the patriotism that deserves the name, is composed of nobler elements. It is a filial sense of honour and duty; animated by reverence for all that is noble and great, by affection for all that is excellent and amiable, in the society to which we belong. It looks back on the glory of our ancestors, it looks up to the dignity of the throne, it looks round on the wise and beneficent institutions, the mild and equitable laws, the freedom, the happiness, the virtue, by which the social edifice is adorned; till glowing with a generous enthusiasm it exclaims, "this is my beloved country! I received it from my fa thers; I will defend it with my blood; I will transmit it unimpaired to my children!"

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. If such patriotic feelings are at this awful moment peculiarly seasonable and important, let them not be chilled with the sad reflec tion, that this same beloved country is polluted by the most sordid and barbarous crimes; that though dear to ourselves, she is a curse to a large portion of the globe; that her wealth generates, and her power maintains, a greater mass of human wretchedness and guilt, than even the pestilent ambition of France: perhaps than all the other political crimes of the age. "I have often thought," a pious friend who is thoroughly acquainted with the slave trade, once said to me, "that were an angel to look down from heaven, in order to determine which of the nations of the globe is the greatest scourge to the human species, his eye would be arrested by Africa and the West Indies, and by those receptacles of unspeakable misery, the ships that are passing between them; and his awful report would be, Great Britain is that merciless nation."

It is by those only who have not read and reasoned upon the subject, or who suffer themselves to be deceived by rank and inconsistent imposture, that such an estimate as this can be thought excessive. But were the dreadful effects of the crime at all disputable, not so at least its sordid and infamous nature. What rational being, who ever heard of the slave trade, can attempt to rescue it from our contempt and abhorrence?

I demand here, however, no wider concession, than that this commerce is in fact a subject of extreme detestation with a large portion of the British people; and consequently a great drawback upon that reverence, and that ardent love, for the institutions and the moral character of his country, by which the mind of a patriot should be animated in times of danger and distress.

Let it be remembered too, that a large proportion of those who are most zealous for the abolition of the slave trade, are men of religious feelings; and who regard this traffic as a most heinous offence, not

only against man, but against God. If there be statesmen or legislators, who can reconcile to their own views of Christianity, their own erroneous and inadequate notions of the slave trade, by looking beyond the crimes and the cruelties perpetrated on the coast and on the middle passage, and even beyond the dreadful destruction of our species which ensues in the West Indies, and all the miseries of a hopeless bondage, to a supposed compensatory good; let them consider that a large and very valuable portion of their countrymen, not only utterly disbelieve the existence of any such compensation; but reject with horror the idea of abetting injustice, cruelty, and bloodshed, upon the principles of expediency. They even regard the deliberate admission of such a motive as an aggravation of the crime; because it implies that man is wiser than his Creator, whose beneficent purposes, are thus supposed to be at variance with his own commands.

I will suppose, for the argument's sake, that these men are unreasonably scrupulous; still their own timid consciences must give the law to their expectations of the favour or disfavour of God. Can it be doubted then that multitudes of Englishmen, who regard the slave trade in this light, are much disheartened and alarmed by that atrocious national sin? Can they hope as confidently in the benignant dispositions of Providence for the safety of their country, as if she were guiltless of innocent blood? On the contrary, many of them are much more intimidated by our persevering provocation of divine justice in the slave trade, than by all the burthens and all the visible dangers of the war. It alarms them more, and in the event of actual invasion, would tend more to damp that confidence so essential in the breast of a soldier, than all the victories of Buonaparte.

In the name then of this large portion of my fellow subjects, than whom none love their country more, than whom none are more ready to abide all extremities in her defence; in the name of those who worship God among us, and admit no pleas of expediency against his holy laws; I earnestly implore from parliament the immediate abolition of the slave trade.

God forbid, however, that I should dissemble on this sacred subject; and it would be dissimulation to state the uneasiness of religious minds on account of this great offence, without adding, that I think they are justly alarmed.

Yes! I will dare to avow an opinion, that the public calamities with which we have been so remarkably visited, ever since the iniquities of this commerce were laid open to the national conscience,

and reformation was callously withheld, have been chastisements for that odious cause.

It cannot be necessary to apologize, in a land called Christian, for assuming in times like the present, that we have incurred the anger of heaven; or for humbly inquiring by what offences, that anger is most likely to have been excited. At an æra so portentous and alarming, the atheist indeed, if there be such a character among us, may behold with a stupid stare the machinery of second causes, without raising his thoughts to that Providence by which it is directed; but all who believe, that " verily and indeed there is a God who governs the earth;" and especially the sincere Christian, will recognize in the afflicting prodigies of the age, the hand of the Most High.

That the good or evil destinies of nations are often the retribu tory appointments of divine justice or bounty, no man who believes in the scriptures can doubt: "A fruitful land maketh He barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." A thousand passages in holy writ might be cited to the same effect; as well as multitudes of examples there recorded of public calamities, which were expressly imposed as punishments for national sins.

What indeed can be more consonant to our views of the divine government, whether derived from revealed or natural religion, than such retributory justice? Kingdoms have no world to come; communities of men will not, as such, stand collectively, before the judgment sent of Christ. If then, it pleases the Almighty in his tem poral providence, often to punish and reward in a remarkable manner, the vices, and virtues of individuals; we may reason from analogy (that best natural interpreter of the unseen works of God) to the probability that nations will sometimes be made to illustrate in the same way, his justice, power, and mercy.

It would be easy to shew, that there is in fact a close analogy in what is called the ordinary course of providence, between the divine government of states, and of private persons. Their virtues equally tend to prosperity and long life; their vices to misery and dissolution. If the decline and fall of nations may generally be dated from the period of their highest attainments in arts and luxury, that is also the period of their most heinous offences against God; and however opposite the proposition may be to ordinary notions, their most cruel sins against man also. But I must abstain at present from abstract discussions like these; and rely, as it is right to do in such cases, on the express testimony of inspiration.

In the particular case in question, I might fortify my remarks if

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aecessary, by the authority of our national church. We have beeti repeatedly enjoined, on days of fasting and humiliation, to acknow ledge that the calamities and dangers of the times are appointments of divine providence, on account of our national sins. The rulers of our church, have not indeed attempted to point out to us the parti cular offences which call for reformation. Spiritual admonition from the pulpit, is in the present age, of a general kind: but it is not less the right and the duty of individuals, to give a particular and practical application to these pious reproofs. It is obvious that a distinct conception of our sins, whether private or public, must be a neces sary prelude to a sincere and efficacious repentance.

We have no prophet to declare to us the causes of the displea sure of heaven; but conscience may enable us to discover them; and if we fairly apply the examples and the declarations contained in the holy scriptures, to the case in question, we shall inquire in the proper way for its solution; and with a well-founded hope of success.

What can be more suitable to every exalted conception of the divine nature, than the causes which are most frequently assigned in scripture for the chastisement of sinful nations? They are, for the most part, the sins of oppression, injustice, and violence towards the poor and helpless; and the shedding of innocent blood. The of fence of idolatry itself among the chosen people, was not more frequently denounced than these; nor more severely punished.

The passages of scripture which might be cited to this effect are numberless; and it is perhaps only weakening the general effect of the remark, to adduce examples of them. Yet for the satisfaction of those who are not sufficiently conversant with the bible, I offer a few in the annexed note.*

The almighty declared himself offended even with those solemn fasts, which were intended to avert his indignation, while oppression was unreformed. "Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an ac - ceptable day to the Lord?

* "For thus hath the Lord of Hosts said: Hew ye down trees and cast a mount against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her; violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds." Jeremiah vi, 6, 7.

"Make a chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence: Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses." Ezekiel vii. 23.-4.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ye have not hearkened unto me in pro

Is not this the fast that I have chosen; to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?"

Not less clear to the same effect, are the exhortations of the prophet Jeremiah: "Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, and the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood."

These, however, and a thousand such admonitions were slighted by the offending people; and what was the effect? An invading sword was sent through the guilty land, its throne and its altars were overturned, and its surviving inhabitants, were dragged away by a merciless conqueror, to groan in their turn under oppression, and to illustrate in a miserable captivity, the retaliating justice of God.

Were we with such scriptural precedents and explanations of the ways of the almighty before us, to search for the causes of the apparent displeasure of heaven; it would be natural to turn our eyes towards the slave trade, on account of the specific character of the guilt which it involves; even if its enormous magnitude, did not preeminently challenge attention. If rapine, oppression, violence to the poor, the stranger, and the destitute, dishonest gain, and the effusion of innocent blood, be put in inquest against England, where will they be found but in the slave trade; except indeed in its associated iniquity, the dreadful slavery of our colonies?

claiming liberty every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed with all the kingdoms of the earth." Jeremiah xxxiv. 17.

"The children also of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.” “Behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them; and will return your recompence upon your own head." And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it." Joel iii. 6, 7, 8.

Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein." "Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil.” "Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul." "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." "Wo to him that build