social peculiarities. Under a sane and well regulated industry, for in. stance, slavery perishes of its own accord; and, as might have been illus trated by the state of the southern counties of England, there is a de ranged state of industry, which, of itself, naturally forces on decline, and conducts to an economic condition in regard to the working classes, not differing by one iota from the condition of slavery. We can but throw out this hint here, postponing its development to a time when we have more space and leisure; but we throw it, to indicate what this question truly is, and to take measure of Ministerial merit. It were in fact ludicrous to inquire how far Mr. Stanley understands what he assumed so presumptuously to conduct: for, it is a thing to be seen by a person with half an eye, that he knows no more of the West Indies than of the volcanoes in the moon. Not one idea entered within his head beyond a coarse and crude notion that the slaves must be in part emancipated, and that we must pay for them; not one conception occurred to him that it was possible, by regenerating the entire social fabric of the Antilles, to make the abolition of slavery a boon to all classes-to open up a new view of prosperity to the bankrupt landholders ; to render the toil of the free labourer productive and profitable; and thus to found the triumph of humanity upon the progress of wealth, and the sure advance of civilization. It were vain-it were ludicrous-to measure his plan by principles like these, for he knew them not, and wants that cool discrimination necessary to apprehend them: but we may measure his plans by their own pretensions; we may examine them in reference to what they propose to do, and observe their degree of adaptation to the adopted end.

The prominent feature of the West India scheme, is the liberation of the slave from one-fourth of his present labour-a relief for which we pay twenty millions ;-and his instalment as an apprenticed labourer during the remaining three-fourths of the present working season. Relief from labour is unquestionably a good; but if it has few securities for permanence, it diminishes in desirableness, and especially if it does not conduce to an advance in moral acquirement. We have no doubt Mr. Stanley meant well by this arrangement, and thought also that he had effected somewhat; but we doubt as little that the result, in so far as these arrangements will have any result, will be to the disadvantage of the negro in some fashion, as-taken by itself—it must deepen the distress, and go to complete the ruin of West Indian industry. Let us observe what powers will now remain for production, and what will be their degree of efficiency. The negro is to work during the remaining three-fourths of his time, and for this he will receive a certain FIXED PAY, viz. all the aliment, clothing, medical attendance, &c., he now receives. It is quite evident that Mr. Stanley has here supplied him with no inducement for exertion. Men will not toil but in hope of pleasure, or from the fear of pain. The negro's pay is FIXED;—he can gain nothing by extra-diligence, nor lose in consequence of indolence. The moving prineiples which spur on the free labourer are of no avail, in so far as the negro is concerned; for he is placed in independence of them by law. Motives to elicit extraordinary energy are now extinct; and his ordinary activity can only be secured by the whip. The whip, accordingly, is retained; but fortunately for humanity, although most unfortunately for the producing interests of the Antilles, it is transferred into the hands of Government. The cartwhip is to be wielded by the individuals whom we henceforward depute to represent the majesty of British law in the

West Indies. Dignified Justiceships! Admirable encouragement of respect and fealty towards Great Britain! But the thing will fail. Punishment, like gravitation, increases in effect according to the inverse duplicate ratio of the distances. It is powerful, because of its certainty and nearness. If inflicted after the formalities of a judicial procedure, and in consequence of pro. and con. evidence, it will never appear very formidable; far less will the planters be enabled to induce the negro to overwork. The system of industry will therefore be still farther affected. Supposing the planter compensated for the fourth of the present slave's time; he is not, nor can be, compensated for this diminution of energy during the other three-fourths: and hence a proportionate deficiency of produce, and an access of distress. We are convinced the West Indians are utterly ruined. A sane policy might retrieve them, but this bill must sink them beneath the seas. They might have been benefited by Great Britain, without our spending one halfpenny; but they will not be benefited even by these twenty millions!

But grievous as is the idea of that money being thrown away in obedience to the caprice of a rapid and violent young man, and by the sentence of a mob of individuals wholly ignorant of the vital concerns on which they have been deputed to sit in judgment,-it is yet not an uninteresting question, as to how far, in strict justice, we, in these British Islands, are bound to afford that compensation. It is, we maintain, all unnecessary; for slavery might have fallen, to the benefit, and with the desire of all ;-but supposing emancipation to be accompanied with a loss, it has to be proved on whom, in righteousness, ought to be the incidence of that loss? At another time we shall deliver our notions on this important matter, and claim for them the deliberate attention of our country; but it may safely be said now, that if we owe compensation, our posterity do not owe it; if we must pay for our own sins, posterity at least is guiltless, and ought to be free; and what then shall we think of a scheme, the object of which is, by way of doing justice, to transfer the burden of our penance almost entirely from off our own shoulders on to posterity! If a hair-shirt must be worn, are we to decree that those now unborn shall wear it? Such, amid all the absurdities of the popery of a dark age, was one to which our ancestors never speculatively attained. This iniquity will tend to bring down the entire funding system, and confound just and unjust claims together in one common ruin.

We have now done with one part of this iniquitous and unvarnished absurdity. Nothing has annoyed us more in the whole course of its discussion than the absence of comprehensive views on the part of the individuals who assumed the office of leadership. If the anti-slavery society does not shake off Mr. FoWELL BUXTON, it will not do much on behalf of its cherished object. All men may see evils, but leaders should be able to discover the character of the proposed remedies. Had Mr. MOUGLAS of Cavers been at the head of the Anti-slavery Society, and in Parliament, how different weuld his conduct have been from that of Mr. FOWELL BUXTON! Mr. DOUGLAS discerned the foolishness of the scheme on its proposal, and denounced it in terms becoming himself. Now it is that we are aware of the amount of our loss on the death of our Dr. THOMSON. While his brethren, estimable as they are, are employing their ingenious heads in the formation of plans to uphold patronage, and the concoction of High Church schemes of government, after the fashion of the Israelitish hierarchy, he would have been in the breach, boldly contending for the first rights of his fellow-men. It is saying a great deal, but not more than

we solemnly believe, when we allege, that had Dr. Thomson lived, this bill had never obtained the shadow of toleration. When we reflect on a great mind being carried off at the precise period when its noblest qualities would have shone in full lustre, we feel it needful to guard against murmuring, and to subject ourselves forcibly to the mysterious appointments of Providence.

III. On the Irish Church Bill a few words will suffice. They talk of mutilating it we know not if mutilation be possible.

The fact is, that Lord Grey regards that Bill, in reference to its adaptation to an end, which is not identical with the end in view by the public, or with the good of the public. In the original Bill there was a great principle, and without that principle the Bill was nothing. What became of the 147th clause, does not require to be told. We formerly remarked on the dishonesty of Ministerial arguments on behalf of that clause; and although we could now apply the scourge with some effect to the pretences on which they chose to ground its extinction, we shall be tender. Mr. Stanley, it will be recollected, upheld the three millions accruing from the feuing of Bishops' leases, to be new property, or property with which the Church had nothing to do. Will that ingenious young man tell us upon what principle he is now disposed to grant a large sum of NEW property to the Church of Ireland? or whether he has discovered, in the character of Irish society, any trace of necessity for such an arrangement? It is perhaps "over curious" thus to question Mr. Stanley. He may not act from conviction; he is just now the sword in the right arm of the Whigs, and we fancy he is satisfied with that honour,

The Irish Bill preserves the whole Church property for that sinecure Church. This is enough; and it proves that it cannot stand. We inform the Whigs that it is no settlement whatsoever; and we discern, moreover, that the unreformed abuses of the Irish Church will pull to the ground along with them all the Establishments in our land. It will be a lucky escape for the conservatives, if still older institutions do not perish during the crash!

IV. My Lord Althorp a reformer of the Bank Charter! Well! we thought once in our simplicity that the Bank monopoly could not stand, and so thought even the Tory Lord Liverpool. But the public did not understand the question. A "compromise" settlement was easy, and that was enough for the enterprising Whigs!

We have already indicated so often the evils originating in this baleful monopoly, that there is no necessity now for going into detail. Suffice it to say, that every hateful principle is here consecrated, or thought to be consecrated, into at least another ten years' endurance; and all the nation gains from the modification of this overgrown monopoly is L.120,000 per annum!! Not even have means been taken to ensure the progress of Joint Stock Banking in England! Several of our political writers may take a lesson from this catastrophe. All we want is an enlightenment of the public mind upon the subject; and assuredly that will not be accomplished by a dreaming over schemes of National Banking Establishments, impracticable, perhaps, or inadvisable in all cases; but certainly neither advisable nor practicable under our present system of Government.

So much for the GREAT QUESTIONS! What virtue or permanence there is in their several settlements, or what favour the Whigs will derive from them, our readers will discover. But where is the cure?

It is this: The electors of the United Kingdom must cease to suppose that a rich man is necessarily an intelligent man; and they must seek out, ere another Parliament, individuals capable of performing the august duties of legislation, with whom to supplant the small dandified lordlings, the indolent "country gentlemen," and the canting, phrasing bigots, who now constitute so large a portion of the Legislative Assembly of the British people.

THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS versus TITHES.

We give a place in our Magazine, with great satisfaction, to the following Petition sent us by the Society of Friends. In every sentence of this Petition, we heartily concur.

Petition of the Society of Friends for the Abolition of Tithes, &c. To the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament Assembled.

We, the undersigned, members of the religious Society of Friends, called Quakers, assembled at our Yearly Meeting in London, respectfully represent to Parliament, that our Society has always objected, on principle, to Tithes, and other compulsory ecclesiastical claims.

We consider it to be our bounden duty to conform ourselves to the laws, and to obey the Government of our country, in all things which do not interfere with the higher claims of conscience towards God; but, whenever there is such an interference, it is our established practice to refuse an active compliance with the law, and patiently to suffer the consequences.

On this principle, we have always refused the payment of Tithes, and other ecclesiastical demands; and, at the same time, have offered no opposition to the distraint of our goods for these purposes. In the earlier periods of the Society, its members were exposed to grievous sufferings and persecutions on this account. Not only were they despoiled of their property, in a vexatious and ruinous manner, but their persons were seized, and they were immured in dungeons, to the injury of their health, and, in many instances, even to the loss of their lives; and, although the laws which render us liable to suits in the ecclesiastical courts, are now but seldom enforced, we still suffer considerable injury from the levying of distraints, and from the exactions with which they are often accompanied.

Our reasons for refusing these payments are purely of a religious nature; and they are as follows:

First, That we regard the interference of the civil Government, in matters of religion and private conscience, to be the usurpation of a prerogative which belongs only to God.

Secondly, That we consider the setting apart of Tithes for the maintenance of the ministers of religion, to have been an unwarrantable return to the provisions of the Levitical law, and at variance with the nature and character of the Gospel.

Thirdly, That we believe the ministry of the Gospel to be free in its nature, according to the command of our Lord and Saviour to his disciples :-"Freely ye have received, freely give;" and that the contravention of this principle has an unfailing tendency to convert religion into a trade, and grievously to impede the diffusion of vital Christianity.

We also deem the compulsory support of the ministers of any church, and of an ecclesiastical system connected therewith, to be opposed to that liberty which the Gospel confers; and, when claimed from those who conscientiously dissent from that church, to be a violation of the common principles of justice.

Observing with satisfaction that the subject of Tithes and other ecclesiastical demands is likely to come under the deliberate review of the Legislature, we consider this to be the proper time for representing to Parliament, these our Christian principles; and we respectfully beseech the House of Commons, not to rest satisfied with any modification of the present system, but to take effectual measures for the entire removal of all such imposts.

In conclusion, we feel bound to express to Parliament our heartfelt prayer, that Almighty God may bless and preserve the Government and Legislature of our country, and may direct all their counsels for the happiness of the nation, for the welfare of mankind in general, and for his own glory.

Signed by Six Hundred and Seventy-nine Members of the Society of Friends, from various parts of the United Kingdom. London, 3d of Sixth Month, 1833.

TAIT'S COMMONPLACE-BOOK.

A HAND-WRITING ON THE WALL TO THE WHIGS.-Never were men so expert at a blunder, so uniformly successful in sticking their own measures, as his Majesty's Whig Ministers. As sure as they bring in a bill, it will be sticked; at least if the Lord Advocate of Scotland have any particular connexion with it. It is surprising that the Lord Advocate will not learn to be more cautious. Advices and remonstrances seem to be lost upon him. The press has been for some time very unequi vocally telling his Lordship the opinion of him, as a Minister, entertained by the public.

"It tauld thee that thou wast a skellum,

A blethrin', bothering, blundering bellum."

Nay, the walls of London seem to have conspired to add their silent admonitions to the cautions showered upon his Lordship and his colleagues from so many more sentient quarters. At the corner of almost every street or public building, the emphatic caution" STICK NO BILLS," or still more emphatically, "BILL-STICKERS! BEWARE!" meets the passenger's eyes. The very stones cry out against Ministers. We have no doubt that these mural warnings are meant for the Whig Ministers, and, in a particular manner, for my Lord Althorp and the Lord Advocate of Scotland, who may be said to be at the head of the Bill-Stickers of the Empire. We are not ignorant that the Bill-Stickers, so emphatically cautioned, are commonly understood to be a different class from the Ministers of the Crown; men whose business it is to do what they are here forbidden. There is such a class of men, we know; but they cannot be said to be the only Bill-Stickers addressed; for, strictly speaking, these men and his Majesty's Whig Ministers belong to the same class, If any man deny this, we ask him, Is it not the business of the one set of men to stick bills, and is it not true of the other set, that they do nothing else! Was ever demonstration plainer? It is very possible that the painters of these cautions, which so abound in every part of the metropolis, had no more notion of the whole meaning of the words that arose under their brush, than the prophets of old understood the full extent of their own prophecies. But we ask Lord Althorp and the Lord Advocate, if ever the words, "Stick no Bills," flash upon their eyes, as they turn a corner, without conscience applying the impressive admonition to themselves; or whether they ever behold the ominous "BillStickers! Beware!" without feeling it to be a hand-writing on the wall plainly directed against them, and surely foretelling the downfall of Whiggery? If we have skill in divination, their Lordships and the Whig party have been weighed in the balance, and found wanting.

THE SCOTCH LAW COMMISSION.-Great and numerous have been the complaints of the delay and expense of law proceedings of late years, and every attempt that has been made to lessen that delay and expense has increased the evil. Another commission has been issued to investigate the matter, which the Whigs have very considerately confined to members of the two great law corporations of this city, the principal gainers by the present expensive system. These gentlemen are to take into consideration during the autumn, the means of keeping money out of their own pockets by proceedings at law. The project is a hopeless one, and no one has any doubt about the issue.

Everything will be repre