into liberty, health, and life immortal! Let us well observe that our Lord doth not call this our chief, but the one thing, all others being connected with, or quite foreign to the end of life: on this let us fix our single view, our pure unmixed intention, regarding nothing, small or great, but as it has reference to this. We must use many means, but ever let us remember we have but one end; for as while our eye is single our whole body will be full of light, so, should it ever cease to be single, in that moment our whole body would be full of darkness.

'Be we then continually watchful over our souls, that there be no duplicity in our intention; be it our one view in all our thoughts and words, and actions, to be partakers of the divine nature, to regain the highest measure possible of faith which works by love, that faith which unites us to God! I say, to regain the highest measure possible for us: for whoever will plead for any abatement of health, life, and glory? Let us then labour to be perfectly whole, to burst asunder every chain of sin and misery, to attain the fullest conquest over this body of death, the most entire renovation of our natures; knowing this, that when the Son of Man shall send forth his angels to cast the double-minded into outer darkness, then shall the single of heart receive the one thing they sought, even the salvation purchased by the Redeemer, and shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father!' pp. 93, 94.

The subjects of the remaining Sermons are, the Imperfection of our present Knowledge-the true Joy of the Christian-Singleness of Intention in Religion-the Supreme Love of God-the Obligation of the Sabbath-Christian Perfection (upon the doctrine of which, it is not needful for us here to remark,)—the Folly and Danger of halting between two Opinions. There is added, an early sermon of John Wesley's, preached at Oxford. It exhibits much of the vigour of style, the ardent temper, and the energy of character, which distinguished that good and great man.

Art. IV. Sketches of America; a Narrative of a Journey of Five Thousand Miles through the Eastern and Western States of America; contained in Eight Reports addressed to the Thirty-nine English Families, by whom the Author was deputed, in June 1817, to ascertain whether any, and what Part of the United States would be suitable for their Residence. With Remarks on Mr. Birkbeck's "Notes" and "Letters.' By Henry Bradshaw Fearon. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 454. Price 10s. 6d. London, 1818.

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our notice of Mr. Birkbeck's "Notes," we expressed our opinion that his admissions with regard both to the country and the people of America, were sufficient to put any but the most dauntless adventurer out of love with Emigration. We are not a little surprised to find that upon some of Mr. Fearon's friends, the effect had been on the contrary so very favourable, VOL. XI. N.S.

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as to make them begin to feel the conveniences and establish'ments of civilized life a source of misery instead of an advan'tage.' It is impossible, however, that such a delusion should survive the perusal of this very full, impartial, and highly interesting series of Reports. The Author has rendered an important service to the public: for the salutary information which he has been at the pains to collect, hundreds of respectable individuals will lie under the most lasting obligations to him, as it will be the means of saving them from those vain but agonizing regrets, to which a rash self-inflicted banishment from the land of their fathers would have consigned them and their families. Mr. Fearon set out in the prosecution of his commission with no prejudices hostile to the American character, but on the contrary, with expectations somewhat sanguine, founded on the popular constitution of the government of the United States. That the 'state of things in the American Republic should be so opposite to what the advocates of enlightened opinions in Great Britain imagine, is a fact,' he says, which none can deplore with 'greater sincerity than myself.' It is deeply to be deplored, not as the fact may be supposed to bear upon any pre-conceived opinions to which the supposition of a contrary state of things might seem to afford a necessary support, (for those theories must be utterly baseless, and visionary must be the speculations which would be dissipated by the discovery of the identical character of human nature under every social or geographical modification,) but the fact, as regards the interests of mankind, is in itself deplorable, the more so, certainly, on account of the political advantages which, as to any moral result, seem to be thrown away upon the selfish, indolent population of the New World. The fear, however, entertained by some friends of general liberty,' that these disclosures would have a tendency to injure the principles which the Author, in common with them, deeply reveres, we consider as proceeding from an unworthy timidity with respect to the cause of freedom and political happiness. The slightest attention to the details furnished by Mr. Fearon, which are confirmed by other respectable travellers, relative to the moral habits and domestic policy of the people of America, precludes any embarrassment of opinion, as to the causes of so unfavourable a result; and ingenious must be the determined partisan who should succeed in establishing a connexion between, those habits or that policy, and the democratical form of their government. The truth is, that, as Mr. Fearon expresses it, American theory is at least two centuries in advance of American practice;' whereas, in this country, theory is that which last yields to the progress of opinion. Long after the spirit of the age has introduced a meliorated tone into practice, the prejudices in favour of the established form

or tenet, will survive and dispute the day. The advantage is manifest. Our institutions are the result and produce of the national character; they are the forms in which the plastic spirit of liberty has imbodied itself; they indicate the existence of the principles which they as a means serve to perpetuate. Not so where, as in the case of a new country, the political institutions have been modelled without reference to the national character, upon abstract principles of government, recognised indeed as true, but having no alliance with the experimental convictions of the mass of the people. The following remarks are very judicious.

We have usually connected with our ideas of republicanism and unpolished manners, a simplicity and an honesty of mind which more than compensate for all minor defects. That we should not meet with even an approach to these characteristics in America is by no means extraordinary, when we reflect upon their origin, and the materials from which their present character is derived. They were not originally a new people, who have gradually advanced from barbarism to a knowledge of enlightened political principles; on the contrary, they formed not even the best portion of an old stock, and they have been placed in novel circumstances, and occupied in pursuits little calcu lated to increase political virtue, or advance mental acquirements. Their constitution itself is not an original production; it is model'ed in fact, upon that of England, partaking of most of its forms, intermixed with many peculiarities of the colonial régime. In the instance of Rhode Island, the original charter of Charles the Second is its present form of government.'

A country in which slavery is tolerated, to the disgraceful and demoralizing extent that it is in America, may boast of its having a free and popular government,-the principle of liberty may be acknowledged there, but such a people are unworthy of the name of freemen; they are not morally free. He alone can be regarded as actuated by the genuine love of liberty, who would wish the enjoyment of the blessing to be co-extensive with human existence. In a lower sense we may adopt Cowper's words:

'He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,

And all are slaves beside.'

America is not the land of liberty. Even Mr. Birkbeck started back at the prevalence of the degrading practice of slavekeeping, and consistently resolved to avoid that portion of the United States, over which is spread this broadest, foulest blot, as no country for a man who could forego the well earned comforts of an English home, for the sake of political freedom. Mr. Fearon adverts more than once to the exclusion of blacks from the places of public worship where whites 'attend? In perfect conformity with this spirit,' he adds,

is the fact, that the most degraded white will not walk or eat ' with a negro.'

Although New York is a free state, it is such only on parchment: the black Americans are in it practically and politically slaves; the laws of the mind being, after all, infinitely more strong and more effective than those of the statute book; and it is these mental legislative enactments, operating in too many cases besides this of the poor negroes, which excite but little respect for the American character.'

There are no slaves in New England. The Author noticed with much pleasure the absence of negroes, after witnessing the illiberal and barbarous treatment of Americans of colour by their white countrymen in the States of New York and Jersey. But the prejudice against them as an inferior order in creation, appears to know no exception. In Philadelphia the negroes are sorely oppressed.' Here also are three African churches,' for the use of the native Americans, whether black, or of any 'shade of colour darker than white.' Although many of these persons are possessed of the rights of citizenship, yet they cannot be admitted into the churches visited by whites.

There exists a penal law, deeply written in the minds of the whole white population, which subjects their coloured fellow citizens to unconditional contumely and never-ceasing insult. No respectability, however unquestionable,-no property, however large,-no character, however unblemished,-will gain a man whose body is (in American estimation) cursed with even a twentieth portion of the blood of his African ancestry, admission into society!!! They are considered as mere Pariahs-as outcasts and vagrants upon the face of the earth! I make no reflection upon these things, but leave the facts for your consideration.'

And is this the land of refuge for the idolaters of liberty? We recollect meeting with an anecdote, which at the time we thought simply amusing, of a young American gentleman of the first class, who visited this country, and was taken one evening to Covent Garden theatre. His attention was constantly diverted from the performance by some object in a remote part of the house, which appeared to agitate him exceedingly. At last his emotion became so visible, that his friend inquired of him the cause, when to his surprise he found it arose from no other circumstance than the insupportable presence of a man of colour as a spectator in one of the boxes. So invincible was his antipathy, that he could no longer endure to remain under the same roof. But that this wretched imbecility of prejudice should dare overtake the persecuted negro at the very horns of the altar, and thrust him out as unfit to join in the same act of worship with fellow-Christians of a lighter tint of skin, is a circumstance which can excite only the deepest indignation. The institutes of Brahma must yield to the laws of American society.

In the New York papers, advertisements for the sale or hire of slaves are frequently inserted. Mr. Fearon presents to us two specimens. The following anecdote will illustrate the general sentiment with regard to this degraded race.

Soon after landing, I called at a hair-dresser's in Broadway, nearly opposite the city-hall: the man in the shop was a negro. He had nearly finished with me, when a black man, very respectably dressed, came into the shop and sat down. The barber enquired if he wanted the proprietor or his boss, as he termed him, who was also a black the answer was in the negative; but that he wished to have his hair cut. My man turned upon his heel, and with the greatest contempt, muttered in a tone of proud importance, " We do not cut coloured men here, Sir." The poor fellow walked out without replying, exhibiting in his countenance confusion, humiliation, and mortification. I immediately requested, that if the refusal was on account of my being present, he might be called back. The hair. dresser was astonished: "You cannot be in earnest, Sir," he said. I assured him that I was so, and that I was much concerned in witnessing the refusal from no other cause than that his skin was of a darker tinge than my own. He stopped the motion of his scissars ; and after a pause of some seconds, in which his eyes were fixed upon my face, he said, "Why, I guess as how, Sir, what you say is mighty elegant, and you're an elegant man; but I guess you are not of these parts.""I am from England," said I, "where we have neither so cheap nor so enlightened a government as yours, but we have no slaves.". 66 Ay, I guessed you were not raised here; you salt-water people are mighty grand to coloured people; you are not so proud, and I guess you have more to be proud of; now I reckon you do not know that my boss would not have a single ugly or clever gentleman come to his store, if he cut coloured men; now my boss, I guess, ordered me to turn out every coloured man from the store right away, and if I did not, he would send me off slick; for the slimmest gentleman in York would not come to his store if coloured men were Tet in; but you know all that, Sir, I guess, without my telling you; you are an elegant gentleman too, Sir." I assured him that I was ignorant of the fact which he stated; but which, from the earnestness of his manner, I concluded must be true. "And you come all the way right away from England. Well! I would not have supposed, I guess, that you come from there from your tongue; you have no hardness like, I guess, in your speaking; you talk almost as well as we do, and that is what I never see, I guess, in a gentleman so lately from England. I guess your talk is within a grade as good as ours, You are a mighty elegant gentleman, and if you will tell me where you keep, I will bring some of my coloured friends to visit you. Well, you must be a smart man to come from England, and talk English as well as we do that were raised in this country." At the dinner-table I commenced a relation of this occurrence to three American gentlemen, one of whom was a doctor, the others were in the law: they were men of education and of liberal opinions. When I arrived at the point of the black being turned out, they exclaimed, “Ay right,