XXXVIII. THE NEGRO'S COMPLAINT.

A.D. 1815-1820.

Forced from home and all its pleasures,
Afric's coast I left forlorn;

To increase a stranger's treasures,
O'er the raging billows borne.
Men from England bought and sold me.
Paid my price in paltry gold;
But, though slave they have enroll'd me,
Minds are never to be sold.

Still in thought as free as ever,

What are England's rights, I ask,

Me from my delights to sever,
Me to torture, me to task?
Fleecy locks and black complexion
Cannot forfeit nature's claim;
Skins may differ, but affection

Dwells in black and white the same.

By our blood in Afric wasted,

Ere our necks received the chain;

By the miseries that we tasted,
Crossing in your barks the main ;
By our sufferings since ye brought us
To the man-degrading mart;
All sustain'd by patience, taught us
Only by a broken heart;-

Deem our nation brutes no longer,
Till some reason ye shall find
Worthier of regard and stronger
Than the colour of our kind.
Slaves of gold, whose sordid dealings
Tarnish all your boasted powers,
Prove that you have human feelings,

Ere you proudly question ours!-COWPER.

BEFORE I begin to relate the circumstances to which I alluded at the close of the last chapter, and which are referred to in the lines you have just read, I will mention the remaining events I have to tell you in the reign of George III. I must not omit the union of Ireland with Great Britain, which took place in the beginning of the present century. Then there was the taking of Algiers by Lord Exmouth, in 1816, the year after the general peace. Algiers is, as you know, a country in the North of Africa, now belonging to the French. At the time of which I am speaking it was, with other of the Barbary States, inhabited by very lawless people, Mahometans in religion, and pirates and murderers in habit and practice. They were accustomed to seize the vessels belonging to Christian nations, to plunder them, and to carry their crews into slavery. It was to put a stop to doings such as these that this expedition under Lord Exmouth was undertaken. He was the commander of the fleet in the Mediterranean, and

he was directed, by the government of our country, to compel the Barbary States to give up their piracies, and to set free the slaves whom they had captured.

Amicable negociations were tried first, and these succeeded with some of the States; for Tunis and Tripoli yielded to the demand made by the British government. But Algiers refused; and so Lord Exmouth attacked the city; and after a great battle, destroyed the batteries and fortifications, and obliged the Dey, or chief governor, to consent to the terms proposed by the English. This expedition had the happy effect of delivering from bondage a large number of Christian slaves; -about three thousand were set at liberty. It would be well if all battles, and all war-like expeditions, terminated in such good results.

This was an event which our country would hear of with pleasure; but a few months after, another occurred, in the changeful course of history, which afflicted the whole nation, and made every heart in England sad. This was the death of the Princess Charlotte, the daughter of the Prince of Wales. The people of Britain had fondly looked upon her as likely one day to be their Queen, and such a queen as they would have loved and honoured; but it pleased God to disappoint these hopes, and the amiable and excellent Princess was early

and unexpectedly called away to another and a better world. Only a short time before, she had been married to Leopold, Prince of Saxe Coburg, (now King of the Belgians,) and there seemed every prospect before her of life and happiness, so true is it that "in the midst of life we are in death!"

Leaves have their time to fall.

And flowers to wither at the north-wind's breath,
And stars to set,-but all-

Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death.

A few short years after, the nation was called to mourn the loss of the beloved sovereign George III. Very different indeed were the circumstances of his death from those of the death of the young and blooming Princess. Aged and infirm, deprived of sight, and still suffering from that mental malady which had so long distressed him,—in his case death was expected, but his loss was not on that account the less lamented by his loyal and affectionate people. For nearly sixty years had he worn the British crown,-a long reign indeed,--but now that reign was ended, and that crown was laid aside by him for ever. But while mourning the death of George III, we may rejoice to think of him as having passed from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, and from a temporal to an eternal inheritance ;-to a

brighter and a happier world, where no pain of body or mind, no sorrow, no change, can ever have place.

And now, before we say any thing respecting the reign of the son and successor of George III, I will ask you to read once more the lines at the head of the chapter-"The Negro's Complaint; "-and then I will ask you to do something more,-to transport yourselves in thought to the far distant coast of Western Africa, and to fancy yourselves standing there, by the sea-side, some seventy or eighty years ago.

A vessel stands by that shore. It is waiting to receive its cargo, and then to bear it away, across the Atlantic Ocean, to the islands of the West Indies. Perhaps you may wish to know what that cargo is, and to see it stowed in the vessel. Look then, and listen. Soon you hear sounds which surprise and almost frighten you. There are harsh voices, and threatening words, and cries of distress; and as the sounds come nearer, you can distinctly hear the lashing of whips, and shrieks of pain which make you shudder; and you wonder more and more what all this can mean. Look again; you will soon know what it is.

See that long file of human beings moving on towards the shore. They are not like ourselves, for their skin is black, and their countenances