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duces a regular system of calumniation;" a custom, too, which sanctions wholesale robbery and human slaughter; nay, takes the lives of men without any form of trial, or even the pretence of crime !

LIVERPOOL MONUMENT OF LORD NELSON.

"It is a costly and finely executed piece of work; but the style, or rather the design of it, really appeared to me to deserve the epithet barbarous. Nelson is leaning back in an uneasy posture with one foot trampling on the carcase of a dead man. Death is seen, with his marrow bones, peeping from behind a shroud, and, reaching out his arm, is grasping at Nelson's heart. Beneath are four figures, representing four powers of Europe, sitting round the Monument in a forlorn posture, with their hands chained to the stone near the feet of the conqueror. There are many other figures in the group, indicative of the triumph of victory, and grief for the loss of the victor. In short, this group of statues, of recent execution, and which displays exquisite skill in the artist, appeared to me to breathe a spirit which would better befit the capital of a nation, of which a Cortes or a Tecumseh was the ruling Chief.

Griscom's Year in Europe, Vol. I. p. 30.

If Professor Griscom has given a correct account of the Monument, "the epithet barbarous," and his closing remark are not too severe. Who would have supposed that a people so enlightened as the Britons, in the nineteenth century, would have thought it an honor to themselves or their hero, to represent him in the disgusting and barbarous attitude of "trampling on the carcass of a dead man?" If they wished to do honor to Admiral Nelson, in erecting a Monument to his memory, was it to have been expected that a Christian people would associate with this honor an insult to other nations, by figures representing four of them "sitting round the Monument in a forlorn posture, with their hands chained to the stone near the feet of the conqueror ?" Was this necessary? Was it Christian? Was it magnanimous? Was it humane?Britain is now at peace with all the powers thus represented as at the feet of Nelson. What then is the tendency of this monumental exhibition? What must be the feelings of people from those various countries on beholding the Monument? If military or naval men, what but hatred and revenge may be

expected to spring up in their hearts? Is it possible that such a "group of figures" can excite in the mind of any foreigner, a high esteem for the moral character of the British nation?

That the people of our country may learn wisdom, and form a correct estimate in the case, let it be supposed that Nelson lost his life in a battle with our fleet, in which the Britons were victors; and that the United States were represented in a "forlorn posture with their hands chained to the stone near the feet of the conqueror.' Would not Nelson's Monument, with such accompaniments, be a continual source of irritation to the minds of our countrymen on visiting Liverpool? "Burying the hatchet," or tomahawk, would much betier become a civilized people, than such insulting and irritating Monuments; and preserving scalps, as trophies of victory, is not more antichristian and barbarous, nor half so likely to perpetuate the hatreds generated by war.

If our countrymen wish for Monuments, it is hoped that they will duly consider what kind of Monuments will contribute most to our peace and welfare, and to the honor of the nation in a more enlightened age; and avoid every thing which would be irritating to foreigners, or fix on ourselves the character of a vainglorious and inhuman people.

ADMIRABLE TRIUMPH OF HUMANITY.

The following important statement of facts is abridged from the Edinburgh Review for March 1824, pp. 181-2. On the subject of reforming the criminal code of England, the Reviewer observes,

"The moderate improvements first suggested by Sir Samuel Romilly in 1809, procured for him the usual calumnies and sarcasms: he was not only held up as a vain and wrongheaded speculator, eager to destroy our venerable institutions, but denounced as a jacobin, a lover of strife, an hypocritical pretender to humanity, a promoter of crimes, an enemy to the establishments which form the safeguard of society. His projects were assailed by the whole tribe of ministerial lawyers in parliament, from the Lord High Chancellor down to the meanest candidate for a Welsh judgeship. The twelve judges of England stepped down from their pedestals, and through Lord Ellenborough, then Chief Justice of England, favored the

House of Lords, for the first time, with an unasked opinion respecting a matter, not of law, but of legislation, declaring against any abridgment of their own powers of life and death. The motion was annually renewed, but supported by minorities in point of number contemptible, and one single measure of mitigation was alone effected in the lifetime of the author of the reform. Since his death, Sir James Mackintosh has pursued the subject in a manner worthy of his cause, his predecessor, and himself; and having succeeded in obtaining, in 1819, an inquiry before a Select Committee, he has since procured the abolition of capital punishments in a variety of cases. But this is not all. Several statutes exempting from capital punishment somewhere about an hundred felonies, were introduced, during the last session, into the House of Commons by Mr. Peel, the Secretary of State for the Home Department; and they passed without a dissentient voice,without a whisper of dissatisfaction, except from the friends and disciples of Sir Samuel Romilly, who contended that something more ought to be done. The bills were carried to the Lords, and passed through all their stages unanimously, without even a debate, though Lord Eldon at that time presided over the deliberations of that assembly! The Royal assent was given without any difficulty, to measures represented as thus mischievous and alarming, about fourteen years from the date of their first suggestion.

"To record such triumphs, is to excite public men to similar exertions for the future, by the certain prospect that sooner or later, in their lifetime or after their death, through evil report and good report, public opinion will finally award the palm of victory to truth."

It may be proper here to remark that in 1807 the philanthropists in England successfully closed their twentieth annual campaign for the abolition of the slave trade. Two years after, in 1809, Sir Samuel Romilly commenced his first campaign for a reform of the criminal code. This struggle was continued fourteen years. The statements quoted from the Edinburgh Review afford an illustration of the following positions.

1. That those who attempt a reform of any abuses of long standing, or the abolition of any custom however barbarous, must expect to meet in the outset with strong opposition, even from men renowned for rank, talents, and influence.

2. That the continuance of any inhuman law or custom depends entirely on public opinion.

3. That public opinion is liable to be changed, and capable of being improved, so that what was once regarded as just and necessary may become the abhorrence of the same people. Hence,

4. That there is great encouragement for persevering exertions in the cause of justice and humanity.

In view of the facts exhibited in this article, let the friends of peace take courage, and redouble their exertions. Ultimate success is certain. Though the present actors may all leave the stage before their object shall have been attained, others will rise up to carry on the work, till public opinion shall be so revolutionized, that public war will be abhorred as the worst of human crimes, and the most astonishing of all the delusions that ever afflicted or disgraced the world.

COMPARATIVE ESTIMATE BY DR. CHALMERS.

"It may suffice to state, that the income of all the Bible and Missionary Societies in this island would not more than defray the expense of one ship of the line. When put by the side of the millions which are lavished without a sigh on the enterprises of war, it is nothing ;-and shall this veriest trifle be grudged to the advancement of a cause which, when carried to its accomplishment, will put an end to war, and banish all its atrocities from the world."

Dr. Chalmers, on the Influence of Bible Societies. This statement may justly alarm every ruler, every philanthropist, and every Christian. How often have Christians in both hemispheres read with admiration the accounts of the income and expenditures of the British and Foreign Bible Society! But now we are told by one of the most eminent Ministers of the gospel in that country, that "the income of all the Bible and Missionary Societies" in Great Britain, "would not more than defray the expense of one ship of the line!" What then is the income of all the Benevolent Institutions of that country when compared with the whole expense of its naval and military establishments? "It is nothing," or as "the drop of the bucket." Melancholy indeed is the fact, that so much of the vast revenues of a rich and powerful na

tion, is devoted to hatred and strife, and so little to love and peace.

In our own country, how little is devoted directly to the object of peace compared to what is devoted to war even in time of peace. Probably the annual expenditures of all the Peace Societies in the United States, would fall short of the wages and rations of one Major General, or of one Captain in our navy. How reproachful it must be that professional mandestroyers should be supported in such numbers and at so great an expense, while so little is done for the peace of the world!

It is worthy of remark that Benevolent Institutions are generally formed and supported by associated individuals, without any aid from governments. Not only so, the measures of governments, in some respects, tend to retard the progress or defeat the objects of Benevolent Societies, and the friends of them are taxed for the support of such measures of government, as really oppose and counteract their benignant purposes. While they give Bibles to soldiers and seamen to teach them to love God with all their hearts, they are compelled to pay towards the support of these soldiers in learning the art of manslaughter! While they stretch forth their hands to supply the wants of widows and orphans, they also pay for the support of a custom which multiplies widows and orphans by violence! While they give one dollar to promote the cause of peace and good will to man, they have to pay fifty or a hundred perhaps to support the fatal popularity of war! While they give an inconsiderable sum to save men from vice and misery, they pay perhaps twenty times that amount for training up a numerous class of their brethren for the worst of human crimes-rapine and murder !

If the many hundreds of millions of dollars which are annually appropriated to military and naval purposes, by the nations of the earth, could be diverted from these pernicious channels, and be made subservient to the various objects of benevolence, this world of hatred, war, and suffering, might soon become a paradise of love, peace, and felicity.

A DEMONSTRATION IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

"THERE is a man travelling in England, and exhibiting in one cage, a dog, a cat, a mouse, and a sparrow; they live together

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