and more attractive character. The following is at him: this is the use to which he turned the mis. once interesting and informing. sionary.

Immediately on our arrival, he came on board to pay his respects, and said that the king had been very kind to him. It did not appear that he had made any beginning in his pastoral duties; for the king, anxious to derive as much advantage as possible from his civilized countryman, had conferred upon him the dignity of chief tailor, thus showing a determination to begin by reforming his outward man.

U. S. SHIP JAMESTOWN, MADEIRA, May 12th, 1848.

}

It was a trying day to the sick of all the vessels. A fiercely burning sun, the air close and sultry, with the thermometer 90° at noon, in the shade, and scarcely below 85° even at night, raised the fever to its height; and it seemed with several, that without continued artificial ventilation by fans and frequent cold spongings, they would have expired under the oppression of breathing and heat of skin. Many of those not yet entered on the sick-list were evidently beginning to feel weak and apprehensive. In addition to the enervating fever, we seem to be threatened with another and more singular visita-settlements on the Coast, we copy from the Colonization [As a contrast to the unfavorable report of the British tion, not less dreaded by the seamen. For the last Herald parts of a letter from Samuel Mercer, commander, two nights. the little tenement on the starboard U. S. Navy, to our old friend Elliott Cresson.] sponson, which having been comfortably fitted up by Lieut. Strange, for some of the blacks, went by the name of Kru-Town, had been disturbed by unwelcome intruders in the shape of snakes, which were now abundant in the waters, being driven off WHEN We unexpectedly met at Havre de Grace the high grasses on the inundated islands. The for a few moments, when I was on my way to fear of these, as some were said to be venomous, Norfolk to take command of this ship, bound to was certainly one of the horrors; and in all the the coast of Africa, to cruise for the double purvessels several were killed at night, having either pose of preventing the slave-trade being carried twisted themselves up by the cable or by the paddle-on under our flag and to protect our constantly inwheels. While we lay aground at English Island, creasing commerce on the coast, you requested they were seen frequently coiled round the tops of the reeds which appeared above water; and one of that I would write you after I had visited Monthe officers of the Amelia tender absolutely prac- rovia, and give my opinion of the state of the coltised with a pistol at a bunch of these reptiles, col- ony of Liberia and of its future prospects. I lected in that way near the vessel. On questioning avail myself, with pleasure, of this opportunity to a native on the subject, he gave a very satisfactory comply with your request. explanation. During the dry season, when the river is low, much of the land, now overflowed, is quite exposed and connected with the banks, and the grass soon springs up luxuriantly, affording a sunny and open resort for the numerous insects; snakes then come out of the surrounding woods of these localities, and when the water rises, cutting off large patches, like islands, communication is prevented with the banks. As the river gets still higher, they are obliged to take refuge on the reeds; and when these are submerged, they swim off, attaching themselves to the first object they meet in their course which may afford a refuge in this way several must have accidentally come in contact with the vessels in the stream. Whenever a noise was heard in "Kru-Town," the people used to say, "Another snake come!" One of a very venomous character was killed on board the Soudan.

We have been at Monrovia three times, and at each visit I was ashore repeatedly, mixed freely with the colonists, and took pains to inquire of the most intelligent among them what were their future intentions and prospects, and also as to their present state and condition. On our first visit, in November last, the colony had just declared its independence and published its new constitution as the basis upon which the Republic of Liberia was to be governed. Our intercourse with the governor and inhabitants, was of a most cordial and friendly character. On our second visit, which was in January last, the new government was in operation, Governor Roberts having been duly inaugurated as President, and the Senate and House of Representatives in session. I took occasion one day to visit both houses of congress, and listened with attention and interest to their debates on the new revenue or tariff law. Everything was done in the most decorous and orderly manner, each member seeming to understand the subject of discussion fully. The senate consists of six members and the presiding officer, and the house of eight members and the speaker.

It was, indeed, to me, a novel and interesting sight, although a southern man, to look upon these emancipated slaves legislating for themselves, and discussing freely, if not ably, the principles of human rights, on the very continent, and, perhaps, the very spot, where some of their ancestors were sold into slavery. Who can foresee what may yet spring from this germ of freedom for the regenera

For the purchase of this territory we agreed to give seven hundred thousand cowries, (nearly 457.) or goods to that amount; one fifth part of which was to be paid when the deed of cession was signed, as security for the purchase and delivery of the said land; the remainder to be paid as soon as the British people shall have had possession of the land for twelve months, provided they should at that time wish to retain it, either at one payment, or in five instalments, as might be most convenient to the queention of Africa of Great Britain!

I am quite certain if colonies were established

King Obi requested a missionary to be left with along the coast on the same liberal principle as

at Monrovia and enjoying excellent health, although old, who came over with the first colonists, settled at Shubro Island. These have been living in Africa twenty-five years.

Liberia, that th slave-trade would have to be | After a year's sojourn those who survive its atabandoned along the west coast of Africa as far tacks become so far acclimated as to suffer little south as the equator, in ten or fifteen years, and from it thereafter. I found several persons living at a cost too of less than is now consumed for two or three years, in keeping up the American, French, and English squadrons, for its suppression. Two or three millions of dollars judiciously spent, would do all this. I have no correct idea what In no part of the world have I met with a more has been the expense to the Colonization Society orderly, sober, religious and moral community than in planting and nourishing its colony on this coast, is to be found at Monrovia. On the Sabbath it is but imagine I am safe in estimating it at not more truly a joyful sound to hear hymns of praise, and than four hundred thousand dollars; and with that a pleasure to observe how very general the attendamount it has, by its energetic, humane, and judi- [ance upon divine worship is among these people. cious management, driven the slave-trade from I believe every man and woman in Monrovia, of an extent of coast of 320 miles, reaching from any respectability, is a member of the church. Cape Mount to Cape Palmas, with the single ex- If you take a family dinner with the president, ception of one slave establishment at New Cess, (and his hospitable door is always open to stranwhich President Roberts, by stringent and ener-gers,) a blessing is asked upon the good things begetic measures, will soon cause to be abandoned. fore you set to. Take a dinner at Colonel Heck's, From Cape Palmas to Cape Three Points the (who by the way keeps one of the very nicest slave-trade does not exist; indeed, I believe I may tables,) and "mine host," with his shiny black ininclude the coast as far down as Cape St. Paul, as telligent face, will ask a blessing on the tempting freed from this abominable traffic. From the latter viands placed before you. Cape to Cape Formoso the trade is still in active operation, whence thousands of slaves are taken off yearly, notwithstanding the vigilance of the many cruisers on the coast-the officers and crews of the English and French men-of-war being rewarded with the amount arising from the sales of the vessels captured, besides getting twenty dollars a head for each recaptured slave. It will be perceived, then, that the only part of the coast north of the equator, with the exception of that portion extending from Cape Mount to the Sheba river, which will require colonizing, reaches only from Cape St. Paul to Cape Formosa, a distance On my second visit to Monrovia, while the connot exceeding three hundred miles. I am satisfied gress was in session, I had a fair opportunity of that this portion of the West Coast is quite as conversing with several members from the three healthy, or to speak more properly, not more un-counties in which the state is divided, from whom healthy than the coast of Liberia. There are por-I was pleased to learn that the people in the intetions of it, too, where the soil is exceedingly fer- rior had begun to turn their attention to agricultural 'tile, and, indeed, may compare advantageously in this respect with any other part of the coast. Near Quitta, (a Danish fort,) about fifteen miles east of Cape St. Paul, the abundance with which we were supplied with sheep, hogs, fowls and fruits, and the cheapness of the articles, surprised us very much.

In conversation with President Roberts during our third and last visit to Monrovia, in March last, I expressed my apprehensions that if he and half a dozen others of the leading men of the republic were cut off by death, it would be impossible to replace them with men of equal abilities. The president did not at all participate in my apprehensions on this point, but expressed a perfect confidence in the belief, that from the general and increasing intelligence of the people, any gap occasioned in this way, might be repaired without any detriment to the welfare of the republic.

pursuits, being persuaded that their true interests lay in producing more than they have yet been in the habit of doing. Of this pleasing fact I had previously been assured by President Roberts.

It will sound stranger, perhaps, to European ears than to our own to hear that the secretary of the treasury and of state, and the chief justice, are storekeepers, and that the attorney general of this little republic is a blacksmith. They were the best materials at hand, and it is to be hoped that for some years to come the diplomatie relations and financial affairs of the republic will be of so simple a nature as to be easily managed

Liberia, I think, is now safe, and may be left, after a while, to stand alone. Would it not be advisable then, for the Colonization Society to turn its attention to some other portion of the coast, and extend the area of its Christian and philanthropic efforts to bettering the condition of the colored people of our country, by sowing, on other | by the present incumbents of the state and treasparts of the coast, some of the good seed which have produced so bountifully on the free soil of Liberia?

There is no part of the West Coast of Africa exempt from fever, and the colonist must expect to suffer from its effects for a while after landing at Monrovia, Cape Palmas, or any other point on the coast of Liberia. The number carried off by the fever is not very large: the deaths are principally confined to old people and young children.

ury departments, who are men of good sense and honest intentions. Crimes of magnitude against the state will be but few for some time, and such cases as are brought before the Supreme Court of Liberia, will be so plain that honest Judge Benedict, the storekeeper and chief justice, and the equally honest blacksmith and attorney general, Major Brown, will be able to see to the bottom of them as clearly as Chief Justice Taney and Mr. Attorney General Clifford in our Supreme Court.

will unravel the knotty cases (made still more echo, it is true, but "damnable iteration," for all knotty by the astute and learned gentlemen who plead before them) submitted for their sage decision.

that. Was there no friend at hand to weed the volumes of everything that snacked of neighboring seed-plots? The two volumes might have shrunk to one under a judicious hand; but Mr. Grant's unusual and unquestionable grace, facility, and tenderness, would have been all the better displayed within the narrower compass.

We should at once infer that these volumes are the product of a life passed away from the centre of literary intercourse, cliquery, and gossip. A Londoner would never have preserved his faculty of literary admiration so fresh as it shows through these poems. He would never have risked the imputation of copyism, which the naïve expression of that admiration in Mr. Grant's verses will certainly suggest to unsympathetic readers.

I think Liberia may require a little pecuniary aid from abroad for a few years, until she can cast about and provide the ways and means to carry on the government from her own scanty treasury. Already, as in our own country, there are many office-seekers, and each officer expects to receive a reasonable price for his services. To meet these demands and others upon the treasury, congress has provided a tariff law, which, among its provisions, embraces one authorizing the government to monopolize the sale of crockery ware, salt, powder, fire-arms and tobacco. From the duties on these, and the general tariff on imports, they hope to realize a sufficient sum to meet the public The principal poem of two goodly volumes is an expenses; and they feel so confident in not being expansion of Dante's theme of "Madonna Pia,”— disappointed in this expectation, that congress re- the lady of Sienna, who died in a bleak tower of fused to authorize a loan of twenty or forty thou-Maremma, victim to the jealousy (groundless, says sand dollars, before their own financial experiment

had been tried.

the legend) of her husband. Her fate prompted one of those gushes of inimitable tenderness, such It is impossible to foresee what will be the fate as the tale of Francesca, which soften the stern of this infant republic struggling for national ex- horror of the Inferno, and are in truth the parts of istence; but, whatever that fate may be, it cannot it most cherished in common recollections of that be denied that its career of advancement, up to stupendous poem. Mr. Grant has spun out the four this period, has been the most astonishingly rapid lines of his original into some forty-seven pages of of any other people, under similar circumstances, ottava rima. The theme might have supplied matthat history, ancient or modern, brings to our ter for even a more elaborate treatment in sterner knowledge. It is not yet a quarter of a century hands; but Mr. Grant has only used the obvious since the first colonists landed at the mouth of the topics of the legend; and his poem, graceful as it St. Paul's or Mesurado river, and took up their is and tender, while it aspires to give form and abode on a small island, from whence they were shape to the misty terror that broods round the four obliged to proceed to the main land in armed par-mysterious lines of Dante really brings down the sufties and fight the natives for the water for their fering of the wife to a disagreeable death from marshdaily use. Now, the colony is peopled with more fever, and the vague vengeance of the husband to a than five thousand emigrants. Its rule extends, positive act of groundless and disgusting barbarity. Mr. Grant is happiest in his shorter poems. undisputed, along the coast from Cape Palmas almost to Cape Mount, a distance of nearly three These are extemely various, both grave and gay, hundred and twenty miles-seventy thousand na- in theme; taking all forms, from the Wordsworthtives living within the limits of the republic, ac-ian sonnet and Catullian epithalamic song, to the knowledge its power and obey its laws. The swinging trisyllabic dance of Tommy Moore and capital of the State, Monrovia, boasts of about two the long roll of the Tennysonian trochaic, besides hundred houses, most of them well built, comfortable dwellings, and a population of 1200 inhabitants. The people are moral and religious; and to judge from what I saw at Monrovia, I don't think, for the number of inhabitants, there is a greater amount of human happiness to be found in any part of the world.

From the Spectator.

JAMES GREGOR GRANT'S POEMS. THE truest test of power in poetry is self-dependence. There is enough in these volumes both of purity and delicacy of sentiment, and musical finish of execution, to cause regret that the writer should have so often borrowed his inspirations. We would not be understood to charge Mr. Grant with conscious plagiarism; but he has written too much under the influence of sympathetic admiration. One half of his volumes is an echo; a very melodious

employing the whole range of the more common lyric measures. Mr. Grant handles English with unusual propriety, and employs metre with great ease, if not always with perfect ear. Throughout he dedicates his verse in the spirit of a true worshipper of Nature, and (saving a little vein of middle-aged reminiscence of over-ardent love-making, coldly received) writes like a pure, thoughtful, honest, and affectionate man, and a genuine poet in his perception of and reverence for the beautiful.

There are two series of sonnets; one a memorial of the lake country, the other of Belgium. We select from the first this

INVOCATION.

Yet once more, O ye mountains! and once more,
Ye lakes and streams, deep glens and valleys fair!
We drink the freshness of your gladsome air,
By sounding cataract or silent shore,
On pebbled marge, or shrubless summit hoar,
On verdant lea, or craggy headland bare;

From the Spectator. KRASINSKI'S PANSLAVISM AND GERMANISM.

Sclavonians subject to Austria, including
Poles subject to Russia,
2,341,000 Poles, and 4,370,000
Bohemians auu Moravians,
Sclavonians subject to Prussia, in-
cluding 1,982,000 Poles,
Sclavonians in Cracow,
Sclavonians in Saxony,

4,912,000

16,791,000

2,108,000

130,000

60,000

24,001,000

Russia, upwards of two to Austria, and about two to Prussia. The total number of Sclavonians subject to Austria is 16,791,000; to Prussia, SOME few years ago, the author of "Revela-2,108,000; which, with the addition of 4,912,000 tions of Russia" drew attention to the growing in Russian Poland and some isolated settlers, feelings of nationality among the Sclavonic peo- makes four-and-twenty millions, as shown in the ples, and predicted the disturbance if not the disso- following table : lution of the Austrian empire on the death of Metternich. The French revolution in February precipitated the accomplishment of his prediction; involving Austria herself in turmoil, and her discordant members in revolt or confusion. The same cause stimulated the German feelings of nationality; properly if not prudently when confined to the affairs of Germany-not so properly when, under the vague pleas of ethnography or geography, they waged war against the Scandinavians in Denmark and the Poles in Posen, or Some of these populations-as the Prussian threatened war against the Dutch. The affair of Poles and the Bohemians-penetrate into GerPosen as represented to Germany, and through many; others are seated on its frontier; the HunGermany to Europe, with the expressed antipathy garian Sclavonians, in number more than six of the Germans to the Poles, soon put an end to millions, though removed from Germany proper, the idea that the revolutionary explosion might are yet in the Austrian empire; and the entire of reach Poland, and perhaps give rise to a success- these peoples, provoked by German arrogance, or ful attempt to reestablish her nationality. The by German efforts to supersede their language disappointment consequent upon that failure has and overcome their nationality, have been in arms probably soured the Polish mind towards Germany, -as in Posen and at Prague, or still areas in aggravated as the real injury has been by a tone Hungary. of arrogance on the part of the German press. This feeling finds utterance in Panslavism and Germanism; but, though M. Krasinski's general views as to the numbers, power, and future greatness of the Sclavonic race may find an echo in the minds of the Poles, we doubt whether his plans will excite much sympathy in their bosoms.

These facts of the numbers of the Sclavonians connected with Germany, and of the conduct of the Sclavoniaus, are dwelt upon by M. Krasinski at great length; and the conclusion drawn is the imprudence of the German conduct, both for German interests and to Europe at large. For some years past, the educated Sclavonians, from BoheThe primary though indirect object of the book mia to Russia, have been stimulated to cultivate a is to show, by historical parallel, the superior brotherhood by means of a language common in virtues and liberality of the Polish to the German its dialects, as well by their own olden literature. race, and the selfish manner in which that liberality Grant that, in the present state of public opinion has been requited. The exhibition, we conceive, in Europe, no efforts will be made for the reëstabrather supports the German claim; since it is lishment of Poland as a nation-grant that it is always found that the admission of foreign tri- even impossible to do it if the will existed, and bunals in a country, to settle questions where that it would be mischievous, (as the Germans foreigners are concerned, argues a superiority in say to their interests,) since Poland as a nation those foreigners over the natives. The same is would league itself with France-why exasperate the case where settled strangers are advanced the Sclavonians generally? why oppress the Poles over the natives to posts of authority. Hence, by military license, and insult them, as is the the fact that Germans were always well re- wont of the German press, by such feelings as ceived in Poland, and, advancing their fortunes, are expressed in the following passage from a took a superior social place, while the Sclavonic pamphlet by Mr. Wuttuke, a liberal German races in Germany were oppressed into something writer, and a deputy to the Frankfort parliament? like "hewers of wood and drawers of water," He is speaking in reference to the German claims seems to argue the superiority of the Germans in over the Polish cities. acquirements, if not by nature.

The question is, therefore, as follows: are the Germans to be under the dominion of the Poles, or the Poles under that of the Germans?

No German should hesitate about the answer to

A great if not the great object of the work before us is to exhibit the power, feelings, and political tendencies of the Sclavonic peoples, and by that means to frighten something out of Ger- this question. We at least have but one answer to many or Europe for the Western Sclavonians. it. In such a case the Pole must not be placed The total numbers of this race reach to nearly above us he must not command but obey us; and eighty millions; of which six millions, in round if he will not, he may emigrate to Warsaw or to his friends in Paris. We do not wish to oppress numbers, are subject to Turkey, and nearly forty- him; but we shall not give up the space of a single eight are native Russians. The Poles are upwards foot of our land upon which Germans live, as long of nine millions; nearly five millions belonging to as there are swords ground in Germany.