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another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not.'

"Henderson," says his biographer, "never was married. By his testament, registered in the Edinburgh Commissary Court, and confirmed 9th November, 1646, he appears to have died in the possession of considerable wealth. He appointed George Henderson, a brother's son, who had attended him during the latter years of his life, as his principal executor and heir. He also mortified a house, garden, and croft, and two acres of light land, about half a mile northwest of the village of Leuchars, and four pounds ten shillings and sixpence sterling, to those holding the office of schoolmaster. He also bequeathed the sum of two thousand merks for the maintenance of a school in the town of Lithrie, in the parish of Creich. He left legacies to several brothers and sisters and their families.

"Henderson, by his latter will, ordained his executor 'to deliver to his dear acquaintance, Mr. John Duncan, at Culross, and Mr. William Dalgleische, minister at Cramond, all the manuscripts and papers quhilk are in my study, and that belong to me any where else; and efter they have received them, to destroy or preserve and keep them as they shall judge convenient for their awine privat or the public good.' Excepting a host of fugitive pamphlets, printed speeches, and sermons, hastily composed amidst a multiplicity of public avocations, which in the bulk have ceased to be interesting, Henderson has left no written works to testify his talents and worth to posterity. But so long as the purity of our Presbyterian establishment remains-as often as the General Assembly of our church is permitted to convenewhile the Confession of Faith, and Catechisms, larger and shorter, hold a place, in our estimation, second to the Scriptures alone-and till the history of the revolution during the reign of Charles I. is forgotten,-the memory of ALEXANDER HENDERSON will be respected, and every Presbyterian patriot in Scotland will continue grateful for the SECOND REFORMATION of our Church, which Henderson was so instrumental in effecting."

We have read the copious narrative of Dr. Aiton with unusual interest, and are indebted to it not only for the facts, but, whenever it suited our purpose, for the language. To any but a Presbyterian the book would seem prolix: to ourselves it is only too short. We abstain from comment, and leave this fragment of our annals to the meditations of the pious reader.

ART. III.-The African Slave Trade. By Thomas Fowell Buxton, Esq.

The African Slave Trade. By Thomas Fowell Buxton, Esq. Part II.-The Remedy.

NEW BOOKS are a good index to the character of a people among whom they are produced. They treat commonly of those subjects which most occupy public attention; their number shows the degree of interest taken by the people in those subjects; their intellectual excellence is the result and the evidence of the existing state of educated talent; while the moral principles advocated or implied are not only a criterion of the religious character of their authors, but they show the prevailing belief of the people at large. We have in this remark a key with which we can readily explore the regions of mind, morals, occupation, and general improvement in any given age or country. Whether we look at the polished writings of the Greeks, the admired productions of the Augustan age, the ponderous opera' of the early Christian Fathers, the controversial volumes producing and springing from the Reformation, or the thousand and one books on all subjects which the awakened mind of our own generation has given birth to, we at once perceive the prevailing character of the people by whom these different books were written and read. A good account of "the life and times" of some generally admired book would throw valuable light on the character of its day.

We have been struck with this remark when looking at the direction which the minds of men in our times have taken on the subject of Slavery-the books which have been written show how widely, deeply, and for the most part how rightly men think and feel in regard to this evil. The Slave Trade, the most distressing branch of the system of Slavery, has received the most searching attention of many writers. Of this, these books of Mr. Buxton give ample proof, being not only themselves a good index to the present state of the British mind on that subject, but deriving no small part of their value from their containing a well-prepared summary of what has been written by a multitude of writers, concerning both the Slave Trade and the land which has so long been ravaged by it. And it is highly gratifying

to see the general agreement amongst writers of all classes in exposing the evils of this shocking traffic. Governors of Colonies, naval men, travellers, merchants engaged in lawful trade, missionaries, philanthropists of Europe, Africa and America, seem alike anxious to contribute information, arguments, suggestions and plans that may lead to the suppression of this vast evil. Such a general agreement is creditable to the humanity of intelligent men. And the knowledge thus accumulated from so many different sources is highly important. With the best intentions, men can do nothing without light, except to long and pray for the good which they know not how otherwise to seek; but when both the nature and the relations of any evil are clearly understood, it becomes practicable to devise ways and means for its removal. This is the present position of the question concerning the destruction of the Slave Trade. We now know what that trade is, and we know its connexions on both sides of the Atlantic with the interests of the buyers and the sellers of men. We have, indeed, long known the existence of this traffic, and we have partially known the extent to which it has been carried, but these volumes contain a fulness and a minuteness of information on the whole subject which, we apprehend, will often present new views of this great evil even to those who are well acquainted with the general subject; and they contain plans, which if not original, are yet wisely formed and well matured, and which well deserve the consideration of all benevolent men.

But

Our readers are aware that Mr. Buxton wears the mantle of the great and good Wilberforce, as leader of the British opposition to slavery. He seems to have little of Wilberforce's readiness and beauty of fancy, and less of his glowing enthusiasm. We suppose he has no claims to genius, and he could not hope to be admired, as Wilberforce often was, even by those who were bitterly opposed to his measures. in pure benevolence, sound judgment, diligence, and unwavering sympathy for the slave, Buxton is not at all inferior to his distinguished predecessor. He is a respectable member of the British Parliament, and his private character, we believe, is one of great worth; we have heard that, without being a Dissenter, his preferences are with the Wesleyan body of Christians in England.

We come now to his books on the Slave Trade, and the remedy for the Slave Trade. And here we suppose many will meet us with the question, "Can any good thing come

out of Nazareth?" One of these volumes bears on its Titlepage the ominous name of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and we should judge the other has been republished in the same connexion. Waving our preferences as to that point, and well we may, for we think the Colonization Society might better have undertaken their protection in this country; they contain little that will be censured by the most zealous opponent of modern Abolitionism, and much that favors the Colonization scheme,-waving that point and the question connected with it for the present, we take pleasure in speaking well of the style in which these books have been published, and of the price, which is so moderate as to place them within the reach of all, who wish to examine what we certainly consider the most valuable book that has ever been published concerning the African Slave Trade.

The first volume shows at length the extent of that trade, the mortality connected with it, and the entire failure of all the efforts that have been made for its suppression; a valuable chapter is added to this volume on commercial intercourse with Africa.

Most persons will be not less surprised than grieved to learn the vigour of this detestable trade at the present time. Its victims are twice as numerous as when the trade was proscribed thirty years ago, and their sufferings are greatly increased. Here we shall give some particulars.

The principal slave markets are Cuba, where about 60,000 slaves from Africa are annually sold, and the Brazils, where nearly 80,000 are disposed of. Slaves are also taken to Porto Rico, in the West Indies, Buenos Ayres, and it is alleged, we hope without foundation, to Texas. The number recaptured amounts to nearly 8000 annually on the average. The whole number of slaves who are brought across the Atlantic, without including the victims to the trade, whose sufferings are mercifully ended by death before they are stored in the holds of the Slave-ship, amounts to not less than 150,000 annually. Besides this Christian Slave Trade, there is a Mohammedan draught on the miserable inhabitants of Africa, which reduces to slavery 50,000 people every year-of whom 30,000 are taken from the North East coast in Arab vessels, belonging for the most part to the Sultan of Muscat, and 20,000 to Barbary, Egypt, &c.

The number of slaves brought to our American Continent seems incredible, especially when we remember, that at the commencement of the controversy concerning this Trade,

the number was estimated only at 70,000. But Mr. Buxton, with the most evident determination not to overrate the evil, nor to assert any thing without the support of decided testimony, has brought forward such an array of evidence as seems to preclude the hope of any mistake, and to show that this large number is not too largely stated. He derives his testimony from four independent sources.

I. From the papers on the Slave Trade presented annually to Parliament, by command of her Majesty, consisting of Reports from Naval Officers, Governors of the Colonies and Consuls, Decisions of the Courts, &c. These documents authorize the estimate of at least 150,000, actually taken across the Atlantic.

II. Gov. M'Lean, and several other British officers, who possessed good opportunities of forming an opinion, from their residence on the African Coast, have estimated the number of slaves taken from that Coast in one year at 196,146.

III. An estimate has been made by ascertaining the value of goods, manufactured in Great Britain, which are applicable only to the purposes of this trade. One third of the price of a slave, it seems, is commonly paid to the native slavedealer in these goods. The average price of a slave being £4, and the goods being disposed of at a certain average advance on their cost. When the amouut of money invested in this way is ascertained, in connexion with a knowledge of the usages of the trade, it is easy to calculate the probable number of Slaves purchased. According to this method of reckoning, the average annual number is 187,500.

IV. An estimate which serves to give a general idea of the extent of the Trade is formed from the number of slavevessels which left Brazil, Cuba, &c., for slaves, in a given year 1829, as compared with the number of captures in that year, the proportion being one out of thirty. In the year 1836-7 the number of re-captured Africans was 7,538 multiplied by 30226,140.

From these various sources, but chiefly the direct testimony of the first, for the particulars of which our readers will refer to the book itself, it seems not extravagant to place the number with Mr. B. at 150,000. When to these we add the 50,000 slaves annually torn from their homes, for the Mohammedan markets, we have the probable extent of the African Slave Trade.

The statement of mere numbers, however, conveys no adequate impression to the mind, of the manifold and extreme

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