dered; not before the public eye, but in the retirement of private life; not under the cheering voice of universal praise, but possibly under the chilling looks of many a neighbor who charges the emancipator with the discontent which now springs up in the bosom of his colored family; not under circumstances which provided the slightest hope of pecuniary emolument, but from no other possible motive than conscientious, quiet, kind, anti-slavery sentiment. Let Northern brethren weigh this, and hereafter give to the South the respect due to the very FIRST position of friendship to African freedom by pecuniary sacrifice.

II. The men who dwell south of Mason and Dixon's line have done more to convert the heathen than the whole world beside.

What is the whole number of converted heathen which the American Church presents this day to the eye of God and the world?

Observe, Mr. Moderator, one branch of one Christian denomination at the South, viz., the Methodist Episcopal Church, numbers 134,722 colored members. More than three times as many heathen converted through Southern instrumentality as the combined American Church can produce.

What sir, allow me now to inquire, is the sum total of the membership of all the heathen churches in the world? By those best informed on this subject, the number is estimated at something like 200,000. Turn your eyes once more to the South. Say nothing of the colored members of all the churches in the State of Maryland, (and they are numerous,) nor of the Presbyterian Church, nor of the Episcopal Church, nor of the Lutheran Church, nor of certain branches of the Methodist and of the Baptist denominations, in all the South. Simply fix your eye upon one branch respectively of two Christian churches. You will find enrolled upon their list of colored members

Changes for the better have marked the history of slavery, from its introduction to the present hour.

1st. The Southern Church has done her part in working valuable modifications of the laws of the land. An examination of the slave laws of successive generations will exhibit a steady advance in the considerate benignity of the legislator. Nor should we overlook the beneficial changes wrought in the spirit and power of ancient statutes, through a constantly improving public sentiment. There are benefits conferred upon the slave by statute, which of old never fully reached him in the administration. From the earliest times there existed a law, forbidding labor on the Sabbath. I well remember, when a boy, the universal custom of taking the servants on the Sabbath day to the corn-house to shell, or to the potato-field to dig, that the weekly plantation allowance of vegetable diet might be distributed. This practice, I apprehend, is now universally abolished. That the spirit and principle of the Church did its part in effecting the change, you may learn from this incident. I knew a Church member, who, grieved by the prevalence of this custom, personally persuaded his Christian brethren and friends to abolish it in their respective families. and finding one stout opposer of the innovation, beyond the limits of the Church, he at last calmly apprised him of the law of the land, and of his purpose of becoming public prosecutor if he did not yield to the public sentiment of his neighbors.

The good influence of the Bible upon the slave, and every man's right of direct access to the Word of God is extensively understood. It has long been a common spectacle to see the children of a Southern family at night, or on the Sabbath, employed in teaching the servants to read. It is many years since night-schools, in which colored adults taught colored children to read, were common in all our Southern cities, and I believe well known to city authorities, and generally unmolested by them. It is worthy of observation, that a few years since, when a Southern Legislature, alarmed by abolition interference, revived this obsolete law, Christian public sentiment at the South felt if Cæsar moved to put away the Bible from the servant, God's people must move, as best they can, to bring it back. A consequent impulse was given to oral instruction far and wide, whose results have been singularly happy. One is this: that hundreds of servants learn to read now, where none were taught before. And hundreds of copies of the Scriptures are distributed among the slaves at this day, which would never have been received if the old law had been permitted to sleep. Thus you perceive, that the steady improvement of public sentiment at the South, in part through the fidelity of the Church, has been progressively working a beneficial change in the face of the government toward the slave, not only by procuring the enactment of humane laws, but by breaking down the governing power of unfriendly statutes, and giving force to such benign legislation as was a dead letter before.

2d. The same causes have wrought a corresponding social improvement in all things pertinent to the present comfort and future prospects of the slave. I apprehend there is but little to be objected to at this day, in the physical treatment of Southern servants. Their condition is at least fair in respect to food, raiment, shelter, work, and general discipline. A remarkable revolution has occurred in the habits of Southern society respecting the discussion of the nature and claims of this relation. Half a century ago, this institution appeared to the mass of Southern population as an impregnable fixture; and yet it is a singular fact, that, as a topic of deliberate meditation or discourse, it was clothed with a forbidding awe, which made it almost as intangible as a plot of treason. Now, he who journeys through the Southern States, in public houses and conveyances may hear as frequent discourse on this subject as on almost any other. And could he compare the sentiments of the present generation with those of the past, he would be delighted to mark the liberal tendency of the times.

The steady advance of the spirit of emancipation is another and most interesting feature of the general progress. The records of the American Coloniza

tion Society furnish gratifying testimony on this point. You will not forget, Mr. Moderator, the testimony of one of our brethren on this floor, that in his immediate vicinity one of his neighbors had recently given to this cause $500; another, $1,000; a third, $2,000; a fourth, $3,000-all men in moderate circumstances. Yes, sir, and in the wealthier sections of the South there are those who are this day giving their $50,000 to the freedom of the slave.

There are a diversity of established methods in which the master brings the gospel to the servant. In the cities there are large colored churches, sometimes of two or three thousand members. Church edifices they are assisted to erect when necessary. The pulpit is generally supplied by pious, talented, colored preachers; sometimes by white brethren of the very first talent and highest stations in the Church. Sabbath-schools, under the tuition of intelligent white teachers, male and female, are in common use in cities, towns and villages. On plantations masters frequently conduct family prayer, so as to secure sound instruction to the servant. The travelling minister is almost always put in requisition for this service. Instead of the old-fashioned negro "praise-house," it is common, in many parts of the country, to build a neat Plantation Chapel." and to invite all accessible ministerial aid. I am happy to know, that on this subject of giving judicious religious instruction to the colored population, there is a very commendable fidelity on the part of the stated ministry in all sections of the Southern country.

But the most important features of this reformation are yet to be noticed. Catechisms, to aid the master in the private instruction of his servant, have been drawn up, if I mistake not, by every prevalent denomination of the South, and distributed amongst the people. The country, too, has been largely districted, (where this operation was most needed,) and a missionary employed to devote himself exclusively to the colored population within the prescribed limit, in preaching, teaching, visitation, and Sabbath-school supervision. It is ascertained that the churches built for the worship of the masters, are in many cases injudiciously located for the accommodation of the slaves; and I am credibly informed that it is quite common to erect a new church in some position selected exclusively for the convenience of the colored population, and devoted entirely to their service. I can think of no religious meetings on this earth more delightful, none that my heart more ardently pants to enjoy, than the worship of the masters and servants of adjacent plantations, under the ministry of their beloved missionary.

There has been unceasing agitation of this subject, in the wisest and happiest mauner, by Southern men, from the date of the landing of the first slave on American soil. You know, sir, that before the Constitution of the United States was framed, while yet we were colonies of England, the Southern States protested against the introduction of this population. Now, sir, from that day to this, I affirm that Southern records, political, religious, literary, and historical, present a constant succession of publications on the subject of slavery, by Southern men of the highest rank and talent, in church and state, embodying as great a degree of accuracy, kindness, discretion and fidelity of sentiment as characterizes any similar number of publications uttered at the North within the last twenty years.

more than twenty years ago, I well remember, that a Christian man, born and bred at the South, rode many miles, called on me at my domicile in the State of Georgia, and solicited me to become a member of a society which he proposed to form, for the "RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF THE COLORED POPULATION." This devoted and talented minister of Jesus was himself made the General Agent of the Society originated at that time. Through him we put forth the first year an able tract on the " Degradation of the Southern Slave," and scattered it through the county. This, sir, did its work. We had our anniversary, and reported progress. The second year we drew up, and published, and distributed, an able essay on the "Obligation of the Master." I noticed the effect of this document in all my itinerations. During the third year we published a "Catechism," to aid this responsible master in the discharge of his duty to this necessitous member of his family-a document, let me say, of such singular value, that it found its way across the waters to the table of a missionary of the American Board, who thought he saw in it the precise desideratum for his own field, and had it printed, and set to the work of reformation among the heathen abroad. Suffer me to say, that this society has been in steady operation from that day to this, not only sending its agent around the district to instruct the slaves at convenient station-houses erected for the purpose, but annually reporting, and occasionally publishing, as necessity demanded. To the favorable influence of this movement, first upon the population under its immediate supervision, then upon the counties adjacent, and finally, through its publications, upon the friends of the cause at a distance, and even in other states, multitudes can bear witness. What had abolition to do with the origin or power of this operation?

It was my privilege, about the period of the formation of this society, to visit an eminent Christian who dwelt in a neighboring state, and where, you will remark, there now prevails through all the surrounding country as high a degree of religious fidelity to the colored population as distinguishes any section of the South. I learned that he had been in the habit of employing a minister to preach to his large family of servants for many years. He informed me, that though his neighbors far and near were at that time favorable to this species of operation, yet, when he first commenced it, he was told that his movement endangered the peace and lives of the whites, and he must desist. He answered their arguments, and moved forward in his duty. They became more serious in their objections; he still persisted. At length their opposition waxed so firm and united, that he was driven to tell them :- Gentlemen, I am engaged in my duty, and before I give it up, I will plant a cannon in every window of my house, and you shall go over my dead body to take away the Word of God from my family." I had the pleasure of preaching the gospel in his neighborhood, when the conversion of some of his early opposers led him to give me this history. Here is an operation that dates back its origin perhaps forty years from this time. What had abolition to do with the waking up of this man's mind to duty? We accord to it, with all its ill-workings, some collateral stimulation of a good cause; and its friends, in turn, should concede that wherever similar improvements are witnessed in Southern society at this day, they may have had a similar independent origin."

The spirit of progress, it will be observed, is exactly in accordance with the gospel and the constitution; an adherence to the latter in its letter and spirit, permits the benign influence of the former to work out its results without disturbing the progressive welfare of either race. such immense interests of temporal welfare and eternal salvation are at stake, with what horror and loathing are those babbling miscreants to be regarded, who are willing to betray their country and the cause of humanity, deny their Redeemer, blaspheme their God, and devote their children to slavery, for the sake of a personal notoriety.

VALDEZ;

OR THE LORD, THE ALCHYMIST, AND THE POISONER.

A DRAMA IN THREE ACTS.

The appearance of a new drama from the pen of an American writer, is entitled to more than a passing notice, and we are pleased with this opportunity of giving expression to a few of our sentiments. So much has been said and written with regard to the paucity of dramatic writings in this country, that we feel ourselves, in the commencement of this article, under the necessity of offering several remarks upon the subject, not tending, however, to the same point, as the generality of papers, but rather going to prove that the censure so lavishly bestowed is unjust and unmerited, we do not hesitate to admit that it is, in some measure, correct and deserved—that there are in the American drama few monuments of durable greatness; but let us endeavor to account for this fact, and in doing so, point out a few evils that call for remedy.

In the first place, authors, as a general thing, write with a view to remuneration; there are few who can afford to bestow their time and labor upon even a favorite calling, without expecting reward and encouragement, and it has been the almost invariable result, in this country at least, that the author who calculates upon these meets with disappointment. Managers are loth to pay proper prices for excellent dramas, nor is it often that they will bargain with an author to share the profits; their reasoning is, that in producing a play they assume the greater risk, and should, therefore, be entitled to the “lion's share,” if it prove successful.

In the second place, the English stage supplies a great amount of material, and gives American managers a sufficiency of plays, accompanied with the mere expense of production. This is the most prominent source to which we are to look in accounting for the lack of American plays. Perhaps some will say we should rather be pleased with this than otherwise, because many of the plays thus brought before us have the standard stamp of merit, and have gone safely through the fire of criticism; yet is it not likewise true that many of them are mere trash, from which we derive little pleasure, and still less instruction, and does not their production, in preference to native works, dampen the ardor of our own writers ? It is our idea that the genius of our own country should be fostered in preference to that of any other, and that the labors of our own countrymen should receive the first reward. That there is in America a genius for the drama, we can produce ample proof, and that if some false prejudices were removed, its exhibition would gratify the public, there can be no doubt. We hail the appearance of foreign celebrities, and give our attention to foreign plays, simply because we have so few of our own ; but if we offered the same encouragement at home, perhaps we would have no occasion to seek them elsewhere.

In the third place, there is no disputing the fact, that there is a settled determination in the American public to condemn a play from a native pen--there is a disposition to believe that whatever is native, in the way of literature, must be of secondary quality. We know that many who