and arms; but no display of jewellery, though her husband was reputed very wealthy. figure as often as convenient, and the remainder brought over the head as a veil. The boddice is an occasional addition, never adopted by the lower classes, and their soharees are scanty and coarse. It is but an ungraceful costume, as there are no folds. Our visitor's countenance was very animated, and her extreme youth-for she was not more than sixteen-gave a charm to features not distinguished for regularity. Secluded as her life had been, the young creature was far from being timid. She was quite at her ease, and ready to enter into conversation with any one who understood Bengalee. She could not converse in English; but was proud of displaying her acquirements in reading and spelling, and told us that she had prevailed on the rajah to hear her repeat her lessons every evening. ciety for Promoting Native Female Education' with a piece of ground in a very eligible situation; a European gentleman furnished the plan, I may mention that the soharee is all the and kindly superintended the erection of the clothing of the Hindoo female. It is about seven buildings; and in about five years after her first yards long and one wide, the width forming the arrival in Calcutta, Mrs. Wilson took posses-length of the garment. It is wound round the sion of the Central School, a large, airy, and handsome abode. Five years had accustomed the natives to the anomaly of teaching girls, and a somewhat better class than had at first attended were now to be seen congregated round their energetic teacher, seated cross-legged on the floor, tracing their crabbed characters on a slate; reading in sonorous voices the translations of the parables and miracles; or even chanting hymns, also translated. Still none came, unless brought by the women who were employed to go the rounds of the bazaar in the morning, and who received so much for each child bribery alone insured attendance; and none of the pupils remained more than two or three years at most. As for the natives of the upper class, all attempts to gain a footing amongst them proved total failures. The examinations of the school were attended by all the native gentlemen of rank who professed to take an interest in education; but none of them favoured it sufficiently to desire its benefits for his own daughters, though Mrs. Wilson offered to attend them privately, when not engaged in the duties of the school. At length the same rajah who had given the ground informed her that his young wife insisted on learning English. She had already learned to read and write Bengalee; but as this did not satisfy her, he requested Mrs. Wilson's services, which were immediately given; and she found her pupil a very apt scholar, eager for information of all kinds. In the course of a few weeks, the lady succeeded in obtaining her husband's permission to visit Mrs. Wilson at the Central School, and to be introduced to some more English ladies. It was not without much persuasion that this boon was granted; and even when we were all seated expecting her arrival (for the writer of this was present,) we scarcely believed that anything so contrary to etiquette would be permitted. At length, however, the rapid tread of many feet was heard, a closed palanquin, surrounded by chaprasseys, entered the veranda, and panting after it were two old crones. The vehicle was set down in the inner veranda, or, as it would be called here, lobby from which all the male servants were then excluded, and the doors closed; and then a figure enveloped in a large muslin sheet was taken out of the conveyance, and guided up stairs by the duennas. As soon as she was in the sitting-room, the envelop was removed, and disclosed a very pretty young creature, dressed in a pink muslin soharee and white muslin jacket, both spotted with silver, slippers richly embroidered, and her thick plait of dark glossy hair fastened by a richly ornamented pin. She had gold bangles on her neck Of course our dresses excited her curiosity, for she had never seen any of European make, except Mrs. Wilson's widow's garb. She made many inquiries about our children, but would have considered it indelicate even to name our husbands. After replying to all our queries, she became so familiar that she offered to sing to us, regretting that she had not her instrument (a very simple sort of guitar) to accompany her voice. The melody was simple, and her voice very sweet. All this time the old women who had accompanied their lady were crouched down. in one corner of the room, watching her intently; and at last, as if they thought her freedom had lasted long enough, they rose, and told her it was the maharajah's orders she should go. She unwillingly complied, and left us to our great regret: for there was a confiding naïveté about her which was very winning. In a few weeks the lessons were discontinued: her husband fell into well merited disgrace; and this was the first and last pupil Mrs. Wilson had in the highest ranks. This disappointment, however, was more than compensated by the accomplishment of another scheme, perhaps more important, for the amelioration of the native female character. ¡To be continued.] FEDERAL CURRENCY. Some of the principal dealers in breadstuffs are agreeing with each other to sell only for dollars and cents, and leave shillings and pence to small grocers and market women, who make a part of their profits by retaining the fractions in giving change. It is rather remarkable that such an awkward mode of computation as the old continental, and varying so much in different parts of the country, should have held so long and strong a competition with the uniform and simple method which the federal currency offers. An Englishman bought some flour the other day at five dollars three and six pence a barrel; and after much labour with paper and pencil, figured out the price at what he thought the very odd sum of five dollars forty three and three quarter cents. His correspondents on the other side will think that he drove a close bargain. A day or two ago a New Bedford captain contracted to take some flour there at a shilling a barrel freight. The flour was sent down, and the bills of lading made out, and then arose the mighty question of what a shilling is. In a New York merchant's store it is 12 cts., but on board a Yankee coaster it is 163.-N. York Mirror. FRIENDS' REVIEW. | Atlantic, from the northern lakes to the confines of Florida, and from the ocean westward as far as the Anglo-Saxons had pushed their settlements. Canada and Louisiana were held in subserviency to the Bourbon crown; while a great part of the continent, from the Alleghanies to the shores of the Pacific, were possessed by the wandering and scattered natives of the soil; and those of them who resided in the vicinity of white settlements, claimed the mountains, and all that lay beyond them, as the inheritance of the red man; not to be molested by the wood man's axe or the ploughman's share. What now has become of the North American possessions of France and Spain? And what has become of the Bourbon family? Where now is the spreading empire of Great Britain in the Western world? A school boy can furnish the reply. Those possessions, respecting which these PHILADELPHIA, TWELFTH MONTH 30, 1848. rival nations were then ready to shed each other's blood, are nearly all absorbed in the gigantic rAs this is the last number which we shall issue public, which had not then been called into existunder date of '48, the circumstance naturally and ence. The red hunters of the former century have justly turns our reflections on the rapid flight of been swept or melted away before the swelling time, and on the changes which each passing year tide of civilization; the arts, the policy and the impresses upon the condition of our race. The arms of European immigration; to seek a precariconsideration that every year, as it flies, removes ous subsistence in the vicinity of the Rocky Mounfrom this busy scene to the house appointed for all tains; leaving a few scattered remnants of their living, not less than twenty millions of human once powerful bands, to live as aliens and stranbeings; an I that none of us know, when the year gers in the land of their ancestors. Well may the begins, upon whom the pall may descend before philanthropist bewail the fate of these perishing its close, might be reasonably expected to lead us tribes, and reprobate the means by which their to hail the advent of a new year with feelings and numbers have been wasted away. At the same actions very different from the hilarity and dissi- time the enquiry naturally arises, which of course pation with which it is usually attended. If the we are not able to answer, whether at the close merchant considers this a proper time to examine of another century, any portion of the aboriginal his books, and ascertain the state of his accounts, tribes will be found. There can be little doubt it appears still more important, that we shouid that long before that time, the hunter's life must enquire what we are doing with our Lord's be abandoned, or their extinction completed. money, and so to employ the talents received, that if called to give an account of our stewardship, it may be done with cheerfulness and hope. If a consideration of the purposes for which time is allotted to us, was allowed its proper influence and place in our minds, there would be much less inclination to usher in a new year with folly and mirth, than to make it an occasion for renewed endeavour, under divine assistance, to pass our time in the manner in which, when we find that our days are numbered, we shall wish they had been passed. What was the state of the arts in 1748 compared with what it is now? The discoveries of Bolton and Watt, on the application of steam; the inventions of Arkwright, by which the production of the finer fabrics has been so incalculably accelerated; the steamboat and the locomotive; all these have been brought into existence during the period in question. How many of the secrets of nature have been extorted from her during that period. The grand experiment of Franklin, by which the identity of lightning and electricity was proved, had not then been made. The investigations of GalIf now, at the close of the year, we look back vani and Volta, which have cast such a flood of through the vista of time, to the period when the light on the science of chernistry, were then sleepChristian era was last distinguished by the num-ing in the silence of futurity. The science of che ber 48, what changes have been made in the sur-mistry itself was then in its infancy. Within the face of society? At the close of 1748 the King of last century no fewer than ten planetary bodies, Great Britain was a native of Germany; yet his unknown to the preceding ages, have been added dominion was acknowledged on this side of the to the known portions of our solar system. The path of the wandering comet has been traced with an accuracy not previously attained, and the returns of three of them predicted and the predictions fulfilled. The wonders of the sidereal heavens have been explored to an extent of which Newton probably never dreamed. And we may fairly question whether the original and comprehensive mind of Franklin ever grasped the idea, which the present age has familiarised to our minds, that the electric fluid would become the messenger for transmitting intelligence over thousands of miles, with the velocity of light. When we reflect upon the discoveries and inventions which the century that is passed has disclosed to our view, and consider the accelerated velocity with which they appear to be advancing, we are naturally led to enquire what will the next century produce, and what will the year 1948 leave undiscovered to exercise the ingenuity of a following age? DIED,-In this city, on the 19th inst., of pulmonary consumption, M. ELLEN, daughter of Philip Chase, of Salem, Mass. This interesting young person was tenderly endeared to her many relatives and friends. She possessed an affectionate disposition, and a bright, intuitive mind. With a truth-loving regard for duty, and a devoted interest in the happiness of others, she united a sensitive taste for the beauties and sublimities of Nature. Especially did she delight in the minute touches of the Divine pencil, from the delicate sea-flower to the lowliest woodland moss, as teaching her to trust in One who cares for them, and who has so clothed with beauty the grass of the field. me!" During the gradual decline of her health, being often favored with sweet peace and resignation, she loved to trace the gentle dealings of her Heavenly Father towards her; at one time exclaiming, "worlds beyond worlds, and yet even I am not "My cup of blessings runneth overlooked!" over!" Her daily increasing weakness of body helped, she said, to loosen all worldly ties, and to strengthen her hope and trust in her Redeemer. After all that art and science have accomplished, She often prayed for the sustaining power of her it is mortifying, as well as painful, to reflect, how Saviour; on one occasion observing, "Is it not presuming in me to desire to be taken in His arms imperfectly the principles of the religion we gener-and carried in His bosom, while Mary was content ally profess, have been introduced into practice; to sit at his feet." At another time she said, "Is and that while we unanimously admit the divine it possible the white robe is prepared for me-for authority of the New Testament, and an obligationen." As the end drew near, she often spoke, with "Yes, I am accepted, I am going to Heato conform to the precepts which it inculcates, the a beaming countenance, of the joy that was renations of christendom should rely for their protec- vealed to her, yet desiring to be taken "not one tion upon means which neither argument nor so- moment before the right, the best, the sweet time." phistry can reconcile with the spirit and maxims Thus patiently waiting, we have the consoling beof the gospel. Surely we may hope, that another lief that, at her peaceful close, she was, through redeeming mercy, prepared for an entrance into century will not glide away without impressing on "the Paradise of God." the nations who profess the name of the Prince of Peace, a general conviction that a practical conformity to the doctrines of the gospel affords to nations and individuals a firmer ground of hope, and a more enduring protection, than the arm of flesh or the policy of man has ever supplied. The brief notice which we insert in this number respecting the Bible Christians in the land of Moab, may be considered as an appendage to the notices heretofore published in the Review, page 285, vol. i., and page 41, vol. ii., of the scientific expedition to the Dead Sea. The notice of J. Bunyan, which was furnished by a valued English correspondent, and of which the concluding part appears in this number, has occupied a considerable space in the Review, but we trust its interesting character fully compensates for the room it has taken. MARRIED,-At Friends' Meeting, Milford, Wayne Co., Indiana, on Fifth day, the 2d of last month, BENJAMIN A. WILSON to CAROLINE STANLEY. At his residence in this city, on First day, the 17th inst., in the 73d year of his age, JONATHAN LEEDOM, a member of the Southern District Monthly Meeting. For Friends' Review. SUBDIVISION OF LAND. I was much amused with the lively description in the last Review, given by Robert Bakewell, the first Lord Leicester, of the man, who in proportion as he transferred parts of his large farm to his daughters, cultivated the remainder more thoroughly, and thence made more money. An excellent practical hint may be derived from the anecdote, by many of our large land holders, who unquestionably have more land under their care, than they have capital to manage it with; for as Bakewell shrewdly observed, the husbandman should always be stronger than his farm. I remember the apparently contradictory remark once made to me by a neighbour of mine, who said he thought it would be an addition to his garden, if he were to make it less, and cultivate it better. Partly in continuation of the subject introduced into the Review last week from Colman's EuAt the same place, on the 30th ult., NA-ropean Agriculture, I forward the following exTHAN WASSON to ELIZABETH W. MORRIS. tracts from the same work, portions of which are corroborative of the experience of Bake-, the possession of property, and especially the well's farmer of the old school. The comparison between the agricultural population of France and England, and the remarks subsequently made, place in strong contrast our innumerable privileges in this country, and may afford much matter for the speculation and deep reflection of the political economist, and indeed, of all who influence to any considerable extent, the public mind. A sound mind in a sound body, was said by one of the old philosophers, to be the first of blessings. So, in the body politic, an honest administration of the laws, under a sound and wisely framed Constitution, ought to confirm to a community, every privilege which the citizen should enjoy. T. "If we look at farms in Great Britain,-I mean farins of hundreds of acres, with the exception of some of the best cultivated districts, such as the Lothians in Scotland, for example, or the counties of Northumberland, Lincoln, and Norfolk, and only some farms in these counties, we shall find that even these are by no means always fully cultivated; and that, either for want of skill, or enterprise, or capital, large portions of them are wholly unproductive. This is far less frequently the case with small farms, for the simple reason that the owners cannot afford to neglect their land, and that the management is much more easy. It is to be added likewise, that in very small holdings of six, or ten, or twenty acres, the great expense of a team, and of costly implements is dispensed with. In some parts of England, though very rarely, but in many parts of the Continent, and especially in Switzerland, the small farmers use their milchcows for work, thus getting a double advantage from them; and a milch-cow, used tenderly, and treated liberally, may be worked from four to six hours a day without injury to her milk. This saving is a great circumstance. On large arable farms it may be calculated, that from a fourth to a third of the produce must be counted for the support, and equipments, and cost of the teams. The saving of this expense is a great affair; and this is accomplished on small holdings where cows are kept, which pay the expense of their keeping by their labour and their calf; or where, as in many cases, the whole cultivation is performed by human instead of brute labour-by the spade instead of the plough. I believe, therefore, it will be found, that in a fair comparison, the small farms are in fact more productive than the large ones; that they are managed at less comparative expense, and, in proportion, leave more for human consumption. "Of all the influences which operate to promote exertion, industry, and good conduct, none certainly is more powerful than the hope of bettering our condition; and I may add, without undertaking to give a reason for it, as an established truth, that nothing inspires more self-respect, as connected with a feeling of independence, than possession of a fixed property in house or land. This effect is constantly seen in the labouring classes among the French. They are extremely ambitious of getting a piece of land; and perhaps too much so, after once coming into possession, of extending their possessions. This stimulates them to industry, and induces the most rigid economy. The subdivision of property or of land in France renders this practicable, which, in other countries, where the right of entail prevails, or where property is held in large masses, and guarded with extreme jealousy, is out of the question." 66 Few things have struck me more forcibly than the difference in the condition of the agricultural population of France and that of Great Britain. I have never seen a more healthy, a better clad, or a happier population, than the French peasantry. Something may be ascribed to their naturally-cheerful temperament, and something to that extraordinary sobriety, which every where in a remarkable degree characterizes the French people; but much more, I think, to the favourable condition in which the law,* which renders attainable the possession of a freehold in the soil, places them. "The very poor condition of a large portion of the English agricultural labouring population must be acknowledged. The acquisition of property is, in most cases, all but impossible. The great difficulty, where there is a family, is to subsist; in sicknesss they have no other resource but private charity or parish assistance; and they have in most cases nothing to which they can look forward, when the power to labour fails them, but the almshouse. "I believe there is an equal amount of philanthropy, and as strong a sense of justice and humanity among the English, as among any people; but it is not to be expected that in any country where wealth constitutes the great and most enviable distinction, and where, by various circumstances, avarice is stimulated to the highest degree, that the great mass of the community should be either philanthropic, or humane. Wealth is almost every where, in what is called civilized, and too often miscalled Christian, life, the great instrument of power. Power is a dangerous possession, and always liable to abuse. The only security against this abuse is the division of power; and to give the humbler classes the means of helping themselves. "In Great Britain, as I have already said, the rural labouring classes are placed in circumstances of hardship and disadvantage. It would be ordinarily quite idle for them to aspire to the ownership of land. Philanthropic and benevolent persons in various parts of the country have given them small allotments; though some have Which ordains that the land possessed by any one at his death, shall be equally divided among his children. endeavoured to limit these allotments to one, eighth of an acre, and many farmers have combined in denouncing the allotment system, and have refused to take leases where the labourers were to be allowed allotments. The beneficial effects of these allotments, both upon the comfort and morals of the labouring classes, have every where been acknowledged; but under the best circumstances, the allotment system can never be a substitute for that by which the ownership of the land is itself attainable. "That undoubtedly is the happiest condition of society, where none are over rich, and none extremely poor; where one is not continually offended by those striking contrasts of enormous wealth and extreme destitution, which some countries present. That condition of society is undoubtedly above all others to be preferred, where the power of bettering our condition, is, as far as possible, equally enjoyed by every man, and certainly not denied to any one; and where every possible encouragement and facility are given to the exertion of this power. It is often a great charity to help our neighbour; but the best and wisest of all forms, in which this charity can be exercised, is that, when a man helps his neighbour to help himself." For Friends' Review. ANTE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. Although when the discovery of the American continent was announced near the end of the fif teenth century, the intelligence seems to have been received by the European world as entirely new, yet our modern antiquarians have found, among the almost forgotten histories and traditions of Icelandic authorities, some obscure accounts of several voyages performed nearly five centuries before the expedition of Columbus, in which the northern shores of the United States and some adjacent portions of the British possessions, are said to have been explored. A supposed inscription, on a rock at Dighton, in Massachusetts, mentioned by Cotton Mather, nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, has been copied and sent to the Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen, by whom it is confidently asserted to contain the name of Thorfinn, and the number 132. Now Thorfinn is the name assigned by the Icelandic authorities to an adventurer who is said to have visited that country about the year 1006, and whose adventures form a conspicuous part of the scanty memorials of these northern voyagers. It is, however, rather unfortunate for the credit of this interpretation, that the first two letters of the name are in Icelandic, and the remaining ones, as well as the numbers, in the ancient Roman characters. Perhaps some readers may attribute to the interpreters of this ancient inscription a sagacity nearly as great as that exercised by the celebrated Whittington, when he discovered in the chiming of the bells, a prediction of his future eminence. But whether these accounts are sober narratives of voyages actually performed, or the fabrications of later days, there is no reason to apprehend that they shed any light on the career of Columbus; or that his discoveries were any other than original with him. The Genoese adventurer did not set out in search of an unknown continent, or one of whose existence some obscure reports had reached him. The navigators of Portugal were endeavouring to find a passage to India by sailing round Africa; and enough was then known to convince them that a voyage to India, if practicable, was both tedious and dangerous if prosecuted in that direction. The globular form of the earth was held as a theory by the most judicious philosophers, but had never been proved as a fact; and Columbus was one of those who, reasoning upon this theory, readily perceived that voyage in a western as well as an eastern direction, must lead to the countries lying on the opposite side of the globe. From the erroneous estimate which he was able to form of the dimensions of the earth, he concluded that the most eastern parts of the world which were visited or described by Marco Polo and John Mandeville, lay about four thousand miles westward from Lisbon. Hence he rationally inferred that a voyage in a western direction would open a much shorter passage to the opulent regions of the east, than the one which the Portuguese navigators were labouring to find. The superiority of Columbus consisted in the sagacity with which he deduced an important practical inference from a theory which was then but partially admitted, and imperfectly understood; and in the skill and perseverance which he displayed in the accomplishment of his arduous adventure. Had he undertaken to rediscover the countries which Eric the Red and his cotemporaries and successors appear to have visited five centuries before, he would probably have steered to the north-west, instead of rigidly adhering to a course nearly west. From what can now be ascertained, it appears highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the fame of the Icelandic adventurers had never reached the ears of the Genoese mariner. If we would form a just estimate of the force of character and intellect possessed by Columbus, we must recollect that the Ptolemaic theory was the prevailing one of the day; the work of Copernicus, which revived the system of Pythagoras, not being published till nearly forty years after the death of Columbus. The immobility of the earth, according to the system of Ptolemy, might well suggest a belief that its extent was immeasurable; and of course, that a voyage to India, performed in a western direction, must be of incalculable duration. Yet so clearly did he philosophize on the subject, as to be both willing |