be overdone-of some, that it may be suspended for a couple of years-that from a concentration of the industry of the colony for that period, its institutions may acquire stability and its foundations, solidity and strength. And there is a general dread felt of the consequences of too favourable an opinion of the state of the colony getting ground in America. Certain I am, that a majority of their number will never concur in an address suspected of such a tendency. Whatever it proves to be, may its effects be useful.

I have made a requisition on the Navy Department for 50,000 cypress, juniper, or yellow pine shingles, to be sent out by your next charter. Should this requisition be declined, I beg the Board to send at least one half that quantity. Our African timber, though firm, is not durable, and roofs covered with African shingles, which are expensive, do not often outlast the third year-not unfrequently become useless in twelve or twenty months. Covered with the shingles above named, they will remain good from eight to twelve years.

Being now apprised of the intention of the Board, to send out another company of emigrants early in Autumn, we shall provide accordingly.

J. ASHMUN. African Repository.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

THE extinction of African slavery in the state of New York, having marked the year 1827 as an era in the history of that flourishing commonwealth, it appears nothing more than justice to the statesman by whose agency, at least in part, that event was consummated, to give the following communication a place in this journal, before the expiration of the present year.

"Gentlemen-In my last public communication to the legislature, I had the honour to advert to the present happy condition of our country, and to intimate, that the existing state of society, and the general disposition of mankind, seemed propitious to the

promotion of the interests of literature, religion, freedom, and humanity.

"I will now take the liberty of submitting to the legislature, whether the dictates of humanity, the reputation of the state, and a just sense of gratitude to the Almighty, for the many favours he has conferred on us as a nation, do not demand that the reproach of slavery be expunged from our statute book.

"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.

"The same Divine munificence which called forth this effusion of gratitude from the father of his country, twenty-seven years ago, has been equally, if not more conspicuous, in every subsequent stage of our advancement in prosperity and renown. What more acceptable can a grateful and enlightened people make to the heavenly donor of these so great benefits, than by emancipating from bitter servitude, that portion of his creatures which still continue to be held in unjust and cruel bondage by civilized and independent free men?

"I do, therefore, respectfully, but earnestly, recommend to the legislature, to establish some future day, not more remote than the 4th day of July, 1827, on which slavery shall cease in this state. Before the arrival of that period, most coloured persons born previous to the 4th of July, 1799, (and others are now free by the existing laws,) will have become of very little value to their owners, indeed many of them will, by that time, have become an expensive burthen.

"To fix a day thus remote for general emancipation, will consequently impair, in a very small degree, any private right, and will, at the same time, be consistent with the humanity and justice of a free and prosperous people. "DANIEL D. TOMPKINS."

Albany, 13th Jan. 1817.

SLAVERY IN SCOTLAND.

MR. DUNDAS, in 1792, did not hesi

tate to ridicule the vain terrors of the parties whose battle he was fighting, and, by their own selection, as their commander-in-chief, though emancipation itself was the object. In illustration of the apprehensions which many entertained of the consequences of changing their slaves into free labourers, he stated, that some years before, in certain districts of Scotland, the persons who laboured in the saltworks and coal-mines were actually slaves; and that a proposal being made to emancipate them, instantly the owners of the works came forward, declaring that if their vassals were to be raised to the condition of free labourers, they themselves would be utterly ruined, for that such was the peculiarity, such the unpleasant nature, of those species of labours, they could not depend on hired service, as in other instances. "But at length,' added Mr. Dundas, "the good sense of the age obtained the victory. The salters and colliers were changed into free labourers, and all the terrors of the owners ended in smoke."-Wilberforce's Appeal.

KIDNAPPING.

Ar the superior court held for Cabarrus county last week, judge Norwood presiding, Joseph Wear, (who has, for a year or two past, rendered himself somewhat notorious, by his lawless depredations on the property, &c. of the citizens of Lincoln county,) was tried on an indictment for kidnapping, in stealing sundry negroes in Lincoln county, and running them off to South Carolina for sale, and was found guilty by the jury. Jones, an accomplice of Wear's, turned state's witness, and was admitted to give evidence against the latter. Wear was sentenced by judge Norwood, to be hanged on Friday, the 30th of this month. His counsel prayed an appeal to the supreme court; but we have not learned whether he has been able to give security for the appeal.-West. Car.

Arkansas.-The general assembly of the territory of Arkansas met at Little Rock, on the 1st ult. Daniel T. Witter was elected president of the legislative council, and Ambrose H. Sevier, speaker of the house of representa

tives. On the 2d, governor Izard sent his message. The message commences with an expression of the belief of the governor, that the population of the territory "had reached that point, which, by the laws of the United States, territories are entitled to be admitted into the union." The language of the message on this point is as follows:

"That we have reached that point, I entertain no doubt; but, notwithstanding the zeal of the officers whose duty it is to take the census, the statements are so sparse, and the means of access of the country so extended, that it is scarcely possible to note with precision, the increase of our inhabitants. In 1830, however, I anticipate with security that the star of Arkansas will assume its rank in the constellation which adorns the banner of our country."

WILL the inhabitants of the non slave-holding states agree to admit Arkansas as a slave-holding state, and thus accede to that part of the union, a decided preponderance in the senate? Or, are we to have a new Missouri question, alias, an Arkansas question, to agitate the counsels of the nation? If the compromise, which is understood to have been made, when Missouri was admitted, has secured to the inhabitants of Arkansas the privilege of entailing on themselves and their posterity, the greatest curse of nations, it becomes an important question, how far this compromise, admitting it to have been made by parties fully competent to its formation, has been modified, or may be hereafter affected, by the subsequent addition of Florida to our territorial possessions. As the question is not yet before the nation, it is probably needless to enter at present upon its discussion; we may, however, be permitted to look forward, and prepare to act with proper judgment, when the time of decision shall

arrive.

AN INDUSTIOUS HOTTENTOT. HAVING heard of an industrious Hottentot, who possessed a small location in this vicinity, I prevailed on Mr. Bergh to accompany me thither. We reached it after an arduous ascent into the cedar mountains, in a nook of which it is situated. The proprietor, (Abraham Zwarts,) showed us his whole premises with pride and pleasure. His farm consists of about fifty-four acres, three of which are sown with wheat. Besides this, he raises annually about 100 lbs. of tobacco, and has upwards of 200 fruit trees in bearing, the fruit of which he dries and sells. His live stock amounted to sixteen head of cattle, twenty goats, and forty sheep. His family consisted of a little colony of more than twenty-four children, and grand-children, all of whom, so far as their years admit, assist in the cultivation of the little farm, and are supported and clothed by its produce.

This is, perhaps, the only instance of a Hottentot having obtained a grant of land in the colony; and the circumstances are curious, and worthy of being commemorated, to evince what might be anticipated from Hottentot industry, if that long oppressed race received due encouragement to exert themselves. Zwarts had been permitted byt he deputy landdrost Bergh, to occupy this wild place, which no boor there considered worth asking for, and had made considerable improvement upon it, when, upon the arrival of the settlers, he was warned to vacuate it, in order that it might be added to their location; and he would have been very unceremoniously dispossessed, except for the laudable humanity of Mr. Parker and captain Synnot, who represented the hardship of the case to the colonial government, and obtained for the poor man a full grant of the place, on perpetual quit rent. The respectable appearance of Zwarts and his family, and the evidences of their industry, every where apparent, prove how well the favour of government has been, in this instance, bestowed, and leads us to regret the more, that it should be a single and solitary instance of such favour shown to the aborigines of the country. How can industry or improvement be expected from a class of people long degraded

possession by the expulsion or extinction of a former race. We have purchased the lands of the aboriginal inhabitants, with the sword in one hand, and the paltry price in the other. But these things were mostly done by those over whom the present generation had no control. We find ourselves in quiet possession of the fruit of their labours, and their crimes; and are not likely to disturb the enjoyment by anxiously inquiring into injuries which cannot now be redressed. The nations of Africa have become slaves, they have been transmitted as property from sire to son; they have been transferred as property from hand to hand; they have been mortgaged as security for debts; in a word, they have been treated as property rather than as men, until they are so completely associated with our ideas of property, that it is not easy to disentangle the connection. The maxims and principles which familiarly apply to property, are habitually applied to them as such.

It is a sentiment too plain to be controverted, and too common to possess the charm of novelty, that maxims, which are strictly correct when applied to their legitimate objects, are often grossly fallacious when extended beyond their proper limits. Before we confidently apply to the slave the usually admitted principles of property, it is important to inquire how far he can justly be brought to assume that character; how far the laws and usages of society have vested or can vest in the master, a right to the person and services of the slave.

I do not design to engage in the discussion of a question, which has been frequently connected with that of negro slavery, whether the intellect of the negro is equal to that of the Eu

ropean. This question might lead to many interesting and amusing inquiries, but would probably be difficult to settle; and even supposing a decision attainable, the question of right would recur with its original force. Knowledge is power, but power is not the acknowledged foundation of right. The argument which goes to justify the maintenance of the slave-holding system, by a supposed or even a real inferiority of intellect on the part of the negroes, unquestionably proves, or at least admits, too much. The principle is as good between individuals of the same nation, or colour, as between those whose pedigree cannot be traced to a common origin. If the nations of Europe may justly hold the people of Africa in servitude, because the minds of the latter are less capacious than those of the former, supposing that to be the fact, then, upon the same principle, the man of common understanding may lawfully enslave the dolt, and the man of genius exact the unrequited services of the ordinary man. That those who think must govern those who toil, may be admitted as a maxim, founded on the nature of society, without establishing a right which can be justly supported by physical force. Declining the discussion of such questions, I shall take it for granted that the negroes are men, are equally with ourselves capable of happiness or misery; and accountable for the use or abuse of the faculties with which they are endowed.

The slaves held by the nations of western Europe, and their descendants on this side of the Atlantic, are of two descriptions; those who were imported from Africa as slaves, and the descendants of slaves thus imported. On each class a few observations will be offered.