advertising their runaway slaves, slaves would advertise their absconded masters. If this result is approaching, it becomes the southern people to contemplate and prepare for it. Their existing laws against emancipation may sustain the system longer, but if emancipation comes at all, these laws will render the shock far greater to them or their descendants. When the southern people shall determine to regard slavery as something which must at length pass away, their course will be plain. On the one hand, by the repeal of all their laws against emancipation, they will permit that to be done gradually and in individual instances, which would be ruinous, if effected at once. On the other hand, by the most efficient system of police, they will guard against any disturbance, either by the newly emancipated, or by the remaining slaves. Then, too, the propriety of educating the future freed-men will be generally admitted, and schools for the blacks will be encouraged rather than restrained. When these things are done, the country will need no action of Congress, no sale of the public lands, scarce indeed any further action by the legislatures of the respective states. Individual

benevolence and individual exertion, more powerful than governments or societies, will gradually and in the best manner, accomplish the liberation of the colored race, as they long since overthrew the system of feudal slavery in Europe.

But even if the view above presented be false, if slavery may remain for ages, and if it be thought right that it should remain, our previous argument in favor of the amelioration of the system to the greatest possible extent is unimpaired, nay, rather strengthened; for there is more need to improve a system which is to remain, than one which is to be destroyed.

And alike, whether slavery is to continue or to pass away, the duty of providing thorough, rational, and practical relig

ious instruction for the colored people is incumbent upon their masters. If freedom is to be their lot, by the principles of the Gospel will they best be prepared for freedom. If they are to remain in bondage, the principles of the Gospel will make them better and more useful servants, will cheer and sustain them in their lowly lot, and keep them from repining at what they must acknowledge as the disposal of Providence, while, in either case, their eternal interests require this care at the hand of those who alone are able to bestow it. Much has already been done in this holy cause. The churches of the South have not been insensible to the claims of the slave population. But much yet remains to be done. While facilities for religious improvement are multiplied, care is to be taken, that, in the influence exerted, the warmth of pious feeling should be accompanied by correct, practical, and simple views of duty. The Christian master should feel that his responsibleness is great. It is not in his power to change by his single will the institutions of his country, but it may be his, by a judicious exertion of the influence he possesses, to aid in modifying and improving those institutions. He is forbidden, not less by the true interest of his domestics than by his own, to resign prematurely that control over them, which implies the duty of protection on his part, no less than that of obedience on theirs; but while he retains the station in which providence has placed him, let him remember its calls to exertion and to watchfulness. Human beings, with souls immortal as his own, look to him not merely to secure their outward comfort, but to furnish them the means of moral and religious advancement. The policy of his state debars them from reading for themselves the book of God. They must receive its sacred truths through him, or through those whom he may authorize to declare them. His servants look to his example as their guide; they catch insensibly his very gait, his modes of expression; his faults then or his virtues will be copied into their characters. Happy is the Christian master who feels these things, who, as in scenes which we have witnessed, kneels in the midst of his attached domestics, and teaches them to join him in the feeling, that, "one is their Master, even Christ." Happier still, when at length he shall feel prepared to resign that guardianship over them, which he has conscientiously exercised, and admit them to the full enjoyment of freedom secure that they understand its duties, and will not abuse its opportunities.

ART. IV.- Esprit de la Legislation Mosaïque. Par J. E. CELLERIER, fils, Professeur d'Exegese, de Critique, et d'Arciologie Bibliques, dans la Faculté de Theologie de l'Academie de Geneve.

Spirit of the Mosaic Laws. By J. E. CELLERIER, the younger, Professor of Exegesis, Sacred Criticism and Antiquities, in the Faculty of Theology of the Academy at Geneva, Switzerland. In 2 vols. 8vo. Geneva and Paris. 1837. pp. 354 and 359.

THE Unitarian scholars of this country, who have watched the progress of the Reformation at Geneva in our own day, are not unfamiliar with the name of Cellerier. Cellerier the elder has long been known as an eloquent preacher and a devoted pastor; and men have looked up to him as a beautiful pattern of Christian piety and benevolence. His professional fame abroad rests chiefly upon his four volumes of printed Sermons. He is now far advanced in years, and in a fresh old age is beginning to enjoy the rich rewards of a good and useful life, in the reverence and affections of all who know him. His son, the author of the work, whose title stands at the head of this article, inherits the talents and virtues of the father. He is celebrated as one of the leading divines of the Genevan Church-as an eminent scholar and writer-and especially as Professor in the Department of Biblical Criticism in the Academy of Geneva-an institution founded by Calvin, and throughout its history boasting among its Professors a long catalogue of illustrious names. Cellerier the younger has published several volumes of critical Theology, and is therefore more extensively known abroad than Cellerier the elder.

The Celleriers and Cheneviere, successors to the chair of Calvin, stand out prominent amongst that noble band of Genevan Reformers, who have risen up in the nineteenth century to complete the Reformation begun in the sixteenth- carrying out to their legitimate results those two great principles of the Reformation-the sufficiency of the Scriptures, as a guide of life, and the unlimited right of private judgment in religion. They have been everywhere spoken against; they have been surrounded by the champions of Calvinism mourning over their defection from the faith once delivered to Calvin; the strong holds of orthodoxy in Europe have opened upon them their